Bread or Messi?
Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.
Angola
Repression by other means
The shooting and prolonged detention of Serrote José de Oliveira expose how Angola’s legal order is not merely breaking down, but being deliberately replaced by a system of impunity and police power.
Firearms aren’t the only weapons
The writings of revolutionary Angolan leader and intellectual Mário Pinto de Andrade helped galvanize the independence struggle. They are now available in English.
As armas não só de fogo
Os escritos do líder e intelectual revolucionário angolano Mário Pinto de Andrade ajudaram a galvanizar a luta pela independência. Estão agora disponíveis em inglês.
New route for old exploitation
A US-backed infrastructure project in the DRC is framed as development, but history suggests it’s just another pipeline for foreign powers to profit from Congo’s riches.
João Lourenço, seria um fantoche americano?
A aproximação do presidente angolano com as nações ocidentais não ocorre no vácuo, nem deveria ser surpreendente.
João Lourenço’s American pivot
The Angolan president’s overture to the West isn't happening in a vacuum, nor should it be surprising.
Socialismo pink
A solidariedade socialista na Angola e Moçambique pós-coloniais tornou as pessoas queer invisíveis. Revisitar esse apagamento nos ajuda a reinventar a libertação de forma legítima.
Pink socialism
Socialist solidarity in postcolonial Angola and Mozambique rendered queer people invisible. Revisiting this erasure helps us imagine liberation anew.
Angola’s ‘well-behaved’ media
Press freedom under President João Lourenço is in bad shape.
A comunicação social ‘bem comportada’ de Angola
A precariedade da liberdade de imprensa em Angola sob o mandato do presidente João Lourenço.
Ginga, Banga, and focus
How the Palancas Negras won the hearts of Angolan football fans.
Kissinger’s secret war in Angola
Henry Kissinger was convinced that Africans were incapable of responsible government—so he fought against the national liberation movements fighting for independence.
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.
Don’t consume what you sell
A new film by Ery Claver probes the fraught relationship between China and Angola, revealing their differences—and surprising similarities.
Não consuma o que você vende
Um novo filme de Ery Claver investiga a tensa relação entre China e Angola, revelando suas diferenças—e surpreendentes semelhanças.
Laughing through despair
Faced with many crises, including unemployment and a rising cost of living, Angolans are turning to memes to express their political discontent.
Where is Angola?
A Netflix series about Queen Njinga, one of Africa’s most historically significant rulers, should be cause for much celebration. But the resulting production largely disregarded what Angolans themselves think of their country’s history and culture.
Onde está Angola?
Uma série da Netflix sobre a Rainha Njinga, uma das governantes historicamente mais importantes da África, deve ser motivo de muita comemoração. Mas a produção resultante desconsiderou amplamente o que os próprios angolanos pensam sobre a história e a cultura de seu país.
The future of Angolan knowledge
Academics in Angola’s public universities are on strike. But instead of only being concerned with the decay of higher education, they are connecting with the struggles of Angola’s working class.