cc WikimediaAfter the tragedy of Obama, the new World Bank president could well be a farce. It’s simply a matter of considering the underlying power relations.

After a chilly period as a genuine revolutionary trying to find a way forward within a blatantly corrupt version of ‘post’-colonial neoliberal nationalism, Kasrils should be warmly welcomed for any initiative he pursues.

Advocating a risky market fix to a massive market failure under circumstances of widespread market melt is the latest version of state failure.

Nearly everything President Zuma and the big corporates are doing places short-term demands above long-term thinking, both in the marketplace and at the polling place, promoting unfairness and exclusion, and thus preventing lasting prosperity and stability.

South Africa's coastal city of Durban - home to over three million - has said goodbye to long-standing City Manager Michael Sutcliffe, who reigned over a municipal version of neoliberal nationalism.

'As the soul-deprived, brain-dead, heartless climate-policy Zombie stumbled off the Durban platform in the direction of Qatar for the COP18 next year, it immediately tripped on the crumpled carbon markets,' writes Patrick Bond.

‘There is a tiny remaining hope for COP17, but only if we soon see a 1999 Seattle-style move by African delegates who know their constituents will be fried if the rich countries and South Africa have their way,’ cautions Patrick Bond.

Patrick Bond makes the case for the occupation of Durban during the COP17 summit, due to take place in the city between 28 November and 9 December.

Patrick Bond argues that there is a desperate need to connect the dots between genuine local grievances and insensitive government climate politics so as to solve the problems from both below, in the wretched townships, and above.

‘In these days of dire economic and environmental crisis, with political elites under attack from Athens to Washington, the establishment is desperate for legitimacy. Even International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff now publicly endorse ‘social justice’ at the same time they tighten austerity screws,’ writes Patrick Bond. Someone needs to hold them to account.

With serious concerns around the city’s pro-pollution policy and activity, will Durban – the host of the upcoming COP17 summit – clean itself up, asks Patrick Bond.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/543/stranded_tanker_tmb.jpgFrom a wrecked tanker on South Africa’s coast to the forests of South America, Patrick Bond explains why mining oil is a bad idea.

Two deaths recently marked the South African political landscape - one of a well-known former government minister, the other of a community organiser. When it came to water, the two were on opposite sides of the political battle lines: Kader Asmal implemented a commericalised water policy while Thulisile Christina Manqele fought against that policy. Both leave a legacy, writes Patrick Bond.

With a crucial conference on climate change taking place in Durban, South Africa, in December, Patrick Bond cuts through the elite conspiracy that will result in a no deal scenario and a continued rise in global temperatures. 'The strongest possible stance will be needed to finally address the mess,' he writes.

‘There appears to be very little difference in what is being advocated [by the IMF] to Arab democrats today and what was advocated to Arab dictators yesterday,’ writes Patrick Bond.

A renewed wave of development babble began flowing soon after the February launch of the World Bank’s 10-year strategy document, ‘Africa‘s future and the world bank’s support to it’, says Patrick Bond. Within three months, a mini-tsunami of Afro-optimism swept in: The International Monetary Fund’s ‘Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa’, the Economic Commission on Africa’s upbeat study, the African World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Report and the African Development Bank’s discovery of a vast new ‘middle class’ (creatively defined to include the 20 per cent of Africans whose expenditures are $2–4 a day).

‘[P]olitical reconciliation between Washington and fast-rising Arab democrats is impossible,’ writes Patrick Bond, as civil society reformers in Palestine express their disgust with Barack Obama’s 19 May policy speech on the Middle East and North Africa.

Patrick Bond makes a stinging critique of the recent report of the African Development Bank that claims that ‘one in three Africans is middle class’ and as a result, Africa is ready for ‘take off’.

The Climate Justice lobby is already ‘furious’ about the involvement of the World Bank as an interim trustee of the UN’s Green Climate Fund. But appointing ‘South Africa’s most vocal neoliberal politician’, Trevor Manuel, as co-chair of the fund could be ‘fatal to climate change mitigation and adaptation’, warns Patrick Bond.

Patrick Bond rips through the liberal veneer of Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, highlighting the complicity of the London School of Economics in accepting money from Gadaffi.