Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
barack obamalatest news & developments
Ilhan Omar, the Somali-American US Representative has been one of Donald Trump’s most frequent targets for invective. Photo: @ilhanmn (Instagram)

Why is Trump waging war on Somali immigrants?

His vision for America is defined as much by whom he lets in as by whom he keeps out

Qasem Soleimani received the Zolfaghar Order from Ali Khamenei, the 87-year-old Supreme Leader who was assassinated in the US and Israeli strikes against Iran. Photo: khamenei.ir

US/Israel war against International Law

The assassination of Khamenei was another blatant violation of international law. It was also part of a broader strategy to eliminate moderate leaders, whose absence is then used…

Son of the soil: American civils rights leader Jesse Jackson with Oliver Tambo (left) and Trevor Huddleston
(right) in London during the Anti-Apartheid demonstrations in the 1980s. Photo: South African History Online

Africa mourns Jesse Jackson, a global change agent

A gregarious man with a mission, a complex personality, hard-nosed politician, he strode from the pulpits of politics to the precipice of the Oval Office, paving the way along…

Pax Americana: Same difference

By his own account, America’s mission in Venezuela is to seize control of the world’s largest oil reserves

(Graphic: John McCann)

The African mayor of New York: Mamdani’s rise is a continental summons

Mamdani’s triumph in New York declares that African youth are not insurgents at the gates; they are the vanguard of a new political architecture, says the writer

Obama cannot salvage Michigan for US presidential candidate Kamala Harris

People would be better off voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein if they want the war in Gaza to stop

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

No more right or left wings in politics

The left stood for a social agenda and the right for the individual’s needs. Now politics is self-serving

The vice-president of the US, Kamala Harris. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Manufacturing a presidential candidate: The case of Kamala Harris

The US vice-president needs to come up with a message that resonates with the white middle and working class to win them over in this election

New friends: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is welcomed by Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare. (Iranian Presidency/Getty Images)

President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit: What is Iran looking for in Africa?

The Middle-Eastern power is waking up to the continent’s potential as a strategic partner for oil exploration, among other win-win ventures

President Cyril Ramaphosa stands next to leaders of other Brics nations including Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

Break US domination and build Africa’s nations with BRICS

Africa is in a position to mobilise more countries to end decades-long US hegemony and leverage the continent’s position economically and politically

There are environment-friendly interventions that will ensure that South Africa will have sufficient renewable power supply domestically as well as for export.  (Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

‘South Africa on a path to unjust transition’

The country needs a greener economy but energy specialists say policymakers must ensure the creation of a fairer economy in the process

‘This tiny guy’: The self-effacing Soborno Isaac Bari, the youngest professor in the world, is a nine-year-old prodigy who recently came to South Africa to spread his message of love – and to receive a laureate from the Da Vinci Institute, of course. Photo: Andy Mkosi

Q&A Sessions: ‘Age only dictates how long it’s been since you were born’

Nine-year-old Soborno Isaac Bari is the world’s youngest professor. The maths and science genius and Nobel prize nominee was recently in South Africa

One-way flow: From Nelson Mandela to Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa (above), there has never been a standard of high engagement between the press and the president in South Africa.

Pure Politics: ‘Family meetings’ underline uncomfortable press relationship

To achieve a deeper democracy, it is necessary to confront the tensions that have existed between the media and successive presidents since 1994.

Outside view: Even though Joe Biden won the US elections, nagging questions remain about why it was so
close and why 70-million Americans still voted for Donald Trump.  (Ariana Drehsler/AFP)

Will Biden and Harris help us breathe again?

The United States’ newly elected leaders, Joe Biden and Kamala Devi Harris, must help recalibrate a global politics of hope and empathy

Non-Americans often ask me what it has been like to live through President Donald Trump’s administration after the heady years of Obama. The answer, for me, is complicated.

Finding my faith in Trump’s America

From the heady days of Obama’s inauguration to the everyday fears of living while black, Jakki Kerubo had a front-row seat to one of the most turbulent periods in US history

The journalist who was shot in cold blood

Ahmed Divela was one of Ghana’s most fearless investigative journalists. This edited excerpt about his killing is from Faces of Assassination

We cannot reform ourselves out of the times we are in

To end racism, we will have to change the structures from which it draws its mandate, and get rid of liberal and right-wing politicians who give it oxygen while we are being…

Although he had been in power for just over a year when the country went to the polls, owing to the early recall of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma (R), in February 2018, the election of the ANC was a stamp of approval for Cyril Ramaphosa (L) to lead South Africa through a sound domestic and foreign policy.

After disastrous Zuma years, Ramaphosa must provide foreign policy clarity

For a country that is guided by ubuntu, South Africa has a record of embarrassing international blunders

Sanders-style economic populism is not a wholly convincing message for many black voters in southern states. (Flickr)

What Bernie Sanders needs to learn from black voters in South Africa

Senator Sanders must explicitly demonstrate that a US government that can guarantee universal healthcare is the best path to building long-term black wealth

There’s Joe Biden, former president Barrack Obama’s vice-president for eight years. At the onset of the primary season that status alone catapulted him to the top of every poll as the presumptive nominee.(Kamil Krzaczynski/Reuters)

US presidential campaign 2020: The Democratic conundrum

As Super Tuesday looms, there are five candidates left in the Democratic race. But the party must ensure it selects someone who will be able to defeat incumbent Donald Trump