Tag: africa

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Subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world

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Nobel Prize-winning author, Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul’s The Masque of Africa is all about African belief, begins in Uganda, at the centre of the continent, do Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and end at the bottom of the continent, in South Africa. My theme is belief, not political or economical life, and yet at the bottom of the continent the political realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account. “Perhaps an unspoken aspect of my inquiry was the possibility of the subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world. The theme … Continue reading Subversion of old Africa by the ways of the outside world

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Supply of battery metals amid big business rivalry and geopolitics

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The Elements of Power is a tale of rapacious colonialism, Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics. Nicholas Niarchos’s epic shocking story of the war for the global supply of battery metals- essential for the decarbonization of our economies- and the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry. Swaths of war-torn Congo, the African country is rich but lack basic infrastructure, and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, … Continue reading Supply of battery metals amid big business rivalry and geopolitics

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Human tragedy of slavery & Slaveship’s fight for Emancipation

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The Predator of the Seas is the dramatic biography of a slaveship turned freedom-fighter – which brings new insights into Britain’s involvement in the end of the trade in enslaved people. HMS Black Joe, ex-slaver turned scourge of the transatlantic trade, is the story of the slave ship sent on a moral crusade. The Brazilian slave ship Henriqueta had no cause for alarm when it spotted the British frigate Sybille early on September 6, 1827, just off the West coast of Africa. Sybille was a sluggish 44-gun warship nearing the end of her lifespan, while Henriqueta was a sleek Baltimore … Continue reading Human tragedy of slavery & Slaveship’s fight for Emancipation

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Facing the ghosts of his childhood

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Michael Donor’s Grow Where They Fall,  where the protagonist considers buying a Robert Mapplethrope print, the photograph of a nude Black man, but the sitter’s pose- pulling his knees up in front of his face – is troubling, “ Was a weeping or was this a moment of gentle repose? Wonders Kwame. “Was this clutching and supporting of himself the model demonstrating he needed no one else?   In 2017, Kwame is teaching English at a South London secondary school. His pupils consider him one of the “safe’ ones, and he lives with his university friend Edwin, a generous, willowy, Period Drama … Continue reading Facing the ghosts of his childhood