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The 'Top Think Tanks' in the World

Despite my skepticism about “top 10” lists, I waded through the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn’s Think Tanks and Civil Society Program‘s annual rankings of the world’s top think tanks. Mainly because it says something about the political economy and ideology of knowledge. The “Global Go To Think Tank Rankings” was publicly released in late January. The authors […]

Coming Out in Cameroon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnrHhRLFPqo One of the human rights activists featuring in the 2009 documentary Cameroon: Coming Out of the Nkuta is Alice Nkom. The film sketches the daily struggle of young gays and lesbians in Cameroon. Nkom was in The Netherlands this week to talk about their fight.

The Zimbabwe Alliance

“The Zimbabwe Alliance is a funder/advocate partnership to promote a vibrant civil society and a successful democratic transformation in Zimbabwe. The alliance is non partisan and does not accept corporate funds.” Nothing here we are not in support of, so we figured we’d share this promotional video for the Zimbabwe Alliance, recorded by Nomadic Wax’s […]

Homosexuality is very African

The 46-minute video of the 2010 BBC World “Debate” with the unfortunate title: “Is Homosexuality Un-African?” The show was recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa. Via My Big Debate.

'The Solar Oven Fallacy'

“There are three myths about technology,” [according to] Harish Hande, founder of SELCO-India, a “social enterprise” that has sold solar lighting systems to 112,000 households in India. “One is that poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies. Another is that poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies. And a third is that social ventures cannot be run […]

Must Be Something in the Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8GvkDgP30A Seriously, this is not ironic. UNICEF is bottling Rihanna and other celebrities’ tap water and raffling it off. This is all–to coincide with Water Week–to raise awareness about “… the lack of access to safe, clean water for nearly 900 million children and adults across the globe.” Who dreams up these campaigns? We give up.

Mandela in X-Large

We were hoping it would not come to this: The Nelson Mandela Foundation has launched an “international clothing line.” The 46664 Apparel line, named after Mandela’s inmate number at Robben Island Prison, features colorful clothing that is supposed to make wearers look good on the outside — and feel good inside … [It would boost] […]

Cameroon is Cameroon

A mix of factors - language, regional, sexism, an opposition that has been co-opted by the ruling party and repression - prevents real, meaningful change in Cameroon.

'Vote for Umblerra'

Probably to deal with the stresses associated with next month general elections scheduled for next month–there’s a real threat of terrorist violence and vote rigging is widespread–Nigerians (online especially) are having too much fun at the expense of First Lady, Patience Jonathan, who has a history of mangling her words. An audio recording has emerged […]

Google Mandela

You know what Nelson Mandela was trying to calculate in the image embedded above, right? While you figure it out, check out this new Google-paid initiative in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to put “… thousands of documents on the Internet, from a 1977 letter smuggled out of prison to his membership cards in the […]

Save the Museum (in Uganda)

Just about this time last year, Uganda lost a priceless part of its cultural heritage when the Kasubi Tombs were burnt down. The tombs were a UNESCO World Heritage Site and were built in 1882 – the burial place of four Buganda kings. Now it seems another cultural site faces destruction. Global Voices reports on […]

March 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZg18qsycBk It’s late already, but it is still March 6: Ghana Independence Day. Dutch rapper Kno’Ledge Cesare pays tribute in this video shot in Accra.