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. 
exploitation
TNCs, transfer pricing and tax avoidance
Part 3
Charles Abugre
2011-08-18, Issue 545
cc TaxBrackets.orgHow do multinationals and unethical companies conceal and move capital abroad? Mostly through manipulating import and export prices, writes Charles Abugre in Part 3 of a four-part series on the flow of ‘dirty money’.
The struggle to convert nationalism to Pan-Africanism
Taking stock of 50 years of African independence
Issa G Shivji
2011-08-11, Issue 544
cc S KAfrica’s ‘tale of treasures at one end and tragedies at the other cannot be understood’ without ‘locating it in the trajectory of worldwide capitalist accumulation,’ argues Issa Shivji.
Leaving oil in the soil
Patrick Bond
2011-08-04, Issue 543
From a wrecked tanker on South Africa’s coast to the forests of South America, Patrick Bond explains why mining oil is a bad idea.
South Sudan: Africa’s newest state should sustain the dream
Aloys Habimana
2011-07-13, Issue 539
cc ENOUGH projectSouth Sudan’s independence is ‘a dream come true’ for the country’s people, but ‘to avoid turning that dream into a nightmare, the new nation’s leadership will need to adopt a line of governance that reflects greater commitment to human rights, public freedoms and justice for all,’ cautions Aloys Habimana.
Edward Wilmot Blyden, grandfather of African liberation
Cameron Duodu
2011-07-06, Issue 538
cc WikimediaWhile George Padmore is well known as the ‘father of African emancipation’, Cameron Duodu reminds us of the life and ideas of Edward Wilmot Blyden, ‘the grandfather of African emancipation’.
Understanding land investment deals in Africa
Nile Trading and Development, Inc. in South Sudan
The Oakland Institute
2011-07-06, Issue 538
cc WikimediaThe Oakland Institute takes a closer look at South Sudan’s largest land deal to date – the granting of a 49-year lease of 600,000 hectares of land to US-based firm Nile Trading and Development Inc (NTD) by the shadowy Mukaya Payam Cooperative in March 2008. For a sum equivalent to around US$25,000, NTD has full rights to exploit all natural resources in the leased land during this period.
African transformation: Only in our hands
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
2011-07-07, Issue 538
cc S MSocial progress and transformation in Africa will be driven by the continent’s people themselves, writes Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe. Africa remains a net exporter of capital to the Western world, just as the remittances provided by Africans abroad far outweigh the ‘aid’ the continent receives, Ekwe-Ekwe underlines.
Land 'investment' deals in Africa: Say ‘no way!’
Anuradha Mittal, Jeff Furman, Frederic Mousseau
Oakland Institute
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc T RFood insecurity, loss of food sovereignty, the displacement of small farmers, conflict, environmental devastation, water loss, and the further impoverishment and political instability of African nations – these are among the consequences of large-scale investments in land in Africa, a special investigation by the Oakland Institute has revealed. Pambazuka News spoke to Anuradha Mittal, Jeff Furman and Frederic Mousseau about what prompted their research and what they discovered.
Is the 'global coalition' obstructing Africa’s progress?
Zaya Yeebo
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc MoghawemtThe ‘global coalition’ is ultimately a mere front for the dominance of Western economic and political interests over genuine democratisation for the peoples of Africa, writes Zaya Yeebo.
Is microfinance working in South Africa?
Khadija Sharife
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc J BIs microfinance is helping families out of poverty or merely plunging them into debt? Khadija Sharife speaks with one recipient about her experience.
'Transparency' hides Zambia's lost billions
Khadija Sharife
2011-06-23, Issue 536
cc EITIMining corporations' tax evasion schemes cost African nations billions of dollars each year, says Khadija Sharife.
Bringing Canadian mining to justice
Karyn Keenan
2011-06-22, Issue 536
cc WikimediaCanadian mining interests in countries around the world are valued at tens of billions of dollars. Karyn Keenan looks at efforts by local communities to hold mining companies to account for human rights abuses. 'The issue of access to remedy for the victims of corporate abuse requires urgent attention,' she writes.
Saving Uganda from its oil
Jason Hickel
2011-06-23, Issue 536
cc SnapparachiOil worth billions of dollars is set to start flowing in Uganda, but the existing framework fails to protect Uganda from being plundered by multinational corporations, Jason Hickel writes.
Copper in Zambia: Charity for multinationals
Khadija Sharife
2011-06-02, Issue 532
cc T HDespite the apparent ‘success’ of the privatisation of the Zambian copper industry, the true picture is one of systemic multinational exploitation, national assets sold ‘for a song’ and persistent tax dodging, writes Khadija Sharife.
Françafrique: We’ll go when we’ve finished
Sokari Ekine
2011-05-26, Issue 531
The impact of climate change on women in Ethiopia, questionable carbon credit and biofuels schemes, a Liberian activist’s work with child soldiers, and France’s commercial ties to its former colonies are among the topics covered in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, compiled by Sokari Ekine.
Wal-Mart South Africa deal 'a race to the bottom'
Khadija Sharife
2011-05-19, Issue 530
cc ColleenMultinational Wal-Mart is trying to acquire South African retailer Massmart. Khadija Sharife explains why the deal would be bad for the country and bad for workers.
Cocoa speculators cash in on Côte d'Ivoire conflict
Khadija Sharife
2011-05-12, Issue 529
cc NestleCocoa speculators are among the few to benefit from the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, as disruptions to the supply chain drive up global prices of the commodity, writes Khadija Sharife.
The glossary of greed
Joan Baxter
2011-03-30, Issue 523
cc D AWith the 2011 Forbes List of the world’s billionaires recently released – and acutely aware of the huge volume of unaccounted for money found in offshore havens – Joan Baxter discusses the ‘highly stratified world that has become treacherously top-heavy’.
Oil, despotism and philanthropic tokenism
Nnimmo Bassey
2011-03-09, Issue 520
cc vaxzine‘Without doubt’, the crude oil business ‘is the stuff that oils the machinery of despotism’ and that ‘blinds the world to the bloods that flow on the streets as people fight for liberty’, writes Nnimmo Bassey.
Out of touch in the Horn of Africa?
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2011-02-24, Issue 518
cc A HIt’s true that the Ethiopian ‘political opposition is weak and disunited’, but ‘Western governments seem to be conveniently oblivious of the reasons for the disarray in the opposition’, writes Alemayehu G. Mariam.
Occupied territory: Africa and the oligopolies
Interview with La Decroissance
Firoze Manji
2011-02-24, Issue 518
cc US ArmyAfrican governments, once the product of our liberation struggles, are ‘more accountable to Northern governments and to the international financial institutions than they are to citizens’, says Firoze Manji.
China and Nigeria’s oil
Khadija Sharife
2011-01-26, Issue 514
cc M B TA deal valued at nearly US$30 billion that will increase Nigeria’s refining capacity is on the cards. But is there a catch for Africa’s largest oil producer? Khadija Sharife investigates.
Livelihoods under threat: Malindi's fishermen
Zahra Moloo
2011-01-20, Issue 513
cc A KKenya's artisanal or small-scale fishermen have been living off the sea for decades. They have been facing a range of problems over the past years. In Malindi, a number of conflicts have arisen between the fishermen and prawn trawlers, large vessels that trawl the ocean floor catching prawns for sale. The fishermen say that the trawlers often cut their nets and discard healthy fish as by-catch. One trawling company faced a number of law-suits relating to these conflicts. Along Mombasa's coastline, fisherman are increasingly having to compete with the expanding hotel industry for access to scarce land along the sea. As more and more hotels take over these areas, the fishermen fear that they will lose their only means of survival. Zahra Moloo reports in this audio piece [mp3].
Building Africa's tax havens
Khadija Sharife
2010-12-02, Issue 508
cc G WFrom the Seychelles to Liberia, African countries are creating financial centres that demand little or no taxation. Khadija Sharife provides a run-down of the places to hide away money from the taxman.
Zimbabwe, private companies and the Mauritius money
Khadija Sharife
2010-12-02, Issue 508
cc K OWhile some have looked favourably on Essar Africa Holdings Ltd being selected as the preferred private corporation to take on 54 per cent of the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO), Khadija Sharife points out that it’s not all good news.
Key issues at the Cancun Climate Conference
Martin Khor
2010-12-02, Issue 508
cc I F DLow expectations about the outcomes of Cancun show how far climate change has fallen on the world's political agenda. ‘And that is bad indeed,’ writes Martin Khor, ‘because the climate problem has got even worse.’
What the Wal-Mart fight really means
Terry Bell
2010-11-17, Issue 505
cc Brave New FilmsIt has 8,692 retail outlets in 15 countries and an annual turnover that exceeds South Africa’s gross domestic product by nearly $110 billion. But unions in South Africa are opposed to Wal-Mart’s expansion into southern Africa. And they’re not alone, writes Terry Bell.
Naspers: Where art thou, and why?
Khadija Sharife
2010-11-18, Issue 505
cc stockvaultMedia and entertainment giant Naspers ‘has engaged in the kind of “aggressive” tax planning devised to strategically move such assets into low-tax regions’, writes Khadija Sharife.
EPAs: New trade deals, old agendas
The dangers of economic partnership agreements
Yash Tandon
2010-10-27, Issue 502
© S 1In November the European Union expects East African countries to sign a ‘comprehensive’ trade agreement. But Yash Tandon warns that the deal is not in Africa’s favour.
Ethiopia: Feed them and bleed them
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2010-10-28, Issue 502
cc W E CWestern donors continue to hand out billions of dollars in ‘humanitarian’ and ‘economic’ aid to Ethiopia’s Zenawi regime each year, turning a blind eye to the fact that their handouts are propping up a repressive dictatorship, writes Al Mariam.