There's been a lot of discussion over the course of the week regarding the dramatically named "Spy Cables" [insert own theme music and/or 'War on Spy Cables' CNN graphics here]. As they've dribbled out via Al Jazeera and The Guardian, we ask, "What do the documents mean?" Every adult South African knows the Deep State spies on citizens as a matter of routine. Well, here's a little tale from the depths of the Deep State - another reminder that your government is not your brother, but your Big Brother. By RICHARD POPLAK.
Kumi Naidoo is either a celebrity activist or an activist celebrity - as the executive director of Greenpeace, the distinctions tend to blur. Potted biography: he was born in Durban during the bad old days, and became an ANC activist before he could shave. He shot like a reverse meteor through the academic stratosphere and found himself a Rhodes scholar, and then worked his way into orbit of international activism to run perhaps the most famous NGO brand in the world. He's been arrested off the coast of Greenland; he's been arrested in the wilds of Mzansi. He hates Big Oil; he loathes Big Nuclear; he once dated...