South Africa

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The historic proceedings against Israel on charges of genocide were almost completely ignored by the U.S. media, in what can only be described as censorship by neglect. The blackout on this crucial event smells of racism. What could be less important to a white nationalist establishment than an African country’s […]

Featured

Genocide Denialism and the South African Complaint: USG Spokesmen like Kirby are the Goebbels of the 21st Century

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden Administration continues to run a scam on the US public and the world by running interference for the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The smarmy and duplicitous spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, responded to the South African complaint against Israel to the International […]

Featured

South Africa Charges Israel with Genocide at Int’l Court of Justice, as Global South charges West with Hypocrisy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – South African society has had extensive experience with racial Apartheid (segregation and humiliation) and with genocide, which is defined in international law this way: “Genocide is the intentional a physical destruction of a social group in its entirety, or the intentional annihilation of such a significant part of the group […]

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South Africa downgrades Israeli Embassy over Ongoing Apartheid (and they should know)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Middle East Eye reports that the South African parliament has voted to downgrade the Israeli embassy in Pretoria to liaison status. The resolution was introduced by the tiny center-left National Freedom Party, which has only two seats in parliament. Its passage was assured, however, when the African National Congress […]

Coal

In Victory against Coal, South African Court rules that clean Air is a Constitutional Right

The Conversation

By Rebecca Garland, University of Pretoria | – A court in South Africa has confirmed the constitutional right of the country’s citizens to an environment that isn’t harmful to their health. This includes the right to clean air, as exposure to air pollution affects human health. Air pollution also affects land and water systems, and […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Tutu, de Klerk, and Mandela would end Israeli Apartheid

Jeff Warner

( Mondoweiss) – What does the end of South African apartheid tell us about how Israeli apartheid can end? That sanctions on Israel are required, and that a civil society mass movement is the only way to get there. By Jeff Warner | – With the December 26, 2021, death of Bishop Desmond Tutu, six […]

Christianity

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: father of South Africa’s ‘Rainbow Nation’

The Conversation

By P. Pratap Kumar | – Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu has died at the age of 90. Archbishop Tutu earned the respect and love of millions of South Africans and the world. He carved out a permanent place in their hearts and minds, becoming known affectionately as “The Arch”. When South Africans woke up […]

Featured

Desmond Tutu, the Nonviolent Foe of Two Apartheids – South Africa and Israel-Palestine

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ofeiba Quist-Arcton reports at NPR that Desmond Tutu has died in Cape Town, South Africa. He was 90. Tutu was an amazingly courageous voice against the white nationalist Apartheid system in South Africa, which segregated Blacks and deprived them of a good education and economic opportunities, and which attempted to […]

Authoritarianism

South Africa ‘Ungovernable’ after a former President was Jailed; Do Trump and Trumpism pose a similar danger to U.S.?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – After former South African President Jacob Zuma went to jail over corruption and contempt of court charges last week, his followers began a concerted attempt to disrupt the country. His lieutenants had threatened to make the country ungovernable if he was sent to jail, according to the BBC. Zuma refused […]