WHATS NEW AT THE CCS Wolpe Lecture with Morgan Tsvangirai 22 November More  Refugee eviction attempt reflects Durban police brutality Photo exhibit: on refugees & xenophobia, 4 - 28 November Durban police constable Kwesi Matenjwa confesses - on the morning of Saturday, 1 November - how "the great white shark", City Manager Michael Sutcliffe, ordered his unit to evict (without alternative accommodation) 47 desperate people, mostly from the Eastern DRC. The area from which residents of Albert Park fled has witnessed four million casualties in a civil war over resources, as warlords - funded by corporations such as Anglo American (as Human Rights Watch discovered) - loot and pillage for coltan (used in our cellphones) and other minerals, making it unsafe for return. The refugees are also victims of the May 2008 Durban xenophobia and of a confrontation with Sutcliffe at City Hall in July. CCS has produced a photo exhibition by Oliver Meth and colleagues on their plight, displayed in the UKZN library. Sutcliffe accused the refugees - mainly women and children - of being involved in "crime", offering no evidence. But Matenjwa explained that a political rally on 4 November and the 2010 World Cup were the real reasons police tore down plastic shelters and confiscated refugee belongings - including vital immigration papers - without warning. In the process of their attempted eviction, the refugees' human rights were "drowned", Matenjwa admitted, a not uncommon occurrence for a Durban metro police force that regularly shoots to kill. The refugees vow to remain in Albert Park until they have a chance at dignity. More  Tendai Biti's Wolpe Lecture, 30 October The Centre for Civil Society was joined by the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum in hosting the Wolpe Lecture by Tendai Biti. The Zimbabwean leader's talk, which explains this week's breakdown in Zanu(PF)/MDC negotiations and the need for international civil society solidarity, was rebroadcast on 31 October by SW Radio Africa: http://www.swradioafrica.com/ The full audio transcript, including Bishop Rubin Phillip's solidarity speech and a reportback by CCS staff from the Southern Africa Social Forum in Swaziland (held two weeks ago despite a banning order), can be found here: http://www.archive.org/details/CcsHaroldWolpeLecture30Oct2008 More on the Harold Wolpe Lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal:http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?11,22,5,1699 More on the Harold Wolpe Memorial Trust: http://www.wolpetrust.org.za/ More  A Tribute to Billy Nair Billy Nair 1929 - 2008 CCS and our associates salute Billy Nair's exemplary life of liberation and civil society commitments. More  Patrick Bond on the Global Economic Crisis More  SOUTHERN AFRICAN SOCIAL FORUM REPORTS More  CCS Communiques 18 August - The Centre for Civil Society this week prepares for meetings about our future with a new Subcommittee of the Faculty. Last week's 33-1 vote by colleagues to keep the Centre at UKZN is a strong enough signal to reverse an earlier decision by authorities to shut CCS. But our future is to be negotiated in coming days, with a September 12 deadline. We are requesting further testimonials before 1 September, to pbond@mail.ngo.za . More  Media coverage, UKZN announcements University to keep civil society centre Faculty meeting gives overwhelming support More  Should CCS close? Testimonials say no Naomi Klein says "CCS proves that academia can still be relevant and vibrant; indeed it can be positively dangerous" "Hands off the CCS!" says COSATU Professor Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University: "CCS is the jewel in your crown. Why would anyone want to close it down?" More  Fatima Meer's 80th Birthday More  More  Centre for Civil Society report on 2007 activities In a context of dramatic increases in ‘Gatherings Act’ incidents reported by the SA police (10 000 per year in 2005-07, up from 5800 in 2004-05) and worsening inequality, our guiding CCS objective is of even more relevance: the advance of socio-economic and environmental justice through developing critical knowledge about, for and in dialogue with civil society. Our research work benefits from praxis-based production of knowledge, in which we learn how power relations are challenged by civil society organisations – in the streets, the courts, the media, negotiating fora, theatres and cultural clubs, sportsfields and other sites - thus generating new information about systems and organisational strengths and weaknesses. We then feed back research into the society through both arms-length and participatory analysis, in the forms of books and articles, films and DVDs, tours and lectures. Read Report CCS UKZN Review 29 February 2008 More  Hollow pledges in dealing with refugees Durban has no permanent solution for displaced people By Carlos Bruen, The Mercury (Eye on Civil Society) 23 July 2008 Human rights continue to take a beating in South Africa, nearly two months after the wave of xenophobic violence killed dozens and displaced more than 60 000 immigrants. More  'Photographs by Oliver Meth, from the exhibition 'Breathing Spaces Breathing Spaces exhibition can be viewed at UKZN Centre for Civil Society from 1 August 3 September 2008. More  Banned: Why a South African is Going to Court in the U.S. By Patrick Bond 29 July 2008 In 2006, the United States Department of State branded University of Johannesburg Professor Adam Habib a terrorist and revoked his visa. The article below, by Habib, details the circumstances of Professor Habib’s exclusion from the U.S. and his attempts to challenge it through the courts. More  Adam Habib NEW CCS PUBLICATIONS Click on Picture to View Publication In the pages that follow, a group of South Africa’s leading political economists tackle President Thabo Mbeki’s ‘two economies’ thesis, the framework most popularly invoked for contemporary poverty policy in South Africa. In short, poverty can be beat if sturdy (market-focused) ladders are found between the second and first economy, which unfortunately at present are ‘structurally disconnected’. On at least two earlier occasions, a critical mass of university-based intellectuals gathered in various publications to contest ideas of this sort: the mid-1970s when radicals fought liberals over the relationship between race and class; and the early 1990s when the South African version of the Regulation School was established. Both contributions were flawed, we will see. Since then, there has been a growing sense of the need to revisit and reconstruct old frameworks, in part because of the tremendous upsurge in popular social struggles associated with new types of exploitation. More  More

Events Index  Oliver Meth at SA Domestic Violence Act conference, Johannesburg, 26-28 November   Daria Zelenova Seminar on Russia's new social movements, 24 November [Skypecast]   Morgan Tsvangirai and Thokozani Khupe, Wolpe Lecture (MDC, ZSF, Idazim) at Rick Turner Hall, , 22 November    DURBAN SINGS: CCS Audio workshops 21- 26 Novmber   Orlean Naidoo Seminar on women's housing struggles, 20 November [Skypecast]   Dennis Brutus celebration in Massachusetts, 17-20 November   Orlean Naidoo at the AWID Forum, Cape Town, 14 -17 November    Patrick Bond on "Global financial domination, corporate profiteering and free trade" at Osisa Financial Crisis Policy Seminar, Johannesburg, 14-15 November   Patrick Bond, Dennis Brutus and Molefi Ndlovu lecture to Focus on the Global South on global finance and social resistance, Bangkok, 10 and 18 November [skypecast]   CCS hosts Durban screenings of Earthnotes Environmental Film Festival, UKZN, 10-14 November   Patrick Bond & Dennis Brutus Seminar: The US financial meltdown - Part 3: Social resistance here/there, 7 November [skypecast]   Oliver Meth Photo exhibition on refugees & xenophobia, 4 - 28 November   Patrick Bond Seminar: The US financial meltdown - Part 2: Implications for South Africa, 31 October [skypecast]   Dennis Brutus at UKZN CAF film on the Bush Impeachment movement, plus reparations case briefing, 30 October    Patrick Bond and Simphiwe Nojiyeza on 'Urban social struggles over water', presentation to Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, 24 October 2008    Tendai Biti and Bishop Rubin Phillip give Wolpe Lecture on Zimbabwe, Howard College Auditorium, 30 October   Dennis Brutus at Sao Paolo Univ anti-hegemony conference, 21-24 October   Molefi Ndlovu, Faith ka Manzi and Claudia Wegener Report from the Southern African Social Forum 16 -18 October   Oliver Meth at the European Commission - Civil Society Forum on Millennium Development Goals, 15 October    Dennis Brutus and Patrick Bond at Venezuela political economy/culture conference, 13-19 October   Dennis Brutus at the 50th Anniversary of the Non-Racial Sports Movement, October 10-12   Patrick Bond lecture on Zimbabwe and the World Bank, Georgetown Univ Center for Democracy and Civil Society, Washington, 10 October   Patrick Bond at 'Is capitalism soon over?' brainstorm, Int'l Forum on Globalization, SF, 6-8 October   Patrick Bond Seminar: The US financial crisis, 3 October [Skype]   SH Bukurura speaks at the 22nd Student Development Conference, 29 September-2 October   Patrick Bond at Southern Africa Resource Watch workshop, Johannesburg, 30 September   Dennis Brutus on African debt/reparations at Jubilee USA in Washington, 26 September   Muna Lakhani Wolpe Lecture panel, on Wasted Lives, 25 September    Dennis Brutus plays Marx in Soweto at Brecht Forum, NYC, 23 September   Patrick Bond on capitalism and unsustainable development at UCT Business School workshop, Cape Town, 19 September   Seminar by Oilwatch strategists Nnimmo Bassey, Yvonne Yanez and Claudia Carr, 12 September [skypecast]   Sufian Bukurura at workshop on How can Business Promote Human Rights, National Business Initiative, Durban, 12 September   Patrick Bond at OilWatch/groundWork strategy conference, Durban, 11 September   Patrick Bond on climate change and carbon trading at SA Energy Caucus, Johannesburg, 10 September   Patrick Bond on the Shock Doctrine at UKZN/Pmb Psychology, 3 September   Wolpe Lecture with Patra Sindane, Jackie Dugard and Dale McKinley about Soweto residents defeating Johannesburg Water, 28 August   Sufian H Bukurura speaks on Community Service Orders as an Alternative to Imprisonment at the Safety and Security Conference, Windhoek, 27-30 August   Devanathan Pather Seminar: Falsification of knowledge and identity in cyberspace, 25 August   Shauna Mottiar Seminar: Deepening Democracy Through Local Government, 22 August   Dennis Brutus keynote address at Jubilee SA conference, Johannesburg, 21-24 August   Carlos Bruen Seminar: Development Aid & Civil Society: Attitudes of Irish Society, 19 August   Dennis Brutus poetry at Annual Diakonia Lecture, 14 August   Molefi Ndlovu, Orlean Naidoo and Patrick Bond at Alternatives to Neoliberalism in Southern Africa workshop, Durban, 10-16 August   Fatima Meer ongoing life-work commemoration and Chatsworth social justice organising celebration, 10 August    Dennis Brutus plenary speech to Jubilee South's Africa congress, Nairobi, 5-11 August    Sebastiana Etzo Seminar: Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion, 1 August   CCS cohosts two DIFF films - by Philippe Diaz and John Pilger - with Ashwin Desai, Dennis Brutus & Patrick Bond panel discussion, KwaSuka Theatre, 27 July   Dennis Brutus, Patrick Bond and Ashwin Desai on SA foreign policy to parliamentary committee, 26-27 July   Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum joins CCS for Wolpe Lecture panel with Mary Chipende, Joy Mabenge, Richard Smith, Judith Todd, 24 July    Patrick Bond on Zimbabwe to SACP provincial council, 25 July   Inez McCormack seminar on poverty and rights, 24 July   Dennis Brutus at The National Dialogue- African Cultural Practices and Human Rights Conference in Pretoria, 17-18 July   Oliver Meth, Orlean Naidoo, and Baruti Amisi facilitate a Xenophobia discussion at Workers College Diploma Course, 16 July   Dennis Brutus at TIAA-CREF shareholder meeting, Denver, 15 July   Patrick Bond at International Society of Business Economics and Ethics, Cape Town, 15 July    Dennis Brutus on Steal This Radio, 15 July   Dennis Brutus speaks against sweatshops, Philadelphia, 12 July   Dennis Brutus poetry in Philadelphia, 11 July   Baruti Amisi at Int'l Society for Third Sector Research congress, Barcelona, 11 July    Dennis Brutus at court hearing on apartheid freparations, NYC, 8 July   Civil Society and Development Masters Module (Winter School), 8-22 July   Ntokozo Mthembu and Patrick Bond at SA Sociological Association congress, Stellenbosch, 7-10 July   Erik Swyngedouw seminar: Against H2O privatisation, 3 July [SKYPECAST]    Jalal Abdel Latif seminar: On African civil societynetworks, 30 June   Communities against Xenophobia: Solidarity for Social Change!, 26 June   Patrick Bond, Simphiwe Nojiyeza, Dudu Khumalo and Orlean Naidoo on water rights at Diakonia, 24 June   CCS-Osisa Economic justice advocacy, environment and social policy course, 22-29 June    David Masondo seminar on the Alliance and the Independent Lefts, 19 June   Peter Benjamin seminar on reclaiming cellphones for social change, 20 June   Dennis Brutus and Patrick Bond at the CT Book Fair, 14-17 June   Patrick Bond at UKZN Minerals-Energy-Complex workshop, 17 June   CCS Events: Communities against Xenophobia & Wolpe Lecture, 12 June   Patrick Bond at Codesria conference on trade, Addis Ababa, 9-10 June   Sufian Bukurura participated in the Anti-Xenophobia Forum, 5 June    Sufian Bukurura attended South Africa-Netherlands Programme for Alternative Development (SANPAD), 2 June    Patrick Bond at Unisa Africa Environmental Politics conference, 30 May   Sufian Bukurura participates in the 10th African Renaissance Conference, 26-27 May   CCS takes part in the anti-xenophobia Indaba, 25 May   Molefi Ndlovu speaks on 'strategies in fight against multinational water privatisation' in Seoul, 23 May   Melanie Samson seminar on feminism & local gov't, 23 May   Sufian Bukurura on Extractive industries and destruction of livelihoods in Africa at the ActionAid All Africa Policy Conference, Mombasa, 19-23 May   Cindy Blackstock Seminar: Reconcilation - Touchstones of Hope for Indigenous Families, 16 May   CCS hosts University of Ottawa research students, 12-30 May   Daniel Schechter In Debt we Trust film/discussion on US financial crisis, 8 May [SKYPECAST]   CCS & IOLS workers festival, 7 May   Evelin Bayer Seminar:Learning in social movements, 5 May   Patrick Bond lectures in Massachusetts, 30 April -2 May   CCS participates in civil society budget watch debate on public participation in the budget process, 29 April   Eunice Sahle Harold Wolpe and ActionAid International Joint Lecture , 26 April   ActionAid-CCS African Social Movements workshop, 23-29 April   Annsilla Nyar, Brij Maharaj and Deborah Ewing Seminar: Social Giving, 21 April 2008    Molefi Ndlovu at Let justice roll down like waters: Faith-based advocacy and water for all, 21-24 April   Jubilee/ActionAid Conference: Extractive Industries and Community Justice, 21-22 April    Political Economy of the Welfare State course taught by Patrick Bond, 21 April - 9 June   Patrick Bond on climate/social change, poli-econ, water in Sydney, April 11-13   Alexander Aylett Conflict, Compromise and Climate Change: Participatory Democracy and Urban Environmental Struggles in Durban, 11 April    CCS at Amandla Colloquium, Cape Town, 4-6 April   Eva Range Organising for Change Fighting for Equality and Access to Water, 4 April   Carol Thompson seminar on African agriculture and civil society, 3 April [SKYPECAST]   John Pilger Wolpe Lecture, 30 March    Molefi Ndlovu attends the National Consultation Workshop on Civil Society and Aid Effectiveness, 2-3 April    Robert Compton Zimbabwe - A report from the campaign, March 26 [SKYPECAST]    Sufian Bukurura involved in International centre on Nonviolence (ICON) strategic planning workshop, 26 March   Steven Best Total Liberation - Should Civil Society Advocate Rights of Animal Society, 25 March [SKYPECAST]   Dennis Brutus at Split the Rock poetry festival, 22 March   Mueller, Elsener, Schneider Seminar on Contesting Switzerland's apartheid profits, politics and church ties, 18 March   Horman Chitonge Artificial copper pricing and mining contracts in Zambia, 7 March   John Pilger Film Festival, 3-24 March   Louis Nyiri Renewable Energy in Action: SA Bio-fuel Experience, 29 February    Steven Lawry Seminar: Transnational philanthropy: Does it reduce poverty?, 25 February   Patrick Bond on N.American tour for Durban Group for Climate Justice, 22 February - 16 March   Giuliano Martiniello Agrarian reform in SA, 21 February   Xolela Mangcu Wolpe Lecture, 21 February   Patrick Bond & Ntokozo Mthembu on Energy and Climate Crises, and Uranium Road documentary film, 18 February    Siphiwe Nojiyeza, Baruti Amisi and Dudu Khumalo present to SA Water Caucus sanitation workshop, 15-17 February   John Garvey Seminar on the Race Traitor experience, 12 February   Patrick Bond, Ashwin Desai & Xolani Dube Seminar: 'SA Political Economy Revived: Transcending Two Economies' 4 February [SKYPECAST]   Patrick Bond on climate change at Oxfam, Pretoria, 1 February   Peter Mckenzie Seminar: Multimedia and Social Movement Representation, 31 January   Patrick Bond at Gender and Trade in Africa seminar, Joburg, 29 January   Gérard Bueters Seminar: Slum Cinema 28 January    Trevor Ngwane Wolpe Lecture on the WSF, 26 January    CCS, SMI, Diakonia, TAC & other Durban activists to celebrate the WSF, Durban, 26 January   Davie Malungisa & Grace Kwinjeh Seminar: Hot Zimbabwe politics and civil society reactions, 25 January [SKYPECAST]    Patrick Bond on resource extraction at Sangoco/SADC conference, Joburg, 24-25 January    Seminar with Kiama Kaara & Karanja Mbugua on Kenyan electoral crisis and civil society responses, 23 January [SKYPECAST]    Visit by St Catherine’s College / Centre for Global Education 21-24 January   Seminar with Sofie Hellberg on water discourses in progressive civil society, 17 January [SKYPECAST]   Robert Compton Seminar: American Academic Labour Unions: When the Struggle is Not so Local, 16 January   CCS Seminar on ANC politics and progressive civil society:Desai, Ngwane, Naidoo, Bukurura & Nyar 20 December   LaDawn Haglund & Edmore Mufema on water and social transformation, 19 December   Seminar with Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza on the documentary: Living Broke in Boom Times, 18 December   Barak Hoffman Seminar on global/local civil society, 14 December    Trevor Ngwane seminar on 'The State of Soweto Social Mobilisations', 12 December    CCS cohosts Ben Cashdan's new documentary on the ANC succession race, 7 & 8 December    Patrick Bond & Dudu Khumalo Seminar commenting on the constitutional case against Johannesburg Water, 5 December   Sufian Bukurura evaluating Namibian Auditor General's office, 5-7 December    Dennis Brutus says 'No thanks' to SA Sports Hall of Fame, 5 December   Social Movements Indaba meeting with Dennis Brutus, Orlean Naidoo and Molefi Ndlovu , 2-5 December   Madiba, Lekalake & Murphy :Seminar on Joburg Operation Khanyisa Movement, 26 November    Dennis Brutus is Marx in Nairobi, 25 November   Oliver Meth & Joan Van Niekerk Seminar: Male Rape: Proposed Changes in Legislation, 23 November    Dennis Brutus at the Ken Saro-Wiwa celebration in CT, 22-23 November   Mondli Hlatshwayo, Des D’Sa and Orlean Naidoo Wolpe Lecture Panel: On ‘The State of SA’s Social Movements, 22 November   Rehana Dada & Patrick Bond address Climate Change Conference, Joburg, 21 November   Molefi Ndlovu at 'Development Dilemmas' workshop, Durban, 16-18 November   Hwok-Aun Lee Seminar: Inequality and Affirmative Action in Malaysia and South Africa, 16 November    Dennis Brutus at the Ilrig conference on the G20, 15 November   Patrick Bond in N.America to debate carbon trading, 13-19 November   Dennis Brutus on SABC's Encounters, 11 November   EARTHNOTES ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL, 10–16 November     Patrick Bond promotes reparations at Hist.Materialism conference in London, 10 November   Christi van der Westhuizen launches her new book 'White Power & the Rise and Fall of the National Party @ Ikes, 7 November: Seminar @ UKZN, 8 November     David Manyonga Seminar: Against child soldiering in Uganda, 6 November    Lionel Cliffe Seminar: States and Civil Society Struggle for Peace in the Horn of Africa, 5 November   Baruti Amisi Seminar: Rethinking social capital: A case study of Durban Congolese refugee women, 5 November   Dennis Brutus Marx in Swaziland, 4 November    Dennis Brutus & Patrick Bond at Friends of the Earth international conference in Swaziland, 4 November    David Wiley Seminar: The Disordering of Civil Society and the Militarisation of Africa, 29 October    Ntokozo Mthembu coordinates CCS-community-SIT course on globalisation, 29 October - 2 November    Marx @ KwaSuka Dennis Brutus plays Karl Marx, 26 & 28 October    Anne Mayher Seminar: Patterns of State Collaboration and Repression in the Scramble for Platinum in South Africa, 26 October    Patrick Bond at Ceasefire's campaign strategy meeting, 26 October    Dennis Brutus : 'Karl Marx @ UKZN', 25 October   Dennis Brutus Seminar: The American Court Decision on Apartheid Reparations, 24 October   Patrick Bond Norwegian People’s Aid Seminar on Strengthening Civil Society Johannesburg, 22 and 23 October   Patrick Bond analyses US hegemony-in-decline for Focus on the Global South masters course in Bangkok, 17 October (videotel)    Patrick Bond at Attac Norway Conference on Oil, Climate and Justice, 12-13 October   CCS/Sociology Film Screening: A Journey to Robben Island, 11 October    Patrick Bond Inaugural Lecture: Gobal Civil Society Strategies for Social Justice, 10 October   Dudu Khumalo, Rehana Dada and Patrick Bond join AGENDA journal for Biopolitics issue launch, 9 October   Patrick Bond makes case against carbon trading, Sydney, 6 October   Ntokozo Mthembu Energy Challenges Faced by Vulnerable Communities in the New Unified eThekwini Municipality, 5 October    Patrick Bond in Sydney for the launch of the Centre for Cosmopolitan Civil Societies, 4-5 October    Guiliana Gemelli Seminar: GIVING: Themes in Social Innovation, 3 October    Patrick Bond on Local Racism, Global Apartheid in Barcelona, 27 September   NGO leaders course at Univ. of Botswana with Patrick Bond , 26 September   Patrick Bond, Grace Kwinjeh, Ashwin Desai and Orlean Naidoo of CCS @ Ilrig's Globalisation School, 23-28 September   Dennis Brutus at Christopher Okigbo celebration in Boston, 20 September   Dennis Brutus Seminar: George Bush’s War Crimes, 18 September   Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge Wolpe Lecture: Traditions of Activism, 13 September   Rehana Dada & Patrick Bond at Joburg Climate Change conference, 12-13 September   Aethiopian/ African Millennium: Join I ‘n I in i-lebration, 2000! 11-12 September    Patrick Bond Seminar: Venezuela Rising, 10 September   Grace Kwinjeh, Gcina Mhlope, Dennis Brutus, Ashwin Desai A reading in solidarity with Zimbabwe, 9 September    CCS - TriContinental Films Festival Screening 7-23 September   Dennis Brutus Fort Hare, 29 August