Friday National Action: R2K to Picket against the State Security Agency!

Friday National Action: Right2Know to Picket against the State Security Agency!

R2K will be picketing against the State Security Agency’s (SSA) on Friday, October 23 in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. Our action is in direct response to the outrageous claims – as reported by the Sunday Times – of SSA officers who told parliamentary staff that the Right2Know Campaign is an agent working for a foreign government and involved in espionage for a foreign country (the USA was specifically mentioned).

We are appalled but not surprised by these absurd accusations. The Right2Know Campaign is a movement of hard working activists and ordinary people whose main objectives are to promote transparency and accountability within both the public and the private sectors as part of a collective struggle  in service to the constitutionally protected rights to freedom of expression and access to information.

We demand that the SSA publicly disassociate itself from these accusations. Not only are they completely baseless, they are also irresponsible and dangerous. The Right2Know Campaign poses no threat to ‘national security. The only threat we pose is to those who are corrupt, insecure and authoritarian.

If the SSA thinks that they can intimidate and silence our Campaign, as they have tried to do in the past to other social movements and organisations of civil society, they are sorely mistaken. We are committed, now more than ever, to continue speaking truth to power, to defend our hard-won freedoms and to intensify our work and struggles. We will do so openly and without fear.

We call on all who live and work in South Africa to join us and support our efforts to protect and expand our democracy. Unity is strength.

Power to the people!

Amandla ngawethu!

Matla ke warona!

Mag aan die mense!