Working from home (WFH) certainly has its advantages, but studies have shown that prolonged isolation can have dire mental health consequences. As societies change their behaviour to adjust to COVID-19, they must take into consideration the innate human need for physical interaction.
As in other parts of the world colonised by European powers, the politics of skin colour in South Africa have been importantly shaped by the history of white supremacy and institutions of racial slavery, colonialism, and segregation.
It is no longer shocking to witness the prejudice among French institutions and intelligentsia against Africa and Africans.
The insensitivity displayed by the Kenyan government during the COVID-19 lockdown has confirmed that the country’s leaders are oblivious to the challenges facing ordinary citizens. This don’t-care attitude could, however, give rise to demands for a more progressive and caring leadership.
COVID-19 spreads from Europe to Africa, inverting colonial imaginaries of African disease and challenging inherited hierarchies.
Frantz Fanon remains vital not only for his bracing anti-racism and anti-colonialism, but equally for the less-recognized, empathetic politics of solidarity he cultivated and exemplified.
Pandemics force even neoliberal thinkers to admit that government action and collective solidarity are what is urgently needed.
A severe economic crisis followed by the COVID-19 pandemic have had a deep impact on African domestic workers living and working in Lebanon. Some homeless female workers from Sierra Leone have found refuge in shelters, but resources to sustain them are drying up.
Laughter is cathartic, a coping mechanism in the midst of crisis. But humour also has the potential to catalyse analysis and mobilise diverse publics around socio-economic and political concerns.
KARUTI KANYINGA pays tribute to his friend and mentor, Thandika Mkandawire, who left an indelible mark on scholarship focusing on Africa’s growth and development.
