The end of AGOA
A postmortem on the African Growth and Opportunities Act.
Donald Trump
Between Washington and Beijing
Amid Trump’s tariffs, Africa faces trade disruptions, corporate power, and emerging partnerships in its quest to control its economic destiny.
Trump tariffs and US Imperialism
Trump’s April 2025 tariff blitz ignited market chaos and deepened rifts within his own coalition. Beneath the turmoil lies a battle between technocrats, ultranationalists, and anti-imperial populists, all vying to reshape—or destroy—American global power.
The end of US empire is not the end of the world
As American hegemony unravels, the Global South must resist both nostalgia and passivity. Multipolarity won’t arrive on its own—it must be built through struggle.
Tariffs, Trump, and the Global South
Trump’s trade war is framed as a battle with China—but its fallout is exposing just how little power African economies have in a rigged global system.
Why the far right needs violence
Javier Milei rose to power promising freedom—but his government is unleashing economic violence, criminalizing dissent, and testing the limits of Argentina’s democracy.
Liberal internationalism after USAID
As US aid falters, the crisis of liberal internationalism deepens. What comes next when even its strongest institutions can no longer hold the facade together?
Caught at the border
Asylum seekers from Africa are caught in a growing crisis at the US-Mexico border, as Trump's policies leave them in legal limbo and unsafe conditions.
Elon Musk’s South African fantasy
Musk’s outrage over land reform in South Africa isn’t about fairness—it’s about fueling right-wing paranoia and preserving economic privilege.
Trump’s fake refugees
The US president’s executive order on South Africa isn’t about fairness—it’s a cynical ploy to stoke racial paranoia and shore up his right-wing base.
Race, power, and the politics of distraction
As economic crises deepen, right-wing fearmongering and racial scapegoating thrive—masking the real struggle for economic justice.
The wrong way to end aid
The humanitarian industrial complex should be dismantled—but not by a billionaire-backed administration with no plan beyond abandonment.
Aid, dependence, and ideological warfare
Foreign aid has never been just about assistance—it enforces political, economic, and social control, keeping recipient countries in a cycle of dependency.
Elon Musk and the hypocrisy of the West
Musk’s embrace of far-right politics and Zionism reveals the fractures in Western liberal democracy, where whiteness trumps equality and justice.
Hopium kills but hope seeds
Reflections on Trump’s 2024 US presidential victory.
The mine dumps of Silicon Valley
While it might be cathartic to compare Elon Musk’s tech firms to apartheid-era mines, the connection between ex-South Africans and American capitalism is complicated.
The dangers of white totalitarianism
Why is the US ultra-right turning to Rhodesia as their model for a white supremacist state?
On Safari
On our annual publishing break, we ask: if the opposite of “weird” is normal, what if normal is equally problematic?
Rolling with the punches
Removed from the facts, the firestorm around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is the latest attempt by the right-wing in the West to find fodder for its culture war.
Beware of false prophets
Is the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake really devoid of politics?