A few days ago i wrote a piece on 'Freedom of Speech' and the fact that i feel like i may be the only person in the world who doesn't think it's such a great idea. To be honest, i was expecting a bit of a backlash, but no-one seemed particularly interested - in commenting either way. Then i read a really great piece by Megan Butler on a friend's blog, titled 'We need to [...]
*If I had a mic and all of SA was listening what would I say for 2015. My hope, my dream for this beautiful nation is that people would step out of their comfort zones amd embrace other people. I know this is not easy. My dream is that young people would embrace older people, straight people would embrace gay and transgendered people, people of different racial hues would also embrace each other and share [...]
One of the interesting ideas that has come up both in Americaland [with the whole #Ferguson ordeal and everything connected to that and the #BlackLivesMatter movement] and in South Africa is that black people can't be racist. i have always argued that the hypothesis is ridiculous and given my understanding of racism, anyone can be racist against another person. However, by taking time to listen to people on both sides, as far as i understand [...]
Boko Haram... Charlie Hebdo... Pupils in a Gauteng school re-enacting dog-fights... Sometimes, far too regularly, it seems like the world has gone mad. What are we to do? i was encouraged by this excerpt from a Dutch friend of mine who sent this as part of his end of year newsletter: One thing has become clearer to me than ever before: Jesus Christ is the only hope for man and mankind. Especially studying the chapters [...]
There is a tragic moment in the book where Benjamin Pogrund is refused the opportunity to speak at Robert Sobukwe's funeral due to some angry incited politicised youth, as it seems like he would have been a natural choice and even Sobukwe's family had extended the invitation for him to speak. The speech he had planned though was published in Reality later that year: Robert Sobukwe. My brother and my friend. It did not matter that our [...]
i should probably disable comments on this one, but i generally want to understand. Let me just jump in and say it, although i do feel like i am the only person in the world that feels like this, given the fuss people generally put up about this sort of thing, altho i don't know that i've had many direct conversations about it specifically, but here it is: I don't know that i believe that [...]
From Chapter 20 of 'Robert Sobukwe: How Can Man Die Better' by Benjamin Pogrund: 'We [Robert and Benjamin] had three days of incessant talking and sharing emotions and thoughts. My dominant sense about him was his optimism about himself and South Africa. It helped him to endure the experience of being plunged back into the reality of everyday apartheid living. We also went through the details of a brotherly pact. I would continue to do [...]
Mamelani. Listen Up. Kom ons Luister… all of us. If I had the mic for just a moment, and the audience was a country that I am yearning to see at peace and functional and prosperous – what would I want to say? In just 3 – 5 points? This should be so easy and yet the noise in my head has made this complex. This is my start actually. There is too much noise. [...]
a guest post by my friend Sindile Mlingo Vabaza responding to a much made comment on this blog recently about people in poverty, although typically been aimed at black people, having too many babies as one of the main factors of their continued impoverishment: There are a lot of people out there who are putting up 'family planning' as the solution to certain societal ills in the country. I want to assert that this is [...]
Hi, my name is Rebecca Benn, I am a 20 year old (proudly South African) history student studying at UKZN and if there was only one thing I could ask all my fellow South Africans to do this year it would be to live out and seek out joy. The word joy is defined as: a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Now I would like you to think about SA, think if you can on how you [...]