South Africa’s rising authoritarian leaders hide behind the rhetoric of ‘the people’
While the party talks up the land question it is repressing popular struggles for land.
The intersection of racial capitalism and the growing crisis of the postcolony have resulted
in a society that is not viable for millions
Now, as in the past, the liberal Enlightenment is no guarantee for liberty, equality and fraternity
Moves towards authoritarian nationalism in SA must be checked.
And the confusion this can cause presents real and urgent dangers to the SA body politic.
Dystopian novels can only give us a hint of what Trump’s ‘whitelash’ might mean
Nationalism built on chauvinism enables elites to incite social hostility and acquire ‘gangster’ capital.
The primary structures and ideologies of domination are deeply entrenched at all levels.
Liberalism is not the paragon of virtue it is held up to be. As its authority wanes we need to unshackle reason from its strictures.