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☆ Jacob Zuma has made a dramatic comeback in South Africa’s elections. Will he have the last laugh over Ramaphosa?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Sarah Dean | David Mckenzie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Johannesburg, South Africa CNN —South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) party faces a mammoth challenge as it needs to form a government with its political rivals after suffering a seismic blow in last week’s election. However, both parties believe in the primacy of South Africa’s constitution and both have promised to crack down on corruption. If the ANC decides to pursue coalition talks with MK, then Zuma will want Ramaphosa out, solidifying his revenge. However, if South Africa’s president maintains his grip on the ANC, a coalition with MK is unlikely. South Africa’s business community and middle class are broadly nervous about an EFF–ANC coalition and its effect on investor confidence.

Persons: Mahlengi, Motsiri, Jacob Zuma, Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa –, –, ”, Tessa Dooms, ” Dooms, Ramaphosa, Gupta, Ramaphosa’s, Fikile Mbalula, “, John Steenhuisen, Steenhuisen, TK Pooe, Paul Mashatile, Zuma “ unapologetically, Melanie Verwoerd, Verwoerd, Julius Malema, Malema, Floyd Shivambu, Mandela, Klerk, Thabo Mbeki Organizations: South Africa CNN, National Congress, ANC, South, MK, who’ve, CNN, Sunday, Democratic Alliance, White South, DA, EFF, Fighters, Wits School, Governance, Empowerment, ANC’s, National Health Insurance, Freedom Party, IFP, Reserve Bank, Finance, GNU, FW Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa, Africa, Zulu

☆ Can South Africa’s Opposition Parties Break Through?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Papi Mazibuko, a 50-year-old library assistant, decided it was time to switch teams and vote for the Democratic Alliance, the leading opposition party in the national elections in South Africa on Wednesday. The neighboring municipality, run by the Democratic Alliance, had a good record of delivering basic utilities. South Africa’s opposition has long failed to inspire voters, political analysts say. will fall below 50 percent of the national vote. A record 51 opposition parties on the national ballot are trying to sell South Africans on the idea that the country would be better off without the A.N.C.

Persons: Papi Mazibuko, Mazibuko, John Steenhuisen, ”, Andile Organizations: Democratic Alliance, African National Congress, Fighters Locations: South Africa, Evaton, Johannesburg

☆ South Africa election 2024: Polls open in what could be most closely contested election since the end of apartheid
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Sarah Dean | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Johannesburg, South Africa CNN —Millions of South Africans are voting in what is expected to be the most pivotal general election since the end of apartheid. While polling can be challenging in South Africa, most analysts believe that the ANC faces its stiffest challenge yet with a population deeply frustrated by the country’s direction. SOUTH AFRICA GENERAL ELECTION 101 South Africa uses a “proportional representation” system. South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, according to the World Bank. This is the seventh general election South Africa has held since the end of white minority rule 30 years ago.

Persons: Nelson Mandela, Cyril Ramaphosa, ” Ramaphosa, Anders Pettersson, Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto, Zuma, “, ”, John Steenhuisen Organizations: South Africa CNN, National Congress, ANC, SOUTH, Independent Electoral, South, World Bank . Citizens, Workers, African National Congress, Fighters, Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party, Democratic Alliance, Party Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa, SOUTH AFRICA, Africa, Alexandra Township, Benoni

☆ South Africa has failed its Black majority. Nelson Mandela’s political heirs may pay the price
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

When South Africans vote Wednesday, an unhappy combination of rampant corruption, soaring joblessness, crippling power cuts and feeble economic growth will likely be top of mind. Black South Africans, who make up 81% of the population, are at the sharp end of this dire situation. ‘Elite enrichment’Under apartheid — and colonial rule before that — Black South Africans were violently oppressed and denied many basic human rights. Millions of South Africans still live in such informal settlements. “The poster child of this is the electricity sector.”For much of last year, South Africans were without power for at least some portion of the day.

Persons: ”, Nelson Mandela’s, —, Cyril Ramaphosa, Leon Sadiki, BEE, Moeletsi Mbeki, Thabo Mbeki, White, “, Tshediso Matona, Anders Pettersson, Black, …, Kganki Matabane, Matthew Parks, Matona, Mbeki, Ricardo Hausmann, Jacob Zuma, Haroon Bhorat, Michele Spatari, ” Bhorat, hasn’t, ANC “, Zuma, Ramaphosa, Cas Coovadia, Hausmann Organizations: Johannesburg CNN, National Congress, ANC, World Bank, Oxford Economics, Harvard University, Democratic Alliance, Bloomberg, Getty, South African Institute of International Affairs, Wits University, CNN, ”, BBEE, Black Business Council, South African Trade Unions, Harvard’s, University of Cape, South Africa’s Free, International Monetary Fund, Fitch, IMF, JPMorgan, Shell, Unilever, Business, Business Unity, Harvard Growth Locations: London, Johannesburg, Sudan, Africa, Alexandra, South Africa, Leon, Isipingo, KwaZulu, Natal, South, ”, University of Cape Town, loadshedding, Namahadi, Frankfort, Business Unity South Africa

☆ South Africa elections: A guide and everything you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Sarah Dean | David Mckenzie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Johannesburg, South Africa CNN —South Africans go to the polls on May 29 for what will likely be the most pivotal general election since the end of apartheid. This is the seventh general election South Africa has held since the end of white minority rule 30 years ago. South Africa general election 101 • South Africa uses a “proportional representation” system. This year South Africa received its lowest score on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. Democratic Alliance (DA) party leader Johan Steenhuisen speaks to supporters during a party event on May 9, 2024, in Soweto, South Africa.

Persons: Nelson Mandela, Cyril Ramaphosa, Jacob Zuma, What’s, Ramaphosa –, –, “, Ramaphosa, ”, John Steenhuisen, Johan Steenhuisen, Anders Pettersson, Zuma, Julius Malema, Malema, Floyd Shivambu, Steenhuisen Organizations: South Africa CNN, National Congress, ANC, Independent Electoral, •, “, Democratic Alliance, White South, Party Charter, uMkhonto weSizwe Party, Economic, Fighters, EFF, MK, Finance, Constitutional, Social Research Foundation Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa, Africa, China, Cuba, Soweto

☆ How evangelical leader Jim Wallis uses the Bible to expose the ‘False White Gospel’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Some may already be tired of the debate over White Christian nationalism, whose followers blend sexism, racism and hostility to non-White immigrants in a quest to create a White Christian America. But Wallis has been warning people about the dangers of White Christian nationalist beliefs long before the term became popular. You write that White Christian nationalism is not new, and that it’s a form of heresy. This [White Christian nationalism] is an old idea from the Doctrine of Discovery, which says that this country was for people who were White Americans. Tom Brenner/ReutersWhat’s the difference between patriotism — believing that the US is an exceptional country — and White Christian nationalism?

Persons: Jim Wallis, Marx, Wallis, ” Wallis, “, Obama, White, ” Wallis ’, Jesus, You’ve, Donald Trump, Tom Brenner, Pete Seeger’s, It’s, Trump, that’s, it’s, don’t, they’re, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Adolf Hitler, Michael Gonzalez, haven’t, Let’s, I’ve, Martin Luther, King didn’t, he’s, King, Michael Nigro, Mark Twain, Hitler, —, didn’t, you’ll, John Blake, ” Organizations: CNN, ”, White, Christian America, New York Times, Macmillan “, MAGA, Faith, Justice, Georgetown University, Commission, White Americans, Reuters, Pastors, Candler, Emory University’s Candler, of Theology, Cornerstone, Justice Department Locations: Vietnam, Detroit, America, Washington, Circleville , Ohio, Atlanta , Georgia, German, Germany, Quemado , Texas, Southern, That’s, Pittsburgh, Blacks, White, Hungary, Turkey, Black

☆ The ‘outside agitator’ narrative has a long history
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Harmeet Kaur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

In these instances, and others, authorities have not offered many specifics about who the “outside agitators” are, how significant their numbers are or how they differentiated outsiders from university-affiliated protesters. “It seems to me that the ‘outside agitator’ claim is one to shift the focus away from the grievances of the students and their protest.”The emphasis on “outside agitators,” Morris says, detracts from the central issue that is driving students to protest: Israel’s war in Gaza. ‘Outside agitator’ trope has a long historyYou don’t have to look far back in history to find examples of the “outside agitator” narrative. “We want to say as clearly as possible - we welcome ‘outside agitators’ to our struggle against the ruthless genocide of Palestinians.”Still, the use of the term is more complicated than it seems. As pro-Israel politicians have amplified concerns around antisemitism, some supporters of students’ right to free expression have suggested “outside agitators” are undermining otherwise peaceful protests.

Persons: ”, Eric Adams, Kaz Daughtry, Gregory Fenves, Aldon Morris, Morris, aren’t, ” Morris, ’, detracts, Donald Trump, Trump, George Floyd, Jose Lusi Magana, —, Kathleen Fitzgerald, White, ” Fitzgerald, Bruce Solomon, Solomon, Martin Luther King Jr, “, Emory, Ayanna Pressley, Hank Johnson, Netanyahu, ” Alex Slitz, ” What’s Organizations: CNN, New York Police Department, Columbia University, New York University, New York City, NYPD, Fox, Emory University, University, Emory, Northwestern University, Associated, AP, White House, Washington D.C, Getty, Parkland, Civil Rights Movement, University of North, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ”, Atlanta, Spelman College, Yale University, Chapel Hill, University of Texas Locations: Gaza, New York, York, ”, Washington, AFP, Oklahoma, Ferguson , Missouri, University of North Carolina, Mississippi, Brooklyn, Jackson, Miss, Birmingham, United States, Israel, Atlanta, Georgia, Columbia, Austin

Has South Africa Truly Defeated Apartheid? U.S.A., 2020 – 63% U.K., 2019 – 62% 60% 49% 40% 20% 1994 2004 2014 2019 Sources: Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, "The South African non-voter: An analysis"; Konrad Adenaur Stiftung, 2020 (South Africa); Pew Research (United States and U.K.)On a continent where coups, autocrats and flawed elections have become common, South Africa is a widely admired exception. −4% −6% Sources: Harvard Growth Lab analysis of World Economic Outlook (South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa) and World Development Indicators (upper-middle-income countries). 50% unemployment rate 40% Black unemployment rate 30% The unemployment gap between Black and white South Africans remains wide. In 2022, about 6 percent of South Africans aged 18 to 29 were enrolled in higher education, according to Statistics South Africa.

Persons: Nelson Mandela, they’ve, Collette Schulz, Konrad Adenaur Stiftung, —, Walter Sisulu, Joao Silva, New York Times Jack Martins, ”, Mandela’s, Wandile Sihlobo, Johann Kirsten, Sihlobo, Kirsten, haven’t, Zinhle Nene, Peter Mokoena, “, Mokoena, Nokuthula Mabe, Mabe, Jacob Zuma, Chrispin Phiri, Cyril Ramaphosa, Israel, Sibusiso Zikode, Zikode, Mr Organizations: African National Congress, Pew Research, Human Sciences Research, World Bank, Black South, Charter, New York Times, University of Cape Town’s Liberty Institute of Strategic Marketing, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Economic Empowerment, South, Harvard, Economic, Government, Black, Mr, Stellenbosch University . White, Statistics, Security, JOHANNESBURG Jobs, JOHANNESBURG Sandton Downtown, West University, Education, Statistics South, General Household Survey, of, Stellenbosch University, Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services, Institute for Security Studies, International Court of Justice Locations: Africa, South Africa, Black, States, Soweto, Kliptown, Johannesburg, South, Saharan Africa, Carletonville, JOHANNESBURG, Downtown Soweto, JOHANNESBURG Sandton, JOHANNESBURG Sandton Downtown Soweto, North, Mahikeng, Botswana, Statistics South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, African, Germany, Russia, India, China, Ethiopia, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, New York Times South Africa, Gaza, Durban, South Africa’s

☆ Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Asks, and Answers, a Crucial Question in Her Latest Album - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Tressie Mcmillan Cottom | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Beyoncé released a genre-bending country album, “Cowboy Carter,” last week. In outlaw country tradition, “Cowboy Carter” settles scores with haters and with history. It was for the white Southern voters Nixon needed to win over amid massive resistance to Black enfranchisement. Embracing country music is a loyalty test for conservative politicians and right-wing pundits whose career ambitions align with white identity politics. Beyoncé singing country music in this political climate was always going to cause a stir.

Persons: Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter, ”, Cowboy Carter ”, —, Richard Nixon, Nixon Organizations: Southern, Today’s Republican Party Locations: growled, Nashville, Texas

That sort of approach resonated in conservative strongholds like Alabama long before Trump. Alabama Democrats, especially, cite deep historical roots involving racism, class and urban-rural divides when explaining Wallace, Trump and the decades between them. Moderate to progressive “national Democrats” were concentrated in north Alabama, Baxley explained, while reactionary “states-rights Dixiecrats” cohered in south Alabama. Wallace won four Deep South states as an independent in 1968. Wallace won his fourth term as governor in 1982 after disavowing segregation and winning over enough Black voters.

Persons: George Wallace, Wallace, Donald Trump, Trump, “ Alabamians, ”, Terry Lathan, ” Trump, Barack Obama, Brent Buchanan, Wayne Flynt, “, Lathan, Ron DeSantis, Reagan, Trump's, ” Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Baxley, Baxley, Lincoln ”, ” Baxley, Franklin Roosevelt’s, “ Wallace, Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Flynt, Alabama “, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Wallace’s, Jimmy Carter, Carter, Alabama's, Democratic pollster Zac McCrary, Hillary Clinton’s, Joe Biden’s, ” McCrary, Sen, Richard Shelby's, Shelby, Newt Gingrich, Dan Carter, Jeff Sessions, Trump’s, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Tommy Tuberville, Katie Britt, dealmaker, Britt, Buchanan, Republican pollster, Donald Trump’s, Kim Chandler Organizations: ATLANTA, — Republican, University of Alabama, Civil Rights Movement, Republicans, Party of Lincoln, Party of Trump, Trump, America, GOP, Alabama Republicans, Democratic, Alabama Democrats, “ Party, Democrats ”, Politics, National Democrats, Franklin Roosevelt’s New, Civil, Act, Republican, Reconstruction, Klux Klan, Birmingham's, Baptist Church, Washington, Democrat, “, Democrats, U.S, Senate, Sessions, Alabama, Alabama Legislature, Southern Democrats, Capitol, Shelby, Associated Press Locations: Tuscaloosa, Washington, Alabama, lockstep, Florida, Southern, U.S, Texas, New York, Trump, Jan, Montgomery , Alabama

☆ What Bama Rush Reveals About the South - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Tressie Mcmillan Cottom | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Sorority rush is a tradition at many colleges. But in the South, rush inspires the same passionate zeal as collegiate football. Thanks to TikTok, the University of Alabama’s incarnation of that tradition — peak neo-antebellum white Southern culture on display — is now a global phenomenon. Since it entered the zeitgeist in 2021, millions of people have followed Bama Rush, as if they’re royal watching through Mason-jar-tinted glasses. When a small phalanx of white coeds in Tuscaloosa self-organizes under the Bama Rush banner to promote their sorority, they are battling for ritual supremacy.

Persons: Bama Rush, ’ Organizations: University of Alabama’s, Bama Locations: Mason, Tuscaloosa

☆ Rodriguez, Singer Whose Career Was Resurrected, Dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Neil Genzlinger | More About Neil Genzlinger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Australia was one place where his music had found an audience, and in 1979 he was invited to tour there. He returned in 1981 for a few shows with the band Midnight Oil and released a live album in Australia. He seemed to have no idea how popular he was there, especially among white South Africans uncomfortable with apartheid and the country’s rigidly conservative culture. He joined forces with Craig Bartholomew-Strydom, a journalist who was also searching for Rodriguez, and eventually they found the singer, still living in Detroit. A 1998 tour of South Africa followed, with Rodriguez playing six sold-out shows at 5,000-seat arenas.

Persons: —, ” Stephen Segerman, you’d, Simon, Garfunkel, Rodriguez, ”, Segerman, Craig Bartholomew, Strydom Organizations: Oil, Cape Town, Beatles, Sunday Telegraph Locations: Detroit, Australia, South Africa, Britain

☆ Banyana Banyana: How South Africa emerged from apartheid to shine on the world stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Alasdair Howorth | For Cnn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The team is now making its second appearance at the Women’s World Cup, but 30 years ago, the “Banyana Banyana” was playing its first ever match as a nation emerging from apartheid. Fans have got behind the women's team which has grown from strength to strength. Progress still neededIn 2018, with former captain Ellis now coaching, Banyana Banyana reached the final of WAFCON, only losing to serial winner Nigeria on penalties. That appearance in the final also qualified the team for its first ever World Cup appearance in 2019 in France. Banyana Banyana can now focus fully on the FIFA Women’s World Cup, knowing that their immediate concerns have been addressed.”South African players celebrate after taking the lead in their Women's World Cup Group G soccer match against Sweden, though the Banyana Bayana ultimately lost 2-1.

Persons: ”, –, “, Dara Carroll, Phill Magakoe, Fran Hilton, Smith, White, Alet Pretorius, Desiree Ellis –, Nelson Mandela, Terry Paine, Paine, Ellis, Desiree Ellis, Anesh Debiky, Ellis wasn’t, weren’t, Hilton, Carroll, we’ve, ” Carroll, Banyana Banyana, SAFPU, Culture Zizi, Bayana, Andrew Cornaga Organizations: CNN, South Africa women’s, soccer, Africa, of Nations, South Africa’s, CNN Sport, South, Getty, Springboks, Swaziland, South African Women Association, of African Football, CAF, FIFA, interprovincial, Soweto Ladies Football Club, Hilton, Southampton, Wits University, Sports , Arts, Culture, Sweden, Wellington Regional Locations: South Africa, Morocco, White, Swaziland, Johannesburg, AFP, “, South Africa’s, England, Cape Town, Nigeria, France, Botswana, SAFA, South, New Zealand, Sweden

☆ Opinion | Senators Have Perfected the Art of Obstruction
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

By contrast, Mr. Tuberville’s petulant demonstration has been going for more than four months. He announced his blockade in mid-February, holding up at least 150 pending promotions for generals and admirals. Individual senators gain the power to effectively block nominations by dragging out old and tedious Senate rules of procedure that are in desperate need of an update. Usually, the Senate majority leader brings up batches of routine military promotions and gets unanimous consent to approve them. But lately they are being taken to new heights by the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.

Persons: Tuberville’s, “, ”, Jack Reed, Vance, Mr, Trump, Brian Fallon, Chuck Schumer, MAGA Organizations: Pentagon, Marine Corps, Democrat, Armed Services Committee, Department, Senate, Republican Party Locations: Rhode Island

☆ Where Were the Gatekeepers?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Monday, I was having a conversation with Pavithra Suryanarayan, a political scientist at the London School of Economics, about what fuels far-right populism, when she suddenly stopped, midsentence, and gasped. She had just seen a news alert, she told me: the TV host Tucker Carlson had been fired from Fox News. The moment was an object lesson in the bigger point that she hammered home in our conversation: that to understand the rise of far-right populist politicians around the world, we need to think about institutions that did not check them. Much of Suryanaryan’s work has focused on the reasons that expanding democratic rights often produces a political backlash from groups that fear losing their status and privileges in a more equal society. (Such as the response of White Southerners in the United States during the Civil Rights era, for instance, and members of the Brahmin caste in India after the government instituted affirmative action in the 1990s.)

Cassie Gibson was teaching a unit on slavery last spring to her sixth-grade U.S. history class in Polk County, Fla., when she noticed a paragraph in a textbook that gave her pause. The passage struck her as potentially violating a 2022 law signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis —which he dubbed “Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act”—that prohibits, among other things, teaching that people should feel guilt over past actions by members of their racial group. She said she worried what her students might say about the passage at home and how their parents might react.

But the perceived spectacle means that not only will Murdaugh be on display — so will the county seat of Walterboro, population 5,460. “We didn’t want this, but it’s happening, and it’s here,” Scott Grooms, Walterboro’s director of tourism and downtown development, said last week. A portrait of Randolph "Buster" Murdaugh Jr., Alex Murdaugh's late grandfather, was removed from the Colleton County Courthouse ahead of Alex Murdaugh's trial. From left, Paul, Margaret and Alex Murdaugh. While he didn’t know Alex Murdaugh personally, he said few with longstanding ties in the area had not been touched by the Murdaughs’ orbit in one way or another.

☆ The not-quite-redemption of South Africa's infamous ultra-marathon cheats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Ryan Brown | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +35 min

"A runner can always recognize another runner," Eugene tells me. Ryan Brown for insiderIn those days, they didn't run for South Africa, but for QwaQwa – one of ten "homelands" established for Black South Africans. Tiny, non-contiguous territories – supposedly, the original territory of different Black South African ethnic groups – dotted across the country. It didn't turn out like that, but it didn't turn out like that for most Black South Africans either. As I sat speaking to Sergio, South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was fighting for his political life after revelations that wads of cash, potentially ill-gotten, had been stolen from inside his sofa.

☆ 'Kindred' review: Hulu adapts Octavia E. Butler's novel into another time-travel tale that takes its sweet time
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —After starting out well, “Kindred” gets lost in a maze of its own making, adapting Octavia E. Butler’s time-traveling novel into an eight-part Hulu series that spends far too much time spinning its wheels. The series does begin promisingly enough, as Dana (Mallori Johnson) moves into a new house in Los Angeles and begins to experience a series of eerie visions. Mallori Johnson (left) in the Hulu series "Kindred." Brace yourself, in other words, for a lengthier commitment to glean greater insight into how all of this works. “Kindred” premieres December 13 on Hulu.

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