In the wake of the rise of the conservative Tea Party Nation (TPN) in the US, Horace Campbell discusses the resurgence of racist, anti-civil rights political sentiment under the support of 'big capitalists'.

Dialo Diop

Marcio Luis Paim

It's now more than a month since the earthquake that laid waste to Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and thrusting millions of people into the most desperate conditions. But according to the U.S. government, Haitians have a lot to be thankful for.

Malcolm X was assassinated 45 years ago this weekend. Earlier this year, WNYC Radio unearthed a 1960s interview between the civil rights leader and a reporter named Eleanor Fischer. On this somber anniversary, we consider Malcolm X’s legacy through the rediscovered tape, which has not been heard since the 1960s. We also speak to two people whose lives were profoundly affected by his leadership.

A former leader of liberation movement, the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon, Ndeh Ntumuzah was a freedom fighter who devoted his life to the struggle for African independence and emancipation. Horace Campbell pays tribute to a ‘remarkable Pan-African spirit’.

Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, freed by the popular struggle of a network of activists that delegitimised South Africa’s apartheid system, writes Horace Campbell. Campbell celebrates Mandela’s major contribution to African politics, South Africa and the ANC, ubuntu, and honours those who live out this principle – ‘grassroots liberation forces who have continued the struggle for social justice and system change.’

Azad Essa crawls the bars of Durban trying to find punters interested in watching President Jacob Zuma’s ‘State of the Nation Address’ live on television. He finds that most people are more interested in the football.

Stephen Marks unravels the ‘predictable tensions’ between the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum’s initiatives for a transitional justice programme and the Unity Government’s Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration. While the two bodies agree that Zimbabwe is not yet in a post-conflict situation – rather it is in a state of ‘weak transition’ – views on the ability of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to provide for the victims of human rights violations are very different. On the one side, Sekai Holland, who heads the organ, has faith in the GPA. She argues that it may be flawed, but has ‘a history’ and she believes that this history must be seen and spoken about by Zimbabweans ‘in all its beauty and ugliness’. On the other side, the NGO Forum believe that the aspirations on the GPA have not been consummated: It is, they argue, ‘an agreement that favours Mugabe, and he is failing to implement it’.

If the African Peer Review Mechanism is not to degenerate into meaninglessness, writes L. Muthoni Wanyeki, Africa's governments, regional councils and citizens will need to revitalise its progress.

While initiatives seeking to address ‘negative ethnicity’ in Kenya are ‘potentially useful and well meaning’, L. Muthoni Wanyeki believes that they fail to get to the core of the problem. There is, she argues, no real understanding of what equality and non-discrimination actually mean. Wanyeki deems there to be a misplaced focus on ‘whether or not we like each other’. She holds rather, that tensions in Kenya have arisen because there is an unhealthy cycle of discrimination and stereotyping that has become normalised. The focus in remedying this cannot then be on making Kenyans ‘like’ one another, Wanyeki argues, but on how to ‘regulate whether and how those feelings translate into actions; into discrimination’.

Onyekachi Wambu reviews a ‘really useful’ new collection of essays that looks at how governments can integrate the contributions of their diaspora communities into national development programmes and policies, drawing on detailed examples from India, the Phillipines, Mali and Mexico. ‘Closing the Distance’ demonstrates what has always been clear in this area, writes Wambu – that ‘while countries can learn from each other, it is their own national priorities and understanding of the needs of their migrants and diasporas that should drive policy.’

Ishani Duttagupta argues, with the support of an number of influential commentators, that India can indeed do a China in the continent of unlimited resources, with its deep diaspora giving her an edge.

South African CIVICUS [the World Alliance for Citizen Participation], and its partners have announced the launch of the ‘Africa for Haiti’ campaign aimed at rebuilding Haiti in solidarity. The press statement, issued on 22 January 2010, states that ‘The objective of this campaign is not to provide immediate relief but rather to contribute toward the medium to long-term reconstruction of communities in Haiti.’ The press statement is accompanied by supporting statements for the campaign from Archbishops Desmond Tutu, Njongonkulu Ndungane, Malusi Mpumlwana, Thabo Makgoba, and businessman Stanley Subramony.

Following the arranged departure from Kenya of the Muslim preacher Abdullah al-Faisal back to Jamaica, L. Muthoni Wanyeki reflects on the curious circumstances behind the preacher's transportation out of the country.

The late Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem has been named Africa's 'Personality of the Year 2009' by the . A big ceremony and the presentation of the award is planned for next Wednesday 27 January in Abuja, Nigeria, with Winnie Mandela, Salim Ahmed Salim and many others in attendance.

In recognition of the first year of Tajudeen's passing, Pambazuka Press will be publishing a collection of his Pan-African Postcards in May 2010, along with his book 'Pan-Africanism: Politics, Economy and Social Change in the Twenty-First Century' in October.

Bill Sutherland, unofficial ambassador between the peoples of Africa and the Americas for over fifty years, died peacefully on the evening of 2 January 2010. He was 91.

Nigerians in the diaspora have written a letter to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on the continued absence of President Yar’Adua from the country, demanding true information on the state of his health.

In light of South Africa's entrenched poverty, William Gumede argues that the country's National Planning Commission must operate 'like the command centre of a country at war'. Tackling poverty and achieving economic progress require harnessing every resource and talent at the country's disposal, Gumede writes, and instilling a culture 'where failure is not an option'.

Issa G. Shivji writes of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere's conceptions of nationalism in Africa, ideas which encompassed both the political through liberatory principles and the universal through transcending narrow identities. Debates around the economic success of his policies notwithstanding, Nyerere's greatest legacy, Shivji writes, was his sweeping vision of African unity.

The International Peace Research Association Foundation invites applications for the Dorothy Marchus Senesh Fellowship in Peace and Development Studies for Third World Women. Dorothy Senesh was a long-time activist for international peace and justice. Her husband Lawrence established this fellowship following her death in 1989. The first award was made at the IPRA 25th Anniversary meeting, July 1990, in Groningen, Netherlands and has been made biennially since. The eleventh award will be made at the 23nd biennial IPRA meeting in Syndey, Australia.