Saliem Fakir - Economic crises always present opportunities to rethink the conventional economic model whatever hue it may take. Some of these debates are raging at the World Economic Forum at present. South African debates on economic policy matters are out of touch with the emergence of fresh thinking amongst mainstream economists in different parts of the world. Those who follow John Maynard Keynes examine his ideas with a fresh pair of eyes and those that defend the tradition of the trio of...
Ben Norton - Is Facebook flirting with fascism? The question might prove difficult to answer with a resounding “yes or no,” but, to those who have been keeping track of its recent censorship practices, the answer appears to lean heavily toward the affirmative. On 9 January 2014, after over five years of operation, popular Facebook page Anarchist Memes was permanently taken down by Facebook. With approximately 90,000 likes and hundreds of comments each day, Anarchist Memes established itself...
Glenn Ashton - A few decades ago city workers anticipated a cheap, relatively healthy lunch of a bunny chow – a dollop of stew or curry in a half loaf, along with a pint of milk. Today inflation and industrial food have shifted us to where a lunchtime visit to the corner shop or local supermarket reveals the extent of our dietary rot. For too many, lunch often means a half a loaf of bread and a bottle of cool drink. In our cities cool drinks have almost become ubiquitous, the daytime drink of...
Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, has suspended Australian mining company Mintails' operations in Kagiso 1 on the West Rand after community members embarked on protests citing serious environmental, safety and health violations and structural damage to their houses as a result of the mine’s operations in close proximity to their homes. Media for Justice reports that community members view government’s investigation into Mintails operations as a smokescreen to...
Richard Pithouse - Jan Rivombo. Mike Tshele. Osia Rahube. Lerato Seema. Here we are, not even a month into the new year, and the police have already killed four unarmed people during protests. Jan Rivombo sold fruit on the streets of Pretoria. He was killed by the police on Bosman Street as street traders tried to defend their livelihoods against an increasingly brutal and predatory state. He was a young man who had been a father for three months. He was not the first person to be killed by the state in...
Dutch filmmaker Marije Meerman has produced a trilogy of films examining the secretive and exploitative world of high frequency trading. “Super-quick computers and advanced mathematical formulas have largely taken over trading on the financial markets from human beings”. Experts explain that algorithms are now the drivers of a system so complex that humans fail to comprehend it. “Algorithms secretly lie in waiting for the moment that your pension money gets on the...