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?
David Solnit -
What really happened at the 1999 WTO demonstrations in Seattle? On television, it looked like vandalism and random violence. On the streets, it looked like part festival, part uprising, part police riot. Now there’s a movie version. Activist and author David Solnit was there—organizing in the streets and speaking up on the set.
My stomach clenched the first time I heard that actor Stuart Townsend was making a mainstream movie about the 1999 shutdown of the WTO ministerial...
'Battle in Seattle' is the story of the 1999 WTO Protest that took place on the streets of Seattle. The movie was written and directed by Stuart Townsend and stars South Africa's Charlize Theron. The official 'Battle in Seattle' movie premiered on September 19, 2008. Read a review of the movie here and visit the movie's official website here.
This advertisement produced a few years ago was banned from South African television. It shows white and black South Africans in reversed roles. Whites as maids, blacks as madams and so on. How odd that the advertisment invoked such controversy so as to get banned. This reaction is particularly problematic in light of the fact that few seem to be objecting to the reality of seeing black people living poorly.
Fazila Farouk -
Nouveau environmentalists and the super rich are queuing up to fill their hybrid cars with ethanol blends. Agribusiness is selling its corn to the highest bidder while many millions around the world are being deprived of the right to eat.
It doesn’t seem to matter much that the production of corn-based ethanol releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than is actually gained by burning it as a fuel. In today’s world, the market dictates whether you eat grain or not --- and...
International NGO, GRAIN, argues that the food crisis facing the world and particularly the developing world can be linked to more than three decades of IMF and World Bank inspired structural adjustment programmes. The current problem is more than one of a food shortage or a price blip. It is one where the food system is experiencing a structural meltdown. At the same time, big profits are being made by several food corporations and investors.
Sean Gonsalves -
My first-born graduated from high school a few weeks ago. Next month, she’ll be heading off to Clark University in Worcester. If all goes according to plan, she’ll have a master’s degree in five short years.
So, naturally, I’ve been thinking about the question adults ask up-and-coming young people all the time: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Ever notice that whenever a youngster is asked that question, the response is almost always the same? “I...
