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Nadine White and Gary Younge converse at Henley Literary Festival (Henley Literary Festival)© Provided by The Independent/Photo Courtesy

British journalist and author Gary Younge has hit out at Kemi Badenoch’s claim that Britain is the best place to be Black, saying the remarks suggest that ethnic minorities should “be happy with the racism we have”.

The multi-award-winner, 54, a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester, said Ms Badenoch’s comments, made at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, were “unhelpful” because they effectively ranked racism – while ignoring the fact that it is “not very good anywhere”. 

Asked during an interview with race correspondent Nadine White at the Henley Literary Festival – for which The Independent is an exclusive news partner – whether he thought that was right, he said: “Evidently not.

“According to the statistics, you’re more likely to be unemployed, less likely to earn as much, more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, jailed – you’re going to get a longer sentence, you’re more likely to be in poor housing, you’re more likely to be poor.”

He added: “It’s worth saying it’s not that much fun for a lot of white people either. But if we’re doing pound for pound, then no [it’s not the best country to be Black]; that is the nature of racism.”

Mr Younge, formerly editor-at-large at The Guardian which he joined in 1993, said Ms Badenoch’s comments were a “different way” of saying that Black people “should be happy with the racism we have because there could be more.”

“Who would want to be happy with that? And how do we measure that?” he asked. “I don’t know that any other country has deported its citizens as they did during the Windrush scandal; I haven’t heard those dispatches from Holland, France or Spain.

“At some point, it becomes a weird batch auction, (as if) to say ‘where is racism better?’. Well, it’s not very good anywhere.”

Mr Younge said the rhetoric of “our racism is better than theirs” is a “very, very low standard to go on”. “I don’t see how that helps me or anybody else. I find it an incredibly complacent and unhelpful way to think,” he added. 

Described as a “powerful collection of journalism on race, racism, Black life and death”, Dispatches from The Diaspora is based on the journalist’s articles on those topics. 

Published by Faber & Faber, the pieces were written across three decades across various platforms from The Guardian and New Statesman to GQ Magazine, Washington Post and The Nation.

The decision to compile Dispatches From The Diaspora followed George Floyd’s murder in the US in 2020. “Floyd’s murder made me think about kind of the work that I’d done and how it kind of did or didn’t relate to that moment,” he said.

“I thought we’re in a weird time where it’s all available or most of what’s in the book is kind of available on the Internet – but then you will have to look for it… and there was some value in having it in one place.

“So I started thinking about collecting the works. There are trends and continuity and there are things that are happening now... history doesn’t repeat itself, but sometimes it does rhyme.”

He said he wanted to demonstrate that racism didn’t start in 2020. “Once I had the idea, that was where I thought, there is more value in this than I had originally imagined,” he said.

From covering the end of apartheid in South Africa during the 1990s to reporting on the ground in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the inception of the Black Lives Matter movement to the impact of Covid on Black communities, Younge’s dispatches interrogate political and social assumptions around Blackness.

The body of work spans the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and Britain, translating key moments into tangible words and further chronicling them onto the pages of history.

 
Notting Hill Carnival is a yearly celebration of British African Caribbean and British Indo-Caribbean culture (Getty)
Notting Hill Carnival is a yearly celebration of British African Caribbean and British Indo-Caribbean culture (Getty)© Provided by The Independent

He highlights the pioneers behind Notting Hill Carnival, including Claudia Jones and Rhaune Laslett, examining the annual event’s inception and attitudes around it back in 1991, when it was greeted with suspicion. 

Talking about how conversations surrounding the festival still happen in 2023, he said: “As in so many things, we’re not where we were. We have more Black campaigns, we have more Black journalists, a more robust section of civil society that is Black than we did 20-odd years ago. But we’re nowhere near where we need to be.”

Indeed, more Black journalists are working in the UK media industry now than when Mr Younge started out in 1992. However, diversity is poor with reporters from this group only comprising 0.2 per cent of an industry that is at least 94 per cent white.

Where Mr Younge, a prolific writer and thinker on an array of topics including race, recalls being warned off of focusing on this area as a specialism during his early career days by “well-intended” white colleagues, what advice does he have for up-and-coming Black newspeople?

“I would say to young journalists: if you’re into sport, write about sport, If you’re into fashion, write about fashion. If you’re into race, write about race. Because you know what? Whatever you do, you’re still going to be Black. Your racial identity will inform your work – and the things that you are most passionate about, are the things that you write about well.” Story by Nadine White, The Independent

 

JUBA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said on Thursday that it is seeking 358 million U.S. dollars in funds to respond to the influx of people displaced as a result of the deadly clashes in Sudan.

Albino Akol Atak, minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, said deadly clashes that erupted in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have displaced nearly 300,000 people into South Sudan, warning that the number might increase to half a million people who will urgently need humanitarian support.

Akol said the government and humanitarian agencies set up a humanitarian pool when the crisis in Sudan started in mid-April to respond to the needs and the costs of operation.

"In the first three months, we realized that the operation (humanitarian response) would require 96 million dollars to be contributed by both partners and the government, but when we reviewed the plans recently, we realized that the operation would require up to 358 million dollars to respond to the crisis by the end of the year," he told journalists in the capital of Juba.

Akol said the influx of displaced persons as a result of the Sudan crisis compounds further the existing humanitarian catastrophe the country is already going through in which 9.4 million people were already in need of humanitarian aid, including 300,000 returnees who had voluntarily returned home from neighboring Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia as a result of relative peace. - Xinhua

Political Analyst Mark Bichachi.

A few months into office, President William Ruto’s administration was faced with several challenges as Kenyans expressed displeasure with its governance.

Governance experts however were quick to advise that the government be given time to execute its mandate, considering leadership is not an overnight thing.

What was not clear though was the amount of time the Kenya Kwanza government needed for the change and implementation of the manifesto to be adopted. 

 

Now into their second year in office, the tune remains the same as the cost of living is at an all-time high, making it hard for governance experts to pull the ‘more time’ card to Kenyans.

Speaking on Spice FM on Thursday, October 5, Political analyst Mark Bichachi opined that Ruto’s administration is still not sure what it is required to do even as they embark on their second year in leadership. According to Bichachi, the problem with the current administration is accountability.

“The problem is the issue of accountability because many of the projects launched are yet to be executed. Our government is good at setting goals but fail terribly at executing them,” said Bichachi.

Bichachi averred the Kenya Kwanza administration is still riding on the campaign horse forgetting that they need to step in as ‘now’ leaders.  

“There is a temptation sometimes to continue doing the things that gave you victory and with this government, they campaigned really well. The problem is Ruto is yet to understand the campaigner is different from the leader. You cannot rule by PR because leadership is all about making tough decisions.”

“Ruto is a brilliant guy, he needs to sit and execute all the plans and promises they made to Kenyans,” he said.

Reiterating Bichachi’s sentiments, Inatuhusu Movement leader and former Roots Party running mate Justina Wamae said that the government is focusing all its attention on the wrong things while ignoring those that genuinely need their attention.

According to Wamae, the president is “a political giant but a poor executor.”  She added that he is surrounded by loyalists and not performance-guided leaders.

“The role of the government is to come up with policies and facilitate a conducive environment in which businesses will thrive. However, with this government, their interest is in taking up projects that are yet to be fulfilled and rewarding loyalists who cannot perform,” said Wamae. 

Their remarks come hours after President Ruto made major changes to the Cabinet, since assuming office in 2022.

Among those affected include Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria who has now been moved to the Public Performance Ministry, a newly created ministry, and Alfred Mutua, who has been reassigned to the Tourism docket.

The changes, Ruto says were necessary so as to optimize performance and enhance delivery as set in the Kenya Kwanza’s manifesto.

However, Wamae and Bichichi maintain that what Kenya needs to enhance delivery is the execution of policies and plans and not a reshuffle. By Esther Nyambura, The Standard

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