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?
Veteran White House Press Corps reporter, Helen Thomas, retired after 60 years. She was the most senior White House correspondent -- her stellar career covering nine presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. Her resignation comes in the midst of a blaze of condemnation from establishment critics and the White House after she made the controversial remark that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine."
Thomas is no stranger to controversy and has a fierce reputation for...
Glenn Ashton -
Rooibos is as uniquely South African as Champagne is French and Parmesan Italian. It should be one of our roaring success stories while providing a platform for the upliftment of its traditional owners, the indigenous people who introduced it to the colonialists from its home range of the Cederberg Mountains. But while the Rooibos market has grown over the years, indigenous emerging farmers remain largely marginalised and have yet to reap their just rewards.
Under apartheid a Rooibos tea...
Phyllis Bennis -
Israeli commandoes murdered nine humanitarian aid workers in international waters. Nine were Turkish citizens; one a U.S. citizen. They wounded scores more. They imprisoned hundreds, and impounded the ships they hijacked on the high seas. Someone asked me the question: will they get away with it? So far, I answered, they HAVE gotten away with it. And if history repeats itself, if nothing changes, they will continue to get away with it. Our job is to change history. And this time,...
Saliem Fakir -
While they may fight on the shop floor and often agree on little, in a rather strange twist of relations between business and the labour unions, they seem to agree on one key macro-economic policy issue, i.e., on the question of the rand’s value.
Both want a lower rand in order to boost the order books for our locally manufactured goods.
A joint statement by South Africa’s three top unions and manufacturers was issued on the 10 of May 2010. The statement called for...
Formerly of Symphony Way, a group of 100 Cape Town families were evicted and relocated to the infamous "Blikkiesdorp" or "Tin Town." Blikkiesdorp is a temporary relocation area for families on the waiting list for government housing. It’s come to represent a dumping ground for families who live in conditions that can be compared to a concentration camp.
This documentary tells the story of their struggle for housing, while a seemingly uncaring state bungles its way...
Dale T. McKinley -
Back in the bad old days of apartheid, things seemed to be a lot clearer when it came to God and politics. Leaving aside the confirmed agnostics, atheists and confused fence sitters, you were either in the Nat camp and embraced the God of 'Christian nationalism', racist and class privilege or you were in the liberation movement camp and embraced the God of social justice, racial equality and the oppressed poor.
A couple of decades on though, and the politics in the God equation has...
