Yesterday we tweeted my friend Herman Wasserman’s guide to the media on how to cover Nelson Mandela’s hospitalization (it’s good advice if you’re a journalist). This morning I asked Nathan Geffen, a South African media activist (and author) whether we could republish here his post on the “when Mandela goes” meme. Geffen is one of the key people […]
South Africa’s Democratic Alliance, usually very slick and media savvy, have really outdone themselves with a new campaign by its youth wing. Fresh out of leader Helen Zille’s troublesome ‘AIDS Gestapo’ views and calling the ever disgruntled musician Simphiwe Dana a “Professional Black” on Twitter, the DA now give us this poster, above.
Julius Malema, the young ANC leader recently described by Winnie Mandela as “the future President of South Africa” can get a rise out of people. And he is often a stand-in for all kinds of prejudices. As comic artist Nathan Trantaal told AIAC recently: ”… The South African mainstream likes to have a black man they […]
Two-day conference on May 6 and 7 on the campus of Columbia University in Manhattan’s Upper West Side :
Political economist Hein Marais’ 1998 book, “South Africa Limits to Change: The Political Economy of Transition,” is a classic of the late 1990s. I have described Marais before, on this blog, as “… one of the trenchant critics of South Africa’s [political and economic] transition,” and the book “a masterpiece.” This past week Marais’ follow-up […]
Some rappers should just stay away from politics. Take T-Pain’s endorsement of “a conversative [Republican] victory [in] 2010.” (If you forgot, watch Jay Smooth break down T-Pain’s nonsense here.) Then there’s of course the Senegalese-American R&B singer, Akon, who imagines himself some kind of African political leader. (That’s Akon and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, above, […]
“… This model of negotiations leading to a coalition government in the wake of a violence-plagued [December 2007] election [in Kenya] is being tried in Zimbabwe and has been recommended in Madagascar. The model is an inclusive one, and has been championed in some academic and political circles as the new model for African democracy. It […]
Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s President, may not after all, rule as he promised “till Jesus comes“*.
Elections in Southern Africa is usually one big party if you’re the ruling party and if you’re not in Zimbabwe. Take Mozambique, South Africa’s small neighbor to the northeast, where the rapper MC Roger sells record on the back of the electoral campaigns of the ruling Frelimo (they’ve governed uninterrupted since independence in 1975–the opposition […]
