2004 election poster of the Socialist Party of Azania, featuring party president Lybon Mabasa

The Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) is a political party in South Africa. The party was formed on March 21, 1998. The forefathers of the party were also founding members of the 1970s Black Consciousness Movement which was led by Steve Biko. Among noted members of SOPA are Professor Itumeleng Mosala, Dr. Gomoleo Mokae, Tiyani Lybon Mabasa, Musa Kunta Mohamed, Phineas Malapela, Patrick Mkhize, Console Tleane and the late Strini Moodley. The President of South Africa, in full, the President of the Republic of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africas Constitution. ... Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born June 18, 1942) is the President of the Republic of South Africa. ... The Deputy President of South Africa is appointed by the President of South Africa. ... Mrs Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (born November 3, 1955) is the current Deputy President of South Africa. ... Ministers, in the South African government, are Members of Parliament who hold a ministerial warrant to perform certain functions of government. ... A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws. ... The Parliament of South Africa is South Africas legislature and is composed of the National Assembly of South Africa and the National Council of Provinces. ... The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. ... The National Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape Province. ... The Speaker of the National Assembly presides over the South African National Assembly. ... Tony Leon Anthony James Leon (born 15 December 1956) is a South African politician and the leader of the Democratic Alliance, South Africas main opposition party and current leader of the opposition. ... Helen Zille (b. ... Elections in South Africa take place on national, provincial, and local levels. ... The Judiciary of South Africa is an independent branch of government, subject only to the South African Constitution and the laws of the country. ... The South African Constitutional Court was established in 1994 by South Africas first democratic constitution: the Interim Constitution of 1993. ... The South African Supreme Court of Appeal (Afrikaans; Hoogste Hof van Appel van Suid Afrika) is the South African court that has the final say on all matters other than those that involve the interpretation of the constitution. ... The High Court of South Africa is a court of law in South Africa. ... Magistrates Courts in South Africa are the lower courts and the courts of of first instance and decide all matters as provided for by an act of parliament. ... A map of the nine provinces of South Africa South Africa is currently divided into nine provinces. ... A map of the 52 districts of South Africa South Africa is divided into 52 districts (Metropolitan and District municipalities). ... Municipalities in South Africa are a division of local government that lie one level down from provincial government, and form the lowest level of democratically elected government structures in the country. ... Political parties in South Africa lists political parties in South Africa. ... Foreign Relations of South Africa South African forces fought on the Allied side in both World War I and World War II, and it participated in the postwar United Nations force in the Korean War. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean by UNESCO. [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ... The Black Consciousness Movement was a movement which called for non-violent black resistance to the Apartheid government in South Africa. ... Stephen Biko Stephen Bantu Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a noted nonviolent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and early 1970s. ... Strinivasa Strini Moodley (22 December 1945 – 27 April 2006) was a founding member of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. ...

SOPA's ideology is derived from both the Black Consciousness Movement and from Scientific Socialism (revolutionary Marxism). The goal of the party is the liberation of Azania (currently South Africa), so that the Black people within the country, who form the majority of the population, can have a larger voice in its political system. The party was created in response to the post-apartheid South African government which, the party believes, allows continuing cultural, social, and economic dominance by white South Africans. SOPA believes that this situation is perpetuated by "non-whites" in positions of power who are not attentive to the needs of fellow Blacks, and calls for political leadership which stands in solidarity with the Black population of the country. Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. ... Marxism takes its name from the praxis (the synthesis of philosophy and political action) of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Azania is the name that has been applied to various parts of sub-Saharan Africa. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ...

It is SOPA's perspective that in order to liberate the poorest of the Black majority of population from despair, the working class must lead a proletarian revolution which will abolish the system based upon the private ownership of fundamental means of production, and result in the redistribution of land and nationalisation of basic industries. This plan would, according to theory, reverse the detrimental effects of the racist apartheid and capitalist system which they believe has placed the Black poor in desperate economic and social situations. The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... A communist revolution is a social revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, normally with socialism (public ownership over the means of production) as an intermediate stage. ... A segregated beach in South Africa, 1982. ... It has been suggested that Definitions of capitalism be merged into this article or section. ...

In 1998, leading SOPA figures participated in an international Tribunal on Africa, "to judge those responsible for the murderous course imposed on the workers and peoples of Africa." The Tribunal held that economic policies affecting Africa—as formulated by such international institutions as the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and International Monetary Fund, and the cooperation of what SOPA sees as neocolonial governments like that of the African National Congress—have led to disastrous living conditions for the majority of Africans. SOPA regards such policies and practices as imperialism on behalf of multinational corporations. Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... “IMF” redirects here. ... Definition from Oxford English Dictionary: The use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures to control or influence another country; esp. ... For political parties with similar names in other countries, see Northern Rhodesian African National Congress and Zambian African National Congress. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A multinational corporation (MNC) or transnational corporation (TNC) is one that spans multiple nations; these corporations are often very large. ...

The current president of SOPA is Lybon Masaba. In the 2004 elections, SOPA received 0.1% of the vote. The party is affiliated with the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International. Although party members include socialists of different stripes, some of its most influential members are Trotskyists, and they comprise the Azanian Section of the reproclaimed Fourth International. The International Liaison Committee for a Workers International is a Trotskyist international grouping around Pierre Lamberts Parti des Travailleurs in France. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... The Fourth International - International Centre of Reconstruction is an international Trotskyist tendency. ...

External links

• Official site (under construction)
  

• From the President of SOPA
• 2004 Election Manifesto of the Socialist Party of Azania
• Tribunal on Africa
  

• "Cosatu must back land demands", South African Press Association (SAPA), 17 Sept.2006
• "Death of Steve Biko remembered 29 years on", Pretoria News, 13 Sept. 2006
• "Awards should reflect myriad contributions to the struggle", The Sowetan, 15 June 2006
• "Govt 'working for white bosses'", SAPA, 29 Jan. 2006
• Interview with Lybon Mabasa, 10 Nov. 2004, KPFA-FM (Berkeley, California)
• "SOPA renews unity call to PAC, AZAPO", SABC News, 23 Mar. 2002
• "Azanian Socialist Party plans to register", SAPA, 6 Apr. 1998
  

• "Steve Biko" at Columbia University's Social Justice Wiki
• Hamba Kahle Spartacus! A tribute to Khotso Seatlholo
• A memorial to Tsietsi Masinini
• Online Archive of Frank Talk, a Black Consciousness theoretical journal from KwaZulu-Natal, 1984-1990
  

See also

• Black Consciousness Movement
• African Independence Movements: South Africa
• Reproclaimed Fourth International
• List of Trotskyist internationals