Harper’s magazine is running an essay, Wishful Thinking: The Aspirations and Failures of the United Nations, by Amanda Chicago Lewis. I guess if your name is Chicago you may be forgiven to be somewhat myopic, and present your country in the best light possible, or at least everyone else in a bad light. Over many…
Category: Race
Two Easy Pieces on Journalism and Journalists, and The Media
I wrote a couple of pieces on journalism and the news media, in general, in my Daily Maverick column. I place excerpts, here, with links to the original posts. All my Daily Maverick columns are available here. Click on image to get to the column
Whose Anger Matters
I was interviewed by SmileFM about my Daily Maverick column of 30 April 2025. Click on the photograph for direct link to the column, and listen to SoundCloud recording below.
Calls for Appeasement and Status Quo Patriotism are growing louder and bolder
President Cyril Ramaphosa seems to have accepted the dismissal of Ebrahim Rasool without question, and seems to suffers from the same fear of Trump affliction that has debilitated CEOs in the USA, and driven them into what has been described cowardice. The dismissal of South Africa’s ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, from Washington is brightening the light…
Just don’t mention Palestine or Palestinians
Regimes that are repressive are usually those that have legal rights to monitor citizens and through legislation enforce laws. This reach varies from one regime to another; there are as many different means of monitoring and enforcement as there are democracies. There are, also, cultures, traditions, habits or things that are rendered permissible in countries….
Malaysia’s road to BRICS is laden with traps and mines
Malaysia’s decision to apply to BRICS for membership is visionary, but fraught with problems. These problems are mainly external, non-governmental, it should be said, and will probably continue to nag the application process and bedevil Malaysia’s actual membership and participation in the BRICS. The likely challenges Malaysia faces, more especially the Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim,…
Review: Notes about a book
A short video clip about a chapter in the book, Coloured: How Classification Became Culture, slipped into my TikTok feed yesterday. In the chapter, the writers, Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel stated that “Trevor Noah is not coloured”. I don’t intend to review the book, here. I turned down a formal request to review the book…