A sweeping, jazz-scored exploration of Cold War intrigue and African liberation, Johan Gimonprez’s 'Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat' lays bare the cultural and political battlegrounds where empires, artists, and freedom fighters clashed.
In a new film, former UN-Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld is portrayed as a defender of a fledgling postcolonial state. But his role in the Congo Crisis is more complicated.
Henry Kissinger was convinced that Africans were incapable of responsible government—so he fought against the national liberation movements fighting for independence.
In 1975, seeing how a communist victory in Angola’s civil war would boost the morale of Vietnamese freedom fighters, Henry Kissinger wanted to plan a covert operation against the MPLA.
Morocco is one of the United States’ oldest allies, so when it occupied Western Sahara in 1975, the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people mattered little.
In the 1970s, Kissinger believed that the liberation of southern Africa from white-minority rule represented a Cold War setback.
A new film about American civil rights icon Bayard Rustin overlooks his later conservative turn, evident in his attitudes to anticolonial resistance in Africa.
New films from Mila Turajlić salvages footage from the Yugoslavian news archives to tell a story of non-aligned internationalism against Cold War bipolarity.
In the 1960s, two African nationalist magazines shared a name—but declassified files reveal that they were on opposite sides of a literary Cold War.
The Ugandan architect, Stephen Mukiibi, reflects on his studies in Soviet Ukraine and the lessons he learned on equality, environment, race, and friendship.
Journalist Vincent Bevins’ new book, The Jakarta Method, shows that some of the 20th century’s ugliest episodes are still unfolding.
A series of photos documenting the contemporary state of the site of perhaps the most decisive battle in the liberation of Southern Africa.
The stories of those who fought on the frontlines, were imprisoned, or wanted to establish real democracy after independence in Angola.
"Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity" (Lumumba, 1960)
On 25 November 2016, Fidel Castro passed away. To many Africans Fidel was a hero, playing a central role in their liberation from colonialism.
Was it ever in doubt that the first African American president of the United States would wish to crown his legacy by normalizing relations with the most African island in the Americas?
It may be better to ask what Nelson Mandela's leadership means for how we assess the state in Africa.
A lot of music we like don’t come from Africa. Like this one from Dengue Fever,
Vintage clips, from 1961, of Nelson Mandela, ZK Matthews, Helen Joseph, among others, on a Dutch TV program talking liberation from white supremacy.