Jan 23
Ep43: Fail Forward with Njuki Githethwa
What does it mean to fail forward in organising, and how do movements survive across generations? In this episode, recorded at Mashujaa Heritage Archives in Kibichuku, Monica Kamandau sits down with veteran Kenyan organiser and scholar Njuki Githethwa. With nearly three decades i ... Show More
36m 14s
Dec 3
TM Smoke Signals: Gun Violence and the American Myth with Phil and Rodgers
What is the true story behind America’s gun culture beyond Hollywood’s dramatised scenes? In this Smoke Signal, we unpack the myths, realities, and politics behind gun violence in the United States through lived experience, global perception, and the unchecked power of the gun in ... Show More
15m 58s
Oct 2025
Ahmad Ibsais: Law & the Power of Words | Sumud Podcast
🎙️ This week on the Sumud Podcast, we’re joined by Ahmad Ibsais, a law student, writer, and poet whose work captures life, loss, and defiance under siege. Through his acclaimed newsletter State of Siege, Ahmad documents a generation’s struggle for justice, blending legal insight ... Show More
36m 23s
Mar 2025
"Imprisoning a Revolution: Writings from Egypt's Incarcerated" (U California Press, 2025)
Imprisoning a Revolution: Writings from Egypt’s Incarcerated (U California Press, 2025), edited by Collective Antigone, is a groundbreaking collection of writings by political prisoners in Egypt. It offers a unique lens on the global rise of authoritarianism during the last decad ... Show More
1h 3m
Sep 2025
TED Talks Daily Book Club: How to Be Free: A Proven Guide to Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons | Shaka Senghor
Note: this talk contains mature content.Shaka Senghor is a resilience expert and New York Times best-selling author, who spent 19 years in prison–including 7 in solitary confinement–for a crime committed when he was young, before finding his path to freedom. In this TED Talks Dai ... Show More
44m 15s
Mar 2025
George the Poet on Music, Memory, and the War on Blackness Art & Culture (Part Two)
George Mpanga, known as George the Poet, is seen by many as one of the UK’s most compelling voices in poetry, music, and social commentary.
Originally hailing from St Raphael’s Estate in Neasden, Mpanga has spent over a decade working at the intersection of art and politics ref ... Show More
26m 29s
What does it really mean to “build the nation,” and who pays the price for that work?
In this Smoke Signals episode, Monica Kamandau reads Building the Nation by Ugandan poet Henry Barlow, a biting and darkly humorous poem that exposes the everyday hypocrisies of power, privilege, and sacrifice in postcolonial African states.
This reading lands powerfully in ... Show More
<p>Reginald Dwayne Betts spent more than eight years in prison. Today he's a Yale Law graduate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a poet. His nonprofit works to build libraries in prisons so that more incarcerated people can find hope.</p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>SOURCES:</strong><ul><li><a ... Show More
