By T. D. Harper-Shipman

African governments and societies that want equitable and ecologically-sound futures should stop owning development.

When I say that African governments and societies must stop owning development, there is a double-entendre here. What does it mean to own development? By “development,” I mean the contrived economic and political processes that are unfolding across the continent and the alterations they are making in African societies and eco-systems. 

By Michael A. Gomez 

In late August 1619, some 20 Africans disembarked at Point Comfort, or what is now Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. Having been seized by the White Lion, an English privateer (flying under the Dutch flag) from the São João Bautista, a Portuguese slave ship en route to Mexico from what is now Angola, they were joined days later by a second group of Africans. The second group was taken from the same Portuguese slaver, aboard the English pirate ship the Treasurer.

Voices from the Editorial Collective

By Bill Fletcher, Jr.

It’s amazing the way that the news cycle operates. A story can emerge that has great significance. Then, poof, it vanishes. This just about summarizes a story that emerged in September in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of the Bahamas. The story is a simple one:  The Trump Administration denied Temporary Protective Status to victims of the hurricane.

By John Munro

His laughter is one place to begin. 

As anyone with the good fortune of having had a conversation with Jack O’Dell knows, humor was at times his way into political critique, at others a culmination of it.

By Bill Fletcher, Jr. 

I met Jack O’Dell and his wife Jane Power shortly after moving to Washington, D.C. in 1990. I had heard of him over the years and read several pieces by him. Particularly in light of Jack’s role with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition, I was especially interested in knowing how he, as an open leftist, chose to navigate the terrain. What I was not anticipating, when I met Jack, was that it was the beginning of a friendship that would last until his final days. 

By James Early

What is it about the racial constitution of Brazil that poor people of African descent would, under any circumstances, vote for a fascist? 

A simple direct political question of why poor Brazilians of African descent would, under any circumstances, vote for a fascist invariably leads to extended discussion, debate and opinion. Facts and reliable statistical data do not readily yield hard answers nor automatic insight.

By Jean Lesly René

During the last two months, Haiti has been embroiled in an intense period of political upheaval, pitting an increasing number of civil society’s sectors and political parties against President Jovenel Moise, the oligarchy and other ruling forces of this U.S.-dominated satellite state.

By Bill Fletcher, Jr.

By Mohammed Elnaiem 

By Udo C. Enwereuzor

Since 2014, Libya has been governed by two parallel governments – the Libyan House of Representatives based in Tobruk and supported by Gen. Haftar’s LNA and, the U.N.-backed, Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli.