This is the cover of The Continent, dated 9 August 2025, Issue 208. It is illustrated by Wynona Mutisi. The background shows a forest scene at dusk, painted in shades of blue and purple. Among the trees are tents in muted yellows, greens, and oranges, suggesting a mining camp. In the foreground, a man in a hoodie and carrying a pickaxe stands over another man who has fallen backwards, reaching up toward him. To the left, two uniformed soldiers aim rifles at the scene, partly hidden by the trees. The bottom of the image shows dark earth embedded with scattered gold nuggets. The headline reads: “Multinational and deadly: Zambia’s latest gold rush.”

All Protocol Observed

Welcome to Issue 208 of The Continent

A gold discovery near Zambia’s West Lunga Park has triggered a chaotic rush. Thousands have flooded Kikonge, clashes have turned deadly, and illegal buyers are cashing in. A gold rush means risk, riches, and unrest.

bit.ly/TC_208

I'm sorry if this is antisemitic but I think it's wrong to deliberately starve thousands of children to death.

Example of what happens when a mainstream economist discovers structural inequality (without 'discovering' the theories to explain it): very impressive empirical documentation of it + completely out-of-touch assumptions about how to fix it (taxation, cheap debt, human capital).

My home institution is under threat:

The Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social needs your solidarity. Planned budget cuts by the city and university leadership threaten the vital, critical work coming out of this space #SaveBerlinAnthropology

The Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social needs our solidarity. Planned budget cuts by the city and university leadership threaten the vital, critical work coming out of this space. Let’s not let it go quiet. #SaveBerlinAnthropology

Institute of Social & Cultural Anthropology at FU Berlin receives overwhelming support from students and colleagues in the face of massive budget cuts At the beginning of last week, I received some devastating news: the President’s Office at Freie Universität Berlin has proposed eliminating the third professorship at the Institute of Social and Cult...

At a time when there is a shift to right-wing and authoritarian forces and an increasing hostility towards the social sciences and humanities, social and cultural anthropology is more important than ever:
www.linkedin.com/pulse/instit...

I want to believe in self-care and black joy, even though I experience everything today as co-opted and commodified. So watching Angela Davis play squash before heading to her job teaching women inmates was a blast from the past.

Thrilled to have the English-language version of my article on "Becoming an Author in Times of Asymmetric Ignorance" come out in the @postcolh.bsky.social "Virtual Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies" right in time for my presentation at @ergvidsu.bsky.social on Tuesday! tinyurl.com/pdep62fr

Why I no longer celebrate International Women’s Day Instead of collective and confrontational resistance, we now celebrate individual women’s achievements in capitalist, neoliberal ways

There is no freedom for women in this neoliberal capitalist takeover of International Women’s Day.

www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/why-...

Just two years after the peace deal that ended the civil war, tensions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are simmering. In the previous conflict, Ethiopia and Eritrea fought together against the Tigrayans. This time round, Asmara appears to be backing a hardline Tigrayan faction
Via @thecontinent.org

Some people think that the demise of USAID is good news. Wasn't USAID a tool of US imperialism?
A prominent proponent of this line of thinking is Patrick Gathara, a senior editor at @newhumanitarian.bsky.social
His argument is ill-informed and wrong.

Second: Yes, humanitarianism has colonial roots. But Indifference has colonial roots too. The main legacy of colonialism is not compassion. It’s indifference. Colonial politics were not primarily about pity or about saving lives. They were about letting people die.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Frustrating Return Her new novel Dream Count suffers from the retrograde gender politics and bad writing that has defined her career of late.

A younger Adichie might have penned just such a novel. What a pity that the new Adichie — the defensive celebrity, the territorial feminist — seems no longer capable of writing such a book.

www.vulture.com/article/chim...

The number of civilians casualties from #drone strikes in #Ethiopia is rising sharply with the arrival of new Turkish #drones. The lackluster international attitude on drone warfare is sending states on a killing spree. Strong piece by @zekuzelalem.bsky.social
ecfr.eu/publication/...

Sell your Tesla stock, and burn apartheid clyde's paper wealth as a bonus 🔥🔥🔥

The cover of Issue 192 of The Continent (1 March 2025) is an illustration by Wynona Mutisi. It shows Botswana's Three Dikgosi monument from the viewer's point of view. The monument is under water and showing the three chiefs from the knees up in dirty rain water. In the foreground are the words written in white: "Botswana prepared for drought. Then it flooded". #ClimateChange #Africa #Botswana #CycloneDikeledi #SouthernAfrica #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #TheContinent #AfricanJournalism

All Protocol Observed.

Welcome to Issue 192 of The Continent.

Botswana prepared for drought. Then it flooded. Climate chaos is the new normal.

Get your copy here: bit.ly/TheContinent...

just an incredible episode. Make time for it.

Recent ethnic cleansing campaigns in Sudan and Ethiopia remind us Zero Discrimination Day (1 March) still marks
a distant aspiration. Based on 46,269 face-to-face interviews conducted by Afrobarometer, we may be losing ground. Via @thecontinent.org

Today's @thecontinent.org cover if you are looking for African news with a bit of humor, give them a subscription👇🏿

Woke Wars w/ Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Mike McCarthy Featuring Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Mike McCarthy on the MAGA and DOGE war on woke; the complicity of bankrupt liberal identity politics; and the centrality of various oppressions...

Enjoying the woke wars? I was on @thedigradio.bsky.social with @danieldenvir.bsky.social, @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social, and @keeanga.bsky.social to think on MAGA racism, identity politics, liberalism, and the anti-woke left. We aren’t really having any of it.

www.thedigradio.com/podcast/woke...

Uganda discharges the last Ebola patients. No new deaths from the contagious virus reported Uganda health authorities say they discharged the last eight patients who recovered from Ebola

This is remarkable. The last of 8 patients who tested positive for Ebola Sudan has been discharged. Now the 42 day count down to this outbreak being officially declared over is on.
Only 1 fatality is a remarkable feat.🤞
Kudos to front line responders in #Uganda
www.independent.co.uk/news/ebola-u...

it's really saying something that this is how an apparent friend explains Elon's goals www.vanityfair.com/news/story/e...

Germany's far left had its best electoral result in years. Which, while still only 9%, is a sign that whatever centrism is supposed to be doing, people are not happy with it. And since they grabbed the greatest share of 18-24 year olds, those unhappy people are the future.

Our two party system makes even modest results like this nearly impossible

Also, 4 in 5 did not.

The AfD underperformed polling, meaning the fear of "shy" AfD voters in DKs did not materialise.

Maybe most important: despite terror attacks, Musk & JD Vance's support, and a river of dark money and AI disinformation, the AfD *lost* a couple of %pts in 2025.

I'll take it.

The young vote in Germany, by gender. 😳

agree this reading