The problem with the Hollywood Mandelas
Hollywood films about Nelson Mandela separates him from the movement that produced him. The fact is, movements made Mandelas, not the other way around.
Search Result(s) for: “apartheid”
Cape Town’s make-believe politics
Cape Town remains one of the most racially and economically segregated cities in South Africa, and there aren’t many signs of things getting better.
Caught offside
Some African football fans have been hate-watching Bafana Bafana at the World Cup because of South Africa’s anti-migrant politics. The team’s apolitical stance has left them without a defense.
Not in My Name
What's it like seeing your work on display, only to realize it's been taken over and remade by someone else to give a totally different meaning.
The Music of Alex van Heerden
Van Heerden was a fixture in Cape Town's jazz and alternative music scenes. His music is now available for purchase online.
The virtual reality of Walter Sisulu
While Sisulu's political career is less celebrated than Nelson Mandela, it was as remarkable.
The dangers of white totalitarianism
Why is the US ultra-right turning to Rhodesia as their model for a white supremacist state?
Will the populist wave crash over South Africa?
With the globe-spanning rise of right-wing populism, there may be good reason to fear for South Africa’s fledgling democracy.
The media of the useable past
Revisiting the papers of left, anti-colonial revolt from the continent can remind us of messy, rich alternatives.
Not exactly at arm’s length
Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.
Understanding South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel
South Africa is asking the International Court of Justice to declare that in its war against Gaza, Israel has breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
Mining, murder, and the machinery of exploitation
The massacre of artisanal miners in Stilfontein exposes the South African state’s violent allegiance to corporate interests and a long legacy of extraction and dispossession.
Reading List: Hugo ka Canham
On the publication of his book on black life on the margins, the South African author reflects on work that expand the meaning of being black on the world.
The globalization of African football
Can a continent dominate global football while losing control of its own game?
Underground politics under Senghor
In the 1970s, young left-wing activists fought clandestinely for Senegal’s democratization under Senghor’s brutal regime.
Rise of the reactionaries
AfriForum is no longer on the political fringe in South Africa, rather it's key in perpetuating increasingly mainstream, right-wing populism.
We need to talk about wage theft
South African companies can afford to pay their workers a living wage — if not for their commitment to profit shifting, as the case of Lonmin and Marikana showed.
Making space for the ordinary
MADEYOULOOK’s 'Dinokana' debuted at the 2024 Venice Biennale. Now back home, Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mokgotho reflect on sound, place, and why their work is always meant for South African audiences first.
Drip is temporary
The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.
Where laws and guns cannot reach
South African poet Don Mattera, who died in July, was the real deal — preferring to throw his lot in with the ignored and the undervalued. Unsurprisingly, his monumental life and work is undervalued too.