Tweet By: Bouchra Kachoub* My flight from Dubai was scheduled to land in Casablanca International Airport at about 2 pm on the 3rd of April. It was delayed for more than half an hour (and it had nothing to do with the less perfect weather we were experiencing); our airplane had to hover over the suburbs…
Tweet By: Gcobani Qambela* I recently read a poor attempt to silence South African social commentator and activist Andile Mngxitama, or rather a call to “boycott” him by Kameel Premhid and Thorne Godinho in the Mail & Guardian’s Though Leader page. The duo claims that “Mngxitama has a long and troublesome history of advocating a-part-hate….
Tweet By: Nadia Ahmadou* Everyone who knows anything about political movements in Africa has, at some point or the other, come across this name: Dr. Mamphela Ramphele. She has been involved in South African politics from the early 1970s through the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Dr. Ramphele was part of an instrumental campaign by BCM that…
Tweet BLF’s current undertaking is to discuss the possibility of changing the world without taking power. This article first provides a critique of the narrative of changing the world and then, a discussion of how Michel Foucault’ s conception of power and the use of Jeremy Bentham’s concept of the Panopticon, if reversed, empowers the…
Tweet By: Amukelani Mayimele* “Young people don’t necessarily understand the challenges of governance and undoing 250 years of oppression and colonialism” were the words uttered by Keith Khoza, the spokesperson of South Africa’s leading and ruling party the African National Congress (ANC), responding to the controversial First National Bank (FNB) advertisements. Not only does this…
Tweet The year 2011 saw the collapse of some of Africa’s longest despots: Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Gaddafi in the noted North African awakening. Post conflict reconstruction challenges in these countries since then, especially in Egypt, demonstrate the limitations of centering revolution on changing state power.In “change the world without taking power: the meaning of revolution today” (2002), John Holloway argues…
Tweet By: Gcobani Qambela* I spent much of 2012 researching from home in Lady Frere, rural South Africa. In the course of the year, two young males from our community committed suicide. I could not believe it the first time my mother informed me of the first suicide early in the year. I was taken…
Tweet By: Siphokazi Magadla* In the past few weeks I have been raving to several friends on email, whatsapp, BBM, facebook and even at random dinner conversations about Melissa Harris-Perry’s book “Sister Citizen: shame, stereotypes, and black women in America/for colored girls who’ve considered politics when being strong isn’t enough” (2011). In this ambitious project Harris-Perry…
Tweet By: Gcobani Qambela* In his memoir, “Decoded”, American rap icon Jay-Z explains the history behind his song “Where I’m From”. In the opening lines of the song he tells us “I’m from where the hammers rung, news cameras never came”, meaning he is from the lower echelon of society: the ghetto. He brings our…
Tweet By: Gilbert Omware* A cry rings out through the pages of time and the experiences of the present day. It is a call to arms and everyone in Africa must respond to this cry. We must respond with action and not only speech. We must respond with solutions for ourselves by ourselves. It always…
