Empire’s middlemen
From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.
Uganda
When you love something, you fight for it
A personal reflection on what it’s like to fight anti-homosexuality laws as one of the few openly LGBTIQ+ rights activists in Uganda.
Ending our spectator citizenship
Anti-government protests have spread to Uganda, where ordinary people are tired of passively accepting elite misrule.
The man behind ‘Uganda Renaissance’
How an experimental periodical led by an individual editor thrived in Nasserist Cairo even though it never joined the canon of revolutionary print.
Not that complex
A new HBO documentary exposes the harm caused by unqualified aid workers in Uganda, but its attempts to complicate the narrative ultimately fall flat.
Banana Republics
Western leftists are arguing among themselves about whether there will be bananas under socialism. In Africa, however, bananas do not necessarily represent the vagaries of capitalism.
Robocop and Bin Laden in Uganda
In Kampala, Nasser Road has become an iconic site of entrepreneurial printing, most famously, its ubiquitous posters of notorious political figures like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden.
Faith in native consciousness
The writings of Ugandan lawyer David Mpanga are both literary and legalistic, rooted in African conceptions of storytelling and self-determination.
Museveni’s goons are polite
Uganda’s rulers don’t get that clobbering words is impossible. The pen will escape every hammer, and cross borders to haunt oppressors, even if the authors are no longer around.
The remarkable revival of Ugandan football
Uganda has never qualified for the World Cup, but at a continental level it is making a comeback. So is its club football.
From Kampala to Soviet Kyiv—and back
The Ugandan architect, Stephen Mukiibi, reflects on his studies in Soviet Ukraine and the lessons he learned on equality, environment, race, and friendship.
Uganda’s most controversial and disruptive politician
A new book revisits the career of Uganda’s first elected prime minister, Benedicto Kiwanuka, his followers, and political ideas.
Another neoliberal Spring
Now that we have had time to process it: Uganda's January 2021 elections were a key step in the country's long transformation towards a fully fledged neoliberal society.
Geographies of war-making in East Africa
African states are involved in the War on Terror more than we think. They're surrounded by an eco-system of the war industry.
Organized interests
Ideas for how to pressure Uganda's "M-Pigs" to become elected representatives who actually serve in the public interest.
Museveni and the Americans
The United States must make the choice to side with the majority of Ugandans who would like to see democracy take root in Uganda.
Stop selling out
Ugandan activist and politician Dr. Stella Nyanzi challenges a new generation of women to take up the struggle for political freedoms and revolution.
Removing a dictator
How did popular music become the battlefield of Uganda's future? And what are the consequences?
Murder as order
The Ugandan government quells public unrest with violence. What won't it do in the name of "security"?