Stories about Ideas
9 October 2019
Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa: Global Voices represents at Addis Ababa digital rights conference
The forum represented a huge step forward for digital rights in Ethiopia, where, just five years ago, press freedom and digital rights were at an all-time low.
4 October 2019
From Syria to the world: Notes on tyranny, war and despair
Based on actual events and stories, these Notes send the message that Syrians deserve to live in peace, dignity and freedom—just like everyone else in the world.
Lilly Satidtanasarn, the 12-year-old taking on plastic pollution in Thailand
"Adults think I’m doing homework or a school project. They didn’t take me seriously but I kept emailing them and now they take me seriously."
20 September 2019
Serbian journalists expose a ruling party bot application used to manipulate readers’ comments on media websites
Investigative journalists discovered that a mobile application linked to their country's ruling party IP address was used for automatic voting on user comments on websites of popular media outlets.
16 September 2019
Street-side vendors of Zanzibar’s iconic ‘kanga’ textiles forced to close up shop after 30 years
Kanga sellers in Stone Town, Zanzibar, were told their street-side stalls are "unauthorized informal businesses" that clutter passageways, impinge on Stone Town's original charm and reduces its value.
4 September 2019
Painting the fears inside us all: A conversation with Syrian artist Rashwan Abdelbaki
Abdelbaki's art expresses what he sees as the “negative effects of racism, religion, and politics that are all striving to divide us and destroy our faith in humanity.”
30 August 2019
Mass tree-planting in Ethiopia broke world records, but its impact will take time
Mass tree-planting projects are exciting, but the solution is never as simple as it seems. Send a Cow encourages smallholder farmers to plant multi-purpose trees in harmony with the environment.
Tanzania's first and only classic car club pays homage to Remmy Ongala, old school musical legend
Oldschool Rides Tanzania, a club devoted to restoring and celebrating vintage cars in Tanzania and the region, organized a classic car show to honor Tanzanian music legend Remmy Ongala.
29 August 2019
Winning a literary award won't set you free: An interview with author and asylum-seeker Behrooz Boochani
Australia's detention camps whistleblower describes conditions as hellish
25 August 2019
Moscow’s revolution will be memed, online and on canvas
An anonymous RuNet user has a found a creative way to criticise recent police violence in Moscow: photoshopping riot police into dozens of famous Russian and foreign artworks.
19 August 2019
Here are some of Moldovan pop music's contributions to global meme culture
Few people remember this, but two popular memes known around the world are actually Moldovan in origin.
15 August 2019
On activism and the self
"Behind the instagrammable image of the fierce-looking individual with a clenched fist is a person who is constantly rationalizing and reaffirming their fidelity to radical politics."
8 August 2019
Kenyan MP and her baby ordered out of parliament: ‘What was I supposed to do? Miss my duties?’
"I had an emergency, so what was I supposed to do? Miss parliament and my duties — just because I have a baby?"
7 August 2019
In Ethiopia, disinformation spreads through Facebook live as political tensions rise
Online conspiracy theories, political rants and rumors laced with communal hatred are now common genres in Ethiopian social media.
Tanzanian journalist faces trumped-up charges after abduction and detention
Freelance ournalist Erick Kabendera has written critically of Tanzanian President John Magufuli's increasingly repressive administration. Yesterday, authorities charged him with economic crimes, but critics say his only "crime" is journalism.
5 August 2019
Netflix's ‘The Great Hack’ highlights Cambridge Analytica's role in Trinidad & Tobago elections
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie may visit Trinidad and Tobago to talk to a parliamentary Joint Select Committee about campaign election interference — and who hired and paid the company.
2 August 2019
Ugandan feminist Stella Nyanzi deploys nude protest to challenge free speech sentence
Feminist scholar Stella Nyanzi, known for "radical rudeness" as protest, flashed her breasts and shouted obscenities in protest in court after receiving 9 more months in prison for cyber harassment.
31 July 2019
Queer as quantum joy
"You deserve to be proud of yourself, you rare, riotous beauty. Go on, give yourself a huge, rafter-rattling cheer."
23 July 2019
Is Mandarin Chinese the language of East Africa’s future?
As China strengthens its already robust trade and infrastructural ties with Africa, Chinese-government funded Confucius Institutes to teach Chinese Mandarin are on the rise.
