Siyanda Mohutsiwa: How young Africans found a voice on Twitter
سياندا موهوتسيوا: كيف وجد الأفارقة الشباب صوتاً لهم على تويتر
When her hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar went viral, Botswana writer Siyanda Mohutsiwa triggered a lighthearted but electrifying discussion of some serious African issues. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
your country be drinking or doing?
بلدك أو يفعل ؟
about South Africa,
according to the rules
continual attempts
for decades by apartheid,
would be drinking all kinds of alcohol
ستشرب كل أنواع الكحول
to get along in its stomach.
where I wondered if I crossed the line.
تجاوزت الحدود.
about my own country
I'm familiar with.
أعرفها جيدا.
I had ever tweeted
(يوليو)
all over the world.
to do many different things.
أشياء عديدة مختلفة.
Nigeria would be outside explaining
the bouncer's account details.]
ordering bottles it can't pronounce
لا يمكنها لفظ إسمها
South Sudan would be the new guy
we don't know exist:
Lesotho would be that person
but is always in the pictures.]
that don't think that they're in Africa:
في افريقيا:
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
are we doing here?!!"]
that had made a big turnaround:
Rwanda would be that girl
but leaves drunk, happy and rich]
سكرانة و سعيدة و غنية
over their Africanness.
that Pan-Africanism could work,
يمكن أن تكون ذات فائدة
between us, at our fingertips
أصابعنا
from two different African countries.
called Botswana in southern Africa.
our 50th year of stable democracy.
الديمقراطية المستقرة
social policies.
التقدمية جداً.
is the Kingdom of Swaziland.
also in southern Africa.
في جنوب أفريقيا أيضاً
and a royal family
seem very different.
جداً ،
I could see the difference.
it didn't rain quite as much in the other.
لم تمطر كثيراً في البلد الآخر.
I didn't really realize
were from two different places.
مختلفين.
to have a very peculiar effect on me.
له تأثيرا ًغريباً عليّ
بطلاقة
anything that was being said to me
I was meant to move forward.
تريدني أن أتقدم الى الأمام.
by how very non-Swazi I was becoming.
غير سوازية.
into Africa's private school system,
الخاصة فيي أفريقيا
is to beat the Africanness out of you,
أفريقيتنا فينا ،
a very peculiar adolescence.
in ideas of identity was born here,
بأفكار الهوية ولدت هنا ،
of belonging to two places at once
في وقت واحد.
to either one very well
in between and around simultaneously.
بنا و بيننا في نفس الوقت.
of a shared African identity.
to read about politics
عن السياسة
and what all those things mean.
هذه الأشياء.
about African philosophies.
الأفريقية.
of black intellectuals
and black consciousness.
that I had digested these grand ideas,
هذه الأفكار العظيمة ،
of iconic African statesmen
that I could get my hands on.
وقعت عليها يدي.
of a teenage girl
of hearing about all this random stuff.
ما تقوله عن الحديث العشوائي.
and the whole continent,
for smartphones and Internet surfing
الذكية و البحث في الأنترنت
messages to each other on this platform
على هذه المساحة
and a little bit of creativity.
الموهبة الخلاقة.
should have been paying attention to,
كان علينا الأنتباه لها ،
of being young and African.
was not available to everybody.
a teenage girl in Botswana
من بوتسوانا
to have fun on the Internet,
the three other people you knew online.
تعرفينهم على الأنترنت.
Zimbabweans, Ghanaians, Nigerians.
ومن زمبابوي و غانا و نيجيريا.
who were travelling around the continent,
يسافرون في أرجاء القارة ،
under the hashtag #myafrica.
on Twitter or on Google
أو غوغل
was just pictures of animals
حيوانات
in hotel resorts.
of the tourism sectors.
on the beaches of Nigeria.
نيجيريا.
in cocktail bars in Nairobi.
that I began to meet
politics, economic policy.
والاقتصاد الأفريقي.
of something amazing,
the future of our continent in real time,
finances and watchful governments.
الحكومات
about other African countries
الأفريقية الأخرى
might know about Africa as a whole.
were constantly being bombarded
ruled by black people
under crushing white rule
in a black and free nation.
في بلد أسود و حر.
archaic education system,
في أفريقيا
carried over from the 1920s --
I could name all the various causes
الأسباب المختلفة
in Europe in the past 200 years,
سنة الماضية ،
of my neighboring country.
المجاورة.
are deeply intertwined.
الأمور
largest refugee centers.
or Kenyan problems,
of sharing the successes?
increasing inter-African trade,
البينية الأفريقية
and putting pressure on leaders
they've already signed.
أن وقعوها.
for Africa to share its successes
لمشاركة نجاحاتها
I like to call social Pan-Africanism.
already exists,
موجودة فعلاً
totally new here.
of the political elite.
حصري تقريباً.
of the ordinary African.
and shaky institutions,
than a handful of leaders
of the populations has been alive,
is social Pan-Africanism.
الأجتماعية.
to suffocate our innovation.
ابتكاراتنا.
comes up with something brilliant,
بشيء عبقري
this wouldn't work in my country,"
في بلدي."
begin to realize
is our canvas, is our home.
we can begin to think collaboratively,
بشكل تعاوني
"If you want to go fast, you go alone,
عليك السير منفرداً
you go together."
السير مع أحد."
is how we can go far together.
طريقنا للسير معا.
has given young Africans
الشباب
had to violently take: a voice.
أعطانا صوتاً.
to hear from the youth in Africa,
minister of youth --
عمره 65 عاما --
he has for your generation
by your possibly tyrannical government,
حكومتك التي قد تكون دكتاتورية
suffer the consequences
might make someone care.
تجعل شخصاً ما يهتم.
to back each other up
ridiculously high tertiary fees.
العالي الغالية.
who are marching to parliament.
نحو البرلمان.
who are being illegally detained.
دون مبرر قانوني.
with it the most:
a social Pan-Africanist thinking
الأجتماعية
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Siyanda Mohutsiwa - WriterWhen her hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar went viral, Botswana writer Siyanda Mohutsiwa triggered a lighthearted but electrifying discussion of some serious African issues.
Why you should listen
Blogger, humorist and math student Siyanda Mohutsiwa explores African topics both weighty (reviving PanAfricanism) and witty (“5 things NOT to say when trying to seduce an Afrikaner”). Her columns for African media outlets like the Mail & Guardian, Za News, and her own website Siyanda Writes have gained a loyal following.
But when Mohutsiwa’s hashtag #IfAfricaWasABar exploded on Twitter, the viral thread (which pondered the hypothetical bar mannerisms of various African nations) became a platform for everyday Africans to unite in a playful dialogue on national differences, and helped turn Mohutsiwa into a social media star.
Siyanda Mohutsiwa | Speaker | TED.com