What is South African about the Paypal Mafia?

WISER's Trust Project invites you to an online panel discussion.  Please register on Zoom here.

Few could have predicted how prominently South Africa would feature in the first few weeks of Donald Trump's second presidency. Though journalists and commentators had been interested in the South African origins of Paypal's founders - and particularly Elon Musk - in the months before Trump's election, the past few weeks have seen an even greater interest in the relationship between South African race politics and right-wing politics in the US. Much of this discussion however has drawn an overly simplistic line between apartheid ideologies and the libertarian-conservatism of the 'tech-bros.' As part of a broader conversation about contemporary technology's political ecosystem, this panel examines the connections and histories of the Paypal mafia and South Africa. 

Speakers: Efthimios Karayiannides, Sarah Nuttall, William Shoki, Jonny Steinberg

Chair: Dinesh Balliah