The world’s media and Angola’s elections
The oppression/resistance model of politics explains some things, but it does not explain everything, and less and less these days on the continent.
Politics
The trouble with South Africa’s middle class
In South Africa, there was more activity in solidarity with Pussy Riot than with the Marikana miners killed by police in August 2012.
A certain Israeli psyche
Israel's Interior Minister, Eli Yishai basically says Israel was a white country in a debate about African immigrants and refugees.
The Dutch ‘King of Africa’
In Dutch politics, Africa mostly works as a tactic to embarrass and ridicule your opponent.
Il Manifesto
Africans can draw uninformed conclusions about what’s going on in their own backyards and on the continent.
Lesotho gets the Kristof Treatment
Nicholas Kristof believes his journalism must contain a familiar entity from Western society – a white American – to make the content accessible to his readers.
What Happened to the African Renaissance?
Last week’s assaults on the tombs of saints, scholars and prominent ancestors in Timbuktu punctuated a long, leaden moment in Mali's crisis.
There Are Women in Botswana
It’s not even news that women and children leads AIDS activism in places like Botswana, except when it’s scanted. So, here’s a primer.
On African Asylum Seekers in Israel
Media about African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel highlight their experiences and desires for rights, but erase their agency, portraying them solely as victims of violence and exploitation.
Spring revolution or a summer of discontent
Can North Africans define their own futures, away from the inventions of old white men in think tanks in Washington DC?
New Media and Activism in Africa
The limitations of working in the online space, given the small percentages of people with online access (despite the expansion of mobile technology).
Christine Lagarde cares for Niger
Journalists rarely ask the IMF chief technocrat to consider whether or not she gives any kind of a shit about the people who are getting screwed by her "austerity" agenda.
The New Yorker on violence against lesbians in South Africa
How does an American publication write critically about a country without running the risk of reifying sexual and racial stereotypes?
Lesotho votes today
The coverage of Lesotho's 2012 elections don't move beyond superficialities and actually delve into the complexities of local politics.
Pinkwashing South Africa
The positive media surrounding ‘Cape Town as a gay paradise’ obscures far more complex realities.
The loneliness of the Kenyan long distance runner
How the death of a very talented Kenyan marathon runner points to structural problems in the country's national running industry.
Joyce Banda and Gay Rights
Is Banda serious about repealing Malawi's anti-gay laws? Is she just cynical so as to secure donor cash? And, what about Malawian public opinion?
Mali: Soldiers Acting Like Children
It's very hard to figure out what the soldiers who took power in a coup in Mali, have in store for the country. Or if they even have a plan.
Blackwater’s “Rwanda”
The fantasies of Blackwater, the Michigan firm of mercenaries and as contractor to imperial powers. Also, how it employs Africa as a rhetorical device to get more business.