Socio-economic rights, political action, judicial conceptions of democracy and transformation : South Africa and Nigeria
universalism of legal subjects, but in Africa that would apply only in the urban environment; the political parties of liberal democracy do not make sense in societies where associational life is rudimentary and interest groups remain essentially primary groups. 6 There is therefore need to fashion an alternative model of democracy to fit the cultural context and contextual political arrangements of Africans in Africa. It is as a result of this that several African scholars/political theorists have already put forward their views of what the appropriate 1 This position is also supported by Dahl. See R A Dahl On democracy (1998) 9 – 10. 2 C Ake ‘The unique case of African Democracy’ (1993) 69 (2) International Affairs 239 at 243 (Emphasis supplied). 3 A An-Naim ‘Religion, the state and constitutionalism in Islamic and comparative perspectives’ (2008-2009) 57 Drake Law Review 829. 4 Y Mokgoro and S Woolman ‘Where dignity ends and ubuntu begins: An amplification of, as well as an identification of a tension in, Drucilla Cornell’s thoughts’ in S Woolman & D Bilchitz (eds) Is this seat taken? Conversations at the Bar, the Bench and the Academy about the South African Constitution (2012) 241 at 242 – 243. 5 To borrow An-Naim phrase. See A An-Naim ‘The legal protection of human rights in Africa: How to do more with less’ in A Sarat and T R Kearns (eds) Human rights: Concepts, contests and contingencies (2001) 89 at 102 – 103. 6 C Ake ‘The unique case of African Democracy’ (1993) 69 (2) International Affairs 239 at 243.
Constitutional Contact with the Disparities in the World: Poverty as a Prohibited Ground of Discrimination Under the Canadian Charter and Human Rights Law
While poverty is not a ground of discrimination expressly enumerated under Section 15 of the Charter, it is a condition shared by several of the groups specified in that section. The author argues that the Charter's promise of substantive equality will remain meaningless for large numbers of the disadvantaged in Canada unless poverty is recognized as a prohibited ground of discrimination analogous to those expressly enumerated. In support of her argument, the author documents the magnitude of poverty in Canada and the intolerant attitudes which prevail regarding the poor, attitudes which translate into discriminatory practices. The systemic disadvantaging of the poor also has an impact on their ability to organize politically, all of which qualifies the poor as a “discrete and insular minority” deserving of Charter protection. The author concludes that poverty should be viewed in the same manner as the specified grounds in Section 15 – as an equality and human rights issue.
Anaesthetic aspects of bronchial fistula.
SINCE the term bronchial fistula can, from the practical point of view, be applied to any abnormal connection between the inside of the intrathoracic respiratory system and the outside, it includes a very wide assortment of cases. Fistulae vary in their acuteness and duration from a few minutes up to thirty years or more (Huizinga and Smelt, 1950), and in their consequences from the rapidly fatal to the almost insignificant. Although the anaesthetic management of these cases falls mainly within the province of those working in specialized units, any anaesthetist may be caught unawares from time to time. Quite apart from this consideration the subject is well worth discussing because of its intrinsic interest and because it has probably called for as much anaesthetic ingenuity and resourcefulness as any other subject within the specialty.