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?
Big Think interviews Cornel West, Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, on the question of Barack Obama. West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, and civil rights activist, as well as a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. BIG THINK: How do you imagine the legacy of Barack Obama? CORNEL WEST: I think that my dear brother Barack Obama, President Obama - he's a very complicated brother. He has a sterling democratic rhetoric at his...
On Friday, 30 October 2009, it was announced that the crisis in Honduras was over, as the military coup that had exiled President Manuel Zelaya and brought four months of repression and human rights violations to the country had been resolved. Days later, however, the agreement appears more like an attempt to legitimize the coup than to reverse it. All parties involved supported the original word of a breakthrough, a week ago, with ousted President Zelaya expecting his reinstatement to the...
Discussing language, politics and the role of the media in information dissemination at the Commonwealth Club in California earlier this month, Noam Chomsky also makes some interesting observations about nuclear powers, including Pakistan, which this week has been under siege of violence. Newspapers vs. the Internet Responding to the following question, Chomsky reflects on the role of newspapers and journalism in modern day society as well as access to information. In light of the...
According to United Nations Resolution 1820, rape is a war crime that must be responded to. However, the women of Congo are being abandoned by the world as the number raped recently reached 500,000. Rape is the weapon of choice in the war in Congo where competing militia fight over the country's valuable natural resources, particularly coltan, which is an essential mineral, used in cell phones and laptops. Worse still, neighbouring countries are fighting their wars on Congolese soil where...
Absolutely, says Professor Leo Panitch who teaches political economy at York University in Canada. "The American dollar is not going away as the global reserve currency. There is nothing that can possibly replace it," contends Panitch. The current speculation around the dollar needs to be seen in context, he says. That context is: Structurally, to be a global reserve currency, a country must have deep domestic financial markets and enormous institutional financial...
William J. Astore -
TOUGH GUYS DON'T NEED TO DANCE IN AFGHANISTAN
It's early in 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson faces a critical decision. Should he escalate in Vietnam? Should he say "yes" to the request from U.S. commanders for more troops? Or should he change strategy, downsize the American commitment, even withdraw completely, a decision that would help him focus on his top domestic priority, "The Great Society" he hopes to build?
We all know what happened. LBJ listened to the...
