A newly-formed Black coalition has announced a rally and march on the White House to take place November 7, 2009 beginning in Washington, D.C.’s historic Malcolm X Park. The Rally and March are to protest the expanding U.S. wars and other policy initiatives that unfairly target African and other oppressed people around the world. Known as the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, the coalition formed on September 12, 2009 during a meeting in Washington, D.C. of more than fifteen activists from various Black organizations, institutions and communities.

Slum Dwellers International (SDI) echoes the outrage that has been widely expressed in response to the violent attacks perpetrated against AbM in Kennedy Road over the weekend. These attacks come as no surprise. They mirror similar acts of violence that are regularly perpetrated against slum dwellers throughout the world. Only last month shack dwellers in Old Fadama, Accra, Ghana, also had to deal with an outward manifestation of ethnic violence, which was in fact an attack launched by vested political and property interests against organized communities of the urban poor. Almost two years ago SDI members were seriously affected by the violence against the urban poor that ripped through Kenya's informal settlements. At this very moment SDI linked groups in Gauteng and Cape Town face similar threats. SDI groups in Zimbabwe had to deal with devastating evictions in 2005. The list goes on and on.

These kinds of attacks to our comrades are completely unacceptable, we know this is not the first time for our comrades to be attacked, as much as previously they were attacked by group of unknown people but the current attacks at Kennedy road clarifies that the ANC had been behind these attacks with a view to push our strong comrades out of mobilized communities so that they can reclaim the leadership of those communities.

Friends and comrades, the situation in Durban is dire. To summarise:

1. On Saturday night members of the Kennedy Road Development Committee were subject to a surprise attack by a group of about 40 armed men chanting anti Mpondo slogans. The police failed to intervene. People were killed. Later on that night all key AbM (Abahlali baseMjondolo) leaders were subject to attack. Everyone's houses (and businesses in two cases where people had shops) were destroyed. This mob (now known as 'the Zulu mob' in the settlement) has direct connections to the local ANC who had promised, two weeks ago, to turn the AbM office into an ANC office.

The , an international non-governmental organisation based in the United States and South Africa, would like to express its deep concern regarding the situation in Kennedy Road.

We the more than 250 representatives of Social Movements, Non-Governmental Organisations, Trade Unions, Religious Organisations, Economic Justice and Human Rights Networks, Youth and Women’s Organisations, met in Kinshasa, DRC, to bring the SADC Community’s attention to challenges that affect our daily lives. The SADC Peoples’ Summit is annually convened parallel to the Heads of State Summit under the auspices of the Southern Africa Peoples’ Solidarity Network, SAPSN.

Poverty has increased dramatically in Madagascar since January, when a national protest movement to end the regime of former president Marc Ravalomanana plunged the country into a socio-economic crisis. Since then, the number of child labourers has risen by a whopping 25 percent.

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), Osun State has called on the Babatunde Fashola/AC government of Lagos State to immediately recall Comrade Ayodele Akele, a former labour leader in Lagos State, in the spirit of the celebration of the life of Chief Gani Fawehinmi. If Lagos State government does not want the public to believe that it is playing to gallery, it should immediately recall Comrade Ayodele Akele.

Kenyan human rights defenders, Mr Samson Owimba Ojiayo and Mr Godwin Kamau Wangoe were abducted by plainclothes police officers on 15 September 2009 in Nairobi. They were later located by their colleagues in the Nairobi Central Police Station on 16 September 2009. This is an update of their situation.

People Power: Unarmed Resistance and Global Solidarity
Edited by Howard Clark
Released October 4th 2009
PB / £ 17.99 / 9780745329017 / 230mm x 150mm / 256pp

Young men in cars covered in Frelimo posters vandalised the MDM headquarters in Bairro 2, Chókwé, Gaza early Sunday morning. In Changara, Tete, young men in Frelimo t-shirts burned the Renamo headquarters and three houses. It was a violent start to the official election campaign, which began on Sunday 13 September.

Njeri Kabeberi is the winner of the inaugural “Prize for Outstanding Commitment to Law and Justice.”Announcing the award, Prof. Lutz Simon, President of the German Chamber of Lawyers said: “The Chamber of Lawyers Frankfurt am Main wishes to honour you for the many years of work fighting for justice, democracy and human rights in disregard of the private and professional drawbacks and threats.”

Oloiseer Mbattiany provides a detailed account of the ongoing eviction and harassment of pastoralist Maasai communities in Tanzania by the police, with the assistance of a private company.

Kenyans Against Impunity (KAI) reiterates its total rejection of both the TJRC in its present form and the embodying Act and warn everyone that if the process and the commission as constituted are allowed to proceed, Kenya will end up with worse chaos and mayhem than was witnessed after the 2007 elections.

The government of Zambia’s decision to further delay the tabling of the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill and its failure to guarantee the introduction of the Bill in the next parliamentary session represents a huge setback in the nation’s fight against corruption. Indeed, the failure of parliament to enact or even debate this crucial piece of legislation appears astonishing when we consider the revelation of the Ministry of Health corruption scandal earlier this year.

With recent action by Africa a majority of the world's countries have now banned nuclear weapons from their national territory for the first time. The change happened when an all-Africa treaty entered into force in July. International civil society organizations including the World Council of Churches (WCC) played a catalytic role, writes Jonathan Frerichs.

On Friday morning, Philo Ikonya and Jacob Odipo appeared before Resident Magistrate Ireri in Kibera Law courts to answer to charges brought against them for allegedly participating in an unlawful assembly. They had been arrested Thursday while demonstrating outside Integrity House in protest of the re-appointment of Aaron Ringera.

“Artists in all countries shall be encouraged and helped to form associations. Their organisations shall receive the support they need to create their own structures and make their action effective”...This is a quote from the Final Declaration of the World Congress on the Implementation of the Recommendation Concerning the Status of the Artist held in Paris in 1997.

The Osun State Labour Party has condemned the unrepentant and highly irresponsible attitude of the federal and state governments to the demands of the university staff unions – Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) which are sine qua non to the revival of public education in Nigeria.

The child rights act ratified in November 2008 in Sierra Leone criminalizes child labour, but some child rights experts say instead of prosecuting parents, the government should focus instead on getting children into school. “We don’t want to penalize or criminalize poverty. Many of these parents have few options,” said Annalisa Brusati, child and youth protection coordinator at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Sierra Leone. “The aim of the act is to reduce child labour, not to have everyone committing crimes. Parents need to be aware of how to make new choices,” she said.