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        <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>
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            <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>
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        <editor>Creamer Media Reporter  </editor>
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            <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>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <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>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <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>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <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>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <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>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Justice in the transition</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/justice-in-the-transition-2025-11-14</link>
            <description><![CDATA[German Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch once noted that while the idea of utopia is something we must dream about, we need to pepper it with realism. He meant that utopia provides us with a compass towards the seemingly impossible – yet one we should strive for. The conversation here is about revisiting the word ‘just’ when used to qualify transitions. In many respects, it is a rhetorical device that may or may not live in the real world. It is a mistake to assume that ensuring justice in transitions is solely the responsibility of government or the men and women in corporate boardrooms. The reference to ‘just’ is often a test of how the whole of society is engaged in the project of social solidarity. ]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
            <category>LOW-CARBON FUTURE </category>
            <pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Hallucination traps and knowledge gaps in﻿ policy</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/hallucination-traps-and-knowledge-gaps-in-policymaking-2025-10-10</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Policy-wonking can at times be a crude endeavour, and reality is not reached directly but through untested internal beliefs. Without direct personal experience, one worldview tries to grasp the lived experience and worldview of others. In between, hallucinations can creep into the mix. Then something is written and presented as some sort of knowing without really knowing. There is always epistemic treachery when you have not done the hard yards of working at something and gained tacit knowledge – prior experience is gold. Even if we recover some modicum of authenticity, policy elites can take leaps of faith: a view exercised is viewed as universally shared because someone with purported influence has said so.]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>Decarbonisation: State-led versus market-led solutions</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/decarbonisation-state-led-versus-market-led-solutions-2025-09-19</link>
            <description><![CDATA[The view of mainstream financiers is that the market mechanism is the only solution for the scaling of climate solutions. Public finance from major donor countries is declining as more money goes towards defence and security. Private finance will only come if the financiers can make money. They are waiting for the right signals. But from whom? The public sector, of course!]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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        <editor>Martin Zhuwakinyu</editor>
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            <title>How geopolitics is changing the climate action landscape</title>
            <link>https://www.polity.org.za/article/how-geopolitics-is-changing-the-climate-action-landscape-2025-08-01</link>
            <description><![CDATA[Reality sings a different tune these days: hard power has thrown out the soft power model of the late Joseph Nye. Hard power now decides the terms, and the world has to adapt to the new posture infecting global diplomacy.  Climate change negotiations within the multilateral system – which is in tatters today – are an instrument of soft power. When a single hegemonic universe existed, it was tinged with liberal values holding together a strong Western alliance involving North America, Europe and some Asian States. Soft power dimensions were a useful instrument to push for a preferred global system and weaken the influence of those opposed to the dominance of  a Western liberal order. It had its value as a tool of propaganda as well – the idea that democracy and the market must be the universe we live in. ]]></description>
            <author>Saliem Fakir</author>
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            <pubDate>Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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