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. 
discrimination
The problem with affirmative action
Lewis Gordon
2011-08-18, Issue 545
cc TedeytanDespite accompanying debates about supposed non-white mediocrity, resistance to affirmative action is not about maintaining standards but rather about maintaining ‘white mediocrity’, argues Lewis R. Gordon.
Bringing LGBTI issues into the forced migration debate
Jeff Ogwaro
2011-07-26, Issue 541
cc IGLHRCThe recent International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) conference discussed a range of issues around LGBTI people and forced migration, writes Jeff Ogwaro, such as the fears asylum seekers may have around declaring their sexuality.
Science, the future, and the revolutionary moment
Review of Michio Kaku’s ‘Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100’
Horace Campbell
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc JoeMichio Kaku’s new book shows how science and technology are transforming ‘social relations among humans and between humans and the universe,’ writes Horace Campbell, but it fails to convey that ‘[t]echnological revolution by itself cannot change society; it requires the intentional and purposeful intervention of humans to make a break from traditions of slavery, bondage and exploitation.
LGBT: Transgender rights not simply gay rights
Audrey Mbugua
2011-02-10, Issue 516
cc WikimediaIn the aim of strengthening their cause, gay rights activism often compromises the identity and struggle of transgender people by lumping the two communities’ issues together, writes Audrey Mbugua.
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.
A single act, a punished people: Nigerians face backlash
Funmi Feyide-John
2010-02-10, Issue 469
cc WikimediaOrdinary Nigerians, Funmi Feyide-John observes, are experiencing a backlash of discrimination worldwide as a result of the attempted suicide bombing on an American flight by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Following the event, Nigeria has been listed as a ‘terror prone’ country. Feyide-John goes on to reveal that despite most Nigerians having denounced Abdulmutallab’s actions and terrorism, the US is denying Nigerian students their visas, Nigerian travellers are subjected to special ‘rules’ and Nigerian community initiatives in the US are being shunned. She notes that Nigerians are receiving no support from the Nigerian government to overcome these problems. Furthermore, Nigeria’s unstable political backdrop at the moment is one that encourages separation. What is needed, Feyide-John concludes, however, is unity.
US committed to tackling racial discrimination?: The Troy Davis case
Keith Jennings
2009-07-02, Issue 440
cc abardwellAwaiting execution on death row in the US state of Georgia, Troy Davis is an innocent victim of entrenched racial discrimination within the US judicial system, writes Keith Jennings. With his legal representatives not 'claim[ing] his innocence in a timely fashion', Davis faces the prospect of being murdered by Georgia's authorities simply for not submitting his papers on time. If the US is to practise what it preaches and show the world that it is genuinely tackling domestic racial discrimination, such a flagrant human rights violation must be put right immediately, Jennings concludes.
'Supporting right and opposing wrong'?: Uganda's NRM
Vincent Nuwagaba
2009-06-11, Issue 437
cc P PriceWhile Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni remains keen to stress his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party's increasing popularity in the country's north, Vincent Nuwagaba decries the deliberate fusing of party and state activities. With the NRM able to command all the financial resources the state's coffers will allow, Nuwagaba laments the discrimination directed at Ugandans supporting opposition parties and stresses the need for the country to become a genuine meritocracy.
The fallacies of identity politics
Audrey Mbugua
2009-05-21, Issue 433
cc Liz HenryDeeply concerned about the profound discrimination experienced by Kenya's transgender community, Audrey Mbugua berates Kenyan society for its unjust treatment of a marginalised group. Rather than creating 'transgender rights' per se, Mbugua calls upon the country to view transgender people as human beings like any other group. Deeply scathing of Kenya's entrenched 'trans-phobia' and the divisive nature of different groups' competing for recognition, the author implores those marginalised to see themselves as part of a wider struggle for justice that transcends identity politics.
The dawn of the Obama era: In memory of the ancestors
Paul T Zeleza
2009-01-22, Issue 416
Paul Tiyambe Zeleza does a reflective round-up on the different opinions surrounding President Obama’s inauguration. Zeleza argues that “The biggest challenge facing President Obama is how to manage the relative historic decline of American global supremacy in a world of new emerging powers and growing intolerance against authoritarianism whether within or between nations; in short, a more global and nationalistic world impatient with the old injustices and hierarchies of power and well-being and hungry for development, democracy, and self-determination.” That Obama has reached outside the race and national boundaries in an unprecedented way is not in question and the essay goes to emphasize the different ways different peoples in different parts of the world are responding to Obama - both as a challenge and as a promise.
Barack Obama, black agency, and the burden of history
Pius Adesanmi
2008-08-11, Issue 393
The timeline of black agency has been determined to a great extent in the last six centuries by the need to overcome man-made historical impediments, notably slavery, racism, colonialism, neocolonialism – and their new forms in the present – on the o...
Obama and Palestine
Sameh A. Habeeb
2008-08-11, Issue 393
We, Palestinians, are aspiring to any glimpse of hope to establishing our promising country of Palestine. Originally, that glimpse of hope grew when Israelis realized in the nineties that a real peace will not be achieved apart from an Independent Palestinian state. That time, the world agreed on that concept and peace deal (Oslo) was held in Washington D.C, after the first Bush had left office....
Violence against women in Africa: from discrimination to impunity
A call for ratification and implementation of the Maputo Protocol
2008-08-07, Issue 392
African Women’s Day gives us the opportunity to remember that gender-based violence is one of the most serious and widespread violations of the basic rights of women, particularly on the African continent. Gender discrimination is both one of the causes and an aggravating factor of the consequences of violence against women, thus contributing to the perpetuation of impunity of such cases....
Ghana: why the North matters
Samuel Zan Akologo and Rinus van Klinken
2008-06-17, Issue 381
Unequal and uneven development inherited from British colonialism by present day Ghana continues to divide the North from the South. For Samuel Zan Akologo and Rinus van Klinken "Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Togo are gory reminders" should serve as warning to the Ghanian leadership that it must change course.
Gender perspective on water and sanitation
Roselynn Musa
2008-06-10, Issue 379
What does gender have to do with issues of sanitation and water? Roselyenn Musa gives us a multi-faceted gender perspectives that consider the role of African governments, gender awareness and water privatization amongst others. The upcoming mid-year African Union (AU) summit of heads of state and government
Towards African-American Unity and a Black United Front
Nationalities Committee
2008-05-22, Issue 374
Commemorating Malcolm X's Birthday, appraise existing African American leadership and call for a Black united front that can shake the foundation of a border-less neoliberal globalization.
Reflections on 16 days of Activism
Emma Njoki Wamai
2008-05-22, Issue 374
Emma Njoki Wamai reflects on the 2007 I6 Days of Activism Campaign and notes the positive impact on Sauti Ya Wanawake (The Voice of Women) such as strengthening the organization's relationship with the provincial administration. This has led to police and the chiefs’ working together with SYW on cases of sexual and gender based violence.
The space for post liberation politics
Onyekachi Wambu
2008-05-22, Issue 373
Onyekachi Wambu looks at post-liberation South Africa and the contradictions of promise and reality and duly warns that the ANC government might very well be condemning South Africa to repeat Zimbabwe's mistakes.
Women and the 2008 Ghana Elections
Mawuli Dake
2008-05-05, Issue 369
Mawuli Dake looks at the ways in which women are being locked out of the democratic processes in Ghana and argues that societies "cannot claim to be committed to the principles and ideals of democracy and the universal values of equality" if groups within are marginalized.
Obama and Clinton: The Tightrope and the Needle
Linda Burnham
2008-03-20, Issue 355
What happens when white feminism intersects with questions of race and class? How has Race and Gender being used to derail the Obama campaign? Linda Burham tackles these questions and much more
Liberia Women: Their Issues and Challenge
Una Kumba Thompson
2008-03-06, Issue 351
Una Kumba Thompson talks about the special challenges facing Liberian women and calls for greater solidarity amongst African women
Tradition at the Heart of Violence Against Women and Girls in Africa
Linda Osarenren
2008-03-06, Issue 351
Linda Osarenren writes a hard hitting essay on the ways and means African cultures perpetuate sexism, patriarchy and violence against women
The Long Road to Democracy II
2008-02-12, Issue 344
In a follow up to her pre-election piece on Kenya, Wangui Wa Goro looks at the various ways democratic institutions have been challenged and charts a way forward.
Women’s Participation in the 2007 General Elections in Kenya
Penninah Ogada
2007-12-19, Issue 333
Dr. Penninah Ogada discusses the social, political and economic factors that impeding the full participation of Kenyan women in this year's general election.
Afro-Venezuelans: An open letter to the Venezuelan National Assembly
Jesús "Chucho" García
2007-12-11, Issue 332
Jesús "Chucho" García calls for a greater recognition of Afro-Venezuelans in the country's constitution.
African women and domestic violence
Takyiwaa Manuh
2007-11-28, Issue 330
The experience of using law to address the issue of domestic violence in Africa contains both positive and negative lessons for gender-equality campaigners, says Takyiwaa Manuh.
Abuse after disclosing status hinders HIV care
Gloria Ganyani
2007-11-29, Issue 330
Along with partners and husbands, families also often shun women who disclose their status, placing the blame squarely on the woman’s shoulders, writes Gloria Ganyani.
Gender approach to violence, labour rights and discrimination
Aboubacry Mbodji
2007-11-29, Issue 330
Aboubacry Mbodji proposes a gender approach in regard to violence, labour rights and discriminations against women in Senegalese working environment.
Government leaders passive in the face of lesbian murders
Melanie Judge
2007-11-29, Issue 330
Melanie Judge writes about the apparent passivity of government leaders in the face of lesbian attacks and murders in South Africa.
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