Researching fear and activism among farm dwellers in Citrusdal region
1. Introduction – why this project
The farm dwellers that created the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum were dissatisfied with the living and working conditions of farm workers in the Citrusdal region, and with the previous and existing efforts to organise farm dwellers to fight for better conditions. Both the depressed living and employment conditions of farm dwellers and the difficulties in organising them are well known; the two are closely related. Farm workers are among the lowest earners and find it difficult to put money aside for organisational expenses. Low literacy and educational levels make for low organisational skills. Long working hours, alcohol abuse, and lack of meeting places also make organising more difficult. Most farm workers work only seasonal, with no job security, which make joining unions and similar organisations almost impossible. The permanently employed often live on the farm where they work and risk eviction should they risk their job. Added to this, farm owners often employ whole families, so rebels risk not only their own jobs and homes, but that of their families as well. Farm dwellers live in small, scattered and remote communities, difficult for organisers to reach and difficult for farm dwellers to reach meetings from. In addition, access is controlled by owners and organisers can be prevented from entering the farm. As a consequence of these and other factors, farm workers are among the workers with the lowest levels of unionisation, and those that do belong to unions are likely to find that the union leaders and officials find it difficult to represent and serve them properly.
The starting idea behind the Farm Workers Forum was to have a local structure that depend on local activists who are farm dwellers themselves to carry out its tasks, instead of unions that often depend on town based officials to represent farm workers, and who do not as rule mobilise farm dwellers beyond labour relations issues. This orientation made quick initial progress possible and the forum soon developed a regular membership of more than 100, a functioning structure and leadership, and a good reputation among farm dwellers in the area; which is more than many a union were able to manage. However, the general difficulties in organising farm dwellers were soon felt by the Farm Workers Forum, who found it difficult to grow beyond its initial membership and to mobilise supporters into the protest actions deemed necessary by the forum.
After discussion of possible tactics the forum membership felt research around the obstacles to movement building among farm dwellers. They approach the Surplus People Project, an NGO with which they had longstanding ties, to facilitate such research. On Sunday, 21 November 2010 a focus group of farm workers and dwellers from farms in the Citrusdal area met to discuss this research project with the Surplus People Project aimed at supporting the struggles of the farm dwellers in the area. There was about 60 people in the group, almost all employed in minimum wage jobs on farms, most being Afrikaans speaking Black people classified as Coloured during the Apartheid era, consisting of just more than half women with one or two transgendered persons as well.
At the time of the discussion the participants were very much focused on a protest action they were planning for about a month later. This was to take the form of a public speak out in the main street of the town at its busiest time, during which the farm dwellers planned to name and shame the exploitative White farmers in the region. Their experience while mobilising for this and other recent protest actions provided the immediate starting point for identifying the research they felt would be most useful to them.
The activist farm dwellers have come to see resistance, mobilisation and protest as main means through which to defend their well being and achieve favourable social change. They want to build a movement through which farms workers can effectively shape society in ways that do away with their poverty and oppression. The biggest obstacle to this, in their view, is fear. In general farm dwellers desperately want change, but most of them do not become involved in building the necessary movements to achieve it because they fear the reactions and punishments of the farm owners, the rich, the state, the Whites, the men and God.
The group unanimously agreed that this fear should be the focus of the research. What is the nature of this fear? What are its causes, consequences and possible cures?
2. The research process
The research process was a joint effort between the Surplus People Project and the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum. SPP took responsibility for the day to day implementation of the project, while overall control of both the content and process of the research was exercised by the Farm Workers Forum with some input from SPP. Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza and his PhD student Fani Ncapayi, both of the University of Cape Town, also offered valuable advice. The following is a timeline of the research process that includes some projections into the future:
21 November 2011 – A general meeting of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum constitutes itself as a focus group facilitated by SPP in order to formulate the project. SPP then writes up the discussions and decisions of this group in the form of a research proposal.
April 2011 – A meeting between SPP and Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza and Fani Ncapayi, both of whom have read the proposal and are able to draw on their extensive experience in agrarian scholarship and activism to offer advice to the project.
16 April 2011 – SPP facilitates a general meeting of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum in Elandskloof to formulate a research plan, including a set of questions that would form the basis for the questionnaire. Fani Ncapayi also participates. SPP uses the questions formulated by this meeting to draft a questionnaire.
27 May 2011 – SPP and the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum has a workshop with the fieldworkers for this project. Fieldworkers are trained in the overall nature of the project and the use of the questionnaire, the questionnaire is refined and finalised, and a test run of field interviews are conducted.
2 – 8 June 2011 – Fieldwork is completed, jointly managed by SPP and Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum.
June/July 2011 – Data is captured and collated.
23 July 2011 – A workshop of SPP and Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum discusses the collated data and gives guidance as to further analysis and the form of the research report.
6 August 2011 – A focus group of farm dwellers drawn from the farms where the research was conducted meets in order to share, discuss and triangulate the findings so far. The inputs of this focus group are to be part of the final research findings.
October 2011 – finalisation and publication of research report.
October/November 2011 – The research is presented to a public forum hosted by SPP and the Citrusdal farm Workers Forum in the Citrusdal area.
3. Findings:
3.1 Membership of farm dweller organisations
40 people indicated that they are members of farm dweller organisations. Of these 4 organisations can arguably be seen as specifically created to mobilise farm workers and dwellers for their rights. They are Bawusa, Citrusdal Farm Dwellers Forum, Fawu and Sikhula Sonke. In this group only the Citrusdal Farm Dwellers Forum is not a union. The unions have a combined membership of 28, with Sikhula Sonke having the highest number - 19. Added to the 2 members of the forum, this means only 30 of the 181 farm workers and dwellers interviewed belong to organisations mobilising for better working and living conditions for farm dwellers.
The reasons people put forward for belonging to these organisations focus mainly on the capacity of the organisations to represent farm workers in disputes with their employers. Another reason put forward is that membership in these organisations provides farm dwellers with knowledge and information.
136 people indicated that they do not belong to farm dweller organisations, which comes to 75.1%. 41 people, or 22.7% of respondents, gave their reason for not belonging to any organisations as simply not knowing of any organisation. This was by far the highest number. The next three biggest groups were the 13 people who said there were no organisations on their farm, the 12 who said they had not interest and the 11 who said they did not know why they were not members of these organisations. The group of 13, and probably some of the group of 11, could be added to the 41 whose reason was no knowledge. This group would then be more than 29.9% of respondents.
Only 11 respondents put forward fear of the employers as their reason for not belonging to the organisations. To this we can probably add the 6 that gave as their reason being new or temporary workers. The rest of the responses focused on the performance, or lack of it, of the farm dweller organisations themselves. For example, 10 respondents said that the unions and organisations do not meet their expectations.
The vast majority of farm dwellers do not belong to mobilising organisations. Of the minority that does, most belong to unions. This would suggest that a focus on traditional union issues such as wages, working conditions and job security would assist the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum in attracting members. However, this does not mean other issues should be ignored. Certainly the issue of housing deserve as much attention as labour issues, with which it is closely connected in the case of farm dwellers.
More than 29.9% of respondents do not belong to organisations simply because they lack contact and information. This group can provide the Farm Workers Forum with a source of very quick growth. This growth can be even quicker, and be more sustainable, if the Forum manages to avoid the typical disappointments farm workers experience with regard to trade unions. These disappointments are not being contactable in the event of problems arising, not pitching up for meetings and disciplinary hearings, and not visiting the members regularly. Being a local group led by local farm dwellers, the Forum should be able to avoid these problems.
The issue of fear is important, but as far as recruiting members go, it seems that it is not the main obstacle. Where people have voice fear as a problem, this has been more pronounced among new and temporary workers. The fear is of being dismissed. This suggests that the Forum should focus on developing a strategy that would stop employers from dismissing workers simply because they belong to the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum.
3.2 Speaking to white farmers, police officers and other people in authority
146 respondents indicated that they could speak freely to white farmers and other authority figures about any problems. Only 32 (17.7%) said there were serious obstacles in the way of conversations between them and white farmers about the problems caused by these white farmers. This was the only result of the survey that was vehemently challenged and rejected by the focus group of farm dwellers that met on 6 August 2011 to discuss, analyse, add to and, where called for, call into question the research results. They felt the figures were all wrong; there are many more people with problems with regard to speaking to authority figures. In fact, the focus group went so far as to unanimously agree that the vast majority of farm dwellers are unable to speak effectively to white farmers about the social problems caused by the white farmers.
One participant told a story by way of an example. A woman went into labour on a farm late one night after the owner had locked the access gate. Someone had to go tell the farmer what was happening and insist that he unlock the gate and assist with getting the woman to medical help. No one in that farm dweller community was prepared to do so for fear of the farm owner’s reaction. They rather telephoned the participant, who was on another farm and was known as a strong leader. He then had to contact the farmer in question and insist on the necessary arrangements.
The position of the focus group is supported by what we know about racism, its prevalence in South Africa, especially in the rural areas, and how it encourages interpersonal relations of white domination and black submission, often without overtly insisting on it. Their position is also supported by the discussion that took place at the meeting of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum on 21 November 2010 where this project was first agreed to and elaborated. On that day the discussants noted a possible obstacle to the project: fear is also a source of shame, men especially are taught from an early age not to admit that they are afraid. How then would the project be able to discuss and understand fear if people do not want to admit that they are afraid? This dynamic would explain why such a high number of respondents said they were not afraid at all to speak to white farmers about problems.
With these qualifications in mind, let us nevertheless look at the survey results. Of those that indicated they could speak freely, the biggest group (75 or 41.5%) indicated that they could do so because they either knew their rights, or they knew the issues, or they belonged to an organisation. There were no such dominant group among people who said they could not speak freely, most of their reasons given differed from individual to individual or was shared by 2 people. Although we would argue that 14 of the respondents, which come to 7.9% of total respondents, indicated fear of some form of victimisation as their main reason for not speaking out.
A compromised capacity to speak out about their problems to authority figures probably affects much larger numbers of farm dwellers than survey results indicate. The results suggest that part of the solution would be to combat lack of information and isolation. Those who speak out usually had some connection to sources of information about conditions, rights and organisations. The Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum can play a big role in this regard.
3.4 What support do farm dwellers want from the Farm Dwellers Forum?
Interestingly the biggest group (25 people; 13.8%) simply wants more information about the activities of the Forum and of unions and other organisations. Another group of 16 (8.8%) wants information about rights, legislation and policies. This means by far the biggest group among respondents, 22.6%, sees information sharing as the important support activity they would want from the Forum.
The next biggest group (22) wants help with unspecified ‘problems of farm workers.’ 19 respondents want help with labour issues such as sick leave and retrenchments, 14 want help with finances, loans and wages, and 18 want help with obtaining social services such as housing, electricity, sanitation and water. Only 1 said he/she wanted the Forum to help with access to agricultural land, and 6 said the Forum should assist with resisting evictions. Small numbers of respondents are pretty evenly spread between wanting help for farm workers to overcome oppression, addressing violence and drug abuse, and improving the general conditions on farms.
These findings suggest that the Farm Workers Forum must concentrate on providing information and on being present when farm workers confront employers about working and living conditions. The information must be about broad political and social issues that affect farm dwellers, and it must be about the activities, structures and strategies of the forum itself. In the conflicts between farm dwellers and farm owners, the owners derive great power from isolating and targeting particular farm workers and dwellers that the owners view as trouble makers. The presence of the forum at such points of conflict can go a long way towards neutralising this particular source of power of the farm owners. Both these tasks are well within the capacity of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum, which suggests that it would be able to grow fairly quickly.
3.5 Taking part in a lawful protest march and a protected strike
135 or 74.6% of respondents indicated their willingness to take part in lawful protest marches and protected strikes. A group of 40 gave their reason as simply doing something that they have a right to do. Another group of 19 or 10.5% said the reason they would participate is precisely because the proper procedures have been followed. 10 respondents said they would participate if they were properly informed. This collective group of 69, focusing on procedural issues such as rights, applications and information sharing, make up a group comprising 38.1% of the respondents.
The rest of the respondents that answered yes did not focus on procedural issues in motivating their answers. Instead, this group of 66 or 36.5% of the respondents focused on substantive issues – they were motivated by what they could gain out of such an action. Examples among this group include the 14 that said they would do it so they voices of the people could be heard, the 5 that said they would do it for better wages and working conditions and the three that indicated they would participate in order to stop evictions. There were no big subgroups among this group; they were fairly evenly divided into 20 small subgroups. Remarkably of those that said yes only 3 indicated that they had taken part in a lawful march or procedural strike before.
36 respondents (19.9%) indicated that they would not be willing to take part in a lawful protest march or a procedural strike. It is noteworthy that none of these respondents directly said that such actions do not achieve anything. Most people motivated their positions in terms of personal preferences based on their circumstances such as being too old, lacking information or not belonging to a union. An important minority of 13 (7.2%) ascribed their position to fear of violence and victimisation.
In the next question respondents were specifically asked to imagine negative things that could happen to them as a result of taking part in lawful marches and procedural strikes. It is perhaps important to note that responses to this question could give an exaggerated impression of people’s fearfulness as they are simply asked what they possibly would fear and not exactly how afraid they are. Despite this the biggest single group of respondents was the 30 that said nothing could happen to them. After this group there were four noticeable ones that said they feared being evicted (23 people), being dismissed (22 people), getting injured (20 people), and going to jail (10 people).
Respondents were then asked what must happen in order for them to take part in a lawful march and procedural strike. There is a noticeable consistency between their responses to this and earlier questions. Of the 160 that responded, 75 focused on procedural issues such as the proper procedure, arrangements, adequate information, food and transport. The rest of the responses focused on substantive issues such as stopping evictions and rights violations. The substantive issues were not dominated by big groups, the biggest being the 9 that said they would take part to stop evictions and the rest being small groups 2, 3 or 5.
Most farm dwellers are prepared to take part in lawful protest marches and protected strikes. To do so they require good information about their rights, assurance that proper procedures have been followed, and a clear understanding of how these actions would contribute to improving their lives. Those who do not want to take part do not necessarily believe that these actions are unnecessary; they either fear violence and victimisation, or they feel their personal circumstances do not allow them to participate. Among both these groups very few have actually taken part in lawful marches and procedural strikes, and it is perfectly possible that with more experience more people will be more positive about taking part in these types of actions. In the meantime, there is clearly a big base among farm dwellers if the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum would want to use lawful marches and protected strikes as part of a strategy to mobilise farm dwellers. However, the forum would do well to put serious efforts into convincing people that they would not be evicted, dismissed, injured or jailed as a result of taking part in these actions, or alternatively that the potential gains justify these risks, or that these risks can be indeed minimised and managed.
3.6 Taking part in an illegal land occupation
Over the last twenty years countries such as Brazil, Zimbabwe and Venezuela have seen the transfer of thousands upon thousands of hectares of agricultural land from rich land owners to poor farmers and landless rural workers. South Africa has seen nothing of the sort, in spite or maybe because of an official programme of land reform. A key difference between here and there was the existence in Brazil, Zimbabwe and Venezuela of social movements of the rural poor strong enough to use land occupations as a tactic to force the taking of land from the rich. All indications are that South Africa’s extreme inequality in land ownership will persist until the rural poor are able to build movements of similar strength and tactical orientation.
A minority of 37 (20.4%) respondents indicated that they would be willing to take part in illegal land occupations. Among there in no particularly big group, the biggest being three groups of 6 each that respectively gave as their motivations that they believe the land belongs to them because it had belonged to their ancestors, that they really want their own land, and that it is a matter of justice. The rest of these respondents are divided into 14 groups of between 1 and 3 members, with 12 groups only having 1 member. The reasons they gave as their motivation included the greed of the white farmers, land that is not used productively, solidarity, bad conditions on the farms, not having a place to live, and seeking empowerment for farm workers.
As part of the preparatory work for this research, a test run was conducted on a limited number of farms with an early version of the questionnaire. The results showed an important pattern in the responses that are not shown in these results because not enough members and supporters of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum were interviewed in the actual research. We nevertheless here include an analysis of this aspect of the results of the test run because of its potential importance.
The responses of the farm dwellers can be divided into two distinct sets, remarkably without exception. The first set is the majority who are adamant that they will not even think of taking part in land occupations. Asked why not, they do not put forward moral reasons, none of them think of illegal land occupations as inherently wrong and therefore not to be taken part in. Their reasons all have to with fear of violence and dispossession by the state and white land owners. This set of respondents consists of a comprehensive cross section of the total participants. There are union members and non-members, there are men and women, young and old, permanent and casual workers, in fact, apart from being people who either live or work on farms situated around the town of Citrusdal, they have only one thing in common – they are not members of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum and have not participated in its activities.
The second set of respondents is similarly diverse except that they are all members and participants in the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum. This forum, in conjunction with SPP, has been conducting a series of popular education workshops on among other things land occupations. It included reflections on the causes and meaning of South Africa’s starkly racist land ownership patterns, critical investigations of government policies and programmes around land and agriculture, discussions of rural social movements and their tactics in countries such as Mexico and Brazil, as well as exchange visits with formerly land starved farmers that have benefitted from land redistribution in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. These experiences have clearly given the participants a perspective on illegal land occupations that they otherwise would not have.
They have all declared a willingness to participate in land occupations, despite stating that they fear the same things that the first set identified as the factors turning them against participation completely. Popular education have given them the opportunity to question their society, their place in it, and the role of the own opinions and fears in keeping them in that place. They could therefore come to the conclusion that some risks are worth taking, especially if taken and mitigated collectively. Popular education has clearly contributed to establishing the beginnings of a base for a land occupation movement.
The 124 (68.5%) respondents that during the actual research indicated an aversion to taking part in land occupations advanced reasons that were quite similar to those in the test run. Only 5 said that illegal land occupations were inherently wrong. The rest had instrumental issues that focused on likely negative consequences to themselves. The biggest group by far was the 49 (27.1%) that simply said they would not take part because it was illegal and therefore dangerous. To this group we should add, among others, the 4 that said they are afraid to get into trouble, the 8 that said they fear getting shot to death or going to jail, the 11 that said it was too dangerous, and the 5 that said it could have serious consequences.
In the next question respondents were specifically asked to imagine negative things that could happen to them as a result of taking part in illegal land occupations. Like with regard to participation in lawful protests and procedural strikes, it is perhaps important to note that responses to this question could give an exaggerated impression of people’s fearfulness as they are simply asked what they possibly would fear and not exactly how afraid they are.
170 people (93.9%) responded to this question. Most responses can be divided into two groups: those that most fear the responses of white farmers (77 people or 45.2% of those that responded), and those that most fear the responses of the state (67 people or 39.4% of those that responded). The other 26 did not specify who they think will assault or injure them (11 respondents), penalise them (1 respondent), damage farm products (1 respondent), fight (2 respondents), or cause accidents, arson and terrorism (1 respondents).
Among those that most feared the responses of the white farmers, the biggest group was the 36 respondents that said they feared dismissal and evictions. Among those that most feared the responses of the state, the biggest group was the 65 respondents that said they feared getting arrested. A significant group (31 or 18.2%) of those that responded said that they feared violence, either from the white farmers, the state or unspecified forces. These responses clearly reflect the intensifying racist marginalisation of farm dwellers over the last two decades, when two million were evicted by white farmers with impunity despite more than 99% of these evictions not being in compliance with the law.
The next question asked respondents to specify what they thought should happen to bring them to appoint where they took part in illegal land occupations. A large group (55 or 30.3%) did not answer this question, or rather gave answers that meant they could not imagine taking part in such an action. The rest of the answers are spread over smaller group, although there are two significant composite groups. The first is the group of 31 or 17.1% that indicated they would take part in land occupation if they were evicted and had no homes. The second is the group of 37 or 20.4% that said they would require a good process in order to take part, a process that included support from unions and other organisations, unity and solidarity, adequate information, good planning, attention to safety, membership of an organisation, leadership from the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum, and spelling out the advantages and disadvantages.
Most farm dwellers are not prepared to take part in illegal land occupations at present, but a significant minority is. This minority can be enlarged through popular education that explains the reasons behind land occupations to farm dwellers. Fear of evictions, dismissal, arrest and violence are the main obstacles to participation. Importantly, those that face dismissal and evictions are among the most willing to consider land occupations. This suggests that should they get involved in land occupations the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum should target those farmers known for dismissing and evicting farm dwellers, and the forum should find people previously evicted from farms and recruit them to take part in these occupations. The importance of education, organisation and a collective response to threats of violence and arrest cannot be over-emphasised.
3.7 Fears holding farm dwellers back from taking action
The last question asked respondents to name the fears they thought were keeping farm dwellers from taking action for their own liberation. Its purpose was not so much to elicit new information, but to give respondents a chance to reflect on their earlier answers from the point of view of other farm dwellers instead of themselves as individuals. Maybe respondents would more readily admit to the fears of others rather than their own. In the event the responses were along the same lines as the earlier ones, no surprises or reasons for doubting its reliability.
161 people responded to this question. A big majority (105 or 65.2%) of responses are fairly evenly spread among the following 4 relatively large groups: 30 respondents simply said people were too afraid of the whites to speak, 29 said people feared being evicted most of all, 25 felt dismissals was the main fear, and 21 said farm dwellers feared violence and assault by farm owners. Some of the other, less frequent, responses were the 9 that said farm dwellers do not stand together enough, the 9 that said people feared the threats of white people, and the 3 that said the main fear was for humiliation and insults. Only 1 person identified fear of the police as the main problem, the other responses all focused on white farmers and their inclination and ability to discriminate and intimidate.
It is a well known cumulative effect of institutionalised racism that white superiority and black inferiority becomes internalised psychologically to the extent that it forms part of the basis for interactions between individual members of these groups. Overbearing arrogance becomes a default posture for whites when dealing with blacks, while at the same time blacks tend towards a position of fearful meekness in their dealings with whites. In rural settings, generally, circumstances tend to intensify this dynamic. The historic remedy for this is the overthrow of white power, the expropriation of white wealth, and possibly the dispersal of the white community as such.
The responses offer more than enough evidence of the presence of this dynamic in the Citrusdal area. What does this mean for immediate prospects? Given the deep historic roots of fear among farm dwellers, and given the continued operation of white power and wealth, how can this fear be sufficiently overcome to make possible the building of an effective movement of farm dwellers? Just as the results of this survey indicate the deep historical reasons for farm dweller fears and the consequent difficulties in doing away with it, it also offers rich guidance on how to proceed in the immediate.
Yes, the fears of farm dwellers are rooted in the general history of institutionalised racism, but it is also rooted in the experience of a specific set of vulnerabilities that are well within the capacity of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum to address. Of these the main ones are:
· Dismissals
· Evictions
· Assault
· Arrest
· Isolation
· Disunity.
4. Summary and conclusions
The vast majority of farm dwellers do not belong to mobilising organisations. Of the minority that does, most belong to unions. This would suggest that a focus on traditional union issues such as wages, working conditions and job security would assist the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum in attracting members. However, this does not mean other issues should be ignored. Certainly the issue of housing deserve as much attention as labour issues, with which it is closely connected in the case of farm dwellers.
More than 29.9% of respondents do not belong to organisations simply because they lack contact and information. This group can provide the Farm Workers Forum with a source of very quick growth. This growth can be even quicker, and be more sustainable, if the Forum manages to avoid the typical disappointments farm workers experience with regard to trade unions. These disappointments are not being contactable in the event of problems arising, not pitching up for meetings and disciplinary hearings, and not visiting the members regularly. Being a local group led by local farm dwellers, the Forum should be able to avoid these problems.
The issue of fear is important, but as far as recruiting members go, it seems that it is not the main obstacle. Where people have voice fear as a problem, this has been more pronounced among new and temporary workers. The fear is of being dismissed. This suggests that the Forum should focus on developing a strategy that would stop employers from dismissing workers simply because they belong to the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum.
A compromised capacity to speak out about their problems to authority figures probably affects much larger numbers of farm dwellers than survey results indicate. The results suggest that part of the solution would be to combat lack of information and isolation. Those who speak out usually had some connection to sources of information about conditions, rights and organisations. The Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum can play a big role in this regard.
These findings suggest that the Farm Workers Forum must concentrate on providing information and on being present when farm workers confront employers about working and living conditions. The information must be about broad political and social issues that affect farm dwellers, and it must be about the activities, structures and strategies of the forum itself. In the conflicts between farm dwellers and farm owners, the owners derive great power from isolating and targeting particular farm workers and dwellers that the owners view as trouble makers. The presence of the forum at such points of conflict can go a long way towards neutralising this particular source of power of the farm owners. Both these tasks are well within the capacity of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum, which suggests that it would be able to grow fairly quickly.
Most farm dwellers are prepared to take part in lawful protest marches and protected strikes. To do so they require good information about their rights, assurance that proper procedures have been followed, and a clear understanding of how these actions would contribute to improving their lives. Those who do not want to take part do not necessarily believe that these actions are unnecessary; they either fear violence and victimisation, or they feel their personal circumstances do not allow them to participate. Among both these groups very few have actually taken part in lawful marches and procedural strikes, and it is perfectly possible that with more experience more people will be more positive about taking part in these types of actions. In the meantime, there is clearly a big base among farm dwellers if the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum would want to use lawful marches and protected strikes as part of a strategy to mobilise farm dwellers. However, the forum would do well to put serious efforts into convincing people that they would not be evicted, dismissed, injured or jailed as a result of taking part in these actions, or alternatively that the potential gains justify these risks, or that these risks can be indeed minimised and managed.
Most farm dwellers are not prepared to take part in illegal land occupations at present, but a significant minority is. This minority can be enlarged through popular education that explains the reasons behind land occupations to farm dwellers. Fear of evictions, dismissal, arrest and violence are the main obstacles to participation. Importantly, those that face dismissal and evictions are among the most willing to consider land occupations. This suggests that should they get involved in land occupations the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum should target those farmers known for dismissing and evicting farm dwellers, and the forum should find people previously evicted from farms and recruit them to take part in these occupations. The importance of education, organisation and a collective response to threats of violence and arrest cannot be over-emphasised.
It is a well known cumulative effect of institutionalised racism that white superiority and black inferiority becomes internalised psychologically to the extent that it forms part of the basis for interactions between individual members of these groups. Overbearing arrogance becomes a default posture for whites when dealing with blacks, while at the same time blacks tend towards a position of fearful meekness in their dealings with whites. In rural settings, generally, circumstances tend to intensify this dynamic. The historic remedy for this is the overthrow of white power, the expropriation of white wealth, and possibly the dispersal of the white community as such.
The responses offer more than enough evidence of the presence of this dynamic in the Citrusdal area. What does this mean for immediate prospects? Given the deep historic roots of fear among farm dwellers, and given the continued operation of white power and wealth, how can this fear be sufficiently overcome to make possible the building of an effective movement of farm dwellers? Just as the results of this survey indicate the deep historical reasons for farm dweller fears and the consequent difficulties in doing away with it, it also offers rich guidance on how to proceed in the immediate.
Yes, the fears of farm dwellers are rooted in the general history of institutionalised racism, but it is also rooted in the experience of a specific set of vulnerabilities that are well within the capacity of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum to address. Of these the main ones are:
· Dismissals
· Evictions
· Assault
· Arrest
· Isolation
· Disunity.
An action programme that firstly focus on support and solidarity for farm dweller activists, and secondly on identifying and neutralising farm owners guilty of dismissals, evictions and assaults, will make the furious growth of a farm dweller movement a certainty. In this sense the results of this research survey offers clear guidance to the activists of the Citrusdal Farm Workers Forum:
· Indentify at least one farm owner guilty of dismissing, evicting and assaulting people.
· Make the operation of that farm impossible until justice has been achieved. Block roads, damage crops, destroy equipment, occupy the land, encourage all farm dwellers to do the same.
· Do not allow individual activists to be isolated.
For the oppressed the experience of winning through struggle is the antidote to fear.
