The Manifesto

I came across a substantial but very readable discussion between Patrick Bond, a South African activist and academic, and Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank’s chief economist.  It’s rare to find genuine engagement on behalf of the World Bank, and credit to Devarajan for responding to Bond’s critique directly – but his response, as Bond shows, [...]

An excellent talk given by Suren Pillay on the xenophobic violence in South Africa, and how we liberals react.  It’s a longish piece but thoroughly worth the read, and asks a few strikingly important questions about the failure of human rights discourse and NGO approaches.  From the talk:  ”The violence towards foreign nationals has become [...]

Interesting article on the recently swooned-over ‘Giving Pledge’, in which a number of the world’s richest individual’s and families have committed significant funds to philanthropic ends.  Lorenzo Fioramonti asks some pertinent questions.  http://tinyurl.com/3xayamo

Thought-provoking (and beautifully animated) little ten-minute piece by Zizek on the danger of charity.  Well-worth a watch (also check the other RSA Animate series pieces, including the excellent one on the recent financial crisis by David Harvey).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g