The job of a US president is to protect and enhance the American Empire. But sadly, African leaders continue to waste time expecting manna from Washington. Decades of being let down by unfulfilled promises from American (and Western leaders) appear not to dampen enthusiasm to keep on expecting a miracle.

In the 1930s, there was a global Pan African movement for a volunteer army that petitioned Haile Selassie to fight Benito Mussolini’s fascist Italy in occupied Ethiopia. What can this historical Ethiopia solidarity movement tell us about Palestine solidarity and the use of petitions today?  Whatever happens, after such a new petition movement to forge a volunteer armed force of Palestine solidarity gets off the ground, it will be a defining issue.