Residents breathe easier as Engen refinery to close
Long-suffering South Durban Basin communities have welcomed the decision to convert the oil refinery to a storage facility but activists worry the polluting will continue.
Mixtape 44: The photo album
Charles Leonard is shaking it like a Polaroid picture on this mixtape, with a selection of songs about photographs, photographers and cameras.
Why do European clubs shun African goalkeepers?
Édouard Mendy’s Uefa Champions League triumph with Chelsea will go a long way in breaking racist stereotypes that has seen European clubs look down on African goalkeepers.
How to live a whole life
In Text Messages this week, Hugo proves Shelley’s point about poets being ‘unacknowledged legislators’ when he sums up the socialist problem as related to wealth and its distribution.
Long Read | An odyssey in search of ochre
A traveller’s tale traces the history of early ancestors and humans through the art, markings and symbols they left behind in caves, riverbed rocks and other sites in South Africa.
Editor's Pick
Johannesburg in decay
South Africa’s largest city is a world city, the home of jazz, art, politics and insurgent popular aspirations. But it is in precipitous decline, making now the time to act.
Shaleen Surtie-Richards and the power of integrity
The theatre, film and television icon made adoring audiences laugh and cry and became an inspiration for millions who cherished dreams that they might be special too.
S5 Episode 4: Subversive Comrades | Egyptian Rap
Stories of subversion: Flag burning, white anti-apartheid activists, a long-haired marathon champion; and how one of Cairo’s few female hip-hop artists is sticking it to the man.
Hitting homophobia in cricket for six
Graces Cricket Club is using a sport in which six of the 12 Test-playing nations have criminalised marriages or relationships between same-sex couples to tackle homophobia.
Artists rise up for Palestine
The quick response of artists around the world to the latest attacks has helped advocate for Palestinians. We interview some of these artists to get their perspective on the work they’re making.
Long Read | The party as articulator
Socialist political parties should work to connect rather than direct progressive struggles and organisations.
Podcasts
S5 Episode 4: Subversive Comrades | Egyptian Rap
Stories of subversion: Flag burning, white anti-apartheid activists, a long-haired marathon champion; and how one of Cairo’s few female hip-hop artists is sticking it to the man.
S5 Episode 3: Palestinian solidarity | Israeli apartheid
In this special focus on Palestine: how dock workers showed solidarity, non-violent resistance in the face of extreme Israeli violence and why Israel is an apartheid state.
Mixtape 43: The chicken crossing
Charles Leonard has compiled a mixtape of chicken songs to stop traffic. Listen, and it will all make sense.
News
Eviction blame-game not helping Makhanda students
Landlords turfed out 45 students for not paying rent. The evictees accuse their college of rendering them ineligible for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme but the college disagrees.
Half price but all heart: Carolina’s taxis
In a nod of appreciation to the Carolina community and acknowledging the damaging financial effects of Covid-19, the taxi association there has cut fares for learners.
No slipping through the cracks for TRC cases
The ANC leadership will not get away with ignoring the political interference that has allowed apartheid criminals to escape punishment for the murders they committed.
Makhanda residents create a blueprint for autonomy
The Makana municipality continues to fail the town and shutting it down has drawn the attention of those in power, but not the desired outcome. Another meeting will determine what action residents take next.
Overwhelming support for activists released on bail
The arrest of Abahlali baseMjondolo members on ‘trumped-up charges’ generated significant national and global support for the movement.
Long Read | Land and existence in Gaza
Connecting the work of Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani with Karl Marx’s thought, the national and land question in Gaza is one of existence, and a matter of life and death.
Kranspoort farm lies fallow as department dithers
Frustrated land claimants are battling to develop a farm that could bring meaningful change to their lives. And they are hindered by the very people who should help them.
DA’s proposed fiscal rules come under scrutiny
While the South African government and its workers try to navigate entrenched stalemates on the public sector wage bill, lawmakers are considering legislating debt ceilings.
India’s Covid-19 plans pit cow dung against science
Modi’s government has promoted pseudoscientific methods to prevent and treat the virus, with ministers making wild claims about the health properties of trees, herbs and animal waste.
Features
Cartoon | Sold soldiers
By defying the ANC’s instruction to disband, the mercenary renegades who lead the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association insult the memory of the armed struggle and its true heroes.
German deal an ‘insult’ to Ovaherero and Nama
The descendants of the victims of Namibia’s genocide have vowed to continue their quest for direct reparation, after disowning the settlement struck between their government and Germany.
Part three | HIV lessons for Covid-19
The last in this three-part series highlights how, unlike during the HIV and Aids epidemic in South Africa, no ordinary people have taken to the streets to demand vaccines.
Agrarian reform and queer rights go hand in hand
The Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil fights for LGBTQIA+ people who are being murdered at an alarming rate in a country besieged by racism, capitalist domination and exploitation.
From the Archive | What is the Left?
Alain Badiou’s essay on the Paris Commune argues that radical politics demands a break with the Left as the people take things into their own hands.
Culture
The king of congas is dead. Long live the king!
Legendary percussionist Mabi Thobejane banged the drum with flourish and put the instrument at the very heart of the unforgettable music he has left the world.
New Books | Music between Cuba and West Africa
In this essay from a book edited by Adrien Delmas, Giulia Bonacci and Kali Argyriadis, Elina Djebbari discusses musical exchanges between newly independent states and communist countries.
Post-poster: Subversive art in the digital age
A recent exhibition marking 150 years since the Paris Commune’s short-lived control of the city raises questions about the socio-political role of visual artworks today.
The hopes and dreams of Africa’s queer activists
A recently released collection of stories by queer rights defenders across sub-Saharan Africa offers an intimate, hopeful look into their personal and political struggles and victories.
Durban rapper Raheem Kemet is just getting started
The eclectic poet, beatboxer and performer unpacks his debut nine-track album ‘Living Forever’, recounting his unconventional journey and the importance of having faith.
Silkscreening the pandemic
The print exhibition explores life in a world changed by Covid-19 through artworks that show us how individuals and communities have been shaped by the fallout from the outbreak.
Mabi Thobejane was a gentle giant of jazz
The master drummer from Mamelodi drew on his upbringing among BaLobedu drummers, playing solos in the moment and crossing over to genres such as house and trance.
Sport
Albania, the 25th team at Euros
The heart of two of the national teams playing in the Uefa European Championship is Albanian, owing to the vast number of ethnic Albanian players scattered throughout Europe.
Wheelchair basketball thrives amid lack of funds
Despite the pandemic and limited funds, Wheelchair Basketball South Africa successfully staged a women’s wheelchair basketball tournament. With stable sponsorship deals, the sport will strive.
The pool superintendent who keeps swimmers afloat
The University of Pretoria’s swimming team as well as the elite athletes who train at its spotless facility are fortunate to have Abel Mokoena who enables their dreams and carries them in his heart.
Hugo Broos is the boss Bafana needs
The Belgian coach may not be as glamorous as the others touted for the Bafana Bafana job, but his work ethic, approach and how he conducts himself make him a perfect fit.
The Comoros’ rise to football prominence
The Comoros Islands, with limited financial means and personnel, defied the odds to book a ticket to Cameroon for the Afcon. Those who were there explain how they did it and share their plans for the future.
Paying the price of an Olympic dream
Having missed out on Rio in 2016, the national hockey team has been chosen to go to this year’s Olympic Games. They’re now on a massive crowdfunding drive to get themselves prepared for Tokyo. But is this constant begging sustainable?
Covid’s damage to SA football scouting and coaching
Professional football has been played behind closed doors since August 2020. Not allowing scouts and analysts into the stadiums has affected their work and altered the ways in which players are analysed.
Pieter Coetzé is young, but no fish out of water
The teenage swimming sensation has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics but is realistic about repeating Joan Breetzke’s gold medal success in 1952.
Football star Mohammed Balah’s dream for Palestine
The striker for Palestine’s national football team was among the many affected by the recent Israeli Airforce bombings in Gaza. But, unlike Muath AlZaaneen who died, Balah lived to tell his tale.
Editorial and Analysis
Palestine is a laboratory for the global arms trade
Israel’s continued violent occupation of Palestine fuels war profiteering. Its arms manufacturers benefit and the country holds an established position as an authority on repressive policing.
The South African Constitution and its malcontents
Is the Constitution permissive or prohibitive of social and economic justice? It is currently in vogue to vilify the Constitution, but it is worth remembering what a constitution can and cannot do.
The economic injustice of the Tulsa Race Massacre
An underappreciated factor in the racist violence of the 1921 Tulsa massacre is how white supremacist forces decimated Black wealth.