In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, discuss the NATO summit and the implications of U.S. President Donald Trump’s disruptive approach to the alliance. For the Report, Nanjala Nyabola talks with WPR’s senior editor, Robbie Corey-Boulet, about Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu’s struggle to get her internationally acclaimed film, “Rafiki”—a love story between two women—screened in her native country, and the social and legal implications for Kenya’s film industry and creative community. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our [...]
Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Senior Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. In recent years, the leaders of a number of African countries have tried to curtail the influence of social media by imposing internet blackouts, especially during elections and other times of heightened tension. This year, Uganda has been pushing something different: a tax on the use of social media, which would have the added benefit of raising revenue while muffling criticism of President Yoweri Museveni’s government. The BBC reported that, under the new measure, users of social media sites [...]
During his trip to Nigeria last week, in between doling out advice to young entrepreneurs and dancing at the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos, French President Emmanuel Macron took a few moments to address the political crisis in Togo, which has dragged on for nearly a year. Yet those hoping for a substantive intervention from the leader of Togo’s former colonial power were no doubt left disappointed, as Macron kept things brief and perhaps deliberately vague. His message: “The status quo is no longer possible.” Predictably, loyalists of President Faure Gnassingbe, whose family has run Togo for half a century, [...]
