by Jordan Griffiths South Africa has a proud tradition of radical and innovative student politics. This is the country of Steve Biko’s SASO, the National Union of South African Students (Nusas), the detention and banning of student activists like Patrick Duncan and Ian Robertson, and the rise of student leaders like Tony Leon – who […]
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Finding heart beyond heat and ice
By Barbara Nussbaum South Africa’s high drama over Speargate has touched people deeply. Opinions have been thrown in every direction, from every corner. As we engage further in public debate in the media, we need individually and collectively to identify the many layers that make the complexity of the moment so profound. We need to […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Playing the victim: Malema’s survival strategy
ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and company have the ruling party exactly where they want it to be – i.e. they have got the ANC to mete out the harshest punishment possible. To their credit, I’m sure the ANC itself knows exactly where Malema wants it to be. It has become clear that Malema […]
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Roll like your ancestors
We are a nation of bitches. I mean bitches in the sniveling dog sense, not in the be-nasty-to-ladies sense. We are constantly moaning and whinging. You can’t do this, you can’t do that, stop it, or I’ll throw you with stone. Yes, we whine a lot. I’m even whining now, about us whining. Oh god, […]
Posted inGeneral, Media
Self-publish and be damned? Yeah, right
There have been a lot of comment pieces in the past couple of months about why self-publishing your own novel is a very bad thing. They’ve appeared in newspapers and on the kind of websites where the authors have their own photos and full biographies at the end of each article they write. Almost without […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Please, no God: not in our courts, not in Parliament, not in government
One of the great ironies of organised religions is that their adherents can only live in peace within a secular state. Those states that embrace a faith are usually at war with themselves or at war with others. Where governments adopt religion, they tend to corrupt and pervert that religion until it becomes something almost […]
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Do schools kill creativity?
By Athambile Masola As a new teacher, I have a vested interest in education and I’m always wondering about how to be innovative. I recently had a SMART Board and a data projector installed in my classroom. I was astonished as my learners entered the classroom agog, declaring, “Ma’am your classroom’s been pimped … upgraded!” […]
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Happy endings in Afghanistan
“All that has to happen is for the Taliban to lob a couple of hand grenades over the walls of one of the guesthouses,” the security consultant told me. He traced an imaginary trajectory over the roof of the guesthouse into the courtyard with his can of beer. “Then you’ll see how quickly the foreign […]
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The days of our politicians’ lives
By Gosiame Legoale I have a president who has an affinity for showers and an appetite for women, matched only by my imagination when boastfully declaring to any who would care to listen exactly how many skirts I’ve accounted for. I have a deputy president who has no official deputy first lady to utilise as […]
Posted inNews/Politics
When journalists silence rape survivors
This week Rhodes University student newspaper Activate published a story titled “Club Etiquette”. The story explains best party practice along the lines of ‘don’t wear heels’ and ‘respect your bartender’. Then there was this: “Don’t take advantage of the drunken person of your dreams. The next morning, when they wake up next to you wondering […]
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The superficiality of our culture
This morning, re-reading Nietzsche’s early essay of genius about the strife between the ancient Greek gods, Dionysus and Apollo – The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music – I was struck anew by the utter superficiality of the (global) culture we live in. This superficiality was captured succinctly by Theodor Adorno in […]
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Dear ANC, thanks for the liberation, we’ll take it from here
By Maphale Moloi In the wake of the recent ANC centenary celebrations, many have commented on the party’s role in post-apartheid South Africa. Some have said that the ANC is living in the past and is no longer relevant to the youth and/or the plight of the average South African. Let’s step back for a […]