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?
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President Barack Obama came to the White House on a wave of popular discontent with the way the country was being run. His election cry "change we can believe in," inspired millions of Americans to head to the polls.
Now after two years in power much of that initial optimism and euphoria has dissipated.
America remains largely an unequal society socially, economically and racially. The rich have got richer and the number of poor has steadily climbed. The country remains at war in...
As many as 500,000 protesters marched in London on Saturday to protest Britain’s deepest cuts to public spending since World War II. The protests come after U.K. officials estimated corporate taxes would be reduced even as it tackles a $235 billion deficit and plans to cut more than 300,000 public sector jobs.
Meanwhile, in the United States protesters gathered in 40 cities on Saturday to oppose tax cuts for the wealthy amid budget cuts to public services.
Democracy Now broadcasts a...
Shannon de Ryhove speaks with author and journalist Hein Marais about his new book, "South Africa Pushed to the Limit: The Political Economy of Change."
History's legacy is one of the reasons South Africa's black majority lives in poverty, says Marais.
The structure of the economy, its ability to create jobs and poverty trends that date back to the 1970's were not just going to go away because we have a democratic government, he contends.
Marais says his book is an attempt to...
US and allied forces have launched a wave of airstrikes in Libya to enforce a "no-fly zone." European and American planes have been pounding Libyan air defences.
In The Real News Network clip above, Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies at Columbia University - who has been studying the Libyan situation for years - offers a view on the US-led UN resolution to institute a no fly zone over Libya to protect the Libyan pro-democracy movement from Muammar Gaddafi's violent and...
As the nuclear crisis unfolds in Japan, Democracy Now reports from South Africa on the government’s plan to triple the country’s nuclear fleet in order to meet rising energy demand. South Africa has the only nuclear reactor on the continent—the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town—but there are plans to build six more reactors.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now speaks with nuclear expert David Fig, who says, “We need to really assess as a country whether...
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has decided to return to Haiti this week ahead of Sunday’s presidential runoff election. Aristide has lived in exile in South Africa since 2004, when he was ousted in a U.S.-backed coup. Despite U.S. pressure on the governments of Haiti and South Africa not to allow him to return, Aristide and his family are planning to leave on Thursday.
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now is in South Africa to cover Aristide’s return trip to Haiti. She...
