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.
Glenn Ashton -
The technocrats are on the ascent and nuclear power is yet again on the cards for South Africa. How has the moratorium of 2008 been reversed? How can nuclear power, which was then considered an unaffordable option, suddenly have become affordable again? This is a story with many twists and turns.
The nuclear lobby is, like any major industry, well resourced. It has consistently managed to project positions, which appear logical and reasonable – that nuclear power is safe, reduces...
Mark Weisbrot -
The Euro is crashing today to record lows against the Swiss Franc, and interest rates on Italian and Spanish bonds have hit record highs. This latest episode in the Eurozone crisis is a result of fears that the contagion is now hitting Italy. With a two-trillion dollar economy and $2.45 trillion in debt, Italy is too big to fail and the European authorities are worried. Although there is currently little basis for the concern that Italy’s interest rates could rise high enough to put its...
On Friday, 8 July 2011, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for what could be the largest demonstration since the uprising that toppled former president, Hosni Mubarak. They say there has been little progress on reforms promised in the five months since the uprising.
Democracy Now correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous provides a live update from Tahrir Square. "There is a sense the revolution is being stolen from beneath people’s feet...
Dale T. McKinley -
If there is one thing that history has regularly taught us, whether at the individual or collective level, it is that what might seem like a good idea at the time often ends up becoming something very different when put into practice. With the benefit of seventeen years of democratic hindsight, nowhere is this lesson more applicable than in respect of South Africa’s provincial tier of government.
During those heady days of constitutional negotiations in the early 1990s, despite the...
Glen Ford -
The African Union found the spine to reject execution of an arrest warrant against Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi issued by the International Criminal Court, which appears to have an “Africans only” indictment policy. The AU’s chairman calls the court’s prosecutions “discriminatory” because they ignore the West’s crimes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. China has hosted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, another ICC arrest target.
The African Union...
Jane Duncan -
The African National Congress’ (ANC) next elective congress is looming. Already, there are signs that President Jacob Zuma has lost the confidence of key constituencies in the ANC-led alliance, owing to indecisive leadership and his failure to re-orientate the state in a pro-poor direction. This growing disquiet among working class alliance members may well trigger a succession battle.
In response, the new elite clustered around Zuma could be tempted to fight back to retain power,...
