Rhythm like you’ve never seen

No one mixes nationalism, tourism and sport in a feel-good cocktail quite like the South African advertising industry.

I stand corrected, but no one mixes nationalism, tourism and sport in a feel-good cocktail quite like the South African advertising industry. Like in this TV commercial for the South African national tourism authority, where Diski, a South African style of playing football that prioritizes tricks and dribbling – which in real life has only reaped bad results on the field – is roped into promote the 2010 World Cup.

It comes complete with dorky instructional video.

Further Reading

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.

Empire’s middlemen

From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.

À qui s’adresse la CAN ?

Entre le coût du transport aérien, les régimes de visas, la culture télévisuelle et l’exclusion de classe, le problème de l’affluence à la CAN est structurel — et non le signe d’un manque de passion des supporters.

Lions in the rain

The 2025 AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco was a dramatic spectacle that tested the limits of the match and the crowd, until a defining moment held everything together.