Africa Is a Country

Mr Balotelli

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Mr Balotelli

By
Sean Jacobs

The estranged son of Ghanaian immigrants reared in Brescia wreaks havoc in Manchester:

“Why always me?” read the slogan on Mario Balotelli’s vest. Because, Mario, you’re clearly more than a little bit eccentric. But you do know how to score goals and, as long as that is the case, City will forgive him for whatever controversies come their way bearing his fingerprints. City’s own firestarter lit the fuse, put a rocket up United, set the game ablaze and every other firework pun going. You wouldn’t want to be his neighbour and it will be one hell of an autobiography one day, but that’s six goals in five games. The good outweighs the bad even if it is a close-run thing at times. And maybe he is learning: the old Mario would surely have lifted his shirt for his second goal, too, and collected a second card for his troubles.

Source and Photo Credit.  See also here.

Further Reading

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.