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One hundred years since the birth of the Mozambican revolutionary-intellectual Aquino de Bragança on 6 April 1924, his friend and comrade, Colin Darch, writes about this “man of anguish” – constantly battling to understand what it meant to be a Marxist in the twentieth century. Darch writes how Aquino spent his adult life committed to the struggle for the liberation of Mozambique and for the rest of southern Africa. In 1986 he died in the plane disaster alongside President Samora Machel.

As COP28 approaches, Mozambique's efforts for continued extraction of natural gas amid global energy transition discussions become significant. Holding Africa's third-largest natural gas reserves, Mozambique negotiated its interests at COP27 through new alliances amidst growing controversy around natural gas's role in climate change. With a bigger focus on exports, it faces socio-political complexities and the urgent need for an energy transition to mitigate climate change effects.

Kola Ibrahim argues that Africa is being tricked by global climate change politics, the same people who claim to be fighting climate change are the ones promoting fossil fuels. The reality is that Africa has become a new frontier for fossil fuel development. This is being carried out by global finance capital, multinational corporations, governments of developed economies, and worse still multilateral organizations that claim to be spearheading the funding for climate actions. Ibrahim exposes the reality of the green transition in Africa.

Robtel Neajai Pailey writes that after six years in power, President George Weah has proven he is not up to the job. For the sake of Liberia’s future, he must be removed in next week’s elections. There is a hunger and need for change across the country. As Pailey explains,"there is little doubt that 10 October will be a referendum on the president. [Weah] boasts of his ‘pro-poor agenda for prosperity and development’, yet ... consistently evaded public debates about his overall record in office."

Abdoulie Kurang shares original insights into the practice known as “Bumsing” in Gambia, whereby youngster receives material gains from western tourists in exchange of sexual favours. He argues that this practice is a function of the rising precarity among Gambian workers in the tourism industry following successive socio-economic crises in the last decade. Although tourism is one of Gambia’s important industries, it has failed to alleviate poverty, leaving low-skilled workers to scrap for crumbs.

In July this year the Dutch King apologised for the country's historical role in slavery. Large numbers of young people were present to hear King Willem Alexander apologise for the crimes of his family and kingdom. Yet, there are many questions that remain unanswered in ongoing public debates. For ROAPE, Sayra van den Berg, Emmanuel Akwasi Adu-Ampong and David Mwambari argue that the past of slavery and (neo-)colonialism is not over.

In this review essay ROAPE’s Peter Lawrence discusses Alex Callinicos’ new book The New Age of Catastrophe. Callinicos has written a book that admits to the mind-numbing scale of the catastrophe that confronts humanity but provides enough ammunition to those who want to see a more optimistic future. Lawrence argues that Callinicos makes a strong case for socialism as the solution and mass mobilisation from below of the organised working class as the only way to achieve it. 

Since the start of the month, Senegal has seen major demonstrations, rioting, and violence. In an interview with ROAPE, Ndongo Sylla explains what is happening. Supporters of opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, are furious at the regime’s attempt to frustrate next year’s elections by framing Sonko on false charges. Sylla examines the social and political forces that are engulfing the country and threatening to overturn the political class and the neo-colonial settlement.

ROAPE’s Peter Lawrence argues that there are strong echoes across Africa of the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The reappearance of recession, debt and structural adjustment to the continent reminds us of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism. Based on his editorial in the forthcoming ROAPE issue 174, Lawrence concludes that there are alternatives to the continent’s enduring entrapment in a global financial system that works for the global financial corporates that dominate it.

Massive exposure of some African economies to Chinese-owned debt is making it difficult for Beijing to sustain official narratives that suggest equality with African countries. Tim Zajontz, Ricardo Reboredo and Pádraig Carmody show that the response of the Chinese government to political “backlashes” over debt has been to emphasise alternative vectors of engagement with the continent. The deepening African debt crisis is directly linked to inter-capitalist competition at the expense of the working people of the continent.