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?
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The truism, same context, different outcomes, applies to the performance of politicians. A select number of politicians have excelled in South Africa, but the public remains unconvinced that the performance of government has improved. Interestingly, across perception surveys, there is a decline in the approval ratings of governments over the last five years.
An important proposal has been floated to improve the performance of our government, by having politicians with executive...
Soon after Israel's war on Gaza ended. Israeli's went to the polls to vote for a new government. During the war on Gaza, many commentators argued that the so-called centrist Kadima government launched the offensive to win Israel's right wing vote in the upcoming elections. It seems that the suffering of the Gazan's may have been in vain. Despite the fact that Kadmia, led by Tzipi Livni won the Israeli election, her party is currently the largest party in the Israeli parliament, but joins 12...
Richard Pithouse -
Carl Niehaus was the perfect spokesperson for Jacob Zuma. He had an inside understanding of the world of reckless extravagance under the patronage of dubious businessmen. He must have known, perhaps lying awake wondering who to phone to get the rent for his extraordinarily ugly house, precisely what has happened to elite politics in the ANC.
The idea of politics carries both a debased and an elevated sense. In its debased sense it is the self-serving and often ruthless competition for power...
The clip above is Part One of an Al Jazeera interview conducted by Riz Khan. Watch Part Two of the interview here. On Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won a referendum for a constitutional amendment to lift the country's presidential term limit, paving the way for him to run again in 2013. Electoral Authorities say that 54% of the electorate approved the amendment to the constitution to remove the presidential term limit. Chavez's critics, who include former Venezuelan trade...
What would make you start a revolution - living under a dictatorship, having your freedom of expression threatened, slavery, hunger, corporate hegemony? This clip provides some interesting viewpoints making the case for and against revolutions. "The possibility that it might succeed," is Canadian novelist, Margaret Attwood’s whimsical response to the question. "Revolutions betray themselves and eat their own children,” says Oxford Professor, Stein Ringen in his...
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival took place from 15-25 January in the United States. The festival profiles independent film makers and alternative issues. This year the festival honoured Howard Zinn, political scientist and co-author of "Voices of a People's History of the United States." Robert Redford, Marissa Tomei, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson read excerpts from his book at the festival. To view their recitals, watch the clip on this page. The book constructs the lives...
