<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- generator="FeedCreator 1.7.3" -->
<?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.w3.org/2000/08/w3c-synd/style.css" type="text/css"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
    <channel>
        <title>Polity.org.za | Saliem Fakir - Low Carbon Future</title>
        <description><![CDATA[Fakir is interim executive director of the African Climate Foundation – saliem@africanclimatefoundation.org]]></description>
        <link>https://www.polity.org.za/page/low-carbon-future---saliem-fakir</link>
        <lastBuildDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 16:29:40 +0200</lastBuildDate>
        <generator>FeedCreator 1.7.3</generator>
        <item>
            <title> Universalism in ﻿﻿climate, development contexts</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/universalism-in-the-context-of-climate-and-development-2026-09-04</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Universalism is at once apparent and hidden. It is subtle and not so subtle. In short: we must all look alike and discard or suppress our differences.  Universalism is encountered across the breadth and length of professional life, and in the way in which ideas that are seen as preferred are positioned as better, despite the lofty claims of non-interference. The outsider is in “listening mode” and wants locals to own their processes and initiatives. We walk on language props – the same labelling and concepts – in order to universalise our claims and relations with each other. ]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE </category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>728618</a_id>
        <updated>1788528482</updated>
        <published>1788472800</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Let us be our own and build our own future</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/let-us-be-our-own-and-build-our-own-future-2026-08-21</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The Stoic philosopher Seneca once wrote: “If you have passed through life without an opponent, no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” There is value in making mistakes and, in so doing, finding your feet. What does not kill you makes you stronger.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>727379</a_id>
        <updated>1787037548</updated>
        <published>1787263200</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Decarb﻿ futures and ﻿Santa Marta﻿ moment</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/decarbonisation-futures-and-the-santa-marta-moment-2026-07-24</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The Santa Marta conference, held in Colombia from April 24 to 29 and dubbed the first fossil-fuel phase-out conference, must be seen as an important stepping stone and perhaps a necessary riposte to the struggling annual UN climate conferences and Paris Agreement negotiations. It comes  at a time when the world faces a super El Niño, which will hit harder than previous El Niños.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>725586</a_id>
        <updated>1784616421</updated>
        <published>1784844000</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Political settlements and the just transition</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/political-settlements-and-the-just-transition-2026-06-19</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Political settlements theory helps us understand the drivers of systemic change, holding that the ambition of elites who control a country’s political and economic apparatus to decarbonise economies is as deep as the extent to which they see changes benefiting themselves. Another way to think of political settlements is to draw on Luke Kemp’s seminal book, Goliath’s Curse, which takes a close look at the reasons why States flourish or collapse. Kemp suggests that most States and empires arose because someone figured out how to extract surplus from the rest of the populace. It may be suggested that if all States are extractive, what makes them stand out is their degree of humanity or lack thereof.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category> LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>722981</a_id>
        <updated>1781248177</updated>
        <published>1781820000</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>AI and the collapse of truth</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/ai-and-the-collapse-of-truth-2026-05-22</link>
            <description><![CDATA[South Africa is in the throes of the Madlanga Commission, established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to investigate corruption and malfeasance in the country’s police service. As we follow live coverage of the inquiry, it’s often difficult to discern who is the good cop and who is the bad one.  It is precisely in inquiries such as the Madlanga Commission that the law is used as a tool to uncover truth. Yet there are ominous trends beyond South Africa: legal edifices are being challenged and dismantled, making it increasingly difficult to rectify wrongs or to prevent the justification of wrongdoing through the abuse of law under the pretence of using the existing system. Law itself is becoming a weapon against truth.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>720859</a_id>
        <updated>1779170318</updated>
        <published>1779400800</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Of wars, fossil fuel and the clean energy revolution</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/of-wars-fossil-fuel-and-the-clean-energy-revolution-2026-04-17</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The situation in the Gulf has moved from epic fury to epic crisis. Wars reveal, with great clarity, the shape of the world when something is no longer there. We now understand the meaning of chokepoints.  The Gulf States produce more than 30% of the world’s oil and around 20% of global gas supply. Fossil fuels still account for 80% of global energy consumption – we are not yet close to displacing this dependence.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE </category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>718513</a_id>
        <updated>1775813833</updated>
        <published>1776376800</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Decarbonisation with development in mind</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/decarbonisation-with-development-in-mind-2026-03-20</link>
            <description><![CDATA[That developing countries need growth is unquestionable, and the construction of housing, roads, manufacturing, hospitals, schools and many other types of public and private infrastructure will require more sand, cement, fuel, steel, and money. The context for developing countries is very different from that of more advanced economies.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>716860</a_id>
        <updated>1773728819</updated>
        <published>1773957600</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>Action counts, not declarations</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/action-counts-not-declarations-2026-02-20</link>
            <description><![CDATA[An offhand remark caught my attention in the last stages of the Brazilian presidency of COP30. Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago, the lead negotiator, acknowledged that Brazil could achieve only so much. Yet he emphasised that the measure of success should not be limited to what is agreed in the final Conference of the Parties (COP) declarations, but rather in actions taken outside the formal negotiations. Indeed, what happens next in the real economy matters far more than the careful finessing of words aimed at sustaining the Paris Agreement, now in its tenth year. COPs can feel like hyperrealities – those deeply invested in its machinery often want us to believe that the staged grandeur at the COP enclaves represents reality. We should respect it for what it is, but also recognise its limitations.  ]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>714827</a_id>
        <updated>1771266605</updated>
        <published>1771538400</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>﻿Good State and community-based development</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/the-good-state-and-community-based-development-2026-01-23</link>
            <description><![CDATA[One must be guided by several precepts when considering community-based development. The first is that if you do not know something, do something. It is only by doing that one really sees what is possible and what is not. Development objectives must be driven by realism, not sentiment. This means we must have sentiment to guide moral actions, but moral actions manifest in the real world. ]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>712852</a_id>
        <updated>1770799447</updated>
        <published>1769119200</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
        <item>
            <title>From nativism to society’s chains</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/from-nativism-to-societys-chains-2025-12-12</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Most of what we see in life comes from the way we organise life. As humans are social animals, the way they organise society can determine their fate. Organisation is bound by ideals of the future, and it is values shared between different members of society that determine the character of organisations.  The only question is whether it is a society based on atomistic ideals – each individual for themselves – or collective ideals. ]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE</category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
        <a_id>711099</a_id>
        <updated>1765528841</updated>
        <published>1765490400</published>
        <expires>99999999999</expires>
        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
        <has_video>0</has_video>
        <has_audio>0</has_audio>
        </item>
    </channel>
</rss>
