Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said while prisons and detention centres were meant to restrict freedom of movement, it was not meant to be a place of torture and abuse. “No detained individual, regardless of nationality or background, should be subject to such harrowing conditions,” she told Malaysiakini…. “Such conditions are violations of basic human…
Author: ilagardien
You can find me here again, soon
Tik Tok…
As the day of my departure approaches, I am still waiting for the final bureaucratic things to fall into place. All that I know, for sure, is that I have a flight to Western Asia on 6 July, but that I still have not received my passport back from an embassy. I would, normally, not…
There’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans
The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life. – George Simmel If you cut your change you free yourself. If you cut your…
The Publicity Stuff is Exhausting
The hybrid-memoir I wrote, Too White to Be Coloured Too Coloured to be Black: On the Search for Home and Meaning, was published at the end of April. The in-person launch was led by Haji Mohamed Dawjee and the online launch was led by Ferial Haffajee, two of the most exceptional people I know. The…
There are conflicts all around the world, but Steenhuizen goes where the blue-eyed and blonde haired are killing and dying.
If we treat the Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuizen’s visit to war-ravaged Ukraine as something important, meaningful, sincere and significant, we are duty bound to explore some of the motivations for his journey into the warzone. This applies to those of us who believe that there should be no limitations on what may be thought…
The Book has Been Published
The memoir I worked on last year has been published. It is being distributed to bookstores at the moment. It’s a somewhat daunting thing. I now have to engage in things like book launches, literary festivals (three in the next two months) as well as radio and TV interviews. These are the least favourite things…
Chilipadi Loading
I don’t have Birdseye chilies, so these fresh chillies will have to do. Conventional Recipe 10 or more birds eye chillies 4 garlic cloves, peeled 2 tbsp light soya sauce Juice of 2-3 limes 1 tsp sesame oil DIRECTIONS: Blend together chilies and garlic cloves for a few seconds. Add to a bowl Add light…
A family snapshot
I just have to post this picture of my brother Farouk, his wife Johra and their daughter Ruwayda on her 40th birthday.
Signing off on the book
In the next t4 hours I will be signing off on the on the book, a hybrid of memoir, commentary and analysis of South Africa’s contemporary history and persistent racial ordering. It should go on sale by 20 March.