by Richard Pithouse Numsa's's resolve to break with both the ANC and the authority that the SACP has tried to exert over the union movement carries the potential for a real political opening. The union's commitment to work with other struggles, including community...
Politics
Where is the EFF?: A brief account of the EFF’s existence thus far
'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...
Till death do us part? The future of COSATU
For the leadership of the ANC and SACP an independent and militant worker controlled and independent trade union federation is too dreadful to contemplate– especially as we approach the 2014 national and provincial elections. What if COSATU refused to campaign for or...
After Marikana: what way forward?
The crisis of profitability in the platinum industry is a misleading phrase to describe the current situation. Platinum companies are still in fact making a profit. The issue is rather that they are no longer making the huge profits they did during the boom years of...
EFF and the left | by Benjamin Fogel
In Gill Hart's excellent new book Rethinking the South Africa crisis, she points to a rather curious phenomenon as part of her engagement with the figure of one Julius Malema and the 'populist' turn he represents. She notes that for a change the far left and liberal...
The Kurdish Question in the Syrian Arab Spring | by Joe Lombardo
Calls resounding in the halls of power and in the media for American intervention in Syria have opened up a debate that has been over two years in the making: exactly who are the Syrian rebels? According to Moscow and some segments of the left, they are radical...
News Brief – Egypt
Egypt is in the midst of the biggest crisis since the revolution toppled Mubarak in 2011. Last month somewhere between 12 and 20 million Egyptians took to the streets demanding the removal of the Islamist President Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who came to power...
Who was Walter Rodney?
A brief introduction to his life and works Walter Anthony Rodney, known to many as Walter or Brother Wally, was born on 23 March 1942 in Guiana, a British colony on the northern coast of South America. His father Edward was a tailor and his mother, Pauline, a...
The View From Gezi Park | by Olivia Walton
Over a month has passed since police first attacked peaceful protestors in Istanbul's Gezi Park in June 2013. Already analysts are trying to explain, predict, and measure the protests that were triggered across Turkey by that moment. The international press suggested...
