Season 4
Available to listen on all major platforms.
Sierra Leone: Freetown is the capital city of Sierra Leone, a country in Western Africa. The name of the city has links to its origins as a British colony used to repatriate freed black people from across the British Empire. Britain insisted Freetown represented humanity, justice, and freedom but it didn’t represent any of those things. Britain stole land, had local chiefs sign questionable contracts, and highlighted the false ideology of European superiority.
Ethiopia: During the Scramble for Africa, Italy was eager to develop a ‘second Roman Empire’ within the continent. It set it sights on Ethiopia, which they were ‘awarded’ during the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. Now, all they had to do was remove the Ethiopian government and occupy the land. This proved easier said than done. At the time, Ethiopia was under the leadership of Emperor Menelik II, who was able to lead and defend his country against the Italian army. The Emperor helped to put Ethiopia on the map at a time where many African countries were being destroyed and exploited.
Yoweri Museveni is a name you may have heard of during Uganda’s most recent elections where he was up against his main political rival Bobi Wine. This presidential election was entangled by fraud, threats, and sanctioned killings - but how did Ugandan politics get to this point? This episode is the first of a two-parter. We’ll look at Yoweri Museveni's rise to power: how his positioning as Uganda's liberator and increased stability for the nation gave way to a ban on other political campaigns and the removal of Presidential term limits. Museveni has remained in power for more than 30 years.
We're back in Uganda for the second part of our episodes focussing on Yoweri Museveni. This time we discuss the way his government silenced Bobi Wine's activities during the 2021 elections through excessive force and sanctioned killings. An internet blackout took place in Uganda, limiting reporting on internal conditions; however the Red Pearl Movement and social media has allowed Uganda's story to be shared with the international community. This episode looks at the extreme and violent measures taken by Museveni's administration to ensure his hold on power.
Trigger warning: police brutality.
To recognise Black History month in the UK, we're joined by the academic, activist and author Professor Kehinde Andrews. Kehinde is a professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University and has written several books, his latest being ‘The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World.’ In this episode we discuss black British identity, immigration, and how colonisation has shifted into its current form: benevolent imperialism.
Vera Chirwa was Malawi’s first female lawyer and became a founding member of the Malawi Congress Party and the Nyasaland African Women’s league. Chirwa’s belief in multiparty democratic rule came at a time when a dangerous despot, Hastings Banda ruled a newly independent Malawi. In 1982, Banda ended up charging Vera and her husband Orton with treason, and the following year the court sentenced the couple to death. In this episode we look at Vera Chirwa's life and her drive to keep going despite being held as a prisoner of conscience in horrendous conditions.
The Kingdom of Lesotho is a country enclaved within South Africa. The country’s formation stemmed from the work of King Moshoeshoe I (1786-1870) who founded the Basotho nation and helped define what it meant to be Basotho. In this episode, we’ll explore the country’s formation, its complicated relationship and history with South Africa, and recent political challenges which have shaped the nation.
We discuss the lead up to the Algerian War of Independence and the drastic actions France took in an attempt to retain power over the northern African nation. We also discuss the consequences of this conflict - including the mistreatment of Algerians in France, and those of Algerian descent demanding for official recognition of their treatment enshrined in law.