Nigeria needs to draw upon its own political and organising traditions and not simply mimic Western models, writes Oluwole Onemola. Not only does this ‘shoe’ not fit, Onemola argues, trying to put it on has allowed exploitative politicians to enrich themselves to the complete detriment of the people they represent. But, the author stresses, ‘[t]hey are not the corrupt ones, we are, because we have let them plunder away at our national pride unchallenged, with only the faintest of castigations.’

Narrated by Maina Kiai, the film

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/491/maurice_namwira.jpgSome five years after the assassination of Pascal Kabungulu, formerly secretary general of DRC human rights group Héritiers de la Justice, Maurice Namwira, the organisation’s executive secretary, discusses activism, impunity from justice and Héritier’s work with Christian Aid with Emma Pomfret.

Following the publication of racist references to migrants in South Africa in a London Review of Books blog by R.W. Johnson, a collection of writers, academics and publishers demands a public apology.

Responding to growing rumours of the threat of a xenophobic reprisal accompanying the end of the World Cup, South Africa's Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba seeks to condemn discrimination and animosity towards foreign nationals.

Behind the hysteria of Ghana's success at the recent World Cup lies a dubious use of taxpayer money and sense of national priorities, writes Kofi Ali Abdul.

‘Gerald Caplan is right to outline various deficiencies of Edward Herman and David Peterson’s chapter on Rwanda in their new book 'The Politics of Genocide'. In important ways, however, Caplan’s review piece actually contributes to the very phenomenon he is trying to attack,’ writes Oliver Kearns.

Many Africans in the diaspora were taken from the continent against their will ‘during the long years of the inhumane and barbaric transatlantic slave trade’, writes Beharane Selasie Kabaka. Isn’t it therefore ‘our moral obligation as native Africans to fully accept them if they wish to return’, without subjecting them to bureaucratic procedures for the acquisition of citizenship, Kabaka asks.

Zimbabwe’s coalition government, formed under the auspices of a Global Political Agreement in 2008, has struggled to overcome the challenges the country faces. Jonathan Oshupeng Maseng’s paper identifies and discusses the issues heightening the rift between coalition members Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, whose political battles are stalling socio-economic progress. ‘The focus must be on achieving the objectives set out in GPA rather than on political disputes advancing their own interests,’ says Maseng.

Responding to Gerald Caplan's

With the DR Congo having passed 50 years of independence, Carlo Ungaro reflects on a turbulent history, the originally pervasive support for Mobutu and the greed of myriad interests in destabilising the country.

The infiltration of ‘gangsta’ culture into Sudanese refugee communities in Cairo has alerted hip hop artists in the city to the need to redirect the misplaced association between rap and gang-related violence, writes Nahed Nassr. Nassr investigates how the energy of this music can in fact be harnessed to encourage the rehabilitation and integration of these refugee gangsters into Egyptian society, as a tool for progress rather than as a way of life.

A global conversation about the rights of sex workers is happening without African voices, writes Chi Mgbako. While activists on other continents have successfully organised to engage governments in dialogue, the criminalisation of the trade in Africa has pushed sex workers to the fringe, compromising more than economic protection in the industry as health, safety and legal rights are sidelined. Until African voices can be heard in the struggle, African sex workers will continue being denied their core rights as stigma and discrimination plague their ‘illegal’ livelihoods, argues Mgbako.

Our hope of changing the world has to transcend conventional methods, writes Amira Ali, if we want to create a world for our children in which they are able to live, to grow and ‘become their best possible selves’. This will not happen, muses Ali, ‘unless, we are transformed, re-developed and renewed’. The alternative is to turn ‘our backs on atrocities and malaise, contributing to the cataclysms of the world and succumb to the spiritual hollowness of our lives.’

Selim Y Gool responds to Neville Alexander’s speech, ‘South Africa: An unfinished revolution?’, from the perspective of historiography, the current economic crisis and alliance politics.

Kenya’s High Court may have awarded Wachira Weheire compensation for his unlawful detention and torture, but it did not set any meaningful judicial precedent with the case, writes Tennille Duffy. In its ruling, the court neither denounced ‘the outcome of torture as well as the practice’ nor brought ‘home the point to those in power today that violation of constitutional rights by the state is not acceptable and will always be severely penalised by the courts.’ Not only has the court failed Mr Weheire, argues Duffy, it has failed all those who continue to suffer unlawful detention and torture at the hands of the state.

Writing in response to a New York Times article by Henry Louis Gates, Antumi Toasijé strongly challenges the view that we should simply 'end the slavery blame game'.

Following comments from South African Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu around the need for the country's defence force to be a 'rite of passage' for young people, Nicholas Tucker suspects such remarks to indicate moves towards 'a massive recruitment campaign for the AFRICOM [US Africa Command] programme'. Conscription is not a 'rite of passage', Tucker stresses, 'unless of course your country happens to be Sparta'.

Ten days after the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine activists dead, the response from African governments and civil society groups is unrelenting. Organisation continues around the effort to condemn the 31 May attack, and to dismantle the Gaza blockade. Pambazuka News provides an update of last week’s condemning the violence against both the aid workers and the Palestinians of Gaza.

The religious landscape in South Africa has been transformed by elements of the ‘born again’ evangelical church that are quietly penetrating political life, writes Dale T. McKinley. Life in South Africa has long been heavily influenced by religion, but until the recent appearance and stunning growth of the evangelical wing, there has been limited interference in politics. The new right-wing, ultra-conservative presence is pervasive, with 24-hour television networks that create celebrity-style leaders, community outreach events and missionary work.