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?
A 24-hour general strike paralyzed the Greek capital of Athens this week, shutting down schools, hospitals and transportation. According to The Real News Network (TRNN), the protests serve as confirmation that Greece will be one of the first battlegrounds in the public debt crisis. The Greek economy is in turmoil with its government owing 53 billion Euros to creditors. Greek Prime Minister, Georgios Papandreou, announced that he would cut public spending, as demanded by the European Union...
Glenn Ashton -
The world is familiar with the ugly face of the globalisation of labour, where poor African immigrants wash up on the coasts of Spain, Italy, Malta or the Canary Islands, dehydrated and dying after harrowing ocean voyages. This is the fate of ambitious, desperate immigrants who answer the siren song of globalisation to pursue elusive wealth and a better life.
Very few of these tragic cases are covered in the western media, unless it is to decry the threat of illegal immigration. We hear of a...
Saliem Fakir -
A few weeks ago a Sunday Times exposé on highly regarded and respected former CEO of Vodacom, Alan Knott-Craig Sr. raised some interesting questions about the relationship between economics and morality.
Knott-Craig Sr. was alleged to have been involved in nepotism, corporate malpractice and violations of corporate governance, according to a confidential KPMG audit report. He was accused of lavishing favours worth millions of Rand on his son and other family members.
The allegations...
"In the Loop" is a British comedy lampooning the US-UK effort to attack Iraq. The film is a satire of the Anglo-American diplomatic wrangling in the lead-up to the war. It's been nominated for an Oscar this year and despite its serious subject matter, has been described by a New York Times review as the "funniest big-screen satire in recent memory." "The short summary is that everybody betrays everybody else, that opportunism trumps idealism and that telling...
Fazila Farouk -
"It takes all kinds," is an expression that couldn't be truer in Hollywood.
Regrettably, we tend to be served up a one sided view of Hollywood. We get to see the glitz and glamour, but rarely are we afforded the opportunity to peek behind the veneer of celluloid magnetism to catch a glimpse of the real people behind the superstars of today's movie industry. Why should we care about them? Well, because the heroes and heroines of Hollywood's silver screen wield an...
Riane Eisler -
We stand at a critical point in human cultural evolution. Going back to the old normal where peace is just an interval between wars is not an option; what we need is a fundamental cultural transformation.
As Einstein said, we cannot solve problems with the same thinking that created them. If we think only in terms of the conventional cultural and economic categories - right vs. left, religious vs. secular, Eastern vs. Western, capitalist vs. socialist, and so on - we cannot move forward....
