Eileen Perrier, a thousand small stories
Read the English version here . Force brute à la campagne et tyrannie dans les villes «Nous ne sommes pas là pour le pouvoir. Nous avons un programme de douze mois dans lequel nous allons résoudre de petits problèmes logistiques dans le respect des valeurs humaines.» Après que le capitaine Ibrahim Traoré ait annoncé par ces mots sa prise de pouvoir à Ouagadougou le 30 septembre 2022, il a été immédiatement félicité pour son action par Eugène Prigojine (alors encore vivant), fondateur du groupe...
Read the English version here . Force brute à la campagne et tyrannie dans les villes «Nous ne sommes pas là pour le pouvoir. Nous avons un programme de douze mois dans lequel nous allons résoudre de petits problèmes logistiques dans le respect des valeurs humaines.» Après que le...
William Ruto has gravely misjudged the nerve of his countrymen. The man who narrowly sailed to Kenya’s presidency in 2022, is trying to shove a sketchy legislative proposal down Kenyan throats. The Finance Bill 2024 aims to raise 346 billion Kenyan shillings to service debt and fund development and has been met with public outcry and widespread protests. The movement to #RejectFinanceBill2024 is being led by media-savvy, urban Gen-Z youth. The demonstrations, which escalated on June 20 with...
William Ruto has gravely misjudged the nerve of his countrymen. The man who narrowly sailed to Kenya’s presidency in 2022, is trying to shove a sketchy legislative proposal down Kenyan throats. The Finance Bill 2024 aims to raise 346 billion Kenyan shillings to service debt and fund...
Kenya protests: Gen Z shows the power of digital activism - driving change from screens to the streets Nationwide demonstrations have erupted in Kenya over a controversial tax bill. The Finance Bill 2024 , initially presented to parliament in May, has sparked discontent with an increase in an array of taxes and levies for Kenyans. The mass protests , initially organised in the capital city, Nairobi, have spread across the country. Demonstrations have taken place in almost every city and major town....
Kenya protests: Gen Z shows the power of digital activism - driving change from screens to the streets Nationwide demonstrations have erupted in Kenya over a controversial tax bill. The Finance Bill 2024 , initially presented to parliament in May, has sparked discontent with an...
This past week was the week of Kenya’s youth, which came out in thousands on the streets of Nairobi to reject austerity, new heavy taxation, and government corruption. What follows is reporter Ngina Kirori’s diary of the protests. Tuesday, June 18 Today is the day that sets the wheels in motion. Citizens are planning to occupy Kenya’s parliament to protest the proposed high taxation that threatens to burden even further the many who are already struggling financially. The dress code for the...
This past week was the week of Kenya’s youth, which came out in thousands on the streets of Nairobi to reject austerity, new heavy taxation, and government corruption. What follows is reporter Ngina Kirori’s diary of the protests. Tuesday, June 18 Today is the day that sets the...
How dismissals and promises didn’t end corruption at Nigeria’s main marriage registry After Taiwo Adebulu had investigated the extortion and systemic corruption at the Ikoyi marriage office in Nigeria, and his story for ZAM made waves in Nigeria, the government announced they would put a stop to the corruption. A few years later, it is back with a vengeance. My phone had been overloaded with responses after I first published my Ikoyi marriage registry story. A veritable online frenzy from Nigerian...
How dismissals and promises didn’t end corruption at Nigeria’s main marriage registry After Taiwo Adebulu had investigated the extortion and systemic corruption at the Ikoyi marriage office in Nigeria, and his story for ZAM made waves in Nigeria, the government announced they would...
In her award-winning thesis, Rachel Dubale reveals how Ethiopian social communal practices that secure financial resources dissolve, as urban development projects rise. In February 2024, Rachel Dubale won Leiden University’s Africa Thesis Award. Dubale, currently in her 20s, completed her research master’s degree in African Studies at Leiden University in 2023. The motivation for her research, titled “They think we can eat the condominium.” Chronicles of Economic, Social and Political Practices in...
In her award-winning thesis, Rachel Dubale reveals how Ethiopian social communal practices that secure financial resources dissolve, as urban development projects rise. In February 2024, Rachel Dubale won Leiden University’s Africa Thesis Award. Dubale, currently in her 20s,...
Ammar Abdallah and Ahmed Khirelsid, both from war-torn Sudan, are on the short list for the Contemporary African Photography Prize 2024. Their images show a poignant reality that seems to escape the world's attention. A story of immense brutality and displacement. The 5 winners of CAP 2024, out of the 25 photographers nominated with ZAM editor Farren van Wyk amongst them, will be announced on 5 July, 2024. Ammar Abdallah, ‘Home’, 2024 It's almost two days without food, and my body and mind feel...
Ammar Abdallah and Ahmed Khirelsid, both from war-torn Sudan, are on the short list for the Contemporary African Photography Prize 2024. Their images show a poignant reality that seems to escape the world's attention. A story of immense brutality and displacement. The 5 winners of...
Journalists threatened and forced into exile, opponents murdered by clandestine commandos, espionage. Coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the RWANDA Classified project began with the mysterious death in January 2023 of journalist John Williams Ntwali. Continuing his work, 50 journalists from 11 countries reveal a system of transnational repression deployed by Paul Kagame’s regime, far from the model country and safe haven for refugees portrayed in Western media. How a dictatorship hides its terror...
Journalists threatened and forced into exile, opponents murdered by clandestine commandos, espionage. Coordinated by Forbidden Stories, the RWANDA Classified project began with the mysterious death in January 2023 of journalist John Williams Ntwali. Continuing his work, 50...
“Every time our leaders speak of friendship, we get scared again.” Uganda had long been a safe space for Rwanda’s Patriotic Front (RPF). Before 1994, President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) had helped the exiled RPF in its struggle against the erstwhile Hutu regime in Rwanda; he had employed its leaders in his own military and state machinery. Many of the politicians and soldiers of the two movements were related and had families on both sides of the border. When the RPF’s...
“Every time our leaders speak of friendship, we get scared again.” Uganda had long been a safe space for Rwanda’s Patriotic Front (RPF). Before 1994, President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) had helped the exiled RPF in its struggle against the erstwhile Hutu...
Rwanda has been widely likened to a police state, still the West continues to support it Based on current and previous revelations, one might think that the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the West in general would regard Rwanda under Paul Kagame’s regime as akin to North Korea: a place to be rather concerned about. Not so. The EU recently closed a mineral tracking deal with the central African police state, meant to stem the flow of conflict minerals, and ensure peaceful and well-governed...
Rwanda has been widely likened to a police state, still the West continues to support it Based on current and previous revelations, one might think that the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the West in general would regard Rwanda under Paul Kagame’s regime as akin to North...
Respected South African jurist John Dugard chose law as a weapon against apartheid and genocide. At an age when most people retire, he became UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine. “Meanwhile, racism in Israel has reached a level I have never seen in South Africa.” It is a grey Monday morning as the Peace Palace in The Hague gears up for a historic affair. At the gate, international media have set up their cameras. Expensive cars drive through the front yard to the steps, where ambassadors, diplomats...
Respected South African jurist John Dugard chose law as a weapon against apartheid and genocide. At an age when most people retire, he became UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine. “Meanwhile, racism in Israel has reached a level I have never seen in South Africa.” It is a grey Monday...
How the Kagame PR machine turned on Forbidden Stories and ZAM “They are going to say that we deny the genocide,” the colleague at Forbidden Stories – the project of fifty journalists and seventeen media that investigated work, life, and death of our Rwandan colleague John Williams Ntwali – had already warned us. He was right: in the past two weeks, they did just that. We are Rwandan genocide deniers , all fifty of us – or at least funded, or deceived by, genocide deniers. Even though all we did was...
How the Kagame PR machine turned on Forbidden Stories and ZAM “They are going to say that we deny the genocide,” the colleague at Forbidden Stories – the project of fifty journalists and seventeen media that investigated work, life, and death of our Rwandan colleague John Williams...
In the oil-polluted Niger Delta, Ogoniland had to be the exception: here everything would be cleaned up properly. Yet things are going wrong even there, internal documents show. “It was the biggest shock I have ever experienced. ‘Et tu, Brute’, I could have said to the minister. We even had dinner together a few days earlier.” Many months after it happened, Ferdinand Giadom was still protesting the unceremonial termination of his position as head of the clean-up operation in Ogoniland, known under...
In the oil-polluted Niger Delta, Ogoniland had to be the exception: here everything would be cleaned up properly. Yet things are going wrong even there, internal documents show. “It was the biggest shock I have ever experienced. ‘Et tu, Brute’, I could have said to the minister. We...
[ tekst in het Nederlands hieronder ] In a report for Dutch TV , to be broadcast on Monday 3 June, 2024 , journalist Bram Vermeulen speaks to the South African connections of the newly elected Speaker of Dutch Parliament, a member of Geert Wilders’ PVV. Bosma’s 2015 book on South Africa contains dozens of factual inaccuracies. Shortly after publication, ZAM editor Bart Luirink fact-checked some of them. The newly-elected Speaker of Dutch Parliament, Martin Bosma, a member of Geert Wilders’...
[ tekst in het Nederlands hieronder ] In a report for Dutch TV , to be broadcast on Monday 3 June, 2024 , journalist Bram Vermeulen speaks to the South African connections of the newly elected Speaker of Dutch Parliament, a member of Geert Wilders’ PVV. Bosma’s 2015 book on South...
Tutu Puoane’s new album wraps South African poet Lebo Mashile’s words in rhythm. Where does this deep-seated urge to compare come from? It is Sunday morning, and as I write, I listen again to Tutu Puoane’s new album, Wrapped In Rhythm, Vol. 1. Billie Holiday springs to mind. Nina Simone. Sade. But far more than the sum of voices, Puoane is still, above all, Puoane. What you hear is a rare, flawless musical flexibility combined with an ability to tell a story in ever-changing keys, in a completely...
Tutu Puoane’s new album wraps South African poet Lebo Mashile’s words in rhythm. Where does this deep-seated urge to compare come from? It is Sunday morning, and as I write, I listen again to Tutu Puoane’s new album, Wrapped In Rhythm, Vol. 1. Billie Holiday springs to mind. Nina...
The South African musician kept the Cape goema music alive after the apartheid regime destroyed the cities’ famous District 6, a multicultural home to the Kaapse Klopse rythms. Samuel ‘Mac’ McKenzie died on April 29. His band, The Genuines, was formed in 1986 and moved between Cape Town and Johannesburg enjoying widespread support and varied audiences. McKenzie, the band’s singer and banjo player, was more than a goema pioneer. He was also a jazz front man, A symphony composer as well as a master...
The South African musician kept the Cape goema music alive after the apartheid regime destroyed the cities’ famous District 6, a multicultural home to the Kaapse Klopse rythms. Samuel ‘Mac’ McKenzie died on April 29. His band, The Genuines, was formed in 1986 and moved between Cape...
The artist was announced as the 2024 winner of the prestigious £30,000 prize at a special ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery, London on Thursday 16 May 2024. The influential prize, in partnership with the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, rewards artists and their projects recognised as having made the most significant contribution to international contemporary photography over the past 12 months. Lebohang Kganye was awarded the Prize for the exhibition Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you...
The artist was announced as the 2024 winner of the prestigious £30,000 prize at a special ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery, London on Thursday 16 May 2024. The influential prize, in partnership with the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, rewards artists and their projects...
Malawi could end the horror of unsafe abortion, but religion and parliament stand in the way. Restrictive laws are not deterring women and girls from seeking abortions. Instead, they are pushing them towards clandestine procedures, which often cause complications and even death. Meanwhile, emergency healthcare for tens of thousands of survivors also drains public resources. It is easy to see why Malawi’s Ministry of Health would like to see safe abortion provided where necessary. But religious...
Malawi could end the horror of unsafe abortion, but religion and parliament stand in the way. Restrictive laws are not deterring women and girls from seeking abortions. Instead, they are pushing them towards clandestine procedures, which often cause complications and even death....
Government turns a “blind eye” to religious sect’s child marriages Tambudzai Moyo was just 16 when she was married to a 43-year-old member of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church in Nyamadzawo village in eastern Zimbabwe. He already had two other wives, making Moyo, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, wife number three. The Apostolic sect represents the largest religious group in the country and has some of the highest rates of child marriage among girls of any religious sect –...
Government turns a “blind eye” to religious sect’s child marriages Tambudzai Moyo was just 16 when she was married to a 43-year-old member of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church in Nyamadzawo village in eastern Zimbabwe. He already had two other wives, making Moyo, whose name has...
In Nigeria where same-sex marriage is criminalised and the larger part of society is openly discriminatory and violent to queer folk, the underground ballroom scene provides a community for queer Nigerians to discreetly gather to express themselves through dance, fashion and language. When Countess Sasha Seduction, a Nigerian non-binary drag queen, got to attend their first ballroom experience, a 2022 Halloween ball in Lagos, Nigeria, it felt like a dream. This year, they got to attend two and were...
In Nigeria where same-sex marriage is criminalised and the larger part of society is openly discriminatory and violent to queer folk, the underground ballroom scene provides a community for queer Nigerians to discreetly gather to express themselves through dance, fashion and...
Many Nigerians still believe in witchcraft. Campaigns by evangelists to ‘free from witchcraft attacks’ only strengthen the primitive belief. Helen Ukpabio is the founder of Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries in Cross River State, Nigeria. She is known for conducting public campaigns inciting harassment and violence against those accused of witchcraft. From May 8 through 12, this self-acclaimed evangelist, notorious for witch-hunting, will be ministering at a witch-hunting event in Calabar, Cross...
Many Nigerians still believe in witchcraft. Campaigns by evangelists to ‘free from witchcraft attacks’ only strengthen the primitive belief. Helen Ukpabio is the founder of Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries in Cross River State, Nigeria. She is known for conducting public...
