The Shacks Fight Back - a talk by Richard Pithouse

In collaboration Mute with Soho hosted a talk by contributer Richard Pithouse of the South African Shack Dwellers' Movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo in June 2007.

The Shacks Fight Back - a talk by Richard Pithouse video documentation

According to UN research it is predicted that, by 2030, half the world’s population will be living in slums. What are the forms of political action emerging in these 'naked cities', where the populace are effectively refugees without basic amenities, let alone rights?One inspirational example is the South African shack dwellers movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo http://www.abahlali.org/. Abahlali have fought for the right of Durban's shack dwellers to basic amenities - housing, water, land. This democratic grassroots movement has confronted the lies and evasions of local government and aid agencies to show that real participatory democracy is possible: when it is organised by and for the dispossessed.Richard Pithouse, an academic and journalist who has been active in the movement since its inception, will speak to David Cunningham (University of Westminster) about Abahlali and show some films documenting the struggle.This talk is co-organised by Mute magazine, which recently published Richard Pithouse’s article ‘Thinking Resistance in the Shanty Town', http://www.metamute.org/en/node/8258  Hosted by Mute magazine, http://metamute.org London, June 2007.