AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

66 MEGHAN MICHELLE COOPER
or political realm and the claims that individuals have a right to within a
system (Dagnino 2008b: 29). In this way, citizenship can be seen as a
prominent notion as well as “a crucial weapon not only in the struggle
against social and economic exclusion and inequality but also in the
broadening of dominant conceptions of politics” (Dagnino 2008a: 63). A
relevant example can be seen through the progressive and diverse political
agenda of the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) of South Africa.
The unifying theme of the APF has essentially been against the privatization
of basic community and worker needs, claiming the failure of
state privatization policies not only as inefficient but also as ideologically
polarizing the country (Ballard et al. 2006: 402). A movement centred on
class-based ideologies, the APF is often described as anti-neoliberal, anticapital,
anti-GEAR, anti-globalization, pro-poor, pro-human rights and
socialist (Ballard et al. 2005: 623). Due to prevailing influences from the
political right in promoting the reduction of state based capacity through
privatization and the deregulation of labour, etc., many movements have
been actively opposing this reorganization (Roche 2002: 74). Moreover,
the context and way in which the APF operate are in direct opposition to
the outcomes and nature of a capitalist society. The very claims and efforts
of the APF clearly oppose their economic and structural context,
placing citizenship as a key reference for imaging a new democratic
arena. By opposing state economic restructuring the actions of the APF
can be considered as “the survivalist responses of poor and marginalized
people who have had no alternative in the face of unemployment and a
retreating state that refuses to meet its socio-economic obligations to its
citizenry” (Ballard et al. 2006: 402). The activities and claims of the APF
suggest a fundamental reorganization of the way the state operates and
who is included and participates; thus, ultimately, the APF influences the
nature of the democratic arena in post-apartheid South Africa. This
process becomes especially conflictual in the relatively new democratic
state, where many actors have emerged with different opinions on state
transition and consolidation.
INCLUSIVITY
As previously stated, reconceptualizing the democratic arena involves
fundamentally changing the notion of who should be included in democratic
processes, considering pluralism as crucial to the many identities
within a nation state. The concept of inclusive citizenship addresses this