Having failed to prevent Patrice Lumumba from taking power in Congo, a cabal of European and American politicians and businessmen saw the maintenance of indirect white rule in Katanga as the only means of ensuring their continued profiteering from Congo’s huge mineral wealth. Perpetuating a façade of African nationalism the white lobby supported autocrat Tshombe to plot for secession.

Emancipation Day sends a clear message to the labouring classes that capitalism exploited their ancestors’ labour under chattel slavery and is doing the same to theirs under wage slavery. It is the responsibility of the revolutionary organizers to use Emancipation Day to strengthen the class consciousness, feminist commitments and anti-racist opposition of the labouring classes.

The job of a US president is to protect and enhance the American Empire. But sadly, African leaders continue to waste time expecting manna from Washington. Decades of being let down by unfulfilled promises from American (and Western leaders) appear not to dampen enthusiasm to keep on expecting a miracle.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is eyeing another 5-year term in 2017. He is the first Bank chief to be personally accused of racism against black staff. Believed to have been endorsed for his first term by Hilary Clinton, Bank employees are freaking out about the possibility of having Kim at the helm for a further five years, which they fear would be a forgone conclusion if Clinton wins the US presidency.

To celebrate the 15 anniversary of Pambazuka News, Fahamu the publisher in conjunction with the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi, organized a public lecture on 25 July 2016 delivered by one of the longest and most prolific contributors to Pambazuka News, Horace G. Campbell, Professor of African American Studies and Political Science, Syracuse University. Here’s the Audio on Soundcloud, Presentation on Slideshare and a  Video on YouTube of the lecture.

The pervasiveness of anti-blackness across the globe suggests that whiteness is not only spread through white people’s bodies but is also a system that survives on consuming and destroying other bodies. The only truly human body is the white body. Capitalism is the logical consequence of this. The challenge for societies across the globe is to nurture and defend alternative versions of being human.

Was it Africans who went to the Americas and butchered tens if not scores of millions of native Americans? Was it Africans that used their religion to hide their intent to steal as much territory as they could all the while denigrating the beliefs and cultures of innumerable peoples? Who was it that did so much raping that the bloodlines of Latin America changed forever?

Opinion is divided over the legacy of the AU Chairperson. It is arguable that she has resolved some of the historical challenges of the Commission and predictably either failed or worsened others. However, on the whole, Dlamini-Zuma has demonstrated what leadership can do if it is impelled by a clear vision.

Mudimbe’s initial gesture of philosophical skepticism - in relation to the western imperial project - or even disapproval had been well received in the academy and largely accounts for his formidable international reputation. But his latest philosophical position might be considered to betray signs of satiety and self-contradictory reaction.

The United Nations, then under Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, and Canada played key roles in the assassination of popular Congolese Prime Minister and eminent African statesman Patrice Lumumba. To Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, Lumumba was a “major threat to Western interests”. Neither the UN nor Ottawa has ever accepted responsibility.

The eyes of Africa are this week turned to Kigali, host of the African Union Summit, where a new Chairperson of the AU Commission will be elected. The Summit presents yet another opportunity for African Heads of State and Government to place the continental body on a new path that will genuinely respond to the needs and aspirations of the African people.

Believing that Brexit could represent the beginning of the end for international cooperation is to believe that the world does or should revolve around Europe. The late Pan-Africanist Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael) pointed out that those whose thinking is dominated by Euro-centrism and white supremacy often mistakenly “make the particular history of Europe the general history of the world.”

The first woman Chairperson of the African Union Commission leaves behind an outstanding legacy of strong commitment to gender equality and women’s rights in Africa. Overall, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma scored remarkable victories in advancing the AU’s vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.

Since inception of the position of Chairperson of the African Union Commission, it has been filled by three men and one woman. Just how independent, resolute, resilient and resourceful have they been, and if they have failed, is that failure a reflection on their capability or the flawed set up of the Commission?

Whether it was the Ebola outbreak, drowning of African refugees in the Mediterranean, famines, the return of the god-President, the International Criminal Court or popular uprisings by young people demanding revolutionary change, the out-going Chairperson of the African Union Commission failed Africa. Her successor must be someone who understands, cares about and has a vision for the continent and its people.

Contrary to repeated claims, the Soweto Uprising of 40 years ago was organised and led by student members of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko. They are the people who politicised other students and imbued them with the revolutionary black consciousness philosophy. They were all found guilty of sedition in the Soweto 11 trial.

Kwame Ture was initially resistant to raising the slogan but after his unjust arrest took the podium and said "We Want Black Power!" The enthusiastic response would usher in a new era in the African American liberation struggle impacting the political discourse for at least another decade.

Elections for the AU Commission should pass the same rigorous test and uphold the principles that the continental body requires from Member States. Intensive election competition, emanating from a genuine commitment to the Pan-African agenda and with a vision to provide better leadership, would signify marked differences from the past and would result in a more effective and efficient AU.

The former Vice President is seeking election as Chair of the African Union Commission at next month’s summit in Kigali. Her excellent academic and leadership credentials surpass by far those of her two male rivals, Dr. Venson-Moitoi Pelonomi and Mokuy Agapito Mba, foreign affairs ministers of Botswana and Equatorial Guinea, respectively.

The renowned radical scholar-activist was murdered 36 years ago because he did not fit into the old political mold, where leaders accepted the colonial structure and wallowed in its fineries, especially the misuse of the machineries of state to silence dissent. His death reminds all progressive people of their responsibility to organize and resist the abuse of state power.