Robtel Neajai Pailey
@robtelneajai.bsky.social
Liberian. Academic. Activist. Author of Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa. Passions: #scholarship + #socialjustice + #storytelling.
As we approach Int’l Anti-Corruption Day on Dec 9, I'm reflecting on how much I’ve enjoyed equipping #children with the verbal tools to challenge the confusing ethical codes of adults in their lives through my anti-#corruption kids’ books Gbagba & Jaadeh!: www.robtelneajaipailey.com/author
December 3, 2025 at 6:27 AM
As we approach Int’l Anti-Corruption Day on Dec 9, I'm reflecting on how much I’ve enjoyed equipping #children with the verbal tools to challenge the confusing ethical codes of adults in their lives through my anti-#corruption kids’ books Gbagba & Jaadeh!: www.robtelneajaipailey.com/author
Omar El Akkad’s “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” recently won the National Book Award for non-fiction. It is a scathing critique of our complicity in #Israel’s #genocide in #Gaza. So much for the fragile faux #ceasefire that now hangs by a thread: bit.ly/4rtyOe6
A provocative bestseller wins the National Book Award for nonfiction
Omar El Akkad’s “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” criticizes Western indifference to civilian suffering in Gaza.
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December 3, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Omar El Akkad’s “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” recently won the National Book Award for non-fiction. It is a scathing critique of our complicity in #Israel’s #genocide in #Gaza. So much for the fragile faux #ceasefire that now hangs by a thread: bit.ly/4rtyOe6
Has the African Union lost its way? ABSOLUTELY! bit.ly/4hORf8x
Africa Needs a Continental Body With Teeth
The African Union has become a back-scratching club of heads of state.
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December 3, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Has the African Union lost its way? ABSOLUTELY! bit.ly/4hORf8x
By “using algorithms, data and digital technologies to exert power over others, and take data without consent”, do #AI #companies follow the playbook of #empire? Read this Conversation analysis on #digital #colonialism to find out: bit.ly/4p9dUPV
‘Digital colonialism’: how AI companies are following the playbook of empire
But resisting is possible – and the long history of First Nations resistance against colonial violence demonstrates how people can resist digital colonialism.
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December 3, 2025 at 6:14 AM
By “using algorithms, data and digital technologies to exert power over others, and take data without consent”, do #AI #companies follow the playbook of #empire? Read this Conversation analysis on #digital #colonialism to find out: bit.ly/4p9dUPV
My latest #commentary for Al Jazeera English is a nuanced critique of #Liberia’s offer to host #Salvadoran national #KilmarAbregoGarcía – who was #unlawfully #deported by the #Trump administration. I argue that Liberia’s policies must not be shaped by the whims of #racist white men: bit.ly/43lKftU
Founded as a refuge from US racism, Liberia must not help enforce it now
With its offer to take in a US deportee who does not want to go there, Monrovia betrays Liberia’s unique history.
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November 7, 2025 at 2:06 PM
My latest #commentary for Al Jazeera English is a nuanced critique of #Liberia’s offer to host #Salvadoran national #KilmarAbregoGarcía – who was #unlawfully #deported by the #Trump administration. I argue that Liberia’s policies must not be shaped by the whims of #racist white men: bit.ly/43lKftU
Where was global condemnation last week when #Sudan’s #paramilitary Rapid Support Forces embarked on a #killing #spree after capturing the #NorthDarfur state of #ElFashir? Videos, satellite imagery and testimonies from the ground paint a chilling picture of #death and #destruction: bit.ly/3JjGGO3
Paramilitary massacres unfolding in Sudan’s Darfur, videos show
RSF paramilitary fighters are carrying out mass ethnic killings in the recently captured city of El Fashir, according to videos, aerial images and interviews.
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November 7, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Where was global condemnation last week when #Sudan’s #paramilitary Rapid Support Forces embarked on a #killing #spree after capturing the #NorthDarfur state of #ElFashir? Videos, satellite imagery and testimonies from the ground paint a chilling picture of #death and #destruction: bit.ly/3JjGGO3
#Nigerian #Nobel #laureate, #literary icon and political activist #WoleSoyinka says the #UnitedStates revoked his #visa for being a vocal critic of its first-felon-in-chief. What a travesty! bit.ly/4qGWFqk
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November 7, 2025 at 1:57 PM
#Nigerian #Nobel #laureate, #literary icon and political activist #WoleSoyinka says the #UnitedStates revoked his #visa for being a vocal critic of its first-felon-in-chief. What a travesty! bit.ly/4qGWFqk
“His view of Nkrumah resembles Nkrumah’s view of Garvey: a visionary whose vision is easy to admire if you ignore what he actually did”, argues this sobering New Yorker review of Howard French's new #biography of #Ghana’s first post-independence #president #KwameNkrumah: bit.ly/46XpHZy
Pan-African Dreams, Post-Colonial Realities
Two new books, on Kwame Nkrumah’s promise and Idi Amin’s tyranny, capture the soaring hopes and bitter aftermath of Africa’s age of independence.
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November 7, 2025 at 1:56 PM
“His view of Nkrumah resembles Nkrumah’s view of Garvey: a visionary whose vision is easy to admire if you ignore what he actually did”, argues this sobering New Yorker review of Howard French's new #biography of #Ghana’s first post-independence #president #KwameNkrumah: bit.ly/46XpHZy
#Democratic #socialist #ZohranMamdani, who built his campaign around #progressive #politics, will become #NewYork’s youngest #mayor in more than a century and the first #Muslim of #SouthAsian origin. Could this foreshadow #UnitedStates mid-terms next year? bit.ly/4qJMMIc
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November 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
#Democratic #socialist #ZohranMamdani, who built his campaign around #progressive #politics, will become #NewYork’s youngest #mayor in more than a century and the first #Muslim of #SouthAsian origin. Could this foreshadow #UnitedStates mid-terms next year? bit.ly/4qJMMIc
As the #global #assault on #migrants intensifies, this deeply #personal #commentary I wrote in 2017 for Al Jazeera English about growing up #undocumented in the #UnitedStates is as relevant now as it was back then. www.aljazeera.com/opinions/201...
Legal invisibility was the best thing to happen to me
I became an undocumented migrant at age six and it changed my life.
www.aljazeera.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:36 AM
As the #global #assault on #migrants intensifies, this deeply #personal #commentary I wrote in 2017 for Al Jazeera English about growing up #undocumented in the #UnitedStates is as relevant now as it was back then. www.aljazeera.com/opinions/201...
Is #recognition of a #Palestinian state by 150+ countries a hollow, symbolic gesture amidst #Israeli #aggression, #genocide in #Gaza and #occupation of the #WestBank? Listen to this podcast about what real #sovereignty for Palestinian people would mean. bit.ly/4nGYzEN
From resistance to intifada to recognition: the origins of an independent Palestinian state – podcast
Palestinian-American historian Maha Nassar traces the history of Palestinian efforts to build an independent state. Listen on The Conversation Weekly podcast.
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October 8, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Is #recognition of a #Palestinian state by 150+ countries a hollow, symbolic gesture amidst #Israeli #aggression, #genocide in #Gaza and #occupation of the #WestBank? Listen to this podcast about what real #sovereignty for Palestinian people would mean. bit.ly/4nGYzEN
#Africa’s #trade relationship with #China is alarmingly lopsided, with high #imports resulting in a US$61.93 billion #deficit for the continent in 2024. We must #industrialise and #export #manufactured #goods to balance the scales! bit.ly/3KiNpb0
Surge in Africa's China imports prompts calls to tackle trade deficit
African imports of Chinese goods have surged in 2025 but experts say trade with the superpower is largely one-way.
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October 8, 2025 at 6:28 AM
#Africa’s #trade relationship with #China is alarmingly lopsided, with high #imports resulting in a US$61.93 billion #deficit for the continent in 2024. We must #industrialise and #export #manufactured #goods to balance the scales! bit.ly/3KiNpb0
Here’s an exclusive excerpt of the #memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me by indomitable #Indian #author and #activist #ArundhatiRoy (bit.ly/4m4oPsn)! I can’t wait to read the full memoir, published last month by #Scribner.
In an Exclusive Excerpt from Her Memoir, Arundhati Roy Writes of Her Early Upbringing
Roy’s early life was colored by a series of precarious arrangements, she writes in her new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, out in September.
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October 8, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Here’s an exclusive excerpt of the #memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me by indomitable #Indian #author and #activist #ArundhatiRoy (bit.ly/4m4oPsn)! I can’t wait to read the full memoir, published last month by #Scribner.
I found #ZadieSmith’s ‘The Art of the Impersonal Essay’, published in the #NewYorker, utterly engrossing: bit.ly/4mA6XVW
The Art of the Impersonal Essay, by Zadie Smith
In my experience, every kind of writing requires some kind of self-soothing Jedi mind trick, and, when it comes to essay composition, the rectangle is mine.
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October 8, 2025 at 6:22 AM
I found #ZadieSmith’s ‘The Art of the Impersonal Essay’, published in the #NewYorker, utterly engrossing: bit.ly/4mA6XVW
Thanks to Verity Online News for publishing this story about my #Monrovia #intercollegiate #seminar #series held in #Liberia July 2025: bit.ly/3V56TlB
Liberian Students Dive Deep into Dual Citizenship in Pioneering Seminar Led by LSE Scholar Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey - Verity News
Nineteen students from four of Liberia’s leading universities recently completed a thought-provoking, eight-part intercollegiate seminar exploring one of the most pressing and controversial questions ...
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September 10, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Thanks to Verity Online News for publishing this story about my #Monrovia #intercollegiate #seminar #series held in #Liberia July 2025: bit.ly/3V56TlB
Created by a #German #cartographer, the 16th century #Mercator #map paints #Africa and #Europe as the same size when #Africa is actually three times #bigger. Now, the African Union has endorsed a campaign advocating for the more accurate #EqualEarth #projection. Read more here: bit.ly/4lE90aO
September 10, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Created by a #German #cartographer, the 16th century #Mercator #map paints #Africa and #Europe as the same size when #Africa is actually three times #bigger. Now, the African Union has endorsed a campaign advocating for the more accurate #EqualEarth #projection. Read more here: bit.ly/4lE90aO
Congrats to #Liberia #School of #Law first year students Peace Khasu and Abigail Dorbor for winning the inaugural #ECOWAS #Moot #Court #competition last month! They were ably coached by my former mentee Gerald Yeakula. bit.ly/4mRMM6p
Liberia School of Law Students Win ECOWAS Moot Court
First-year students from Liberia School of Law win ECOWAS Moot Court Competition, showcasing legal talent, impressing judges, and earning a historic victory alongside Côte d’Ivoire's Felix Houphouet-B...
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September 10, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Congrats to #Liberia #School of #Law first year students Peace Khasu and Abigail Dorbor for winning the inaugural #ECOWAS #Moot #Court #competition last month! They were ably coached by my former mentee Gerald Yeakula. bit.ly/4mRMM6p
The Museum of Memory: Part III
How we choose to remember: The Thomas Sankara Mausoleum
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September 10, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Cassava Republic Press co-founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf makes an important distinction between how ‘local’ and ‘global’ are framed in #literary #publishing: neither are neutral, both carry value judgments about whose stories are 'universal' and 'worthy' of #international #acclaim: bit.ly/3Hx7dGC
African book publishing must reclaim the word ‘local’
African publishing needs a new language — and infrastructure — to turn its own “locals” onto the global stage.
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September 10, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Cassava Republic Press co-founder Bibi Bakare-Yusuf makes an important distinction between how ‘local’ and ‘global’ are framed in #literary #publishing: neither are neutral, both carry value judgments about whose stories are 'universal' and 'worthy' of #international #acclaim: bit.ly/3Hx7dGC
I had such a blast last month engaging with #Liberian #university #students and #primary #school #pupils in separate sessions featuring my #awardwinning #monograph (bit.ly/3MHh0Z2) and #anticorruption #children’s #books (www.robtelneajaipailey.com/author).
August 13, 2025 at 6:41 AM
I had such a blast last month engaging with #Liberian #university #students and #primary #school #pupils in separate sessions featuring my #awardwinning #monograph (bit.ly/3MHh0Z2) and #anticorruption #children’s #books (www.robtelneajaipailey.com/author).
Listen to this wide-ranging #interview with the brilliant Zachariah Mampilly, who discusses how #racist and #colonial frameworks continue to shape the position of #Africa and the larger #GlobalSouth in #international #relations: bit.ly/4koxAMP
Africa and the Global South in the New World Order
Zachariah Mampilly, the Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs at Baruch College and professor of Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center, joins The Thought Project to unpack the effects o
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August 13, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Listen to this wide-ranging #interview with the brilliant Zachariah Mampilly, who discusses how #racist and #colonial frameworks continue to shape the position of #Africa and the larger #GlobalSouth in #international #relations: bit.ly/4koxAMP
Thanks to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Africa Programme for compiling this interactive table tracking the most up-to-date US-Africa #bilateral #trade data. Regressive #American #tariffs will gut #African #economies. bit.ly/47jSauf
Tracking the U.S. Reciprocal Tariff Rates for All African Countries
CSIS compiled the most up-to-date bilateral trade data with African countries in this interactive table, as the Trump administration focuses its trade negotiations on major economies like the European...
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August 13, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Thanks to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Africa Programme for compiling this interactive table tracking the most up-to-date US-Africa #bilateral #trade data. Regressive #American #tariffs will gut #African #economies. bit.ly/47jSauf
Here’s a fascinating read by Foreign Policy’s Howard French about how the #politics of #NewYork #democratic #socialist #mayoral #candidate Zohran Mamdani “seem broadly inspired by his father” Mahmood Mamdani, a renowned #scholar of the #African #state. bit.ly/3J8fJMI
The Making of Mamdani
A close reading of a new book by New York politician Zohran Mamdani’s father reveals a generational yearning for community and inclusion.
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August 13, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Here’s a fascinating read by Foreign Policy’s Howard French about how the #politics of #NewYork #democratic #socialist #mayoral #candidate Zohran Mamdani “seem broadly inspired by his father” Mahmood Mamdani, a renowned #scholar of the #African #state. bit.ly/3J8fJMI
In keeping with my 2024 Independence Day National Oration (bit.ly/4168sDd), I urge compatriots to support Liberia Giving Month by donating NOW: radarforward.com/liberiagivin.... Kudos to SMART Liberia for building back better and differently. Happy In Defiance Day 2025!
July 23, 2025 at 6:33 AM
In keeping with my 2024 Independence Day National Oration (bit.ly/4168sDd), I urge compatriots to support Liberia Giving Month by donating NOW: radarforward.com/liberiagivin.... Kudos to SMART Liberia for building back better and differently. Happy In Defiance Day 2025!