I was sitting around being mildly hypnotized by the variety of Kiswahili accents on BBC Idhaa ya Kiswahili when I tuned back in for this story: a FIFA anti-doping official type was in South Africa attending a conference on traditional practices (read: witchcraft and herbal medicines) that are used to enhance footballers performance.
The challenge? Some of the substances consumed by African footballers might actually give them an unfair advantage on the pitch. But how does FIFA test for this variety of unknown substances. Heh. I wish them the best of luck.
Then the Beeb brought down my intellectual high with this stupid-ass question: "Can coups in AFrica be a good thing? Are they bad, or can they achieve something good?"
Hold up, now, Beeb. How patronizing can you get? A coup must, by its very nature, use illegal means to change the balance of power, thereby suspending democratic processes and placing everyone in that polity at the mercy of the perpetrators of the coup. Whether or not outright violence is used, who in their right mind can support coups as a viable regime-change mechanism?
Does the Beeb think that the British might enjoy a coup or two, perhaps? No? Then why the hell should Africans do so? Institutional racism sucks.
