My work is a bit complicated. The best way to describe it is that I explore race, politics, and social movements in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. I wrote the following recently, which mostly involves the issue of race in the United States. I hope you will find it to be of some interest: […]
My work is a bit complicated. The best way to describe it is that I explore race, politics, and social movements in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. I wrote the following recently, which mostly involves the issue of race in the United States. I hope you will find it to be of some interest: […]
On the good news front, the Movement for Democratic Change has had a change of heart and now insists that it will contest the runoff election and is planning its strategy, whenever that election may happen. While I understand Morgan Tsvangirai's frustration with a system so clearly stacked against him, I was happy to see […]
This just in: Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi is mostly concerned with the interests of Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Buthelezi is threatening to file suit to prevent the passage of a law that will make the position of chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leaders permanent, thus forcing him to choose between his position as […]
Because everyone needs a bit of a comedown before heading into the weekend, here is a bit of a roundup of Zimbabwe-related stories. South African President Thabo Mbeki has traveled to Zimbabwe for talks on the country's disputed election. Acting both as South African head of state and as the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) […]
Recent shakeups at the South African Broadcasting Corporation have revived what seem to have become perpetual controversies over perceived government encroachments on the SABC's independence and pressure to adhere to a party line. Perhaps the question should be what role the government should play in the media at all. After all, every government tries to […]
According to a the head of a South African contingent of regional election observers, the presidential election run-off in Zimbabwe cannot take place given the current and threatened levels of violence. How convenient for President Robert Mugabe, for whom violence and the threat of its usage has always been a useful political tool. Such a […]
This week nine nominees for ambassadorial posts to Africa stood before the United States Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. AllAfrica has the details on the nominees and their backgrounds. The posts to be filled include posts to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ghana, Liberia, Togo, Malawi, Zambia, Cape Verde, and Botswana.
There is lots of news and not much time for analysis, so enjoy these links on a range of issues: At Pambazuka News Chido Makunike looks at the Complexities of Zimbabwe with special emphasis on the various political participants and their needs and desires. A little less elegantly — which is not to say any […]
Anyone who has traveled in South Africa and talked politics with people has heard something along this lines: This country is just like Rhodesia, and under black rule we’re going to turn into Zimbabwe. This sort of “When We” alarmism, equal parts racist tripe and romanticized fatuousness is also common among expats around the world […]
In a welcome op-ed piece in the Mail & Guardian William Gumede calls for Africa to be more “hard-nosed” with regard to China. Gumede uses China's attempted (and truly unjustifiable) attempt to ship arms to Zimbabwe as a springboard to express larger concerns about the role China might want to play across the continent.
Anyone who has traveled in South Africa and talked politics with people has heard something along this lines: This country is just like Rhodesia, and under black rule we’re going to turn into Zimbabwe. This sort of “When We” alarmism, equal parts racist tripe and romanticized fatuousness is also common among expats around the world […]
Is Kenya starting to heal? Thousands of Kenyans displaced by the post-election violence are beginning to return home, which is a sign that people are moderately confident that resuming their lives is safe, or at least safer than it was in the wake of the disputed election. The Kenya situation embodies what may well prove […]
Times are certainly strange in South African politics in a post-Polokwane world. After all, where else could a non-violent, indeed, from a constitutional vantage point rather smooth, inter-party leadership transition lead to what is effectively a lame-duck political status for many of those in power across the country at the national, provincial, and local levels? […]
Recent revelations that Nelson Mandela is still on the United States’ terrorist watch list (a list he never belonged on in the first place) does not exactly inspire confidence in America's handling of its foreign policy, its approach to terrorism, or its grasp of African policy, does it? [Crossposted at dcat.]