 | South Africa is the number one choice of “structured gap year programs” for foreign students looking to give something back before they start racking up debt and herpes at university. Year Out, an association of gap year organisations, has a yearly poll of popular destinations and we’ve won it four times in a row. “South Africa’s enduring popularity stems from the diverse nature of the country,” a spokesperson said, “and the availability of a wide range of suitable and worthwhile ...read more |
Third World Kids, First World Problems
Friday, February 10th, 2012 by Brandon Edmonds
No Money Guy
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 by Christine Hogg
 | Whether you’re Gerald Majola or Rob Taylor, cash worries us all. Most of us can’t get enough of it, or maybe you feel that the only way of finding peace is to give some of yours away. Generally, the more you have of it, the more you’re scared of losing it. We all have that friend, who never has a cent or a cigarette, but is overly generous on payday, when he lives like a rock star for a few ...read more |
The Heart of Cheapness
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 by Brandon Edmonds
 | The best living critic of popular culture, Greil Marcus, was struck by the “primary reality” of “cheapness” in the film version of Orwell’s 1984 (with John Hurt and Richard Burton). “Totalitarian offices were cheap because they no longer needed grandeur; they no longer needed to affirm their own authority. They no longer needed to convince anybody of anything.” Two aspects of cheapness come to mind here. One applies at home. An unwelcome continuity between the present the ANC has in ...read more |
We Are Not Road Signs
Monday, February 6th, 2012 by Lindokuhle Nkosi, illustration by Trevor Paul
 | 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 |
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 Chris 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 |
