AfricaIs aCountry

The Race War

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

The Race War

By
Sean Jacobs

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGpikgxn-VM&w=480&h=295#13m00s]

Al Jazeera’s media criticism TV program “The Listening Post” has a useful analysis of the South African media’s reporting of the murder of the white supremacist, Eugene Terreblanche, by two farmworkers, one a 15 year old, after a wage dispute. (Not everyone is keeping a cool head; the British tabloids now report the race war narrative–which has little basis in fact–with glee.) The clip also covers the media’s obsession with Julius Malema, the youth leader of the ruling party, as well as how mainstream media covers race. (The insert is about 13 minutes in.)  I have some minor qualms with the insert–for one, Malema is not “far left,” he is more of a racial nationalist, and did they have to interview Nick Broomfield. There’s also nothing about South Africa’s reactionary blogosphere. But generally I thought it was okay.

Further Reading

Progress is exhausting

Pedro Pinho’s latest film follows a Portuguese engineer in Guinea-Bissau, exposing how empire survives through bureaucracy, intimacy, and the language of “development.”

The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.