I don’t normally respond to comments on my writing. I believe that writers have the first word and should not necessarily have the last word. But the beauty of the internet and blogs is that no one really has the last word. The blog writer starts a debate that can continue as long as needed. […]
Ryland Fisher
Ryland Fisher is former editor of the Cape Times and author of the book Race. This is his second book, following on Making the Media Work for You, which was published in 2002. He is executive chairperson of the Cape Town Festival, which he initiated while editor of the Cape Times in 1999 as part of the One City Many Cultures project. He received an international media award for this project in New York in October 2006.
His personal motto is "bringing people together", which was the theme of One City Many Cultures. It remains the theme of the Cape Town Festival and is the theme of Race. Ryland has worked in and with government, in the media for more than 25 years, in the corporate sector, in NGOs and in academia. Ultimately, however, he describes himself as "just a souped-up writer".
Posted inNews/Politics
Call a racist a racist
It has been interesting to see how the media have been pussy-footing around whether the killings in Skielik informal settlement in Swartruggens in North West province earlier this week were racially motivated. An 18-year-old white man, Johan Nel, has been arrested on charges of murdering three people in a shooting spree that has left many […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
No more ‘first black’ stories
Last week was a good/bad week for “first blacks”. The media made a big fuss over the appointment of South Africa’s first black Springbok rugby coach. And, of course, we have had all the troubles related to South Africa’s first black police commissioner. But the “first black” story that was the icing on the cake, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
We can’t run away from race
It was with great interest that I read Vincent Maher’s justification on the demographics of Thought Leader contributors. Unlike Maher, I am not white but like him I also voted for the first time in 1994. By that time I was already 34 years old and should have had a tradition of voting, but unfortunately, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Living in interesting times
There is a Chinese curse about living in interesting times, and that has certainly been the case in South Africa this past year. The year 2007 will no doubt go down in South Africa as the year of Jacob Zuma. Internationally there were some other major events, such as the assassination of former Pakistani prime […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Welcome to democracy
So there has been a bit of tension at Polokwane. So supporters of one presidential candidate have been shouting down and booing leaders associated with his rival. Welcome to democracy. While some people might be worried about the happenings at the ANC conference over the past few days, I think it is great that democracy […]
Posted inLifestyle
Are we all criminals?
I attended a debate on crime the other night and I was struck by one of the contributions from the floor. It was a clinical psychologist who asked why so many people who complain about crime engage in criminal activity themselves. I thought about this and realised that so many of us are guilty of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Good to be South African
I attended the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the SS Mendi tragedy on Cape Town’s Grand Parade the other day and I was again reminded of how far we have come as a country in a relatively few short years. As we watched the march pass by, several squadrons of the South African National […]
Posted inMedia
Media independence: From whom?
It can be frustrating when, after speaking to a journalist for 20 minutes, they only use one line of your comments. This happened to me last week after I was interviewed by the Sunday Times about the proposed takeover of Johncom, publisher of the Sunday Times, by a group involving senior government officials. I don’t […]
Posted inLifestyle
All of us are racists
Race is not a subject that South Africans talk about easily and readily, and I think that this particularly the case with white South Africans. The other day I was presenting a lecture on race at what used to be known as Pentech but now is known as the Bellville campus of the Cape Peninsula […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Finding myself
Along with about 300 other Capetonians, I have started a process of establishing my heritage. I was one of the people invited by the African Genome Education Institute, in partnership with Ancestry24, to take a test that would determine my family’s geographical origins. The event took the form of a town-hall meeting at Bishops High […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A life of service
There are many people who contributed to our liberation in South Africa and, unfortunately, so many of these people are being unnoticed or unacknowledged. Maybe the reason is that, once we achieved our liberation, some people stepped aside to let others lead. Others decided to get involved in local communities and shy away from the […]