10 March 2023
Islamic Arts Biennale no.1: The ambition is to define Islamic art from within – from the 1800s onwards, it used to be defined from outside, from Europe. The article is an interview with Sumayya Vally, an architecture professor from South Africa, artistic director of the biennale. With “Islamic practice (…) rooted in collective rituals and experiences of community and belonging”, such practice being one focus of the biennale, “Islamic practice and Islamic tradition can and should be making a creative contribution to the world.” “(D)aily ritual belonging, “bodies in gathering – both in life and death”… Among the Africans whose works are exhibited are Tanzanian artist Lubna Chowdhary and South Africans Igshaan Adams (a tapestry artist) and Haroon Gunn-Salie (murdered in Apartheid police custody in 1969). The biennale is on show in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) until 23rd of April.
https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-first-islamic-art-biennale-shines-a-light-on-muslim-african-artists-200869
Nairobi: Downtown is no longer the focus of the Kenyan capital’s life. The closure of the Hilton hotel, the city’s first skyscraper in the 1960 only goes to illustrate this. The article gives an anthropologist’s account of the role and importance of the hotel for Nairobi and its residents.
https://theconversation.com/kenyas-first-skyscraper-closes-and-leaves-a-complicated-legacy-200092
Mali: It had been expected: authorities have postponed the constitutional referendum that was to have taken place in March. This casts further doubt on whether the junta will really hand power back to civilians after elections in February 2024.
BBC Africa Live 10 March 2023. 16:03
09 March 2023
Tunisia: Scapegoating foreigners is a classic to divert from other problems (the economy in a bad state with certain goods in short supply). But it “is paradoxical because Tunisia is predominantly an emigration country” and “Tunisians are confronted with similar discriminatory and nationalist discourses abroad.”
https://theconversation.com/tunisias-president-is-targeting-migrants-to-divert-attention-from-serious-domestic-problems-a-classic-tactic-201404
Mauritania/Germany: An MoU worth 34bn USD has been signed for the production of 8 million tonnes of green hydrogen. While a German company is the final benefactor, Egyptian and Emirati firms are also involved in the deal.
BBC Africa Live 09 March 2023. 5:58
South Sudan: After the defence minister (wife of the first vice-president Riek Machar) last week, president Salva Kiir has now dismissed another member of government, the foreign minister, this time an ally of his, providing no reason for the dismissal. The defence minister’s sacking was feared to have serious repercussions on the peace process with the UN calling for “restraint” and collegiality to resolve sensitive national issues.
BBC Africa Live 09 March 2023. 5:10
Nigeria: The electoral commission has postponed state governor and local assembly elections from 11th to 18th of March. The opposition had demanded a check of electronic voting machines (which malfunctioned for presidential elections recently). Though their demand was rejected by court, the electoral commission now says that “the legal challenge had held up preparations and the machines would not be ready in time”.
BBC Africa Live 09 March 2023. 4:35
Tunisia: Kaïs Saïed has announced the dissolution of municipal councils and their replacement by ‘special delegationts’. These municipal councils, dominated by opposition parties to the president, “were seen as one of the democratic gains achieved” after the 2011 jasmine revolution.
BBC Africa Live 09 March 2023. 12:10