Mahmood Mamdani on Marxist intellectual Samir Amin
Samir Amin's life resembled that of Karl Marx: a man without a homeland, but one whose home was a chosen commitment to a historical project.
activism
The role of indigenous activism on climate change in Africa
Discussions on the global climate crisis tend to ignore the role that Africans are playing at the leading edge in the fight against climate change.
Everything must fall
Fees Must Fall (#FMF) brought student activism at South Africa's elite universities into the global media spotlight. A new documentary zooms in on the case of Wits in Johannesburg.
Student protests and the weakness of democracy in Ghana
Hyper-partisan politics and shallow journalism obscured the implications of the protests at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
Postcolonial theory and the strong arm of identity
The major problem with the term "decolonization" is its status as empty signifier, argues South African psychologist Wahbie Long.
Has Africa’s May ’68 been forgotten?
In 1968, France witnessed an extraordinary student uprising which changed politics. Morocco and Senegal did too, but we seldom talk about it.
Two trips to Juba
Youth activism and the politics of violence in South Sudan.
Arundhati Roy in Johannesburg—An essay on essays
In a world of fake news, shallow analysis and torrid pontificating, combining empirical evidence with emotive expression, is what give Roy's essays legs.
The struggle for moral authority in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's regime does not to surrender to anyone its guardianship of the post-independence narrative, symbols and authority.
Corporate tax is a feminist matter
Across Africa, the working poor often end up carrying the burden of raising tax revenue while the multinationals go scot-free. And women bear the brunt of it.
The turn to book burning in South Africa
A political culture, often facilitated by social media, has emerged that many people experience as authoritarian and bullying.
#ThisFlag, social media and political agency in Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, the leap from online conversation to citizen protest has followed the same path as other protest movements around the world.
Hip hop is the voice of the working class
An interview with Cape Town-based anarchist hip hop collective, Soundz of the South (or SOS).
Open Stellenbosch aims to move its fight beyond campus boundaries
Over the last few months students in South Africa have called for the decolonisation of institutions
Setting Liberia’s political pot onto a full boil
Takun J stirs the Liberian streets with calls for justice and accountability.
When Germany had its own #RhodesMustFall moment
In 1967, West Germany had its own #RhodesMustFall moment. In September of that year, socialist students
Between Two Fires
A migrant's fight for a place in Germany.
African Activist Archive
In the U.S., the past few months have showcased the power of social activism in bringing
#ICANTBREATHE
One morning last semester at John Jay College in New York City, I asked my students
The Contemporary Mark of Assata Shakur
The Black American activist's relevance for today's generation following the killing of Mike Brown by police, and the suppression of protests in Ferguson, Missouri.