Africa Is a Country

'Vote for Umblerra'

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

'Vote for Umblerra'

By
Sean Jacobs

Probably to deal with the stresses associated with next month general elections scheduled for next month–there’s a real threat of terrorist violence and vote rigging is widespread–Nigerians (online especially) are having too much fun at the expense of First Lady, Patience Jonathan, who has a history of mangling her words. An audio recording has emerged of Mrs Jonathan speaking at a rally of the ruling party. She was “trying to persuade her listeners to vote for the ‘Umbrella’, the unmistakable symbol of the Peoples’ Democratic Party. However, she er… well she might have inadvertently done just the opposite.”

Further Reading

Repoliticizing a generation

Thirty-eight years after Thomas Sankara’s assassination, the struggle for justice and self-determination endures—from stalled archives and unfulfilled verdicts to new calls for pan-African renewal and a 21st-century anti-imperialist front.

Drip is temporary

The apparel brand Drip was meant to prove that South Africa’s townships could inspire global style. Instead, it revealed how easily black success stories are consumed and undone by the contradictions of neoliberal aspiration.

Energy for whom?

Behind the fanfare of the Africa Climate Summit, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline shows how neocolonial extraction still drives Africa’s energy future.

The sound of revolt

On his third album, Afro-Portuguese artist Scúru Fitchádu fuses ancestral wisdom with urban revolt, turning memory and militancy into a soundtrack for resistance.

O som da revolta

No seu terceiro álbum, o artista afro-português Scúru Fitchádu funde a sabedoria ancestral com a revolta urbana, transformando memória e militância em uma trilha sonora para a resistência.