william-shoki

97 Articles by:

William Shoki

William Shoki is the deputy editor of Africa Is a Country. He is based in Johannesburg.

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The culture wars are a distraction

When our political parties only have recourse to the realm of identity and culture, it is a smokescreen for their lack of political legitimacy and programmatic content. It is cynically unpolitical, and it’s all bullshit.

The class character of police violence

Police violence and the murder of black people in the United States have provoked outrage and protest around the world, including on the continent. But, why is there so little outrage over police violence in African countries?

Masks off

The revival of an elite technocratic rationality is starting to undo South Africa’s lockdown, now in its second month.

How to steal a country

Rehad Desai’s film celebrates the investigative journalists who expose the corruption of Zuma’s regime in South Africa, comes with a depressing note: To date, no one has gone to jail.

Out of sight

In South Africa, social distancing to bring down COVID-19 infections takes a decidedly local shape. In a racialized society, it manifests primarily as white melancholia and black Afro-pessimism.

A ditch to climb

In South Africa, the political class use foreign nationals as scapegoats to obfuscate their role in reproducing inequality. But immigrants are part of the excluded.

Back to class

The emphasis on identity and difference act to temper the radical potential of South Africa’s youth. They need an education on class politics.