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?
Dubbed the "half-mile high tower," at 828 metres, Dubai's recently completed Burj Khalifa is the world's newest tallest building. Professor Philip Goad, Professor of Architecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia, argues, "Modern skyscrapers are simply 'very large consumer objects' that value excess over practicality and often indicate approaching economic doom. High-rises like the new Burj Khalifa in Dubai are a 'result of too much money...and too...
A landmark case against several international corporations accused of aiding South Africa’s apartheid regime is underway. The companies include Daimler AG, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and IBM. They are accused in a class-action lawsuit of complicity in human rights abuses during the years they did business in apartheid South Africa. The suit was filed several years ago by black victims of white minority rule. Their lawyers are seeking up to $400 billion in compensation....
Alexandre Luis Schultz Bier -
"Swiftness, audacity, courage and creativity to unfold new ways," are the words, Brazilian president and former trade union leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, declared at the onset of his second presidency on 01 January 2007.
In contrast to the ceremonial pomp of his first presidential inauguration in 2003, when several heads of state were present and when the streets of the country’s capital, Brasilia, were taken over by more than 150,000 people, this time the...
Glenn Ashton -
It is fascinating how the majority of well-educated and generally sussed people are continuing with their lives as if there is not a single problem on the horizon. As hard as I think about it, I simply cannot arrive at any firm conclusion as to why so many supposedly aware people are so averse to changing our ways.
Living as I do on the fringes of the activist society, where techno-hippies talk of change, of transition towns where we can set up barter systems, urban gardens and car...
Dubbed by the National Review as "the most dangerous political philosopher in the West" and the New York Times as "the Elvis of cultural theory," Slovenian philosopher and public intellectual Slavoj Zizek has written over fifty books on philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and political theory. In his latest book, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, Zizek analyzes how the United States has moved from the tragedy of 9/11 to what he calls the farce...
Speaking at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, which ran from 10-19 September 2009, Michael Moore commented on the decline of American newspapers, comparing them to the industry in Europe, which still appears to be thriving. In Europe, Japan and many other countries, the primary source of funding for newspapers is circulation. Advertising is the secondary source of funding. However, in America, advertising is the primary source of funding and circulation, second. Moore argues,...
