News/Politics

I have watched with mirth these last ten years as all of the political parties in South Africa have become more corporatised. Naturally they have retained their reliance on donor funding and political donations, and have not found a way to become self sufficient, either financially or organisationally. However, in a business the entrepreneurs provide […]

The proposals submitted by the Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille at a media briefing in Parliament on Wednesday offer, in my humble opinion, a vastly improved electoral system with which to safeguard South Africa’s fledgling democracy, reduce cronyism and limit the number of passengers that parties are able to carry into an election. They are […]

This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: Great expectations: Can Barack Obama deliver, or will it be politics as usual?

The usual partisan articles and rallies have sprung up over the past few weeks regarding Israel’s devastating incursion into Gaza. The well worn labels of “terrorism”, “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” are being thrown around by people desperately trying to swing public perception favourably in one or another direction. Israel has been branded the heartless monster […]

Submitted by Coenraad Bezuidenhout Activist filmmaker Michael Moore made three of the five highest grossing documentary films of all times (Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko). Most recently, he drew attention with a free, feature-length online release — one of the first by a known director. Slacker Uprising documents Moore’s personal 42-day, 62-city crusade […]

Barack Obama expects to be great. Please allow me to digress before I delve into the reasons. Rarely has any American president inherited a country in such shambles. And so it is with great interest that the world looks at this defining moment in the history of America. Because, let’s face it, people generally have […]

The one word that permeated President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech like a thunderclap n Washington DC yesterday was “Unity”. It and numerous synonyms created the touchstone in what authoritative pundits have called the “most important inaugural speech in American history”. And Barack touched it many, many times. He directly linked unity of purpose, of national […]

“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, […]