Ben Radley
@radleyben.bsky.social
Reader in International Development at Bath | Editor for Review of African Political Economy (roape.net) | Research mining, energy & labour in Africa & Asia-Pacific | www.benradley.com
Reposted by Ben Radley
Shaun Milton reviews Saima Ndahangwapo’s new book Defending the Investment about uranium mining in Namibia, arguing it makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of decolonisation in Africa.
roape.net/2025/11/05/d...
roape.net/2025/11/05/d...
November 5, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Shaun Milton reviews Saima Ndahangwapo’s new book Defending the Investment about uranium mining in Namibia, arguing it makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of decolonisation in Africa.
roape.net/2025/11/05/d...
roape.net/2025/11/05/d...
As part of @guerrilla_pod's African revolutions & decolonisation series, Henry Hakamäki spoke w. Josaphat Musamba, Prof Germain Tshibambe & myself about mining in Congo. History, environmental & economic impacts, nuances etc.
2 1/2 hours!
guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
2 1/2 hours!
guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
Guerrilla History: Mining the Congo w/ Josaphat Musamba, Germain Ngoie Tshibambe, & Ben Radley (AR&D Ep.10)
With this episode of Guerrilla History, we bring you another fascinating episode in our series African Revolutions and Decolonization. This time, a big episode on mining in Congo - extraction, e...
guerrillahistory.libsyn.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:03 AM
As part of @guerrilla_pod's African revolutions & decolonisation series, Henry Hakamäki spoke w. Josaphat Musamba, Prof Germain Tshibambe & myself about mining in Congo. History, environmental & economic impacts, nuances etc.
2 1/2 hours!
guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
2 1/2 hours!
guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
Reposted by Ben Radley
Guerrilla History: Mining the Congo w/ Josaphat Musamba, Germain Ngoie Tshibambe, & Ben Radley (AR&D Ep.10)
Episode webpage: guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
Media file: traffic.libsyn.com/secure/guerr...
Episode webpage: guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
Media file: traffic.libsyn.com/secure/guerr...
Guerrilla History: Mining the Congo w/ Josaphat Musamba, Germain Ngoie Tshibambe, & Ben Radley (AR&D Ep.10)
With this episode of Guerrilla History, we bring you another fascinating episode in our series African Revolutions and Decolonization. This time, a big episode on mining in Congo - extraction, e...
guerrillahistory.libsyn.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Guerrilla History: Mining the Congo w/ Josaphat Musamba, Germain Ngoie Tshibambe, & Ben Radley (AR&D Ep.10)
Episode webpage: guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
Media file: traffic.libsyn.com/secure/guerr...
Episode webpage: guerrillahistory.libsyn.com/mining-the-c...
Media file: traffic.libsyn.com/secure/guerr...
Reposted by Ben Radley
Sacolo Bafanabakhe outlines the historical processes of political, economic & social failure in #Eswatini that have led the Communist Party of #Swaziland to declare 2025 the Year of Mass Mobilisation for the Insurrectionary Seizure of Power.
roape.net/2025/10/17/s...
roape.net/2025/10/17/s...
Swaziland under the Mswati–Taiwan–Israel alliance: an ongoing struggle - ROAPE
Writing in response to a blog post published on roape.net in May 2025, Sacolo Bafanabakhe outlines the broader historical processes of political, economic and social failure in Eswatini that have led ...
roape.net
October 17, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Sacolo Bafanabakhe outlines the historical processes of political, economic & social failure in #Eswatini that have led the Communist Party of #Swaziland to declare 2025 the Year of Mass Mobilisation for the Insurrectionary Seizure of Power.
roape.net/2025/10/17/s...
roape.net/2025/10/17/s...
Reposted by Ben Radley
Check out our new walking tour app that celebrates Black histories in Bath, from the Roman Empire to the present day. The app has been developed by Bath academics at CDS with BEMSCA.
Learn more about the walk: www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
@devcomms.bsky.social @radleyben.bsky.social
Learn more about the walk: www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
@devcomms.bsky.social @radleyben.bsky.social
September 29, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Check out our new walking tour app that celebrates Black histories in Bath, from the Roman Empire to the present day. The app has been developed by Bath academics at CDS with BEMSCA.
Learn more about the walk: www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
@devcomms.bsky.social @radleyben.bsky.social
Learn more about the walk: www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
@devcomms.bsky.social @radleyben.bsky.social
Reposted by Ben Radley
Drawing upon 41 interviews and 200 hours of observant participation, Siyabulela Fobosi delivers a scathing criticism of South Africa’s Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, arguing that it deepens precarity and workers’ resistance.
How South Africa’s Taxi Recapitalisation Programme deepens precarity and workers' resistance - ROAPE
Siyabulela Christopher Fobosi revisits the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme (TRP) through the lens of precarious work, with a particular focus on minibus taxi drivers and marshals in Johannesburg.…
buff.ly
September 5, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Drawing upon 41 interviews and 200 hours of observant participation, Siyabulela Fobosi delivers a scathing criticism of South Africa’s Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, arguing that it deepens precarity and workers’ resistance.
Or, to put it another way, DR #Congo - which provides around 3/4s of world cobalt supply - receives less than 0.6% of the value generated in the global electric vehicle value chain (much of which disappears overseas anyhow).
Source: ecfr.eu/publication/...
Source: ecfr.eu/publication/...
September 5, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Or, to put it another way, DR #Congo - which provides around 3/4s of world cobalt supply - receives less than 0.6% of the value generated in the global electric vehicle value chain (much of which disappears overseas anyhow).
Source: ecfr.eu/publication/...
Source: ecfr.eu/publication/...
Reposted by Ben Radley
Longstanding ROAPE editor Colin Stoneman recalls his impressions of #Zimbabwe under colonial occupation, the country’s liberation struggle and its leading unionist & political figures, including Morgan Tsvangiri.
roape.net/2025/09/03/c...
roape.net/2025/09/03/c...
Colin Stoneman on liberation struggle in Zimbabwe and ROAPE's radical origins - ROAPE
Ben Radley speaks with longstanding ROAPE editor Colin Stoneman about his political journey from chemist to Marxist political economist working on Zimbabwe. The interview explores Stoneman's impressio...
roape.net
September 3, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Longstanding ROAPE editor Colin Stoneman recalls his impressions of #Zimbabwe under colonial occupation, the country’s liberation struggle and its leading unionist & political figures, including Morgan Tsvangiri.
roape.net/2025/09/03/c...
roape.net/2025/09/03/c...
Excellent to see this out after a bit of work steering it through. Learnt a huge amount in the process about a context I knew little of before. Includes a slightly different but wonderful article on artistic engagement in resistance through poetry & song
bsky.app/profile/roap...
bsky.app/profile/roap...
The editorial from the latest issue of ROAPE journal, including links to freely access all the listed articles:
Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado
roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado
roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
July 30, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Excellent to see this out after a bit of work steering it through. Learnt a huge amount in the process about a context I knew little of before. Includes a slightly different but wonderful article on artistic engagement in resistance through poetry & song
bsky.app/profile/roap...
bsky.app/profile/roap...
Reposted by Ben Radley
The editorial from the latest issue of ROAPE journal, including links to freely access all the listed articles:
Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado
roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado
roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
July 30, 2025 at 10:36 AM
The editorial from the latest issue of ROAPE journal, including links to freely access all the listed articles:
Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado
roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
Caught in the fishers’ net? The colonial plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources, by Blanca Camps-Febrer & Enrique Bengochea Tirado
roape.net/2025/07/30/c...
Have written about this elsewhere but this idea that 'large-scale & small-scale mining operations can partner & flourish together' assumes small-scale happy to stay small. Risks cementing subordination of small (local/national) to large (typically foreign).
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
July 28, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Have written about this elsewhere but this idea that 'large-scale & small-scale mining operations can partner & flourish together' assumes small-scale happy to stay small. Risks cementing subordination of small (local/national) to large (typically foreign).
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The brilliant Farwa Sial on the growing role of private equity in the global South, writing for the Developing Economics blog:
developingeconomics.org/2025/07/23/p...
developingeconomics.org/2025/07/23/p...
Private Equity in the Global South: Locusts? Vampires? The contagion effect
The effectiveness of private equity has been a subject of ongoing debate in countries of the Global North. There is substantial evidence highlighting the extractive practices associated with privat…
developingeconomics.org
July 24, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The brilliant Farwa Sial on the growing role of private equity in the global South, writing for the Developing Economics blog:
developingeconomics.org/2025/07/23/p...
developingeconomics.org/2025/07/23/p...
Keep an eye out for @roapejournal.bsky.social's upcoming Fanon special issue, due out in December 2025...
bsky.app/profile/roap...
bsky.app/profile/roap...
100 years ago today, Frantz Fanon was born.
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a seminal thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a seminal thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
July 21, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Keep an eye out for @roapejournal.bsky.social's upcoming Fanon special issue, due out in December 2025...
bsky.app/profile/roap...
bsky.app/profile/roap...
Reposted by Ben Radley
100 years ago today, Frantz Fanon was born.
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a seminal thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a seminal thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
July 20, 2025 at 8:44 AM
100 years ago today, Frantz Fanon was born.
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a seminal thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
Martiniquais by birth, Algerian by struggle #Fanon100 was not only a seminal thinker of anti-imperialist struggles in Africa and the Global South, but also a revolutionary activist.
"What matters is not to know the world but to change it"
A new working paper with @CynthKamwengo that hopefully provides some practical examples & ideas for how universities can decolonise, diversify, & update their social science curricula (& possible limits to these efforts):
purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...
purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...
July 17, 2025 at 10:02 AM
A new working paper with @CynthKamwengo that hopefully provides some practical examples & ideas for how universities can decolonise, diversify, & update their social science curricula (& possible limits to these efforts):
purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...
purehost.bath.ac.uk/ws/portalfil...
Reposted by Ben Radley
Dr Cynthia Kamwengo, Research Fellow @newnhamcollege.bsky.social and @radleyben.bsky.social have a new paper in Multiversum. Deconstructing and reconstructing African development studies through student engagement and cross-cultural collaboration at a UK university: www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-in...
July 17, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Dr Cynthia Kamwengo, Research Fellow @newnhamcollege.bsky.social and @radleyben.bsky.social have a new paper in Multiversum. Deconstructing and reconstructing African development studies through student engagement and cross-cultural collaboration at a UK university: www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-in...
Today is the day. After weeks of the various distractions & disturbances that make up academic life, & the worry over a paper that's not moving forward, I have an entire day to write. And here I am, procrastinating, unable to write. Brilliant. Thanks brain.
July 9, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Today is the day. After weeks of the various distractions & disturbances that make up academic life, & the worry over a paper that's not moving forward, I have an entire day to write. And here I am, procrastinating, unable to write. Brilliant. Thanks brain.
Staff or student at @uniofbath.bsky.social ? Coming to @devcomms.bsky.social conference at #Bath this week? Download this new (& free!) walking tour app on Android & Apple that celebrates Black histories in the city, from the Roman Empire to the present day.
www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
June 24, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Staff or student at @uniofbath.bsky.social ? Coming to @devcomms.bsky.social conference at #Bath this week? Download this new (& free!) walking tour app on Android & Apple that celebrates Black histories in the city, from the Roman Empire to the present day.
www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
www.devstud.org.uk/2025/06/13/b...
Reposted by Ben Radley
To learn about the history of the conflict, check out @radleyben.bsky.social + Nicholas Fairwood’s @newleftreview.bsky.social essay: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
June 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
To learn about the history of the conflict, check out @radleyben.bsky.social + Nicholas Fairwood’s @newleftreview.bsky.social essay: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
Reposted by Ben Radley
💭 “To develop a deeper understanding of the unfolding tragedy [in the DRC], it is essential to acknowledge the enduring role of imperialism in producing such a vitiated Congolese state”—Nicholas Fairwood + @radleyben.bsky.social in a recent @newleftreview.bsky.social blog.
June 13, 2025 at 3:12 PM
💭 “To develop a deeper understanding of the unfolding tragedy [in the DRC], it is essential to acknowledge the enduring role of imperialism in producing such a vitiated Congolese state”—Nicholas Fairwood + @radleyben.bsky.social in a recent @newleftreview.bsky.social blog.
Fantastic overview of the spread and scale of industrial activity in pre-colonial Africa, including textiles, shipbuilding, construction and glassworking. By Isaac Samuel.
www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-i...
www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-i...
Historic industries of pre-colonial Africa and the glassworkers of ancient Nubia
Significant strides have been made over the last decades in the study of the pre-colonial industries of Africa, especially regarding their emergence and the scale of production.
www.africanhistoryextra.com
June 16, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Fantastic overview of the spread and scale of industrial activity in pre-colonial Africa, including textiles, shipbuilding, construction and glassworking. By Isaac Samuel.
www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-i...
www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/historic-i...
Not everyday a yet-to-be-presented paper at @hetecon.bsky.social conference makes @theguardian.com lead editorial
""Zambia’s economy is not being plundered by domestic actors but rather by transnational corporate practices"
Happy to have my ticket to this one
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
""Zambia’s economy is not being plundered by domestic actors but rather by transnational corporate practices"
Happy to have my ticket to this one
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on Zambia’s Trumpian predicament: US aid cuts are dwarfed by a far bigger heist | Editorial
Editorial: As the US decries corruption, a paper suggests the real scandal is multinationals legally extracting billions from Africa’s resource-rich nation
www.theguardian.com
June 12, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Not everyday a yet-to-be-presented paper at @hetecon.bsky.social conference makes @theguardian.com lead editorial
""Zambia’s economy is not being plundered by domestic actors but rather by transnational corporate practices"
Happy to have my ticket to this one
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
""Zambia’s economy is not being plundered by domestic actors but rather by transnational corporate practices"
Happy to have my ticket to this one
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Ben Radley
📑 Read the full @newleftreview.bsky.social blog: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
➕ For a more expansive view, check out #NYUCIC="/hashtag/NYUCIC%E2%80%99s" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#NYUCIC’s Senior Fellow @jasonkstearns.bsky.social’s recent essay: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
#NYUCIC #DRC
➕ For a more expansive view, check out #NYUCIC="/hashtag/NYUCIC%E2%80%99s" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#NYUCIC’s Senior Fellow @jasonkstearns.bsky.social’s recent essay: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
#NYUCIC #DRC
June 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
📑 Read the full @newleftreview.bsky.social blog: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
➕ For a more expansive view, check out #NYUCIC="/hashtag/NYUCIC%E2%80%99s" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#NYUCIC’s Senior Fellow @jasonkstearns.bsky.social’s recent essay: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
#NYUCIC #DRC
➕ For a more expansive view, check out #NYUCIC="/hashtag/NYUCIC%E2%80%99s" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link">#NYUCIC’s Senior Fellow @jasonkstearns.bsky.social’s recent essay: newleftreview.org/sidecar/post....
#NYUCIC #DRC
Reposted by Ben Radley
🤔 How has the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s position within the imperial order shaped its current conflict?
🔍 @radleyben.bsky.social + Nicholas Fairwood analyze the conflict and the history of imperial intervention and interference in the country.
🔍 @radleyben.bsky.social + Nicholas Fairwood analyze the conflict and the history of imperial intervention and interference in the country.
'The DRC – born under Belgian colonial rule, remade as a Cold War theatre, now shaped by external financial flows – remains deprived of anything resembling real sovereignty.'
Ben Radley & Nicholas Fairwood contextualise the conflict in the Congo:
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Ben Radley & Nicholas Fairwood contextualise the conflict in the Congo:
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Ben Radley & Nicholas Fairwood, Colonial Legacies — Sidecar
Understanding the DRC.
newleftreview.org
June 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
🤔 How has the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s position within the imperial order shaped its current conflict?
🔍 @radleyben.bsky.social + Nicholas Fairwood analyze the conflict and the history of imperial intervention and interference in the country.
🔍 @radleyben.bsky.social + Nicholas Fairwood analyze the conflict and the history of imperial intervention and interference in the country.
Reposted by Ben Radley
In this short excerpt from the conclusion to his recently published book - Military #Marxism: Africa’s Contribution to Revolutionary Theory, 1957-2023 - Adam Mayer urges the importance of returning to and learning from #Africa’s Military Marxists.
roape.net/2025/06/04/t...
roape.net/2025/06/04/t...
June 4, 2025 at 9:08 AM
In this short excerpt from the conclusion to his recently published book - Military #Marxism: Africa’s Contribution to Revolutionary Theory, 1957-2023 - Adam Mayer urges the importance of returning to and learning from #Africa’s Military Marxists.
roape.net/2025/06/04/t...
roape.net/2025/06/04/t...