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?
Fazila Farouk -
This year, 2014, heralds 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. It’s a momentous anniversary for Germans who are commemorating 25 years of reunification. However, just as the 20th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy unleashed a flood of bittersweet reflection on the unfulfilled dreams of our post-apartheid era, so too is 25 years of reunification in Germany being observed not just with celebration, but also with contemplation.
The fall of the Berlin...
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Lichtgrenze (The Border of Lights) an extraordinary light installation will be produced, following the former route of the so-called Berliner Mauer. From the 7th - 9th of November 2014, the 15.3 kilometer frontier that once divided the city center will be re-imagined in light by thousands of illuminated balloons. Running through the center of Berlin, from Bornholmer Straße to the Oberbaumbrücke, the...
We can see the power of distributed, crowd-sourced business models every day — witness Uber, Kickstarter, Airbnb. But veteran online activist Jeremy Heimans argues these businesses are vested in a "new power" model, which he explains as, “The deployment of mass participation and peer coordination to create change and shift outcomes. The distinguishing factors are “mass participation” and “peer co-ordination”. This is what makes "new...
April M. Short -
Phil Wolfson is a psychotherapist who lost his 16-year-old son to leukemia more than three decades ago. He wrote the book Noe: A Father-Son Song of Life, Love, Illness and Death about the experience of watching his son navigate adolescence while succombing to the terminal disease. His personal experiences, he says, place him in a strange position of “too much knowledge” when he works with patients who are dealing with devastating loss, as well as anxiety and PTSD symptoms that...
Siphokazi Magadla -
“What a stupid idea to announce a ceasefire with Boko Haram, who came up with that? Is it that these people don’t think? ...They are eager to announce good news. Elections are coming fast. Announce good news and then make a fool of yourself. Haba. The most stupid part was suggesting a day for the release of the girls.”
This is how a conversation between Ifemelu and Ceiling goes, two characters in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Americannah, who also happen to have...
Sweden's new centre-left government announced this week that it has recognised the Palestinian state, making it the first EU country to do so. Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, told Al Jazeera that recognising Palestine will put each party on a level playing field and help move peace talks forward. She said that Sweden is hoping that this new development will inject some new dynamics into the now-suspended peace talks by making the parties less unequal. Wallstrom also said she...
