Facing the most serious civilizational threat ever, what is the South African government doing? The new Infrastructure Development Act pushed into law by economic development minister Ebrahim Patel will fast-track carbon-intensive mega-projects on behalf of mainly...
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“Sinkholes, Starvation and Suffering”: the Legacy of Coal Mining in South Africa? | by David Van Wyk
Even as South Africa marks the two-year anniversary of the Marikana massacre – which marked a decisive turning point for the country's platinum mining sector – extensive new research indicates that the coal mining industry poses a wide range of serious challenges of...
20 years of democracy: not yet Uhuru
As we mark 20 years since the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy, there is a deep rupturing of the post-apartheid social consensus in the face of intensifying class struggle. The signals for its end are the Marikana massacre, the great mineworkers' strike...
Rana Plaza Amandla
On the 24th of April, one day after inspectors ordered the owners to evacuate the building, the Rana Plaza textile factory in Savar Bangladesh, employing over 3,000 workers, collapsed. Over a third of those inside were killed and many others sustained major injuries....
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...
South Africa’s New Apartheid | by Sabine Cessou
A group of building workers relaxed on the pavement in central Cape Town, enjoying their lunch break. Every minute was precious; nobody was in a hurry to get back to work. "They pay us peanuts," said a bricklayer with a gold tooth. On the equivalent of $1,470 a month,...
The Third Intifada? | by Uri Avnery
Is this the third intifada? This question was raised this week by a number of Israeli security experts. And not only by them – their Palestinian colleagues were almost as perplexed. All over the West Bank, Palestinian youth threw stones at Israeli soldiers. All the...
Marxism, feminism and women’s liberation | by Sharon Smith
Sharon Smith, author of the soon-to-be-republished Women and Socialism: Essays on Women's Liberation, examines how the Marxist tradition has approached the struggle to end women's oppression, including its attitude toward other theories, in this article based on a...
Economics for people
Amandla! introduces a new column: Economics for people. In this column we demystify basic economic processes, concepts and debates so that activists are able to participate better in the struggles over the nature and direction of economic policy. One of the factors...




