TROUBLEMAKERS

How do millennials and Gen Z work together in social movements when their values, experiences, and approaches often clash? In this episode of Troublemakers (TM) Smoke Signals, we explore intergenerational dynamics in activism, examining the tensions and opportunities that arise when younger and older generations collaborate or collide.

Key Ideas and Highlights:

Different Values, Shared Goals: Millennials often emphasise respect for hierarchy and experience, while Gen Z demands accountability and direct action. Understanding these differences is key to effective collaboration.

Mutual Learning Across Ages: True solidarity happens when generations engage in genuine relationships, mentoring, and shared learning. Eldership is earned through curiosity, presence, and openness, not simply age.

Shared Struggle Against Systems: Economic pressures, systemic inequities, and structural power imbalances affect both generations. Recognising common challenges fosters solidarity beyond generational divides.

Licensing: Anyone can use this episode for free, with attribution to Troublemakers (the podcast). We operate under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and draw inspiration from the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Credits:

Hosted by Phil and Rodgers George | Produced by Rodgers George | Music by Beautiful Trouble & Mwaduga Salum | Edited by Monica Kamandau

Host: Phil Wilmot | Guest: Mette Olwig | Producer: Rodgers George | Editor: Monica Kamandau.

How do we unlearn the colonial logic of “good development”?

In this episode, Ugandan filmmaker and theatremaker Patience Nitumwesiga reflects on Paulo Freire’s and Augusto Boal’s ideas, exploring how art, story, and imagination can awaken critical consciousness and challenge imposed notions of progress.

Key Ideas

Unlearning the “banking model” — Knowledge already lives within communities; true learning begins through shared reflection.

The burden and gift of awareness — Once awakened, we cannot return to ignorance; awareness demands creative resistance.

Decolonising “development” — African ways of life are not backward but expressions of freedom and identity.

Licensing

This episode is free to use with attribution to Trouble Makers (the podcast), under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Resources & Show Links

🎬 Movie link: https://www.thewomanwhopokedtheleopard.com

Credits

Host: Phil Wilmot | Guest: Patience Nitumwesiga | Producer: Rodgers George | Editor: Phil Wilmot | Studio: Troublemakers MS TCDC | Music: Beautiful Trouble & Mwaduga Salum

What does it mean to seek justice in a system that thrives on injustice?

Key Ideas and Highlights

Injustice as Everyday Life

The Political Resonance

Licensing

Resources & Show Links

We Refuse to Be Victims by Sam Mugumya: https://bit.ly/4mZyHDD

In this Smoke Signal, Njuki Githethwa reads from the newly published collection ‘We Refuse to Be Victims' by Ugandan activist and poet Sam Mugumya. His words remind us that courage, dignity, and resistance are possible even under the harshest conditions.

Sam visited Nairobi in August 2025, where he met with grassroots collectives from informal settlements, inspiring hope and solidarity. Days later, upon returning to Uganda, he was arrested and has since disappeared into incommunicado detention. His poetry, written through years of imprisonment, survives as both testimony and torchlight.

Key Ideas and Highlights

Defiance in Captivity – Sam’s verses were born in jail cells, yet they speak of freedom and unbroken will.

Turning the Gaze – His poems insist that the real victims are despots enslaved by their own corruption.

The Role of Art in Struggle – Poetry as a tool of survival, resistance, and inspiration across Africa’s liberation movements.

Solidarity Beyond Borders – How words shared in Nairobi echo in Uganda, the Congo, and across the continent.

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Trouble Makers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media.

Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Resources & Show Links

Trouble Makers Linktree: linktr.ee/troublemakers.podcast

Credits

Host/Reader: Njuki Githethwa

Poet: Sam Mugumya

Producer & Audio Editor: Rodgers George

Podcast editor: Monica Kamandau

Music: Beautiful Trouble & Mwaduga Salum

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will,” Frederick Douglass

What does it mean to choose your battles wisely? In this episode, host Phil Wilmot sits down with Zambian activist Villy Nawa to unpack the strategy of isolating targets and forcing institutions to account for their failures.

From his first protest as a boarding school student demanding decent food to spearheading the Fix ZESCO campaign against Zambia’s national power utility, Villy shares stories that reveal the art of strategy in social movements. Rather than targeting the president or parliament with their fire, the movement held one institution accountable, and that decision reshaped the fight.

Key Ideas and Highlights

Everyday Struggles Spark Resistance: How bad food and arbitrary punishments at school inspired Villy’s first protest.

Narrative Is Power: The government reframed loadshedding as “you have nine hours of power” instead of “15 hours of power cuts.” Activists had to learn to frame their story just as skillfully.

Pick the Right Target: Why focusing on ZESCO, rather than the presidency, created space for pressure and accountability.

Attribution:

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Trouble Makers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media.

Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Resources & Show Links

Choose Your Target Wisely

Nawa’s Bio

Pillars of Power

Credits

Host: Phil Wilmot

Guest: Villy Nawa

Music: Beautiful Trouble and Mwaduga Salum

In this episode of Troublemakers (TM) Smoke Signals, we revisit an article written just before the Covid pandemic: Is the rising obsession with digital security paralyzing people power? What started as a reflection on the flood of digital security trainings resurfaces today with new urgency, amid accelerating AI, techno-feudalism, and state and corporate espionage.

The internet once felt like a commons — a democratic space where we could build communities around shared interests. Today, despite the name “social media,” many feel more detached than ever. At the same time, movements are told to delay action until every security risk is eliminated. But history and lived experience remind us: risk never reaches zero. 

Licensing

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Trouble Makers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media.

Acknowledgment

Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.

Resources & Show Links

Full article: Is the Rising Obsession with Digital Security Paralyzing People Power?

Darya Alikhani on Practising digital security

Contact us: [email protected]

Listen to more episodes: linktr.ee/troublemakers.podcast

Credits

Host: Phil Wilmot

Producer: Rodgers George

Editor: Thompson Luzendi

Music: Beautiful Trouble and Mwaduga Salum

Is nonviolence truly the higher ground, or is that just a myth handed to the oppressed by those in power? In this fiercely honest conversation, South African lawyer, activist, and former parliamentarian Magdalene Moonsamy returns to the mic to confront the moral binaries surrounding resistance, liberation, and the cost of freedom.

Licensing

Is nonviolence truly the higher ground, or is that just a myth handed to the oppressed by those in power? In this fiercely honest and far-reaching conversation, South African lawyer, activist, and former parliamentarian Magdalene Moonsamy returns to the mic to confront the moral binaries surrounding resistance, liberation, and the cost of freedom.

The Violence–Nonviolence Trap

Calling Out Gandhi

Beyond Strategy: What Is Liberation?

Licensing

Acknowledgment

Beautiful Trouble: beautifultrouble.org

Host: Phil Wilmot

What does it really mean to feel welcome?

These are stories of kindness, comfort, and quiet inclusion.

Then, we sit down with Lennart Dose, an architect deeply engaged in restoration and spatial design, to reflect on what it takes to create physical and social spaces where people can truly belong. Lennart shares lessons from his architectural practice and cross-cultural experiences, drawing striking connections between building structures and building community.

Fragments of Welcome

Licensing

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Troublemakers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media.Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.