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?
Visit the archives.
This short documentary reveals the lengths that oil company Shell was willing to go to stop a nonviolent movement for human rights and environmental justice in the Niger Delta5 Shell stands accused of complicity in the 1995 execution of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. A trial against the company, scheduled to start in New York this past week, was postponed at the last minute. The lawsuit against the Royal Dutch Shell Company alleges that Shell collaborated with the Nigerian...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The changed political context defined by the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma is obviously weighing on the minds of workers. Rather than making the reasonable assumption that the new administration will deliver on its promises, public service workers are rattling their sabres to remind current leadership that existing agreements are vital to long run improvements in the performance of the public service.
COSATU unions, especially those in the public service, have conducted extensive...
Dedrick Muhammad -
The black love affair with President Barack Obama is stronger than with any figure in the post-civil rights era. According to a recent New York Times poll, President Obama enjoys a 96% approval rating among African Americans. As an African American myself, I too feel pride and joy in seeing one of us succeed and attain so much respect and acclaim in the United States, a country with such a strong and recent history of racist oppression and alienation.
I also appreciate having such a...
The Associated Press reports that Israel's "Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday (24 May 2009) ruled out a return to Israel's 1967 borders, as its largely right-wing cabinet rebuffed calls to remove Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land." Meanwhile in the clip above, Pepe Escobar comments on a televised meeting between Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu and United States (US) President Barack Obama, which took place on 18 May 2009, during the Israeli PM's...
Richard Pithouse -
In the recent election the DA, together with COPE, made much of their intention to defend the rule of the law. But while the dust thrown up in that election is still settling, the City of Cape Town is already engaged in violent and unlawful behaviour towards its most vulnerable citizens.
On Tuesday 19 May, a group of backyard shack dwellers occupied a piece of vacant municipal owned land in Macassar Village, outside Cape Town. Rents for backyard shacks in the area can reach as high...
Stephen Greenberg -
The new appointments to the 'economic cluster' have dominated media discussion of the Zuma Cabinet. Receiving far less coverage is the restructuring of the 'rural' ministries of agriculture, land and forestry. The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs has been split, and forestry has been separated from water affairs and joined to agriculture. The Department of Land Affairs (DLA) has become a newly-formed Ministry of Rural Development and Land Reform. Given the stress the ANC has placed...
