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?
Glenn Ashton -
At the birth of our democracy the incoming government ambitiously stated they would redistribute thirty percent of agricultural land, 25 million hectares, by 1999. When it was obvious the goal could not be met, the delivery date was shifted to 2014. Today we are not even a third of the way to achieving this limited target.
The question of redistribution, restitution and broadened access to land remains a powder keg. The jobless and hopeless are increasingly receptive to this explosive...
More than 60 years after the formation of the state of Israel, successive rounds of “peace talks” have yielded no settlement that is viable for the occupied people of Palestine. But, are we entering a new era? US Secretary of State John Kerry has embraced his role with a great deal of enthusiasm striking up talks between both sides again. Nevertheless, Middle East expert, Na’eem Jeenah, says we shouldn’t place much hope on Kerry’s efforts. The Israelis are making...
"The News" - it's the most viral meme of reality on the planet: if it's not on "the News" it didn't happen - right? In Season 2 of Juice Rap News, intrepid anchor-man Robert Foster embarks on a new era of adversarial rap journalism by casting a critical eye on the paradigm that shapes our collective reality each night; featuring a smorgasbord of guests and correspondents. Meanwhile, what is going on in Finance, Showbiz and the Weather? Special surprise guests are in...
Mandisi Majavu -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau once wrote that “the first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society.” Modern nation states and their immigration laws are largely founded on this logic. The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, was appealing to this logic when he labelled African asylum seekers, who took to the streets last month to protest against...
Brian Walt -
Massachusetts did not have a team in this year’s Super Bowl. And last week brought news that Boston-based Oxfam America would not have an Oxfam ambassador appearing in a Super Bowl commercial either. Scarlett Johansson's work for SodaStream violated the anti-settlement and anti-discrimination principles of the international Oxfam confederation. As a consequence, Johansson chose her hefty contract with SodaStream over the social justice work of Oxfam. As a rabbi...
Heiner flassbeck, Professor of Economics, Hamburg University, argues that the world is in a dangerous moment where it is sliding towards a global recession with all its attendant social problems.
Globally, there is high pressure on low wages. In the past there was high pressure on high wages. However, 30 years after the neoliberal counterrevolution, it is the other way around. The situation is destabilizing the global economy and requires an intervention to strengthen the labour sector...
