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?
Acclaimed journalist, author and political activist, Barbara Ehrenreich, explores the darker side of positive thinking.
Ehrenreich finds a pattern in many aspects of life that demands mandatory optimism.
Embedded in this is the idea that a person can change the physical world with their thoughts.
According to Ehrenreich, there are two problem with this.
Firstly, it is delusional and delusion is a mistake. She links delusions of positive psychology to the financial meltdown of...
Glenn Ashton -
Our economic system is premised on the notion of endless growth. Its unintentional manifestations include global warming, dwindling resources, proliferating pollution, the accelerating extinction of species, water and food shortages, all set against the backdrop of a burgeoning global population.
We live in an era that has generated more wealth than any previous known civilisation, yet remain surrounded by inequality. The market has failed to deliver on the promises of its supporters....
The failure of capitalism is what some blame for the current global economic crisis. But is it as simple as that?
Europe has been hit especially hard, prompting many to wonder if free markets can exist alongside the welfare state.
Riz Khan of Al Jazeera asks, "If capitalism is indeed failing, what are the alternatives?"
He speaks to Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic, Slavoj Zizek who explains what he thinks is causing the downward slide, and points to the faltering...
Democracy Now -
As the Obama administration rejects a foreclosure moratorium and austerity protests grip Europe, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now assesses the state of the US and global economy with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy.
Stiglitz backs calls for a foreclosure moratorium and says opponents of a new government stimulus "don’t understand basic economics." On war, Stiglitz says Iraq and...
Militant protests have erupted across Europe over governments' austerity programmes. The European population is angered that they are being forced to pay for a crisis that they did not create.
The news that jobs would be cut, pensions frozen and wages lowered, fired up the masses in Europe. Europeans have overcome their cultural and language differences in a common struggle against austerity programmes.
In a historic event, coordinated strikes and demonstrations have occurred in...
Glenn Ashton -
Economic pundits are by their nature economic optimists – they talk up the game, they look on the bright side and they dismiss negative perspectives and doom and gloom talk about any economic downsides.
This is quite understandable. Their careers are after all utterly reliant upon the continued growth of capital, on increased profitability and on positive economic sentiments. Consequently they sing the praises and extol the health of the dominant economic system.
But the question is,...
