Tragedy struck the opening of the Africa Cup of Nations and Vancouver Winter Olympics alike writes Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, but the contrast in the responses of the respective organisers towards the victims could not have been more pronounced.

As questions abound over a crisis at the heart of Kenya's grand coalition government, L. Muthoni Wanyeki argues that the coalition will hold, if only because of the absence of political alternatives.

cc E C KColleen Lowe Morna states that Zuma’s behaviour is a reminder that ‘there is still a long walk to freedom for South African women’. She argues that Zuma’s polygamy and promiscuity go against strides towards gender equality and asks: ‘How … are we to square polygamy, promiscuity and the progressive values of the ANC that Mandela gave his life for and that Zuma agrees he must uphold? If we are to push our democracy to greater heights, how now are we to emerge from this quagmire?'

Impunity in Kenya is ‘so deeply entrenched that it has become a sort of public office entitlement or perk’, writes L. Muthoni Wanyeki. But as yet another corruption scandal rears its head, Wanyeki calls for a more ethical response from the government, which demonstrates concern for how the public’s money is used.

The inheritance of the colonial university was the postcolonial state’s most ‘prized possession’, writes John Otim. Fifty years on the colonial mission and principles have disappeared from Africa’s universities: ‘Good’, states Otim, ‘But nothing has been put in its place. In the vacuum, the regime of marks, grades and the final certificate at the end takes centre stage… The university has become big business.’ Otim ends, though, with a quiet assertion: ‘Not all is lost yet on the postcolonial campus. There are pockets of excellence, gifted professors and students of real promise dedicated to the new Africa. There is a battle raging between the good, the bad and the ugly.’

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has issued a statement in response to the first anniversary of Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity (GNU).
The statement highlights the increasing concern in Zimbabwe over the GNU’s ‘failure to abide by the provisions of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and its apparent inability to address the social, political and economic crisis still facing the country.’ The statement also criticises the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) inability to influence the GNU to deliver on its promises and commitments.

If people are to overcome the systemic challenges that threaten the future of life on planet earth, we need to overhaul the way in which we manage society, argue Carlos Lopes, Ignacy Sachs, Ladislau Dowbor. In a paper prepared for the World Social Forum in Bahia, Brazil in January, Lopes, Sachs and Dowbor attempt to set out the ‘minimum necessary measures to avoid catastrophes and to guarantee a sustainable and dignified life’.

With Porto Alegre hosting an evaluation of the 10 years of the World Social Forum (WSF) in January, Boaventura de Sousa Santos wonders why the mainstream media chose to focus on the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos instead. This is strange, writes de Sousa Santos, 'since the analyses and previsions of the WSF during the last decade turned out to be much more precise than those advanced by the WEF'.

Marion Grammer acknowledges the significant contribution made to the liberation struggle by the teachers, writers and intellectuals behind the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM), the first organisation in South Africa to adopt the principle of non-racialism, which debunked the myths about African ‘inferiority’ and administered ‘an antidote to the poisonous indoctrination of apartheid. It was ‘the politics of anti-imperialism and non-racialism learned from the Unity Movement’, says Grammer, that ‘provided the impetus that sent young people marching and protesting and fighting for democracy in the 1970s and 80s’.

The modern global economy doesn’t just run on fossil fuels, writes Bob Hughes, it primarily driven by social and economic inequality. But as a growing number of studies suggests that this inequality also has a heavy environmental cost, Hughes argues that ‘a world without inequality is not just desirable, it is necessary, and urgently’.

The development challenges African countries face stem from their use of an inappropriate governance structure, the nation-state, writes Amira Kheir. The nation-state is an inherited system that does not match the continent’s needs and potential, says Kheir, arguing instead for a state that functions as an administrative centre for legislation and organisation but that remains free from ‘fictitious affiliations’ to a larger identity.

South African CIVICUS [the World Alliance for Citizen Participation], and its partners have announced the launch of the ‘Africa for Haiti’ campaign aimed at rebuilding Haiti in solidarity. The press statement, issued on 22 January 2010, states that ‘The objective of this campaign is not to provide immediate relief but rather to contribute toward the medium to long-term reconstruction of communities in Haiti.’ The press statement is accompanied by supporting statements for the campaign from Archbishops Desmond Tutu, Njongonkulu Ndungane, Malusi Mpumlwana, Thabo Makgoba, and businessman Stanley Subramony.

Dear most honorable MP,
When will it ever end?
When will it stop, people are crying, dying,
Hunger,
Disease,
Ignorance,
When will it stop?
It’s been called disgusting,
Immoral,
Uncouth,
Cold,
Corrupt,
Yet it still continues,
When will it stop?
It’s hard to imagine,
It can be justified,
With all these problems,
Disgusting,
Stop it,
Stop now,
Stop the slaps on the face,
The vomiting on the shoes,
The cold heartedness,
To the hungry, sick, poor,
Of our nation,
By constantly increasing your pay packages,
And failing to pay tax,
We are FED UP,
And on a day soon to come,
We will show you how much.

The following is joint statement by the International Association of Health Policy and the Federación de Asociaciones para la Defensa de la Sanidad Pública calling on international health organisations to ethically establish proper social and healthcare systems for the people of Haiti.

The following is the full text of the final declaration of last Monday's meeting at the Miraflores Palace between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit and the foreign ministers of the member countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

While the achievement of universal ontological rights in South Africa has been a marvellous step forward, writes Jason Hickel, the paradigm of a rights-based revolution is seriously and fundamentally flawed, and cannot serve the ends that South Africa intends it to. Cautioning that the state can grant people discursively constituted rights with one hand and strip them of the conditions for sustainable life with the other without ever having to confront the contradiction, Hickel says it’s time to reclaim the heritage of the commons.

Kenya’s government, Paul Mwangi Maina argues, has failed to involve the youth in political processes, despite pre-election promises to do so. Maina portrays a system in Kenya where youth participation is dependent on wealth and connections. These youths are then merely used as political pawns, corrupted by politicians even before they enter politics at a national level, he stresses: ‘These people do not represent the young people of Kenya accurately.'

While Article 39 of Kenya’s Revised Harmonised Draft Constitution makes giant steps in guaranteeing media freedom, Henry Maina finds it still lacking. Maina explores Article 39’s shortcomings in the areas of licensing, censorship and confidentiality and suggests some fundamental safeguards as solutions.

Following the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian captured with an explosive device on a Northwest flight, Joseph Kaifala stresses that each and every individual accused of criminal activity must be treated according to the rule of law.

A recent outbreak of violence between migrant workers from Africa and the townspeople of Rosarno in southern Italy higlights the country's uneasy relationship with illegal immigrants, many of whom are trafficked into Italy by the mafia to provide cheap labour during the fruit-picking season, writes Annar Cassam.