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?
Mark Weisbrot -
President Obama’s re-election was never much in doubt, except perhaps briefly when he took a plunge after the first debate and we didn’t know where the bottom was. But by the end of the campaign, Sam Wang of the Princeton Election Consortium was giving Obama a better than 99 percent chance of winning. Nate Silver of the New York Times, more cautious, put the odds yesterday at about 90-10 in favor of Obama.
Those who point to the popular vote as evidence of a very tight contest,...
Does Brainstorming Work?
This is the question psychologists have been baffled by for nearly half a century and we're still on the path of discovering whether brainstorming is a technique that extracts the best out of people or if it's a method that suppresses creativity.
Journalist and author, Jonah Lehrer, argues that brainstorming produces less original ideas than those people who work by themselves.
© RSA
Gillian Schutte -
I met Marikana community member, mineworker and activist, Tsepo M, at a coffee shop in Melville. He had some business to attend to in Johannesburg and a colleague set up the meeting for me to discuss the current situation in Marikana.
A man in his late 50’s, Tsepo’s face bears the markings of years of hard work and struggle.
He tells me that he has been attending the Farlam Commission – an intense situation, which is infused with painful moments and trauma. In addition...
Jane Duncan -
It seems likely that more South Africans who really care about the future of the country will move beyond the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and start the difficult, protracted affair of building political alternatives. Some already are.
For decades, the ANC has represented the concretisation of significant transformation gains for many South Africans, and because of this, mass support for the party has had a rational and objective basis. But this basis is being eroded.
It is...
The global population is forecast to reach nine billion by 2050 and a new United Nations report says climate change is threatening the world's three main crops.
Researchers are warning that rising global temperatures could see a shift in the world's traditional staples and who grows them. They predict that maize, wheat and rice will decrease in many developing countries - forcing farmers to replace them with crops more resistant to heat, drought and flooding.
The prediction, if true,...
American president Barack Obama has a very small - possibly one or two percent - advantage over Republican challenger Mitt Romney and will likely just edge his way to victory, but its going to be a cliffhanger right up until the results are in, is the general consensus amongst a panel of international experts monitoring the 2012 US Election.
Why then is the race between Obama and Romney so close?
One view presented in this panel discussion is that the difference between the two...
