The donkey that carried the cloud on its back
A Kenyan film asks in order to evolve, what part of ourselves do we keep and what part do we leave behind.
6439 Article(s) by:
Rita Nketiah
Rita Nketiah is a feminist researcher, writer and activist living in Accra, Ghana.
Nelson Mandela and the Dutch
The mainstream view is that the Netherlands was a staunch supporter of South Africa’s liberation movement? The story is a bit more complicated.
The Last Founding Father of African Decolonization
It is not hard to understand the iconic status of Nelson Mandela and the overflow of emotion his death has provoked in the Pan-African world.
Burying Comrade Nelson Mandela
For some of us, the official celebrations are missing a crucial element: Celebrating Nelson Mandela as a figure of armed struggle and the liberation movement.
The Mandela Legacy
Madiba’s example of forgiveness, reconciliation, and humility are inseparable from his unwavering commitment to combat white supremacy, and promote equality and justice. That commitment, conveyed in his leadership, provided a beacon to the negotiations to replace apartheid with democracy. We saw it flash bright at CODESA after De Klerk used his closing remarks on the opening day of the CODESA negotiations to complain that the ANC had not abandoned its armed struggle, even as the parties were now gathered around the negotiating table. Mandela had already given his closing remarks and De Klerk was to have been the last speaker of the day. But an incensed Mandela insisted on returning to the podium where he castigated De Klerk so vehemently that two decades later De Klerk is still licking his wounds: “Even the head of an illegitimate, discredited, minority regime as his, has certain moral standards to uphold … he has abused his position because he hoped that I would not reply. He was completely mistaken.” Mandela went on to remind the audience that the armed struggle was suspended to give negotiations a chance and that it was one of the agenda points for the negotiations begun that day.
South African Jazz for Nelson Mandela
A playlist of jazz tunes dedicated to South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela.
The two mutually irreconcilable Nelson Mandelas
Both Nelson Mandela’s historical role in the South African transition to democracy and his own management of his legacy paved the way for vacuous treatments of his life.
The Woolworths ‘Tribute’ to Nelson Mandela
Are corporate entities really well intentioned in celebrating Mandela the freedom fighter or are they merely using these tributes to position their brands on the right side of history?
Why aren’t we discussing Nelson Mandela’s politics?
As much as the world wants to deify Mandela, to do so in the abstract with no reference to his actual politics is absurd.
Poster art that challenged apartheid
The African Activist Archive Project website contains posters from the African solidarity movement from the 1950s to the 1990s.
My Favorite Photographs: Justine Brabant
Since the mid-1990s, the North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo have
Windhoek characters
Netta Kornberg watch film trailers so you don’t have to: This time, Namibian short films are the focus of her #TrailerTakedown.
We embarrassed Nelson Mandela
For the author, watching memorials for Mandela, South Africans have lost their ability to generate theater, the theater of the mass event.
The day Jacob Zuma lost control of the ANC?
At an event meant to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life, Jacob Zuma was not only embarrassed by the crowd (they booed him multiple times), by those on stage.
The problem with the Hollywood Mandelas
Hollywood films about Nelson Mandela separates him from the movement that produced him. The fact is, movements made Mandelas, not the other way around.
Four Women Musicians from Niger
Safiath, ZM, Habsou Garba and Fati Mariko: producing diverse sounds in rap, hip-hop and soul.
Remember to call at my grave
John Langalibalele Dube was the first President-General of the ANC. Nelson Mandela its 11th president. Mandela was a great admirer of Dube, an exceptional figure in his own right.
Nelson Mandela Did Not Walk Alone
In the early 1990s I was teaching Economics in a fifth floor classroom at Khanya College
Miley Cyrus has Nigerian parents
Parody performers, the Naija Boyz, take on Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.” It is unclear what they’re trying to say.
A Brief Cinematic Guide to ‘Mother of George’
The film is a complex and nuanced exploration of the questions and limits of what one will do for love, told by an unorthodox filmmaker.