Within days following the horrific attacks perpetrated by Isis in Paris, the G20 leaders are meeting in Turkey to discuss a coordinated response to terrorism. As Turkey itself suffered its worst terrorist act in Ankara only one month ago, the security at this meeting will be unprecedented. Turkey, however, also has blood on its hands […]
Isis
Posted inNews/Politics
Charlie Hebdo: How to talk about terrorism
Terrorism always shines a light on the human condition. The aftermath of an attack is often coloured with blame, apologies, and almost mind-numbing debate about the problem. More importantly: the aftermath can also shine a light on those who are interested in democracy and the political sphere, while simultaneously unmasking those who do not care […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What could Scottish independence mean for us?
On Thursday, voters will decide whether Scotland will secede from the rest of the UK — a union that has lasted several hundred years. Although this doesn’t seem too important for people outside the UK, there is the potential for great change (or disaster?) following the outcome of the poll. While some South Africans have […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Isis and the end of history
In 1989 Francis Fukuyama proudly proclaimed that the world had reached the “end of history”. As the USSR fell into disarray and the Iron Curtain came tumbling down, the world was catapulted towards the acceptance of a liberal democratic political model and the neoliberal economics of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. It is of course […]
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Killing in the name of God
No thinking person can escape being horrified by the actions carried out in the name of God by religious fanatics across the world today. Killings, rapes, executions, wholesale slaughter, genocide, torture, and sometimes just ordinary nastiness — a litany of horrors that deny humankind the right to claim ourselves to be a uniformly emotionally intelligent […]