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?
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The previous Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, always peppered his budget speech with humorous advice received as part of his “Tips for Trevor” campaign. As Minister Pravin Gordhan unveils his inaugural budget speech what would a set of “Pointers for Pravin” be?
Judging by his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement speech in 2009, the South African public should also remember that Minister Gordhan is likely to make a point or two of his own.
In many ways Minister...
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warns of apartheid if Israel does not achieve peace with the Palestinians. But Israeli analysts argue that a South African style apartheid state has already emerged due to Israel's prolonged occupation of Palestinian territories. Veteran Israeli journalist, David Marchaelis says, "Ehud Barak wanted to scare the public and make the right wing Zionist Party think that they have to know that they are entering into a binational situation with no Jewish...
Dale T. McKinley -
Just over a month ago the legendary Dennis Brutus passed away. He became a legend for so many across South Africa and indeed the whole world not simply because of his exquisitely crafted poetry of passion and his never-ending activist commitment to justice and equality for all but precisely because he lived a life of principled consistency. The content of his public legend was umbilically linked to the character of his personal example. Simply put, Dennis practiced what he preached.
As...
Glenn Ashton -
The Zuma administration has clearly taken a far harder line on crime, in accord with its populist approach. Central to this is the direct threat to 'get' criminals.
Invoking this 'shoot to kill' philosophy has already impacted tragically on innocent lives. The pendulum is swinging from a more restrained, western, rights-based style of policing toward a more reactionary and offensively aligned style of policing.
Deputy Police Minister Fikile Mbalula has not only made immoderate...
At a recent event hosted by the Open Society Institute in New York, former constitutional court judge and anti-apartheid activist, Albie Sachs, talks about being detained in solitary confinement for 168 days by the security police in apartheid South Africa. He describes his psychological torture at the hands of the apartheid police during the 1960's as the worst moments of his life, even worse than losing his arm two decades later in a bomb blast orchestrated by the apartheid...
Michael Schwartz -
Energy and Power in the Middle East
How the mighty have fallen. Just a few years ago, an overconfident Bush administration expected to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, pacify the country, install a compliant client government, privatize the economy, and establish Iraq as the political and military headquarters for a dominating U.S. presence in the Middle East. These successes were, in turn, expected to pave the way for ambitious goals, enshrined in the 2001 report of Vice President...
