he blogs the rains down in Africa

Africa. The Dark Continent.

I referred to it the "single highest locus of barabric misogyny on the planet, irrespective of religion" for the simple reason that no continent has had a more wretched history of genocide, imperialism, colonialism, plunder, and exploitation. The origins of the human species are there, shrouded in time, and the origins of human civilization are there too, stained with blood.

Bringing light to Africa should be the greatest human rights priority of the human race.

But whatever stereotypes we have of Africa, it is true that for hundreds of years Africans have strived to bring themselves out of the darkness and empower themselves. Some efforts are more publicity than pragmatic policy; look to Muammar Ghadafi's United States of Africa proposal which is a fine concept in the ideal but has never amounted to anything more than rhetoric.

The real work being done to change the direction of the Mother continent is painstaking and slow, by the usual flawed yet still essential levers of democracy. However, the blogsphere has been largely silent on the matter of African liberty, preferring to focus more on the Middle East.

With one exception: Jonathan Edelstein, of Head Heeb blog. He's better known for his essential Israeli-Palestinian conflict analysis (which I credit with single-handedly convincing me that the Israeli Wall was a good policy move and not a brazen land grab). But the Head Heeb has been blogging on Africa for years - both Politics and Society. I strongly urge everyone with any interest in African liberty to be a regular reader.

Jonathan is as essential a voice in African politics as Abu Aardvark is to middle-eastern media analysis.