Africa

Transition or succession? Zimbabwe’s future looks uncertain
The fall of Mugabe doesn't necessarily spell freedom for the people of Zimbabwe, writes Farai Maguwu

The Marikana women’s fight for justice, five years on
Marienna Pope-Weidemann meets Sikhala Sonke, a grassroots social justice group led by the women of Marikana

The ‘new colonialism’: Rio Tinto in Madagascar
As its wealth is seized by foreign interests, Africa is facing a colonial invasion in many ways as devastating as the one it suffered in the nineteenth century. Ross Hemingway reports.

Burkina Faso: Liberation not looting
Firoze Manji argues that the recent uprising in Burkina Faso throws light on the debate around development, and calls for our solidarity, not charity

Sherlock Holmes, the British Museum & an oily villain
On Global Divestment Day Chris Garrard says its time for cultural institutions to cut their ties with the fossil fuel industry

Culture and Revolution: The Pan-African Festival of Algiers
Hamza Hamouchene introduces the revolutionary documentary, The Pan-African Festival of Algiers 1969

Support the South African platinum miners’ strike
The six-month strike action might be nearing its end, but the suffering of union members and their families will continue. Supporters have begun a campaign calling for donations, Edward Dingwall reports.

Oil uprising: Two decades after Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death, the Ogoni struggle is reigniting
Patrick Kane of War on Want and Sarah Shoraka of Platform report from the Niger Delta on the Ogoni people’s struggle against Shell and the wider mobilisation in Nigeria towards 2015 as a ‘year of change’

Nelson Mandela, CLR James and the Brixton radicals: how South Africa inspired South London
When Nelson Mandela came to Britain, the one place he visited beyond Westminster and Buckingham Palace was Brixton – and he had a rapturous welcome. Here Darcus Howe looks back at how the anti-apartheid movement interwove with the experience of black people in the UK

To do justice to Mandela’s life, the struggle must continue
Brian Ashley of South Africa's Amandla magazine says that in the battle to overcome inequality and achieve social justice, we will need many more Nelson Mandelas

Nelson Mandela: a man who showed that individuals can make a difference
William Gumede pays tribute to the anti-apartheid leader – and contrasts his example to today's ANC

‘I can hear the roar of women’s silence’
On the 25th Anniversary of Sankara's assassination Sokari Ekrine considers the importance of his vision for women's emancipation.

Thomas Sankara: an African leader with a message for Europe
On the 25th anniversary of Sankara's assassination, Nick Dearden argues we need to remember him to challenge dominant views of Africa and fight our own debt crisis in Europe

Marikana miners: The massacre of our illusions
The struggle of miners at the Lonmin mine in South Africa is a turning point in organised workers’ relationship with the now thoroughly neoliberal ANC argues Leonard Gentle, setting the strike in historical and political context

African labour and the Chinese dragon
Róisín Hinds reports from the Zambian Copperbelt, a site of intense labour conflict linked to Chinese investment

Review: No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way
No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way, reviewed by Martin Legassick

Don’t feed the world? How food aid can do more harm than good
While the media again reports 'famine in the horn of Africa' caused by 'drought', Rasna Warah looks at the real reasons why people are going hungry

Shack fightback: Bandile Mdlalose on Abahlali baseMjondolo
Bandile Mdlalose talks to Lorna Stephenson about Abahlali baseMjondolo, a radical poor people’s movement in South Africa

Reclaiming the South African dream
South African activist Vishwas Satgar looks at post-apartheid South Africa 17 years on

Niger Delta: a quiet resistance
Sokari Ekine meets women’s movements in the Niger Delta and discovers that in this militarised country even small acts take courage

Aspiring to Tahrir
Justin Pearce asks when African hope will translate into real change

African awakenings: Hope for the future
Firoze Manji charts the revolts and rebellions that have been occurring not just in northern Africa but across the whole continent

Libya after Gaddafi: ‘The continuity is striking’
The National Transitional Council’s ‘new Libya’ is all too familiar, writes Tommy Miles

Samir Amin at 80
Nick Dearden looks at the theories of one of Africa's greatest radical thinkers – still going strong at 80

Somalia: shocking images aren’t enough
Marilyn McHarg, from Médecins sans Frontières, argues that aid groups don't discuss the reasons for food shortages

Malawi’s unsafe abortion toll
A recent survey reveals that unsafe abortions are killing three women and girls daily in Malawi

Remember the dead, fight for the living
Peter Apps on a public art memorial to executed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa

South Africa: Power to the people
Bobby Peek tells how the struggle for environmental rights is intertwined with the one over access to energy

Voices from the Tunisian Revolution
Amanda Sebystyen profiles individuals who participated in the Tunisian revolution, and their stories

Dispatches from Tunisia
Amanda Sebestyen reports from a solidarity visit to Tunisia organised through the World Social Forum