 | On the 17th of February 2008, Nwabisa Nqcukana was attacked by a large group of men whilst making her way through Noord Taxi Rank in a mini-skirt. They stripped her of her clothing, tore her underwear and began to indecently assault her: groping her breasts, pouring beer over her head, sticking their filthy fingers into her vagina. Two weeks later, Redi Tlhabi and assault victim, Nwabisa Ngcukana led hundreds bare-thighed women on a protest walk through the now notorious taxi ...read more |
We Are Not Road Signs
Monday, February 6th, 2012 by Lindokuhle Nkosi, illustration by Trevor Paul
Notes on a Crushed Protest
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 by Ben Fogel, images by Zachary Levenson and Elena Echevarria
 | The media dubbed it the “Battle of Rondebosch Common” but only the police used force. What you really need to know is the opportunistic mayor of Cape Town, Patricia De Lille, fucked up big time. She could have ignored the planned People’s Summit and let it collapse through internal contradictions and organizational failure (as so many protests unfortunately do). Nobody would have noticed except the Neighbourhood Watches and the Ratepayers Associations bent on keeping the poor out of the area. ...read more |
The Muck of Ages
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 by Brandon Edmonds
 | I’ve been meaning to get out of the house and protest. Marx laid down the law for anyone even vaguely aggrieved with how society is run: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.” That’s a pretty clear injunction to get off our complacent asses and see what needs to be done. ...read more |
The Wrong Idea
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 by Andrei Van Wyk, images by Paris Brummer
 | Between 2006 and 2008 Fokofpolisiekar was probably the most influential rock band in South Africa. People of every race have listened to, and enjoyed their music. Their lines were powerful, filled with depth, challenging conventions within traditional Afrikaans culture, and South African culture at large. They took a critical look at concepts such as Tradition, Angst, Despair and the Christian Faith. But more importantly, their lyrics supported the idea that Afrikaaners, and whites in general, are “African”. ...read more |
Demolishing Aspirations
Monday, January 30th, 2012 by Robert Bowen and Rashiq Fataar
 | Uytenbogaardt’s 1967 aspiration for a democratic architecture was never realized; an architecture that sought to use a building to draw people together, by creating an inclusive space in what was and remains a disconnected Claremont. The concept was to re-connect the marginalized trader with economic opportunity; those classified as white with those classified as non-white, the commuter, the pedestrian, and the private car user. ...read more |
Take Back the Common
Thursday, January 26th, 2012 by Christopher McMichael
 | This Friday communities around the Cape will march from Athlone stadium to Rondebosch commons for a three day ‘occupation’. The aim is a public space to discuss solutions to a range of issues: housing, rent arrears, evictions, political corruption and the ongoing segregation in the city. ...read more |
Meme of the Week | Would Not Bang
Thursday, January 26th, 2012 by Brandon Edmonds
 | Memes are a pure snort of internet. These evanescent time-wasters are the perfect accompaniment to the dead hours of the dead end service economy. Folk expressions of the post-industrial setting of work today. The mind life of bored kids stuck in underfunded educational settings and people in cubicles staring at screens. We don’t make stuff anymore. Not physically. That’s all been shipped to China and India where people work cheap. Work is mind-fatiguing in a knowledge economy. Ideas hold sway. ...read more |
Gimme Violence, Gimme Change
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 by Max Barashenkov
 | The young man sits sipping coffee. He is good looking, talented and smokes too much. He has adopted the aesthetics of past social movements – he is part hippie, part French New Wave auteur – yet he’s failed to internalize the ideals that fueled those movements. ...read more |
Liberal Smut
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 by Paul Hjul
 | When I was small (and Christmas trees were tall), I thought it would be cool to one day, when I was big, to be like Barry Ronge. In my mind the guy had this awesome job of watching movies (and clearly eating endless amounts of popcorn doing so), but more importantly he got to tell people exactly how stupid some of the movies were. Unfortunately as I grew older the fantasy job of a film critic withered away. For one ...read more |
White Slaves
Monday, January 23rd, 2012 by Brandon Edmonds, illustration by Alastair Laird
 | Sometimes you gotta laugh. Right? I mean this country. I tell ya. It is funny. Here’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s recent toast at the ANC Centenary shindig: “The leaders will now enjoy the champagne, and of course they do so on your behalf through their lips.” Oh of course. Wait. So the lips of our leaders belong to us? Whatever passes them is our business, is beholden to us? We control, by proxy, the intimate threshold of their lips. Cool. ...read more |
