How far can artists go in satirising or sending up the powerful? That is the essence of the brouhaha over Brett Murray’s contentious The Spear painting depicting President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed in a pose reminiscent of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin....
response
Let’s not surrender democracy for anger | by Max du Preez
I SINCERELY hope all white South Africans have taken proper notice of the depth of continuing black anger and hurt at the memory of apartheid and its bitter legacy. Perhaps that was the one positive spinoff of the Zuma Spear debacle. A few weeks ago, in response to...
Return of the one-state solution | by Phil Gasper
The case for a single democratic secular state in historic Palestine. ISRAEL’S BRUTAL rampage in the Gaza Strip in December and January claimed the lives of more than 1,300 Palestinians, the majority of them unarmed civilians according to the Israeli human rights...
A new stage in the global crisis | by Andre Damon
Friday’s disastrous US jobs report, which showed the worst payrolls growth in a year, capped a week of dismal economic news from every part of the world. These developments reveal that claims of an economic recovery are not only premature but utterly fictitious....
Mavi Marmara indictments herald an end to Israeli impunity | by Sarah Colborne
As one of the activists on the Mavi Marmara, I was overjoyed at the news that Turkey had this month issued indictments against those responsible for Israel’s assault on unarmed humanitarian aid workers sailing in international waters for Gaza two years ago today. Nine...
The climate change government White Paper: the right colour for South Africa? | by Jacklyn Cock
The South African government’s climate change policy is rooted in a green neoliberal capitalism: reliance on market mechanisms, technological innovation and expanding markets. Underlying all these strategies is the broad process of commodification: the transformation...
