Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful, sharp and thoughtful analyses and make it one of the largest and most innovative and influential web forums for social justice in Africa. 
Letters & Opinions
RSS FeedEducating the UN secretary-general
Aids-Free World
2011-01-06, Issue 511
The UN's secretary general needs to be educated about gender issues, write the co-directors of AIDS-Free World.
Cote d’Ivoire: Why the West wants Ouattara
2011-01-06, Issue 511
‘If the AU and ECOWAS intervene in Cote d’Ivoire on behalf of France and imperialism, it could be a dangerous example, threatening the sovereignty of other African countries, writes Asad Ali.
Somaliland: Justice delayed is justice denied
Response to 'Hope and caution in Somaliland'
Omer Hussein Dualeh
2010-12-16, Issue 510
The people of Somaliland have every right to statehood and membership of the AU and UN, writes Omer Hussein Dualeh.
Political instability impeding Zimbabwe’s macro-economic recovery
Dewa Mavhinga
2010-12-08, Issue 509
Calling upon international players such as SADC (Southern African Development Community) and the AU (African Union), Dewa Mavhinga stresses that it ‘is a waste of time to talk of any meaningful socio-economic development in Zimbabwe in the absence of a solid foundation of political stability.’
A ‘superb’ piece on the Sahrawi
Response to ‘Western Sahara and Morocco’s physical and symbolic violence’
Martin Dewhurst
2010-12-02, Issue 508
Konstantina Isidoros’s article ‘raises the bar, lifts the lid and exposes the follies of Morocco perfectly’ writes Martin Dewhurst.
Protect Africa from domination by private banks
Response to 'Global currency wars and US imperialism'
Ellen Dunn
2010-12-02, Issue 508
‘There are two monetary systems fighting for control of the global markets,’ writes Ellen Dunn. ‘One system is controlled by US and western European private banks using debt and the other is managed by sovereign states.’
Learning from Steve Biko
Lindelwa Ntlali
2010-11-25, Issue 507
‘The only time we as black people will be truly liberated is when we liberate ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and in unity’, writes Lindelwa Ntlali.
Funders don’t care about NGO workers in the South
Rebecca Pointer
2010-11-25, Issue 507
Community activists with no/poor education are always paid – if at all – on a lower pay scale than the middle classes, even though they may be more knowledgeable about everything to do with the situation they are struggling against, writes Rebecca Pointer.
Parents should encourage children to read
Susan Najjuma
UMI
2010-11-11, Issue 504
The campaign to build a reading culture should start in the home, writes Susan Najjuma.
Guides needed for journey to African unity
Waiswa
2010-11-11, Issue 504
Achieving ‘the Pan-African dream will take some great men of character and courage that have the will to take the lead’, writes Waiswa.
Come clean about geoengineering
Mathieu Hamaekers
2010-11-11, Issue 504
Data about experiments conducted must be disclosed, and their effects on the environment assessed, writes Mathieu Hamaekers.
Time to unite against EPAs
Carol Kayira-Kulemeka
2010-11-03, Issue 503
Africa needs to approach trade deals from a continental level if it is to resist a new wave of colonisation, says Carol Kayira-Kulemeka.
Let's grow our own way
Owen Sichone
2010-11-03, Issue 503
Rejecting EPAs and consolidating regional economic communities may well be the first step in Africa’s move towards regaining independence, writes Owen Sichone.
Why would our governments sign up to this?
T. Mohammed Yusuf and Utamaduni w'Afrika
2010-11-03, Issue 503
Lack of protection from cheap subsidised imports under EPAs poses a threat to East Africa’s agricultural industry, writes T. Mohammed Yusuf.
What the Caribbean could have learned from Africa
Anthony DeTrilaan
2010-11-03, Issue 503
Thank you for this piece. I only wish we in the Caribbean were as wise as our African brothers and sisters in holding off on signing an EPA with the EU. Our EPA, much as described in this...
Kindred spirits in the fight for freedom
Gerry German
Communities Empowerment Network (UK)
2010-11-03, Issue 503
Dear friends Many thanks for keeping us up-to-date with developments - on the one hand, exposing political and economic contaminations, and on the other, featuring dreams and aspirations based on true memories and daring kindred spirits striving to restore freedom, equality and justice worldwide. We struggle in the same way over here. Peace and love.
Aid does not get to needy
Ethiopian Recycler
2010-10-28, Issue 502
Donors would rather continue to send aid to the Ethiopian government rather than admit it is not reaching the Ethiopian people, Ethiopian Recycler argues. ‘Zenawi knows denial will breed denial.’
End oil theft and make history
Open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan
Uche Igwe
2010-10-20, Issue 501
Uche Igwe calls on President Goodluck Jonathan to address the theft of oil in Nigeria.
'A vision of justice and self-determination for all Africans'
Shailja Patel
2010-10-21, Issue 501
‘Congratulations’ is a wholly inadequate accolade for Pambazuka's 500th issue. It's hard to capture the breadth and importance of what Pambazuka does. It is a space, a community, a movement. It is a clearing-house, an archive, a resource base, a forum for radical scholarship, analysis and debate that is not occurring anywhere else. And of course, it's a journal, and a platform for action, that never compromises on a vision of justice and self-determination for all Africans. Thank you.
Information about Soviet World Youth Festival
Nick Rutter
2010-10-14, Issue 500
I'm a historian at Yale University in the USA who just happened upon your online news service, and who has a special request. I'm writing a history of something called the World Youth Festival, a Soviet-sponsored event which met 13 times between 1947...
Continuing to 'fight the good fight'
Marion Grammer
2010-10-14, Issue 500
Pambazuka platform has 'given voice to the vibrant and engaged people of Africa and its diaspora; people who are passionate about pursuing justice', writes Marion Grammer.
The boys who saved Nakuru: Heroes or criminals?
Isaac Newton Kinity
2010-10-14, Issue 500
As the ICC prepares to prosecute perpetrators of the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, Isaac Newton Kinity asks whether the court will view the boys who killed militia to defend the town of Nakuru – and who unwittingly prevented further bloodshed – as heroes or criminals.
Thanks Mphuthumi Ntabeni
Pemberai Zambezi
2010-10-05, Issue 499
'Behind the Hout Bay violence in Cape Town' by Mphuthumi Ntabeni is a great article and has great questions. South Africa is an elite world driven by pure capitalist motives largely advanced by whites and a growing number of blacks. The poor will remain relegated to the dustbins of economic and social growth. Unfortunately this will remain like this for a while. The poor need to continue fighting. Pemberai Zambezi Research & Knowledge Management Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT) 12 Robert Mugabe Way Box 970 Mutare, Zimbabwe
Piracy – a survival strategy for Somalis?
Response to 'The Real Pirates in Somalia: Washington, Paris and Oslo'
Lugo Teehalt
2010-09-30, Issue 498
Perhaps Somali pirates were fisherman until their fish were destroyed by the West dumping toxic waste on their fishing grounds, writes Lugo Teehalt.
MDGs yet to fail Africa
Moalosi Masilo
2010-09-23, Issue 497
'Africans must focus on their own agenda' when it comes to tackling the continent’s social issues, rather than being distracted by Western views, writes Moalosi Masilo.
Solidarity needed for people of Pakistan
Jubilee South
2010-09-16, Issue 496
‘The whole nation of Pakistan continues to reel from devastating impacts of the unprecedented disaster that hit the country over a month ago,’ writes Jubilee South. ‘We call on our members and other peoples’ organizations, movements and citizens groups in the South and throughout the world to step up our efforts to press for Debt Cancellation for the people of Pakistan.’
Going back to the old and proven ways
Response to ‘Decolonising African Feminism’
Godfrey Kahangi
2010-09-09, Issue 495
‘Thank you for this insightful article, writes Godfrey Kahangi. ‘It is time to be African. Colonisation de-cultured Africans and Africa, but the solutions to our problems should not be sourced from the western world, but necessitate a 'looking back' to the pre-colonial era.’
Cultural relativism not an effective approach
Response to ‘Decolonising African Feminism’
Awino Okech
2010-09-09, Issue 495
‘Responding to neo-colonialism and problematic developmental paradigms does not need to be done through a retreat to a glorious African past that creates a false opposition between US and THEM,’ writes Awino Okech.
Solidarity must include humanity
Shailja Patel
2010-09-07, Issue 495
Although supportive of the right of South Africa’s public workers to strike, Shailja Patel says there's no excuse not to protect and defend the country’s most vulnerable.
Helpful material for opposing GMOs
Response to ‘An open letter to Oxfam America on its stance on biotechnology’
Ann Puntch
2010-09-09, Issue 495
Thank you very much for publishing this careful, thoughtful letter to Oxfam, opposing its stance on GMOs. It is hard to find articulate material to help oppose GMOs. As you might know, Brazil is another big experimental plot for transgenics, as soybeans for cattle feed and sugar cane for fuel continue to occupy lands that should be used to grow food. I will be sending your letter to the Observatório Social and others who might be interested.
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