Shivji rethinks regional integration in the context of Pan African struggles.

What role is there for African public intellectuals in the current conjuncture? 

Revolutionary intellectuals led our liberation movements. They initiated and organised the left and democratic formations. Thugs and mercenaries of imperialism and their hirelings have tortured and murdered revolutionary intellectuals all over the continent. But with Thomas Sankara they continue chanting: “While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas.”

NGOs and activists need to give themselves a really hard look. They cannot possibly be partners of, and stakeholders in, systems that oppress and dehumanize the large majority of people. They must choose the side of those who are struggling for a better world and against those who want to maintain the existing world. Neutrality is betrayal.