This is Africa’s war too, plus five talking points from Vrye Weekblad

There’s a widely held opinion that Russia and President Vladimir Putin’s military violence and Ukraine and President Voldomyr Zelenskyy’s brave resistance constitute an Eastern European war that doesn’t concern Africa. It’s not Africa’s war, is the argument.

Do human rights have a geopolitical context? Have we learnt nothing about the borderless genetics of colonialism and human rights violations? Is it because some of us are not prepared to admit we share an ideological disposition with Putin and want to be non-aligned?

Wars are devastating, they argue, but there is a context to Putin’s heavy guns that can’t be ignored. While prominent South African journalists such as Ferial Haffajee, Eusebius McKaiser, Songezo Zibi and S’thembiso Msomi have been outspoken against Russia, there is a level of caution within academia and the governing party.

Social media is no barometer for political opinion, but there is clearly considerable support for the ANC’s refusal to criticise Putin and a worrying level of support for his destruction of Ukraine. 

I am trying to understand why political identities with a historic experience of human rights abuses no longer rebel against it. In fact, they often commit the same brutality they couldn’t escape. 

It is rare for anyone to know the real history of the militarised relationship between Russia and Ukraine. It is something documented in history books, not in our memories. Before this war, few South Africans had heard of Zelenskyy. Far too often the ideas and opinions of the war focus on the dictatorial personality of the Russian president. 

Sometimes the historic perceptions of Russia’s role in the Cold War and the resistance against colonialism determine political loyalty. The fact that many ANC cadres received military training in Ukraine has been forgotten because the new generation is historically unaware of the political geography of the once-mighty Soviet Union.

Academics who say Ukraine’s war is not Africa’s war are by implication promoting another cruel reality: all too often there is a colour to human rights. Human rights abuses in Palestine and Yemen are not given the same public attention and condemnation even if they are equally brutal. 

Africa dare not promote this political narrative by being selective in our understanding of human rights violations.

Read the full article and more news, analysis and interviews in this Friday’s edition of Vrye Weekblad. 

Must-read articles in this week’s Vrye Weekblad

>> Browse the full March 11 edition

THE WEEK IN POLITICS | Max du Preez looks at the ANC’s week of particular achievement, the public protector who might have to go, and journalists with Z-shirts. 

THE DUDE IN THE BASEMENT | It is a bit of a mystery why the US job market has more vacancies than unemployed people. Part of the reason might be a growing mentality among the youth that could spread elsewhere. 

FREE TO READ — JUNG EXPLAINS | Why are the children of church ministers always the naughtiest? The answer comes from an unexpected source. 

ASK A BOER | How negotiable is human life in geopolitics? Boer general Piet de Wet might have advice for Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in this regard.

SHOCKS AND SILVER LININGS | The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created opportunities for SA.