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?
Leonard Gentle -
The spectacle of the blows between a Democratic Alliance-led crowd and COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) would have been the stuff of farce if it weren’t so tragically unedifying. The DA has every right to march and be “provocative”. COSATU’s response betrays its own hard-won struggles in the past for the right to march, assemble and protest.
This was no kristalnacht or fascist street gang about to storm the workers’ movement. This was a DA...
The 2012, NATO Summit ended in Chicago, the US, yesterday.
According to Democracy Now! delegates from more than 60 countries took part in this year’s summit - the largest NATO summit in the organization’s six-decade history. Many international peace activists also traveled from across the globe to take part in protests on the streets.
German peace activist. Reiner Braun, chair of the international coalition, said: "We do not need NATO any longer," "No to War,...
The leaders of eight of the world's largest economies, met in the US, for a G8 Summit hosted by American President Barack Obama at Camp David this past weekend. The Eurozone crisis and Africa were top items for discussion on the Agenda. Many African leaders were also invited to the summit.
Following the summit, a media report argues that no commitments of aid were made to Africa, but that advice was dispensed to African leaders about investing in education and infrastructure.
Al...
Gillian Schutte -
Over the past eighteen months there have been enough “Kaffir” slips of the tongue, from different echelons of White society, to prove that racism is alive and well and living on the tips of the tongues of most White South Africans. In many cases all it takes is a bit too much wine, a bump in the Spar or a little bit of fame and Eros from the rightwing, to let it slip. And the recent hanging of ‘The Spear’ in the Goodman Art Gallery is not really much different. ...
Lauren Kelley -
TED curator Chris Anderson seemed most concerned that "business managers and entrepreneurs would feel insulted" by some remarks about income inequality.
We've long heard complaints that TED is elitist. The annual conference in California costs $7,500 to attend and is nearly impossible to get into, even for those who can afford the price tag; it is widely considered to be "unofficially invite-only."
Still, you'd be hard pressed to find...
Pepe Escobar -
History will register his plane struck by lightning on the way to Berlin, no fancy kisses, and asparagus with veal schnitzel on the menu. This is the way the eurozone ends (or begins again); not with a bang, but a ... lightning strike. Merkollande - the new European power couple drama interpreted by French Socialist President Francois Hollande and German Christian Democrat Chancellor Angela Merkel - is a go.
Trillions of bytes already speculate whether former President Nicolas Sarkozy...
