TROUBLEMAKERS

How do movements shift people from neutrality or even opposition into active allies for justice struggles? In this episode of the Troublemakers podcast, Monica hosts Sungu Oyoo, a writer, educator, activist, and Pan-Africanist. Sungu works with MWAMKO (Pan-African Popular Pedagogy Collective) as Director of Special Programs and Organisational Development and is also part of Kongamano Lamapinduzi,...

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 our current moment, where ordinary peop...

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 in resistance and movement building, Dr. Njuki reflects on the evolution of Kenya’s struggles, from the Mau Mau movement...

Ep42: Civil Disobedience with Faith Kasina When does breaking the law become the only way to survive? In this episode, we sit down at the Kayole Social Justice Centre with organizer Faith Kasina and members of the Centre to explore civil disobedience in moments when the state fails its people. Faith walks us through protest organizing during COVID, the realities of living under Article 43 violatio...

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 industry. Growing up outside the U.S., many of us see America through movies: chaotic streets, armed civilians, danger at...

What happens when a movement falls in love with one tactic? In this episode, we visit Githurai Social Justice Centre to explore how Kenyan organisers can move beyond protest fatigue and rethink the power of people-centred strategies. Njoki Gachanja is a community organizer, political and social justice activist, and community lawyer. She coordinates the Githurai Social Justice Centre, where she wo...

How do millennials and Gen Z work together in social movements when their values, experiences, and approaches often clash? In this episode of Troublemakers (TM) Smoke Signals, we explore intergenerational dynamics in activism, examining the tensions and opportunities that arise when younger and older generations collaborate or collide.   Key Ideas and Highlights: Different Values, Shared Goals: Mi...

Why Are We Obsessed with Being the Hero? In this episode, Dr Mette Fog Olwig, a geographer, author, and storyteller, examines how “hero narratives” shape global climate, sustainability and development responses. Her new book, A Bit Too Simple: Narratives of Development, Sustainability and Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2025, open access), looks at the origin and current iteration of t...

How do we unlearn the colonial logic of “good development”?   In this episode, Ugandan filmmaker and theatremaker Patience Nitumwesiga reflects on Paulo Freire’s and Augusto Boal’s ideas, exploring how art, story, and imagination can awaken critical consciousness and challenge imposed notions of progress.   Key Ideas   Unlearning the “banking model” — Knowledge already lives within communities; tr...

What does it mean to seek justice in a system that thrives on injustice? In this powerful reading, Sungu Oyoo, a Kenyan writer, activist, and pan-Africanist affiliated with Kongamano La Mapinduzi and Mwamko, revisits the words of Sam Mugumya, author of We Refuse to Be Victims. Key Ideas and Highlights Injustice as Everyday Life Sungu’s reading reminds us how injustice is normalised, becoming the a...

In this Smoke Signal, Njuki Githethwa reads from the newly published collection ‘We Refuse to Be Victims' by Ugandan activist and poet Sam Mugumya. His words remind us that courage, dignity, and resistance are possible even under the harshest conditions. Sam visited Nairobi in August 2025, where he met with grassroots collectives from informal settlements, inspiring hope and solidarity. Days later...

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will,” Frederick Douglass What does it mean to choose your battles wisely? In this episode, host Phil Wilmot sits down with Zambian activist Villy Nawa to unpack the strategy of isolating targets and forcing institutions to account for their failures. From his first protest as a boarding school student demanding decent food to sp...

In this episode of Troublemakers (TM) Smoke Signals, we revisit an article written just before the Covid pandemic: Is the rising obsession with digital security paralyzing people power? What started as a reflection on the flood of digital security trainings resurfaces today with new urgency, amid accelerating AI, techno-feudalism, and state and corporate espionage. The internet once felt like a co...

Is nonviolence truly the higher ground, or is that just a myth handed to the oppressed by those in power? In this fiercely honest conversation, South African lawyer, activist, and former parliamentarian Magdalene Moonsamy returns to the mic to confront the moral binaries surrounding resistance, liberation, and the cost of freedom. Key Ideas and Highlights; The Violence – Nonviolence Trap Magdalene...

Is nonviolence truly the higher ground, or is that just a myth handed to the oppressed by those in power? In this fiercely honest and far-reaching conversation, South African lawyer, activist, and former parliamentarian Magdalene Moonsamy returns to the mic to confront the moral binaries surrounding resistance, liberation, and the cost of freedom. Key Ideas and Highlights The Violence–Nonviolence...

Ep35: Make New Folks Feel Welcome – Part 2 What does it really mean to feel welcome? In this second part of Make New Folks Feel Welcome, we flip the mic and pass it to the people. Real voices share real stories that made them feel like they mattered.  These are stories of kindness, comfort, and quiet inclusion. Then, we sit down with Lennart Dose, an architect deeply engaged in restoration and spa...

What happens when we don’t just imagine a better world, but practice it right now? Our host Monica Kamandau speaks with Ally, a creative writer, author-activist, and community organizer from Zanzibar about building truly inclusive communities.  Ally relates his experience with stuttering and how embracing his voice gave him a thirst for storytelling, organising, and helping others reclaim their po...

"Every single time, I’m the first audience I have to think about." – Minentle Luthuli Can you stay true to your story and still move others to act? Should you even try? In this deep and dynamic episode of Trouble Makers, South African filmmaker Minentle Luthuli challenges the idea that artists—or activists—should start by considering their audience. Drawing from personal experience, she speaks abo...

There’s one style of leadership in which a charismatic, commanding figure sets the agenda, builds a vertical hierarchy, and pulls everyone else along for the ride. But what happens when leadership flips the script?   In this episode of Trouble Makers, we explore the power of supportive, enabling leadership through the work of Juma Erassy, coordinator of the Youth Hub at MSTCDC in Arusha, Tanzania....

“You are invited. By anyone, to do anything. You are invited, for all time. You are so needed, by everyone, to do everything. You are invited, for all time.— The Dismemberment Plan, “You Are Invited” Bringing in new people is essential to any activist group that wants to grow in size and capacity, but recruiting is only the first step. Integrating people into an established group can be an even bi...

“Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.” — Frantz Fanon What does liberation mean when the very language of freedom is shaped by empire? In this episode, we speak with Somdeep Sen, political scientist and author of Decolonizing Palestine: Hamas Between the Anticolonial and the Postcolonial, about what it means to...

“As things fall apart, what’s the one drink you’d carry into the collapse?” In this episode, we pose the critical question of our time: if we all end up in one ecological safe zone during the polycrisis and are only allowed one alcoholic beverage for the rest of our lives... what drink are we bringing with us? We’re joined by Mia, Maggie, and Malemi, who gamely dive into this hypothetical apocalyp...

Phil, who was a Pro-Palestine campus activist in his university days, reflects on the recent police repression of student protesters at Columbia University and how it's part of a broader assault on pro-Palestinian solidarity movements across global campuses. But beyond the headlines, this episode dives into a deeper question: what counts as learning, and does dissent not create a stronger learning...

What does it mean to be a good ally—and not a harmful one—in movements for justice? In this episode, we explore the difficult but essential work of following the lead of the most impacted. Our guest reflects on the dangers of “do-gooder arrogance” and the importance of showing up with humility, not solutions.   We talk about how movements led by marginalised communities challenge extractive allysh...

Welcome to the first-ever segment of Troublemaker’s Polycrisis Prep School, a special segment of the Troublemaker’s Podcast where we debate the most “pressing” dilemmas of our turbulent times. First on the chopping board: 🍕🍍 Is it acceptable to put pineapple on pizza?   Joining the food fight are the Three Ms—Malemi, Maggie, and Mia.   Malemi is firmly in the no camp—pizza is savory, and fruit (...