Social Justice
Robtel’s unwavering commitment to justice, peace and equality can be found in the searing pieces she has written for Al Jazeera English, Warscapes, The Nation, The International New York Times, Newsweek-Daily Beast, The Guardian (UK), The Washington Post, the Daily Observer (Liberia), New African Magazine, and the Mail & Guardian (South Africa), amongst other outlets.
An increasingly sought-after thought leader and public scholar, she has also challenged mainstream thinking in expert commentary for the Financial Times, the Associated Press, the BBC, Bloomberg News, USA Today, Deutsche Welle (DW), Voice of America, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Christian Science Monitor, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia), UN Radio, Pacifica Radio, National Public Radio (US), ENCA Television (South Africa), Channels Television (Nigeria), Press TV and Mongabay.
Given Robtel’s firm belief that a better world is imperative, she was recognised as a 2017 Africa Youth Awards 100 Most Influential Young Africans finalist; a 2013 Liberian Awards finalist; a 2012 St. Gallen Symposium Leader of Tomorrow; a 2011 Ward Fund Outstanding Public Service Award recipient; a 2003 Amnesty International/Patrick Stewart Human Rights Scholar; a 2002 Patricia Roberts Harris Public Affairs Fellow; and a 2001 Civil Rights Summer Fellow of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights/Harvard University Law School.
Select Publications
“When Two Elephants Fight, the Grass Suffers.” Liberian Daily Observer, 11 November 2024.
“Joseph Boakai Could Be Liberia’s Biden.” @AfricaAtLSE, 7 November 2023.
“Why Liberia’s President Weah Must Go (Democratically).” African Arguments, 3 October 2023.
“Liberia Has Suffered 20 Years of ‘Negative Peace’. It’s Time for Change.” Al Jazeera English, 17 August 2023.
“Is Liberia Heading Towards an Electoral Crisis?” African Arguments, 15 April 2023.
“The Political Economy of UK-Mandated Quarantine.” African Arguments, 5 October 2021.
“Liberia’s Weah Might Be in for a Rude Awakening at the Polls.” Al Jazeera English, 1 December 2020.
“The US Government Kills Black People with Impunity Both at Home and Abroad.” The Nation, 16 June 2020.
“Africa Does Not Need Saving During This Pandemic.” Al Jazeera English, 13 April 2020.
“This Is Our Country.” Warscapes, 9 February 2020.
“How to Truly Decolonise the Study of Africa.” Al Jazeera English, 10 June 2019.
“The Struggles for Liberian Citizenship.” Al Jazeera English, 29 January 2019.
“When Foreign ‘Do-Gooders’ Do More Harm Than Good in Liberia.” Al Jazeera English, 14 October 2018.
“Gbagba: A Multi-media ‘Revolution from below’ Teaching Children about Corruption.” UNESCO blog, 30 April 2018.
“Why President Weah Should Read My PhD Thesis on the Promise and Peril of (Dual) Citizenship.” The Bush Chicken, 19 February 2018.
“What Liberian President-elect George Weah Must Do.” Al Jazeera English, 19 January 2018.
“Dance When the Spirit Moves You and Four Other Lessons in Effective Leadership for Development.” Mo Ibrahim Foundation blog, 16 January 2018.
“Fahamu@20: Schooled in the Ways of Activism.” Pambazuka News, 15 December 2017.
“Liberia Needs the Rule of Law, Not Political Expediency.” Al Jazeera English, 27 November 2017.
“Liberia Has a Big Election Next Week — and a True Test of Democracy in Africa’s Oldest Republic.” The Washington Post, 4 October 2017.
“Is Liberia’s Sirleaf Really Standing up for Women?” Al Jazeera English, 31 August 2017.
“Legal Invisibility Was the Best Thing to Happen to Me.” Al Jazeera English, 23 May 2017.
“Africa’s Lessons for Trump’s America.” New African Magazine, January 2017 issue.
“A Clinton or Trump Presidency Will Be More of the Same for Africa.” Al Jazeera English, 6 November 2016.
“Leaders Must Recognise Migrants as Human Not Hapless.” International Migration Institute blog, 19 September 2016.
“The UN Had to Go, but Is Liberia Really Prepared for Peace?” openDemocracy, 12 July 2016.
“Where Is the ‘African’ in African Studies?” African Arguments, 7 June 2016.
“They Herded Us into the Aircraft Like Cattle.” Africa Is a Country, 18 January 2016.
“Poverty in the Midst of Plenty in Liberia.” Diplomatic Courier, 9 April 2015.
“Treating Africans with an Untested Ebola Drug.” Al Jazeera English, 3 January 2015.
“Charles Taylor and the Rubber Company.” New African Magazine, 17 December 2014.
“Nigeria, Ebola and the Myth of White Saviours.” Al Jazeera English, 8 November 2014.
“Fatalistic Forecasts Aren’t Helping Ebola Efforts—Greater Positivity Is Needed.” The Guardian (UK), 24 October 2014.
“Liberian Senate Calls for More Transparency over Ebola Funds.” The Guardian (UK), 26 September 2014.
“Ebola Has Caused Liberia’s Cauldron of Dissatisfaction to Boil Over.” The Guardian (UK), 22 August 2014.
“Liberia’s Education System Should Take Its Cue from Robin Hood.” The Guardian (UK), 23 October 2013.
“Liberia Must Mark 10th Anniversary of Accra Accord by Pursuing Positive Peace.” The Guardian (UK), 16 August 2013.
“Children in the Fight against Corruption.” International New York Times, 17 July 2013.
“Nobel Prize Could Not Have Come at a Better Time for Liberia.” The Guardian (UK), 10 October 2011.
