scramble for africa

“A very, very bad example”

Hannah Armstrong — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:52:55 +0000

As ousted Honduran President Zelaya prepares for a return to power and deposed Madagascar leader Ravalomamana negotiates for an upcoming round of elections, this week confirmed that the only truly successful putsch of 2008-2009 was that of Mauritania’s former general, now President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, who trumpeted a normalization of relations with France during his visit to Paris earlier this week. With France on his side, and the EU likely to follow, there is no longer any question of Abdelaziz’s legitimacy as leader of Mauritania, in spite of his having overthrown the country’s first fairly elected government.

“The coup leader being president of the transition is a very, very bad example,” said Ravalomamana, speaking on his opponent’s leadership during the crisis in Madagascar. But what happens when the coup leader wins voters at home and the support of the international community? As Zelaya forces his way back into Honduran leadership and Ravalomamana and the rest of the world nag Madagascar about its worsening crisis, it has become clear that Abdelaziz’s successful coup seems to have been an exception. What remains to be seen is whether other would-be Global South leaders will follow his example.

88%

derivativephilosophy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:51:39 +0000

Virgil Hawkins does a good job pointing out the pretty obvious and pure discrepancy in between media coverage and death tolls per region, highliting the fact that African conflicts are responsible for 88% of deaths from all world conflicts. Neither the New York Times, nor Le Monde, nor BBC, nor CNN seem to care in a way that is proportionate, as African coverage represents less then 10% of the content published. With proportion comes purpose and perception, as one tries to avoid anything but the most rigorous interpretation of why fashion remains a matter of political life or death:

“The death toll from conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is literally one thousand times greater than that in Israel-Palestine, yet it is the latter that is the object of far greater media coverage … [and where] the intricacies and nuances of the conflict, political situation and peace process are almost obsessively analyzed and presented.… [African] conflicts are frequently brushed off and dismissed as being chaotic, or worthy of some vague pity or humanitarian concern, but rarely of any in-depth political analysis.” (Hawkins)

While a global consensus continues to state, rather ironically, that the biggest problem in Africa remains “education,” and though war has been around for a very long time in Africa, optimism lives in the increasing reach of the internet to communicate powerful messages freely and distill complex histories in visualizations that just make learning more fun and ea sy (Council on Foreign Relations).

Rhodes Colossus

derivativephilosophy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:20:38 +0000

The Rhodes Colossus, a caricature of Cecil Rhodes after announcing plans for a telegraph line from Cape Town to Cairo. For Punch by Edward Linley Sambourne.