On Rwanda
Once more, the entire continent of Africa is being framed as a place of exile and punishment, especially by racists and bots who delight in telling Black and Brown people that they should be ‘deported to Rwanda’. It’s real Heart of Darkness stuff, and I hate it. I despise this Tory policy above all others, and by christ, there’s some stiff competition. And I blame Tory voters. They have to be held accountable for the cruelty they support and endorse. If you continue to vote for such a cruel and despotic party, there is darkness in your own heart. Seriously, what will make you think “No, that’s too much?”
In the meantime, I wanted to draw attention to Rwanda more positively- through its food. The Wellspring Foundation for Education has published a small downloadable booklet of Rwandan recipes, which you can read here. Here’s a good article on Rwandan specialities via Culture Trip. Cruising Google, I found a lot of references to Akabenz, a dish of barbecued pork covered with lime which sounds sublime (sorry!). Here’s the Instagram hashtag.
“There’s an old Rwandan saying “The most extensive land is the human belly,” writes Sasha Martin, offering us a recipe for Rwandan Agatogo with Collard Greens. And here’s a lovely piece about Rwanda’s young chefs, although I am not keen on measuring their skills against those of London chefs. (“The result is daintily plated dishes that wouldn’t be out of place in a top London restaurant” really jars.)
Here’s a research article examining the importance of centring indigenous African crops and how Kigali’s markets fit into this.
A film about making traditional Rwandan foods, and Queen Desta on eating in Kigali.
Finally, the hashtag #stopRwandaflight has the latest information about demonstrations.
I agree with everything you say Nic and thank you for the interesting links. The whole putrid scheme is abhorrent and I hope the pilot refuses to fly the plane. No doubt an airline also making a pretty penny from this and in my opinion has become a ‘trafficker’ for doing so.
Thank you for highlighting Nic. It is hard to stay focused when such news arises. And exhausting to try to explain to people who refuse to see the prejudice and inequality based on a person's skin colour. A new term I have recently learned from recent OFS is on Achille Mbembe's theory on necropolitics. It's deep. As they often say in Nigerian Pidgin English, "I can't shout," meaning "how much more can we say?" I tire oooo. But I don't let my soul get weary, and bringing the focus back to positive things, as you have done, is empowering.