....perhaps, something can be learnt for world-system praxeology from the
case of South Africa...(I am using the notion of "global apartheid" in the
following as a heuristic; no theoretical claims for, against, or concerning
essence implied)...South African apartheid did not end in the style of a
classical European revolution. The process was different. It was closer to a
Gandhi-style overcoming, albeit this model is not fully applicable either
because murder and violence of various kinds were part of the strategies of
both sides. However, the level of violence did not reach magnitudes as in
the war in Vietnam, the Algerian war of independence, or the Spanish Civil
War. In European history the class conflicts (and struggles) were mostly
between people of the same linguistic and ethnic group (e.g., French
revolutions). In South Africa topdogs and underdogs were of different
ethno-cultural-linguistic groups, one side having arrived from abroad within
the not-too-distant past. Both sides were not homogeneous -- Bantu and Zulu
on the African side; Afrikaners and English on the white side; Indians and
other groups at the fringes.
Interestingly, Mandela and friends did not call for driving the whites
into the sea but for "multiracial democracy". (Formal)(liberal) democracy
thus became a powerful weapon for the underdogs -- "one man, one vote"
(Mandela, ANC). On the underdog side non-Marxists and Marxists had some kind
of working relationship. On the topdog side, whites-against-apartheid were
important (including white elites against apartheid). The fact that South
African apartheid came to an end implies that global capital (or South
African capital) was either not "calling all the shots", as one might say,
or that their interests were not as crystallized as one might think or that
they did not have all politicians in their pockets as predicted by theory.
The end of South African apartheid looks attractive as a model for
leftist world-system praxeology. Wallerstein called for Unthinking Social
Science (book title), Frank calls for ReOrient (book title). In my opinion,
these calls have to be extended to the area of praxeology -- Unthink and
ReOrient old-fashioned eurocentric leftist praxeology if we want to remake
and Re-Form the present Global Formation (book title, Chase-Dunn) in the
direction of a democratic and just world serving the people ... just a
thought ... no essence, only heuristicism...
-gk