Achievement

Uganda's battle for the youth vote – how Museveni keeps Bobi Wine’s reach in check

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Young people aged below 30 make up about 77% of the country’s population of 47 million people.

Key Points: 
  • Young people aged below 30 make up about 77% of the country’s population of 47 million people.
  • Opportunities remain limited, with two-thirds of Ugandans working for themselves or doing family-based agricultural work.
  • Bobi Wine’s run at the presidency in the 2021 election highlights the reality that capturing the youth vote in Uganda is complex.
  • The outcome of the 2021 elections defied expectations, given Uganda’s large and underemployed youth population and the emergence of Bobi Wine.


the structural capture of youth representation in Ugandan politics
diverse economic incentives for political loyalty in the form of loan schemes, grants and short-term employment
well-spun political narratives that draw on entrenched views of youth as beholden to their elders and the state.

New wine, old bottles

  • Commentators worldwide suggested his candidacy represented a real and unprecedented threat to Yoweri Museveni’s longstanding rule.
  • This is about the same proportion of votes that has accrued to the main opposition candidates in Uganda since multi-party elections resumed in 2006.
  • There were also reports of the ruling party dishing out money to potential voters, with instructions to vote for Museveni.
  • Contemporary tactics used by the ruling party to co-opt the youth converge with these historically rooted methods of regime consolidation.

Splitting the youth

  • First, the youth are organised into a “special interest group” reinforced through quota systems.
  • Political structures, such as youth MPs and representatives, absorb youth representation under regime authority and entrench regional divisions.
  • Ahead of the 2021 election, Museveni gave state appointments to popular musicians with wide youth appeal who had been working closely with Bobi Wine’s party.
  • Youth are often recruited as election workers, special police constables and crime preventers.

What hope for Bobi Wine?

  • In northern Uganda, for example, young people have lived through a recent history of devastating conflict and still struggle with its legacies.
  • Against this backdrop, if Bobi Wine contests in 2026, he is likely to struggle again.
  • Arthur Owor, the director for research and operations at the Centre for African Research, is a co-author of this article.


Rebecca Tapscott receives funding from the ESRC-funded Centre for Public Authority and International Development (CPAID) and the Gerda Henkel Foundation's Special Programme for Security, Society and the State. Anna Macdonald receives funding from the ESRC-funded Centre for Public Authority and International Development (CPAID).

South Africa’s ANC marks its 112th year with an eye on national elections, but its record is patchy and future uncertain

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 17, 2024

The annual January 8 statement, unsurprisingly, was a 30 year self-assessment and is self-congratulatory.

Key Points: 
  • The annual January 8 statement, unsurprisingly, was a 30 year self-assessment and is self-congratulatory.
  • He pointed out that the ANC had, over its 30 years in power, put in place the building blocks of a social democratic state.


a constitution that guarantees human rights to all South Africans and is much admired around the world
protecting workers’ rights, promoting investment and economic development and providing a legal framework for black economic empowerment
an active role for South Africa on the international stage, and solidarity with people struggling for their rights and striving for a just world order.
Assuming the moral high ground by supporting the cause of Palestine was a reminder of the ANC that once won the hearts of many South Africans and international supporters: principled and standing up for justice, as it had done in the struggle against apartheid. Ramaphosa highlighted the oft-repeated statistics reflecting “delivery” by the ANC-led government since 1994:
4.7 million houses have been built and provided “mahala” (for free) to South Africans, including houses allocated to nearly 2 million women
89% of households now have access to water and 85% have access to electricity
more than 28 million people are beneficiaries of social grants aimed at alleviating poverty.

  • But the ANC stood resolute in addressing the stubborn legacy of colonialism, apartheid and patriarchy.
  • Read more:
    Factionalism and corruption could kill the ANC -- unless it kills both first

    Not much was said about these mistakes.

Despair and frustration

  • The perception that South Africa has been unsuccessful in the fight against corruption has dented the country’s image, and lessened its international leverage and stature.
  • Read more:
    Book predicts ANC’s last decade of political dominance in South Africa

    There is a mood of despair over high levels of crime and violence.

  • There is also widespread frustration over crumbling infrastructure and poor service delivery.
  • The largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has struck a deal with like-minded parties in the hope of unseating the ANC.

Wooing young voters

  • The 2024 general election may become the battle for the soul of the young voter.
  • If that is the case, then the ANC needs a fresh image, one less reliant on its history as a liberation movement.
  • He acknowledged the positive role of the youth in society, and commended the ANC Youth League for their inputs in shaping the statement.


beneficiation of raw materials
reindustrialisation of the economy
the energy crisis
the climate crisis
the quality of public services.
These items are already on the ANC’s policy programme being implemented in government. So if the party had been more astute, the January 8 statement could have indicated, especially to its younger constituency, what would be done differently this time round. As it is, these items also feature high on the list of priorities of other political parties, including those formed in recent months.

Bravado amid disillusionment

  • The ANC, through its January 8 statement, put on a show of bravado.
  • However, it would be foolhardy of it to ignore the fact that the political terrain has shifted.
  • Even long-serving members within its ranks have become disillusioned with the party, as evidenced by the recent resignation of ANC veteran Mavuso Msimang, who later retracted his decision.


Sandy Africa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

50 years after Evonne Goolagong's Australian Open win, we should remember her achievements – and the racism she overcame

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Fifty years ago, on New Year’s Day in 1974, Wiradjuri woman Evonne Goolagong delighted spectators at Melbourne’s Kooyong Tennis Club by defeating American Chris Evert to win the women’s singles Australian Open championship.

Key Points: 
  • Fifty years ago, on New Year’s Day in 1974, Wiradjuri woman Evonne Goolagong delighted spectators at Melbourne’s Kooyong Tennis Club by defeating American Chris Evert to win the women’s singles Australian Open championship.
  • The overflow crowd of 12,000 people leapt to their feet for a tremendously long and emotional ovation.
  • The Sydney Morning Herald reminded readers that no Aboriginal person had ever won an Australian tennis title.

From stamps to theatre productions

  • Yorta Yorta/Gunaikurnai playwright Andrea James brought Goolagong Cawley’s life story to the stage several years ago and Australia Post has honoured her twice with her own stamps.
  • She has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
  • Read more:
    Sydney Festival review: Sunshine Super Girl is destined to become a legacy piece of Australian theatre

Contending with racism


Evonne Goolagong was born in 1951, which was a fraught period for First Nations people in this country. On the day she was born (July 31), a quick glance of the national media reflects the widespread racism, discrimination, ignorance and suspicion that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people faced. There were stories about:
protests in a NSW town over the decision to give “liquor freedom” to Aboriginal people
misgivings about the ability of Aboriginal people to accept Christianity
assertions that Aboriginal people didn’t actually live in North Queensland
a requirement for half-caste (sic) people in the Northern Territory to carry certificates of exemption
and an actress’s black-face make-up tips.

  • In an interview in 2015, she recalled her mother being worried the “welfare man” might steal her children.
  • In a biography in 1993, she also said her father feared that “whatever he tried to accomplish, the white man would take away”.
  • First Nations people had been granted the right to vote in all states and territories, though full equality wasn’t reached until enrolment was compulsory in 1984.
  • But what it can tell us about 2023 is complicated

    Yet, terrible racism remained.


Gary Osmond does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Human medicines European public assessment report (EPAR): Velsipity, Etrasimod, Status: Opinion

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 18, 2023

Velsipity will be available as a 2 mg film-coated tablet.

Key Points: 
  • Velsipity will be available as a 2 mg film-coated tablet.
  • The active substance of Velsipity is etrasimod, a selective immunosuppressant (ATC code: L04AE05).
  • Treatment with Velsipity should be initiated under the supervision of a physician experienced in the management of ulcerative colitis.
  • Detailed recommendations for the use of this product will be described in the summary of product characteristics (SmPC), which will be published in the European public assessment report (EPAR) and made available in all official European Union languages after the marketing authorisation has been granted by the European Commission.

Patrick White was the first Australian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature – 50 years later, is he still being read?

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Did you know that 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Patrick White winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Australian writer to be so honoured?

Key Points: 
  • Did you know that 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Patrick White winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Australian writer to be so honoured?
  • Until last week, neither did I.
  • As a lover of White’s writing, I was shocked by my own lack of awareness, which was quickly overshadowed by the realisation that seemingly everyone had overlooked it.

Cultural cringe

    • There should have been conferences and celebrations – a festival that would leave the Opera House in the dust!
    • The 50th anniversary of White’s best-known novel Voss in 2007 was marked with a two-day symposium.
    • The cringe, Phillips wrote,
      mainly appears in an inability to escape needless comparisons.
    • The Australian reader, more or less consciously, hedges and hesitates, asking himself ‘Yes, but what would a cultivated Englishman think of this?’ When it comes to White’s reception, especially post-Nobel, the cringe is everywhere apparent.
    • Here were signs, at last, that Australians could produce real literature – at least, according to Europe and Britain.

A writer unread?

    • He infamously chastised mainstream Australian writing as little more than the “dreary dun-coloured offspring of journalistic realism”.
    • A.D. Hope’s similarly infamous review of The Tree of Man judged the novel to be “pretentious and illiterate verbal sludge”.
    • White’s uneven reception reflected an anxiety about what Australian literature actually was.
    • The preeminent questions asked in undergraduate Australian literature units are still: What is Australian literature?
    • That Watts and Tsiolkas are both novelists themselves might explain their fervour for White, a writer who fits well under the moniker a “writer’s writer”.

Reputation

    • The question that is asked of White is not just “should we read him”, but should we study him.
    • White’s reputation as a canonical writer, and more specifically as a “difficult” modernist author and a “writer’s writer”, is a disaster when it comes to getting people, including students, to actually read him.
    • He is not only the kind of writer one would expect to study at school and university; many people assume he can only be read in those contexts.
    • Of course, White is a difficult writer, though it is often overlooked that he can also be funny, especially in his depictions of suburbia.
    • She had noticed seed at Woolworths and Coles; it was only a matter of choosing.
    • So far departed from the rational level to which she had determined to adhere, her own thoughts were grown obscure, even natural.
    • Vain or not, it would seem, maybe until now, that the award has been the crowning achievement.

The Nobel Peace Prize offers no guarantee its winners actually create peace, or make it last

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 4, 2023

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to announce the recipient of the annual Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 6, 2023, drawing from a pool of 351 nominees.

Key Points: 
  • The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to announce the recipient of the annual Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 6, 2023, drawing from a pool of 351 nominees.
  • But given the track record of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, I always feel some dread before the peace prize announcement.
  • Will the award celebrate a true peace builder, or a politician that just happened to sign a peace agreement?

A mixed history

    • South African politician Nelson Mandela, for example, won the prize in 1993 for his work to help end apartheid.
    • Despite the prize’s mixed track record – and despite calls by some to stop giving the award – I think the Nobel Peace Prize should continue.

The prize can be off-mark

    • The Nobel Committee, in my view, does not always give the peace prize to people who actually deserve the recognition.
    • And the prize is not a precursor to peace actually happening, or lasting.
    • Some previous awardees are head-scratchers, for peace experts and casual observers and recipients alike.
    • For example, former President Barack Obama said that he was even surprised by the award when he won it in 2009.

Peace is long term

    • In contrast, American diplomat Henry Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for negotiating a cease-fire in Vietnam that same year.
    • The Nobel committee tends to award prizes to those involved in current events and doesn’t award prizes long after those events have happened.
    • But some awards have stood the test of time, in part because they were given to individuals following long struggles.

It’s about peace

    • Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel – the founder of the Nobel awards – said the Nobel Peace Prize should go to the person “who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.” The language is somewhat archaic, but the message is clear – the peace prize was designed to be about stopping war and promoting peace.
    • In my view, there are more than enough problems and deadly conflicts in the world whose solutions merit the award of the Nobel Peace Prize as a reflection of its original intent – to acknowledge attempts aimed at ending the scourge of war and building a sustainable peace.

How we hired 2023 Nobel laureate Anne L'Huillier – and why we knew she was destined for greatness

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Of course, the Nobel secrecy is perfect, but there was still some expectation in the air.

Key Points: 
  • Of course, the Nobel secrecy is perfect, but there was still some expectation in the air.
  • L'Huillier, however, was nowhere to be seen – she had been giving a lecture to students.

New laser facility

    • For this purpose, we managed to acquire a quite unique laser in 1992 (called a terawatt laser), firing 10 ultrashort pulses per second.
    • This was possible thanks to good academic contacts with leading laser groups in the US and Europe, as well as with industrial partners.
    • Only years earlier, in 1987, had she discovered that many different overtones of light arise when you transmit infrared laser light through a noble gas – as a result of the gas and laser interacting.
    • With our new facility, we were able to attract L´Huillier to come to Lund with her own dedicated experimental set-up.
    • I also invited her to be one of the key speakers at the inauguration of our new facility in Lund.

Modest and rigorous

    • She cares a lot for her collaborators and students.
    • It is perhaps her modesty and lack of interest in fame and glamour that makes her such a great physicist.
    • Receiving the highest scientific award will certainly change her life, but I am sure that she will always remain the same generous and modest person that we all came to know her as.

Nobel prize in physics awarded for work unveiling the secrets of electrons

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

The 2023 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to a trio of scientists for pioneering tools used to study the world of electrons.

Key Points: 
  • The 2023 Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to a trio of scientists for pioneering tools used to study the world of electrons.
  • This year’s three Nobel physics laureates demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light in order to investigate processes that involve electrons.
  • Changes in electrons typically occur in a few tenths of an “attosecond”, which is a billionth of a billionth of a second.
  • The award of the Nobel prize in this field inspires us to redouble our efforts to break novel ground.

Ed Balls and George Osborne's new podcast is essential listening – but not for the reasons they think

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

In an apparent attempt to “talk across the political divide”, former chancellor George Osborne and former shadow chancellor Ed Balls have launched a podcast.

Key Points: 
  • In an apparent attempt to “talk across the political divide”, former chancellor George Osborne and former shadow chancellor Ed Balls have launched a podcast.
  • Political Currency has been billed as a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the rooms and minds where the key decisions are made.
  • It hasn’t taken long for the two men to use the podcast to celebrate their joint achievements.
  • So, things which are contested can become consensual and when people agree, that is often how our county moves forward.
  • And yet poverty itself has so far only been mentioned once on the podcast, around halfway through episode one.

Listen to the ‘grown-ups’

    • They appear very happy with the current state of British politics and the people in charge.
    • For them, in 2023, the grown-ups are back in charge again – and that includes their gaining air time.
    • We forced our opponents to change their minds.” There is an older parallel to be drawn, too.
    • They were Michael Foot, Peter Howard and Frank Owen and their targets were the British public figures who appeased 1930s Germany.

ESG bonuses are on the rise: Are they improving sustainability or just increasing executive wealth?

Retrieved on: 
Monday, October 2, 2023

An increasing number of companies are paying bonuses to executives in the pursuit of sustainability.

Key Points: 
  • An increasing number of companies are paying bonuses to executives in the pursuit of sustainability.
  • Driven by an ever-growing focus on global issues, more than three-quarters of large, publicly traded companies in Europe and North America now use environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) metrics when determining executive bonuses.

Examining ESG incentives

    • By 2020, more than 43 per cent of executives from the largest 500 publicly traded U.S. firms had ESG incentives.
    • Since the use of ESG incentives is relatively new, we suspected they might be susceptible to abuse and decided to investigate.
    • Our recent study examines how ESG incentives impact yearly bonuses for top executives.

The good news and the bad news

    • Our study found that overall, executives do not appear to be leveraging their power to get higher compensation through ESG incentives.
    • The bad news, however, is that not all executives are wielding their power for good.
    • Some executives seem to use their power to obtain higher bonuses from ESG incentives.

Why does this matter?

    • The objective, presumably, is twofold: to measure what matters and provide executives with incentives to move their organizations toward sustainability.
    • We still need to learn more about the use of ESG incentives to be able to apply them properly.
    • Moreover, firms often equate their ESG focus with sustainability, but the two are not the same.
    • ESG factors focus on risks and opportunities that affect financial performance, not necessarily those that are connected to planetary sustainability.