"According to the defenders of capitalism and the "free market", socialism in general and marxism in particular is all but dead and buried. However it may be instructive to examine one of the main environmental problems created by the free market, namely global...
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“Neoliberalism is in Crisis” | by Slavoj Zizek
Philosopher and Critical theorist Slavoj Zizek, says he’s not an optimist when it comes to Europe and the broad political and ideological struggle in the continent and the world. But he salutes the demonstration of the British workers and the awackening “of some kind...
Are South African elites paying attention to these underlying economic dynamics? | Patrick Bond
Not judging by this year’s long-range response from the National Planning Commission’s talented technical, political, civil society and business thinkers. Its fascinating diagnostic analysis of why South Africa is beginning to slide off the rails is negated by the...
Inventing Africa: History, Archaeology and Ideas (Pluto, 2011) | by Robin Derricourt
This book questions the assumptions and prejudices that appear as soon as Africa is considered. It opens with three geographical ways of defining Africa, then critiques assumptions made by writers and historians, the views of anthropologists and post-colonial...
Biofuels, speculators driving food price surges | by Kanya D’Almeida
A new report on global hunger pinpoints factors at the heart of spikes in food prices it says are exacerbating the unfolding food crisis in the Horn of Africa. Released ahead of World Food Day on Oct. 16, the report calls for action to control price volatility in the...
Looking to a new Africa | by Jean-Marc Ela
Economically, Africa is considered a poor and marginalised continent. And since the end of the cold war it has no longer been of any strategic or diplomatic importance to the great powers. Except when there are emergencies requiring humanitarian aid, no-one is really...
Looking to a new Africa | by Jean-Marc Ela
Economically, Africa is considered a poor and marginalised continent. And since the end of the cold war it has no longer been of any strategic or diplomatic importance to the great powers. Except when there are emergencies requiring humanitarian aid, no-one is really...
The employment guarantee scheme in India | by Kaustav Banerjee
Mass joblessness is an everywhere phenomenon in the developing world. The existence of an ever-growing reserve army of labour manages to keep working wages below a living minimum. Hence, the majority of the working class in any third world economy can get nicely tied...
Wal-Mart in Mexico: a blueprint for South Africa? | by Etienne Vlok and Simon Eppel
In 2004, the Mexican Federal Competition Commission took the peculiar step of allowing collusion in the Mexican retail market. It did so when it approved the establishment of Sinergia, a buying cooperative comprised of Mexico’s second, third and fourth largest...


