Category: Discrimination
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Politics and “National Interest”
How does one define the “National Interest” for any country? (Does such a thing even exist?) And how does the “National Interest” differ from humanitarian interest? My interest was piqued a while ago by an article in the NYT about how increased regulations regarding proof of citizenship resulted in fewer…
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Zimbabwe
The situation in Zimbabwe has been deteriorating even further of late, culminating in well-documented state brutality. But the diplomatic “effort” of other countries have yet to make any impression on Mugabe’s rule. I don’t want to say too much, but will rather let the following video, put together by the…
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Statehood and Violence
The question of statehood and arbitrary boundaries has really been bothering me of late. In particular, the violence that continues to exist as a result of state boundaries arbitrarily drawn by countries in the West really makes me wonder about the sensibility of retaining many states in their current form.…
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Some Thoughts on the State of the Nation
Before you start jumping up and down, I am referring to South Africa and more specifically to Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation Address from almost ten days ago. As with many such addresses, it skirts a number of issues, but on the whole it does address the state of…
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Affirmative Action (Continued)
Thanks once again to ggw, one of my comments became a post. As I was going to point out in my response to his comment, long essays are necessary because the topic is so nebulous and wide-ranging. In South Africa issues of race are NOT going to disappear in the…
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Skills (and Affirmative Action)
Sorry about the break – my girlfriend, Kellie, was visiting for the weekend and I am also preparing for my maths comprehensive exams this week, so I haven’t had time to get back to the blog. This post was supposed to happen a few days ago, so accept my apologies.…
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That marriage thing
So it’s now official. South Africa has officially legalised gay marriage, which resulted in the first gay marriage happening earlier today. I was motivated to start writing my blog before things came to a head: at that stage, the South African Parliament hadn’t approved the Civil Unions Bill. But now…
Slow Thoughts from Dale du Preez 