The journalist and former political prisoner questions the authority and universality of South African and African Union statements on nation-building, equality and secularity – at a time when South Africa remains stubbornly quiet on the atrocities being committed by Boko Haram and religious extremists in north, west and east Africa.

Many critics of capitalism suggest that capitalism is not the main problem in the world. They do not want to appear, in the eyes of the people and the ruling elite, as too radical or ‘ideological’. But the forces for social change must embrace revolutionary engagement with robust ideological clarity: Capitalism is the problem.

In the wake of the attacks on Paris, hypocrisy has won and the world is basking in a warped victory. Bigots have been celebrated and their right to offend defended, without any critical view of the excesses of Charlie Hebdo magazine. It is such attitudes that fuel Muslim anger.

Internal colonies – that is, spaces governed by ‘the rule of difference’ – persist today but the politicisation of the term ‘colonialism’ has impeded a sober discussion of the subject in many cases.

The Emerging Powers Programme based in Fahamu is offering a one-week course -- in Nairobi -- analyzing the footprint of Africa’s engagements with emerging powers from the Global South. The course provides a unique opportunity for civil society practitioners (in particular activists, community based leaders, undergraduate and postgraduate students, commentators, journalists and trade unionists) to unpack and debate the nature of the relationship between Africa’s regional economic communities and key actors from the Global South. The course is designed to provide insights into the linkages and influences these emerging powers have had on the “Africa Rising” narrative and the continent’s integration into the international system.

15 sponsored places are available for applicants for this course that intends to strengthen civil society's understanding of and engagement with Global South nations whose presence is growing in Africa.

Follow the link below for more details on the workshop and how to apply.

Understanding the Emerging Powers Footprint in Africa: A Civil Society Perspective and Guideline - See more at:

Deadline: 15 January 2015

Want political economy that soberly unpacks power and wealth? Read two recent books by Samir Amin who defines the system’s current stage as “generalized-monopoly capitalism.” His study of it reveals what standard economics conceals and distorts.

The issue of Black people being victims of systemic brutality, oppression and murder at the hands of the police is not limited to the United States. It is a global problem. If we are ever going to stop this barbaric use of authority to trample the civil and human rights of Black people we must open our eyes to what it happening on an international scale.

Protection of transnational corporate property rights, including the objectionable constitutional treatment of the corporations as “juristic persons” with the same rights as us humans, is one reason SA corporations have become the world’s fraud champs. But there are grounds for hope in fighting them.

The uprising of the masses in Burkina Faso proves Western arms and support doesn't guranatee unrestrained tyrannical control

The popular uprising that toppled the Compaore regime last week echoed the revolution by Sankara on August 4, 1983. In the 27 years since Sankara’s assassination, the country’s mineral wealth and other resources have benefited only a small elite and transnational corporations based in the imperialist states of the West.

Cuba’s exemplary conduct in the world has made the yearly UN vote on the U.S. embargo a singular opportunity for all the world body’s members, except Israel, to chastise the superpower that seeks full domination of the planet. It is the rarest of occasions, a time of virtual global unanimity on an evil in which the Empire is engaged.

The UN has extended the presence of its deeply resented occupation force in Haiti for another year. Progressive forces need to organise in a global solidarity campaign to end the occupation and to restore the right of self-determination to the Haitian people.

Parasitic banks, unscrupulous credit providers and their leech-like attorneys, spawned by an obscenely bloated capitalist system, suck the life-blood from increasingly impoverished lower classes in South Africa with utter impunity. Some 11 million over-indebted people are victims of this economic violence

White persons are revered in East Africa. Local black people go to ridiculous lengths to please whites, thereby promoting the baseless concept of white supremacy. It is a practice deeply rooted in colonialism.

People from countries around the world whose troops are stationed in Haiti under a UN mandate ought to wake up to the reality that this is an occupation force, serving imperialist interests and deeply hated by the Haitian people on account of serious, well-known human rights abuses over the past decade

As a response to the Ukraine crisis, Western countries have imposed bans on exports to Russia, which have especially affected the country’s food import. President Putin turned to other nations and African countries are ready and willing to fill in the gap.

This Friday, a new civil society campaign, 'WorldVsBank', featuring protests and teach-ins, will take place at the Bank’s Annual Meeting in Washington and ten other countries, including South Africa’s three largest cities. The campaign arises from widespread recognition all over the world that the Bank has made the world a worse place socially, politically, economically and environmentally.

Some experts think that the ongoing crisis between Russia and the West could stimulate Russia's leadership to look for new markets. But it is not clear if Africa could be their choice. In addition, Russia has few manufactured goods that could successfully compete with Western-made products.

Chinese officials work hand in glove with Africa’s dictators during the day and dine and wine with them at night. American officials criticize African dictators during the day and dine and wine with them at night. So, how does Africa ensure its interests are served?

Russia’s presence in Africa remains marginal, largely due to historical reasons. But this could soon change. Several delegations from African states have visited Moscow in recent months and the Russian government appears determined to strengthen ties with Africa