Africa Is a Country

Margaret Thatcher est morte

Margaret Thatcher est morte

By
Sean Jacobs

Margaret Thatcher put to rest the essentialist fallacy that women are inherently more moral than men.

Margaret Thatcher (Levan Ramishvili, via Flickr CC).

If you wonder what we make of the legacy of Lady Thatcher (as Fox and Rush Limbaugh and every TV anchor in the United States can’t stop saying), this will suffice: In 1984, she invited South African dictator PW Botha on a state visit to No.10 Downing Street. With this Botha became the first leader of the Apartheid regime accorded the privilege of a state visit to UK since 1961–the year South Africa left the Commonwealth over their refusal to end white minority rule. That same Margaret Thatcher called Nelson Mandela and the opposition to white minority rule in South Africa “terrorists.” In other news, the last Apartheid leader FW de Klerk (still a defender of Apartheid as late as May 2012) defended “his friend” Margaret Thatcher. Maybe De Klerk should ask around before he speaks.

He could have asked Colm Tobin, a producer and writer from Ireland, who tweeted: “Not a lot of love for #Thatcher in Ireland. As an enemy of the state she sits somewhere between Cromwell & Thierry Henry.” Even Manchester United agreed: The club is not having any minute of silence for Mrs Thatcher this weekend.

The last word goes to the American writer and journalist, Barbara Ehrenreich, who said: “I thank Margaret Thatcher for putting to rest the essentialist fallacy that women are inherently more moral than men.”

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.