Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version
Thursday, October 12, 2017
English

CONTENTS: 1. Features  2. Announcements 
 


Features


The Che of mythology is presented as a starry-eyed utopian idealist. But the actual Ernesto Guevara was a voracious reader and highly cultured man of science, a revolutionist of action deeply grounded in theoretical study and practical experience. That is the man whose life and work still resonates with the social justice struggles of the world today, half a century after America murdered him.

 

In a letter to his five children written en route to Bolivia, Ernesto Che Guevara said: “Always be able to feel deep within your being all the injustices committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality a revolutionary can have.” Che’s legacy remains a doctor’s love for humanity.

 

The funny thing about the G20 Compact with Africa is that it is formulated by the same institutions that perpetuate underdevelopment in the continent. One cannot go to a doctor who repeatedly prescribes the wrong medication to his patients, worsening their illness instead of curing them. Global capitalism is the main cause of African underdevelopment. If Africa wants genuine development, it must reject advice from the so-called international community and its institutions.

 

MC

Canada doesn't want Guinean asylum seekers in its territory. It is not that thousands of Guineans are flocking the North American nation. Only a few applicants are seeking refuge. Yet Guinea is a mineral-rich country. In a number of ways, Canada has since the colonial days contributed to the impoverishment that drives Guineans to seek a better life elsewhere.

 

It is hard to make a case for continued support of the World Bank. Serving America’s national security and diplomatic interest is not persuasive for the remaining 189 member countries of the Bank. It is not even persuasive for Americans.

 

 

One of the attributes of a middle income country is a rising middle class seeking the comforts of life, while the poor mass up at the fringes picking up crumbs from the table of the well to do. Ghana today is a place of unaffordable high-rise buildings, expensive restaurants, increase in domestic flights, expensive private schools - and unending political bigotry that could lead to the country’s implosion.

 

Ethiopia would be a tough place to govern even for the most talented and well-intentioned daughters and sons of the land. It is a complex country of over 80 ethnic groups and 100 million people. After years of internal turmoil under a vicious and corrupt dictatorship, Ethiopia seems to be heading to the tipping point. Only internal structural change will save the country.

 

Unexpected political developments in Ethiopia clearly indicate that the 26-year-old tyranny is coming to an end. The people’s defiant resistance to the oppressors is relentless . What remains unclear is what happens after the regime crumbles. Ethiopia could plunge into chaos not so much because of the evil the regime has done, but because of the good the opposition failed to do.

 

Spanish unity and prosperity resulted from the global plunder and slavery that fuelled the emergence of the capitalist countries. The tonnes of gold looted from the New World by slave labour propped up the feudal aristocracy and its handmaid, the Catholic Church. Capitalism developed slowly and unevenly, and the Spanish state subordinated other territories with their own distinct history, language, culture and economy.

 

Practical solution to the Anglophone crisis: France, China and USA hold the key, not the UN

If the secessionist movements in English-speaking Cameroon continue to pursue the head-on collision option with the Republic of Cameroon, there will likely be many more massacres of citizens, many more toothless mealy-mouthed platitudes from the United Nations and other foreign observers, but no meaningful progress to end the current crisis.

 

Western bodies have long reduced African academics to native informants whose job is simply to collect data for those in New York or London who have the conceptual competence to study it. It is this native informant mentality that Prof. Mamdani is uprooting in his effort to transform Makerere Institute of Social Research from a consultancy unit into a full-fledged research institute. Such a person needs support, not slander.

 

Emergency services, disaster management, the ward councilor and his committee and other state support structures were missing in action at Glebelands hostel after #DurbanStorm. Many of the rotten, decades-old blocks are structurally unsound, yet there were no officials on site to whom the residents could turn for help. The Glebelands community, as usual, has been left to pick up the pieces themselves as best they could.

 

Communal land under control of traditional leaders, chiefs and kings, rather than individual owners, is one of the biggest obstacles to development, industrialization and economic growth in Africa.

 

 


Announcements


Pambazuka Android App is now on Google Play Store

As a way to reach more people and to make your experience with Pambazuka News better, we have developed an android app as another tool to create a better reading experience with mobile devices. The app will have periodic updates to cater for changing readers' requirements and experiences.to cater for changing readers' requirements and experiences.
App download Link

 

 

DONATE AND SUPPORT PAMBAZUKA!

Kindly forward this email to family and friends to help spread the message.
Thank you for your support. Click here to donate.

Henry Makori and Tidiane Kasse - Editors, Pambazuka News

Yves Niyiragira - Executive Director, Fahamu


Websites: Fahamu.org, Pambazuka.org