The life and death of Rene by Andre Marias This newspaper headline refers to the rape and murder of my niece Rene, 28 years ago. She was four years old at the time of her death on Xmas Eve, 1986. As is so often the case, she knew her killer and he was known to the...
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THE CASE OF SHANNON—OUTCASTE CAPE TOWN: a personal reflection by Andre Marais
THE CASE OF SHANNON---OUTCAST CAPE TOWN: a personal reflection by Andre Marais My nephew Shannon is about to be sentenced next week. He is currently languishing in Polsmoor as an awaiting trial prisoner. As I watch him being brought from the holding cells to court in...
The state of the struggle:Lonmin workers’ organising one year later
by Benjamin Fogel The Lonmin Worker's Council was birthed by last year's wildcat strike at the London Mining (Formerly London Rhodesian mining) mines in Marikana. The strike itself emanated from a long-running dispute between workers and management stemming both from...
Remembering Edward Said ten years after his death
On 19 March 2003, the United States declared war on Iraq. Six months later, on 25 September, Edward Wadie Said passed away at the age of 67 in New York City after a decade-long struggle with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. The loss of one of the most elegant minds of...
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...
Every Cook can govern
The Greek form of government was the city-state. Every Greek city was an independent state. At its best, in the city state of Athens, the public assembly of all the citizens made all important decisions on such...
The Left and Political Islam | by Farid Esak
The task of defining both the Left and political Islam is no mean one. Both function and are understood within their own conceptual frameworks, geographical locations and time frames. In the limited space available here one can only speak in broad terms – thereby...
From the World Social Forum to the Arab revolts | by Esther Vivas
Tunisia, cradle of the revolts in the Arab world, hosts from today [26 March] and until Saturday the World Social Forum (WSF), the most important international meeting of social movements and organizations. And this is not by chance. The promoters of the WSF chose...
“The World Social Forum: Still Meeting Its Challenge” | by Immanuel Wallerstein
The World Social Forum (WSF) has just ended its now biennial meeting, held this time in Tunis. It was very largely ignored by the world's mainstream press. It was attended by many skeptics who pronounced its irrelevance, something that has occurred at every meeting...





