Representations of crime,power and social decay in the South African post-colony in the film Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)

The film Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema, released on August 29, 2008, decries the proliferation of crime, violence and social decay in the South African post-colony. The aim of this article is to interrogate the banality in the use of violence and power in the South African post-colony. The filmic narratives of Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema reveal that behind the ‘rainbow’ façade presented by South Africa, one encounters festering poverty in ‘non-white’ communities, racial acrimony, broken promises, social and class struggles, and tales of betrayal of the majority of black people by the elite black leadership which now sit comfortably in the seats vacated by their former colonisers. An analysis of the narratives of the film Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema permits one to locate apartheid-based economic disparities as still haunting mainly ‘non- white’ local communities, although some whites have not been spared by the vicious new normal of poverty and the effects of corruption. This interpretation is further questioned in the film which shows that, after apartheid, the nationalist leadership encouraged a negative culture of entitlement. The irony in the film is that the masses are also tainted in so far as they commit crimes against other ordinary people and refuse to take responsibility or, rather in an escapist way, blame all the woes of the post-colony on apartheid. Thus, the narratives of Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema beg the question: What is going wrong with the dream of democracy for all, irrespective of race, that was the founding principle of the new nation?     

Regard History as a Mirror and Create a New World of Peace,Development and Cooperation—In Commemoration of the 60~(th) Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People''''s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World''''s Anti-Fascist War

The year 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the world's anti-fascist war. China and many other countries have held all kinds of activities to commemorate this event that has most deeply impacted human history. The Second World War, the crudest war that     

Jointly Laying a Foundation for Friendship among China,Republic of Korea and Japan——Sidelights of the 11~(th) Northeast Asia Youth Forum in Seoul

正The 11th Northeast Asia Youth Forum was held in Seoul and Cheonan,Republic of Korea from August 25 to 30.Sponsored by Moral Re-Armament/Initiatives of Change(MRA/IC)-Korea and cosponsored by the Chinese Association for International Understanding(CAFIU),China Youth Center for International Exchange and MRA/ICJapan under the theme of "Current State and Improvement Advices for the Youth Language and Culture",this Forum was attended by 80 college