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.
Diana Johnstone -
French Leftists Should See Silver Lining
In a flood of carefully designed public opinion polls, editorials, and books bordering on idolatry, the French communications industry had already settled next year’s presidential election. The loser would be Nicolas Sarkozy, sagging in the polls. The winner would be Dominique Strauss-Kahn, ever on the rise. True, the French Socialist Party had not yet chosen its candidate, and Strauss-Kahn had not yet announced his candidacy, but the party...
Imraan Buccus -
Struggling for Justice and Freedom
Had we not defeated apartheid, this year would have marked 63 years of oppression in South Africa. But, with incredible mobilisation and international solidarity, the evil system of racial capitalism was defeated and in 1994 we had our first democratic election. The euphoria of liberation was indeed overwhelming. This week, we celebrate democracy in South Africa with a third local government election.
But, as we celebrate democracy in South Africa, Israel,...
On May 9th, Israelis poured onto the streets to celebrate the 63rd year of Israeli Independence. Weeks earlier, at the end of March the Israeli parliament passed the controversial Nakba Law, part of numerous laws termed as anti-democratic by the association for civil rights in Israel. This law bans the mourning of the Nakba, which Palestinians commemorate to mark their expulsion from Palestine during the 1948 war.
The Nakba means "catastrophe" in arabic and refers to the war...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The “toilet wars” have made apparent the ridiculousness of the major political parties in South Africa. The Democratic Alliance (DA) even allowed a legal process to work its way up to the Constitutional Court to defend its decision to build unenclosed toilets. On the other hand, the African National Congress (ANC) was quick to wail “mea culpa” when it was found that one of its municipalities had also built unenclosed toilets. The difference in how both parties...
Les Leopold -
The verdict is in: Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire head of the Galleon hedge fund, was found guilty of 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy on Wednesday: 5 counts of conspiracy, and 9 counts of insider trading – which means he could be joining Bernie Madoff in prison for the rest of his life. The prosecution, which played 43 secretly recorded conversations that revealed how insider information was sought, received and covered-up, provides the clearest view to date of how far...
Karoo residents and New Yorkers alike are concerned about their pristine environments and water resources being destroyed by natural gas drilling through the practice commonly referred to as "fracking."
While the South African Department of Mineral Resources is still considering Shell's application to explore the Karoo for natural gas, Americans too are highly concerned about a proposed fracking initiative about 100 miles north east of New York City.
According to one report,...
