Alyssa Rosenberg on District 9, the new sci-fi film that uses space aliens kept in an isolated zone in South Africa as a metaphor for apartheid: The movie is set in South Africa, and the trailers have featured folks with a variety of local accents, and the details of the plot we know so far, Read More
French President Nicolas Sarkozy would like to ban the burqa in public places, stating that it’s “a problem of liberty and women’s dignity.” He also called the burqa “a sign of subservience and debasement.” There are two specific moments in Obama’s speech in Cairo, where he addresses women’s rights: “it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim Read More
Might be Somalia: Somalia won independence in 1960, but it quickly became a Cold War pawn, prized for its strategic location in the Horn of Africa, where Africa and Asia nearly touch. First it was the Soviets who pumped in weapons, then the United States. A poor, mostly illiterate, mainly nomadic country became a towering Read More
(x-posted from False Hustle) I swear — probably a bad choice of verb – that I’m not picking on The Church today. But this picture over at The Daily Dish – labeled “The Pope’s Message to Africa” — quite obviously caught my attention. Background: Ahead of his first trip to Africa, The Pope said the Read More
Where were you on November 4th, 2008? I was at a 24-hour diner in Cape Town, South Africa, a little out of it because it was 3 AM (way past my bedtime, just for the record) and polls were still closing back in the States. We knew the results wouldn’t be announced for hours, but Read More
Miriam Makeba died yesterday, at the age of 76. She collapsed after a performance in Italy. Makeba, also known as “Mama Africa,” was banned from returning to South Africa, her home, for 30 years, because she spoke out against the Apartheid. She was also married to Kwame Ture for several years in the late sixties/early Read More
[Italy’s Berlusconi and Libya’s Gaddafi. Reuters] Reparations in action. This actually went down a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a very interesting deal that bears further study. Italy has agreed to pay Libya five billion over the next 25 years to make up for about 40 years occupation and then colonization. $200M will go Read More
[Photo: Wash. Po.] Robert Mugabe bludgeoned and tortured his way to a sixth term, even amid a growing chorus of condemnations. Condi Rice called the votes a “sham” and the U.S. considered tightening sanctions, though that seems much more likely to hurt the many poor people in Zimbabwe rather than Mugabe and his top brass Read More
Image: ABC News A while back we wrote that Robert Mugabe, dictator of Zimbabwe, would ultimately control who leads the country for the next five years. Unfortunately, that’s the case. Morgan Tsvangirai, above, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, stepped down yesterday in his bid for president, citing a violence-plagued election. At least Read More
Some news outlets are reporting that Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president since independence 28 years ago, has conceded the first round of the presidential election to the opposition, and there is talk that he might even step down without a fight. A second round would require him or Morgan Tsvangirai, from the Movement for Democratic Change, Read More
