Roanne Moodley With Bill Gates landing on our shores, students have questioned the role that large scale philanthropy should play in the future. At its core, this type of large scale philanthropy is ideologically at odds with the recent call of students. We need to honestly assess what each asserts, whether they are consistent and […]
General
Posted inGeneral, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Perhaps we all just need to log off and have a good nap
I have news fatigue. That’s not a terribly bad place to be in, because it’s evidence of actually taking notice of the world around us, but it’s similarly distressing all at the same time. Glancing over the major news stories that have soaked up my eyeball attention in just the last month or two, I […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, General
Ubuntu and eco-feminism as an antidote to neoliberalism
How many people have noticed that neoliberal capitalism undermines the values of ubuntu (“I am because others are”) as a traditional African practice? And how many know that ubuntu and ecofeminism share some fundamental principles and values? I know of at least one such person, and her work in this regard is extremely significant. In […]
Posted inGeneral
Racism and prejudice: How to kill a watchman
Just over a year ago, Go Set a Watchman, the sequel to Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird , was published. I remember the furore with which it hit the world. Newspaper headlines were thick with the tale of how this old manuscript had been found in a safe by Harper Lee’s lawyer, how Lee was now frail […]
Posted inGeneral
Why is South Africa so eager to welcome Narendra Modi?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s imminent arrival in South Africa seemingly has everyone excited. A few “grand receptions” will welcome Modi to the country, where he is expected – among other things – to be part of “discussions” on change, minorities, and hate speech. But why? Why is South Africa – where we normally shun […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
We all need the SABC
When you watch what is happening at the SABC you get a feeling that it’s more like Days of our Lives, today Marlena and John are married and Kate is in love with Victor and tomorrow Marlena is possessed, John is arrested and Kate is mentally ill. Things move from the good, to the bad […]
Posted inGeneral
For the anally correct and the politically retentive
To my impish mind the human bottom with its neat, vulnerable, curved groove looks like a huge smile. Think of the proverbial plumber in his too tight jeans, on his knees sweating over a drain pipe: he always has a smile from behind, sometimes a little hairy. Half-exposed bottoms cause giggles and bring us down […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The Tshwane protests, Freud and how to control a crowd
It is regrettable that so many thinking people today – even those in the discipline of psychology – regard the work of the founder of psychoanalysis (which is by no means synonymous with psychology) as being of no more than historical importance, and Sigmund Freud himself as a historical curiosity. And yet, Freud is more […]
Posted inGeneral
Business interruption due to a breach is top cyber risk concern: Aon Global Cyber Benchmarking Report
Findings underscore importance of conducting a cyber risk assessment, Aon outlines a three-step approach for assessing cyber risk The costs of business interruption due to a breach is the top cyber risk concern for businesses across all industries, according to the 2016 Captive Cyber Survey report just released by Aon, the leading global provider of risk management. Aon’s […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Racism, an idea whose time has come, again
As Britain votes to leave the EU, Polish immigrants have come under fire with xenophobic and racist attacks in the bastion of parliamentary democracy. This is no coincidence, as millions of migrants from north Africa, eastern Europe and the Middle East pressurises the once hospitable European community on issues of immigration and race relations, there […]
Posted inGeneral, Tech
Anthro-pessimism, robots and Garland’s ‘Ex Machina’
What does the demonstrable pessimism regarding robots and their projected “attitude” towards humans in recent science fictional films tell us about our understanding (or perhaps imagining) of artificial intelligence? To be sure, let me state at the outset there are exceptions to this, even in some of the most pessimistic instances of such films – […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Balance of power contests are driving violent community protests
As a society we must all resist and reject the temptation to accept that the violent protests and political killings that seem to occur all the time during the local election years is the new normal. It should not be! The time has come to take responsibility, show leadership and engage through all our stakeholder […]