The System That Survived Apartheid
South Africa’s townships were built to enforce white supremacy. Three decades into democracy, they remain the foundation of a racialized capitalism that governs through scarcity and patronage.
16 Article(s) by: William Shoki
William Shoki is an editor at Africa Is a Country. He is based in Cape Town.
Kenya’s Gen Z Protest Movement Is Preparing to Govern
In June, a series of protests led by young people and others frustrated with regressive tax reforms and police brutality swept Kenya. Its Left Alliance played a role in organizing these protests, and now it is getting ready to win electoral power.
Heavy Metals Music
Zamrock emerged from the optimism of postindependence Zambia, fusing psychedelic rock with nationalist ambition. Its rise and fall mirror the promise — and the exhaustion — of a country built on copper.
Musk Looks to the Motherland
The billionaire is fueling a global panic about the fate of white South Africans and misrepresenting the real problems that plague his home country.
Elon Musk Is a Mouthpiece for South Africa’s White Far Right
Elon Musk’s claim that South Africa’s land expropriation laws are part of a broader attack on the country’s white minority is divorced from reality. But it represents South African elites’ inability to understand the class tensions that define their nation.
We Can’t Understand South Africa’s Racial Inequalities Without Looking at Capitalism
A popular new South African book insists racism is primarily to blame for social polarization. But describing South African inequality as “the new apartheid” obscures the central role that class and capitalism play in reproducing hierarchies.
Education Should Be About Building Democratic Citizens, Not Compliant Workers
In South Africa, as in so many other capitalist countries, the education system is seen as a means of molding children into future workers. But education should be about building democratic citizens, not producing compliant workers for employers.
How Israel Uses Africa to Try to Whitewash Apartheid
In the years after its violent formation, Israel tried to position itself as a member of the rising anti-colonial world. And today, despite its obvious role as an occupier, Israel is trying the same thing: establishing ties to African countries to shield Israel from criticisms that it’s an apartheid state.
Nigeria’s #EndSARS Protests Aren’t Just Opposing Police Brutality — They’re Opposing Neoliberalism
The #EndSARS movement has convulsed Nigeria for weeks, demanding an end to police brutality. But the protesters have something else in their crosshairs: the unequal, austerity-ridden status quo and the political class that defends it.
“Jerusalema” Is About Self-Determination
The South African house track “Jerusalema” has rocketed around the world, becoming a viral sensation. But it’s no common pop song — it speaks to a growing desire across Africa to remake and reimagine the world.
Why Kwame Nkrumah’s Socialist, Pan-African Vision Continues to Inspire Radicals Today
Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah was a postcolonial icon who tried to fight the forces of imperialism and capitalism to build a nation, continent, and world based on equality and self-government. That’s why, despite his faults, young people in Ghana today are resurrecting Nkrumah’s vision as a radical alternative to neoliberalism.
How We Remember Steve Biko
South Africa’s apartheid government murdered Steve Biko 43 years ago this month. But they couldn’t snuff out his political influence — the Black Consciousness leader remains a symbol of defiance against injustice and racial oppression.
“To Fight Unemployment, We Have to Fight Capitalism”
The COVID-19 crisis has hit South Africa’s poor and working-class majority hard, with the government favoring the rich over the unemployed. Our friends at Africa Is a Country spoke with three South African organizers of the unemployed, who are fighting for decent public services — and a basic income.
In South Africa and Around the World, We Have to Resist the Scapegoating of Immigrants
In South Africa, the political class is scapegoating immigrants to distract from their failure to root out the country’s massive inequality. But just like everywhere else, immigrants aren’t the problem — economic elites and their political handmaidens are.
Roti and Roses for All
Zohran Mamdani is a Uganda-born rapper, counselor, and socialist running to represent Queens in the New York State Assembly. We spoke with him about the housing crisis, being a socialist in America, and his campaign slogan, “roti and roses” — a play on the old labor chant “bread and roses.”
Political Struggle Is the Answer — Not Conspiracy Theories
A conspiracy theory rocketing around South African social media claims that the real Nelson Mandela died in 1985. It’s a desperate attempt to make sense of the rampant inequality still gripping the post-apartheid country — but only socialist politics, not conspiracy theories, can diagnose the problem and offer a just solution.