‘Doing good’ in an age of parody
Why does being in on the joke not slow down the desire to save Africans?
inequality
Profits and bleeding hearts
We speak to an aid worker and trade unionist at the forefront of campaigns to halt the transnational corporate education reform movement.
My people them dey stay for poor surroundings
For Nigeria, the World Bank reported that as of 2015, 48% of the total population (estimated at more than 180 million) reside in urban centers.
The Congolese Oil Curse
Those extracting value from the DRC's soil over last 20 years show they're willing to do anything — including 6 million deaths — to satisfy global commodity markets.
Can Lesotho survive more development?
The now-public critique of development only benefiting the well-connected in Lesotho needs to be taken seriously.
The world already has a refugee crisis
The media's focus on the European "refugee crisis" obscures the fact the bulk of refugees are in camps in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The Legend of John Chilembwe
Despite official neglect, the memory of Chilembwe, a resistance leader, lives on as a symbol of courage and sacrifice in Malawi.
Does the Gates Foundation do more harm than good?
When you have as much money as the Gates Foundation, you can buy your way into some pretty powerful places.
Europe’s Eritrean “Problem”
Eritrean refugees — one of the largest groups seeking safety in Europe — have been a primary target of those wanting to close Europe’s borders.
Refugees need freedom, not handouts
As immigrants, refugees and citizens, we must fight together to stop the rampant racism created and sustained by the government and their policies of forced isolation.
The emperor gets a new wardrobe
African political elites will continue to use the spoils of "development" and aid to serve their personal interests.
Waiting to be local
The writer, in graduate school in Britain, writes about the various roadblocks in the way of Africans, in his case Ugandans, to travel to Europe.
The “refugees welcome” culture
For all the good press, the majority of German society are uncomfortable with people who frame their demands from a postcolonial perspective.
The land grabs in Africa you don’t hear about
There's little doubt that Chinese and Arab interests are procuring land in Africa, but a careful review of the evidence suggests also point to local buyers.
A short history of helping far-off peoples
Humanitarian images have obscured the causes and political complexities of disasters, and undermined the agency of their victims — both symbolically and practically.
We will send an insult to your mum
The Mathare Social Justice Center's activists work to shake off the menacing insults of forced evictions, tenure insecurity, police violence and increasing precarity.
The World Bank has a terrible memory
Writing from afar plus writing with sun glasses that are heavily tainted with ideology is dangerous.
Israel’s “blackwashing”
Israel's promotion of itself as a technologically-advanced "white savior" on an aid mission to poor black nations, is a marketing ploy to cover the occupation.