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?
Visit the archives.
Jon O'Brien -
As Pope Francis settles into his new role, he has a perfect opportunity to remould the Vatican’s relationship with the rest of the world. A great place to start would be at the United Nations, where the Vatican, through an entity known as the Holy See, has special powers granted to no other religious institution.
The Holy See’s powers at the United Nations were on full view this week and last at the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. There,...
Glenn Ashton -
Warren Buffett has pledged to give away the bulk of his fortune to philanthropic causes. Bill and Melinda Gates are prominent benefactors. In South Africa, Patrice Motsepe has joined the club. Russia has Vladimir Potanin. These individuals are part of a wealthy class of philanthropists who assist causes close to their hearts.
Philanthropy is a strange beast, readily defined, more difficult to ring-fence and impossible to control. Founded upon altruism it becomes invariably entangled with...
Human beings have been campaigning against inequality and poverty for 3,000 years - but this journey is accelerating contends celebrity activist, Bono. In this TED talk, Bono dazzles with selective data sets, which based on trends in a few African countries, show that the end of poverty may be in sight. According to Bono, if the world continues on its current trajectory, the number of people living on less than a US$1,25 a day is set to be eliminated by 2028.
© TED
Saliem Fakir -
There is the usual chorus of loud voices, “What is South Africa doing in the BRICS, and does it even belong there?” Such observations are inconsequential to the evolving fate of BRICS and South Africa’s place within it. Whether it belongs in BRICS or not is a wholly irrelevant point by now.
The question that really matters is, “What is South Africa doing with its lofty position in the BRICS?” A feat partly accomplished by the ANC’s historical...
Lynn Parramore -
It will hardly come as a surprise that the rich got richer in 2013. Didn’t happen to you, did it? The combined wealth of the world's billionaires hit an all-time high of 5.4 trillion, up from 4.6 trillion in 2012.
The Forbes list of billionaires is brimming over with oligarchs, monopolists, thugs, miscreants, and hustlers. Not to mention right-wingers, narcissists, and parasitic predators. The only thing missing is the king of Mexian drug lords, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman,...
Due to the growth of social networking on the Internet, we no longer have to react to emotions in real time," says Cliff Nass, professor of communications at Stanford University. Faces and voices are the most descriptive forms of emotion, and new research suggests that heavy users of social media are less able to assess emotion successfully, leading to "emotional atrophy", the difficulty to understand and process emotions in real time.
Social media has now become the...
