By Sharon Ekambaram Recently, Mumbai Aids activists took to the streets protesting the Indian government’s failure to protect people living with HIV from discrimination. More than 20 years after South African activists took up the same fight at home, the protests are a stark reminder that the battle for equality, dignity and access to life-saving […]
Equality
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Femen: From enthusiasm to disenchantment
A wave of popular interest and sympathetic media coverage helped the “radical” Ukrainian feminist movement Femen, known for their topless “attacks” on symbols of the “patriarchy” (religion, “dictators” and pornography) to expand rapidly into Western Europe, the Americas and several Islamic countries. Recently Femen announced triumphantly that “Femen” has topped “feminism” in the Google rankings. […]
Posted inEquality, Health, News/Politics
Has Mandela’s medical treatment created a bad precedent?
If Madiba is recovering in a manner consistent with the public announcements of being able to go home “soon” I will be the first to admit that my expectation that his days were severely numbered was wrong, and be very pleased that I was. Because it really did not sound good. Being “critical but stable” […]
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle
Vagina politics
I found my daughter fiddling with her vagina in the bathtub. The said vagina will here forth be referred to as a pony, it is far too cute to be burdened with the responsibilities that come with having a vagina. She was in the bath and suspiciously quiet, bath time is always her opportunity to […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
To fix a broken working class
Some say that 20 years is not a long time to sink teeth into a fully-fledged new democracy. There have been many challenges to ignite economic growth while providing essential services to the South African nation. But the major gripe that seems to resonate in today’s times is that the powerful voice of the working […]
Posted inEquality, Media
FHM to blame for corrective rape ‘joke’
Here are some simple rules, people of the world who have jobs. If you work for a food manufacturer, don’t post something about food hygiene. If you work for a media organisation, don’t post something prejudicial. If you work for a woman’s magazine, don’t post something sexist. It’s not brain surgery. Yet, for some people […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Young people are the majority and should act like it
By Frederik de Ridder In 2009, 23 million people registered to vote, and 18 million voted. In 2014, 21 million people in SA will be between the ages of 18-35 years. Seven million people will be between the ages of 18-24 years and 4 million young people will not be in employment, education or training. Also in 2014, 1 million […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Trayvon Martin: Fear wears a black man’s face
I wrote this article last year in March in response to the killing of Trayvon Martin. I am republishing it now as a tribute to his parents who not only have to mourn their teenage son, but also deal with the anger outrage and hurt that their son’s killer has been acquitted. Justice for Trayvon […]
Posted inEquality, Sport
I am a feminist
There, I said it. In public. My friends – one in particular – have been trying to get me to recognise it for a while. Why has it taken me so long? I guess it’s because I’ve never identified with the fierceness and passion with which some women speak on women’s issues. Friends like C, […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Health, News/Politics
Deadly circumcision and initiation practices should be outlawed
Nelson Mandela in his autobiography The Long Walk to Freedom recounts his childhood experience during this rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. He writes: “When I was sixteen, the regent decided that it was time that I became a man. In Xhosa tradition, this is achieved through one means only: circumcision. In my tradition, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, News/Politics
Dear Mayor Patricia de Lille and Alderman JP Smith, Cape Town
In response to this and this please find the new: ATTENTION ALL ARTISTS AND AUDIENCES CC: IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS, CAPE TOWN BUREAUCRATS AND POLICE NEW REGULATIONS / BYLAWS FOR MAKING MUSIC + ARTS IN PUBLIC SPACE IN CAPE TOWN You will disregard the loud, screechy sound of the retailers and local businesses who think that the […]
Posted inEquality
How not to write about African women and sex
By Gcobani Qambela This weekend I read a New York Times (NYT) article that is guilty of all traditional, white, western feminist mishaps when it comes to writing about African women and their sexuality. The article titled “Talking About Sex in Mali” is bereft of any holistic overview of the lives African women and is […]