Nativism and narrow nationalism in South African politics
The question of who belongs in South Africa, stains any project that aims to build a more equal and inclusive society.
Search Result(s) for: “apartheid”
Hugh Masekela’s musical modernism
Masekela wanted to craft a sound that avoided “world music” caricature while not simply mimicking the American Bebop he was so enamored of.
From Salt River to the Sea
When the the Palestinian Men’s National Team played an exhibition match in Cape Town, South Africa, it might as well have been a home game.
Is the UN system still relevant?
We are failing every day to force a ceasefire and stop the genocide. But failure is not an option. We must refocus this moment.
Struggle and archive
The formerly exiled ANC activist and later judge Albie Sachs is archiving his life, including a new film that forms part of a larger project of legacy-making.
We too are culpable
Israel’s impugnity in Gaza and the West Bank is enabled not only by its backers in the West, but by the widespread indifference of large parts of society.
Black women write
In her new biography of South African writer Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell shows how the publishing industry historically excluded Black women, and how they wrote in spite of that.
Mandela’s Black Marxism
Nelson Mandela is deified everywhere. But typically missing is an account of his early years, when he insisted that Marxism be responsive to South African conditions.
The politics of imperial gratitude
South African discourse about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continually references Soviet support for the exiled ANC. But the past is more complicated than official Russian and South African statements suggest.
The mourning of a man, the mirror of a nation
Charlie Kirk was not a household name in South Africa. Yet, as evidenced by the local outpouring of grief that followed his death, South Africans must confront the truth: his ideas were already at home.
Through the lens of queer Indian South Africans
Queer Indians are largely invisible in South Africa's LGBT discourse. But representation is not enough, we need political transformation and multi-racial class solidarity.
The mechanism of contagion in racism
How race came to function as fuel to an exploitative economic system. Take the case of South Africa.
Laughing pains
Stand-up comedy, especially black stand-up, and the political in South Africa.
This is Freedom
The AIDS activist Zackie Achmat reflects on South Africa’s 5th democratic elections in this interview with Cape Town independent media outlet, GroundUp.
The most wanted man
The legend of Nelson Mandela was built years before his lengthy jail sentence catapulted him to global fame.
Schooling desegregation and decolonization are not the same thing
Constant attention to segregation in formerly white South African schools limits our understanding of how race works in the school system.
The cliché about ‘struggle photography’
Cedric Nunn's photography reflects the complex emotions of his black South African subjects, their humanity, dignity, in very personal terms.
The emperor has no clothes
South Africa’s most famous monarch holds fast to power and prestige at no cost to himself.
Africa’s First Lady
Winnie was everything Africans - and African women in particular - were not supposed to be.