Robert Mugabe’s hostage face

And, the terrible experience of Tanzanian women in Oman and the United African Emirates.

Robert Mugabe, seemingly under house arrest, at a graduation ceremony at the University of Zimbabwe.

One: Despite the urge to celebrate the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37 years as leader of Zimbabwe, first as Prime Minister then as President, there is much reason to be cautious. For one, coups always sets a dangerous precedent. More specifically in this case, there are few signs the people of Zimbabwe will get to decide their new leader. This is not a revolution, but a realignment.

(2) In the aftermath of 9/11, Muammar Gaddafi announced both gas and oil exploration deals with the UK, and that he was abandoning his quest for nuclear and chemical weapons. In return, secret papers reveal, British intelligence gave him assistance in chasing down his enemies all over the world.   

(3) Increasing capacity of cell phones is changing day to day life in Africa. But it is not all a positive story, when we look at how many of the telecom giants got established in the first place. 

(4) The terrible experience of Tanzanian women in Oman and the United African Emirates.

(5) Climate change along with encroaching desertification is stealing the livelihood of many below the Sahara. What is to be done? 

(6) Speaking of which: at this rate, it is estimated that fish catches will reduce be 60 percent around the continent.

(7) Another look at the role religion had in the Biafra crisis, and how the crisis effected religion. 

(8) The Nigerian women’s bobsled team will be the first African team to participate in the sport this Winter Olympics. 

(9) This week would have been Chinua Achebe’s birthday. Google celebrated this with a doodle. Achebe’s work has been celebrated for its prescience and grasp on social relations. What hasn’t been talked about much though, is how humorous his work was as well.  

(10) Watch: The African player saving lives on the football pitch

Further Reading

How to unmake the world

In this wide-ranging conversation, para-disciplinary artist Nolan Oswald Dennis reflects on space, time, Blackness, and the limits of Western knowledge—offering a strategy for imagining grounded in African and anti-colonial traditions.

A migrant’s tale

On his latest EP, Kwame Brenya turns a failed migration into musical testimony—offering a biting critique of ECOWAS, broken borders, and the everyday collapse of pan-African ideals.

What Portugal forgets

In the film ‘Tales of Oblivion,’ Dulce Fernandes excavates the buried history of slavery in Portugal, challenging a national mythology built on sea voyages, silence, and selective memory.

Trump tariffs and US Imperialism

Trump’s April 2025 tariff blitz ignited market chaos and deepened rifts within his own coalition. Beneath the turmoil lies a battle between technocrats, ultranationalists, and anti-imperial populists, all vying to reshape—or destroy—American global power.