In the October 1 2012 edition of TIME magazine, James Poniewozik wrote an incisive piece of journalism on the imminent US presidential election – more precisely on Mitt Romney’s aspirations and the occasion of his gaffe about “the 47%” although Poniewozik concentrates on a different, to my mind, more telling aspect of the donor banquet […]
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Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Don’t touch me on my Facebook!
It seems the revolution comes in many packages, as seen on Facebook in the form of scantily clad sexy babes who sell radical black revolutionary speak, along with perfectly trimmed stomachs, silicone breasts, voluptuous derrieres and overtly sexual profile pictures. Now I know anything to do with black radicalism is dangerous territory for a whitie […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics, Tech
The importance of technology in economic and social development
Technological innovation and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) represent a way for developing world nations to foster economic development, improve levels of education and training as well as address gender issues within society. Entrepreneurship is crucial for economic development around the world. In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt and Indonesia, micro-entrepreneurs generate 38% of the gross […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment
Eskom crippling our water resources
It’s a simple truth: water is fundamental to life, we can’t live without it. The problem, though, is that water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource; one South Africa is running short of. By 2030 it’s expected that our demand for water will outstrip what’s available by a staggering 17%. Already more than 98% of […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Student radio not what it used to be
In many parts of the world student radio stations are bastions of progressivism and staffed by active, engaged students who lead discussions against injustice and stand up for persecuted and vulnerable groups and communities. In the US, where I spent several years teaching at university, radio stations typically get involved in progressive causes: LGBT issues, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Investment flows back into Africa
Over the past 10 years, foreign direct investment (FDI) has helped boost sustainable economic growth in many African countries. In theory, FDI can assist to accentuate productive capacity, employment and exports. When properly managed, it can also bring secondary benefits in the form of transfers of technology, management expertise and marketing skills. With continued liberalisation […]
Posted inGeneral
What is enlightenment?
The question has sometimes been asked (and answered) in philosophy, whether the historical Enlightenment has been sustained. Adorno and Horkheimer, for instance – in Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944) – claimed that the historical Enlightenment had dialectically been transformed into the subjection to, if not enslavement by, technical rationality and an impersonal system of administration. Willi […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We’ve been lied to
I wrote To Tell the Honest Truth late Saturday night after returning home from the funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu, a former activist, journalist and editor turned multimillionaire businessman. That afternoon I had joined family and friends at a reunion party to celebrate the return home of the 30-year-old son of a former freedom fighter from […]
Posted inGeneral
Validating Ian Parker’s work
The following is an excerpt (posted here with editor Grahame Hayes’ permission) from a longer review I wrote for Psychology in Society 41 of Ian Parker’s book Lacanian Psychoanalysis – Revolutions in Subjectivity (Routledge 2011). I post it on TL to give interested people an idea of Parker’s scholarship and just how scandalous Manchester Metropolitan […]
Posted inLifestyle
Size matters in Africa
By Afua Hirsch You didn’t have to have tickets to Ghana fashion and design week (GFDW) to get a sense that something was afoot at Accra’s most showy venue, the Mövenpick hotel. In the lobby on the morning the event was meant to start (Ghana being Ghana, the 11am launch happened closer to 3pm), I […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, Media
An incorrigible perversion
This is a story about breast cancer. It is not about a woman who has succumbed to it, nor about a woman who has triumphed over it. It is instead a story about a cold-hearted business decision to make and market a “natural product” which it is claimed contains “nutrients and plant extracts that help […]
Posted inEnvironment, News/Politics
Something worth saving
We’re about 300km off the coast of South Africa, sailing in the high seas of the Indian Ocean. During the night we caught up to a Spanish longliner, one of the many foreign vessels fishing in the region, others coming from places like Taiwan, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Since yesterday morning we’ve been in […]