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WE Charity and the white saviour complex
Lost in the palace intrigue of the WE scandal is the pernicious racial politics of the WE Charity and aspects of the wider charitable industry. Although the controversy comes at a pivotal moment in public discourse, accusations of racism within WE have been marginalized, as have discussion of the way WE gained such influence within Canadian schools, media, and politics as models of white saviourism.
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Should Canadian foreign policy be enmeshed with mining interests abroad?
Should Canadian foreign policy continue to be enmeshed with mining interests abroad? That is one of ten questions put forward in an open letter calling for a “fundamental reassessment of Canadian foreign policy” following Canada’s second consecutive defeat for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
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Trudeau’s path to a UN Security Council seat runs through Africa
Justin Trudeau understands that his path to a UN Security Council seat runs through Africa. But African countries should not fall for Justin Trudeau’s friendly rhetoric. Until Canada begins to act like a friend, rather than a neocolonial power, it doesn’t deserve the continent’s votes for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
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Trudeau government enabling corporate mining exploitation in Africa
The Trudeau government continues to defend the profits of a few wealthy owners of mining corporations who steal from Africans. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions continue to face the social and environmental impacts of resource extraction, without the supposed economic benefits mining and foreign investment are said to bring.
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Raptors president embraces bloodstained dictator
Kagame played an important role in toppling governments in Kampala in 1986, Kigali in 1994 and Kinshasa in 1997. After the latter effort Rwandan forces reinvaded the Congo, which sparked an eight-country war that left millions dead between 1998 and 2003. Over the past two decades Kagame has repeatedly invaded the Congo, which has as much as $24 trillion in mineral riches.
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A first victory for the Sudanese revolution
We wound up our article of 25th February on the Sudanese revolution with the prediction that the Arab revolution was rising once again. Now, in the space of a mere fortnight, two strongmen, one Bouteflika, and the other Omar al Bashir, the 30-year long ruthless dictator of Sudan, have been brought down. The second spell of the Arab revolution of the 21st century has begun!
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African aid can’t keep up with stolen wealth
On top of the $32 billion corporations repatriated in profits, Honest Accounts found that $68 billion was lost to illicit capital flight, mostly multinational corporations evading taxes. Their findings align with a 2015 UN Economic Commission for Africa/African Union panel that found companies are illegally moving about US $40 billion a year out of the continent.
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Returning to the Home that is No More There
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (b. 1938), a Kenyan writer, is one of the most prominent African anti-colonial authors. He lived during the British colonial rule in Kenya, and was very young when he experienced the destruction of the village in which he was born, destroyed by the British colonizers. In my written interview with Ngũgĩ, I asked him to reflect on the authentic way of an anti-colonial struggle
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The US-NATO invasion of Libya destroyed the country beyond all recognition
The UN’s Martin Kobler warned of a ‘dangerous escalation’ in Libya. That phrase sounds shopworn. It has been used so often. There is no end to the war. Like a moving kaleidoscope the fighters change sides. Their loyalties are hard to read. It is even harder to understand the suffering of the people. At NATO headquarters they still smirk about their successful war in Libya. It is a war that broke this country.
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South Africa and the Changing Possibilities for the Left
the claims that a new trade union federation will be launched in March 2017, it is appropriate to draw up a balance sheet of the labour movement in South Africa, and ask whether the optimism of many that a new Left force is going to be unleashed is justified. Or whether the possibilities for a force of revolutionary working class politics lie elsewhere.