Township Politics: Civic Struggles for a New South Africa
By Mzwanele Mayekiso. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1996. 283 pp., $30 cloth, $18 paper.
Township Politics is a personal account of the author's involvement in the South African antiapartheid movement in the
black township of Alexandra, where he served as secretary of the Alexandra Action Committee (AAC). An hour's drive
north of Johannesburg, Alexandra played an integral part in the struggle against apartheid: in February 1986, the AAC
organized the Six Days War, the nearly weeklong struggle during which the community took control of the township
before being suppressed by security forces. During the Six Days War the township created its own government based
on what the "civics" (community organizations) called "ungovernability." The principle of ungovernability was to
render the apartheid regime inadequate so that "organs of people's power" could create a political system for the
majority of South Africans. Because of Mayekiso's involvement in the AAC, and his role in the Six Days War, he spent
three years in jail.
If Township Politics has a flaw, it is Mayekiso's brevity in discussing how South Africa's political struggle could help other nations. Given that Mayekiso is neither an academic nor a politician, his lack of pretension provides the candor from which civic organizations in other parts of the world, including those in urban areas of the United States, can gain valuable insight. Mayekiso, however, spends only four pages on how South Africa fits into the global picture of human rights and the future of civic politics, leaving open the question of what impact an unproven democratic socialist society could have on future politics.
Michael Bonenberger
Humanitarian Challenges and Intervention: World Politics and the Dilemmas of Help
By Thomas G. Weiss and Cindy Collins. Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1996. 239 pp., $14.95.
The deluge of nightmarish episodes from places like Bosnia, Rwanda, Somalia, and northern Iraq has spurred
humanitarian instincts around the world. However, with instances of mass human suffering becoming more
"case-specific," presenting thorny ethical dilemmas that fly in the face of traditional response strategies, and an
increasingly diverse spectrum of humanitarian objectives, unified international response to such crises is becoming an
increasingly complicated issue.
Most current humanitarian dilemmas involve difficult trade-offs; for example, when should military coercion take the place of traditional peacekeeping measures? Is it more efficient for humanitarians to expend resources on temporary assistance or should they help crisis-ridden countries work toward long-term economic development? At the heart of the issue is the underlying possibility of more harm than good resulting from a particular humanitarian activity.
This problem has resulted, the authors argue, from a "trial-and-error" approach to humanitarian intervention. Weiss and Collins offer a number of recommendations for an essential remodeling of the humanitarian system, including implementation of a "humanitarian protection force" to act as a "central brain" for the humanitarian safety net during peak periods of violence. They also feel that humanitarian aid should begin to focus more on the prevention of crises, rather than relief after the fact.
But the authors' primary concern is at the individual level: Westerners must abandon the notion that there is a "right" way to help non-Westerners in need. Too often there is an attitude of superiority on the part of the Western humanitarian, a belief that the implementation of Western doctrine will improve any situation. Such an attitude often ignores the specific situations of the people humanitarians are trying to help.
Weiss and Collins are ultimately hopeful that less improvised, more successful international responses to human suffering will develop. However, they understand that humanitarians can become wrapped up in idealistic outlooks and bogged down by the dismal reality of war-torn conditions. It is only with a healthy combination of these two perspectives that humanitarians can remain focused and begin to combat the challenges of offering help to those in need.
Emily Shartin