TROUBLEMAKERS

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 terrain of power, and how the creative arts can move people where speeches and laws cannot.
About the guestSefu Sanni is a Kenyan musician, poet, and self-described communication strategist and propagandist. She leads the Pan-African Women's Network, helps coordinate the Kenya Left Alliance in Nairobi, and organizes from an openly leftist, feminist, Pan-African position.
Three lessons from the episode
Culture is the real battleground. Whoever shapes what feels normal, in dress, music, politics, and taste, quietly shapes what people believe is possible. Sefu names Hollywood and cultural imperialism as the force holding Africa in chains.
Art is not entertainment; it is strategy. From Mekatilili wa Menza using the Kifudu dance to mobilise the Mijikenda against British invasion, to today's artivism and youth uprisings from Kenya to Nepal to Nigeria, creativity has always been a tool to organise and disrupt.
Political education is how you win. Reclaiming African identity at the grassroots matters, but lasting change needs awakened consciousness: to unlearn, relearn, and build new knowledge, then take back the narrative from the ruling class.
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License of use: © Troublemakers Podcast. Free to share with credit to Troublemakers Podcast. Not for commercial reuse or editing without permission.

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 utopia, then grounds it in the everyday realities that prove the fight is far from over. It doubles as a passing of the mic, recorded as Given steps in to host the seasons ahead.
What you'll hear
Her vision of a world where women lead from the front, unapologetically, and no one sits on the throne
Why she refuses to define feminism for other women, or the ideal feminist man for men
The real test of a feminist man: refusing to benefit from patriarchy, not just naming it
In her words"I dream of a world where taking up leadership is not a male sport.""When a man counts what he owns, he begins with his wives.""Nobody is going to hand it over to us. We need to fight."
AboutGiven Kapolyo is a Zambian feminist and activist, and the incoming host of Troublemakers. A Troublemakers production, made at MS TCDC in partnership with Beautiful Trouble and MOVE. Produced by Kijiweni Productions.

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 suburb turned her into an organizer overnight. She sits with Given Kapolyo to trace her path from a grassroots ward organizer to national work, and now to feminist organizing in Somaliland. With Zambia's general election a week away, her message to young people is blunt: no one is coming to save you.
What you'll hear
The 2019 load shedding protest that started it all, and getting arrested before she even knew what organizing was
Finding Youth for Parliament as a safe space to be radical as a young woman
Feminism as a hard conversation, and the question from a young girl she still cannot answer
Being sexualized during the Patriotic Front adoption process, and naming it for what it is
In her words"The principle of organising does not change. What changes is the context.""Activism is a way of life. It is not a hobby. It is not a job.""Gender does not define how radical or how powerful someone should be.""No one is coming to help you. You have to stand up and speak out for yourself."
About the guestNalishebo Sinyama is a grassroots organizer from Zambia, now based in Somaliland, working to put young people and young women at the front line of change.
CreditsHosted by Given Kapolyo. A Troublemakers production, made at MS TCDC in partnership with Beautiful Trouble and MOVE.

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 speaking means disappearing.
Here, pencils forget. But stones remember.
This poem is a warning and a promise. The silence is not empty. It is boiling. It is preparing. And when it finally breaks, it will not ask for permission.
Written and performed by Sylvie Baziga.A Troublemakers Smoke Signals production.

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 who was never supposed to stay. Thompson sits down with Joe to unpack the moral political economy — what it is, how colonialism broke it, and what Gen Z across Africa needs to understand before 2027.
What We Cover
The moral political economy explained. Economics was never meant to be separated from ethics and politics. Neoliberalism broke that and turned it into a numbers game.
Colonialism as a restructuring of the house. It did not just steal land and labour. It rewrote the rules of African political, economic, and social life entirely.
Independence that changed nothing. For most African countries, colonial structures of governance remained intact and were turned against the same people they were built to oppress.
Three drivers shaping Gen Z today. Debt, technology, and multipolarity are reshaping how young Africans see themselves, the state, and the world.
2027 and beyond. A fragmenting Kenyan elite creates opportunity. But history shows conservative forces usually capture hard transitions. Gen Z must know exactly what country it wants to build.

Human rights defender, activist, and presidential candidate for the Republic of Kenya, Boniface Mwangi joins Smoke Signals for a direct, unfiltered conversation on what it will actually take for Kenya's Gen Z movement to convert street energy into political power by 2027.
This is not a motivational talk. It is a strategic briefing.
What We Cover
From occupation to ballot revolution. Boniface breaks down why "Ruto must go" is not enough. The movement needs political formations, a clear agenda, and serious civic education, not just for themselves but for the voters who still do not see young people as leaders.
Decentralisation without leaderlessness. A horizontal movement still needs a council of voices. Boniface argues that formal leadership is no longer optional if Gen Z wants to win.
Avoiding co-optation. You only get absorbed by the system if you have no agenda of your own. A movement with a clear vision is corruption-proof. Individual leaders may sell out. A movement with a mandate cannot.
The cost of challenging power. Surveillance, arrests, infiltration. Boniface gives practical advice on operational security: no routines, no technology in sensitive meetings, cell-based organising, and leaking misinformation to identify moles.
What governance must look like after 2027. Rule of law, social security, free education, free healthcare, land restitution, and full accountability for economic theft since independence.
The biggest mistake Gen Z could make. Joining or aligning with the current political class. Stay as far away as possible.
Closing message to those still in fear.When you lose your fear, they lose their power. Organise in spite of the threats. You are not only fighting for a better life. You are fighting for your right to exist.

A spoken word piece by Frank Amani on the cycles we inherit and refuse to break.
Same Stupidity confronts the ways human beings repeat patterns across generations, dressing up the same vicious circle in new clothes, chasing happiness while performing it, and calling it progress. The poem moves through denial, social conformity, collective forgetting, inequality, and the quiet violence of indifference. It ends where it begins: with the uncomfortable truth that we are not exempt. Not from stupidity. Not from death. Not from each other.
Because even the undertaker ends up in the jaws of death.Translation here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BqUOFQJR3ELEn3evRRaGLGer-y1xBCRd3GuchLdB9po/edit?usp=sharing
 
Listen now.

Guest: Wilson (Willynkya), film & TV producer, content creator, and influencer based in Tanzania
Rodgers sits down with Willynkya to unpack "Put Your Target in a Decision Dilemma" (Andrew Boyd & Joshua Kahn Russell) through the lens of content creation and film and what it means for activists and organisers trying to move audiences toward action.
About WillynkyaFive years in film and TV before transitioning fully into content creation. Known for travel and lifestyle content on Instagram and TikTok, and branded work at the intersection of storytelling and commerce.
What We Cover
The Empty Grave: Willynkya was the production manager on this Kijiweni Productions documentary about Tanzanian ancestral remains taken to Germany during the colonial era. It's screened at festivals across Tanzania and is currently streaming in Germany.
The Audience Dilemma in practice: How The Empty Grave was built to speak to four audiences at once: Tanzanian families, the German public, governments, and historians — each nudged toward their own decision.
Emotion in content: Hook with a problem, let your experience transfer to the viewer, make the first 5 seconds count, and design for both sound-on and sound-off viewing.
Industry challenges: Permits, financial literacy, the new Tanzania Film Board registration requirement, and the pressure to fake a lifestyle online.
For Organiser-TroublemakersWhen designing an action, ask: what are the two decisions my target can make, and how do both move my cause forward? Drop how you've used this in the comments.
Follow Willynkya: @willynkya on Instagram & TikTokThe Empty Grave: Follow Kijiweni Productions for screening updatesCredits:Production support: Thabit Kitamu

In this powerful spoken-word piece, poet Opolot Emmanuel Solomon paints a vision of an Africa that has moved beyond division, dependency, conflict, and limitation. Through repetition, imagination, and conviction, he challenges listeners to picture a continent where dreams become reality, borders no longer divide people, and Africans take ownership of their shared future.
Meet the Poet
Opolot Emmanuel Solomon is a Ugandan spoken word artist whose work explores hope, identity, social transformation, and the power of collective action. In Africa Will Be Saved, he invites us to imagine a future shaped not by outside forces, but by the choices Africans make today.
What We Unpack in This Piece
Imagining a Different AfricaA continent defined by opportunity, innovation, and shared prosperity.
Beyond BordersThe dream of a more connected Africa where people, ideas, and opportunities move freely.
Changing the StoryReplacing narratives of crisis and dependency with stories of achievement and self-determination.
Key Takeaway
Africa's future will not be written by fate alone. It will be shaped by the collective actions of Africans who dare to imagine a better continent, and work to make it real.
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.
Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.
Resources & Show Links
Follow Troublemakers wherever you get your podcasts: https://linktr.ee/troublemakers.podcast

What does “development” really mean—and who is forced to pay for it?
Meet the Guest
Ziada is a climate and gender justice advocate working at the frontlines of renewable energy and community resistance. Trained in medicine, her activism was shaped by real encounters with inequality, environmental breakdown, and lives lost to preventable conditions.
What We Unpack in This Episode
What is EACOP, really?A massive oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania—sold as progress, contested on the ground.
The real cost of “development”Displacement. Lost livelihoods. Closed schools. Communities cut off from land and identity.
Why women are hit hardestEconomic exclusion, social disruption, and power imbalances intensified inside homes and communities.
Key Takeaway
“We don’t lack solutions—we lack implementation.”
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.
Acknowledgment
Our podcast is inspired by the Beautiful Trouble toolbox.
Resources & Show Links
Green Conservers – connect via social media to support or collaborate