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. 
internet & technology
Africa: Explore the media habits of consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa
2012-05-16, Issue 585
InsightsAfrica is an interactive tool providing critical data about the online behavior of urban consumers in six key African markets: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda.
Africa: Research coalition to boost internet access
2012-05-17, Issue 585
An international group of research organisations are collaborating on a project to boost Internet access in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. The project was discussed at a meeting of the board of the Global Research Alliance (GRA) - an international organisation that seeks to align the efforts of its members with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals - in Sydney, Australia, this month that looked at new strategies for improving access by the developing world to science and innovation.
Global: The destruction of privacy
2012-05-21, Issue 585
This article from www.alternet.org looks at the changing meaning of privacy in the online world. 'None of what you transmit - however personal - through a digital wireline or wireless network is “private.” Rather, through the spectacle of post-modern capitalism, the private has become public, the property of the corporation that owns your keystrokes. The digital revolution has morphed the personal into an electronic commodity; the electronic commodity is the exchange currency of an encroaching, 21st-century digital feudalism.'
Libya: International telecoms investor in court battle for assets in Zambia
2012-04-24, Issue 582
LAP GreenN, the Libyan Investment Authority’s international telecommunications arm and a major foreign investor in Zambia, said on Monday that it was disturbed by the decision last week in the Zambian High Court not to grant interim protection for its seized assets, which were legitimately purchased at a cost of US$257 million. In a statement, made available to PANA here, LAP GreenN said it had decided for valid reasons not to appeal the court decision, but to address the issue in its case against the government, which is scheduled in the Zambian High Court on 9 July, 2012. LAP-GreenN is an US$8 billion telecommunications investment arm of Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP) and it claims that its assets in Zambia now have a market-value of approximately US$480 million.
Africa: ICTs and climate change adaptation in the water sector
2012-04-25, Issue 582
This new publication by the Association for Progressive Communications and the International Development Research Centre gathers several reports from developing countries on how ICTs are and can be applied to help communities experiencing water-reated stress, adapt to climate change. While drawing on current experiences in the field of water management and sustainability, the perspective of the authors is primarily from the ICT for development (ICT4D) sector.
Africa: The role of mainstream and social media in the Arab spring
2012-04-18, Issue 581
Representing the struggles for political and societal changes in the Middle East merely as a ‘Social Media Revolution’ of an upper middle class youth is selective and simply does not correspond to the situation, says this article from International Affairs. 'It ignores the majority of poor people, also among the urban youth, and misses out the various forms of creative activism on the ground and their grass-root organisation in forms of neighbourhood patrols and cleaning troops.'
Africa: New map overlays conflict, climate change and aid in Africa
2012-03-29, Issue 579
A pilot version of an online mapping tool has been launched in Africa which enables researchers and policymakers to identify how climate change vulnerability, conflict, and aid intersect. Researchers from the Strauss Center's Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) programme, United States, integrated data from areas of climate change vulnerability and active aid-funded projects in Malawi, and mapped this information onto the locations of Malawian conflicts up to 2010.
Africa: Scramble is on for social media users
2012-03-20, Issue 578
With the popularity of social media platforms continuing to grow, users should brace themselves for more and more players in the market. Google last week raised its stakes in the battle for South African social media users with the launch of its Google+ platform in Zulu and Afrikaans. In the same week, Yookos, an 'Africa-specific' social media network, announced its entry into the space, claiming 6-million users across the continent.
Africa: The rise (and rise) of mobile phones
2012-03-20, Issue 578
This USAID infographic looks at the rise of mobile phones in Africa, predicting that there will be one billion phones on the continent by 2016.
Libya: Libya sues Zambia over network
2012-03-20, Issue 578
Libya's investment authority says it is suing Zambia's government for seizing its controlling share in a mobile phone network. A Libyan telecommunications enterprise that owns 75 per cent of the Zamtel network says the seizure last year by the government of newly elected President Michael Sata was 'illegal and unconstitutional'. The investment authority said in a statement that the network filed demands at the Zambia High Court for $480-million worth of compensation in asset value along with unspecified additional payouts for operating losses should the business not be handed back.
West Africa: Will new UN initiative to recycle E-Wastes succeed?
2012-03-21, Issue 578
Four months ago, 178 nation states voted to prohibit all exports of hazardous wastes, including electronic wastes. Yet, so-called 'e-wastes' - particularly from discarded mobile phones - continue being dumped across the developing world, especially in West Africa. In an attempt to stem this 'rising tide', two UN agencies last week signed a new agreement to facilitate collection and recycling of such wastes.
Horn of Africa: Digital media, conflict and diasporas
2012-03-19, Issue 576
The Horn of Africa is one of the least connected regions in the world. Nevertheless, digital media play an important social and political role in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia (including South-Central Somalia and the northern self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland). This paper from the Open society Foundation shows how the development of the internet, mobile phones, and other new communication technologies have been shaped by conflict and power struggles in these countries.
Africa: $75,000 search for Africa’s top young innovators
2012-03-19, Issue 576
The Anzisha Prize Tour is on a continent-wide search for Africa’s rising young innovators and the first stop is Lagos, Nigeria. On 17 March 2012, the African Leadership Academy’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership will be hosting interactive information sessions at the Wennovation Hub in Lagos. On hand to conduct two interactive sessions with interested participants are Jamila Pyne, the Centre director, and Chi Achebe, the Azisha Prize program manager.
Uganda: Kony target of viral campaign video
2012-03-08, Issue 574
A campaign by US activists to capture alleged Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony has gone viral on the web. Invisible Children's half-hour film on the use of child soldiers by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army has been viewed nearly 10m times on YouTube. But an article in Foreign Affairs accused Invisible Children and other non-profits of having 'manipulated facts for strategic purposes' was circulated on the web.
Global: No copyrights without human rights
2012-02-29, Issue 572
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has joined dozens of sites and organisations in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA). These two US bills, if passed, represent an unprecedented threat to the open internet as we know it, with impacts felt far beyond the borders of the United States. APC believes the internet is a global public good and is joining today’s protest in solidarity with those who fight to uphold internet-related human rights.
Egypt: Bacteria, plants tested in landmine deactivation method
2012-02-29, Issue 572
Egyptian researchers claim to have found a cheap, easy method for detecting and clearing landmines, using plants and bacteria. The three-stage process for deactivating anti-personnel mines - landmines designed for use against humans - first detects the mine before corroding its cast-iron body and, finally, neutralising it.
Africa: Broadband spreading
2012-03-05, Issue 572
Africa has been the world’s fastest growing region over the last decade in terms of mobile penetration. While fixed line penetration has stagnated at four per cent in the continent, mobile has grown at an astonishing rate to 45 per cent with North Africa leading at 73 per cent. However broadband is lagging behind considerably when compared to other continents.
Africa: Basel Convention secretariat publish report assessing state of e-waste in Africa
2012-02-21, Issue 571
The secretariat of the Basel Convention has published a report looking into the current state of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in Africa. The report highlights the importance of developing safe recycling capacity and recovery infrastructure in Africa. As is well known, the impact of inappropriately-treated WEEE can be catastrophic for the health and the environment in communities that do not have adequate recycling facilities in place.
Kenya: Bill aims to improve care and justice for rape victims
2012-02-14, Issue 570
Global Press Institute reports that rape victims in Kenya are encouraged to seek immediate medical attention and report cases to the police. But a lack of government coordination leads to long delays in the justice system. Parliament is set to debate a bill to consolidate services in order to hasten the process for victims soon.
Global: Satellite tweeting now available
2012-02-10, Issue 569
Twitter has announced a new partnership with major satellite providers to give their subscribers access to Twitter SMS, the original text-based Twitter service. According to a statement, the company has partnered with Iridium and Thuraya, the world’s two largest satellite providers, to increase the number of people that can use Twitter SMS worldwide. The company said the new partnership will help guarantee greater global access to the microblogging network.
Kenya: Google Kenya boss quits after data scandal
2012-01-31, Issue 568
Google Kenya country manager Olga Arara-Kimani has left the firm days after the Internet giant said it had taken action against employees implicated in a recent data poaching scandal. Arara-Kimani, who had been at the helm of the firm’s Kenyan operat...
Zambia: Lap Green Networks sues Zambian government
2012-02-06, Issue 568
Libya's Lap Green Networks has dragged the Zambian government to court over its decision to take over telecoms and Internet service provider Zamtel. The Libyan government says the takeover is illegal, as the company was genuinely acquired and rightly...
Africa: Orange to provide Wikipedia free in Middle East and Africa
2012-01-24, Issue 567
Mobile phone company Orange has struck a deal with Wikipedia to make its digital encyclopaedia available free of data charges to millions of mobile phone users across the Middle East and Africa. The free service will be launched in 20 markets across ...
Africa: WikiLeaks cable on Chinese ICT agenda
2012-01-25, Issue 567
The latest US cable released by Wikileaks accuses Chinese ICT companies doing business in Kenya of 're-colonising Africa' with 'good and cheap' equipment. The US embassy cable, from Nairobi to Washington, says Chinese firms selling into Kenya’s ICT s...
Global: Is a Google and World Bank partnership empowering cartographers?
2012-01-26, Issue 567
World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey recently announced a new partnership with Google that will apparently empower citizen cartographers in 150 countries worldwide. This has provoked some concern among open source enthusiasts. The worry is, s...
Africa: New research shows how Africa tweets
2012-01-26, Issue 567
Young people Tweeting from mobile devices are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa, according to How Africa Tweets, new research launched in Nairobi. In the first ever attempt to comprehensively map the use of Twitter in Africa, Portland Communica...
South Africa: Beware the 'false knowledge' kindled by Twitter, says Mbeki
2012-01-17, Issue 566
Former president Thabo Mbeki has said he was sceptical about Twitter being a great conveyor of reliable knowledge. 'If you want to discuss knowledge which has got to do with the betterment of society I don't think it is appropriate ... Even the inter...
Global: New report on internet and democracy is dedicated to the Arab revolutions
2012-01-17, Issue 566
The Global Information Society Watch 2011 report investigates how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are trying to restrict freedom online - and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies. 'Written by intern...
South Africa: Remembering the social costs of digital transition
2012-01-18, Issue 566
Digital migration offers many benefits. However, it should be understood that these benefits will not be uniformly distributed without government intervention and civil society participation in the process. 'The challenges of the digital transition a...
Kenya: Google apologies for data scraping
2012-01-18, Issue 566
Stefan Magdalinski, the CEO of Mocality, in an update on his blog, has indicated that the company is currently not considering filing formal charges against Google. Mocality, a Kenyan Business Listing Directory, broke into international limelight aft...
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