Ashoka Mukpo
@shokes.bsky.social
Features Writer, @mongabay.bsky.social ☀️
Pinned
Ashoka Mukpo
@shokes.bsky.social
· Apr 11
The colonial ghosts of Uganda’s ‘Queen Elizabeth’ park
In 1889, the British journalist Henry Morton Stanley stumbled out of the forests of Central Africa into the town of Katwe, a settlement on the shore of a sulfurous volcanic lake. The lake’s vast depos...
news.mongabay.com
The last of three pieces I wrote about Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park is up now for @mongabay.bsky.social.
Protected areas across Africa have long colonial legacies that shape their relationship with people. This is my deep-dive into one of them:
news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-...
Protected areas across Africa have long colonial legacies that shape their relationship with people. This is my deep-dive into one of them:
news.mongabay.com/2025/04/the-...
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
Genuinely thought this said “The Presidential Waffle House”
November 12, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Genuinely thought this said “The Presidential Waffle House”
Funny to think about how these places may wind up more beautiful and well-used as ruins than they were while open, especially if our population does decline in the next few centuries www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/m...
Dying Shopping Malls Are the Roman Ruins of Our Civilization
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Funny to think about how these places may wind up more beautiful and well-used as ruins than they were while open, especially if our population does decline in the next few centuries www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/m...
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
I think the belief by the powerful that "people will put up with many things if you are excellent at math" is incredibly revealing in terms of understanding How We Got Here
November 11, 2025 at 7:14 PM
I think the belief by the powerful that "people will put up with many things if you are excellent at math" is incredibly revealing in terms of understanding How We Got Here
Still my favorite Mamdani - so far
November 10, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Still my favorite Mamdani - so far
Patriots fans across america collectively coming alive like white walkers to once again become the most annoying people on earth
November 9, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Patriots fans across america collectively coming alive like white walkers to once again become the most annoying people on earth
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
virtue signalling is good actually
Performative decency is actually *so* important for this reason.
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
virtue signalling is good actually
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
Remember kids, it’s not socialism if the state funding is for the bros.
BREAKING: OpenAI is requesting US government support to help guarantee financing for the massive investments in AI chips and data centers it needs for expansion, per Bloomberg.
November 6, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Remember kids, it’s not socialism if the state funding is for the bros.
This man can hoop
Mamdani:
“We won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us.
Now, it is something that we do.”
“We won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us.
Now, it is something that we do.”
November 5, 2025 at 11:35 AM
This man can hoop
When Sons Become Mayors
It is WILD to see Mira Nair and Prof. Mahmood Mamdani up there with their son the MAYOR-ELECT of New York City
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 AM
When Sons Become Mayors
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
It is WILD to see Mira Nair and Prof. Mahmood Mamdani up there with their son the MAYOR-ELECT of New York City
November 5, 2025 at 4:47 AM
It is WILD to see Mira Nair and Prof. Mahmood Mamdani up there with their son the MAYOR-ELECT of New York City
Mamdani’s campaign was the best I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. Generational talent, hall of fame performance.
November 5, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Mamdani’s campaign was the best I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. Generational talent, hall of fame performance.
This is a very very good op-ed imho. We are a) in a moment that's been fundamentally produced by material crisis, b) in a very open field of possibility right now, and c) not going back to 2015 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/o...
Opinion | The Old Order Is Dead. Do Not Resuscitate.
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:06 PM
This is a very very good op-ed imho. We are a) in a moment that's been fundamentally produced by material crisis, b) in a very open field of possibility right now, and c) not going back to 2015 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/o...
The only bit of light i see here is that people are going to want alternatives to this emergent media regime, especially as the political order damages their lives. There will be openings for critical voices to find a large following - the problem is there will be limited resources for them.
In a way, I find the authoritarian takeover of our media system even more disturbing than the authoritarian takeover of our political system.
Our political system has been failing basically my entire adult life. But, the media system provided accountability and sort of worked. Now it’s collapsing.
Our political system has been failing basically my entire adult life. But, the media system provided accountability and sort of worked. Now it’s collapsing.
November 4, 2025 at 10:46 AM
The only bit of light i see here is that people are going to want alternatives to this emergent media regime, especially as the political order damages their lives. There will be openings for critical voices to find a large following - the problem is there will be limited resources for them.
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
Read this.
"An organized urban wing of the [Underground] railroad called vigilance committees focused on protecting, supporting, and learning from fugitives."
Jesse Olsavsky for @hammerandhope.bsky.social's latest, just released issue
hammerandhope.org/article/unde...
Jesse Olsavsky for @hammerandhope.bsky.social's latest, just released issue
hammerandhope.org/article/unde...
The Black People Who Fled Slavery Had a Lot to Teach Their Northern Allies
Black-led vigilance committees not only protected and aided fugitives but also learned from the formerly enslaved as they built a movement pedagogy together.
hammerandhope.org
October 31, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Read this.
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
At least 700 dead in Tanzania's post-election protests, opposition says
““The death toll could be much higher,”
www.france24.com/en/africa/20...
““The death toll could be much higher,”
www.france24.com/en/africa/20...
At least 700 dead in Tanzania's post-election protests, opposition says
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed in Tanzania after taking to the streets to protest this week’s presidential election, which saw the increasingly authoritarian incumbent, President Samia...
www.france24.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:54 PM
At least 700 dead in Tanzania's post-election protests, opposition says
““The death toll could be much higher,”
www.france24.com/en/africa/20...
““The death toll could be much higher,”
www.france24.com/en/africa/20...
The way Americans have managed to scare themselves over Europe is beyond weird. There’s no city on this continent that’s even half as grimy and insecure as NYC.
Eric Adams, endorsing Cuomo: "New York can't be Europe, folks ... Those Islamic extremisms that are burning churches in Nigeria, that are destroying communities in Germany, that have taken over the logical thinkings. And that's what I'm fighting for."
October 24, 2025 at 6:41 AM
The way Americans have managed to scare themselves over Europe is beyond weird. There’s no city on this continent that’s even half as grimy and insecure as NYC.
Something important here. The “rule of law” is sacrosanct to liberalism but one reason its under attack is because it can be an impediment to reforms that people desperately want and need
October 23, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Something important here. The “rule of law” is sacrosanct to liberalism but one reason its under attack is because it can be an impediment to reforms that people desperately want and need
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
I wrote about Venezuela www.northsouthnotes.org/p/regime-col...
Regime collapse
A new paradigm
www.northsouthnotes.org
October 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I wrote about Venezuela www.northsouthnotes.org/p/regime-col...
Not commenting on Platner’s tat but im pretty history savvy and i definitely almost bought a onesie for my newborn with that symbol on it the other day 😬
October 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Not commenting on Platner’s tat but im pretty history savvy and i definitely almost bought a onesie for my newborn with that symbol on it the other day 😬
I think the thing about Mamdani that really sends a certain crowd into conniptions is that he embodies the America they are afraid of - one where you can proudly celebrate your heritage, joyfully relate with the other ones around you, and still be 100% American.
October 22, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I think the thing about Mamdani that really sends a certain crowd into conniptions is that he embodies the America they are afraid of - one where you can proudly celebrate your heritage, joyfully relate with the other ones around you, and still be 100% American.
Ai Weiwei's essay on Germany is absolutely brutal hyperallergic.com/1050197/what...
What I Wish I Had Known About Germany Earlier
A German newspaper commissioned an article from me but then refused to publish it.
hyperallergic.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Ai Weiwei's essay on Germany is absolutely brutal hyperallergic.com/1050197/what...
Losing access to Signal because of an AWS outage/hack is a good reminder of how precarious these communication platforms are and potentially unreliable when they'd be most necessary.
October 20, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Losing access to Signal because of an AWS outage/hack is a good reminder of how precarious these communication platforms are and potentially unreliable when they'd be most necessary.
Reposted by Ashoka Mukpo
Big development: Human rights lawyers have made a new filing to the International Criminal Court. It includes the names of 122 European individuals accused of committing crimes against humanity against people trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. apnews.com/article/liby...
Lawyers ask ICC to investigate 122 European officials for crimes against humanity in Mediterranean
Human rights lawyers accused 122 European officials of committing crimes against migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
apnews.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Big development: Human rights lawyers have made a new filing to the International Criminal Court. It includes the names of 122 European individuals accused of committing crimes against humanity against people trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. apnews.com/article/liby...
*chris farley voice* DA POPE
October 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM
*chris farley voice* DA POPE