July 2014

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The Beautiful Smiles of the Fallen Children of Gaza

Picture: Hind Shadi Abu Harbied (10) died of a heart attack during a bomb attack on Beit Hanoun on July 14, 2014, courtesy Humanize Palestine. Fazila Farouk - On 28 July 2014, Defence for Children International Palestine reported that the death toll for the children of Gaza was 200 and rising. However, in the past day or two, the world received news that Israel had bombed a United Nations school in Gaza killing 15 people, mostly women and children. The Guardian newspaper reports, “United Nations officials described the killing of sleeping children as a disgrace to the world and accused Israel of a serious violation of international...

Provincial Centres for Entrepreneurship? South Africa's New Small Business Ministry Gets Off on Wrong Foot

Picture: Youth Development Outreach Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen - South Africans of all stripes often lament the general lack of entrepreneurial success and limited support for its development in the country. So when President Jacob Zuma created a new small business ministry, the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), soon after entering his second term in office, the news was well received all round. The new ministry has its work cut out for it, but its minister, Lindiwe Zulu, appears confident that it will be up and running and producing...

The New Scramble for Africa: Natural Resource Extraction and the Latest Frontier in the War on Terror

Picture: Global Research Video Seven of the fastest growing economies in the world are African. As a continent, the African economy is growing at 7-10%, which is faster than any other continent, but Africa’s growth is fuelled by debt and the mass sale of resources. From Chinese and French interests in Africa’s mineral resources to America’s expanding War on Terror, a host of imposing nations are attempting to consolidate their grip on Africa. Marwan Bishara of Al Jazeera’s Empire travels to Kenya,...

A Historic Interview: Nadine Gordimer on the 'Distorted South African Psyche'

Picture: Bill Moyers & Company Video In this 1990 interview with Bill Moyers, the recently deceased celebrated South African writer, Nadine Gordimer, says that she was slow to develop a political understanding, but that she came to understand politics through how it affected people rather than through theory. She talks about the astonishing experience of meeting real revolutionaries in the 1960's who went to jail for their ideals, which she says, was a revelation to her coming from a "petit bourgeoisie" background....

Conventional Education Fails to Deliver the Goods

Picture: Dissent Magazine Glenn Ashton - We have thrown bags of money at education over the past two decades. Education consumes nearly a quarter of our total budget, close to a quarter of a trillion Rand a year. We spend more money on education than anything else. Yet despite tardy progress, meaningfully reforming the broken apartheid era education system appears to be an impossible task. We still have some of the worst outcomes in the world as far as literacy and numeracy are concerned. We still struggle to properly teach the...

Israel/Palestine 101: An Animated Introduction to Understanding the Root Causes of the Conflict

Picture: Jewish Voice for Peace Video In 1967, Israel defeated neighbouring Arab countries in a war that lasted six days. At the end of that war, Israel had captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The West Bank has been under a military occupation ever since. This means that the Israeli army has complete control over these areas. Gaza retained a Jewish settler population and was under total military control until the Israeli government unilaterally withdrew soldiers and some 8,000 settlers in 2005. Israel,...