Africa

New evidence of Africa’s systematic looting from an increasingly schizophrenic World Bank
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By Patrick Bond February 5, 2018 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — A brand new World Bank report, The Changing Wealth of Nations 2018, offers evidence of how much poorer Africa is becoming thanks to rampant minerals, oil and gas extraction. Yet Bank policies and practices remain oriented to enforcing foreign loan repayments and transnational corporate (TNC) profit repatriation, thus maintaining the looting.
How Europe underdeveloped Africa: the legacy of Walter Rodney
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Julius Nyerere: Legacy and defeated dreams in Tanzania
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By Alan Broughton May 8, 2017 –– Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal –– Julius Nyerere is regarded as one of the greatest African political leaders. He was a visionary for African unity, socialist development and self-reliance in the aftermath of colonialism, and still commands great respect. Though much of his vision failed to materialise he leaves a legacy of ethnic and religious tolerance and peace in his East African country, Tanzania.
Western Sahara: An albatross on the African Union’s conscience
 
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By Nizar K. Visram

February 27, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — At the 28th Summit meeting of the African Union (AU) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 30 January 2017, Morocco's readmission to the continental body generated heated discussion. At the end of the day the Kingdom of Morocco managed to win over sufficient member states on its side and it was allowed to join the fold unconditionally.

Morocco left the Organization of African Unity (OAU), precursor to the AU, in 1984 after the OAU recognized the right to self-determination and independence for the people of the Western Sahara and admitted the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) that was proclaimed in 1976 by the Sahrawi people's Polisario Front.

It was in keeping with the OAU principle not to recognize the occupation of any part of the continent that it admitted the SADR to its membership. While SADR claimed sovereignty over the Western Sahara territory, Morocco saw it as an integral part of its own territory. Thus, rather than accept SADR's independence, Morocco left the OAU.

Since then Morocco has refused to join the AU unless the organization withdraws the membership of SADR.

The labour movement in Zimbabwe: Prospects and challenges for 2017
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By Ashley Fataar January 28, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Pambazuka News — The relatively recent history of Zimbabwe’s working class and its supporters is very rich and provides answers to the challenges for the future. The working class as a whole provided inspiration to the fights against unemployment and oppression. It is worth re-looking that history to provide some answers.
Obama’s Africa policy – an expanding military footprint to grab resources
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By Rupen Savoulian August 10, 2016 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Antipodean Atheist with permission — US President Barack Obama, the first African American to occupy the White House, has used his part-African background to leverage influence in the continent of his ancestors.
Protests rise against World Economic Forum’s implausible ‘Africa Keeps Rising’ meme
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By Patrick Bond May 19, 2016 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- From May 11-13, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa summit in Kigali, Rwanda reinforced extractive-industry and high-tech myths. The gathering unveiled the 1%’s elite’s exuberant imagination and its lack of exposure to the continent’s harsh economic realities. As an antidote, grassroots protesters all over Africa are questioning the logic of export-led ‘growth’ and renewed fiscal austerity, instead demanding that policies meet their basic needs.
Eritrea: origins of an oppressive regime
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Overlooking Asmara, capital of Eritrea. By Chris Slee Eritrea, a small country in the horn of Africa, generally receives little attention in the international media. But in recent years there have been occasional reports of mass drownings of Eritrean refugees in the Mediterranean.
John S. Saul on South Africa's struggle for liberation: success and failure
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Foreign investment retreats from Africa: Gaming, naming and shaming ‘licit financial flows’
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Zimbabwe: Media tears for Cecil the Lion; Itai Dzamara and missing activists ignored
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South Africa: Resistance from below -- reclaiming the past, inventing the future?
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