New Frame archive | by the workers, for the workers

Analysis

Safa needs reforms, not simply a new leader

Regardless of who is elected president of South Africa’s football governing body on 25 June, the issues plaguing the game will persist because the leading candidates are part of the problem.

Njabulo Ngidi
22 June 2022

Harness Africa’s knowledge to curb deadly diseases

Homegrown solutions built on regional knowledge addressed the Aids and tuberculosis epidemics. The same approach can be applied to other health crises for the benefit of humanity.

Quarraisha Abdool Karim
14 June 2022

Senzo Meyiwa’s trial also puts language in the dock

South Africa’s judicial system uses mostly English, even though the country has 11 official languages. A lack of courtroom interpreters means African-language speakers are disadvantaged.

Zakeera Docrat and Russell H Kaschula
9 June 2022

Nato entrenches itself in Africa

The war in Libya, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s first major military operation on the continent, was part of a strategy to coalesce Western power and expansion into Africa.

Vijay Prashad
6 June 2022

UK forges ahead with its controversial refugee plan

The countdown has begun for asylum seekers in the United Kingdom who are destined to be sent to Rwanda, where they will have to remain while their applications are processed.

Jan Bornman
2 June 2022

The Taliban’s bid to make Afghan women invisible

Afghanistan’s tightening control on women is reversing many of their rights in that country, with women now ordered to wear veils, travel with men and stay out of schools.

Haris Zargar
2 June 2022

Russia’s war will worsen the global food crisis

The Global South will suffer most as colonial legacies, climate change and capitalism continue to plunge millions of people into hunger.

Raj Patel
27 May 2022

Bolivian activists refuse to be in the margins

Asking vital questions for humanity’s future, including about water, land and collective decision-making, the Indigenous people of the South American country fight for an equal world.

Rogelio Mayta
25 May 2022

Stellenbosch urination emblematic of deeper racism

Though the Stellenbosch university student’s act needs to be condemned, obvious discrimination is a symptom of an ingrained hierarchical system that continues to favour white people.

Steven Friedman
20 May 2022

Sibongile Mani doesn’t deserve a tarnished name

The student convicted of spending financial aid money that wasn’t hers has been granted leave to appeal her five-year prison sentence. It is a step towards justice, dignity and humanity.

Sazi Bongwe
19 May 2022

We need a president – woman or man – who cares

Having a woman leader of the country would show a shift in gender equity, but more than that, South Africa needs someone morally unimpeachable who listens to the impoverished.

Wiseman Zondi
18 May 2022

Mali ejects French forces amid serious challenges

The fractious relationship between the two countries has reached a new low with France being ordered to leave immediately. This has many implications for the strife-torn region.

Vijay Prashad
17 May 2022

Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder hurts oppressed people

The journalist is among more than 50 reporters who have died at the hands of the Israeli regime and is remembered for bravely giving a voice to Palestinians.

Imraan Buccus
16 May 2022

Digital switch will leave millions without TV

The analogue television signal will be turned off on 30 June in a move that will bar impoverished households from access and sink community television stations.

Buntu FY Hweshe
13 May 2022

Statement of solidarity with Abahlali baseMjondolo

Noam Chomsky, Ruth Wilson Gilmour and others pledge their support for the shack dwellers’ movement and call for solidarity in the wake of the assassination of Nokuthula Mabaso.

Noam Chomsky
13 May 2022

Floods and disaster capitalism prey on KwaZulu-Natal

The recent devastation in Durban and surrounds shows the fatal intersection between climate change and kleptocracy in a political environment hostile to all alternatives.

Christopher McMichael
11 May 2022

Chief executives really don’t need to earn so much

There’s a limit to how much one person can spend and it falls way below what top executives are paid in South Africa. Inequality will remain until the wealthy concede this.

Steven Friedman
9 May 2022

Why non-alignment is urgent for the Global South

We have been outside looking in for too long to believe the West will give us a seat at their table. We need financial autonomy and development that can withstand the attacks of the major powers.

Nontobeko Hlela
9 May 2022

A steady ticking towards the hour of the hangman

The xenophobic and violent Operation Dudula is part of a global trend of rising right-wing vigilantism that is finding favour in an era of crisis.

Christopher McMichael
5 May 2022

Bulldozers bear down on India’s Muslim communities

As religious strife grips the nation and clashes with Hindus take place, several state authorities have retaliated by razing properties belonging to Muslims to the ground.

Haris Zargar
3 May 2022

Brazen double standards in response to Ukraine war

Some deaths cannot matter more than others and neither can some conflicts be treated as more horrendous than the rest. But that is what the West seems to be saying.

Imraan Buccus
28 April 2022

Jeremy Corbyn: Now, let us talk peace

Some say to discuss peace at a time of war is a sign of weakness, but the opposite is true. The deaths, refugees and grief have to come to an end.

Jeremy Corbyn
28 April 2022

The new globalisation might have an Eastern face

If Western-led globalisation ends, the end of ‘the second great age of globalisation’ may be upon us.

E Ahmet Tonak
26 April 2022

Gas is a game-changer and the players are plotting

In the second of two articles on the energy transition, the battle for gas exploration in South Africa is explored – and why the production delays in Mozambique suit some interests.

Mike Muller
22 April 2022

Europe is sleepwalking into another world war

Seeing through non-European lenses, Europe and the United States stand haughtily all but alone, probably capable of winning one battle but on their way to certain defeat in the war of history.

Boaventura de Sousa Santos
22 April 2022

Who gets the ‘dirty’ profits while going for ‘clean’?

In the first of two articles on the energy transition that must happen across the world, it’s clear that coal will be around for years to come. Less clear is who will benefit from it.

Mike Muller
21 April 2022

eThekwini ANC faction chooses power over the people

Zandile Gumede’s election to yet another powerful position in the KwaZulu-Natal region is, by most accounts, in the interest of her self-serving supporters and not the long-suffering residents.

Greg Ardé
21 April 2022

International law and ‘European civilisation’

Despite its promises of universalism, international law has clearly not yet shaken its foundation as a racial order.

Christopher Gevers
8 April 2022

Indian health workers criminalised for protesting

Underpaid and overworked health personnel who serve in rural communities have been dismissed for striking. But how else can these vital women have their concerns addressed?

Haris Zargar
4 April 2022

Anti-migrant sentiment is a national emergency

Hounding people born elsewhere is a form of bigotry, no less than racism or sexism. Those who believe in equal treatment for everyone should campaign against this prejudice.

Steven Friedman
1 April 2022

Joburg court flouts right to housing

A new study shows that in most cases the Johannesburg magistrate’s court evicts people without looking into their personal circumstances, as recommended by the Constitution.

Nerishka Singh and Yvonne Erasmus
1 April 2022

Can hateful and abusive podcasts be stopped in SA?

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular in South Africa, but what does accountability look like for a medium that falls outside traditional broadcasting regulations?

Rufaro Samanga
23 March 2022

Azapo seeks renewal

The party of socialist Black Consciousness has fresh leaders and a pact with the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania to begin working on the local level to create a viable and radical Left.

Imraan Buccus
21 March 2022

The reasons for Ramaphosa’s top-judge ruminations

South Africa’s president took his time – and then some – to announce the country’s new chief justice. What took him so long, and is Raymond Zondo ultimately the best choice?

Niren Tolsi
17 March 2022

July riots reports exposes SA’s failed neoliberalism

Sparked by Jacob Zuma loyalists but spurred by infighting and impoverishment, the 2021 riots show a society trapped between predator politics and state abandonment.

Christopher McMichael
17 March 2022

Zondo has his work cut out tackling many issues

There is no shortage of pressing problems at the Constitutional Court and the judiciary in general for the new chief justice to deal with in the short time he has.

Mbekezeli Benjamin
17 March 2022

School-to-prison pathways raise a red flag

Instead of helping children overcome bad behaviour, some schools have a zero-tolerance policy, which may push learners into the criminal justice system. Many struggle to return to school.

Nurina Ally, Robyn Beere and Kelley Moult
16 March 2022

South Africa’s government is stuck on oil and gas

The energy minister continues to sing the same old song. More concerning is the petroleum agency’s authoritarian stance despite the environmental issues being interrogated in court.

Neil Overy
15 March 2022

Pakistan’s rising feminist movement

Collective action is shaking up the male-dominated social order in the Muslim-majority nation and rewriting the narratives around gender-based violence, body politics, sexuality and consent.

Haris Zargar
15 March 2022

Modi gets a boost in India’s high-stake polls

The Indian prime minister’s Hindu nationalist party has retained power in Uttar Pradesh, signifying wide approval of its divisive politics ahead of national elections in 2024.

Haris Zargar
14 March 2022

If only all refugees were treated like Ukrainians

People fleeing wars in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen have faced racially motivated hostility in Europe, revealing Western double standards.

Sonali Kolhatkar
10 March 2022

War profiteers will kill us all unless we unite

Western media simplify the conflict in Ukraine in ways that divide us. What if instead, we chose to unite against those who profit from all wars throughout the world?

Roger Waters
7 March 2022

Godongwana keeps SA on an austerity trajectory

The latest budget again shows the government’s unwillingness to pivot, even though its failed economic policies will not lower unemployment or uplift the impoverished majority.

Duma Gqubule
4 March 2022

The JSC needs a concrete path, in writing

The new chief justice will need to reform how the Judicial Service Commission operates if it is to retain its former standing.

Mbekezeli Benjamin
3 March 2022

Mali’s historic, anti-imperialist victory

Calls for French troops to leave the country have been growing since 2020 and Mali’s transitional government has adopted an increasingly defiant posture with regards to France.

Pavan Kulkarni
28 February 2022

The unbearable lightness of being Ukraine

History has run off the groove of the ‘liberal world order’ and on to a new trajectory, propelled by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, for which all sides are responsible and deserving of blame.

Darryl Accone
25 February 2022

The real trick to Bongani Masuku’s case

The media simply repeating what the South African Jewish Board of Deputies says is misleading. The Constitutional Court judgment is something of which our country can be proud.

Steven Friedman
24 February 2022

Egyptian labour in the revolutionary struggle

The Egyptian labour movement has a long history of resistance, but the current repressive regime is coming down hard on independent trade union organising.

Hossam el-Hamalawy
21 February 2022

Can we go from cancel culture to dreaming together?

While commonly viewed as a damaging form of contemporary left-wing politics, cancel culture is a symptom of a much deeper problem: the rapid erosion of our lives by computational capitalism.

Aragorn Eloff
18 February 2022

No vision, no plan equals no jobs, no hope

Each state of the nation address is a random mishmash of projects dependent on the whims of the president and his speechwriters. South Africa deserves more. It needs an actual plan.

Duma Gqubule
17 February 2022

India’s hijab ban a form of ‘religious apartheid’

Muslim women wearing headscarves at college were denied entry to a classroom, sparking protests. The ban is another example of the country’s growing Islamophobia.

Haris Zargar
16 February 2022

The JSC has always had a sexism problem

The recent Judicial Service Commission interviews for the chief justice position have been widely slated as misogynistic – but this is nothing new for a judicial body generally hostile to women.

Tanveer Jeewa
15 February 2022

Ramaphosa’s speech excluded the outsiders once more

Nothing in the state of the nation address signified that the president and his administration know how to win back the trust of the impoverished who feel let down by them.

Steven Friedman
12 February 2022

Indecent interviews: Will the JSC self-correct?

Commissioners who threatened the reputations of judges should face sanction for ambushing and humiliating the candidates being interviewed for the position of chief justice.

Musawenkosi Cabe
11 February 2022

‘Snakes and ladders’ for women at the JSC

Mandisa Maya’s interview for the position of chief justice overflowed with patriarchal scripts and sexual innuendo that women suffer in the workplace and society.

Pumla Dineo Gqola
10 February 2022

Snowfall in the Sahara Desert

This unusual weather phenomenon may be more common historically than we think. Looking forward, climate change may lead to increased variability in rainfall along the desert’s wetter fringes.

Jasper Knight
3 February 2022

Who will be democratic SA’s sixth chief justice?

The Constitutional Court has been without a permanent head since October. The JSC is finally conducting interviews with four judicial candidates as the public watches with interest.

Musawenkosi Cabe
31 January 2022

Stark choice ahead for Enoch Godongwana

The finance minister’s maiden budget will have to tackle a generationally important question: How will the government widen South Africa’s social security net?

Dennis Webster
31 January 2022

Energy minister gets his way as usual

Intent on extending Koeberg’s life, Gwede Mantashe has silenced the project’s opposing voice. It is time to remove the National Nuclear Regulator from the minister’s control.

Neil Overy
28 January 2022

Muslim women in India singled out for online hate

An alarming surge in abuse and harassment in cyberspace by nationalist trolls has its origins in Hindutva ideology that fuses chauvinist patriarchy and misogyny.

Haris Zargar
25 January 2022

Johannesburg needn’t be Fear City

The crisis in which the city finds itself reflects the failings of capitalism, but there is an antidote to dystopian urbanism.

Christopher McMichael
25 January 2022

What fetching water costs the women of Nairobi

It is mostly women and girls who collect water for households in Kenya’s shack settlements. Along with taking time and physical effort, getting water is expensive and sometimes dangerous.

Anindita Sarkar
19 January 2022

Hindu extremists target India’s Christians

Emboldened Hindu nationalist outfits have unleashed a wave of anti-Christian violence under the pretext of forced conversions, instilling fear in India’s small Christian minority.

Haris Zargar
18 January 2022

Politicians fail, then blame the Constitution

Lindiwe Sisulu’s attack on the judiciary is misguided. Not once since 1994 has a government tested the Constitution’s capacity to enable change, but the courts have.

Steven Friedman
14 January 2022

Mass democratic politics for a sustainable society

Progressive programmes that benefit the majority could radically change our society, but only if the kleptocrats and their attacks on democratic infrastructure are stopped.

Imraan Buccus
12 January 2022

Don’t look up, look around

Don’t Look Up has been celebrated as an influential piece of environmental cinema. But what if it encourages us to actually think less about the urgency of mobilising to address climate change?

Aragorn Eloff
12 January 2022

A place of hope in a time of spiralling crisis

The eKhenana occupation in Cato Manor, Durban, is a significant site in the struggle for a South Africa that respects the humanity of all.

Nigel C Gibson
10 January 2022

Right-wing hate speech rampant in India’s elections

The elections coming up in three states will pit the BJP and its Islamophobia against those who want a more democratic India.

Vijay Prashad
10 January 2022

Tutu took love to its limits

As the confessor-in-chief of South Africa’s transition to democracy, the archbishop upheld a vision of political justice rooted in atonement and empathy, rather than action and accountability.

Carlos Amato
26 December 2021

Greenwashed imperialism is not a climate solution

Wealthy countries make a big show of addressing climate change without offering more impoverished countries the finances to switch to renewable energy. They’re not falling for it.

Prabir Purkayastha
15 December 2021

Blow up the outside world

The declining economic and social conditions in South Africa are creating the perfect breeding ground for the anti-vaccine movement to morph into extreme far-right politics.

Christopher McMichael
14 December 2021

What comes after national liberation movements?

The ANC will undoubtedly suffer the same fate as most of the parties in Africa that replaced colonial powers in government. It’s what replaces it that should exercise the Left.

Imraan Buccus
13 December 2021

What comes after national liberation movements end?

The ANC will undoubtedly suffer the same fate as most of the parties in Africa that replaced colonial powers in government. It’s what replaces it that should exercise the Left.

Imraan Buccus
13 December 2021

No wonder the people are suspicious of the state

South Africans have no reason to trust a government that has forsaken them throughout Covid-19 and seems wholly unmoved by their economic plight.

Duma Gqubule
10 December 2021

Joe Biden and the Summit for Democracy

The United States president’s new normal leans ominously toward a revival of old politics, but he shouldn’t use the summit to escalate a new Cold War.

Katrina vanden Heuvel
9 December 2021

Going back to the future of KwaZulu-Natal politics

The past is helpful in understanding the predatory and violent nature of political factionalism in the province. But it doesn’t answer the question of how to fix it.

Ryan Brunette
6 December 2021

Eskom: Textbook electricity generation failure

With the ANC at the helm, the power utility was always doomed. Right from the start, the party wanted to reap the benefits of lucrative contracts without any accountability to the public.

David Hemson
2 December 2021

Could HIV treatment be reduced to two medicines?

A big breakthrough in HIV treatment in the 1990s came when three different antiretrovirals were used together. Now, trials are showing that two might be as good as three.

Elri Voigt
1 December 2021

Courts designed for women should not gag them

Misappropriating the structures meant to help rape survivors reinforces patriarchal violence and creates a social context in which gender-based abuse is allowed to thrive.

Chriscy Blouws
1 December 2021

Coalition spectacle fails to hide a dismal truth

Despite much ado being made about the ‘shocking’ outcome of negotiations for positions in municipalities, nothing has changed for the majority without a voice.

Steven Friedman
30 November 2021

Labour in peril as just transition hits cul-de-sac

In moving to a low-carbon economy, South African workers may lose out as unions weaken and renewable energy components continue to be imported at the expense of local jobs.

Anna Majavu
25 November 2021

Directory of police crimes tells a brutal tale

With almost 50 000 cases against officers, ranging from rape to death in custody, a new database of police crimes shows apartheid’s authoritarian tactics still pervade the institution.

Christopher McMichael
25 November 2021

SA’s climate-finance deal: opportunity or trap?

While it is imperative that this new energy deal be scrutinised, it should not be on Gwede Mantashe’s or Floyd Shivambu’s dishonest terms. Critique must be rooted in the agreement’s merits al…

Alex Lenferna
22 November 2021

Mantashe should rather cease punting fossil fuels

South Africa’s energy minister has been exhorting African states to develop their oil and gas reserves while ignoring the historical realities, and future impacts, of doing so.

Neil Overy
19 November 2021

SA needs to spend its way out of fiscal trouble

The government sticking doggedly to its path of austerity is not working. If South Africa increases GDP growth, public debt will take care of itself.

Duma Gqubule
19 November 2021

Joburg’s uncertain political future

South Africa’s biggest city appears to be headed the way of a compromised coalition of the centre, or a grim right-wing bloc.

Dennis Webster
17 November 2021

Koeberg nuclear power station should be shut down

Concerns have been expressed about staff turnover at the ageing facility. Instead of extending its lifespan, renewable energy should replace it.

Neil Overy
17 November 2021

Wind and solar are no quick fix for load shedding

While punted as the silver bullet that will solve South Africa’s energy crisis in an environmentally friendly way, the truth about these renewables paints a more challenging picture.

Brian Kamanzi
12 November 2021

State shows naked contempt for cultural workers

The attack on a woman artist during a picket illustrates just how uncaring, dismissive and heavy-handed government institutions like the arts ministry have become.

Gwen Ansell
9 November 2021

Why South Africa needs a universal basic income grant

The SA government’s embrace of the household grant is a move to forestall a universal basic income grant. But this will do little for the economy and poverty alleviation.

Alex van den Heever
4 November 2021

The spectacle as substitute for real democracy

The branding and campaigns of many political parties taking part in the 2021 local government elections reveal their cynical and opportunistic view of voters.

Christopher McMichael
28 October 2021

Chile is at the dawn of a new political era

A new constitution is being written after a series of student protests rocked Chilean politics. Now, an upcoming presidential election could shift the country towards economic and social change.

Vijay Prashad
26 October 2021

Record numbers of workers are quitting and striking

Taken together with a sharp increase in union strikes, the mass resignations of individuals indicate a deep worker dissatisfaction across the United States.

Sonali Kolhatkar
19 October 2021

The DA is becoming the poster child of the Right

An examination of the language the party uses shows that it is echoing right-wing voices the world over in its insistence that those who point out its racism are, in fact, the real racists.

Steven Friedman
18 October 2021

Charting a just financial path to climate justice

It is time for progressive non-governmental organisations, community groupings and labour unions to help determine how climate finance should work.

Basani Baloyi
18 October 2021

How Facebook’s quest for profit is paved on hate

Revelations by a whistleblower prove that the world’s largest social media platform understands its negative impact on society, but chooses money over preserving democracy.

Sonali Kolhatkar
12 October 2021

JSC lets politics trump conscience and excellence

The sense that the commissioners who nominated five candidates for appointment to the Constitutional Court voted for their constituencies, rather than with their conscience, is difficult to shake o…

Niren Tolsi
11 October 2021

Too much service delivery is killing SA’s democracy

Citizens want a meaningful say in how they are governed, not local government that foists on them what it has decided the people need.

Steven Friedman
5 October 2021

Can Ramaphosa deal with the sector that ‘made’ him?

Many of SA’s environmental and economic problems stem from dependence on the minerals-energy complex. The president, being a beneficiary of this system, might not care to effect change.

Neil Overy
4 October 2021

Catalonia’s status continues to divide Spain

There is little hope for settling the age-old conflict, despite recent moves to resume talks between the Spanish and Catalan governments over the future of the region.

Alex Čizmić
28 September 2021

Australia, UK and US signed a nuclear arms deal

Though touted as a security partnership, the pact between the three nations smacks of an attempt to build pressure against China, threatening the stability of the Indo-Pacific.

Vijay Prashad
23 September 2021

Fear Inc – The prison we have lived in since 9/11

The cynical ‘War on Terror’ that started after al-Qaeda’s attacks on the US has claimed almost one million lives and eroded democracy and civil liberties throughout the world.

Christopher McMichael
21 September 2021

ANC’s norm now is that the people shall not govern

The ruling party’s top-down approach to governance, especially at municipal level, is arrogant, entitled and expresses its contempt for the needs and desires of citizens.

Ayanda Kota
21 September 2021

Rwanda’s military is France’s proxy on African soil

In July and August, Rwandan soldiers were deployed in Mozambique purportedly to fight the Islamic State. But behind this campaign is French manoeuvring that benefits an energy giant.

Vijay Prashad
20 September 2021

South Africa is really run by and for the suburbs

Green Papers are supposed to be discussion documents, but after the media’s disinformation campaign on a proposed national social security fund, no deliberation is possible.

Steven Friedman
10 September 2021

Grasping the facts can help us out of this crisis

Before we can develop alternatives and build popular power, we need a searching examination of our many complex problems, including what exactly took place during the July riots.

Imraan Buccus
10 September 2021

The money that never arrives in Cuba

The United States has cut off channels for sending remittances to the island, leaving families who rely on the help – especially during the pandemic – without desperately needed resources.

Rosa Miriam Elizalde
7 September 2021

Reorganising the economy for a better future

This conclusion to the New Frame, New Economy forum on the minerals-energy complex emphasises the urgency of climate action by involved and informed citizens and communities.

Sam Ashman
3 September 2021

A just energy transition must have all aboard

The final response in our New Frame, New Economy forum on minerals and the climate says moving to a greener future needs an active citizenry demanding consultation and inclusivity.

Lumkile Mondi
2 September 2021

The Afghan war and imperial delusions

The chaos in Afghanistan is the product of decades of intervention and failed counter-insurgency by politicians and military leaders falsely presenting themselves as benefactors.

Christopher McMichael
1 September 2021

SA’s energy future should centre on its people

This second response in our New Frame, New Economy forum on minerals and the climate argues that efforts to decarbonise the economy cannot be the preserve of green capitalists.

Brian Kamanzi
1 September 2021

To abandon coal, first understand how it is governed

In the first response in our New Frame, New Economy forum on minerals and the climate, the lack of a coherent national agenda makes plain the tug of war over a shift to cleaner energy.

Neva Makgetla
31 August 2021

SA’s climate crisis is embedded in coal and exports

The New Frame, New Economy forum on minerals and the climate looks at how South Africa exhibits an extreme form of the global crisis because of its minerals-energy complex.

Sam Ashman
30 August 2021

Undoing South Africa’s mineral-energy complex

South Africa’s bloody past was made of coal. If we are to have a future, that must change, say the contributors to the New Frame, New Economy forum on minerals and the climate.

New Frame
30 August 2021

How the Taliban chased the West out of Afghanistan

Aid flow had collapsed, half the population lives in poverty and the Taliban portrayed themselves as more efficient and less corrupt administrators.

Vijay Prashad
26 August 2021

SA faces slow economic recovery prospects

The government’s proposed stimulus packages are insufficient to deal with the challenges the country faces. It will take a dramatic shift in approach to avoid another dire decade.

Duma Gqubule
25 August 2021

We need to talk about making tertiary education free

Current mechanisms to fund those in higher education are inadequate. Critical and rapid changes are needed to provide this generation with universal, free and quality education.

Duma Gqubule
24 August 2021

Should Gwede Mantashe step down as energy minister?

At the helm of the energy department since 2018, he has focused on brokering deals that favour big business at the expense of the environment and consumers.

Alex Lenferna
24 August 2021

Mainstream media ignore the end of the world

Climate change is now irreversible, but if you follow only South African news, which reports almost exclusively on elite interests, you would never know.

Steven Friedman
23 August 2021

US bases in Africa and the future of African unity

The military presence of the United States in Africa is strategic and enduring. It ensures a fragmented continent, easily pliable to the West’s interests and a convenient site for the ‘new Cold War…

The Socialist Movement of Ghana’s Research Group
18 August 2021

The return of the Taliban 20 years later

Leaders promise a ‘peaceful transition’ in Afghanistan, but there are profound fears for the future of women and girls. It is also unclear if the Taliban will, as promised, be able to control extre…

Vijay Prashad
18 August 2021

Cyber weapons in the age of smartphones

Spyware like Pegasus is dangerous not only because it gives hackers control over an infected phone, but also because it introduces the knowledge of nation-states into the civilian sphere.

Prabir Purkayastha
5 August 2021

The dangers of street justice

Vigilante groups formed during the recent riots are testament to the state’s failure to protect its citizens. But self-defence can spiral out of control, harming people and fuelling paranoia.

Christopher McMichael
3 August 2021

The dangerous collapse of non-racialism

Transcending the colonial fabrication of race is a radical idea. Now, as opportunists whip up hatred, South Africa needs to restore this emancipatory horizon.

Imraan Buccus
30 July 2021

Neville Alexander’s warning

The ex-Robben Island prisoner and arguably South Africa’s foremost public intellectual cautioned against the spectre of violence that will arise from not resolving inequality and racism.

Enver Motala
27 July 2021

SA could eliminate poverty in three years

It would take a liveable basic income grant and a job-guarantee programme with the state and private sector behind it. But it can be done.

Duma Gqubule
23 July 2021

Now comes the task of rebuilding

As South Africans begin to comprehend the nuances of a tumultuous week, so too comes the renewed realisation that a common future can only be one that refuses to tolerate racism and chauvinism.

Monica Laganparsad
16 July 2021

Decisive action imperative in widening crisis

The state needs to bring the attacks on critical infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal to an immediate end and ensure that the people who live there have food and feel safe.

Monica Laganparsad
14 July 2021

Decisive action imperative in widening crisis

The state needs to bring the attacks on critical infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal to an immediate end and ensure that the people who live there have food and feel safe.

Monica Laganparsad
14 July 2021

The new dawn of private power

Lofty plans to boost South Africa’s energy supply are promoted by loud voices who conveniently forget that most residents are highly unlikely to gain any benefits.

Brian Kamanzi
13 July 2021

Durban food riots turn the wheel of history

South Africa’s social crisis has erupted as the people Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma deem expendable, those who bear the brunt of the past and of the social costs of Covid-19, appropriate the brea…

New Frame
12 July 2021

South Africa spared Jacob Zuma’s wrecking ball

So-called political solutions were offered, some subtle and others cynical and blatant, but the Constitutional Court’s ruling carried the day. This averted a ‘Marikana’ of South Africa’s soul.…

Niren Tolsi
9 July 2021

Fair and square is how Makana sees future politics

A new citizens’ front in Makhanda is democratising participation in governance by shunning concepts such as ‘political leaders’ who take decisions on behalf of residents and rarely keep promises.…

Anna Majavu
8 July 2021

SA needs to set a place for everyone at its table

A discussion on the structural reforms that the country needs to lift its economic growth out of the doldrums cannot be the one-sided conversation it currently is.

Steven Friedman
7 July 2021

Part two | The duties of Caribbean intellectuals

Seven overlapping categories of responsibilities are perhaps unsatisfactory, but they intimate towards a future imperfectly articulated in this reflection.

Aaron Kamugisha
7 July 2021

Neil Aggett: The reckoning

Final arguments of the reopened inquest into the 1982 death of the trade unionist provide compelling reasons for his chief interrogators to be dealt their just punishment.

Tymon Smith
6 July 2021

Part one | The duties of Caribbean intellectuals

What does it mean to live in countries in which landscape and history are shadowed by genocide, chattel slavery and indentureship? How does one reconcile beauty with poverty and violence?

Aaron Kamugisha
6 July 2021

Court reaffirms the supremacy of SA’s Constitution

In their ruling that Jacob Zuma is guilty of contempt of the Constitutional Court, the justices have honoured the letter and spirit of both the country’s founding document and their institution.

Niren Tolsi
1 July 2021

The government must help caregiving women

Carers – who are mostly Black women – are disproportionately affected by the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic and should be supported, not penalised, by the state.

Ariella Scher and Thuli Zulu
1 July 2021

Fix the real world, then imagine a new one

In the final response of our New Frame, New Economy forum on women in the economy Kgomotso Makhupola says we must not lose sight of the struggles women face in the here and now.

Kgomotso Makhupola
30 June 2021

How the state can support women who work

The third response of our New Frame, New Economy forum on women in the economy contends that women’s economic exclusion is not simply a question of jobs, it hinges on a lack of infrastructure.

Baba-Tamana Gqubule and Nokwanda Maseko
30 June 2021

Unpaid work and gender stereotypes

In the first response in our New Frame, New Economy forum on women in the economy, Daniela Casale says care and household work must be given its due recognition.

Daniela Casale
29 June 2021

South Africa needs feminist economics, now

In the second response in our New Frame, New Economy forum on women in the economy, Busi Sibeko focuses on the unpaid work women do behind the scenes and how power relations need to shift.

Busi Sibeko
29 June 2021

Foregrounding women is an economic imperative

In this week’s New Frame, New Economy forum on women in the economy, we face up to the urgent task of what it will take to rebuild an economy that works for women.

New Frame
28 June 2021

SA must put women at the centre of economic recovery

The New Frame, New Economy forum on women in the economy highlights their unequal representation in the formal and informal sectors and gendered discrepancies in pay and benefits.

Nthabiseng Moleko
28 June 2021

Why Covid-19 vaccines should be compulsory

South Africa’s Constitution guarantees everyone an unqualified right to life and the state has a duty to respect, protect, promote and advance that right.

Zackie Achmat
25 June 2021

Democracy in peril

Democracy will not survive in its current form with such extreme rates of unemployment. It will either be rolled back or deepened.

Imraan Buccus
25 June 2021

ANC uses courts to clamp down on Makhanda opposition

An interdict that basically outlaws disruptive forms of protest is a dangerous tool used to muzzle capable leaders and represses legitimate grassroots opposition to the ruling party.

Anna Majavu
22 June 2021

Kenneth Kaunda, the internationalist

The often unsung legacy of Zambia’s first president was the pivotal role he played in establishing the country as a central hub for pan-Africanist and internationalist activities.

Mikaela Nhondo Erskog
21 June 2021

Kenneth Kaunda’s mixed legacy

Despite being ousted as Zambia’s president, he was the last giant of African nationalism and a benign autocrat.

Gavin Evans
18 June 2021

Modi seeks to tame social media firms

India’s new information technology regulations, which threaten to silence dissenting voices, have put the right-wing government on a collision course with tech giants.

Haris Zargar
15 June 2021

Palestine is a laboratory for the global arms trade

Israel’s continued violent occupation of Palestine fuels war profiteering. Its arms manufacturers benefit and the country holds an established position as an authority on repressive policing.

Christopher McMichael
15 June 2021

The South African Constitution and its malcontents

Is the Constitution permissive or prohibitive of social and economic justice? It is currently in vogue to vilify the Constitution, but it is worth remembering what a constitution can and cannot do.

Ebrahim Fakir
14 June 2021

Long Read | The party as articulator

Socialist political parties should work to connect rather than direct progressive struggles and organisations.

Salar Mohandesi
10 June 2021

The economic injustice of the Tulsa Race Massacre

An underappreciated factor in the racist violence of the 1921 Tulsa massacre is how white supremacist forces decimated Black wealth.

Sonali Kolhatkar
10 June 2021

Long Read | Palestine: The challenge to union solidarity

Union statements did not lead to effective boycott of an Israeli ship, but Durban, a hub of grassroots organisations, can help forge new concrete solidarities that promise alternative visions for t…

Motingoe Lwandle and David Hemson
9 June 2021

Blinded by the glow of the ‘First World’ gaze

The government’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout plan blatantly ignores the realities of life for the majority of South Africans. Sadly, this lack of insight and sense was to be expected.

Steven Friedman
8 June 2021

Long Read | Why aren’t we talking about farmers in India?

They are fighting in a global war over the future of agriculture and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is choking the debate.

Raj Patel
2 June 2021

Displacing peasants to ‘protect’ the Amazon

The Colombian military is creating so-called empty lands, apparently to safeguard against deforestation. But corporations, not wildlife, stand to benefit as natural resources are sold off.

Justin Podur
26 May 2021

Our house was built on sand

The most recent New Frame, New Economy forum shows that expecting individuals to shoulder the responsibility for overcoming inequality is futile. An effective solution to mass impoverishment can on…

New Frame
21 May 2021

History’s economic imbalance persists in SA

In the final part of our New Frame, New Economy forum on inequality, Ayabonga Cawe says South Africa has to first reckon with its long history of economic favouritism and exclusion along racial lin…

Ayabonga Cawe
19 May 2021

No equality without redistribution

In the fourth part of our New Frame, New Economy forum on inequality, Isobel Frye points to the lack of meaningful redistribution post-1994 as a cause of South Africa’s extreme inequality.

Isobel Frye
19 May 2021

Is education the answer to inequality in SA?

In the third part of our New Frame, New Economy forum on inequality, Stephanie Allais, Yael Shalem and Adam Cooper say the ability of education to improve society is less about school constraints a…

Stephanie Allais, Yael Shalem and Adam Cooper
18 May 2021

The link between inequality and power

In the second part of our New Frame, New Economy forum on inequality, Imraan Valodia advocates for understanding how power is distributed in South Africa and how those with power think about wealth…

Imraan Valodia
18 May 2021

The human tragedy of South Africa’s inequality

Inequality remains the developmental challenge of our time. To undo it, the policies that have failed us thus far will not be enough. This is the second forum in our New Frame, New Economy project.

Murray Leibbrandt
17 May 2021

A new economy means undoing the old one

Inequality is South Africa’s most pernicious economic inheritance. The New Frame, New Economy forum on inequality shows that a properly democratic future demands we reckon with it.

New Frame
17 May 2021

Part two | Zondo’s nuclear deal revelations

In the second of this two-part series, evidence before the state capture inquiry makes it clear that South Africans will shoulder the real cost of adding nuclear generation to the energy mix.

Neil Overy
14 May 2021

Making economics and human rights intersect

The 2021 national budget slashes funding in health, education and social grants. Experts think the courts can intervene if it can be shown that budget cuts will affect socioeconomic rights.

Duma Gqubule
13 May 2021

Part one | Zondo’s nuclear deal revelations

In the first of this two-part series, evidence before the state capture inquiry shows how the multibillion-rand deal went ahead despite warnings about the exorbitant cost and danger to health.

Neil Overy
12 May 2021

US withdraws from Afghanistan? Not really

The US will remove 2 500 troops from the country teetering on the brink of civil war, but that leaves soldiers, contractors and aerial bombardment teams still on the ground.

Noam Chomsky, Vijay Prashad
11 May 2021

SA’s impoverished excluded from inequality debate

South Africa’s economic policies have been moving to the right, embracing big business and ignoring workers and jobless people. Why does no organised voice speak out against this?

Steven Friedman
10 May 2021

Italy’s futile abortion laws

Despite legislation, far-right politicians and religious organisations have entrenched ways to deny women their right to an abortion and shame those who do terminate a pregnancy.

Alex Čizmić
5 May 2021

Gods of the market

Members of the billionaire class accumulated their wealth by crushing rivals and exploiting labour. As the Covid-19 pandemic enriches them further, are we entering an era of high-tech feudalism?

Christopher McMichael
3 May 2021

The West is practicing vaccine apartheid

Intellectual rights policies and embargoes on exporting raw materials mean impoverished countries languish without access to a vaccine, while rich nations choose Big Pharma over lives.

Prabir Purkayastha
3 May 2021

The Palestinian blinkers that liberals don

Contrary to what they proclaim, they discard their belief in freedom of speech and the rule of law when it concerns either Palestinians or their supporters around the world.

Steven Friedman
29 April 2021

India no haven for Rohingya refugees

Indian authorities have cracked down on Rohingya refugees, putting them in holding centres before deporting them to Myanmar, where they face more persecution.

Haris Zargar
21 April 2021

Twin evils: DA prejudice and suburban power

The Democratic Alliance’s constant stream of racism suggests it doesn’t know it is prejudiced. Instead, it imagines – along with people in the suburbs – that white rules are ‘normal’.

Steven Friedman
16 April 2021

Uber drivers are workers, not contractors

In the second of this three-part series on workers in the e-hailing industry, a British Supreme Court ruling could be ‘highly persuasive’ in South African Uber drivers’ class action against the tec…

Musawenkosi Cabe
15 April 2021

Frelimo gambled everything on gas – and lost

Mozambique’s ruling party thought gas would secure a wealthy future, but that dream faded and finally was shattered by attacks that sent energy giant Total packing.

Joseph Hanlon
8 April 2021

Academic freedom and autonomy imperilled under Modi

The space for free intellectual expression in India is shrinking as authoritarianism rises and the government shifts from secularism to anti-democratic Hindutva politics.

Haris Zargar
7 April 2021

The hierarchy of inequality

Campaigners sense racial inequality extremely accurately but lack the same sensitivity to social and economic inequality, as is evident in the recent student protests.

Steven Friedman
31 March 2021

Can the truce between India and Pakistan last?

For the first time in 18 years, the two countries have agreed to observe a ceasefire along the disputed border in Kashmir. But observers are sceptical about lasting peace.

Haris Zargar
29 March 2021

A more complex reality in Cabo Delgado

In the Mozambican province wracked by a violent insurgency, the convenient labelling of those rising up against the predatory elite paints a picture that is far from reality.

Joseph Hanlon
24 March 2021

FW de Klerk whitewashes state-sponsored rape

The former president’s concern about gender-based violence, as expressed in a British newspaper, rings hollow in the light of the sexual violence that happened on his watch.

Gwen Ansell
12 March 2021

Eastern Cape activists want community control of towns

The failure of coalition governance in the Eastern Cape is making way for civic organisations to contest the upcoming local government elections.

Anna Majavu
9 March 2021

Long Read | Digital colonialism

American ‘Big Tech’ corporations are gaining massive profits through their control over business, labour, social media industries and entertainment in the Global South.

Michael Kwet
8 March 2021

Budget is the real deal for business and the rich

Social spending is being reduced in South Africa as a policy choice and not as a result of the weak economy and the negative effects of Covid-19.

Steven Friedman
5 March 2021

Elected representatives should abide by their voters

A vote for a party does not mean agreement for all its positions. As such, politicians should be listening to the people who elected them, not following their consciences.

Steven Friedman
4 March 2021

Society must construct an anti-xenophobic politics

South Africa needs a popular force to stop increasingly organised threats against migrants, including thuggery by so-called Umkhonto weSizwe veterans.

Imraan Buccus
2 March 2021

The pseudo-realities of power

It is imperative to discern between reality and the spurious yet compelling versions of it offered by ruling classes completely uninterested in creating a free and just society.

Christopher McMichael
2 March 2021

The nature of systematic corruption

Instead of reorganising the foundations of the country to create a democratic socialist alternative, the ANC prioritised developing a Black capitalist class and political elite.

Ayanda Kota
2 March 2021

Working class to finance Eskom’s privatisation

Eskom’s proposed new tariff structure will see working and middle-class consumers pay more for electricity than bigger consumers, while private capital benefits from basic service provision.

Brian Kamanzi
24 February 2021

Ramaphosa’s shrouded privatisation plans

In an economy bleeding quality jobs, President Cyril Ramaphosa has once again used his state of the nation address to promote neoliberal economic plans that will not benefit the working class.

Anna Majavu
23 February 2021

The politics and geopolitics of the coup in Myanmar

Protests against the coup continue in the streets, demonstrating the appetite among Myanmar’s public for a democratic process.

Vijay Prashad
12 February 2021

Getting migrants vaccinated is critical

Migrants without documents may be justifiably hesitant to get the Covid-19 vaccine and need assurance that their information will be protected and not used against them.

Jan Bornman
8 February 2021

The fallacies of freedom in Twitter’s Trump trauma

The debate about whether corporate digital media should be allowed to silence certain voices has exposed the hypocrisy of championing protections – but only for those who say what you like.

Steven Friedman
4 February 2021

SA’s hidden sanctions against political gatherings

The government’s failure to clearly stipulate the penalties for transgressing the regulations against large gatherings, which include protests, should alarm all South Africans.

Stanley Malematja
2 February 2021

Long Read | Conspiracies in far-right politics

Paranoia that the Covid-19 vaccine will be used to subjugate people is rampant. The truth, that capitalism doesn’t hide its devilry, is far simpler – and harder to swallow.

Christopher McMichael
29 January 2021

Radio New Frame | Noam Chomsky on Donald Trump

Chomsky warns that although Trump may be out of the White House, he still poses a threat to stability in the United States.

Charles Leonard
28 January 2021

ANC factionalism fuels vaccine scepticism

In Joburg’s inner city, existing political fault lines are providing fertile ground for the spread of misinformation, with vaccine scepticism taking hold.

Dennis Webster
27 January 2021