Sports on the continent are being commercialized at a rapid rate. What’s driving it?
Latest
Henry Kissinger’s Angola
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.
Henry Kissinger’s Western Sahara
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.
Henry Kissinger’s South Africa
In the 1970s, Kissinger believed that the liberation of southern Africa from white-minority rule represented a Cold War setback.
Reading List: Daniel Hammett, Laura S. Martin and Izuu Nwankwọ
What is the relationship between humor and politics in Africa?
The politics of hosting AFCON
Africa’s biggest spectacle is happening soon. What does it take to host the African Cup of Nations?
Palestine
Weeping for Palestine
In 1987, a band led by a group of South African Jewish brothers released a song against apartheid repression. Today, its lyrics speak to conditions in Palestine as well.
Israel’s Sharpeville moment
It is often imagined that world opinion was always united in its opposition to apartheid in South Africa—it wasn’t. Today, global indifference to Palestine is changing too.
The false equivalence of the colonized and colonizer
Choosing to focus on denouncing Palestinian violence is akin to asking them to passively accept their fate—to die quietly and not resist.
Solidarity means more than words
Although the South African government is one of the most vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause, its actions tell a different story.
Culture
Nairobi’s third places
In Nairobi, skateboarding provides an alternative space where consumption is not a prerequisite for entry.
Matchday 1: Mobutu Sese Seko
The African Five-a side podcast continues to explore the stories of five African heads of state and their influence on football. This week, we introduce our striker.
Bayard Rustin’s Zimbabwe
A new film about American civil rights icon Bayard Rustin overlooks his later conservative turn, evident in his attitudes to anticolonial resistance in Africa.
Are the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers a new era for African Football?
This week on the African Five-a-side podcast, we take a look at the kick off of the African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
God, ancestors, and nature
Environmental protection is deeply-held practice in African spirituality. What happens when it is re-shaped by Christianity and capitalism?
TV
Young people have become an influential demographic in Nigerian politics. But are they a coherent political constituency?
Politics
Being black in Argentina
What does Javier Milei’s presidential victory mean for Argentina’s black and indigenous minorities?
Ruto’s green growth lie
The marketization of climate action, epitomized by Kenyan president William Ruto, allows the super-rich to buy their safety while the rest of us are left behind.
There is no youth monolith
Young people have become an influential demographic in Nigerian politics. But are they a coherent political constituency?
Jailbreak in Conakry
How Guinea’s former president, Moussa Dadis Camara, nearly broke out of prison.
When economists shut off your water
Access to water in Nairobi is horribly unequal. The World Bank, Nairobi Water Company, and development economists exploited this unjust context to treat poor Kenyans like guinea pigs.
Climate Politricks
A series on climate justice, tax justice and extractives in African spaces. Funded by Open Society Foundations. Guest edited by Grieve Chelwa.
A new documentary focuses on using the soil’s carbon absorbent properties to solve the climate change problem.
Social policy is essential to creating more just African countries. Why is it not the norm across the continent?