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?
Frank Meintjies -
Some parts of South African civil society are very weak. Faced with various problems, quite a few civil society organisations live with the constant threat of closure and many have been forced to cut back on programme work.
Other parts of civil society are vibrant. There is strength at the local level. Although many community organisations, including advice offices, are limping along, there is also vibrancy and assertiveness as expressed, for example, in the form of the daily service...
The Marikana massacre most certainly turned the spotlight on the women in mining communities by bringing into sharp focus the challenges facing the widows of the slain mineworkers.
Fazila Farouk of SACSIS talks to Samantha Hargreaves of WoMin about the broader impact of mining on women in mining communities and learns about land grabs, water grabs and the health impacts of environmental degradation and water pollution, which create an additional burden for the women behind the...
Richard Pithouse -
On the last day of September Nqobile Nzuza, a seventeen year old girl, was shot dead by the police near Cato Manor in Durban. She was unarmed and she was shot in her back and the back of her head. She was part of a large group of people who were gathering to organise a road blockade in protest at both oppression, in the form of violent and illegal evictions at the hands of the eThekwini Municipality, and the repression of resistance to the evictions in the form of two assassinations. The...
In a major new report, the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations details a global crackdown on peaceful protests through excessive police force and the criminalization of dissent. The report, "Take Back the Streets: Repression and Criminalization of Protest Around the World," (PDF) warns of a growing tendency to perceive individuals exercising a fundamental democratic right — the right to protest — as a threat requiring a forceful government response....
Glenn Ashton -
The recent tragedy off the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, in which over 300 migrants were drowned, placed inequality between the developing and developed world into sharp focus. That people are desperate enough to risk their lives for economic opportunities highlights two perceptions of the migrants – how bad things are in some nations and how good they appear to be in others. World leaders must urgently re-examine what drives the ever increasing numbers of migrants, refugees and...
In what appears to be a protest against cruelty towards animals, provocative British street artist, Banksy, filled a meat truck with stuffed animals that can be heard squeaking in distress as the truck drives through New York’s meatpacking district. The truck full of toy animals, which exemplifies Banksy’s signature style of thought-provoking street art, will tour the area for two weeks.
Banksy, whose real identity remains unknown, is a UK-based graffiti artist, political...
