Against the Tide by Steven Friedman

Reactions to last week's Brics summit showed again that, for some, anything which is not Western should be cheered. It is easy to understand why - the West colonised this country and continues to believe that it is better than the rest. But, when people support human rights abuses they would never tolerate here because the West does not like the abusers, they are, ironically, allowing the West to decide who and what they should support.

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Steven Friedman is a public commentator and an academic, currently employed as a Research Professor at the University of Johannesburg. He has been writing on South African politics for the entire democratic period both as a scholar and public commentator. He has published books on South Africa’s transition to democracy, the role of the trade union movement, and current South African politics. He has also written columns and articles for several South African newspapers. His writing seeks to use academic research to shed light on current politics but to ensure that this is conveyed in a way easily understood by people who have no academic training.