Brazil’s racket society
As Bolsonarismo outlives Bolsonaro, what does Brazil reveal about where politics everywhere is heading?
22 Article(s) by:
Benjamin Fogel
Benjamin Fogel is the Deputy Director of Alameda Institute and Contributing Editor at Jacobin.
What does it have to do with Marikana?
The Marikana Massacre changed democratic South Africa forever. It can also catalyze resistance to the current order.
A cycle of diminishing expectations
South Africans are learning the hard way that corruption cannot simply be solved through technical fixes and increasing “accountability” through locking the villains up.
Lockdown 2.0
What exactly did South Africa’s government do with the time they gained through the two-month COVID-19 lockdown, except to brutalize its people?
Why South Africa needs Democratic Socialism
South African politics urgently needs an injection of electoral energy from the left, that speaks in a language that resonates with voters, rejects chauvinism and embraces democracy.
What the Jair Bolsonaro regime in Brazil means for Africa
Brazil is the world’s second-largest African nation, but just elected an outright rightwing racist as president. It can't be good for the continent.
South Africa’s Transition from Zuma to Ramaphosa
Jacob Zuma's nearly decade long regime competed with Thabo Mbeki as the worst presidency of South Africa's short post-apartheid order.
Why do so many Western Leftists defend Robert Mugabe?
Mugabe was a neoliberal stooge up until the 2000s and far from being a Pan-Africanist hero sent his army to intervene in the most rapacious war in Africa's history in the Congo.
Angry farmworkers on a tractor
Done 'debating' whether “Larney Jou Poes” is free speech? Let's talk about the conditions of farmworkers.
What’s the matter with . . . R.W. Johnson
And why is the London Review of Books giving Johnson, a rightwing South African liberal, a regular platform to espouse his rantings?
Don’t believe the hype
South Africa's media, already lacking any serious labor reporting, have no interest in fairly reporting the strike by mine workers.
The Undemocratic Alliance
South Africa's second largest political party, the Democratic Alliance, exhibits the same paranoia as does the ruling party when it comes to dissent.
The loser mentality of white South Africans
On the rather extraordinary claim that white South Africans have been politically and economically marginalized since the inception of majority rule in 1994.
Julius Malema’s EFF and the South African Left
It is not often that analysts of diametrically opposed ideological tastes in South Africa agree, except about Julius Malema.
The most superficial politician in South Africa
Mmusi Maimane, despite his apparent reputation in opposition circles as a “man of the people,” appears to possess a rather limited political imagination.
Ayn Rand in South Africa
In its current form libertarianism and its worship of the market is utterly irrelevant to South Africa.
Make Bono History
For those whose hatred of Bono is as deep as mine or who are merely looking for concrete reasons to despise this particular celebrity do-gooder.
Julius Malema’s next move
In South Africa, many youth votes are up for grabs for the first time, from the generation facing 70% unemployment and with little loyalty to the ANC of their parents.
Where were the South African media at Marikana
The myth of Marikana as self-defense by the police and the company should be conclusively consigned to the dung heap of historical perjury.
Why the rhino is Newsmaker of the Year in South Africa
The divorce between social reality of post-apartheid South African and White South Africa.