'A giant is born,' said Julius Malema, 'the Commander-in-Chief' of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at the confirmation of the party's registration in Pretoria on the 8th of October in 2013. There has been a veritable hurricane of responses following the birth of...
challenges
Venezuela
Venezuela is once again in the grip of violent protests, targeting the post-Chavez administration of Nicholas Maduro and which have claimed at least 19 lives as of writing. The official reasons for these protests range from a high crime rate (particularly violent...
Marikana: 1 year later | by Benjamin Fogel
Just over a year has passed since the Marikana massacre and the amount of critical reflection on the worst act of state violence since the end of apartheid is minimal at best. Other scandals have dominated the news cycle, from Nkandla to Guptagate, along with endless...
Blaqpearl: The new voice of the Cape?
WHY THE NAME BLAQPEARL? Back in the day I was part of a hip hop group called Insidious Inc. The three males in the group, including my late brother, Mr Devious, all had stage names – of course I also wanted one! So being rarely aware of myself from a very young age...
A Hundred Years after the 1913 Land Act
By Richard Pithouse In 1652, the year that Jan van Riebeck first stepped on to these shores, Gerrad Winstanley, an English radical, published a pamphlet called The Law of Freedom in a Platform. Three years earlier he had led a land occupation on St. George's Hill in...
Let’s talk about a new agenda for the BRICS | by Carlos Aguilar
It is significant that the Fifth BRICS summit took place in South Africa. Until relatively recently, South Africa wasn't considered part of the club of emerging economies. In the past decade, some countries had begun to show an important role in the global growth...
Understanding the Venezuelan Presidential Election Outcome| By Tamara Pearson
Things are chaotic here, as we recover from the surprise, disappointment, and a bit of hurt from the election results, but also go out in the street to express our support for those results, and to defend the national electoral system, one of the best and most secure...
Nicolás Maduro is Venezuela’s vote for Chávismo| by Mark Weisbrot
Hugo Chávez's economic policies were successful but a close vote means the new president cannot become complacent After a short but bitterly fought, insult-laden campaign, Chávista standard-bearer Nicolás Maduro defeated challenger Henrique Capriles, thus assuring...
COSATU at the crossroads
This feature of Amandla! lays bare the conflict unfolding in COSATU. Tensions in SA's biggest labour movement play themselves out over the failure of the Polokwane project. The ANC's 2007 Polokwane Conference, which adopted a host of progressive policies, was supposed...





