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?
Michelle Pressend -
Critics argue that leaders at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) were unable to provide solutions for the complex problems facing the world at the recent gathering in Davos.
These darlings of Davos are the very cooks that have stirred the awful stew the world finds itself in today. But finding solutions to the world’s woes would bring this group of people face to face with inner demons that they would prefer to keep locked away, along with their millions.
Capitalism is,...
Richard Pithouse -
Carl Niehaus was the perfect spokesperson for Jacob Zuma. He had an inside understanding of the world of reckless extravagance under the patronage of dubious businessmen. He must have known, perhaps lying awake wondering who to phone to get the rent for his extraordinarily ugly house, precisely what has happened to elite politics in the ANC.
The idea of politics carries both a debased and an elevated sense. In its debased sense it is the self-serving and often ruthless competition for power...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
Minister Trevor Manuel referred to debates on the size of deficits as an illusionary delusion, asking South Africans to focus on the effectiveness and quality of spending. Underlying this perspective is an important assumption that tough choices in economic policy have placed us in a better position.
Today, we have more money, and are able to responsibly increase the deficit, because of these choices, argues Minister Manuel. Assessing the record of government in this manner is however, an...
The Real News Network (TRNN) reports that protests are on the increase as a result of economic hardship emanating from the global financial meltdown. TRNN reports that there is a growing consensus that global elites are not qualified to handle the world's problems, leading to massive demonstrations against elites. On 1 February 2009, government representatives and corporate executives returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Associated Press reported "The world's...
In stark contrast to the World Economic Forum (WEF) taking place in icy Davos, its counterpoint event, The World Social Forum (WSF) is taking place in another hemisphere in balmy Belem, Brazil. The differences between the two events don't end with the weather. At the WSF, social activists from all over the world and the most marginalized communities gather to discuss issues under the theme: "A better world is Possible." At this year's event, which took pace from 26-29...
Saliem Fakir -
Every-time capitalism is hit by a crisis it is described as being an errant event. The latest scandal which has rocked the US financial sector, where trusted and the likeable figure Bernie Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme for almost two decades, is once again dismissed as the work of a rogue element.
But rarely will the pundits of the new economy, which rely on the use of innovative speculative financial instruments to make inflated profits from thin air, blame its faulty free market philosophy and...
