The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is now the subject matter of an Interpol red notice following a request from Sweden where a warrant for his arrest, based upon charges of rape, has been issued. In addition the United States has also launched a criminal investigation related to the leaking of US government information by […]
2010
Posted inGender violence, News/Politics
Is women murdering their partners an unreasonable response?
In the past few years the law has been evolving to give consideration and lighter sentences to women who murder their abusive partners. You could argue that these women did what any reasonable woman would do in the same circumstances. Let me be clear before the deliberate misreaders of my pieces accuse me of inciting […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Child brides, HIV and cultural rights
In South Africa, the tradition of ukuthwala allows parents to arrange marriages for their children. This tradition originated out of parents’ interest in securing a good home for their children, but has unfortunately evolved into something more similar to child trafficking. It is a dangerous form of GBV that pays little attention to the rights […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What do the WikiLeaks really teach us?
This week’s massive release of US diplomatic cables has dominated much of our news space. For some it is a breach of security by traitors. For others it is the act of a hero. The dawn of a new information age. For me it is just another example of us getting played. Not a single […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Did you know Jesus was HIV-positive?
My favourite answer to the “Did you know?” question found in the yellow Chappies gum wrapper (probably a South African invention) is the one that goes: “Did you know? People with large heads are not necessarily clever.” The Afrikaans version of the same went something like: “Het u geweet? Mense met groot koppe is nie […]
Posted inGeneral
Oh Annelie, what were you thinking?
So author Annelie Botes has caused a storm with her recent comments over crime and black people. Now I agree with Mrs Botes on some of her points. Most contact crimes in South Africa are perpetrated by black people. Note I explicitly said contact crimes because the debate over which crimes are more damaging to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
I don’t like Annelie Botes…
Annelie Botes, an Afrikaans author, told Rapport newspaper that she doesn’t like black people, she doesn’t understand them and while she knows that they are people just like her, with the same rights as her she avoids them because she is scared of them. She blames black people for South Africa’s violent crime problem, which […]
Posted inGeneral
The seductions of technology (2)
To grasp what Jean Baudrillard in his book Seduction (1990) understands by “seduction” where technology is concerned, one has to take note, first, of the way he displaces seduction: instead of employing it in a “lifeworld” sense, he transforms it into a metaphor which encompasses, not merely a psychological trait of lifeworld-communication, but the entire […]
Posted inGeneral
West Side Story: Beauty and social change
I recently rediscovered, in DVD format, one of my favourite films of all time — a musical, as it happens, which won no less than 10 Academy Awards way back in 1961, including that for Best Picture. The movie in question is West Side Story, a 20th century version of the immortal story of Shakespeare’s […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Judge Motata has paid the price for his indiscretion
Judges Gregory Kruger and Hennie Lacock in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday dismissed the appeal of Judge Nkola Motata against his conviction and sentence — a R20 000 fine or 12 months in jail — by magistrate Desmond Nair in September 2009. The appellant had crashed his Jaguar through the wall of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
SA’s WikiLeaks
• The All Blacks were poisoned before the 95 World Cup final. • Carte Blanche’s theme song is pre-programmed to be louder than anything else on TV on Sunday nights. • Thabo Mbeki had a love affair with Robert Mugabe from 1999 to 2002. • The Parks Board planned to kill the alien goats roaming […]
Posted inGeneral
Zizek on ‘living in end times’
I have just started reading the prolific philosopher-psychoanalytic theorist Slavoj Zizek’s latest book (as far as I know), temptingly titled Living in the End Times (Verso, 2010), and already I am excited. On the cover, Zizek is described (by New Republic) as “The most dangerous philosopher in the West”, and with good reason. Unlike those […]