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?
Visit the archives.
Saliem Fakir -
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has become an end all, and be all, when we look to economic indicators as a measure of a country's success and progress.
In general, when people speak of GDP, they speak loosely and without meaning.
When the government says it wants to grow the economy by five or six percent, this usually means relative to the GDP growth rates of other high-flying countries. There is always that eye of envy caste upon rival economies.
Everything looks good on the surface...
This Al Jazeera report examines the housing crisis in South Africa. Haru Mutasa visits the shack settlement, Sun City, located in the Eastern Cape.
Glenn Ashton -
Global food prices are rising at unprecedented levels and speed, sparking food riots and unrest. Some commentators suggest that this crisis could trigger social rebellion or even war. This is a direct result of the increasing industrialisation of our food production and processing.
Food production has, for the first time in human history, fallen almost entirely into the hands of private interests whose priorities are aligned solely with profitability and which have nothing to do with...
Fazila Farouk -
The anniversary of South Africa’s decade of democracy signalled a turning point in the way many South Africans view this country.
Since then we’ve been treated to a gaggle of critiques measuring the gains of our democracy.
The overall conclusion has been that it was a decade of poor gains. A decade of missed opportunities. A decade marked by a paucity of ideas about how to achieve real transformation, and most alarming of all, a decade of denial.
Extreme denial...
Pinky Show - The socially conscious cats from the Pinky Show have developed a simple but accurate account of the World Bank and IMF's (International Monetary Fund's) role in globalising our world and particularly its economy. The cartoon is highly recommended for its clarity in demystifying the role of the developing world's super bankers, who far from alleviating poverty, actually aggravate it.
Leo Kimble suggests that aid be given to Zimbabwe to solve its current crisis. His animation ends with an interesting, not to be missed, twist.
