The vivid images of the Marikana Massacre and its aftermath are strikingly different from those capturing previous strikes by South African mineworkers. What is noticeable is the presence of large numbers of women – not all of them mineworkers – acting in support of...
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AMCU at the Commission: “It was one big crime’ | by Jeanne Hefez
In its first months of hearings, the Farlam Commission has shown us clear evidence of a bungled police cover up of a massacre, the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) own attempt to hide its role, and an alarming level of complicity between state and capital. The...
Global health crisis
The world is facing a global health crisis characterised by growing inequities within and among nations and millions of preventable deaths, especially among the poor. These are in large degree due to unfair economic structures which lock people into poverty and poor...
Egypt: and the revolution?
Interview with Hani Serag, Egyptian democracy activist and part of Peoples Health Movement. This interview was done before Morsi issued a series of decrees giving him sweeping powers, triggering a new nationwide uprising in Egypt. Amandla!: Has Egypt's Arab Spring...
Tax pegging ratio of 25% tax to GDP = A Small State | by Donna Andrews
Revenue from personal income tax is part of how governments are able to fund the type of society they imagine. In the case of South Africa, the government presents a vision of a more equal society, striving to lessen inequality and right the wrongs of the past. For...
Euro crisis: the economics of class warfare
Conversation with Özlem Onaran From the start, the neoliberal project in Europe was marked by a striking pro-capital redistribution of income, wealth and power. This seemed to be a good solution to overcome the profitability crisis, but it sowed the seeds of another...
Time to stop the tax cuts
'There is no money!' This is the standard response to the demands with which the government continues to be bombarded by people whose basic needs have still not been met after nearly 20 years of post-apartheid rule. People in South Africa are angry and impatient in...
Personal Income Taxation and the struggle against inequality and poverty | by Dick Forslund
Tax is a most personal matter. It seems that the more rich one is the greater is the resentment about 'my' hard-earned income being taken from 'me' to pay for 'them'. For the majority, on the other hand, tax is indirectly experienced in the increasing poverty of the...
Q&A with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela
At a time when people's trust in the body politic is eroding fast, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has emerged as a national heroine, almost universally revered for her refusal to bow to political pressure and a dedication to her office that few can emulate. Even in...





