For 10 minutes or so, the Wits Art Museum resembled a Pentecostal revivalist meeting. Hands were raised in worship as the crowd swayed and sang hymns. On stage, two pastors lay their hands on the person kneeling in front of them, the subject of their passionate prayers. This was not supposed to be. Not because […]
Rwanda
Posted inEquality, General, News/Politics
Keeping shtum*
When I was a young woman just out of school and during a state of emergency, while on a visit to my beautiful Boba, we were talking politics and I told her I was in despair and hoping for the Messiah. She said I could put out my cigarette for starters. Let me say this […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Who’s to blame for the M23 rebels in DRC?
By Arinaitwe Rugyendo The M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have once again been accused of gross human-rights abuses by Human Rights Watch. An earlier accusation by the UN implicated neighbouring Rwanda and accused it of not only supporting the rebels but also of complicity. According to Human Rights Watch the rebels, which […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The trouble with international justice
This month marks 10 years since the International Criminal Court first opened its doors at The Hague in Netherlands. The court was created under the Rome Statute to prosecute serious international crimes like war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has 121 member nations, with Guatemala being the latest. With a decade gone since the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
One man, two wars, one guilty verdict
by Robtel Neajai Pailey Much has changed since I covered the first day of Charles Taylor’s trial for Pambazuka News on June 4 2007. That day, he failed to show up to court, calling the case against him a “farce.” Last week, he was in full view, stoic, resolute and somber. As I sat in […]
Posted inGeneral
A sudden, suspect French antipathy to denialism
In 1915 Turkish authorities killed half a million Armenians in what most scholars — but unsurprisingly, not the Turks — agree was a genocide. Next week, the French senate is poised to pass a law that makes it a criminal offence to deny that this was genocide, to be punished with a maximum fine of […]
Posted inGeneral
TIA – This is Africa
By Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa “This is Africa” (TIA) is used in the context of what is perceived to be “African” versus “unAfrican”. For this article, unAfrican includes, but is not limited to, systems that work, clean places and timeliness. African, however, is dirty, tardy and disorganised. Even though I surround myself with Afro-optimists, I have […]