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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All posts tagged under »politics«
Cosatu goes forward united in tactical diversity
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.
A background to Marikana
August 23, 2012
The deaths at Lonmin amount to the bloodiest tragedy of the post-apartheid era. As a result, the blame game is in full swing and is likely to continue in the weeks ahead. But all the finger pointing, accusations and counter accusations only highlight the plethora of questions that desperately need to be thoroughly interrogated.
Lonmin: the need for a comprehensive, transparent inquiry
August 22, 2012
It will be a gross error if the proposed commission of inquiry into last week’s tragic events at Lonmin’s Marikana mine focusses solely on the violent incidents at the mine. It would also be a great disservice to the memories of the dead and the injured, as well as to miners and their families everywhere — let alone the country at large.
Hope amid joblessness and exploitation
August 17, 2012
Even amid drudgery and disappointment, there can be Cinderella moments; times when there is a glimpse of what may be possible; times when even the humblest and most exploited may be able to indulge, however briefly, in the illusion of what a better life might really be. But real Cinderella moments tend to contain a social bite, for all their contradictions, because they retain their moorings in reality.
Terry Bell Writes 
September 21, 2012
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