Occupy New York's Wall Street. Occupy Cape Town's Company Gardens. Occupy mailboxes of senators and congressmen. Occupy your mind...The millions of unemployed around the world can, finally, find an occupation these days, it seems, as momentum from the camped protest at New York's Zuccotti Park near Wall Street continues to spread to other cities in the United States and beyond American borders to Australia, the Czech Republic and South Africa. In South Africa, an academic in Durban, who chose to remain anonymous, said: 'The protest here is being organised totally arse-backwards.' The Facebook campaign, the Occupy Durban City Hall page, has 126 people confirmed to attend the protest. It was being run 'by white kids who are not ­usually plugged into social activism or to activist networks. I think it will be a massive fizzle-out, but I'm still going.'

In the run-up to Tunisia’s first free elections on 23 October, Amanda Sebeysten shares the manifesto of a small independent party, linked to an association of unemployed graduates in in Kasserine, a town in the country’s interior which lost the largest number of lives in the revolution.

The Occupy Grahamstown demonstration on 15 October ‘shows that radical students and the poor can form a political alliance based upon equality and solidarity,’ writes Ben Fogel from Rhodes University.

'We are trying to get as many organizations as possible to sign onto this appeal letter by Thursday, October 20th,' writes Kali Akuno. Please email all endorsements to kakuno[AT]ushrnetwork.org.

It used to amaze me that even though
Pre-dreadlocked,
Dressed in khanga from head to toe,
Carrying my babies on my back
Basket on my head
Chewing sugar cane sticks
And
pepper sprinkled muhogo roasts…
Just like everybody else…

Africa’s attempt to create a continent-wide free trade area may end in failure like so many other previous regional developmental schemes, unless leaders do things differently, writes William Gumede.

Algeria's ruling party is facing the biggest internal crisis in seven years. The divisions have surfaced between the National Liberation Front Secretary-General Abdelaziz Belkhadem and some reformist elements within the party. Some 600 party dissidents recently held a meeting authorised by the interior ministry amid tight security measures. The reformists debated three topics: the condition of the ruling party, evaluation of the party reform movement and political reforms initiated by the government.

For genuine partnership to be be built between local government and South African shackdwellers' movement Abahlali base Mojondolo, it must be on the basis of respect for all people, writes Bishop Rubin Phillip.

Organising the unemployed is a full time job - one the Unemployed People's Movement in South Africa is making it's own. Jeanne Hefez talks to UPM organisers about the challenges they face.

Madagascar's de facto premier has resigned along with his cabinet, paving the way for the formation of a new government by consensus, according to a letter. The official letter of resignation was the first step towards ending two years of political stalemate in the country. Albert Camille Vitalis resigned as premier, so a new person could be chosen for the job by November, to create a transitional government that would lead the country to elections in about a year.

WFP has conducted an 'aggressive fundraising campaign to cover the needs of south and central Somalia till the end of the year.' But what are those needs, and who is assessing them, asks Rasna Warah.

Following threats against S’bu Zikode, leader of South African shackdwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, by the chair of a municipal housing committee, the group has called on democrats across the country to support Zikode and other activists ‘facing imtimidation and repression’.

Government ‘development’ schemes don’t always take into account the interests of the people affected by them. How do we decide whether or not the ‘right to development’ should take precedence over human and people’s rights, asks Khadija Sharife.

Sureta Chana, defence lawyer for victims of post-election violence in the ICC trials, helped prosecute scores of Kenyan’s for sedition under the Moi regime. Shouldn’t she make an apology to the people she herself harmed, asks Shailja Patel.

Teargas and gunshots rocked Kampala on 17 October as police clashed with protestors who turned up for the second phase of the Walk-to-Work demonstrations. Organised by pressure group Activists for Change (A4C), the protests, whose first phase began on 11 April leaving several people dead, maimed or detained by the security forces, are aimed at shedding light on the plight of Ugandans suffering due to high fuel and food prices and rising cost of living.

Two people were killed on 17 October during clashes between security operatives and supporters of two LC5 contenders in Nebbi District. One of the victims, Henry Okwai, a trader, was shot as police and army fired live bullets in the air to disperse supporters of Mr Ezrom William Alenyo and Mr Robert Okumu. An eyewitness said Okwai, a resident of Pangero Village in Koch Parish, Nebbi Sub-county was shot in the ribs as he sold secondhand clothes at the Market Square.

Gambia's opposition will go into the 14 November presidential election as fractured parties after talks to field a single candidate to unseat incumbent Yahya Jammeh failed. President Jammeh, the favourite, has been in power since 1994 when he took power in a coup before holding a civilian election two years later. He has won three subsequent elections since then and will be seeking a fourth five-year term.

On 28 September, French authorities seized 11 luxury cars belonging to the family of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema as part of an ongoing corruption investigation, reports 'The seizures are part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the “ill-gotten gains” of African leaders Dennis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. A judicial inquiry began after the NGOs Transparency International France, Sherpa, and the Arab Commission for Human Rights filed a complaint in 2007. In 2009, France’s Supreme Court ruled to admit the case, a landmark decision in the anti-corruption battle.'

Gabriele Habashi gives a gripping account of her experience during the final days of the protests that toppled former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. It is the story of a people who had detested oppression and decided to liberate themselves.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/537/june_23_c_tmb.jpgElla Scheepers wonders whether the June 23 Movement in Senegal suggests a growing recognition that achieving political and social change requires collective consciousness and organisation, and cannot rely solely on the short-term impact of street protests or the individual efforts of any one party.