The specter of Mannetjies Roux
An encounter on a cross continental flight with white South African men and their ways, by Robina Marks, a black woman and South Africa’s ambassador in Benin.
South Africa
The problem with South African football
South Africa failed to qualify for the 2022 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon and has failed to qualify for the World Cup since 2002. What else can their long suffering fans endure?
The strongman’s vision of democracy
Former South African President Jacob Zuma’s various rationalizations and obstructions for his crimes make for good drama. But they also reveal Zuma’s aversion to the rule of law.
The new movement against apartheid
There is a lesson in the struggle for South African freedom: South Africans seeking solidarity understood they were speaking to specific audiences, not to an undifferentiated global community, and they strove to meet people where they were.
The demobilization of the South African masses
What do we know about the potential for new kinds of social movements in South Africa?
Dispossession in the name of democracy
South Africans fight for “adequate housing,” freedom from eviction, and a government that will progressively realize both of these goals.
Liberation after independence
On AIAC Talk this week, we mark Independence Day in Sierra Leone, and Freedom Day in South Africa—but what does freedom really mean on the ground in these countries? Watch the show live Tuesday on YouTube.
A mal interpretation of Cape Flats nightlife
Amy Jephta and Ephraim Gordon have written and directed a noir TV series that evokes nostalgia and the tension and violence of Cape Town’s nightlife.
Capitalism is a disease
Anyone who lives in fear of getting sick exists in a state of unfreedom.
More widespread than we think
Today's social movements rely on tech collectives to organize safely. But few know the history of other technologies used by earlier liberation movements.
Football and empire
AIAC Talk this week: the historical entanglement of South African football with English football, and what that tells us about politics and sport. Watch it on our YouTube channel.
The Black Man with the Bible in his Hand
An encounter on a Cape Town bus forces the writer to think about religion, especially Christianity, and queerness.
The politics of social welfare
Why are South African government policies benefiting black mothers still controversial?
What’s Left of the South African Left?
This week on AIAC Talk, we’re debating whether the moment is right for South Africa’s left to form a new party. Watch it live on YouTube.
South Africa’s Left needs a new party
Assuming today’s socioeconomic crisis benefits the Left is folly. That will only happen if we have the political vision to make class the fault line of social polarization, and for that we need to face the challenge of constructing a new party.
The king is dead
The death of the Zulu king highlights the unresolved issues that continue to shapes lives in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.
A compassionate take on an invisible struggle
A new film by South African director Nomawonga Khumalo represents the contradictions and nuances of black women’s interior lives.
Representation that sells us shoes
Adidas and other private, for-profit companies that are embracing corporate queerness are never going to contribute to our liberation.
What is decolonization for?
Scholars Archie Mafeje and Cedric Robinson challenged Eurocentrism. Their ideas are becoming more widely known. They're the focus of AIAC Talk this week.
Border wars
The Joint Boundary Commission that Lesotho and South Africa have revived, gives hope that some sort of border deal might be possible between the two countries.