Facebook To Open Its First Office in Africa

Facebook has announced that it would open its first office in Africa, to be located in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is quite interesting that with millions of Africans on Facebook, the company was yet to open an office in the continent.

Universities Should Be At Forefront of Taking Down Racist Icons

In a previous post, I remarked on the cases in South Africa where some university students were clamoring for the removal of colonial and apartheid symbols off college campuses. This movement has apparently reached the United States, picking up steam especially after the recent slaying of nine black people in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white supremacist. The call for the removal of racist symbols can now be heard from South Carolina to Mississippi and Alabama, the racist heartlands of the United States. In all this, South African students should be seen as pioneers. They started this revolt without shedding a single drop of blood. Blood is being shed on this matter in the United States in part because there has been centuries of training in racism here. It is good that the movement is catching steam on university campuses here in the United States. Where else should such movements begin if not on university campuses? We are still waiting for the voices of students at universities in Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, etc. etc.

The Charleston Nine as Christian Martyrs

Those who were murdered at the "Mother Emanuel" AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, are to be called Christian martyrs. With Fox News seeing the persecution of Christians everywhere in America, this claim may easily play into the Fox News narrative of the persecution of Christians in America. However, the claim that those who were murdered in Charleston are Christian martyrs is far from endorsing that narrative because it is based on quite a different premise. First, I do not think that Christians are being persecuted in America. Second, the way the Charleston Nine are to be understood as martyrs goes against the grain of how the Christian faith has historically named its martyrs. Christians martyrs have historically been those who died directly, not tangentially, because of their faith. In other words, Christian martyrs have historically been those who died for no other reason but the fact that they were Christians. It is now widely reported that the Charleston Nine were murdered because they were black rather than because they were Christians. The attempt by Fox News to connect their death to the narrative of Christian persecution in America was rightly repudiated by no other but the African American comedian, Larry Wilmore. Thus, the fact that the Charleston Nine were murdered because they were black rather than Christian can hardly be gainsaid.

That is however not the end of the story because even though they were murdered because they were black, they were murdered in the sanctuary were they were engaged in what should be considered to be their Christian duty. They were at church studying the Bible, as Christians should do. They were not murdered at their homes but at church where they were forming their Christian identity. If they were at their homes, the murderer could hardly have gathered them in one place and murdered them. They were gathered in one place in the name of Christ and for that they were murdered. There is therefore a very good case to be made for the claim that the Charleston Nine are Christian martyrs because they were killed doing what they were supposed to be doing as Christians. Those who did not go to church that fateful night, saved their lives. In the end, the difference between who died and who lived was not race but rather who was present at church. There is a sense in which they were killed because they were Christians.

America's Mourning Shows: Normalizing Gun Massacres in America

It would be a terrible mistake to think that what often happens on America's mass media after a gun massacre is an attempt to ensure that such things never happen again. Of the numerous gun massacres that have happened in the United States only in the last five years or so, one of the things that one often sees is the number of people who come on TV pontificating on the whys and the wherefores of the events. Some speak of the mass shooters as deranged, psychopaths, sociopath, or racists, depending on how the massacre happened. Others blame the gun culture and the NRA (National Rifle Association) for putting profit over people. Others yet talk about legislation to curb gun violence, while others say that pastors and teachers should have guns in their pockets while they are preaching or teaching. One may be tempted to interpret all this as an attempt to understand why these gun massacres happen so as to preempt them in the future. Such interpretation would however be grossly mistaken.

What is actually going on is that all of the anger from the aggrieved, the blame of the NRA, the description of the shooter as mentally ill or a thug or whatever, are what I have here called America's Mourning Shows. Simply put, it is a way for America to mourn its dead, on TV, on radio, the Internet, and the Newspapers, and move on. America has come to see that gun deaths, like death in general, is inevitable, and the best way to approach it is to mourn it. All what goes in the mass media are forms of this mourning, understood as expressing grief for a loss or losses. Just as mourning is a proper way to seek closure in a case of death, so too are all these rants on TV, newspaper, or the internet just a means to find closure - for the moment - until the next gun massacre happens again. Understanding what happens after a mass shooting as mourning is important because it alerts us to the fact that gun massacres in America, just as the facts of death and taxes, have come to be seen as inevitable, as normal. The best that can be done is to mourn the departed, find closure, and move on. This performance is especially choreographed by the mass media, which are now like priests who help America mourn its violent deaths.

I Have A Snow Mountain In Cameroon To Sell to the ICC

The title of this post is my response to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it really believed that the South African government would arrest Sudan's dictator, Omar el Bashir, and hand him over to be prosecuted in the Hague. Given that many African countries, under the banner of the AU, have seen the court as an imperialist project, it would be delusional to think that South Africa, which is struggling to find its African identity, would hand one of Africa's own to this project. To prove that it is really African, the South African government has taken to supporting dictatorships in Africa.

In order to fool the ICC that it would hand over Bashir, the South African government first said that it was sure Omar Bashir would remain in the country to the end of the African Union summit which he was attending (the summit ends today). Then later it said that it cannot be sure that its security officers at the airport would be able to keep Mr. Bashir in the country because its airport security has a history of letting go people who have been ordered not to leave the country. Then today we were told that Mr. Bashir has made a narrow escape. In the end, the blame should be that of the South African airport officials rather than that of the South African government. If the ICC buys this story, I have a snow mountain in Cameroon to sell them. It goes for fifteen dollars! What a deal!

Cameroon's Women Shine at the World Cup

Trounced Ecuador 6-0.

Issa Hayatou For Fifa President!

Issa Hayatou (Photo from Fifa)
Since the announced resignation of current Fifa President, Sepp Blatter, some have suggested that he should be replaced by Michel Platini of France. While Mr. Platini may be a worthy candidate, we here at FlourishingAfrica are throwing our weight behind current CAF President and Fifa Vice President, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon. Our reason for doing so is simple: Issa Hayatou has demonstrated excellent management skills in leading one of the most difficult confederations, the Confederation of African Football (CAF). This was especially demonstrated in his successful handling of the just ended African Nations Cup which held under the shadow of Ebola and calls for boycott. Unlike the World Cup where countries give bribes only to be able to host it, many African countries rejected hosting the just ended African Nations Cup, including Morocco and Ghana. In spite of that, the event went on and produced a worthy Champion, Ivory Coast. Also, even though everyone at Fifa seems to be under suspicion of corruption, Mr. Hayatou still appears untainted by it all. He would therefore make an excellent candidate to clean house at Fifa. Issa Hayatou should be Fifa's next President.