Tunisia: Bright anger amid dismal atmosphere

Sam Albert

The recent demonstrations and fighting that broke out across Tunisia for about ten days in January 2018 are all the more significant in that Western representatives and apologists for the current state of the world have held up Tunisia’s political situation as the most successful outcome of the 2011 “Arab Spring", that is, from the point of view of maintaining the status quo.

Congo: An enterprise managed by the United Nations Security Council

An Interview with Economist Jean-Claude Maswana

Ann Garrison

Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s independence hero and first Prime Minister, famously wrote to his wife Pauline from captivity in 1960, shortly before his assassination: “We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and the free and liberated peoples in every corner of the globe will ever remain at the side of the millions of Congolese who will not abandon the struggle until the day when there will be no more colonisers and no more of their mercenaries in our country.” But is anyone on the side of the Congolese now?

The United States signals its support for disgraced minister Sam Kutesa: Implications

Mary Serumaga

The meeting between US ambassador to Uganda Debra Malac with Uganda's disgraced Minister for Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa on 19 January 2018 demonstrated that the value of Uganda’s cooperation in furthering American foreign policy and corporate interests clearly outweighs any embarrassment caused by Kutesa’s alleged incontinence.
 

Why Israelis need to revolt against their government

Prakash Kona

In recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Donald Trump administration has accomplished nothing significant other than expose their already bare backs to the international community that is a wee-bit tired of their shenanigans. 

Weah presidency: The challenge of high expectations in Liberia

Paul Ejime

To make a difference, President George Weah must revisit the unfinished business of unification of Native and Americo-Liberians began by the Tubman administration. Given their weak economic and political position, the Natives cannot go it alone, and in spite of their years of dominance even with their small number, the Americo-Liberians must have realised that both groups need each other as partners in Liberia’s progress.
 

A revolutionary calling and my socialist expedition

Christina Mfanga

The commitment to the struggle of the working class was valorised, as African activists spent time with Brazilian rural farmers in their simple lives, but yet filled with abundant joy, love and humility. Within the walls of their homes, one could see a strong sense of hunger in striving for the burial of the downtrodden and barbaric system of capitalism. 
 

Why are Ugandan troops amassed at the Congo border again?

Ann Garrison and Helen Epstein

The attempt to make the public believe that the Allied Defense Forces, a small, beleaguered Ugandan Islamist militia, attacked a United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 7 December 2017, killing 15 heavily armed and highly trained Tanzanian peacekeepers and wounding 55 more, raises more questions than it answers. 
 

On primordial culture, irresponsible fathers and “Shit Holes”: Selective amnesia or hypocrisy?

Abdul Karim Bangura

The failure of most of the African leaders, intellectuals and activists both on the African continent and in the diaspora to call out Barack Obama when he was insulting and marginalising Africans, some even making all sorts of excuses to justify his actions because he is one of “our own,” might have emboldened Donald Trump to insult Africans. 
 

Fraud, irregularity and illegality in elections: How much is too much?

A comparison of Kenya and Liberia

Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei

The Supreme Courts of Kenya and Liberia have projected sufficient independence and demonstrated the relevance of the judiciary in electoral matters, but they have also exposed lapses in the electoral management bodies, particularly with the introduction of new technologies, which became central to the disputes in both countries.

My reflection on Ngũgĩ’s Wizard of the Crow

Yash Tandon

In his reflection on Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o's Wizard of the Crow ,Yash Tandon argues that like all social studies, there is no neutral literature. Observers and writers on society are part of society, and whether they are conscious of it or not, they are inevitably taking sides in the drama around them. They are a part of the superstructure and the prevailing norms and values of the society around them – adopting them, rejecting them, reforming them or revolting against them. 
 

Interdisciplinary Journal for the Studies of the Sahel

The Interdisciplinary Journal for the Studies of the Sahel is seeking submissions from all disciplinary fields of academic inquiry, including the arts, humanities, social sciences and STEM-related fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) for its June and December 2018 publications.