Nick Dearden

Samir Amin (1931-2018) was one of the world’s greatest radical thinkers – a “creative Marxist” who went from Communist activism in Nasser’s Egypt, to advising African socialist leaders like Julius Nyerere to being a leading figure in the World Social Forum.

It’s 30 years since Michael Buerke’s harrowing report of a ‘biblical famine’ reached BBC TV screens. Following a year of cynical government inaction and silence, Bob Geldof launched a frenzied celebrity campaign to get aid to the famine-hit regions.

There is a deep rooted and pernicious view, amongst those claiming to want to ‘help’ Africa that proves difficult to shake. It says that Africa's impoverishment can be laid primarily at the door of a group of corrupt leaders.

On his trip to South Africa in July, David Cameron talked of the need to go beyond debt cancellation and aid ‘to make African free trade the common purpose of the continent’. He lamented there has never once been ‘a march or a concert to call for…an African free trade area’.

On Thursday 18 November, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell promised to stump up funds to ensure developing countries are better heard in climate negotiations.