The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
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Economists never in their wildest imagination anticipated a technology revolution whose productivity was so extreme that it is bringing marginal costs to near zero, making goods and services essentially free, abundant and beyond profit in the exchange capitalist economy. That's what's beginning to happen, argues Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends. We saw the zero marginal cost phenomenon sweep through the information goods industry when, facilitated by the...
The Western Cape produces more than 80 percent of South Africa’s table grapes and the Berg and Hex River Valleys are the country's primary production areas. Table grapes are among the world's most traded fruits and the prevailing climatic conditions in these valleys provide an unusually long eight-month window for production.
IRIN's latest film, Land of Dust, looks at the conditions of the workers in the Hex River Valley, where long hours, low wages, poor health and education...
Loneliness has become the most common ailment of the modern world. One of the possible reasons for this is the online social network. We're collecting friends like stamps and not distinguishing between quantity and quality. We're exchanging the deep meaning and intimacy of friendship for chats instead of having conversations. By doing so, we're sacrificing conversation for mere connection. And so a paradoxical situation is created in which we claim to have many friends while actually...
N.B. Sensitive viewers are warned that this video contains graphic images.
Nigeria has a "voodoo economy" contends Nigerian architect and environmental activist, Nnimmo Bassey. Despite Nigeria’s economy growing at an annual rate of six percent and surpassing South Africa to become the biggest economy in Africa, the country’s wealth is concentrated in a few hands. Seventy percent of Nigerians live in poverty. Inequality and deprivation is most severe in the north of...
Most people working in NGOs are driven by passion and a sense of mission. But good motives don’t guarantee good outcomes, argues Dan Corry, chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital in a seminar about non-profits, innovation, productivity and ‘theories of change’ in the UK charity sector. The discussion parallels debates about the effectiveness of South African NGOs. Corry calls for creative destruction to improve productivity and fast track social change. But Vicky...
Researchers have coined the phrase "colour blindness" to describe a learned behavior that we don't notice race. But colour blindness doesn't mean that there's no racial discrimination, says American finance executive Mellody Hobson. It means we are ignoring the problem and that's very dangerous. The subject of race can be very touchy, it's a "conversational third rail," argues Hobson, but that's exactly why we need to start talking about it. In this engaging talk, Hobson...
