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?

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?

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?