For all his initial enthusiasm, Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramathlodi's attempts to resolve the platinum strike met the same fate as those of the CCMA, the minister of labour and the Labour Court. The parties downing tools rejected the minister's proposal...
negotiations
A Brave New World: The Future of South African cricket
by Liam Brickhill Welcome to cricket's brave new world. The more egregious elements of the controversial Position Paper may have been watered down, but the spirit of the thing remains much the same. Under the guise of much-needed reform, India will rule, drawing in so...
David and Goliath
The story of farm workers and farm bosses in the Breede River Valley| by Mercia Andrews On Wednesday 6 March 2013 in Ashton, 180 km from Cape Town, people started gathering for a meeting early in the morning. Outside the library, one could observe the expensive...
Can’t you hear the thunder? | by Jay Naidoo
The headlines scream 'Marikana Massacre'; 'Killing Fields of Rustenburg'. Radio and TV Talk shows and social media all display the anger and expose the psyche of a nation badly wounded. The bloodiest security operation since the end of apartheid has left us shocked...
The massacre of our illusions …and the seeds of something new | by Lenny Gentle
The story of Marikana has so far been painted shallowly as an inter-union spat. In the first few days after the fateful Thursday and the shock and horror of watching people being massacred on TV there have correctly been howls of anger and grief. Of course no one...
Marikana shows dangers of populist leaders | by Carol Paton
Joseph Mathunjwa, leader of the Association of Mining and Construction Union, and Julius Malema, the expelled leader of the African National Congress Youth League, have several things in common. Like Mr Malema, Mr Mathunjwa was expelled from the National Union of...
Rio+ 20: Greed Economy alive and well in the hotels of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil–Alongside the multilateral government negotiations happening at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development are business negotiations and so-called “public-private partnerships” being driven by corporate networks such as the Consumer Goods...
Contentious Politics and the Climate Justice Movement | by Jacklyn Cock
‘Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat’ Introduction The climate crisis is deepening. Despite 17 years of multinational negotiations there is no binding global agreement on the reduction of carbon emissions. In fact carbon emissions are rising which means...
How hunger strikers “tied the hands of the occupation”: a view from Israeli prison | by Ameer Makhoul
Palestinians have achieved three consecutive victories in the last few months. In October 2011, there was the release of prisoners (the exchange deal involving the kidnapped Israeli soldier). Then there was a series of individual hunger strikes, which lasted for...

