21 August 2021
South Africa: In the Cape Colony, colonists were forbidden from enslaving indigenous Khoe, San, etc. Slaves had to be imported from elsewhere (Madagascar, Mozambique, etc.). But “Khoe-San people were forced into servitude as colonists took both land and livestock. Together with immigrant slaves they were the labour force for the colonial project.” These Khoe-San and runaway slaves “escaped into the borderlands and mounted a stiff resistance to the colonial advance from the 1700s until the mid-1800s. In most cases the fugitives joined forces with groups of skelmbasters (mixed outlaws), who themselves were descended from San-, Khoe- and isiNtu-speaking Africans (hunter-gatherers, herders and farmers).” In their rocky hideouts, they produced a “modern” kind of rock art (now also drawing horses and guns) which still drew on tradition: “The ostrich was recognised by Khoe-San groups as particularly adept at escaping danger. It could outrun most predators and leap over hunters’ nets. Khoe-San would, and still do, tie the tendons from ostrich legs to their own legs to combat fatigue. Ostrich eggshell was recognised as a medicine that could be ground and consumed as a fortifying tonic.” Furthermore, “(b)aboons (we)re associated with protection across Khoe-San and African farmer society.”
https://theconversation.com/south-africas-bandit-slaves-and-the-rock-art-of-resistance-165107
Body markings & slaves in Brazil: Slaves were very much in demand during the gold rush in southeast Brazil in the 18th century. Slaves from the Bay of Benin were thought best suited for the gold mines. “Slaves were sorted by anatomy and the purported ability to function better in certain climates, resistance to diseases, and life expectancy.” Body markings helped with the classification. The colonialists “saw body markings as tools for identification and cataloguing, to increase the economic efficiency of commodified human lives.” They did not perceive Africans as one homogeneous group: “Slavery in Brazil did not, in fact, automatically erase the diversity of African origins and reduce people to one racial category – ‘Black’. It happened over time.”
https://theconversation.com/how-african-body-markings-were-used-to-construct-the-idea-of-race-in-colonial-brazil-151509
Reparations for enslavers instead of the enslaved: The article’s author estimates that “the losses from unpaid wages and lost inheritances to Black descendants of the enslaved (amount to) around US$20 trillion in 2021 dollars.” This is a sum that it would be difficult to pay – it corresponds roughly to one year’s US GDP. But reparations have been paid in the past – to former slave owners. It started with Haiti, whose independence was recognized by France only against their agreeing to paying 150 million francs to compensate former slave owners for the loss of what was deemed their property. The “(t)he British government paid reparations totalling £20 million (equivalent to some £300 billion in 2018) to slave owners when it abolished slavery in 1833.” Another 30 years later, the United States “gave former slave owners $300 per enslaved person set free. More than 3,100 enslaved people saw their freedom paid for in this way, for a total cost in excess of $930,000 – almost $25 million in today’s money.” The formerly enslaved, on the other hand, got nothing – except if they agreed to permanently leave the United States – then they were paid an emigration incentive of $100 (around $2,683 in 2021 dollars).
https://theconversation.com/there-was-a-time-reparations-were-actually-paid-out-just-not-to-formerly-enslaved-people-152522
20 August 2021
Women & Food Security: “Eliminating hunger will require that research and policies empower women to participate effectively in the food system.” Generally, the role of women in agricultural production and diets is overemphasised while their role in markets, consumer demand and consumer purchasing power receives too little attention. Similarly, women’s access to resources and services is overemphasised, while issues of control tend to be overlooked. In a new study, the article’s authors have gendered the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (Glopan) food system framework which embraces “agricultural production, market and trade systems, people’s ability to buy food, how to transform food, the types of food people are likely to consume and healthy diets”. According to the study, improving food security would need to 1) improve women’s access to markets and trade systems (e.g. daycare facilities near markets); 2) improve women’s social protection (e.g. social grants or food parcels); 3) improve women’s access to nutritious food which makes a big difference to maternal and child health, particularly during pregnancy.
https://theconversation.com/how-to-put-women-at-the-centre-of-africas-food-systems-165972
Sindiwe Magona’s latest novel: The article is a homage to the South African author and her novel “When the Village Sleeps”, a story about “three generations of women in one family and the central role of ancestral belief and ancient custom – or a lack of it – in their lives”.
https://theconversation.com/book-review-sindiwe-magonas-devastating-uplifting-story-of-south-african-women-166186
South Africa: Proposed amendments to the Firearms Control Act want to introduce more stringent firearm licensing measures – acquiring a firearm licence for self-defence purposes would no longer be possible. Firearms being the most common weapons for murder and other violent crimes(carjacking, house robberies, etc.), this is good news. On top of that, “(m)ore concerted efforts by the police to seize illegal firearms is essential.”
https://theconversation.com/gun-control-in-south-africa-tightening-the-law-and-more-166194
Eritrea/Ethiopia/Somalia: The 2018 “trilateral alliance (…) could heighten regional tensions and undermine IGAD's work”. A 12-page Institute for Security Studies (ISS) report by Roba D Sharamo and Selam Tadesse Demissie.
https://issafrica.org/research/east-africa-report/reconfiguring-alliances-in-the-horn-of-africa-implications-for-regional-stability-and-integration
China & Russia vs. “the West” in Africa: Is liberal democracy good for emerging states? China, some south-east-Asian states, Turkey seem to indicate the contrary. And authoritarianism has been the prevalent governance model for most of Africa’s history. Post-colonial states have been built around liberal values, but “the exercise of power often contradicts those tenets (…) With their often ill-defined borders and semi-autocratic regimes, states in Africa are sensitive about safeguarding their recently gained sovereignty and territoriality.” With “the West” insisting on human rights etc, it may actually push African nations into China’s and Russia’s arms…
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-west-its-competitors-and-african-state-building
Zambia: Hakainde Hichilema has won the presidential elections by a landslide. Edgar Lungu had become increasingly autocratic over the years, amongst others using COVID-19 to deny the opposition space to campaign, deploying the police to restrict opposition activities, and curbing parties’ access to state media. Yet “(m)ore than a vote for Hichilema, this election is a clear expression of frustration with Lungu’s economic management.” Successful businessman Hichilema “has promised a new regime of debt management, economic stability, a return to macroeconomic fundamentals, stability, policy consistency and middle-income status for the country.” Will he live up to (high) expectations?
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/zambians-vote-for-economic-reform