Crises times have an uncanny way of giving salience to struggles for democracy. The new coronavirus – also known as COVID-19 – became a global public health issue that stirred other democratic concerns from persons living with disabilities who wanted access to health information for their survival. People living with various types of disabilities have special communication and information needs, some of which require specific technologies, formats and language. The pandemic got people concerned about their safety and survival. This article contextualises and critiques US, Britain and Zimbabwean activists representing persons living with disabilities’ reactions to the manner their public authorities availed COVID-19 health messages to disabled constituencies via mainstream television. It compares how suitable was televised content from US, Britain, Zimbabwean and New Zealand stations for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, before exploring complaints and lawsuits from the disability constituency pertaining to access to COVID-19 health information.
Social media in its various forms drew international attention to Zimbabwe during the most intense period of the Zimbabwe crisis up to 2008. It is arguable that social media activism was contributory to the current dispensation of Government of National Unity between ZANU PF and the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Social media induced revolution and mass rejection of the status quo of the magnitude seen in the Arab Spring might be difficult to replicate in Zimbabwe. A similar revolution with different magnitude but critical results unfolds in Zimbabwe, especially since the disputed 2008 presidential elections and the mayhem that followed. The use of new communication technologies helped publicize extra-legal activities and human rights abuses often blamed on ZANU PF affiliated militia groups and the security forces. International attention has led to diplomatic intervention.
Since the late 1990s, Zimbabwe has been going through a difficult economic and political crisis. Many businesses have shut down or have relocated to South Africa and other countries. The music industry has not been spared the myriad problems that have affected all Zimbabwean sectors.
However, the industry endures against all odds and seems to be creating its own stars and hits, while continuing to attract significant media attention. This article demonstrates that due to piracy and poor payment of royalties by recording companies, live performances have become the mainstay
of musicians' income and livelihood. In the business environment of live performances, intermediaries such as promoters and venue owners have made attempts to extract as much as they can from proceeds. Nonetheless, the musicians have become inventive and intelligent users of the media in order
to maximize publicity. Government policies have either boosted or presented obstacles to the music industry. This article also shows that the star and hit system has only benefited a minority of musicians, whilst many continue to live in distress and have often been forced to subsidize their
art through other sources of income. The Zimbabwean star system is created with very little contribution from recording companies, who do not believe in allocating resources to marketing and promotion.
Cultural tourism involving people who claim to be Bushman or San has seen some 'Bushman' performers becoming iconic through using performative visual and oral archetypes. The late Silikat van Wyk, to some extent, became the visual image of the Bushman of the Kalahari Desert. Alone or in a team, he performed at tourist resorts and in the Kalahari. I use a performative style of writing where my presence and identity as a researcher are declared and my unique ethnographic encounter with Silikat van Wyk and his small cast in the Kalahari are enunciated and theorised. The contradictions in the observed-observer/researcherresearched relations, and how these are nearly subverted/ inverted in this particular research encounter, are outlined. Performative writing here is a synthetic style of writing that borrows from imaginative literary writing, (auto)ethnography and critical academic writing.
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