Your weekly round up of alternative news you ought to know • 29 July 2016
CONTENT: South Africa: 1. Hlaudi and the return to the Bantustan 2. Minimum wage mooted as remedy for dismal growth 3. Democracy triumphed and Hlaudi lost 4. Telkom rings mobile use changes 5. 2016 local elections: A new era in South African politics?
Turkey: 1. A war of two coups 2. Thousands of Turkey coup prisoners ‘raped, starved and hogtied’ 3. The solution is democratisation, not a state of emergency! 4. Turkish Academics Fear Growing Witch Hunt Following Failed Coup
International: 1. 48 Palestinian prisoners hunger strike against Israeli policy of detention without charge
Africa: 2. A Lesotho reporter recounts hours of tense and intimidating interrogation 3. East Africa’s biggest independent publisher battered by job cuts and political pressure 4. Mugabe Attempts to Terrorize the People
USA: 5. Democrats oversee record level of extreme poverty in Philadelphia 6. Hillary Clinton Endorsed By New York Times & Communist Party USA
Turkey: A war of two coups
“On the night of 15-16 July, Turkey went through a cataclysm that stunned the world: a huge section of the armed forces of the country (TSK in its Turkish acronym) attempted to take power from the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP, came very close to its objective, but was ultimately defeated.”
Thousands of Turkey coup prisoners ‘raped, starved and hogtied’
“Amnesty International says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture.”
A Lesotho reporter recounts hours of tense and intimidating interrogation
“The trouble started at about 17:00 on June 23, when my phone rang while I was having my hair done at Maseru’s My Vision salon. It was a police officer, Senior Superintendent Teboho Khesa, and he wanted to know where I was.”
Ramallah: 48 Palestinian prisoners hunger strike against Israeli policy of detention without charge
“A mass hunger strike across Israeli prisons continued on Saturday in protest of Israel’s detention of Palestinians without charge or trial, with at least 48 Palestinian prisoners now participating in the open strike in support of hunger-striking prisoners Bilal Kayid and brothers Muhammad and Mahmud al-Balboul, according to a statement released by the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs.”
“Telkom is positioning itself as a data-driven mobile network operator — a move that is set to shake up the industry.
The fourth mobile network operator in the country, with 2.7-million subscribers at the end of March, is overhauling its mobile data and voice packages as it aims to simplify its services and gain market share.”
Turkey: The solution is democratisation, not a state of emergency!
“Declaring a state of emergency following a coup attempt that aimed to completely suspend democracy will solve none of the country’s problems but only serve to realise the system of governance envisioned by the coup plotters.
Turkey is being subject to a nationwide state of emergency for the first time since the 12 September 1980 coup. Occasional states of emergency were implemented on a regional basis until 2002, but they were synonymous with extrajudicial murders, massacres, disappearances in custody and torture.”
“Zimbabwe is in a messy situation after Mugabe allies launched a terror campaign to instill fear and send a warning to ordinary suffering people who dare attempt to protest. The youth of ZANU-PF – Mugabe’s party – threatens to crush the popular revolt.”
USA: Hillary Clinton Endorsed By New York Times & Communist Party USA
“The very first sentence of the New York Times editorial endorsing Hillary Clinton trashes Republican presidential candidates as being the purveyors of “empty propaganda slogans.”
South Africa: ‘Democracy triumphed and Hlaudi lost’
“The Labour Court’s ruling that four of the axed SABC journalists must be reinstated is the first victory in a larger battle against those in the broadcaster who feel that the Constitution does not apply to them, trade union Solidarity said.
The four journalists are Foeta Krige, Suna Venter, Krivani Pillay and Jacques Steenkamp.
The court ruled earlier today that the dismissal of the four was unlawful.
Turkish Academics Fear Growing Witch Hunt Following Failed Coup
“Most academics in Turkey don’t want to talk; not even anonymously.
“I rarely, if ever, speak on the condition of anonymity,” a former philosophy professor told me, nervously — and unnecessarily — apologizing for his uncharacteristic request to remain unnamed. Just a few months ago, he was dismissed from his job after signing the controversial Academics for Peace petition, which supported peace negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Now he considers his career in Turkey to be over.”
Kenya: East Africa’s biggest independent publisher battered by job cuts and political pressure
“Nation Media Group is the largest independent publisher and broadcaster in East Africa, but all is not well at this icon of free media in Africa, which is struggling to stay in business and to remain independent while doing so.”
USA: Democrats oversee record level of extreme poverty in Philadelphia
“The Democratic National Convention will open Monday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The four-day gathering, which will officially nominate Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate, is being held in South Philadelphia at an indoor area far removed from the city’s central district and the 35,000-50,000 protesters expected each day.”
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