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E-NEWS BULLETIN 16 March 2018 Links to present possibilities

Editorial

This week has seen a clash of scientific method with socio-historical reality and the death of a brilliant and heroic scientist. Prof Stephen Hawking managed to overcome the confines of his body, not just with his ground-breaking theorisation but through his political commitments. Hawking was a supporter of the academic boycott of Israel and a defender of Britain’s public health system, his longevity a testimony to the success of the NHS.

Science would not so readily lend itself to progressive causes in South Africa. Amidst the excitement around land expropriation without compensation, one of the country’s experts on land and agrarian studies, Prof Ben Cousins, insisted that unequal ownership and utilisation of land be viewed through accurate data. Ditch the ideological claims that cloud the facts and quieten the politics that make South Africa’s reality so unequal and violent, Cousins argues. It’s a pity professor, to let science stymie justice.

NUMSA finds itself in a rear-guard battle to protect jobs in coal-fired power stations and oppose Eskom signing agreements with independent power producers (IPPs). The union has stated that there can be no move to renewable energy without the protection of jobs in existing, coal-fired plants. The union has highlighted that the country already has excess energy supply and that by supporting IPP renewable energy projects, Eskom and the government will be effectively privatising energy in the interest of big capital and causing job losses. The danger for NUMSA is that it could inadvertently find itself in dubious alliances with the representatives of coal mines and installations (Transform RSA) and appear to be against its own policy position in support of renewable and environmentally friendly energy production. There are also fears and suspicion that like President Zuma before him, Cyril Ramaphosa and senior ANC leaders and their family companies (Patrice Motsepe, Jeff Radebe) will stand to benefit from this massive state investment of R56bn in renewable energy IPP programmes.

SOUTH AFRICA

Another child drowns in pit latrine. At school.

A search party was called together after five-year-old Port Elizabeth Grade R pupil Viwe Jali failed to return to class earlier this week after going to the toilet. timeslive.co.za/


prasaSAFTU appalled at violence on Metrorail trains

In the latest horrifying incident, between Pretoria and Piennarspoort, a female train driver was mobbed, hit on the head with a brick, stripped of her clothing and was being dragged to nearby bushes when they were intercepted by Prasa response teams. saftu.org.za/


NUMSA Members on Strike at a Solar Plant in the Northern Cape

Unlike workers at Eskom, workers at the installation do not get any benefits. They are denied medical aid, housing allowance, provident fund and other benefits. Their wages are spent on covering all these expenses. wwmp.org.za/


coal minersJobs crisis at Evander and nationally

1,722 workers face retrenchment at Evander coal mine. The employer, a subsidiary of Pan African Resources, has served the National Union of Mineworkers with a notice to retrench the workers. saftu.org.za/


marikana copsPolice finally appear in court for Marikana murders

The slow wheels of justice are finally beginning to turn with the first police officers who allegedly murdered striking workers during the 2012 Marikana protest appeared in court this week. mg.co.za/


landscapeHow ANC changed gear on land reform

The unresolved land question in South Africa is a time bomb. An entirely different approach is required if democracy is to survive in our country. dailymaverick.co.za/

Parliament is considering making the biggest changes to Mzansi’s labour laws since 1995 – and these changes are a significant setback for the working class and its ability to represent its interests. The three bills under consideration include amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), as well as the new National Minimum Wage Bill (NMW). Sign this campaign to halt these amendments: amandla.mobi/halt-amendments

INTERNATIONAL

iraqHow the Iraq War Destabilized the Entire Middle East

President Bush would have gone to war with or without intelligence, and once again we are confronted by a president who might consider going to war with or without intelligence. counterpunch.org/


sen grahamUS Senator Thinks Killing Millions of Koreans Would Be “Worth It”

The company’s operation in Michigan reveals how it’s dominated the industry by going into economically depressed areas with lax water laws. bloomberg.com/


indian communistsIndia’s Farmers Demand Agrarian Reform

IN PICTURES: A sea of hammer and sickles and red flags swept the Indian state of Maharastra, as Indian farmers protested neoliberal policies and demanded agrarian reform. telesurtv.net/


exploitationAdidas Accused of Labour Abuse

Clean Clothes Campaign is filing a complaint against Adidas for failing to provide access to 327 workers from their Indonesian shoe supplier Panarub. cleanclothes.org/

Top 20 major cities with the highest income inequality in 2016

The cities with the highest levels of income inequality are generally either located . 16 of the 20 most unequal cities ranked according to their Palma ratios were found in Sub-Saharan Africa or the Americas in 2016.

PALESTINE

Palestinians are facing genocide; Israel deserves its international pariah status

unrwaThat Israel is an Apartheid entity is now indisputable, with international institutions and academics declaring it to be a crime against humanity. To this must now be added the increasingly obvious fact that the Palestinians are facing Genocide at the hands of the Israeli colonists. middleeastmonitor.com/


Israel and US Tied by Military Industrial Complex

What many of us in the human rights activism sphere agree upon is the non violent campaign to shed light on the gross human rights violations of Palestinians at the hands of Israel – the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. After all, it worked against Apartheid South Africa. wwmp.org.za/

Local news from Khayelitsha, East London, Port Elizabeth, Alexandra and Orange Farm in English and isiXhosa


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NEW TECHNOLOGIES / NEW FORMS OF LABOUR

Android P promises new security and privacy features

A new version of the Android operating system will see a host of new features – but most interesting are improvements to users’ security and privacy. tripwire.com/

ARTS

unsaneHow to a shoot a movie on your phone, according to Steven Soderbergh

The director reveals the tricks behind how he made his new thriller, Unsane, on an iPhone. dazeddigital.com/

[VIDEO] Is Another World Possible?

Prof. Leo Panitch says it’s a dilemma that the gradualism of social-democracy and attempts at more radical transformation have so far both failed; Panitch says a first step towards democratizing the economy is to make finance a public utility.

Disclaimer:

This newsletter is intended as a special and alternative news, information and knowledge source for all who are 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.