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Surplus Books, InsideOut, and the Institute for African Alternatives invite you to the Surplus Radical Books Store for the second gathering in our series of Men’s cafes. Our theme for this discussion is the ’Hidden side or our HIS-story.’ We focus on the question of why and how men resist…

The Surplus Books Reading Incubator Project and The Institute for African Alternatives invite you to join us for this unique panel discussion entitled ‘Reflections on Sport and Physical Culture in South African Society’. This session will be led by Dr. Francois Cleophas, a Sports and Social Historian based at the…

Surplus Books, InsideOut and the Institute for African Alternatives invite you to Surplus Radical Books Store for the first in a series of Men’s cafes. This first meeting anticipates International Women’s Day in the same week. The gatherings will provide participants with a platform to share ideas, strategies, and tactics…

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Today (26 June) South Africa marks the 66th anniversary of the Congress of the People where thousands gathered to endorse the Freedom Charter. But it is of particular significance to those who also remember the man who wrote its economic clauses, the late Professor Ben Turok, whose birthday happens to…

“…[W]e will miss your boundless energy, your strength, your wisdom, your uncompromising intellectual incisiveness in the interests of the fundamental social transformation of our country; in the interests of the masses and not an elite.” These are the words of world-renowned economist and  intellectual, Professor Vishnu Padayachee, who passed away…

On Wednesday 28th April 2021, 3 pm The Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) marks the forthcoming Workers’ Day with a Public Forum that draws attention to the impact of Covid-19 on the future of work and social justice.  The disruptions created by the pandemic have radically altered the way we…

By Moira Levy The Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) joins many South Africans in mourning the passing of Cecyl Esau, who will be remembered for his work as an underground activist in Umkonto we Sizwe and a community organiser within the United Democratic Front (UDF). His interest in politics emerged…

What impact has the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated ‘new normal’ had on the teaching and learning environment? In this IFAA Forum we invite, parents, teachers and students from a cross-section of high schools to reflect on the challenges that they have faced over the last year. Topic: Institute for…

Equality in access to education is critical to the socio-economic transformation of our country and a cornerstone of the South African constitution. Yet, since the dawn of democracy, our government has consistently presented budgets that slash funding for schools and universities. It is for this reason that students took to…

IFAA would like to congratulate our senior researcher, Dr Hibist Kassa, on the publication of her chapter ‘The Crisis of Social Reproduction in Petty Commodity Production and Large-scale Mining: A Southern Perspective on Gender Inequality’ in the new collection Inequality Studies from the Global South, Routledge (2020). For more information…

The Institute for African Alternatives invites you to join our online discussion forum: Reflections on Trotsky, on Thursday 29th October 2020, 3pm. Please read the brief and find the webinar link information below: Brief As we mark the 80th anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination we find ourselves in the midst of…

South Africa’s distorted distribution of wealth is one of the biggest challenges facing the country’s economy, with unemployment sitting at an unsustainable 27.7%. In terms of wealth, the top percentile households hold 70.9% while the bottom 60% holds a mere 7%. 76% of South Africans face an imminent threat of…

Since the adoption of a resolution by ANC’s elective conference in December 2017 to change the constitutional provision requiring equitable compensation for land expropriated by the state, the dialogue on the specific constitutional clause as well as on land distribution and ownership in this country appears trapped between the extremes…

Policy-making and policy implementation are complex and convoluted processes involving both technical-rational and competitive dimensions, and they entail questions around what governments do, how they do it and why they do it, as well as the consequences of state actions for society as a whole. This article examines policy-making and…