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?
Saliem Fakir -
The International Labour Organization (ILO) released a global jobs update at a recent G20 meeting. To date there are 200 million people without work and the problem of long-term unemployment, especially amongst the youth, is disturbingly chronic.
Prospects for the next ten years don’t look too good as many developed economies and developing countries are showing double-digit unemployment rates that have been on economic indicator charts for a while.
Of late we have gone from one...
Dale T. McKinley -
The first and most primary contradiction of the relationship between the Constitution and the majority of South Africans – who are black and poor - is to be found in the way in which the Constitution was forged. From the very beginning of informal talks in the mid-1980s involving the main component of the exiled national liberation movement - the ANC - and various representatives of the apartheid order, the process of negotiation out of which the Constitution would eventually...
Tom Engelhardt -
In the world of weaponry, they are the sexiest things around. Other countries are desperate to have them. Almost anyone who writes about them becomes a groupie. Reporters exploring their onrushing future swoon at their potentially wondrous techno-talents. They are, of course, the pilotless drones, our grimly named Predators and Reapers.
As CIA Director, Leon Panetta called them “the only game in town.” As Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates pushed hard to up their numbers and...
Modern medicine is in danger of losing a powerful, old-fashioned tool: human touch. Physician and writer Abraham Verghese describes our strange new world where patients are merely data points, and calls for a return to the traditional one-on-one physical exam.
© TED Talks
Pinning its hopes on the sole support of the US, Israel risks a collapse if it is ever withdrawn - much like apartheid-era South Africa, prominent scholar Professor Noam Chomsky warns. He recalls how South Africans felt safe to ignore a UN embargo and corporations pulling out of their country throughout the 1980s, as long as the Reagan administration continued to support them. As soon as the US withdrew its support, the apartheid regime collapsed.
"For 35 years, the US and Israel...
Charlene Houston -
Public transport emerged out of the need for commuters to get from one place to another for social and economic reasons. Transport serves another important function too, shipping goods such as agricultural produce from one point to another. Indeed, the first train in South Africa was planned to run from Cape Town to Wellington in order to service the wine industry.
These days, while cars dominate our roads, public transport is still critical for getting the workforce to and from work...
