Browsing All posts tagged under »SACP«

Seeking union relevance in a world in turmoil

June 30, 2011

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With the global economy in turmoil, the labour movement everywhere is having to adapt to changed — and changing — circumstances while avoiding the bribes, blandishments and bullying of governments, political parties and business. It could be a question of: adapt, fragment or fade away to irrelevance.

A tale of two funerals

April 8, 2011

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Both funerals were conducted with military pomp and included the flag of the African National Congress draped over the coffins. One was for a hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, the other for a reputed racketeer killed in a gangland drive-by shooting. Media publicity concentrated on the latter.

Resistance grows as the political edges fray

April 3, 2011

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Trade unions around the world are being forced to fight back as a consequence of what many bankers claim is the “gradual recovery” of the word’s “fragile economy”. But, as the unions tend to point out, such improvements are paid for largely by the unemployed and working poor. “We are paying for their crisis,” is a common labour movement cry.

The history of an exceptional newspaper

December 8, 2010

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The Guardian — The History of South Africa’s Extraordinary Anti-Apartheid Newspaper. By James Zug (Michigan State University Press/UNISA Press) (First published, May 2009) The Guardian, a polemical newspaper that survived three bannings and subsequent name changes and was once charged, alongside 156 individuals, with treason, is part of the anti-apartheid folk lore of South Africa. […]

Lessons to be learned from Cosatu’s 25 years

November 30, 2010

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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 […]

SA’s New Growth Path: enter Son of Gear

November 24, 2010

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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.