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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This advertisement produced a few years ago was banned from South African television. It shows white and black South Africans in reversed roles. Whites as maids, blacks as madams and so on. How odd that the advertisment invoked such controversy so as to get banned. This reaction is particularly problematic in light of the fact that few seem to be objecting to the reality of seeing black people living poorly.
International NGO, GRAIN, argues that the food crisis facing the world and particularly the developing world can be linked to more than three decades of IMF and World Bank inspired structural adjustment programmes. The current problem is more than one of a food shortage or a price blip. It is one where the food system is experiencing a structural meltdown. At the same time, big profits are being made by several food corporations and investors.
The National Labour Committee puts a human face behind the global economy which the big companies try to hide. Bangaldeshi garment workers work 20 hours in a 24 hour cycle, then take an hour's break and push on for another 16 to 18 hours, producing clothes for the American market. There are 1.8 million garment workers in Bangladesh, mostly young women. Eighty percent of them are between the ages of 16-25.
Using dark humour to great effect, this critique of Facebook, produced by Idiotsofants, reveals that the online fad that has become the social phenomenon of the new millennium, offers many risks for unsuspecting members. For a more damning account of the onslaught on personal privacy spearheaded by Facebook, see here.
Editor's Note: This clip has been removed from You Tube due to a copyright claim. We did, however, manage to transcribe the interview before it was removed and it's well worth a read. This rare interview with Nelson Mandela in 1961 shows a young spirited leader, who cuts a different figure to the conciliatory old man we all know and love. The memory of Mandela the freedom fighter is inspirational for the new generation of activists fighting in the struggle against social injustice, which...
This Oxfam produced video clip about the recently concluded G8 Summit in Japan, highlights the fact that the G8 countries are the highest polluters of carbon per head. Poor countries are hit first and the worst by climate change despite the fact that they are least responsible for it.
