Long snaking queues are still the order of the day at the social security agency after 302 days of lockdown in South Africa.
MZI VELAPI |
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Taxpayers lost hundreds of millions to fraud and corruption in a series of covert State Security Agency projects aimed at protecting and promoting the political and personal interests of former President Jacob Zuma, the Zondo Commision of Inquiry into State Capture heard from Sydney Mufamadi.
MARIANNE THAMM | DAILY MAVERICK |
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Since 1 December 2020, the CCMA has stopped the use of part-time commissioners and has only been functioning with full-time commissioners. This comes after a R617 million budget cut.
LIEZL HUMAN | GROUNDUP |
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This article seeks to examine the price and affordability of water and electricity in South Africa. The aim is to shed light on how the price of electricity and water has changed over the last 25 years, and how these basic needs have become less affordable for us, the citizens of South Africa.
SEAN MOOLMAN, MATTHEW CAPES | IOL |
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The Political Party Funding Act of 2018 takes effect before this year's local government elections and parties will have to declare who is calling their tunes.
CARIEN DU PLESSIS | NEWS24 |
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A 91-year-old pensioner in Morgezon, Mphumalanga, has been evicted from a house she has lived in for more than a decade after it was sold for a second time to a senior ANC leader in her area.
NDLOVU | BUSHBUCK RIDGE NEWS |
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Between 3 May 2020 and 16 January 2021, the number of excess deaths in South Africa was more than 106,000. This is the estimate of the latest weekly Medical Research Council mortality report. These excess deaths are, either directly or indirectly, due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
GROUNDUP | DAILY MAVERICK |
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The roll-out of COVID vaccines gives much-needed hope. But without fundamental reform of the drug industry, inequality and mistrust will cost lives both nationally and globally.
NICK DEARDEN | OPEN DEMOCRACY |
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"It is excellent news that such a large and representative survey shows that 67% now want to take the vaccine. The biggest challenge is to make sure that the majority get what they want."
CENTRE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE | UJ-HSRC |
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Despite the fact that vaccines remain one of the most successful and cost-effective medical interventions, suspicions persist and potential Covid-19 vaccines have run into a credibility problem.
PHILIP MACHANICK | M&G |
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In spite of AstraZeneca’s claim that it wanted to “provide vaccines to the widest population, with as fair access as possible”, the siren song of profit-making has beaten out altruistic intention — a story we’ve heard too many times before.
ROBYN PORTEOUS | M&G |
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Covid vaccination campaigns have kicked off across the globe. But while many developed countries are busy inoculating their populations, the continent is grappling with growing bilateral agreements with foreign laboratories and mobilising its health professionals.
MARIE TOULEMONDE | THE AFRICA REPORT |
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This online briefing takes you through the key arguments and strategies needed to push governments to stop WTO trade rules from blocking access to Covid cures.
SUSANA BARRIA | PSI |
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The pandemic has exacerbated the contradictions of capitalism, exposing this mode of production as an antiquated scam. To defend humanity against this and future pandemics, we need to fight for socialist revolution, not merely accept the bourgeois version of “social distancing.”
AARON SHAY | SOCIALIST REVOLUTION |
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The political economy of covid-19 reflects longstanding patterns of resource extraction linked to racial discrimination, marginalisation, and colonialism.
JESSE BUMP ET AL | THE BMJ |
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A rally against agriculture reforms in India turned violent on Tuesday, after protesting farmers broke through police barricades. The government says the reforms that spurred the protests will liberalise the agriculture sector, but farmers say they will lose income.
BBC |
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On January 26, India’s Republic Day, tens of thousands of farmers rode into the capital New Delhi. Their demand: the withdrawal of three laws that were pushed through parliament in an undemocratic manner.
PEOPLE'S DISPATCH |
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For years, big corporations have been assaulting democracy with big money, drowning out the voices and needs of ordinary Americans and fueling much of the anger and cynicism that opened the door to Trump in the first place.
ROBERT REICH | THE GUARDIAN |
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The Capitol building riot of January 6 marked the messiest transition in recent history of ruling class power from one chief executive of the capitalist world to the next. If that history is any guide, the change of guard neither portends better treatment of working people nor a reduction of the threat of fascism.
ROGER D HARRIS | POPULAR RESISTANCE |
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The United States government has designated the main enemy of al-Qaeda in Yemen, the Houthi movement, as a terrorist organization, after spending years backing al-Qaeda in the country. Washington has supported al-Qaeda and similar Salafi-jihadist extremists in order to foment regime change and extend its hegemony.
BEN NORTON | THE GRAYZONE |
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British Gas workers are burning the new contracts to show graphically their defiance of the imposition of hourly pay 15% below the agreed rate.
GMB UNION |
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The laundry industry is one of many sectors in NYC and beyond that run largely on the labor of immigrants who are super-exploited and without many of the legal protections nominally provided for workers.
INTERNATINOALIST.ORG |
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New US administration voices 'unwavering commitment to Israel's security' in first official call with Israeli government.
MIDDLE EAST EYE |
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Palestinian supporters of the mainstream left marched together to support the Palestinian reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas and against Trump's deal of the century, in Gaza City on October 27, 2018.
HAIDER EID | MONDOWEISS |
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The B'Tselem report (January 12) declared “the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is organized under a single principle: advancing and cementing the supremacy of one group—Jews—over another—Palestinians,” gaining media attention while Palestinian protests are muted.
BENAY BLEND | PALESTINE CHRONICLE |
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There have been many attempts to put a 'humane' face on capitalism, but it is a system built on oppression. Racism isn’t a glitch, it’s a feature – both of capitalism's history and its present.
ZARAH SULTANA | TRIBUNE MAGAZINE |
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Slavery is the very ugly and sad aspect of the spectacular rise of contemporary social orders in the six Gulf city-states. Each is an example of a ‘genuine slave society’.
BERNARD FREAMON | AEON |
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Protecting natural resources makes leaders a target for organized crime. According to Global Witness, 212 environmental leaders were killed around the world in 2019 — the deadliest year on record.
JAVIEL ARVIN | VOX |
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The international trade union movement is uniquely placed to serve and lead in the pursuit of a truly just transition to a truly sustainable future. In fact, it is difficult to imagine how the transformations required could even begin to take place without decisive leadership from the international trade union movement.
JOHN TREAT | TRADE UNIONS FOR ENERGY DEMOCRACY |
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A climate risk index warns that vulnerable countries are being hit harder by powerful storms, as leaders gather at a summit to push greater adaptation efforts.
MEGAN ROWLING | THOMAS REUTERS FOUNDATION |
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The U.S. experienced a record-smashing 22 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters that killed at least 262 people and injured scores more.
CLIMATE AND CAPITALISM |
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NEW TECHNOLOGIES / NEW FORMS OF LABOUR
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Teleperformance cannot use webcams to spy on Albanian workers in their homes, according to a recent decision by the country’s Information and Data Protection Commissioner
UNI GLOBAL UNION |
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On Friday, Facebook carried out a purge of left-wing, antiwar and progressive pages and accounts, including leading members of the Socialist Equality Party.
ANDRE DAMON | WSWS |
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Workers at a warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., are to vote next month on whether to unionize, the largest and most viable effort of its kind involving the technology giant.
MICHAEL CORKERY, KAREN WEISS | NEW YORK TIMES
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Trombonist heralded by president Cyril Ramaphosa as ‘a giant of our revolutionary cultural movement’.
BEN BEAUMONT-THOMAS | THE GUARDIAN
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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is intended to serve as a channel of special and alternative news, information and knowledge source for all those interested in issues relevant to promoting political, social and economic equality and the eradication of poverty. The articles contained herein are obtained from various electronic media platforms and do not necessarily reflect the views of WWMP.
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