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Andy Higginbottom summarises his report on corporate profits in South Africa. He asks a number of vital questions - who are the main corporate players in South African mining? Who profits from mining in South Africa? The principal data source is thirteen company annual reports for 2022, supplemented by relevant reporting and more analytical literature. Higginbottom argues that we must fight the latest chapter in imperialist neo-colonialism to ensure that Cecil Rhodes’ structural legacy must fall.

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.

The world is confronting an unprecedented multidimensional crisis - ecological, economic, geopolitical - each interacting with the other. Yet it is the Global South that yet again is becoming the sacrificial zone, providing the resources for the countries of the North. In a powerful statement from the Global South movements challenge the existing neo-colonial energy model and offer a just alternative.

Kenyan activists Faith Asina and Gathanga Ndung’u deliver powerful and sharp criticism of the role of the Kenyan police as the oppressor of the masses. They explain in detail how police terror has manifested itself on issues such as the crackdowns on activists, the aftermath of elections, state-led campaigns against terrorism and informal settlements. They also take the time to commemorate fallen activists and inform us about ongoing grassroots movements against the violence of the police, which they believe needs radical surgery or a total overhaul.

In early January 2019, Ugandan activist, and University of Cornell doctoral student Bwesigye Mwesigire was violently attacked on a bus in Uganda and sent into a three-day coma because of his political work. Four years later, he explains what led to the attack and makes some observations on the role of the intellectual in the Ugandan situation. Through this piece, he informs us about the importance of international solidarity, the challenges facing opposition to dictatorship in Uganda, and how radical intellectuals can potentially relate to the masses.