[DEBATE] : more on the UKZN strike

[Richard Pithouse]

it is clear that the workers, academics, students and (at the westville campus) shack dwellers are winning the strike hands down.

but dasarath chetty (head of corporate communication at ukzn) is, despite his complete humilation at various mass meetings today, winning the media battle hands down. the article just out in the latest edition of the daily news only cites chetty - unionists and students aren't cited at all - and doesn't even query chetty's claims that 'disruption was minimal'. material force doesn't guarantee hegemony....spin doctoring can be pretty effective....

btw the way the strike t-shirts read:

WE DEMAND ACADEMIC FREEDOM!
RESIST REPRESSIVE MANAGEMENT!
FREE UKZN!

naturally chetty's journalists are pretending that this is only about money. as far as i know they haven't even bothered to come onto the campus to see for themselves. 

the lawyer for the banana city settlement (on the westville campus) was contacted by ukzn lawyers today. they want to go back to court and try, again, to get their eviction organised. compromise does not appear to be in the air.

richard



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