Sometimes one can feel like an atom — alone, isolated and abandoned. You must have experienced those moments too where you feel that you have lost a whole tribe of good friends, family, relatives and neighbours. It is a development that is enough to drive one crazy because it is so foolish, you know. What […]
2008
Posted inNews/Politics
You won’t die of boredom in SA
If you live in Johannesburg, spend a night in a trauma unit in one of the city’s public hospitals. It will change you.
Posted inNews/Politics
Is Zimbabwe the Nazi Germany of Africa?
When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933, they passed the infamous Enabling Act, which effectively gave them the power to deviate from the constitution and create the dictatorship that we all know so well. Within four months of implementing that act Adolf Hitler had his one party state. Zimbabwe in turn […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Kristallnacht
At the Harrington Street drop-off today, there was a woman sitting on the floor, her legs stuck out straight in front of her in that peculiarly African pose. She was staring at her limbs, as if she could not believe that they had carried her here, that the same legs had carried her over moss […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The big question
The big question coming out of all the centres of refuge for “foreigners” displaced by xenophobic violence in and around police stations, civic centres and churches is where do we go from here? What plans are on the table to protect, sustain and eventually reintegrate into the community some 30 000 (and growing) displaced people, […]
Posted inGeneral
My love for Opera
Opera is a web browser and internet suite developed by the Norwegian Opera Software company. It is a high quality, multi-platform product for a wide range of platforms, operating systems and embedded internet products. The Opera browser offers the user a unique experience with a different functionality, security, usability and accessing the web. Here are […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is Mugabe trying to manipulate the Zimbabwean xenophobia victims?
While it is currently only a rumour, not an unusual occurence in the life of criminal attorneys, there appears to be an attempt by Robert Mugabe to bring home as many exiles as he can, to settle them on land that he has made available for them, and then utilise their votes for the presidential […]
Posted inGeneral
The worst of South Africa – and the best
The traumatic events of the past few weeks have revealed South Africans at its worst. An orgy of rage, cruelty and merciless hatred has descended on our society, reminiscent of the worst excesses of the country’s painful transition to democracy in the early years of the last decade. People are asking, and rightly, what kind […]
Posted inGeneral
The greatest business innovation…
… is simply doing good business. Since the time of the Phoenicians, commerce has united the world. Today no corner of the world remains untouched by global industry, and with it capitalism has spawned a complex web of interdependence. Brands like Coca-Cola are found in places as far flung as Moscow, Monrovia and Michigan. However […]
Posted inGeneral
Perfect state or police state?
One of the things that has been hard for me to get used to about living in the US is the feeling of being policed at every turn. Here, my life is filled with a multitude of rules and regulations, along with a strong presence of law enforcement officials to make sure that I follow […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Protest in Paris
Thousands of French filled the streets, carrying placards and banners, singing songs and shouting slogans. This is Paris, May 2008, 40 years after the social revolution known as “May 68” shook France. The uprisings in the 1960s saw a series of student protests and general strikes that caused the eventual collapse of the French government. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Trouble in paradise
Today Kosovo is the official subject of all sorts of separatist tendencies, real and imagined. The speed with which key European states rushed to support its declaration of independence was dizzying. With the consequences of that support (real and tacit) still unfolding, a number of cracks have already emerged across mainland Europe. Germany’s historic relations […]