Imagine what could happen if Africa were truly to celebrate its art (and philosophy)
by Rashmee
Posted on February 18, 2021
/ TAKE UP ONE IDEA No one can accuse the African Union (AU) of overpromising and under-delivering. At their annual summit (February 6-7), held virtually, Africa’s leaders set a goal that was bland and forgettable but also potentially transformative were it to be done correctly. The AU’s theme for 2021 is as follows: Arts, Culture … Continue reading “Imagine what could happen if Africa were truly to celebrate its art (and philosophy)”
Read MoreMuseveni‘s Uganda: A template for presidents who don’t want to leave office
by Rashmee
Posted on January 12, 2021
Does any of this sound familiar? A president who refuses to leave office and will do just about anything to make it happen. Compliant legislators who coddle the man. A quarrel with big tech, which is trying to rein the administration in. That’s the situation in Uganda as it moves with some difficulty towards a … Continue reading “Museveni‘s Uganda: A template for presidents who don’t want to leave office”
Read MoreA president met his political rival to end post-election instability. Guess where
by Rashmee
Posted on November 12, 2020
Many days after a contentious presidential election, the incumbent leader of a big economy finally meets his main political rival, thereby ending a bitter stand-off that could fuel protracted instability. It happened. Not in America, folks. That was Ivory Coast. President Alassane Ouattara met Henri Konan Bedie, an 86-year-old former president, for talks on ending … Continue reading “A president met his political rival to end post-election instability. Guess where”
Read MoreThere’s Senegal and then there’s Donald Trump’s America
by Rashmee
Posted on October 5, 2020
It is a stark , a startling and unsettling contrast. On the western edge of the mighty African continent, there is small Senegal, just under 200,000 sq km, with a GDP per capita of $2,700 and healthcare expenditure of less than 5 per cent of GDP. Oh, and nearly half its population of 14.7 million … Continue reading “There’s Senegal and then there’s Donald Trump’s America”
Read MoreWe need to talk about empire: Britain is being forced to confront its ‘original sin’
by Rashmee
Posted on June 15, 2020 / The Focus
It all started with the death in Minneapolis on 25 May of an unarmed black man named George Floyd. Nearly three weeks later, with anti-racism protests spreading across the Atlantic, Britain is engaged in an animated, agonising and admittedly divisive discussion about racial justice, colonialism and national memory. It’s part of a tableau that’s playing … Continue reading “We need to talk about empire: Britain is being forced to confront its ‘original sin’”
Read MoreAmerica is being ‘Africanised’, says Africa
by Rashmee
Posted on June 8, 2020 / The Focus
It was The Elephant, a four-year-old African website, that made the connection between George Floyd and Mohamed Bouazizi. “The Tunisian hawker who set himself on fire in an act of protest against police corruption and ill-treatment” ignited the 2010 Arab Spring, wrote Kenyan journalist Rasna Warah. Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police … Continue reading “America is being ‘Africanised’, says Africa”
Read MoreIt’s too early for US museums to be recording the pandemic
by Rashmee
Posted on June 3, 2020 / The National
In late April, as the coronavirus outbreak continued its inexorable spread, a museum in Los Angeles put out a remarkable call. It asked communities in the western United States — the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains and the west coast — to help “identify and preserve items of historical and cultural significance during the Covid-19 pandemic”. The Autry Museum explained … Continue reading “It’s too early for US museums to be recording the pandemic”
Read MoreLessons from the sub-Saharan past on how to deal with pandemics
by Rashmee
Posted on May 23, 2020
Ever wondered how humans in Africa hundreds of years ago protected themselves from pandemics? The BBC World Service’s ‘Science in Action’ programme offered an answer, in a fascinating conversation with Professor Shadreck Chirikure, Head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. Communities practised social distancing, the Professor said, by dispersing settlements, … Continue reading “Lessons from the sub-Saharan past on how to deal with pandemics”
Read MoreThe great game…in Africa
by Rashmee
Posted on February 10, 2020
Europe is fighting hard to be relevant to Africa, its nearest continental neighbour. Today (Feb. 10) is the Africa Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia and AU headquarters. And it’s drawn European Council president Charles Michel – he’s been in Addis since Sunday – for some two dozen bilateral meetings with African … Continue reading “The great game…in Africa”
Read MoreTwo ‘I’s currently seem to define America
by Rashmee
Posted on February 6, 2020
Iowa and impeachment. In the first week of February, an impeached American president was acquitted by a partisan Senate and the first-in-the-nation US presidential election vote was beset by chaos. It would not be extreme to say that to many around the world, Iowa and impeachment currently define America. The two ‘I’s suggest impunity and … Continue reading “Two ‘I’s currently seem to define America”
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Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK