Issue Title

The legacies of colonial rule, both generally and in particular categories of colony, have and still continue to affect post-colonial economic development in Africa through the extraction of resources and illicit funds. The new agency for this is the “Corporation”, which has its origins in the East India Company sanctioned by Queen Elisabeth I as a royal charter. 

Canada’s paper of record pulled another layer off the rotting onion of propaganda obscuring the Rwandan tragedy. But, The Globe and Mailhas so far remained unwilling to challenge prominent Canadians who have crafted the fairy tale serving Africa’s most ruthless dictator.

The World Social Forum’s “Thematic Forum on Mining and Extractivism” convenes from 12-15 November 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa, just after the Southern Africa People’s Tribunal on Transnational Corporations. In between, at the notorious 2012 massacre site on the platinum belt to the west, there is a launch of a new book – Business as Usual after Marikana– critical not only of the mining house Lonmin but of its international financiers and buyers. 

President Donald Trump’s comments regarding the murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, aptly reflect the true nature of the power brokers that he represents. Instead of the usual “Empire-speak” statements, hypocritically condemning Khashoggi’s murder, followed by a pep talk on the values of “democracy” and “freedom of speech”, Trump is basically saying, as the leader of one rogue state, to another, that was the “worst cover up ever” boys, and heads should roll. 

South Africa has just witnessed two major economic events, which spoke volumes about the prospects for global and local capitalism: an austerity-oriented budgetleaving the economy far more vulnerable to renewed world financial chaos; and a sham investment conferencefeaturing capitalists with just as strong a record of super-exploitation and deceit as those who went to Mohammed bin Salman’sin Riyadh the week before.

Khashoggi’s murder in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has taken the world by storm. No murder story in recent history has claimed as much media attention as this one.  

This is incredible news of unprecedented magnitude: Dr. Abiy Ahmed, the reformist Prime Minister of Ethiopia has done the unimaginable and appointed 50 percent of his new cabinet as women, including the Ministry of Defence.  If this is not revolutionary, I do not know what it is.  

One of the most important issues in the city of Detroit and throughout the United States is centred on what many progressive forces call the Housing Question. This has been a major concern since the rise of industrial capitalism during the early decades of the 19th century. 

On 23 October 2018, Paul Biya was elected for his 7th consecutive term in office as President of Cameroon. At 85 years old, Biya stands as the longest ruling national leader, having accumulated 43 years at the head of the Cameroonian state, first as Prime Minister (1975-1982) and subsequently as President (1982-2018). 

In the following interview with Bosse Kramsjo, a participant in an on-going Occupy Movement, about 20-months long, to save a hospital, narrates the movement. Bosse, now engaged with ecological farming along with his wife Maria Norgren, has authored books and articles exposing capitalist development, non-governmental organisations-trickery and micro credit businesses. To Bosse and Maria, engagement with ecological farming is part of their struggle against the profit-driven, chemical-stuffed agricultural industry owned by big companies. 

In recent years, South Africa has witnessed a rapid expansion of mining in mineral-rich rural areas of the former apartheid Bantustans or homelands that are vulnerable to mining land grabs. Worryingly, there are intensive and wide-ranging “cold wars” going on in these areas that do not ordinarily get much prominent coverage by the mass media. These battles, hostilities or feuds are between the indigenous black rural folks and “lily-white owned” foreign mining companies.  In many ways the battles resemble the biblical battle between Goliath, the Philistine and David, the Israelite. 

In 1991, the globally recognised anti-West Soviet propaganda machine collapsed and disappeared. Nonetheless, Russia and Southern African Development Community member states have had long-standing and time-tested bilateral partnerships for nearly 30 years after the Soviet collapse. In this long-ranging interview, the Executive Secretary of the Community, Stergomena Lawrence Tax, discusses various aspects of economic cooperation with Russia, some strategies, challenges and future perspectives with Kester Kenn Klomegah from Moscow.

Public discontent over evictions, foreclosures, water shut-offs and substandard wages can only be ameliorated through organised action.

The author reflects on recent passing of Professor Chris Wanjala of the University of Nairobi, at the same time thinking about other prominent African intellectuals and political figures such as Samir Amin and Kofi Annan that Africa lost in 2018. 

Ann Garrison spoke to Swiss Congolese historian and activist Bénédicte Kumbi Ndjoko about recent developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hundreds of thousands (potentially millions) of poor and destitute ex-workers and their families have lost most of their confidence in the integrity and “reputation” of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and its Treasury parent, to perform their functions in a just, equitable and efficient manner, to serve their interests. 

Tagged under: 877, Doctor McKinley, Economics

The author analyses the implications of the on-going reforms by the reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed not only in Ethiopia, but also in the entire Eastern African region and the whole continent of Africa in general. 

Uganda is undergoing some serious political architectonic movements that are worth monitoring closely including the government's suspicions with the red colour, associated with opposition activist Bobi Wine. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of human rights and international cooperation at the United Nations. But what will she do about the fact that two New Zealand companies are the last buyers of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara?

A person who labours for the general good of all serves society and is worthy of his hire. Therefore, such bread-labour is not different from social service. What the vast mass of mankind does for self or at best for family, a social servant does for general good. – M. K. Gandhi.

The extraordinary double standard that exists towards Africa whereby some European countries that have totally flawed and corrupted systems presume to lecture Africans on their systems and assume to take a superior stance is symptomatic of a mind-set that represents a very potent form of passive racism in Europe. 

For almost a year now, since I resumed writing for publication in the media, I have deliberately referred to the Nigerian Left—my primary concern in this ideological and political enterprise—as if it were a homogenous or monolithic entity. But I know that most of my readers know, as much as I do, that the Nigerian Left—described here as the aggregate of Nigerian Marxists, socialists and pro-people radical democrats—is neither homogenous nor monolithic and has never been. 

Almost three years ago, I wrote an article titled, “Dear Academia, Take Us Black”. The article came after my first encounter with the Fees Must Fall protest action. The observation I made was that University of KwaZulu-Natal’s academic staff had shut the blinds, got into their cars and drove off to God knows where “intellectuals” run to when their safe spaces are breached. This is the anti-black nature of academia.

These are short reflections on the “Pedagogies in Historical Studies: Theory and Practice” that was held at the University of Zimbabwe this year. 

This article discusses the conceptual underpinnings of economic integration among sovereign states, countries’ motivations for seeking membership in economically integrated blocs, the necessity of economic integration, and the necessity of economic integration beyond the current and unprecedented attacks on its relevance by some countries. 

Tagged under: 876, Economics, Henry Kyambalesa

Another agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea that was signed in Jedda, Saudi Arabia on 16 September 2018 represents a new page in the shifting political alignments in this area of East Africa. Despite on-going negotiations and agreements, imperialist military forces are set to remain in the Horn of Africa region. 

Abolishing all exploitation, completely eliminating the division of society into classes, mercilessly crushing the resistance of the exploiters, establishing a socialist organisation of society, and achieving the victory of socialism in all countries were declared as the fundamental aim of the newly established Soviet Russia, a Republic of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies. 

The magnificent Ramada Plaza Hotel in Tunisia’s capital city, Tunis played host to lawyers across Africa on 27-29 September 2018 for the ninth annual conference and general assembly of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) whose theme was “One Continent, One People, One Economy: Developing Africa through Continental Free Trade and Movement”. 

On 1 September of this year, at the Bugando Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania, a nobody in particular joined his ancestors. Few – family, friends and home villagers – will note, let alone mourn, his passing. Yet, to me, Naijuka Kashiwaki was a real somebody.

The following is a statement by an independent committee, which has sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the US federal government’s Department of Education to disclose records of the financial monitoring of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This is one step toward a public dialogue and taking back our HBCUs. The viewpoint expressed about self-reliance, commons for all, and Black pride and empowerment overcoming betrayal; and elitism at our educational institutions may be of significance to the African world.

With the end of the cold war, the independence of Namibia in 1990 and the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1994, the Southern African region entered an era of relative political stability and competitive multi-party politics. But the peace dividend proved unable to finance the hopes and promises, and more and more political analysts point to the “mixed bag” of democratisation processes. 

Making his first visit to the United States as head of state, Republic of Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canal Bermudez addressed over 2,000 people at Riverside Church and delivered an impassioned speech before the 73rd Ordinary Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 26 September.

Liberia has been taken over by multinational corporations that are exploiting its resources at the expense of Liberians, especially the country’s working class that serves as cheap labour to these foreign companies. 

This essay explores the historical consciousness of young workers in South Africa, focusing on young black women workers. It draws on Lucaks ideas on history and class consciousness and Freirean participatory pedagogy to facilitate a critical reflection and dialogue between young Black working women on their memories and perspective of the conditions, realities and experiences of Black working women in colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.  

A new Amnesty International report focuses on forced evictions of poor farmers in Swaziland carried out by local police. Land and forced evictions are central to Swaziland’s undemocratic system, says an activist who grew up in Swaziland’s rural areas.

The recent cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has been reportedly contained while the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front government makes attempt to reposition the country’s economy.

On 15 September, Rwandan political prisoners Victoire Ingabire and Kizito Mihigo walked out of Nyarugenge Prison in Rwanda’s capital, along with nearly 2000 more Rwandan prisoners whom President Paul Kagame had granted “executive clemency.” Members of local and international media surrounded them with still and video cameras as they emerged. 

Ethiopia’s privatisation project has earned acclamation from the usual suspects including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, lenders, and foreign bargain hunters among others, but a serious conversation among Ethiopians has yet to take place. This commentary intends to draw the attention of policy makers to some of the grey areas of privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the country. 

The Egyptian-born social scientist and activist Samir Amin wrote extensively on political economy and the challenges for the peripheral capitalist states. He died in a Paris, France hospital on 12 August 2018 at the age of 86.

The author’s essay seeks to bridge the gap between the concept of God and the worldly concepts of political economy by using a pan-African framework to conceptualise God as a global public good. 

The fundamental cause of the current flow migrants risking their lives on the way to Europe is the outrageous division of the globe into oppressor and oppressed countries where a handful of monopoly capitalist powers acquire unimaginable wealth through the exploitation of the vast majority of the world’s people. 

On the surface, the Brazilian presidential election seems complex. Despite the coup and Lula da Silva’s arrest, the Partido dos Trabalhadoresseems to be the favourite political party in the week before the election, facing a fearsome creature of the dictatorship – Bolsonaro. What is in dispute in this election? Who is the candidate for large capital? What is the strategy of the bourgeoisie? And the answer from the left? I will now address these issues.

The article deplores the current situation of the civil society in Ghana where the sector seems to be silent on important national issues including the violation of women’s rights and the plight of poor people. 

The author believes that the attempt to re-write Ghana’s history, especially the role and legacy of the country’s first President Kwame Nkrumah has woken up his sleeping supporters as well as his vision of a socialist Ghana.

This brief input deals with the meaning of Steve Bantu Biko for young people today and whether his vision of bestowing upon South Africa “a more humane face” remains valid. Biko is without doubt one of the most important figures of Black liberation of the past century. Today, 41 years after his murder, his mission of total independence for Black people, remains unfinished.

The author discusses about Nigeria’s history of military regimes and whether some of them could be categorised as “democratic” or simply as “dictatorships”. 

In this paper, the author argues that Professor Mahmood Mamdani’s essay, “The African University”, though timely, has significant flaws along several fronts including being a simplistic version of history, having major errors of fact and omissions, making unwarranted generalisation, and using unreal and extreme dichotomies among other flaws. 

The Russia-Africa Trade and Investment Forum is one of the platforms that seek to promote business opportunities on the African continent and serves as a bridge between Russian and African business. It primarily seeks to deepen understanding of the business climate, accelerate investment and partnership possibilities in Africa.

The Socialist Party of Nigeria sees the current internal fighting among the Nigerian ruling elite, as an opportunity to offer an alternative that is pro the masses working people of the country. 

In this review of Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay with Me, the author recounts her personal experience with friends who were affected by sickle cell anaemia, a malady that adversely affects many families on the African continent.  

The author argues that the 2018 general elections in Zimbabwe were largely non beneficial to the poor and the working class in general. They were rather a titanic battle of capitalists’ interests in form of neo-imperialism.

The Zimbabwean’s own correspondent is absolutely right to warn Zimbabwe (as well as all Africa) of the dangers of China’s colonising activities. In this article, we are extending his warning to Western de facto colonialism, which still wields immense power over all Africa’s 54 nations.

This work is creative non-fiction derived from what is known about the experiences of Leah Sharibu, a 15-year-old girl kidnapped alongside other schoolgirls by a faction of Boko Haram in Dapchi, in northern Nigeria.

The author calls on the Nigerian Left to revive the journal “In defence of history” in order to assist young people to know, understand and appreciate the history of Nigeria and the history of the world.

The first edition of the Université Populaire de l’Engagement Citoyen was launched in Dakar, in July 2018, with the aim of bringing together social movements from the continent to reflect on Africa’s pressing challenges. Discussions focused on the legacy of Pan-Africanism, the political and economic challenges that Africa is currently facing and the need of greater solidarity between citizens and social movements. 

A young Ugandan who is concerned about the current situation in the country sends an open letter to President Yoweri Museveni. 

The author argues that the People Power movement in Uganda has reached a point of no return in their efforts to bring about change in the country, but that they would require more coordination and a united front to achieve their objective.  

The People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), the largest democratic movement in Swaziland, recently elected a new leadership at its General Congress. Mlungisi Makhanya was elected new President.

State brutality is integral to the electoral cycle in Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda. There are campaign beatings, ballot beatings and post-election beatings. When the election cycle is over, the country reverts to ordinary beatings.

The second quarter of 2018 has seen South Africa register a negative growth designated recession while the country’s currency, the rand, continues to be volatile. 

The article explains how the United States of America destroyed Haiti’s domestic rice industry to the extent that farmers could no longer feed themselves. 

This piece is a dialogue with Nigerian Leftists—and all those who feel they share essential attributes with Leftists (socialists and pro-people radical democrats) but, for one reason or another, reject the “label” Leftists. The dialogue is driven by current political happenings and is here presented in form of notes, observations and propositions.

This article is framed around three important questions: Is the case of Bobi Wine, a youthful talented musician turned politician, taking on President Museveni something to be worried about? Is this the case of David vs. Goliath, or even “new wine in Uganda’s political wineskin? And should President Museveni be worried for his political future?

The author reviews the book The Lost Boys of Bird Island, which reveals how black children in South Africa were kidnapped, violated, raped and molested by senior apartheid government ministers and businessmen in the 1980s.

The author talks about Bitcoin’s bid to get a share of Africa’s banking system, especially among the technology-savvy entrepreneurs. 

This paper deals with the meaning of Mwalimu Marcus Garvey and the Afrikan Revolution in the 21st century. Mwalimu Garvey is without doubt one of the most important figures of the Afrikan Revolution in the last 50 years and today, more than 70 years after his passing, his mission of total and unapologetic independence for the Black race, remains unfinished.

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul was an outstanding manifestation of the African American struggle for dignity and freedom.

The Saharawis of Africa’s last colony Western Sahara don’t have many friends in high places around the world. But if Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour wins the next United Kingdom election it might prove to be a breakthrough in the protracted conflict and prevent a war. 

The cauldron of corruption and lies has been boiling non-stop 24 hours a day. The time has come to overturn it, for Haitians to begin to see the light of peace. Haiti is for all Haitians. – Fanmi Lavalas statement, 8 July 2018. Fanmi Lavalas is the party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president, and represents Haiti’s poor majority.

Special Issue: Celebrating the life and legacy of Samir Amin

The author looks at the theories of one of Africa’s greatest radical thinkers.

Samir Amin revolutionised economics by centering the global South. The Real News Network’s Ben Norton explores the radical legacy of the Egyptian-French anti-imperialist Marxist with scholar Ali Kadri.

I met Samir Amin only once. I was lucky though as our meeting was spread over three days at a conference and I later interviewed him by telephone for The Review of African Political Economy. I described him to friends and colleagues, who heard that I had been fortunate enough to spend time with him, as indefatigable – he would stride out ahead of the group to locate the baladi (local) place to eat and places to visit. 

In this special tribute, the author narrates how the writings of Samir Amin helped him to answer many questions he was confronted with, as a young revolutionary socialist and Marxist. 

The anti-imperialist scholar was very critical of the models of development and of the institutional structures of nation-states in developing countries that slavishly imitated the West, which he felt enabled colonialism to easily transmogrify into neo-colonialism.

The author recounts his first meeting with Samir Amin more than three decades ago and shares his working experience with this distinguished African scholar who was a mentor and father figure to many young researchers. 

Honouring the legacy of Samir Amin, Professor Togba-Nah Tipoteh calls on all progressives the world over to draw inspiration from the work of Samir Amin in order to enhance the work to liberate the oppressed from the oppressor. 

Samir Amin is proposing a way out of the current situation of capitalism in crisis. Nations should socialise the ownership of monopolies, de-financialise the management of the economy and de-globalise international relations.

In his book,  Le bicentenaire de Marx, Samir Amin reflect on the work of the man who has immensely influenced his own work and life. 

Samir Amin was an economist and intellectual, that has left his marks on academia, as well as on activists.

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