People and Power

As the professor stood before his first-year class at the end of his lecture on the fascinating question, "Did God really say?", he suddenly found himself unable to speak.

This module in a new and innovative core curriculum for undergraduates at the University of the Free State was designed to challenge deep beliefs about authority and (any) scripture in fundamentalist societies.

Written by Jonathan Jansen

This is by far the best book written and published in 2011, and I would be very surprised if it did not win the Alan Paton award for non-fiction in 2012.

It is a story that challenges the dominant narrative of the anti-apartheid struggle - that of evil white against good black, of the wicked apartheid system against noble warriors, of clear-cut perpetrators against defenceless victims.

Written by Jonathan Jansen

It all started as a civil discussion on my Facebook page.

The student posed a question about a problem on campus, and I answered him as gently as possible, careful not to overplay the professorial hand. He followed up with another question. I asked for clarity, probing his assumptions. All of this in an effort to raise the level of the dialogue I was beginning to enjoy with this bright young mind.

A top human rights activist has been arrested in Zimbabwe, in what Amnesty International deplored as an attempt to silence government critics.

Abel Chikomo, director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with failing to properly register his organisation, police said.

Written by Jonathan Jansen

I have sat in audiences where I have listened to and interacted with Edward Said, Jurgen Habermas, Oprah Winfrey, Nelson Mandela and a half-dozen Nobel Laureates in the sciences.

But never before have I heard a speech with the intelligence, insight and compassion of a Down's Syndrome girl who came to my office three days ago. This is what she said:

Written by Gladys Terichow

It was a reunion of friends when Sibusiso Ndzimandze, a peace educator from Swaziland, stayed in the home of Gord and Lynne Ball during a recent 10-day visit to Ontario.

Around the kitchen table in Oakville, a city west of Toronto, the Balls reflected on their experiences as participants in a learning team from their congregation that visited southern Africa. During this trip in 2009, they met Ndzimandze, whom they now count a friend.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has never shied away from speaking out against the inequalities, intolerance and human rights abuses he witnessed under apartheid. But he has been equally outspoken about the problems of post-apartheid South Africa.

 When a young woman left East London in a township taxi a year ago with R100 in her pocket and big dreams of seeing if ubuntu was alive and well in South Africa, most people thought she was mad.

“They all thought I had a few ‘skruse’ loose,” Sonja Kruse told the Dispatch yesterday.

Written by Cobus van Wyngaard

The joke goes:

A few weeks ago I was playing golf with Barry at Kleinmond. For once I hit a great approach shot on the 3rd hole which landed on the green not far from the cup. I was elated! But then a teenage baboon suddenly ran across the fairway onto the green and stole my ball. I chased after him with a swinging club until he eventually dropped it some distance away. The question was: where did I have to play the next shot? Could I lift up the ball and place it back on the green, or did I have to play it where the baboon dropped it?