Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful, sharp and thoughtful analyses and make it one of the largest and most innovative and influential web forums for social justice in Africa. 
injustice
Landmark ruling allows apartheid victims to sue multinationals
Khadija Sharife
2009-07-16, Issue 442
cc T SlyIn one of the most significant legal rulings in the post-apartheid history of South Africa, victims of apartheid have finally received the green light from a US judge to sue multinational corporations that knowingly aided and abetted the regime. The implications of this ruling are colossal, writes Khadija Sharife, not only for Africa but for the world at large.
Report on Gaza conflict: Audio interview
John Dugard
2009-05-21, Issue 433
cc flickr.comIn an audio interview [mp3] about an independent fact-finding report into the war in Gaza commissioned by the League of Arab States, John Dugard, the former special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories and the head of the investigation, discusses the findings of the report. Comprised of the contributions of individuals from six non-Arab countries, Dugard's report comes to the conclusion that the Israeli defence forces were responsible for a number of war crimes and crimes against humanity in their offensive earlier this year. This was a verdict also reached about the activities of Hamas forces, but the report regards those of Israeli to have been far more severe. While the report found potential suggestions of genocide on the part of the Israeli forces to be too strong, Dugard nevertheless emphasises Israeli's 'wish to impose collective punishment on the people of Gaza' and the minimal cooperation from the Israeli authorities his team received when investigating the actions of both sides.
Unfinished business from Kriegler’s IREC
Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ)
2009-01-29, Issue 417
Highlighting the severe limitations of the IREC’s (Independent Review of Election Commission) Kriegler report, Kenyans for Peace, Truth and Justice (KPTJ) offers a damning analysis of the commission’s full report on the Kenyan electoral process. Noting the IREC’s inability to corroborate its primary evidence and testimonies, KPTJ argues that the commission effectively did everything possible to avoid getting to the truth. Concluding that the Kriegler report has manifestly failed to provide Kenya with a roadmap for adequately analysing the action of the ECK (Electoral Commission of Kenya), KPTJ contends that a key opportunity to restore Kenyans’ faith in the power of the ballot box has been lost.
The future of aid
Yash Tandon
2008-08-26, Issue 394
The following is an excerpt from the concluding chapter of Yash Tandon's new book, Ending Aid Dependence, published by Fahamu Books, September 2008. For more information please visit, http://www.fahamu.org/publications
What Palestine is to me
An interview with Fatima Hassan
Mukoma Wa Ngugi
2008-07-23, Issue 390
Fatima Hassan, is a prominent South African human rights lawyer who was part of a South African Human Rights Delegation that in early July visited the Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. ...
Mandela on my poster
Bill Fletcher, Jr
2008-07-16, Issue 389
It is humbling and unsettling attempting to appraise the significance of an icon, especially at the time of that icon's 90th birthday. Nevertheless, we must honor Nelson Mandela while at the same time situating him in a broader and complicated context....
War and sexual based violence in Northern Uganda
Florence Okio
2008-07-14, Issue 388
Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) became involved in Uganda in 1979. This was immediately after the “Liberation war” which saw the departure of Idi Amin’s regime. The first programme was in the North of the Country based in Gulu district. ACORD was majorly responding to the emergency needs as a result of the war. ACORD has now expanded its programme in the whole of Acholi sub region, Amuru, Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, West Nile sub region, Adjumani and Moyo and the Western part of the country Mbarara programme all under ACORD in Uganda programme. The main intervention currently is focusing on developmental issues and to address the injustices in service delivery by using the right based approach to development as a strategy. ACORD is also engaged in Advocacy and Lobbying for the voice less society in the region to present their issues to the policy makers for a better life. In 2004, ACORD conducted a research to find out the relationship between HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Gender Based Violence. The result of the study showed very strong linkages between the two.
G8 Hokkaido: An exercise in Escapism
John Samuel
2008-07-10, Issue 387
The meeting of G8 leaders in Hokkaido, Japan, proved to be an exercise in escapism, writes John Samuel. The final communiqué of the G8 leaders is more of a recycled rhetoric of broken promises. This meeting, held in the midst of financial, fuel, food and climate crisis, failed to recognize the gravity of the crisis.
Unhappy Highways: Economic growth, technology and alienation
John Samuel
2008-03-19, Issue 372
John Samuel cautions Africa that technology should not come at the expense of Africa's "a shared sense of community, mutual support, trust and a culture of collective approach."
Namibia and Zimbabwe - the second liberation
Henning Melber
2008-05-13, Issue 371
Henning Melber looks at the possibilities for a people-centred opposition and ultimately a true liberation in Namibia and Zimbabwe, after years of misrule by the liberation movements-turned-ruling parties.
AIDS and Spain's contradictions in Equatorial Guinea
Agustín Velloso
2008-05-05, Issue 368
As the people of Equatorial Guinea continue to die from AIDS and other diseases, Agustin Velloso highlights the fact that the elite in power receive their medical care abroad. Spain, one of the country's more important trading partners, turns a blind eye to Equatorial Guinea's corrupt health-care industry.
African Peer Review Mechanism: Lessons from Kenya
Bronwen Manby
2008-04-15, Issue 362
As the baton of violence heads over to Zimabwe, Bronwen Manby looks at the African Peer Review Mechanism in relation to Kenya, its shortcomings such as lack of follow-up and political teeth and the urgent lessons from its engagement with Kenya
Kenya: A closer look at power-sharing
Antony Otieno Ong’ayo
2008-03-26, Issue 358
As Zimbabwe threatens to pull a 'Kenya', this is a good time to consider the implications of the Annan mediated power-sharing deal. Antony Otieno Ong'ayo dissects and weighs the Kenya power sharing deal.
Media freedom: Lessons from Zimbabwe
Hilary Kundishora
2008-03-13, Issue 356
Hillary Kundishora looks at the state of electronic and print media in Zimbabwe and argues that far from the media being the people's watchdog, it is the propaganda arm of the state machinery. With independent media harassed or banned, the promise of democracy has already been undermined
Women’s Participation in the 2007 General Elections in Kenya
Penninah Ogada
2007-12-19, Issue 333
Dr. Penninah Ogada discusses the social, political and economic factors that impeding the full participation of Kenyan women in this year's general election.
African food sovereignty or AGRA
Mukoma wa Ngugi
2007-12-12, Issue 332
Mukoma Wa Ngugi speaks to the dangers surrounding the Bill Gates initiative - Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Afro-Venezuelans: An open letter to the Venezuelan National Assembly
Jesús "Chucho" García
2007-12-11, Issue 332
Jesús "Chucho" García calls for a greater recognition of Afro-Venezuelans in the country's constitution.
The philosophy of Kabwe Zitto
Nationalism and identity in Tanzania
Ramesh Shah
2007-12-11, Issue 332
Ramesh Shah looks at the evolution of political discourse in Tanzania
Feminist reflections on gender violence, political power and women’s emancipation
From Rhodesia to present day Zimbabwe
Grace Kwinjeh
2007-12-04, Issue 331
Grace Kwinjeh looks at the contradictions of liberation and nationalist parties through the critical eye of feminism.
Freedom of expression in Africa
Interview with special rapporteur on freedom of expression in Africa
2007-11-13, Issue 328
Commissioner Faith Pansy Tlakula, member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights with special responsibility for freedom of expression talks to Hakima Abbas about how the African rights system works and the challenges it faces.
Celebrating minor victories? Zimbabwe at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Otto Saki
2007-11-13, Issue 328
Otto Saki asserts that the case of Zimbabwe has provided an excellent example of the flaws and the achievements of Africa’s own system for defending its citizens’ human rights against attacks from their own governments.
Joaquim Chissano and the neo-liberal virus in Mozambique
Horace Campbell
2007-10-31, Issue 326
Since independence in 1975, the living conditions of the working people of Mozambique have deteriorated considerably. In 2007 the quality of life of the majority of citizens remains very poor. Mozambique ranks 168th out of 190 on UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI), the lowest in Southern Africa. At the same time, there is a new class of rich capitalists in Maputo who live in luxury, says Horace Campbell.
The delusions of power: Beauty and the beast
John Samuel
2007-10-31, Issue 326
Everything small is beautiful these days. NGOs, busy with micro finance and micro politics for the poor, are small, beautiful -- and powerless. Meanwhile, the beast of markets and States can continue to dominate macro economics and politics. This neat division into micro and macro sustains the unjust power relationships that perpetuate impoverishment, inequality and injustice, says John Samuel
Top Ten Reasons to Read Vanity Fair’s Article - A Flowering Evil
Wanjiku Wa Ngugi, Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Nducu Wa Ngugi
2007-10-31, Issue 326
In the essay, A Flowering Evil, by Mark Seal that appeared in Vanity Fair Magazine (2006), we learn that there are two types of people living in Kenya — the White landowners and the Black, 'lawless, immigrant' Kenyans. Earlier this year it was announced that Julia Roberts will star in a movie to be shot in 2008 inspired by this essay. Wanjiku Wa Ngugi, Mukoma Wa Ngugi and Nducu Wa Ngugi deeply believe Kenyan White landowners should speak for themselves. Using direct quotes, they offer you the top ten reasons why you should read the full essay.