Alvin Kathembe

Reclaim the past. Contest the present. Invent the future.

[edward buri @edward_buri]

The system is upset that you still remember June 25. It is even more disturbed that your memory is not vague, but graphic —that you remember what happened that day, what followed in its wake, and what has continued to unfold ever since. This was not to be remembered.

[Isele Magazine @IseleMagazine]

Submissions are open for our next quarterly!

For this issue, we want red-themed submissions. Roses, ladybugs, love, blood, sacrifice, Taylor Swift’s similarly-titled album…we want all things red.

Send us your stories, essays, poetry, more.

Read here:
https://t.co/Rp7nNx10pt

[Divock Origi @DivockOrigi]

My purpose in the game is fulfilled ⭐️

I lived out my childhood dreams, played on the biggest stages, won the biggest trophies. Grateful to God for all of it.

To all my fans, the clubs, my teammates and my family: this will forever be ours. Thank you.

The mission is complete. Now I step into my next calling.

More of the journey to come.

Love,

Divock Origi

[Jakky Bankong-Obi @jakkybeefive]

Someone wrote a paper on my chapbook and it’s made it to a really big academic conference. And the moral of this is that you should read, cite and critically engage African women poets. Contemporary African women poets!!!

[Makena Onjerika @Onjerika]

My annual Introduction to Short Story Writing class will kick off at the beginning of July 2026.

Join me to take your stories to the next level.

One full scholarship available. Email [email protected] for details.

Retweets appreciated 🙏🏾

[Makena Onjerika @Onjerika]

I have a story in this issue and it's about disappearance and state torture in Kenya.

[Alvin Kathembe @SofaPhilosopher]

@CesarAzpi @Osasuna @OM_Officiel @ChelseaFC @Atleti @SevillaFC @SEFutbol @ChampionsLeague @EuropaLeague @fifaworldcup_es ♥️

[pamilerin jacob @pamilerinjacob]

my poem, Meditations of the Gun, was a finalist in the annual Stephen A. Dibiase prize. do enjoy!

[Alvin Kathembe @SofaPhilosopher]

@olivertraldi this is real cool

[Oliver Traldi @olivertraldi]

To settle a troublesome discourse, I have provided here the most faithful and poetic possible translation of the beginning of the Odyssey.

We male sex. We
complex. We

fake horse. We
off course. We

sail long. We
hear song. We

pig crew. We
home soon.

[Damilola Omotoyinbo ||flower geh @_Damilola_O]

Writers! I have compiled a new list of places you can submit your work to and what they pay.
1. Adi $150-$500
2. ⁠The scrawl place $35
3. ⁠⁠Haven Spec Journal $20-$400
4. ⁠Agni $50
5. ⁠Planti $50
6. ⁠Table Ware $50

[Alvin Kathembe @SofaPhilosopher]

@nnnnnnxox Check out Shingai Kagunda!

[dior ✞ @deeore5]

people be like "bear with me" and they don’t even have a bear with them

[brian @brianonhere]

“My problem is not with Jews,” he said brownly, stretching his hands out, presumably in the direction of Mecca.

I gathered my courage and timidly asked if Israel had a right to exist as a Jewish state.

His eyes, dark as crude oil, narrowed, Jafar-like, and an Islamic grin spr

[Natural Philosophy @Naturalphilosy]

“The world is held together, really it is, held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people.”

— James Baldwin

[Alvin Kathembe @SofaPhilosopher]

New poem! Check out 'The Hunter' >>>

https://t.co/otnBQunXt1

[Samuel A. Adeyemi @samuelpoetry]

Hi, guys. My first publication of the year—two poems in the new issue of @aLongHouse. Grateful to the editors for the home. Read here:

https://t.co/N7r3YvYSw9

[Alvin Kathembe @SofaPhilosopher]

@BlackForkReview @Nukta_

[gathara @gathara]

There is a bitter irony in Western media invoking "Gaza-scale destruction" when for two years it denied that Gaza was being deliberately destroyed.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Few things have annoyed me more since the start of the war on Iran than to hear some European politicians repeat the narrative that it was "all about China."

One surprising (and disappointing) example was France’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France Insoumise, France's main left-wing opposition party, who claimed that the war's objective was to “limit China's oil supply capabilities” (https://t.co/lQrmKo98is).

By saying this he literally parrots - almost word for word - the narrative of Lindsey Graham on Fox News (https://t.co/jBM2wyAipy) or that of the Hudson institute, an American right-wing neoconservative think tank (https://t.co/RxOz0XlMO6). Which, you'll agree, is rather unexpected company for Mélenchon...

Why does it annoy me so much? Because it's painfully obvious that the consequences of this war are far, far worse for Europe than they are for China.

Heck, if anything, this war may even ironically prove beneficial for China: it is quite literally the best advertisement for green energy the world has ever seen. Every day the Strait of Hormuz remains contested, every oil price spike - all of it is a live demonstration of exactly why fossil fuel dependency is a massive strategic liability.

This war is vindicating China's bet in spectacular fashion, and there is little doubt it will further encourage much of the world to buy exactly what China is selling: replacing dependence on whoever controls oil and gas chokepoints with energy from the sun and wind.

See, in large part due to its green energy ramp-up China, as of last year, reached an 85% energy self-sufficiency rate (https://t.co/n9onGBUSRp) which is absolutely remarkable for a country that consumes as much energy as the U.S. and the EU... combined.

The same, however, very much cannot be said of Europe. Where China is at 85% they're at an appalling 41% (https://t.co/KhqZXbhXIh), less than half.

So already, for this alone, Mélenchon should be worrying about Europe, not China. But that's just the beginning - the full picture is much worse.

What is this war, when one strips it to its essence? What is the precedent being set?

You have the world’s most powerful country attacking a sovereign nation, assassinating its leader, and attempting regime change - without even bothering to provide a casus belli (insanely the "casus belli" advanced by Rubio was that the victim would defend itself: https://t.co/uWC9XDauby).

In other words, the world this precedent establishes is a “might makes right” world on steroids, like we haven’t seen in many generations.

And, by definition, in a “might makes right” world what matters is… might. And let's be real: today China has it, and Europe just doesn’t.

For instance, what do you think happens to Greenland if Iran goes the way Trump wants and the lesson he gets out of it is that he can simply do anything he wants with impunity if the other party is weak? And when the Europeans who cheered that precedent then turn around and ask the world to respect their sovereignty? Europe is the kind of power that only survives in a world with rules and they’re foolishly cheering their destruction.

My latest article makes the full case, with the data to back it up. China will be fine, Europe won't and I feel like I'm taking crazy pills because even the precious few politicians who aren't totally vassalized to the U.S. - the Mélenchons of Europe - are starting to work off the exact same delusional script as U.S. neocons, just reading from the opposite side (replying “they’re encircling China” and objecting to neocons saying “we’re encircling China” and cheering).

Which raises the question: who exactly is looking out for Europe?

I don't have an answer but my article, I believe, makes a pretty strong case for why this question has never been more urgent. Read it here: https://t.co/ppXsJAWbEc