ROAPE’s Reg Cline-Cole introduces the first issue of the journal (Vol. 51, Issue 179) in the year of our 50th anniversary, and as a fully open access publication. Though this year, Reg explains, is a new beginning, it is also a return to ROAPE’s radical origins half a century ago. The entire new issue is available for the first time fully open access, with no paywall or barriers to access anywhere in the world. Each article, briefing and review is accessible through the links below.

Kalundi Serumaga offers a radical take on the two-day conference at Makerere University in Kampala in January 2024, reflecting on 40 years of neoliberalism in Uganda. He observed that while Uganda’s intellectuals speak up against poverty and social instability, they fall short of envisioning a way out of the neoliberal impasse. Serumaga defines neoliberalism, elucidates its origins in Uganda’s tumultuous political and economic history, and emphasises the necessity of critiquing it.

In his long-read, Husam Osman Mahjoub delves into the UAE and Saudi Arabia's influence in Sudan, emphasizing its impact on the war and democratic aspirations. He outlines the intricate relationships and interventions in Sudanese affairs, highlighting the pivotal roles played by both countries. Mahjoub discusses historical events and diplomatic maneuvers that shaped the region and its conflicts, shedding light on the complex dynamics. His analysis underscores the urgent need to address the UAE's involvement in supporting the RSF militia to halt the ongoing war in Sudan.

On CLR James’ 123rd birthday, Matthew Quest examines the collaboration between James and George Padmore since their partnership within the International African Service Bureau in the 1930s. Despite their joint activism in Pan-African affairs, political rifts emerged on democracy, socialism, and revolutionary strategy. Quest looks at James’ portrayal of Padmore to highlight the political tensions underlying their friendship. James' and Padmore's different perspectives on anti-imperialism reveals hidden disputes in the Black radical tradition. 

In the 1960s, newly independent African governments asserted sovereignty over their metal and mineral resources, in a reversal of their prior colonial exploitation by European mining corporations. In this excerpt from his new book Disrupted Development in the Congo: The Fragile Foundations of the African Mining Consensus – published today, with the first three chapters available as free downloads – Ben Radley shows how transnational corporations have once again become the dominant force assuming ownership and management of industrial mining projects, and this time around across a far greater number of African countries than during the colonial period. Radley argues this latest reversal has taken place through a three-stage process spearheaded by the World Bank: first, blame the African state; second, liberalize and privatize; and third, criminalize African miners. Recent mining code revisions in several countries have been heralded by some as marking a new era of resource nationalism. Yet the new codes remain a far cry from the earlier period of resource sovereignty.