Marikana: A View from the Mountain and a Case to Answer

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Jacana Media, 2012 - History - 210 pages

Dubbed the "Marikana Massacre," the Marikana miners’ strike was the single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since the end of apartheid; those killed were mineworkers in pursuit of a pay raise. Through a series of interviews conducted with workers who survived the attack, this account documents and examines the controversial shootings in great detail. In addition, it includes a narrative of the preceding events as well as of the violence itself written from the perspective of the strikers. Unique and revealing, his book tells of police murders, sadness, bravery, and pride.

 

Contents

Introduction Encounters in Marikana
1
The Massacre A Narrative Account Based on Workers Testimonies
15
Background Interviews
43
Speeches
65
Interviews with Mineworkers
80
Analysis and Conclusion
169
They Died at Marikana
196
Endnotes
200
Authors
209
Back Cover
212
Copyright

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About the author (2012)

Peter Alexander is a professor of sociology and the director of the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Johannesburg. Thapelo Lekgowa is a freelance research fieldworker working with the South African Research Chair in Social Change, a social activist, and a photographer. Botsang Mmope is a herbal healer associated with Green World Africa and an active member of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee. Luke Sinwell is a senior researcher with the Research Chair in Social Change at the University of Johannesburg and a coeditor of "Contesting Transformation: Popular Resistance in Twenty-First-Century South Africa." "Bongani Xezwi is a freelance research fieldworker and the Gauteng organiser for the Right to Know Campaign.

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