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?
Last week, in the run up to May Day, observed as a national holiday in 80 countries, the American labour movement organized a march on Wall Street -- after many years. The march was aimed at highlighting the plight of 11 million Americans who have lost their jobs as a result of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic recession caused by the Wall Street instigated sub-prime mortgage market crash. Richard Trumka, president of America’s labour federation, AFL-CIO, contends Wall...
Noam Chomsky -
The fact that the Israel-Palestine conflict grinds on without resolution might appear to be rather strange. For many of the world’s conflicts, it is difficult even to conjure up a feasible settlement. In this case, it is not only possible, but there is near universal agreement on its basic contours: a two-state settlement along the internationally recognized (pre-June 1967) borders -- with “minor and mutual modifications,” to adopt official U.S. terminology...
William Pfaff -
The meeting on nuclear security convoked by Barack Obama this week was meant to prevent nuclear proliferation. This is a worthy cause, but -- while I am writing before the meeting closes -- I would assume that it will at best produce empty promises, as the meeting itself is fatally flawed. Its conceptual basis is that the United States is a disinterested world leader, calling on others to do what is self-evidently in the general interest. This is not true.
The underlying incitement to...
This clip is an excerpt of an interview that Amy Goodman of Democracy Now conducted with Julian Assange, Co-founder of Wikileaks and Glenn Greenwald of the American publication, Salon.com. WikiLeaks is the whistle blowing website that releases sensitive information into the public domain. This week WikiLeaks released what has been confirmed as a valid video of American soldiers massacring innocent Iraqi civilians. Amongst those killed were two Reuters employees, which to some degree helped...
Democracy Now -
Veteran military and foreign affairs analyst and author Mark Perry reports that CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus dispatched a team of senior military officers in January to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael Mullen on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Perry reports that the briefers told Mullen that “Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing US standing in the region.”
Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and Anjali Kamat...
Hilary Clinton recently went on a tour of Latin America in an attempt to repair Washington's relations with the region, especially after the events in Honduras, reports The Real News Network (TRNN). Many Latin American presidents still refuse to recognize the new president of Honduras, as the election that brought him into power was the result of an illegal coup. In contrast, Clinton says that the situation in Honduras was well managed and non-violent. Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the...
