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?
Ben Terrall -
Haiti watchers in the U.S. repeatedly hear several questions from North Americans new to the island nation’s history: Why is Washington obsessed with containing any legitimate pro-democracy movement in the hemisphere’s poorest country? How is a nation state the size of Maryland with a mostly destitute population of 9 million a threat to the U.S.?
Classified U.S. diplomatic cables recently released through Wikileaks provide some interesting insights into how to answer such...
Inspired by Events on Tahrir Square, Egypt - American protestors have occupied the state building for 15 days in Madison, Wisconsin, in protest against anti-union legislation that would make collective bargaining illegal for public sector unions.
On Saturday, 100,000 people packed the streets of Madison in the largest rally seen in years, as they challenged Republican governor, Scott Walker's attempt to strip public employees of their rights.
Protests have entered their third week -- and...
Allison Kilkenny -
A few weeks before he died, Howard Zinn had lunch at the Warwick Hotel in Manhattan with New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. Their topic of conversation was, of course, social justice.
"If there is going to be change, real change," Zinn told Herbert, "it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That's how change happens."
A year later, the streets of London erupted with citizens who were engaging in Zinn's favorite pastime:...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
Debates on the national budget have been called “noisy.”
Budget 2011 has been particularly noisy, as the sheer number of voices responding to the budget has increased, as has the complexity of the arguments being made.
This is a healthy development as it strengthens democracy, and ensures that government becomes accountable and society focuses not only on criticisms, but also alternatives.
The central challenge for government is not only to detect the signal through this...
Saliem Fakir -
The world finds itself back where it was in mid-2008 when food prices skyrocketed causing untold harm to the vulnerable. In the last six months there has been a massive increase in prices for most essential food commodities.
Food and being able to eat properly is going to be the single biggest political issue in the next decade. None other than economist, Paul Krugman, noted this in an op-ed in the New York Times. His tone was one of alarm and grave concern.
Interestingly, Krugman pointed...
A British judge has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden to face questioning on allegations of sexual crimes. Assange plans to appeal within ten days. His defence team had argued against the extradition, in part, by citing the potential he could wind up being extradited to the United States and prosecuted for publishing classified government documents, a crime that could result in the death penalty.
Deamocracy Now speaks to constitutional law attorney and...
