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Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity

Brics+ could shape a new world order, but it lacks shared values and a unified identity

THE last two summits of Brics countries have raised questions about the coalition’s identity and purpose. This began to come into focus at the summit hosted by South Africa in 2023, and more acutely at the recent 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia. At both events, the alliance undertook to expand its membership. In 2023, the first five Brics members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – invited Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join. All bar Saudi Arabia have now done so. The 2024 summit pledged to admit 13 more, perhaps as associates…
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Who is Tundu Lissu? Tanzania’s opposition leader is fighting for change in the face of fresh attacks on political freedoms

Who is Tundu Lissu? Tanzania’s opposition leader is fighting for change in the face of fresh attacks on political freedoms

TUNDU Lissu has become the face of opposition in Tanzania following his defiant and unrelenting criticism of the government. Since he came into the national limelight in 1995 when running for a parliamentary seat, Lissu has been a champion of democracy and human rights. He has taken on the ruling elite, exposing corruption and demanding accountability. This almost cost him his life in 2017. In September 2024, new evidence presented at a London tribunal revealed that the telecommunications company Tigo had shared Lissu’s mobile phone data – including his location – with the Tanzanian government. The implication was that the…
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Nuer people have a sacred connection to birds – it can guide conservation in Ethiopia and South Sudan

Nuer people have a sacred connection to birds – it can guide conservation in Ethiopia and South Sudan

THE Nuer are a large pastoralist community living in western Ethiopia and South Sudan in east Africa. They rely on livestock keeping and have special beliefs and customs about how to live with nature. These are passed down from parents to children through the telling of stories. Uncommonly for East African pastoralists, the Nuer live in an expansive, low-lying floodplain. This Gambella region is shaped by the convergence of several rivers originating in the Ethiopian highlands. Its wetlands and lush greenery offer a unique habitat that supports both the Nuer and a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. The…
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Steve Biko, the South African struggle hero who was prepared to sacrifice his life for black liberation

Steve Biko, the South African struggle hero who was prepared to sacrifice his life for black liberation

WHAT happens when death becomes the ultimate marker of one’s commitment to one’s freedom? Jacob Dlamini explores this and other questions in his new book, Dying for Freedom: Political Martyrdom in South Africa. This edited extract, from the chapter Dead and Proud, focuses on Steve Biko’s attitude to martyrdom and to the political uses of death (30). Steve Biko’s death on 12 September 1977 generated arguably the most significant hagiography and iconography to come out of the struggle against apartheid. Artist Paul Stopforth was among the first to respond critically to the murder, producing a collection titled the Biko Series.…
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Rick Turner and Steve Biko were leading liberation thinkers in 1970s South Africa – why their ideas still matter

Rick Turner and Steve Biko were leading liberation thinkers in 1970s South Africa – why their ideas still matter

STEVE Biko was undoubtedly the most influential South African liberation struggle theorist and activist of the 1970s. Rick Turner was arguably among the most effectual white anti-apartheid activists of the era. Biko espoused black consciousness while Turner was a Marxist philosopher. Biko (30) was murdered by apartheid police in 1977. Turner (36) was shot dead by an apartheid assassin in 1978. Their ideas continue to resonate. Political scientist and philosopher Michael Onyebuchi Eze sets out, in a chapter of a new book, Rick Turner’s Politics as the Art of the Impossible, how the two men’s philosophies mirrored and critiqued each…
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The Disturbing story of first Africans at the Olympics

The Disturbing story of first Africans at the Olympics

WHO were the first Africans to compete in the modern Olympic Games? The answer to that question reveals the surprising story of a 1904 marathon – and exposes the history of racism and white supremacy that characterised the Olympics in its early days. The first modern Olympic Games was held in 1896 in Greece. This was at the height of European colonialism and there is no record of Africans participating. It was only after the Second World War, in the late 1940s, that African countries began to join the Olympic movement in significant numbers, as African independence took hold. There…
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‘People started to point the finger’: How the M23 conflict endangers DR Congo’s Tutsi communities

‘People started to point the finger’: How the M23 conflict endangers DR Congo’s Tutsi communities

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Andrei Popoviciu and Emmet Livingstone THE war between the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s military and the Tutsi-led M23 armed group is having a harmful impact on the country’s Rwandophone Tutsi communities, some of whom have been unfairly typecast as rebel collaborators. Interviews with nearly a dozen Tutsi civilians underscore the diverse ways their communities have been affected by the war, which began in late 2021 and has seen the M23 seize large chunks of eastern DRC with the military backing of neighbouring Rwanda. “People started to point the finger…
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The Cabinet of National Unity must work to build a South Africa for all

The Cabinet of National Unity must work to build a South Africa for all

IN the coming days, the ministers and deputy ministers of the new Government of National Unity will be sworn in. This is a significant moment in our country’s democracy. We have made good on our promise to the South African people to work together as political parties for the good of the country, and to deliver a government that will be united in action and purpose. This provides a firm basis for greater stability, coherence and a focus on implementation. Even in some of the world’s most established democracies, the formation of multi-party governments is often protracted and fraught with…
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Kenya protests: Ruto pulling the finance bill is unlikely to satisfy angry young protesters – here’s why

Kenya protests: Ruto pulling the finance bill is unlikely to satisfy angry young protesters – here’s why

IN a move that shocked observers, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced on 26 June he was withdrawing his government’s highly controversial finance bill. This followed two days in which tens of thousands of mostly young protesters took to the streets in nationwide rallies against the proposals contained in the country’s 2024 budget. Kathleen Klaus, who has studied political violence in Kenya, unpacks what drove the protesters. Did rising prices trigger the protests in Kenya? Sharp rises in livelihood goods, especially food and fuel, often serve as a trigger for protest and social unrest. This has been documented by several academic…
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“Today, I make a solemn commitment to be a president for all South Africans, to defend our Constitution and protect our democracy”

“Today, I make a solemn commitment to be a president for all South Africans, to defend our Constitution and protect our democracy”

TODAY, we gather under this vast Highveld sky at the seat of our government, the Union Buildings, to witness before all South Africans and our honoured guests from various countries on our beloved continent and from far afield a fundamental rite of our democracy. In our brilliant diversity, we gather to affirm our solemn conviction that this country belongs to all who live in it, as articulated in the Freedom Charter almost seventy years ago. We gather here, as people born of the same soil across our nine provinces that make up a unitary South Africa, determined that by our…
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