By Phillip Nyalungu
At the start of the year matric students Ahmad, Jos and Sam started volunteering at the Cissie Gool House (CGH) resource centre. On Mondays and Thursdays from 16:00 - 18:00 they assist students from the occupation with their homework and studies. This work has been easily integrated into the already existing tutoring structures, spearheaded by Amanda. With the help of Hakiem, a matric learner in the occupation, a collective atmosphere has been created with students from 18 to as young as 5 sharing their knowledge and skills.
Amanda Gericke and Granny Moolajee are residents at the CGH and the volunteer and run the resource center. Amanda loves playing with the kids and she’s been doing it for four years. She also manages the daily activities in the resource centre, helping children in the occupation with their school work and teaching students from the surrounding neighbourhood Afrikaans. Granny is a professional teacher and giving free lessons and helping with school work. She has a keen focus on improving literacy.
Shaneeka was the third to occupy the hospital, since renamed it after the anti-apartheid leader Cissie Gool.
How it started
During the hard Covid-19 lockdown Ahmad, Jos and Sam spent some time looking for a way to valuably spend their time. Eventually they came across the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF) politcal materials online and subsequently reached out to them . On Saturday, 13 February 2021 Mzamani , Shawn, and the three matric pupils met at the International Labor Research Information Group (ILRIG).
We discussed the post-apartheid working-class oppression and struggles – and decided that to get help it was best to try to support already existing communities. Within days Shawn introduced us to anti-apartheid stalwart: Bevel Lucas, one of the leaders at the CGH. The ZACF has since been holding its reading group meetings in the CGH meeting room and we have discussed the relationship between nationalism, patriarchy, women oppression, slavery, feudalism, state, capitalism, and the nation-state – working-class struggles and how to build a revolutionary movement.
**Residents attending a virtual conference in the CGH community hall – listening to the Internationalist Commune of Rojava speaker. The speaker spoke lengthily about the self-reliance communities in Rojava, northern Syria. They have since organized their militia to defend themselves and the militia are largely young women. All positions in the highest decision-making structures or councils have equal representation of a 1:1 ratio of men and women. The speaker emphasized for the current progressive movements to consider those who died fighting for political and moral justice. Friday, 09 April 2021.**
On the 27th of February, we watched the film telling the story of Democratic Confederalism in Rojava, Syria. A system of governance realised after many years of the Kurdish people's resistance in the four nation-states of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq. There are many parallels between Rojava and CGH which is a testimony to the dream of those who died in the hands of state brutalities. To achieve the goal of organising based on Democratic Confederalism in Cape Town the Mass Solidarity Movement (MSM) has been formed a continuation of the movement started by a group of student at the Rhodes University Students in 2018. https://wastepickersght.wixsite.com/masssolidarity
Announcements: There will be a parents' meeting every Saturday of the first week of the Month at the CGH community Hall in Woodstock, Cape Town. The meeting will include the CGH gardening activities and is open to any other issues that are important for improving the people’s ways of living.
Disclaimer: Edited on 30 June 2021 - contact for edit log.
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