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Geopolitics

Trump Meet Mo Ibrahim: African Fix For An American Strongman

Trump is no standard strongman candidate
Trump is no standard strongman candidate
Carl-Johan Karlsson

-Essay-

PARIS — Every aspiring strongman must fulfill a number of prerequisites. He should be skilled at demonizing his opponents and intimidating his allies, manipulating the media and restricting free speech — all the while mixing different doses of serial lying, fear-mongering and nationalism to rile up the masses.

But, of course, the long-term success of all such endeavors hinges on the aspirant's ability to hold onto power. And so as Donald Trump has spent the last four years sliding toward "American strongman" status, he now faces his final exam.

And so far so good. Clearly losing at the polls to Joe Biden is a detail, as the incumbent has doubled down on his pre-election prediction of a rigged election; he has skipped the concession speech and bullied other Republicans into refusing to congratulate the winner; he's taking legal action to challenge the election results; and, he's now — with 68 days left of his presidency — stacking the Pentagon and the National Security Agency with loyalists.

All by the book. But still, as the so-called Leader of the Free World, Trump is no standard strongman candidate. Autocrats and democrats alike are watching closely. Indeed, there isn't really a precedent for how to become (or dispose of) an aspiring authoritarian ruler in the U.S. For Trump's opposition, it complicates the question: How do we kick him out?

Ibrahim understands the importance of putting emphasis on the "leaving" part.

One person who might have an idea is Mo Ibrahim. The Sudanese-British billionaire runs a foundation that awards the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The prize offers a $5-million payout, followed by a lifetime annual $200,000 installation thereafter, to a former African head of state who has worked to strengthen democracy, and — most importantly on a continent with a history of power-clinging — who has left office with a graceful, democratic transfer of power.

Mo Ibrahim runs a foundation to encourage democratic transitions of power — Photo: Imago/ZUMA

The 74-year-old Ibrahim understands the importance of putting emphasis on the "leaving" part: Africa has seen more than 2,000 country-years of dictatorship in the last seven decades, according to the calculation of a Princeton University study. Among more recent examples, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after losing his bid for a fifth term in 2016, eventually leading to an intervention by several West African countries to force him out.

Ivory Coast is again facing an over-extended reign, as President Alassane Ouattara just won election to a third term, even though the nation has a two-term limit. Trump may be shooting for something more along the lines of Robert Mugabe who, during 37 years as Zimbabwe's ruler — claiming contested victories in popular votes in 1990, 1996, 2002, 2008, and 2013 — became a billionaire by looting his own country.

Mo Ibrahim knows the math. His prize was not established to convince the natural-born strongmen that the payoff was a better deal, but to serve as an example for future African leaders that democratic institutions have their own value. And Trump? Sure, he likes a quick buck — but he's also done his math. That leaves it to the rest of the country, starting with other Republicans, to bet on democracy.

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Society

The Colombian Paramilitary's Other Dirty War — Against LGBTQ+ People

In several parts of Colombia over the past decades, right-wing paramilitaries and their successor gangs have targeted all those tagged as sexual "deviants" for execution, supposedly in a bid to restore traditional values.

Image of a man applying powder on his face.

November 7, 2021: ''Santi Blunt'', one of the vocalists and composers of LGBTQIA+ group ''Jaus of Mojadas'' in Pasto, Colombia.

Camilo Erasso/ZUMA
Johan Sanabria

BARRANCABERMEJA — Sandra* spotted her name for the first time on a pamphlet left at her doorstep in 2008, in Barrancabermeja, her home town in northern Colombia. Local paramilitaries known as the Black Eagles (Águilas negras) dropped it there on Dec. 15 as a warning and, effectively, a deferred death sentence. It meant they knew where Sandra, a transgender woman, lived and that if she chose to stay, she could expect to die.

✉️ You can receive our LGBTQ+ International roundup every week directly in your inbox. Subscribe here.

The pamphlet, copies of which were left in bars or premises frequented by gays, lesbians and transsexuals, stated, "Barrancabermeja is becoming full of fags, AIDS-spreaders and sodomites, and this must stop." Colombians do not take gang threats lightly, and know that paramilitaries are death squads: in many parts of the country, they have killed with utter impunity.

Sandra was born in August 1989 in the San Rafael hospital in Barrancabermeja. Her mother was a housewife and her father worked for the country's big oil firm, Ecopetrol. The youngest of three children, she had dark skin and dark eyes, thick lips and long, curvy hair. She is not very tall, speaks slowly and tends to prolong words, and seldom laughs.

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