Horace Campbell

China in Africa: challenging US global hegemony

Abstract In the first decade of the 21st century China has been able to enter political, military and commercial deals with countries of the asean community, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the countries and observers in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (sco). In November 2006 China sealed this circle with a strategic partnership with Africa at a major feast of leaders celebrating the friendship and co-operation between the two. The emergence of China as a force in Africa complicated the tussle between the EU and the USA over the ‘who controls Africa’. The new relations between Africa and China could be described in the words of Gramsci, as, ‘the old is dying yet the new is yet to be born’. Chinese relations with Africa combine elements of the old (extraction of raw materials), yet the experience of transformation in China ensures that there are many positive and negative lessons to be learnt. What is new is the prospect for the consolidation of African independence and the challenge to the hegemony of the dollar and US imperialism. I argue in this paper that, in the short term, one of Chinas most important roles will be to break the disarticulation between the financial and productive sectors of the economy and to stem the outflow of capital from Africa. In the long run the experience of linking new ideas of science and technology to a home grown path of reconstruction can be an important lesson for Africa. State-to-state relations are usually opportunistic and it is for this reason that transnational civil society linkages between the Chinese and African people will be more important than relations between leaders.

The Military Defeat of the South Africans in Angola

Ten years after United Nations Resolution 435 laid the basis for an independent Namibia, the South Africans agreed to withdraw from the territory they still occupied in defiance of international opinion. In a ceremony at U.N. headquarters in New York on December 22, 1988, an agreement was signed by Angola, Cuba, and South Africa, with the United States ostensibly acting as mediator. This accord was a major step toward self-determination for the peoples of Southern Africa, for it finally gave the United Nations Transitional Group the go-ahead to implement steps for the withdrawal of South African troops from Namibia and the return of refugees, elections, and independence to the former Portuguese colony. This historic agreement came not because of the tenacious negotiating of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester Crocker, but because of the decisive military defeat of the South African forces at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Culture-centric pre-emptive counterinsurgency and US Africa Command: assessing the role of the US social sciences in US military engagements in Africa

The twenty-first century has seen a continued evolution of the US military’s strategic interest in socio-cultural knowledge of (potential) adversaries for counterinsurgency strategies. This paper explores the implications of the reinvigorated and expanding (post-9/11) relationship between social science research and US military strategy, assessing the implications of US Africa Command strategies for preventive counterinsurgency. Preventative counterinsurgency measures are ‘Phase Zero’ or ‘contingency’ operations that seek to prevent possible outcomes, namely threats to ‘security’ in Africa. The research initiatives of US Africa Command illustrate a culture-centric approach to this strategy, which seeks to draw from detailed socio-cultural knowledge in the prevention of possible populist or popular uprisings. Recent such uprisings, resistance actions and strikes in the continent illustrate a problematic tendency to interpret various forms of populist resistance as ‘terrorist’ actions, thereby condoning the bolstering of African national military capacity. The article considers the implications of these culture-centric counterinsurgency strategies as a means of anticipating and repressing the variety of mobilisations encapsulated within the ‘terrorism’ catchall. We conclude by urging social scientists to reject and disconnect from US Africa Command’s missions and knowledge acquisition efforts in Africa.

The Black Radical Congress and Black Feminist Organizing

During the last five hundred years humanity has witnessed its own true capacities for boundless genius and inhumane ruthlessness, for visionary innovation and short-sighted self-destruction, for oppression and survival, for tradition and change, for loving and hating with passionate and violent certainty. Today, at the height of our technical sophistication, material accumulation, and rhetorical tolerance, we cannot ignore the enormous injustices that exist for the multitudes generally, and for our communities specifically . . .

The Pan-African Experience: From the Organization of African Unity to the African Union

Faced with pressures from below and the wave of new energies from the African peoples, the Executive Council of the African Union in May 2013 declared an ambitious agenda for a people-centered Union to achieve the agenda of full unity by 2063. From the outset, the Pan-African Movement has articulated this goal of the full unification of Africa and the emancipation of African peoples in all parts of the world. This chapter is one more effort to grasp the Pan-African experiences from the Organization of African Unity to the African Union. In this contribution, by Pan-African experience we mean the process of getting knowledge or skill from doing, seeing, or feeling things associated with the emancipation of Africa. In this case, the getting of knowledge and skill came from the differing Pan-African activities that were undertaken to advance the cause of freedom. The chapter traces the evolution of the global idea of Pan-Africanism and its political and ideological manifestations over the historic period since the transatlantic slave trade. The Conclusion calls on scholars and students of Pan-Africanism to break from the traditional and worn-out assumptions of African reconstruction and embrace the spirit of Ubuntu, which is the new paradigm for Pan-Africanism emanating from victories of a revitalized people.

A Response to Austerity Measures Requires Audacity Not Timidity

The current capitalist system has had a devastating impact on working people across the globe. The crisis in the Eurozone has been clear with the massive cuts in social services all over Europe, especially in Greece, Spain, and Portugal. These cuts have been enacted under the banner of austerity in order to restore the economic health of these societies. The United States has hovered between the draconian austerity in Europe and the new assertiveness of the working peoples and their representatives. For a short moment, the neo-conservatives wanted to roll back the rights of workers and diminish the rights to collective bargaining. These struggles came to a head in the 2012 elections when the people voted decisively against the candidate of the one percent. In the wake of the massive statement of the electorate, the scare of the debt ceiling is being used to enact strict austerity measures in the United States. The article stresses the need for progressive people to organize to oppose militarization, defend livelihoods and social security protection, and chart the path towards alternatives. This organization will demand a level of literacy on the role of the dollar in the international political system and the need for new relations to bring about a multipolar world devoid of military or economic hegemons. The article will argue that austerity has already been enacted on the oppressed workers, especially the black and brown workers and that a new awareness of the nature of the capitalist system is necessary at this conjuncture.

Reconstruction and reparations: Lessons from China and the Pan-African world

Abstract This article addresses the role of the university and institutions of higher learning in carrying out the mandate of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), held in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The active contribution of the university is anticipated in Article 98 of the Programme of Action published in the Report of the World Conference (2001), which clearly states: We emphasize the importance and necessity of teaching about the facts and truth of the history of humankind from antiquity to the recent past, as well as of teaching about the facts and truth of the history, causes, nature and consequences of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, with a view to achieving a comprehensive and objective cognizance of the tragedies of the past. The documents leading up to the WCAR and the final conference declaration set forth a concrete framework for combating racism. Central to this framework was the declaration that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity and that reparations were needed. It is the contention here that the reparations movement is central to peace and reconstruction in the 21st century. The article draws lessons from the peace and justice movement in an effort to analyse the ways in which the work in the university can support peace and reconstruction in all parts of the world. Within the Pan-African world the reparations movement is very wide, ranging from those who seek monetary compensation to those who view reparations and social justice as central platforms for healing humanity. The current rapid expansion of Sino-African relations offers new perspectives and opportunities for universities to help steer these relations toward principles that will promote peace and true reconstruction.

Remilitarisation of African societies: Analysis of the planning behind proposed US Africa Command

ABSTRACT This article explores the conjuncture that gave rise to the rush by the United States of America to establish a unified military command in Africa. It provides an historical recall of the past role played by the US military in Africa, then moves to the current context, analysing the discourse on terrorism that has become the justification for increased military intervention and partnership with some leaders in Africa of suspect democratic credentials. The author challenges the attempt by the US government to (re)present itself as a force for peace, calls on the African Union to fulfill its commitment to peace on the continent, and urges a new global solidarity among all peace activists.

Ethics and the Enterprise of Studying Africa

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, ed. The Study of Africa in the 21st Century. Volume 1: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Encounters. Volume 2: Global and Transnational Engagements. CODESRIA Book Series. Dakar: CODESRIA, 2006. Distributed in the U.S. by Michigan State University Press. Vol. 1: x + 483 pp. Tables. References. Notes on Contributors. Index.

Tanzania and the IMF: The Dynamics of Liberalization

49.95. Paper. Vol. 2: x + 409 pp. Tables. References. Notes on Contributors. Index.