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South Africa’s Racist Present
Guest Column: Sean Jacobs. What to make of the racist torture incident at a South African campus
The Guilty Pleasure of Fidel Castro
What fascinates me is the guilty pleasure with which so many political leaders around the world revere Fidel Castro — revere him, but wouldn’t dream of emulating his approach to economics or governance.
Bono’s Vanity: Showcasing Africa, or its Glamorous Patrons?
Can anyone explain Queen Rania’s presence?
It with great pleasure that I introduce guest columnist Sean Jacobs, a fellow Capetonian who these days divides his time between Brooklyn and Ann Arbor, where he is an assistant professor of Communication Studies and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He describes himself as “a frustrated [...]
Dead at the Apollo
If I had the time, I’d build James Brown a proper online shrine, with “Night Train” welcoming you and Tom Tom Club’s exquisite JB tribute song “Pleasures of Love” bidding him farewell… (”What you gonna do when you get out of jail? We’re gonna have some fun…”)
But I don’t have the time, so listen instead [...]
Hamba Kahle, Ace Ntsoelengoe
If you were a white boy in the suburbs of Cape Town during the heyday of apartheid in the early 1970s, you didn’t know any black people. Not only socially, but even as public figures. That was the whole idea: Apartheid laws meant your school was all white, your suburb was all white (and any [...]
Don’t they know it’s Kwanzaa?
Published in the Cape Times, December 1997
Only in America, as the saying goes.
Africans spending their first holiday season in New York are usually surprised to find that sharing equal billing with Christmas and Chanukah (which gets pretty much equal status to Christmas in a city which is home to the highest concentration of Jews anywhere [...]
World Cup 2006: Viva Angola!!
For the past month, my key chain has sported a cheesy plastic key ring depicting the Angolan flag, two simple red and black bars with commie-clip-art sickle-shaped piece of a cog crossed with a machete (where the hammer would be). It was my own private show of support for that country’s heroic, almost Quixotic [...]
Dakar on the Hudson
Published in the South African magazine Leadership in 1995 — so it’s very dated, but these were some of my earliest explorations of New York’s wondrous secrets
Take a close look at New York, and it will reveal itself as a city more African in character than any metropolis on the African continent–nowhere else in the [...]
Free Mandela (From the Prison of Fantasy)!
Monday was Nelson Mandela’s 87th birthday, and on these shores, I sometimes feel he’s in need of rescuing, trapped in some pretty bizarre narratives that have nothing to do with his own story or politics. Full disclosure: I freely admit that Nelson Mandela is the only politician for whom I’ve ever voted; that I celebrate [...]
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Hamas as 'Willie Horton'
By insisting that he never advocated talking to Hamas, Obama digs himself a hole -- anyone who seeks peace in the Middle East will have to talk to HamasHear! Hear!
Bush's 'Peace' Effort Imperils Peace
Daniel Levy explains why the farcical negotiations between Olmert and Abbas actually undermine the prospects for Mideast peaceFeatured Analysis
About That 'New' Middle East...
Could there be a more perfect image of the catastrophic self-inflicted rout suffered by U.S. Middle East policy under President George W. Bush? This week, the President will party with Israel's leaders celebrating their country's 60th anniversary -- and champion a phony peace process whose explici...A Skeptical Read
Beheading Barack
First, he couldn't be President because he's Muslim. Now, we're told, he can't be President because he's not Muslim enough!Shameless Cronyism
Sound Advice for the Next President
To grasp the challenge facing U.S. foreign policy, read Helena Cobban's new book Engage!A Wondering Jew
Israel is 60, Zionism is Dead, What Now?
Israel at 60 is an intractable historical fact. It has one of the world's strongest armies, without peer in the Middle East, and its 200 or so nuclear warheads give it the last word in any military showdown with any of its neighbors. Palestinian militants may be able to make life in certain parts...The 51st State
A Teachable Moment in Basra
It should come as no surprise that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's disastrous offensive against the Mahdi Army of Moqtada Sadr in Basra has had the exact opposite effect of that intended -- strengthening rather than weakening Sadr, and making clear that he, and the Iranians, have far greater in...Futures Market
Will Russia Partition Kosovo?
Why my tea-leaf reading suggests that Moscow has a nasty surprise in store for Washington in the BalkansGuest Columns
Iraq and U.S. Faith in Violence
Guest Column: Alastair Crooke warns of a dangerous fantasy that persists in Western capitals in which the West faces an "onslaught" from "radical Islam." The problem is that this intersects all too tragically with a the persistent belief in Washington and elsewhere that by applying its overwhel...Cuisine
Yummy yummy Umami
Why a leftover lamb bone turned a bean stew into an ecstatic eventGlancing Headers
Spare Us More 'Globalization & Football'
The claim that Egypt's Cup of Nations win "proves" that stronger domestic leagues make stronger international sides is not born out by football's bigger picture. In fact, the teams that do best internationally are those with weaker domestic leaguesHousekeeping
'Lost' Entries on Rootless Cosmopolitan
Previous entries that now register as "not available" are ones that got left behind in a server migration. We're working on retrieving themUnholy War
U.S. Pours Gasoline on Gaza Fires
Once upon a time, Israelis and Palestinians looked to the U.S. to intervene at moments of heightened confrontation to mediate between the two sides and contain the damage. The Bush Administration, however, has proved entirely incapable of playing this role, because its own interventions are hidebou...The Whole World's Africa
South Africa's Racist Present
Guest Column: Sean Jacobs. What to make of the racist torture incident at a South African campusAnnals of Globalization
Honey, I Shrank the Superpower
In a snide reference to Bill Clinton's 1992 promise to "build a bridge into the 21st century," Barack Obama recently quipped that what Hillary Clinton really offers is a bridge back into the 20th century. Yet, a bridge back into the last century may be what all the major candidates are offering when...Could Die Laughing
Mearsheimer, Walt and the Erudite Hysteria of David RemnickNew York Moments
The Debka Made ‘Em Do ItFrom Tony's Archive
A Playground Lesson for Bush
How a spontaneous alliance of jocks, do-gooders and lesser bullies against the biggest bully at the school changed the balance of power at Milnerton PrimaryRebellion Into Money
The Rebel Grace of Patti Smith
