After performing for Nelson Mandela, the Queen and the Royalty party; concerts in New Zealand, Ireland, Paris and so on, they are coming to ekasie Diepkloof. This Soweto violin group is called Buskuid. It was and is not the case of charity where the Goddess (Nalden- the group instructor) will flap her golden wings from her country to uncover talents from Soweto gutters.

Africa Section is happy to announce that the Workshop on Preservation of African Heritage which was postponed last year is now back on track and will be taking place on the dates and venue as specified above. The Workshop will focus on the preservation of collections housed in libraries archives and museums.

Bush Tale is a stage play and is currently showing at the Windybrow Theatre for the Arts in Hillbrow. It closes on Saturday 24 May. It is written by Martin Koboekae, and directed by Walter Chakela. Bush Tales is a hilarious story set in the Platteland. It enables both black and white South Africans to look back at their past and laugh at themselves.

It could turn out to be the biggest political movement of the twenty-first century: a global coalition of millions, united in resisting an out-of-control global economy, and already building alternatives to it. It emerged in Mexico in 1994, when the Zapatista rebels rose up in defiance of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The West first noticed it in Seattle in 1999, when the World Trade Organisation was stopped in its tracks by 50,000 protesters. Since then, it has flowered all over the world, every month of every year. The 'anti-capitalist' street protests we see in the media are only the tip of its iceberg. It aims to shake the foundations of the global economy, and change the course of history. But what exactly is it? Who is involved, what do they want, and how do they aim to get it?

Edited by Dele Olowu, Soumana Sako

Governance is now an important term in development policy discourse, yet its relationship to development, institutional reforms and public policy processes, and even its definition, remain ambiguous. This book brings together analysis of these issues by prominent scholars and practitioners of African development policy. The book’s three main objectives are to describe recent governance changes in African countries, to analyze the consequences of these changes for institutional reforms, and to highlight the challenge of building different types of institutional capacities to consolidate the ongoing processes of economic liberalization and democratization within African countries.

Patrick Bond and his co-authors have researched and campaigned on behalf of social and environmental justice for years: offering alternatives to a huge minerals smelter at Nelson Mandela Metropole, opposing the Lesotho mega-dams, helping township activists end electricity/water disconnections and advocating free lifeline services. The hope lies with grassroots protest movements rising everywhere: against globalisation, privatisation, unemployment, poverty, the denial of healthcare and social services, and ecological degradation. In South Africa, what de-commodifying alternatives do they present?

CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights has called on the Zimbabwean government to return the confiscated passport and resident permit of Andrew Meldrum, the Zimbabwe correspondent of the widely respected UK based Guardian Newspapers. Mr Meldrum is an American citizen and has lived legally in Zimbabwe for 22 years. The Zimbabwean immigration authorities seized the documents following recent failed attempts to arrest Mr Meldrum at night with a view to enforcing a surprise deportation. His lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, has also been threatened with detention after she handed in a letter protesting confiscation of the said documents.

provides space for activists in the emerging mass social movements to debate key issues facing these movements. The journal is now in its third issue, which focused on the debates and campaigns on the war in Iraq. We are building a subscriptions base in order to ensure that the journal is financially stable and is able to come out regularly.

This issue includes:
* John Buchan, from the "Borders" to the "Berg": Nature, Empire and White South African Identity, 1901-1910, p. 3
* Peter Henshaw, Sol Plaatje Reconsidered: Rethinking Plaatje's Attitudes to Class, Nation, Gender, and Empire p. 33
* Peter Limb, Rites of Rebellion: Recent Anthropology from Zambia p. 125

Lund University Libraries has launched the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ, http://www.doaj.org), supported by the Information Program of the Open Society Institute (http://www.osi.hu/infoprogram/), along with SPARC - The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, (http://www.arl.org/sparc). The directory contains information about 350 open access journals, i.e. quality controlled scientific and scholarly electronic journals that are freely available on the web. The service will continue to grow as new journals are identified.

"Eyes on the ICC" is an annual publication of ISC-ICC aimed at (1) providing students, young professionals and academics with an opportunity to publish their work on the issues relating to the International Criminal Court; (2) pursuing in-depth analysis of those issues; and (3) educating the American public about the International Criminal Court and the issues surrounding it. We invite paper and book review submissions from students, young professional, academics and journalists. The deadline for proposals is June 15, 2003.

T’is absurd isn’t it? Does it make sense then
For a strong man living in a house of stone
To murder a peasant dwelling in a mud hut,
When the inevitability of death is common to both of them?

The peasant in his own simple way
Accepting the inevitability of death as God’s will,
Is free to speak his mind and stay
Than live in constant fear and flee to the hill.

The strong man, on the other hand, lives in distress
And with every murder imagines new enemies
Causing him to ensconce himself in a fortress
Still refusing to accept any peace treaties

Surely t’is much easier to afford the peasant clean water
Schools, clinics and paved roads for his harvest;
For if the peasant’s mind is at peace and at rest
The strong man need not live in fear!

T’is absurd isn’t it?

Africa Day will mark the symbolic transition from the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union, and celebrate the continent's new economic programme, the New Partnership for Africa's Development. According to the committee, the day's festivities will start with a street parade showcasing Africa's diverse communities, with the aim of encouraging unity and public participation, and enhancing campaigns to root out xenophobia, reports South Africa.info.

This long-awaited biography of two of South Africa's most respected and loved figures has been written by their daughter-in-law Elinor. Elinor Sisulu is a journalist who has had unrivalled access to the subjects of her book and to personal family letters as well as previously classified documents from the security police and prisons. She tells a moving story of a couple who in their different ways have embodied the struggle against injustice and oppression in South Africa.

In the seventies, as signs of decay began to show in the capitalist experiment of the newly independent African countries, a “bard of the misrule” emerged on the streets of Lagos. Often shirtless and armed with his trademark saxophone, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti tore his way into popular culture with Afrobeat music. Blending ethno-traditional forms with the reigning highlife and jazz rhythms, Afrobeat drew lyrics from the flip side of neo-colonial society and Fela’s London and American experience in the sixties.

“Not since Pablo Neruda have I encountered a poet who better evidences the heart’s full range. In these lovely lyrics, nothing is ever diminished. These poems, like life itself, show us how we can deepen and reconceive, love, and fail–how we can struggle against “poisoned language” and disfiguring institutions. Some of the poems are so poignant that the heart grows overmuch; others, like the brilliant sonnet sequence, “Madiba,” confirms why we so need poetry in our troubled age. In its music, wisdom, and dazzling exploration of human interiority, Madiba joins that small group of extraordinary books that teach us how to be worthy of our dreams.” –Kenneth A. McClane, W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Literature, Cornell University

Dispatches from Durban, a powerful new book by Los Angeles-based activist and theoretician Eric Mann, reminds us of the excitement and importance of the UN World Conference Against Racism. Through a collection of firsthand commentaries, Mann provides insight into the issues of racism and white supremacy, the role of the U.S. government in the conference, the nature of and contradictions within the United Nations, as well as the implications of neoliberalism for the struggles for genuine national liberation. As such, Mann helps the reader appreciate the context of the WCAR, and especially why progressive and anti-imperialist forces world-wide chose it as a point of concentration for a major mobilization.

His eyes are see-through.
Through them I see
a yawning empty bread bin
a fridge stands
astounded
by its chilling emptiness
a stove, cold,
sits huddled in a corner
finds nothing to warm up
for mice swept the pantry
before seeking refuge
in refuse pits
in the neighbourhood.
Cockroaches left jackets
on hangers of webs
bills are forming
a small mound
on a formica table.

Yet - whenever I ask
How he is doing
he replies:
'Fine. And you?'

Julius Chingono, Zimbabwean poet

In the decades after 1945, as colonial possessions became independent states, it was widely-believed that imperialism as a historical phenomenon was coming to an end. The six essays collected in this volume demonstrate that a new form of imperialism was, in fact, taking shape—an imperialism defined not by colonial rule but by the global capitalist market. From the outset, the dominant power in this imperialism without colonies was the United States. Magdoff’s essays explain how this imperialism works, why it generates ever greater inequality, repression, and militarism, and the essential role it plays in the development of U.S. capitalism.

Many of the failures of government in dealing with the economy can be traced to attempts to solve minor problems piecemeal. Since many problems of this sort arise from demands of particular groups for special government assistance or for government regulation, the resulting patchwork of ad hoc solutions and quick fixes often makes such fundamental goals as price stability and economic growth more difficult to achieve… in the [thirty years] since we served on the front lines of economic policy…The demographic time bomb means that attention to economic realities and fundamental principles is more important than ever. - George Shultz, former U.S. secretary of labor, treasury, and state. The above quote is representative of the “old” George Shultz, before he became a crazed CEO at Bechtel Corporation. The “new” George Shultz, a plutocratic neo-con of the first order, helped invent the new neo-con capitalism: Trickle Down-Gush Up. Available in May 2003, this book offers a blistering critique of the Bush administration.