We want you to get mad

In these troubling times, the worst thing we can do is remain apathetic [View this email in your browser]( July 6, 2021 [Mail & Guardian]( [Mail & Guardian]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( Hi there, When he was on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela reportedly had Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations smuggled into his cell. For the modern stoicism movement, it’s a great story to tell — the Roman emperor’s 2 000-year-old musings are a seminal text in the philosophical tradition and to have Madiba as a devotee would be fantastic vindication. Stoicism, as much as it can be defined in a couple sentences, is a system of logic that encourages a highly rational view of the world. It is characterised by not allowing event’s outside our control to dictate our emotions or actions. As with all legends, of course, the more they are retold the harder it becomes to figure out where the truth ends and the apocryphal details creep in. Mandela’s principles undoubtedly often ran parallel to the movement’s, but to consider him a “stoic” is a stretch. It’s the intellectual equivalent of any number of sports teams claiming Drake as their one true fan. In the past decade, stoicism has been enjoying somewhat of a surprise renaissance. Shayla Love [articulated this in a recent article for Vice]( — billionaires are jumping on the label, conventions are springing up, and sales for Meditations are through the roof. Apart from the recasting of Madiba, stoicism is also interesting to ponder on a local context. On a good day the average South African has a deluge of crap to deal with; what a superpower it would be to be able to dispassionately sort through the screaming headlines we’re perpetually exposed to. Perhaps that’s something to consider. But not today. Today is not a day to be calm. Early yesterday evening, publication New Frame released a disturbing statement: two of their [journalists had been detained, assaulted and tortured by security forces]( in Eswatini. Magnificent Mndebele and Cebelihle Mbuyisa were in the country to report on pro-democracy protests; they were reportedly stopped at roadblocks on numerous occasions and were routinely threatened. On Sunday morning they were allegedly held at gunpoint and forced to delete footage and content. The two were later taken to a police station, where they had plastic bags placed over their heads. You shouldn’t need a newsletter to tell you how despicable this is. Within our own borders, meanwhile, today the Pietermaritzburg high court will hear former president Jacob Zuma’s [urgent application to have his warrant of arrest stayed](. As that case is unfolding, Emsie Ferreira reports that Police Minister Bheki Cele and national police commissioner Khehla Sitole have said [they will not act on the Constitutional Court order]( to arrest Zuma pending the outcome of his court bids. “It is our clients’ view that the pending litigation has a direct impact on the action which they should take in terms of the court order,” the state attorney said in a letter to acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. “In view of the unique situation presented by the development and the legal matrix involved, our clients will, out of respect of the unfolding of litigation the processes [sic], hold further actions they are expected to take in terms of the honourable court’s order, in abeyance.” In these troubling times, surrounded by an ever-changing swamp of legal jargon, the worst thing we can do is remain apathetic. Silence is our biggest enemy. Yes, we trust in our courts to resolve this temporary impasse, but it is incumbent on us to follow the situation closely. We have seen, courtesy of Eswatini, how authority will act with impunity if it is not held to account. Rather than stoicism, moments like these call for expressions of anger. To invoke the words of Howard Beale in the 1976 cult film Network: We want you to get mad. Yours in solidarity, Kiri Rupiah & Luke Feltham [Subscribe now]( Enjoy The Ampersand? Share it with your friends [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( [Share]( [Share]( Copyright © 2021 Mail & Guardian Media LTD, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive communications from the Mail & Guardian either at our website or by taking out a print subscription. Our mailing address is: Mail & Guardian Media LTD 25 Owl St BraamfonteinJohannesburg, Gauteng 2001 South Africa [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences or unsubscribe here.]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Mail & Guardian Media LTD · 25 Owl St · Braamfontein · Johannesburg, Gauteng 2001 · South Africa