Fillon, Erdoğan, Trump and the Rise of the Far Right: Is the Left in a Shambles?
The world has over the last century predominantly been characterised by an ever growing cosmopolitanism. In great cities such as Istanbul and Alexandria, communities with very distinct identities were rubbing shoulders and interacting every day. So in Alexandria for example, throughout the 19th to the early 20th Century, communities of Greeks, Syrians, Italians, French, British, Armenians, Turks and Arabs co-existed and intermingled, and they were considered Egyptians. Christians, Muslims and Jews intermingled. They had a multiplicity of newspapers and produced novels, plays and films in multiple languages. The mosaic of diverse cultures was overlain by social networks that criss-crossed many…
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Tackling HIV and AIDS
The Free State Province is hard at work as part of the preparations towards hosting the commemorative events of the annual World Aids Day, 1 December. This year, the commemorative events will be held in Welkom, Zuka Baloyi Stadium. We have as a Department ensured since 2009 that there is a rotation of hosting the World Aids Day events in the different districts of the province. This is aimed at ensuring that each citizen of the province is able to interact with the heightened activism of the fight against the scourge of HIV and Aids. We are satisfied that the…
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Domestic violence – Time for action
Every now and then campaigns to end domestic violence are often received with cynicism and dismissed as a waste of both energy and money. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign – an international crusade running every year between November 25 and December 10 – and many other such initiatives are often seen as little more than unhelpful gender talk shows. At worst they are regarded as mere excuses especially by non-governmental organisations to justify their existence and donor funded budgets. It is really sad that the noble efforts to foster civility in society can be viewed that…
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