Jewish people around the world must, for the first time in the face of a global crisis, be smiling. For once they are not to blame and not even the nuttiest conspiracy theorist can draw a pretty little line between the Jews, China, bats and a global pandemic. But then, nutty doesn’t even begin to […]
Coronavirus
Posted inGeneral
A doctor who thinks holistically about Covid-19
We humans are all too inclined to think of effects as being the result of simple, linear causal chains
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Coronovirus, meaningless numbers, disaster capitalism: Oligarchy’s dream come true
Some corporates, some philanthropists, and some governments, the United States in particular, have a vested interest in a global pandemic — and the stats of infection rates and deaths are useful to them.
Posted inBusiness, General
A brief history of the coronavirus pandemics
It’s creeping up on me and my people with devastation in mind slowlyThis lockdown, shutdown, breakdown, keep your head down, that’s controlling meNow into the third month of socio-economic life’s very own disruptionWith curfew and military policing on the streets as the new civic constructionIt’s playing with me and rolling my mind up like a […]
Posted inGeneral
Don’t let the arts cough, splutter and die
All forms from music and theatre to painting and sculpture offer us a mirror of ourselves and the world, escapism and understanding, and and expression of a range of emotions
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
The power of words to show how South Africa is fighting Covid-19
News headlines point to the ‘facts’ that citizens feel in charge of the virus
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Comfortably numbers: Reflections on Covid-19 data
Is the coronavirus mortality rate, fallible as it is, even the number we should be focusing on right now?
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Easing the lockdown like clockwork
As we move into coronavirus lockdown level four, a scene from A Clockwork Orange illustrates the eerie limbo we inhabit
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Please, Mr President, keep us weak at the knees
Dear Mr President, Before launching into this letter’s raison d’être, I want you to know that I am truly fond of you. Truly. I want to squeeze your plump cheeks, sit across the dinner table from you just to hear you speak, and give you a good old bear hug at the end of the […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, General
Gender-based violence: The epidemic that will take more lives than Covid-19
The relationship between gender-based violence and the home in South Africa means that lockdown leaves women particularly vulnerable, yet the government has been largely silent on this issue
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, Gender violence, Health
Intersecting gender and resiliency – especially during Covid-19
By Amori Marais The grip of calamities is tightening across the world: Covid-19 is causing a global pandemic; parts of Australia are (still) burning; and war continues its reign. Additionally, there are individuals who, on a daily basis, are confronted with famine; drought; minimal access to running water; and other natural disasters, such as floods, […]