Workers’ education and human crisis in Zambia: democracy and the ‘new’ world order

Abstract

The most important challenge in our era is finding ways and means to enable workers to survive the realities of the Structural Adjustment Programme which has brought untold misery and poverty on peasants and workers in Zambia. Changes taking place in the political, social and economic life of the country need to be carefully studied and thoroughly understood by workers and union leaders so that we manoeuvre through the situation in a much more rational and positive way if our newly founded democracy is to be safeguarded. To this effect workers’ education is going to play an important role in consolidating democracy. (Willie Kasase, Director of Workers’ Education & Training, Zambia Congress of Trade Unions [ZCTU] 1993: 10) Workers’ education must go towards the goal of understanding the ‘New’ World Order, in order to deal with it and challenge it locally. (Senior Zambian Trade Unionist, August 1992)