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?
Glenn Ashton -
The US Africa Command (AFRICOM), assembled under the leadership of President George W. Bush’s hawk Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2007, now flexes it muscle across the continent in earnest. US military interests in Africa are not new. However, the concept of a unified African military command and associated presence to advance US interests is.
AFRICOM arose out of the consolidation of separate US military commands which supervised different African regions. This was spurred by...
James Glattfelder studies complexity: how an interconnected system - say, a swarm of birds - is more than the sum of its parts. And complexity theory, it turns out, can reveal a lot about how the economy works. Glattfelder shares a groundbreaking study of how control flows through the global economy, and how concentration of power in the hands of a shockingly small number leaves us all vulnerable. There are 737 top shareholders in the world that control 80% of the corporations globally....
Richard Pithouse -
Not so long ago the middle classes in the world created by British colonialism used to cloak their claim to privilege in the stifling rituals of bourgeois respectability. These days consumerism is increasingly the royal road into the golden circle of authorised superiority. It's a more democratic ideology in the sense that it is less firmly tied to national or ethnic conceptions of culture. A shopping mall in Johannesburg is not very different to a mall in Jakarta or the airport in Dubai....
Ecuador is often in the news for harbouring WikiLeaks' Julian Assange in its London embassy, but this week it is making headlines because President Rafael Correa has won the country's most recent presidential elections with 61% of the vote. Analysts argue that Correa's electoral success is based on the fact that he has brought stability to the country. Unemployment reached a record low of 4.1% at the end of last year. Poverty is down 27% since he took office and education spending has doubled...
Jane Duncan -
At the end of January, an all too familiar pattern of events played itself out in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in Durban. Four member of the shack dwellers’ movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, were arrested after a protest against problematic practices in a housing development in KwaNdengezi. They were accused of public violence, robbery, damage to property, and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Charges were withdrawn against three in court, with the exception of...
Chris Nineham -
The global demonstrations on 15 February 2003 formed the biggest protest event in history. Researchers have estimated that up to 30 million people marched in around 800 cities. The day evokes an unusual mix of emotions in those who remember it. On the one hand hope and pride in the spectacular turnout and the magnificent feat of global co-ordination involved, on the other, a heavy heart that it failed to stop the Iraq catastrophe.
However, there is a history that can now...
