Issue 121 | The Journalist

Dominant media reflects an elite bias

by administrator | Sep 30, 2020 | The Craft | 0

Voices of poor majority either ignored or made functional to dominant narrative

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to expose a range of acute inequalities across and within societies around the world. Nowhere is this clearer than in the disproportionately negative impact on the lives of the marginalised and poor. Public health systems are under heavy strain, unemployment is rising, access to online education alternatives for all scholars is unrealised, and opportunities to eke out even a meagre income in the informal sector are declining.

Corruption and Neoliberalism: We are caught between those who have captured the state and those who want to

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Spotlight | 0

Caught between those who have captured the state and those who have not

Gender Justice: How is South Africa doing?

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Spotlight | 0

Generation Equality for Greater Inclusion

The title is inspired by the United Nations’ 2020 International Women’s Day (8 March) theme “I am Generation Equality: RealiSing Women’s Rights”. The Generation Equality campaign which seeks to bring together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, religion and country, to drive actions that will create a gender-equal world.

Tribute to Fawzia Lowe

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Spotlight | 0

1936 – 2020

Fawzia Lowe, who passed away at the beginning of September, was already in her 50s when she was thrust into the turbulent world of political activism following the arrest and imprisonment of her son.It took all kinds of acts of bravery by people from all walks of life to topple apartheid.

African History and the Struggle to De-Colonise Africa.

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Academic Papers | 0

The academic section features Neville Alexander’s classic booklet from 1980 on struggles to...

The pernicious harms to health of certain cottage industries

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Spotlight | 0

Choosing between pestilence and plague.

There is a ghastly economic dilemma facing many South African households living in poverty and operating cottage industries – in order to eat they have to accept being slowly poisoned inside their own homes.In 2007, I was part of a South African Medical Research Council team conducting a survey of the blood lead levels

The extradition of Julian Assange would undermine freedom of speech

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Spotlight | 0

A champion of the cause of democracy

The former president of Brazil says the WikiLeaks founder is a champion of democracy and that the charges against him affect journalists around the world.The British courts will soon be deciding the fate of the Australian journalist Julian Assange, a man who has been unjustly charged as a criminal.

The Radical journalist and historian who charted the death throes of colonialism in Africa

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Pioneers | 0

Basil Davidson, who died aged 95 in 2010, was a radical journalist in the great anti-imperial tradition, and became a distinguished historian of pre-colonial Africa. An energetic and charismatic figure, he joined that legendary band of British soldiers who fought with the partisans in Yugoslavia and in Italy. Years later, he was the first reporter to travel with the guerrillas fighting the Portuguese in Angola and Guinea-Bissau, and brought their struggle to the world’s attention.

Lumumba’s remains to return home

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Pioneers | 0

The Congo’s first Prime Minister after independence, Patrice Lumumba, was removed in a coup masterminded by the West. In his place, Mobutu Sese Seko) was installed, inaugurating a brutal and kleptocratic reign, which lasted until 1997. Patrice Lumumba, was murdered, cut up and dissolved in acid. His teeth, kept as a trophy in Belgium, will be returned to Africa.

In conversation with the pioneers of The Revulva talk show

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Kau Kauru Voices | 0

In promoting platforms for alternative voices in the media sphere, The Journalist sat down with...

Myesha Jenkins 1948 – 2020

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Art | 0

This tribute is not only a portrait of an extraordinary human being, but a set of decisions, like any work of art, executed with dexterity, empathy and commitment.

Myesha Jenkins, activist, poet and feminist, who died peacefully in her home on 5 September, arrived in South Africa from the US in the heady early days of our new democracy and devoted her life to the empowerment of rural black women, performance poetry, the creation of networks that supported poets, the broadcast of poetry and multiple collaborations between poetry and jazz, one of her greatest loves.

A protean artist, who evolved as her interests led her, her signature style was one of unshakeable socialist principles delivered with simplicity and integrity infused with a rich seam of humour.

Forging ahead in new terrain

by administrator | Sep 28, 2020 | Art | 0

Cape Cultural Collective adapts to conditions imposed by pandemic

The Covid 19 pandemic has deepened our crisis. More people are out of work and hunger depressingly gnaws at growing numbers of households in the country. The very basis of human interaction has changed dramatically.

In these conditions, building resilience and pushing boundaries present themselves as almost insurmountable obstacles.

However, four weeks into the pandemic, we hosted an online fundraiser that generated income for the organisation and for a host of artists.

Community Chest and the Cape Cultural Collective joined forces to produce a publication called Heritage in a time of global crisis: Building resilience and pushing boundaries.