Hi All! Please join the Walmer Estate Civic Association in collaboration with ward 57+ Umbrella Civic on 22 Feb 2025 for a learning session around the history of civic movements and how key it was during anti Apartheid activism. Be part of rebuilding this important part of history and change in our neighbourhoods! Please RSVP…
Homeless in Cape Town: Meet Sean
In this video we speak with Sean who lives under the bridge on the Harleyvale side of Observatory in Cape Town. He speaks of being on and off the streets for the last 40 years and of his time serving in the border war in South West Africa and later of his time at Pollsmore…
MEDIA RELEASE: Stop the share: support victims of bullying by not sharing videos of assaults
This past week, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) received various videos of learners allegedly attacking one another both in and out of school. Many of the images are deeply disturbing. The WCED is engaging with each of the schools that can be identified. All of whom have confirmed that the necessary disciplinary processes are…
Fresh outcry over hotel development next to historic Bo-Kaap mosque
The Auwal Mosque in Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, was established in 1794 and is the oldest mosque in the country. A hotel development is planned right next to it. Photo: Matthew Hirsch. 4 February 2025 | By Matthew Hirsch There has been a renewed call to “save the Auwal Mosque”. This follows a City of Cape…
Mondragon as the new City-State—this cooperative could be its own country [The Elysian]
![Mondragon as the new City-State—this cooperative could be its own country [The Elysian]](https://obs.org.za/cms/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Viaje_a_la_Corporacion_Mondragon_en_el_Pais_Vasco-1024x576.jpg)
The Alternative – 4 February 2025 Excerpt from Elle Griffin’s Substack The Elysian, here: Mondragon is the largest group of worker cooperatives in the world. With 92 cooperatives in the industrial, financial, retail, and educational sectors, the group earned €11 billion in revenue last year with more than 70,500 workers… READ MORE
Did you know: All contributions to The Baxter are eligible for Tax Deductions
When you donate to The Baxter, your donation goes to The Baxter Theatre Endowment Fund. A fund established in 1977 in correlation to when The Baxter’s doors was first opened. By support The Baxter Endowment Fund, you become our partner in celebrating the theatre for the people, in bringing outstanding productions and education programmes to…
Why do banking apps and websites go ‘down’ – and what to do if YOURS has an IT disaster?
By HELEN KIRRANE – 3 February 2025 Lloyds and Halifax are having problems with their apps – according to DownDetector, the problems started at 7am Monday 3 February 2025. Barclays customers were hit by payment issues last week, starting on Friday 31 January 2025. Our rolling guide below tells you what you need to do if…
Technological Metamodernism – open source notes for a four-week course (Stephen Reid)
From the course The Alternative – 7 February 2025 Extraordinarrily rich (and open) syllabus from the software maker and psychedelic entrepreneur Stephen Reid, exploring Technological Metamodernism. From Stephen: I would say this is most important and cutting-edge course I’ve taught, bringing together ideas from technology, philosophy, design, game theory, mythology, speculative fiction and consciousness studies at a moment…
For African politicians, fashion could mean more than just dress
Garhe Osiebe – 6 October 2020 Across Africa, politicians are using personal fashion to communicate. From red berets, to all-khaki ensembles, to full-on cosplaying, leaders across the continent have a robust relationship with fashion. Despite their larger-than-life impact, politicians are humans. Fashion is useful to the political class for a number of reasons. They include: improving charisma,…
We need to mobilise a genuine mass movement against eco-catastrophe: climate populism (Read and Lucas)
“ecological thumbs-up” – prompt to Midjourney The Alternative – 8 February 2025 From New Statesman, an excerpt from a piece by Rupert Reed and Caroline Lucas: A common-sense platform of climate populism (or “climate popularism” as we will more subtly christen it in a forthcoming report) will heal some of today’s pain while both protecting communities from extremes…