The Negev’s Hot Wind Blowing | by Jonathan Cook

Over the past 15 months the dusty plains of the northern Negev desert in Israel have been witness to a ritual of destruction, part of a police operation known as Hot Wind. On 29 occasions since June 2010, hundreds of Israeli paramilitary officers have made the...
John Saul’s empty chalice | by Jeremy Cronin

John Saul’s empty chalice | by Jeremy Cronin

As we mark the centenary of the ANC there are, as we might expect, idealised versions of its history being trotted out. These tend to present the ANC’s hundred years as a righteous procession from early beginnings, through persecution and heroic resistance, to...
Déjà vu at the Common | by Darlene Miller

Déjà vu at the Common | by Darlene Miller

Mother who got arrested protecting my daughter when she was brutally arrested by the new riot police. Lying in the cells listening to the women of Manenberg explain why they went to the Common left me wondering whether I had come full circle in the new South Africa: I...
Capitalism: A Ghost Story | Arundhati Roy

Capitalism: A Ghost Story | Arundhati Roy

Is it a house or a home? A temple to the new India, or a warehouse for its ghosts? Ever since Antilla arrived on Altamont Road in Mumbai, exuding mystery and quiet menace, things have not been the same. “Here we are,” the friend who took me there said, “Pay your...

A Festival of Resistance

first published in Mahala This was the third time I attended the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, now as a fourth year student at Rhodes University. The role that the festival plays for the town has become increasingly apparent as my own interests and work have...