Pessimism of the Will

Why The EFF Is Not A Fascist Political Party

On a good day, the EFF advocates pan-African unity and a progressive, intersectional understanding of social relations. Senior EFF leaders are also on record making egregiously sexist and apparently xenophobic comments, the party appears comfortable…

The Case Against Affirmative Action

Why has so much political debate in South Africa, at least on social media, become about first principles and their application rather than, say, competing strategies or broad visions of a better society? Following South African Twitter is like being trapped in a…

Dogmatic Slumber?

The ethics of CEO SleepOut

I’m surprised to see critics of the critics of the CEO SleepOut once more deploy the “the event has raised millions for charity” and “what have you ever done?” defences.

A Handy Guide to Logical Fallacies & Biases

It’s easy to win the internet when you can demolish your opponent’s argument with a…

How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate the Pundits

As a South African who lived in the US for most of a decade (and who arrived there already-obsessed with the vagaries of American politics), this past year I’ve found myself on occasion asked to (ok fine, I would interrupt people…

Apartheid Denial and the Spectre of the Shoah

In an interesting review of Milton Shain’s ‘A Perfect Storm: Antisemitism in…

Overcoming the Rainbow

South Africa is a beautiful country but we’re obsessed with race. Apartheid ended more than twenty years ago and…