• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
AFRIPOL

AFRIPOL

en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianpt Portugueseru Russianes Spanish
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Mission Statement
  • Articles
  • Book Review
  • Archive
  • Contact Us

Angela Merkel and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in conversation in Germany

September 14, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

Written by DW

Angela Merkel and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The German Chancellor and the celebrated Nigerian feminist author discussed politics, and how they are influenced by social media — and fashion.
Renowned Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Chancellor Angela Merkel were the guest speakers at a panel held at the Düsseldorf’s Schauspielhaus theater on Wednesday, alongside journalists and entrepreneurs Miriam Meckel and Lea Steinacker. Their discussion focused on their own commonalities and differences, particularly as women: Adichie, as a leading feminist author and thinker, and Merkel, as the world’s most powerful female political leader.

At the event, the German chancellor made headlines for stating publicly for the first time, “Yes, I am a feminist.” But the two women also discussed several other topics, including the state of democracy, social media, and even fashion.

Connected with democracy
Merkel was introduced with a selection of praiseworthy labels she has been given over the past years, including “defender of the liberal West.” Merkel reacted to the tribute by saying: “I am happy that, following the German reunification, I have been able to stand up for liberal, democratic values and can work for a free society, as chancellor,” all while adding, “But one needs to look beyond exaggerations and thankfully there are many people who feel connected with democracy, and that makes me happy.”

As Merkel pointed out, her last days as chancellor — a position she has held since 2005 — have been marked with “apocalyptic” floods and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the country’s takeover by the Taliban. Amid such chaos, is there hope for a better world? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pointed out that the world has survived many political catastrophes. “So I think there’s reason to be hopeful but in a way that is very cautious. But it also requires political will. I really think that there is a certain failure of leadership … the things going on today, they were not inevitable. They did not have to happen.”

Transmission of democratic ideals: a never-ending process
But are only leaders to blame? “In order to preserve democracy, we need more than just politics,” said Merkel, adding that culture, history — the question of where we come from and where we’re heading — need to be preserved to keep a society together.

“We [politicians] cannot order others to do this … Good politics can stimulate, but cannot force democracy. If everyone decides to break traffic rules, we cannot make everyone a police officer. The constitutional democracy lives off the fact that it has a high degree of acceptance among its people and this acceptance has to be learned by every new generation.”

Democratic values appear to be eroding in many countries, including Poland and Hungary in Europe, where populist governments have curbed many rights, including freedom expression and freedom from all forms of discrimination based on sex, sexuality or gender.
Adichie discussed the way some politicians manipulate people’s discontent and use that as an excuse to introduce undemocratic laws: “What I feel, watching the US — it’s my second home after Nigeria — is that we need to have an educated and informed electorate, otherwise it’s very easy to manipulate people,” she said.

Intolerance and social media
Social media can be used to inform, “but it can also be very dangerous in keeping us from truth,” she added. Some platforms, she said, “thrive on conflict. People go on these platforms and the goal is conflict, the goal is to misinform.” So, Adichie asks, how do we create an informed electorate and how do we tell people the truth? In her view, people need to read more. “When I say read, I don’t mean read text messages or tweets,” she noted. “I mean, read something that is continuously long and makes sense, that is punctuated and has good grammar.”

Filed Under: Articles

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More to See

US President Biden welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping

November 16, 2023 By AFRIPOL

Former Malawian president on Peter Obi and Malawi Judiciary (video)

November 16, 2023 By AFRIPOL

RSS AllAfrica News: Latest

  • Ethiopia: Green Pavilion in Dubai Demonstrates Ethiopia's Commitment in Tackling Climate Change
    [Ethiopian Herald] The United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP, takes place once a year. This year's COP 28 is being undertaken in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as of November 30, 2023. It is the world's only multilateral decision-making conference on climate change, with nearly every country represented.
  • Ethiopia: COP28 - Opportunity for Ethiopia to Showcase Green Legacy Success
    [Ethiopian Herald] The 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) being held at Expo City, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has provided Ethiopia with many opportunities.
  • Ethiopia: Ethio-Djibouti Railway Freight Volume Surge
    [Ethiopian Herald] ADDIS ABABA--Ethio-Djibouti Railway Share Company (EDR) stated that its capacity in terms of cargo and passengers transportation has shown close to 40% annual growth.
  • Nigeria: At COP28 Summit, Tinubu Commits Nigeria to Ending Gas Flaring
    [This Day] Abuja -- In line with the global push to halt methane emissions, President Bola Tinubu has expressed his government's commitment to end gas-flaring in the country.
  • Nigeria: 2024 Budget Lacks Transparency in Project Selection - Sen Nwoko
    [Leadership] The senator representing Delta North, Ned Nwoko, has said the 2024 budget presented by President Bola Tinubu last week lacks transparency in selection of projects to be executed.
  • Nigeria: Three Plane-Loads of Delegates Represent Nigeria At COP28
    [Leadership] No fewer than 1,411 Nigerian delegates, enough to fill two or three jumbo jets, registered to participate at the 28th Climate Change Summit presently holding in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. That is, the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Tags

Achebe Africa Anambra Boko Haram Buhari CBN Corona Virus Egypt Igbo IMF Inflation Jonathan Kenya Nigeria Okonjo Iweala Peter Obi Sanusi Senate Soludo South Africa Soyinka United States
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Footer

Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center, AFRIPOL is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa.

Recent

  • Henry Kissinger U.S. first class Diplomat that referred to Igbos “as the wandering Jews of West Africa” is dead @100years
  • ” Igbos Believes in Nigeria, Lagos is your home”- President Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide speaks on the demolition of Igbo properties in Lagos. (video)
  • Nigeria’s Economy Will Not Reach $1 Trillion By 2030 – Mustafa Chike-Obi
  • COP28: World leaders gather for climate change summit in Dubai
  • Elon Musk curse out Advertisers leaving ‘X’. He accused them of “blackmail” and said ‘Go f— yourself’ (video)

Search

Tags

Achebe Africa Anambra Boko Haram Buhari CBN Corona Virus Egypt Igbo IMF Inflation Jonathan Kenya Nigeria Okonjo Iweala Peter Obi Sanusi Senate Soludo South Africa Soyinka United States

Copyright © 2023 · AFRIPOL