Politics and Society Archives | This is Africa

Long Read: Beyond the binary — Reimagining democracy through ancient African wisdom; The lens of Utu/Ubuntu

Mzalendo Mutemi wa Kiama — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:02:59 +0000

On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, assassinating Supreme Leader Khamenei. Iran retaliated with missiles, closed the Strait of Hormuz, and triggered the worst oil shock in history. Two months on, thousands are dead, the fragile ceasefire is collapsing and global growth forecasts slashed. The conflict exposes a deeper trap: Washington’s performative democracy and Tehran’s clerical dictatorship have forced the public into binary loyalty tests. Utu philosophy however rejects the script: condemn the slaughter and the theocratic failures without apology. The world isn’t choosing freedom vs. tyranny—it’s choosing rival flavours of top-down control.

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Nelson Mandela was a towering global symbol – but how effective was he as a president?

The Conversation — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:09:36 +0000

Reassessing Mandela is a reminder that even the most admired leaders operate within constraints.

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Game Theory, The math of survival and the soul of community: Why the Gulf’s zero-sum game needs Utu

Mzalendo Mutemi wa Kiama — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:39:41 +0000

In 1916, the Sykes–Picot Agreement carved up the Arab world with a pen, shattering communities to secure colonial power. A century later, the calculated colonial fractures still fuel endless conflict. True progress, rooted in Utu philosophy demands we confront this colonial engineered division, reject zero-sum games, and expand “self” beyond broken borders.

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The Systemic Rupture Why the Old Global Software is Crashing — and How Utu Builds the New World

Mzalendo Mutemi wa Kiama — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:10:11 +0000

We have now moved beyond the Shock Doctrine. The empire is not executing a crisis. It is being executed by one. The question now is not how the old-world ends — but what we build in the ruins.

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The Converse Shock | How Disaster Capitalism Has Bankrupted the American War Machine

Mzalendo Mutemi wa Kiama — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 09:45:29 +0000

As articulated in Part 1, Naomi Klein mapped how power exploits crisis. The 2026 War on Iran reveals the mirror image: when an empire privatizes its own military strategy, the crisis eventually consumes its architects.

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