African leaders’ tax returns
The Paradise Papers are shedding light on the mechanics of how African leaders hide their incomes.
Politics
Who do you believe about Togo’s uprising?
On the morning of October 18th, I woke up to a message from a friend in Togo, West Africa: “Hello, Liza. For the past three days, the situation has not been going well in Togo following the removal of an opposition leader by the army in Sokode, a provincial capital in the North. Many deaths on both […]
White privilege and hypocrisy in South Africa
Many white South Africans are doing all they can to maintain racial inequalities and white privilege. It's a recipe for disaster. Hopefully they get it before it’s too late.
African borders don’t stop African people
Also meet the man who drove Malcolm X around in New York City and introduced him to Fidel Castro.
Follow the rules, or else…
Rwanda’s president has long practiced a zero-sum political game in which he and his cronies are the primary winners.
Malcolm X’s driver
Abdul Hakeem, in his 80s has lived in Morocco for over thirty two years, where he raised a family and runs two Aikido dojos.
Suffering and smiling
In death, Fela Kuti is being rehabilitated by Nigeria's government. It may all be a false note.
A Handbook for Revolution
Amilcar Cabral and the liberation of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde from Portuguese colonialism.
Why is the US army in Niger
Including another worrying thread of the American "war on terror" on the continent: the training of vigilantes.
The story of Zimbabwe’s once legendary health system
It would be an understatement to sum it up as a tragic tale.
East German-Africans
Including, it will come as no shock to any woman that Cairo is ranked the worst city for women in the world.
Hashtag Somalia
There is considerably less sustained outcry on social media about African life in relation to ongoing forms of structural violence that may be more mundane but just as deadly.
King George
Liberians and the footballing world seem eager to coronate George Weah, Africa’s only winner of the World Player of the Year award as the country's next president.
Everyone in Eritrea is desperate to flee, including the President’s son
In today’s Eritrea, there is no difference between the jailer and the jailed. The political culture is so violent and desperate that the president’s own son attempted to escape the country. President Isaias Afwerki’s erratic and mercurial temperament – he has been the head of a one-party dictatorship since independence in 1993 – has culminated in a profoundly dysfunctional nation. A “hit and run” style has replaced any thoughtful long-term […]
With friends like these
Few places in the world have taken a beating like South Sudan. How did it come to this?
‘Africa Rising’ in Retreat
As the commodity super-cycle’s denouement now makes obvious the need for change, at least it is clear to all that Africans are not lying down.
The end of the Eyadéma Dynasty in Togo?
Protests against Togo's ruling family aren't unusual, but this time there's a few unusual components, including that the protesters have a clear platform of demands.
Kenya’s return to despotism
Daniel arap Moi perfected rigging and state violence as politics. Uhuru Kenyatta campaigned with them and will extend and complete them in his second term.
Look to Cuba
Cubans are far better prepared than most for public health and climate emergencies. African countries should emulate the island nation in this regard.
The Arab Left at an Impasse
That the recent revolutions failed to transcend political stagnation, is a product of the way neoliberalism functions as an ideology.