Can feminism be African?
In this special edition, we're focusing on women's rights in Africa. As UN Women writes, women on the continent are the backbone of family and communities. Yet many endure the worst working conditions with unpaid care, low pay jobs and little or no social protection. They also suffer from different forms of violence including female genital mutilation, child marriage and physical violence. So how does feminism fit within this context especially as many conservative male leaders in the region often dismiss it as a Western import. Annette Young talks to Minna Salami, the author of 'Can Feminism be African?' Also how Togo's strict abortion laws mean thousands of women are left with no choice but to seek illegal terminations, often putting their lives at risk. Plus the teenage girls in a Kenyan refugee camp who are learning self-defence in an environment rife with gender violence.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
an hour ago
- LeMonde
'Examining the authoritarian nationalism toward which the United States has shifted can help make sense of France's own democratic crisis'
Comparing nations can be misleading. While Western democracies have much in common, the weights of history, culture and tradition are often underestimated. American political life, marked by federalism and the ubiquity of religion, is fundamentally different from that of France, which is centralized and secular. Nonetheless, examining the authoritarian nationalism toward which the United States has shifted can help make sense of France's own democratic crisis. In his new book, Le Miroir américain. Enquête sur la radicalisation des droites et l'avenir de la gauche ("The American Mirror: An Investigation into the Radicalization of the Right and the Future of the Left"), French-American journalist Cole Stangler argues that certain trends observed in both countries are comparable and could ultimately result in disasters on a similar scale. Chief among them is deindustrialization. Page after page, Stangler paints a portrait of small towns, such as Weirton, West Virginia, where a once-thriving steel industry has been devastated by international competition, leaving residents steeped in resentment and anger. "This town is finished, we're just totally screwed," one local resident told him. On Donald Trump, she added: "Honestly, I don't give a damn, I'm going to vote for the criminal."
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Iran says no sanctions relief in US nuclear proposal
The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to replace a landmark agreement between Tehran and world powers that set restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before US President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 during his first term. In a video aired on Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that "the US plan does not even mention the lifting of sanctions". He called it a sign of dishonesty, accusing the Americans of seeking to impose a "unilateral" agreement that Tehran would not accept. "The delusional US president should know better and change his approach if he is really looking for a deal," Ghalibaf said. On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with officials later taking issue with "ambiguities" in the draft text. The US and its Western allies have long accused the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic programme was solely for peaceful purposes. Key issues in the negotiations have been the removal of biting economic sanctions and uranium enrichment. Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while the Trump administration has called any Iranian enrichment a "red line". Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal. On Tuesday, Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the country "will not ask anyone for permission to continue enriching uranium". IAEA meeting According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent -- close to the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear programme. The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna starting Monday and discuss Iran's nuclear activities. On Sunday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned it could reduce its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it adopts a resolution against it. "Certainly, the IAEA should not expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue its broad and friendly cooperation," the Iranian agency's spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV. Araghchi on Friday accused European powers of "opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors", warning on X that "Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights". A quarterly report from the IAEA issued last week cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material. Tehran has rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel.
France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
Wagner replaced by Russia's Africa Corp in Mali: diplomatic sources
"Officially, Wagner is no longer present in Mali. But the Africa Corps is stepping up," one diplomatic source in the Sahel region said. A Telegram account affiliated with Wagner said: "Mission accomplished. PMC Wagner is going home." Mali's ruling junta, which seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, broke off ties with former colonial power France and pivoted towards Russia for political and military support. Wagner, Russia's best-known mercenary group, was disbanded and restructured after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023 following a short-lived rebellion against Moscow. Mali has never officially admitted Wagner's presence, insisting it only worked with Russian instructors. France withdrew its 2,400 troops from Mali in 2022 after ties with the junta soured and anti-French sentiment surged among the public. "The Kremlin remains in control," the same diplomatic source added. "Most of the Wagner personnel in Mali, who are originally from Russia, will be reintegrated into Africa Corps and remain in northern regional capitals and Bamako." The Africa Corps is another paramilitary group with links to the Kremlin and seen as the successor to the Wagner group. Like Wagner, its mercenaries are active supporting several African governments. For over three years, Mali had relied on Wagner in its fight against jihadists who have killed thousands across the country. "Wagner yesterday or Africa Corps today, our point of contact remains the same, it is the central power in Russia, that is to say the Kremlin," a Malian security source said Sunday. The paramilitary group's brutal methods on the ground in Mali have been regularly denounced by human rights groups. A UN report accused Mali's army and foreign fighters of executing at least 500 people during a March 2022 anti-jihadist sweep in Moura -- a claim denied by the junta. Western governments believe the foreign fighters were Wagner mercenaries. Last April, bodies were discovered near a Malian military camp, days after the army and Wagner paramilitaries arrested dozens of civilians, most from the Fulani community. Wagner's withdrawal comes amid what the Malian army calls a "resurgence""of jihadist attacks, including two assaults that killed dozens of soldiers and forced troops to abandon a key central base. A European diplomatic source in the Sahel believes Africa Corps will probably do "much more training of Malian soldiers than Wagner did". "Although Wagner claims that its operations and support strengthened the Malian army, Africa Corps will need to continue training and support, especially after the recent wave of attacks against the FAMA (Malian Armed Forces)," said Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
