Latest news with #politicalphilosophy
Mail & Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mail & Guardian
The garden that eats Frantz Fanon
Consuming passion: Nolan Oswald Dennis's installation garden for Fanon, in which earthworms turn a book by 20th-century political philosopher Frantz Fanon into soil. Photos: Anthea Pokroy Ferreirasdorp, in the Joburg inner city, is not for the faint hearted, but approaching Nolan Oswald Dennis's studio, the chaos peeled away. The security guard offered a subtle smile as he swung the gate open, gesturing towards the central block. As I entered the large sunlit space, eyes flickered up from slick screens, which, like the walls, were neatly scattered with works in progress or works that might have been. Dennis led me into a separate studio with even more stillness and even more light, where I had to lean in just to catch his words with my well-worn ears. Nolan Oswald Dennis began his career as a student of architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand but grew critical of its narrow focus on fixed structures. 'I became an artist through working with other people,' he says, finding the art world offered 'more space to think and to work in meaningful ways'. Puncturing the art space were makers such as Rangoato Hlasane of Keleketla! Library and Jamal Nxedlana of CUSS Group. 'There was a sense of urgency,' he says as he recalls Johannesburg's interdisciplinary hive between 2010 and 2016. Dennis's trajectory was shaped by his 2012–13 collaboration Social Landscape Project: Transition and Show Us Our Land with Molemo Moiloa at Market Photo Workshop. In 2015, he co-founded the creative agency NTU with Bogosi Sekhukhuni and Tabita Rezaire and, early on, Dennis began to learn about the art world's flawed value systems. He recalls Sekhukhuni's words, 'He said, 'These people don't understand how important what I'm doing is.' And I couldn't understand at first — he didn't say 'good' or 'impressive', he said 'important'.' In 2016, Dennis had a solo exhibition at Goodman Gallery, which earned him the FNB Art Prize. After studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US from 2018 to 2020, he returned to Joburg. By then, his work was internationally renowned, appearing in major biennales, including Berlin, Dakar, Liverpool and Shanghai, plus the Front International Cleveland Triennial in the US. Now represented by Goodman, he's also exhibited at the Swiss Institute (New York) and Gasworks (London), won the 2023 Sesc_Videobrasil Jury Prize and had a monograph published with Zeitz MOCAA and Koenig. I returned to the question of importance, asking Dennis about what mattered during those early 'Joburg hustle days', compared to now, when he is ostensibly the golden boy of the art world. I mention the recent FNB Art Prize ceremony, where Thato Toeba was crowned artist of the year and Dennis's name was dropped in multiple speeches. 'Importance on its own terms is not necessarily the measure because, sometimes, being important or valued in institutional spaces can mean you're useful to them, which isn't necessarily where you want to find your value.' Herein lies my fascination with this artist's radical unravelling of what's important. Dennis's garden for fanon, first shown in conditions (2021) at Goodman Gallery, animates the very notion of importance. Glass globes are filled with soil and earthworms that slowly consume Franz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth, transforming its pages into nutrient-rich earth. The installation balances scientific precision with organic chaos as shifting light bathes the piece in a ritual glow — an unlikely alchemy that breathes and grows. While it began in 2021, which marked 60 years since The Wretched of the Earth was written, Dennis's garden for fanon has been exhibited numerous times, now part of the Re:Fuse-Ability exhibition at University of Johannesburg's FADA Gallery, until 6 September. Dennis admits the limitations, noting how his own relationship with Fanon was far from academic. While he acknowledges the show as 'a place where people can meet with the work', he critiques how institutions 'tend to prioritise objects', when 'it should be about engagement, not just display'. According to him, the institutional treatment of Fanon is 'so analytical, so academic', while his own intervention asks: 'Where's the earth in this text?' His piece clocks the gap between academic and organic knowledge systems as he insists, 'I learned Fanon through other people. For me, it was never about the text itself, it was about what the text does. 'The first time I encountered Fanon was in a collection of books my grandmother gave me. I had to ask people, talk to people to understand the book. It was never just about sitting with the text.' Conditions: Award-winning South African artist Nolan Oswald Dennis. Photo: Jesse Barnes I resist collapsing too neatly into Dennis's critique of the art world, an institution that, for better or worse, has held space for us both. Instead, I follow what he calls a 'game of meaning', where play and precision hold equal weight. His work dances between legibility and refusal, spectacle and sincerity. 'The art world thrives on making people conventional, legible,' he warns, 'but for me, everything, to some extent, arrives with humour.' Beneath the wit is intention: 'two material languages'— clinical glass and homely clay — never reconciled, always in tension. Dennis recalls familiar critiques: 'Why is your work so white? Why is it so cold? Why are you trying to be a scientist?' These reveal discomfort with hybridity. He admits, 'It's a colonial form, that laboratory aesthetic … These questions are a bit cringe but I get where they're coming from.' When he brings in 'African' aesthetics, some see tradition or tourism, others ritual or spirituality. For Dennis, these aren't fixed but overlapping 'libraries' of meaning. He embraces this friction as generative: 'That tension is a hypothesis … I'm interested in those intersections.' Dennis' invocation of Fanon is neither nostalgic nor critical: 'We want to love Fanon by resisting all the shit done to his legacy.' I press him about exactly how he resists and he answers, 'Taking seriously the things that I love … and trying to align my work with those things.' I probed further, asking specifically about love, a question that appeared to produce a degree of reciprocal pleasure. His current literary love, a sci-fi series by Jeff VanderMeer, starting with Annihilation (2014), now followed by Absolution (2025), the fourth book in the 'trilogy'. As our chat came to its natural end, we lingered on love, geeking out about having been brought up in KwaZulu-Natal. 'It's crazy, so much weird stuff comes out of that space,' he says with a hearty grin. We bonded over our somewhat predictable predilection towards the gqom genre, and with a balmic chuckle, he accurately professed, 'It's good stuff.' Just before he was whisked away, I pried out one last tidbit: Lately, he's been interested in rocks, recently touring the UJ Mining Simulation, haunted by its humidity, heat and hammering. Hold onto your helmets.
New York Times
18-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
How Empathy Became a Threat
There's an arresting quotation that resurfaces online now and again, usually accompanied by a photograph of a dark-haired woman with an intense gaze: 'The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs that a culture is about to fall into barbarism.' It's followed by the name of the woman in the picture: the political philosopher Hannah Arendt, who fled the barbarism of Nazi Germany. Only there's no record of Arendt ever saying that, or anything like it. The bogus quotation is the kind of artifact that flourishes on the internet in bewildering times — plausible-sounding and politically ominous. It happens to dovetail with a liberal argument that has flourished in the age of Trump: That the MAGA movement is actively promoting callousness and cruelty. Trump's critics say supporting examples aren't hard to come by: the gutting of lifesaving aid to the poor and the sick, the violent crackdown on immigrants, the gleefully sadistic memes. The implication is that one side is committed to empathy while the other side is not. This would sound like a bit of self-serving liberal propaganda if it weren't for the fact that a number of prominent figures on the right seem to agree. In February, when Elon Musk went on Joe Rogan's podcast, Musk derided Democrats for succumbing to 'suicidal empathy.' Caring about others, the men agreed, had gotten so out of control that it was becoming self-destructive. 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,' Musk said. 'They're exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.' Musk likes to refer to other humans as 'NPCs,' or 'non-player characters.' Such contempt for fellow feeling seems to be gaining ground. The Times Opinion columnist David French has noted how empathy for others — seemingly inextricable from loving thy neighbor as thyself — has come under direct attack by some right-wing Christians. Last year, the Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey published 'Toxic Empathy,' which hit the best-seller list; more recently, the pastor Joe Rigney published 'The Sin of Empathy.' Both books depict calls for empathy as the work of manipulative progressives trying to inveigle Christians into supporting progressive policies. But progressives, it turns out, have had their own critiques of empathy over the years. After the 2016 election, Democrats debated how much empathy they should extend to the new president's supporters. A steady stream of media stories parsed feelings of 'economic anxiety' among the white working class. Journalists listening intently to Trump voters in small-town diners became part of what the literary critic Jennifer Wilson called the Empathy Industrial Complex. (McSweeney's parodied the genre with the headline 'I Traveled to a Diner in Trump Country to Write Another Article on Whether the President's Supporters Still Want to, Quote, 'Smash My Libtard Face In.'') Some critics on the left argued that empathy was perfectly suited to a bland centrist complacency: a fixation on feelings with little action to show for it. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Zawya
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
Chinese Ambassador Zhao Weiping Donates Books to the National Library of Namibia
On June 4th, Ambassador Zhao Weiping, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Namibia, donated a batch of books to the National Library of Namibia, including The Governance of China, Up and Out of Poverty and The Road to Ecological Civilization Construction in China. The Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture of Namibia held a handover ceremony for the donation. Mr. Erastus Haitengela, Executive Director of the Ministry, thanked the Embassy for the contribution and noted that these books enriched the collection of the National Library and will be welcomed by the Namibian readers. In his remarks, Ambassador Zhao said he hopes and believes that these books will help the general public with deeper understanding of China's political philosophy, government policies and rich culture. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Namibia.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nigel Farage is clearly unfit to govern Britain
For a party which, rightly in my opinion, calls out the failures of multiculturalism, Reform UK should have had a view on the burqa. Whether that garb represents a rejection of British culture and the repression of women, or whether it is simply a matter of personal choice, Reform should have had a settled position on it. It did not. Sarah Pochin, one of its MPs, is seemingly against it and Zia Yusuf, its now erstwhile chairman, is not. The party's failure to have a line on a subject, raised no less by Pochin at PMQs, is symptomatic of a greater problem within Reform. It has no settled political philosophy. This is evident from manifold self-contradictory statements made by Farage himself. He is on the record saying he is not concerned about the rate of demographic change in the country, though he is worried about the cultural damage being done to our country. They are two sides of the same coin. On that same point, he would be prepared to consider a return of Shamima Begum to the country. He is against illegal migration but has no intention of deporting all illegal migrants. He claims to stand up for the United Kingdom but readily accepts that Northern Ireland will inevitably be united with Ireland. He recognises the urgent need to cut government spending and reverse the culture of dependency, but would remove the cap on benefits for more than two children. His lack of a coherent philosophy is also evident in the people he has recruited into the party. Nick Candy, his treasurer, is a Blairite. He offered to put forward Charlie Mullins, an avowed Remainer, as a candidate. Even Pochin, a former Tory, had previously welcomed Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers. He has recruited councillors and members from all parts of the political spectrum – from Labour and Tory to the Liberal Democrats. There is no heart and soul in Reform. It is merely a campaigning vehicle for Farage to capitalise on the discontent with Labour and the Tories. It is a protest party. The events of the last few days also reveal, yet again, Reform lacks discipline. How is it that an MP would ask a question in Parliament which would so offend the chairman? And why did the chairman then feel able to publicly denounce her as 'dumb'? Farage is Reform and Reform is Farage. He likes it that way. He has seemingly failed to establish a proper party structure and constitution. I campaigned hard last year for the party's democratisation. I did so in part so that it would have in-built checks and balances. With due processes established, there would have been no way for an MP to go off-piste in Parliament or for the chairman to then make a fool of himself. If Reform intends to be the antidote to the nation's woes, Farage needs to honestly reflect on recent events. He must realise the party needs a coherent political philosophy and policies which flow from this. He must establish foundations for the party which allow it to function and grow as a proper organisation. Reform is doing extremely well in the polls. If sustained, this could propel it into office. The party therefore has an obligation to take itself seriously and do the heavy lifting required to form a successful government. The sort for which we all so yearn. Farage is a brilliant and cunning campaigner. But he proves, time and again, that he is not fit to create a government or lead it. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Nigel Farage is clearly unfit to govern Britain
For a party which, rightly in my opinion, calls out the failures of multiculturalism, Reform UK should have had a view on the burqa. Whether that garb represents a rejection of British culture and the repression of women, or whether it is simply a matter of personal choice, Reform should have had a settled position on it. It did not. Sarah Pochin, one of its MPs, is seemingly against it and Zia Yusuf, its now erstwhile chairman, is not. The party's failure to have a line on a subject, raised no less by Pochin at PMQs, is symptomatic of a greater problem within Reform. It has no settled political philosophy. This is evident from manifold self-contradictory statements made by Farage himself. He is on the record saying he is not concerned about the rate of demographic change in the country, though he is worried about the cultural damage being done to our country. They are two sides of the same coin. On that same point, he would be prepared to consider a return of Shamima Begum to the country. He is against illegal migration but has no intention of deporting all illegal migrants. He claims to stand up for the United Kingdom but readily accepts that Northern Ireland will inevitably be united with Ireland. He recognises the urgent need to cut government spending and reverse the culture of dependency, but would remove the cap on benefits for more than two children. His lack of a coherent philosophy is also evident in the people he has recruited into the party. Nick Candy, his treasurer, is a Blairite. He offered to put forward Charlie Mullins, an avowed Remainer, as a candidate. Even Pochin, a former Tory, had previously welcomed Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers. He has recruited councillors and members from all parts of the political spectrum – from Labour and Tory to the Liberal Democrats. There is no heart and soul in Reform. It is merely a campaigning vehicle for Farage to capitalise on the discontent with Labour and the Tories. It is a protest party. The events of the last few days also reveal, yet again, Reform lacks discipline. How is it that an MP would ask a question in Parliament which would so offend the chairman? And why did the chairman then feel able to publicly denounce her as 'dumb'? Farage is Reform and Reform is Farage. He likes it that way. He has seemingly failed to establish a proper party structure and constitution. I campaigned hard last year for the party's democratisation. I did so in part so that it would have in-built checks and balances. With due processes established, there would have been no way for an MP to go off-piste in Parliament or for the chairman to then make a fool of himself. If Reform intends to be the antidote to the nation's woes, Farage needs to honestly reflect on recent events. He must realise the party needs a coherent political philosophy and policies which flow from this. He must establish foundations for the party which allow it to function and grow as a proper organisation. Reform is doing extremely well in the polls. If sustained, this could propel it into office. The party therefore has an obligation to take itself seriously and do the heavy lifting required to form a successful government. The sort for which we all so yearn. Farage is a brilliant and cunning campaigner. But he proves, time and again, that he is not fit to create a government or lead it.
