week 3 and the mountains

Happy New Year!

The last few weeks have brought rain and rain all over the country. I can only imagine what it's like to be in a settlement on the side of a hill when it pours. Leaky tin roofs, impassable pathways, sewage and trash strewn everywhere, cold.

Before I left on a trip around the holidays, Abahlali had a press conference at Kennedy Road, to announce their campaign of passive resistance against the local ANC government. Three to Five hundred people attended, including SABC (TV).

There was also an article in the New York Times in the past week or so. As soon as i can find it i'll link it here.

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In related news: one of the best activist academics in the housing struggle in South Africa, Ashwin Desai, author of We Are The Poors, has been denied research funding to continue work at UKZN and the Centre for Civil Society. Read more about it here, on Raj Patel's blog.

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i spent 10 days up in the beautiful drakensburg mountains. No photos yet, but i'll try to put one up if i can.