Brutal evictions worsen South Africa’s urban crisis
The ANC and DA are both imposing militarised evictions, ruling in neocolonial fashion as if the people were the enemy. A progressive approach would embrace the social value of land occupations.
Editorial
Sport must dismantle systematic racism in its ranks
Various sporting codes have rallied behind Black Lives Matter. But instead of flashy public relations exercises, they should show their support by addressing the racism rife in their midst.
Is the Freedom Charter a thorn in the ANC’s side?
The Freedom Charter, which has become a measure of the growing gap between political hopes and social realities, is still used from below, often against the ANC.
Gender violence: From grief to rupture to movement
High rates of femicide make South Africa one of the most dangerous places to be female. With the government failing to protect women, it’s time for a movement that will change the status quo.
The toppling of racist statues is historical poetry
With powerful energies moving against racism across the planet, opportunities are arising to question its enduring assumptions of civilisational superiority and undo its normalisation.
Protests in the US hold promise for the world
The rebellion against racist police violence in the United States opens the prospect for a global rethink on policing.
From Minneapolis to the world
As the globe was colonised, the count of who was considered human narrowed, first along religious, then racial lines. Now, the fires of rebellion against this system are burning again.
South Africa faces a stark political choice
As the intersecting health and economic crises deepen, the country will have to choose between a politics rooted in social solidarity and a politics rooted in exclusion and containment.
Food production must change to beat hunger
The political consequences of exacerbated hunger during the Covid-19 lockdown are not yet clear. But historically, mass hunger has frequently led to a breakdown in consent for the established order.
Xenophobia on the rise as Covid-19 roils the planet
Racist and xenophobic politicians have abused the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent national lockdowns to bang the drum for their chauvinism and propaganda.
The urgency of critique
In this time of crisis in which many hard-won rights have been limited, it is vital that free and open debate be encouraged – including when it is critical of the state.
Freedom not yet
The ANC’s access to state power has not been used to honour the commitments the organisation made to the people who gave it their trust. Oppression has spread, like a virus.
Imagining the new normal after Covid-19
The global pandemic could either further entrench neoliberal structures or create an opening for radical change. Either way, life as we know it is over.
Covid-19 brings rubber bullets and water for the poor
The pandemic has pushed the state towards effective action, but this is simultaneoulsy taking both repressive and potentially progressive forms.
Lockdown must not lead to creeping mass eviction
As South Africa navigates the uncharted waters of its lockdown, what it holds for people confined to densely populated and under-serviced shack settlements is of grave concern.
Covid-19 and our shared future
Government’s extraordinary measures to stem the coronavirus pandemic show us how in the face of any disaster a new and more socially orientated common sense can emerge.
Coronavirus and the crisis of capitalism
The viral pandemic is exposing the weakness and unsustainability of the global economic system.
Zero hours contracts are a poverty sentence
In South Africa’s long history of worker exploitation, zero hours contracts are the likely next chapter. But workers cannot afford to sit out a protracted legal process to expose them for what they are.
Budget speech: Our rulers will not save us
It appears we will not get the bold, macroeconomic framework we need to address economic, social and ecological issues. This will have to be achieved through sustained popular pressure from below.
Politicians’ words diminish gender-based violence
Accusations of wife-beating in Parliament diminish the gender-based violence crisis in South Africa, which extends to murdered girls such as Tazne van Wyk who often get lost in statistics.
Viral racism
As yet officially unnamed, the coronavirus is being dubbed the China Virus by some news outlets, spurring anti-Chinese sentiment and an all-too-familiar xenophobia.