23 August, 2012 — Democratic Left Front statement on the Marikana massacre
On August 16, 2012, post-apartheid democracy lurched into a horror. It was estimated 34 mineworkers at the Lonmin mine in the North West province were brutally gunned down by police, and in total over 70 workers have been injured. The death toll at this stage is still not completely verified, with the community still reporting loved ones missing and not accounted for in official body counts.
23 August 2012 — Black Agenda Report
<img class=”alignleft” style=”margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;” src=”http://blackagendareport.com/sites/www.blackagendareport.com/files/imagecache/feature400/south_african_miners_murdered.jpg” alt=”” width=”240″ height=”180″ /> A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
The massacre of 34 miners at <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>Marikana lays bare the central contradiction of the <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>South African “arrangement.” Back in 1994, “the ‘<strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>revolution’ was put on indefinite hold, so that a new Black capitalist class could be created, largely from the ranks of well-connected members of the ruling party and even union leaders.” The regime now represses Black workers on behalf of <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>capital.
“They are ‘anarchists,’ say these two allies of the South African state, and guilty of fomenting ‘dual unionism’ – which is now, apparently, a capital crime.”
23 August 2012 — CorpWatch Blog
Cyril Ramaphosa photo courtesy Mining Weekly video. Rustenberg platinum processing plant courtesy bbcworldservice. Used under Creative Commons license
A third wildcat strike this year has closed yet another South African platinum mine less than a week after the police opened fire and killer 34 miners at the Lonmin mine north of Johannesburg. The latest to lay down tools are a thousand workers at the Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine at Rasimone this Wednesday.
The strikes have hit the global supply of platinum, which is mostly used by the car manufacturing industry to make catalytic converters. Some 80 percent of the world’s supply of the precious metal is mined in South Africa.
22 August, 2012 — Global Research
Those who succeed in politics, as in most of the culture, are those who create the most convincing fantasies.- Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion
With both tickets now set, the democratic farce that is the U.S. presidential election lumbers into its final act. And for a campaign already rife with all the petty trivialities and celebrity intrigues more suiting of a reality TV show, it is no surprise that both political parties intend on using their upcoming political conventions to furnish choreographed spectacles designed for little more than prime time viewing.
22 August 2012 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
8 Detainees Wounded In Ramon Prison
IMEMC – Palestinians Minister of Detainee, Issa Qaraqe’, stated that eight Palestinian detainees, imprisoned at the Ramon Israeli prison, were injured after Israeli soldiers broke into their rooms and searched them. …
23 August 2012 — John Pilger
The British government’s threat to invade the Ecuadorean embassy in London and seize Julian Assange is of historic significance. David Cameron, the former PR man to a television industry huckster and arms salesman to sheikdoms, is well placed to dishonour international conventions that have protected Britons in places of upheaval. Just as Tony Blair‘s invasion of Iraq led directly to the acts of terrorismin London on 7 July 2005, so Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague have compromised the safety of British representatives across the world.
The New Dark Age 
