Africa

Being “on the game” is a Western euphemism that insults as well as harms. It insults because prostitution is hard and unpleasant and often dangerous work. It harms because society punishes those who sell their bodies outside marriage. Prostitution is no “game”. Nonetheless, the euphemism is useful in that it reveals the usual contempt...
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In previous blogs we have highlighted the roles of China and The United States in the politics and economics of Africa and in case we are criticised for not mentioning the other nations exploiting the continent , we have decided to highlight the French on this occasion French businesses have longstanding operations in Africa....
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  In Swaziland more than a third of the population is in need of food aid, after its worst ever harvest, said a UN food agencies’ report. A prolonged dry spell has left around 400,000 vulnerable people in need of approximately 40,000 metric tonnes of food assistance until the next harvest in April 2008....
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Protests have taken place around the world to demand an end to the fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region. Organisers of the Global Day for Darfur said events were taking place in 35 capitals to mark the fourth anniversary of the conflict. But socialists know only too well that appeals to the compassion and good-will...
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When, Bill Clinton visited Nigeria, he snubbed the predominantly Muslim north by dropping from his original itinerary a visit there where Sharia Law was in the process of being revived. But the Muslim leaders of the North, already apprehensive about Clinton’s visit, had organized a massive protest demonstration, which took place on the very...
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 The BBC is reporting that child labour , in fact , near enough actual slavery , remains an unresolved problem in the Ivory Coast , the world’s biggest cocoa producer. A 2002 report by the industry body, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, put the number of children working in dangerous conditions in cocoa...
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The US has claimed that Somalia’s Islamic Courts, which controlled much of the country until December, was run by an al-Qa’ida cell. Ethiopian troops, a proxy army fully backed by US intelligence and logistical support , overpowered the Islamic Courts within a few days of fighting at the end of last year . And...
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Zambia is to pay $15.5 million (£7.7 million) to a British Virgin Isles-registered firm to settle a case at London’s High Court. The two sides had agreed the sum after allowing for interest and payments already made – significantly lower than Donegal had wanted, but still a substantial profit for the firm. Donegal International...
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  Dear fellow Socialists of Great Britain: I’m sure that you have heard of the ever-lasting civil war in Uganda, Africa and that you have heard of the program know as “The Invisible Children”. My closest friends and I are doing what we can to get our country’s attention and to get the US...
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Further to our previous posting , this is a follow up on-the-spot analysis of the Chinese effect on the Zambian working class by an African socialist . The recent visit by the Chinese president Hu Jintao was hailed as a great economic milestone in the New Deal administration of MMD (Movement for Multiparty Democracy)...
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