January 2024

When Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, spoke about Tanzania’s relations with China many decades ago, he already made one thing clear: Tanzania should see for itself what China intends to do with Tanzania. It should not let others tell it what to do. A lot has changed since then, but one thing has remained the same: Europe still tends to dictate to post-colonial countries what they should think about China, especially when it comes to the issue of human rights. But on what basis? Do human rights really apply to everyone in Europe or only to a select and lucky few? And how does this affect relations between Europe and African countries? This literary essay attempts to provide some answers by examining colonial continuities, the presence of China in Tanzania and the universality of human rights, especially LGBTIQ rights.