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The revolution will be sung
Over the catchy beats of Afropop, artists are increasingly tapping into the frustrations of young Africans. Leaders, threatened by this musical momentum, are trying to silence it.
In Uganda, musician Bobi Wine’s popularity among his fans was enough to catapult him from self-styled “Ghetto King” to an elected lawmaker. Last year, Wine beat out the ruling and opposition party candidates to win his seat. Moving from stage to parliamentary benches, Wine’s message has remained the same, speaking out against corruption, social media taxation and the 73-year-old president Yoweri Museveni’s continued grip on power.
When Wine’s supporters clashed with those of the president’s, state security arrested him in what seems like an attempt to neutralize him. Wine has had a knack for being a kingmaker, with four candidates he backed in the last year winning seats in by-elections. Following his detention, his fans and supporters came out to protest, causing chaos in the capital and nearby towns.
Often, banning a politically charged song only serves to reinforce its message. Inspired by Childish Gambino’s audacious hit This is America, Nigerian rapper Falz turned that gaze on his own country. Yet, while the American version provoked debate and cultural acclaim, Falz’s critique of Nigeria’s ills was silenced by an embarrassed state.
Even when songs have no overt political message, they are viewed as subversive by governments using conservative values to keep a country in check. Tanzania’s highest-selling artist, Diamond Platnumz, had two of his songs banned this year and was temporarily detained in April for a social media post deemed indecent by the nation’s authorities.
Still, artists are learning the value of speaking to their fans rather than toeing the line. Sauti Sol made their name in Kenya and beyond with party bangers, but this week felt they could no longer be silent about the corruption and populism threatening to derail the country’s progress. Releasing Tujiangalie, meaning “self-reflection” in Swahili, they questioned whether the country is really as stable as it seems from Nairobi’s trendy rooftops.
Music has always been a medium with which to challenge the establishment—from Miriam Makeba’s warning to the apartheid government to Fela Kuti’s rebuke of wayward postcolonial leaders. Present-day governments are using the same old tactics to silence their critics—but today, the beat moves a digital generation, sending it even further.
— Lynsey Chutel, Quartz Johannesburg correspondent
Stories from this week
The politics of live-streaming Zimbabwe’s first post-Mugabe’s test. Zimbabwe’s constitutional court this week ruled in favor of president Mnangagwa’s election against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa. But as Tawanda Karombo highlights, the state’s control over live-streaming rights shows all the ways the country has not changed.
Blockchain isn’t the panacea for Kenya’s electoral problems. As part of proposed efforts to reform the polls system, the electoral commission said it’s looking into blockchain to make the vote more secure. But distributed ledgers alone won’t solve the deep accountability and transparency issues that have plagued the electoral process.
Nigeria is caught between being a socialist and a capitalist nation. Nigeria boasts to investors about the potential of doing business but when they come, it tries to control them. Yomi Kazeem looks at this identity split by examining a recent pushback on satellite television DStv’s attempt to raise prices.
The 40-year-old novella that predicted Zimbabwe’s modern-day troubles. Dambudzo Marechera’s The House of Hunger was supposedly written in three weeks, in a tent pitched next to a river, after the author was expelled from Oxford University. Tinashe Mushakavanhu explains why the book remains a prescient descriptor of Zimbabwe’s woes.
An American missionary’s racist rant exposes the disturbing reality of “White Savior” complex. The viral footage of Jimmy Taylor, an American Christian missionary, hurling verbal and physical abuse at hotel staff in Kampala has become a point of debate beyond Uganda. Rosebell Kagumire reminds us why we cannot divorce modern missionary work from its roots in colonialism and imperialism.
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Chart of the Week
How Uber’s innovations in Africa shaped its operations globally. It’s been five years this month since the ride-hailing service first entered Africa by launching in Johannesburg, South Africa. Abdi Latif Dahir spoke to Alon Lits, Uber’s general manager for sub-Saharan Africa, about the company’s tussle with drivers and regulators, its support for African innovation, and its plans to expand to countries including Rwanda and Senegal.
Other Things We Liked
The effort to save the work of Zanzibar’s greatest poet. Haji Ali Gora is considered a luminary figure in the island of Zanzibar given his extensive contributions to Swahili language and poetry. At 85 years of age and with declining health, Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein documents in the Poetry Foundation how his family and literature lovers are coming together to preserve his writings.
In dictatorial Kenya, the word ‘moi’ carried the intimacy between tyrant and student. Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi ruled Kenya with an iron fist for almost quarter of a century. In Popula, Keguro Macharia writes about growing up learning the word’s meaning in French and contrasting it with the propaganda connotations it carried in a tyrannical state.
Boko Haram is reforming its image in West Africa. Through strategic leadership change, targeted messaging, and videos on social media apps, the terrorist group is placing itself as the people’s champions. In IRIN, Idayat Hassan explains why the Nigerian military’s claim that they are about to end the group’s hold is far from the reality.
Keep an eye on
Uhuru Kenyatta to meet US and UK leaders (Aug. 27 & 30). Kenya’s president will meet Trump in Washington DC and then host UK prime minister Theresa May in Nairobi to discuss in both meetings plans to boost trade, security, and investment.
Nigeria’s second quarter 2018 GDP report (Aug. 27). Africa’s largest economy is no longer in recession and, on Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics will release data to show where the country is heading ahead of crucial elections in Feb. 2019.
Africa Singapore Business Forum (Aug. 28-29). Considered the premier business platform fostering inter Africa-Asia trade, the event will address opportunities related to real estate, oil, manufacturing, and technology.
*This brief was produced while listening to Tujiangalie (Self-reflection) by Sauti Sol ft. Nyashinski (Kenya).
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, suggestions, old novellas, and political songs to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day. This newsletter was compiled by Kemi Lijadu, Lynsey Chutel, and Abdi Latif Dahir.
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