ZAM Magazine

A new pan-African arts magazine documents how art across the continent is routinely subjected to abuse, attacks, and other violations. However, despite these growing pressures, artists continue to persist and thrive.

As a Nigerian journalist, I have witnessed how the shrinking civic space continues to limit freedom of expression across my country. From investigative journalists navigating fear, censorship, and backlash from both state and non-state actors, to women journalists facing coordinated online attacks, to storytellers being arbitrarily arrested, and songs being banned from broadcast media platforms, speaking truth to power has become a visibly risky act.

As the “Giant of Africa,” as Nigeria is often called, continues to grapple with persistent attacks on free expression, it is perhaps not surprising that other countries across the continent also wage war on dissenting voices. The Pan Africa Network of Artistic Freedom VOICES Issue 1 Introducing PANAF Voices Magazine PANAF documents how art across Africa is routinely subjected to abuse, attacks, and other violations. However, despite these growing pressures, artists continue to persist and thrive.

From Zimbabwe to Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia, and across an overview of East African countries, PANAF’s inaugural issue succeeds not only as a literary collection but also as a strategic intervention in Africa’s increasingly constrained civic and artistic spaces.

Read the full article by clicking the link in bio.

Article by Blessing Oladunjoye

Images courtesy of PANAF PANAF

Modern wildlife conservation has, in effect, morphed into a video game with real-world consequences. AI-powered surveillance systems, military-style drones, individual animal tracking, Special Forces veterans, and satellite imagery are now routinely deployed to protect endangered species. As the Sixth Extinction looms and poaching syndicates continue to gain ground, the sector increasingly relies on counter-insurgency tactics and paramilitary-style units. Organisations such as the Dutch-originating non-governmental organisation African Parks now manage a substantial force of around 2,000 rangers across the African continent.

However, while the elephants may benefit, people living in these areas often experience the situation very differently. Human rights abuses are widespread, community privacy is sacrificed in favour of mass surveillance, and local populations are subject to violent enforcement. The protection of wildlife has transformed hunting and fishing communities into so-called “poachers” and, by extension, criminals, while the underlying drivers of poaching — poverty, land dispossession, and the lack of viable livelihood alternatives — remain unaddressed. Even those who simply seek to defend their land risk arrest, abuse, and imprisonment..

Read the full article by Benon Oluka Benon Herbert Oluka , Sam Schramski and Tulani Ngwenya Tulani Ngwenya through the link in bio.