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February 10, 2026

‘Which Side Are You On?’: American protest songs have emboldened social movements for generations, from coal country to Minneapolis

Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Ted Olson, Professor of Appalachian Studies and Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies, East Tennessee State University

Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine perform on Jan. 30, 2026, in a concert in Minneapolis in protest of federal agents’ actions in Minnesota. Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images

The presence of Department of Homeland Security agents in Minnesota compelled many people there to use songs as a means of protest. Those songs were from secular as well as religious traditions.

On Jan. 8, 2026, the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross killed Minneapolis resident Renée Good on Portland Avenue, an anonymous post appeared on Reddit that featured an uncredited text clearly adapted from the lyrics of a Depression-era protest song from Appalachia, “Which Side Are You On?” The Reddit text criticized the recent federal presence in Minnesota and implored Minnesotans to take a stand.

In our town of Minneapolis,
There’s no neutrals here at home.
You’re either marching in the streets
or you kill for Kristi Noem
Which side are you on,
Oh which side are you on?
Which side are you on,
Oh which side are you on?
ICE is a bunch of killers
who hide behind a mask.
How do they get away with this?
That’s what you have to ask.
Which side are you on …

For centuries, songs have served as vehicles for expressing community responses to sociopolitical crises, whether government repression or corporate exploitation. “Which Side Are You On?” resonated with Minnesotans, in part because it has been recorded by numerous artists over the decades.

The song dates back to another societal struggle that occurred in another part of the United States during another crisis moment in American history. “Which Side Are You On?” has consoled and empowered countless people for generations during struggles in red as well as blue states. It has also inspired people to write new protest songs in the face of new crises.

Birth of a protest anthem

“Which Side Are You On?” was composed in 1931, a woman’s spontaneous response to a coal company’s effort to prevent miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, from joining the United Mine Workers of America. Those miners hoped the labor union would improve their working conditions and overturn imposed reductions to their wages.

In support of the coal company, sheriff J. H. Blair and armed deputies broke into the house of union organizer Sam Reece to apprehend him and locate evidence of union activity. Reece was in hiding elsewhere, but his wife, Florence, and their children were present. After ransacking the house, the sheriff and deputies left.

Florence tore a page out of a calendar and jotted down lyrics for an impromptu song, which she recalled setting to the melody of a Baptist hymn “I’m gonna land on the shore.” Others have observed that the melody in Florence’s song was similar to that of the traditional British ballad “Jack Monroe,” which features the haunting refrain “Lay the Lily Low.”

A black-and-white photo of a man playing guitar — Woody Guthrie, one of America’s most celebrated folk singers of the 20th century, sang many protest songs.
Al Aumuller, via the Library of Congress

“Which Side Are You On?” channeled Florence’s reaction to that traumatic experience. Throughout the 1930s, she and others sang the song during labor strikes in the Appalachian coalfields, and the lyrics were included in union songbooks. Then, in 1941, the Almanac Singers, a folk supergroup featuring Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, recorded the song, and it reached many people beyond Appalachia.

Since then, a range of musicians – including Charlie Byrd; Peter, Paul and Mary; the Dropkick Murphys; Natalie Merchant; Ani DiFranco; and the Kronos Quartet – performed “Which Side Are You On?” in concert settings and for recordings. A solo live performance with a concert audience joining the chorus was a focal point of Seeger’s “Greatest Hits” album in 1967.

The Academy Award-winning documentary film “Harlan County U.S.A.” (1976) included a clip of Florence Reece singing her song during a 1973 strike. “Which Side Are You On?” was translated into other languages – a testament to its universal theme of encouraging solidarity to people confronting authoritarian power.

Florence Reece sings ‘Which side are you on?’ four decades after she wrote the song.

Protest songs of the modern era

While the American protest song tradition can be traced back to the origins of the nation, “Which Side Are You On?” served as a prototype for the modern-era protest song because of its lyrical directness. Many memorable, risk-taking protest songs were composed in the wake of, and in the spirit of, “Which Side Are You On?”

Noteworthy are numerous protest classics in the folk vein, epitomized by a sizable part of Guthrie’s repertoire, by early Bob Dylan songs like “Masters of War” (1963), “The Times They Are a-Changin’” (1964) and “Only A Pawn in Their Game” (1964), and by Phil Ochs’ mid-1960s songs of political critique, such as “Here’s to the State of Mississippi” (1965).

But protest songs have hailed from all music genres. Rock and rhythm and blues, for instance, have spawned many iconic recordings of protest music: Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” (1964), Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” (1966), Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” (1969), Edwin Starr’s “War” (1970) and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Ohio” (1970) among many others.

Blues, country, reggae and hip-hop have spawned broadly inspirational protest songs, and jazz too has yielded classic protest recordings, such as Abel Meeropol’s “Strange Fruit” (1939), popularized by Billie Holiday, and Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 recording of the jazz-poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

Indeed, there are so many enduring contributions to the American protest song canon that a list like Rolling Stone’s recent “100 Best Protest Songs of All Time” is only the tip of the iceberg. Regardless of the genre, effective protest songs retain their power to move and motivate people today despite having been composed in response to past situations or circumstances. And protest songs from the past are often adapted to help people more effectively respond to the crisis of the moment.

Songs for this moment

“Which Side Are You On?” was sung – and its theme invoked – in Minnesota throughout January 2026. On Jan. 24, shortly after Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti on Nicollet Avenue, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey referred to the song’s title during a public address to his constituents: “Stand up for America. Recognize that your children will ask you what side you were on.” That same day, the grassroots organization 50501: Minnesota posted online an appeal to those in power: “[E]very politician and person in uniform must ask themselves one question – which side are you on?”

The next day, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged divisions in the U.S. during a televised briefing, urging citizens in his state and across the nation to consider the choice before them: “I’ve got a question for all of you. What side do you want to be on?”

People protesting ICE and Customs and Border Protection actions in Minnesota and elsewhere have been singing “Which Side Are You On?” and other well-known protest songs, but musicians have also been writing new protest songs about the crisis. On Jan. 8, the Dropkick Murphys posted on social media a clip of “Citizen I.C.E.,” a revamped version of the group’s 2005 song “Citizen C.I.A.,” augmented by video of the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renée Good. On Jan. 27, British musician Billy Bragg released “City of Heroes,” which he composed in tribute to the Minneapolis protesters.

Following suit was Bruce Springsteen, a longtime champion of the protest song legacy. On Jan. 28, Springsteen released online his newly composed and recorded “Streets of Minneapolis.” Millions of people around the world heard the song and saw its accompanying video.

On Jan. 30, Springsteen made a surprise appearance at the Minneapolis club First Avenue, performing his new song at the “Defend Minnesota” benefit concert, organized by musician Tom Morello to raise funds for the families of Good and Pretti.

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ rages against the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.

Making a difference

On the day Pretti was shot dead, hundreds of Minneapolis protesters attended a special service at Minneapolis’ Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church. Pastor Elizabeth MacAuley, in a televised interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, reflected on the role of song in helping people cope: “It’s been a time when it is pretty tempting to feel so disempowered. … [T]he singing resistance movement … brought out the hope and the grief and the rage and the beauty.”

Cooper asked: “Do you think song makes a difference?” MacAuley replied: “I know song makes a difference.”

Ted Olson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. ‘Which Side Are You On?’: American protest songs have emboldened social movements for generations, from coal country to Minneapolis – https://theconversation.com/which-side-are-you-on-american-protest-songs-have-emboldened-social-movements-for-generations-from-coal-country-to-minneapolis-274907

February 10, 2026

Activists in Ghana are forcing extractive firms to account for the harm they cause – corporate abuse study

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Cynthia Kwakyewah, Course Director in Social Science, York University, Canada

Ghana has a long history of resource extraction that has caused socioeconomic and ecological harm. The mining of gold, stones, sand and salt has displaced people, polluted the environment and destroyed livelihoods. It’s commonly believed that this continues to happen, with impunity.

But recent developments reveal a more complex reality.

As a global sociologist who specialises in human rights, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development, I mapped out the patterns of corporate abuse in Ghana’s mining, oil and gas sectors. I also looked at the strategies that local actors are using to push the state to act against firms violating their rights.

My findings show that a subtle shift is taking place in Ghana. Civil society organisations, administrative bodies and courts are changing the accountability landscape. Between 2000 and 2020, 27 human rights-related lawsuits and complaints were filed against extractive sector companies in Ghana.

The Ghanaian experience offers insights for other African countries:

there are remedies even in environments that have weak regulations
social activism that combines accountability with moral persuasion and legal enforcement can yield results
African actors are producers of innovative accountability practices.

Ways to address corporate impunity and give victims access to remedies don’t have to come from the global north alone.

Violations

The study involved creating a new database of recorded allegations of corporate abuses, where the victims were in mining, oil and gas communities. The material came from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre digital archive, a repository of complaints reported by NGOs and government institutions globally, primarily through media coverage. I then added material drawn from reputable local organisations that process complaints, petitions or lawsuits about corporate violations. I also interviewed representatives of civil society organisations and public officials.

I found that 83% of the allegations of corporate abuses were the result of the (in)actions of extractive sector firms. This contradicts the perception that most corporate human rights violations, in terms of numbers and severity, involve multinationals enabling a host government to carry out abuses.

Global reports often emphasise corruption, lack of transparency, intimidation and labour abuse. But the Ghanaian data point to a different corporate abuse pattern. Many allegations (50%) in Ghana’s natural resource sectors pertain to economic, social, cultural and solidarity rights violations. Many involve inadequate compensation to subsistence farmers for the loss of land or crops. These losses tend to mean erosion of livelihoods. Members of mining-affected communities have also reported experiences of forceful displacement.

Physical abuse allegations made up 28% of the cases; environment-related allegations comprised 15%. Health (5%) and labour (3%) related allegations were the smallest share.

Social activism

My analysis showed that Ghanaian civil society organisations have taken on roles almost like regulators. Examples include the Centre for Public Interest Law (Cepil), a human rights and environmental mining advocacy NGO called Wacam, the Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis and Third World Network-Africa.

In the absence of robust state regulations, these organisations have stepped in to fill a governance void. They document corporate misbehaviour, mobilise communities, and pursue redress through administrative and judicial channels.

Through “naming and shaming”, coalition-building, and selective litigation, they push corporations and regulatory institutions to act. For instance, following cyanide spill incidents, Wacam and Cepil combined community mobilisations with legal petitions that prompted sanctions.

Tangible outcomes

The strategic combination of activism and institutional engagement has produced tangible outcomes. Community petitions have led to company-funded remediation and fines for environmental damage. Successful court cases have compelled companies to compensate households for pollution. These outcomes illustrate how local actors are carrying out the state duty to protect and the corporate responsibility to respect human rights in pragmatic, context-driven ways.

Administrative mechanisms

Courts remain crucial in settling disputes. But administrative bodies are becoming more important. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, which has the power to investigate human-rights violations and recommend remedies, has emerged as a trusted intermediary between communities and corporations. Its inquiries into mining-related abuses have resulted in negotiated settlements. Companies have also agreed to restore contaminated lands or water sources. These mechanisms provide redress without long legal battles.

The Environmental Protection Agency enforcement role has also expanded. In several cases, it imposed monetary penalties and temporary suspensions on companies that breached environmental permits. Such administrative measures show what can be done without going through the courts.

Judicial recognition of rights

When administrative engagement fails, civil society organisations escalate cases to the judiciary. Ghanaian courts have begun to recognise socioeconomic and environmental rights claims. These are grounded in the constitution and the Environmental Protection Agency Act.

In a notable case, a citizen urged Cepil to take legal action against a state-owned refinery for its oil spillage in a lake called Chemu Lagoon. Because environmental damage affects the public, Cepil had enough legal grounds to file a lawsuit. The ruling was in the organisation’s favour, preventing the company from legally causing further environmental pollution. Cases like this help victims and strengthen the foundations for future claims.

Strategic alliances

Grassroots activism, civil society alliances and state responsiveness can together achieve “accountability from below”. Even less powerful people can create and sustain accountability by engaging with both formal and informal institutions.

In Ghana, alliances across sectors force corporations and regulators to act, even where there isn’t strong top-down enforcement. These alliances demonstrate that local agency, not merely external pressure, can influence corporate behaviour.

Dr Cynthia Kwakyewah received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the German Foundation for Business, and the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (Sylff) Program to conduct the study.

– ref. Activists in Ghana are forcing extractive firms to account for the harm they cause – corporate abuse study – https://theconversation.com/activists-in-ghana-are-forcing-extractive-firms-to-account-for-the-harm-they-cause-corporate-abuse-study-274648

February 10, 2026

Taxing Africa’s informal economies: technology’s promise and pitfalls

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Abel Gwaindepi, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies

Changes in the development finance world – especially the sharp drop in foreign aid and fewer cheap loans for low-income countries – have pushed taxation back into the spotlight.

Africa has entered a new “tax era of development”. As external funding dries up, many African countries are now relying more on their own ability to raise money through taxes. But large parts of African economies are informal, and that’s widely seen as an obstacle to collecting tax revenue.

My recent work, too, shows that countries with high levels of informality tend to collect less tax revenue and face other related challenges.

Governments struggling to pay wages and deliver public services have two main choices:

raise more taxes from the formal sector by increasing rates, introducing new taxes, or reducing tax incentives (not popular among businesses that already pay)
extend taxation into the informal sector, where most people work and most businesses operate, though they are already partly burdened by tax-like fees and other informal payments.

Achieving the second faces many obstacles.

Roughly 85% of working age people in sub-Saharan Africa are informally employed. That makes it extremely difficult for tax authorities to track economic activity or enforce compliance. Informality makes it harder for governments to build the three capacities needed for effective taxation: identification, detection and collection.

Technology provides an answer to all three challenges. But, as my research shows, it isn’t a complete solution. Poorly designed tools can amplify existing challenges or create new unfairness, weaken trust and drive people back to cash.

Technology as a double-edged tool

Identification capacity is the ability to know who should be paying tax – whether individuals, businesses, or properties – through reliable registries and databases. Detection capacity involves verifying whether people and firms are reporting the right amounts. This is often done by using information from third parties such as electronic receipts and mobile-money records. Collection capacity is the ability to ensure that taxes are paid smoothly and securely.

Technology can strengthen all three:

digital ID systems make it easier to match taxpayers to their obligations
electronic transaction data help uncover under-reported income
online filing or automated withholding systems make payments easier for taxpayers while reducing face-to-face interaction, which is inefficient and can lead to fraud.

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are now used to score taxpayer risk, flag suspicious filing patterns, detect possible fraud, and prioritise audit cases far more accurately and efficiently than manual selection. Basic hardware, digital infrastructure, and reliable data systems need to be in place before meaningful progress can be achieved in this area for low‑income countries.

One way that governments try to tax the informal sector is through “simplified tax regimes”. Technology is playing an important role.

For example, Rwanda’s experience shows how powerful digital invoicing can be. When big companies need valid electronic invoices to claim expenses, they push this requirement down to the smaller suppliers they buy from, increasing tax compliance. Rwanda’s electronic billing machines have also shown that voluntary VAT compliance is possible when technology simplifies the process, cuts down paperwork and closes the information gap.

In Kenya, the government has introduced eTIMS, a paperless digital system that stores receipts electronically. It works through electronic tax registers that validate, sign, encrypt and then send sales data directly to the Kenya Revenue Authority.

Digital financial services taxation

Digital financial services are now part of everyday life across the continent, especially mobile money and digital wallets. In recent years, governments have also started using the services as a tax base. The idea is that even if informal traders don’t pay formal taxes, many still make electronic payments through systems like mobile money or e-wallets.

In Ghana, the government introduced an e-levy on electronic transactions at 1.75%, with a 100-cedi (US$10) exemption. After public pushback and a big shift back to cash, the rate was first reduced and then removed completely in 2025. It was deemed to be reducing formalisation efforts and reversing financial inclusion.

The art of the possible

Taxation in low-income countries is often the “art of the possible”. Evidence shows mobile-money taxes can sharply reduce the use of digital financial services – up to 39% in some settings. The burden is especially heavy where bank penetration is low. Rural and unbanked users have no real alternatives to mobile money. They must either pay the levy or resort to inefficient and often costlier options.

Governments are balancing competing priorities. They want to promote digitalisation and support digital financial services markets, while also expanding financial inclusion by keeping formal financial services affordable and accessible. At the same time, they need to raise sustainable revenue.

Technology has to be part of the answer, but it requires strong foundations.

There is a more fundamental issue beyond tech helping digitise paperwork or enabling instant filing. As wealth moves onto digital rails – apps, platforms, e-wallets, blockchain and even crypto – tax systems must evolve with it. Countries cannot keep up unless they invest in 21st-century tax skills and the digital infrastructure to move beyond the analogue tax systems.

In countries with high informality, technology can support tax modernisation, but it also faces major limitations. These are linked to weak infrastructure, human behaviour, and institutional or legal constraints.

Digital tools simply cannot function where electricity or internet access is unreliable.

The human factor matters too: even when systems work, many taxpayers lack the skills, awareness or financial capacity to use them. And tax officials may resist or misuse new tools if incentives are not aligned. The legal framework matters too since digital audits can be done at speed only for the process to slow down if courts are inefficient.

What’s needed

The basic challenge in taxation remains: no tax system can maximise revenue, fairness and simplicity at the same time. Good policy means choosing the right balance, rather than falling into trade-offs that place the biggest burden on the poorest. And people are more willing to pay when they see government giving something back in terms of essential services.

In the end, tax is political. It involves decisions about who pays, and how, which reflect a country’s priorities as much as its technical capacity.

As income and business activity shift to digital platforms, governments need modern systems that can keep up, understand how informal businesses are shifting to digital rails fully or partially and apply tax rules effectively.

Abel Gwaindepi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Taxing Africa’s informal economies: technology’s promise and pitfalls – https://theconversation.com/taxing-africas-informal-economies-technologys-promise-and-pitfalls-275324

February 10, 2026

South Africa’s biggest opposition party will head to municipal elections with new leaders: what does it all mean?

Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Dirk Kotze, Professor in Political Science, University of South Africa

Speculation continues about why John Steenhuisen announced that he would not be available for re-election as the federal leader of South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) at the party’s April federal congress.

The DA is the country’s main opposition party and, since elections in 2024 in which the African National Congress lost its majority, part of a government of national unity. Opinion polls show that the DA’s support has increased since the election – it’s now closer to 30% – while support for the ANC continues to fall.

The DA promotes a federal view of government, a “social market” economy and private-public cooperation.

Steenhuisen’s announcement only suggested that he wants to focus on his role as minister of agriculture.

He became the DA leader in 2019, a turbulent time in the party’s history. The party’s first black leader, Mmusi Maimane, had left. The party had suffered a decline in support in the 2019 elections, and was accused of being more concerned about losing white support to the conservative, white-focused Freedom Front Plus than about a non-racial national profile.

Steenhuisen’s decision is important for the DA, because two of the three most senior leadership positions will become vacant – the federal leader, and chair of the federal council, which Helen Zille currently occupies and which she is leaving. It is even more important in view of the national local government elections that will be held at the end of the year.

The DA is now the second biggest party in South Africa and therefore an important member of the Government of National Unity. A new DA leader will have implications for the party’s relationship with the president and other unity government members.

How he got here

Steenhuisen built his political career in KwaZulu-Natal. The province is not one of the powerhouses in the DA, but it has always been regarded as one of the potential growth points. Its advantage is that, within the DA, the province isn’t caught up in the internal power play between the Western Cape and Gauteng. That’s presumably made Steenhuisen attractive as the national leader.

His track record as a very assertive DA parliamentary chief whip also counted in his favour. But as leader of the opposition, he had to become a statesman. He inherited a failed attempt to transform the DA’s public profile into a party also attractive for black supporters. His task was therefore to lead a new strategy for the party.

The results of the 2024 elections are an indication that his leadership arrested the party’s electoral decline and introduced a period of growth among the broader South African population. Its support increased from 20.8% to 21.8%.

The DA became part of the Government of National Unity as a result of the ANC losing its majority for the first time since South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. It also became part of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government of unity. In addition, it consolidated the party’s majority in the Western Cape.

But these successes also tested Steenhuisen’s leadership.

In her book on the coalition negotiations after the 2024 elections, the journalist Mandy Wiener explains that Steenhuisen played the role of the DA’s principal and therefore was not directly involved in the face-to-face negotiations. As principal he was often upstaged by two of the negotiation team members and former DA leaders – Helen Zille and Tony Leon.

More recently Steenhuisen has been accused of being too close to President Cyril Ramaphosa and of being “captured” by the ANC.

Behind Steenhuisen’s decision?

Neither Steenhuisen nor the DA has given an clear indication of why he decided not to stand again as candidate for the DA’s leadership, except that he wants to focus on his work as agriculture minister.

The reasons for his decision are therefore a matter of analysis or interpretation.

A party leader should never be uncertain about support from the main centres of power in the party. Factionalism or regionalism associated with a party leader will inevitably erode a party and its leader.

A DA leader cannot function without the unqualified support of the Western Cape and of Gauteng, because they are the two provinces that constitute the core of the DA’s support base.

Political analysts have pointed out that Steenhuisen does not enjoy the unqualified support of the Western Cape. The province is important to the party, because it controls the provincial government and Cape Town metro. Both are seen as prime examples of its success stories.

Steenhuisen’s KwaZulu-Natal did not built a powerbase for him within the party. Nor did the DA grow sufficiently in the province.

Steenhuisen’s authority as party leader was undermined last year over Ramaphosa’s dismissal of DA member Dion George as the minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment.

Steenhuisen had requested that Ramaphosa remove George for his “lack of performance” in his portfolio.

In the fallout that followed, George alleged that Steenhuisen had abused his party credit card. George also referred the matter to the Public Protector.

The events called into question Steenhuisen’s moral authority and ethics.

Lastly, as agriculture minister, Steenhuisen is struggling to bring a dramatic rise in foot and mouth disease under control in the country. Though he is one of the ministers who has done most in trying to get the disease under control, he is under severe pressure from the organised agricultural sector for the private sector to play a bigger role in managing the outbreak.

There’s a deeper policy principle for the DA at play here too, namely the private-public roles in public issues. As minister, Steenhuisen represents the role of the government department in managing the disease. But many farmers want more scope for their private initiatives regarding vaccinations and related matters.

The impact on the Democratic Alliance

Steenhuisen’s announcement affects the DA in a wider context. It means that two of the three top positions in the party will become vacant at the congress.

Only the federal chair, Ivan Meyer (member of the executive council in the Western Cape) will remain. With Zille involved in the Johannesburg metro, it will be the end of her role as the chair of the federal council. It implies a total revamp of the DA’s top structure very close to the local government elections.

The potential implications of these changes one can only speculate about. It might see the younger generation move into key positions. It might see a comeback for the Western Cape if Meyer is re-elected and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis comes in as party leader. It has the potential for more black people in key positions, such as Ashor Sarupen, Solly Malatsi or Siviwe Gwarube.

Finally, it has the potential to create two centres of power in the top structure if Hill-Lewis is elected as party leader but continues as Cape Town mayor. Then a parliamentary leader will have to be identified.

Irrespective of who is elected in which position, the DA’s April congress might become a major milestone in its history.

Steenhuisen’s legacy

As far as Steenhuisen is concerned, he clearly sees his future as a minister and not as a DA leader anymore. If he can gain control over the foot and mouth epidemic, it will be a major achievement for him. And his lasting legacy.

In history, he will most possibly be regarded as a transitional leader of the DA, who stabilised the situation after 2019, exploited the decline in ANC support, saw the need for alliance-building between parties at an early stage and led the DA into national coalition politics.

Dirk Kotze does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. South Africa’s biggest opposition party will head to municipal elections with new leaders: what does it all mean? – https://theconversation.com/south-africas-biggest-opposition-party-will-head-to-municipal-elections-with-new-leaders-what-does-it-all-mean-275404

February 10, 2026

Why Sweden’s young people are so good at English

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Una Cunningham, Professor Emerita, Department of Teaching and Learning, Stockholm University

Swedish is a vibrant language spoken by about 10 million people, mostly in Sweden and Finland. But Swedish young people are often proficient in English, too.

Sweden consistently ranks very high in English proficiency comparisons, with young people in Sweden speaking such good English that other countries are eyeing them with envy.

Although English has no official status in Sweden, proficiency in English is a formal requirement to progress in education, and often for employment and social activity as well. The Swedish national curriculum points out that “the English language surrounds us in our daily lives and is used in areas as diverse as politics, education and economics”.

Like many national languages in Europe, Swedish is increasingly sharing its space with English. Public spaces have long been papered with signs and advertising in English, or both Swedish and English.

There is a lack of interest in learning other foreign languages among Swedish young people: English is thought to be enough.

English is the default language (lingua franca) for Swedish speakers in any situation where someone is thought not to be fully proficient in Swedish, both in international travel and at home in Sweden when talking to visitors or migrants. In fact, migrants report finding it hard to get Swedes to speak Swedish with them.

Young Swedes seamlessly switch to English and increasingly speak English together. Many young people envision a life outside Sweden and see English as the language of their future.

English at school and beyond

In Swedish secondary schools, English language teaching aspires to help students speak English with confidence. English communication skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – are taught and assessed, with national testing beginning in year six (age 12). The emphasis is on implicit language knowledge (being able to use the language) rather than explicit language knowledge (knowing about the language).

Accurate language production is not an explicit aim in the curriculum. Consequently, young people, though often orally proficient due to widespread exposure to English, may lack knowledge of grammar and conventions, allowing them to communicate effectively but not always with full accuracy.

This potential lack of accuracy does not stop young Swedes from gravitating towards English. Outside of the classroom, Swedish students engage with English more extensively than many of their peers abroad. English retains significant appeal due to its prominence in media and advertising, the popularity of British and American culture, and the prevalence of Swedish music artists using English in songwriting.

What’s more, many young people are inclined to use English on social media platforms, for swearing, and in slang expressions. Much of the language young people in Sweden encounter online is English. Youth media consumption in Sweden, from Netflix to YouTube, from TikTok to Snapchat, is primarily in English.

Girl sat on bed looking at phone — Much of the social media content Swedish teens interact with is in English.
Ground Picture/Shutterstock

Many Swedish influencers generate content in English. Gaming in Sweden has always been overwhelmingly in English.

Although schools provide exposure to formal language aspects and a chance to receive some corrective feedback, students will usually simultaneously be acquiring English informally outside the classroom.

This English language use is based on students’ personal interests, such as gaming, sports, pop music and reading. The students are not actively aiming to develop their English, but pick up vocabulary, pronunciation and structure while doing something that interests them.

Willingness to use English is not the same thing as a solid knowledge of the language. Most students benefit from combining classroom learning with out-of-school exposure to fully develop their English proficiency. Ideally, teachers should acknowledge and integrate this language use into their instruction.

The new upper secondary English syllabus reflects this by emphasising the value of raising students’ awareness of how language can be learned beyond school.

What goes on in schools is only a small part of how young people learn English in Sweden. Formal instruction and informal language use offer much more together than separately.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why Sweden’s young people are so good at English – https://theconversation.com/why-swedens-young-people-are-so-good-at-english-264157

February 10, 2026

Five ways quantum technology could shape everyday life

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Salil Gunashekar, Senior Research Leader and Deputy Director, Science and Emerging Technology, RAND Europe

The unveiling by IBM of two new quantum supercomputers and Denmark’s plans to develop “the world’s most powerful commercial quantum computer” mark just two of the latest developments in quantum technology’s increasingly rapid transition from experimental breakthroughs to practical applications.

There is growing promise of quantum technology’s ability to solve problems that today’s systems struggle to overcome, or cannot even begin to tackle, with implications for industry, national security and everyday life.

So, what exactly is quantum technology? At its core, it harnesses the counter-intuitive laws of quantum mechanics, the branch of physics describing how matter and energy behave at the smallest scales. In this strange realm, particles can exist in several states simultaneously (superposition) and can remain connected across vast distances (entanglement).

Once the stuff of abstract theory, these effects are now being engineered into innovative, cutting-edge systems: computers that process information in entirely new ways, sensors that measure the world with unprecedented precision, and communication networks that are virtually impossible to compromise.

To understand how this emerging field could shape the future, here are five areas where quantum technology may soon have a tangible impact.

1. Discovery for medicine and materials science

A pharmaceutical scientist seeks to design a new medicine for a previously incurable disease. There are thousands of possible molecules, many ways they might interact inside the body and uncertainty about which will work.

In another lab, materials researchers explore thousands of different atomic combinations and ratios to develop better batteries, chemicals and alloys to reduce transport emissions.T raditional supercomputers can narrow the options but eventually meet their limits.

This is where quantum computing could make a decisive difference. They use quantum bits, or qubits – the most basic unit of information in a quantum computer. Qubits do not simply consist of 1s and zeroes, like bits in conventional computers, but can exist in a variety of different quantum “states”.

Indeed, the ability to develop and control qubits is central to advancing quantum computing and other quantum technologies. By using qubits, quantum computers can simulate vast numbers and different possibilities simultaneously, revealing patterns that classical systems cannot reach within useful time-frames.

In healthcare, faster drug discovery could bring quicker response to outbreaks and epidemics, personalised medicine and insight into previously inscrutable biological interactions. Quantum simulation of how materials behave could lead to new high efficiency energy materials, catalysts, alloys and polymers.

Although fully operational, commercial quantum computers are still in development, progress is accelerating, with existing paradigms combining quantum and classic computational approaches already demonstrating the potential to reshape how we discover and design cures.

2. Sensors for navigation, medicine and the environment

A new range of sensors can exploit different quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to detect changes that conventional instruments would miss, with potential uses across many areas of daily life.

In navigation, they could guide ships, submarines and aircrafts without GPS by reading subtle variations in the Earth’s magnetic and gravitational fields.

In medicine, quantum sensors could improve diagnostic capabilities via more sensitive, quicker and noninvasive imaging modes.

In environmental monitoring, these sensors could track delicate shifts beneath the Earth’s surface, offer early warnings of seismic activity, or detect trace pollutants in air and water with exceptional accuracy.

3. Optimisation for logistics and finance

Many of the hardest challenges today concern the optimisation of staggeringly complex systems; the task of choosing the best option among billions of possibilities.

Managing a power grid or investment portfolio, scheduling flights or financial trading, or coordinating global deliveries all feature optimisation problems so complex that even advanced supercomputers struggle to find efficient answers in time.

Quantum computing could change this. Quantum algorithms could be used to solve optimisation problems that are intractable using classical approaches.

By using quantum principles to explore many solutions simultaneously, these systems could identify solutions far faster than traditional methods. A logistics company could adjust delivery routes in real time as traffic, weather and demand shift.

Airlines and rail networks could automatically reconfigure to avoid cascading delays, while energy providers might balance renewable generation, storage and consumption with far greater precision. Banks could use quantum computers to evaluate numerous market scenarios in parallel, informing the management of investment portfolios.

4. Ultra-secure communication

Security is one of the areas where quantum technology could have the most immediate impact. Quantum computers are inching ever closer to being capable of
breaking many of today’s encryption systems (such as RSA encryption which secures data transmission on the internet), posing a major cybersecurity challenge.

At the same time, quantum communication techniques, such as quantum key distribution (QKD), could offer intrinsically secure encrypted communication.

In practical terms, this could secure everything from financial transactions and health records to government and military communications. For national security agencies, quantum-safe encryption is already a strategic priority. For the average person, it could mean stronger digital privacy, more reliable identity systems and reduced risk of cyberattacks.

5. Supercharging progress in AI

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping industries, but is reliant on the immense computing power needed to train and run large models. In the future, quantum computing could boost AI by handling calculations that classical machines find too complex.

While still at an early stage of development, quantum algorithms might accelerate a subset of AI called machine learning (where algorithms improve with experience), help simulate complex systems, or optimise AI architectures more efficiently. That could lead to AI systems that learn faster, understand context better, and process far larger datasets than today’s models allow.

Think of AI assistants that understand you more naturally, medical diagnostic tools that integrate genomic and environmental data in real time, or scientific research that advances through rapid, quantum-boosted simulations.

Why this matters… and what to watch

Quantum technology is no longer just a theoretical pursuit. Optimism is increasing that commercially viable and scalable quantum technologies may become a reality over the next ten years. With billions in global investment and a growing number of prototypes being tested outside the lab, the “quantum era” is starting to take shape.

Governments see it as a strategic priority, and industries see it as a competitive edge. Its ripple effects could touch nearly every sector from healthcare, energy, and finance, to defence and beyond.

That means we should be asking whether our education systems, workforce dynamics, infrastructure and governance mechanisms are effective – and whether they are keeping pace.

Those who invest early and strategically in quantum readiness and who have the patience to sustain this effort will shape how this technology unfolds. When it does arrive, even if we might be a few years away, its impact could reach far beyond the lab into every part of our connected, data-driven world.

– ref. Five ways quantum technology could shape everyday life – https://theconversation.com/five-ways-quantum-technology-could-shape-everyday-life-274044

February 10, 2026

Why I’m building an office out of straw

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stuart Walker, Research Fellow in Sustainabilty Assessment, University of Sheffield

The garden office from the inside. Lorna Jackson, CC BY-NC-ND

When we moved into our house, there was a shed in the garden. Its timbers were rotten, the floor had long since disappeared into the ground, there was no door, the window had fallen out and various creatures had moved in.

I decided to rebuild it out of a material that has been used around the world for hundreds of years, but is less commonly seen in modern buildings: straw bales. A year later, and the “work shed” is now nearly finished.

As sustainability assessment lead at Sheffield University’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, I wanted to make sure my garden office had the lowest possible embodied carbon (a term used to describe the amount of carbon contained, or “embodied” in the materials used to make a product), and low energy use once it was up and running.

That meant the office would need to be very well insulated to avoid using lots of energy to heat it, and made of materials with low carbon content.

Due to its structure, straw is a fantastic insulating material. It’s also cheap, easy to work with, and since the straw absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows, straw buildings act as carbon stores. If we use this in a building, the carbon remains stored for the lifetime of the building, and can even be returned to the soil at the end of life.

My first real involvement with straw building was through the design of a low carbon cold room in Kenya, working with energy efficiency experts from the Energy Saving Trust and Solar Cooling Engineering, and architects from Switzerland and Kenya. A cold room is an easy-to-build and cheap alternative to a large fridge, enabling farmers in developing countries to store produce at a market, improving incomes and reducing food waste.

A man wearing red with his hands on a straw bale that is part of a building he is constructing. — Stuart Walker working on his straw bale office.
Lorna Jackson., CC BY-NC-ND

This cold room is now operating at Homa Bay market on the shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya. It has cement-free foundations, solar panels and batteries, water storage, low energy cooling units, a timber structure and straw bale walls. The project showed me that straw bale structures can provide good insulation without the environmental impact of expanded polystyrene.

Natural materials like mud, earth and dung, as well as fibrous materials such as straw were used to build homes for centuries.

Straw bale housing history

Straw in bale form has been used for buildings since the 1800s. After the invention of mechanical baler in the US, straw bales were used to construct homes in places where timber and stone were hard to find.

Some of these early buildings still exist, but most straw bale houses in the US were built since the 1970s. These buildings offer warm comfortable homes and were the inspiration for a new wave of UK straw bale builders in the 1990s.

Straw works well for single or two-storey buildings, but requires careful design to avoid water leaking into it. Provided the bale buildings are protected from rain splash at the bottom and have an overhanging roof at the top, water isn’t really a problem. Fire requires oxygen and fuel, so a compressed straw bale is fire resistant, and straw bale buildings have met all fire, planning, and building regulations, and even achieved Passivhaus – extremely high standards of insulation, thermal performance and energy use.

A building at a Kenyan market with a woman stood outside, it was built from straw bales. — The straw bale ‘fridge’ built in Kenya.
Francis Maina, CC BY-NC-ND

My new garden office has 40cm thick walls and double glazed windows, it’s clad on the outside with reclaimed timber (some of which came from the original shed) and the roof, windows, doors and underfloor insulation are all secondhand. The final step is cladding the inside.

Here I’ve adopted another traditional building practice and used cob. Cob is a mixture of clay, water, sand and chopped straw. After digging the clay from our garden and mixing it, I’ve applied the cob by hand, via an incredibly messy but very satisfying process.

I know that the lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of my shed will be about 20 tonnes lower than they would have been if I had used expanded foam insulation and plasterboard.

People who live in straw bale houses talk about how the irregular shape and natural materials of straw bale buildings also have a positive impact on them, and say that buildings like my shed create a connection with the builder particular to the use of natural materials.

This concept, known as biophilic design, is challenging to quantify but I look forward to finding how it feels to sit inside it.

Stuart Walker is affiliated with The Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, University of Sheffield. He receives funding from the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.

– ref. Why I’m building an office out of straw – https://theconversation.com/why-im-building-an-office-out-of-straw-273494

February 10, 2026

Forget flowers: lovers in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland exchanged hair

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Leanne Calvert, Assistant Professor in Irish History, University of Limerick

Only a Lock of Hair by John Everett Millais (1857-1858). Manchester Art Gallert, CC BY-NC

In 18th- and 19th-century Ireland, it was common for courting couples to exchange gifts to mark their developing relationships. Many of these items are familiar gifts today: books, cards, items of clothing, jewellery and sweet treats. Others, however, are less familiar. In fact, some of the gifts exchanged by couples in the past might give many today the dreaded ick – especially those items of the hairier variety.

While you might be familiar with the tradition of mourning hairwork jewellery that was made and worn to remember deceased loved ones in the Victorian era, hairy tokens were traditionally a gift exchanged between couples in love. In my new book, Pious and Promiscuous: Life, Love and Family in Presbyterian Ulster, I explore the tradition of gift-giving among courting couples in Ulster – from hairy tokens to food and clothing. The book reveals for the first time the personal stories that shaped the rituals of Presbyterian family life in 18th- and 19th-century Ulster.

Watercolour of a man being kissed by his lover in a kitchen — Batchelor’s Fare, Bread, Cheese, and Kisses, by Thomas Rowlandson (1813).
Met Museum

Gift-givers thought deeply about what to gift that special someone. Items exchanged in courtship were carefully chosen because different gifts had different meanings. Whereas shirts were understood to symbolise friendship, items like gloves – which covered the hands and fingers – were associated with marriage.

Those on the receiving end also had to consider whether or not to accept these tokens. Accepting a gift from a would-be suitor indicated that the receiver shared their romantic interest. Refusing a gift communicated the opposite. The tradition of gift-giving could also be used to break off relationships. When a relationship failed, people were expected to return any gifts that they had received.

The most special token that a person could gift was their hair. As a physical piece of a person that would outlast their human life, a lock of hair symbolised immortal love. Locks of hair were generally gifted by women to men and sometimes at the request of their male suitors.

Men might write to their beloveds and request that they enclose a lock of hair in their next letter as a token with which to remember them. Locks of hair could be tied into neat plaits and fashioned with a ribbon, enabling the lock to keep its shape. Hair could also be pressed into jewellery or placed in the back of miniatures.

The recipients of these hairy tokens would engage with them both physically and sensorially. Locks of hair could be rubbed, stroked, sniffed and gazed upon as the recipient thought about the person who had sent it. Given their size, these little hairy tokens could also be secreted inside of clothes and worn next to the heart, or placed under a pillow and slept upon, enabling the recipient to dream of its hairy bestower.

A hairy fetish

Some people appear to have had a real appetite, perhaps even a fetish, for hairy gifts and tokens. Robert James Tennent (1803–80), a middle-class man who came of age in 19th-century Belfast, is one such example. Catalogued among his papers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast, is an extraordinary archive of hairy treasures, each seemingly representing a woman with whom he had some sort of romantic connection.

What makes Tennent’s collection so intriguing is its size. It contains 14 locks of hair, each wrapped individually in a small handmade envelope. At one time the collection may have been even larger. Among the items is an envelope, now empty, bearing the label “Hair”, which possibly held a lock of hair that has since been lost.

The hair itself varies dramatically in colour, condition and care: wisps of fine blonde hair; neatly tied plaits of brown hair, fashioned with pink string; and unshapen masses of dark hair streaked with grey. The collection also contains a broken ring.

In 2022, I published a paper on Tennent’s hairy treasures in which I theorised that he kept and curated the collection as a trophy cabinet of his past romantic (and sexual) adventures. I argued that the collection served the purpose of a handmade and homemade pornographic archive that Tennent could revisit to transport himself back to pleasured memories and experiences.

Evidence for this view is inscribed in the collection itself. Twelve of the locks are labelled, telling us the name of the woman to whom the hair belonged. We can identify ten women in total. Eleven of the locks are also dated, recording the day, month and year that they were received by Tennent. The collection was assembled between 1818 and 1827, when Tennent was between 15 and 24 years of age.

Tennent’s archiving efforts betray his philandering lifestyle when a younger, unmarried man. There is a considerable overlap in the dates that the different locks of hair were collected. In fact, at least two locks of hair were received into his collection at the same time that Tennent was courting his future wife, Eliza McCracken. The pair were involved in a rather bumpy courtship from 1826, eventually marrying in 1830.

Whereas item nine in the collection labelled “Hair of Lucretia Belfast” is dated December 13 1826, item 15, belonging to Ellen Lepper, is dated June 26 1827. A lock of McCracken’s hair is also included in Tennent’s collection; a partly unrolled plait of brown hair bears the label: “Eliza, Where is the Bosom friend dearer than all.”

That Tennent returned to these tokens to revisit his bachelorhood is suggested by the physical state of some of the items too. A lock of hair attributed to Miss Catharine Louise Lawless (dated November 10/11 1820), may have once been tied into a neat little plait. It is likely that the plait has come undone overtime due to excessive touch.

So, if you find yourself stumped, browsing the shelves this Valentine’s Day for the perfect gift for your other half, perhaps the answer lies atop of your head. Hairy tokens might not suit everyone’s taste today, but they remind us that love and how we express it has always been intensely personal.

From locks of hair twisted into plaits and encased in jewellery to chocolate hearts and handwritten love notes, the tokens we give carry meaning and memory. Love and affection, then as now, is an expression of our intimate sides and can occasionally be a little hairy.

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Leanne Calvert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Forget flowers: lovers in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland exchanged hair – https://theconversation.com/forget-flowers-lovers-in-18th-and-19th-century-ireland-exchanged-hair-275356

February 10, 2026

Local governments provide proof that polarization is not inevitable

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Lauren Hall, Associate professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology

Local officials get to participate in events such as ribbon cuttings, celebrating projects they may have helped make happen. NHLI/Eliot J. Schechter via Getty Images

When it comes to national politics, Americans are fiercely divided across a range of issues, including gun control, election security and vaccines. It’s not new for Republicans and Democrats to be at odds over issues, but things have reached a point where even the idea of compromising appears to be anathema, making it more difficult to solve thorny problems.

But things are much less heated at the local level. A survey of more than 1,400 local officials by the Carnegie Corporation and CivicPulse found that local governments are “largely insulated from the harshest effects of polarization.” Communities with fewer than 50,000 residents proved especially resilient to partisan dysfunction.

Why this difference? As a political scientist, I believe that lessons from the local level not only open a window onto how polarization works but also the dynamics and tools that can help reduce it.

Problems are more concrete

Local governments deal with concrete issues – sometimes literally, when it comes to paving roads and fixing potholes. In general, cities and counties handle day-to-day functions, such as garbage pickup, running schools and enforcing zoning rules. Addressing tangible needs keeps local leaders’ attention fixed on specific problems that call out for specific solutions, not lengthy ideological debates.

By contrast, a lot of national political conflict in the U.S. involves symbolic issues, such as debates about identity and values on topics such as race, abortion and transgender rights. These battles are often divisive, even more so than purely ideological disagreements, because they can activate tribal differences and prove more resistant to compromise.

Three men site in chairs on a dais in front of a banner reading — When mayors come together, they often find they face common problems in their cities. Gathered here, from left, are Jerry Dyer of Fresno, Calif., John Ewing Jr. of Omaha, Neb., and David Holt of Oklahoma City.
AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

Such arguments at the national level, or on social media, can lead to wildly inaccurate stereotypes about people with opposing views. Today’s partisans often perceive their opponents as far more extreme than they actually are, or they may stereotype them – imagining that all Republicans are wealthy, evangelical culture warriors, for instance, or conversely being convinced that all Democrats are radical urban activists. In terms of ideology, the median members of both parties, in fact, look similar.

These kinds of misperceptions can fuel hostility.

Local officials, however, live among the human beings they represent, whose complexity defies caricature. Living and interacting in the same communities leads to greater recognition of shared interests and values, according to the Carnegie/CivicPulse survey.

Meaningful interaction with others, including partisans of the opposing party, reduces prejudice about them. Local government provides a natural space where identities overlap.

People are complicated

In national U.S. politics today, large groups of individuals are divided not only by party but a variety of other factors, including race, religion, geography and social networks. When these differences align with ideology, political disagreement can feel like an existential threat.

Such differences are not always as pronounced at the local level. A neighbor who disagrees about property taxes could be the coach of your child’s soccer team. Your fellow school board member might share your concerns about curriculum but vote differently in presidential elections.

A large group of reporters surround Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. — Mayors can find themselves caught up in national debates, as did Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies in his city.
AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

These cross-cutting connections remind us that political opponents are not a monolithic enemy but complex individuals. When people discover they have commonalities outside of politics with others holding opposing views, polarization can decrease significantly.

Finally, most local elections are technically nonpartisan. Keeping party labels off ballots allows voters to judge candidates as individuals and not merely as Republicans or Democrats.

National implications

None of this means local politics are utopian.

Like water, polarization tends to run downhill, from the national level to local contests, particularly in major cities where candidates for mayor and other office are more likely to run as partisans. Local governments also see culture war debates, notably in the area of public school instruction.

Nevertheless, the relative partisan calm of local governance suggests that polarization is not inevitable. It emerges from specific conditions that can be altered.

Polarization might be reduced by creating more opportunities for cross-partisan collaboration around concrete problems. Philanthropists and even states might invest in local journalism that covers pragmatic governance rather than partisan conflict. More cities and counties could adopt changes in election law that would de-emphasize party labels where they add little information for voters.

Aside from structural changes, individual Americans can strive to recognize that their neighbors are not the cardboard cutouts they might imagine when thinking about “the other side.” Instead, Americans can recognize that even political opponents are navigating similar landscapes of community, personal challenges and time constraints, with often similar desires to see their roads paved and their children well educated.

The conditions shaping our interactions matter enormously. If conditions change, perhaps less partisan rancor will be the result.

Lauren Hall is a Distinguished Fellow for the Study of Liberalism and a Free Society with the Institute for Humane Studies. She was previously a Pluralism Fellow with the Mercatus Center.

– ref. Local governments provide proof that polarization is not inevitable – https://theconversation.com/local-governments-provide-proof-that-polarization-is-not-inevitable-273986

February 10, 2026

How a 22-year-old George Washington learned how to lead, from a series of mistakes in the Pennsylvania wilderness

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Christopher Magra, Professor of American History, University of Tennessee

A young George Washington was thrust into the dense, contested wilderness of the Ohio River Valley as a land surveyor for real estate development companies in Virginia. Henry Hintermeister/Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

This Presidents Day, I’ve been thinking about George Washington − not at his finest hour, but possibly at his worst.

In 1754, a 22-year-old Washington marched into the wilderness surrounding Pittsburgh with more ambition than sense. He volunteered to travel to the Ohio Valley on a mission to deliver a letter from Robert Dinwiddie, governor of Virginia, to the commander of French troops in the Ohio territory. This military mission sparked an international war, cost him his first command and taught him lessons that would shape the American Revolution.

As a professor of early American history who has written two books on the American Revolution, I’ve learned that Washington’s time spent in the Fort Duquesne area taught him valuable lessons about frontier warfare, international diplomacy and personal resilience.

The mission to expel the French

In 1753, Dinwiddie decided to expel French fur trappers and military forces from the strategic confluence of three mighty waterways that crisscrossed the interior of the continent: the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers. This confluence is where downtown Pittsburgh now stands, but at the time it was wilderness.

King George II authorized Dinwiddie to use force, if necessary, to secure lands that Virginia was claiming as its own.

As a major in the Virginia provincial militia, Washington wanted the assignment to deliver Dinwiddie’s demand that the French retreat. He believe the assignment would secure him a British army commission.

Washington received his marching orders on Oct. 31, 1753. He traveled to Fort Le Boeuf in northwestern Pennsylvania and returned a month later with a polite but firm “no” from the French.

A close-up portrait of a young, brunette George Washington. — George Washington held an honorary commission as a major in the British army prior to the French and Indian War.
Dea/M. Seemuller/De Agostini collection/Getty Images

Dinwiddie promoted Washington from major to lieutenant colonel and ordered him to return to the Ohio River Valley in April 1754 with 160 men. Washington quickly learned that French forces of about 500 men had already constructed the formidable Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio. It was at this point that he faced his first major test as a military leader. Instead of falling back to gather more substantial reinforcements, he pushed forward. This decision reflected an aggressive, perhaps naive, brand of leadership characterized by a desire for action over caution.

Washington’s initial confidence was high. He famously wrote to his brother that there was “something charming” in the sound of whistling bullets.

The Jumonville affair and an international crisis

Perhaps the most controversial moment of Washington’s early leadership occurred on May 28, 1754, about 40 miles south of Fort Duquesne. Guided by the Seneca leader Tanacharison – known as the “Half King” – and 12 Seneca warriors, Washington and his detachment of 40 militiamen ambushed a party of 35 French Canadian militiamen led by Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. The Jumonville affair lasted only 15 minutes, but its repercussions were global.

A color illustration showing battle between soldiers in red and blue coats. — The Jumonville affair became the opening battle of the French and Indian War.
Interim Archives/Archive Collection/Getty Images

Ten of the French, including Jumonville, were killed. Washington’s inability to control his Native American allies – the Seneca warriors executed Jumonville – exposed a critical gap in his early leadership. He lacked the ability to manage the volatile intercultural alliances necessary for frontier warfare.

Washington also allowed one enemy soldier to escape to warn Fort Duquesne. This skirmish effectively ignited the French and Indian War, and Washington found himself at the center of a burgeoning international crisis.

Defeat at Fort Necessity

Washington then made the fateful decision to dig in and call for reinforcements instead of retreating in the face of inevitable French retaliation. Reinforcements arrived: 200 Virginia militiamen and 100 British regulars. They brought news from Dinwiddie: congratulations on Washington’s victory and his promotion to colonel.

His inexperience showed in his design of Fort Necessity. He positioned the small, circular palisade in a meadow depression, where surrounding wooded high ground allowed enemy marksmen to fire down with impunity. Worse still, Tanacharison, disillusioned with Washington’s leadership and the British failure to follow through with promised support, had already departed with his warriors weeks earlier. When the French and their Native American allies finally attacked on July 3, heavy rains flooded the shallow trenches, soaking gunpowder and leaving Washington’s men vulnerable inside their poorly designed fortification.

A black and white illustration showing George Washington signing a document. — Washington was outnumbered and outmaneuvered at Fort Necessity.
Interim Archives/Archive Collection/Getty Images

The battle of Fort Necessity was a grueling, daylong engagement in the mud and rain. Approximately 700 French and Native American allies surrounded the combined force of 460 Virginian militiamen and British regulars. Despite being outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Washington maintained order among his demoralized troops. When French commander Louis Coulon de Villiers – Jumonville’s brother – offered a truce, Washington faced the most humbling moment of his young life: the necessity of surrender. His decision to capitulate was a pragmatic act of leadership that prioritized the survival of his men over personal honor.

The surrender also included a stinging lesson in the nuances of diplomacy. Because Washington could not read French, he signed a document that used the word “l’assassinat,” which translates to “assassination,” to describe Jumonville’s death. This inadvertent admission that he had ordered the assassination of a French diplomat became propaganda for the French, teaching Washington the vital importance of optics in international relations.

A current photograph of the logs used to construct Fort Necessity as it stands today along the battlefield in Pennsylvania. — A log cabin used to protect the perishable supplies still stands at Fort Necessity today.
MyLoupe/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Lessons that forged a leader

The 1754 campaign ended in a full retreat to Virginia, and Washington resigned his commission shortly thereafter. Yet, this period was essential in transforming Washington from a man seeking personal glory into one who understood the weight of responsibility.

He learned that leadership required more than courage – it demanded understanding of terrain, cultural awareness of allies and enemies, and political acumen. The strategic importance of the Ohio River Valley, a gateway to the continental interior and vast fur-trading networks, made these lessons all the more significant.

Ultimately, the hard lessons Washington learned at the threshold of Fort Duquesne in 1754 provided the foundational experience for his later role as commander in chief of the Continental Army. The decisions he made in Pennsylvania and the Ohio wilderness, including the impulsive attack, the poor choice of defensive ground and the diplomatic oversight, were the very errors he would spend the rest of his military career correcting.

Though he did not capture Fort Duquesne in 1754, the young George Washington left the woods of Pennsylvania with a far more valuable prize: the tempered, resilient spirit of a leader who had learned from his mistakes.

Christopher Magra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How a 22-year-old George Washington learned how to lead, from a series of mistakes in the Pennsylvania wilderness – https://theconversation.com/how-a-22-year-old-george-washington-learned-how-to-lead-from-a-series-of-mistakes-in-the-pennsylvania-wilderness-274466