New mass revolutionary actions are deepening the struggle against the monarchy, for bread and for national liberation

Bring down the monarchy that makes Swazi people starve
and King Mswati, agent of imperialism

We must set up workers and peasants councils and a workers militia!
For a provisional revolutionary worker and peasant government!

In the small South African kingdom of Swaziland (renamed Eswatini by the king against the will of its inhabitants) since May, the masses have been fighting against the bloody monarchy of Mswati III and the terrible living conditions, facing a brutal repression with dead, wounded, disappearances and raids by the army. In June, the workers, peasants and students with revolutionary actions, blockades, demonstrations and farm burning paralyzed the country, attacking the property of the transnationals and the monarch, whom they made him flee, leaving the regime in crisis.
Continuing this combat, since last October 1, more than 10,000 protesters took to the streets again, facing the terrible repression unleashed by the police and the army. They marched to the US embassy to deliver a petition for the US ambassador to intercede to free the detainees. But they were violently dispersed before arriving, because as is their custom the damn police used live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas. The army was also deployed and soldiers were seen fencing off roads to prevent people from joining the protests.

The students and teachers of primary and secondary school are the vanguard of these new uprisings. They have been occupying schools since June, holding rallies to demand free education, a larger state budget, less populated classrooms and the appointment of thousands of new teachers and professors and school managers to fill long-suspended vacancies. They have been also marching against the threat of privatization of education. The protests this week included demonstrations in schools where students chanted "Mswati must fall" and "Free our parliamentarians", demanding the release of two members of Parliament, imprisoned since July.
Transport workers are other pillar of the protests. They are affiliates of SACAWU, who have gone on strike in several cities. Since October 14, they have also launched a national public transport strike, supported by the population in general, especially by other sectors of transport workers, such as tanker trucks.

Bus and taxi drivers went on a strike demanding a wage increase, setting a minimum wage equal to the family basket, a statute in which the job description is clearly established so that they are not forced to do other tasks that don’t belong, and improvements in working conditions and in the state of the streets and highways. Another central point in their demands is also the immediate release of the two opposition parliamentarians, who were arrested during the events of July, accused of terrorism and incitement to violence. The SACAWU general secretary proclaimed that the strike will not be over until those MPs are granted bail so that they can spend the entire trial in freedom and not in preventive detention.

In these days, the king and the prime minister have increased the crackdown, closing the study centres indefinitely, suspending the exams without a date and once again launching a ruthless attack with firearms and hydrant tanks against the demonstrations and rallies, which resulted in the death of another student and a bus driver, and more arrests of protesters. On October 10, repressive forces entered the occupied schools, arresting at least 17 students, including a 7-year-old, and leaving one student wounded.

The fundamental driver of the uprisings is hunger, unemployment and miserable living conditions, which have worsened terribly with the Pandemic, with 60% of the population living below the poverty line. But also the hatred against the oppression of the king increased. While calling to "exchange ideas in peace" at an ad hoc negotiating table, boycotted by the main parties (which have been banned for 50 years) and swears that he "loves and he is loved" by his people, the king, together with his prime minister, brands the "cowards and criminals" who oppose him of being common criminals and of "sending the poor children to protest", and of committing "satanic acts to sink the country's economy".
Actually the masses identify the monarchy as responsible for all their hardships. That is why the democratic demands of the protesters are against the absolute power of King Mswati, who came to office 35 years ago, and is an unconditional ally of imperialism to which he guarantees the looting of the nation's wealth. Some people are demanding that the prime minister and his cabinet should be directly elected by the people.Others want to overthrow the monarchy and establish a democratic republican government.

But national liberation, bread, peace, the freedom of the detainees and the democratic demands of the Swazi people will not be achieved through petitions to imperialism, which is the real chief of the King. Those demands will not come from laws of the puppet Parliament. They can only be achieved by the working class in alliance with the oppressed masses of the region, fighting for a provisional revolutionary workers and peasants' government, based on the organizations of the self-organized and armed masses. Only such a government can guarantee a free and sovereign National Constituent Assembly that leaves no trace of the murderous regime of the Swuazi nation, and the black bourgeoisie guarantor of the property of the imperialist transnationals.

The UN, the transnational corporations and the political parties of the bourgeoisie, the CP and the trade union federations of imperialism want a reconciliation pact with the armed forces of the monarchy to make cosmetic changes that keep the property of the nation in the hands of imperialism. Against this, the working class, far from stopping its revolutionary offensive, must sweep away the regime and destroy all state institutions. For this, it is necessary to set up armed self-defence committees, disband the police and win over the rank and file soldiers by destroying the monarchy's officer caste.
To achieve democratic rights, to solve the problem of hunger, health and housing, we must set up the workers and poor peasants councils; we must set up the national worker and peasant militia! We must overthrow the monarchy and set up a provisional revolutionary government based on the armed workers and peasants' councils!

Once again, the struggle of the exploited in Swaziland shows that the democratic national struggle of the masses puts in question all the borders created by imperialism in agreement with Stalinism, which gave up and betrayed the national liberation struggles of the entire Africa by giving them up. The result was the creation of semi-colonial nations ruled by a black bourgeoisie which enslaved their own people. This is shownall across southern Africa.

Victory for the struggle of the Swazi nation! Down with the monarchy of King Mswati III!
Set up workers and peasants councils and national workers militia!
For a provisional revolutionary workers and peasants government, supported by the organizations of the self-organized masses!
For a federation of Black Soviet and Socialist Republics from all over Southern Africa!

Ana Negri and Luisa Campos