The Other Afrik is an alternative and multi-faceted information source from Afrik-News’ panel of experts. Contributions include : opinions, reviews, essays, satires, research, culture and entertainment news, interviews, news, information, info, opinion, africa, african-american, europe, united states, international, caribbean, america, middle east, black, France, U.K.
The Other Afrik
‘Green economy’: empty rhetoric or pathway to future?
World leaders and some 40,000 people converged on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June in the hope of charting a path towards a better,...
Royal Wedding article from Al Jazeera’s wedding correspondent
In his Confessions St Augustine describes how, when studying in Rome, he was persuaded by friends to go to the Colloseum to watch the...
The Syndrome of the Talkative in African Politics
19th Century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche advanced a dualistic view of the human condition by arguing that mankind was endowed with two types of...
Burqa Ban: Islamophobia verses the Enlightenment
Writing during a period of great religious conflict, John Locke stated that the “toleration of those that differ from others in matters of religion...
Cash and the Clueless Casanova
Recently I got a call from my cousin who is also a recent returnee. Actually, it was more than one call. The first time...
The Last Straw (Part 2)
“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.”-Maureen Dowd, American author and columnist.
The other day...
The architecture of maternal death
The architectural design of two newly built public maternity hospitals in Malawi, which has one of the world’s highest rates of women dying in...
Asamoah Gyan’s Story: The tale of a patchy path to glory
Ghana’s love/hate relatioinship with Asamoah Gyan continues after his deftly spectacular equalizer against England at Wembley in a high profile friendly game that had...
The Last Straw
Everyone knew that it would happen sooner or later, that despite my seemingly unshakeable optimism and avowed faith in Ghana’s ability to become an...
Africa’s ‘Growth is not accompanied by employment’?
Africa’s labour movement is on the move from Cape to Cairo – demanding democracy, devising policy and building a new African economy that creates...
Of Western hypocrisy, Obdurate tyrants and Changing times
As the Bob Dylan song goes, the times they are “achanging”. But, do the lowly tyrants and dictators of our world, or those Western...
FiSahara: British film industry at Sahara refugee film festival
Around 150 members of the British film industry gathered on Wednesday evening for the London launch of the 8th International Sahara Film Festival: the...
The Grass is Always Greener
Most mornings I pass by the American Embassy on my way to the gym. There is always a long queue of people waiting...
African hi-tech taking leading position
For 48 long hours, employees of Senegal’s National Telecommunications Company cut telephone and Internet connections to the rest of the world. That bold action,...
Military Intervention in Libya and The other side of International Diplomacy
My bigger brother Desmond recounted an experience he once had in the city of Stuttgart where he is undertaking further studies in the field...
To Return Or Not to Return
It’s a question that haunts many Ghanaian immigrants at one time or another during our stay in our adopted lands. No matter where in...
Aiding Children Accused of Witchcraft
Over a year ago, *Selene’s nine-year-old daughter *Emma began waking up every morning and saying that witches were taking her to the woods at...
Gaddafi regime’s “last stand” mentality
Stefan Simanowitz looks at the ‘responsibility to protect’ principle and assesses the extent to which the ICC referral might have back fired.
On 26th...
African Renaissance: Rethinking Political Leadership on the Continent
‘Gently in manner, strong in deed’ were the inscriptions sitting atop the Presidential Desk at the oval office when Dwight Eisenhower occupied the White...
Contingency plans to protect civilians in Libya
In two, coordinated initiatives a coalition of over 200 Arab organisations and a group of over thirty prominent intellectuals from across the Middle East...
Unlikely backers legitimize Black History Month observance
Black History Month observances seek to correct factual inaccuracies that continue oozing across America perpetuating a litany of misunderstandings that fuel racial discord in...
Experts and Gibberish in the Ethiopian, Egyptian, Tunisian, Libyan and Western context
The poetic rhetoric of some American officials in the face of complex political issues tend bring gist to the mill of the satirist. “Some...
Pastoral political Endorsements: Essential or Irrelevant?
We saw the smiles beaming during that photo-op press conference and we heard the words employed in making that political endorsement. But what we...
Can the US allow democracy to take root in Egypt’s shifting sands?
According to Noam Chomsky, President Obama’s reaction to the Egyptian revolution conforms to the normal US response when one of their “favoured dictators” loses...
United States of Africa: Just a nice dream?
The idea of creating a single state out of the African continent is well touted by numerous scholars and political autocrats such as Gaddafi....
In Pictures: Vogue Italia celebrates Black History Month
Franca Sozzani, editor for Vogue Italia, continues to prove herself as a bastion of resistance to the racist image that Vogue has carved for...
Why are democracies contagious?
‘……man is created free but everywhere he goes he lives in chains….’ Rousseau’s remark about the pitfalls of modernization also serves as an adequate...
Africa: A man without a job has no status
For 17 years Peter worked as a machine operator in a South African textile plant. It was not high-paying work, but it paid the...
When Ideas Have Sex…
I love sex. Don't you? Sex is one of those things that brings people together in a particularly intimate way, exchanging tactile, olfactory, aural...
What about farting to protest?
Vicious and cruel as they are, most of our dictators take time out from their sadist tendencies to entertain us in one way or...