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?
At a time when many are disillusioned with big banks and big business, and growing inequity…employee ownership offers a real solution for workers and communities.
Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work is a new documentary (to be released in July, 2012) that highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and in Mondragon, Spain. The film couldn’t be more timely, as 2012 has been declared by the United Nations as the "International Year of the Cooperative."...
Glenn Ashton -
Land ownership is a prickly problem in South Africa, which has not yet been properly addressed, despite its prioritisation in 1994. The primary focus on land redistribution has understandably, but perhaps unwisely, centred on the issue of agricultural land holdings. Given increased rates of urbanisation, it can be argued that urban land tenure demands similar, if not higher levels of attention.
Land is at the foundation of conventional - and informal - economic wealth, in both developed...
The parents of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African-American teenager shot dead a month ago, addressed thousands at a "million hoodie" march in New York City calling for the arrest of his killer. Meanwhile in the Florida town where the murder took place, the Sanford City Commission cast a 3-to-2 no-confidence vote in the police chief. Legislators are talking about changing the state's gun laws as George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin's killer, remains free.
Democracy Now! speak with...
Gillian Schutte -
The black man has become the signifier for a host of unconscious fears that lurk within the white psyche
My 12-year-old son has a taste for hoodies, rap and hip hop clothing. He carries a blackberry in his pocket which he reaches for every so often to text one of his friends. He has a friendly face and temperament but has also learnt at a young age to stand up for his own rights and speak out against the injustices of the world. Someone once suggested to me that his face is so sweet no one...
Saliem Fakir -
At times it’s hard to take at face value whether what is being said in ANC discussion documents is for real or just rhetorical flush.
The latest ANC buzzword is this notion of ‘the second transition’. The first transition, an ANC discussion document argues, is the consolidation of democracy (a coded way of saying consolidation of the ANC’s power).
The second transition is about social and economic transformation. To some it may sound like a new idea, but in...
Highlighting the birth of a truly global social movement against economic injustice, this superb documentary by Al Jazeera's Faultlines details the history of the Occupy Wall Street movement, clearly identifying its links to earlier occupations in Egypt and Spain.
According to Al Jazeera, Occupy Wall Street "has created a space in the American consciousness to believe in a different type of political power. One controlled, not by politicians or corporate money, but by people taking...
