Zimbabwe Coup Music Edition
Ten post-independence, pre-coup struggle songs that critiqued ZANU-PF under Mugabe and imagined a leadership change and different political culture.
Blog
Empire and Ambivalence
Ngugi wa Thiong'o's perturbing review of Maya Jasanoff's travelogue of going up the Congo River as she's accompanied by Joseph Conrad's novel, 'Heart of Darkness."
The Incredible Hulk
What has Angola's President João Lourenço, dubbed the “implacable exonerator,” been up to?
Paul Biya Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Biya did not conceive the system by which he rules Cameroon, but deserves as much credit for the modifications that have enabled his reign.
Mugabe was no revolutionary. He was obsessed with power and control
In the four decades that Robert Mugabe was at the helm of power in post-colonial Zimbabwe, his rule was anything but admirable.
The Interregnum in Zimbabwe
I write this quick note as an outsider (and well aware of my physical distance from events). I am writing this on the eve of the promised impeachment Tuesday of President Robert Mugabe by his own party’s MP’s. Despite the fact that I went to share the optimism of many Zimbabweans who marched on Saturday, […]
Populism as politics in Southern Africa
In Southern Africa, former liberation movements reclaim ownership over history and society not by seeking but by remaining in power.
Robert Mugabe’s hostage face
And, the terrible experience of Tanzanian women in Oman and the United African Emirates.
The new, African magazine — for us, by us
Interview with Emmanuel Iduma, co-founder of Saraba magazine.
Who benefits from the military coup in Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe is the fourth country in Southern Africa to have a post-independence coup. (The others are Lesotho twice, Seychelles and Madagascar*). The army generals officially announced around 4am (CAT) on November 15, 2017 that its Commander in Chief, President Robert Mugabe and his family were safe and their security was secure. Safe and secure for those of us […]
The real question about wildlife conservation
How did wildlife in Africa survive for millennia in together with people who never earned anything from it?
War begets terror
Since the beginning of 2017, the frequency and lethalness of al-Shabaab’s attacks inside Somalia have reached new levels. This reality was demonstrated for everyone last month, on October 14, when a huge truck filled with explosives detonated at a busy intersection in the capital Mogadishu claiming almost 400 lives. This relentless wave of bombings and assassinations […]