This week on top of the blogs: A short trip through Africa to China. We start our journey in religious Ethiopia and discover how the church can influence politics there; we continue to Uganda where there is a call to act against violence in schools. Tanzania is the next destination, a country where different voices will be heard against the President until we finally reach Zimbabwe - a country that is now advertising itself in China.

How the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia can play a role in reconciliation?

Theconversation.com

Ethiopia is once again at a crossroads. In the last four months there has been cheering and euphoria about the changes and reforms promised by the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The nation is now awakening to harsher realities: internal displacement, illegal killings, tribal conflicts and mafia justice are becoming routine experiences. This increasingly threatens Ahmed's project of national reconciliation. He sees the Church as a source of peace, because Ethiopia is an overwhelmingly religious nation. Abiy is aware that politics and religion are closely linked in Ethiopia and now wants to use this for his own purposes. What are his political aims? What does the return of the 4th Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church after 27 years in exile have to do with this? Find out more in this article.

Did the Spanking in School Make Us better Ugandan Citizens?

Africablogging.org

"Did the beating make us better people or did it birth angry people or were we subdued to a culture of silence that makes us crouch down in fear in the presence of those that hold authority?" The Ugandan blogger Prudence Nyamishana asked herself this question and turned it into a Twitter survey. She wanted to know from the users: "Were you beaten at school?" And indeed, her question is relevant, as the figures show: 92% of the 73 people who responded were beaten in school for all sorts of reasons, as she writes. In her blog article she lists further studies on violence, aggression and their consequences. A terrible trend can be seen here: 94% of Ugandan children who were subjected to physical violence by an adult, their first experience was nearly always committed by a teacher. Nyamishana therefore calls for action in this article: "..because what is called disciplining right now is partly to blame for creating angry and subdued citizens.”

Tanzania: The tentative but rising resistance to Magufuli’s repression

Africanarguments.org

He became President of Tanzania in 2015: John Pombe Magufuli. Since then, he has left his mark on the country, firing absent officials, cancelling reckless expenditures and vowing to fight corruption - and winning applause from across the region. But soon a darker side of his determined governance became apparent. In three years, the President has restricted freedoms in Tanzania: live coverage of parliamentary proceedings has been discontinued, he has banned opposition rallies and new laws suppressing freedom of expression and restricting online spaces have been passed. But some groups are fighting against the restrictions on freedom. This blog looks at who these groups are, how Magufuli reacts to them and what consequences this has for the Tanzanians.

Zimbabwe is producing Chinese documentaries to help revive its tourism business

qz.com

What does Zimbabwe have to do with China? During a visit to China in April, President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed a number of agreements with the Chinese, including an agreement on documentaries to be filmed in Zimbabwe. But why? Zimbabwe has lost tourists to competing countries in South and East Africa after becoming something of a pariah state under the 37-year rule of former President Robert Mugabe. Now Zimbabwe wants to return to its former top form in tourism. Zimbabwe's Chinese video campaign is expected to help support a $1.2 billion opportunity through the tourism sector.