I don’t care much for Cape Town group Freshlyground’s muzak. But you can’t deny the cleverness of the video for their new single, “Chicken to Change.” They recruited the puppets–especially Robert Mugabe–from the intermittently funny, online South African satirical news show ZANews. And they called Mugabe a chicken. Then Zimbabwe’s humorless immigration authorities banned Freshlyground from visiting that country. And now the Internets is taking care of the rest.
On our year-end publishing break, we reflect on how 2024’s contradictions reveal a fractured world grappling with inequality, digital activism, and the blurred lines between action and spectacle.
In South Africa, a spate of food poisoning incidents has ignited another round of xenophobic scaremongering.
Grassroots activists and marine scientists in Algeria are building artificial reefs to restore biodiversity and sustain fishing communities, but scaling up requires more than passion—it needs institutional support and political will.
Kenya’s labor export model treats citizens as commodities, exploiting workers for remittances while neglecting domestic job creation.
Once a beacon of hope for militant trade unionism, Numsa’s descent into corruption and political entanglement reflects the broader struggles facing South Africa’s labor movement.
Rashid Vally, the visionary behind South Africa’s iconic jazz label As-Shams, forged a legacy of revolutionary jazz that defied apartheid and continues to inspire new generations of musicians, activists, and music lovers.
Through Afro-futurist soundscapes blending tradition and innovation, Ibaaku’s new album, ‘Joola Jazz,’ reshapes Dakar’s cultural rhythm and challenges the legacy of Négritude.
This weekend, Chris Brown will perform two sold-out concerts in South Africa. His relationship to the country reveals the twisted dynamic between a black American artist with a track record of violence and a country happy to receive him.
The #MeToo movement exposed abuses across industries, yet men’s football remains resistant to accountability, protecting predators and sidelining survivors.
Shell’s so-called divestment from Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a calculated move to evade accountability, leaving behind both environmental and economic devastation.
Nigeria and South Africa have a fraught relationship marked by xenophobia, economic competition, and cultural exchange. The Nigerian Scam are joined by Khanya Mtshali to discuss the dynamics shaping these tensions on the AIAC podcast.
Ghana’s election has brought another handover between the country’s two main parties. Yet behind the scenes lies a flawed system where wealth can buy political office.
Tyla’s rise as a global pop star highlights the complexities of race, identity, and cultural representation, challenging how Blackness is perceived across the diaspora.
As Ghana heads to the polls, its democratic promise fades amid economic turmoil, corruption, and disillusionment, leaving voters to choose between two flawed options.
After marking its first federal National Black Consciousness Day, Brazil confronts its deep African heritage and enduring racial inequalities.
Após marcar seu primeiro Dia Nacional da Consciência Negra como feriado federal, o Brasil reafirma sua profunda herança africana e as persistentes desigualdades raciais.
In a political landscape defined by opportunism, spectacle, and betrayal, Kenya’s youth-led protests offered a fleeting glimpse of change—only to be ensnared by the same system they sought to challenge.
From the streets of Khartoum to exile abroad, Sudanese hip-hop artists have turned music into a powerful tool for protest, resilience, and the preservation of collective memory.
Materially speaking, oil is simply a sticky, black goo. It doesn’t have any innate power separate from the kind of society we live in—capitalism.
Colonial-era censorship bodies continue to stifle African creativity, but a new wave of artists and activists are driving a pan-African push for reform.