General

“Abortion is a racist, genocidal act”. This view was expressed by Dr Alveda King, niece of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, at an event in Washington recently. Her aim is to end modern day claims that her famous uncle was in any way pro-abortion. As most of you would be aware, abortion is very much […]

Thapelo “Jigga” Moloantoa is the web editor and communications assistant of the Premier Soccer League’s official website. He is also a full-on bagel (the male version of a kugel). Before I catch anyone sniggering, let me break it to you — the number of black kugels and bagels is growing exponentially by the day (remember, […]

I can’t say the precise moment it hit me, but I do know that it was on Friday morning while I was listening to SAfm anchor Jeremy Maggs interview a panel on the issue of racism at the University of Free State. That’s when it became loud and clear to me that the wise guys […]

Freud called dreams “wish-fulfilments”, inviting the obvious objection, that this would fail to account for nightmares. Except … if we think of nightmares as negative wish-fulfilments — whatever it is that haunts you in your dreams, is precisely what we wish to avoid. The father of psychoanalysis also pointed out that dreams unfold in the […]

Examine carefully the history of any state and one is soon waist-deep in blood. Consider just the permanent members of the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Or the two most recent states — East Timor, and, since February 17 2008, Kosovo? Consider five centuries of colonialism. Five centuries! Consider Auschwitz. […]

I am not a very squeamish or prude person and have been known to let out a swearword or 10. At the same time, I know that words are powerful things and can deeply hurt and offend others. I was therefore taken aback when I read that Irvin Khoza had told a black journalist at […]

Enough with the pig ignorance, violence and stupidity. Enough with bowing to religious bullies and bigots, racists and sexists. And, most of all, enough limiting ourselves to the narrow confines the past has laid down. The time has come to shake all that off, like the famous workers’ chains, and rise up to the potential […]

The American elections are quite interesting to outsiders for a change. Usually as a non-involved party, the endless primaries and the actual elections tend to be terrible yawn affairs. It’s normally time to cancel all newsletter subscriptions from the US. Not this time around. It’s good to see some of the younger generation engaging in […]

Different versions of mentoring and coaching have been around for centuries as forms of skills transfer and passing along valuable trades from older members of society to the younger generation. Experiential on-the-job training comes a long way as a form of education and skills transfer. It is only recently, as late as the 1960s, that […]

One of my immediate impressions of Britain has been that there are an awful lot of CCTV cameras about. And not just on the streets where you might expect them, but also in B&Bs, cafés and shops. I have since been astonished to learn that there is, in fact, one for every 14 people and […]

Having withheld from commenting on the pledge issue, I ask myself if such a thing could help heal my country as it gets sicker by the day. Friday was one of lowest points this year, as members of my profession, our craft, exposed their racist hearts and were endorsed by an amoral autocrat thug who […]

In my previous posting, “The receptivity to the idea of change“, I suggested a possible reason why so many Americans have responded affirmatively to Barack Obama’s persistent rhetorical emphasis (no matter how amorphous) on the need for “change”. It could be, I said, because it resonates with what Hardt and Negri have identified as the […]