TM Smoke Signals: Building The Nation. A read by Monica Kamandau

What does it really mean to “build the nation,” and who pays the price for that work?

In this Smoke Signals episode, Monica Kamandau reads Building the Nation by Ugandan poet Henry Barlow, a biting and darkly humorous poem that exposes the everyday hypocrisies of power, privilege, and sacrifice in postcolonial African states.

This reading lands powerfully in our current moment, where ordinary people are repeatedly told to endure hardship in the name of progress, stability, or patriotism.

Key Ideas and Highlights

Nation-building as performance, where power is exercised through routine and ceremony rather than service
The quiet violence of inequality hidden behind jokes, lunches, and official duties
Satire as resistance, and poetry as a mirror held up to political hypocrisy

Why This Poem Still Matters

Henry Barlow’s Building the Nation remains painfully relevant across Africa and beyond. It challenges listeners to question who benefits from the language of sacrifice, and whose hunger is normalised in the process.

Monica Kamandau’s reading brings fresh urgency to the poem, inviting us to reflect on leadership, accountability, and the everyday cost of governance.

Credits

Poem: Building the Nation by Henry Barlow (Uganda).
Reader: Monica Kamandau.
Producer: Rodgers George.

Licensing

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Troublemakers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media. The Beautiful Trouble toolbox inspires our podcast.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(77)

Ep 57: Seek Safety in Support Networks with Paul Musyimi

Paul Musyimi on what social movements really are, why peaceful organizing wins, and how activists keep each other safe when the work gets dangerous. With Malemi, Paul talks about the principle "Seek S...

2 Loka 22min

Ep 56: Claim that Seat! With Nancy Siatwiko

Youth activist Nancy Siatwiko on why young Zambians are done waiting for permission to lead. Host Malemi talks with her about locked-out candidates, young women in politics, and using social media to ...

25 Syys 37min

Ep 55: Youth, Power & Political Spaces with Tilvas Ngosa

Ep 55: Youth, Power & Political Spaces with Tilvas Ngosa Recorded at the Global Platform studio in Zambia, this episode asks why youth political participation across Africa stays so low, and what it t...

18 Syys 27min

Ep 54: The Battle of Ideas, with Sefu Sanni

Politicians pass laws, but culture shapes belief, and belief shapes everything else. In this episode, Thompson Luzendi sits with Sefu Sanni to unpack the battle of ideas: how culture becomes the real ...

11 Syys 22min

TM Smoke Signals: Given's Feminist Utopia, With Given Kapolyo

What does an ideal world look like? Given Kapolyo answers without hesitation: one where inequality does not exist, and leadership is not a male sport. In this Smoke Signals, she lays out her feminist ...

21 Elo 15min

Ep 53: No One Is Coming to Save You, with Nalishebo Sinyama

What makes someone walk to the utility company with a placard instead of posting complaints online? Nalishebo Sinyama has been answering that since 2019, when a load shedding protest in her Lusaka sub...

7 Elo 42min

TM Smoke Signals: Silence! A poem by Sylvie Baziga

TM Smoke Signals: Silence, by Sylvie Baziga A spoken word piece by Sylvie Baziga on the slow deaths that leave no bullet holes: the swallowed cry, the smothered dream, the word never spoken because sp...

24 Heinä 2min

Ep52: The Moral Political Economy, with Joe Kobuthi

Host: Thompson Luzendi (Zambia) Guest: Joe Kobuthi - philosopher, public theologian, political analyst, and curator of The Elephant Pan-African magazine. The rules of the house were written by someone...

17 Heinä 32min