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?
Heidi-Jane Esakov and Na'eem Jeenah -
A ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which was to come into effect on Tuesday night, was delayed at the last minute due to ‘Israeli requests’. Despite the imminence of a ceasefire, Israel intensified its assault on the tiny, battered coastal strip as part of its ‘Operation Pillar of Cloud’. In response, rockets continued to fly, somewhat ineffectually, from Gaza into Israel. The Palestinian death toll, currently at over 130, will undoubtedly climb as...
Tumi Moloi, a striking miner who works at an Amplats shaft close to Rustenburg spoke at the "Unite the Resistance 2012" conference in London (UK) on Saturday, 17 November. He is a strike committee member in Rustenburg, where 30,000 miners working for Amplats platinum - a subsidiary of global mining giant Anglo American - have been on strike for two months.
Moloi led his shaft's 4,500 workers out on strike in September.
Moloi is a member of the Rustenburg Strike Committee,...
With the British High Court's judgement that a group of Kenyans can claim damages from the British government for abuses suffered during the Mau Mau rebellion, and on-going enquiries into the abuse of "terror suspects" in the War on Terror, the Frontline Club hosts a panel of experts to discuss Britain's record on involvement in the use of torture.
The panel includes, Ian Cobain, author of the new book, Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture.
What constitutes torture and...
Richard Pithouse -
And then, despite the fear, I set off
I put my cheek against death's cheek
− Roberto Bolaño, 'Self Portrait at Twenty Years', The Romantic Dogs, 2006
On the 26th of September1940 Walter Benjamin – a brilliant writer struggling to the point of being short of paper, an intellectual acutely attuned to the poetic, Jewish and, in his own way, communist – found himself, for the second time in his life, in desperate flight from fascism. On the border between Spain and...
Academy Award-winning Oliver Stone has teamed up with historian Peter Kuznick to produce a 10-part Showtime series called "Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States." Drawing on archival findings and recently declassified documents, the filmmakers critically examine U.S. history, from the atomic bombing of Japan to the Cold War, to the fall of communism, and continuing all the way through to the Obama administration. Contrary to what’s taught in American...
Glenn Ashton -
Exploitation and pay in the timber industry is the most extreme amongst any commercial sector in South Africa. While mining and agriculture workers have been in the news for protesting against exploitation in their respective industries, no such action has been evident amongst forestry workers.
Working in the timber industry is the equivalent of running a marathon every day. Workers experience some of the highest rates of work related injuries, along with the lowest pay.
There was a...
