COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: A momentum for change

While the western World is grappling with the spread of the novel Corona Virus, dozens of prominent intellectuals, writers and academics from across Africa have co-signed an open letter and petition addressed to the continent’s leaders, asking them to use the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to spur “radical change”. Arguing against a new flare of worldwide Afro-pessimism, the authors call on the continent’s political eilte to look “beyond the current crisis as a symptom of deep structural problems Africa has to confront if it is to become one day sovereign and an actor that contributes to the new global order”, and to seize the opportunity to mobilize the plentiful resources the continent has to offer – “traditional, diasporic, scientific, new, digital, and creative – and to emerge stronger from a disaster that some have already predicted for them”.

Refuting the doomful Malthusian prognoses from Western experts, the authors urge to remain confident in the future of the continent and see a momentum for renewed Pan-Africanism and an African health and economic union. The letters serve as reminder that “the African continent must take its destiny back into its own hands.”

Researchers of the CRC-TRR 228 ‘Future Rural Africa’ fully endorse the views expressed by their African colleagues in the above-mentioned letters. Acknowledging the damages and sorrow the pandemic brings and will bring to African communities they wholeheartedly support the claim for a united, creative and independent African response to the threat of the current pandemic. In that sense, and despite its hardships, the present crisis offers a rare opportunity to reshape the future of the continent, break with defunct models of development as well as unsustainable modes of globalization and strive for further political, economic and intellectual cooperation.

The full letter entitled: “The Time to Act is Now” was published, inter alia, on Al Jazeera. The petition “To Emerge from COVID 19 Stronger and Together” can be found on the petition platform Change.org

More CRC News

portrait image of clemens greiner

Clemens Greiner Appointed Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape

Clemens Greiner, researcher in Project C02 Energy Futures, Academic Coordinator of the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) and adjunct Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the ...
Read More »
Group of researchers during a visit to the Bonn Heritage Lab

Exploring Decolonial Heritage: A Visit to the Global Heritage Lab

In June, a group of Future Rural Africa researchers visited the Global Heritage Lab in Bonn. The Global Heritage Lab is a research hub and ...
Read More »
image of ruth hall, prof. at the university of the western cape

Ruth Hall Appointed Director of PLAAS

Ruth Hall, Professor at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa, has been appointed Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and ...
Read More »
map of green hydrogen infrastructure in southern Africa

Planning the Future: Comparing Green Hydrogen Strategies in Chile, Namibia, and South Africa

In their publication, Benedikt Walker and Britta Klagge (Project C02 Energy Futures) alongside Ravn Haid (University of Bonn) examine how spatial planning influences the development ...
Read More »
picture of a field with kale

Call for Workshop Scholarships: Transdisciplinary RLC Workshop on Rural Development and Smallholder Agriculture

The RLC Campus at ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany, offers scholarships for PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America, who are currently studying at ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top