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As the world prepares for the 2024 Paris Olympics, South Africans will be celebrating Youth Day on Sunday. These two events share a fascinating history. On 16 June 1976 young activists in Soweto, South Africa embarked on a protest that would turn into a massacre by apartheid security forces. The event would trigger the Organisation of African Unity (later the African Union) to flex its international muscle: it called for New Zealand to be banned from the Montreal Olympics because of its rugby team's support of apartheid South Africa. It ended in the continent’s dramatic and successful boycott of the Olympics that year. Historian Nicolas Bancel revisits
these events and their impact.
South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma’s new uMkhonto we Sizwe Party had tremendous success at the recent election. Barely six months after it was launched, it’s now the third-largest party in parliament. Roger Southall examines five explanations that have been offered for Zuma’s popularity.
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Nicolas Bancel, Université de Lausanne
African states won new power when they demanded New Zealand withdraw because of their rugby tour of apartheid South Africa.
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Roger Southall, University of the Witwatersrand
There’s confusion in South Africa about what’s driving the popularity of Jacob Zuma and his uMkhonto we Sizwe party.
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Brett D. Molter, Biola University
Combining elements of traditional and modern music has created rhythms that are unique to Senegalese music.
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Aloysius Odii, University of Nigeria; Nnenna Mba-Oduwusi
Responses to a toll-free hotline offering advice on mental health issues showed demand was high.
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From our international editions
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Matthew S Miller, McMaster University
Our approach to combating pandemics must shift to one that prioritizes prevention of human infections with zoonotic viruses, rather than focusing on rapid response once human infection is widespread.
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Jon Richardson, Australian National University
While there may not be any major practical outcomes, the summit is a chance for Ukraine to press its case that any settlement of the war should be based on just principles.
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Adam "Ben" Rohrlach, University of Adelaide; Rodrigo Barquera, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
At the heart of the Maya civilisation were sacred sites where ritual sacrifices took place. A new DNA analysis reveals more about this practice and Maya genetic legacy.
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Tom Webb, Coventry University; Harjit Sekhon, Coventry University
As Euro 2024 kicks off, the governing body of European football is urgently trying to recruit thousands of new grassroots officials. Is football really in danger of running out of referees?
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