8 April 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
First published in City Press, Sunday, April 7
South Africa’s trade unions were probably just as confused as most people when a considerable fuss was made last week about the decisions of ratings agency Moody’s. The agency first said it would not publicise its views on South Africa’s status before the May 8 elections. Days later, it changed tack.
5 April 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
[South Africa may be thousands of miles away but the debates on the left taking place there, are directly connected to the kinds of debates taking place here within and about the struggle for socialism. WB]
What will workers decide when faced with the confusion of 48 political parties listed for the national and provincial poll on May 8? Many clearly did not register to vote, some have said they will abstain, others remain uncertain about who to support.
22 March 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
As South Africa coasts uncomfortably toward national and provincial elections on May 8, accompanied by rolling blackouts and with commissions delving ever deeper into sewers of corruption, it is time to take stock of where the country is and where it may be going. This should apply in particular to trade unions that have, in recent years, touted models of “socialist alternatives”, in Brazil and Venezuela.
10 February 2019 — New Eastern Outlook
The Anglo-European monopolization of Africa as a cash cow may soon be at an end. Until then, however, Africans will have to stomach the never-ending distortions of truth, on top of watching their legacy evaporate like a mirage over the sands of the Sahara. I’ve covered the disinformation on neo-colonialism many times, but today I want to deconstruct, line-by-line, the latest Russophobia propaganda about Putin’s role with African nations.
10 February 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
A version of this item appeared in the City Press on February 10
The people shall govern. So says the Freedom Charter. And so they do, says the ANC along with all the parties represented in parliament.
But this is a lie. And awareness of this fact is what has caused such widespread disillusionment with mainstream politics and political parties. In our party list electoral system this is particularly pertinent: every five years we go to the polls to vote for a party where a president and perhaps the party elite, usual decide on the representatives over whom we have no control. Yet a universal franchise — one person, one vote — is a concession won after many bloody and bitter battles in recent centuries by working people deprived of even the slightest influence over those who governed them.
9 February 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
South Africa is again in the midst of that five-yearly cycle when politicians make extravagant promises that, on even cursory examination, ignore reality. And that does not even mean looking ahead to the consequences of the fourth industrial revolution that the world has already embarked on.
2 February 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
There is a clear lesson — amounting to a wake-up call — for every trade unionist in the allegations and evidence emerging from the Zondo Commission into state capture. It is that the perception in the labour movement that the present economic system is inherently rotten, is true.
27 January 2019 — Alternative Information and Development Centre
The end of the human race is a very real prospect in the context of climate change and ultimately a heating world. Global warming at increases of 3, 4 or 5 degree Celsius means planet earth will no longer be habitable for human and most non-human life. There is scientific evidence that this has happened to other planets like Venus but was caused through natural processes. Our end is not inevitable and neither can it be prevented by false solutions. As a scientific process, climate change is the result of the sun’s rays (energy flows) being trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gases (such as carbon and methane). This is creating a heating planet. This article engages with this challenge from a climate justice perspective.
19 December 2018 — Global Research
Johannesburg – This week’s hush-hush visit by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde to Pretoria (between stops in Ghana and Angola) is mysterious. In contrast to last week’s IMF press briefing claim – “Madame Lagarde will hold meetings with the authorities, as well as fairly extensive meetings with the private sector, civil society, academia, women leaders, and of course the media” – there’s a complete information void here, with no public events scheduled.
11 November 2018 — Terry Bell Writes
Everything Must Fall, the hard-hitting, thought provoking documentary film that provides perhaps the best insight possible into the tumultuous events that disrupted South African university campuses in 2016 will feature in the Netherlandsat the world’s largest documentary film festival from November 15 to 25. It will be part of a programme section entitled Frontline at the 30th annual International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
26 September 2018 — Uhuru Digital
16 May 2018 — Pambazuka News
Photo Credit: baseMjondolo
By Nomnikelo Sigenu and Siyambusa Mpolase
On 11 May 2018, more than two hundred people occupied unused land in Germiston, on the East Rand in Gauteng, South Africa. We laid out our design for the occupation in the afternoon, built throughout the night and slept on the occupied land. Around 350 stands have been marked out via a democratic and carefully planned process. The new occupation has been named the Zikode Extension in honour of S’bu Zikode.
