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?
Sierra Leone is pleading for more international help to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. On Saturday, the country recorded 121 deaths in one of the single deadliest days since the disease appeared there more than four months ago. At least 678 people have now died in Sierra Leone, with the official toll for West Africa topping 3,400. Dr. Atul Gawande from Harvard Medical School argues, “The epidemic in West Africa is severe, and it’s getting worse fast…this is a...
Glenn Ashton -
We live in a world of mixed messages, nowhere more than around the environmental health of our planet. While humans relentlessly fray the fabric of our planet’s natural systems, business and politicians reassuringly coo about how we have shifted toward a more socially beneficial and environmentally sustainable path.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Yet rather than dealing directly with our problems, a malevolent industry has emerged whose intent is to sow confusion about the...
French economist Thomas Piketty caused a sensation in early 2014 with his book on a simple, brutal formula explaining economic inequality: r is greater than g (meaning that return on capital is generally higher than economic growth). Here, he talks through the massive data set that led him to conclude: Economic inequality is not new, but it is getting worse, with radical possible impacts. In this TED, which took place in Berlin, Piketty argues that wealth inequality is always a lot higher...
Pepe Escobar -
A specter haunts the fast-aging “New American Century”: the possibility of a future Beijing-Moscow-Berlin strategic trade and commercial alliance. Let’s call it the BMB.
Its likelihood is being seriously discussed at the highest levels in Beijing and Moscow, and viewed with interest in Berlin, New Delhi, and Tehran. But don’t mention it inside Washington’s Beltway or at NATO headquarters in Brussels. There, the star of the show today and tomorrow is the new...
Jane Duncan -
Are South Africans protesting because government service delivery is poor? Or are they protesting because delivery is so good that expectations have been raised to the point where government cannot meet them?
The ‘rising expectation’ explanation of the protests has found favour with a diverse range of institutions and individuals, such as the government, the South African Institute for Race Relations (SAIRR), City Press editor Ferial Haffajee and Municipal IQ. It featured...
"Where is democracy today and where is it likely to go tomorrow?" asks Marwan Bishara of Al Jazeera. He argues that democracy, together with capitalism, has brought astonishing levels of prosperity. So why is it in trouble, not only in the West, but in all regions of the world? Is the concentration of wealth a threat to democracy? Are we seeing the return of a more radical right based on ethnic nationalism with xenophobia and racism thrown into the mix? Is there a renewed desire...
