'Why is it so hard to make it in America'
Charles Bradley, backed by The Menahan Street Band, performs “Why Is It So Hard” live from Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin, TX, during KEXP‘s broadcast at SXSW
Further Reading
Cinema against silence
A new Malian film takes on the tradition of forced marriage with humor, intimacy, and defiance—reimagining African cinema as both tribute and rupture.
The end of US empire is not the end of the world
As American hegemony unravels, the Global South must resist both nostalgia and passivity. Multipolarity won’t arrive on its own—it must be built through struggle.
Re-writing the rules of Tunisian rap
Blending Tunisian rap with Egyptian mahraganat, Lully Snake defies sexist norms, blurs borders, and opens a new space for feminist rebellion in North African popular culture.
Sanctions as civilizational warfare
Framed as hard diplomacy, economic sanctions are a subtler form of warfare—one that erodes sovereignty, punishes civilians, and extends colonial power under a new name.
Paul Biya, the last Kaiser
A meditation on the oldest ruler in the world.
Pan Africanism under elite capture
Recent celebrity investments in the continent raises the question: Who is it really for?
An undignified democracy
Three decades after apartheid, South Africans are still waiting for housing, land, and dignity—while elites ask for patience that serves only themselves.
What’s left of Nigeria’s feminist left?
Once anchored in mass struggle and socialist politics, the feminist movement in Nigeria now navigates the contradictions of donor dependency, digital activism, and elite capture. On the podcast, we unpack: what happened?
As aid ends, empire endures
Western donors are cutting budgets, but the aid model they built—rooted in control, dependency, and depoliticization—still shapes Africa’s development.
Art is a place for rehearsal
What happens when art steps into the gaps left by official history? A conversation on race, memory, and the unfinished work of making meaning.
Kenya’s vibe shift
From aesthetic cool to political confusion, a new generation in Kenya is navigating broken promises, borrowed styles, and the blurred lines between irony and ideology.
Zambia’s quiet diplomacy
Long seen as a neutral player in global affairs, Zambia’s foreign policy is shifting under new pressures—from Western donors, Chinese investment, and its own strategic ambitions.
The un-African mechanisms of queer repression
Anti-queer laws in Africa are often framed as cultural defense—but their roots lie in colonial legacies, religious nationalism, and global reactionary alliances.
Africa and the AI race
At summits and in speeches, African leaders promise to harness AI for development. But without investment in power, connectivity, and people, the continent risks replaying old failures in new code.
The business of empowering women
Despite decades of donor funding, the push for women in politics in Nigeria often sidelines real change in favor of workshops, buzzwords, and photo ops—leaving power structures intact.
Will the future of food be genome edited?
What will we eat in the future—and who gets to decide? From lab-grown meat to agroecology, the politics of food in Africa are being shaped by tech dreams, corporate agendas, and grassroots resistance.
After the uprising
Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.
Beyond national liberation
A new book issues both an indictment of South Africa’s failed transition and a call to rebuild the left through climate justice, solidarity economies, and radical humanism.
A powerful storytelling tradition
The last great Fang bard, Eyí Moan Ndong fused myth, music, and sci-fi to create epic performances that defy Western categories—and demand global recognition.
Una tradición literaria poderosa
El último gran bardo Fang, Eyí Moan Ndong, fusionó el mito, la música y la ciencia ficción para crear actuaciones épicas que desafían las categorías occidentales y exigen reconocimiento mundial.