By Raffique Shah
April 25, 2026

A society, once ungoverned, lawless and without a leader, is painted as an anarchical one. What do you call a society governed by an elected government by the people, for the people and of the people that has allowed crime to run away so far that the criminals are now killing police officers in police stations, and stealing their arms and armaments from their armoury?

Last Sunday’s King’s Wharf incident can only be described as anarchy. The fact that someone killed a woman police officer inside the police station and made off with the arms and ammunition is simply mind-boggling. Who is or are the brave or stupid—depending on your point of view—individual or persons who would have perpetrated this heinous crime? And, that, while the country is under a state of emergency which was instituted to help curb crime. Charges have been laid and we await confirmation of the accusations made against the deceased officer herself.
Continue reading One step away from anarchy →

By Raffique Shah
April 18, 2026

As a survivor of several economic recessions, more economic downturns than I could count as a child, I’ve had to tighten my belt so much that my waistline simply doesn’t exist anymore. When I make my not-too-often rides into the countryside, evidence of citizens experiencing tough economic times is there. Construction seems to have slowed down considerably and the presence of working-age young adults on the streets, just idling away the time, is painful to watch.
Continue reading Nonsense passes for governance →

By Raffique Shah
April 05, 2026

It would seem preposterous if any nation that is involved in US President Donald Trump’s fantasy warfare (in which the carnage is impossibly real) were to pronounce victory.

Or even more absurd would be claims of having devastated and dismantled what was left of the camp that Palestinians were forced to call home, because the rubble left behind by Israel’s constant bombardment of Gaza cannot be called anything but camps in the Bedouin tradition. Still, since Trump appeared to be enjoying the puerile digital war, one cannot dismiss his sharing of digital targets for practice on live ranges with equally live targets.
Continue reading Sowing the seeds of war →

By Raffique Shah
March 28, 2026

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire, a Marxist educator of yesteryear, wrote that education should be a practice of freedom, empowering the oppressed to achieve critical consciousness and transform society.

With this transformation, I suppose he dared to engender a society so far removed from ignorance that there would be no chance of large swathes of the world wallowing in abject poverty where crime remains a foremost option.
Continue reading Capital nonsense →