Amandla (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Amandla! is a South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n bi-monthly magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
that was launched in 2007. It is published by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) and provides coverage and analysis of current political, economic and social processes from a radical left perspective. Coverage is given to issues such as climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, labour, food sovereignty
Food sovereignty
"Food sovereignty" is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 to refer to a policy framework advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth and environmental organizations, namely the claimed "right" of peoples to define their...
and national healthcare while adding to debates around South Africa’s social movements and popular organizations. The magazine takes its name from the Zulu word amandla, which means power.
The magazine's articles offer perspectives on alternative strategies to deepen the process of social transformation
Social transformation
One definition of Social transformation is the process by which an individual alters the socially ascribed social status of their parents into a socially achieved status for themselves. However another definition refers to large scale social change as in cultural reforms or transformations...
in South Africa and on the African continent. Issues have included the Eskom
Eskom
Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission by the government of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act . It was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie . The two acronyms were combined in 1986 and...
electricity crisis in South Africa, critiques of the property taxation system, international news from Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and the crisis in Greece.
The magazine is written by, and for activists in political, labour and popular organisations, as well as progressive intellectuals at the universities, in NGOs, parliament, community based organisations, churches, journalists, lawyers, public officials in state institutions, etc. Contributors thus far have included Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Jeremy Cronin
Jeremy Cronin
Jeremy Cronin is a South African writer, author, and noted poet. A longtime activist in politics, Cronin is a member of the South African Communist Party is a member of the National Executive Committee member of the African National Congress...
, Rob Davies
Rob Davies
Robert John "Rob" Davies is a Welsh footballer. He plays for Worcester City. Prior to that, he played for Wrexham, and signed for West Bromwich Albion in the 2003–04 season for a nominal fee...
, Ronnie Kasrils
Ronnie Kasrils
Ronald Kasrils is a South African politician. He was Minister for Intelligence Services from 27 April 2004 to 25 September 2008...
, Mark Heywood and Joel Netshitenzhe
Joel Netshitenzhe
Joel Netshitenzhe was head of the policy and coordination advisory unit in the presidency until the end of December 2009...
.
The magazine is published by Amandla Publishers, a collective of socialists based in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban.
Amandla! also runs a series of discussion forums on topical issues in Cape Town and Johannesburg.