http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5277313

Heard mentality

December 08, 2009 Edition 1

POLISH-BORN revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg put it very well. "Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party - however numerous they may be - is no freedom at all," she wrote.

"Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. "

This most basic principle of democracy - respect for the views of those with whom one disagrees - is increasingly being ignored by political leaders and their supporters.

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5256105

Blinkers dorp

November 23, 2009 Edition 1

CAPE TOWN mayor Dan Plato's response to the angry residents of Blikkiesdorp does him no credit.

On a visit to the site last week, all the mayor could find to say to those complaining of conditions in Blikkiesdorp was that in fact the settlement was "among the best" of its kind in the city.

He described disgruntled residents as "ungrateful" and said those who were not happy with conditions in the camp were free to move.

Some good points. But will the demand for action against those who break the law ever be extended to people like Sutcliffe, Plato etc who send out the evictors to break the law with impunity>

http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5145413

Civic Freedom

August 31, 2009 Edition 1

THERE is something a little ominous about the rumblings from the cabinet about clamping down on protests.

Chief government spokesman Themba Maseko said after last week's cabinet meeting that there would be a clampdown on "all the types of protests that we've seen over the past few months, which are bordering on hooliganism".

http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=25477

Rising xenophobia
23 July 2009

THIS country is awash with strikes or threatened strikes for higher wages, and with township protests about government failures in service delivery. It seems that the gloves are off in spite of, or perhaps because of, the exigencies of recessionary times.

A disturbing feature in some of the current protest has been the resurgence of xenophobia. This has been particularly noticeable on the Reef where last year’s xenophobic attacks first broke out. It is unfortunately to be expected that, in straitened times, people will turn on one another where there is perceived competition or threat. This can affect anyone deemed to be “the other”, whether the person concerned is a foreign national from elsewhere in Africa or a fellow South African of a different culture or background.