Michael Neocosmos

SA H

Phyllis Naidoo (January 5, 1928 - Feb 13, 2013) was an extra-ordinary South African freedom fighter for whom politics meant total commitment to humanity. After ANC came to power she was deeply disappointed by betrayal of the struggle

C C

The North African protests have renewed enthusiasm for ‘a popularly driven process mass mobilisation’, not only as a means for people to force changes in leadership, but also to ‘demand a greater say in the running of their own lives’. But can the masses sustain their status as 'full-blown political subjects', rather than 'victims' in need of ‘empowerment’, asks Michael Necosmos.

J Verster

If the South African state is a democracy, Michael Neocosmos asks in Pambazuka News, how has it condoned the deployment of violence and murder on the shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, an organisation of the poor that has ‘engaged in peaceful protests’ and ‘advocated peaceful alternatives to the dominant politics’? At the root of the problem of the state reaction to Abahlali, Neocosmos argues, is ‘not simply a failure of democracy, but a systematic failure of citizenship and of the...read more

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/380/48712fearpolitics.jpgXenoph... must be understood as a political discourse, the result of political ideologies and consciounesses, writes Michael Neocosmos, which have arisen, and have been allowed to arise in post-apartheid South Africa, as a result of a politics of fear prevalent in both state and society. To cou...read more

I lost a brother today,
a friend, ndugu, comrade,
a human being.
I always thought I would see him again...
Sadness overwhelms me.
He walked through life his head held high
speaking up against injustice
and laughing at the stupidity of oppression.
His giggles still resound in my head
tho’ his seriousness never wavered
to fight for a better world
where ‘the meek would inherit
not only the earth, but also the mineral rights’...read more