Fahamu - Fahamu Books

China’s global expansion is much talked about, but usually from the viewpoint of the West. This unique collection of essays, written by scholars and activists from China and the global South, provides diverse views on the challenges faced by Africa, Latin America and Asia as a result of China’s rise as a significant global economic power. Chinese aid, trade and investments – driven by the needs of its own economy – present both threats and opportunities for the South, requiring a nuanced analysis that goes beyond simplistic caricatures of ‘good’ and ‘evil’.

Arising from a conference held in Shanghai in May 2007, when the African Development Bank was also meeting in that city, this book provides a fresh perspective that focuses on the economic, social and environmental impact of China’s expansion. It represents the first attempt to establish a dialogue between civil society in China and the global south.

The contributors include Dorothy-Grace Guerrero, Walden Bello, Luk Tak Chuen, Shalmali Guttal, Yu Xiaogang, Ding Pin, Xu Weizhong, Dot Keet, Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong, Lucy Corkin, Ali Askouri, Yuza Maw Htoon, Khin Zaw Win, Alexandre de Freitas Barbosa, Fu Tao and Peter Bosshard.

ISBN: 978-1-906387-26-6
258pp 2008 Fahamu and Focus on the Global South
£16.95 / US$33.95

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This is a moment for celebration, but also for reflection on the achievements and the limitations of the commission. The purpose of this book, which accompanies a special issue of the award-winning electronic newsletter Pambazuka News, is not only to mark the 20th anniversary, but also to popularise understanding of the work of the commission.

The essays in this book review the achievements of the commission since its establishment, with contributions from Hakima Abbas, Korir Sing’Oei Abraham, Roselynn Musa , Mireille Affa’a Mindzie, Otto Saki, as well as interviews with Commissioner Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, Special Rapporteur on Refugees and Displaced Persons in Africa and Commissioner Faith Pansy Tlakula, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression in Africa.

From the slave trade to ‘free’ trade: How trade undermines democracy and justice in Africa

Drawing on lessons from the slave trade and studies of the international finance institutions, these essays provide insights into how free trade policies have a profoundly negative impact on the rights of communities, environmental sustainability and the development of democracy in Africa.

The contributors include Charles Abugre, Tope Akinwande, Soren Ambrose, Nnimmo Bassey, Patrick Bond, Jennifer Chiriga, Cheikh Tidiane Dièye, M.P. Giyose, Manu Herbstein, Mouhamadou Tidiane Kasse, Salma Maoulidi, Stephen Marks, Mariam Mayet, Henning Melber, Winnie Mitullah, Patrick Ochieng, Oduor Ongwen, Robtel Neajai Pailey, Liepollo Lebohang Pheko and Jagjit Plahe.

Patrick Burnett, from South Africa, has a background in journalism. He is a contributing editor of Pambazuka News, and runs Fahamu’s Cape Town office.

Firoze Manji is the director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News. Originally from Kenya, he has more than 30 years of experience in international development, health and human rights. He is a member of the editorial board of Development in Practice.

The distinguished scholar presents perspectives on the historical, political and philosophical contexts that govern the evolution and place of NGOs in Africa today.

In two extensive essays, he argues the role of NGOs in Africa cannot be understood without clear characterisation of the current historical moment: that to ‘make poverty history’ we must first ‘understand the history of poverty’ and ‘make imperialism history’. Shivji argues that despite some good intentions, NGOs have uncritically situated themselves within neoliberal and donor-driven discourses.

Issa Shivji is one of Africa’s most radical and original thinkers. He has written several books, including the seminal Concept of Human Rights in Africa (1989) and, more recently, Let the People Speak: Tanzania down the road to neoliberalism (2006).

The traditional perception of African women is that they face grinding poverty and harsh cultural, traditional and social prejudices. Yet while it is true that African women are not equal to men, this is only one part of the story.

For in Africa, women are fighting for their rights. And they are fighting with grace, tenacity and eloquence. The contributors describe how African women won a cross-continental campaign for a protocol to protect their rights. In a rich variety of articles, they consider topics such as: women and conflict, the impact of current US policies on women’s health in Africa, women’s rights in Islam, and the implications of the Jacob Zuma trial for women in South Africa.

The articles first appeared in the prize-winning weekly electronic newsletter, Pambazuka News. They provide an easy-to-read introduction to the struggle for women’s rights in Africa.

Patrick Burnett, from South Africa, has a background in journalism. He is a contributing editor of Pambazuka News, and runs Fahamu’s Cape Town office.

Shereen Karmali is an editor with wide experience in the NGO sector. She is a co-director of Fahamu.

ISBN: 978-0-9545637-2-1
230pp
2007 Fahamu & Solidarity for African Women’s Rights coaltion
Price £14.95 / $24.95

...the first attempt in recent years to examine African views of China.
London Review of Books

…a timely book on a subject of critical importance. We should use it to strengthen Africa’s hand in negotiating with China….
Irungu Houghton, Pan African Policy Advisor, Oxfam GB

anyone interested in economic developments in Africa – and China – will find much useful material here..
Charlie Hore, Socialist Review

… an important collection of studies….
Walden Bello, Foreign Policy in Focus

China’s involvement in Africa has provoked much debate and discussion. Is China simply the latest imperial power out to exploit Africa’s natural resources, putting its own economic interests above environmental and human rights concerns? Or is China’s engagement an extension of ‘South–South solidarity’, enabling African countries to free themselves from the multiple tyrannies of Western debt, aid conditionality, unfair trading rules and political interference?

Much existing commentary on China focuses on the vested interests of the West. Lost in the cacophony have been the voices of independent African analysts and activists. Here, they present social, cross-continental perspectives on Chinese involvement in Africa in a unique collection of essays. The articles demonstrate that although there is no single ‘African view’ about China in Africa at a continental level, the authors are united in the belief that Africans must organise their side of the story, together, in their own interests, and in the interest of social justice for all.

Firoze Manji is the director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News. Originally from Kenya, he has more than 30 years of experience in international development, health and human rights. He is a member of the editorial board of Development in Practice. Stephen Marks is a freelance researcher and writer specialising in economic development, human rights, planning, and the environment.

The other contributors include: Ali Askouri, Horace Campbell, Michelle Chan-Fishel, Moreblessings Chidaushe, John Blessing Karumbidza, Daniel Large, Anabela Lemos, Ndubisi Obiorah, Kwesi Kwaa Prah, Daniel Ribeiro and John Rocha.

Breathing Life into the African Union Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on Women’s Rights is arguably one of Africa’s most ground-breaking and progressive rights instruments for gender equality in Africa.

This book is the product of a conference jointly convened in Addis Ababa by the African Union Women, Gender and Development Directorate and Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a coalition of more than 20 gender, human rights and development NGOs. The book is published with the full endorsement and support of the African Union Women, Gender and Development Directorate.

Some examples of topics covered are: the campaign for ratification; SADC and the Protocol; NEPAD and women’s rights; HIV/AIDS: a challenge to implementation; and challenge of harmonising the Protocol with national laws.

ISBN: 978-1-904855-66-8
172pp. 2006 Fahamu & Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition
Price: £14.95 / $24.95

Also available in French with the title Vulgarisation du protocole de l’union africaine sur les droits des femmes en Afrique
ISBN: 978-1-904855-68-2

Editorials from Pambazuka News 2004
Edited by Firoze Manji & Patrick Burnett

This is a wide ranging informative compilation of essays which offer the very best advocacy for Africa - by Africans.
Glenys Kinnock MEP

Believe me, Pambazuka News has become one of the best references on African matters
Dembe Moussa Dembele, Director of the Forum for African Alternatives

2005 is the year of Africa. Trade, debt relief and aid are on the international agenda, so it is imperative that African voices are heard. This timely book provides an African perspective on development and social justice in Africa, something which rarely finds expression in the mainstream Northern media. The book is a collection of the 2004 editorials of Pambazuka News, and its 46 contributors include such distinguished African intellectuals and activists as Demba Moussa Dembele, Mahmood Mamdani, Adebayo Olukoshi, Kewsi Kwaa Prah, Brian Raftopoulos, Pierre Sané and Ernest Wamba dia Wamba.

CHAPTER 1 Africa and the Process of ‘Undevelopment’ • CHAPTER 2 Remembering Rwanda • CHAPTER 3 Joining Hands: Regional Integration in Southern Africa • CHAPTER 4 Not Yet a Force for Freedom: the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa • CHAPTER 5 Resource Exploitation in Nigeria • CHAPTER 6 Discussing the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Heart of Africa • CHAPTER 7 An ‘Unhappy Birthday’: the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Turn 60 • CHAPTER 8 The Road Home for Africa’s Refugees • CHAPTER 9 Four Years Down the Road in Zimbabwe • CHAPTER 10 Naming the Darfur Genocide • Chapter 11 Readers Letters

ISBN: 978-9-987417-35-3
307 pp. 2005, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers,Tanzania
£17.95

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