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?
Richard Pithouse -
In 1975 Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen's magnificent third album, crashed on to American radio with a dramatic lyrical intensity riding a rushing wall of rock and soul. Time and Newsweek put him on their covers in the same week and at 26 he found himself, along with Bob Dylan, as the newest avatar in the tradition of popular artists that, beginning with Walt Whitman and rolling on through Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly and John Steinbeck have brought a sympathetic poetic attention to the lives and...
Gar Alperovitz -
On Monday (March 6, 2012), Bloomberg News estimated that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's 27-year-old founder, will be worth about $21 billion based on his company's forthcoming initial public offering. Although he won't qualify (yet) for a slot among the planet's richest 20 people in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Zuckerberg will still enjoy iconic status as an entrepreneur of mythic proportions. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal credited Facebook with creating "a new way of living,"...
Leonard Gentle -
There is a very cynical, old apartheid era joke about English-speaking whites in South Africa to the effect that, ”Most supported the Progs (Helen Suzman’s old Progressive Party); voted UP (the old United Party of De Villiers Graaf) … and thanked God for the Nats”.
Meaning that it was okay to be disgusted by the racism and repression, but hell those Afrikaners knew how to run the economy -- and they kept everything functioning nicely.
With the exception of the...
Over the last 15 years we've seen the emergence and growth of the practice of labour broking in South Africa, which places workers, particularly those employed on the lowest rungs of the South African economy, in a very precarious position with respect to job security and a host of related quality of life indicators.
Ighsaan Schroeder of the Casual Workers Advice Office explains Why Cosatu called for a general strike against the practice of labour broking. However, he argues that the trade...
Iceland's former Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, is the only political leader in the world to face prosecution over the financial and banking crisis that hit the world economy.
He is in the dock for failing to prevent the 2008 financial crisis that brought Iceland's economy to its knees.
According to Omar Vladimarsson of Reuters, "Haarde is charged with gross negligence for failing to take proper measures to prepare for an impending financial crash. He is also accused of failing to...
After having fled economic hardship and political violence in their own country, an estimated 1.5 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa. Millions of migrants in South Africa remain undocumented. Those living with disabilities are amongst the most vulnerable.
Out of Sight is a short documentary that explores the lives of blind undocumented Zimbabwean migrants as they try and eke out a living begging on the streets of Johannesburg.
© IRIN
