The orgiastic furore surrounding the depiction of President Jacob Zuma’s genitalia in an infamous painting, The Spear, is yet to reach a climax in the public square. The painting has power for one reason, and one reason alone: it crystallised a public narrative in pictorial form. As I have written here before, sex is controversially […]
General
Posted inGeneral
Is your on-demand call centre the real deal?
Insist on “elastic” scalability and responsive provisioning at low cost One of the most topical issues in call centres currently is the “on-demand call centre”. It implies being able to grow and shrink your agent pool in line with the ebb and flow of demand, without being concerned with details like being under- or over-provisioned […]
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9/11 – When will the ‘truth’ finally emerge?
In the aftermath of 9/11 signs soon started appearing, first sporadically and later in a more concerted fashion, that all was not what it seemed, and not even what the official commission of inquiry into the circumstances and ‘causes’ of the event said in its report was able to put an end to the questions […]
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The unilateral road towards nation-building: Danger signs ahead
By Gugu Ndima I was intrigued by a very innocent, captivating picture on the front page of two major publications. Two “born free” young South Africans who represent diversity in SA were nicely captured. The picture alone tells many tales; at first glance it’s perfect and void of sin or pretence. It’s a picture of […]
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May the e-force be with us all
The first time I really discovered the sheer, raw power of instant electronic communication over the internet was a kamikaze affair. A friend was being treated very unfairly, I thought, by an organisation we both had dealings with. So I decided that enough was enough; wrote a heavy-duty email about what I thought of the […]
Posted inBusiness, General
The economic week in review: Timeo Danaos
Fear of the Greeks was the dominant economic theme of the week. Greece’s failure to form a new government after inconclusive parliamentary elections last week drove markets broadly lower as concerns mounted that Europe’s debt crisis may soon get a lot worse. Elsewhere, America’s central bank hinted that the world’s largest economy may require further […]
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I apologise for apartheid
By Ronèe Robinson Ag hemel – wat op aarde het FW besiel? (What on earth got into FW?) Does he really believe that apartheid merely failed because black people did not want to live with separate development? What about all the injustices that were perpetrated under apartheid? Apartheid was not merely about a dream (or […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Obama: Rip those conservatives apart
Four years ago, Barack Obama and his rival, John McCain, both embodied the American idea of nobility in their respective campaigns. This time Obama enjoys the power of incumbency, and he will fight on his record. While all political figures become repositories of hope by virtue of taking office, Obama had built his entire campaign […]
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Generational change as Boks wait for June
Generational change is a gradual process lasting years, if not decades. The topic of gay marriage in the United States for example, was not supported by the majority of the population 16 years ago (60% vs 33%) but now just tips the scales in the column of favoured (54% vs 42%). The caveat here is that […]
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Palestinian solidarity and the responsibility of South African intellectuals
By Nina Butler “I wish you empowerment to resist; to fight for social and economic justice; to win your real freedom and equal rights.” These are the stirring words of Omar Barghouti in his open letter to “people of conscience in the West”. The prominent Palestinian human rights activist gave an indication of the poetic […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
FW: Why sorry is the hardest word
Amidst the blanket coverage of FW De Klerk’s remarks on CNN, few have stopped to consider that Mr de Klerk may actually have meant what he said, and said what he meant. I believe De Klerk will be judged a towering figure of history, and that his closest historical proxy is Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev did […]
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The deeper purposes of education
By Mario Meyer I have a family member, a cousin pursuing a BCom accounting degree, who regularly derides the (economic) value of a BA degree. My cousin subscribes to the view that the purpose of education is primarily to equip people with the necessary productive skills and competencies to, at least theoretically, access and enter […]