Africa Is a Country

Not Julius Malema's Youth League

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

Not Julius Malema's Youth League

By
Sean Jacobs

[slideshow]
I’ve blogged before (at my old blog address) about the Johannesburg fashion movement, The Smarteez. (More exclusive than the mass outlet Amakipkip.)

Now Dazed Magazine have discovered them. For its June special “South Africa” issue (Africans still get “special issue” status everywhere), the magazine’s editors sent a writer and photographer to profile the designers.

The piece is not online, but a slideshow and a video. On the Dazed blog, writer Rod Stanley has a quote from one of the designers explaining how he feels his generation differs from their older cousins and neighbors: ‘… Too young to really remember the struggle for apartheid, they’re less politicised and claim that their “struggle” is now one against blandness and conformity – to them, it’s all about partying, self-expression and challenging stereotypes.’  I don’t think they care for Julius Malema.

Photographer Chris Saunders, who has been documenting the Smarteez for a while now, took the pictures.

There’s also a short film about the Smarteez on the Dazed website.

— Sean Jacobs

Via Style Bubble. [h/t Nerina Penzhorn]

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.

Biya forever

As Cameroon nears its presidential elections, a disintegrated opposition paves the way for the world’s oldest leader to claim a fresh mandate.

From Cornell to conscience

Hounded out of the United States for his pro-Palestine activism, Momodou Taal insists that the struggle is global, drawing strength from Malcolm X, faith, and solidarity across borders.