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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All posts tagged under »racism«
Satire, race and ‘Afrikaners’
I once maintained that it would be impossible to write and produce a good satirical show in today’s South Africa. Now I am sure I was right: even before any writing is complete, reality will make the subject matter redundant. Mind you, this week’s Amerikan refugee saga took matters to an even more ludicrous level […]
The psuedo science that poisons society
April 2, 2025
(First published by News24, South Africa) Pseudo-science, advancing racist, gender and ageist discrimination is a major problem that continues to be widely promoted on digital media. And one important area where it has a malign influence is on parental attitudes and on government policies, especially regarding children and education. Yet if we wish to build […]
Race & the colour of money
July 28, 2019
Populist demagogues tend to emerge during times of economic and social crises. They use the age-old method of divide and rule to prey on the fears and insecurities of the working class battered by a system of exploitation that the demagogues fundamentally support. But at the root of the problems faced by the global majority is not race, religion, language or ethnicity: it is capitalism where the colour of money is all that matters.
The reality of white privilege in SA
May 13, 2018
There were hostile reactions from several quarters in South Africa following Democratic Party leader Mmusi Maimane's statement that white privilege still persists. But the statement was logical and an honest reflection of reality. The reactions tended to reveal a worrying level of blinkered arrogance.
Wages & the need for financial disclosure
May 13, 2018
It is not in the interests of either employers or employees to have profitable enterprises collapse. Which is why exemption clauses exist in cases of legislated minimum wages. But for such a system to operate honestly, requires full financial disclosure by employers.
Why so many SA rugby fans support the NZ All Blacks
October 10, 2017
There is a long an sometimes bitter history behind the fact that so many South African rugby fans — especially in the Eastern and Western Cape — support New Zealand's All Blacks against South Africa's Springbok team. And that support seems likely to ontinue.
Behind South Africa’s racist frenzy
January 13, 2016
A bitterly fought election campaign is already underway in South Africa, even before the announced date of the 2016 local government poll. And racism, land and traditional law have become the major areas of contention.
A tangled web of race classification
October 30, 2011
South Africa’s 2011 census, bar the tallying, the number crunching and a few follow-ups, is over. And there were remarkably few difficulties encountered although, being South Africa, the question of race was once again raised — and it highlighted some peculiarly South African problems.
Terry Bell Writes 
May 14, 2025
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