If you find yourself at a cocktail party this weekend where you may be required to demonstrate your worldly intelligence to the other guests, then The Guardian‘s “Pass notes” series is for you. A complete (and short!) guide to the most important issues of the day. Because Africa is sure to be a hot topic […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZOvI9bvruQ&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Rapper Nas narrates a short insert on ESPN’s “E:60” on the Liberian national amputee team made up of men, often former enemies, who lost the use of their legs or arms in Liberia’s very recent civil war. (Above is a kind of mash up from the in-studio introduction that usually precedes an insert as […]
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWUEvngFue8&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Via Mustafa Maluka
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhrgnCAydu4&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Your parents’ Congolese music–like it needs the jolt–gets the dance music treatment from the kids, Paris-based b-boys, LogobiGT. — Sean Jacobs
Apart from the Nigerian media and a BBC story this has not had much traction. It is a scandal. Al Jazeera English reports (video embedded below) about Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima who is hiding behind religion. Apparently he divorced another of his 4 wives (his ex-wife was 15 year old when he married her in 2006) to […]
The deadly serious games of J M Coetzee's novel about the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa, 'Disgrace.'
How do we make sense of the current direction of the ANC, described yesterday by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as purveyors of “gutter politics.” There’s a lot of sound and fury and nonsense passing as analysis. Much of it is focused on Julius Malema, now sent to ANC “political school” for rehabilitation run by a convicted […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM_Ew6zsnDY&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Is this playful ode to coloured identity,* becoming the unofficial World Cup anthem? Apparently South Africa’s football team–now finally scoring goals in warm up games celebrate by mimicking the dances associate with “(Show them) Make the circle bigger,” with a guest verse by rap mc, HHP. The numbers of people using it as their […]
Alexandra Fuller highlights the deeply ingrained sociological, economic, and political problems that still persist in South Africa as a result of apartheid.
The UK Observer, despite its best attempts, does not have its finger on the pulse of the South African literary scene. The World Cup didn't help.
The artist Andrew Putter make use of the past to construct images of how we might live together in the future.
The cover of the May issue of the Spanish edition of Esquire gets into the World Cup spirit. Genius. No debate, just enjoy it. — Sean Jacobs