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?
SACSIS promotes the principle of just economies. We are opposed to economic development that violates social and economic rights and increases inequalities in the pursuit of economic growth.
Saliem Fakir -
Democracy is an imperfect system. Its characteristics can vary – from being a creation of populist traditions to democracies run by elites.
In the common imagination when we think of democracy we think of people’s power. Power is delegated as a trust to holders of political office and from whom we expect that they would manage our affairs wisely and judiciously. They would protect us from vulnerability.
Depending on what is within their power or outside of...
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...
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...
Saliem Fakir -
To say that inflation targeting as a monetary policy instrument has reached a dead end, is an understatement. It was Jeremy Cronin, the South African Communist Party (SACP) leader, who poignantly noted that perhaps the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni, was overdoing things and that a new vision for economic stimulation is long overdue.
Cronin, the SACP and COSATU have for a long time been told to shut up by the Mbeki camp but have of late become more vocal and strident following...
