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?
Glenn is a multidisciplinarian with a background in geography. Besides being a published author, he also edited "A Patented World? The Privatisation of Life and Knowledge," published by Jacana in South Africa. He currently is on the editorial board of the SA Journal of Natural Medicine.
Additionally, Glenn has written many commentaries and analyses of wide ranging issues including waste management, water use, food security, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, health, agricultural fuels, marine resources, climate and many other environmental and socially relevant issues.
He has also presented many papers and talks to a wide range of audiences. He specialises in communicating complex scientific issues in an accessible manner. He is a freelance writer and researcher.
Glenn Ashton -
Alan Greenspan was wrong. Free market ideology is rotten to the core. There is mayhem on main streets, with jobs haemorrhaging from every sector. It is not only first world working stiffs who are feeling the pain. The poor and working classes are suffering a great deal more, due to problems created on the other side of the world by a system that may as well operate in a parallel universe.
The self serving greed and accumulative gathering of wealth through nefarious instruments of finance...
Glenn Ashton -
When we vote in South Africa we enter the voting booth burdened by the weight of history and by our responsibility to the future. We weigh up some increasingly obscure choices and make our mark. But is this then the total sum of our democratic interaction? Are we fulfilling our social obligations by voting? Or is there more to it than this?
The world is not in particularly good shape. There is an economic hurricane building and we don't yet know how hard the winds will blow. The world...
Glenn Ashton -
A strong case can be made that the most important tier of government is that of local government. Local communities are the most acutely aware of their own unique needs and how these can best be met. If participatory democracy is to be truly participatory it can be argued that we need to shift away, at least at local level, from political delineations and instead shift toward co-operative local governance based on common local interests. Party politics is a demonstrably poor mechanism to...
Glenn Ashton -
South Africa has one of the most progressive water regulatory regimes in the world, based upon the constitutional right of access to sufficient food and water for all. This right is being realised by the government policy of supplying free water of 6000 litres a month to all households in South Africa.
Taking this a step further, a court ruling against pre paid water meters by Judge Moroa Tsoka stated "Water is life, sanitation is dignity - this case is about the fundamental...
Glenn Ashton -
Agricultural practice in modern South Africa has failed to evolve sufficiently to adapt to our emerging needs. Farm workers remain marginalised, their work conditions and job security are poor. The proposed redistribution of land is slow and fraught with problems. Existing farmers feel threatened. Globalisation poses enormous challenges to the sector. However, the travails and success of our wine industry may point us toward some solutions.
South Africa's wine industry has matured since...
Glenn Ashton -
It is clear that we have entered a global economic fire-storm. There are inevitable comparisons between the Great Depression which also began on Wall Street and which will affect each of us, where ever we live, as if we were US citizens.
Besides comparisons being odious, no two historical events are ever identical in either cause or effect. There certainly may be similarities between the Great Depression and the Pretty Damn Massive One into which we are now sinking. Those in the navigation...
