Category: Zvenyika

  • Beyond Big Man Palaver: Pan-Africanism in 2022

    Beyond Big Man Palaver: Pan-Africanism in 2022

    Pan-Africanism means we will do it ourselves by doing it together. It grounds economic advancement, political liberation, cultural self-determination and territorial integrity in the unity of all African people on the continent and its diaspora. While the African Union has scored some important wins, African unity essentially fails along class lines.

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  • MOVIE REVIEW| Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You”

    MOVIE REVIEW| Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You”

    MOVIE REVIEW| Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” Marxist Boots Riley left critical references to the U.S president out of his 2018 movie, Sorry to Bother You, so they do not feed the buzz at the expense of his less comfortable communist ideas. This lone-wolf angst is shared by Kendrick Lamar whose 2021 feature finds the…

    Click or not: MOVIE REVIEW| Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You”
  • Nas’ Ultra Black Theory

    Nas’ Ultra Black Theory

    Nas’ Ultra Black Theory “Ultra Black” is the most commercially successful Pan-Africanist artist’s white paper on Black power. As a hip hop capitalist, Nas is the unusual poet laureate who observes neither the saintly asceticism of Bob Marley nor the socialism of W.E.B Du Bois and George Padmore. As a lone-wolf intellectual, Nas may be…

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  • Three Silences of Winky D (Introduction)

    Three Silences of Winky D (Introduction)

    Winky D wants to restore Zimdancehall to its default ghetto settings. His 13th album, Eureka Eureka, challenges culture capture by self-seeking patrons and state actors. Noted for his conceptual dynamism and pro-poor devotion, Winky D has repeatedly thrown his weight against trends to influence the industry in his own direction. Will Zimdancehall respond to his…

    Click or not: Three Silences of Winky D (Introduction)
  • Zanu PF Plays Up Chilling Effect

    Zanu PF Plays Up Chilling Effect

    As Zimbabwe’s election season heats up, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling Zanu-PF is playing up the chilling effect through violence, public incitement of followers, weaponisation of Covid-19 measures and disruption of opposition candidates’ rallies. Under the Mnangagwa administration, Zanu-PF has continued using its control of a precarious economy to endanger, patronise and intimidate citizens.

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  • How the Blockchain Lost Its Soul

    How the Blockchain Lost Its Soul

    Cypherpunks developed cryptocurrency to limit the power of states over individuals. As governments turn to crypto-deterrence and cyberwarfare, the blockchain’s founding propositions of private space and individual freedom are being done away.

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  • OBITUARY| Alex Magaisa Was an Exception to Zimbabwe Discourse’s Toxic Rules

    OBITUARY| Alex Magaisa Was an Exception to Zimbabwe Discourse’s Toxic Rules

    Zimbabwean public intellectual Dr Alex Tawanda Magaisa died on Sunday, June 5, aged 46. He was best known as a prolific columnist on Zimbabwe’s ongoing democratic struggle in mainstream media and for his widely discussed The Big Saturday Read

    Click or not: OBITUARY| Alex Magaisa Was an Exception to Zimbabwe Discourse’s Toxic Rules
  • The History of Jah Prayzah… As Told through His Best Albums

    The History of Jah Prayzah… As Told through His Best Albums

    A roaring and smoking mbira song, one for the party animals, a Nollywood pity party to confuse the crush outside your league, and a two-season coup soundtrack – Jah Prayzah created the future by commanding the past. We look back to the career-defining moments of one of Zimbabwe’s greatest artists.

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  • King Mswati III’s Government under Fire for the “Targeted Killing” of People’s Hero Thulani Maseko

    King Mswati III’s Government under Fire for the “Targeted Killing” of People’s Hero Thulani Maseko

    Thulani Maseko (1 March 1970 – 21 January 2023) was fatally stopped in his tracks as he campaigned for electoral reforms in Eswatini. The assassination has attracted global attention on the extent of repression in Africa’s last absolute monarchy. Calls to hold King Mswati III’s government to account for the “targeted killing” are getting louder.

    Click or not: King Mswati III’s Government under Fire for the “Targeted Killing” of People’s Hero Thulani Maseko
  • Lovemore Majaivana’s Totem Feast

    Lovemore Majaivana’s Totem Feast

    Onai Mushava discusses the metaphysical dimension of Zimbabwean mbaqanga pioneer Lovemore Majaivana’s music in the context of Ndebele orature.

    Click or not: Lovemore Majaivana’s Totem Feast