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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When the son of the president of a desperately poor country starts buying mansions and sports cars on an official monthly salary of $7,000, Charmian Gooch suggests, corruption is probably somewhere in the picture. In a blistering, eye-opening talk (and through several specific examples), she details how global corruption trackers follow the money -- to some surprisingly familiar faces.
Global Witness co-founder, Gooch, exposes how a global architecture of corruption is woven into the...
It's a standard assumption in the West: As a society progresses, it eventually becomes a capitalist, multi-party democracy. Right? Eric X. Li, a Chinese investor and political scientist, begs to differ. In this provocative, boundary-pushing talk, he asks his audience to consider that there's more than one way to run a successful modern nation.
In this TED Talk, Li argues that the universality claim of Western democratic systems is going to be "morally challenged" by China.
In...
Deadly violence is continuing in Egypt after the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. On Monday July 8, at least 42 people were killed at the military site where Morsi is being detained. Meanwhile Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate and former head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, was tapped for the post of prime minister, but the decision to install him as PM was vetoed by an Islamist group participating in Egypt’s political process. However, Tamarod, the campaign...
“Does the media have a human rights agenda?” SACSIS’ Fazila Farouk put the question to William Bird, Director of Media Monitoring Africa, an organisation that tries to hold the media accountable to human rights principles.
Bird argues that editorially there is a very clear bias in favour of the Constitution in South Africa, but in trying to see if that translates into overall trends in reporting, and specifically a human rights bias, then the answer is very clearly no....
In the third week of social unrest related to Brazil hosting the 2014 Soccer World Cup, President Dilma Rousseff, met governors and mayors to discuss demands being made by those protesting on the streets. Brazilians are outraged that millions are being spent building stadiums when the country’s public services, such as transport, are unable to meet the needs of the population. In response to the protests, President Rousseff promised to invest $25 billion in public transport and...
There is a hope that there can be leadership from the Obama administration to curb the militarization of its engagement with Africa. But on June 3, when the rest of the world came together to have initial signers for the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty - the Obama administration - the United States of America, was not among that group, argues, Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. Meanwhile America has also set up a drone base in...
