Friday, April 13, 2012

the capital of urban unrest

South Africa is leading the world in urban protest. According to police statistics, there were 27 protests in cities across the country every day, and 3 protests every day involved what the cops euphemistically call "unrest incidents." Arrests, thankfully, have gone down this year. But over the past 3 years more than 12,500 people have been arrested at these demos. It is, as the Mail & Guardian details, a "rebellion of the poor."

Thursday, April 12, 2012

good governance quote of the day, 12 April

Silvio Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolò Ghedini, admitting that the former Italian PM paid 127,000 euros to the families of three women who are scheduled to be witnesses at his upcoming trial:
"The linking of the payments with the fact they are witnesses in the so-called Ruby trial is absolutely spurious and without foundation," Ghedini said. "With his usual generosity, Berlusconi has sought to help, in a totally transparent fashion through bank transfers, those people who have been caught up in the media storm built around inexistent claims and who are living through an extremely difficult period economically, professionally and on the home front."