Partisan Defense Committee Letter

25 August 2012

Partisan Defense Committee P.O. Box 99, Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013

email: partisandefense@earthlink.net   www.partisandefense.org

Contact: Kevin Gilroy (212) 406-4252

Protest Massacre of South African Strikers!

The following letter was sent on 25 August to Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool at the Embassy of South Africa in Wahington, D.C.:

Dear Mr. Rasool:

The Partisan Defense Committee condemns the coldblooded August 16 massacre of at least 34 striking black mine workers and the wounding of 78 others, many of whom are in critical condition. This atrocity rivals the most infamous apartheid-era slaughters of Sharpeville 1960 and Soweto 1976.

We stand in solidarity with workers protesting the gruesome conditions at the Lonmin platinum mine at Marikana. They were fighting against starvation conditions and trying to defend themselves from automatic-weapons-toting killer cops. But, outrageously, the victims are being blamed for this atrocity. Some 260 workers were arrested, denied bail and are detained in jail. We demand the immediate release of all arrested and that all charges be dropped.

In response to the horror the Tripartite Alliance government has perpetrated, other miners have been raising demands similar to those that sparked the Marikana strike. We call for the victory of all striking South African miners. Class-conscious workers around the world will not forget the monstrous cruelty your government is responsible for.