Category Archives: Gender and sexuality
Raymond Suttner, Mandela:strong, tough and tender
There is a myth that to be strong and manly one cannot also be tender and gentle. Mandela, in a range of ways dispels any such myth. Thereby his life is a challenge to tough and violent masculinities, that are all too prevalent in South Africa today. For Mandela there were times where he found it necessary to fight, both as a boxer and in MK, times where he had to show his strength as in prison. But this photograph with a baby is only one of a range of manifestations of his tenderness.
South African Communist Party defends statements on dress of Lindiwe Mazibuko, DA parliamentary leader and attacks critics
ANC comments reflect lack of internalisation of principles of gender equality
Nomboniso Gasa on women’s bodies as battlegrounds, in context of ANC MPs referring to DA parliamentary leader as overweight and improperly dressed
ANC comments on weight and dress sense of Lindiwe Mazibuko, DA parliamentary leader
Judicial process undermines Bradley Manning’s potential defence and exposure of his torture
Athambile Masola, Masculinity under siege
Media coverage of Bradley Manning trial
Diplomacy supporting homophobia (2010)
Attack on sexuality rights, by Raymond Suttner, 2010
Why is this election different from all previous ones:early evaluation of Zuma era
Apartheid distortions of customary laws rob women of land rights
Nomboniso Gasa: Millions will lose their citizenship
Loyiso Gola, Late Nite news on Lulu Xingwana
Nomboniso Gasa on ENCA on rape and murder of Anene Booysen
Nomboniso Gasa on ENCA on death of initiates in Mpumalanga
Raymond Suttner, Chris Hani legacy is contested
The legacy of Chris Hani is obviously contested. Underneath many of the tributes referring to his selfless and revolutionary qualities there is on the one hand an attempt to legitimate the decadent, looting leaders of today. They have the resources to be present and in the forefront of a range of events to commemorate Hani’s life, as they will be later this month when OR Tambo is remembered.
On the other hand, those who are being robbed, evoke the memory of Hani as an alternative to what they see and know and even what they do not know but have come to expect will happen with their resources and the dreams they cherish for improvement of their lives.
No matter how many layers of red some of the leaders may wear, or the number of times they use revolutionary phrases or call others counter-revolutionary, they will not be able to stand in for Hani. He used to listen carefully to people. His speeches were not rhetorical displays, but responses to what he heard. That is what the people who loved him now miss.
Raymond Suttner, Remembering Chris Hani
I have hesitated to write about Chris Hani, partly because I did not know Comrade Chris all that well, meeting him for the first time in 1990. But I want to convey a few things that I learnt. The first is that Chris cared about people and this one hears from all the MK soldiers, that he was concerned about every one of them, spending evenings with them, remembering their names even after fleeting meetings. Continue reading
Abuse of woman by security guards in Limpopo and prevalent violent culture
We are in a country that is in denial in the sense that there is not recognition of the scale of the crisis of violence, predominantly violent masculinities, manifested in schools, shops, in the streets, by the police and also by the public in various situations. Continue reading
Raymond Suttner 