Unless bridges are built between competing sides, legacies of bitterness, hatred and fear, often distorted by prejudice and myth, can persist for decades, even generations. And when there are are fairly recent incidents, especially those involving bloodshed and human loss, feelings, particularly among those who identify as victims, are all the more acute.
Terry Bell
News | 17 March 2014
Four days after the bloodletting that has become known as the Marikana massacre, my Inside Labour column supported the call for a comprehensive and independent inquiry. And it noted, reflecting a widespread view within the labour movement: “The Lonmin tragedy is a wake-up call that South Africa will ignore at its peril.” Now, 19 months later and with the strike on the platinum belt having gone on for nearly two months, that warning seems even more appropriate. Below is an updated commentary that first appeared on the first anniversary of Marikana.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 10 March 2014
The rescue and subsequent arrest of zama-zama — (those prepared to) “have a go” — miners from an abandoned mine shaft near the East Rand city of Benoni made world headlines.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 3 March 2014
Capitalism is not dead. But it is severely ill and its chronic contagion is spreading through the economic and social fibres of the world.
Terry Bell
News | 3 March 2014
The curse of spin and speculation is well and truly upon us. It could hardly be otherwise, with a major strike on the platinum mines underway, a general election looming and the labour movement facing the biggest crisis in its history.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 18 February 2014
Vague ideas of transformation are all the rage these days. Take the latest bun fight in Davos, for example. The annual gathering of the grandly named World Economic Forum (WEF) that ended last weekend met under the heading: “The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business.”
Terry Bell
Opinion | 31 January 2014
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has condemned the suspension of Terry Bell's Inside Labour column that ran in Business Report for about 18 years.
GroundUp Staff, Terry Bell and COSATU
News | 29 January 2014
Given the potentially highly volatile social, political and economic situation in South Africa today it would be foolhardy to forecast in any detail how the country and its people — let alone the labour movement — will fare in 2014.
Terry Bell - Inside Labour
Opinion | 22 January 2014
Transformation of the media in South Africa is essential. But we should be very clear about what we mean by such transformation.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 14 January 2014