Senior Strategist at @Code4Africa + Plus Alliance. Former Ed-in-Chief: Mail & Guardian and 24. com. Knight Fellow at ICFJ 2015-2019. #CTCity

Cape Town, RSA
Joined May 2008
Chris Roper retweeted
From Tshwane migrant raids to performative cruelty on the global stage, politicians are turning dehumanisation into a campaign strategy. Is empathy being sacrificed for votes? @ChrisRoper writes more here: fm.co.za/art_01a120e4a61071e…
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Sportswashing can only do so much. "Saudi Arabia to execute man for being at protests and funerals when he was 15." "Last year saw a record 356 people put to death. Most of those executed are foreigners convicted of minor crimes." "In April, it executed Ali al-Subaiti for non-lethal 'terrorist' offences committed when he was 12 years old." theguardian.com/global-devel…
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Stupidity is its own reward.
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Why stop with the Western Cape seceding from South Africa? Let’s free Cape Town from the Western Cape! Because once you start this sort of nonsense, it’s just freedoms all the way down. #CapeTeXit #freecapetown
Free Cape Town from the Western Cape! We are being economically destroyed and culturally embarrassed by the rest of the province. But we, the people of Cape Town, can protect and preserve this beautiful Airbnb we call home. Join the struggle! #CapeTeXit capetownexit.africa/
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Chris Roper retweeted
🔐 Ready to put your digital security expertise to work for human rights? We’re hiring a digital security engineer to help protect human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society organisations across Africa. We're looking for a candidate fluent in English and French, with a strong background in endpoint security and incident response. You should have a deep understanding of the digital threat landscape and experience working with non-profit organisations or in the development sector. 📅 Applications close on 15 October: cfa.fyi/5NsH6wq
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Chris Roper retweeted
🚺 Menstrual justice in Senegal needs better data. Regional findings are cited as national facts, while a widely repeated school toilet statistic lacks a clear source. Reform needs evidence: a baseline, then a way to measure progress. 🧐 Read: cfa.fyi/ZLbhCzG
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"What you’re actually getting if you fall for the idiocy of CapeXit - and this is the switch - is a way to opt out of responsibility for the country that, for better or worse (with a heavy dollop of worse, it has to be said), we all helped create. You’ll be given the greatest gift you could hope for: a licence to whine instead of having to actually pitch in alongside the amazing number of people and organisations doing their best to push back against the tide of corruption and incompetence that threatens to irredeemably damage our democracy." Oh, and please subscribe to Scribble. open.substack.com/pub/scribb…
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I find the CapeXit Party, who want an "independent Cape", totally reprehensible. So I wrote about how Elon Musk’s Mars promises and the idea of an independent Cape are both classic bait-and-switch con games. open.substack.com/pub/scribb…
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If you need some encouragement.
A post explaining a disinformation tactic prevalent in South African social media spaces and how it can and must be defeated. ✍🏽 There is a disinformation and social media manipulation tactic called "mass brigading," often used by political parties and "movements" to silence dissent. It involves a group of users banding together to discredit someone expressing a different opinion by flooding their comment sections with negative comments and insults. You know the usual culprits: the anti-democratic forces seeking to sow discord, polarise, incite and normalise violence, stifle democracy, and encourage you not to vote. Mass brigading works because no one likes to be piled on. People self-censor to escape it. DO NOT BE FEARFUL. DO NOT SHRINK. DO NOT SELF-CENSOR. NEVER FOLD. I honestly couldn’t give two whatnots about being mass-brigaded. Come one, come all. Bring uBobby noSnoopy wakini futhi. BABIZE. Continue and, thanks for the engagement and boosting my views opposing your need to destabilise South Africa in the Twitter algorithm, now more will see it. Basically, and in French: f them and their Mama. In uMageba: Ngeke ngizwe ngawe. Mass brigading can be defeated by refusing to be silenced. Hundreds of accounts with 2 followers, no profile picture, anonymous, flooding your mentions? Those are not real people but unthinking minions sent to silence you. Will you be silenced and let them win? Could never be you, my darling. Stand firmly on principle and refuse to budge. Stiffen your backbone and SPEAK (WRITE). Our democracy will hold. Hugs and kisses. Country Duty activated. HAAK 🇿🇦💪
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Chris Roper retweeted
We know why they are doing it. We know why WE are doing what we are doing. Therein lies our collective strength.
Replying to @RediTlhabi
Hey @RediTlhabi. Hope you and other South African ambassadors (official & unofficial) are prepared for fresh hostilities from the Tr**p administration towards SA after this. Am certain the ICC was just the first shot. Sterkte.
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Yet.
My only real surprise about the advent of livestreamed executions in the US is that the White House didn't seek commercial sponsorship
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Today we praise Navi Pillay and international law. The 🇳🇴 Foreign Minister @EspenBarthEide regrets US threats of new sanctions on the ICC ⬇️
I deeply regret that the US threatens to impose new sanctions on the International Criminal Court. At a time of war and multiple conflicts, we need, more than ever, an International Criminal Court that can fulfil its mandate free from political pressure. bit.ly/4yaMDQw
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Chris Roper retweeted
Are you a journalist or media organisation in distress? Free Press Unlimited has an emergency fund that supports journalists who have been confronted with (online) harassment, intimidation, or violence to continue their work. Here's how to apply 👉 twp.ai/4hwhlm
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Chris Roper retweeted
Let me say this again. The Nobel Committee awarded Judge Navi Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize for her oeuvre, her ENTIRE life's work, including fighting apartheid when some of you and your ancestors were enjoying its fruits. She helped build the democratic edifice that has anchored our imperfect South Africa, and helped so many of you thrive. That you are losing your shit over one aspect of her work, is telling. You will be strong. Her work and its impact are a reality that your venom and childish outburst cannot erase.
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Governing by hissy fit. Guess we in South Africa are the next target. "US President Donald Trump's ​administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize." reuters.com/world/us-imposes…
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And mobster rule loading too, I see. ""Either the ICC will ⁠end its ​threats, or we will end the ICC. We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ​ICC and that rely on American servicemembers for their defense, to rein in the court," Rubio said."
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Chris Roper retweeted
From Elon Musk's Mars colony dreams to the Western Cape independence movement: why grand utopian promises are often just classic bait-and-switch con games. Read more from @ChrisRoper here: fm.co.za/art_01a0d7bb48167af…
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