Through the voices of the peoples of Africa and the global South, Pambazuka Press and Pambazuka News disseminate analysis and debate on the struggle for freedom and justice.
Pan-African Postcard
RSS FeedWhy Ghana musn’t give in to superstition
Cameron Duodu
2011-11-17, Issue 558
Disturbed by two incidents involving elderly women suspected of witchcraft – one of whom was burnt alive, while the other was denied medical treatment – Cameron Duodu calls for Ghana to value the lives of all its citizens.
Kenya: Dealing with drought
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-08-04, Issue 543
‘Defying the image of Kenyans as a parasitic nation that would gladly stand by and watch fellow citizens die’, Kenyans of various backgrounds have raised ‘in eight days ten times what the Kenyan government had pledged to put towards food distribution to the drought stricken areas,’ writes H. Nanjala Nyabola. Shouldn't the government be doing more?
The value of storytelling
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-07-27, Issue 542
‘Storytellers accounting for the role of terrorism in defining modern societies have chosen to tell a story in which communities are constituted and bound by an irrational fear of difference,’ writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.
Not having doesn’t equate to not being
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-07-13, Issue 539
When will aid agencies ‘develop a system of asking for assistance that does not involve dehumanising African people, especially children,’ asks H. Nanjala Nyabola.
This thing tolerance
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-07-07, Issue 538
Last year’s backlash against homosexuals in Malawi and Uganda is ‘cause for great concern’, but it shouldn’t be taken as ‘as evidence of the apparently enduring homophobia of African people in general’, argues H. Nanjala Nyabola.
The politics of law: Libya and the West
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-06-29, Issue 537
When it comes to the politics of international law, ‘[t]he case of Libya is a reminder that power matters, as does who wields it and why,’ writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.
On cultural oppression
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-06-16, Issue 535
‘Can African women or women of African descent ever be truly liberated if they never learn to love their hair as it grows out of their head?’, asks H. Nanjala Nyabola.
The language of Pan-Africanism
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-06-08, Issue 534
cc A K‘If we are to have a truly Pan-African language, shouldn’t it be a language that best reflects Africa as it is today, rather than as we imagined it to be 100 years ago,’ asks H. Nanjala Nyabola.
Changing guard at the IMF
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-06-02, Issue 532
In the wake of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s resignation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), H. Nanjala Nyabola wonders why African governments are not calling for the same withdrawal from the IMF that they push for with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The African city in European eyes
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-05-25, Issue 531
‘[W]ould it be too much to ask for people to look at the African city and see more than just poverty?’ asks H. Nanjala Nyabola.
The resurgence of the ‘Hottentot Venus’
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-05-18, Issue 530
Shocked by the publication of an article claiming black women are inherently less attractive than other women, H. Nanjala Nyabola considers Satoshi Kanazawa’s ‘study’ and underlines a key historical parallel.
We don’t buy the government cheese
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-05-12, Issue 529
‘It seems illogical that to me government should be the enemy. Yes it’s good that we’re all questioning them more but there’s a difference between scrutiny and suspicion, and what we seem to have now is more of the latter than the former,’ writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.
Keeping things in perspective
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-05-05, Issue 527
'Bin Laden's death is perhaps the ultimate act of retribution, and no one can fault anyone for seeking that out. But there's a difference between justice and retribution,' writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.
In memoriam: Karen Harrison
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-05-03, Issue 527
Following the death of Karen Harrison, an activist from Glasgow, Scotland, and a mature student at the University of Oxford, H. Nanjala Nyabola pays tribute to ‘one of those special people who dedicated their whole lives to fighting battles that the rest of us are relatively comfortable looking away from’.
Life, death and driving in Nairobi
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-04-20, Issue 526
H. Nanjala Nyabola takes a hectic drive through Nairobi's rush hour traffic and concludes that if Kenyans learnt to treat each other with respect on the roads, then there might be more respect in other areas of life.
How do you solve a problem like Sarkozy?
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-04-12, Issue 525
The French approach to Libya and Côte d'Ivoire shows little understand of the mood of the African people and is more about a futile search for global influence, writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.
Kenya’s silent majority
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-04-05, Issue 524
With the ‘Hague Six’ attempting to drum up domestic support to deflect the ICC (International Criminal Court) indictments over their role in Kenya’s 2007–08 post-election crisis, H. Nanjala Nyabola laments the willingness of the country’s ‘silent majority’ to simply ‘brush the nasty business of the post-election violence under the rug’.
Is there too much special pleading in Africa?
Cameron Duodu
2011-03-31, Issue 523
As evidenced by Ivorians’ experiences in the wake of their country’s disputed election results and the looming threat of civil war, African leaders’ insistence on ignoring pre-established rules severely jeopardises their constituents, writes Cameron Duodu.
Is Laurent Gbagbo ‘pulling a Kibaki’?
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-03-22, Issue 522
Are there clear similarities between leaders’ behaviour in the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007–08 election and the current impasse in Côte d’Ivoire, asks H. Nanjala Nyabola. Is Laurent Gbagbo ‘pulling a Kibaki’?
Condolences to Libya
Cameron Duodu
2011-03-24, Issue 522
The ‘people of Libya deserve all our sympathy – for having been obliged to endure the calamitous rule of a man, apparently destined to inflict so much suffering on them,’ writes Cameron Duodu.
The 'S' word: The demise of the doctrine of stability in Africa?
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-03-17, Issue 521
Used as an excuse to prop up dicators across Africa, the doctrine of stability has produced instability rather than reducing it. It’s time for the international community to drop the idea, says H. Nanjala Nyabola.
The (not-so) curious case of Colonel Gaddafi
H. Nanjala Nyabola
2011-03-09, Issue 520
Is Gaddafi crazy, as the Western media would have us believe, asks H. Nanjala Nyabola, or merely good at manipulating a deeply flawed system for his own benefit?
NEPAD: Good investment for the future?
Okello Oculi
2010-11-04, Issue 503
Attending the NEPAD Forum in Abuja last week, Okello Oculi is disappointed by a lack of enthusiasm for the most interesting ideas raised. Meanwhile, the last-minute trade fair running in parallel to the forum is ‘a success by the mere fact of its taking place’.
Cargo traders, kidnappers and colonisation
Okello Oculi
2010-10-28, Issue 502
Caught up in a riot by passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from China, Okello Oculi connects the event with the flagging fortunes of a town in south eastern Nigeria.
See how the big boys run from the ICC's small axe
Muthoni Wanyeki
2010-10-21, Issue 501
Muthoni Wanyeki discusses the uncomfortable – but necessary – process of the ICC inquiry into Kenya’s post-election violence in 2007–08.
One Nation march on Washington DC: 2 October 2010
Horace Campbell
2010-10-07, Issue 499
Following the participation of a diverse range of people at the 2 October One Nation march in Washington DC, Horace Campbell discusses the need for resurgent solidarity, effective challenges to a politics unrepresentative of the needs of the majority and building a new social movement in the US.
World Cup bomb suspects and human rights defenders
Kimathi's arrest renders Kampala trials a farce
Muthoni Wanyeki
2010-09-29, Issue 498
Kenya must intervene immediately in Uganda's arrest of Muslim Human Rights Forum director Al Amin Kimathi, who was arrested and jailed on his way to observe the trials of eight Kenyans suspected of plotting the bomb attacks in Kampala during the World Cup final. Not only is Kimathi’s arrest unlawful, Muthoni Wanyeki writes, but the treatment of the Kenyan suspects also contravenes human rights.
The Kenyan census and the future
Muthoni Wanyeki
2010-09-16, Issue 496
After twice postponing the release of its 2009 census results, Kenya has finally revealed that it is home to over 38 million people. Muthoni Wanyeki highlights the sexist and xenophobic elements of the debate on the population figures and calls for Kenyans to resolve their past.
Don't pussyfoot with Bashir, face reality
L. Muthoni Wanyeki
2010-09-07, Issue 495
Following the visit of President Omar al-Bashir to Nairobi, L. Muthoni Wanyeki finds Kenya’s welcoming of Sudan’s president ‘unbelievable’.
It’s a new day, the sun is shining, we’ve made it!
L. Muthoni Wanyeki
2010-08-12, Issue 494
Following the approval of Kenya’s new constitution, L. Muthoni Wanyeki discusses the constitutional referendum voting process, the road to the new constitution, and what must happen next to ensure the new constitution is observed.
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