Africa
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Can the World Cup help save Qatar migrant workers from being starved for relationships of love, romance and intimacy?
By Yasin Kakande In my first home in Dubai, when I worked as a journalist, I shared accommodations in an apartment building, which had several brothels on the top floors, serving largely migrant workers who were trying to make ends meet on their low wages. In fact, many buildings in the neighborhood had apartments, which… Continue reading
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The deaths that haunt me a decade on
In this exclusive piece published by the Migrant Rights, a journalist deported from the UAE for reporting on migrant deaths grapples with memories of untold stories. My complicated journey to Boston began when, as a reporter working in the United Arab Emirates, I was assigned to cover a major fire at the National Paints factory… Continue reading
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Political Assassinations and Torture; A Legacy of Museveni’s 35 Year’s Rule
EXTRACT FROM WHY WE ARE COMING, BY YASIN KAKANDE “Those who stand up for Justice will always be on the right side of history.” Barack Obama On a busy street in Kampala one evening in April 2012 at around nine o’clock after Muslims had completed their last prayers and were joining the commuter melee of… Continue reading
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Africa’s Most Reliable Imperialist Agent, The West, Will Not Let Go
EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM WHY WE ARE COMING, BY YASIN KAKANDE Ugandans will be heading to the polls early next year to elect the country’s new president. According to international journalist, migrant activist and TED Fellow Yasin Kakande, present incumbent and candidate, President Yoweri Museveni, is already taunting the main opponent, Bobi Wine, as being a… Continue reading
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When are we going to have an honest conversation on African migration?
In this exclusive article, International journalist, migrant activist and TED Fellow Yasin Kakande, author of a new book on the historical and contemporary reasons for African immigration, ‘Why We Are Coming’, traces the intersection between Black Lives Matter and African Migrations in the Covid-19 Pandemic. From the video images of a Minneapolis police killing of… Continue reading
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Has president Museveni turned $491.5m IMF loan into pandemic heist?
Ugandan-born international journalist Yasin Kakande is concerned that the current coronavirus pandemic may be being exploited by Uganda’s government to syphon funds and wrest further control from its beleaguered citizens. He writes exclusively for The Voice about his fears. RECENTLY, I asked a couple of friends on WhatsApp about how they would title a movie… Continue reading
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How the present day land-grabbing in Africa is forcing thousands to migrate to Europe
IN THIS exclusive excerpt from his new book Why We Are Coming, author Yasin Kakande—an international journalist, migrant activist and TED Fellow—lays bare the shocking truth about the Western exploitation of Africa that is the root cause of Africans choosing to leave their homelands for the UK, US and other developed nations. Across Africa many… Continue reading
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Museveni’s ascent to power on a tide of covert western influence
In this exclusive excerpt from his new book ‘Why We Are Coming’, international journalist, migrant activist and TED Fellow Yasin Kakande examines how the British Government was complicit in bringing Yoweri Museveni to power in Uganda. HE OVERTURNED Uganda’s Independence and expanded his master’s imperialist rule across Africa Every time the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni… Continue reading
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The Telegraph: African jobseekers changing their names to overcome ‘racist’ recruiters
African jobseekers changing their names to overcome ‘racist’ recruiters, author claims in new book Yasin Kakande reveals that applicants are also swapping traditional African names with anglicised versions to improve recruitment chances ByTelegraph Reporters 27 April 2020 African jobseekers are “whitening” their CVs by Photoshopping their skin and changing their names to overcome “racist” recruiters,… Continue reading
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Allow the Migrants to Speak Up Against Hate
By Yasin Kakande Last Friday night, my younger brother Wahab insisted we should lock the doors to our single bedroom apartment we share in Acton, Massachusetts. For almost two years we have stayed in the same apartment; we always closed the doors but only locked them once in a while. But, after the mosque terrorist… Continue reading
About Me
A native of Uganda, Yasin Kakande holds a university degree in mass communications and is currently pursuing an MFA (Creative Writing) from Emerson College in Boston. He worked in the United Arab Emirates reporting for local newspapers for fifteen years. Named a Global TED Fellow, Kakande is the author of many international news articles and two previous books, The Ambitious Struggle: An African Journalist’s Journey to Hope and Identity in a Land of Migrants and Slave States: The practice of Kafala in the Gulf Arab Countries. He has lectured widely on the topic of African migration and the politics of nationality at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Lake Forest College in Illinois, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. His op ed pieces appear regularly in major media outlets such as The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The London Economic.
Recent Posts
- Can the World Cup help save Qatar migrant workers from being starved for relationships of love, romance and intimacy?
- The deaths that haunt me a decade on
- Political Assassinations and Torture; A Legacy of Museveni’s 35 Year’s Rule
- Africa’s Most Reliable Imperialist Agent, The West, Will Not Let Go
- When are we going to have an honest conversation on African migration?