This book makes a tremendous contribution to the literature on left, feminist and Pan-African struggles during the 20th century

Audiences cheering the exploits of the Django fictional character do so in part because they mistakenly believe that this work of fiction has no historical basis in it at all

The heartbeat of Africa cloned to the Caribbean;

A nation of defiant and valiant freedom fighters who dared to rise up

Against the French, Spanish and British colonial overlords against the chains of slavery;

Who desired freedom and were prepared to wage a 13-year-long guerrilla war against

European overlords who did not believe in ‘liberté, fraternité, equalité’ for blacks;

A nation of half a million Africans who cherished their African-ness in the Vodun religion

Against the caricatures and demonization of this religion by Hollywood;

A people who believed their freedom was worth paying the French 150 million francs –

Yet were to be squeezed and punished in other ways by American occupation

And deathly neo-liberalism that fails to trickle down growth;

A people who know the meaning of struggle, pain, suffering, tragedy –

But remain in spite of hurricanes and tornadoes that cannot quench their spirits and hopes for a dignified life

A people who profoundly know the meaning of dictatorship lived during the Duvalier era

That ‘disappeared’ thousands, killed many who spoke out against kleptocracy, corruption, and inequality;

A people who know the meaning of neo-colonialism; that house negroes remain in the land;

A people who know that uncle toms and aunt jemimas are a powerful minority in collusion

With Uncle Sam wearing a black face and their neo-colonial brothers and sisters across in the neo-colonial Dominican Republic;

A people who know that colorism remains in the land and the ruling elite are not safe

Under a genuine democracy but with their US supplied automatic rifles

The presence of the Tonton Macoutes that they support and the various military attachés Uncle Sam funds to allow the rich to sleep easily at night;

It is a people who have recovered their agency and voted for a radical priest in two genuine elections

Only for the US and their detractors to deny this electoral victory on account that they did not like what the radical priest represented;

It is the masses who see the rich minority seated at a ‘vast table covered with white damask and overflowing with good food’ whilst the people are ‘hunched over in the dirt and starving’ [1] – waiting once more to knock down that table and construct a new one in which all will equitably eat.

ENDNOTE
1. Words of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

This new film exposes the truth behind President Robert Mugabe’s troubles with the West. But it lacks the nuances, complexities and critical questions (other than ‘the land question’) that are key to understanding Mugabe’s legacy

In the raw testimony of her torture and abuse, Tina Okpara paints an unforgettable portrait of a child determined for a better life. This powerful memoir will force any parent to think twice before disposing of essential responsibilities for their child.

In Sanya Osha’s suspense-filled novel, society is on the verge of irreparable breakdown but manages somehow to pull itself back up from the abyss

Sixty-two English Premier League and 1st division European footballers have issued an open letter in solidarity with Palestinians and condemning UEFA's upcoming hosting of its 2013 Under 21 tournament in Israel.

This ‘superbly well-written, well-documented and passionate book’ reveals tragic failures of the international community in tackling the civil war in Sierra Leone.

Soyinka presents ‘Of Africa’ as a long overdue retort to a white supremacist who had challenged him in Germany to admit that Africans are inferior, otherwise Europeans and Arabs could not have enslaved and colonised them for centuries.

Two South African organisations, the SA Artists Against Apartheid collective and BDS South Africa, have written an open letter to the organizers of the upcoming Cape Town World Music Festival calling on the Festival to #DropIsrael from its program.

Achebe’s new memoirs should be a source of inspiration and an advocacy guide for those calling for a new Nigeria that confronts the mistakes of its past; a Nigeria where members of the different nations have an equal place no matter their size.

Ghana’s new president has surprisingly found the time to pen his memoirs, which trace his eventful journey to the highest office of his country.

The author of the controversial book on President Museveni titled 'The Correct Line? Uganda under Museveni', has been summoned by the High Court in Kampala, and ordered to file her defence in response to a defamation suit filed against her by a UPDF officer Lt. Col. Atwooki Ndahura. In the summons dated October 15, 2012, issued by registrar Festo Nsenga, Dr Olive Kobusingye has been ordered to file her defence within 15 days, lest judgement is passed in her absence. 'Should you fail to file a defence, the plaintiff shall proceed in the suit and judgement entered in your absence,' the order states.

In rehashing well-known but better forgotten facts to whip up sentiments, Achebe runs the risk of stoking the fires of antagonism among Nigerians. It is a controversy he can ill-afford given his age and fame.

South African producers Dara Kell and Christopher Nizza made the award-winning documentary ‘Dear Mandela’ to inform the world about the struggles of shack dwellers. Here Dara speaks about the film and continued suffering of slum dwellers in post-apartheid South Africa.

A Cameroon court has suspended sale of a new book which alleges that the country's growth has been held by bogus sects run by people close to the authorities. The move came after country's Science and Research minister, Madeleine Tchuinte, took to court the author of the book titled 'Cameroon Under the Dictatorship of Lodges, Sects, Magico-Anal and Mafia Networks'.

This book exposes the reality that the legal system is not intended to produce justice, except by accident, and then largely to the benefit of the agents of the system and to rich and powerful users of that system.

The new novel follows the lives of two women, a German executive and a Kenyan victim of sexual abuse living in poverty on the streets of Nairobi who decides to escape to Europe as an illegal immigrant.

Social media content platform biNu entered into a partnership with World Reader. biNu provides a cloud-based, low-bandwidth, smart-phone like service for low-end smartphones and feature-phones. It gives the user a scroll button navigable, icon-based screen. biNu created the World Reader book app. This has then been available to its 4.2 million monthly active users globally, 1 million of whom are in Africa.

Egyptian youth expressed their discontent with the government removing a large graffiti mural on the wall of the American University in Cairo (AUC) building on Mohamed Mahmoud street in downtown Cairo late on Tuesday, which had been painted to honor those who died in the January 2011 revolution and the November clashes that occurred on the street. Activists shared a photo on social networking sites showing a man painting over the art and called on street artists to go back and redo the art scene, defying the government’s decision to 'beautify' Tahrir Square its own way.