Quote of the week
A few months ago, author William Gumede described Zuma as someone with a narcissistic personality disorder — a set of traits defined by Austrian psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut as “including an exaggerated sense of superiority, a lack of self-awareness about the impact of their behaviour and having a disdain for others, who they devalue to validate their own grandiosity”. These people lack empathy, have a distorted sense of reality and are incapable of seeing anything from anyone else’s perspective. Narcissists like Zuma, Gumede argues, can’t accept responsibility and don’t care if they take down entire countries with them. The events at Nkandla, sadly for Zuma, only reinforced that perspective.
Financial Mail
CSD SEMINAR – Democracy under Threat?: What attacks on grassroots activists mean for our politics
In light of the recent attacks on Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) in Kennedy Road, Durban, the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at University of Johannesburg/Rhodes University will hold a seminar entitled Democracy under Threat?: What Attacks on Grassroots Activists Mean for our Politics where grassroots activists, scholars and human rights campaigners will discuss threats to free political activity and their implications.
Venue: Training Centre, 6th Floor, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) – map attached
Time: 9am to 3pm
Date: Wednesday, 4 November 2009
RSVP: Johnny Selemani – jaselemani@gmail.com / 073 553 0726
Kate Tissington – kate.tissington@wits.ac.za / 072 220 9125 (by Friday 30 October 2009)
Speakers:
Steven Friedman, Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD)
Pregs Govender, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)
S’bu Zikode, President, Abahlali basMjondolo
Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Spokesperson, AbM
Zodwa Nsibande, General Secretary of the Youth League, AbM
Michael Neocosmos, Monash University
Richard Pithouse, Politics Department, Rhodes University
Andile Mngxitama, Foundation for Human Rights (FHR)
Marcelle Dawson, Centre for Sociological Research, University of Johannesburg (to be confirmed)
Noor Nieftagodien, History Department, University of the Witwatersrand
