5 February 2020 — FAIR
22 May 2019 — Terry Bell Writes
(Inside Labour column – first published in City Press, May 19)
One interesting result of South Africa’s May 8 national and provincial poll was the effective demolition of an enduring myth, beloved of many bosses and union-bashing free marketeers: that union bosses call the shots and members blindly follow. This is a claim trotted out at the time of almost every major strike.
15 May 2019 — Rebel News
Ronnie Kasrils joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1960 after Sharpeville and later played a leading role in Umkhonte we Sizwe, the ANC’s armed wing. He served for a number of years as a minister in Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid government as Deputy Minister of Defence and as Minister for Security. He has since become a major left critic of the ANC and its embrace of neo-liberalism. He is also known as an outspoken opponent of Apartheid Israel. Rebel is pleased to publish his assessment of the recent South African election here.
The best aspect of South Africa’s sixth national election since democracy in 1994 was that it was extremely peaceful, virtually incident free, fair, and credible. The top marks go to the 16 million who cast their votes, many in difficult rural terrain and some in cold, rainy conditions. The downside was that this was the lowest turnout of registered voters since that first seminal democratic election.
15 May 2019 — In Defence of Marxism
Election results can provide an important barometer of the mood in society. The results of the Sixth National and Provincial elections on 8 May confirm that there is a deep ferment in South African society. The sharp drop in voter turnout, together with the high abstention from the election process, especially by the youth, meant that, for the first time ever, a minority of the voting-age population voted in the elections. This is highly significant in a country where the working class conquered the right to vote from the ruling class only 25 years ago.
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.
10 October 2016 — Youtube
The Giant is Falling takes us through the big political events of recent years that signify the dying days of the ANC in South Africa. Locating the moment when things fell apart as the Marikana Massacre, the film charts the various ways people have collectively responded to the ANC’s failure to deliver on its promises. From the end of the ANC’s special relationship with the trade unions, to the #FeesMustFall student movement, to the more recent crushing electoral losses at the polls for the party of liberation, the film picks at the festering sore of inequality that is making the current status quo untenable.
19 December 2013 — Occupy.com
Perhaps Edward Snowden’s hoodie should have raised suspicions. Continue reading
5 November 2013 — Daily Maverick
Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters have invoked the legacy of former Burkina Faso president Thomas Sankara as a model of governance they apparently wish to emulate. And indeed, Sankara remains one of the least-remembered, but most creative and principled, of post-independence African leaders. Malema and his fighters might particularly like to remember Sankara’s commitment to an austere personal lifestyle, and the total emancipation of women. By REBECCA DAVIS.
23 May 2013 — CorpWatch Blog
CorpWatch cartoon by Khalil Bendib
Technology companies willingly provided information to U.S. government agencies to help the Obama administration snoop on reporters from the Associated Press (AP) and Fox news in order to ostensibly crack down on leaks that pose a “threat” to national security.
9 February 2013 — WSWS
A Google report released Monday shows a marked increase in government requests for private communications of Internet users.
15 January 2013 — Global Research
Wall Street Journal headlined “An Internet Activist Commits Suicide.”
New York’s medical examiner announced death by “hang(ing) himself in his Brooklyn apartment.”
Lingering suspicions remain. Why would someone with so much to give end it all this way? He was one of the Internet generation’s best and brightest.
17 December 2012 — Finextra
A new foundation dedicated to promoting media transparency and fighting censorship is to support WikiLeaks in its efforts to subvert a two-year block on payments by Visa and MasterCard.
13 February 2012 — Global Research: Stephen Lendman: ORWELLIAN DRONES – “Eye in the Sky” Spying on Americans
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) represents dozens of influential companies.
22 January 2012 — williambowles.info
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ACLU & EFF to Appeal Secrecy Ruling in Twitter/Wikileaks Case
Kansas City infoZine
… today the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) plan to file an appeal in the legal battle over the records of several Twitter users in connection with the government’s WikiLeaks investigation. …
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/50425/
25 May 2011 — Global Research — Antifascist Calling…
As night follows day, you can count on Congress to serve as loyal servants and willing accomplices of our out-of-control National Security State.
Last week, in another shameless demonstration of congressional “bipartisanship,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) forged a filthy backroom deal that reauthorizes insidious surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act for an additional four years.
13 November, 2009 — Global Research – Antifascist Calling – 2009-11-12
When the Independent Media Center (IMC) received a formal notice on January 30 from the Department of Justice, demanding they provide an Indianapolis grand jury with ‘details of all reader visits on a certain day,’ the feisty left-wing news aggregators fought back, CBS News reported.
Investigative journalist Declan McCullagh revealed that the ‘change’ administration’s legal eagles issued an order that required the ‘Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site ‘not to disclose the existence of this request’ unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.’
Kristina Clair, IndyMedia’s Linux administrator, told CBS she was shocked to have received the subpoena with its flawed demand not to disclose its contents.
The subpoena from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded ‘all IP traffic to and from http://www.indymedia.us’ on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to ‘include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information,’ including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers’ Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on. (Declan McCullagh, ‘Justice Dept. Asked for News Site’s Visitor Lists,’ CBS News, November 10, 2009)
Talk about intrusive! While grand jury subpoenas of news organizations and journalists are not unprecedented, under long-standing guidelines these subpoenas are supposed to receive special handling given their sensitive nature, thus ensuring that even the appearance of prior restraint of a journalist’s ability to report the news is avoided.
The New Dark Age 