Guest Blogger's blog

The red flag one is most likely to be confronted with for criticizing the thoroughly illegitimate ‘leader' of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is imperialism and racism. If you are an African criticizing Mugabe, you are likely to be accused of being guilty of working in cahoots with racist-imperialists.  read more »

For those who have followed the debates around the African Pavilion at the 52^nd Venice Biennale before the exhibition itself, especially those who had no opportunity of seeing the show in Venice, nor of monitoring critical responses to it in the international art media, here are three excerpts from reviews by three major international art magazines: Flash Art, and Art in America and Frieze. These reviews point to the gains and losses of the African project in this year's Venice.  read more »

China has become an important economic resource for Africa in the 21^st century. China's rapidly growing economy has overlapped with an urgent need to diversify African economies, which remain largely based on the export of unprocessed raw materials. China's industries have turned to Africa in search of their mineral and raw material needs. And China has offered Africa the opportunity to develop its infrastructural base to support economic diversification and to improve the transfer of skills in science and technology.  read more »

Yesterday I arrived in Kenya, my home when I'm not in the United States. I spent most of my first day back in front of the TV watching our president and our prime minister launch Vision 2030, which is supposed to turn us into Singapore. The document is a supposed compromise between Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement and President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity. I started off my usual cynical self about local politics and was planning to write something about Barack Obama's triumph instead.  read more »

Ever since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981, Egypt has been governed under Emergency Law: 27 years worth of "emergencies" constitutionally designated for use only when facing a direct threat, such as a military invasion or a natural disaster. The law, which is supposed to be used in exceptional circumstances, has become the permanent method of governance in Egypt. Interestingly, President Hosni Mubarak has been the country's ruler for all those 27 years.

   read more »