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Mugabe's Chinese Tech Support

By aardvarchaeology on March 21, 2007.

As reported profusely in the mainstream media, the Chinese government is investing in iffy African regimes to secure access to the troubled continent's raw materials. For years, Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe has for instance received Chinese tech and training to control information flow: phone-tapping, radio jamming and internet-monitoring. You scratch my dictatorial back, I'll scratch yours, little brother.

British-run short-wave radio station SW Radio Africa is routinely jammed in Zimbabwe's cities. Now, reports the BBC's global tech news program & podcast Digital Planet, the radio station is offering Zimbabweans free news headlines as daily cellphone text messages. During the recent clamp-down on the opposition, those in Zimbabwe who actually knew what was going on did so largely thanks to cellphones.

My old phone is in Tanzania, by the way.

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As reported profusely in the mainstream media

Ah, for a healthy dose of European mainstream media! According to the US media, nothing newsworthy ever happens unless it's either in the US or to Americans in some other country. Substantive news about African politics? It's all just clicks 'n' whistles to us.

Back in the 90s, a large proportion of American highschoolers didn't even know what continent they lived on when shown a world map without country borders. (-;