What’s in a word? Quite a lot, sometimes, and not a helluva lot other times. But who’s to say? Several years ago, one of my dearest of friends, AGRB, was accused of being a spy for the apartheid state. I knew that the accusation was baseless, so did most of our colleagues in the media. […]
I Lagardien
I am a political economist. In earlier incarnations, I worked as a journalist and photojournalist, as a professor of political economy and an international and national public servant. I rarely get time to write for this space as often as I would like to.... I don't read the comments section
Posted inLifestyle
Internet access: Sometimes a matter of life or death
I have always tried to keep this column free from personal gripes and bickering. However, the last post I wrote (Meaningless mutterings about the University of Stellenbosch) drew the attention of people at the university’s Gericke library who opened up access to resources for me. I sincerely hope that they will not get into trouble. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Meaningless Mutterings About the University of Stellenbosch
I have been spending my days at the University of Stellenbosch’s main library where I work on job applications — a full-time occupation — and do research. I get a free ride from Athlone to Stellenbosch and back every day and try to make the most of it. The campus is a pleasant and seemingly […]
Posted inGeneral
Encounters with Diversity and Arabic in Cape Town
A little more than a week into my stay in Cape Town, I have encountered a rich and diverse range of apparently new foreign social influences in the city. In the first week I have met a range of people from South Asia, Congo (Brazzaville), Malawi, England, Zimbabwe, the People’s Republic of China and from […]
Posted inGeneral
Coming home to a rather normal country
I arrived in Cape Town last Friday after spending 14 years abroad. Setting aside larger socio-economic matters (without minimising any of them) I have been pleasantly surprised over the past few days by some of the minor infrastructural changes and improvements in this majestic city. I have been especially impressed by the efficacy of banking, […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Hell is everywhere in the US
“War … is hell,” observed a famous US soldier, William Tecumseh Sherman, in 1879. If there is any truth in Sherman’s observation, the US seems to be descending into a hell of its own making. The signs and symbols appear everywhere; from the streets of towns and cities, to the schools and on television. One […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A case for burning books?
For reasons explained elsewhere, I have been sorting through my personal possessions and shedding most of it in preparation for relocation to South America. Among these possessions are books that I have been accumulating for more than 20 years. Getting rid of more than 2 000 books is, as I have come to learn, quite distressing. […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Trevor Manuel and the IMF job: It’s a structural issue
I want to make a small contribution to the discussion around the (im)probability of Trevor Manuel being appointed as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Parenthetically, this piece was originally written a week ago and was sent back to me last Friday for shortening. So, things might have happened in the meantime which […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
America’s crisis and why it matters to SA
In my post of May 4 I made reference to social problems in the US as a way to suggest that SA’s problems were not unique and that it would be useful to have some perspective on social crises. This should not be seen as an apology for whatever actual or perceived crises there may […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Ctrl+Alt+Delete — resetting this blog
I let this blog space go dormant for more than a year. I let it “rest” for two main reasons. First, because I felt increasingly uncomfortable engaging in discussions on what was happening in South Africa, least of all because I have not lived in the country since August 1997. Second, because I have been […]
Posted inGeneral
It may seem like gloating, but…
It has been four months since my last post. Having just closed out the past semester – by far the most difficult of my short academic career – I am slowly re-emerging and connecting with current affairs and the social world around me. My students, those I taught this past semester and over the past […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Helen Suzman had it good; let’s remember others who did not have it as good
Very many people have expressed their admiration of Helen Suzman since her death — which is fair. I don’t expect people to reconsider their opinions of Ms Suzman. What I really want to do with this post is introduce another perspective on Ms Suzman – as a white person in South Africa, one who benefited […]