AfricaFocus Bulletin
February 24, 2020 USA/Global: National and Global Inequalities Are Intertwined
The recession that began in 2008 brought new life to the public debate on class and racial inequality in the United States. The #OccupyWallStreet demonstrations in 2011 may have left no institutional legacy, but they shined a spotlight on a yawning wealth gap and the role of the “one percent.” #BlackLivesMatter and related movements challenged complacency on entrenched racism … Public awareness of inequality, like awareness of climate change, was rising even before President Trump took office. But his administration’s sharp turn toward denial and regression on both issues has spurred active opposition and cut into the complacency of conventional Democratic Party politics.
February 10, 2020 Malawi: Historic Victory for Rule of Law
“On Monday, Malawi´s High Court nullified the country’s May
presidential elections. The
500-page ruling includes a laundry list of election irregularities
— and faults the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) for failing to
carry out its responsibilities according to the constitution and
electoral law. The court ruled that President Peter Mutharika was
“not duly elected” and called for fresh elections within 150 days.
… This ruling is historic. It is the first in Malawi and only the
second in Africa (Kenya was the first) to nullify an election and
call for a rerun.” - Kim Yi Dionne and Boniface Dulani
January 27, 2020 USA/Global: Green New Deal Can and Must Be Global
July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded worldwide, as a wide swath of the continental United States sweltered with heat indexes of over 100° F. This northern hemisphere summer also saw unprecedented heat waves in Europe and in the Arctic, from Alaska to Siberia. Greenland´s glaciers were melting at a unprecedented rate.
Add in more frequent storms, flooding and wildfires, and the scale of the crisis is harder and harder to ignore, even in the United States, where climate denialism has been more prevalent than in any other major country.
January 27, 2020 USA/Global: Beyond Eurocentrism and U.S. Exceptionalism
Since his election, Trump’s erratic policies have aligned the
United States with right-wing authoritarians across the globe, fed
global currents of xenophobia and racism, and dismayed traditional
allies. In 2019, nevertheless, foreign policy was a low priority in
the 2020 presidential campaign. In January 2020, the
administration´s killing of Iranian leader Qassem Soleimani evoked
widespread opposition amid fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
Even so, evidence of new thinking on the U.S. role in the world,
beyond opposition to Trump, remained sparse. Former Vice
President Joe Biden called for a return to American leadership as
it existed in an era “before Trump,” and harked back to the
“liberal” U.S.-led global order after World War II, which centered
the alliance of Western democracies in the North Atlantic and the
Cold War against the Soviet Union. But even Bernie Sanders and
Elizabeth Warren only took tentative steps towards laying out an
alternative foreign policy vision.
January 13, 2020 Russia/Africa: Upping Its Stake in Multi-Player Field
The Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Russia in late October 2019
prompted a flurry of news coverage, highlighting such headline figures as sales agreements
amounting to more than $12 billion. But it was not clear how
much this was a real sign of significant expansion of Russian
influence or primarily a public relations gloss on more limited
involvement. Among the more analytical articles covering the summit
was a well-informed article by Joe Penney in Passblue on October
28, which noted that ”While many memorandums were signed, actual
contracts were few and far between, inviting speculation as to
whether the summit was more about power projection than real
business.”
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AfricaFocus Archive:
by date | by place | by topic
December 16, 2019
Africa/Global: Editor´s Commentaries, 2019
December 9, 2019
Africa: Continental Unity and Industrialization?
November 25, 2019
USA/Africa: At Home in Maine
November 11, 2019
Tanzania: Human Rights Restrictions Mounting
October 28, 2019
Africa/Global: Untapped Potential for Africa Climate Actions
October 9, 2019
Africa/Global: Targeting Corporate Shell Games
September 18, 2019
Horn of Africa: Interview with Kassahun Checole
September 12, 2019
South Africa: Xenophobia, Deep Roots, Today´s Crisis
September 12, 2019
South Africa: Spotlight on Gender-based Violence
August 12, 2019
Africa/Global: Tax Avoidance 101
August 12, 2019
Africa/Global: #MauritiusLeaks Reveals Tax Dodges
July 29, 2019
Africa/Global: Agribusiness vs. Agroecology
July 15, 2019
Africa/Global: New Horizon for Off-Grid Solar
July 2, 2019
Kenya/Global: Big Victory for #SaveLamu/#deCOALonize
June 19, 2019
AfricaFocus Updates: Sudan, Ebola, Mozambique
May 27, 2019
Africa/Global: World Bank Ramps Up Attack on Small Farmers
May 13, 2019
Africa/Global: Cutting the Costs on Remittances
April 30, 2019
Africa/Global: Fighting Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance
April 15, 2019
Africa/Global: Ebola Resurgence Tests Global Response
April 9, 2019
South Africa: Politicians Scapegoating Immigrants
April 9, 2019
Africa: Migration within the Continent
March 22, 2019
Southern Africa/Global: Cyclone Idai and Climate Justice
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