<b>Lisa Johnston</b> reviews Kleinboer’s <i>Midnight Missionary</i>.
Was Jesus “the greatest socialist in history”, as Venezuelan President Hugo Chàvez recently claimed? That depends on what one means by “socialism”. And there are huge difficulties in trying to force the 1st-century Jew, Yeshua ha Nosri, into a 21st-century political mould. Universal suffrage and human rights were undreamt-of in his age.
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”Zimbabwe won the toss and will field,” announced Ramiz Raja. A day later, Michael Holding: ”Ireland won the toss and decided to bowl”. Even the broadcast feed: ”Australia won the toss and chose to bat,” an on-screen flash told viewers. Whatever happened to ”so and so won the toss and elected to bat/bowl” — that pompous idiocy so beloved of cricket commentators?
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/ 18 December 2006
I made a bad mistake recently: I tried to engage a right-wing evangelical Christian in rational debate about homosexuality. For the umpteenth time, Mrs Eleanor Wright-Payne (obviously not her real name) had written a ranting letter to the Mail & Guardian about South Africa’s ”sewer of depravity”, writes Drew Forrest.
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/ 30 November 2005
”What is one to make of the extraordinary fuss over Guardian writer Emma Brockes’s interview with Noam Chomsky? Why should readers so desperately defend the honour of a famous man who lives thousands of miles away, has no immediate relevance to South Africa, and has the wit, means and standing to defend himself,” writes the Mail & Guardian‘s Drew Forrest.
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/ 24 November 2005
On June 14 1985, just six weeks after the death of the <i>Rand Daily Mail</i>, the first edition of the <i>Weekly Mail</i> rolled off the presses.
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/ 28 October 2005
”President Thabo Mbeki has never understood the mass participatory culture that arose in the townships in the 1980s and still survives — particularly in the labour movement. Indeed, he has read it as a challenge to his authority and tried to stamp on it. He is paying the price now, as his rival, Jacob Zuma, cashes in on widespread disillusionment with his autocratic political style,” writes Drew Forrest.
To hear many South African Zionists, one would think there can be no good grounds, or unsullied motives, for impugning the state of Israel. All criticism apparently boils down to ignorance or worse, anti-Semitic prejudice. The Mail & Guardian, which makes no bones about its hearty dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government, has been repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism in recent years.
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/ 28 October 2004
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”American singer-songwriter Randy Newman’s Political Science offers a clue to that most baffling of enigmas: How can a murderous clown like George W Bush seriously contend for re-election as president of the United States, the world’s richest and most technically advanced nation? After four years of failure on every front?” Drew Forrest analyses the psychology of the hard-core Republican vote.
Just how relevant is the Township Residential Property Markets (TRPM) survey — released last week amid fanfare — to the mass of poor township residents? The survey found the secondary property market in townships was "dysfunctional", with only 8% of houses subject to a secondary transaction over five years.