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TROUBLEMAKERS: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Beautiful Trouble
At TROUBLEMAKERS, we explore how to rebel in an age when a few elite have so much control. We speak with inspiring people from all walks of life across the planet on the tools they use to subvert and seize power for the transformation of our world. TROUBLEMAKERS is a place to learn from each other about how to make change. This podcast is a transcontinental operation brought to you by Beautiful Trouble, MOVE the Global Social Movement Centre, MS TCDC, and Global Platforms.
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- 4 days ago27 min
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 takes to change that. Host Malemi talks with activist Tilvas Ngosa about systemic barriers, youth leadership, and the real cost of getting into African politics. Guest: Tilvas Ngosa, Program Officer at ActionAid Denmark, based in Zambia. Activist and campaigner with roots in social movements. Host: Malemi Three takeaways The barrier isn't a lack of political education, it's the field itself: expensive, often violent, and gate-kept by leaders who won't step aside. Youth inclusion looks good on paper and thin in practice. Quotas exist, but representation stays low and mentorship means nothing without a real seat. The moment is still worth seizing. Civil society is building a new generation, and young leaders prove it's doable. The time to claim space is now. License of use © Troublemakers Podcast. Free to share with full credit. Not for reuse or resale without permission.
- 1 weeks ago22 min
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 terrain of power, and how the creative arts can move people where speeches and laws cannot. About the guest Sefu 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. Follow Troublemakers wherever you get your podcasts, and share this one with someone who needs to hear it. License of use: © Troublemakers Podcast. Free to share with credit to Troublemakers Podcast. Not for commercial reuse or editing without permission.
- Aug 21, 202615 min
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 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." About Given 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.
- Aug 7, 202642 min
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 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 guest Nalishebo 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. Credits Hosted by Given Kapolyo. A Troublemakers production, made at MS TCDC in partnership with Beautiful Trouble and MOVE.
- Jul 24, 20262 min
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 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.
- Jul 17, 202632 min
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 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.
- Jul 10, 202611 min
TM Smoke Signals: From Protest to Power, with Boniface Mwangi
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.
- Jul 3, 20264 min
TM Smoke Signals: Même Bêtise, by Frank Amani
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.
About TROUBLEMAKERS
At TROUBLEMAKERS, we explore how to rebel in an age when a few elite have so much control. We speak with inspiring people from all walks of life across the planet on the tools they use to subvert and seize power for the transformation of our world. TROUBLEMAKERS is a place to learn from each other about how to make change. This podcast is a transcontinental operation brought to you by Beautiful Trouble, MOVE the Global Social Movement Centre, MS TCDC, and Global Platforms.
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