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''But their plight was not so different from that of most of the population of Europe. They had been mistaken for six weeks, on the continent the interval may have been only six days or six hours. There was an interval. There was a moment when the picture of Europe on which men were conducting their business, as usual, did not in any way correspond to the Europe which was about to make a jumble of their lives. There was a time for each man when he was still adjusted to an environment that no longer existed. All over the world as late as July 25th men were making goods that they would not be able to ship, buying goods they would not be able to import, careers were being planned, enterprises contemplated, hopes and expectations entertained, all in the belief that the world as known was the world as it was. Men were writing books describing that world. They trusted the picture in their heads. And then over four years later, on a Thursday morning, came the news of an armistice, and...

“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power...   Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.''   George Orwell,  1984 . Violence has already erupted and an atmosphere of fear, disbelief and uncertainty pervades Tanzania. According to human activist Thabit Juma; In the latest outburst at least three people were killed, including a mother of six and dozens were injured on Monday when security forces fired tear gas and bullets at crowds in the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. And some reports said that as many as   nine people were killed  in the shooting. Such a threat of unrest or rather an instability is unheard of in Tanzania, where the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi [CCM] has bee...

  "The show of solidarity between different pro-democracy groups in Asia reflects greater intensity and camaraderies,'' Parit Chiwarak, 22, one of the Thai protest leaders told Reuters. To those who have not heard about it, the alliance is an online democratic solidarity movement made up of netizens from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It was originally started as an internet meme, arisen in response to the increased presence of Chinese trolls and nationalist commentators on social media and since then it has evolved into a dynamic cross-national protest movement pushing for democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia.   But why the Milk Tea ? The light-hearted name represents a shared passion for sweet tea drinks in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand. China has increasingly become the main target of the Milk Tea Alliance [MTA]; while the Thais are showing support to anti-Chinese protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong. This does not end there, the Indian-China border disputes and the...

  'These are our artefacts you know'; 'these men in the photo found them and took them to London''; are stories that most Londoners or Europen children grew up listening to. Whenever they visit the museum, students nod in recognition of what their teachers narrate as they go around. But they do not know the hidden truth behind the curtained stories their fathers, grandparents and ancestors infiltrated into their minds. During colonial rule in Africa and other parts of the southern hemisphere, thousands of cultural artefacts were plundered. This is not a thing to hide from now like what most European countries used to do. And African countries want their 'looted' artefacts back from wherever/whichever museum they are, to Africa where they were stolen. For the past decade, the fight to make this dream come true has been tough but in 2018 many museums across Europe agreed to loan the famous Benin Bronzes back to Nigeria. Within the following months, France laun...

Brazil's  hard-righ t president, Jair Bosnaro dismissed Coronavirus as a "little flue" that had to be faced like a" man, not a boy". He ridiculed that self-isolation was for the "weak" and raged against the lockdown measures in Brazil. He even went as far as coming to throats with state governors and his own minister could not bit around the bush by savaging how Bosnaro was handling the pandemic. Today Brazil has recorded an estimate of about 5.11 million corona cases and 151k deaths. Surely, Bosnaro is more popular today, not only amongst the lower communities in Brazil but well known for mishandling the coronavirus, with his whimsical actions. Like his idol Donald Trump, Bosnaro caught the coronavirus more than once and emerged apparently unscratched. And the men himself can not stop downplaying the coronavirus. In many speeches; he has accused the media of 'fear-mongering' as a way of downplaying the threat of Covid-19 to the country. In one...

  Thwarted down at home, rarely venturing into plaintive empty streets, most people are still at a loss at how life will look afterwards. Life after the COVID-19 outbreak will never be the same. We're at the beginning of the end but a new beginning into a new lifestyle. Metaphorically, the spread of the virus happened in a blink of an eye and suddenly it has made its home in the bodies of a thousand; later on; millions of people in different parts of the world. According to official sources; on December 31; 2019 the coronavirus started in the city of Wuhan, China; it followed its natural course, ignoring borders, tariffs and customs. Everyone is eager to experience a new phase in life when the pandemic is over. some await in very high expectations while others are rather pessimistic on what life could be. Humankind is now facing a global crisis, probably the biggest crisis of our generation that does not involve war or ammunition. The decisions people and governments take has shape...

Media freedom remains under threat in several countries in southern Africa with journalists put in jail for simply doing their job. Abduction of the journalist; attempts to muzzle the media and restrict the right to freedom of expression are normal scenes in many countries of the Southern African region. And we have seen many authorities treating the media-especially the private media firms and journalist as criminals; creating a space that is unfavourable for journalists to do their work safely without having fear of harassment or any type of torture. In recent years there have been many protests against the Southern African governments, demanding a vibrant and independent press environment that is essential for the enjoyment of human rights-journalist in particular. In some other cases, journalists are treated as enemies of the state, being alienated from the rest of the civil rights that every citizen in each of the Southern African countries’ constitutions should be having. With ...