President John Magufuli of Tanzania aka the Bulldozer has embarked on a campaign to end the abusive exploitation of the country’s natural resources by greedy multinational extractivists. Caught in Magufuli’s cross hairs is the Canadian mining group Barrick Gold whose record globally is a litany of human, economic and environmental abuses.

The dust of the electoral contest in Tanzania is settling and, as expected, the winning party’s bigwigs are lining up for powerful state appoints even where they do not qualify. But it is time for the new government to immediately begin implementing its agenda for the good of all. On their part, Tanzanians must push the government to serve them as they surely deserve.

With the elections concluded in mainland Tanzania last week, President Kikwete has retired after 10 years in power. In that period, the high expectations Tanzanians had of him have largely been betrayed by his regime, which accelerated the country's integration into global capitalism. Kikwete leaves behind a struggling ruling party and his legacy could be tainted by perceived shenanigans that cast a dark shadow on the elections.

In Tanzania, as in the rest of Africa, God is ubiquitous in politics. Victory at elections is attributed to him. While there is nothing wrong about being religious, tying political outcomes to Providence is problematic as it deepens the passivity of citizens and absolves politicians of responsibility to their constituents.

Nonviolence or armed uprising? The question about which approach is the best path to liberation from oppression remains ever-pertinent in social movements struggles; and the two paths are often intertwined. The thoughts of Frantz Fanon and Paulo Freire shed some light on the debate.

Tanzania’s general elections are set for October 2015 and the liberation party CCM that has ruled since independence already has 20 presidential aspirants. One of them is the young and ambitious January Makamba, whose announcement to stand for presidency has caused some excitement in the land. What chances does he have?

Inequality between and within countries is the outcome of capitalist development, and not a natural outcome of social processes, as seen in Tanzania and Zambia. New models of development are needed to resolve the structural contradictions of endemic poverty in the Global South