Kojo Koram
STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR
The True Capital of Prisons
In the murky swamp waters of Louisiana, there lies an experiment that has been cooking up for the past 20 years. Created and conducted without the public's consent, it is an experiment, which if successful, could serve as the prototype for other states and other countries. ...read more
UK Politicians Are Still Clueless on Drug Policy
Last September, it appeared that the Labour Party had chosen to send a message with its choice of international guest speaker at the annual party conference. As Labour have longed used the American Democratic Party as a canary-in-the-mine, the awarding of the stage to New York ...read more
Uruguay Pulls Out Of The Drug War: How Long Until We All Join Her?
When the 2nd World War came to a close, the establishment of the U.N. was supposed to usher in a new era of peace. Yet as the 20th century has turned into the 21st, the new status quo of the international order was shown not to be an end of wars but an end of wars that end. ...read more
The Music Festival of the Near Future
It's festival season again but the anesthetized, corporate extravaganzas of today are a pale imitation of the bacchanalian Woodstock or Isle of Wight festivals of yesteryear. Watch the video below and ask: is this what awaits us in the future? ...read more
Traditional Gay Wedding in Africa
I love being from Africa but the motherland definitely needs to loose some of its more homophobic tendencies. This video gives me hope for the future. ...read more
Drones: For or Against? Time for Everyone on the Left to Decide
It has been interesting to see the schism that has emerged in the left post the 2012 elections campaign. Freed from the distraction of fending off Mitt Romney and band of legitimate rapists, the likes of Cornel West, Jeremy Scahill and others are increasingly happy to publicly ...read more
The Real History of Rap
For years, critics of hip-hop music have accused it of being a materialistic and misogynistic creation of modern urban communities. However in the video below, UK wordsmith Akala uses another narrative to explain the emergence of hip-hop. Watch if you are interested in historical ...read more
In Defense of the Rolling Stone Cover
From the day we watch our first Disney movie as children, we begin to be indoctrinated with an idea which acts as a foundation for our world view: the hero/heroine of the story is always beautiful and evil can always be recognized by its ugliness. From Snow White to Sleeping ...read more
The Truth About Racial Profiling
Racial Profiling is often dismissed as a myth by the right-wing. In this video, secret recordings are taken to show the reality of how the police use their 'stop and search' powers. ...read more
This is how you respond to a tabloid trying to 'bodyshame' you!
In the UK, right wing tabloid The Daily Mail revels in exposing the body of female celebrities whenever possible to either objectify or shame them. However, they chose the wrong celebrity when they tried to mock singer Amanda Palmer for a wardrobe malfunction at Glastonbury ...read more
Zimmerman Was Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Trayvon, Like All Black Men, Was Not.
I felt consumed by anger when I heard the Trayvon Martin verdict over the weekend. Anger not just at the verdict, but at how little it shocked me. I had accepted that George Zimmerman must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. But what is so ...read more
You Want To Know What's Happening In Egypt? Ask This 12-Year-Old.
If the translation is right, this must be the most articulate and politically astute 12-Year-Old anywhere in the world. Amazing. ...read more
Of Course Race Has Nothing To Do With The Zimmerman Verdict
In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin murder case, there have been right-wing commentators who have tried to edit out the racial aspect of the 'not guilty' verdict. It was simply a matter of law they say, in fact those who focus on the race of Zimmerman and Martin are the true ...read more
Cornel West on 'Learning How To Die'
In this clip from Astra Taylor's 2008 documentary 'An Examined Life' Dr Cornel West talks about how philosophy is about "learning how to die." The whole documentary is excellent, one of my old favorites but Dr Cornel West steals the show for me. Check it out if you want to ...read more
An American President's Plane is Forced to Emergency Land... Don't Worry, it's Only a Latin American President.
If, as Fox-News tells us, Barack Obama is the most un-American of all 44 Presidents of the U.S.A, the subsequent question must be: who is the most American of all the Presidents - the apple pie standard against which Obama can be measured? An early betting favorite would have to ...read more
Religion v Atheism - Short Debate
A five-minute debate between Andrew Brown and Daniel Dennett. Both are atheists but Dennett was one of the infamous 'new atheists', who, along with the other 'three horsemen' Hitchens, Dawkins and Harris, has made atheism fashionable in the recent years. Brown is a lot more ...read more
Rock 'n' Roll is now about Brands instead of Bands
First off, I must start by emphasizing how huge a Rolling Stones fan I am. I spent much of my late teens trying to figure out if I could force my afro into the Brian Jones hairstyle. It never worked surprisingly enough. This article is a critique on what the band has become ...read more
Barack Obama 'humbled' by visit to Nelson Mandela's Robben Island jail
25 years ago, the idea of a Black U.S. President visiting a Black governed South Africa to pay homage to the victorious anti-apartheid struggle would have seemed hysterical to many. How things can change. ...read more
Immigration in a Parallel Universe
This video gives us a glimpse of the immigration problem that is always talked about in the UK and US, but from another perspective. It makes us rethink some of the assumptions we don't often question. ...read more
Ancient African Coins That Could Change The History of Australia
The mysteries of antiquity could change how we view the world today: According to history textbooks, Aboriginal explorers arrived in Australia from Asia at least 60,000 years ago. The first European widely known to have set foot on the continent was Dutch navigator Willem ...read more
If Brazil and Turkey Can Go Up in Flames, Then Anywhere Can
Back in 2011 when the Arab world exploded with popular uprisings, the Western media's first response was confusion. Was this a good or bad thing? The media appeared paralysed in the face of these developments which did not conform to the stereo type of the Barbarian Arab ...read more
Maddow Explains How The FBI Can Assassinate Anyone They Want
Maddow talks of the lack on transparency with the FBI. ...read more
"Go and Get Your Own Coffee": Could This Be The End of The Unpaid Intern?
School is out for the summer! Once upon a time, as final exams were being taken and heads were being measured for graduation cap 'n' gowns, students would only need concern themselves with that ultimate question : would this summer would be more about watching MTV or catching ...read more
Russell Brand to MSNBC: "Is this what you all do to make a living?"
MSNBC gets a new anchor. ...read more