People are still enslaved in Niger, but an announcement that the government has agreed to sponsor an independent investigation into the issue has raised hopes for change among some human rights experts. Lompo Garba, president of the National Commission for Human Rights and Civil Liberties, the group conducting the new study, said: "Slavery as it was in the past in Niger, for example people owned by other people, no longer exists.

Heads of State, foreign ministers and central bank governors from seventy seven African nations met in Shanghai, China, last week for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) annual meetings. The location of the meetings was pertinently and historically chosen in light of growing Sino-African relations, which, at the governmental level, have reached soaring heights and dimensions. Yet to be foreseen, however, are the implications for the people of Africa and China. It is to this uncertainty that a discussion was held on the peripheries of the AfDB fanfare between African and Chinese non-governmental actors in a meeting convened by China Development Brief, Fahamu, Focus on the Global South and the Transnational Institute.

The historic meeting of Chinese, African and other Southern non-governmental actors allowed for contemplative discussion and debate among academics, researchers and civil society organisations through open and critical dialogue. Participants included representatives from China, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Benin, South Africa, Mozambique, Burma, the Philippines, the Netherlands, UK, USA, Brazil, India and Australia. A new and nuanced perspective was illuminated that was neither merely rejectionist nor unquestionably accepting. The meetings began with reflections on the nature of Sino-African relations exploring the charges of neo-colonialism versus the expressions of South-South cooperation and mutual aid.

At the outset of the debates, Prof. Yan Hirong of the Department of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong challenged the vilification of Chinese relations in Africa in western media. She noted the importance of putting these trade and investment relations in the perspective of global trends where China is still a small player in Africa. However, Daniel Ribeiro from Justiça Ambiental in Mozambique observed that the impact of deforestation or the removal of livelihood on a community is itself colossal regardless of the size of Chinese investments in the particular nation. It is this impact that creates popular perceptions of Sino-African relations. Indeed, journalist Wang Yongcheng suggested that Chinese people view China to be helping Africa and are disconcerted by the apparent criticism and lack of appreciation. She said that little is heard in China about any negative effects of China’s involvement in the Continent. Ali Askouri, Piankhi Institute, provided an example of where Chinese corporations have been involved in projects that have a negative impact on communities in Africa. The Merowe Dam Project in Sudan is the largest hydropower project currently under construction in Africa. It is being implemented by two Chinese contractors and funded largely by China Export Import Bank. The construction of the dam will however cause the displacement, and affect the very survival, of some seventy thousand people living along the riverbanks. In Mr. Askouri’s view, it is unconstructive to debate whether Chinese actions are worse or better than those of western States as all actors should be held to the highest standards of accountability. Rather, he turned to his Chinese counterparts to find out how affected communities can effect change in the practice of Chinese corporations in Africa.

China’s government espouses the tenets of non-interference and non-conditionality in Africa as demonstrating recognition of self-determination in contrast to the neo-colonialist conditionality of western donors. Professor Xu Weizhong from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences considered hypocritical the cant advanced by western nations that perpetuates the perception of Africa as an economic burden rather than the prop from which industrialisation of the north was achieved and continues to be upheld. And in the same vein noted that “in the end Africans must be the deciders of their own destiny and must have the right to say whether their relationship with China is good for them or not.”

The non-interference and no-conditionality policy has many critics charging China with failing to encourage good governance. But yet African participants like Ali Askouri were not asking China to not invest in Africa, in fact he noted that the affected communities along the Nile River basin of Sudan are not, per se, against the dam project, but sought avenues to constructively bring the voices of Africa’s people to the table and wondered what role Chinese civil society could play in holding their government accountable.

While Chinese civil society is growing, it is still testing its position relative to the government and the people of China. Organizations are primarily focused nationally and have little experience or knowledge of China’s actions internationally despite parallel issues of concern. Their relations with the government tend to be cooperative rather than antagonist given that influence is most effectively leveraged in China through negotiation rather than the “naming and shaming” style of western NGOs. African civil society tends to be experienced and mature in their advocacy nationally and regionally but have little understanding and exposure to Chinese political waters and processes for change. The meeting began a much-needed open dialogue that needs to be continued and increased to enhance the opportunities of Sino-Chinese relations for communities in Africa and China.

The special issue of Pambazuka News, African Perspective on China in Africa (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/282), was translated (courtesy of China Development Brief) into Chinese and distributed to participants at the meeting.

At the meeting, Hakima Abbas discussed the outcome of the meeting with two of the African participants whose attendance at the meeting was facilitated by Fahamu.

Interview with Sara Musa El Saeed, a consultant with Christian Aid, Sudan. Being a consultant most of the answers are the personal perspective of the interviewee.

Pambazuka News: Why do you feel a meeting of African and Chinese non-governmental actors is important at this time?

Sara Musa El Saeed: Until now most of Africa-China relationships (or at least in the case of Sudan) are at the political/governmental level with minimum, if any, other levels of involvement. It is felt that non-governmental sector involvement might help in maintaining fair and just relationship with communities’ rights and concerns being observed. There is complete ignorance from both Chinese as well as African civil society organisations such as existing organisations, their focus, scope, expertise etc., which are the basic information required if any future cooperation is to take place thus this meeting is hoped to provide this forum for getting to know each other.

Pambazuka News: What are your key reflections on Sino-Africans relations coming out of the China in Africa meeting?

Sara Musa El Saeed: Still, I feel the two sides don’t know each other well enough to be able to plan future plans and/or joint activities or cooperation, so I think this meeting needs to be followed up with continued dialogue and discussions as well as other more specific meetings to create windows for discussion on specific issues such as the environment, HIV/AIDS etc., just to mention a few of the issues raised during the meeting.

Also, the general public on the two sides are not aware of what is going on, how this might affect them, how to address the relations, both to maintain best benefits out of this involvement as well as stop any harmful effects that might result for the two sides. I believe that this could be the role of the CSOs on the two sides of the equation. There are many similarities in the areas of concerns such as the environment, funding, political environment that could be prohibiting at some points, HIV/ADS, funding constraints which the two sides could cooperate in solving and share their available expertise and know-how. However this needs to build trust, contacts/connections and exchange of information, which cannot happen without closer contacts and knowing each other.

Pambazuka News: How do you think African civil society can enhance the opportunities and mitigate the threat of Chinese relations with Africa?

Sara Musa El Saeed: CSOs are in direct contact with communities that might be affected by these relationships. In many cases they are in a better position to get information and knowledge of the type and effects of the relationship in the respective area/region and assess the damage that might result from it. Also and hopefully they can be the organisers of their communities to plan and act together to mitigate and address such negative impacts. In fact what I am also dreaming of is that these meetings form a discussion area for African CSOs among themselves to organise networks and regional groups in case of larger effects that might affect the region (such as in the case of forests that are shared among more than one country, dams such as along the Nile basin etc.). Also (I might be dreaming) but if the same happened among Chinese CSOs and these groups from the two sides joined hands and formed pressure groups and information exchange centres I think CSOs would be a real force to stop negative impacts of any governmental or economical agreements.

Pambazuka News: How do you envisage Chinese and African civil society organizations, academics and researchers developing alliance to enhance the opportunities for communities in Africa and China?

Sara Musa El Saeed: As I said in the beginning, there is a knowledge and information gap among CSOs on the two sides and I think it is the role of the academics from the two sides to provide this missing information through research, studies, policy analysis and reforms etc.

Pambazuka News: What concrete outcomes do you hope to implement, or be a part of, coming out of the meeting in Shanghai?

Sara Musa El Saeed: We need to start thinking of how to keep the momentum and consolidate the Shanghai meeting by setting goals and future plans, this could be done by having continued dialogue and discussions among the current group, and I would be happy to take part in these discussions and dialogue be it through emails, meetings etc. In terms of follow up action, this is something I was hoping to come up very clearly from the meeting, however I think there has been some points raised which need to be followed up and formulated in the form of future plans or follow up action and again I would be happy to help in formulating these plans. I will be sharing the report of the meeting, which I hope to get from the organisers, as well as my own report and would be discussing with Christian Aid what role they can play in future actions.

Interview with Charles Mutasa, Executive Director of AFRODAD, Zimbabwe

Pambazuka News: Why do you feel a meeting of African and Chinese non-governmental actors is important at this time?

Charles Mutasa: There is more Chinese involvement in the African continent than ever before. A lot of business deals are being sealed between African leaders and Chinese leaders. Citizen concerns over the new investors in the continent have been voiced within many civil society platforms. The Sino-Africa summits at the African Union level have signalled to the world the need to interrogate this new phenomenon. Many countries are resorting to China as a counter weight for their tired relations with the west - the “look east” policy. China has been mentioned as supporting dictatorships in Africa especially the Sudanese government over Darfur human rights abuses and, as such, there is need to interrogate the new Chinese interest versus human rights.

Pambazuka News: What are your key reflections on Sino-Africans relations coming out of the China in Africa meeting?

Charles Mutasa: There is no citizens’ involvement in the whole Sino-African relations. This needs to be factored in by building CSO networks and linkages. There is a need to identify the best practices of the Sino-Africans relations and strengthen them and at the same time do away with weaknesses or disadvantages to Africa from the linkage. There is also a need to avoid the problems Africa had with the bank and IMF and ensure that they are not repeated in Sino-Africans relations. Both the Chinese and African governments must be engaged on issues of human rights and environmental protection, among others, as they do their business. People to people relations can also better transform the Sino-Africans relations – if there relations remain solely at the political leadership level the continent will benefit very little. Thus linking CSOs, academics, experts and others will help nurture the relations for the benefit of all.

Pambazuka News: How do you think African civil society can enhance the opportunities and mitigate the threat of Chinese relations with Africa ?

Charles Mutasa: At a regional level CSOs need to use various platforms (ECOSOCC, NEPAD, UNECA, trade unions, women movements and Pan African Parliament) to engage African leadership and advise it on the best way forward. The AU must have one continental approach guiding country engagements with China - it must be strategic and based on comparative advantage. The use of research, advocacy and the media will help in this case. Exposing, naming and shaming certain deals can help ease the situation. At a national level, open and transparent country stakeholders debates and assessment of projects and deals will help.

Pambazuka News: How do you envisage Chinese and African civil society organizations, academics and researchers developing alliance to enhance the opportunities for communities in Africa and China?

Charles Mutasa: There is a need to have exchange programs between Chinese and African NGOs; the promotion of sports, competition and cultural activities; university to university linkages; joint field missions to projects; annual meetings and Sino-Africans side events.

Pambazuka News: What concrete outcomes do you hope to implement, or be a part of, coming out of the meeting in Shanghai ?

Charles Mutasa: Exchange programs between China and African NGOs, joint field missions to projects and joint research and advocacy activities.

Interview with Antony Otieno Ong’ayo, Transnational Institute, The Netherlands. Country of Origin: Kenya

Pambazuka News: Why do you feel a meeting of African and Chinese non-governmental actors is important at this time?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: The meeting improved the NGO’s knowledge on policy issues, relevant national legislation and policies in their respective areas of engagement as well as relevant knowledge sharing resources (this implies sharing examples, experiences and lessons with peers).

Pambazuka News: What are your key reflections on Sino-Africans relations coming out of the China in Africa meeting?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: The need for partnerships and programmes focusing on learning more about how CSOs use evidence to influence policy processes, improving information and communication activities. The need for Chinese and African NGOs to take advantage of new circumstances, and focus on how to make use of interactive technology since technology is not only a tool but part of a co-evolutionary process that shapes organizational forms and practices. The need to access correct information from government as a way of finding issues to raise with them.

Pambazuka News: How do you think African civil society can enhance the opportunities and mitigate the threat of Chinese relations with Africa?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: Engagement in the transformation of national, international and trans-national political space. The need for consultations in different geographical regions of the developing world to learn more about the role that CSOs currently play in using evidence to promote development policy and practice, and explore what they need to do better.

Pambazuka News: How do you envisage Chinese and African civil society organizations, academics and researchers developing alliance to enhance the opportunities for communities in Africa and China?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: Working together to generate useful insights for improved practices. Identify opportunities for small-scale collaborative work and exchange programmes (at institutional, organisational and individual consultation capacity).

Pambazuka News: What concrete outcomes do you hope to implement, or be a part of, coming out of the meeting in Shanghai?

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo: Undertaking research in any area of China-Africa relations, the impact of Chinese investment from various perspectives especially on labour and human rights issues, the impact on policy issues among African governments, writing for publications in China and Africa (for China Development Brief and Pambazuka if frameworks for such contributions are created).

There is a need for another forum where concrete issues can be discussed as a follow up to the Shanghai meeting. In this meeting, concrete measures and action frameworks can be developed whereby some clear objectives could be set and an action plan developed to help realise such objectives. They can include joint activities (research, surveys, but also experience and information sharing which can be documented and shared between NGOs in China and Africa). Some policy recommendations can be developed for use in the dialogue process with Chinese and African governments of specific issues that are the main concern of civil society in both continents. A dialogue framework can also be developed through which those participating in the China Africa relations can engage with the African and Chinese governments, investors and financial institutions concerned as an alternative voice to influence policy on behalf of the communities affected by either political or economic policies that are implemented under Sino-Africa relations.

* Hakima Abbas is AU Policy Analyst with Fahamu

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

GRA is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing hope, joy and abundance to the world's most impoverished regions. By sharing ideas, volunteers and financial resources with local, community based organizations we seek to promote natural, holistic and sustainable solutions to the challenges of poverty, malnutrition and disease. The inspiration and leadership for our work comes from the communities we serve.

Following an announcement earlier this month that open source patents infringed on 235 of its patents, Microsoft executives say they are not itching to file lawsuits, but rather trying to make money from their intellectual property, reports LA Times.To that end, they want distributors and users of open source programs to license the relevant Microsoft technologies, as Novell did last year.

WITNESS (www.witness.org) is seeking a highly-motivated, self-directed individual to play a key role in our Communications and Outreach Department. The E-communications and Website Manager will work closely with all departments to develop and implement online public relations, advocacy strategies and fundraising for WITNESS campaigns and initiatives, as well as developing new content syndication opportunities for WITNESS video productions.

IRIN seeks a dynamic intern for its Asia/Middle East service based in Dubai. The successful candidate should either be enrolled in a degree programme in a graduate school (second university degree or higher) at the time of application and during the internship; or is pursuing studies in a country where higher education is not divided into undergraduate and graduate stages.

The International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) is currently requesting articles which include greater insight into environmental compliance and enforcement activities on the African continent. Articles should be submitted to the INECE Secretariat by 22 June 2007. Articles should be 750 words or less (longer articles cannot be accepted), and should be relevant to environmental enforcement or compliance activities.

Corruption is undermining judicial systems around the world, denying citizens access to justice and the basic human right to a fair and impartial trial, sometimes even to a trial at all, according to the Global Corruption Report 2007: Corruption in Judicial Systems issued today by Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption.

Intel, the software giant has launched the World Ahead Programme, which aims at expanding accessibility, connectivity, education and content for the world's developing communities. The programme aims at developing low-cost full-featured PCs for first-time computer users, extending Worlwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology and deployment, training 10 million more teachers on the effective use of technology in education and donating 100,000 PCs to classrooms in developing communities to promote the effective use of technology for improved learning.

At a much smaller and more discreet gathering on the sidelines of the AfDB shindig, African and Chinese civil society groups were meeting for the first time to plan how they could at least take some of the rough edges off a relationship that has sparked controversy well beyond Africa's borders. But holding the Chinese government to account for its behavior in Africa will be a tall order for Chinese nongovernmental organizations that are still testing the political waters and have no international experience.

A report appearing in Business Week states that now that the computer industry has its first accounting of how many patents Microsoft says are violated by open-source software, the question for many tech vendors is how aggressively the software giant will begin enforcement. And judging from the reaction in the blogosphere, the new disclosures inspire fear.

This Save the Children publication reports on child mortality rates in developing countries. The report includes Child Survival Progress Rankings of 60 countries, which together account for 94 per cent of all child deaths worldwide. According to the report, Egypt has achieved a 68 per cent decline in child deaths in the past 15 years. Investments in health services for mothers and children have helped improve care for pregnant women, make childbirth safer and increased the use of family planning services.

The Web Manager is the chief project manager of OSI's websites and new media initiatives. (S)he coordinates production (programming, design, editorial), develops and implements business practices and marketing strategies, standardizes and maintains content management and publishing processes, and manages a geographically distributed team of programmers, designers, editors, and writers. (S)he is also the main liaison between internal and external constituencies. The web manager reports to OSI's Director of Public Affairs. Deadline: May 31, 2007

Highly active antiretroviral therapy is linked with a moderate increase in the risk of ischaemic heart disease “of the same order as that introduced by smoking 1–4 cigarettes per day”, report a team led by Niels Obel of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. However, contrary to previous reports, this study suggests that the risk does not increase with longer duration of therapy. The study is published in the June 15th edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

ILGA-Europe currently is looking to employ a Policy Programmes Officer. The post holder will be responsible for providing policy, lobbying and capacity building services to support ILGA-Europe's advocacy of LGBT rights at the European level. In particular the post holder will work with our member organisations to implement and influence European level policies in the areas of employment, social inclusion and equality.

The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that NGOs in Ghana have urged the government to play a greater role in regulating and mitigating the adverse impacts of mining on local communities. Ghana’s Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) and Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) held a press conference in Ghana’s capital, Accra, arguing that gold mining seriously threatens the environment and livelihoods in areas of mining operations.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/305/41566_Fanon.jpgMandisi Majavu draws on Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth to encourage an exploration of the interconnections between psychology and society in Africa.

Derek Hook (2004) argues that Frantz Fanon’s greatest source of originality as a postcolonial theorist lay in the fact that he combined psychology and politics in his analysis of colonial problems, national liberation and social revolution.

For Fanon, psychopathology in the colonial society, or any other oppressive society for that matter, can be characterised as a ‘pathology of liberty’. This means that for a psychological intervention to be sincere and relevant, the psychological services offered would have to play their part in restoring freedom in some meaningful capacity to the sufferer (Hooks 2004).

According to Bulhan (1985), for Fanon, oppression in the practice and institutionalisation of violence by the colonial state is not only motivated and perpetuated by economic motives, but also by psychological and cultural interests. The revolutionary response of the oppressed to such violence generates a new language, people and humanity. Such a response has the potential to produce a liberated society (Bulhan 1985).

Concerning violence
Fanon argues that decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon: 'The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives which emanate from it.' Accordingly, decolonisation is a programme of 'complete disorder' which aims to change the social order of the colonial world. It is a meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature: '[their] first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together – that is to say the exploitation of the native by the settler – was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and cannon'. Colonial society by its very nature is violent.

It does not, however, necessarily follow that decolonisation as a revolutionary programme is violent in nature. It might be true that most countries that have been colonised have achieved freedom through a violent struggle. However, that says more about the arrogance of colonial power than it says about the decolonisation programme itself.

This misconception of decolonisation as violent in nature characterises the false assumptions that underlie Fanon’s thinking about where the decolonisation process ought to begin. Fanon’s understanding of the colonial world is profound. However, some of his assumptions regarding decolonisation hinder how we might relate sensibly to the possibilities of moving forward, beyond pathology, to the liberated, decolonised society.

We could conceive of decolonisation as a fundamental, societal radical change in both the economy, and in social relations such as race and class relations; and that through such a programme, colonised people find their freedom; and not, as Fanon claims, through violence.

Fanon argues that violence for the colonised is therapeutic, a 'cleansing force'. But as Albert (2004) points out, 'violence has horrible effects on its perpetrators, more often than not causing them to devalue human life'. Colonial societies serve as evidence to support this view. There is no evidence to make us believe that violence perpetrated by the other side will not have the same effects.

Fanon argues that violence frees 'the native from his inferiority complex and from his despair and inaction...[and] restores his self-respect'. He does not provide evidence to support this perspective, nor does he explain his assumption regarding the ‘native inferiority complex’. He seems to assume that simply because blacks in the colony are subjected to all sorts of racist humiliation, this automatically results in an inferiority complex and self-hatred in blacks (Owusu-Bempah & Howitt 2000).

In his book Shades of Black, William Cross (1991) argues that there are at least four factors that explain why the mental health of blacks, including any propensity toward self-hatred, are not and have never been easily predicted by measures of racial identity:

- the limited generalisability of results of results of racial-preference studies conducted with three and four year old children
- the effects of black biculturalism, acculturation, and assimilation on black monoracial preference trends in racial identity experiments
- the problem of interpreting the meaning and salience of racial preference and racial identity for black adults operating with a multiple reference group orientation
- the historical failure of students and scholars of racial identity to differentiate between concepts and measures of ascriptive RGO [Reference Group Orientation] and concepts and measures of self-defined RGO.

Some of Fanon’s assumptions vis-à-vis the representation of decolonisation - the motivation that inspires natives to violently rebel against a colonial regime and the supposedly rampant inferiority complex - are unfounded. If we are concerned with building a sound postcolonial theory, then that theory ought at least to be based on sound assumptions. A postcolonial theory is needed that explains social events and psychological and political trends and phenomena sufficiently for us to situate ourselves, explain to others and understand the way things are.

The pitfalls of national consciousness
Fanon discusses how the new government of the liberated postcolonial state can betray the revolution. He argues that the middle class of the new postcolonial state is underdeveloped because it is reduced in numbers, has no capital, and is opposed to the revolutionary path. Eventually it falls into deplorable stagnation. For this middle class, nationalisation of the economy simply means the transfer into native hands of those unfair advantages which are a legacy of the colonial period. The middle class 'will be quite content with the role of the Western bourgeoise’s business agent'.

Fanon refers to this middle class as the 'bourgeois dictatorship'. He argues that they are not real bourgeoisie in the true sense of the word, but rather a 'sort of little greedy caste, avid and voracious, with the mind of a huckster, only too glad to accept the dividends that the former colonial power hands out to it'. Accordingly, after independence this middle class does not hesitate to invest the money it makes out of its native soil in foreign banks.

According to Fanon, the reason it is corrupt is because it has a permanent wish to identify with former colonisers. Consequently, it adopts with enthusiasm their characteristic ways of thinking. It is incapable of generating great ideas to manage and develop the economy, for it remembers what it has read in European textbooks.

The logic that underlies Fanon’s analysis is that the postcolonial government and its new middle class betray the revolution because, among other things, they want to be white, or to occupy the position formerly occupied by the coloniser. For example, he writes that before independence the 'look that the native turns on the settler’s town is a look of lust, a look of envy; it expresses his dreams of possessions – all manner of possession: to sit at the settler’s table, to sleep in the settler’s bed, with his wife if possible'.

History teaches us, as for example Howard Zinn argues in his People’s History of the United States, that when people are oppressed, they always rebel sooner or later. Furthermore, they do not rebel because of lust or envy, but because they believe in justice, equity and freedom.

In most cases, the revolution is betrayed due to a combination of a lack of vision for the new institutions for a democratic society, and a mixture of internal and external forces such as self-interest and the global economy.

Postcolonial politics from this standpoint is revealing and enables us not only to explain but to predict political and social phenomena. A theory based on flawed assumptions, that compels us to focus on lust, envy and desires to be white, forces us to chase psychologically reductionist dead-ends.

On national culture
Fanon’s basic premise is that native intellectuals respond to colonialism and the cultural hegemony that goes with it by rejecting Western culture and embracing a pre-colonial history and way of life. To escape from the hegemony of the Western culture, Fanon argues that the native intellectual feels the need to turn backwards towards his unknown roots, and as a result, sets a high value on the African customs and traditions: 'The sari becomes sacred, and shoes that come from Paris or Italy are left off in favour of pampooties, while suddenly the language of the ruling power is felt to burn your lips.'

The appreciation of certain Western ideas and the fact that certain postcolonial writers are influenced by Western writers and write in European languages should not be presented as a failure to create an authentic postcolonial cultural work, as Fanon presents it.

To write in an African language, or to quote only African writers, does not necessarily translate into originality. A radical postcolonial vision on culture ought not to be opposed to diverse cultures, including Western cultures, or a reduction diverse cultures to a least common denominator. The point is to enjoy their benefits while transcending prior debits.

As Albert (2006) points out the only real cultural salvation lies in eliminating racist institutions, dispelling colonialist ideologies and changing the colonial environment within which historical communities relate, so that they might maintain and celebrate difference without violating solidarity. A radical post-colonial theory would encourage individuals to choose 'cultural communities they prefer rather than have elders or others of any description define their choice for them' (Albert 2006: 47).

Conclusion
What is needed is a liberated society that is not characterised by cultural hierarchies and the one-way community assault common throughout the colonial history. Liberation postcolonial theory ought to provide us with concepts to describe and explain what it would take to build such a society and what such a society would constitute.

This essay is based on the premise that to have a growth-oriented attitude about one’s ideas, rather than a stability-oriented attitude, is healthy and the antithesis of sectarianism: 'Sectarianism is defensive and preservationist and often obscurantist and unconcerned with truth. We need instead to be self-critical and growth-oriented, and to strive for clarity and seek truth as best we can' (Albert 2004: 190).

References:

Albert, M., 2004, Realising hope: Life beyond capitalism, Canada: Fernwood Publishing.

Albert, M., 2004,. Thought dreams: Radical theory for the 21st century, Canada: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

Bulhan, H.A., 1985, Frantz Fanon and the psychology of oppression, New York: Plenum Press.

Cross, W.E., 1991, Shades of Black: Diversity in African-American identity, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Fanon, F., 1990, The Wretched of the Earth, London: Penguin Books.

Hook, D., 2004, 'Steve Biko, psychopolitics and critical psychology', in Hook, D., ed., Critical psychology, Cape Town: UCT Press, pp. 84-114.

Owusu-Bempah, K. & Howitt, D., 2000, Psychology beyond western perspectives, UK: British Psychological Society Books.

* Mandisi Majavu, a Stephen Bantu Biko fellow, is currently working on his masters in psychology at the University of Cape Town. [email][email protected]

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The government of Côte d'Ivoire said on Monday that China has written off 40% of the debt it was owed by the West African state, during a visit by the Ivorian foreign minister to the Asian economic giant. The cancelled debt amounted to €18-million and Beijing also extended a new €10-million gift to the country, the Ivorian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

China launched a domestically produced communications satellite for Nigeria this week, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware, Xinhua news agency reported. The launch coincides with the opening of the African Development Bank's annual board meeting in Shanghai this week, reflecting growing African-Chinese ties.

Globalization, widely perceived as the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide, is a mixed blessing to the world's three billion poverty-stricken people living on less than two dollars a day. There are both winners and losers in globalization, says a new study from the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), an affiliate of the U.N. University in Tokyo.