Often too reform-oriented, current activism is incapable of midwifing radical transformation. Today’s activism is only mildly disruptive, is fragmented and addresses symptoms not systems. Its aims are short-term and it doesn't engage the masses. No coherent and convincing alternative visions are proffered. Instead, activists are busy petitioning the same oppressive powers they should be fighting. Entrenched systemic oppression can only be ended by a revolution.

Although relatively better off than its neighbours, Kenya remains a struggling economy dominated by foreign-owned tourism, agriculture, the services industries and a small manufacturing sector stunted by huge imports and counterfeits. Endemic corruption, increased integration into the global capitalist economy and neoliberal policies that favour a small fabulously rich class have conspired to hold the majority of citizens tight in the jaws of poverty.

Kenya’s military has been inside Somalia ostensibly pursuing al-Shabaab militants since 2011 as part of the US-led ‘war on terror’. No one knows when the mission will end or its cost. There is little discussion about the war among Kenyans. Government updates are impossible to verify. The public is generally assumed to be in support of the invasion – even when in reality they are so ignorant of what is going on to really care.

Black people are quickly labeled racist any time we raise our voice against white supremacy. It is racism fighting back. It is meant to silence us. We should not openly express what we feel and know. As Black people we should not own our experiences and history. No. We are instead supposed to become complicit in our oppression by attributing our suffering to everything else except white supremacy.

Kenya’s rulers and some elite commentators frame the ongoing occupation of indigenous lands grabbed by colonialists in Laikipia as a criminal invasion of private property by lawless bands of tribal herders. Really? Those white ranches - in land-hungry Kenya, half-a-century into “independence” - are nothing more than ample proof of neocolonialism. The dispossessed indigenous people must take back their land. By any means necessary.

The fundamental problem of the African Union is ideological. And no one typifies this crisis better than Paul Kagame, the terrifying tyrant and imperialist stooge of Kigali. His new report proposing remedies for reforming the Union belongs in the dustbin. The AU does not need reform. It needs a radical transformation taking it back to its Pan-Africanist roots.

For the third month, Kenya’s doctors have demonstrated a remarkable spirit of resistance to worker oppression - to the extent of union leaders being imprisoned for championing their rights. But this is a much bigger struggle requiring the solidarity of all progressive forces. Kenyans need to rise up against a government that doesn't care whether they live or die.

Kenyan elections have become increasingly delinked from the quest to meet the needs and aspirations of the people. They are almost entirely an elite circus providing the self-absorbed, politically impotent urban middle classes with something to Tweet about - or to pontificate on from the comfort of the bar stool - and the peasants perhaps a few coins or a branded T-shirt and free entertainment every five years.

As Kenya prepares for its next general elections in 2017, the parallels to previous violent elections are staggering. The electoral commission and the courts have lost credibility in the eyes of the public. Already the country is polarized along ethnic lines. The ruling party insists it will win a second term. The opposition says there are rigging plans afoot and that it will not aept a fraudulent outcome or go to court to seek redress. The signs are ominous.

A programme aired this week by the BBC reveals that Pope John Paul II, now a saint of the Catholic Church, had an intense relationship spanning three decades with a married Polish-American woman. The details are contained in secret letters and pictures kept in a library in Poland, the pope’s country of birth. The Vatican has dismissed the programme. But the affair raises many puzzling questions.

Two years ago, crimes against humanity suspects Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto took power in Kenya. The duo who cut their political teeth under the tutelage of brutal despot Daniel arap Moi, the self-styled “professor of politics”, have spared no effort to push the country back to the dark days of autocracy.

Thuli Ndlovu knew that she could be murdered. But she continued with her movement work regardless. The mother and militant of the shack dwellers movement was assassinated this week in an attack that left her teenage daughter with serious gunshot wounds. When will this brutality against the poor end in ‘free’ South Africa?

It is unacceptable for national leaders to resort to populist manoeuvres, even taking advantage of the suffering of poor citizens, to gain political capital. Tokenism replaces comprehensive policy responses to critical national challenges

A small elite owns the bulk of the land and wealth of Kenya while the majority suffocates under an oppressive system that condemns them to poverty and hardship. Only the people’s revolution can turn the tide to ensure everyone gets a share of the pie

African governments are under intense pressure from within but also from big agribusiness and Western governments to embrace GMOs. Governments must resist all forms of arm-twisting and food colonialism and make their biotechnology choices based on the facts

Rwanda has made remarkable progress to rebuild after the genocide. But the country is in the grip of a ruthless Tutsi oligarchy that has silenced everyone who doesn’t agree with President Kagame. His critics are either dead, in jail or exile. The struggle for a just and free nation should be intensified

What problems is an anti-gay law supposed to cure? How would people in a country benefit from the mass imprisonment for life, or even execution, of homosexuals? The punitive laws targeting persons merely for their sexual orientation are grossly unjust and should be resisted

The media landscape in Africa is quite diverse. And although spirited campaigns for media freedom and freedom of expression have resulted in the repeal of repressive laws in some countries, old and new challenges persist. Now there are interesting debates about the place of the media in the continent’s development

The media in Kenya continues to be the target of intense criticism over its coverage of the elections in March. It is thought to have shirked its watchdog role and focused on peace messages. But supporters say that was necessary, given the circumstances

A better world for all is possible. The disgusting opulence of a few people amidst mass suffering is not the natural order of things. But true change will only happen after the spirit of resistance is awakened among the oppressed people. That is the legacy of Hugo Chavez, Chris Hani and Martin Luther King