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.
Steve Horn -
Here's what is likely behind Obama's decision to send special forces to Uganda.
On Friday, October 14, President Barack Obama announced he would be sending 100 Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) forces to Uganda to "remove from the battlefield" (meaning capture or kill) the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony. "I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) had as one of its core principles the idea of “people-driven development.” This is all about the “social ownership of decision making,” which imagines new ways of development with and for poor communities.
People-driven development is, however, contested with a myriad of meanings attached to it. In its most romantic version, people-driven development would see the return of street committees – used so...
Are capitalism and democracy so closely entwined that one can't survive without the other? Or is it just ideological thinking which still dominates Western political culture? Is it the people who failed capitalism or capitalism that failed the people? Does capitalism offer solutions to the current global crisis? And can genuine democracy be compatible with other economic and social systems?
Peter Lavelle of RT talks with David Schweickart, Richard Wellings and Howard Gold.
© Russia Today
Dale T. McKinley -
If one has been relying solely on more recent mainstream press coverage and associated NGO-academic interpretations to understand and analyse South Africa’s foreign policy/diplomacy then it would only be a slight exaggeration to say that the overwhelming conclusion would have to be that China has become our new foreign ‘master’. Whether it’s the Dalai Lama saga, the Libyan conflict, the situation in Zimbabwe, trade issues, general North-South politics or diplomatic...
Leonard Gentle -
Two events have been the subject of recent media comment: the ANC Youth League’s (ANCYLs) march for “economic freedom” and the rise of Lindiwe Mazibuko as Democratic Alliance (DA) leader of the opposition. These rather over-shadowed a third, Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan’s, Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
Gordhan’s message of pre-emptive austerity - doing “more with less” - of course couldn’t compete with Mazibuko’s rise and,...
In the era of neoliberalism ushered in by Reagan and Thatcher, one of the great sins was for nations to control capital flows in and out of a country. To restrict capital flows in any way was considered a restriction on the strength and dynamism of the free market.
There are lots of second thoughts about this now and evidence is mounting that capital controls are important tools that help countries avoid financial crises.
Capital controls are a tool to help countries smooth out the...
