Is South Africa heading to a mass strike?

Zama Mthunzi

With claims that the South African Federation of Trade Unions is planning to embark on a two-day strike to intensify the struggle against the recent proposed amendments to Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the National Minimum Wage Bill, it is a good time to examine the social conditions and the factors on which a mass strike can be born in the new phase of the struggle. 
 

Farm workers strike

Simphiwe Dada

Leaving wage and expropriation of farms where workers are abused should be an answer to farm workers plight.
 

Marx at 200: “The best hated and most calumniated man of his time”

Prakash Kona

As the world commemorates the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx, the author reminds us of how this great German political philosopher was and still is a divisive figure on all sides of the political divide.

Students saved South Africa

Peter Kenworthy

The Nelson Mandela Centenary will be making headlines around the world on 18 July. But 50 years ago, Mandela was in prison and the African National Congress was virtually defunct within South Africa. Instead, it was a students’ organisation that reignited the struggle against apartheid. 
 

The spectre of child labour

Henry Kyambalesa

There are many international legal instruments that outlaw child labour. However, there are more than 250 million children in the world who are involved in child labour because of various reasons including poverty in families that force children to work to help their families and weak labour laws that do not punish sectors benefiting from child labour among other reasons. The author discusses about other reasons, consequences of child labour and offers a number of recommendations to end that cruel practice. 
 

BRICS in Africa: “You are either at the table or on the menu”

At a Johannesburg BRICS think tank, scholars get drunk on their own rhetoric

Patrick Bond

South African academics and think tanks met on 28-31 May 2018 for deliberations leading to the July 2018 BRICS heads of state summit to be hosted by South Africa. Most of these scholars believe that the BRICS countries offer an alternative to Western imperialism, but the author argues that they are seriously wrong. 

Engineering seeds and digging into global markets

Nidhi Tandon

What are the implications for African farmers?
African farmers are facing serious challenges because of increased engineering of seeds and the determination of leading global agro-chemical corporations to dominate the African agricultural sector. 
 

Nigeria’s 2019 election: Background and setting

Edwin Madunagu

I would like to preface this piece with the following four declarations: One: My dominant interest in Election 2019 is the strengthening of the Nigerian Left in the country’s electoral and non-electoral politics. That is the only real change that can take place and that Nigerian masses deserve. Two: By the Left I mean the aggregate of socialism and popular democracy. This historical-ideological-political tendency is both anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist in orientation and logic. Three: Nigerian Leftism in the present historical epoch goes beyond being a “weapon of criticism”. It is also a programme of liberation. Four: The effectiveness of Left political interventions depends, to a large extent, on Leftists’ understanding of what is actually happening. This is an elementary service the Left owes itself. None of these declarations is new. They are only being pulled together for this piece.

African Union in the 21st century: 55 years on and the challenges ahead

Abayomi Azikiwe

The Africa Liberation Day is held amid on-going struggles against imperialist militarism and economic exploitation.

Loan of looted Ethiopian treasures to Ethiopia: Must Europeans always win?

Kwame Opoku

The article tells us how on-going debates about stolen African artefacts, in particular those from Ethiopia, and held in Western museums, have divided opinions of policy-makers in Europe. 

Loan of looted Ethiopian treasures to Ethiopia: Must Europeans always win?