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?
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Daniel McLaren -
On 12 January 2015, South Africa ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Though ratification is long overdue, given that President Nelson Mandela signed the Covenant in 1994, this statement of renewed commitment to social and economic justice and internationalism has been roundly and justifiably welcomed.
But what is the significance of this moment? To answer that, we must briefly revisit a very different time.
1976 was a year of tragedy and...
Greg Palast -
Europe is stunned, and bankers aghast, that the new party of the Left, Syriza, won Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Greece.
Syriza won on the promise that it will cure Greece of leprosy.
Oddly, Syriza also promises that it will remain in the leper colony. That is, Syriza wants to rid Greece of the cruelty of austerity imposed by the European Central Bank but insists on staying in the euro zone.
The problem is, austerity run wild is merely a symptom of an illness. The...
Irvin Jim, General Secretary of Numsa, recently toured the U.S. on a speaking tour where he was also interviewed by Paul Jay of the Real News Network. In Part One of an in-depth interview, Jim talks about his early life and how a difficult life as the son of farmworkers in the town of Port Alfred led him to activism as a young teenager.
In this fascinating exchange, Jim offers insights into his radicalisation, which included leading the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) where he...
Mandisi Majavu -
Three months after the South African government announced that it was planning to introduce a controversial stringent application process for refugees seeking asylum in the country, foreign-owned shops are being looted in Soweto and foreign nationals are being subjected to xenophobic attacks again. The way in which ordinary South Africans embody, (mis)construe and then act out the values and outlook of our socio-political institutions when it comes to the issue of foreign nationals is too...
Not since the 1930's has a far left party been in power in a European democracy. Comedian, author, activist, and presenter of The Trews, Russell Brand contends that Syriza's win at the polls in Greece this week is a victory for compassion and a strong rejection of the values of corporatism. Brand says that he finds it exciting that an anti-capitalist party is in power in Greece. “The reason I am excited about this is because Syriza are approaching capitalism from a completely...
Speaking about the historic victory of Greece’s anti-austerity party, Syriza, Leo Panitch, distinguished research professor at York University in Toronto says Syriza is a party of modern class struggle, in which not only the working class in the old sense, but more dynamically the new working class made up of knowledge workers, women and immigrants, are represented. Syriza is a party that embedded itself in social movements in the last decade, so it's a very different beast. Panitch...
