e-News bulletin 17 March 2017

: 17 March 2017

e-News bulletin 17 March 2017

E-NEWS BULLETIN 17 March 2017
Your weekly round up of alternative news you ought to know

SOUTH AFRICA

NUMSA statement on ESKOM

NUMSA is dismayed and shocked by the announcement which has been made by Eskom that it plans to shut down five power stations. At least 6000 workers jobs are on the line... numsa.org.za/ (pdf)

Road Accident Fund (RAF) Workers on strike!

At least one thousand five hundred NUMSA workers at Road Accident Fund (RAF) branches countrywide are on strike because the RAF is in turmoil... numsa.org.za/

Serge Belamant, Sassa and the 'war chest' of poor people

The US-listed firm Net 1 uses its subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services’ (CPS) social grant contract as a secret backdoor to get grant beneficiaries’ information, an amaBhungane investigation shows. This was always forbidden. Then Net 1 uses the information to make billions selling loans, insurance and other financial products to beneficiaries... amabhungane.co.za/

Is South Africa at a turning point?

Edward Cottle discusses the incidence of a series of a wave of wildcat strike actions in different sectors of the South African economy and how they changed the political landscape in the country... global-labour-university.org/

INTERNATIONAL

The Final Pillage:

Greece to Surrender Gold, Real Estate, Utilities in Exchange for More Debt and Austerity

Germany’s announcement that it will not allow debt relief for the troubled EU nation will force Greece to auction off the last of its assets and sign over its remaining sovereignty to the EU bureaucracy... anonhq.com/

Raped, beaten, exploited:

The 21st-century slavery propping up Sicilian farming

Thousands of female Romanian farm workers are suffering horrendous abuse... theguardian.com/

U.S. Citizens Now Being Forced To Provide Their Social Media Passwords Upon Return Home

When Buffalo, New York couple Akram Shibly and Kelly McCormick returned to the U.S. from a trip to Toronto on Jan. 1, 2017, U.S. Customs & Border Protection officers held them for two hours, took their cellphones and demanded their passwords... dailykos.com/

PALESTINE

Landmark UN report backs Israel boycott

end israeli apartheid New UN report concludes that “Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole” and calls for broad support of boycott movement... electronicintifada.net/

Statement on Israel’s denial of my entry into Palestine

I, Mpho Masemola, was yesterday (Tuesday 14 March) denied entry to Palestine by the Israeli Apartheid regime. I was en-route to Ramallah for a conference on the plight of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons... wwmp.org.za/

Time to admit that Israel is a sick society

... said President Reuven Rivlin at the opening session on Sunday of a conference on From Hatred of the Stranger to Acceptance of the Other. awdnews.com/

SOLIDARITY APPEALS

Egypt union leaders acquitted of criminal charges face retrial

Workers at the IFFCO edible oils factory in Suez, Egypt are fighting to defend their union against employer brutality and government repression... iufcampaigns.org/

13 Trade Unionists in India Face Death Sentences or Life Imprisonment

The workers and trade union activists at the Maruti-Suzuki, Manesar factory, who were arrested and charged in connection with the incidents that took place at this factory in 2012, in which a factory manager died, have just been tried in court... fact.international/

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Uber whistleblowers reveal more scandal and a potential collapse

"If Uber starts giving off the whiff of a sinking ship, we may see a rush for the exits and a lot more insider Uber tales to follow"... prospect.org/

San Francisco talks robot tax

“We are finding that robots have begun to destroy millions of American jobs. The long predicted era of robots and automation replacing human workers has arrived”... sfexaminer.com/

Google Fiber Was Doomed From the Start

The internet access answer won’t come from private markets, but rather from policies that make for competitive networks... backchannel.com/

ARTS

From Brecht to Lorca, the playwrights who became theatre's freedom fighters

It’s wrong to characterise 1930s theatre as escapist or frivolous. In Europe and America, many plays were alerting audiences to the dangers of fascism – led by the German fugitive Bertolt Brecht... theguardian.com/