The Continent / is on Nostr

The award-winning pan-African weekly newspaper. Get it on WhatsApp or Signal by messaging us on +27 73 805 6068.

Last Notes

2024-09-04 09:05:34

Severe drought brought a Moroccan farming village to its knees, but unresolved conflict is its most existential threat. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/drought-and-the-neighbours-who-cant

2024-09-03 11:12:14

Dressed in a Spider-Man costume on the streets of Addis Ababa, an unnamed man engages in small acts of kindness to the people around him: mending old clothes, dusting the shoes of passers-by, and serenading onlookers. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/your-friendly-neighbourhood-ethio?r=2d15gt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

2024-09-02 11:38:46

Diamonds account for 30% of Botswana’s entire economy. But lab-grown gems mean less demand for ones dug out of the soil. For now, Botswana is trying to get more control over the money still to be made from its precious stones. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/the-panic-behind-botswanas-big-sparkly

2024-08-31 10:01:53

The Microsoft founder wields enormous influence over agriculture in Africa. He may be trying to end hunger, but critics say he is ‘playing god’ – and getting it wrong. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/bill-gates-big-agriculture-and-the

2024-08-30 22:07:54

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2024-08-30 22:02:02

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But Bill Gates’ work has many critics. And some farmers say that the people promising solutions already owe “reparations” for the damage they say has been done by those solutions.
Read it the full story in this week's issue here: https://bit.ly/TC174

2024-08-30 22:00:36

All Protocol Observed
Welcome to Issue 174 of The Continent.
Nearly a billion more Africans will need to be fed by 2050. Farms are already struggling and one in 10 people go entire days without food. Big solutions are needed. The world’s seventh richest person thinks he has some of those, and has injected a fortune into African agriculture.
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/053/219/777/058/437/original/be2818a996d885a2.jpg

2024-08-30 09:49:34

BIG PIC
Preparing the way: A procession of the faithful from Porto Novo carry a statue of John the Baptist on a 23km pilgrimage on the island of Santo Antãoís, Cabo Verde, in a demonstration of faith and gratitude. Photo: Queila Fernandes/AFP
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/050/345/254/980/835/original/55c1697987280ff9.jpg

2024-08-29 10:07:57

In 1955, more than 3,000 people gathered in the central square in Kliptown, in defiance of the apartheid government. Over two days, they listened as speakers read out what became known as the Freedom Charter: a manifesto for a democratic, non-racial, equitable South Africa. Today the national heritage site lies in ruins. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/dereliction-of-duty

2024-08-27 08:16:37

African gig workers are shocked to learn that they may have unknowingly trained the systems Russia uses against protesters. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/serving-putin-without-even-knowing?r=2d15gt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

2024-08-22 08:33:00

The journey to Paris 2024 was not easy for South Sudan’s basketball team. Just 13 years ago, South Sudan did not exist as a country, and the team’s players were scattered worldwide, displaced by the decades-long civil war.
https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/south-sudan-is-revelling-in-its-olympic

2024-08-17 09:05:48

With remarkable creativity, young Kenyans used technology to organise nationwide protests. The state’s digital response has been equally remarkable, but for all the wrong reasons. https://continent.substack.com/p/kenyas-government-has-a-blueprint

2024-05-10 21:55:44

All Protocol Observed
Welcome to Issue 161 of The Continent
Regulators in South Africa are mulling over what could be Africa’s biggest-ever media deal. French satellite TV broadcaster Canal+ wants to buy South Africa-based MultiChoice. It would then have an audience of 30-million people across Africa. The family group behind Canal+, headed by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, has a habit of turning the media it buys into versions of Fox News, peddling extremist opinions for ratings.
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/112/419/009/760/668/863/original/03aa83f9ee5096e0.png

2024-05-07 10:44:54

Meta’s community standards are supposed to protect users from bad or distressing content. Instead, they are protecting the Somali government from criticism. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/facebook-aids-and-abets-somalias?r=2d15gt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

2024-05-06 08:14:31

🧵 Felipe Dana and Renata Brito won the Africa Open Format category of the 2024 World Press Photo Contest. Their winning project was prompted by a grim discovery off the coast of Tobago in May 2021: a Mauritanian boat full of dead men. The two journalists set out to investigate.

2024-04-29 10:48:11

Long before the political crisis, food production in Niger began falling victim to the increasingly hostile environment, as the Sahara desert crept south and drought degraded the soil. For those who can, sometimes the only option is to leave. https://continent.substack.com/p/niger-those-who-can-leave

2024-04-19 11:01:28

Malawian farmers barely have a carbon footprint. But they are starving because a heated globe has delivered them one catastrophe after another. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/malawi-the-climate-crisis-is-pushing?r=14kg56&utm_medium=ios