I’m exhausted by my privilege. I’m exhausted with restaurants filled with primarily white patrons. I’m exhausted that those serving these white consumers are mainly black. I’m exhausted by the ignorance of those in the vicinity to see the difference. I’m exhausted when I climb off a Gautrain bus only to see a man scrounging through […]
identity
Posted inEquality, Lifestyle
An Afrikaans arts festival and fish out of water…
I always wondered about that phrase, “a fish out of water”. To me, it always seemed like a chosen emotion. That is, you can only be a fish out of water if you chose to be one. In my head, any situation can be accommodated by opening yourself up to it, learning about it and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tribal identity vanishing fast
Recent debates on tribalism and other related matters have generated more heat than light. Agang SA leader Mamphela Ramphele has reportedly accused the government of sponsoring tribalism to divide the country. At an address to students at Unisa in April this year former president Thabo Mbeki uttered similar remarks that rang alarm bells on the […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Who is black and who is not?
There has not been a time in the history of racial identity in this country when the number of people who describe or define themselves in terms of their race or language group or tribe has been so low. Far too few people continue to see themselves as black (or white even) (8.8%) compared to […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
ID blocking: A growing threat to nationality
By Liesl Muller South Africa’s 1994 elections paved the way for all citizens to enjoy the human rights flowing from equal citizenship but rumours of the deficient pre-electoral registration of the previously disadvantaged have been wholly disregarded in the wake of apartheid’s fall. The effects of rushed registration policies have caught up with us and […]
Posted inGeneral
What does authentically African mean?
Over the last 20 years, self-appointed custodians of “authentic Africaness” have derogatively referred to fellow blacks as “coconuts”, that is, citizens with black skins but white souls or cultural tendencies. Perhaps instead of feeling indignant and insulted, it is important to provide a context for what is meant by this label. It may be long […]
Posted inEquality, Media
Understanding the African Renaissance through rap music
This morning I found myself listening to one of my favourite rap albums of all time: Immortal Technique’s Revolutionary Volume 2. One track in particular, The 4th Branch of the Government, captured my mind. While it speaks of the racism of American media and the need of African-Americans to read, I found myself thinking of […]
Posted inEquality, Gender violence, Lifestyle
Frogs and queens: Crossdressing, spirituality and Feminism (II)
“The moral failing most common to men is brutishness.” So says “Jill” the wife of a crossdresser. “Jill” writes this in the context of having learned – with limitations – to accept her husband’s crossdressing behaviour as outlined in an appendix to Bert & Lori: The autobiography of a crossdresser, written by Robert J Rowe […]
Posted inGeneral
Do women have to champion other women’s causes
By Melo Magolego The interwebs are abuzz with Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer asking all staff that work from home to start reporting to the office. Those affected include middle-class mothers for whom the flexibility of working from home had afforded the opportunity to lead more balanced lives — to be both mothers and career […]
Posted inGeneral
Fellow Muslims, don’t be silenced by the extremists
By Sumaya Hendricks The pursuit of being a devout Muslim who strives to embody the values, personality and mission of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is inextricably interconnected with practising fairness, justice, kindness, peace and other moral superlatives. As Muslims in the 21st century, who are blessed with enormous potential and opportunity, it […]
Posted inGeneral
The capitalist
One gets a clue regarding the status of the capitalist subject in Deleuze and Guattari’s A Thousand Plateaus (1987: 457-458) where the downside of capitalism is put in clearer perspective than in Anti-Oedipus (where capital is depicted as a gigantic “body-without-organs” to which “desiring-machines” attach themselves intermittently, at different points – something that lends itself […]
Posted inGeneral
Could you handle losing your job?
Have you ever lost your job or worried about being retrenched? How did you handle it? How did you keep going? For some, the loss of a job is too much, as it was for the Cell C employee who committed suicide because he had heard he was about to lose his job. My heart […]