Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.693
T. Neethling
The Cabo Delgado province in the northernmost portion of the long Mozambican seaboard is now home to Africa’s three largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, and these projects have attracted many of the world’s major multinational energy companies, accompanied by massive LNG investments. There can be little doubt that the discovery of rich gas reserves is a potential game changer for the Mozambican economy and development agenda. It is potentially an opportunity for the rapid advancement of a country that currently ranks close to the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index. However, despite the billions in investments from major multinational energy companies, the people of Cabo Delgado are yet to see the material benefit from these projects. One of the biggest risks to investors in the LNG industry is the many unknowns pertaining to the threat posed by the militant Islamic movement, Ansar al-Sunna, which has especially been active since 2017 in the Cabo Delgado province. In view of this, this article assesses Mozambique’s LNG industry and the political risks associated with the insurgent movement’s intention to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Cabo Delgado area.
{"title":"Natural Gas Production in Mozambique and the Political Risk of Islamic Militancy","authors":"T. Neethling","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.693","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.693","url":null,"abstract":"The Cabo Delgado province in the northernmost portion of the long Mozambican seaboard is now home to Africa’s three largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, and these projects have attracted many of the world’s major multinational energy companies, accompanied by massive LNG investments. There can be little doubt that the discovery of rich gas reserves is a potential game changer for the Mozambican economy and development agenda. It is potentially an opportunity for the rapid advancement of a country that currently ranks close to the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index. However, despite the billions in investments from major multinational energy companies, the people of Cabo Delgado are yet to see the material benefit from these projects. One of the biggest risks to investors in the LNG industry is the many unknowns pertaining to the threat posed by the militant Islamic movement, Ansar al-Sunna, which has especially been active since 2017 in the Cabo Delgado province. In view of this, this article assesses Mozambique’s LNG industry and the political risks associated with the insurgent movement’s intention to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Cabo Delgado area.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78182713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.694
D. du Toit, B. Whaley
South Africa has one of the highest violent crime rates globally, where physical and emotional trauma is used in homicides and suicides. While this is apparent to the ordinary South African, what is less clear is what happens after the police and forensics have done their job at a crime scene: Who cleans up the bloody mess? In South Africa, as in many other nations, trauma cleaners restore the scenes where homicides and suicides have been committed, and where industrial accidents have taken place. Little to no scholarly research has been conducted on the experiences of the cleaners of trauma scenes. Cleaning up these scenes consists of labour charged with violence that most cannot countenance, but which the cleaner must face. Drawing on 13 qualitative interviews, this article explores the challenges of cleaning up a site where violent and/or traumatic acts have occurred, and how the cleaners develop strategies to cope with their own concomitant trauma. The cleaners are exposed to various health and safety issues, as well as the emotional trauma associated with cleaning up horrific accidents and crimes. Findings show that trauma cleaners emotionally distance themselves from the violence to which they bear witness and use emotional labour, spirituality, humour, and debriefing as coping strategies. In its conclusion, this article suggests a greater acknowledgement of trauma cleaners’ responsibilities and recommends that proper physical and emotional training is necessary to ensure their wellbeing.
{"title":"Another Bloody Clean-Up","authors":"D. du Toit, B. Whaley","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.694","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.694","url":null,"abstract":"South Africa has one of the highest violent crime rates globally, where physical and emotional trauma is used in homicides and suicides. While this is apparent to the ordinary South African, what is less clear is what happens after the police and forensics have done their job at a crime scene: Who cleans up the bloody mess? In South Africa, as in many other nations, trauma cleaners restore the scenes where homicides and suicides have been committed, and where industrial accidents have taken place. Little to no scholarly research has been conducted on the experiences of the cleaners of trauma scenes. Cleaning up these scenes consists of labour charged with violence that most cannot countenance, but which the cleaner must face. Drawing on 13 qualitative interviews, this article explores the challenges of cleaning up a site where violent and/or traumatic acts have occurred, and how the cleaners develop strategies to cope with their own concomitant trauma. The cleaners are exposed to various health and safety issues, as well as the emotional trauma associated with cleaning up horrific accidents and crimes. Findings show that trauma cleaners emotionally distance themselves from the violence to which they bear witness and use emotional labour, spirituality, humour, and debriefing as coping strategies. In its conclusion, this article suggests a greater acknowledgement of trauma cleaners’ responsibilities and recommends that proper physical and emotional training is necessary to ensure their wellbeing.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73280093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.687
Samia Chasi
This article critically discusses the Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa, as adopted by the South African government in late 2020. Using a decolonial lens, it adds a critical voice to public discourse on the country’s first national policy for higher education internationalisation. The article argues that the Policy Framework needs to engage more vigorously with decolonisation as one of the most pertinent issues affecting higher education in South Africa today. It offers perspectives on what shifting the geography and biography of knowledge means in the context of the Policy Framework, thus opening up the possibility of moving South Africa from being primarily a receiver to a creator of internationalisation knowledge and practice.
{"title":"South Africa’s Policy Framework for Higher Education Internationalisation","authors":"Samia Chasi","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.687","url":null,"abstract":"This article critically discusses the Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa, as adopted by the South African government in late 2020. Using a decolonial lens, it adds a critical voice to public discourse on the country’s first national policy for higher education internationalisation. The article argues that the Policy Framework needs to engage more vigorously with decolonisation as one of the most pertinent issues affecting higher education in South Africa today. It offers perspectives on what shifting the geography and biography of knowledge means in the context of the Policy Framework, thus opening up the possibility of moving South Africa from being primarily a receiver to a creator of internationalisation knowledge and practice.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84557987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.689
Samuel Ajogwu Igba, Emmaculate Asige Liaga
In Africa, legitimation and claims to the legitimate use of force are often challenged by the problematic nature of ethnic diversity, amongst other things. Although ethnicity and diversity are not the problems in themselves, the politicisation of ethnicity is. In this paper, we link this to a history of colonisation which clustered multiple ethnic groups together within single sovereign entities around the continent, as well as the current realities of coloniality which has prevented states within the continent from imagining and transcending the European artefact and design of the modern state in Africa. We link the exploratory term coloniality in statebuilding to the failure of African states to overcome the politicisation of ethnicity and ethnic diversity in order to mitigate the problematic nature of democracy in modern African states. This failure leads to challenges of legitimacy in any given state, and ultimately the states’ claim to the legitimate use of force. The resultant symptoms and indicators of such challenges are manifest in the rise of various insurgencies, separatism, and other forms of insecurity. The cases of Kenya, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia are briefly discussed in this article, highlighting the problematic nature of the claims to the legitimate use of force, legitimacy, and the resultant political ethnicity with all its consequences for these states.
{"title":"Coloniality, Legitimacy in Statebuilding, and the Use of Force in Africa","authors":"Samuel Ajogwu Igba, Emmaculate Asige Liaga","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.689","url":null,"abstract":"In Africa, legitimation and claims to the legitimate use of force are often challenged by the problematic nature of ethnic diversity, amongst other things. Although ethnicity and diversity are not the problems in themselves, the politicisation of ethnicity is. In this paper, we link this to a history of colonisation which clustered multiple ethnic groups together within single sovereign entities around the continent, as well as the current realities of coloniality which has prevented states within the continent from imagining and transcending the European artefact and design of the modern state in Africa. We link the exploratory term coloniality in statebuilding to the failure of African states to overcome the politicisation of ethnicity and ethnic diversity in order to mitigate the problematic nature of democracy in modern African states. This failure leads to challenges of legitimacy in any given state, and ultimately the states’ claim to the legitimate use of force. The resultant symptoms and indicators of such challenges are manifest in the rise of various insurgencies, separatism, and other forms of insecurity. The cases of Kenya, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Somalia are briefly discussed in this article, highlighting the problematic nature of the claims to the legitimate use of force, legitimacy, and the resultant political ethnicity with all its consequences for these states.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82894378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.691
George Hull
Decoloniality theory, with its signature concepts coloniality of power and coloniality of knowledge, initially emerged in Latin America. It has been developed further in southern Africa, where it now has significant influence in some universities. Decoloniality theory has to be distinguished from the broader endeavour of intellectual decolonization. The latter includes all intellectual efforts to free theory and ideology from distorting bias which is the effect of colonial or neocolonial power relations. Intellectual decolonization in this broader sense (e.g., in the writings of Anthony Appiah and Kwasi Wiredu) is truth-oriented: it aims to expose incorrect claims which are the result of bias, replacing them with correct theoretical conclusions. By contrast, contemporary decoloniality theory (e.g., in the writings of Walter Mignolo and Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni) embraces several contentious metaphysical ideas, among which is rejection of the very possibility of universal truth. When decoloniality theory first emerged (in Aníbal Quijano’s innovative writings) out of the discipline of political economy, however, it exemplified the broader, truth-oriented sense of intellectual decolonization. Quijano, and later Ramón Grosfoguel, were concerned to expose several false theoretical claims in social science which are a legacy of Eurocentric bias. Here I argue that tracing the steps by which contemporary decoloniality theory developed from this starting point can reveal some of its principal shortcomings. I seek to show that several of the distinctive metaphysical ideas in contemporary decoloniality theory are founded on drastically undermotivated, hyperphilosophising inferences from empirical premises. Even considered purely on its own terms, I argue, contemporary decoloniality theory exhibits a number of weaknesses and contradictions.
{"title":"Some Pitfalls of Decoloniality Theory","authors":"George Hull","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.691","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.691","url":null,"abstract":"Decoloniality theory, with its signature concepts coloniality of power and coloniality of knowledge, initially emerged in Latin America. It has been developed further in southern Africa, where it now has significant influence in some universities. Decoloniality theory has to be distinguished from the broader endeavour of intellectual decolonization. The latter includes all intellectual efforts to free theory and ideology from distorting bias which is the effect of colonial or neocolonial power relations. Intellectual decolonization in this broader sense (e.g., in the writings of Anthony Appiah and Kwasi Wiredu) is truth-oriented: it aims to expose incorrect claims which are the result of bias, replacing them with correct theoretical conclusions. By contrast, contemporary decoloniality theory (e.g., in the writings of Walter Mignolo and Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni) embraces several contentious metaphysical ideas, among which is rejection of the very possibility of universal truth. When decoloniality theory first emerged (in Aníbal Quijano’s innovative writings) out of the discipline of political economy, however, it exemplified the broader, truth-oriented sense of intellectual decolonization. Quijano, and later Ramón Grosfoguel, were concerned to expose several false theoretical claims in social science which are a legacy of Eurocentric bias. Here I argue that tracing the steps by which contemporary decoloniality theory developed from this starting point can reveal some of its principal shortcomings. I seek to show that several of the distinctive metaphysical ideas in contemporary decoloniality theory are founded on drastically undermotivated, hyperphilosophising inferences from empirical premises. Even considered purely on its own terms, I argue, contemporary decoloniality theory exhibits a number of weaknesses and contradictions.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79782278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.686
Z. Mtumane, R. N. Tabu
This paper examines the use of alliteration in Welile Shasha’s poetry in Zihlabana nje Ziyalamba. This aspect is chosen as Shasha uses it very intensively in his poetry. Alliteration is discussed as demonstrated by the use of assonance and consonance in the poetry. To be considered then is the repetition of vowel and consonant sounds. The subheadings of this discourse are introduction, theoretical framework, research methodology, assonance and consonance. The concept of alliteration is defined as part of the introductory section of the study. A concluding remark, which provides the summary of the research, evaluation and recommendation for further study, will be included towards the end of the discourse. The theoretical framework that underpins this study is that of literary stylistics. The study uses the qualitative research methodology of data collection and analysis.
{"title":"Alliteration in W. Shasha’s Zihlabana nje Ziyalamba","authors":"Z. Mtumane, R. N. Tabu","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.686","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.686","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the use of alliteration in Welile Shasha’s poetry in Zihlabana nje Ziyalamba. This aspect is chosen as Shasha uses it very intensively in his poetry. Alliteration is discussed as demonstrated by the use of assonance and consonance in the poetry. To be considered then is the repetition of vowel and consonant sounds. The subheadings of this discourse are introduction, theoretical framework, research methodology, assonance and consonance. The concept of alliteration is defined as part of the introductory section of the study. A concluding remark, which provides the summary of the research, evaluation and recommendation for further study, will be included towards the end of the discourse. The theoretical framework that underpins this study is that of literary stylistics. The study uses the qualitative research methodology of data collection and analysis.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78043534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.688
N. Chapman, Sangeeta Maharaj, Melanie Seeberan, Emmarica Houlder
This paper explores how dancehall lyrics reproduce heterosexist and homophobic discourses in the LGBTQ community within a Caribbean dancehall context. It advances notable scholarship (Chunnu 2021, Hope, 2021) on dancehall lyrics by drawing on standard parallels of the colonial same-sex practices used to denigrate enslaved Africans and the Eurocentric religious ideal that LGBTQ customs contravene Judeo-Christian doctrine. Dancehall music originated in Jamaica within the neo-colonial period (since the 1980s) coming out of reggae. Dancehall is the musical expression of the working-class black masses used to protest the criminogenic continuities of colonial history. Although dancehall acted as a form of protest against the colonially entangled inequalities, heterosexism prevailed and continued to shape the checkered reality of coloniality within Jamaica and T&T societies. As such, this study explores the present-day identities of the LGBTQIA community expressed through the dancehall lyrics created within the 1990-2010 period utilising autobiography, critical discourse analysis by Fairclough and gender performativity theory by Judith Butler. In doing so, the researcher connected dancehall lyrics to heterosexism through an analysis of discourses within religion, sex and sexuality. Such discourses contributed to advancing the understanding of stigmatisation, criminalisation and dehumanisation of the LGBTQ community in a cross-cultural Caribbean context.
{"title":"Heterosexism and Homophobia in the Caribbean Dancehall Context","authors":"N. Chapman, Sangeeta Maharaj, Melanie Seeberan, Emmarica Houlder","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.688","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores how dancehall lyrics reproduce heterosexist and homophobic discourses in the LGBTQ community within a Caribbean dancehall context. It advances notable scholarship (Chunnu 2021, Hope, 2021) on dancehall lyrics by drawing on standard parallels of the colonial same-sex practices used to denigrate enslaved Africans and the Eurocentric religious ideal that LGBTQ customs contravene Judeo-Christian doctrine. Dancehall music originated in Jamaica within the neo-colonial period (since the 1980s) coming out of reggae. Dancehall is the musical expression of the working-class black masses used to protest the criminogenic continuities of colonial history. Although dancehall acted as a form of protest against the colonially entangled inequalities, heterosexism prevailed and continued to shape the checkered reality of coloniality within Jamaica and T&T societies. As such, this study explores the present-day identities of the LGBTQIA community expressed through the dancehall lyrics created within the 1990-2010 period utilising autobiography, critical discourse analysis by Fairclough and gender performativity theory by Judith Butler. In doing so, the researcher connected dancehall lyrics to heterosexism through an analysis of discourses within religion, sex and sexuality. Such discourses contributed to advancing the understanding of stigmatisation, criminalisation and dehumanisation of the LGBTQ community in a cross-cultural Caribbean context.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"48 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76319871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.685
S. Friedman
In his celebrated study of colonisation, The Intimate Enemy, Ashis Nandy observes of Indian responses to British colonisation: ‘The pressure to be the obverse of the West distorts the traditional priorities in the Indian’s total view of the…universe…It in fact binds him (sic) even more irrevocably to the West.’ This problem stems, he adds, from a tendency by both coloniser and anti-colonial thinker to ‘absolutise the relative difference between cultures’. This article will argue that Nandy’s observation is an essential element in a South African response to colonisation which does not repeat colonialism’s assumptions in the name of replacing them. In particular, it argues against an essentialism in which a reified ‘Western culture’ is replaced by an equally reified ‘African culture’ which is just as constraining and just as likely to be used as a rationale for domination as the colonial ideology it purports to reject. It will further argue that we avoid the trap of which Nandy warns if we define intellectual colonisation as an ideology which seeks to suppress or eliminate modes of thought which do not conform to a dominant set of values and its antidote, decolonisation, as the removal of this constraint, not as its replacement by new constraints. This decolonisation does not seek to abolish ‘Western culture’ but to integrate it into a world view in which it takes its place alongside African, Asian, and Latin American cultures. It therefore recognises the syncretic nature of all cultures and views of the world and seeks to enhance, rather than obstruct, conversations between them.
{"title":"The Change Which Remains the Same","authors":"S. Friedman","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.685","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.685","url":null,"abstract":"In his celebrated study of colonisation, The Intimate Enemy, Ashis Nandy observes of Indian responses to British colonisation: ‘The pressure to be the obverse of the West distorts the traditional priorities in the Indian’s total view of the…universe…It in fact binds him (sic) even more irrevocably to the West.’ This problem stems, he adds, from a tendency by both coloniser and anti-colonial thinker to ‘absolutise the relative difference between cultures’. This article will argue that Nandy’s observation is an essential element in a South African response to colonisation which does not repeat colonialism’s assumptions in the name of replacing them. In particular, it argues against an essentialism in which a reified ‘Western culture’ is replaced by an equally reified ‘African culture’ which is just as constraining and just as likely to be used as a rationale for domination as the colonial ideology it purports to reject. It will further argue that we avoid the trap of which Nandy warns if we define intellectual colonisation as an ideology which seeks to suppress or eliminate modes of thought which do not conform to a dominant set of values and its antidote, decolonisation, as the removal of this constraint, not as its replacement by new constraints. This decolonisation does not seek to abolish ‘Western culture’ but to integrate it into a world view in which it takes its place alongside African, Asian, and Latin American cultures. It therefore recognises the syncretic nature of all cultures and views of the world and seeks to enhance, rather than obstruct, conversations between them. ","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90578206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.690
Anton M. Pillay
The incarceration of the former South African President Jacob Zuma on charges of contempt of court sparked mass looting, destruction, and damage to a staggering economy attempting to navigate through Covid-19-related repercussions. Early estimates reveal that the initial damage report bill is a R50 billion knock on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The level of orchestration behind the attacks alludes to state-sponsored violence, given Mr Zuma’s loyal sympathisers within the intelligence community and in the African National Congress. This research postulates that Mr Zuma’s political rhetoric served as the main inciting factor behind the destruction. Indeed, comparative analysis shows how many post-independence/liberation leaders have invoked a language of debt by virtue of their role as independence/liberation heroes to justify dismal governance records. What are the key features of this language of debt?
南非前总统雅各布·祖马(Jacob Zuma)因藐视法庭罪被监禁，这引发了大规模抢劫和破坏，并对试图应对新冠肺炎相关影响的惊人经济造成了破坏。初步估计显示，最初的损失报告将对该国的国内生产总值(GDP)造成500亿兰特的打击。考虑到祖马在情报界和非洲人国民大会(African National Congress)中有忠实的同情者，这些袭击背后精心策划的程度暗示了国家支持的暴力。这项研究假设祖马的政治言论是这场破坏背后的主要煽动因素。的确，比较分析表明，有多少独立/解放后的领导人凭借自己作为独立/解放英雄的角色，援引了一种债务语言，来为他们糟糕的治理记录辩护。这种债务语言的主要特征是什么?
{"title":"The Language of Liberation and Perpetual Eternity","authors":"Anton M. Pillay","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.690","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.690","url":null,"abstract":"The incarceration of the former South African President Jacob Zuma on charges of contempt of court sparked mass looting, destruction, and damage to a staggering economy attempting to navigate through Covid-19-related repercussions. Early estimates reveal that the initial damage report bill is a R50 billion knock on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The level of orchestration behind the attacks alludes to state-sponsored violence, given Mr Zuma’s loyal sympathisers within the intelligence community and in the African National Congress. This research postulates that Mr Zuma’s political rhetoric served as the main inciting factor behind the destruction. Indeed, comparative analysis shows how many post-independence/liberation leaders have invoked a language of debt by virtue of their role as independence/liberation heroes to justify dismal governance records. What are the key features of this language of debt?","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84977822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-06DOI: 10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.692
J. Adeyeri
Opinions are divided on the conduct and nature of the 1967–70 Nigerian civil war, occasioned partly by the Igbo secession and declaration of the Republic of Biafra. Some believe that the Nigerian government adopted a genocidal war strategy characterised by mass violence against civilians, aggressive blockade of the eastern region, artificial famine, and hateful/threatening utterances by many military commanders, accompanied by about one million civilian casualties. On the other hand, some are of the view that the actions of some Nigerian military officers and men were not in consonant with the position of the Nigerian government during the war, but were influenced by their animosity towards the Igbo. In post-civil war Nigeria, Igbo-Hausa/Fulani relations and political discourses are increasingly tense and indicative of a fearful resurgence of mass violence due to prevalent lies, propaganda, and misrepresentations –verbally, on paper, and online/on social media – particularly among the youths on both sides. This paper argues that the historical crisis-ridden relations between the Igbo and the Hausa/Fulani, the attendant 1966 mass killings of Igbos in the north, the nature of the war strategies of the federal government during the civil war, and the currently mounting tension are all direct results of contending ethnic propaganda including hate speech, lies, and name-calling in a bid to gain political and strategic advantages over other ethnic groups. Thus, this paper is a historical inquiry into the role of propaganda and hate speech in socio-political interactions, discourses, and incitements of mass violence among the heterogeneous Nigerian population, particularly the Igbo and the Hausa/Fulani. The paper proposes legislative, constitutional, and active citizenship advocacies to address the menace. The article utilises primary and secondary sources to analyse and interpret the subject-matter of the paper.
{"title":"Ethnic Propaganda, Hate Speech, and Mass Violence in Igbo-Hausa/Fulani Relations in Postcolonial Nigeria","authors":"J. Adeyeri","doi":"10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.692","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/thethinker.v89i4.692","url":null,"abstract":"Opinions are divided on the conduct and nature of the 1967–70 Nigerian civil war, occasioned partly by the Igbo secession and declaration of the Republic of Biafra. Some believe that the Nigerian government adopted a genocidal war strategy characterised by mass violence against civilians, aggressive blockade of the eastern region, artificial famine, and hateful/threatening utterances by many military commanders, accompanied by about one million civilian casualties. On the other hand, some are of the view that the actions of some Nigerian military officers and men were not in consonant with the position of the Nigerian government during the war, but were influenced by their animosity towards the Igbo. In post-civil war Nigeria, Igbo-Hausa/Fulani relations and political discourses are increasingly tense and indicative of a fearful resurgence of mass violence due to prevalent lies, propaganda, and misrepresentations –verbally, on paper, and online/on social media – particularly among the youths on both sides. This paper argues that the historical crisis-ridden relations between the Igbo and the Hausa/Fulani, the attendant 1966 mass killings of Igbos in the north, the nature of the war strategies of the federal government during the civil war, and the currently mounting tension are all direct results of contending ethnic propaganda including hate speech, lies, and name-calling in a bid to gain political and strategic advantages over other ethnic groups. Thus, this paper is a historical inquiry into the role of propaganda and hate speech in socio-political interactions, discourses, and incitements of mass violence among the heterogeneous Nigerian population, particularly the Igbo and the Hausa/Fulani. The paper proposes legislative, constitutional, and active citizenship advocacies to address the menace. The article utilises primary and secondary sources to analyse and interpret the subject-matter of the paper.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"126 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76804323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：