22 MAY 2018 · In this episode, I attempt to discuss the fundamental importance of free speech, a concept pertaining to both an individual’s essential right to express themselves and the benefit society can derive from protecting an unfettered exchange of ideas. To aid in the explication process, I quote from a number of figures. For instance, Sam Harris has said that free speech is the best means to correct human stupidity, describing it as the master value that makes all the other ones possible. Flemming Rose, the former cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that stoked worldwide controversy when it published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006, stresses the importance of tolerance, intrinsically tied to free expression. Those who want to suppress speech in the name of religion, or culture, or political ideology, are being intolerant, which is the antithesis of the pluralism central to liberal democracy. Brendan O’Neill argues that offence has been in many crucial respects the “engine of progress,” as many ideas down the ages that were deemed offensive are now commonplace and seen as essential to civilised society. I go on to note that absolutist systems of thought, whether in the religious or political realm, are merely differences in degree, not kind, as all claim to have found the one true answer for all people for all time. Not coincidentally, totalitarian ideologies of all stripes also share a deep and abiding antipathy to free speech, another term for independent thought. Voltaire’s advice to “surround yourself with those in search of truth, and run from those who have already found it,” is most appropriate in this regard. I recount the incident in 2016 when Flemming Rose was disinvited from delivering the TB Davie Memorial Lecture at the University of Cape Town, incidentally on the topic of free speech, due to the febrile environment on campus at the time. Administrators feared that his talk would offend certain communities, hence he was barred from talking and the lecture was cancelled that year. This episode perfectly distils the grotesquely intolerant nature of the Fees Must Fall movement, which I cannot avoid discussing in this context. I trace the intrinsic connection between this toxic movement’s racism, violence, destructive vandalism, and hateful rhetoric, and its absolutist ideology, which is completely at odds with liberal values of tolerance, rationality, and the free expression. I remind listeners that protecting unpopular views today is essential if their own views are going to be protected in the future when the government and/or societal norms might have changed. [Note: I recorded this podcast while in France last year, which is briefly mentioned at one point. I also described Steve Bannon as Trump’s chief advisor, which he was at the time, but has since been fired. This is the second episode of the Rutherford Report that I took the trouble of editing, so the listening experience should hopefully be superior, and, perhaps most importantly, the running time is only around 9:40, so there’s really no excuse not to listen.]

14 MAY 2018 · The three year prison sentence, with one year suspended, handed down to Vicki Momberg in late March for a racist rant vividly encapsulates the outright ridiculousness and sheer derangement of life in contemporary South Africa. Not only is this farcical conviction for racism, technically under the highly elastic concept of “crimen injuria,” a complete waste of state resources, which would be far better directed at apprehending rapists and murderers, but has grave implications for free speech. Furthermore, there is a stark and worrying double standard at play in this politically motivated prosecution as some prominent black politicians have made overtly genocidal threats against whites, repeatedly in the case of racist fascist EFF leader Julius Malema, yet no action has been taken against them. I go on to make an unequivocal defence of fundamental free speech rights, the cornerstone value, or master key, that makes all the others possible, and is indispensable for enabling a society to continually conduct a conversation among its members as to the best way to organise social life. Lastly, I consider the best arguments in favour of jailing someone for racist speech acts, but dispatch these quite comfortably.

28 APR 2017 · In this episode I discuss the first round of the French elections that took place this past Sunday, 23rd April, which saw the neoliberal Emmanuel Macron and the neofascist Marine Le Pen advance to the May 7th run-off. After noting that the results are certainly a departure from the dominant party political norm in France since World War II, Macron's likely victory next month actually represents a surprising degree of continuity with the agenda pursued by the widely loathed incumbent, Francois Hollande. Even more dispiriting is the continued success of "Third Way" politicians, such as Obama and Bill Clinton, who project a purported socially liberal veneer while advancing a right-wing agenda of austerity and war. In this election, however, there was a clear alternative to both that bankrupt ideology and Le Pen's right-wing nationalism and xenophobia. His name is Jean-Luc Mélenchon, an impassioned and unapologetically left-wing candidate who put forward a slew of bold policies to dramatically transform French society, focusing particularly on decentralising presidential power and promoting ecological sustainability. While he finished a respectable fourth, with a considerably higher percentage than anyone predicted only a few weeks ago, in light of his program Mélenchon should have done far better. I argue that the reason he did not progress to the next stage is rooted in a larger contemporary sociopolitical malaise that does not only afflict France, but seems to mark many developed nations. In my opinion, what we see repeatedly manifested in electoral contests in country after country is the death of engaged citizenship, replaced instead by a shallow consumerist mindset that chooses candidates much the same way one selects toothpaste or televisions. The largest failure of all, though, is that of the imagination. At a time of profound social, economic, and ecological crises, we need radical ideas more than ever, yet so few people seem to even want to discuss major transformative proposals, let alone lend them significant support at the ballot box. As so often happens due to the strictures of a fifteen minute temporal allotment, I was not able to fully elaborate upon these ideas, so might soon complete a follow-up podcast.

3 APR 2017 · In this episode of The Rutherford Report, really a continuation of the previous one, I describe and analyse Zuma's latest manoeuvre, namely the axing of respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan along with four other cabinet ministers. This "reshuffle", a ludicrously euphemistic term considering the potential ramifications, is the most extensive by any president since 1996, and has been equated to the infamous "Night of the Long Knives." After thoroughly denouncing this atrocious assertion of presidential prerogative, nakedly designed to enable even greater looting of the Treasury, I then go on to suggest a few ways that the president's power could be limited, a list by no means remotely exhaustive. It is abundantly clear, however, that South Africa's version of the "monarchie présidentielle", as left-wing French politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon refers to France's current system established by the Fifth Republic in 1958, end as soon as possible to avoid such egregious abuses and profound recklessness in the future. Needless to say, whatever problems might exist in the country I am currently studying in, they drastically pale in comparison to the obscene madness that is a daily reality in South Africa. To that end, not only does the presidency's power have to be dramatically curtailed, and stringent measures put into place to hold any holder of the post to serious account, but the ANC and its Alliance partners have to be vanquished, while new formations should rise from the ashes to rejuvenate a thoroughly moribund political system that is failing on just about every level. Lastly, I highlight once again the pitiful state of civic engagement among the South African populace. While only wide-scale mobilisation is likely to force that tyrannical madman from high office, the odds of that actually happening are exceedingly long. I hope that, for once, my predictions about political developments in my homeland prove inaccurate, but I shall not be betting money on the prospect, nor even holding onto the tiniest amount of breath in hopes such an unlikely eventuality comes to pass.

1 APR 2017 · This past Tuesday, a day on which the great anti-Apartheid stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 18 years on Robben Island alongside his great friend Nelson Mandela, passed away, and after learning about that psychopathic wastrel Jacob Zuma's latest outrageous actions, I was galvanized into recording a nnew episode of The Rutherford Report. This was prior to yesterday's euphemistically dubbed "Cabinet reshuffle", with others calling it Zuma's Night of the Long Knives. At the time it was predicted that South Africa's tyrant-in-chief would likely pull such a stunt after recalling Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan from an investor roadshow in London days earlier than he was originally due to return. In this impromptu rant, I excoriate the monstrously vile subhuman figure who still amazingly remains head of state, contrasting his seeming immunity with what transpired this past week in South Korea where former President Park Geun-Hye was charged with corruption and jailed. I then go on to indict the South African population for their passivity and complacency in the face of such diabolical behaviour. I have recorded a subsequent episode in light of the scandalous events that transpired early on Friday morning, which will be released soon.

7 JAN 2017 · In this first podcast of 2017 I deliver my opinion on the film Suffragette (2015), and explore some of its hopeful implications for the coming year that will likely be filled with many struggles on multiple fronts.

26 OCT 2016 · In this podcast I trace the connection between two recent developments, South Africa's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Hate Speech Bill that the ANC wishes to impose on the country. I also discuss the parallels between the Fees Must Fall movement and how the ANC's governance practices, in particular their mutual commitment to destructiveness and a perpetual "state of exception."

13 OCT 2016 · As the title suggests, in this episode I forthrightly analyse the ideological underpinnings of the FMF movement that has swept across South African universities these past few weeks. I try to pull as few punches as possible, while retaining a commitment to rigorous analysis.

12 OCT 2016 · I discussed the eruption of protests at university campuses across South Africa, initially providing a context and then moving onto the disgustingly destructive tactics adopted by many protesters, ending off by highlighting the noxious ideology that underpins the Fees Must Fall movement.