Africa
Review – This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
16 November 2020 The final instalment in Dangarembga's trilogy is a provocative exploration of identity and race in modern Zimbabwe, writes Johanna Russell.
Ntando Yam: theatre as protest
28 August 2020 Phoebe Kisubi reflects on using participatory theatre as a tool for social and political activism among sex workers in Cape Town, South Africa
Democracy in focus: the undead state
9 January 2020 Brexit may finally have forced reform upon Britain’s zombie imperial constitution, writes Kojo Koram
Why we’ve joined the global climate strike
22 September 2019 Landry Ninteretse and Ian Rivera share perspectives from Kenya and the Philippines and call for universal energy systems that are clean and renewable, public and decentralised
The colonial origins of Africa’s health crisis
15 November 2018 Formerly colonised nations are still suffering the effects of underdevelopment and underinvestment in health infrastructure, writes Jessica Lynne Pearson.
Resistance and revolution in colonial Kenya
22 October 2018 Shehina Fazal reviews 'Kenya’s War of Independence: Mau Mau and its Legacy of Resistance to Colonialism and Imperialism, 1948-1990' by Shiraz Durrani.
‘The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed’
18 October 2018 Mike Peters explores the legacy of Steve Biko, a radical who spent his life fighting for Black liberation and for the overthrow of the Apartheid government in South Africa.
Samir Amin: a vital challenge to dispossession
13 August 2018 Nick Dearden looks at the theories of one of Africa's greatest radical thinkers
China vs the US: The new imperial scramble for Africa
23 May 2018 Lee Wengraf writes that the rush for profits, economic volatility and militarization across Africa promises only instability, rising exploitation and violence.
After Zuma: Corruption and Capital in ‘BRICS’ South Africa
1 March 2018 Jacob Zuma's legacy of corruption and economic mismanagement will not be cured by a simple transfer of leadership. Patrick Bond examines the impact of steering South Africa towards BRICS membership.
Transition or succession? Zimbabwe’s future looks uncertain
8 December 2017 The fall of Mugabe doesn't necessarily spell freedom for the people of Zimbabwe, writes Farai Maguwu
The West owes Zimbabwe a future.
27 November 2017 Nick Dearden from Global Justice Now argues that after years of colonial domination and dodgy trade deals, the UK must make amends and support Zimbabwe in this uncertain time.
Strength in Unity: Why Pan Africanism matters today
24 November 2017 Drawing connections between events as disparate as the ‘social murder’ of Grenfell and recent mudslides in Sierra Leone, Remi Joseph-Salisbury points to the enduring relevance of Pan African thought for anti-racist struggle today.
The Marikana women’s fight for justice, five years on
13 October 2017 Marienna Pope-Weidemann meets Sikhala Sonke, a grassroots social justice group led by the women of Marikana
The violence of coltan: purchase of a global silence
24 June 2017 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to witness devastating political violence, but the world refuses to act. Ishiaba Kasonga and Serge Egola Angbakodolo ask why?
The ‘new colonialism’: Rio Tinto in Madagascar
12 July 2016 As its wealth is seized by foreign interests, Africa is facing a colonial invasion in many ways as devastating as the one it suffered in the nineteenth century. Ross Hemingway reports.
Ken Saro-Wiwa and the power of resistance
25 October 2015 On the 20th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa’s murder, Nigerian activist Ken Henshaw describes how his struggle put justice at the centre of environmentalism
Burkina Faso: Liberation not looting
23 March 2015 Firoze Manji argues that the recent uprising in Burkina Faso throws light on the debate around development, and calls for our solidarity, not charity
Sherlock Holmes, the British Museum & an oily villain
14 February 2015 On Global Divestment Day Chris Garrard says its time for cultural institutions to cut their ties with the fossil fuel industry
Culture and Revolution: The Pan-African Festival of Algiers
31 October 2014 Hamza Hamouchene introduces the revolutionary documentary, The Pan-African Festival of Algiers 1969
Support the South African platinum miners’ strike
19 June 2014 The six-month strike action might be nearing its end, but the suffering of union members and their families will continue. Supporters have begun a campaign calling for donations, Edward Dingwall reports.
Out of the furnace, into the fire?
3 April 2014 Prossy Kakooza and Siobhán McGuirk report on the recent Anti-Homosexuality Act passed in Uganda, and the UK’s own draconian approach to LGBT asylum seekers.
Oil uprising: Two decades after Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death, the Ogoni struggle is reigniting
7 March 2014 Patrick Kane of War on Want and Sarah Shoraka of Platform report from the Niger Delta on the Ogoni people’s struggle against Shell and the wider mobilisation in Nigeria towards 2015 as a ‘year of change’
Nelson Mandela, CLR James and the Brixton radicals: how South Africa inspired South London
6 December 2013 When Nelson Mandela came to Britain, the one place he visited beyond Westminster and Buckingham Palace was Brixton – and he had a rapturous welcome. Here Darcus Howe looks back at how the anti-apartheid movement interwove with the experience of black people in the UK
To do justice to Mandela’s life, the struggle must continue
5 December 2013 Brian Ashley of South Africa's Amandla magazine says that in the battle to overcome inequality and achieve social justice, we will need many more Nelson Mandelas
Nelson Mandela: a man who showed that individuals can make a difference
5 December 2013 William Gumede pays tribute to the anti-apartheid leader – and contrasts his example to today's ANC
‘I can hear the roar of women’s silence’
15 October 2012 On the 25th Anniversary of Sankara's assassination Sokari Ekrine considers the importance of his vision for women's emancipation.
Thomas Sankara: an African leader with a message for Europe
14 October 2012 On the 25th anniversary of Sankara's assassination, Nick Dearden argues we need to remember him to challenge dominant views of Africa and fight our own debt crisis in Europe
Marikana miners: The massacre of our illusions
25 August 2012 The struggle of miners at the Lonmin mine in South Africa is a turning point in organised workers’ relationship with the now thoroughly neoliberal ANC argues Leonard Gentle, setting the strike in historical and political context
African labour and the Chinese dragon
8 July 2012 Róisín Hinds reports from the Zambian Copperbelt, a site of intense labour conflict linked to Chinese investment
Review: No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way
16 January 2012 No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way, reviewed by Martin Legassick
Don’t feed the world? How food aid can do more harm than good
2 January 2012 While the media again reports 'famine in the horn of Africa' caused by 'drought', Rasna Warah looks at the real reasons why people are going hungry
Shack fightback: Bandile Mdlalose on Abahlali baseMjondolo
30 December 2011 Bandile Mdlalose talks to Lorna Stephenson about Abahlali baseMjondolo, a radical poor people’s movement in South Africa
Reclaiming the South African dream
28 December 2011 South African activist Vishwas Satgar looks at post-apartheid South Africa 17 years on
Niger Delta: a quiet resistance
26 December 2011 Sokari Ekine meets women’s movements in the Niger Delta and discovers that in this militarised country even small acts take courage
Aspiring to Tahrir
23 December 2011 Justin Pearce asks when African hope will translate into real change
African awakenings: Hope for the future
22 December 2011 Firoze Manji charts the revolts and rebellions that have been occurring not just in northern Africa but across the whole continent
Libya after Gaddafi: ‘The continuity is striking’
19 December 2011 The National Transitional Council’s ‘new Libya’ is all too familiar, writes Tommy Miles
Somalia: shocking images aren’t enough
26 November 2011 Marilyn McHarg, from Médecins sans Frontières, argues that aid groups don't discuss the reasons for food shortages
Malawi’s unsafe abortion toll
9 November 2011 A recent survey reveals that unsafe abortions are killing three women and girls daily in Malawi
Remember the dead, fight for the living
9 October 2011 Peter Apps on a public art memorial to executed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa
South Africa: Power to the people
20 September 2011 Bobby Peek tells how the struggle for environmental rights is intertwined with the one over access to energy
Voices from the Tunisian Revolution
23 May 2011 Amanda Sebystyen profiles individuals who participated in the Tunisian revolution, and their stories
Dispatches from Tunisia
23 May 2011 Amanda Sebestyen reports from a solidarity visit to Tunisia organised through the World Social Forum
Revolt like an Egyptian
12 April 2011 Tahrir Square activist Gigi Ibrahim shares her experience of overthrowing a dictator
Brothers unbanned
11 April 2011 Mansoor Mirza on the Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt: Ammar 404
11 April 2011 The internet and the Arab uprisings. By Zahera Harb
Tweets from Tahrir
11 April 2011 How the Egyptian revolution unfolded on Twitter
A vicarious potency
3 April 2011 In the case of Libya, liberal interventionists ignore the history of imperialism and the realities of power, writes Mike Marqusee
Libyan Developments: interview with Gilbert Achcar
24 March 2011 Gilbert Archar interviewed by Stephen R. Shalom about the situation in Libya.
