Reports

General strike by Cosatu in October seems more likely

Labour unrest could become part of the price the South African economy might have to pay for the unfolding battle within the ranks of the country’s governing alliance. Unless relations between the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its ally, the African National Congress (ANC) as leader of the ruling alliance, improve dramatically in the immediate to near future, the country could face a crippling general strike by October of this year.

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Long-term outlook has changed dramatically

President Jacob Zuma’s latest sex scandal threatens completely to overshadow his State of the Nation address on Thursday, despite the importance of a number of issues he should be addressing. The scandal seems to significantly have weakened Zuma’s position in the ruling ANC Alliance, with all Alliance parties toning down their reactions and not coming to his defence. It seems a second term as president is now no longer a given. However, should this or a any other scandal cut short Zuma’s presidency, for South Africa the sting in the tale of this saga lies in the question of who could succeed him.

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The blizzard of the world

By David Hayes

Created 02/04/2010 - 17:22
Author: Paul Kingsnorth;  Published on openDemocracy (http://www.opendemocracy.net)

Summary:

The exhaustion of the planet and existing ways of life presents a creative challenge: exploring “uncivilisation”. Paul Kingsnorth introduces the Dark Mountain Project.
I often wonder how we would act if we really believed it. How we would act and how we would write.

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Google vs China: capitalist model, virtual wall

22 January 2010

The breach between a corporate behemoth of the new-media age and an emerging state superpower defines the struggle for the world’s information future, say Johnny Ryan & Stefan Halper.

A speech on the theme of internet freedom around the world delivered by Hillary Clinton on 21 January 2010 contained a striking phrase. The United States secretary of state, speaking at Washington’s journalism-focused Newseum, argued that nation-states that chose to limit free access to information risked “walling themselves off from the progress of the next century”.

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