Geography Archives: Africa

Africa has long been looked at by outsiders as a continent that is hopelessly mired in corruption and incapable of social and economic development.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the brutal murder of the South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary, Comrade Thembisile Martin “Chris” Hani.

The U.S. government imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, threatened to arrest judges, and passed a “Hague Invasion Act”. Previously, the ICC only prosecuted Africans. But now that it wants to arrest Russian President Putin, Washington praises the court (while still refusing to join it).

What constitutes a crisis worthy of global attention? When a regional bank in the United States falls victim to the inversion of the yield curve (i.e., when short-term bond interest rates become higher than long-term rates), the Earth nearly stops spinning.

The twentieth century was marked by national liberation struggles that emerged in Africa and Asia, as well as in Latin America, where neocolonial structures had subordinated the formally independent countries. The achievements of the Russian Revolution in 1917 inspired the peasantry and the working class across the Global South. The fight for equality and liberation […]

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of national revolutionary leader Amilcar Cabral’s murder in 1973, over the next four weeks, ROAPE will be re-posting a collection of essays paying tribute to Cabral. The collection was first published in the ROAPE journal thirty years ago, and reflects on the extraordinary achievements of Cabral and his organisation PAIGC (the Partido Africano de Indendencia de Guine e Cabo Verde).

The U.S. can’t seem to understand that the rest of the world, including Africa, doesn’t like to be pushed around. African nations’ refusal to reinforce US foreign policy in the UN General Assembly is a case in point.

On 21 February 2023, President Kais Saied called a meeting with the National Security Council to take urgent measures “to address the phenomenon of the influx of large numbers of irregular migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia.”

South Africa’s participation in military drills with Russia and China is an indication that the global south are not taking orders from Washington. African nations should continue their tradition as non-aligned states.

Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who leads the Burkinabé government, came to power through a coup d’état in September 2022. He ousted Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had himself come to power through a coup in January 2022. Neither of these coups was a surprise.

In Swaziland, only individuals approved by the local chiefs of King Mswati III can contest elections, and the parliament cannot hold the monarchy accountable. Pro-democracy activists have been calling for a boycott of the elections which are scheduled for August.

Attempts by U.S. and other Western countries to sow discord between Ethiopia and Eritrea “will not be successful because the majority of the Ethiopian people are grateful for the Eritrean army’s help in defeating the TPLF,” former Ethiopian diplomat Mohamed Hassan told Peoples Dispatch.

Activist and lawyer Thulani Maseko, who was at the forefront of Swaziland’s struggle for democracy, was gunned down hours after King Mswati’s threatening speech to pro-democracy activists. PUDEMO President Mlungisi Makhanya talks about Thulani’s struggle and what his killing means for the country.

Democracy has a dream-like character. It sweeps into the world, carried forward by an immense desire by humans to overcome the barriers of indignity and social suffering.

‘The Cry Is “Lumumba Lives”—His Ideas, His Principles’

The 1973 Durban strikes were part of a wider political ferment in the city in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it became a generative site of political experimentation and innovation.

Adopted in October 2022 at the Museum of Black Civilizations, Dakar, Senegal.

In the spring of 1860, wealthy businessman Timothy Meaher made a bet that he could illegally kidnap and ship Africans from Africa to Mobile, Alabama, without being detected by federal officials.

The United States government held the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in mid-December, prompted in large part by its fears about Chinese and Russian influence on the African continent.

South Africa is sitting on a tinderbox, says Irvin Jim, General Secretary of the country’s largest trade union NUMSA. The solution is to foster a spirit of solidarity which will have to come from people’s struggles and movements.