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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All posts tagged under »history«
The myth of the lady with the lamp
Nursing unions and the media in South Africa last week noted that Monday was a day dedicated to nurses, to those who treat the sick and the ailing. And, as they did so, they continued to perpetuate a myth. The myth is that Florence Nightingale, was the unique “lady with the lamp”, who tended to […]
The need to remember history — & plan political homes
November 28, 2013
One element lacking in the current debates about what is going on in Cosatu is any sense of recent history. Because there is nothing really new in the current spate of political bloodletting, in the bitterness and the backstabbing. The rationale behind the suspension of Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and the resignation this week […]
Need to confront poisonous roots of the past
July 12, 2013
The poisonous roots of Marikana go back at least 15 years — and must be confronted if anything is to change.
Judaism, the Holocaust & Zionism
June 2, 2013
The abuse, both of Judaism and the Holocaust, by more extreme adherents of the fundamentally racist political philosophy of Zionism, continues. And the mainstream media continues blindly to use terminology that supports this particular ideological view.
‘Prodigal daughters’ speak out
May 15, 2013
The position of women in the exile liberation movements — a largely neglected aspect of SA history — will feature this year at the Franschhoek Literary Festival in a discussion on the book Prodigal daughters
Unions: a need to get back to first principles
February 4, 2013
Forty years ago the modern union moveent in SA was born. Then the demands, including pay and conditions, amounted to one word: democracy. But a democracy that went well beyond the veneer of electoral politics, of the legalistic notion of rich and poor being equal.
Rewriting history and mangling facts
June 29, 2012
Historical distortion and emotive rhetoric characterised the ANC policy conference that ended this week. In fact, it could be argued that the new transition or phase is along the lines advocated by the labour movement 16 years ago in the Social Equity and Job Creation document.
Spearing labour history
June 1, 2012
The charade surrounding the satrical The Spear painting swamped an importnt anniversary in South African labour history, the centenary of Alexandra twonship, site of perhaps the only "liberated zone" at the height of apartheid repression and example of trade union and community collaboration.
Terry Bell Writes 
May 18, 2014
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