Rudi Buys
Rudi Buys, NetEd Group Chief Academic Officer and Executive Dean, DaVinci Business Institute.
Catharsis: The intersection of conflict and human rights
With a global media infrastructure continuously deepening its role as storyteller of local and global conflicts, catharsis even in far-off places have become intimate ones for viewers and readers everywhere.
We need leaders who embrace inclusivity, the new and the unknown
‘The underlying drama in Ratatouille is the perceived conflict between the views that greatness is the purview of the exceptional few or rather as something that emerges through engaging the many. ’
Beware of partisan prophets when looking at future outcomes
‘When analysts and think-tanks claim to offer objective analysis without partisan interest, and presumably similar populations and data are available to everyone, the question must be asked how some get it wrong, and others get it right when predicting election outcomes. ’
Restoring heritage and honouring our heroes
‘With a dignified burial the family will remember, and therein also a society. In this one moment of return of a citizen lies a critical part of what repatriation is – it is a homecoming, not only for a society, but more importantly to a family. ’
Celebrating unsung heroes: Teachers who shape our future
COLUMN: ‘Among many heroes in the broad societal programme to imagine and construct new futures for South Africans, as teachers, they must be the spearhead of the campaign,’ writes Rudi Buys
Shades of grey: Nuanced debates are enriching and more beneficial
COLUMN: ‘Binary debate is about reduction. It simplifies the question, assumes what statements mean, and considers only some examples of a situation sufficient and as the norm for all situations’
Trigger warnings: Flag bearer for democracy or means of exclusion?
‘As a tool to empower individuals and audiences to make informed choices, and to direct authors, producers and orators to be more sensitive to audience context, trigger warnings make sense. As a form of cultural expression they have become a proxy of inclusivity. . . ’
Exorcising ghost of hidden and disruptive knowledge
‘In this case it includes the live broadcast images, the pictures of the scene that floods the news and social media, and then the pictures of the Last Supper with which people comment on and interpret the scene as a mockery of faith. ’
Declining voter turnout in may upend story of a threatened democracy
‘In public discourse protest and apathy are most often taken as the main reasons when citizens do not vote, and therefore also to explain declining voter turnout in national elections. ’
War in Gaza: Academic freedom conundrum for universities
COLUMN: Rudi Buys writes about the merit of the ‘academic freedom’ argument which was recently used by the Senate – the penultimate academic oversight body at universities – at Stellenbosch University amid universities’ responses to the war in Gaza.
Bridging the gaps in May Day know-how
‘Since the 19th century the rights of workers were taken as the fundamental struggle for human freedom, not only because of unjust working conditions under which people suffered. ’
Name-calling part of the political game
COLUMN: ‘The game’ refers to the public and popular drama that election campaigns carefully choreograph to trigger citizen emotions, capture their imagination and win their trust, even if only for a moment to win a vote.
South Africans march in different directions
OPINION: The last mass march by whites in South Africa took place in 1990. More than 20 000 marched against the release of former President Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk’s political interventions.
Balancing reason, rationality and intuition in a complex world
COLUMN: Intuitive decision-making is increasingly recognised as a legitimate method for individuals and organisations to formulate questions, make sense of complex problems, set priorities, and design solutions.
Heritage Day: More than just Braai Day
COLUMN: Rudi Buys writes that the argument that Braai Day trivialises the richness and nuance of different cultures is similar to the more formal argument of “cultural reduction”.
The term ‘Rubicon’ has again entered the political lexicon in SA
COLUMN: Rudi Buys writes that the resurgence of the “Rubicon” as an indicator of major political interventions, has become shorthand for the return of strongman politics on a global scale.
Taxi strike illustrates the struggle of power and for power
In grocery stores bread and milk shelves are empty. Shops close doors and safety gates as looters gather.
Finding freedom in conscientious objection
OPINION: Freedom Day ended it all, ended the wars, ended conscription and ended the campaign. But did Freedom Day also end conscientious objection?
Elections: go high or low?
COLUMN: Go high or low? Vice or virtue? These questions represent the first problem that political parties and their campaign strategists must resolve as the race heats up for the general elections next year.
Oppressive hierarchies define their solidarities and place in the world for citizens, simply demanding compliance
COLUMN: The celebration of Human Rights Day comes with a multitude of images that represent human rights. Three, above all, receive the most imprints.
Our martyrs are disconnected from their place in history
COLUMN: Images of political leaders have in popular cultures over time come to show that those who make use of their likenesses in some form or other support countercultural and social justice work.
AI Chatbots present a threat to the culture of education
COLUMN: “I’m not able to complete your request”, read the reply. I had asked the chatbot, ChatGPT, for a list of resources from which it constructed its answers.
Maselspoort pool incident put the country on edge, drove a wedge between us
OPINION: Rudi Buys writes that the Maselspoort incident on Christmas Day put the country on edge, on red alert, not on formal grounds or due to matters of policy and law, but due to a mood of distrust that grips a society.
Hope keeps South Africa afloat amid raging rivers of Eskom and ANC
COLUMN: Rudi Buys writes that while often criticised as a character trait of South African society that limits our resolve to deal with challenges, hope is also the trait that carries us through.
The struggle for the hearts and minds of people
Stellenbosch University recently received and made public the report on racism at the institution by former Justice of the Constitutional Court, Emeritus Justice Sisi Khampepe.