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. 
advocacy
Tribute to Samir Amin
Issa G Shivji
2011-09-06, Issue 546
cc M MGIn the era of globalisation, post-modernism and culturalism, many a Marxist intellectual of the 1960s and 1970s has metamorphosed, abandoning the class stand of the working people against the voracious capitalist system and imperialism. Not so Samir Amin. He has stood firm against capitalist barbarism. He does not mince his words nor does he capitulate to intellectual fashions. He does not seek accolades from Western scholarship nor does he curry favours to be counted among the 'best' 100 intellectuals. He remains steadfast in the great struggle of national liberation and social emancipation of the working people of the world. He remains anchored in class struggles at 80 as strongly as he was at 30 when he wrote his 'Class Struggle in Africa'.
Happy birthday Samir Amin!
Norman Girvan
2011-09-06, Issue 546
cc WikimediaYour prodigious, insightful work on the nature of world capitalism, its origins and evolution, and on the long but necessary transition to socialism has educated, enlightened and inspired us over the last half a century. Truly you are one of the most original thinkers of the 20th and early 21st century. Your treatment of Eurocentricity and on the epistemological and philosophical consequences of the worldwide expansion of European capitalism has given us a frame of reference within which the cultural diversity of humanity is validated as an intrinsic part of authentic socialism.
Saying ‘thank you’ to Samir Amin as he turns 80
Bill Fletcher, Jr
2011-09-06, Issue 546
cc 3ArabawyAlthough I only met Samir Amin in late 2010, I had studied his work for decades, finding in them superior analyses and inspiration. In fact, after reading so much of his work I was quite unprepared for the person I actually met. He was very down to earth, incredibly funny, and could actually listen, the latter characteristic not one that can ever be taken for granted, particularly in the case of individuals who gain iconic status.
George Padmore commemorated with plaque in London
Cameron Duodu
2011-06-30, Issue 537
© WikimediaWith ‘father of African liberation’ George Padmore commemorated with a plaque in London this week, Cameron Duodu reflects on Padmore’s enormous influence on the anti-colonial movement and his experiences in Trinidad, the US, the USSR, the UK and across Africa.
Haiti: The right to housing
2011-06-08, Issue 534
cc LCMSA number of organisations in Haiti representing social organisations, grassroots movements and people displaced in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake came together over the period 19–21 May 2011 to discuss the country’s housing crisis.
Memoirs of a Pan-African Fellow
Blessol Gathoni
2011-04-21, Issue 526
cc B K'I hated putting my hopes too high, so I opted to say what I wished for most. And that was friends to help me in my queer revolution (as I would in theirs).' Blessol Gathoni, a young Kenyan activist, shares her experiences as a Fahamu Fellow over the past six months. Fahamu’s Pan-African Fellowship is a programme that aims to nurture a new generation of African social justice leaders. This story is an extract from the Fahamu's newly launched Adilisha Newsletter [PDF: 4.8 MB].
Protest politics and attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa
Makhosini Lucky Kunene
2010-12-15, Issue 510
cc W AMakhosini Lucky Kunene explores South Africa’s post-apartheid landscape of violent service delivery protests, with a special focus on how foreign nationals have become targets in these attacks.
World Aids Day: Red ribbon rights for all
Joel Nana
2010-12-01, Issue 508
cc A DTwenty-two years after the first World AIDS Day, it’s time to acknowledge that African governments have officially ‘disappeared’ the existence of three highly vulnerable populations - sex workers, people who inject drugs, and gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM). It’s time for the denial to stop, urges Joel Nana.
Looking back, looking forward
Five years of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa
Mary Wandia
Oxfam Pan Africa Programme
2010-11-25, Issue 507
cc World BankDespite the advancement of women’s rights legal frameworks and discourse in Africa, there’s been little substantial change in the situation of African women, writes Mary Wandia.
SOAWR: Lessons we have learned
Faiza Jama Mohamed
2010-11-25, Issue 507
cc ISN S WFive years after the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa came into force, the campaign to ensure that it is implemented and enforced across the continent continues. Faiza Jama Mohamed looks at SOAWR’s strategy for future advocacy, in light of the experience it has gained.
Learning lessons from Kenya’s ratification process
Regina Mwanza
2010-11-24, Issue 507
cc H CKenya’s engagement with the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa was anything but smooth, but valuable lessons have been learnt by those supporting it, writes Regina Mwanza.
Reporting rights, protecting rights
Elize Delport
2010-11-24, Issue 507
cc AfronieNew reporting guidelines herald an exciting new phase of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa – providing a framework for ongoing and constructive dialogue. Elize Delport explains.
Why Ethiopia should ratify the Maputo Protocol
Fana Hagos Berhane
2010-11-25, Issue 507
cc GigiEthiopia is one of the few countries that have not ratified the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Fana Hagos Berhane discusses why it ought to.
Western Sahara and Morocco’s physical and symbolic violence
Konstantina Isidoros
2010-11-25, Issue 507
cc Western SaharaWith tensions coming to a head over the past two weeks, Morocco is once again under the international spotlight for its alleged illegal territorial occupation of Western Sahara. In the wake of a raid on the Sahrawi encampment of Gdeim Izik by Moroccan forces on Monday 8 November, Konstantina Isidoros argues that such ‘events shed illuminating insights into Morocco’s illegal occupation’.
The day the African Commission disavowed humanity
Fikile Vilakazi and Sibongile Ndashe
2010-11-22, Issue 506
The Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) says it is ‘extremely angered’ that their application for observer status before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights was rejected. ‘…this decision, if not challenged and reconsidered, will legitimise ongoing state and non-state violence against LGBTI people in Africa.’
Are we not human?
Sokari Ekine and Mia Nikasimo
2010-11-22, Issue 506
By denying the rights of LGBTI people, ACPHR is ‘facilitating the continual criminalisation of LGBTI individuals and is ‘absolutely complicit in the verbal, physical and sexual abuse of LGBTI people which goes unchallenged in country after country,’ write Sokari Ekine and Mia Nikasimo.
If not, why not?
Doublespeak on LGBTI rights at the African Commission
2010-11-22, Issue 506
The Coalition of African Lesbians meets all the eligibility criteria for observer status. So why has the ACHPR refused to award it to them, asks Joel Nana.
Where can we find refuge and justice?
2010-11-22, Issue 506
‘If the body that is supposed to protect our human rights denies us that space … everyone is going to take advantage of that denial to harass us,’ says activist Kasha Jacqueline, following the ACHPR’s refusal to grant observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians.
Lesbians can no longer be silent
Rose Wanjiku
2010-11-22, Issue 506
The ACHPR’s refusal to award observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians is further evidence of its desire to silence the voice of African women, writes Rose Wanjiku. It's time to speak out.
Let this group find comfort and safety here
Statement at the 48th Session of the African Commission on Human And Peoples’ Rights
Asha Ramgobin
2010-11-22, Issue 506
‘Can we truly silence a group or deny them a voice at the one place they should feel the safest?’ writes Asha Ramgobin, in a plea for the ACHPR to reconsider its decision not to award the Coalition of African Lesbians observer status.
Ethiopia: Profiles in journalistic courage
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2010-11-17, Issue 505
cc BBC World ServiceWhile the Ethiopian regime uses its power to keep citizens in darkness, a cadre of young journalists are displaying a courageous commitment to the truth. Alemayehu G. Mariam pays tribute.
Looking into the future
Art and the law in Zimbabwe
David Coltart
2010-11-18, Issue 505
cc Sokwanele - ZimbabweThe banning of works of art at a national gallery both curtails ‘fundamental rights of freedom of conscience and expression’ and ‘derails attempts’ to grapple with Zimbabwe’s traumatic past in ‘a palatable manner’, argues David Coltart.
Are you saying we are not human?
Sokari Ekine
2010-11-11, Issue 504
cc TNTBThe African Commission for People and Human Rights (ACPHR) has declined to give observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL). Outraged LGBTI activists have described the decision as a huge setback by the highest body supposed to promote and protect human rights on the continent. This week’s blog roundup focuses on LGBTI news and issues.
The queer community in Nairobi
Inward versus outward existence
J. Blessol Jr
2010-11-04, Issue 503
cc P G ‘Being queer in Nairobi means you have to man-up - or be a woman and a half - to admit, embrace, and live your life with no regrets,’ writes J. Blessol Jr, in an exploration of both the positive and the many negative aspects of queer life in the city.
Strides in gender parity in peril
Tanzania’s general elections 2010
Salma Maoulidi
2010-10-28, Issue 502
cc L KSalma Maoulidi looks at the future of Tanzania’s 50-50 Campaign as the country prepares for a general election. The campaign is meant to bring gender parity in parliament. Maoulidi argues the process is stalling as female politicians get caught up in a game where there is no women’s agenda and where women and women’s issues are largely absent from political debates.
Next stop: pambazuka.org
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2010-10-14, Issue 500
Alemayehu Mariam keeps coming back to Pambazuka News in his search for informed analysis on African current affairs. While Western countries have think tanks to debate important issues, Africans have Pambazuka News, he writes in his letter to celebrate Pambazuka News’ 500th issue.
A common loyalty to justice and equality
Henning Melber
2010-10-14, Issue 500
To celebrate the newsletter’s 500th issue, Henning Melber remembers two of his favourite contributors to Pambazuka News, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem and Dennis Brutus.
African Women Writing Resistance
Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez, Pauline Dongala, Omotayo Jolaosho and Anne Serafin
2010-09-23, Issue 497
The following article is an extract from 'African Women Writing Resistance', which Pambazuka Press will be publishing in January 2011. For customers in Africa and Europe, the book is available at a special pre-publication price of £13.00 when ordering from our website, with orders to be fulfilled in January (customers in North America and India should please order from the University of Wisconsin Press website).
Ronald W. Walters: A fighter against global apartheid
1938-2010
Horace Campbell
2010-09-23, Issue 497
cc CliffRonald W. Walters, academic, activist and dedicated Pan-Africanist, died on 10 September 2010. Horace Campbell remembers the man who helped build the global Pan-African movement and mobilised generations of black Americans against racism.
Teaching uMunthu for global peace
Reflections on International Day of Peace
Steve Sharra
2010-09-23, Issue 497
cc ILRIWith youth and development as the thematic focus of this year’s International Day of Peace, Steve Sharra shares insights from the country’s primary school classrooms into how to define and understand peace from a Malawian perspective.