Hie guys. This is our first blog post. Expect more from our team in due time. We will be posting a lot on current affairs in Zimbabwe, Africa and other parts of the world, particularly with direct (or sometimes perceived indirect) links to Africa. This platform was mainly created to facilitate deliberative democracy and to map out the future for our nations and continents, for our generation and those that are coming. As the African saying goes, we owe our future to our children, if we do not act and speak out now we are doomed to not only repeat, but live in history.
One of the recurrent and guiding principles and themes in contemporary sociopolitical and economic life is globalisation. We are living in an increasingly interlinked society where space and time have become as compressed as never before. Leisure (football being a major example), politics, fashion, economics, education and religion among other things have become shared, collaborative or competitive phenomenon on a global scale. No sensible human being can, in this age, claim ignorance of the importance of “the neighbour” whether far or near. Cavemen mentality of isolation can no longer be entertained if we are to be anything. Globalisation, like any other phenomenon existent, has its good, bad and ugly but it is imperative to argue for ways to make it work rather than hiding from reality. Africa has so far been regressing, in my view, towards history and sometimes unwarranted paranoia. We do not deny the evils of global political and economic inequalities but it is important to find ways to compete in such a world rather than reinforce our imaginary carapaces so that we can hide, while imprisoning our future in the process. These debates will be developed more in our coming blogs and publication. Virtual Planet Digest, published on Isuu which will be available from August 2017. We look forward to an active participation of African youth.
It is our belief that shared ideas can help shape the future. We have a lot of sharp minds in Africa who could make a positive impact on society but whose voices are muffled by the political realities of the day. We decided to name our ‘movement’ Virtual Planet because we regard ourselves as “liquid”, fluid in the sense that we are not restricted by structures. especially with the ugly truth that political and social participation in Africa is usually a reserve for the old who are influenced by ghosts of the past in their decision making or who want to stay in power forever. Join us, therefore, as we put heads together in order to free our future as a continent.
The blogs posted here will be sometimes country-specific, issue-specific, theoretical or philosophical. We will look at a variety of issues that directly impact on the future of Africa and its youths.
Virtual Planet Africa 