Raymond Suttner
The ANC’s new political education programme: a contextual examination – Part two
27th November 2024 The ANC political education module is launched in a completely new situation. In the current moment, with a crisis in the ANC (as indicated in... →
The ANC’s new political education programme: a contextual examination - Part one
26th November 2024 With some fanfare, the ANC announced the launch of a foundation course on political education which all members, including the leadership, have to... →
Creation of the GNU did not resolve the multi-faceted broader crises facing South Africa
28th October 2024 While writing a previous series evaluating the Government of National Unity (GNU) after 100 days, I said more than once that the GNU was... →
Assessing and engaging with the GNU after 100 days: prospect for democratic resurgence – Part Three
16th October 2024 The previous part of this series argued that the depoliticised nature of the GNU does not mean that those committed to a resurgence of democracy... →
Assessing and engaging with the GNU after 100 days: prospect for democratic resurgence – Part Two
15th October 2024 In part one of this series, it was argued that the GNU appears depoliticised insofar as it focuses on doing its tasks efficiently. It does not... →
Assessing and engaging with the GNU after 100 days: the prospect for democratic resurgence – Part One
14th October 2024 The public standing of the Government of National Unity (GNU) does not appear to depend thus far on political statements or actions, but mainly on... →
Tribute to Pravin Gordhan: Part two – Pravin Gordhan, the fight for clean government and his “arrogance”
17th September 2024 The allegations of arrogance raised against Pravin Gordhan (PG) relate to his relationship with the State Owned enterprises that had to a large... →
Tribute to Pravin Gordhan: Part one – Pravin Gordhan took on the pain of the oppressed as his own
16th September 2024 This article is a contribution to the understanding of Pravin Gordhan. It also attempts, albeit in a limited way, to locate him in the context of... →
Evaluating the achievements and problems since the establishment of the GNU – Part Two
4th September 2024 The reason why it was possible to create the Government of National Unity (GNU) and why it has an element of stability is that the two major... →
Evaluating what is new, positive and negative about the GNU – Part One
3rd September 2024 Can the new South Africa be reborn? By this I do not mean some romantic notion whereby we return to all that was good in 1994, minus Madiba. I mean... →
It is unclear whether the National Dialogue will be either national or a dialogue – Part 4
26th August 2024 The word national must be interrogated. Will the national dialogue be truly national and what does that mean? And will it be a genuine dialogue and... →
GNU to national dialogue and beyond – Part 3
22nd August 2024 If the national dialogue is happening, there is no clear process nor indication of the categories of participants I mentioned previously that the... →
From Government of National Unity to National Dialogue and beyond – Part two
19th August 2024 This article represents a continuation of one published two months ago. At the time I saw the Government of National Unity (GNU) as an attempt to... →
How and why I plan to support the GNU – Part one
24th June 2024 Watching developments in the Government of National Unity (GNU) over the recent period, I remain hopeful that its being set up will represent a new... →
ANC in minority: trying to understand the path(s) ahead
10th June 2024 The South African public may be somewhat bewildered by the results of the general election. This despite many having wanted, and polls predicting,... →
Elections 2024 - prospects for the future
4th June 2024 South Africa has just completed its general election, the first in 30 years where the ANC has failed to secure a majority of the votes. Before the... →
Israeli genocide continues - with international mainly non-governmental resistance
27th May 2024 In the aftermath of Israel's latest legal defeat at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week after an application by South Africa, many... →
For democracy to be meaningful, representative government and popular power need to coexist
21st May 2024 In the previous article, I argued that the ANC had transitioned from being a liberation movement to become a conventional Western political party,... →
ANC collapse relates to breaking from its liberation movement character
13th May 2024 For some time, many people have been preoccupied with the fate of popular struggle, popular agency and popular activities in South African... →
Genocidal war on Gaza, its support base, impact on democracy and levels of opposition (Part 4 of series on the Israeli war on the Palestinians)
22nd April 2024 The war waged in Gaza is not between Israel and Hamas (who initiated the current conflict by piercing Israeli defences and killing and taking many... →
Attempts to bring Israel within the norms of legality (Part 3)
3rd April 2024 Some of the states engaged with the Palestinian question have joined South Africa at the ICJ (like Brazil) or brought their own litigation against... →
Israel’s lawless attacks cannot continue if we want international peace (Part 2 of series on Israel’s war against the Palestinians)
2nd April 2024 I appeal once again that access to humanitarian aid be ensured to Gaza, and call once more for the prompt release of the hostages seized on 7... →
Lawless states and the ‘failure’ of international law – Israel’s war on the Palestinian people
18th March 2024 The misapprehension that ‘might is right’ in international relations was the case in the time of 19th century colonial conquest when territories... →
Voting and other action needed to recover our democracy – Part Two
15th January 2024 There is no ready-made pathway that will easily empower citizens and other residents to better their lives in accordance with the Constitution and... →
Crisis of Electoralism: Do you have a civic duty to vote in South Africa today? – Part One
9th January 2024 With elections this year, and most polls predicting the ANC may for the first time since 1994 lose its status as the majority party nationally,... →
Xenophobic attacks repudiate freedom. They must be stopped!
27th November 2023 The bodies may not have even been recovered from the Albert Street fire before Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshaveni issued a statement... →
New forms of hope and collectivity for universal emancipation in South Africa (Collective and social hope – Part two)
21st November 2023 Where do we look for a new form of collectivity for universal emancipation in South Africa? If it’s necessary to build a new collective in place of... →
Response to general crisis: Social hope and collective action for change in South Africa – Part one
20th November 2023 When we talk about hope in a political context, one is referring to hope for change that will be transformative, not merely in our individual... →
Rugby World Cup. A one-time aspirant rugby Springbok reflects on the significance of the victory – Part Two
7th November 2023 When I got to university, one of the highlights of the year was the InterVarsity rugby match between UCT and Stellenbosch. By that time, I was... →
Rugby World Cup: A one-time aspirant rugby Springbok reflects on the significance of the victory – Part one
6th November 2023 “The events of the past six weeks are an incredible tribute to the transformation of a symbol that once represented raw Afrikaner nationalism and... →
Demoralisation, passivity and hope – Part Two
31st October 2023 “… It’s important to emphasise that hope is only a beginning; it’s not a substitute for action, only a basis for it. ‘Not everything that is faced... →
Crisis, despair and harnessing hope – Part One
30th October 2023 We are living in a time when every second analyst or academic or forecaster advances a plan as to how we can extricate ourselves from the present... →
South African crisis: despair, hope and the prophetic – Part Two
17th October 2023 What does one do to improve our conditions? When one reads about the notion of hope, some of it is in dense theoretical books (as in Ernst Bloch’s... →
South African crisis: Addressing despair, hope and the prophetic – Part one
16th October 2023 The atmosphere in South Africa in October 2023 is one of pervasive despair, a sense of depression and disillusionment, that things are bad and will... →
The continuing crisis: can we find a way forward?
2nd October 2023 “To the oppressed, and to those who suffer with them and fight at their side”- Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Penguin, 1996, dedication).... →
Stephen Marais’ memoir raises questions and choices beyond the Struggle
27th September 2023 The true confessions of an unrehabilitated terrorist. Anecdotes and Antidotes by Stephen Johannes Marais The genre of prison literature is now... →
The contribution of the UDF and People’s Power to our understanding of freedom – Part Four
4th September 2023 Conditions underpinning successful Popular Power activities and provoking abuses/collapse When one considers the UDF period, we obviously want to... →
The contribution of the UDF and People’s Power to our understanding of freedom – Part three
22nd August 2023 The UDF as both an agent of the ANC as well as autonomous actor This is Part three in a series. Read Part one and two. →
The contribution of the UDF and People’s Power to our understanding of freedom – Part two
21st August 2023 The current commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the UDF is foregrounding certain elements of the experience of the UDF and underplaying or... →
The contribution of the UDF and People’s Power to our understandings of freedom – Part one
7th August 2023 When one looks at the statements made in commemorating 40 years since the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) one does not generally get... →
Being a revolutionary or pursuing an emancipatory path in the “15 wasted years” – Series final part 7
3rd July 2023 This series was conceived as an attempt to ask what it means to be a revolutionary in South Africa, starting around 1960 with the banning of the... →
