Exposing the continued European control of the global commodity trade, Angus Elsby looks at the import and re-export of raw commodities from Africa by European countries. Focusing on the coffee market, this blogpost charts the destructive impact of Europe’s commodity ‘theft’ for Africa’s development....
Discussing the extraordinary work of the Guyanese activist and historian Walter Rodney, Chinedu Chukwudinma describes how Rodney’s work remains a priceless weapon of theory and history that restores the dignity of African people. However, this blogpost takes issue with Andy Higginbottom’s review of Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa on roape.net and argues that Rodney’s version of dependency theory presents a flawed analysis of imperialism....
In this review of Peter Cole’s comparative study of port workers in Durban and San Francisco Bay, Dockworker Power, Peter Limb assesses the combination of labour, comparative and global history framed by the political economy of containerization which makes this book timely and worthy of deep reflection. The book’s author insists on the relevance of these dockworker struggles for the present and future, how workers can change their conditions, and the world, which is why the book is useful not just to scholars but also to workers, trade unionists and social activists more broadly. ...
In an interview with Mondli Hlatshwayo, ROAPE's Leo Zeilig asks about his activism and research on the South African working class, precarious labour and unions. Mondli, who has just won ROAPE’s Ruth First Prize, argues that precariousness is as old as capitalism itself and it is only the collective strength of workers in unions, or outside the formal union structures, that can push back the frontiers of precariousness....
Zimbabwe is confronting its deepest crisis since 2008. At the end of June, the ZANU-PF government reintroduced the Zimbabwe dollar, 10 years after an economic crisis compelled it to use a foreign currency. In an analysis of Zimbabwe’s economic and monetary situation, Mike Chipere-Ngazimbi describes rapid economic decline amid the incompetence and brutality of the current government. Is another social explosion a possibility as the young are forced to protest against the severe hardships?...
Examining the recent and brutal attempts to suppress the Sudanese revolution, Magdi el Gizouli looks at the efforts by the regime and its various factions to seize the initiative from the streets. In recent months the ruthless figure of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (aka Himeidti), the leader of the infamous Rapid Support Forces, has moved into the centre of Sudanese politics. However, will the ‘neighbourhood committees’ be able to translate their revolutionary zeal into mass political action that can unite rural and urban discontent and challenge the regimes hold on power?...
In a major analysis of current developments at the level of the world and multinational market of late capitalism, Esteban Mora grapples with the phenomenon of so called ‘right wing populism’ not only in the West, but in Third World regions as well. He asks if Africa’s decades of trauma now confront metropolitan and central capitalist countries, as the road where they are heading....
Looking at the case of Chile and Yemen, Tebeje Molla argues that the neoliberal policies advocated by Ethiopia’s new leader and made under a condition of political shock is profoundly dangerous for the country and must be resisted....
Dirk Kohnert considers the consequences of Brexit for Africa and sees the possibility of a revitalisation of the corrupt, murky French network, known as Françafrique, developing and expanding across the continent. ...
In this review of R.W. Johnson’s latest book on South Africa, Fighting for the Dream, David Seddon commends an analysis that criticises the ANC as having learned little or nothing from the experience of African nationalism elsewhere on the continent. Although Johnson adopts an approach that explicitly draws on the Marxist tradition, Seddon argues that the ‘top-down’ perspective he adopts does not allow him to see the ordinary people of South Africa as actors and agents in contemporary politics. ...