AfricaFocus Bulletin
February 22, 2021 Africa/Global: The Inequality Virus
“COVID-19 has been likened to an x-ray, revealing fractures in the
fragile skeleton of the societies we have built. It is exposing
fallacies and falsehoods everywhere: The lie that free markets can
deliver healthcare for all; The fiction that unpaid care work is
not work; The delusion that we live in a post-racist world; The
myth that we are all in the same boat. While we are all floating
on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in super yachts, while
others are clinging to the drifting debris.” – António Guterres,
UN Secretary General
February 8, 2021 Ethiopia: No End to War in Devastated Tigray
“It feels strange to write about a humanitarian crisis in this day and age with barely any pictures, videos or witness testimonies from the ground. But that is what the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has come to. Since the conflict between the federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the regional government’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), began in November 2020, access to the region has been extremely limited. Internet and telephone connectivity was cut off as soon as the fighting began, disconnecting about 5 million people. Months later, the internet remains down and telephone communication has only been restored in a few main towns. Journalists and human rights monitors are still denied entry and cannot report to the world the full scale of the violence which has left at least hundreds of people dead and more than 470,000 displaced, according to the UN.” - Vanessa Tsehaye, Amnesty International
January 26, 2021 Africa/Global: Distant Horizon for Vaccine Equity
“I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic
moral failure – and the price of this failure will be paid with
lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries. Even as
they speak the language of equitable access [to Covid vaccines],
some countries and companies continue to prioritize bilateral
deals, driving up prices and attempting to jump to the front of the
queue. This is wrong. … The situation is compounded by the fact
that most manufacturers have prioritized regulatory approval in
rich countries where the profits are highest, rather than
submitting full dossiers to WHO.” - Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
WHO Director-General
December 14, 2020 Africa/Global: State of Tax Justice 2020
“Of the $427 billion in tax lost each year globally to tax havens,
the State of Tax Justice 2020 reports that $245 billion is directly
lost to corporate tax abuse by multinational corporations and $182
billion to private tax evasion. Multinational corporations paid
billions less in tax than they should have by shifting $1.38
trillion worth of profit out of the countries where they were
generated and into tax havens, where corporate tax rates are
extremely low or non-existent. Private tax evaders paid less tax
than they should have by storing a total of over $10 trillion in
financial assets offshore.” - Tax Justice Network, November 2020.
November 30, 2020 USA/Africa: Build Back Better on Africa Policy
“President Trump's overt contempt for Africans is encapsulated in
his famously crass remark about African countries. But the
principal damage to Africa has stemmed from his administration’s
broader policy choices, such as the disastrous rejection of the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris climate accords;
harsh curbs on legal immigration and asylum; and gutting of gender
equality programs. … Nevertheless, the Biden administration should
not merely go back to the pre-Trump status quo. … We argue that an
even more fundamental questioning of U.S. Africa-related policy is
needed.” - Imani Countess and William Minter
More on:
politics&human rights|peace&security|health|economy|ict
AfricaFocus Archive:
by date | by place | by topic
November 30, 2020
USA/Global: On Climate, How Much Will Be New?
November 18, 2020
Ethiopia: Not Too Late to Step Back from War?
October 23, 2020
Nigeria: A New Generation Steps Up
October 13, 2020
Africa/Global: The Future's Not in Plastics
September 28, 2020
USA/Global: Millions Displaced by US Post-9/11 Wars
September 23, 2020
USA/Global: Overhauling U.S. Foreign Policy
September 14, 2020
India/Africa: Common Threads of Kanga and Vitenge
August 24, 2020
USA/Global: Divest from Violent Policing and Endless Wars, Part Two
August 24, 2020
USA/Global: Divest from Violent Policing and Endless Wars, Part One
August 3, 2020
Africa/Global: Preventing the Next Pandemic
July 20, 2020
South Africa: Covid-19 Response Failing; How to Do Better
July 6, 2020
Africa/Global: Not Pessimism or Optimism but Possibilism
June 22, 2020
Africa/Global: Fossil Fuel Viability to Decline Sharply
June 8, 2020
USA/Global: Racial Pandemic and Viral Pandemic
June 8, 2020
Africa/Global: Thinking Post-Covid-19
May 25, 2020
Africa: Remote Learning with African Storybooks
May 12, 2020
USA/Global: Contesting Health and Workers' Rights
April 27, 2020
Africa/Global: Pandemic Mobilization amid High Vulnerability
April 13, 2020
Mozambique: Cumulative Shocks, Local and Global
April 2, 2020
Africa: Covid-19, New Africa-Specific Links
March 26, 2020
Africa/Global: Coronavirus Reflections and Updates
March 16, 2020
Africa/Global: Coronavirus Updates
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