Why now is the time for #FeesMustFall 2017

The Fees Must Fall movement would do itself and the country a great service to derive inspiration, in these unpredictable times, from the Latin aphorism, “carpe diem”. thedailyvox.co.za/

UCT students disrupt classes and join CPUT in a march to Parliament

Students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Mowbray campus and the University of Cape Town (UCT) marched to Parliament on Wednesday. They demanded that President Jacob Zuma release the Fees Commission report. thedailyvox.co.za/

In face of debt crisis and state capture: AIDC calls for public audit of the debt

“The government faces difficult choices”, Finance Minister Gigaba said in his Mid Term Budget Statement (MTBPS). But he made no choices. All decisions were postponed to later. On the one hand, the Minister and the MTBPS document provided a shocking account of the deep economic crisis facing South African society. On the other hand, what measures the government is going to take are shrouded in darkness. aidc.org.za/

What happened at Life Esidimeni and Asha Kiran? The routine torture of the mentally ill

The unreported loss of almost 100 people in Johannesburg or 11 in Delhi is part of the expanding State policy and practice of abandonment: “Zones of abandonment … accelerate the death of the unwanted” womeninandbeyond.org/

MWASA statement on recent developments at the SABC

MWASA cautiously welcomes the appointment of the seventh Communications Minister in as many years and as well as the appointment of the non-executive board of directors following the demise of the Prof Maguvhe-led team. wwmp.org.za/

PALESTINE

How Israel wins the media war

Of all the pillars that help hold up Israel’s special type of settler-colonialism and apartheid, one of the strongest remains the role of Western media in amplifying Israeli hasbara (propaganda). That pillar, however, is beginning to crack. electronicintifada.net/

US city links hurricane relief to support for Israel

Those wishing to receive Hurricane Harvey relief funds in the US city of Dickinson, Texas, will have to sign an agreement that they will not boycott Israel. aljazeera.com/

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Top 10 lies about the Bolshevik Revolution

No other event in human history has been the subject of more distortions, falsehoods, fabrications, and downright lies than the Russian Revolution. bolshevik.info/t

Labour Wrap: Two October centenaries and talk of a workers’ party

South Africa celebrated two centenaries this month, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap: 100 years since the birth of the struggle icon, Oliver Reginald – OR -Tambo and the centenary of the Russian revolution. fin24.com/

NEW TECHNNOLOGY / NEW FORMS OF LABOUR

The people’s internet, our data and the WTO

With every step that we take in the cybernetic world, we leave traces, knowingly or not. These traces are data – of our identity, our tastes and interests, of our location and displacements, our habits and much more – which are the mana from heaven that feed the big business groups of the digital sector (not to speak of security agencies, criminal groups and others). alainet.org/

Google’s plan to revolutionise cities is a takeover in all but name

The company does take cities seriously. Its executives have floated the idea of taking some struggling city – Detroit? – and reinventing it around Alphabet services, with no annoying regulations blocking this march of progress. theguardian.com/

Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens

‘Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia

Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. A report on the Silicon Valley refuseniks alarmed by a race for human attention. theguardian.com/

Why we shouldn’t teach tech in kindergarten

President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos intend to prioritize science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education by investing in ‘K-12’ schools across the Unites States where coding and computer science will be taught. This will not be in the interests of the children caution developmental psychologists. sfchronicle.com/

ENVIRONMENT

A giant insect ecosystem is collapsing due to humans. It’s a catastrophe

Insects form the base of thousands upon thousands of food chains, and their disappearance is a principal reason why Britain’s farmland birds have more than halved in number since 1970. theguardian.com/