Africa Is a Country

“Keep Africa Alive,” Continued

“Keep Africa Alive,” Continued

By
Sonja Sugira

The campaign is accompanied by print ads featuring celebrities in coffins to represent their digital deaths. Can this stop, please?

The Keep a Child Alive campaign features celebrities photographed in a coffin.

Today is World AIDS Day, which means you can expect the gatekeepers of Team: Save Africa to be in exceptionally fine form. In years past, Bono and (RED) have reigned supreme but this year brings a new contender in the form of Alicia Keys and her charity, Keep A Child Alive (KCA). Founded in 2003 by Leigh Blake, KCA has mostly wallowed in obscurity, only able to sit and watch as (RED) cornered the market. Not that KCA hasn’t tried. Who can forget their first attempt at grabbing the spotlight, 2006’s “I Am African” campaign?

The KCA folk has threatened to not tweet for a day. “The world’s top celebrity tweeters are sacrificing their digital lives to give real life to millions of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.” The campaign is accompanied by print ads featuring the celebrities in coffins to represent their digital deaths. They include Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Usher and Elijah Wood.

I would file this latest stunt under the same banner but I can barely conjure up an eye roll, much less proper indignation. Better luck next year. Watch.

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.