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/ 3 December 2007
South Africa’s deep race, class and gender divisions can manifest in very ugly ways. One such unfortunate method is the adoption of crass nationalist and cultural frameworks to legitimise the superficial racialising of political spaces. Such destructive posturing was on display last week at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in the wake of the furore that has emerged after a series of rapes and assaults, which highlighted the precarious security situation at the university.
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/ 20 February 2006
When such deeply valued universal rights such as free speech are abused in the name of advancing some morally dubious argument such as religious figures being fair game for irreverent pursuits, one has to pause and ask exactly what is going on. Is Western-style democracy on trial here or is it the case that Muslims are just stuck in a medieval mindset?
I am a Muslim woman and an anti-war activist who vehemently opposes imperialism, neo-liberalism and occupation. Having seen the global Muslim <i>ummah</i> (community) undergo some of its darkest moments, I have come to see Islamic extremist groups as the enemies of the faith whose interests they claim to advance. Islamic extremism has come to represent an ugliness within Islam.
Is global civil society a factor at all in determining a policy around what must surely be the most crucial issue of our times: a war with the possible use of nuclear weapons, and the eventual death of millions of innocents?