Political symbols in South Africa are here today, gone tomorrow, but oppressive political economy endures. At surface level, an explosion of anti-racist activism amongst the most enlightened South Africans – up-and-coming black scholars trying to break various ceilings of residual apartheid power – is occurring at the same time a xenophobic implosion is wreaking havoc on the bottom socioeconomic ranks.
Final declaration of the 6th Congress of CLOC Via Campesina
4 May 2015On the International Day of Peasant Struggles and after a march through Buenos Aires streets from the US Embassy, an imperialistic symbol, to the Argentinean Rural Association, a symbol of agribusiness in the country, the organizers shared the final statement of the 6th Congress of the Latin American Coordination of Countryside Organizations (CLOC-Via Campesina) which you can read below. The document is a result of eight days of debates and was read by representatives of the Youth Assembly of CLOC.
The real reasons for hurt sentiments
3 May 2015, byPerumal Murugan is an Indian author, scholar and literary chronicler who writes in Tamil. In January 2015, he announced that he is giving up writing after he came under attack for blasphemy from Hindutva and caste outfits for his novel “Madhurobhagan” which was first published in 2010 and subsequently translated and published in English in late 2014 as “One Part Woman”. This is the text Romila Thapar’s remarks at the meeting organised by SAHMAT in support of Perumal Murugan on February 17, 2015.
General election result could trigger a governmental crisis
2 May 2015, byThere seems to be only one certainty in the British General election which will take place on May 7 - that is that Labour is going to get hammered in Scotland by the Scottish National Party (SNP). In fact they are facing possible wipeout.
All Night, All Day, We Will Fight for Freddie Gray! In Solidarity with Baltimore
1 May 2015, bySixteen days after the arrest of Freddie Gray, Baltimore police and government officials have no word for their city on why he died. No statement, no explanation, no insight as to how this young man emerged from police custody with his voice box crushed and 80% of his spinal cord severed. Outrage at this injustice and the pattern of racist violence it represents has sparked ongoing demonstrations, a drive to organize and unite against police brutality, and a politicization unprecedented in the city’s recent history.
The Political Economy of Food in South Africa
1 May 2015, byTHERE IS A FOOD CRISIS IN contemporary South Africa, and it is marked by the co-existence of waste and hunger. It is deeply implicated in the existing crisis-prone, global neoliberal regime. As Susan George writes, ‘Food stands squarely at the crossroads of the ecological, social and economic/financial crises and provides a graphic example of how they reinforce each other.’