The 'Global Information Society Watch 2011' report investigates how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are trying to restrict freedom online - and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies. 'Written by internationally-renowned experts, the report brings its readers easy-to-read and yet comprehensive articles, many with policy proposals, on the most important challenges protecting human rights on the internet is facing today,' says lawyer Matthias C. Kettemann, co-chair of the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition.

On the heels of a decision by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria to cancel its next round of funding, the Swazi government is calling on donors to come to the impoverished country's aid. However, there are fears that the result of a recent Global Fund audit may dissuade donors even as HIV organisations contest its findings. The country is also contesting a recently released Global Fund audit that alleges nearly US$6 million in aid was misused. With an HIV prevalence of about 26 per cent, Swaziland cannot afford to fund HIV treatment domestically - an estimated 90,000 Swazis are in need of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, according to international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières.

The ‘aid industry’ fooled many into believing it was a necessary tool for development. But following the Busan forum on aid effectiveness, its time to rethink a world without it, writes Yash Tandon.

‘If you can cut through the racism, ignorance, and half-baked opinions of pundits, politicians and sound-bite media,’ most people will realise that Canada’s ‘Attawapiskat and many other First Nations have been labouring under the repression of colonialism far too long,’ writes Robert Lovelace.

Mozambique's dependence on foreign aid is declining, Finance Minister Manuel Chang told the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. Introducing the state budget for 2012, Chang said that only 39.6 per cent of public expenditure will be covered by foreign grants and loans, with 60.4 per cent of the budget met by domestic resources. In the 2011 budget, 44.6 per cent of expenditure was to be covered by foreign aid, and in the 2010 budget the figure was 51.4 per cent.

October 2011
Ms Sanusha Naidu participated in first China-Africa People’s Forum in Nairobi recently. She comments on the nature of the event, its outcomes and possible future role in the development of civil society engagement between Africa and China. Prof K Mathews then provides an overview of bilateral ties between India and China in light of a newly proposed trilateral cooperation between India, China and Africa and concludes that it could provide an opportunity for the two emerging powers to “forge partnerships for facing common challenges”.
October edition available .

November 2011
Rahul Goswami provides his observations on Indian investments in Africa, specifically in the context of India’s domestic development challenges. He notes that the human impact of large investment activities should not be overlooked, as social justice is denied in favour of profit seeking motives. In our second commentary piece, Prof Adams Bodomo, University of Hong Kong, provides an overview of the first China-Africa Think Tank Forum that took place recently in China, bringing together experts, researchers, policy makers and politicians amongst others to discuss topics under various themes of Sino-Africa relations.
November edition available

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

On the verge of officially forming a coalition government to run the country and rewrite the nation’s pre-revolution constitution, Tunisia’s dominant, Islamist political party Ennahda has come under fire for its economic neo-liberalism, both from opponents and from coalition partners. While Ennahda has been able to placate secularists by officially advocating personal and religious freedom, it is reaching out to the international financial community and big business by pledging to counterbalance its left-wing coalition partners.

Africans in the continent and the diaspora have been exploited for centuries in a sinister globalisation that only benefits the West. In this interview, African-American scholar Rosetta Codling wonders: ‘When will real global trade be realised, where all parties reap the same benefits?’

As COP17 drew to a close last week the only game in town was the market-based mechanisms that are false solutions to climate change. The same institutions, corporations and governments who have led the world into economic chaos are leading us towards climate chaos, says the Durban Climate Justice blog. In a new video released at COP17, critics of the markets and even the architects and gatekeepers of climate finance admit to its failure.

Income inequality in South Africa as measured by the Gini co-efficient widened from the early 1990s to the late 2000s despite government efforts, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In a report entitled 'Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising', the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) notes that income inequality in OECD member states, which are developed nations, has widened over the same period, while in emerging market economies (EMEs) it has narrowed.

The need to revisit Fanon’s work has ‘never been greater’, argues Helmi Sharawi, in an analysis of its relevance to ‘the process of globalisation’ in contemporary Africa.

Workers should be ‘centrally involved in leading the national democratic/revolutionary process’ rather than joining labour unions ‘subordinated’ to a national liberation party or post-independence ruling authority, argues Bill Fletcher, in a revisiting of Fanon’s thinking on class struggle and the national project.

Fifty years after his death, Fanon remains ‘the entry point in any project geared to the realisation of substantive emancipation, as opposed to elite-led projects,’ writes Eunice N. Sahle.

You are cordially invited to the launch of three Pambazuka titles, To Cook a Continent, Earth Grab and African Awakening on Tuesday the 6th of December at Ike's Books in Durban. Authors and activists, Nnimmo Bassey, the ETC Group, Patrick Bond and more will be present at this exciting event happening alongside the COP17 talks in Durban. Visit this to find out more or click on the link provided to view a flyer about the event.

The global revolt underway has shifted the whole political landscape and the terms of the discourse, writes William I. Robinson, a professor of sociology, global studies, and Latin American studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 'Global elites are confused, reactive, and sinking into the quagmire of their own making. It is noteworthy that those struggling around the world have been shown a strong sense of solidarity and are in communications across whole continents. Just as the Egyptian uprising inspired the US Occupy movement, the latter has been an inspiration for a new round of mass struggle in Egypt. What remains is to extend transnational coordination and move towards transnationally-coordinated programs.'

The carbon markets operating today under the aegis of the UN, the EU, and a variety of state and non-state actors are the default international approach to the climate crisis. Reflecting, extending and deepening neoliberalism, these markets grew rapidly until 2008, when they began to stumble, following the financial crash, the 2010 failure of the US Congress to pass proposed carbon trading legislation, uncertainty about the future of UN climate treaties, and a recent spate of criminal and other scandals. This article explains how carbon commodities work through a process of radical disembedding - in particular, through disembedding the climate issue from the historical question of how to organise for structural, long-term change aimed at keeping remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

BECCS, or biomass with CCS, has recently gained attention in national as well as international
high level discussions on climate, as a supposedly viable means to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. But the underlying premises for these claims are unfounded and dangerous, says this briefing paper from Biofuelwatch. 'Capturing carbon and pumping it underground itself requires considerable energy consuming from 10-40% of the power generated at the power station where it is applied, and hence increasing energy demand and cost of construction and operation.'

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

'Just think of these figures: The third quarter profits for Morgan Stanley $2.2 billion; for Wells Fargo $4.1 billion; for J.P. Morgan Chase $4.6 billion; Bank of America $6.2 billion...these were the banking outfits that helped to fashion the near-depression. Remember all these figures are this year, well after the fiscal calamity of three years ago. Or take the oil companies in the third quarter of 2011: BP, despite paying out billions in compensation for the oil spill, made $5.1 billion; Shell made $7 billion; Mobil Exxon came in at $10.3 billion. And we can’t find money for the Global Fund? Is there any better definition of the 1%? And I haven’t even enumerated the restoration of corporate bonuses. Do you see what’s at work here? In the reckless haste to coddle the multinationals, global public health has taken a merciless hit. And here’s something else to think about. Not a one of these companies has given a direct nickel to the coffers of the Global Fund, despite endless requests that they do so. And BP, Shell and Exxon Mobil are all members of the Global Business Coalition Health (GBCHealth), successor to the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.'