South Africa has, again, approached the International Court of Justice and instructed Israel not to attack Rafah and its 1,5 million Palestinian inhabitants. The significance of South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice extends even beyond the court's clear and urgent judgment to moderate the acts of war and come to the aid of Gaza's residents with medication and food supplies. With this legal intervention, South Africa reclaimed the authority of international law, of...
South Africa has, again, approached the International Court of Justice and instructed Israel not to attack Rafah and its 1,5 million Palestinian...
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third persident of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Geingob was born on 3 August 1941. He joined the ranks of the national liberation movement South West African People’s Organisation (Swapo) during its formation in 1960. As the official statement declared: “The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a...
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third persident of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia’s first prime minister from...
In response to a public outcry New York auction house Guernsey had suspended the sale of 70 personal items belonging to South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero. His identity book and prison letters, his famous Madiba shirts, his walking stick and gifts from US President Barack Obama are some of Nelson Mandela’s personal items that were set to be auctioned om 22 February, 2024. But Guernsey has now suspended the sale without an explanation. In an interview with South Africa’s online platform Daily...
In response to a public outcry New York auction house Guernsey had suspended the sale of 70 personal items belonging to South Africa’s anti-apartheid...
An official state visit from 18 October 2023 offers a great opportunity to acknowledge the Dutch complicity in slavery and oppression. Remarkably, when the Dutch government and the King recently apologized for the Dutch involvement in slavery, South Africa was not mentioned. Who remembers the history of Indian Ocean slavery? How does this history affect people in current-day South Africa? And why is this history largely forgotten in the Netherlands? For thousands of years, |xam, Khoekhoe, and many...
An official state visit from 18 October 2023 offers a great opportunity to acknowledge the Dutch complicity in slavery and oppression. Remarkably, when...
September 12 marked 46 years since Stephen Bantu Biko was beaten and murdered by the police under the apartheid government. The murder only served to amplify his stature, historical significance and message. This is neither an analysis or critique of his politics, but rather what it means for me. I also want to reflect on why I believe we will be well served as a society to always consider the meaning of black consciousness politics as we fight for a better future. Steve Biko’s black consciousness...
September 12 marked 46 years since Stephen Bantu Biko was beaten and murdered by the police under the apartheid government. The murder only served to...
South African public life is rife with revisionism, often opportunistic. Take the case of Mangosuthu Buthelezi. While South Africa’s Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is now in decline, between its founding in 1975 and the run up to the first democratic elections in 1994, it played a key, but complicated role in South African politics. For all that time, it was led by Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who as leader of the KwaZulu bantustan at various times collaborated with the apartheid state and the African...
South African public life is rife with revisionism, often opportunistic. Take the case of Mangosuthu Buthelezi. While South Africa’s Inkatha Freedom...
Arusha, the seat of the East African Community Legislative Assembly (EAC), bustles with its sleepy rhythms and cosmopolitan air. I am here to attend the 2nd Africa Drive for Democracy Conference both as a guest and speaker. The Africa Drive for Democracy Elders Retreat and Annual Conference, which took place between 17-21 July 2023 is meant to facilitate dialogue and engage grassroots movements, giving citizens an opportunity to be heard and to collaborate and innovate on strengthening democracy....
Arusha, the seat of the East African Community Legislative Assembly (EAC), bustles with its sleepy rhythms and cosmopolitan air. I am here to attend the...
The House of Guramayle , an Ethiopian LGBT QAI+ platform, condemns the recent escalation in attacks on individuals in Ethiopia based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. In the last two weeks alone, House of Guramayle and LGBTQIA+ activists have documented over a dozen TikTok videos displaying pictures of people who may or may not identify as LGBTQIA+, including those who live in Ethiopia. Violence against those individuals - killing, burning, beating - is being...
The House of Guramayle , an Ethiopian LGBT QAI+ platform, condemns the recent escalation in attacks on individuals in Ethiopia based on their real or...
The pathologization of ‘migrants’ in Tunisia and France shows how race and poverty shape our understanding of belonging. On July 5, two Tunisian parliamentarians accused sub-Saharan African migrants of spreading tuberculosis among Tunisians. The parliamentary session was set to discuss the increasing absence of basic medication in Tunisia, an absence that a colleague working for a pharmaceutical company in Tunis attributed to the state’s inability to pay for these medications on the global market....
The pathologization of ‘migrants’ in Tunisia and France shows how race and poverty shape our understanding of belonging. On July 5, two Tunisian...
The Western fetishization of elections unintentionally contributes to the erosion of faith in democracy among Nigerian citizens. [ Link naar tekst in het Nederlands onder dit artikel ] Normally, I see few Westerners in Nigeria, West Africa, where I live and work as a journalist. Once every four years, however, when it is time for presidential elections, the international circus shows up. Observers and journalists fly in to cast their sagacious eye over the electoral process–only to leave again just...
The Western fetishization of elections unintentionally contributes to the erosion of faith in democracy among Nigerian citizens. [ Link naar tekst in het...
From Sudan to the Sahel, Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly attributed a leading role in African conflicts. Unjustified, writes Bram Vermeulen. Moscow is merely an asset for isolated warlords. “There is war in Sudan, but why, I've lost track of that for a while,” the late Dutch singer Jeroen van Merwijk sang. “I no longer understand anything when I look at those images. Why don't we do one war at a time from now on?” I was reminded of this song in recent days, when the wildest...
From Sudan to the Sahel, Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly attributed a leading role in African conflicts. Unjustified, writes Bram...
A packed Studio ZAM at the first, exclusive screening of the documentary Murder in Paris in the Netherlands on Friday 24 March 2023. Filmmaker Enver Samuel, who travelled to the Low Countries for the annual Movies that Matter festival, attended the screening and answered questions from the audience afterwards. Murder in Paris tells the story of ANC representative Dulcie September, assassinated in Paris in 1988, and is inspired by Evelyn Groenink's decades of research into the background of this...
A packed Studio ZAM at the first, exclusive screening of the documentary Murder in Paris in the Netherlands on Friday 24 March 2023. Filmmaker Enver...
At least six African countries have decriminalised same-sex relations in recent years. It seems nonsensical to still frame equal rights for LGBTIQ+ people as ‘Western’. Ugandan President Museveni has said that his country “will not embrace homosexuality and the West should stop seeking to impose its views”. In an article for the organisation’s website, Human Rights Watch’ Director for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program Graeme Reid calls this statement “a false dichotomy” since...
At least six African countries have decriminalised same-sex relations in recent years. It seems nonsensical to still frame equal rights for LGBTIQ+...
A documentary on the murder of South African freedom fighter Dulcie September sparked a conversation between a white student and her black professor. Part 1: The student Josephine Trilling As a female jazz guitarist, I have experienced considerable misogyny. I know what it’s like to have men look you in the eye and tell you with a smug expression: ‘you don’t belong here.’ In this male-dominated profession I have never felt at ease. Their scoffs were a silent demand for me to leave, and their locker...
A documentary on the murder of South African freedom fighter Dulcie September sparked a conversation between a white student and her black professor....
As the Church rages against Canterbury, Museveni’s authoritarian regime might be the last guarantor of sexual minority rights. On 1 March, 2023 the Ugandan parliament granted opposition MP, Mr Asuman Basalirwa, leave to introduce the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023 . This draft bill prescribes ten years of imprisonment for persons who will be found guilty of homosexuality, aggravated homosexuality, and persons who attempt to commit homosexuality. It also proposes a two-year jail term for those aiding...
As the Church rages against Canterbury, Museveni’s authoritarian regime might be the last guarantor of sexual minority rights. On 1 March, 2023 the...
As interesting and necessary as it may be, it seems to me that the current critique of the presence of colonial symbols in our public spaces needs to be, as of this moment, reexamined. Let me emphasize “as of this moment.” I readily acknowledge that there will be some who believe the time has not yet come for internal criticism of a process that remains incomplete and that has even, in a certain sense, just begun. Is there not, as they say, a time and place for everything? Should we not prioritize...
As interesting and necessary as it may be, it seems to me that the current critique of the presence of colonial symbols in our public spaces needs to be,...
A man hired by the Ministry of Defence to clear up after an army exercise in Kenya did not know he was collecting live explosives. The findings of an internal investigation by the British army are damning, Declassifieduk reveals. High up on a hill near Mount Kenya, Irene Kipsuge looks out over a rolling savanna. In the distance lies Lolldaiga, a safari resort where Western tourists pay up to $400 a night to stay in a colonial settler-style house, in the hope of seeing elephants. To her left is Ole...
A man hired by the Ministry of Defence to clear up after an army exercise in Kenya did not know he was collecting live explosives. The findings of an...
Lemekani Nyirenda, a Zambian student recently killed while fighting for Russia in their invasion of Ukraine, was recruited by the infamous mercenary Wagner Group, the Zambian Government has confirmed. Nyirenda’s body arrived in the country on December 11th. While at the airport waiting for the body to arrive Chembo Mbula, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, confirmed that the cost of flying Nyirenda’s body to Zambia were borne by the Wagner Group, a...
Lemekani Nyirenda, a Zambian student recently killed while fighting for Russia in their invasion of Ukraine, was recruited by the infamous mercenary...
The picture frame I see in front of me is made of gold, but the picture it surrounds portrays an invading army. This is a metaphor I often use in my training sessions to empower new migrants and refugees in the Netherlands. I tell them to create their own golden frame. And I convince them that they should never let anyone convince them to believe their frames are made of ash or toilet paper. Teaching people to believe in themselves is paramount, because if they don’t believe in themselves, who else...
The picture frame I see in front of me is made of gold, but the picture it surrounds portrays an invading army. This is a metaphor I often use in my...
Campaigning to become president of Uganda can be very, very dangerous. The People's President, which documents Bobi Wine's epic presidential run, drew thousands of visitors in Amsterdam. Close to 2000 people welcomed Ugandan pop star Robert Kyagulanyi, more famously known as Bobi Wine, after a screening in Amsterdam’s Carré Theatre, while even more attended other screenings across the city. Many of them voted for the documentary, made by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp. With 9488 votes, The...
Campaigning to become president of Uganda can be very, very dangerous. The People's President, which documents Bobi Wine's epic presidential run, drew...
On October 10th Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President, addressed his ambassadors in Brussels. It began most promisingly, with Borrell decrying the number of authoritarian regimes in the world, including those "on our side.” He railed against rising "nationalism, revisionism and identity politics” while acknowledging the presence of more important players on the world stage: Turkey, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, and Mexico. He turned...
On October 10th Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President, addressed his ambassadors in Brussels. It...
