A world without FGM is within sight. But more efforts are needed to ensure worldwide legislation against the practice and increased education to attain that goal.

This book makes a tremendous contribution to the literature on left, feminist and Pan-African struggles during the 20th century

In a global examination of the survival of capitalism in crisis, the recent International Labour Organisation report shows that workers globally continue to be extremely exploited and capital continues to exact greater profits for the minority whilst finding new ways to justify this heinous system

Until the ranks of the head coaches and upper management in the US National Football League have been thoroughly integrated, Dr. King’s dream will remain a work in progress

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Numerous initiatives have been set up to catalyse development in Africa over the decades. One of the oldest is the Economic Commission for Africa established by the UN over 50 years. There is hardly any evidence of ECA’s impact. It needs revamping.

In this candid and charged speech to parliament, the Belgian MP condemns the West’s growing military interventions and regime destabilization under the pretext of preventive war on terror. The real agenda is capitalist plunder.

Rwanda’s criminal involvement in the wanton violence in eastern DR Congo is neither deniable nor defensible. It is a sad irony that Rwanda now sits in the UN Security Council while aiding and abetting crimes against humanity

As the French-led military operation continues, Jeremy Keenan reveals how the US and Algeria have been sponsoring terror in the Sahara.

President Obama is on a collision course with the social justice forces that elected him. Beneath the soaring rhetoric of his ‘progressive’ inauguration speech lay the reality that after four years in office, the oligarchs are stronger that they were in 2009

The US diplomatic recognition of the government is an important step in the ongoing restoration of the country and gives hope to millions of Somalis languishing in refugees camps in the neighboring countries or in internally displaced people camps

Black is back Coalition for Reparations and social justice and the Patrice Lumumba Coalition are calling for a demonstration outside the French embassy

Imperialism and neo-liberal policies imposed by the west are the basis of terrorism

The move is part of the bosses’ counter-offensive to break the new spirit of labour militancy

Food production systems in Africa are founded on values centered around incomes and profitability that Nidhi Tandon challenges. Unless and until the over-emphasis on the values that underpin the global market economy is reversed, equality and equity for women is doomed.

Evidence on the hate crime committed at Addis Ababa University does not point an accusatory finger at students but at an invisible hand, possibly the State. The time has come for Ethiopian youth to lead in national healing

Nigerians are getting increasingly disappointed by President Jonathan’s uninspiring record. Religious leaders could play a greater role in pushing him and other politicians to dutifully discharge the mandate given by the electorate

Besides the bitter political infighting, endemic culture of corruption and the ever-present fear of more tribal and political violence during the upcoming March 4 elections, Kenya’s war on terror has hurt many innocent people

Research on Ikwerre origin does not suggest they are Igbo. But a long lopsided relationship with Igbo led to the loss of Ikwerre identity. They have suffered all kinds of humiliation and marginalization within the Federal Republic of Nigeria

The recent elections point to the increasing legitimation of liberal democracy and suggest a political culture that seems to reiterate Nkrumah’s belief that “the black man is capable of managing his own affairs”

With the spate of murders and assassinations of unarmed Nigerians in Nigeria by security agents and armed robbers, is it not the time to call for legislation that legalizes self protection by allowing Nigerians to legally possess?

The daylight murder of Dr. Irawo Adamolekun in the city of Lagos with dozens of passersby, AND with IMPUNITY, calls for urgent revision of our gun access laws.

If at least two or three Nigerians who witnessed that shooting had guns, they would have at least prevented that hoodlum from escaping from the scene without trace. In the same vein, many Nigerians would be able to challenge armed robbers that operate in their neighbourhood. In addition the unprovoked maltreatment of civilians by security agents in Nigeria will be limited if such security agent know that the civilian they are about to victimize may possess gun and may be able to defend themselves against unprovoked aggression.

The current debate about gun control in America due to recent spate of violence may be an argument against my proposal, but we have to realize that things are getting out of hand in Nigeria and the Nigerian security agents are not protecting Nigerians. This is the main reason to start looking for alternative ways to ensure protection of Nigerians.

The heartbeat of Africa cloned to the Caribbean;

A nation of defiant and valiant freedom fighters who dared to rise up

Against the French, Spanish and British colonial overlords against the chains of slavery;

Who desired freedom and were prepared to wage a 13-year-long guerrilla war against

European overlords who did not believe in ‘liberté, fraternité, equalité’ for blacks;

A nation of half a million Africans who cherished their African-ness in the Vodun religion

Against the caricatures and demonization of this religion by Hollywood;

A people who believed their freedom was worth paying the French 150 million francs –

Yet were to be squeezed and punished in other ways by American occupation

And deathly neo-liberalism that fails to trickle down growth;

A people who know the meaning of struggle, pain, suffering, tragedy –

But remain in spite of hurricanes and tornadoes that cannot quench their spirits and hopes for a dignified life

A people who profoundly know the meaning of dictatorship lived during the Duvalier era

That ‘disappeared’ thousands, killed many who spoke out against kleptocracy, corruption, and inequality;

A people who know the meaning of neo-colonialism; that house negroes remain in the land;

A people who know that uncle toms and aunt jemimas are a powerful minority in collusion

With Uncle Sam wearing a black face and their neo-colonial brothers and sisters across in the neo-colonial Dominican Republic;

A people who know that colorism remains in the land and the ruling elite are not safe

Under a genuine democracy but with their US supplied automatic rifles

The presence of the Tonton Macoutes that they support and the various military attachés Uncle Sam funds to allow the rich to sleep easily at night;

It is a people who have recovered their agency and voted for a radical priest in two genuine elections

Only for the US and their detractors to deny this electoral victory on account that they did not like what the radical priest represented;

It is the masses who see the rich minority seated at a ‘vast table covered with white damask and overflowing with good food’ whilst the people are ‘hunched over in the dirt and starving’ [1] – waiting once more to knock down that table and construct a new one in which all will equitably eat.

ENDNOTE
1. Words of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

The UN in the DRC is stabilizing the predatory Congolese state and part of the failure of the stabilization strategy is due to the insecurity stemming from conflicts between communities revolving around land, citizenship, control of space and the externalization of neighbouring instability

The group Justice for Blacks indicts the World Bank for its racial injustice against its own black staff as America celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and questions whether the new President of the bank will uphold the caste system of discrimination against blacks or seek to walk a different path that genuinely addresses systemic racial discrimination

From the Montgomery bus boycott, the marches on Detroit and Washington to the sanitation strike in Memphis, civil rights and labour worked to break down US apartheid which is integral to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Despite their endless preaching about human rights to the global South, the so-called developed democracies are themselves blighted by serious violations which they have done little to address

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White America lacks the capacity for self-examination. It cannot grasp the simple truth, that a culture that celebrates the annihilation of whole peoples, casually and without guilt or introspection, is devoid of human values at its very core

In the wake of the Obama administration’s gaffe in their attempt to replace the bloodied hands of Hilary Rodham Clinton with the bloodied hands of Susan Rice, comes now another historic and cruel irony

The notion that Obama owes his second term to Bill Clinton’s support raises the following question: does every Black success story require a White savior?

While global attention is focused on Somalia, the self-declared republic of Somaliland has been independent for 20 years without recognition by the international community. This lack of recognition is an injustice to Somalilanders

There is no question that the new song is a rap on the face of President Biya by a valiant dissident musician who views the Cameroonian leader as undeserving of the public office he holds

African states must resolve the conflict inside the Central African Republic in order to avoid further French and US military involvement argues Abayomi Azikiwe

The recent Memorandum of Understanding delegitimizes the federal government and pre-empts its sovereign leadership role in the internal and external affairs of Somalia

Heroic efforts by individuals and NGOs may have beneficial outcomes and in very poor countries may be a prime option for dealing with social ills. But African leaders are advised against the wholesale adoption of Western ideals of “personal responsibility.”

During his time at the commission, Mute recalls many achievements on behalf of Kenyans. But there were also times when people appeared to be momentarily distracted from the things that really mattered

This new film exposes the truth behind President Robert Mugabe’s troubles with the West. But it lacks the nuances, complexities and critical questions (other than ‘the land question’) that are key to understanding Mugabe’s legacy

Whilst the international community celebrates the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 2012, Sankara Kamara reflects on the dehumanization and outright denial of human rights for Africans through the experiences of enslavement and colonisation

An attempt to twist posterity and the archival record for future generations has been exposed as a consequence of a British court ruling in a case by Kenyan freedom fighters

With elections in March 2013 Antony Otieno Ong’ayo reflects on how ethnicity has become politicised in Kenya’s past violent elections and argues that the forthcoming election is a bridge between stagnation and a forward leap towards a middle-income country

Blacks at the World Bank have been subjected to degrading and dehumanizing treatment for long. In one particularly astounding case, a highly successful official was denied a deserved promotion because “Europeans are not used to seeing a black man in a position of power”

For the international community and the government of Tanzania, closing Mtabila Camp and emptying it of refugees might make it look like the problem has been solved, but in reality it has only displaced or dispersed it to Burundi and elsewhere in the region