A DVOCACY
EQUAL EDUCATION
SOCIAL JUSTICE
INITIATIVES MAKING WAVES In an unequal world, fighting for social justice is the only way to balance the scale. TIISETSO TLELIMA speaks to activists working towards achieving a more just society
What it does: Established in 2008, Equal Education is a member-based mass movement of learners, post-school youth, parents and community C-19 PEOPLE’S COALITION members working towards equality and quality What it does: Established in education. The organisation has members in five March 2020, the C-19 People’s provinces across the country and works tirelessly Coalition comprises 350 civil to put education on the national agenda. “We society organisations. It was work with learners, in particular, empowering them formed to ensure that South to organise themselves and fight for their rights,” Africa’s COVID-19 response explains Equal Education’s head of organising in the is rooted in social justice Eastern Cape, Itumeleng Mothlabane. and democratic principles, Tauriq Jenkins Equal Education works on various campaigns and to protect and monitor including fighting for textbooks for learners, better issues around human rights. school infrastructure, safe sanitation, access The coalition established working groups to scholar transport in KwaZulu-Natal, and the to focus on issues such as basic services, reduction of overcrowding in schools. However, illegal evictions, gender-based violence, state despite having succeeded in repression, vaccine access, getting the education department and more. to adopt norms and standards of Tauriq Jenkins, a convener of infrastructure in public schools, the antirepression group within Mothlabane says lack of political will the coalition, monitors issues means their campaigns often take dealing with military oversight, long before they are realised. “The police, law enforcement and norms and standards of public school private security companies. infrastructure was signed into law in The antirepression group 2013, but today we still have about worked together with the Itumeleng Mothlabane 1 500 schools with pit toilets,” Human Rights Commission to she says. fight against state repression Platforms it uses for social change: Equal during the pandemic. “An example of how we Education holds in-school meetings and youth mobilised effective action was when the City group and mass meetings where learners come of Cape Town’s response to the lockdown was up with campaigns and also build the movement. ostensibly to create camps in Strandfontein They then advocate in the streets and the media. for [homeless people],” explains Jenkins. However, the organisation has had to rely Thousands of homeless people were forcibly heavily on media advocacy as a result of removed from the streets and placed in recent lockdown rules. camps to try contain the spread of the virus. How to get involved: The organisation strongly “We realised very quickly that these camps believes in the power of active citizenship to effect were more like securitised gulags where they social change. “People must always look at the where completely stripped of their rights. structures around them, for example, school We produced a report together with Doctors governing boards and ward committees, and Without Borders and managed to get the site make sure that they are working effectively,” shut down.” says Motlhabane. Platforms it uses for social change: The entity started a hotline website called www.report.org.za for people to report issues EQUAL of repression. This information then goes to EDUCATION an analysis group where an archive is being CAMPAIGNS created. “We monitor and respond to things coming through and have submitted reports
to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the AU,” says Jenkins. The antirepression group has also engaged in several online events to look at the demilitarisation of law enforcement and the police. The coalition mobilised against vaccine apartheid, which saw the US and Canada hoarding vaccines and ordering more than they needed while African countries were struggling to get stock. It also ran various online campaigns educating people about the vaccine and fighting disinformation and anti-vaxx sentiments. How to get involved: Go to the C-19 website and social media platforms to get in touch. “We’re open to anyone who wants to make a difference,” says Jenkins. “It’s very important to have coalitions like this in existence and well supported because without them we render our constitutional rights only to the authorities.”
C-19’S PEOPLE’S COALITION RESOURCES 4 ACTION
DID YOU KNOW?
The term “social justice” was coined in the 19 th century during the industrial revolution. During this time there was a big gap between the rich and poor, and human rights were mostly not legally established. Source: Investopedia
“We work with learners, in particular, empowering them to organise themselves and fight for their rights.” – Itumeleng Mothlabane 28
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any South Africans live without access to quality education, healthcare, basic services and adequate housing, and the global pandemic has exacerbated the national faultlines of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Activists at Equal Education and C-19 People’s Coalition, share what their organisations are doing to help achieve social justice in South Africa.
H U M A N R I G H T S D AY
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