Postcard From Angola
A young girl walks through the Buracos market, in the Angolan restive region of Cabinda, on April 9th, 2019 in Cabinda, Angola. Photo by Daniel GARELO PENSADOR/AFP via Getty Images. After following Lockdown Sceptics for months with interest, a daily routine that much contributes to slowing down my eroding sanity, I felt compelled to contribute with a postcard of sorts from Luanda. I would prefer to remain anonymous for more or less obvious reasons, and I apologise for my language mistakes as I am not a native English-speaker. I thought it would be worth it to stress the immense, gargantuan damage that the COVID-19 global reaction is causing to most African countries. I’m not here referring only to the obvious economic chaos, misery and hunger that will be spread over years to come, in which deaths will surely be measured in millions. Rather, I’d like to point out that what is happening right now in countries like Angola. It far outreaches, by orders of magnitude, what in the West is perceived as eroding personal liberties and growing authoritarianism. It brings dystopian perceptions to new unthinkable levels. Angola is a country in tropical Africa of roughly 30 million people, has of the youngest and fastest-growing populations in the world, and ranks quite high when it comes to corruption, child mortality and ...