From street hustler to powerful orator, Malcolm X’s life was cut short when he was brutally murdered in front of family, friends and supporters. Fifty years on he is still at the forefront of political debate, but his legacy as a towering revolutionary pan-Africanist with important messages for our time is not in doubt.

A no-holds-barred debate, of the kind that one cannot hear inside Rwanda, erupted online this week. People expressed themselves freely about the ongoing campaign to remove presidential term limits from the constitution so that Paul Kagame can continue in power after 2017. The debate reveals that there is far more to Rwanda than the dictatorship allows the world to know via massive PR.

The Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Kenya gives his impression of a conference he attended in Venezuela on the global fight against neo-liberalism and imperialism. He concludes that Africa and Latin America must strengthen revolutionary friendship in order to build a more just and humane world.

February 27 marks 37 years since the passing away in the hands of the apartheid regime of the great pan-Africanist leader. His radical dedication to the total freedom, unity and prosperity of Africa ought to stir up the present generation to embrace a similar commitment.

China has huge interests in the three Southern Africa countries – Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania – that South Africa now seems to target as the source of natural gas. These interests count for multi-million investments encompassing bilateral agreements.

Boko Haram exists, but what is being witnessed in Nigeria today are attempts by the West to expand their military presence in West Africa, using the terrorist group as an excuse. There is nothing new in these tactics.

Progressive literary fiction has not always been highly regarded within African literature. Ahjamu Umi makes the case for its consciousness-developing and educational properties, and argues for its wider acceptance in African societies.

Government’s R350 million disaster fund for 32 drought-stricken KZN municipalities, fails to reach the people

The next elections are in October 2015 and Allasane Outtara is already preparing to seek a second term. But the country is deeply divided by the violent crisis that brought him to power and ongoing repression of opponents. Ouattara has only achieved a shaky stability. The country needs complete disarmament of rebel soldiers, equitable justice and a true political dialogue.

To achieve the seemingly elusive African renaissance, the leaders have to steer the societies and the peoples away from the current practice of reliance and expectation from the outside, to a firmly rooted belief in self and local solutions.

The endorsement of a leftist party is a vote against global lenders imposing governance prescriptions on countries in crisis. If Greece successfully pushes back against its lenders, it will open the door to countries of the Global South to restructure their relationships with lenders such as the World Bank and IMF.

The World Bank proclaims its mission is to strive to end extreme poverty at the global level and promote shared prosperity. But a leaked report reveals a conspiracy of silence to cover up crimes against humanity committed against the Anuak people in Ethiopia with the complicity of the World Bank itself.

It is unfortunate that the professor of finance and the journalist have elected to promote a political posture and criticism in the guise of an ostensible legal analysis. In the end, their analysis contributes very little or nothing at all to the scholarship of international law, while at the same time generating unwarranted, misinformed controversy.

The developments of the past week in Soweto [widespread attacks on foreigners] manifest from sectional politics that our people were exposed to. When the Pan Africanist Congress adopted the noble idea of Pan Afrikanism it was seen by others as racist. Mangaliso Sobukwe, the first president of the PAC, a visionary, a thinker, speaking about South Africa said: “I wish to state that the Afrikanists do not at all subscribe to the doctrine of South African exceptionalism. Our contention is that South Africa is an integral part of the indivisible whole; that Afrika cannot solve her problems in isolation from the rest of the continent.”

We have a mission as true Pan Afrikanists to educate our people. People might be slow to understand Sobukwe’s noble ideology but that is what will bear the best for human kind. Good ideas are not adopted automatically; they must be driven into practice with courageous patience. The failure of addressing the National Question by the current ruling party has exposed it as not having a clear vision.

FORWARD TO PAN AFRIKANISM,TOMORROW THE UNITED STATES OF AFRIKA!

The two leading candidates in Zambia’s presidential by-election last week were in fact unfit to vie, given their record of activities that constitute elections offenses in the Zambian law. A complaints authority should be set up to investigate the claims.

Colonialism and capitalism have produced a profiundly unjust food regime, imposing on Southern Africans a diet that generates widespread malnutrition and obesity. The solution to this problem lies in a concerted government-led efforts to implement local solutions that prioritise people over profits.

Sierra Leone’s elections are still two years away, but with the country rocked by the recent Ebola crisis, campaigning is already underway. Sankara Kamara looks closer at one presidential candidate, and what lies behind his predominantly online campaign.

When white South Africans see themselves as having a special connection to global whiteness they often succumb to the narcissistic fantasy that their presence in this society, in Africa, constitutes a unique and precious gift.

In this response piece, Kerrie Thornhill critiques a recent editorial in defence of street violence as a political act. She calls for acknowledgement of Afrocentric as well as indigenous feminist contributions to non-violent social change.

Big leader cults have a long history in South African politics. So to argue that South Africa needs new leaders is to misread the key political task on the leadership question. What the country really needs are new models of leadership that break fundamentally from the cult of the big leader, and organisational forms that create the basis for more sustainable leaderships to emerge.

The captured rebel commander should be encouraged to be an insider witness and provide information about the atrocities committed by his group and the Ugandan military in the 20-year war in the north. His evidence may confirm the suspicion that President Museveni deliberately permitted the war to drag on in order to punish northerners and under-develop the opposition stronghold.

The failure of Rwanda’s Faustian bargain— trading democracy for development and ending up with neither — should come as no surprise to students of history and human nature.

The deadline for disarmament of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) has passed without the Congo-based rebel group surrendering. The FDLR’s future is uncertain, but there are a number of reasons why these anti-Kagame rebels are reluctant to disarm.

The 2014 elections were a disappointment for those who had hoped for change. Despite strong opposition from Renamo and the newer Mozambique Democratic Movement, Frelimo maintained the grip on power it has had since independence, despite accusations of serious irregularities. Real alternatives, however, are more likely to come out of Mozambique’s social movements.

Despite the controversies surrounding its founder, Kwanzaa is Afrika liberation politics. It emerged in context of the Black Power movement in the US that was committed to fighting the violence of white supremacy, capitalist economic exploitation and patriarchal domination of Afrikan women. These issues remain unresolved.

Given Nigeria’s past and recurring history, does one realistically expect this state to defend Baga from Boko Haram, comment or mourn the murder of the 2000 from Baga – almost 49 years to the day after it embarked on the murder of 3.1 million of its Igbo population in a studiously-organised genocide that is still ongoing?

On 26 November 2014 the celebrated Congolese medic received yet another international accolade. Following this prestigious recognition, Congolese intellectuals and political observers are wondering whether Dr. Mukwege should join politics. Instead, he should contribute to strengthening the Congolese civil society.

A new campaign will be carried out this year in Kenya to promote active citizenship, effective national governance and the realization of the fundamental freedoms and human rights contained in various key AU policy standards and legal instruments.

The Congress of South African Students (COSAS), representing learners in South African Pre-Tertiary level, welcomes the planned visit in February of one of our own, Palestine Freedom Fighter against the racist regime of Israel, Comrade Leila Khaled to South Africa.

In the wake of the attacks on Paris, hypocrisy has won and the world is basking in a warped victory. Bigots have been celebrated and their right to offend defended, without any critical view of the excesses of Charlie Hebdo magazine. It is such attitudes that fuel Muslim anger.

Muslims are almost always expected to apologise for any terror attacks in the name of their religion. How can this be justified? On the other hand, there is no global outrage whenever people are killed and maimed in senseless wars waged by Western powers. Why?

The absolute, unconditional revulsion experienced by Europeans in the face of these deaths should make us wonder why they do not feel the same kind of revulsion in the face of a similar, if not much higher, number of innocent deaths caused by conflicts that, at bottom, may have something to do with the Charlie Hebdo tragedy.

How can one pretend to fight against terrorism while continuing to hold strong ties with nations that sponsor different Jihadist groups, and that export a reactionary and obscurantist ideology? Different fundamentalist groups have been backed, trained and financed by the West (including France) for decades.

Rape cartoons are funny if it's inconceivable to you that you could ever be raped. If you live in a bubble of gender privilege that insulates you from all consequences of rape culture.

The Catholic Archbishop of Jos Ignatius Kaigama has raise a timely and profound issue: There should be global mobilisation not just when terrorism rears its ugly head in Europe but also when Africans fall victim in their homelands.

The mobile revolution. Geopolitical power shifts. A radically altered global economy. The world is changing, and so is the way that people fight for their rights. In order to be effective, Amnesty International’s (AI) International Secretariat needs to change how we work. That’s why we have opened an East Africa Regional Office in Kenya. And why we need your field research expertise with us on the ground.

The latest spill should nudge policy elites and community activists to begin properly preparing for a post-carbon future. It is time South Africa – and the world - questioned its overconsumption of fossil fuels, especially via overpriced and dangerous pipelines.