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African Awakening

The Emerging Revolutions

Sokari Ekine, Firoze Manji

The tumultuous uprisings of citizens in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have seized the attention of media analysts who have characterised these as ‘Arab revolutions’, a perspective given weight by popular demonstrations in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and elsewhere. However, what have been given less attention are the concurrent uprisings in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Western Sahara and Zimbabwe. The uprisings across Africa and in the Middle East, the book argues, are the result of common experiences of decades of declining living standards, mass unemployment, land dispossessions and impoverishment of the majority, while a few have engorged themselves with riches.

Through incisive contributions from analysts and activists across the continent, the essays in African Awakening provide an overview of the struggle for democratisation which goes beyond calls merely for transparent electoral processes and constitutes a reawakening of the spirit of freedom and justice for the majority.

Contributors: Charles Abugre, Essam Al-Amin, Massan d’Almeida, Samir Amin, Patrick Bond, Horace Campbell, Lila Chouli, Sokari Ekine, Hassan El Ghayesh, Lakhdar Ghettas, Nigel C. Gibson, Adam Hanieh, Konstantina Isidoros, Peter Kenworthy, Sadri Khiari, Mahmood Mamdani, Firoze Manji, Imad Mesdoua, Fatma Naib, Explo Nani-Kofi, J. Oloka-Onyango, Richard Pithouse, Jean-Paul Pougala, Khadija Sharife, Yash Tandon, Melakou Tegegn, Kah Walla

 

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 African awakenings: the courage to invent the future
Firoze Manji

2 The never-ending revolution: perspectives from the African blogosphere
Sokari Ekine

3 Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire: history, interests and parallels
Explo Nani-Kofi

4 Tunisia: the fall of the West’s little dictator
Esam al-Amin

5 Gabon’s lords of poverty
Khadija Sharife

6 Tunisia’s revolution: self-organisation for self-emancipation
Horace Campbell

7 Aslema ya Tunis, au revoir Ben Ali
Melakou Tegegn

8 Tunisia and Egypt: revolutions without self-proclaimed revolutionaries
Horace Campbell

9 Egypt: free at last, an inside look
Hassan Elghayesh

10 Chronicles of an Egyptian revolution: a protestor’s first-hand account
Hassan Elghayesh

11 Egypt and the revolution in our minds
Nigel C. Gibson

12 Egypt: women of the revolution
Fatma Naib

13 ‘The power is within us’: a protest diary from Cameroon
Kah Walla

14 Uganda elections: ‘an exercise in shame-faced endorsement’
J. Oloka-Onyango

15 Crisis in Côte d’Ivoire: the impact on women
Massan d’Almeida

16 Awakening protests in Morocco and Western Sahara
Konstantina Isidoros

17 Peoples’ revolts in Burkina Faso
Lila Chouli

18 North African dispatches: why Algeria is different
Imad Mesdoua

19 Libya: behind the politics of humanitarian intervention
Mahmood Mamdani

20 Swaziland: uprising in the slipstream of North Africa
Peter Kenworthy

21 The lies behind the West’s war on Libya
Jean-Paul Pougala

22 South Africa: on the murder of Andries Tatane
Richard Pithouse

23 Unrest in Algeria: the window is closing fast
Lakhdar Ghettas

24 Whose dictator is Gaddafi?
Yash Tandon

25 An African reflection on Tahrir Square
Mahmood Mamdani

26 How might things move forward in Libya?
Yash Tandon

27 The Tunisian revolution did not come out of nowhere
Sadri Khiari

28 Imperial neurosis and the dangers of ‘humanitarian’ interventionism
Yash Tandon

29 International financial institutions and Egypt
Adam Hanieh

30 Neoliberal threats to North Africa
Patrick Bond

31 2011: An Arab springtime?
Samir Amin

32 Libya: the true costs of war
Charles Abugre

Appendix: Further readings from Pambazuka News

Index

About the Authors

Sokari Ekine is an activist with a multidisciplinary background in technology, education and human rights. She has a postgraduate degree in human rights and education and has worked in adult education and several online publications including Pambazuka News. She is the author of the blog Black Looks.

Firoze Manji, a Kenyan, is founder and executive director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News. He has formerly worked as programme director for the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, CEO for the Aga Khan Foundation UK, and regional representative for health for IDRC’s office for Eastern and Southern Africa.