Remember the ANC’s online leather jacket sale; those amazing garments seemingly designed for a camp 1970’s version of a black Star Wars? And the Stabproof Protektorvest (TM) that some enterprising person tried to flog to 2010 World Cup visitors to South Africa who needed to withstand the blows they could expect to be rained upon themContinue reading “Black fabric, the creak of leather and a flash of red …”
Category Archives: 2011
Chris Hani – and my part in South Africa’s downfall
For a brief time in the late 1980’s I had occasion to spend some time with Chris Hani, then Chief of Staff of the ANC’s uMkhonto we Sizwe and Secretary General of the South African Communist Party. I was working for the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (IDASA) and a meeting between the ANC’sContinue reading “Chris Hani – and my part in South Africa’s downfall”
Because I thought it might brighten your day
Our leaders dancing for our votes reminds me of a poem Michael Ondaatje wrote called The Elimination Dance. A version of this dance appears in cultures and countries around the world. The rules are that a caller shouts out particular categories of people or people who have undergone a particular experience. When you are called Continue reading “Because I thought it might brighten your day”
The forces for and against a South African revolt
Some of the things we think we know about revolts and revolutions – but that do not always apply: Where there are adequate elective processes dissatisfied people believe they can influence outcomes through voting and therefore are unlikely to make the sacrifices required of a revolution. Revolts are generally lead and organised by the middleContinue reading “The forces for and against a South African revolt”
How revolting could we get?
Black Swans are loose upon the world: The 2008 global debt crisis, Eyjafjallajökull (pronunciation fun here), Haiti and New Zealand Earthquake, China drought, Queensland floods the political crises in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disasters seem to prove that it is not the mundane everyday that shapes the world butContinue reading “How revolting could we get?”
Where blame lies
The raging race debate forces me to think about how we become culpable. I came across an obscene argument the other day. Perhaps you have seen something similar? It went like this: the Japanese are reaping what they have sown; the earthquake, the tsunamis, the nuclear threat and the unseasonal blizzards in the north areContinue reading “Where blame lies”
Race you to the bottom
Two startling contributions to the raging race debate – from below and slightly behind, so to speak. White (male) drivers The first is a letter to the editor of the increasingly excellent Business Day from one Oscar Mosito in Rosslyn His issue is with white male drivers. What is most endearing about Mr Mosito’s letterContinue reading “Race you to the bottom”
New WordPress email subscription button for Nic Borain
Apologies for this purely administrative post … and I will probably be mentioning this again in general posts over the next few weeks. We all used to love google because it was sparky and feisty and seemed to be fighting the deathly old Goliath Microsoft. Well that was then. The new Goliath google has messedContinue reading “New WordPress email subscription button for Nic Borain”
Complex, unstable and unpredictable
We are the ape with the pattern recognition dial cranked up high and this has served us well over our evolutionary history. But when we assess risk in systems as complex as the global economy our instinctive wariness at the sudden silence in the Palaeolithic forest is not necessarily useful – and might be partContinue reading “Complex, unstable and unpredictable”
Manyi – when Race meets Class
I’ve been itching to get in my two cents worth about Jimmy Manyi’s various comments concerning ethnic minorities (here for his original statement on YouTube, here for Trevor Manuel’s robust criticism, here for the ANCYL’s counter-attack on Manuel and defence of Manyi, here for ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe’s implicit criticism of Manuel … “weContinue reading “Manyi – when Race meets Class”
The centre holds – for now
A guest post from my friend and colleague Sandra Gordon. Sandra is a respected financial market economist and we increasingly present work as a team in what is often called “a dog and pony show” … although in our case there is some disagreement over who will be the dog and who will be theContinue reading “The centre holds – for now”
How to look at the budget
The budget is the spending, taxation and borrowing plans of government. Don’t just think of it as a series of hefty documents (the national budget review, the estimate of national expenditure, the appropriations bill and the division of revenue bill) – hundreds of pages and millions of calculations, graphs and tables. It is more thanContinue reading “How to look at the budget”
Egypt, my Egypt
I am clicking “Publish” in a rush … I suspect I will come to regret this later. Anyway: The popular mobilisations in Tunisia, Egypt and a swath of authoritarian North African and Middle Eastern states are interesting and important for more reasons than can be named, let alone examined, here. But the aspects that haveContinue reading “Egypt, my Egypt”
The State of the Zuma Nation
‘Not as bad as I feared; perhaps even better than I hoped’ – is my reply to the question implicit in the title. I have been flat-out covering the event for paying clients and I was at parliament in the gracious hands of the lovely people from Radio 2000 – where I commented for aboutContinue reading “The State of the Zuma Nation”
The labour market is not a charity auction
Capitalism, at its most basic and unbridled, is a system that says: okay, the king is dead and therefore no longer owns all this stuff; take what you can … if you can hold onto it, it’s yours. Oh yeah, and you can pay the people who don’t manage to hang onto any stuff toContinue reading “The labour market is not a charity auction”
Nic Borain 