Nigeria's Daily Trust commemorated the second anniversary of Pan-Africanist Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem's passing on 25 May with a special memorial supplement, featuring contributions from Okello Oculi, Kole Shettima, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, Horace Campbell, Aderemi Oyewumi and Nengak Daniel Gondyi. .

In the wake of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s resignation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), H. Nanjala Nyabola wonders why African governments are not calling for the same withdrawal from the IMF that they push for with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

As you arrive at Hauwa Memorial College (HMC), Funtua, Katsina State, you are welcomed into its classrooms with these quotations: ‘Today's struggle is tomorrow's success’; ‘Better die in a quest than be a coward’; ‘A gentleman without policy is like education without certificate...’ and more written by the students. But the words are not the only things that catch your attention. HMC, Funtua, is is in a state of abject disrepair and two years after its founder's death, the place is under the threat of closure, writes Evelyn Osagie

Daisy Díaz, executive secretary of Cuban-African Friendship Association, sent Pambazuka readers this postcard, commemorating both African Liberation Day and the second anniversary of the passing of Pan-Africanist Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem on 25 May.

In

‘[W]ould it be too much to ask for people to look at the African city and see more than just poverty?’ asks H. Nanjala Nyabola.

Sonny Onyegbula pays tribute to Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem some two years after his passing on African Liberation Day.

25 May is both African Liberation Day and the anniversary of the sad passing of Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem. Aaron O'Dowling-Keane reflects on Tajudeen’s bold and intelligent insights, his steadfast commitment to Pan-Africanism and the esteem with which he was held.

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem was born on 6 January 1961 in Funtua, Katsina State, Nigeria. He died tragically on African Liberation Day, 25 May 2009 in a motor accident in Nairobi Kenya.

Hector Rodriguez, vice-president of the 'Social Area Council of Venezuela', confirmed the Venezuelan government’s commitment to maintaining its reconstruction efforts in Haiti and sent a message of solidarity to the Haitian people on behalf of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. In an interview with Latin American news channel TeleSUR, following the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected Haitian president, Michel Martelly, Rodriguez said that they would 'continue working for the dignity, the life, of this brother nation', so that Haiti would 'keep moving forward'.

Venue: Cyprian Ekwensi Cultural Centre, Garki, Abuja
Date: 25th May 2011

MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM

THEME: “Linking Elections to Good Governance – Don’t Agonise,
TIME: 9:00am to 1:00pm
PANEL CHAIR: Mallam Kabiru Yusuf
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State

SPEAKERS: Dr. Chidi Odinkalu (Open Society Justice Justice Initiative), Dr. Hussaini Abdu (ActionAid Nigeria), Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi (Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative), Dr. Siddique Abubakar (A. B. U. Zaria), Amb. (Hon). Nkoyo Toyo (Member House of Representatives), Dr. Otive Igbuzor (African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development), Oronto Douglas (Presidency), Dr. Mohammed Kuna (INEC) and Dr. Abubakar Momoh (Lagos State University). Chair Organising Committee: Dr Kole Shettima

Helmi Sharawy takes Pambazuka News back to 1950s Cairo, remembering the host of African liberation movements that had offices in the Egyptian city. In part one of this two-part article,

Since October 1997 – for more than 13 years – the International Justice Committee for Thomas Sankara has called for judicial procedures to be launched in Burkina Faso around the assassination of Thomas Sankara.

Shocked by the publication of an article claiming black women are inherently less attractive than other women, H. Nanjala Nyabola considers Satoshi Kanazawa’s ‘study’ and underlines a key historical parallel.

‘It seems illogical that to me government should be the enemy. Yes it’s good that we’re all questioning them more but there’s a difference between scrutiny and suspicion, and what we seem to have now is more of the latter than the former,’ writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.

'Bin Laden's death is perhaps the ultimate act of retribution, and no one can fault anyone for seeking that out. But there's a difference between justice and retribution,' writes H. Nanjala Nyabola.

Following the death of Karen Harrison, an activist from Glasgow, Scotland, and a mature student at the University of Oxford, H. Nanjala Nyabola pays tribute to ‘one of those special people who dedicated their whole lives to fighting battles that the rest of us are relatively comfortable looking away from’.

A monument should be built for liberation songs and it should have its own precinct. This is according to Wally Mongane Serote, the poet, author and former MK soldier testifying in the hate speech trial in the Johannesburg High Court against ANC Youth League President Julius Malema. Defending Malema - who was charged by Afriforum, an Afrikaner minority group, for singing certain lines of the song Dubulu ’ibhunu (Kill the Boer) - Serote said the songs were 'as important as the Voortrekker monument', kept 'as a memory even after apartheid'.

'I hated putting my hopes too high, so I opted to say what I wished for most. And that was friends to help me in my queer revolution (as I would in theirs).' Blessol Gathoni, a young Kenyan activist, shares her experiences as a Fahamu Fellow over the past six months. Fahamu’s Pan-African Fellowship is a programme that aims to nurture a new generation of African social justice leaders. This story is an extract from the Fahamu's newly launched

With the the third Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival taking place recently at the University of Dar es Salaam and the participation of many eager people, young and old, from the region and beyond, the question many people were asking at this festival was: How is it that Nyerere, so long after his death, still exercises such influence on young people? Jenerali Ulimwengu, in this article on the East African website, says it speaks to the absence of an heir, a leader who would have emerged from the current crop of leaders to take over the mantle of Nyerere or Nkrumah.