My experience of white middle-class South Africans is that we tend to be very wary of others. Whether tucked away in gated communities, encapsulated in our cars, or running in the gym with headphones on, we like to keep at a distance from others. Eve...
Eugene Terre'Blanche was a figure of ridicule and disdain for many people. He evoked strong responses of anger and shame for his political beliefs and in death further polarises South African society. I am horrified by the responses that bluntly stat...
It has been difficult in Haiti. Decomposing bodies still buried beneath the rubble and the stench that comes with that; survivors searching for bodies of their next of kin; the hungry and destitute turning to looting and violence; relief agencies in ...
At Eyethu Cinema in the Soweto of the 70s and early 80s, film endings would be announced with the projection of the words "The End" on the screen. At that time, the film-end soundtrack would commence in full voice as we filed out of the cinema in our...
In my previous post, I wrote about the rather paradoxical nature of autonomy -- that "complete" autonomy is impossible, given everything around one that one unavoidably depends on, or has to take as a basis for exercising one's "autonomy" -- language...
Zuma is a beautiful boy. His big doleful eyes and playful face have been a hit with the press. Every photographer making funny gobbledygook sounds to try and get his attention. Moving the camera about until the light catches that soft wisp of hair on...
I have been drumming my fingers waiting for a dozen or so Chinese friends to tell me what they thought of Obama winning. I told them I would weave their thoughts into a blog. They promised me they would. So far I have caught only two tadpoles on my e...
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
- Martin Luther King, 1963
The election of Barack Obama as the first black...
Imagine if you could communicate clearly and easily with people no matter which country in the world you were visiting. Imagine if everybody was on an equal footing when it came to expressing their ideas and opinions. Imagine if language was somethin...
Submitted by Cynthia Ayeza Mutabaazi
Most of us have by now read a lot about the current xenophobic attacks on “foreign” people/non-South Africans in South Africa. We have read about it in the papers, seen it on television, heard it on radio...
