A native of Grenada but with influence throughout the Caribbean, Franklyn Harvey, a civil engineer, made his mark in radical history by coordinating and facilitating the empowerment of everyday people through promoting their direct self-government.

It takes quite some fantasy to imagine how, based on the living costs in Africa’s urban centres, a $2-a-day threshold catapults someone from the $1.99 margin as criteria for poor into a middle-class existence. And then into playing a pioneering role in the continent’s future transformation.

Women’s rights were not won by men, LGBTI rights were not won by straight people, and refugee rights will not be won by non-refugees.

Special Issue: The African Union and Pan-Africanism today

New elements of Africa Rising hucksterism emerged at this year’s World Economic Forum in Kigali, including a child-like fascination with “Fourth Industrial Revolution cyber-physical systems” that will supposedly allow Africa to leapfrog the world, indeed to “lead the way”, because the continent is “the world’s fastest growing digital consumer market.” Reality check: fewer than one in three Africans have home electricity, and just one in five use the internet.

Partition of Africa and delimitation of borders were arbitrary acts which Europeans imposed without regard to local conditions. Dismantling colonial borders is therefore a veritable pan-African project. Pan-Africanism should be seen as a people-to-people relationship rather than one among heads of state, intellectuals or western tutored elites.

Isn’t the time ripe for the African Union to create the space for true Africanisation of its institutions and ownership of its processes by the people at home and in the diaspora? There should be enough resources and incentives for all people to participate in the Pan-African project in our villages, communities, constituencies, campuses, and workplaces.

 The Women’s Human Rights Institute (WHRI), co-founded by internationally renowned Costa Rican feminist jurist and activist Alda Facio, is undertaking a two-year research and advocacy project to promote participation in data gathering for the upcoming thematic report of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice (UNWGDAW) on “good practices” in addressing discrimination and promoting women’s self-empowerment.  

Only an upsurge from the left and anti-imperialist forces can fulfill the visions of a true united Africa in line with the work of Nkrumah, Gaddafi and other revolutionary leaders. The worsening economic crisis due to the decline in commodity prices and western sponsored destabilization is reversing the advances made in regard to growth and development over the last decade.

At last, a major news organisation in the United States/West has come out to challenge the deafening silence that has pervaded the world over the genocidist Muhammadu Buhari regime in Nigeria, installed in office in March 2015 by the David Cameron and Barack Obama administrations. 

 

Africa is not yet free, despite formal independence. Most of the continent’s nations are in the grip of criminal regimes whose leaders belong in jail for widespread human rights violations. But those leaders always stand with one another to defeat justice.

The question of leadership of intergovernmental organizations in Africa has received inadequate attention in public discourse. The West African bloc ECOWAS has far-reaching prescriptions on how the organization’s top leadership should be constituted, but the provisions have often not been strictly observed. Politics and personal factors usually get in the way.

Grabbing of public land by powerful individuals continues in Kenya, despite commendable efforts that have been made over the years to end this menace. The National Land Commission has the primary responsibility of protecting all public land. But Kenyans should also take it upon themselves to safeguard public land by assisting the commission to discharge its mandate.

Pan-Africanism is not just a nice-sounding idea. It is a firm personal commitment to the lives of the peoples of Africa. When the latest Ebola crisis broke out in West Africa in 2014, Dr. Atai-Omorotu gathered some medical personnel in Uganda and headed to the region that everyone was running away from. She helped save many lives – only for her to die of pancreatic cancer two weeks ago.

Members of the Pan-African Parliament are handpicked by the executive of their country – by the same heads of state who retain the ultimate power at the African Union. And as if that is not bad enough, PAP is only a consultative organ. Efforts to change this, so that the people of Africa can have meaningful representation, continue to be resisted. African people must work hard for the transformation of this important AU organ.

All evidence points to humanity’s common origin and one destiny. Instead of history being a theater of class struggle, it is a history of globalization and a quest for unity. Africa, the cradle of humanity, must take the lead in promoting unity, not fragmentation. That unity cannot be based only on transient systems like economics and politics, but has to include deeper values and norms rooted in ontology, anthropology and belief systems.

 

Pambazuka News 774: Resist! State terror, homophobia and resource theft

Organic farmers from Machakos, Kenya, say that fertiliser and seed companies even deploy their own extension officers and agro-dealers in the villages, who aggressively advertise the use of their products. When their promises prove false, nobody compensates the farmers for their losses.

Ban Ki-Moon’s term as UN Secretary General ends this year and already political jostling is underway ahead of the selection of the new head of the world body. There are strong indications that favour a woman candidate. And how has Africa positioned itself for the unfolding contest?

This essay looks at the complex relationship between the personal and the political in queer/LGBTIA+ organizing in Africa. It considers how current modes of organizing impact the connection between professional activism and grassroots participation and explores some of the consequences of these two intersecting factors for activist praxis.

State brutality is integral to the electoral cycle in Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda. There are campaign beatings, ballot beatings and post-election beatings. Ugandans this week witnessed pre-swearing-in beatings. They can expect swearing-in beatings, after which there is every chance there will be post-swearing in beatings. Then, the election cycle over, the country shall revert to ordinary beatings.

Swaziland’s big-spending absolute monarch King Mswati III is spending millions of dollars on a new personal jet and other luxuries, while many of his poor citizens rely on food aid to survive.

The importance of sports has not been sufficiently appreciated by African governments for it to be integrated into their national development plans. There is no doubt that sports could play a critical role in attaining peace, development and stability.

The university suspended and permanently discontinued several students on claims that they had attacked a professor, without giving them a fair hearing as required by the institution’s regulations and natural justice. And then a number of the affected students were brutally attacked by officers from the national security services and detained in an unknown destination.

A new workers federation is being formed in South Africa that is intended to totally change the face of popular organising. Based on the principles of independence, concerted mass action and worker control, the new federation starts with a membership of 1.1 million workers drawn from 51 affiliates.

President Jacob Zuma’s continued disregard for the constitution, rule of law, independence of the judiciary and authority of independent institutions is increasingly translating into the lawlessness currently dominating KwaZulu Natal, where the police, courts and state security are used to protect political interests and suppress valid public discontent; where state torture and police criminality are endemic.

The Mandela that now stands erect in Ramallah has been incorporated into the zeitgeist of this city, particularly the rich and beaming neighborhood of massive white-stone villas and luxury cars. It would have meant much more if it had stood in the center of Gaza, a city that is withstanding an ongoing genocide.

The Canadian mining magnate is just one in a long line of Westerners who ask the world to believe what they say but ignore the actual results of what they do — a “spin-sploiter” publicly professing humanitarian ideals all the while exploiting Africa.

Between September 2015 and January 2016, African-Brazilian activist Rafaela Araujo visited Azania/South Africa on a share/ study program. She was hosted by eBukhosini Solutions – a community-based company specialized in Afrikan centered education and youth/community empowerment. She spent most of her time studying English, getting to know the situation of Afrikan people in South Afrika and assisting in eBukhosini’s activities. She also undertook some speaking engagements in neighboring Namibia.  

Isn’t it the height of hypocrisy for a British politician to label Nigeria as fantastically corrupt? Britain built its economy on the wealth looted from colonies such as Nigeria. Today, British politicians collude with their thieving Nigerian counterparts to spirit away money that is then invested in London and other Western cities. Cameron’s neo-colonial moralism fools no one.

Pambazuka News 773: Sankara and protests against grand heists

A young Kenyan woman troubled by the question of her identity sets off to Indian to find her roots. She wants to determine once and for all whether she is Kenyan or Indian. Or possibly both. It turns out to be a great journey of self-discovery that even surprises her.

Since the visit by President Obama, two scenarios are playing out in Cuba. One is the barely veiled naive perspective regarding Obama. The second is the staunch resistance to the US ideological/political war being waged against Cuba’s socialist culture. The balance of forces is in favour of the outlook that is combating the infiltration of US prejudices within Cuban society.

The ruckus kicked up by Dr. Stella Nyanzi’s nude protest against Prof Mahmood Mamdani, director of Makerere Institute of Social Research, refuses to die down. Responding to an article by three fellow graduate students in support of Dr. Nyanzi published in last week’s issue of Pambazuka News, another student now offers a different take on the controversial academic and the situation at the institute.

The new book by Chido Onumah is a collection of essays published by the author in various publications, including Pambazuka News, in the last three years focusing on the crisis of nationhood in Nigeria.

Commonwealth Writers has announced the regional winners for this year’s Commonwealth Short Story Prize. The five stories have risen to the top of the 4,000 entries received this year. The South African author, Faraaz Mahomed, is the regional winner for Africa for his story ‘The Pigeon’.

Whatever the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, Washington’s militarized imperialist policy towards Africa looks certain to remain unchanged. Matters are not helped by the fact that, unlike in the 1970s and 1980s, the Black leadership in America is not pushing for any policy change towards Africa.

In South Africa, over $60 million was lost through a well-orchestrated fraud from the mineworkers’ death benefits pool. 46,000 widows and orphans lost their benefits in this fraud revealed in the Panama Papers. Can you I imagine the pain of a widow  going to claim her husband’s death benefits only to find it all gone? Imagine that this widow has four children and no real source of income. We must resist!

Uganda is still restless following the election of February 18 that was controversially won by President Yoweri Museveni against the backdrop of massive irregularities. Museveni, in power for 30 years already, will be sworn in for another 5-year term on May 12. Beginning today, the opposition has announced popular protests. Uganda’s future remains uncertain.

Gacheke Gachihi of Bunge la Mwananchi (People’s Parliament) social movement says his country faces a “very serious problem of shrinking democratic space”. Kenya has witnessed the criminalisation of human rights activism, funding cuts to civil society movements and a further entrenchment of systemic corruption – “and this is getting normalised”. The situation has deteriorated since the election of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013.

Gone – maybe forever – are the days when thirst for knowledge to improve oneself and to contribute to a better society drove young people to seek higher education. These days university students and products of related institutions would only be able to perfectly reel off the names of rappers, footballers and DJs as well as post countless meaningless material on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and the like – with little understanding or interest in the realities of their society.

Could a museum with all the precious stolen artefacts of others and the support of the French government fail? Such celebrations are the self-congratulatory affirmations of the seemingly impregnable position certain Western cultural institutions have assumed as a result of relentless colonial exploitation and oppression of African and Asian peoples. Or how could one explain that institutions holding admittedly looted artefacts are not bothered about the illegality of their acquisitions?

 

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s frequent foreign travels are unprecedented in his country. His visit to Germany last month, touted at home as part of the president’s strategic engagement with the developed world, was a dismal flop. It is unlikely that anything meaningful for the people of Kenya came out of the trip.

Current leaders and the citizens can learn a lot from books authored by previous presidents. Zambia would benefit tremendously from hearing from President Kenneth Kaunda, the founding president who was in power for 27 years. How and why did he make the many momentous and not-so-momentous decisions during his time in office? He owes Zambians explanations.

President Obama in 2009 signed a proclamation establishing the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission. The commission was supposed to organize activities to mark the 100th anniversary, in 2011, of President Reagan’s birth. What about we people who are darker than blue? If a Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission is in order, what about a Black Music Month Commission?

Sustainable, effective and successful partnerships need to be built on mutual trust, on an explicit programme, clearly defined responsibilities, champion figures and financial resources. In this article, Dr. Kakonge outlines positive and negative factors that influence development assistance partnerships in Africa.

When it comes to food justice, environmentalism and ecological practices, Thomas Sankara was way ahead of his time. Thomas Sankara helped Burkina Faso become self-sufficient before in basic foodstuffs in just a few years before he was assassinated.

Pambazuka News 772: Another imperialist war on Libya? No way.

The Senate Resolution states in plain words that crimes against humanity have been committed in Ethiopia under T-TPLF rule and that there must be a full, credible, and transparent investigation into the killings and instances of excessive use of force that took place as a result of protests in the Oromia region and hold security forces accountable for wrongdoing through public proceedings.

Somalia exists only in name as the country has broken up into tribal enclaves that are not only slavishly subservient to Ethiopia and Kenya but the puppet leaders of all the mini-states go on periodic pilgrimage to Addis Ababa and Nairobi for guidance and blessings from their masters there. This is what should concern Somalis, above anything else.

The overarching message of the gathering was justice for Berta. This includes the fair investigation and prosecution of Berta's killers and the fulfillment of what she lived and died for. In the short term, this is the cancellation of the dam project on the Gualcarque River. In the longer term, it means a liberatory transformation toward a human- and earth-centered economics, politics, and society in Honduras and around the world.

The constitutional review process in Sierra Leone is limited in its scope and significantly undermines the possibility of a constitution that will transformational and that will stand the test of time. The proposed changes are minimal. There has also been inadequate popular participation, raising doubts that the proposed new supreme law will not substantially contribute towards further democratisation of the country.

Establishing a globally agreed tax body under the auspices of the United Nations and putting an end to dubious tax avoidance activities would bolster government revenues and help finance the provision of essential public services, especially in the Global South.

Stiff-necked apartheid high priests had their problems but none of them contemplated the type of weird political culture the ANC and President Zuma are foisting on post-apartheid South Africa!

 

If the controversial government program sounds too good to be true, it is. Given the inadequate research and planning, the partnership plan will have no impact on quality, little impact on innovation and it will do little to improve Liberia’s education system.

The US, NATO and Gulf monarchy attacks against Libya in 2011 were a war crime by any definition of the term. If there were any justice in the world Obama and Clinton would fear being on trial. Instead he leaves office looking like a model on magazine covers and they work together to make sure that she sits in the Oval Office after him.

The playwright explores issues that plague Kenya today and he does that with a compassionate eye and a ruthless tongue.

The Glebelands community’s constitutional rights to privacy, in their desperation to reveal the truth behind their persecution and suffering, have been severely contravened – this time by a broadcaster whose controversial owners are closely linked to President Jacob Zuma.

The project of genuinely decolonizing the university must be part of an inclusive task to transform the wider society of which the academy is an integral part. It is a long term undertaking which surely starts with the audacity to name the elephant in the room: white supremacy.

April 25 was declared Africa Pretrial Detention Day last year. Notably, the Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa is leading efforts, together with civil society, in several countries to implement new guidelines that will ensure pretrial detention is in accordance with the fundamental human rights of suspects.

Makerere Institute of Social Research in Uganda is in turmoil following a confrontation that saw one lecturer, Stella Nyanzi, stage a nude protest against the institute’s director, renowned scholar Mahmood Mamdani. The conflict has exposed serious administrative problems at the institute. A group of international scholars have waded into the controversy by addressing a petition to the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University.

The West is gearing up for another military intervention in Libya after destroying the country in 2011. What is the African Union - and all Africans - doing about this? What is the role of the AU Special Envoy to Libya, former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete? At the minimum, the UN should be told that there should be no Western intervention until there is a full-scale inquiry into the first intervention.

He was a vigilant leader. He never sacrificed the fundamental objectives of the liberation struggle of his people on the polluted altar of appeasement and pseudo-diplomacy. At the heart of Makwetu's commitment to the struggle for freedom in South Africa was the land question, which remains unresolved to date.

In the US election – as in African ones – there are large numbers of voters totally devoted to the establishment candidates. It is as though the downtrodden, unwilling to take responsibility for their own futures, settle for the hope that a greater amount of crumbs will trickle down to them from the master’s table.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s decision to relinquish control over Sinafir and Tiran to Saudi Arabia indicates that the existing foreign policy imperatives of Washington and Riyadh take precedence over the liberation of Palestine and the genuine independence of states in North Africa and the Middle East.

Pambazuka 771 Special Issue: Africa and the drama of migration

Many people from African countries, especially the youth, leave their homes in hope for a better life. The Global North contributes to these migration movements in various direct and indirect ways, from destroying the livelihoods of farmers and fisher (wo)men to the changing climate. Under these conditions migration is often the only way for young people to survive.

After having overcome various obstacles on their dangerous routes, migrants and refugees are confronted with bad living conditions in isolated housing facilities in Europe. Refugee women are especially affected by this, as they are double victims to both systematic racism and sexism.

The European project of closing down the borders ensures that ever more people migrate to the North due to a lack of alternatives. The theatre director Riadh Ben Ammar is committed to the idea of freedom of movement and has created a theatre play to promote the topic. In this interview, he argues that people would not permanently stay in Europe if everyone would be able to move legally between Southern and Northern countries.

The majority of refugees comes from war and conflict zones, illegitimate states, areas of natural disasters and economically weak countries. In many cases, companies from the West destroy people’s livelihoods by acting ruthlessly. In Nigeria, the oil extraction and production has devastating consequences for the people living in the Niger Delta. But the Geneva Convention on Refugees is not effective in this case.

The current racist agitations against refugees and their homes cannot be separated from the laws which for decades have put migrants into camps and collective housing. The historical perspective on German immigration politics shows how discourses of distinctive national identities and legislative change mutually reinforce one another.

A passport seems like something natural and like an obvious necessity in the 21st century. A brief review of history, however, shows that this powerful piece of paper is a result of a rather recent development, that is closely related to colonialism and the emergence of nation states.

Migration is as old as Africa itself. People have always moved in search of a better life. The economic crisis in Africa fueled by development policies imposed on the continent by the World Bank, IMF and other donors is one of the factors forcing some Africans to undertake dangerous journeys to Europe in an attempt to improve their lot.

    Today, 19th April 2016 is D - day for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In this Tuesday over one hundred political parties and social movements in over forty capital cities of the world are simultaneously demonstrating in solidarity with the Bolivarian socialist revolution that is threatened by US imperialism and their counterrevolutionary puppets inside Venezuela. 

Pambazuka News 770: Genocide, famine, war: Empire's legacies in Africa

Nigerian journalist and author, Chido Onumah, a frequent contributor to Pambazuka News, just turned 50. To celebrate the milestone, he reflects on his life, work and the contradictions of the Nigerian nation.

It is normal for resistance movements to adopt rough survival strategies and techniques while fighting an oppressive regime. Unfortunately, such confrontational mentality becomes entrenched in an authoritarian political culture that is based on the claim that liberators have an entitlement to rule within a new elite project.

Freedom of expression is under threat in Kenya. In the past, bloggers have been arrested and detained on baseless charges. The latest turn of events is the Central Bank of Kenya’s allegation that bloggers are responsible for the collapse of one the country’s banks.

On Friday, 8 April 2016, activists across Africa who call themselves “Africa’s future” published an open letter to South African President Jacob Zuma. They believe he no longer has moral authority and are calling for him to resign. 

KPTJ says the cases collapsed as a result of contamination of evidence through systematic victim/witness interference and an orchestrated political and diplomatic campaign by the Kenyan government at the behest of suspects of international crimes to intimidate and discredit the Court.

In January, Liberia's education Minister George Werner announced that the entire pre-primary and primary education system would be outsourced to Bridge International Academies to manage. The deal will see the government of Liberia direct public funding for education to support services subcontracted to the controversial private, for-profit, US-based company.

Financial secrecy and tax dodging, and the resulting lack of public funds, threatens women’s and girl’s access to public services, increases the care work they do for free and shifts the tax burden onto those who can least afford it.

Civil society organisations from the Democratic Republic Congo have expressed their opposition to a planned visit by French MPs to genocide commemorations in Rwanda this month. The organisations accuse the MPs of turning a blind eye to the horrendous atrocities committed by Paul Kagame’s regime in Rwanda, DR Congo and the Great Lakes region over the last 20 years. Experts on the region describe Kagame as “the greatest war criminal in office today.”

Obama’s admission that lack of adequate planning in empire’s war on Libya was the biggest mistake of his presidency does not settle the question. Her former Secretary of State, the chief architect of the intervention, Hilary Clinton claims credit for the overthrow and murder of Muammar Gaddafi, which plunged the country into chaos. The intervention was not about Libyans; it was about empire and its interests in Africa.

President Robert Mugabe is not solely to blame for the economic problems facing Zimbabwe as many in the western world have claimed. 

Few Canadians are familiar with pre-colonial African cities, and even fewer know a Canadian military leader helped sack one of West Africa’s great metropolises. When the British and Canadians took part in the ‘Scramble for Africa’, they did so with impunity, a complete disregard for property, sacred forests and people. They only saw savages that needed to be tamed.

More than 10 million Ethiopians are currently facing famine in what some media outlets misleadingly describe as “the worst drought in five decades”. But the famine is not a merely a result of drought. It is a governance issue. And the millions of dollars USAID and other donors are sending in humanitarian aid will probably end up in the pockets of the greedy fat cats of Addis.

Abstracts are invited for contributions to a forthcoming edited volume that aims to bring forward the different ways in which activists, theorists and writers in and beyond Africa have engaged with Sankara’s political philosophies and praxis since his assassination in 1987.

Politically conscious Black artists have always gone beyond the pursuit of fame and fortune to align themselves with the struggles of their people for liberation from imperialism. Renowned Congolese guitarist, composer and singer, Nicolas Kasanda wa Mikalayi, popularly known as Doctor Nico, was a keen supporter of D.R. Congo’s first democratically elected leader and eminent African statesman Patrice Lumumba.

The shameless hypocrisy of former U.S. President Clinton will not change the historical record about his administration’s cold indifference to the Rwandan genocide. Clinton pushed for the drastic reduction of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, leaving the field open for the horrific murders.

Pambazuka News 395: The political economy of ethnic identities

Accueillir les immigrant-e-s africain-e-s en Europe et dans les autres pays développés n’est pas seulement une question morale ainsi que l’affirment certains universitaires. Il s’agit plutôt d’une responsabilité pour le mal et les perturbations causés par le changement climatique. Mais aussi pour l’exploitation des ressources rendue possible par des rapports de force économiques et politiques biaisés.

Pambazuka News Issue 769: Dictatorship, corruption and state capture

The leak once again reveals how states collude with private interests to protect the criminality of the powerful. Or how could journalists uncover the Panama Papers while states which carry on surveillance on millions of people, listen to billions of phone calls and read billions of e-mails were apparently unaware of the underhand dealings?

On Sunday, 3 April 2016, the West Indies beat their old adversary, England, in the Final of the World T-20 Championship in Kolkata, India, to become the only country to clinch the title twice. If you only see cricket as a game – especially when it is played by blacks against nations that have practiced racial discrimination against blacks in the past – you will entirely miss the passion that drives it.

In recent years the world has seen brutal atrocities inflicted upon religious minorities in predominantly Muslim countries. Many members of minority groups have been victims of murder, enslavement, forced exile, intimidation, starvation, and other affronts to their basic human dignity. The Marrakesh Declaration contends that such actions have no relation to Islam.

The relationship between CNN and the White House can be thought of as not that CNN has a senior correspondent in the White House, but rather that the White House has a trusted correspondent at CNN. This is a very strange situation for a country that lectures others about the need for “independent press and journalists.”

Three members of the Bohra community in Australia were recently convicted for performing FGM on two little sisters, bringing to global attention continued existence of the condemned practice among this global community whose origins is India. Five Bohra women are working hard to end this practice, as they discuss in this interview.

It is not correct to say that racism is a problem affecting black people only. Regardless of whether or not they have the means and advantages of history to institutionalize racism, black people can be racist.

If the South African political economy continues to be ‘privatised’ by large business, it will weaken the state through corruption and cronyism and undermine good governance and the rule of law. It will systematically deter new private investment, both foreign and domestic, and create obstacles to small and medium-sized enterprises, the backbone of any competitive economy.

In almost every nation, punitive drug policies have the greatest impact on women who are already coping with poverty and social neglect, histories of physical and sexual violence, and marginalization. The UN special assembly on drugs to be held this month provides an important opportunity for women’s rights to be included in the global policies on illicit drugs.

Combating the current threat can best be accomplished by enhancing the capacities of the African state, thereby diminishing its susceptibilities to radicalization and violent non-state actors. Radicalization often appeals to some Muslims because it resonates with their personal experiences of discrimination and economic exclusion.

Their high-blown fantasy and improbable outcomes notwithstanding, James Bond films are strangely relevant to project management. They demonstrate the benefits of proper planning with clear implementation strategies and regular and effective monitoring. Further, the films emphasize the importance of networks and partnerships.

US President Barack Obama expresses pride in his African heritage, but his regime over the last seven years has not demonstrated any substantial commitment to the wellbeing of the African people. He has merely continued the imperial interventions and militarism of his predecessors.

On the 31st March 2016 the Constitutional Court ruled that both the President and parliament had breached democratic principles by covering up and allowing public funds to be used for the private benefit of the President. Thus we support the call by the SA National Defence Force Union (Sandu) of 1st April 2016, for mass action to remove the President and the entire parliament from office.

What do African Americans have to gain from their continued support for centrist Democratic candidates? Joblessness, poverty, mass incarceration, police terrorism and institutional racism remain. African Americans must break with the Democratic Party to establish their own organization that will speak in their name, fighting for a program of total liberation and socialism.

Yet another activist has been killed in South Africa. It is the 58th assassination in the Glebelands Hostel community, where state sponsored violence silences organizing and uprisings systematically. Why is there no media coverage, no civil society outrage or demands for investigation?

‘Now that the court has found that the President failed to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law, how should I relate to my President? If we are to continue to be guided by growing public opinion and the need to do the right thing, would he not seriously consider stepping down?’

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