TIL in 2001 King Mswati III Imposed a ban on Sex with girls under 18. 2 months later he marries his 9th wife who was 17 and fined himself "1 Cow" for breaking the law. In 2005 he repeals the law so he can marry another girl who was aged 17 - then 3 months later he marries another 18 year old girl.

[u/skaapjagter]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4283932.stm

[u/hannahsbrown]

You got me down a rabbit hole and they just released he’s marrying his 16th wife. He also abducted his 10th wife as she was studying to get into university and her mom lost the legal battle to get her back :(

[u/Pointlessala → u/hannahsbrown]

Holy fuck that poor girl. Actually though what the fuck? He just yanked and kidnapped the girl from her school and made her marry him against her wishes? And even after a whole legal fiasco where the mom isn’t even allowed to see her and people constantly denounce him…he marries her.

Idek what to say.

[u/hannahsbrown → u/Pointlessala]

It’s super disturbing and it seems he’s taken a cultural dance and essentially turned it into his own little parade of victims to choose from

[u/EstablishmentLate532 → u/hannahsbrown]

It's nothing new. Predators invent these cultural practices and then their children hide behind the guise of tradition. Look up the last kings of Buganda. They justified their harems of young boys by claiming that it gave them powers.

[u/Tee_H → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Wtf am I reading?! Insane!

[u/A_LiftedLowRider → u/EstablishmentLate532]

Not about the kings, but is a fantastic example about how diabolical traditional practices get perpetuated and how trauma is shared through generations:

https://youtu.be/DKAusMNTNnk?si=zlVh1sjz7oEHNJtv

Legitimately is one of the wildest VICE documentaries i’ve ever seen.

[u/nikstick22 → u/Pointlessala]

He's an absolute monarch. Goes to show why its a fucked up system of government because he can basically do whatever he wants.

[u/Bakoro → u/nikstick22]

Every supposed absolute monarchy ever could only ever exist because lots of people decided every day to keep the system in place.
They decide to keep it in place because they get benefits from it, or they fear death more than their current lives.
This dude gets to abduct and rape anyone he wants, which means that his whole supporting government must also have some extreme power. Everyone in the hierarchy has to have extreme power over those under them, so they all have a reason to keep status quo.

Really there's only two things that keep a government going, one is the mandate of the people, and the other is an unequal ability to conduct violence.
If you can brainwash or bribe enough people, you too can be royalty.

This is why it's so fucking important, yet so fucking difficult to get people to buy into democracy and actually operate in good faith.

It's way too easy to fall into shitty hierarchy, and there are too damn many people who are perfectly fine with it, as long as they aren't at the bottom.

[u/samurairaccoon → u/Bakoro]

Humanity is so odd. I'll never understand why the first king wasn't strangled in his bed. It's the same old story, over and over. Nobody does shit until its undeniably obvious the king is mad. And sometimes even that isn't enough. Hell sometimes that's what gets him in to power. We are a baffling species.

[u/literate_habitation → u/samurairaccoon]

Well, because it happened slowly.

In the beginning, the chief would be someone the people liked. It happened naturally because people trusted the chief, and the chief would provide for them. As society grew and became harder to manage, people killed whoever was in charge whenever things got too bad. The people in charge didn't appreciate that, so they created systems in order to maintain the status quo and keep people loyal to them.

By the time people realized the ramifications of hierarchical authority, it was too late. Social mores developed. Too many generations were born into these authority structures and believed it to be "just the way things are" and "the right way to structure society" that we just kind of run with it until shit gets bad enough that people want to get rid of the guy in charge.

Lots of kings and politicians were overthrown and assassinated by their subjects over the years. That's why they kept changing the systems they use to maintain the status quo. Now the people who run the world are either billionaires you will never have access to or billionaires you have never even heard of while the government is the scape goat who upholds the policy decisions that represent the will of the elite.

[u/thuanjinkee → u/nikstick22]

Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

[u/PmMeYourTitsAndToes → u/thuanjinkee]

You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!

[u/J_Dadvin → u/Pointlessala]

You should read about what Saddam Hussein or Moammar Gaddafis sons would do.

[u/Charl3sD3xt3rWard → u/Pointlessala]

That country is probably the last "true" absolute monarchy in the world, it is basically and african North Korea without all the military bullshit... they literally starve, have shitty hospitals, one of the lowest average lifespan in the world...

I read somewhere that the king is so rich and the country so small that he can basically fix the country's economy with a single bank transfer...

[u/whilst → u/hannahsbrown]

How was there even a legal battle? He rules by decree and his word is literally law. It's terrifying.

[u/NotYourReddit18 → u/whilst]

Battles don't need to be long. It is completely possible that their battle was the mother asking him to let her daughter go and him saying "No! Also, you aren't allowed to see her anymore."

[u/redditvlli → u/hannahsbrown]

Fun fact, the previous monarch to him had like 1,000 grandchildren.

[u/ICC-u → u/redditvlli]

Imagine being one of the 990 kids who don't get any royal inheritance

[u/ergaster8213 → u/hannahsbrown]

So essentially his wives are just rape slaves (I don't like the term sex slaves)

[u/ILikeNeurons → u/ergaster8213]

rape is one of the most severe of all traumas, causing multiple, long-term negative outcomes.

r/stoprape

[u/Blawoffice → u/hannahsbrown]

Compared to his father, he basically has no wives. His father had 80 wives.

[u/FurryCurry → u/Blawoffice]

Ah. So he's a progressive!

[u/ICC-u → u/Blawoffice]

Imagine going to a party and you like a woman, and then your advisor tells you she's your wife!

[u/rhyth7 → u/Blawoffice]

Seems like he's more selective about his victims.

[u/AccomplishedGene109 → u/hannahsbrown]

Wow that's really sick! I caan't imagine the nightmare this poor girl and her mother has to go through because of this monster :(

[u/JustJoinedToBypass → u/AccomplishedGene109]

Only revolution or foreign intervention will get her back at this point, and the pro-democracy protests fizzled out in 2023.

[u/dazed_and_bamboozled]

The age old question: who will police the sex police?

[u/cdbman → u/dazed_and_bamboozled]

Sex coastguard?

[u/_Sausage_fingers → u/cdbman]

They are so often overlooked

[u/TorrenceMightingale → u/_Sausage_fingers]

And undercooked.

[u/Keldazar → u/TorrenceMightingale]

Undercooked, overcooked, straight to jail.

[u/mt0386 → u/cdbman]

Throws some sea salt on the criminal feet

You in my jurisdiction now boye!

[u/durrtyurr → u/cdbman]

He is the absolute monarch of a landlocked developing country. So, yeah, probably.

[u/Captain_Trigg → u/durrtyurr]

It would be a developed country but every time it gets close the king loses interest.

[u/bunnyfootwo → u/Captain_Trigg]

Underrated af

[u/Captain_Trigg → u/bunnyfootwo]

But YOU liked it and I measure my audience on quality not quantity.

[u/darrenvonbaron → u/Captain_Trigg]

The poor living better angers the rich and when the rich get angry monarchs lose their heads.

[u/Slobotic → u/dazed_and_bamboozled]

Internal Affairs.

I wanted to make a pun but it's already made.

[u/5up3rj → u/dazed_and_bamboozled]

Sting?

[u/anders_andersen → u/5up3rj]

Armed with sex pistols?

[u/2shack → u/5up3rj]

More likely Enrique Iglesias. You can run. You can hide. But you can’t escape, Enrique.

[u/skaapjagter]

He's a real POS.

He's the last remaining Absolute Monarch in Africa.

He's now married his 16th wife and has 45 children. (His father had 125 wives during his reign https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43821512 )

44% of Eswatini has HIV/AIDS and he doesn't care.
(Edit: Typo, It was 40% back in 2005 - as seen in original article - but has also come down quite a bit recently but still pretty high in women at about 34% - https://phia.icap.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/SHIMS2_Final.pdf )

In 2018 he kidnapped a schoolgirl and forced her into marriage.

In Swazi culture, you cant be a wife until you can get pregnant and if you cant then you remain a concubine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/03/daughter-of-south-africas-ex-president-zuma-to-be-eswatini-kings-16th-wife

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mswati_III

[u/passengerpigeon20 → u/skaapjagter]

Even Jean-Bédel Bokassa, as terrible as he was, seemed to have grand plans for his country before he wore out his welcome by barbecuing all of those kindergarteners. This fool, on the other hand, would seemingly rather just LARP as a monarch than actually be one, having no interest in the whole “governance” side of things, but he’s clearly far too lazy to ever make enough money through other avenues to buy into that lifestyle without being saddled with political responsibility… except when protesters threaten his ability to spend a meaningfully large chunk of the entire national GDP on his watch collection; then he magically springs to action and cracks down.

[u/Michelanvalo → u/passengerpigeon20]

That is one wild ass sentence you started with

[u/ALSX3 → u/Michelanvalo]

r/brandnewsentence

[u/wishwashy → u/ALSX3]

Sadly probably not as brand new

[u/Yontoryuu → u/passengerpigeon20]

barbecuing all those kindergarteners

Bro what? Could I have some context for what happened?

[u/ALSX3 → u/Yontoryuu]

I got you.

Source(The Guardian)

Accusations of cannibalism were widespread but unproven, triggered by photographs in Paris-Match magazine that apparently showed a fridge containing the bodies of schoolchildren. It was also claimed his political rivals were cooked and served to visiting foreign dignitaries or fed to lions and crocodiles in his personal zoo.

Bokassa named himself emperor in 1976 and organised a lavish coronation, costing tens of millions of dollars, in which he wore costumes styled on Napoleon’s and rode in a carriage flanked by soldiers dressed as 19th-century French cavalrymen. He was overthrown three years later after his guards killed scores of schoolchildren who were demonstrating in the capital, Bangui.

[u/LOSS35 → u/ALSX3]

Schoolchildren threw rocks at his Rolls Royce in protest of a new law that all students had to buy uniforms from a factory his wife owned. He had hundreds of them arrested and then beaten to death:

Two students who say they survived an April massacre in Bangui's Ngaragba Prison said today that they saw deposed Emperor Bokassa I kill several young boys by striking them on the back of the skull with his ivory‐encrusted ebony cane.

Simon Jeudi and Jules Bao said that they were among hundreds of students between the ages of 6 and 20 who were rounded up on April 19 by Mr. Bokassa's police and troops and taken to the prison or to various police stations in the Central African capital.

Mr. Jeudi, 18, said that he was herded with some 40 other youths into a windowless cell as prison guards beat them with clubs and rifle butts.

“It was the youngest and smallest ones that suffered the most,” he said. “Many of them suffocated in the crush of prisoners in my cell. Many others died of terrible head injuries.”

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/30/archives/survivors-describe-massacre-in-bangui-2-central-african-youths-say.html

[u/XxxAquatazerxxX → u/ALSX3]

Wtf.

[u/Kaining → u/XxxAquatazerxxX]

Yeah, i remember growing up hearing of the "jewel of bokassa" all the time https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_des_diamants

french page as the english one is barebone, chat gpt can probalby translate it.

But yeah, it kind of was one of the many weird cases of what's considered to be the "françafrique" as far as colonisation history is.

[u/thehippocampus → u/passengerpigeon20]

 he wore out his welcome by barbecuing all of those kindergarteners. 

I'm hoping this is some sort of metaphor for him like giving the kids a hard test and so "grilling" them.

I don't want to be sad today 😞 

[u/passengerpigeon20 → u/thehippocampus]

Yes, that was a mistake; my bad. He actually feasted on schoolchildren from all grade levels.

[u/Sexylizardwoman → u/passengerpigeon20]

I hate to be that person but when you say feasted you mean….?

[u/LordGargoyle → u/Sexylizardwoman]

Yep.

(To be fair I don't think it was ever concretely proved, witnesses during sudden changes in power not being the most reliable, but it was a widely held belief and he definitely did at least kill schoolchildren)

[u/spooooork → u/LordGargoyle]

And absurdly enough:

The charge of cannibalism was not taken into account for the final verdict, since the consumption of human remains was classified a misdemeanour under CAR law

[u/FunBuilding2707 → u/Sexylizardwoman]

He's a great humanitarian.

[u/tildeumlaut → u/FunBuilding2707]

Ah yes, just like vegetarian is one who eats vegetables, humanitarian is one who eats humans

[u/letsgetbrickfaced → u/passengerpigeon20]

Wait scratch that one

[u/CaveRanger → u/passengerpigeon20]

I mean, he kinda wore out his welcome when he spent his country's entire GDP on his coronation.

IIRC nobody knows what happened to the fancy gold throne he had made for himself. Presumably somebody melted it down

[u/JTanCan → u/passengerpigeon20]

having no interest in the whole “governance” side of things,

He's got a harem of 16 wives and an unknown number of concubines; I think I've figured out what his priority is and it isn't statecraft.

[u/MeCagoEnPeronconga → u/passengerpigeon20]

Even Jean-Bédel Bokassa, as terrible as he was, seemed to have grand plans for his country before he wore out his welcome by barbecuing all of those kindergarteners

wat

[u/TheNextBattalion → u/passengerpigeon20]

This is how monarchs ruled, even in the glory days of glittering European kings in their now-museum palaces. You just wing it until the barons rise up, and you crush them or they crush you. The "small folk" lose coming and going

[u/chest_trucktree → u/TheNextBattalion]

Not really. Monarchs were kept in check by the fact that power is widely dispersed in feudalism. Absolute monarchs were pretty rare until the mid-1600s.

[u/BjornAltenburg → u/chest_trucktree]

Furthermore, the Catholic Church or even Orthodox church represented some separation of powers. In the case of catholics, getting excommunicated for messing around with Christian law and church collection pretty much made you fair game to any other Christian realm. In the extreme, a crusade could be called or holy orders might come knocking for your leaders to be burnt at the stake.

[u/passengerpigeon20 → u/chest_trucktree]

And quite a few of them were skilled leaders and nice people at the end of the day. But even if living under a monarchy isn’t bad when the dice fall in your favor, the lack of elections means there’s no way to avoid ending up with another Bokassa the next time around, and no way to oust one without bloodshed.

[u/TeensyTrouble → u/skaapjagter]

So he was fucking those teenagers well before they got married?

[u/KaBar2 → u/TeensyTrouble]

He was probably fucking them before they were teenagers.

[u/TeensyTrouble → u/KaBar2]

I was wondering why someone who could attract any woman couldn’t wait a year.

[u/bimm3r36 → u/TeensyTrouble]

Unfortunately relevant username

[u/TeensyTrouble → u/bimm3r36]

In my defense the teensies are a race of adults that really were in trouble when I made this account

[u/shiggythor → u/TeensyTrouble]

Tough time table. You see, when you have 15 wifes, and you wanna go for number 16, you have to start planning the wedding now! If you wait a year, there might already be a scheduling conflict with the wedding to wife 17.

[u/ThePyodeAmedha → u/KaBar2]

He was probably fucking raping them before they were teenagers.

Fify

[u/BartleBossy → u/skaapjagter]

(His father had 125 wives during his reign)

I think Wiki says 70 wives

[u/skaapjagter → u/BartleBossy]

"The son of Sobhuza II, who reigned for 82 years, King Mswati currently has 15 wives. According to official biographers, his father took 125 wives during his reign."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43821512

Ive added this link to my original comment now too.

[u/Scoddy69 → u/BartleBossy]

I think that‘s plenty.

[u/lajfat → u/BartleBossy]

Oh, that's reasonable then.

[u/LongjumpingStick7312 → u/skaapjagter]

That HIV prevalence rate seems higher than everything I've seen. Wikipedia says 28.3% and I think it peaked at around 33%. When I lived there in 2005 it was 40% of people age 15-30. Still insanely high. I'm curious where you got the 44% number.

[u/skaapjagter → u/LongjumpingStick7312]

The 44 was a typo - I edited it to change to 40% from the original article now - and yes I saw it has decreased to about 27% nationally but still high in women at about 34% - still crazy that its about a third of the country.

[u/LongjumpingStick7312 → u/skaapjagter]

Honestly I'm pretty confident the BBC fucked that up. In 2005 40% was the prevalence rate for ages 15-30 and 33% for the entire nation and hovered around 33% for a decade. I guess you have the BBC as a source and mine is a self aware "trust me bro".

[u/porcelainfog → u/skaapjagter]

Holy shit. Google says 20% have HIV that is wild.

[u/thissexypoptart → u/skaapjagter]

you cant be a wife until you can get pregnant and if you cant then you remain a concubine.

Wow that's fucking disgusting if true.

[u/Blein123 → u/thissexypoptart]

The first or second part?

[u/mackavicious → u/Blein123]

Yes

[u/DatGuy_Shawnaay → u/skaapjagter]

Was born and raised there. I agree, he's a POS. If he knew I said this, I'd be missing. eSwatini has so much potential but this bloke is holding it back, it's depressing.

[u/Belgand → u/skaapjagter]

44% of Eswatini has HIV/AIDS and he doesn't care.

Considering how many women he's kidnapped and forced into "marriages" you'd think he'd care about that quite a bit.

[u/Draffut → u/skaapjagter]

WAIT IS HE THE ONE MY HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER TOLD ME SAID TO SHOWER TO PREVENT AIDS?

[u/WillSquat4Money → u/Draffut]

I think you're thinking of Jacob Zuma there.

He was the president of South Africa and an absolute moron.

[u/skaapjagter → u/Draffut]

Ironically he just married one of Jacob Zuma's daughters - 21 yrs old.
Wife 16
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/03/daughter-of-south-africas-ex-president-zuma-to-be-eswatini-kings-16th-wife

[u/Leafan101]

Why didn't he just pay another 1 cow fine each time?

[u/Doc_Eckleburg → u/Leafan101]

Calm down dude, you think he’s made of cows?

[u/Thendofreason → u/Doc_Eckleburg]

If he eats as many hamburgers as I do, then yes

[u/Smartnership → u/Thendofreason]

Moo?

[u/ResIpsaBroquitur → u/Leafan101]

If you can’t do the time pay the cow, don’t do the crime repeal the law.

[u/MCHopie → u/Leafan101]

The man with the most cows is king, and the chief of police has ambition.

[u/Asha_Brea]

"If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law only exists for the lower class."

[u/hawkeye5739 → u/Asha_Brea]

Punishable by fine means legal for a price.

[u/reporst → u/hawkeye5739]

It also establishes the notion of a crime to cow ratio.

Underage marriage? 1 cow

Murder? 8 cows

Talking at the theaters during the movie? 16 cows

[u/Murkmist → u/reporst]

You can pay a discounted advance fee of 7 cows if you plan to murder someone within the next year.

But they have to be evaluated as a low value person, and given the opportunity to outbid you to the government. If they can pay more cows then you, they prevent their murder, half your cows are still forfeit as part of the application fee.

[u/SliceEm_DiceEm → u/Murkmist]

Please write more

[u/Murkmist → u/SliceEm_DiceEm]

This system gives a new meaning to hostile takeover, and is used by corporations as a way to destroy competition. It encourages monopolies and many corporations quickly overtake the government in wealth and power.  Subsuming and privatising many public necessities; gradually wresting control from the government through series of strategic sanctioned murders.

The police, law, and military who enforce this system are eventually bought out by a single mega corp who has swallowed the rest and a swift, nearly bloodless coup installs a corporatocracy.

We are now on the path to Cyberpunk. Hell yeah.

[u/SliceEm_DiceEm → u/Murkmist]

Cowberpunk baybeee

You’re not a choom, but a mooom

[u/kalbrandon → u/Murkmist]

If I pay my advance fee but later decide not to murder that person, are my cows refunded? Is my advance fee transferable to a different victim, so long as they are also low-valued?

Asking for a friend.

[u/AdiPalmer → u/kalbrandon]

If you decide not to murder that person they are forfeit and cannot be transfered to a different victim. You can, however, transfer your cow credit to a property crime of equal or lesser value, while supplies last.

[u/hermaphroditicspork → u/reporst]

Overcook fish? 20 cows. Undercook chicken? 20 cows..undercook/overcook...

[u/2ndCousinofLiberty → u/reporst]

You undercook beef? Believe it or not, 4 cows.

[u/SilverMagnum → u/reporst]

Pretty fair ratio here if we’re being honest. 

[u/RedHairedSociopath → u/SilverMagnum]

Forced Child Marriage=1/16th of Being an Asshole

[u/todbr → u/reporst]

Gee, I'm all out of cows, do you take goats?

[u/TheKanten → u/hawkeye5739]

"You broke the law doing that thing that made you ten million dollars, that'll be a $25,000 fine. 

[u/NightmareStatus → u/Asha_Brea]

"if the penalty for a crime is a fine, then it's only a suggestion for the wealthy".

That's my personal take on it. Not a correction. Cheers.

[u/Asha_Brea → u/NightmareStatus]

It is taken from a video game where the character that "says it" (he doesn't, but it is attributed to that character) fights for social equity in a medieval-like world where nobles screw the lower class any time they want.

But if you adapt it to modern times, then yours is more fitting.

[u/Nice_Raccoon_5320 → u/Asha_Brea]

What’s the game please?

[u/Asha_Brea → u/Nice_Raccoon_5320]

Final Fantasy Tactics. Yes, you should go and play it. You can even get it in your cellphone.

Make sure you save often and in different save files.

[u/solomongumball01 → u/Asha_Brea]

Final Fantasy Tactics.

That line doesn't appear in the game, it's a fake screenshot from a meme page

[u/gloubenterder → u/Asha_Brea]

Indeed, and it's a good mobile port, to boot.

(glares at Final Fantasy III)

[u/NightmareStatus → u/Asha_Brea]

Huh interesting. The more I know. Been saying it for years and never heard that. I'll have to look it up. Last time I knew anything FF related, I watched an Illegal copy of the Advent Children movie when it came out and the animation was 🔥. Thanks!

[u/kog → u/Asha_Brea]

Depends on the fine though.

I seem to recall a Scandinavian country that was issuing speeding fines based on a percentage of income or net worth or something. Some rich guy had to pay out a tidy sum that sounded big enough to matter to him.

[u/BarKnight → u/Asha_Brea]

Just make the fine a percentage of wealth.

[u/jert3 → u/BarKnight]

Finland does that for speeding tickets (and other fines, I presume). Rich ass had a $100k ticket one time a couple years back I read.

[u/Cevari → u/jert3]

Basically we have two types of fines - for very minor offenses you get smaller static fines, for more serious ones you get the type that scales with your income. Either can be assessed for speeding, depending mainly on how dangerous your conduct is found to have been.

[u/patrickdgd → u/Asha_Brea]

Thanks Wiegraf

[u/Asha_Brea → u/patrickdgd]

Funny thing about that, he never says this in the game. Now, that is something he will definitely agree with, but he doesn't say it in either translation.

Anyways, everyone, go play Final Fantasy Tactics.

[u/RussMaGuss → u/Asha_Brea]

He must have been broke in 2005 when he repealed that law then

[u/PorkChopExpress0011]

I know it’s completely messed up, but the guy fining himself 1 cow is hilarious.

[u/Competitive_Success5 → u/PorkChopExpress0011]

But who did he pay it to

[u/ilski → u/Competitive_Success5]

To himself

[u/Hayred]

I feel quite ignorant for not realising Eswatini is Swaziland - it was renamed 6 years ago. Jeez I need to look at maps more often

[u/soda_cookie → u/Hayred]

6 years ago...shit

[u/_inuska → u/Hayred]

Eswatini essentially means the same thing as Swaziland. 'Swati' is the ethnicity of the people, also known as "Swazi" to some of their neighbors, but they prefer Swati. The -ni at the end roughly means "place of", and since it's a proper noun, it has to begin with E. And so you have Eswatini, as the country has always been known as in their own language. All they did 6 years ago was to ask everyone else to do the same regardless of the language being spoken.

[u/Narpity → u/_inuska]

Like India referring to themselves as Bharat. Although that is perhaps a bit more controversial.

[u/Spiritflash1717 → u/Narpity]

Why is that one considered controversial? I’m not super knowledgeable about the politics and history of India

[u/Narpity → u/Spiritflash1717]

Well I’m sure someone can answer better than me but the main issue is that Bharat is heavily associated with the Hindus. Modi their PM is basically a Hindu Nationalist and uses the Muslim population as scapegoats for a lot of things and has done very little to condemn violence against Muslims by Hindus in India. So changing the name to a specifically Hindu-supported name is kinda a big deal because it’s India falling completely into Hindu Nationalism and making Muslims and Sikhs second class citizens.

[u/Spiritflash1717 → u/Narpity]

I figured it had something to do with the idea that India has a very diverse population and plenty of cultures depending on the region with several of them mixing. I was mostly just missing the fact that Bharat is a Hindu thing. I guess for that reason it is a good thing that Bharat hasn’t been pushed more

[u/Sanguinusshiboleth → u/Spiritflash1717]

Complex, but basically it's Modi's way of control the narrative of Indian history and remolding it into his image. Also a major collation of the opposition use the title I.N.D.I.A

[u/alexmikli → u/Spiritflash1717]

Pakistan threatened to invoke its right to rename itself "India" if India changes to Bharat.

[u/amalgam_reynolds → u/_inuska]

All they did 6 years ago was to ask everyone else to do the same regardless of the language being spoken.

So basically would be similar to Germany asking everyone in the world to call them Deutschland instead?

[u/civiestudent → u/amalgam_reynolds]

Or Greece wanting to be called Hellas, yeah.

[u/HeyLittleTrain → u/_inuska]

All of their proper nouns begin with E? Including everyone's names?

[u/redlaWw → u/HeyLittleTrain]

Presumably grammatical, similar to how Latin names have noun endings for declension - like the guy we know as Julius would've been referred to as Julium, Julii, Julio or others depending on what he's doing in a sentence. There was a lot more variation in Latin name endings for a bunch of reasons, but traditional Latin names nonetheless had prescribed endings.

[u/Sea_Hovercraft_7859 → u/HeyLittleTrain]

Not necessarily it's just a grammatical marker of the class the name ( Eswatini ) which indicates the 'gender' like in Latin with endings .

[u/mcphersonrj → u/Hayred]

The only airport in the country is also named after him. It’s always funny when I travel to South Africa and I look up at the flight board at the airport and see King Mswati III International Airport leaving at 3 pm

[u/Wirse → u/Hayred]

You’ve still been calling it Swaziland all this time? What a boner. 

[u/Master_Xenu → u/Wirse]

Seriously! Who doesn't know that after Patrick Swazi died they renamed the country.

[u/Brawndo91 → u/Master_Xenu]

Ah yes, Patrick Swazi, star of the movie Rhodesia House.

[u/Draffut → u/Hayred]

How ignorant should I feel for not knowing about these places at all?

[u/Johnny_Poppyseed → u/Draffut]

Im very into geography of the world and world history, and have had a world map in my bedroom for as long as I can remember basically.

Am still occasionally surprised by a small African country I've somehow never heard of or forgotten about.

[u/Narpity → u/Draffut]

Not particularly ignorant. The size of Eswatini is comparable to the US state of Connecticut and has 1/3rd of the people. I wouldn’t expect many non-Americans to know which state was Connecticut.

[u/h-v-smacker → u/Narpity]

I wouldn’t expect many non-Americans to know which state was Connecticut.

Quite easy to figure out, that's the one size of Swaziland and three times their population!

[u/Spiritflash1717 → u/Hayred]

Most countries call themselves something different than what others call them. Spain is España, Japan is Nihon, Germany is Deutschland, China is Zhōngguó, Turkey is Türkiye (though this one is an example of one that has finally been pushed to be used universally), etc, etc. And that’s not even getting into the “official” names of countries, like Portugal being officially titled the Portuguese Republic and such.

[u/2shack → u/Hayred]

I thought I knew a thing or two about geography but apparently not. I had no idea.

[u/Odenhobler → u/Hayred]

Oh I know this one! Geoguessr!

[u/KaBar2]

Looks to me that King Mswati III was just trying to cock-block all the other men from having sex with girls under 18, leaving more for himself.

[u/TheMajesticYeti → u/KaBar2]

It was apparently an attempt to slow the spread of HIV/AIDs

[u/Rymayc → u/TheMajesticYeti]

As you know, HIV is being spread by underage girls.

[u/methinfiniti]

40% of the population has HIV?!? 😳

[u/Miserable_History238 → u/methinfiniti]

Including the King, no doubt 

[u/ptolemy18]

So he has a type, apparently.

[u/MzCWzL → u/ptolemy18]

I mean - “She is reported to have caught the king’s eye during the main annual Reed Dance in late August, when tens of thousands of bare-breasted girls took part in a traditional rite of Spring.”

[u/Belgand → u/MzCWzL]

Oh, so they have Spring Break there too?

[u/SleestakWalkAmongUs → u/ptolemy18]

Probably Simmental, but he really seems more like a Hereford type to me.

[u/PM_good_beer]

1 cow is a tiny fine. For reference, it costs like 11 cows to marry a woman.

[u/huesmann]

ESwatini is such a sad story. My family was living in SD when Sobhuza died and this joker was crowned (returned to the States a little over a year after that). The country could be really well off, but the king basically pillages it to fund his lifestyle.

[u/thot-abyss]

I went there in 2009. The king has a yearly festival where young girls (about 14 years old) dance for him and he picks his favorites from among them. The young girls camping outside his palace sometimes get raped by other men when they bathe nearby.

The big political dilemma they had when I went there was if female government workers could wear pants. All of the quotes in the newspaper were against it, saying that they would be easier to take off.

Furthermore, men are called pussies if they wear condoms to prevent HIV.

It is not the people’s fault… it is the king and the people with gold-plated TVs who exploit everyone else.

[u/SyrusDrake → u/thot-abyss]

get raped by other men

(...)

All of the quotes in the newspaper were against it

(...)

Furthermore, men are called pussies if they wear condoms to prevent HIV.

It is not the people’s fault…

Idk, man, it sounds like there are some societal problems too...

[u/thot-abyss → u/SyrusDrake]

Yeah there are a lot of societal and cultural problems. But it is not a place where the common individual has a say. It’s an absolute monarchy, not a democracy. And it’s the newspaper’s fault for not quoting any women (although if they did, the woman would probably refuse in order to protect herself). Anyways, there probably weren’t any unbiased newspapers that the king would even allow.

I met a lot of women and men who were very kind and caring. They are victims who seriously lost the birth lottery. It’s easy to be moralistic from a place of privilege but no one deserves to grow-up in a place like that.

And before people blame it on Islam, 90% of the country is Christian.

[u/h1gh_as_succ]

This sounds like when I go to the bar and say “I’m only having one.” and then I obviously end up shitfaced.

[u/unfairrobot → u/h1gh_as_succ]

"I only drink a little, but when I drink a little I turn into someone else, and that person drinks a lot."

[u/blakeley]

My bad, here’s a cow.

[u/Wirse → u/blakeley]

Oh, hold on, I’ve got a Get Out of Jail Free cow! 

[u/thatpaulbloke]

She ... has dropped out of school in order to be groomed as the monarch's wife

Yes, I would say that is the case.

[u/I-Hate-Sea-Urchins]

If only I had a cow for every sex crime this guy committed.

[u/john_jdm]

...and fined himself "1 Cow" for breaking the law.

And being king, where do fines go? Probably to the crown. It likely literally cost him nothing.

[u/handsomeslug → u/john_jdm]

Maybe try reading the article? He had one of his cows killed so no it didn't go back to him

[u/Spare_Efficiency2975 → u/handsomeslug]

Guess what was for dinner that day.

[u/jd451 → u/Spare_Efficiency2975]

Fish?

Sorry, you told me to guess

[u/passengerpigeon20 → u/Spare_Efficiency2975]

To be fair, that one cow was 1 percent of the entire national GDP. The other 99 percent consists of his Bugatti Veyron.

[u/handsomeslug → u/Spare_Efficiency2975]

Not that cow, they literally threw it from a ship

[u/Jdoggcrash → u/handsomeslug]

But who ate the meat from the cow?

[u/Western-Customer-536]

“Monarchy is bullshit!”

-Oliver Cromwell, George Washington, and Lenin.

[u/mesenanch → u/Western-Customer-536]

Now that's a list of unlikely partners

[u/7Hielke → u/mesenanch]

Lenin took quite some inspiratikn from George Washington and the American revolution. Communists saw the step through bourgeoise capitalism still ass a good and necessary step

[u/Nivenoric → u/mesenanch]

Trotsky was an admirer of Cromwell, and compared Lenin to him.

Lenin called the American War of Independence a war of liberation.

So it is not as unlikely as you might think.

[u/mesenanch → u/Nivenoric]

I think Cromwell is an endlessly fascinating character

[u/witb0t → u/Western-Customer-536]

And that one Swazi cow

[u/Narpity → u/Western-Customer-536]

Cromwell was a monarch in all but name.

[u/SJSUMichael → u/Western-Customer-536]

Also, the other Lennon.

[u/Fancy_cocksocket]

The irony of breaking his own rule is almost too much.

[u/Sasmonite]

Sickening

[u/Astronius-Maximus]

Politicians just write the law with themselves in mind, and break it regardless, huh?

[u/ElectricPaladin]

Who did he pay the cow to??

[u/kingkellogg → u/ElectricPaladin]

Himself

[u/Super-Estate-4112]

He surely rules a well-developed country where law and ethics rule.

[u/lucidum]

40%of the nation has AIDS according to the article.

[u/Friendly-Profit-8590]

Pedo for me but not for thee

[u/ML_120]

Monetary penalty just means legal for rich people.

In this case, he even paid himself.

[u/HoselRockit]

If they do a movie on this guy, they’ll have to cast DiCaprio in the lead role.

[u/the_Luik]

Did he run out of cows?

[u/Anus_Wrinkle]

When you're the king and you fine yourself a cow, aren't you just giving yourself a cow?

[u/Ok_Astronomer2479]

What a beautiful culture

/s