On Monday, 23 April 2012, Eddie Webster will be presenting the next instalment of the monthly Ndifuna Ukwazi seminar series. This public talk examines the rise of the workers’ movement and the politics of the ANC (1973–1994). Prof Webster will discuss the historical origins of the links between the ruling party - then a liberation movement struggling through the worst years of Apartheid - and the workers’ movements, which were rapidly developing and newly energised during this period. This question has continued relevance for current politics, given the political affiliation between the ANC, Cosatu, and the South African Communist Party (SACP). It is especially relevant in the year the ANC celebrates its 100 year anniversary, amidst ongoing debates about the state of our new democracy and the future of the party. For those who cannot attend, the event will be live-streamed:

Television journalist Gil Noble, who died recently, hosted the New York City public affairs television program 'Like It Is'. One of his legendary interviews was with Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee who coined the term 'black power'. Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture after moving to Guinea in 1969. Noble interviewed him in June 1996 about two year’s before his death.

South Sudan's seizure of a Sudanese oilfield has all but killed off hopes the two countries will settle their disputes soon and Khartoum may demand compensation before returning to talks, a Sudanese oil minister said on Sunday. The newly-independent South seized Heglig earlier this month, raising fears of an all-out war with Sudan. Tensions have mounted since South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in July, under a peace settlement that ended decades of civil war.

Rising drug resistance has turned what public health officials call today's Big Three infections - HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria - even more fearsome. Together, these diseases kill millions every year, representing 10 per cent of all deaths globally. Worse, the trio of epidemics is tragically interconnected, with TB, for example, the leading cause of death among individuals infected with HIV.

The junta in Guinea Bissau on Saturday said its plan for a two-year transition had only been a suggestion, in an apparent climbdown following threats of UN and regional sanctions. Hours afterwards the opposition politician picked as transitional president by the junta told news agency AFP he was turning down what he described as an 'illegal' appointment. The junta has come under fire from the United Nations and the west African regional grouping Ecowas for failing to restore civilian rule after an April 12 military coup.

In Malawi, an audience-driven radio programme - Nkhani Zam’maboma or 'News from Districts' - has captivated the nation by exposing everyday injustices experienced by Malawians. Grievances are articulated through local idioms and proverbs that have little in common with the individual freedoms espoused by human rights activists. Never before has it been possible for Malawians to share experiences of injustice so publically.

A two-day National Conference on Land Owners and Land Users affected by large scale investments in agriculture organized by the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF) and Green Scenery, held on the 2nd and 3rd April, 2012 at the St. Edwards Pre- School Hall, Kingtom, Freetown ended up with a recommendation by participants for the formation of a Civil Society coalition that would serve as a watchdog on land issues in the country. In response to this recommendation, the 'Action for Large scale Land Acquisition Transparency’' known as (ALLAT) was formed.

The mission of Congolese Genocide Awareness (CGA) is to generate worldwide awareness on the effects of war in general and the civil war specifically of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Particularly our mission is to generate awareness around the reoccurrence of the rape of Congolese women and the exploitation and killing of children. More information can be found on their website at A video and song shot for their cause can be seen at

In this Newsclick video, Professor Samir Amin discuses with Aijaz Ahmad on developments in Egypt over the last one year. Samir Amin details the correlation of forces in Egypt today and identifies the current phase as the beginning of a long period of democratic change with its ups and downs.

A diary belonging to Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, which dates from the mid-1960s, and has been at the centre of a long legal battle between an American businessman and an African scholar from Kenya, will soon be returning home. The Kenyan, who describes himself as Africa’s 'Indiana Jones' has convinced the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania in the US that the diary rightly belongs to Ghana and to the Nkrumah family and should be returned to Africa.

The talk will provide an overview of the reality of land grabs in Africa, based on extensive research and advocacy conducted by the Oakland Institute. Learn about resistance from impacted communities, grassroots and national organizations in Africa, and solidarity networks.

Africa is not cashing in enough from its large gold resources, despite the spiralling price of the precious metal over recent years, according to a working paper published by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The paper, entitled ‘Gold Mining in Africa: Maximizing Economic Returns for Countries’, points out that gold mining is a significant activity in at least 34 of the continent’s 54 countries. A key factor is unfair concession agreements, say the authors of the paper, which severely limit the gains from gold mining that remain in the producing countries. This particularly applies to the royalty rate stated in the agreements.

'We oppose the dominant economic and financial model that is in favour of privatizing and commoditizing water and sanitation services. Capitalist, extractive development has created dramatic and profound economic, social, and environmental crises. This approach, which considers water to be a commodity like any other, is unjust and ineffective in providing access to water and sanitation to all, and goes against the will and interests of the people.'

To celebrate the fact that the late Manning Marable has been awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for history for his ground-breaking book, Malcolm X – a life of reinvention, Race & Class has made available for free the seminal articles that Professor Marable wrote on the politics of the black working class in the US. The free downloads are:
- ‘Rethinking black liberation: towards a new protest paradigm’ (Race & Class Vol. 38 no. 4, 1997)
- ‘The divided mind of Black America: race, ideology and politics in the post-Civil Rights era’, with Leith Mullings, (Race & Class Vol. 36 no. 1, 1994)
- ‘Memory and militancy in transition: the 1993 march on Washington’ (Race & Class Vol. 35 no. 3, 1994).

Moroccan authorities should drop charges and release a rapper who has spent three weeks in pretrial detention on charges that he insulted the police in his songs and a video set to his music, Human Rights Watch said. Police arrested Mouad Belghouat, known as 'al-Haqed' (the sullen one), on March 29, 2012, because of a YouTube video with a photo of a policeman whose head has been replaced with a donkey’s. The lyrics denounce police corruption.

This is a letter Human Rights Watch sent to all 15 members of the UN Security Council on human rights monitoring in Western Sahara and in camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

In Swaziland intimidation and coercion by the state are a frightening reality.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will probably expand 5.4 per cent this year as rising commodity prices and increased oil production help to offset a slowdown in Europe, the International Monetary Fund said. Growth is set to accelerate from 5.1 per cent in 2011 and compares with 5.5 percent estimated in January, the Washington-based lender said in its World Economic Outlook report today. The IMF raised its growth forecast for South Africa, the region’s largest economy, to 2.7 per cent for this year from 2.5 per cent.

Armed men have rounded up top Malian officials including two presidential hopefuls, in a show of force by a junta that seized power last month, as the interim leader named a Microsoft executive as Prime Minister. Those arrested included ex-prime minister Modibo Sidibe and Soumaila Cisse, a former minister who led the West African Economic and Monetary Union until November last year. Cisse suffered an unspecified injury while fleeing his home, and was later arrested at a hospital and taken by ambulance to the junta's headquarters in Kati, near Bamako, his office said.

While the Occupy Movement has taken the world by storm, a long history of different types of social movement occupations have marked Latin America for decades. The website has an audio recording of a Left Forum panel dealing with this topic.