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?
In Washington on Tuesday, on the invitation of the house speaker, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the American Congress. It's a speech that Israeli political analyst, Gideon Levy, referred to as "lies on top of lies," yet the Israeli prime minister received 29 standing ovations during his address, in a clear sign of what some commentators have come to describe as the sycophantic stance of the American Congress to the Israeli lobby.
In an obvious challenge to...
On May 9th, Israelis poured onto the streets to celebrate the 63rd year of Israeli Independence. Weeks earlier, at the end of March the Israeli parliament passed the controversial Nakba Law, part of numerous laws termed as anti-democratic by the association for civil rights in Israel. This law bans the mourning of the Nakba, which Palestinians commemorate to mark their expulsion from Palestine during the 1948 war.
The Nakba means "catastrophe" in arabic and refers to the war...
Imraan Buccus -
Struggling for Justice and Freedom
Had we not defeated apartheid, this year would have marked 63 years of oppression in South Africa. But, with incredible mobilisation and international solidarity, the evil system of racial capitalism was defeated and in 1994 we had our first democratic election. The euphoria of liberation was indeed overwhelming. This week, we celebrate democracy in South Africa with a third local government election.
But, as we celebrate democracy in South Africa, Israel,...
M K Bhadrakumar -
The thesis was just about gaining ground that the bitter legacy of the Arab spring is going to be the reawakening of the rough beast of sectarianism in the Muslim Middle East. Sectarian strife, it was prophesied, would lead to a Sunni-Shi'ite confrontation involving Saudi Arabia and Iran.
That specter helped deflect attention momentarily from the existential threat posed by the Arab spring to the authoritarian regimes of the Middle East. It also helped the United States to distract the...
The lead author of The Goldstone Report on the 2008-2009 Israeli assault on Gaza has backtracked on one of his key findings. In an editorial run Friday by the Washington Post, Judge Richard Goldstone said, “Civilians were not intentionally targeted [by Israel] as a matter of policy.” Now Israel has called on the United Nations to retract the report on the devastating war that led to the death of about 1,400 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, and 13 Israelis.
To...
Katie Halper -
I first heard of Jeff Halper at Israel-Palestine-related events, where people would ask me if I was related to him. It took me 30 seconds of Googling to realize that I’d love to be related to this Minnesotan anthropologist, activist, writer, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and founder and coordinator of Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions (ICAHD).
Though kindred spirits, we don’t seem to come from the same Halper stock. But we are Facebook friends, and it was through a...
