Truth is a strange fruit; A personal journey through the apartheid war By David Beresford (Jacana ) Review: Terry Bell (First published September 26, 2010) The publishers defined this book as “a personal journey through the apartheid war”. With rather more accuracy, the author describes it in his introduction as a montage or collage. However, […]
Filthy Shakespeare by Pauline Kiernan (Quercus) Review: Terry Bell (First published 06/2008) Like countless students before and since, I struggled, at school, to come to terms with the language of Shakespeare. Not the plotting or the action; just the words. Outside of Julius Caesar. In much the same way I never understood why we should […]
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) turns 25 in December. But the birthday celebrations around the country will be dampened by heightened tension and some mildly acrimonious outbursts resulting from the content of the government’s New Growth Path (NGP) for the economy and the manner in which it was announced. Like the 1996 […]
Aubrey Levin, the Johannesburg-born psychiatrist who once claimed to "cure" homosexuals by "aversion therapy" and who was in charge of the notorious Ward 22 for "deviants" in the apartheid state's military hospital in Pretoria, was arrested in March 2010 in Calgary, Canada, charged with the sexual assault of a male patient. It was merely the latest in a history of allegarions dating back across decades.
We have turned the corner economically. That is the ongoing claim from politicians, pundits and mainstream media commentators. But, as Federation of Unions of SA general secretary Dennis George has noted: “Growth without job creation is meaningless. It certainly is for the overwhelming majority of the population, and this is a situation that applies across the world, although not in any uniform manner. For all the optimistic pronouncements, the global economic crisis continues and there is no sign that it is ending.
South Africa seems enamoured of acronyms, and national economic policy has provided three over the past 16 years: RDP, GEAR and now, NGP. The one consistent element appears to be that, while the names may change, nothing fundamental seems to alter; "trickle down" economics still rules.
(Published November 19, 2010) Public protector Thuli Madonsela’s revelations about the victimisation of whistleblowers and the protection of corrupt officials caused a minor sensation this week. But the revelations came as no surprise to many trade unionists — and especially not to members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. […]
According to the labour movement, Wal-mart, the world's biggest private sector employer and retailer, is a parasitic entity contributing the the 'race to the bottom' in terms of wages and conditions while adding to the global army of the jobless.
Terry Bell Writes 
November 30, 2010
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