Talk:UMkhonto weSizwe (political party)

I would like to know who is the former of Umkhonto wesizwe political party

How is this party considered "left-wing?"

Everything this party is described as screams right-wing ideology - if it's (supposedly) "leftist" I'm certainly not seeing it.

Also, remember that Zulu nationalism has never been left-wing - it was literally allied to the Apartheid-regime for much of it's existence. Masquenox (talk) 20:31, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

None of the ideological stances have citations. Jyffizz (talk) 02:20, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

There are debates around whether this party is correctly or incorrectly considered as 'left wing' or 'right wing', worth including on their Wiki. This publication, by an authoritative source, was recently released and speaks to this question. User Guotaian deleted the source/reference arguing it is does not address this topic, but it clearly does? (Based on their Talk page, this user seems to be generally engaged in disruptive editing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Guotaian).

Maybe a better editor can incorporate the material in a way that is appropriate, neutral and fair on the article?

Joel Netshitenzhe, former African National Congress NEC member (1991-2022) and political strategist who served as head of communications under President Nelson Mandela (1994), challenges the characterisation of the party as left-wing populist in an analysis of the 2024 South African general election published by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) in July 2024. Netshitenzhe remarks that "taken as a whole, the MK party’s platform would place it in the far-right... The category ‘professed far-left’ is used guardedly, taking into account these factors and the observation made about far-right parties elsewhere (such as France) tending to combine ultra-conservative socio-cultural policies, such as xenophobia, with pro-poor social platforms. In South Africa, appellations such as ‘proto-fascist’ have been used to describe some of the self-declared far-left parties. What should be acknowledged, though, is that the radical pro-poor rhetoric is largely what attracts the mass of supporters. As such, a distinction needs to be drawn between characterisation of these parties by social scientists or commentators on the one hand, and popular perceptions (especially among their supporters) on the other." KarmanApproach (talk) 14:09, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

I am suspicious of the claim that this is a Zulu nationalist party, since its name is actually in Xhosa. Citations needed? PatGallacher (talk) 23:01, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

The statement "The party has been described as populist, Zulu nationalist" has two sources already, both of which back this up. The party itself denies the claim. The name is also the same in Zulu. Greenman (talk) 10:08, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

References