Richard Poplak

Johannesburg

Editor at Large at Daily Maverick

Investigative Journalist at Freelance

Journalist, filmmaker, graphic novelist, doggeralist (so this should rhyme, but nah.) Editor at large @dailymaverick.

Articles

Canada’s ditches culture wars for hyper-nationalism — thanks to Donald Trump

3 weeks ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

TRAINSPOTTER Like a top-end Tesla, Canadians went from placid to pissed off in 2.4 seconds. Even Trudeau, terminally feckless, seemed to instantly grasp the gravity of the situation. ‘What your country needs is a race war.”This is what Daily Maverick correspondent Kevin Bloom advised a room full of Canadian journalists, about 15 years ago. Don't want to see this? Remove adsHe wasn’t wrong. Front-page that morning was news of a dog that died in a park after ingesting a poisoned sausage.
South Africa: Licking the US Jackboot Is Plain Unsanitary - It's Time for South Africa to Grow Up

1 month ago | allafrica.com | Richard Poplak

Inadvertently, Donald Trump has presented South Africa with the greatest opportunity in our 30-year history - the opportunity to stand on our own. For decades, as they grew fatter and smugger, ANC stalwarts would grumble their hoary communisms about the United States and the imperial order, and how neocolonialism was befouling an otherwise glorious National Democratic Revolution. At the same time, the country clicked in tamely with the neoliberal order.
Opinion: Trump’s South Africa executive order shows that the age of racial grievance-settling has only just begun

2 months ago | theglobeandmail.com | Richard Poplak
Licking the US jackboot is plain unsanitary; it’s time for SA to grow up

2 months ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

TRAINSPOTTER Inadvertently, Donald Trump has presented South Africa with the greatest opportunity in our 30-year history – the opportunity to stand on our own. For decades, as they grew fatter and smugger, ANC stalwarts would grumble their hoary communisms about the United States and the imperial order, and how neocolonialism was befouling an otherwise glorious National Democratic Revolution. At the same time, the country clicked in tamely with the neoliberal order.
Is it any wonder that the holes of the Witwatersrand still echo with death?

Jan 20, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

MINING EDITORIAL Of the many sins perpetuated by the ANC, this may be the worst — the refusal to innovate a new approach to the resource sector, a gleeful willingness to allow corpses of the poor to rot in mine shafts, and a gangland approach to regional deal-making. South African mining is a death cult. Between the years 1912 and 1994, more than 69,000 people lost their lives in mining-related accidents in South Africa, many of them on the Witwatersrand goldfields.
Notes on the underground — where the most desperate scavenge for gold

Jan 16, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

INTERVIEW With ghastly stories emerging about cannibalism and mass death underground, it was time to reconnect with the anthropology professor and filmmaker Rosalind Morris, who remains perhaps the best-qualified person to speak on these matters. The recent interview, conducted over the phone, has been edited for clarity and length. In 2021, a professor of anthropology named Rosalind Morris released a film called We are Zama Zama.
JZ did it first

Nov 25, 2024 | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

TRAINSPOTTER There is now a playbook. Jacob Zuma helped write it. Who remembers this little trick? When seeking a replacement for Thuli Madonsela in the role of public protector, President Jacob Zuma and his ANC decided to push for a Western Cape High Court judge named Siraj Desai. Don't want to see this? Remove adsNot widely loved in the legal community, and having made just 32 judgments in a 20-year career, Desai was also dogged by rape accusations.
Africa: Amerikkka On Full Electoral-Historical Display

Nov 4, 2024 | allafrica.com | Richard Poplak

Perhaps the most consequential election in US history will be taking place on 5 November, and its outcome is anyone's guess. Although, if we are being honest, we already know what comes next. Listen to this article 16 min Listen to this article 16 min 'Conventional wisdom suggests that the United States has already reached its peak," writes the philosopher Bruno Maçães. "But what if it is only now starting to forge its own path forward?
AmeriKKKa on full electoral-historical display

Nov 2, 2024 | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

TRAINSPOTTER Perhaps the most consequential election in US history will be taking place on 5 November, and its outcome is anyone’s guess. Although, if we are being honest, we already know what comes next. ‘Conventional wisdom suggests that the United States has already reached its peak,” writes the philosopher Bruno Maçães. “But what if it is only now starting to forge its own path forward?
Party like it’s 1989 - Cyril Ramaphosa’s one-party state

Oct 14, 2024 | dailymaverick.co.za | Richard Poplak

TRAINSPOTTER The parties are over. One day you wake up and you’re living in Eritrea. I don’t mean actual Eritrea, the secretive North Korea of Africa, with its excellent coffee, wonderful biscotti, art deco buildings and a vicious slave labour system.

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Richard Poplak @Poplak

11 Apr 25

Day One!!!!

Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en

"Russia has to get moving," - President Trump. https://t.co/cTLd4cQHiI

Richard Poplak @Poplak

11 Apr 25

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Stephen, Trust & Safety Monitor @Steveauveau

@Poplak @RashaadAmra The economic adjustment brought on by tariffs is redirecting wealth from the rich to the middle class. Your Mar a Lago eating class is doing the right thing

Richard Poplak @Poplak

10 Apr 25

Congratulations you’ve almost lived through the stupidest week in human history.