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....
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The end of NUM’s hegemony: AMCU and new mlitancy
The Association of Mining and Construction Workers (AMCU) was born in 1998 out of a strike at Douglas Colliery, one of the oldest mines belonging to Ingwe Coal, when 3,000 workers occupied the underground works of the mine in protest against the dismissal of Joseph...
Chávez’s Legacy | by Mark Weisbrot
Bertrand Russell once wrote about the American revolutionary Thomas Paine, "He had faults, like other men; but it was for his virtues that he was hated and successfully calumniated." This was certainly true of Hugo Chávez Frias, who was probably more demonized than...
All That Is Solid Melts Into Sewage
February 14, 2013 The hyenas awake! (Apologies to actually existing hyenas, who are deeply impressive and sexually progressive beasts apart from their scrawny hind-legs.) The cannibals are sharpening their carving-knives! The vultures circle in the sunset! The...
It’s time for the real fight | by Harmony Goldberg
The re-election of Barack Obama represents one of the most important political opportunities of our time. I know that many people on the left will read that opening line, dismiss me as a hopeless radical-turned-liberal and refuse to read any further. They'll be wrong....
Sugar Coating Exploitation
by Shawn Hattingh Southern Africa has become well known for being one of the cheapest places to produce sugar. Consequently, million of tons are produced in the region every year. Two companies have come to dominate much of this lucrative industry: Illovo Sugar and...
Israel itching for war | by Stuart Reigeluth
The EU seems oblivious to the fact that Tel Aviv is using the Syria violence to encourage disastrous regional conflict and divert attention from Palestine The annual EU-Israel Association Council meeting was meant to be about trade, but it was mostly about the next...
Rio+20 or Rio-20: Green economy vs Ecological debt | by Rikard Warlenius
The high-level UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week was called an "epic failure" by Greenpeace and other environmental organizations, their disappointments reminiscent of the "epic failure" of the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa only half...
The Muslim Brothers in Egypt’s ‘orderly transition’ | by Gilbert Achcar
Egypt’s uprising, contrary to most predictions, was initiated and driven by coalitions – including political parties, associations and internet networks – which were dominated by secular and democratic forces. Islamic organisations or their individual members took...

