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Breaking News (Also see Indymedia South Africa) |
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SA SOCIAL PROTEST OBSERVATORY |
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SOUTH AFRICAN PROTEST NEWS 14 - 24 APRIL 2013
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Ireland: Tax haven for multinational corporations |
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Paul Murphy, MEP, Socialist Party (CWI Ireland) 23 May 2013
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Church’s position on e-tolls applauded |
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Ahmed Areff (IOL News) 21 May 2013
Johannesburg - Outa applauded the Catholic Church's stance against the e-tolling of Gauteng highways on Tuesday.
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HOSTEL RESIDENTS MARCH AGAINST METRO POLICE ABUSE |
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Umbilo Action Group 20 May 2013
Over 2000 residents of Dalton Hostel marched on City Hall today,
Saturday 18 May to call for an end to Metro Police’s abuse of power
and corruption and to demand the immediate resignation of Metro Head,
Eugene Nzama.
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Amazon UK pays $3.7 million tax on $6.5 billion sales |
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Tom Bergin 15 May 2013
LONDON (Reuters) - Amazon.com's main UK unit paid $3.7 million of taxes on its 2012 income, it said on Wednesday, despite group UK sales of $6.5 billion (4 billion pounds), prompting criticism from lawmakers and competitors.
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Pakistan: Marxist wins election in Waziristan! |
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Ali Wazir's election poster
But reactionary forces are organizing fraud
Written by our correspondent in Lahore
Monday, 13 May 2013
Comrade Ali Wazir has won the election in South Waziristan - in the heart of Taliban territory! The news was published yesterday (Sunday) in one of the main television channels in Pakistan, GeoTV. Yet, today (Monday) it was announced that the election in South Waziristan would have to be held again on May 18th.
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A New Era for Worker Ownership |
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Kari Lydersen 13 May 2013
Today, in a revamped Campbell's Soup building in an industrial and residential section of southwest Chicago, the New Era Windows Cooperative will celebrate the grand opening of its new factory.
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Hong Kong Dockers Claim Victory |
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Ellen David Friedman 9 May 2013
A 40-day strike of more than 500 dockworkers at the Port of Hong Kong ended yesterday with a settlement that included a 9.8 percent wage increase, non-retaliation against strikers, and a written agreement, all of which had been fiercely resisted by the four contractors targeted in the strike.
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UK shows how tolling can flop |
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Simon Calder 8 May 2013
It may be a little late now, but this cautionary tale from The Independent shows just why Sanral should have thought longer and harder before bulldozing the infamous Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project through over the objections of the people who would have to pay for it, and putting us all in debt to a Austrian company with no stake in South Africa other than a free pass to siphon motorists' money out of the country.
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Zuma govt warned about Guptas |
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News 24 6 May 2013
Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma’s administration was warned two years ago by top state security officials that the Gupta brothers could pose a threat to national security, a report stated on Monday.
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METRO RAID AT DALTON HOSTEL |
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Police wage war on the poor
Umbilo Action Group Press Release 5 May 2013
The Dalton Hostel Drummers & Dancers 4 Peace were forced to withdraw
from the Umbilo Action Group’s “Reclaim Your Park Day” event today as
a result of a raid undertaken at the hostel by Metro Police on Friday
3 May. Due to this, and the inclement weather the UAG event has been
postponed to Saturday 11 May 2013 at 11h00.
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Gupta’s Family gets state security at Sun City |
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Cosatu 2 May 2013
The Congress of South African Trade unions in the North West province have been informed that the Gupta family, who are staying in the Sun International-owned resort of Sun City in the North West, are getting what could be called preferential treatment by the state and that they continue with racism against our members.
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May Day events around the world |
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Nigeria: Militarisation of May Day rallies: DSM comrades arrested and detained
Press statement by Segun Sango, general secretary DSM (CWI Nigeria)
Twelve members of Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) have been today arrested in Abuja, Anambra, Oyo, Niger and Kaduna states at May Day events. While those arrested Ibadan and Minna have been released those in Abuja, Anambra and Kaduna are still (May 1) being detained variously by State Security Service (SSS) and police.
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Austerity 'Is Killing People' |
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New Research: Economic Austerity in US and Europe 'Is Killing People'
Jon Queally 30 April 2013
Recessions hurt, but austerity kills.
Despite assurances by financial elites that austerity economics is a prescription to improve the lives of the masses, research contained in a newly published book shows that the push for steep cuts in wages, social programs, and public health programs is literally killing people throughout Europe and the US.
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Mpisane still raking in millions |
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Kamini Padayachee 29 April 2013
Durban - Wealthy businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane, who is facing dozens of tax and tender fraud charges, is still raking in a lion’s share of lucrative eThekwini municipality contracts, scoring work worth R445 million without the normal tender processes over the past nine months.
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Seattle teachers’ testing boycott |
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Teachers at Garfield High school in Seattle, Washington, faced down possible suspension for boycotting the winter Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, which purports to evaluate student progress in reading and maths.
Dylan Murphy, first published in Socialism Today, magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) 27 April 2013
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Bangladeshi garment workers strike after factory collapse |
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LibCom 27 April 2013
Hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike on Thursday in protest at the deaths of hundreds of workers in a factory collapse the previous day.
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The DA stole my flag, says artist |
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Faranaaz Parker (Mail & Guardian) 26 April 2013
The DA believes there's no need to apologise for using an artist's image that featured the ANC logo on the backdrop of apartheid South Africa's flag.
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Witbank air 'dirtiest in world' |
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Witbank has some of the highest levels of poison gases in its air, an EU research team found.
Yahoo News 25 April 2013
The levels of barium and chromium were so high that the team's instruments were unable to take accurate readings.
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Study pours cold water on SA’s nuclear build plan |
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No new nuclear power would be required before at least 2029, according to a study.
Carol Paton 19 April 2013
New National Planning Commission (NPC) modelling of South Africa’s energy demands says nuclear power should be delayed by years‚ and an immediate commissioning of new gas-generation capacity should take place to avoid rolling blackouts in the near future.
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Venezuela: a developing coup attempt – URGENT ACTION NEEDED |
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Hands Off Venezuela 16 April 2013
On Sunday April 14, Bolivarian candidate Nicolas Maduro won the Venezuelan presidential election by a narrow margin. With 99.12% of the votes counted, there was a 78.71% turn out, with Maduro receiving 7,505,378 votes (50.66%), and Capriles 7,270,403 votes (49.07%). Opposition candidate Capriles declared that he does not recognise the result and demanded an audit of 100% of the vote.
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Anti-Thatcher song tops chart |
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IOL News 12 April 2013
The BBC is in a bind after opponents of late British leader Margaret Thatcher pushed the song “Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead” to the top of the charts.
An online campaign to drive the “Wizard of Oz” ditty to the No 1 spot on the UK singles chart was launched by Thatcher critics shortly after the former prime minister died of a stroke on Monday. She was 87.
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Tunisia: A highly politicised World Social Forum |
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About 70,000 activists from around the world gathered at the WSF in Tunis, 26-30 March.
Jeroen Demuynck, (working with Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy) 11 April 2013
Tunisia was an appropriate choice because the revolutionary process the country is passing through led to a highly politicised atmosphere.
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Zim voters' roll 'in hands of suspect Israeli company' |
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Mail & Guardian 11 April 2013
A secretive Israel-based firm - accused of manipulating past elections in the region - is alleged to be involved in managing Zimbabwe's voters' roll.
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Stadium’s running costs a mystery |
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Sisi Lwandle 8 April 2013
Cape Town - The real cost of running Cape Town Stadium appears to be a mystery as financial reports purport that the venue, built for the 2010 World Cup, has recorded a loss of nearly R300-million over a period of three years.
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Portuguese Constitutional Court: Bailout measures violate Constitution |
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Keep Talking Greece 6 April 2013
This is a lesson Eurozone member-countries in bailout should learn: that Troika imposed and government applied bailout terms can be against the national Constitutions that aim to protect the citizens in these countries.
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Mass leaks 'reveal secret world of tax havens' |
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Yahoo News 4 April 2013
Millions of emails and leaked records from offshore tax havens have exposed the identities of thousands of holders of offshore accounts, including the family of the president of Azerbaijan and French President Francois Hollande's one-time campaign treasurer, the Guardian and Le Monde newspapers reported on Thursday.
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Drop the charges against labour rights activist Andy Hall |
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Labour Start 4 April 2013
A labour rights activist, Andy Hall, is facing the possibility of years in prison and a multi-million dollar fine because he helped write a report exposing rights violations, including the use of child labour, by a fruit processing company in Thailand.
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WILLOWVALE HOTEL ILLEGAL EVICTIONS UPDATE |
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Umbilo Action Group 3 April 2013
Further to our press release “Poor Tenants Illegally Evicted from the Willowvale Hotel to make way for Varsity Res” we were contacted by the UKZN Corporate Relations Division Executive Director, Mr Nomonde Mbadi, who, contrary to the information supplied by the SAPS, has denied UKZN involvement in the student accommodation allegedly being provided at the Willowvale and indicated that no court order was served on them as was reported (refer statement below from Mr Mbadi).
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Asda, workfare and company scrip |
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LibCom 2 April 2013
Are the UK government planning to use Workfare placements and welfare store-cards as part of a state-run 'Truck system'?
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Kulubuse, others face criminal charges – liquidators |
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Loyiso Sidimba (City Press) 27 March 2013
President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson Zondwa Mandela and other Aurora directors are facing criminal charges, according to an interim report of the liquidators.
Other Aurora directors including President Jacob Zuma’s lawyer, Michael Hulley, Sheshile Ngubane and Dato Raja Zainal Alam Shah also face criminal charges, which liquidators have referred to the police’s serious economic crimes unit.
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Put people first, urges Brics-from-Below |
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Noelene Barbeau 28 March 2013
About 500 people from various civil society organisations marched peacefully through the Durban city centre to the International Convention Centre, stopping at the city hall to protest and dance. They were followed closely by police equipped with riot gear and in armoured vehicles.
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ANC denies business deals in CAR |
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News 24 28 March 2013
Johannesburg - The ANC is not in the diamond business and does not know why South African troops were sent to the Central African Republic (CAR), the party said on Thursday morning.
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R50m in World Cup legacy funds missing |
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News 24 26 March 2013
Johannesburg - Around R50m meant for 2010 World Cup legacy projects in the Eastern Cape has gone missing, The Times reported on Tuesday.
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Almost every JHB highway to be tolled |
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Angelique Serrao (IOL News) 22 March 2013
Motorists in Gauteng may soon have to pay e-tolls for nearly 500km of highways.
This comes after Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane confirmed in the legislature this week that phase two of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) would go ahead.
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Workers & Socialist Party launched in Pretoria |
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Launch surpassed all expectations
CWI reporters, South Africa 22 March 2013
Over 500 Tshwane workers, mineworkers’ delegates, trade union and community activists packed Lucas Van Den Bergh Community Hall in Pretoria for the launch of the Workers & Socialist Party today. The hall could not accommodate the turnout and attendees over-spilled onto the neighbouring field.
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Students shocked by ‘eviction’ notices |
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Kevin Lancaster 20 March 2013
University of KwaZulu Natal students face the prospect of being put out into the street again, after management staff from their temporary accommodation on Tuesday issued them with notices to leave the building.
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Eskom ordered to give up secret |
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Tony Carnie 19 March 2013
Eskom is expected to come under growing public pressure in the next few days to reduce soaring electricity prices for ordinary people by putting an end to decades of secret discount prices to the power-guzzling BHP Billiton aluminium smelters.
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Millions of litres of water down the drain |
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Mpume Madlala (IOL News) 18 March 2013
Durban - While South Africans are being urged to help conserve and protect the country’s precious water resources, the eThekwini Municipality has revealed it lost more than 237 million litres a day during its most recent financial quarter.
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Shack dwellers invade Durban |
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IOL News 14 March 2013
Durban - Close to a thousand displaced shack dwellers who have begun clearing land along Sherwood and Cato Crest with the intention of living there have escalated their demands that the eThekwini Municipality provide them with houses – or face their wrath.
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Africa told to view China as competitor |
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William Wallis 12 March 2013
Africa must shake off its romantic view of China and accept Beijing is a competitor as much as a partner and capable of the same exploitative practices as the old colonial powers, Nigeria's central bank governor has warned.
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Police invasion of Greek anti-mining town |
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LibCom 11 March 2013
The dispute over gold mines in Greece intensified this week. Police invaded the town of Ierissos and tear-gassed school children as residents protested.
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ANC used DA policies for NPD: Numsa |
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IOL News 8 March 2013
The ANC has used the DA's economic policies for its National Development Plan (NDP) for the country, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said on Thursday.
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Pakistan: Unilever exploiting workers through Third Party contract |
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PTUDC Gujranwala 6 March 2013
Unilever is extracting huge profits in Pakistan through brutal exploitation of workers. Most of the products of Unilever are now manufactured through Third Party contracts in which workers are given starvation wages and no other benefits at all.
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Access to environment information is being blocked, reveals report |
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Mail & Guardian 5 March 2013
A report by the Centre for Environmental Rights has found that government bodies and companies are blocking requests for information.
This is even when the centre had submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request.
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Fears over power supply |
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Bronwyn Fourie 1 March 2013
Durban - Consumers will have to tighten their belts firmly in coming months as the eThekwini municipality warned on Thursday that its electricity price increase in July would be more than the 8 percent granted to Eskom.
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US: Socialist Alternative city council candidate arrested |
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Ty Moore accused of civil disobedience at Housing Justice rally
Christopher Gray, Socialist Alternative (US supporters in the CWI) 2 march 2013
Joined by 12 union and community leaders, Ward 9 City Council candidate in Minneapolis Ty Moore was arrested in a civil disobedience at the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage center, standing up for housing rights for all Minneapolis residents.
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Unwanted Gauteng e-tolls will go ahead, premier says |
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Setumo Stone (Yahoo News) 28 February 2012
Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Monday she had not mentioned e-tolls in her state of the province address since it was no longer an issue.
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Solidarity with arrested Turkish Trade Unionists |
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LabourStart 27 February 2013
In the early morning of Tuesday, 19 February, Turkish police targeted members and leaders of the public sector union KESK, arresting at least 100 of them, including members of the teachers union.
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Report shows SA meat products contain donkey, goat, buffalo |
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Mail & Guardian 26 February 2013
The discovery of horse in meat products sparked outrage across Europe and a new Stellenbosch University report has revealed similar findings in SA.
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India strike paralyses banks, industry for second day |
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Abhaya Srivastava 21 February 2013
Operations at India's public-sector banks and many factories were hit for a second straight day by a general strike called to protest against the government's pro-market reforms.
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Horsemeat in 29 out of 2 501 beef products in Britain |
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Sapa-AFP 16 February 2013
Twenty-nine beef products out of 2 501 tested in Britain have been found to contain more than one percent horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency said on Friday.
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Greece in general strike, 20 February 2013 |
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Keep Talking Greece 20 February 2013
Austerity frustrated Greeks took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the so-called “reforms” apparently for the shake of reconstructing the debt-ridden country. “Reforms” that leave patients without health care nad drugs, students without education, taxpayers without income, families with zero-employee, workers without labour rights and 60% of the youth without work.
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BRETTONWOOD LEARNERS SKIP CLASSES DUE TO CRIME |
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Umbilo Action Group 13 February 2013
Today around 90 Brettonwood High School learners did not attend school due to what they called a “rampage of crime” against pupils of the school. A group of 30 angry pupils had surrounded two alleged attackers and where seen marching them along Oliver Lea Drive towards Stellawood cemetery.
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Green growth could give SA competitive advantage |
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By embracing a cleaner energy path not only will the country be able to catapult ahead of others, but it will also be able to create jobs.
Mail & Guardian 13 February 2013
The external costs of dirty growth and energy are ignored in current gross domestic product (GDP) calculations. A greener path would take away this looming danger. Dirty growth means that actual GDP performance is much lower than the headline figures for countries like South Africa. The danger posed by developing on a resource base that is dwindling will be escaped.
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Factory in Greece starts production under workers' control |
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LibCom 12 February 2012
Striking workers at the Vio.Me factory in Thessaloniki, Greece who have not been paid since May 2011 have decided to restart production under workers' control on 12 February 2013.
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Price of food ‘set to soar’ |
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IOL News 5 February 2013
Prepare for the price of food to rocket following the 52-percent minimum-wage increase for farmworkers announced on Monday.
After negotiations with farmers, the Department of Labour and workers, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant almost doubled the minimum wage from R69 to R105 a day, promulgated for a three-year period. During years two and three, wages would be increased by the consumer price index plus 1.5 percent.
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DA ‘took money from Guptas |
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IOL News 27 January 2013
Cape Town - DA leader Helen Zille has been accused of a “serious case” of hypocrisy by gunning for the influential Gupta family – this while she had gone cap in hand to the Guptas and had come away with “substantial” donations for her party.
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Angry Workers Hold Bosses Hostage |
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Working Class Self Organization 25 January 2013
More than 1,000 migrant workers in Shanghai have gone on strike and held 18 managers hostage following a dispute over the introduction of a draconian new disciplinary policy. Four hundred riot police officers attended to the factory in a bid to free the bosses. There are reports of many workers being injured in the subsequent clashes, including several with broken limbs. Following the incident the bosses have withdrawn the new policy, issued an apology for its introduction, and have promised the workers a pay rise…… Direct action gets the goods!
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Greece: Riot police sent in against striking metro workers |
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Solidarity strikes spread – Unions must widen strike action to defeat government repression and to stop all cuts!
Xekinima (Greek CWI) Reporters 26 January 2013
In the last 48 hours, the militant struggle of Athens’ metro workers has had an explosive impact in Greece, threatening to transform the situation and open up an atmosphere of renewed militancy and struggle against the misery spiral of Troika austerity.
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GM foods may hold toxic gene |
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IOL News 22 January 2013
London - Genetically modified (GM) crops have been found to contain a potentially toxic gene, overlooked in previous checks by scientists.
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Anglo Plats crisis demands decisive step |
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DEMOCRATIC LEFT FRONT 21 January 2013
ANGLO PLATS CRISIS DEMANDS DECISIVE STEPS NATIONALISE MINES FOR CLIMATE JOBS
Anglo Platinum’s announcement that over 14,000 mineworkers are to be retrenched at its Rustenburg operations demands decisive steps from the South African labour movement. Last year’s strike-wave, which began on the platinum belt and spread through the gold and other sectors, has exposed how far the South African mining industry continues to rely on apartheid-era mechanisms of exploitation, and has inspired the fight for a living wage among the mass of the poorest paid, not least the farm workers.
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Eskom uses spy agency to counter labour unrest |
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Yahoo News 21 January 2012
AS YET another wildcat strike broke out at Eskom's Medupi project in Lephalale this week, evidence came to light that the state-owned utility has resorted to spying tactics to mitigate risks related to labour unrest.
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STOP THE REPRESSION IN UMLAZI! |
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Umlazi Ward elections
China Ngubane 25 August 2012
Despite threats, there was a victory for the Umlazi community during the elections that took place near eNkonkoni Primary school last Sunday. For Ward 88, this day was important, marking their last day of formal occupation at the People's Office near the Councillor's Office, where now, the elected ward committee can take over responsibility to serve the community.
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Study reveals local grape economics |
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Business Report 18 January 2013
Of every £4.50 (or R63) a British person pays for a kilogram of green seedless grapes in a UK supermarket, only R11.37 will reach the farm gates in the Hex River Valley.
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