In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser

In today's short audio entry on racism - as part of anti-racism week - I read from Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper.

I then use the excerpt to medidate on the importance of paying attention to how racism often teams up with other kinds of oppression all of which need to be eliminated from the world if we are serious about arriving in a truly just place.

Between now and Human Rights Day on 21st March, we are focusing on anti-racism for the week. Each day this week, on In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I will address, in a short audio entry, one or two aspects of the fight against white supremacy, the fight against anti-black racism and for racial equality. 

In this first entry of the week, I raise and answer two questions: are all white people racist? Do all white people benefit from the global history of anti-black racism?

Listen to this very short podcast entry to understand why I answer the first question in the negative, and the other in the affirmative.  

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I decided to hang out with Democratic Alliance leader and politician Mbali Ntuli. We challenged ourselves to not speak party politics, and what unfolded was a beautiful conversation about  the myriad quandaries of parenting (she is a mom to a little daughter and also currently pregnant), illness and mental health (she speaks openly about some severe existential challenges), the upsides and downsides of public life, and so much more.

Enjoy and remember to SUBSCRIBE to In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser before leaving.

I realised while digging into her archived ouput, that my friend Karima Brown, who died from covid-19 related complications exactly a year ago, was truly brilliant in many more ways than we grasp when someone is alive. 

She was an excellent journalist, broadcaster and political analyst. 

Her life's work deserves a rich and complete description of it, that can live permanently and be accessible to anyone. That is necessary to ensure that we do not commit epistemicide. The work and legacies of women generally and black women in particular are understated and often rendered invisible. 

This is a criminally short episode but a taste of a larger project. Enjoy this recollection of the work and impact of Karima Brown. 

May she continue to live in peace.

Despite being bored by the desperate hate speech case brought by Afriforum against Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, for the apparent singing of the allegedly hate speech-filled anti-apartheid chant, Kill the Boer, so many of you asked me for my opinion that I've reluctantly done so in this short episode. 

There are three lessons here for racists that Malema freely provided. I discuss them. Simply click and enjoy this latest episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser 

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I was joined by brilliant novelist Sue Nyathi & also by exuberant Vanita Daniels, a funny and brilliant social justice activist (Rise Up Against Gender Based Violence) to talk about The Wife. 

We laughed our asses off while exploring the light and shade.

SPOILER ALERT- we will ruin your viewing if you've not seen it yet. But if you have, this episode is a TREAT.

And even if you won't watch it, there are issues of general interest- from comically bad acting to the ethics of portraying gratuitous acts of violence and much more - that any curious person would enjoy engaging. So you also do NOT need to have seen the series to find this episode of value.

Dig in!

Towards the end of the state of the nation address last week, president Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to be inspiring us all to be "resilient". Wittingly or unwittingly, however, he was emotionally blackmailing you. I wrote about that on TimesLIVE in an analysis piece you can read ( https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2022-02-13-eusebius-mckaiser-did-you-notice-ramaphosa-blackmailed-you-on-thursday/?fbclid=IwAR16GGjVO6n093cOkgqGQqiMKXld7zKyC7SwTUtHTzBKjurEBWgpLeokTTg ) 

In this very short episode, however, I make the case for why my charge of blackmail is not an exaggeration, and explain how we ought to respond to being politically blackmailed by the president. 

In this latest episode of In The Ring With Eusebius McKaiser, I was joined by two excellent former journalists, Lance Claasen and Thabo Shole-Mashao, who now allegedly play in the murky worlds of public relations, communications and, who knows, reputational management (or uhm not)!

These combinations of skills and experiences made for a fascinating debate between the three of us about the political brand, and leadership strengths and weaknesses, of president Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Some of the questions (among many others) that we discussed included: why is Ramaphosa so indecisive? Is his presidency a failure? Can he yet rescue his own legacy? What explains his apparent tardiness in getting on with the business of government business? Or did we always have unrealistic expectations about his ability to overcome the inherent constraints that both the ANC and the state impose on any president ? And, what can he say in the State of the Nation Address this week to stop us all from falling into a deep coma? And by the way - has he in fact been doing better than some of us are claiming?!

Enjoy this latest episode, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, and to leave a rating and comment. 

This week ActionSA will reveal that former Democratic Alliance leader Athol Trollip will be joining the party founded by fellow former DA leader Herman Mashaba. I can confirm that this is the news which the party has been
coy and playful about on social media, ahead of a press conference on Wednesday 9th February.

In this episode of In The Ring With Eusebius, I take a close look at the implications of this development. Will this move strengthen the new party? How might it impact the party's prospects come 2024? What, too, of differences between Trollip, Mashaba and other leaders like former Midvaal Mayor Bongani Baloyi who recently joined ActionSA also? And, crucially, what challenges must Action SA be aware of and address if it truly wants to play a serious role in dislodging the electoral hold of the governing African National Congress?

I explore all of these issues in this latest instalment of In The Ring. [Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, and kindly also rate us, and leave a comment.]

 Joanne Joseph has written a brilliant work of historical fiction, Children of Sugarcane, and so I invited her back to In The Ring for a book interview. I simply had to engage the thematic range of this very exciting new book that everyone should buy and read.

In this novel, we journey with an indentured labourer, Shanti, and through her arrival in Port Natal, and the stories that unfold, we get a close account of the myriad ways in which the violence of Empire impacted the lives of those oppressed by the British. 

The deceptively easy style and accessibility of this novel belies important complexities beneath the racy plot. From an examination of the sheer physical violence meted out by overseers subjugating and violating 'subjects', to a more subtle feminist critique of gender relations within the Indian community, to complex meditation  on the very idea of 'home', and much more in between across law, politics and society, this book will no doubt travel well across place and time, and find audiences everywhere. 

It was a joy to engage Joanne by stepping back from the detail of the plot, and having a conversation located inside the major themes that inspire  the novelist to produce this very important work. 

Enjoy