Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
A number of German doctors have stripped naked in a series of photos to show how vulnerable they feel without adequate protective equipment while fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The group calls its protest Blanke Bedenken, which translates as "naked concerns". They stated that shortages of protective clothing and equipment are putting their lives at risk.
"We are your general practitioners. To treat you safely, we need protective equipment. If we run out of what little we have, we look like this," one of the group’s tweets said next to a naked photo of a male physician. On its site, the group, which was launched last Thursday and has since garnered growing attention online, has featured more photos of doctors posing in their medical practices, some wearing nothing but a stethoscope, hiding their private parts behind medical equipment, paperwork and toilet rolls.
In one of the photos a doctor holds up a sign that reads in German, "I learned to sew wounds. Why do I now need to know how to sew masks?" German health workers, just like health workers in many other countries, have appealed for more personal protective equipment (PPE) since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. On its website, Blanke Bedenken says its members were inspired by Alain Colombie, a family doctor in Pomérols, France, who posed naked in his practice to draw attention to insufficient protection for general practitioners.
In the photos, Colombie wore an armband with the words "cannon fodder" on it to highlight the problem.