Mali Blues

Grinning maliciously, he tells me about 'Article 320', a term dating from the student riots of 1991, when a liter of gasoline cost three hundred francs and a box of matches twenty. Back then, government officials were set on fire under Article 320. Students called it the 'BV', which stands for 'burnt alive'. "Since the devaluation, of course, it's become 'Article 440'," he says, "because gasoline and matches are more expensive."

--Mali Blues by Lieve Joris