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. 
politics
A war criminal in Spain: Tshombe and the Official Secrets Act
Agustín Velloso
2011-08-03, Issue 543
cc WikimediaFollowing a trip to Madrid’s archives, Agustín Velloso uncovers the history of Spain’s relations with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the 1960s and the secret backing given to Moise Tshombe’s ‘subversive activities’, his use of Spanish state resources and institutions and ‘the support of the press and other fascist entities of the time’.
Endemic violence in postcolonial Namibia
Shaun R. Whittaker
2011-08-03, Issue 543
cc C M‘Colonialism signified nothing less than the collective traumatising of the Namibian people who must carry the heavy burden of the consequences for generations,’ writes Shaun R. Whittaker.
How the Rawlings camp were defeated in Ghana's elections
Kwasi Adu
2011-07-21, Issue 540
cc G PThe July elections of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana were billed as the event to elect a presidential candidate - and the wife of former president Jerry Rawlings was set to triumph. But the Rawlings camp ended up being trounced. Kwasi Adu explains what happened.
How free is the free press?
An interview with Chaacha Mwita
Ron Singer and Chaacha Mwita
2011-07-14, Issue 539
cc DEMOSHChaacha Mwita, former managing editor of The Standard in Kenya, and Ron Singer discuss the state of freedom of the press in Kenya, Mwita's newspaper’s experience of a raid during the 2007–08 election and the behaviour of particular elements of the press during the post-election period.
Existential threats in the Caribbean
Democratising politics, regionalising governance
Norman Girvan
2011-07-14, Issue 539
cc WikimediaNorman Girvan examines the politics of the Caribbean through the life of CLR James, the influential Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist.
Green Thursday in the life of the nation of Senegal
The day everything changed and a ticking bomb finally exploded
Arame Tall
2011-06-29, Issue 537
The inspiring uprisings in Senegal represent ‘a ticking bomb finally exploding’, writes Arame Tall, with a highly diverse cross-section of Senegalese society out in force to protest the dearth of economic opportunities, political mismanagement and governmental scandals: ‘What has taken place in Senegal is most of all a reclaiming by a people of a voice they thought they had a lost and a dignity even they themselves had forgotten they had.’
Senegal on the rise
‘Ne touche pas à ma constitution!’
Sokari Ekine
2011-06-30, Issue 537
The people of Senegal are out in protest over President Abdoulaye Wade’s efforts to manipulate the country’s constitution, writes Sokari Ekine in this week’s round-up of African uprisings. Ekine also discusses the continuing public sector strikes in Botswana and the creation of an online collective of activists opposed to Equatoguinean President Obiang Nguema’s rule.
Igboland: Freedom, survival, future
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc WikimediaForty years on, first and second generations of Igbo ‘removed from their parents and grandparents respectively who freed British-occupied Nigeria in 1960 and survived the follow-up genocide’, are ‘once again tasked and poised to restore’ their ‘lost sovereignty’, writes Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe.
The potential balkanisation of Sudan and the role of meddlers
Yohannes Woldemariam
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc HDCThere’s clear consensus that defining and demarcating the border between North and South Sudan is a necessary precondition for peace. But deploying Ethiopian peace-keepers to Abyei is simply a ‘band-aid’ that ‘would not help peace and may even make things worse by intensifying regional rivalry,’ writes Yohannes Woldemariam, given the Ethiopian government’s lack of neutrality in Sudan.
From Bonn to Durban, climate meetings are conferences of polluters
Patrick Bond
2011-06-22, Issue 536
cc Foto43With a crucial conference on climate change taking place in Durban, South Africa, in December, Patrick Bond cuts through the elite conspiracy that will result in a no deal scenario and a continued rise in global temperatures. 'The strongest possible stance will be needed to finally address the mess,' he writes.
Contextualising Hillary Clinton’s ‘New Colonialism’ remark
Isaac Odoom
2011-06-22, Issue 536
cc US Gov.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jetted in to Africa recently, holding a press conference in Lusaka where she warned of a ‘new colonialism’ in Africa. Such warnings would be more credible to Africans if the US got its own record straight, points out Isaac Odoom.
Living on the Coke side of life in Swaziland
Peter Kenworthy
2011-06-22, Issue 536
cc D GNext time you crack open a Coke to quench your thirst, spare a thought for the sugar cane workers in Swaziland. Peter Kenworthy investigates the operations of the Coca-Cola Company in the repressive monarchy.
Tinpot bombardiers: NATO in Libya
Alexander Cockburn
2011-06-15, Issue 535
cc V2In NATO’s hands, UN Security Council resolution 1973 has morphed into a clear attempt at regime change in Libya, writes Alexander Cockburn. He stresses: ‘A hundred years down the road the UN–NATO Libyan intervention will be seen as an old-fashioned colonial smash-and-grab affair.’
Cameroon: Propping up a dictator
Dibussi Tande
2011-06-16, Issue 535
cc WikimediaA bewildering list of Cameroonian academics and intellectuals at home and abroad are throwing their full support behind President Biya and the ruling CPDM party, writes Dibussi Tande, in this week’s review of African blogs.
The Secrecy Bill: Speak now or forever be gagged
Dale T. McKinley
2011-06-15, Issue 535
cc M WDale T. McKinley takes a clause by clause look at South Africa’s Protection of Information Bill (POIB) – known publicly as the Secrecy Bill. It is ‘all very real and even more dangerous’, he writes, and South Africans should speak up now before it is too late.
South Africa: Where is the Freedom Charter?
Lindela S. Figlan
2011-06-16, Issue 535
cc M WIf South Africa’s government ‘is really implementing the Freedom Charter, why are people complaining everywhere?’ asks Lindela S. Figlan. If ‘the ruling party was on the side of the poor it would encourage us to organise ourselves and to speak for ourselves…But instead it is always repressing the struggles of the poor’.
A better life for all: a dream for poor and unemployed
Ayanda Kota
UPM
2011-06-16, Issue 535
© abahlali.orgThe ‘old woman stopped for a moment, looked at me, a smile crawling out of her mouth. Yet I could see the tears making the way through the corners of the eyelids. I then stopped and stared at her. She made a sound, trying to remove a lump in her throat and finally broke the silence. She said “Vote ANC, Vote for Better Life, Vote for Heaven and Vote for Jesus. Better life in heaven indeed not under ANC”.’
2011: An Arab springtime?
Samir Amin
2011-06-08, Issue 534
cc M OThe year 2011 began with a series of shattering, wrathful explosions from the Arab peoples. Is this springtime the inception of a second ‘awakening of the Arab world?', asks Samir Amin.
Faith and the politics of terrorism
Ayi Kwei Armah
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc US ArmyAfrica’s intellectual history puts into clear perspective the burning issues of our day, including imperialism, globalisation and the culture of terrorism, argues Ayi Kwei Armah in this article from Global Breaking News. Retrieving that history would 'change our perception of Africa, and our self-perception as Africans, enabling us to leave the suffocating hold in which European domination has locked us.'
Chilling the Arab Spring
Neoliberal financiers in North Africa and Palestine
Patrick Bond
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc K A‘There appears to be very little difference in what is being advocated [by the IMF] to Arab democrats today and what was advocated to Arab dictators yesterday,’ writes Patrick Bond.
Libya: NATO's war of aggression on sovereign African state
Obi Nwakanma
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc KalliophDespite all pretence at humanitarian rhetoric, the Western invasion of Libya is simply a question of securing oil and energy resources and responding to the challenge to its international hegemony posed by China and India, writes Obi Nwakanma. ‘It is the 19th century all over again,’ Nwakanma stresses, while underlining the threat posed to Nigeria by blindly supporting the invasion.
Maghreb uprisings: Truth is ‘impossible to find’
Sokari Ekine
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc KalliophDespite all the news and analysis on Libya, we still don’t know very much about who the rebels are and where their support comes from, writes Sokari Ekine.
Truth dispatch: Updates from Libya
Cynthia McKinney
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc MagharebiaOn the ground in Tripoli and western Libya, Cynthia McKinney reports that the current NATO-led war looks nothing like the mainstream media would have us believe: ‘The situation on the ground in Tripoli … could not more different from what is being portrayed by Western news networks and newspapers.’
Sudan: The ‘conflict is inflaming every hour’
Sokari Ekine
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc E PSudan’s invasion of the town Abeyi; sexual harassment in Egypt; the impact of Egypt’s uprising on migrants; the detention of Syrian blogger Amina Arraf; Western Sahara; and the opening of the a centre for women in Eastern Congo, the City of Joy, are among the topics featured in this week’s review of African blogs, by Sokari Ekine.
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.
Face to face with the Congo
Part one
Cameron Duodu
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc J K Cameron Duodu reflects on the exciting and challenging times he had in the Congo in the 1960s.
African awakenings and new visions of solidarity
Firoze Manji, Molly Kane and Pius Adesanmi
2011-06-09, Issue 534
cc M TRecorded on 25 May at Ottawa's Carleton University, the following is a video of a talk led by Firoze Manji and Molly Kane of Pambazuka News and hosted by Pius Adesanmi. The panellists discuss 'African awakenings and new visions of solidarity' to celebrate Africa Liberation Day.
Africa: Access to water and privatisation
Why proclaim access to water a fundamental human right?
Jacques Cambon
2011-06-07, Issue 533
cc Water.orgDespite UN recognition of access ‘to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights,’ it is a right that is far from being realised in most parts of the world, writes Jacques Cambon.
The water crisis in African cities
Michel Makpenon
2011-06-06, Issue 533
cc N B PAccess to running water remains in a state of crisis for a huge number of people across Africa, writes Michel Makpenon. With growing urbanisation across the continent, African cities will need the political determination to ensure sustainable water resources based on social need rather than commercial concerns, he stresses.
Ghana’s quest to quench its thirst
Alhassan Adam
2011-06-07, Issue 533
cc Water.orgGhana has a long history of struggle against the inequitable allocation of water - beginning with protests against colonial water policy and, more recently, with opposition to water privatisation that began in the 1990s. Alhassan Adam writes about the history, the challenge to privatisation and the road ahead.