Long read
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The going away of silence: A tribute to Ngugi
One year after his passing, how should we remember Ngugi? 1. The early years At first, it was just enough to write. Because the ... -
Mau Mau: Mukami Kimathi’s swansong to a city at war
72 years after the Declaration of Emergency in Kenya triggered one of the bloodiest anti-colonial wars in history, little has changed for survivors. Mukami ... -
Moving the Talai: How the British tried, and failed, to eliminate the native prophets of the Rift Valley
The evidence of colonial Britain’s attempt to eliminate the Talai a century ago is only now coming to light, as the last of the ... -
Lumumba assassination: New angle on the 20th century’s longest murder-conspiracy
At 99, the memory of Patrice Lumumba only grows stronger, as a new book uncovers fresh details about his gruesome assassination 64 years ago. ... -
Africa’s democratic dividend
30-odd years after the restoration of multiparty democracy, is it time to reassess the practice of democracy? The first peaceful transfer of power in ... -
The First Oil Shock: February 1974 and the making of our times
1974 saw an unprecedented surge in global oil prices. Workers, students and soldiers took to the street, toppling governments from Addis to Niamey. With ... -
From Yom Kippur to the Abraham Accords: How Israel procured Africa’s good graces
After decades in diplomatic deep-freeze, how did Israel become one of Africa’s best friends? Africa’s polyvalent response to the latest flare-up of the Israel-Palestine ... -
The colonisation of Palestine: Exhuming a British imperial crime
Like other British imperial possessions, Palestine was acquired on the cheap and under false pretences, official corruption sealing a deal doomed to end in perpetual ... -
Incomplete Memories, Distorted Histories: The loud silence around Africa’s complicity in the slave trade
When will we have an honest conversation about Africa’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade? A re-enactment of a slave raid at the opening ... -
Who stands with Palestine?
The UN’s failures are sowing the seeds of its demise, while Israel’s main enabler destroys the last vestiges of its own moral credentials. As ...
