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?
Wealthy, influential, international and highly networked is how the elite of the world are described by Al Jazeera's Marwan Bishar. These people have so much money and power that they transcend the laws of national governments, operating at a completely different level according to a set of rules, defined largely by themselves.
In the last three decades, the global economy, global governance and global accountability has increasingly been shaped by a few tightly networked individuals...
Glenn Ashton -
Wealth is relative. Anyone with enough to eat and a house to live in is rich. If you are reading this you are probably rich.
Around 80% of people live on less than US$10 (R75) per day. The top 20% consume around 75% of the world’s goods. The elite, upper and top half of the middle class constitute no more than 10% of the worlds population, yet control nearly 60% of global wealth.
Despite global promises to achieve greater equality, we are living in a world that is becoming ever...
Leonard Gentle -
The ongoing saga around Julius Malema and his millions achieved through state tenders has rightfully generated public disgust. Bobby Godsell, ex-Anglo American and now Business Unity South Africa, has gone on to refer to these “tenderpreneurs” as “economic terrorists.” Zwelinzima Vavi has called for a “lifestyle audit” of public officials -- clearly a device to “name and shame” the new wabenzi and through this, embarrass them into being more...
Glenn Ashton -
The world is familiar with the ugly face of the globalisation of labour, where poor African immigrants wash up on the coasts of Spain, Italy, Malta or the Canary Islands, dehydrated and dying after harrowing ocean voyages. This is the fate of ambitious, desperate immigrants who answer the siren song of globalisation to pursue elusive wealth and a better life.
Very few of these tragic cases are covered in the western media, unless it is to decry the threat of illegal immigration. We hear of a...
Saliem Fakir -
A few weeks ago a Sunday Times exposé on highly regarded and respected former CEO of Vodacom, Alan Knott-Craig Sr. raised some interesting questions about the relationship between economics and morality.
Knott-Craig Sr. was alleged to have been involved in nepotism, corporate malpractice and violations of corporate governance, according to a confidential KPMG audit report. He was accused of lavishing favours worth millions of Rand on his son and other family members.
The allegations...
Robert Miller -
Book: Small Change - Why Business Won't Save the World
Author: Michael Edwards
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler
Reviewer: Robert Miller
Michael Edwards spent years working for such organizations as Oxfam International, Save the Children, and the World Bank. Before writing Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World, he directed the Ford Foundation's Governance and Civil Society program. With this knowledge and expertise, Edwards challenges the notion that...
