Top of the Blogs 2018 #9 - Media Programme Sub-Saharan Africa
This week's “Top of the Blogs” is all about women. Four different topics are presented, each dealing with women. The topics range from a protest march in Uganda through the digital gap to #Metoo.
africanarguments.org
Turkana is located in Kenya. About 80% of its nearly one million people live below the national poverty line, despite the fact that Turkana has a big oil industry. The “oil boom” has so far brought more frustration and conflict than hope. The reason: The oil company hasn´t given the jobs to those, who have lived on the land for generations. Members of the herding community around the village of Nakukulas have barricaded roads in protest over being excluded. “When I grew up the land was for the community. That is what I knew. God gave us the oil, like the land. Now we hear the government saying it all belongs to them”, says Nakwaan Echwaa, a woman herder in Nakukulas. The article points out the uncertainty of the locals.
Enough is Enough – Ugandan Women March in Protest Against killings
africablogging.org
30 June 2018 made history, as Ruth Aine wrote in the “Africa blogging”. Women in Uganda chose to march and say – enough is enough. “It was great to see women come together from all walks of life and voice their concerns, their anger towards the disrespect of women that has left many feeling unsafe, uncared for, and unheard”, says Aine. Placards of the 43 women with their faces and names were carried to give honor to them, which can also be read on the blog.
The Social Media Tax in Uganda will Deepen the Digital Divide
africablogging.org
The Social Media Tax will mainly affect the women in Uganda and deepen the digital gap. The barriers Ugandan women face in accessing and using the internet are still massive. Only one in nine women in Africa have access to the internet. The Sustainable Development Goals commit government to achieve universal, affordable internet by 2020 but high costs are keeping the majority of women offline. The digital revolution gave Ugandan women a voice online to politically engage, access information and connect with clients. “It is clear that President Museveni is missing the point when he says that social media is for gossip. But even if it were, communication is a basic human need”, Prudence Nyamishana made clear ion her blog.
africasacountry.com
"#MyDressMyChoice" in 2014, "#BeingFemaleinNigeria" in 2015 or "#NakedProtests" in 2015 - each of these actions framed the same issues around violations of the female body that go to the core of #MeToo but did not receive the same international support or attention. It depends on the global media coverage, which has an undisputable influence on what gets people’s attention. But beyond that, global protest audiences should not take this contrast for granted. The author Titilope F. Ajayi raises some questions in her article, which every user could answer for themselves: Would white women in the US have supported #MeToo in the same way if it had been started by women elsewhere in the world? Is it enough to translate hashtags like #MeToo into local languages? Or do we need a better language – not a hashtag – to discuss effecting real change?
