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Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/128

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Browsing Papers by Subject "Difference and diversity."

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    Is it so bad to be called a snake?
    (The Witness., 2009-04-21) Mare, Gerhard.
    Any society is as strong as the shared beliefs and values its members hold. When the social unit is a country — such as is the case when we claim democratic rights through shared citizenship — then understanding and acceptance of democratic processes and the right of all to participate in those are fundamental. “Democratic processes” refer to much more than periodic casting of votes, such as the April elections, although those moments provide a focus for examining our general commitment to social cohesion and the rights and duties that are given and demanded of all of us.
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    Making a distinction.
    (The Witness., 2009-09-23) Mare, Paul Gerhardus.
    The Penguin dictionary defines racism as, first, “the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities”; and, second, as “hostility towards or discrimination against people of a race other than one’s own”. Racialism is simply referred to as “racism”. It is, therefore, understandable (albeit regrettable) why, on publication, the term “non-racialism” was twice changed to “non-racism” in the Difference and Diversity column that appeared on August 3.
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    SA - a place for everyone?
    (The Witness., 2009-08-31) Mare, Paul Gerhardus.
    A small furore about a big issue was recently created when the ANC Youth League’s Julius Malema strongly criticised the dominance of the state’s ‘economic cluster’ by individuals drawn from ‘minorities’. It appeared that he was not alone in this concern. The individuals referred to in the ‘cluster’ were Pravin Gordhan, Ebrahim Patel, Rob Davies, Barbara Hogan and Gill Marcus. The ‘minorities’ involved, making sense only if we accept as valid apartheid’s race classification through the Population Registration Act of 1950, are then coloureds (for surely Trevor Manuel can’t escape, and has not been exempt from such categorisation in the past), whites and Indians. Of course, the general notion of ‘minority’ relies on a notion of an identifiable ‘majority’, and here Malema identified that dominant group as ‘we, black people’ and regretted the absence of ‘an African child’ as Governor of the Reserve Bank. He threatened an ‘uprising’ unless the issue was properly addressed.