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?
Richard Pithouse -
Poor people’s movements like the Landless People’s Movement in Johannesburg, the Anti-Eviction Campaign in Cape Town and Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban and Cape Town, along with a host of smaller community organisations around the country, have announced their refusal to vote in the coming election.
This is not a new phenomenon. In the 2004 national elections, activists in the Landless People’s Movement were beaten, arrested and tortured after they announced an...
This week's G20 meeting in London is meant to be about finding solutions for the global financial crisis. One concrete decision has already been made, i.e., that finance for the IMF has to be increased to help bail out countries affected by the global financial crisis. Al Jazeera examines Turkey as a case study to assess the impact of the IMF. Turkey has been in talks with the IMF for a $10bn loan since May last year, when a previous loan expired. Negotiations reached a stalemate in January...
Saliem Fakir -
The issue of immigrants and expatriates came up as a topic in a recent election speech given by ANC president Jacob Zuma at a meeting hosted by the labour union, Solidarity. Zuma spoke to concerns about South Africa's brain drain and the need for South Africa either to attract skills back into the country or encourage immigration.
The topic is unlikely to disappear for elections to come. If ever there was a need for a good immigration policy, it is now. But controlled immigration needs to be...
Democracy Now -
Tens of thousands of protesters from around the world have gathered in London to demonstrate against the G20 talks and call for economic justice and environmental accountability. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now interviews Walden Bello of Focus on the Global South to get his perspective on the G20.
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AMY GOODMAN: President Obama is in London today ahead of the G20 summit, where world leaders are gathering to discuss the global economic crisis. It marks Obama’s first trip to Europe since...
Michelle Pressend -
The success of the recently held Earth Hour, which 35 countries including South Africa participated in, is testimony to the growing understanding of the relationship between human energy consumption and climate change.
Energy consumption is at the heart of global warming. However and more importantly, we need to examine the issue more broadly. The planetary ecological crisis, commonly referred to as climate change, is a systemic dilemma stemming from unsustainable economic growth and...
P. Sainath -
It’s been the night of the long knives for India’s billionaire population. Their band has just been decimated, falling by more than half from 53 to 24. The latest Croesus Count, also known as the Forbes Billionaires list, makes that much clear. We also fell by two notches to sixth rank in the list of nations with the most billionaires. India’s earlier No. 4 slot being slyly usurped by the Chinese who clock in with 29. More mortifying, we are a rung below the Brits...
