As Egypt’s extraordinary social and political protests against Hosni Mubarak’s regime continue, the renewed energy of those seeking a new start is ensuring that the government is forced to implement more than mere cosmetic changes, writes Horace Campbell.

With decentralised organising structures and the absence of a leadership vanguard, events in Egypt and Tunisia point to an emergent mode of revolutionary organisation, argues Horace Campbell, one which provides new lessons for mobilisation around progressive change and non-violence.

In the wake of the ousting of entrenched Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Horace Campbell reflects on events in the country, regional implications and the inspirational example of the Tunisian people in organising for a new future.

It wasn’t just Patrice Lumumba his assassins wanted to kill, it was the genuine self-determination, dreams and aspirations of African people, writes Horace Campbell, reflecting on the murder of the DRC’s (Democratic Republic of Congo) first prime minister on 17 January 1961.

As Côte d'Ivoire remains in a troubling state of political deadlock, Horace Campbell discusses the increasing militarisation of politics, the history of external interests in the country and broader conditions behind the contested 2010 election.

Ivory Coast’s political crisis remains in a deadlock. President Laurent Gbagbo and longtime opposition leader Alassane Ouattara have each claimed victory in November’s disputed election. Ouattara has received the backing of the international community. Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman speaks with Horace Campbell of Syracuse University and Gnaka Lagoke, an Ivory Coast political analyst.

In failing to challenge a US capitalist system geared exclusively to the economic interests of a small elite, Barack Obama is in danger of repeating the errors of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture, writes Horace Campbell.

We cannot separate ‘the question of human rights and Ubuntu – our linked humanity and our peaceful coexistence with planet earth’ in the pursuit of ‘international peace and security’, writes Horace Campbell.

With Ireland in the throes of pervasive public-spending cuts following its financial bailout, Horace Campbell calls for solidarity and the need to ‘internationalise the resistance in order to change the system’.

Is North and South Sudan’s recent agreement to establish a ‘soft border’ between the two areas ahead of a referendum on southern independence ‘another recipe for war’, asks Horace Campbell.

On the strength of the ‘psychological warfare and mind control’ inflicted on its citizens, US society’s increasing militarisation should be treated with acute concern, writes Horace Campbell.

As G20 leaders mull the global consequence of quantitative easing in the US, Horace Campbell highlights the need for a democratised international body that can hold major powers accountable. ‘Without such a body, the kind of competitive devaluation that has been initiated by the US could be a recipe for full-blown warfare.’

As the US rounds up its mid-term elections, Horace Campbell stresses that there must be renewed efforts to organise in response to the country’s right-wing oligarchy and educate people that ‘fighting wars overseas cannot be the basis for economic reconstruction’.

The ‘failure of finance, insurance and real estate as the basis for economic recovery' is compounded by the reality that as ‘the foreclosure crisis continues, not only will millions in the USA lose their homes, but many countries who have been keeping their reserves in the US dollar will find that their foreign reserves are worthless,’ writes Horace Campbell.

Following the passing of Benoit Mandelbrot this week, Horace Campbell writes of the mathematician’s groundbreaking academic work on fractals and the concept’s historical centrality in African knowledge systems.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/500/10_500.gif‘Unity is indispensable in order for the peoples of Africa to live in peace, improve their quality of life, restore the natural environment, repair the human spirit and the earth,’ but there are challenges Pan-Africanism must overcome to achieve it. Horace Campbell looks at the role Pambazuka News has played in nurturing networks for the emancipation of the continent, and how it can champion transformation by 'strengthening popular power'.

Following the participation of a diverse range of people at the 2 October One Nation march in Washington DC, Horace Campbell discusses the need for resurgent solidarity, effective challenges to a politics unrepresentative of the needs of the majority and building a new social movement in the US.

As Nigeria marks 50 years of independence on 1 October, Horace G. Campbell surveys both the country and the African continent’s ‘struggle to create a society where humans can live in dignity.’ The Nigerian people’s search for ‘a new mode of politics, and new forms of economic relations’, says Campbell, is ‘part of the larger struggle for unity and peace in Africa.’

Ronald W. Walters, academic, activist and dedicated Pan-Africanist, died on 10 September 2010. Horace Campbell remembers the man who helped build the global Pan-African movement and mobilised generations of black Americans against racism.

Following inflammatory remarks made by Florida pastor Terry Jones around burning the Qu'ran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, Horace Campbell considers the resurgence of Islamophobia and attempts by powerful sections of the US conservative ruling class to stoke up the flames of conflict. At a time of acute economic downturn, Campbell contends, the forces of peace and understanding must complement one another in a bid to prevent discrimation, prejudice and conflict from gaining traction and cementing the position of the US neo-conservative establishment.