Jaco Barnard-Naude - Thought Leader
Violence will not do it
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 2 October 2016
Almost three weeks ago, Americans commemorated the fifteenth anniversary of the event that has had a decisive impact on global politics ever since: 9/11. Three years later, in 2004, Judith Butler published a book entitled Precarious life: the powers of mourning and violence. I didn’t read this book at the time of its publication. The […]
In the ‘pitfalls’ of the national democratic revolution
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 4 September 2016
Way back in 1998, American constitutional theorist Prof Karl Klare published a now famous article in which he set out to define South Africa’s post-apartheid constitutional project. He called this ‘transformative constitutionalism’ and defined it as follows: ‘a long-term project of constitutional enactment, interpretation, and enforcement committed (not in isolation, of course, but in a […]
Removing Rhodes’ statue would not ‘erase the past’
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 26 March 2015 1 April 2015
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” writes George Santayana. In the midst of the argument that the #RhodesMustFall campaign is fuelled by a misguided desire to “erase the past”, it seems to me that it is ironically, but precisely, this argument that is hampered by a deeply short-sighted approach […]
Rhodes, Rancière and the politics of aesthetics
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 24 March 2015 24 March 2015
The events surrounding the protests for the removal of the Rhodes statue located at a focal point on the Upper Campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT) has provided me with an opportunity to revisit Jacques Rancière’s influential contemporary argument on the politics of aesthetics. The focus on a statue obviously lends an explicit […]
Anti-homosexuality legislation in Africa: The Hart-Devlin debate revisited
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 14 September 2014 15 September 2014
The news this week that The Gambia has passed a Bill that further criminalises homosexual conduct and imposes life sentences in cases of “aggravated” homosexuality, along with the continued coverage of the constitutional fate of similar legislation in Uganda, provides an occasion to revisit the most famous debate about the criminalisation of homosexuality in the […]
The refusal of Michel Houellebecq
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 14 February 2014
The title of this post is ambiguous. For instance, is Michel Houellebecq refusing someone or something, or is he the one who is being refused by someone or something? Those readers who are familiar with what the French referred to as “L’affaire Houellebecq”, after the publication of and controversy that ensued from the publication of […]
Be cruel to be cruel
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 7 January 2014 8 January 2014
It is May 1968. Raging in the streets of Paris, the (in)famous student uprisings. On the walls of the Sorbonne a slogan appears: “SOYONS CRUELS!” / “BE CRUEL!” Someone comes up to you and asks: “Have you seen this writing on the wall? What is it telling me to do?” Cruelty, by which I mean […]
Posted inEquality, General, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Yes, but do we live human dignity?
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 2 January 2014
Much has been said, is still being said and will continue to be said about the reconstitution of the South African legal, political and, perhaps most importantly, ethical order on the basis of the ideal of human dignity. This reconstitution of course took place and form by way of the adoption of the post-apartheid Constitutions […]
Mandela in reflection: The laws of admiration
by Jaco Barnard-Naude 6 December 2013 8 December 2013
In 1986 the French thinker Jacques Derrida published a text in a collection of protest tributes that he co-edited with Mustapha Tlili entitled For Nelson Mandela. The English translation of Derrida’s tribute is titled “The laws of reflection: Nelson Mandela, in admiration”. I have chosen to subvert this title by way of re-ordering its words. […]