Category: July 2007

Humankind is today standing at the threshold of an important revolution. We either change and begin the revolution towards a more humane responsible and caring nonviolent society, or we bring about our own annihilation through the destructive course that has been charted for us. In this edition of Satyagraha there are numerous references to ways…

By Dr Kalpesh Prahlad Ramcharan Teenage pregnancy has become a norm in South African society. According to the Department of Education, more than 72 000 females did not attend school last year, due to this factor. 5868 of these girls were from KwaZulu Natal. Even more alarming is the fact that this figure does not…

By Jermaine Parmanutha There was once a little girl called Zinzi. She lived with her grandparents on a farm, because her mum and dad had died in a car accident. She loved all the animals on the farm. One day Zinzi’s grandparents called Zinzi but she did not come. They found her in her room.…

By Neeba Budhoo The origins of the Moral Regeneration Movement date back to June 1997 when former president Nelson Mandela spoke at a meeting with various representatives of government and religious affiliations organised by the ANC's Commission on religious affairs. Mandela asked that religious institutions work with the state in order to achieve 'social transformation'.…

In the current stream of social problems that many people find themselves , the provision of social services within communities aiming to assist people recover from different types of trauma, plays a pivotal role. Abuse, neglect, abandonment, harassment and other transgressions of human rights have been a motivating factor in ensuring a response from different…

By Robin Sewlal The Kwazulu-Natal provincial government and the Department of Arts and Culture are to host the 40th anniversary of the death of Chief Albert Luthuli. President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address, earlier this year, announced that the year 2007 will see the commemoration of a number of significant events…

By a simple monk On the 8 May I went up north – to a village in the war zone. This village is special. Recently LTTE bombed a bus killing nearly 80 passengers including school children and women. These innocent villagers were in camps for few weeks and went back to their traditional farm lands…

In the secret language of corruption in India, an official expecting a bribe will ask for Mahatma Gandhi to “smile” at him. The revered leader of the independence movement is on all denominations of rupee notes. With rampant dishonesty ingrained in the bureaucratic culture, an anticorruption group has decided to interpret the euphemism literally by…

From an essay by Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate, presented at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, Sen writes about the seven faces of inequalities faced by women.   (1) Mortality inequality: He identifies the life span of women compared to men as being unequal. Many countries in the world continue to have disproportionate deaths…

By Cedric Mayson  Humanity is committing suicide in this generation. This unique planetic human experiment is nearly over. My youngest grandchild will expire with any children he has, and the rest of humanity, probably by 2050.We are committing suicide by over-population. Our sexual irresponsibility is producing more human beings than Earth can support. Our own…