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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All Posts published on »September, 2012«
Cold War echoes & trade union reform
Both the Cold War and the bitter battles between communists and social democrats in Germany of the Thirties found an echo at the 11th Cosatu national congress in Midrand last week. These came in speeches and in often angry comments from delegates in debates about international affiliation.
What about the workers?
September 24, 2012
There was considerable, unintended, irony in the statement by Cosatu president S'dumo Dlamini when he thanked the waiters and kitchen staff who had served the delegates at the federation's 11th national conference last week.
Marikana — and SA’s frayed social fabric
September 24, 2012
The mayhem at Marikana cast the spotlight on the platinum sector and on mining in general. But until and unless all the issues raised by the Marikana moment — and which apply to the country as a whole — are comprehensively addressed, the social fabric of South Africa will continue to become dangerously frayed.
Cosatu goes forward united in tactical diversity
September 21, 2012
The media came to the 11th national congress of South Africa's major trade union federation, Cosatu, expecting metaphoric blood on the floor. It never happened because, for all the often bitter divisions, all factions seems united in believing that the governing, ANC-led alliance is the only true was forward.
Cosatu congress will go for unity at all costs
September 18, 2012
Amid unprecedented media interest, Cosatu’s eleventh national congress got underway in Midrand on Monday. Many of the more than 300 journalists, photographers and members of camera crews accredited to attend the event are clearly expecting drama. They are likely to be disappointed. Unity at all costs is likely to paper ove all differences.
A wake-up call SA will ignore at its peril
September 5, 2012
What happened at Marikana should not be seen in isolation. It is merely the most tragic of many unrest incidents around South Africa, but it is a wake-up cll the country will ignore at its peril
Union key to a truly democratic future
September 2, 2012
To see the tragedy at Lonmin in isolation from the other, almost daily, upheavals around the country would be a mistake; they all stem from similar causes. All unions need to join this chorus because the desperate poverty among many miners and their families is the same desperate poverty that afflicts millions, mainly in the rural areas and squatter camps of South Africa. Democratic unionism may hold one of the keys to solving these problems.
Terry Bell Writes 
September 28, 2012
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