Mauritania’s past doesn’t want to go away
The so-called “peaceful transition” in Mauritania, from colonialism to political independence, isn’t unanimously understood as such inside the country, and it reflects older rivalries.
Politics
Lungu’s Livingstone
Where does the idea that Zambia is a Christian nation come from?
The (Im)possibilities of Ugandan patriotism
To say we are "allies" would be to delude ourselves into thinking that some of us are safe. We are not safe.
Jennifer Davis: Fearless and visionary
Davis, who died at 84 on October 15th, was a prominent leader of the anti-apartheid movement in the US and an analytical thinker and visionary.
Tunisia’s surveillance state
Mass monitoring poses a threat to democratic freedoms as the case of Tunisia shows.
The Kenyan Hunger Games
Philanthropy and celebrities are not enough to remedy the inequalities that persist in Kenya.
What’s the point of opposition politics in Southern Africa?
Opposition parties, inequality, and the politics of failure in the Southern African region.
The people’s movement in Algeria, eight months on
November 1, 2019, is the 65th anniversary of the War of Liberation against French colonialism. The ongoing protests in Algeria is expected to enter a new phase: civil resistance.
Burkina Faso: Nothing will be as it was before
October 30 marks the 5th anniversary of the start of Burkina Faso's October 2014 insurrection. We revisit and assess those events.
Kenya’s mobile money revolution
Mobile-phone-based, person-to-person payment and money transfer systems are innovative—but are they really good for poverty reduction and development?
Towards a working-class environmentalism for South Africa
It's going take a fully democratic anti-capitalist movement to fight climate change. The case of South Africa shows how long we have to go.
Try being a woman playing soccer in Sudan
The guardians of women's femininity and virtue and their use of public space come up against a women's football team in the Sudanese capital.
Troubling times in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso's security crisis and its new status quo of permanent military intervention will test the resilience of its political institutions.
African migration and the charade of ‘return to safety’
The UNHCR and African Union's policy of returning migrants to their countries of origin, suggests that Africans should be grateful to just stay alive, and are only—theoretically—entitled to anything beyond that on their own continent.
The façade of liberal democracy
To actively combat rightwing extremism, we need to leave behind the fiction that liberals will inoculate western societies from fascism.
The poverty of poor economics
The winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics experiment on the poor, but their research doesn't solve poverty.
Eyes on the Prize
Does the peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea—now rewarded with a Nobel Prize—bring the kind of cooperation between the two countries that it aspired to do a year ago?
The place of race in Cuba
Cuba achieved more for Afro-Cubans in 50 odd years than in the 400 years before that. However, socialism did not resolve the question of racism on the island.
No country for poor men
Rwanda is juking its development statistics as the international community turns a blind eye to the human rights abuses of Paul Kagame's authoritarian rule.
Self-devouring growth
In Africa, the consequences of the growth-at-all costs model are starting to reveal themselves, and they're not pretty.