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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“Racism remains the one conversation that we simply do not want to have in South Africa,” argues writer, activist and filmmaker, Gillian Schutte in this TEDx Johannesburg talk, which took place in December 2013. Schutte, who challenges racial stereotyping, says that our inability to talk about racism is one of the reasons that South African society remains untransformed. According to Schutte, every white person in our society must come to terms with, challenge and begin to...
The media alongside the state is one of the most important institutions in society. The media act as a watchdog and are an important counterbalance to the state. The media holds up a mirror to society. As South Africa (SA) approaches its 20th anniversary as a democracy and as we officially enter the post Mandela era, every important institution in this country is open to review and scrutiny. How has the media embraced its roll in post-apartheid SA?
Fazila Farouk of SACSIS speaks to media...
We've all heard about how important inflation targeting is for the health of our economies. But inflation targeting is a hotly contested monetary policy instrument. Some question whether it is an appropriate tool to deal with food inflation and oil price hikes. Are they correct to hold this view?
Saliem Fakir Head of the Living Planet Unit at World Wildlife Fund argues that South Africa has perhaps taken a conservative role in the way that it has managed the economy. The relationship...
In 1991, Nelson Mandela traveled to Cuba to meet with then president Fidel Castro on one of his first international trips after being freed from prison. Mandela called the Cuban Revolution, "a source of inspiration to all freedom-loving people" and thanked Cuba for supporting the African National Congress at a time when it was banned in South Africa and condemned by the United States. "Who trained our people, who gave us resources, who helped so many of our soldiers, our...
What exactly is progressive politics? BBC's HARDtalk speaks to political philosopher, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, President Obama's former Harvard law professor who also served as Minister of Strategic Affairs in Brazil under President Lula. Unger who describes himself as a radical democrat, has an ambitious take on what it means to be progressive. He argues, "On the whole, throughout the world today, the progressives have no project. Their project is the project of their conservative...
War reporting is a difficult and dangerous game, and that's the case when those wars are declared and fought out in the open. Then there are the undeclared wars in countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia fought through drone strikes and black ops teams -- covert military operations that officials barely even acknowledge. Those are the kinds of wars that Jeremy Scahill covers. Scahill made his name in 2007 with a book on Blackwater, the US military contractor that was paid big money by...
