Why do racial, religious, ethnic and national identities have such purchase on the lives of so many people, and why are they still at the centre of so many major conflicts at the beginning of the twenty-first century? What form is racism taking amidst the inequalities, refugees and mass migrations of today's global capitalism? How does the American state - as both the manager of the world capitalist order and as the embodiment of an all-too-often chauvinist national identity - fit into the picture of 'Fighting Identities'? What is the role of the scientist and the intellectual today in relation to racism, oppression and 'fighting identities'? Can the Left - from the anti-globalisation movement to new working class parties - develop structures and strategies to support the legitimate aspirations and demands associated with these identities, and integrate them in struggles against the global capitalist order?

Penal Reform International (PRI) is an international human rights organisation and is organising a pan-African conference on penal systems in Ouagadougou, on 19-20 September 2002. For three days, around 150 participants including representatives from prison administrations, the judiciary and from the non-governmental sector, supported by international experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UNICEF, and Amnesty International, will gather and discuss the possibility to find an “African” solution to the specific problem of the use of prison in Africa.