South Africa has a political problem. It is the problem which many plural societies face – the one in which the majority lives a life of poverty and yet continue to return a small elite to power in mostly free and fair elections, resulting in a breakdown in democracy as the government no longer needs […]
Filed under: Commentary, Democratic Alliance, Government, Ideas, Liberalism, Philosophy, Politics by Andrew la Grange
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Can you guess that I wrote the title of this post before Bafana’s 3-0 drubbing by Uruguay? While the result was disappointing, I have to say that I remain very proud of our boys. Few countries with a national team that is going through a rough patch like ours, have had to suffer the indignity […]
Filed under: Africa, Commentary, Corruption, Economy, Government, Ideas, Malema, Philosophy, Politics, Reconciliation, Society, World Cup, Zuma by Andrew la Grange
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Increasingly I am making links between the ANC of today, and the NP of the past. In the coming weeks I am going to be writing a series of articles on the present nature of the ANC and how the transformation of South Africa since Freedom has mirrored the transformation of the ANC.
The core […]
Filed under: Africa, Commentary, Decision Theory, Government, Ideas, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Reconciliation, Society by Andrew la Grange
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Everyone is running around like a headless chicken in the US at the moment about the Recession/Depression that the country is facing.
The government is printing money at a truly impressive rate, making Robert Mugabe look like a fiscal conservative. With all the TRILLIONS of dollars being pumped out by Treasury and the Fed, the […]
Filed under: Business, Dollar, Economy, Finance, Government, Ideas, Irony, Philosophy by Andrew la Grange
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PK will no doubt fight with me on this, but I think I might just have called it (probably my best one since I said the West should be concerned about Arab Extremism , on MFM 92.6 on the 10th of September 2001) regarding the next President (Has Motlanthe used Zuma as a Sleeper? : […]
Filed under: Africa, Commentary, Corruption, Decision Theory, Diplomacy, Language, Philosophy, Politics, Society, Zuma by Andrew la Grange
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Friday was a blow to anyone who wants South Africa to be a powerful and healthy democracy. Not because the courts found on Zuma’s behalf on a technicality, but that so many of his sycophants seem to think that Justice Nicholson’s ruling was a vindication of their man.
The fact is that the man who was […]
Filed under: Africa, Corruption, Crime, Ideas, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20080911141538545C746132
I should choose my words wisely. Because Sbu Ngobeni is quoted today by Independent Newspapers, as saying he will “shoot and kill” Jonathan Shapiro, who Mr. Ngobeni says “deserved to rot in hell” for Sunday’s cartoon indicating Jacob Zuma was being assisted by the Alliance to rape the justice system.
Do we now live in […]
Filed under: Commentary, Corruption, Economy, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Society, War, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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South Africa’s children need to have better educations. They need the resources and good teaching that can forge young people into contributors to society, and those who can excel on the world stage.
What should not happen is using children as fodder for political protest and gain. Whilst some might cite 1976 as an example […]
Filed under: Corruption, Education, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Society, Zuma, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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I haven’t blogged in a while. I needed a break, and I had to avoid freaking out about Hlope, Zimbabwe, the Million (Thousand?) Man March, and the otherwise seemingly endless tide of bad news leaving our society at present: even the economy is going down the drain (although now maybe I can afford a home […]
Filed under: Africa, Commentary, Ideas, Language, Philosophy, Society, War by Andrew la Grange
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Last night I was watching The History Channel, and there were two very interesting shows back to back. First one which looked at the shootouts of the Iraq conflict, as the coalition fights the insurgency, and conducts essentially a series of deadly and brutal SWAT police actions around Iraq. This was followed by a documentary […]
Filed under: Commentary, Ideas, Philosophy, War, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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The Problem
South Africa is a nation under siege. It is a nation where the people walk down the street in fear, and hide in their dwellings at night. Their sons are murdered, daughters, mothers, babies raped. Men weep as their lives are crushed under cruel and violent fists.
Our country has become a country of injustice […]
Filed under: Crime, Ideas, Language, Philosophy, Society, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Google’s blog is highlighting today the importance of World Book Day and The Literacy Project.
Its shocking to think that 1 in 5 adults is illiterate. But as I reminded someone at a party on Saturday night, even if the WHOLE world was literate, a world without books is useless. And Google is doing good […]
Filed under: Art, Commentary, Education, Ideas, Language, Media, Philosophy by Andrew la Grange
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We live in a supposedly free and equal society. Arguments of personal freedom and choice pervade the interest in gay marriage, and the removal of legislating social norms on society as a whole.
If we take the principle, that marriage is simply a contract between people for mutual benefit, and therefore the gender requirements of […]
Filed under: Commentary, Gender, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Religion, Society, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Jacob Zuma, and his supporters, in their broad sweeping populism are making a lot of the right noises about crime. While defending the right to life, for the first time in a long time, Zuma has reminded South Africans that when citizens attempt to take away that right from others then they must be punished, […]
Filed under: Commentary, Corruption, Decision Theory, Education, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Society, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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Al Gore speaks about the paralysis of democracy in his latest TED talk, as he expresses his optimism and frustration at the global challenge of climate crisis.
After watching the video yesterday, today I thought about that paralysis, especially in light of the seeming disconnect between the actions of my own national leader, Thabo Mbeki, […]
Filed under: Commentary, Decision Theory, Economy, Education, Gender, Ideas, Language, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Society, ethics by Andrew la Grange
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