Professor Nic Cheeseman was interviewed about digital democracy in Africa on the Voice of the Cape radio station in South Africa.
He was interviewed by Shafiq Morton on Drive Time, and you can listen to the interview here:
For pieces in the series, check out …
- INTRO: Nic Cheeseman, Lisa Garbe and Idayat Hassan summarise the contribution of all the papers and explain Why digital democracy will take more than technology in Africa
- Azeb Madebo on Social Media, the Diaspora and the Politics of Ethnicity in Ethiopia
- Julie Owono on Why Silicon Valley companies need to be more responsible in Africa
- Lisa Garbe on What we do (not) know about Internet shutdowns in Africa
- Idayat Hassan and Jamie Hitchin on How hashtag activism moves offline in the Gambia
- Toussaint Nothias on Facebook’s ongoing scramble for Africa
- Ashwanee Budoo on How fighting fake news hurts free speech
- Lisa-Marie Selvik on How to ensure digital access to information in Africa
Sir Francis Bacon is reputed to have said that knowledge is power. I agree. Societies that prize education as a meaning of making knowledge accessible to all, will always out perform those that do not, on all key indicators essential for development. It is a reality which is clearly visible in East Asia where I now live. This is not so in Africa. For African leaders have shown themselves remarkably prodigious in providing their peoples with an education that excels only in mediocrity, circumscribing their capacity to embrace or take advantage of the digital revolution. This is probably the greatest evil on the continent of Africa, surpassing by far, the evil of not building viable democratic institutions which are necessary for strong and stable nation states.