The lobby to industrialise food production in Africa is not only pouring money into plantation projects on the ground, it is changing African laws to serve foreign agribusiness as well. This is the main finding of a new report from the civil society organisations Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and GRAIN.

Pambazuka News invites articles on the question of oppression in Africa to help readers make sense of the need to be critical in analysing the connectedness of African struggles and to reflect on the role this intersectionality can play in building collaboration in speaking truth to power in Africa.

The Israeli lobby in South Africa, including the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, have – not unexpectedly - been trying to discredit Leila Khaled’s forthcoming 6-16 February tour.

Government’s R350 million disaster fund for 32 drought-stricken KZN municipalities, fails to reach the people

The Congress of South African Students (COSAS), representing learners in South African Pre-Tertiary level, welcomes the planned visit in February of one of our own, Palestine Freedom Fighter against the racist regime of Israel, Comrade Leila Khaled to South Africa.

If the government says this is crime, why are all the victims of this crime 'foreigners', and not white, Indian or black South Africans?

The Local Organising Committee of the 8th Pan African Congress, Accra, Ghana wishes to inform the Pan African world that the 8th PAC will be held in Accra, 4 – 7 March, 2015 at the Accra International Conference Centre.

Pan-African organisations and Pan-Africanists who are interested in participating in the 8th Pan African Congress may contact Mr. Kwasi Adu on: [email][email protected]

For further information, interested participants should also visit the 8th PAC website at: www.8panafcongress.com where registration can be done online. Other relevant information about the Congress will be published online on a regular basis.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr.
Chairman
Local Organising Committee

Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association welcomes the planned visit of the Palestine struggle icon and freedom fighter, Leila Khaled to South Africa. This is amid the racist oppressive Zionist Israel sympathisers’ noise against such planned visit.

Development used to be a battle against deprivation and dependence. Nowadays it’s more about supporting the liberalisation of markets.

The Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa project will be conducting a three-day Journalist capacity building workshop in Nairobi. The workshop seeks to strengthen the voice of African media on investigating and reporting the impact that emerging actors (including China, India, Brazil, South Korea and Turkey) have on Africa’s external engagements and development landscape.

Fahamu, on behalf of the SOTU coalition, is seeking to engage a consultant researcher or team of researchers to conduct an assessment in Kenya to determine the level of compliance with and implementation of key AU legal instruments and policy standards and the impact of their implementation on citizens’ quality of life.

The Emerging Powers Programme based in Fahamu is offering a one-week course -- in Nairobi -- analyzing the footprint of Africa’s engagements with emerging powers from the Global South. The course provides a unique opportunity for civil society practitioners (in particular activists, community based leaders, undergraduate and postgraduate students, commentators, journalists and trade unionists) to unpack and debate the nature of the relationship between Africa’s regional economic communities and key actors from the Global South. The course is designed to provide insights into the linkages and influences these emerging powers have had on the “Africa Rising” narrative and the continent’s integration into the international system.

15 sponsored places are available for applicants for this course that intends to strengthen civil society's understanding of and engagement with Global South nations whose presence is growing in Africa.

Follow the link below for more details on the workshop and how to apply.

Understanding the Emerging Powers Footprint in Africa: A Civil Society Perspective and Guideline - See more at:

Deadline: 15 January 2015

The Embassy of the State of Palestine in Tanzania condemns in the strongest terms the Israel’s extrajudicial killing of Palestinian Minister and Head of the Committee against the Wall and Settlements, Mr. Ziad Abu Ein.

At least eight human rights defenders were brutally arrested and assaulted on 18 December 2014 in Nairobi during a peaceful demonstration against the Security Law (Amendment) Bill.

Civil society groups across the Great Lakes & Horn of Africa regions have called on governments to acknowledge the outcry of South Sudanese people and engage in serious peace negotiations instead of stalling tactics while searching for military victory.

The 8th Pan African Congress has been rescheduled to March 2015. Writers, researchers, academics and everyone else interested are invited to send in articles covering a broad range of themes.

The Emerging Powers in Africa Project is issuing a call for grant proposals. The grants are aimed at examining the political, economic, social and cultural impact of the emerging powers footprint in Africa. The grant is specifically related to empowering civil society actors in gaining the appropriate knowledge and developing the necessary tools to articulate an informed perspective on the emerging powers in Africa and the corresponding impact. Click for details.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), a Pan African platform comprising civil society networks and farmer organisations working towards food sovereignty, has submitted this Open Letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Wendy White from Iowa State University and the Human Institutional Review Board of Iowa State University expressing fierce opposition to the human feeding trials taking place at Iowa State University involving genetically modified (GM) bananas. The Letter is supported by more than 120 organizations from around the world.

On 2 December, a farmworker was assaulted and freedom of association denied on a WIETA farm outside Robertson, South Africa.

The circumstances under which the charges against Kenyatta have been withdrawn – based on alleged witness intimidation and lack of cooperation by the Government of Kenya – rather than vindicating him, have left many questions hanging over his role in post-election violence.