ALKEBULAN with The Merc

Alkebulanians,

I break down Burkina Faso’s rollout of digital ID, Captain Traoré’s role in the process, the World Bank’s involvement, Chinese hardware, biometric data, and what digital identity could mean for sovereignty across the Sahel.

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I look at the promise of stronger identification, elections, security and access to services, alongside the risks facing millions of people in rural areas who could be left outside the system. The bigger question is who controls the infrastructure, and what happens when digital identity becomes essential?

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Alkebulanians,

I break down the hidden history behind South Africa’s migrant labour crisis, Operation Dudula and the anger now directed at Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Malawians, Nigerians, Somalis and other African migrants.

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I follow the gold that built Johannesburg, the Chamber of Mines, WENELA, apartheid’s homelands and the system that turned millions of Black South Africans into foreigners in their own country. The history raises a deeper question about unemployment, land, migration and who designed the conditions South Africans are living with today, so who should the anger really be directed at?

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe

Alkebulanians,

I break down the hidden history of Notting Hill Carnival, tracing a story that begins with the Windrush Generation and Caribbean migrants arriving in post-war Britain, only to encounter racial discrimination, far-right agitation and violence across West London.

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I examine the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, the murder of Kelso Cochrane in 1959, and the emergence of Claudia Jones, the Trinidadian journalist and activist who understood that a community facing violence needed a way to reclaim its dignity, culture and voice. From steel pan and calypso to the streets of Notting Hill, I explore the forces behind one of Britain’s most recognisable cultural traditions, and the uncomfortable history that sits beneath the celebration. Who gets to decide which parts of history a nation remembers?

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Alkebulanians,

Some thoughts on the recent controversies on my platform regarding my stance on focusing on black and African struggles and not campaigning for Palestine.

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Alkebulanians,

I break down the history behind the recent footage of tens of thousands of Moroccans crossing into Ceuta, the Spanish-controlled city in North Africa, and why the images triggered such a powerful political response across Europe.

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I trace the story through Portugal’s seizure of Ceuta in 1415, Spain’s capture of Melilla in 1497, Morocco’s independence in 1956, the UN decolonization list, and the border reaction from Italy, France, Spain, and 22 EU governments. The deeper question is how a historical technicality can reshape the way millions understand Africa and Europe.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe

Alkebulanians,

I break down why the Nolan Wells case out of Mississippi belongs to every African, not filed away as an American story.

An 18 year old goes on a Fourth of July boat trip with friends, turns up dead, and what follows is a jurisprudence disaster: a sealed autopsy, a body returned without throat and neck structures, a sheriff declaring no foul play within days, alleged friends lawyered up inside 48 hours, and a Give Send Go raising six figures for themselves while people question why the Wells family raises anything at all.

🌍 FREE 4 PART WEBINAR: Why Africa is ‘poor’ and trapped in constant debt.

I go through the distress call audio nobody wants to engage with, the eyewitness claims arriving late, Officer Brandon Tatum, the Carmelo Anthony sentencing, Cyrus Carmack Belton, and why this may eclipse O.J. in cultural weight.

I connect it to the Benin Punitive Expedition, to Afrobeats stars borrowing Black American style, to how Washington will one day talk about Nigeria and Ghana.

When a precedent this flagrant is set, what protects any of us?

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Nolan Wells Case Explained

00:31 Why Africans Must Care About This Case

01:16 Why I Had To Stop Posting About Nolan Wells

01:55 They Don’t Ask Black People For Passports

03:00 The Mentality That Makes Bombing Nigeria Easy

03:45 The Audio Tape Nobody Will Engage With

04:44 The Race Bait Trap And How To Avoid It

05:58 Africans, Get Your Minds Right

06:31 Afrobeats, Culture Borrowing And The Tax

07:14 I Donated. I Put Money In Their Pockets

08:50 Respectability Politics Has To End

11:07 The Economy Of Black Pain And Death

12:35 $100,000 Raised For The Alleged Friends

14:32 The Benin Punitive Expedition Parallel

16:44 Brandon Tatum And The Consequence Problem

19:09 Where Are The Black Billionaires?

21:16 The Sealed Autopsy And The Missing Throat

22:37 Intimidating Nolan Wells’ Mother

27:28 Who Lawyers Up Within 48 Hours?

34:22 My Theory On Why There Are No Arrests

35:17 The First 48 And Why Police Move Fast

40:48 Polluting The Jury Pool In Mississippi

45:39 The Audio They Cannot Magic Away

47:33 The Hangings In The South

56:48 Drowning Is Not Common In This Community

1:00:35 An Obvious Cover-Up, Allegedly

1:01:55 Own Your Audience Or Own Nothing

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe

Alkebulanians,

I break down Sky News’ documentary on Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traoré and examine the language, framing, and geopolitical stakes surrounding one of the Sahel’s most closely watched leaders.

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I trace the documentary’s claims about jihadist control, the competing figures presented for territory under government authority, Traoré’s relationship with Russia and China, the Alliance of Sahel States, and the history invoked through Lumumba, Gaddafi, Sankara, and other African leaders. I ask what happens when media narratives collide with African sovereignty, and who gets to define the story of the continent.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe

Alkebulanians,

I break down the Western Sahara conflict through the story of a 50-year-old African colony, the Sahrawi people, Morocco, Algeria, and the borders created through colonial rule.

I trace the Green March, Spain’s withdrawal, the failed 1991 referendum, the Berm and its landmines, and the growing international recognition of Morocco’s claim. Then I look at Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Dakhla, Sahrawi filmmakers, and the fight over who gets to tell stories on contested African land. What does sovereignty mean when history, borders and self-determination collide?

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe

Alkebulanians,

Another Monday. Another NIGHT WATCH episode.

Thank you to all new paid subscribers. We are getting ever closer to our 1000 paid subscriber goal where this publication will be completely self sustaining.

This Episode

I break down four major stories shaking the continent right now.

Ghana and Ivory Coast control 60% of the world’s cocoa, yet their farmers are starving while $487 million worth of cocoa rots unsold in Ivory Coast’s ports, and multinational chocolate companies are quietly swapping in substitute ingredients rather than pay African prices.

Then I cover the 100,000 Africans who fled South Africa in 60 days and what the economic blowback looks like for South African businesses across the continent. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have officially exited the ICC, a court that has prosecuted Africans and Global South leaders almost exclusively while no American president has ever faced charges.

And finally, a story I discovered live on air: Mauritania only abolished slavery in 1981, only criminalised it in 2007, and two lawmakers were jailed in 2025 for calling it out. How deep does Africa’s exploitation run, and who is actually protecting it?

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction: Four Stories That Will Shock You

00:22 Cocoa Crisis: Ghana and Ivory Coast’s OPEC-Style Coalition Under Attack

03:27 How the Cocoa Price Crashed 75% in One Year

05:00 Corporations Using Substitutes to Avoid Paying African Farmers

08:15 The Real Solution: Africa Must Process Its Own Cocoa

16:22 100,000 Africans Flee South Africa in 60 Days

21:15 The Economic Blowback: African Nations Push Back on SA Businesses

24:18 Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Officially Leave the ICC

27:10 The ICC’s Record: Who It Prosecutes and Who It Protects

32:22 Mauritania: Slavery Was Legal Until 1981, Criminal Only From 2007

37:35 Anti-Slavery Activists Jailed in Mauritania Today — The Full Story

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe

Alkebulanians,

South African artist Tyla had her Lagos concert cancelled and the reason goes deeper than bad PR. Operation Dudula set a June 30th deadline pushing migrants, primarily Nigerians, out of South Africa. One month later, Tyla’s team announced a Lagos concert date. The blowback was instant. Nigerians online were already warning her not to come. The concert was pulled before it started.

ALKEBULAN Discover The True Africa is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Tyla’s Lagos Concert Cancelled: What Happened

01:02 Operation Dudula and the June 30th Deadline

01:21 Why Tyla’s Silence During the Crisis Matters

02:07 Trevor Noah and the Pattern of South African Celebrity Silence

02:40 The Tour Routing Problem: Why Lagos Was the Only African Stop

03:22 Bad Management and the Colour Controversy Connection

04:03 The Economic Fallout of Afrophobia Begins

04:55 South African Artists Locked Out of Africa

06:08 The Sniping Match Between African Nations

07:49 Silence Is Complicity: How Nigeria Is Reading This

08:54 Where Things Stand: No Safe Concert Market Left

10:01 The Cost of Staying Apolitical When Society Is Collapsing

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.alkebulan.media/subscribe