Africa

The climate crisis is the result of relations of power and exploitation, between the Global North and the Global South as well as between people and nature. A decolonial approach in climate activism stands for a radical break with colonial principles of economic, political and social systems – including industrial agriculture and landgrabbing. A conversation with Ruth Nyambura, climate activist from Kenya. 

For centuries, resources have been extracted from the African continent without adequate payment or compensation. With colonialism, Khoikhoi and San, the first inhabitants of Southern Africa, lost their land and many lost their lives. During decades of Apartheid they were racially discriminated and still have to fight for political and economic inclusion in the post-Apartheid era. We spoke to the Khoikhoi lawyer Lesle Jansen about her fight for the community and for the legal acknowledgement of the cultural heritage of Indigenous people.

Most of food production in Africa is shouldered by small scale farmers and the majority of farmers are women. Alarmed by the effects of climate change on her family’s farm Ayakha Melithafa from South Africa’s Western Cape joined an environmental school club and engages now in a national and an international youth movements for climate justice.

Queer feminism allows us to understand that patriarchy harms all of us and only an intersectional approach enables collective liberation and working together in solidarity. Queer resistance can also be fun - and sometimes a dandy outfit is enough to make patriarchy shake. We talked to Yvee Oduor about activism and mobilization of genderqueer people in Kenya.

The queer community is not free from exclusions and the fight for resources.. Class plays as much a role as ideas about femininity and masculinity. Black trans*women from rural areas, who are often poor, face particularly strong discrimination. Therefore, the queer community itself must address its own internalised prejudices, distorted perceptions, and exclusions. A conversation with Seoketsi Mooketsi (Seopowerr).

We must resist the patriarchal system. But as long as it persists and continues to exist, queer people in Nigeria are seeking ways to simultaneously resist the system all the while not putting their own lives, joy, and happiness at the center. Queer feminism allows for the development and testing of new ways of existing - new ways of living in community with others, new ways of organising and distributing resources, new ways of making sure that people’s needs are met. Hbs in conversation with OluTimehin Adegbeye, on the meaning and opportunities of queer feminism.

In East Africa, politics and the church propagate the idea that homosexuality is "un-African". In order to maintain their own power. However, queer life and love has always existed in Uganda. Homophobia, on the contrary, can be called a colonial import. We spoke with Ssenfuka Joanita Warry about queer activism in Uganda and why she takes every opportunity, she can to speak out and fight misconceptions about homosexuality.

The Kenyan Route to Food Initiative (RTFI) is a food rights programme of the Heinrich Böll Foundation based in Nairobi with the aim of promoting innovative discussions and solutions to the problem of chronic food insecurity in Kenya.

The recent protests under the #EndSARS movement may be an indication of a new political era as young people find their voices and the courage to demand better governance.  

Senegal is not spared the consequences of Covid-19. How does Covid-19 change the conditions under which food is produced and traded? We take a closer look at food systems in Africa talked to an expert on sustainable development issues in rural areas.