While the Deputy Minister of Safety and Security, Susan Shabangu, was making her now-famous speech in which she urged police to “kill the bastards”, I attended the opening night of Mike van Graan’s brilliant play Die Generaal at Artscape’s Arena Theatre. The play is, in my opinion, probably Van Graan’s best work and I have […]
2008
Posted inGeneral
Equal rights for women still a pipe dream
An article on BBC News online caught my eye. It dealt with the bias that women face worldwide. In a UN-commissioned report the findings were that women are discriminated against in almost every country around the world. The report was compiled by Fareda Banda, a Zimbabwean-born law professor based in London. In itself this was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Deputy Minister Shabangu: The quest for zero citizens
As a specialist criminal attorney, I would like to put Deputy Safety and Security Minister Susan Shabangu’s instructions to the police into some sort of context; translate it from the ill-considered idea that gave rise to the ridiculous orders and demonstrate how this would affect people in reality. In essence, the minister has ordered the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
All your base are belong to us
Call Centre Girl: Hello. Am I speaking to Diane, please? Me: Yars. CCG: This is the Democratic Alliance. We just need to know if you’re still living at 6 Behr Road. Me: [Whoa. Who needs the Scorpions?] No. I … um … moved to Woodstock. CCG: What is your new address there? Me: [Don’t panic. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Bombin’ is the only way, a medley, by Jomb-Bomb McCain
John McCain was only joking when he mumble-sang “Bomb bomb Iran” to the Beach Boys’ Sixties hit Barbara Ann recently, says at least one of the scores of respondents in the US to my misguided plea for them not to vote dreary old John McCain into office this November. Of course he was only joking. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Have Tibetan protests ruined the spirit of the Olympic torch relay?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Have Tibetan protests ruined the spirit of the Olympic torch relay?
Posted inNews/Politics
Afropessimism or bust?
Submitted by Tristan Görgens Our Afropessimism has an indignant tone. South Africa has long been the home of exceptionalism. We did white, minority rule differently, we fought for liberation differently, we avoided civil war with a negotiated settlement, we taught the world about truth and reconciliation, we were the champions and purveyors of Nepad and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The Olympic torch lights up human rights abuses in Tibet
The closing ceremony to the Sydney Olympics ended with an artistic performance by the next hosting country. China and its main city, Beijing, will be hosting the Games later in 2008. The display that China put on was breathtaking. It felt, at the time, that having to wait for four years for China’s opening ceremony […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Homoerotic Last Supper, Salman Rushdie and an Indian baby with two faces
When does freedom of speech and expression trump the right to respecting people’s beliefs or religion? Are we finally reaching the point where no boundaries remain that we will not overstep? Can we honestly just keep kicking down the fences guarding our morality and then expect people to put up new ones, only to have […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Skewed coverage is an injustice to SA’s victims of intolerance
In a recent edition of the Cape’s Weekend Argus, columnist William Saunderson-Meyer pertinently points out the contrast between the overwhelming — and appropriately outraged — media response to the University of the Free State racist video debacle with the story of student in Limpopo who was killed for refusing to sing a “struggle” song on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘For sale: Baby shoes, never worn’
These six simple words are widely acknowledged as one of the greatest short, short stories. Ernest Hemingway wrote it, and with it won his barroom bet to that end. A Cape Town tabloid once came close with “Man dies kak death”, but I think you’ll agree that, despite its gain in brevity, it lacks the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Girls on film
Being a suckling young media consumer, I can flick through DStv channels with all the dexterity and fervour of a dog digging a hole. Recently, I’ve been trying to reconnect with my generation, because being a jazz- and folk-loving bookworm at twentysomething is “so not on”, but I am simultaneously incensed and jaded by the […]