Il Manifesto
Africans can draw uninformed conclusions about what’s going on in their own backyards and on the continent.
Politics
Lesotho gets the Kristof Treatment
Nicholas Kristof believes his journalism must contain a familiar entity from Western society – a white American – to make the content accessible to his readers.
What Happened to the African Renaissance?
Last week’s assaults on the tombs of saints, scholars and prominent ancestors in Timbuktu punctuated a long, leaden moment in Mali's crisis.
John Terry’s African Alibi
We British like nothing more than a nice inquiry. The exorbitant jail terms meted out to last year’s rioters (whether actual or merely theoretical) are commonly supposed to have been a great disappointment to us all, a sad sign of a milksop rights-obsessed “democracy” that no longer has the stomach to chasten its miscreants with anything approaching the […]
There Are Women in Botswana
It’s not even news that women and children leads AIDS activism in places like Botswana, except when it’s scanted. So, here’s a primer.
African Asylum Seekers in Israel
Guest Post by Anonymous* If you follow current headlines, you may have noticed a seemingly new conflict arising in the Middle East. Recent migratory trends in Israel have led to new challenges beyond the decades long occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The tension surrounding the influx of African asylum seekers and refugees to Israel has […]
Spring revolution or a summer of discontent
Can North Africans define their own futures, away from the inventions of old white men in think tanks in Washington DC?
New Media and Activism in Africa
The limitations of working in the online space, given the small percentages of people with online access (despite the expansion of mobile technology).
Christine Lagarde cares for Niger
Journalists rarely ask the IMF chief technocrat to consider whether or not she gives any kind of a shit about the people who are getting screwed by her "austerity" agenda.
The New Yorker on violence against lesbians in South Africa
How does an American publication write critically about a country without running the risk of reifying sexual and racial stereotypes?
Lesotho votes today
The coverage of Lesotho's 2012 elections don't move beyond superficialities and actually delve into the complexities of local politics.
Pinkwashing South Africa
The positive media surrounding ‘Cape Town as a gay paradise’ obscures far more complex realities.
Joyce Banda and Gay Rights
Is Banda serious about repealing Malawi's anti-gay laws? Is she just cynical so as to secure donor cash? And, what about Malawian public opinion?
Mali: Soldiers Acting Like Children
It's very hard to figure out what the soldiers who took power in a coup in Mali, have in store for the country. Or if they even have a plan.
Blackwater’s “Rwanda”
The fantasies of Blackwater, the Michigan firm of mercenaries and as contractor to imperial powers. Also, how it employs Africa as a rhetorical device to get more business.
New public TV series from South Africa: “I am Woman”
Starting on April 1, South Africa’s public TV channel SABC3 has been running a weekly series called “I am Woman.” Every week, the show tries to follow the arc of a woman’s journey, the ways in which she comes to understand herself and the world by creating herself as the world and the world as […]
The future of Françafrique
Is it France's interests to reform its unequal, exploitative relationship with Africans?
Achille Mbembe at the Tate Modern
The moderator received a text which said that the political philosopher was trying to find an internet café, then another saying Mbembe was trying to find an internet café with Skype, then another saying that he was trying to find an internet café with Skype in a part of the city where there wasn’t a power-cut.
The Other African Election: Sarkozy K.O.’d
What does all that mean for French-African politics? It’s hard to tell what will next emerge from that fetid swamp.
Art and assassination in Angola
A locally produced arts festival creates panic for Angola's authoritarian government, who has, predictably, responded with panic and repression.