Lessons from the Decolonization Era in Confronting the COVID-19 Crisis
Channel: Regions Refocus
Date: 2020-07-29

Hear members of Post-Colonialisms Today discuss how the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in Africa are compounded by neoliberalism and colonialism, and what lessons can be drawn from the immediate post-independence period—including initiatives of Nasser, Nkrumah, Nyerere, etc.—in responding to the crisis and promoting structural transformation of the continent.

Post-Colonialisms Today (PCT) is a research and advocacy project recovering insights from the immediate post-independence period in Africa, and mobilizing them through a feminist lens to address contemporary development challenges. It is a collective undertaking directed by a working group and advisory group of African activist-intellectuals, with Regions Refocus serving as Secretariat carrying out administrative and substantive work to facilitate the project community’s analysis and advocacy. Learn more about the project at bit.ly/WhatIsPCT and sign up for updates at bit.ly/PCTUpdates 

***Program details:***

Heba Khalil (PCT Working Group; Social Justice Platform) will introduce the project and moderate the panel.

Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei (PCT Working Group; Third World Network-Africa) will examine current policy gaps in responding to the COVID-19 crisis in contrast to approaches in the early post-independence period, with an eye towards structural transformation.

Jihen Chandoul (PCT Working Group; Tunisian Observatory of Economy) will dissect the dependency and fragility of Africa’s agricultural sector, highlighted sharply by the crisis, and approaches towards building food sovereignty. 

Chafik Ben Rouine (PCT researcher; Tunisian Observatory of Economy) will share lessons from his research on the role of central banks in financing the development and recovery needed after the COVID-19 crisis, excavating tools from the post-independence era such as capital controls and banking credit for strategic sectors. 

Omar Ghannam and Kareem Megahed (PCT researchers; Social Justice Platform) will explore what the crisis reveals about the current neoliberal system, and share insights for building an economy directed towards people’s needs, drawing on their study of Nasser’s industrialization policy.

Faisal Garba (PCT researcher; University of Cape Town) will discuss his research on how Ghana under Nkrumah and Tanzania under Nyerere sought to bridge gaps between ethnicity and identity, reflecting on what lessons this offers in the contemporary context of xenophobia and inequality for migrants across the continent, exacerbated by COVID-19.