In the immediate aftermath of the crisis in Guangzhou, the discourse over what happened was dominated by political leaders, official spokespeople on all sides, and state-run media outlets. Civil society stakeholders, for the most part, were not as vocal. Now, that’s all changed and a wide cross-section of people from various backgrounds and nationalities are speaking out.
- THE ACTIVIST: “China’s investment in Africa cannot buy the silence of a continent,” said Deprose Muchena is East and Southern Africa Director at Amnesty International. (THE DIPLOMAT)
- THE BILLIONAIRE: “I felt humiliated, and so did the other Kenyans who were applying” for visas at the Chinese embassy in Nairobi and had to produce all sorts of documentation that Chinese do not need to present for Kenyan visas, said Suleiman Shahbal. (KENYANS.CO.KE)
- THE CELEBRITY: “The Chinese government [needs] to formally apologize to the black race globally and Africa as a continent,” said Ghanaian celebrity real estate mogul Nana Kwame Bediako aka “Cheddar.” (PULSE GHANA)
- THE STUDENT: “If there is something China and Africa need to do right away before it is too late is translating the existing relations from elitism and economies restructured to the minds and hearts of ordinary people,” said Kwizela Arstide Basebya, a Ph.D. candidate at the Communications University of China. (THE CITIZEN)
