I am always delighted to receive the informative updates from Pambazuka, but a little concerned for the use of the term .

I work with organisations of persons with disabilities including visual impairment (blindness) but I have had a challenge explaining the good intentions in portraying US efforts in Mali as blindly – please check this.

Thanks and keep us informed for transformation.

Dearest People,
Congratulations a million times, thank you a billion times for your
persistence, patience and the peaceful manner you have won this
particular battle.
One only wishes that victories like these could be rewarded in a way
which does justice to
All of the people involved, but especially the ones
who have been trampled upon
tortured, raped in ways unimaginable
Hopefully your victory will open the eyes
which refuse to see
because they have been blinded by greed
Your victory shall make the poorest of the poorest
all over the world root
for greater victories
until this predatory
system is rooted out
along with the mindset set
on killing humanity
humility
dignity
solidarity

* Jacques Depelchin is a committed intellectual, academic, and activist for peace, democracy, transparency and pro-people politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
* is the South African shackdwellers' movement.

A season of fear has returned to Zimbabwe, following Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to ‘disengage’ from the country’s dysfunctional Government of National Unity, Mary Ndlovu writes in Pambazuka News. With unlawful arrests, abductions, beatings, torture, burning of homes and killings by Zanu PF and state agents on the increase again, ordinary Zimbabweans are sceptical that SADC’s latest attempts at mediation will bring the country’s people closer to peace and prosperity. But says Ndlovu, there is ‘still room to hope for a miracle’.

Western governments continue to support Meles Zenawi’s dictatorship because they believe that there is ‘no alternative in the opposition’, Alemayehu G. Mariam writes in this week’s Pambazuka News. But not only could this diplomatic mindset have ‘devastating consequences on Ethiopia’ by providing the moral justification for totalitarianism and a police state, it also makes the West complicit in the sufferings of the Ethiopians under Zenawi’s government, Mariam argues.

Apathy and a failure to speak out on the part of Nigeria’s citizens is fuelling the country’s leadership crisis, Babatunde Oyateru argues in this week’s Pambazuka News. Exhorting his fellow citizens to hold their political representatives accountable, Oyateru says: ‘We do not whisper, we should not cower, we should let our voices ring so loud … so that the generations that come after us will not have to scream, but sing songs of a delivered Nigeria.’

As social inequalites in Kenya continue to widen, Samuel Abonyo argues in this week’s Pambazuka News that policies that encourage the redistribution of wealth are what the country needs if it is to achieve economic growth and reduce poverty.

The international community’s hasty decision to investigate Guinea’s Captain Camara for crimes against humanity has led to serious setbacks in solving the country’s political crisis, Joseph Kaifala argues in Pambazuka News. Since the only way for Camara to avoid trial at the International Criminal Court is to remain in power, it’s unlikely he’ll be willing to relinquish his military dictatorship any time soon, says Kaifala.

Until South Africa acknowledges that racism is deeply embedded in the fabric of its society, William Gumede writes in Pambazuka News, solutions will 'only paper over the deep divisions' and 'reconciliation across racial divides will remain elusive'.

In this week's blog roundup, Dibussi Tande reflects on the similarities between the fall of the Berlin wall and communism in Eastern Europe, and the push for political liberalism in Africa. Elsewhere, Tanzania's education system is failing, Kenya faces a country-wide power blackout, and homophobia rears its ugly head.

Many and sincere thanks to the hundreds of you who took the trouble to respond to the survey that we launched in September. The survey, conducted for us by the independent market research company , was aimed at getting your perspectives on how we could improve Pambazuka News. Here’s what you said:

More than 90% of you said you were satisfied with Pambazuka News, with 40% saying that you were very satisfied. Thank you!

We said we were thinking of offering a number of additional services. Most of you said you were interested in at least eight of the services, including access to Pambazuka News archives; the ability to have greater interaction and collaboration via the Pambazuka News website with other members, institutions, social movements, policy-makers and others to advocate for social justice; the ability to download ebooks and training materials; and the ability to get discounts on books published by Pambazuka Press.

You were most interested in being able to use the Pambazuka News platform for organising and interacting with others, as well as being able to access the rich archives of some 54,000 records stored on Pambazuka News, with articles written by some 1,700 writers, bloggers, commentators, analysts, academics and activists.

Nearly 40% of you said you would be willing to pay between $3.00 and $5.00 a month to become a member of the new Pambazuka platform.

We were touched by the fact that so many of you were able to devote considerable time and thought to suggesting how we can improve the quality of Pambazuka News – tighter editing, shorter articles, greater breadth of coverage and so on. We take your suggestions seriously. These comments were really helpful.

In order to deliver the kind of improvements you want, we are developing ambitious plans to expand and upgrade the existing website as the hub of social activism across the continent – an independent, self-financing pan-African social network and community of members comprising social justice activists, engaged intellectuals and institutions that have similar missions to those of Pambazuka. The platform will be a space where African civil society organisations, social movements, academic and research institutions, advocacy groups, alliances and coalitions can upload their publications, reports, information about events, training materials, video and audio materials; organise online discussions; hold online seminars; and advertise their products, courses and publications. It will be a space where books (print and ebooks) on African affairs can be obtained at discounted prices.

Access to the Pambazuka News website and e-newsletter will remain free but in addition we will be inviting individuals and institutions to join Pambazuka as fee-paying members in return for an exciting range of new services and benefits.

More details coming soon!

With this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) fast approaching – in the year of the 60th anniversary of the institution no less – the Commonwealth needs to do much more in support of civil society and the protection of human rights, writes R. Iniyan Ilango.

Looking back at the immense optimism Nigeria's citizens felt for their country in the immediate post-colonial period, Sabella Ogbobode Abidde stresses that former pride has been entirely replaced by a pervasive desire to escape into 'exile'. In the face of corruption and poor healthcare and education, the average Nigerian cannot help but lament an absence of opportunities. This reality notwithstanding however, Abidde argues that it is incumbent upon Nigeria's youth to shape a better future for themselves and their children.

Referring to the misunderstandings, discrimination and at times outright hostility faced by Kenya's transsexuals, Audrey Mbugua discusses the day-to-day hardships faced by transsexual people in the country.

Isaac Newton Kinity stresses that arguments around election rigging are no excuse for Kenya's 2007–08 post-election violence.

Lion of hearts
turned to
desert's
dust
blown'n
to wilderness
you
soul of sev'n
part'd years

con-se-quen'tial
supa-politico
text of
world-ly
men's heart
burn'st
you

crack'd dreams
suns and stars
scatter'd
into flight
you
left origin
erstwhile

made you
swallow d'tongue
lockt your lips
once
river-lips
made
voice-less

you, now
turn to
phantoms
of false night
to love
your lips
phantasm-iz'd

bury'n
d'lion's heart
that d'scended
from a place
of saints and sages
you
bend'n anew, to
d'cultured will

dom-in-nance
veild d'lamp
that shun'
on darkenss
ef-face'n
you

folly pillag'd
you
unequal halves
deceiv'd you
foolish thrust
of two world's
hollow'd
your hol

abode
in d'destined hour
tower of darkness
morph'd
you
identity
expropriat'd
you

perch'd behind
colors, blows of red
you, buri'd
what bled
hid'n from
d'night and dayz
masquerad'd
dust of soul
you
now
lust on
d'modernize dayz
daze'd

you
lost what is of "I"
dispossess'd
of "I" by him
to become
another him
to be at all
in relation
to whom?
...to him?

lost, not here nor there
you get closer
to what's there
you, now
shamed to speak
ours, mine, your
mother tongue
you
fall over names

you
stride profess'n
prophet-like
enunciat'n
d'Lord's wisdom
you
perfect'd d'accent
venerating
d'colonized tongue.
You, not here nor there
leaves of life keep falling
again, and again, and again, and again...

While the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama has understandably enjoyed the lion's share of media comment, Elinor Ostrom's success in jointly receiving the economics prize with Oliver E. Williamson may well prove of greater significance for Africans, writes Korir Sing’Oei.

Armando Nenane

Enedina de Andrade e Boaventura Monjane

EISA, the Electoral Institute for Southern Africa, has added to the criticism of Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE) . The problem started with the selection of civil society CNE members. “The transparency in the selection of CSO [civil society] representatives was questionable, thereby casting doubt over the integrity, impartiality and independence of the CNE”

Sudan has started registering voters for presidential, legislative and regional elections, but officials in the south and international observers say the process has begun on a flawed note.

Of the many proposals on how to combat poverty in Africa, the United Nations' International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is championing what must be one of the simplest - make it cheaper and easier for migrants to send money home.