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?
Colette Francis -
The army is to be deployed in hot spots across South Africa to prevent an outbreak of political violence ahead of this year’s elections, says Minister of Defence Charles Nqqakula. This in the wake of a spate of attacks in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) that has seen tensions between Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the ruling ANC resurface. On Sunday a stand-off between the IFP and ANC became so tense that the army was called in to support hundreds of police officers...
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is seeking a third term in office. Polls show that a majority support his seeking a constitutional change so he can run for president again in 2012. While some see this as a threat to democracy, others argue that developments in Venezuela highlight the difference between participatory democracy and representative democracy. Practiced in Venezuela, participatory democracy has opened up a new dimension of politics in which communities, communal power and unions...
Glenn Ashton -
The recent resignation of the editor of the Cape Times, Tyrone August, over what appears to be executive interference in the traditional structures of local newspapers, should set alarm bells ringing. His departure was evidently triggered by a shift towards the concentration of editing duties in a centralised base. This would appear to be an unhealthy move if we are to foster an open, diverse and free media in South Africa. August has been true to his name and has steered a vibrant newspaper...
Saliem Fakir -
The ANC is no longer sure of who is friend or foe. Some of its traditional members and ardent supporters are quietly vying for the Congress of the People (COPE) while pretending to be all for the ANC in public. Come the day of the secret ballot, they will have already turned.
Some have already made the leap. Others are waiting for when the time is right to join COPE more openly. And, yet others simply have a genuine concern about South African democracy and its future and will vote for COPE...
Saliem Fakir -
There is this erroneous logic that there are developmental states in some places and advanced states in other places. One advances from a developmental mode to some sort of mature state in which the markets take-over.
This implicit typology of evolutionary progression of states is just nonsense. There is nothing static and permanent about the operational modes of states. They are creatures of time and context. What needs to be done under different circumstances must be done in the interest...
Actor and filmmaker, Sean Penn talks about his meetings with two Latin American leaders - Chavez and Castro - who have both been demonized by the mainstream press in the United States of America. Penn talked to Raul Castro of Cuba about Barack Obama and Guantanamo, while engaging Venezuela's Hugo Chavez on the subject of human rights. To read Penn's article Conversations with Chavez and Castro, please click here.
