Genuine democracy offers greater inclusiveness and accountability in reaching developmental, growth and industrialization goals; and makes states more effective, stable and robust against internal and external crises.

How many deaths of black youth are necessary before they are considered ‘genocide’ or political assassinations? No one seems to care. After all, the majority of the victims are black residents in the favelas.

In the US – and throughout the capitalist world - the value of Black people is declining, as the economic system no longer relies on cheap labour. Lack of jobs for Black people means a lack of need for Black people, which means the wholesale devaluation of Black life. And anything without value in the capitalist system is disposable.

Former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson writes that British Prime Minister Cameron's "most noble intentions" were jarred by portions of his address to Parliament in which he asserted that slavery was a long time ago, in the historical past and “as friends we can move on together to build for the future.” No. The legacies of slavery are alive and well.