Monday, 5 June 2023
Christopher McMichael is a writer based in Johannesburg. He has a PhD in politics.
In Abolition Geography, contemporary thinker Ruth Wilson Gilmore looks at crime, incarceration and alternatives that focus on social upliftment rather than the prison-industrial complex.
In Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers, John Nichols explores the corruption at an elite level that has ended up characterising the global pandemic.
Yellowjackets explores environmental and gender horror through a then-and-now storyline that offers insight into the long-term effects of trauma, with a hint of the supernatural.
Two new books, Anthem by Noah Hawley and It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way by Alistair MacKay, explore what comes after Covid-19.
The recent devastation in Durban and surrounds shows the fatal intersection between climate change and kleptocracy in a political environment hostile to all alternatives.
The xenophobic and violent Operation Dudula is part of a global trend of rising right-wing vigilantism that is finding favour in an era of crisis.
In the latest film, the dark knight’s revenge fantasies are exposed as unhinged, as his foes no longer only hide under bridges but also brazenly roam the corridors of power.
A new book on drug use in South African sport depicts institutions that will stop at nothing to make money – even encouraging athletes to take banned substances.
Sparked by Jacob Zuma loyalists but spurred by infighting and impoverishment, the 2021 riots show a society trapped between predator politics and state abandonment.
The popularity of shows such as ‘The Tinder Swindler’ and ‘Inventing Anna’ show the links between late capitalism and the grifters who use the allure of wealth and success to scam people.
Derecka Purnell’s book Becoming Abolitionists, which looks at how cops bolster mechanisms of repressive state power, argues that a truly free society is rooted in consent and cooperation.
The crisis in which the city finds itself reflects the failings of capitalism, but there is an antidote to dystopian urbanism.
Grégoire Chamayou and Stuart Jeffries explore authoritarian capitalism and the postmodern malaise, showing how neoliberalism is an ideological construction that can be rejected.
The declining economic and social conditions in South Africa are creating the perfect breeding ground for the anti-vaccine movement to morph into extreme far-right politics.
Max Chafkin’s biography, The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power, looks at the disturbing links between major technology companies and the right wing.
With almost 50 000 cases against officers, ranging from rape to death in custody, a new database of police crimes shows apartheid’s authoritarian tactics still pervade the institution.
The film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel Dune is a wild, techno-gothic epic for dark times.
The branding and campaigns of many political parties taking part in the 2021 local government elections reveal their cynical and opportunistic view of voters.
The popularity of shows like Squid Game suggests the horror genre is moving away from depicting the supernatural towards a critique of the cruelty of capitalism’s power over our everyday lives.
Two new books explore police violence and its roots in slavery and the colonies, contending that the police serve power, not the people. Both argue for community-led alternatives to public safety.
In ‘The Poisoners: On South Africa’s Toxic Past’, Imraan Coovadia shows how politicians use toxins, or the threat of them, to maintain power over activists, whistle-blowers and even presidents.