Western claims are contradicted by empirical evidence.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
The decisiveness of the short period of colonialism and…
How Indigenous West African Communities Resisted the European Slave Trade
Compelling evidence of massive African resistance to Atlantic slavery can be found from the very onset of the European colonial arrival on the con-tinent. When the Portuguese gained control of the …
The real reason the West is warmongering against China
China’s spectacular economic development has brought up the price of its labour and undermined Western corporate profits.
Africa Was Not an Anarchist Paradise: Misconceptions about Precolonial State-Building in Africa
Africa was not an anarchist paradise; it underwent broadly similar processes of centralisation and state formation to those found elsewhere, with regional variation.
WSJ Article Claiming China Has Matched Anthropic Is Obvious Nonsense
The Wall Street Journal printed an outright false headline and heavily misleading story claiming this, which of course was uncritically amplified by the usual suspects.
On the relevance of post-growth in China
Post-growth refers to approaches prioritizing human well-being and ecological sustainability over gross domestic product expansion as a primary objective of economic policy. While it is widely discussed in the global north and generally targeted at high-income countries, its relevance to China remains underexplored and largely absent from academic discourse. This Perspective discusses China’s position in a possible global post-growth transition and explores convergence and difference between post-growth principles and development priorities in China. We consider how China’s concepts of ‘high-quality development’ and ‘ecological civilization’ could integrate post-growth principles, and vice versa. Understanding China’s context is crucial for a collaborative, effective approach to sustainability and global equity.
The resurgence of fortified landscapes in West Africa
West African states respond to insurgencies by building city walls and fortifying borders, balancing protection with rural vulnerabilities.
Chinese dams hold billions of people to ransom
Could desalination make them irrelevant?
The Chinese Attitude Towards the Past | China Heritage Quarterly
Covering contempory Chinese archaeology, heritage and conservation issues.
Does modernisation erase cultural difference – or amplify it? | Psyche Ideas
We understandably fear the flattening effect of modernity. But global data from China to Peru tells a hopeful story
Fabrics of Africa: 40+ Fabrics That Weave Culture, Color, and Heritage of Africa - Kenyalogue
Africa’s vibrant story isn’t written only in words—it’s woven, dyed, stamped, and embroidered into cloth. From the sun-soaked looms of Ghana to the hand-pounded bark cloths of Uganda and the geometric raffia of the Congo, African fabrics carry the colors, symbols, and spirit of their people. “Fabrics of Africa” is a curated journey through the ... Read more
‘Invasive’ AI-led mass surveillance in Africa violating freedoms, warn experts
Countries across the continent have spent more than $2bn on Chinese tracking technology that is not ‘necessary or proportionate’, new report finds
Brett Scott (@brettscott)
A lot of economists want to claim that economic growth is, at some deep level, driven by human greed. In this worldview, we always desire more and more, and so collectively seek to endlessly boost production I don’t buy this worldview at all I think economic growth is driven - at a deep level - by fear. It stems from the extreme insecurity of life in a capitalist market system, where you’re always on the verge of being cut out of society, and so need to over-secure your position through any means possible One of the most compelling pieces of evidence for this is the history of colonial beliefs around laziness. In many colonial regions, colonizers would complain about tribal people being lazy - in other words, not seeking to increase production when they could. The reason for this, however, was that such people had access to subsistence farming and secure social structures that did not require endless competition. Secure people are, by definition, ‘lazier’, in the sense that they do not perceive a visceral need to fight for survival The colonial mission then, was the cut them off from older means of survival, make them dependent on insecure market structures, and thereby boost production as they all turn up at the mines to elbow each other out of the way as they compete for jobs. Security, in other words, is the enemy of economic growth
