Fees Must Fall: Political failure triggers ticking time bomb by Ranjeni Munusamy (Daily Maverick), 21 October 2015, South Africa
If only Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene had a “good story to tell” when he delivers the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday afternoon. If only that story was that economic growth is up, the deficit is down and government is able to allocate extra funding to universities and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. Perhaps then the genie could go back in the bottle. But there is no good story and a contagion on student protests has built towards a national shutdown of higher education institutions around the country.
Behind the University Funding Crisis by Belinda Bozzoli (Politicsweb), 19 October 2015
Belinda Bozzoli says core subsidy has consistently fallen in real terms in relation to student numbers, which have, in turn, risen dramatically
The University funding revolution is not happening
The South African government has, since 1994, rendered our Universities unsustainable as institutions of excellence and stability. By imposing a harsh, technocratic and underfunded financial regime upon them, it has all but guaranteed declining quality, and increasing dissatisfaction, some of it violent, amongst students and academic staff.
The First South African side to play in the sub-continent: Boer Prisoners of War in 1901 (Part 1 of 2) by Arunabha Sengupta (Cricket Country), 12 October 2015
The Colts from Colombo and the Boer prisoners-of-war who played a two-day match in July 1901.
Back (left to right): Phillipus Ooosthuizen (scorer – Boers), Gert Kotzé, J Coetzer, W de Fransz, Piet du Plessis, C. E. Perera, Sydney Tennant (umpire – Boers), AC Solomonsz (umpire – Colts)
Middle (left to right): Jim Ludovici, Cornelius Otto, S. P. Joseph (scorer – Colts), Alexus Smuts, Tommy Kelaart, RC Dunn, EA Joseph, AT Pollocks, J Forsyth, Tommy Hilder
Ancient DNA reveals 'into Africa' migration by Rebecca Morelle (BBC News), 8 October 2015
An ancient African genome has been sequenced for the first time.
Researchers extracted DNA from a 4,500-year-old skull that was discovered in the highlands of Ethiopia.
A comparison with genetic material from today's Africans reveals how our ancient ancestors mixed and moved around the continents.
The findings, published in the journal Science, suggests that about 3,000 years ago there was a huge wave of migration from Eurasia into Africa.
"What Fanon Said" book launch, UHURU, Rhodes University in South Africa
Joseph Stiglitz: Thomas Piketty gets income inequality wrong by Lynn Stuart Parramore (ALTERNET) , 2 January 2015
M.K.Gandhi and the Founders of African National Congress by Anil Nauriya, 3 October 2015
A critic had once remarked of an artist that a painting is not Indian or European simply on account of whether it is painted in India or in Europe. Similarly, one may say that scholarship is not scholarly simply because it is done by academics. Although academic writing ought to advance our knowledge rather than limit our understanding, some academic writing in the last few years appears clearly to be marked by a pursuit of sectarian politics by other means. A recent trend in writing on M.K.
The State of South African Political Life by Achille Mbembe, 19 September 2015
In these times of urgency, when weak and lazy minds would like us to oppose “thought” to “direct action”; and when, precisely because of this propensity for “thoughtless action”, everything is framed in the nihilistic terms of power for the sake of power – in such times what follows might mistakenly be construed as contemptuous.
And yet, as new struggles unfold, hard questions have to be asked. They have to be asked if, in an infernal cycle of repetition but no difference, one form of damaged life is not simply to be replaced by another.