The war on Téra
The death of two protesters last month in Niger, could bring pressure for a meaningful Truth and Reconciliation for French colonialism in Africa.
protest
The cry of Black worldlessness
Poet Mongane Wally Serote’s 40-year lament, still haunts Black South Africans: “it is only in our memory that this is our land.” The land haunts our memory, and, in turn, we haunt the land’s memory.
After Bouteflika
One of the evolving themes about Algeria's Hirak movement is how it reinvigorated protest among Algeria's diaspora, including in the U.S.
No two elephants are alike
The July riots in South Africa felt similar to those by Peronists in Argentina in December 2001. But Zuma’s people are moving from a much weaker position.
Sound Sultan’s political music
Sound Sultan, who died of cancer in July 2021, battled with the cankerworm of bad leadership and outright violations of rules of law in his homeland, Nigeria, through his songs.
A terrifying vision of South Africa’s future
If South Africa’s Left can’t find a way to channel popular discontentment into the building of mass progressive movements, it will instead morph into anarchy, nativism and, inevitably, authoritarianism.
Don’t cede the streets
#FeesMustFall was the most serious challenge to the post-apartheid political order, but didn’t connect to broader working-class struggles. Now, despite police brutality, students are beginning to make those linkages.
Take the soul from everyone, and the liberty of all
The treatment of victims of rape and sexual violence in Senegal, a country in which the bodies of women have always been an arena for political battles.
Beware of martyrs
The Senegalese state’s quest to crush the opposition has caused massive unrest throughout the country. A regime that blows on the embers fans the flames.
Organized interests
Ideas for how to pressure Uganda's "M-Pigs" to become elected representatives who actually serve in the public interest.
Thousands of mockingbirds
On surviving the Khartoum massacre and trying to make sense of what remains from Sudan’s revolution.
Nollywood’s political struggle
How has Nigeria’s film industry responded to the protests of #EndSARS?
Nonviolent guerrilla cartographers
During the Sudanese uprising, Khartoum became a carefully re-mapped city where only the revolutionaries knew its paths.
Study notes on Nigeria’s youth revolt
Was the #EndSARS protests a victory or a defeat for the country's popular masses?
The multiple meanings of #EndSARS
The recent #EndSARS protest in Nigeria reveals how young people carve out agency in the context of Nigeria's dysfunctional and violent state.
Nigeria’s movement against brutality and poverty
The background to the #EndSARS protests and celebrating a movement that challenges Nigeria’s ruling class.
Blackness in Amsterdam
At the largest gathering of black people he had ever seen together in Amsterdam, the author, originally from Kenya, wonder why they knew so little of each other.
The radical politics of women’s bodies
Women in Nigeria's Kaduna state march naked and partially dressed to demand an end to deadly violence. In the process, they challenge norms about the female body.
Good influence
It is unfair to expect coherent politics from Naira Marley or his fans, the Marlians. We should, instead, chastise the Nigerian state for stifling its people and keeping its young perpetually waiting.