This book aims to reassert a radical tradition in African studies by examining the transformative impact of recent social movements on the African continent. It approaches these movements by critically engaging with the experience of Marxism in Africa and offering a contemporary Marxist analysis of the continent. The media increasingly fall back on racist notions of a 'heart of darkness' in Africa, at the same time as the academic left dismisses Marxism as Eurocentric. This book attempts to address these problems by uniting the continent under a class analysis. In so doing, it seeks to counter recent policies of austerity and globalization, and to launch a renaissance of radical thinking in Africa.