Africa
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Ronnie Kasrils: Marikana – It was like poking a hornet's nest
An order was given to deploy almost 500 police armed with automatic weapons, reinforced by armoured vehicles, horsemen and helicopters; they advanced on a desolate hill where 3000 striking miners were encamped. That denoted an order from on high with a determination to carry out a dangerous and dubious operation to clear an isolated, stony… Continue reading
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VTJP News & Articles 24 August 2012: Israeli lies unchecked, Palestinian perspectives censored on BBC
24 August 2012 — VTJP News International Middle East Media Center Police Repeatedly Taser Palestinian Vacationing With His FamilyIMEMC – Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported Friday that a Palestinian man from Jerusalem was shocked by an Israeli Policeman with an electric gun five times; the incident took place at a park in Tel Aviv last Tuesday. The man Continue reading
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VTJP News & Articles 23 August 2012: Oil. Religion. Occupation: A Combustible Mix
23 August 2012 — VTJP News International Middle East Media Center Zahhar Denies Connection To Facebook Page That Carries His NameIMEMC – Member of the Political Bureau of the Hamas movement, Dr. Mahmoud Zahhar, denied any relation to a Facebook page that carries his name and places statements allegedly made by him. … Continue reading
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Democratic Left Front: Justice now for the Marikana workers and community!
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… Continue reading
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South Africa’s Unfinished Revolution and the Massacre at Marikana
The massacre of 34 miners at Marikana lays bare the central contradiction of the South African “arrangement.” Back in 1994, “the ‘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… Continue reading
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Turmoil at South Africa’s Platinum Mines by Pratap Chatterjee
Clashes between South Africa’s powerful mining companies and the government are only part of the story. A battle to win membership between two rival unions – the older establishment affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the newer more radical Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) – is also reported to be a major… Continue reading
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Black Agenda Report 22 August 2012: Obama's Left Apologists / Blasting the GOP / Massacre at Marikana
012 — Black Agenda Report – News, commentary and analysis from the black left Fletcherism and Fakery: Guarding Obama’s Left Flank by BAR executive editor Glen Ford Obama’s key apologists on the Left have released their 2012 position paper, in which “the facts of the Obama presidency – his actual behavior on war, austerity, and civil liberties Continue reading
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Echoes of the Past: Marikana, Cheap Labour and the 1946 Miners Strike Chris Webb
On August 4, 1946 over one thousand miners assembled in Market Square in Johannesburg, South Africa. No hall in the town was big enough to hold them, and no one would have rented one to them anyway. The miners were members of the African Mine Worker’s Union (AMWU), a non-European union which was formed five… Continue reading
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Lonmin, the 'unacceptable face of capitalism' By Sipho Hlongwane
The company that preceded Lonmin was once dubbed ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism’ by a British prime minister. Tiny Rowland, man who turned the company into an international colossus, wore the slur happily. In the aftermath of the Marikana shootings, it seems like not much has changed since his day. Continue reading
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NGO accuses platinum mine owners of neglecting communities
Several Platinum miners have dismissed a non-governmental organisation report on their operations in the Rustenburg area. The Bench Marks Foundation is accusing platinum miners of neglecting mining communities in pursuit of profits. Mineworkers union National Union of Mineworkers has come out in support of Bench Marks findings. Continue reading
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Israeli-US Script: Divide Syria, Divide the Rest By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
What is happening in Syria is a sign of things to come for the region. Regime change is not the sole goal of the US and its allies in Syria. Dividing the Syrian Arab Republic is the end goal of Washington in Syria. Continue reading
Africa, Arab, DVD, GLOBAL, Lebanon, Libya, Middle East, NATO, Nazemroaya, Strategic Culture, Syria, TV -
Marikana: NUM: Rival union 'may have planned' mine violence
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) secretary general Frans Baleni put the toll at 36 and blamed the unrest on the rival Association of Mineworkers and Communication Union making promises which could never be delivered and, in the process, organising an illegal action which led to the loss of lives. Continue reading
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New at Strategic Culture Foundation 12-18 August 2012: Italy / Syria / Kosovo / China-Africa / Egypt / USA / UN
18 August 2012 — Strategic Culture Foundation Rethinking Italian National Interest and Strategy in a Changing World 18.08.2012 | 00:00 | Tiberio GRAZIANI, Daniele SCALEA Continue reading
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South Africa: Lonmin's Killing Fields By Greg Nicolson
On Monday, a dozen Lonmin mineworkers sat on the grass at a North West resort. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) shop stewards and leaders of Lonmin’s Western Platinum branch fled their homes at the world’s third largest platinum producer, outside of Rustenburg, on Saturday. “We heard they identified the branch top five to kill,”… Continue reading
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How the Chosen Ones ended Australia’s Olympic Prowess and Revealed a Secret Past By John Pilger
Wally MacArthur was one of the “stolen generation”. The victim of a eugenics-inspired campaign to “breed out the black”, Wally was taken from his mother as a small boy and was destined to become a servant in white society. His gift was speed. Running without shoes, he was the Usain Bolt of his day. Wally… Continue reading
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Reflections As Nelson Mandela Turns 94 July 18th By Danny Schechter
Cape Town, South Africa: Nelson Mandela was released from prison 22 years ago. He has been “free” ever since. At the same time, I sometimes feel as if I became his prisoner—imprisoned by the work I have been doing enthusiastically in service to the struggle he led ever since the mid 1960’s. Continue reading
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PAMBAZUKA NEWS 592 9 July 2012: LINKS AND RESOURCES
9 July 2012 — Pambazuka The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa Pambazuka News is delivered free to you with the support of donations from Friends of Pambazuka. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 