On 15 November, the AFRE community gathered at Sanctuary Mandela—the restored former home of Nelson Mandela—for an event honouring the first 30 years of South Africa’s democracy.
Read More
Twenty outstanding racial justice changemakers from across the globe join the AFRE community as our 2024 cohort.
Read More
As Juneteenth arrives in a significant U.S. election year, 2022 Fellow Keesha Gaskins-Nathan clarifies the potential—and limits—of the vote in delivering freer futures.
Read More
What the next 30 years of South African democracy demand, from the AFRE community.
Read More
AFRE's new Board Chair and 2019 Fellow Cedric Brown reflects on the values that propel him as a leader and the kind of leadership our world needs.
Read More
In honour of U.S. Black History Month, four members of the AFRE community offer insights for navigating our complex historical moment.
Read More
AFRE’s Founding Executive Director Kavitha Mediratta offers lessons on leadership and organisation-building from the work to craft our programme over our first five years.
Read More
We bid farewell to beloved Staff and Board members and welcome new colleagues into our shared work.
Read More
As 2023 ends, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the gatherings of the many configurations of our community - including Fellows and Senior Fellows, Staff and Board members, partners, and friends - all of whom are interlinked by our shared commitment to the world after anti-Blackness.
Read More
We’re seeking applications from racial justice changemakers *across the globe* for our 2024 cohort of Fellows.
Read More
The AFRE community mourns the passing of Charles “Chuck” Feeney, the founder of the Atlantic Philanthropies, the foundation our AFRE’s roots lie.
Read More
From Founding Director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab Ruha Benjamin, and award-winning singer-songwriter Thandiswa Mazwai, scholar-activists and 2018 Fellows Sithandiwe “Stha” Yeni and Asanda Benya, founder of the Collective for Black Iranians Priscillia Kounkou Hoveyda, co-author of the Combahee River Statement Barbara Smith, hip-hop artist Akua Naru, and visual artists Lorryn Moore and M. Florine Démosthène–we’re lifting up the expansive visions of Black women leaders.
Read More
This week, 20 racial equity leaders working across South Africa and the United States will begin their journey as Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity.
Read More
This June, we've asked our Fellows, "Where's our power to transform our challenging moment?"
Read More
Across South Africa and the United States, advocates are working to address racist drug policies that continue to disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous and other people of colour. This personal reflection was written by Senior Fellow Arissa Hall, co-founder of BlackSeed, as part of AFRE’s ongoing series to amplify the ideas, strategies and voices of our Fellows and community.
Read More
This year, as Freedom Day arrives amid a crisis of political accountability across South Africa, there is consensus that this moment calls for renewed mass organising. Axolile Notywala’20 reflects on the possibilities and challenges of such movement building, drawing on his work on the Movement for Collective Action and Racial Equity (Movement for CARE) which is cultivating solidarity among Black and Coloured communities in Cape Town.
Read More
After 5 years of bold and compassionate leadership, our executive director, Kavitha Mediratta will step down in June 2022. We're delighted to announce that current deputy executive director, Sebabasto Manoeli-Lesame, will take the helm of AFRE.
Read More
For U.S. Black History Month, we interviewed some of our Senior Fellows to take stock of the structural conditions that continue to impede the health and wellbeing of Black people in South Africa and the U.S., and to discuss the solutions needed to transform them. The result is our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures.
Read More
*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
Despite ongoing calls for community-oriented public safety practices, South Africa’s national government and the U.S. federal government have both been slow to introduce transformative policy. Nevertheless, the ground is shifting in city and state governments in the U.S.
Read More
*Part of our 2022 Policy Slate for Building Better Black Futures
Voting rights across the U.S. are facing threats from partisan politicians who are taking up various efforts to block access to the vote for communities of colour. In South Africa, failures of political leaders in the ANC are eroding faith in the democratic process as a lever of change. We need broad-based people power—rooted in organised movements—to hold elected leaders, and public and private institutions accountable.
Read More