Keyword: lula da silva

Panel Discussion: 'How do we make the economy work for the poor?'

Picture: SACSIS Video From the tragedy at Marikana to the farm workers' strikes at De Doorns, it is evident that the South African economy is not working for the poor. At the same time, President Jacob Zuma campaigned on a ticket of "economic transformation" in the run up to his re-election as president of the ANC at Mangaung. Will the ANC succeed in its quest for transformative economic development during President Zuma’s second term in office? Is this president Zuma's Lula moment? On 8...

Dreaming of Our Own Lula Moment

Picture: Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva courtesy European Parliament Richard Pithouse - We need to draw a clear distinction between redemptive fantasies that, while they may be comforting, ultimately function to legitimate injustice and, on the other hand, redemptive visions that can inspire collective action against injustice. We also need to understand that politics is dynamic - that organisations, processes and ideas that emerge from living struggles ossify, exhaust their capacity to express emancipatory energies and become detached from the lived experience of struggle that...