Ukombozi

Ukombozi

By JasonSociety & CultureNewsPolitics
Download on the App Store

Ukombozi episodes

  • La solidarité internationale avec Serge Sivya

    Cette semaine nous accueillons Serge Sivya, médecin et militant du mouvement lutte pour le changement, Lucha actif en RD Congo. Serge milite au sein de la Lucha depuis les premiers jours de ce mouvement en 2012. Il a été très actif dans les mobilisations pour le respect de la constitution en RDC entre 2015 et 2018. Il a pour cela plusieurs fois été arrêté. Au sein de la Lucha, Serge est actif notamment dans la cellule de Luchologie où il a longtemps contribué à la formation et l’initiation des militants. Serge est aussi membre de African coaching network, un réseau qui forme des mouvements et militants à travers le continent. 

    L’année passée, Serge et sa camarade Rebecca Kabugho ont pris part au premier programme d’échange entre mouvements sociaux organisé par le réseau Afrikki. Ils ont passé trois mois à Atlanta aux États-Unis avec Project South, une organisation qui travaille avec des communautés locales, ancrée surtout dans la diaspora Afro-Américaine dans le sud des USA, en vue d'une transformation personnelle et sociale.

    Aujourd’hui avec Serge, nous re-visiterons  ce programme et nous parlerons en général de la solidarité internationale, ce que les mouvements du continent peuvent apprendre de la diaspora africaine, et les différents défis auxquels les mouvements sont confrontés aujourd'hui.

    1 hr
  • Interview Tutu Alicante

    Last year, Teodoro Obiang won a 6th term in office with 97% of the vote. He has been in power since 1979, for 43 years. In Obiang’s Equatorial Guinea, there are no independent, critical media, no human rights or anti-corruption organizations, and the one opposition party is seen as being a fig leaf for the dictatorship. 

    It is difficult to fully grasp the control the government has over society without examining the role of the oil industry. Equatorial Guinea is one of the largest oil producing countries in Africa; the black gold makes up 90% of its exports and gives it an average income similar to that of Brazil or Serbia. And yet, its infant mortality rate is closer to that of Liberia and Mali, much poorer countries. 26% of children do not get the nutrition they need. 

    To discuss the situation in EG and the potential for change, we are joined by Tutu Alicante, the executive director of EG Justice. He has lived in exile since the age of 19, based now in the United States. His organization fights for democracy and against the human rights abuses of the Obiang regime.

     

    1 hr 19 min
  • Interview Nisrin Elamin and Hamid Khalafallah

    Welcome to Season 2 of Ukombozi.

    The Sudanese Revolution of 2018-2019 was a bubbling up of many movements all at once. As Hamid Khalahfallah,  one of our guests here, says: "It was many transitions all at once"––a political, cultural and spiritual one. And then it ended, first with another coup in 2021, and now with brutal fighting between two parts of the regime. 

    Here we discuss the conflict, but in  also the place of social movements in Sudanese society. One of the reasons we are where we are today is because of the enormous inequalities that Sudanese society faces––since independence in 1956 and before, the country has been ruled by a narrow elite from the Nile Valley, excluding the peripheries and lower classes. Social movements inside and outside of Khartoum have been mobilizing against this.

    We have with us two fantastic Sudanese activists and scholars to discuss this. Hamid Khalafallah is a program officer for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance; he spoke with us in his personal capacity. He has been active with various civil resistance groups in Sudan, promoting democracy and advocating for human rights.  Nisrin Elamin is assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at the University of Toronto. She studies rural movements and resistance to Saudi and Emirati land investments in central Sudan.


    1 hr 32 min
  • Interview Thapelo Mohapi (Abahlali baseMjondolo)
    An interview with Thapelo Mohapi, the general secretary of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which organises land occupations, builds communes and campaigns against evictions and xenophobia and for public housing.
    42 min
  • Interview with Marc Epprecht and Noah Mirembe
    On April 17 this year, Sheila Adhiambo Lumumba, a 25-year-old non-binary lesbian, was found murdered in Karatina, Kenya. They had been was raped, strangled, stabbed several times in the neck and eyes and their legs had been broken. The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya reported than more than half of Kenyans who identify as gay have been assaulted in their lifetime. Meanwhile, it is almost unacceptable to speak out in favor of LGTBQ rights as a mainstream politician in much of Africa. In Kenya, The winner of this year’s presidential election, William Ruto, said in 2015, “The Republic of Kenya is a republic that worships God. We have no room for gays and those others.” The runner-up in the election, Raila Odinga, has said it is “madness” for a man to fall in love with another man while there were “plenty of women”. In neighboring Uganda, where homosexuality is outlawed, President Yoweri Museveni has called gay people “disgusting” and “abnormal.” Homosexuality is criminalized in 33 of Africa’s 54 countries. In most cases, these laws are remnants of colonial rule, as one can tell from the vague and archaic wording of these prohibitions, such as “carnal knowledge against the order of nature.” Most of these countries are former British colonies or Mulsim-majority countries of northern Africa. In contrast, homosexuality has been decriminalized in all former Portuguese colonies, whereas in other places–such as the DRC–it is a legal gray area: rights are not recognized, but it is not illegal, either. There has also been progress: Courts in Zambia and Botswana have upheld some rights for members of the LGBTQ community, while leaders from South Africa–the only country in Africa where same-sex marriage is legal–have continued to speak up in defense of the community. In culture, too, advances have been made—two poignant movies about gay men and women have been produced in Kenya (although both have been banned)--”I am Samuel” and “Rafiki,” joining movies from Guinea, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe documenting abuse and celebrate gay identities. Gay pride events have been held not only in South Africa, but also Botswana, Swaziland, and even in Uganda. Today, we are excited to be welcoming Noah Mirembe Gabigogo and Marc Epprecht to our show to talk about all of this. Noah is a Ugandan trans man and activist, ecofeminist, and scholar of sexual and gender diversity in Africa. Noah has written on and contributed to legal advocacy and research to advance human rights for lesbians and gays in Africa; he is the co-founder of the Taala Foundation, an organization that promotes wellness for youth on the margins through mental health.Noah completed his studies at Harvard Law School and Makerere University, and is a member of the Uganda Law Society and East Africa Law Society- making him the first openly trans* member of a professional association in Uganda.Marc Epprecht is associate professor in the departments of history and global development studies at Queen's University. He is well-known for his books that excavate the histories of LGBTQ identities in Africa, including his book Hungochani–The history of a dissident sexuality in southern Africa; and Sexuality and Social Justice in Africa: rethinking homophobia and forging resistance.
    1 hr 13 min
  • Interview Leo Zeilig on Walter Rodney
    We interview Leo Zeiling on the life and legacy of Guyanese scholar, activist, and writer Walter Rodney. Rodney's classic "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a great occasion to read Zeilig's "A Revolutionary for Our Time: The Walter Rodney Story," which was published this year.We talk about Rodney's legacy, his understanding of race, his approach to international solidarity, and his theory of how Africa's fate has been tethered to capitalist development in the West. Send your questions and comments in! To jkstearn [at] sfu [dot] ca; baumafred [at] gmail [dot] com.
    1 hr 1 min
  • Interview with Fadel Barro

    Cette semaine nous recevons Fadel Barro, activiste et intellectuel sénégalais et ancien coordonnateur du mouvement Y’en A marre dont il est également co-fondateur. En effet, en 2011, frustré par les coupures d’électricité, Fadel crée aux côtés des rappeurs du groupe Keur Gui, Thiat et Kilifeu, ainsi que d’autres activistes, le mouvement Y’en A marre. L’année suivante en 2012, le mouvement arrive à mobiliser des milliers des sénégalais contre la candidature jugée inconstitutionnelle de Abdoulaye Wade, dans le cadre du collectif M23.

    Fadel est aussi un panafricain et pas seulement parce qu’il a, depuis plusieurs années, adopté le béret de Amilcar Cabral au point d’en faire un des symboles de son mouvement. Mais surtout parce que depuis longtemps, il s’est investi à créer des ponts entre différents mouvements citoyens, des balais citoyens de Burkina et de Guinée à Novax de Côte d’ivoire en passant par Lucha, Filimbi et bien d'autres. 

    En 2015, il est arrêté à Kinshasa aux côtés des militants sénégalais, burkinabé et congolais. Il passe plus d’une semaine dans les geôles de l’Agence nationale de renseignement, le service congolais d’intelligence. Plus tard, il organise à Dakar des manifestations de soutiens aux activistes guinéens et héberge avec Y’en A marre, plusieurs activistes en exil. Fadel Barro est aussi cofondateur de Afrikki, le réseau panafricain des mouvements sociaux et est actuellement coordonnateur régional de la Plateforme panafricain de protection des lanceurs d’alerte (PPLAAF).

    Cette année, Fadel Barro était candidat aux élections législatives. Il était aussi candidat aux élections municipales pour la ville de Kaolack dont il est originaire. Dans ce podcast, nous parlons de ses ambitions politiques mais aussi et surtout de sa lutte et des utopies qu’il poursuit depuis plusieurs années maintenant. 

    Ce podcast a été enregistré en avril de cette année, avant les élections législatives.




    52 min
  • Interview Sabatho Nyamsenda Part II

    Karibuni. This week, we are excited to be joined by Sabatho Nyamsenda, an African scholar, writer and thinker. Sabatho is a faculty member in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam. He is involved in both scholarship and activism in matters pertaining to the agrarian question, pan-Africanism, the struggles of the working people, as well as political-economic relations between Tanzania and the industrialized countries. 

    This interview was our first to be recorded in person––the windows were open in the university, so you can hear some birds and cars in the background. Our apologies; we are seeking to improve our sound quality. The interview was also quite long, so we have split it into two parts: the first focusing largely on the history of social movements in Tanzania; the second on the legacy of President Magufuli and the struggles of contemporary social movements, especially among peasants.

    Check out Sabatho's music recommendations––a good intro to underground, conscious  Tanzanian hip-hop:

    - Watunza Misingi
    - The Makanta crew (Maskini katika Nchi Tajiri)
    - Dambwe la Hip Hop

    And, of course, Vitali Maembe, the Tanzanian poet-songwriter.

    Sabatho's essay on Magufuli (from 2018) can be found here, and his analysis of MVIWATA is here.

    Feel free to reach out at jason underscore stearns at SFU dot CA and baumafred at gmail dot com. 



    46 min

About Ukombozi

From the publisher's feed

A podcast about African social movements and the worlds they are trying to create. Hosted by Fred Bauma, a social movement activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Jason Stearns, an…