Quote of the day

This isn't the sort of thing society grows out of. It's the sort of thing that society grows into

Clay Shirky for Felix Cohen

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africa & democracy

From Angola to Somalia, Rwanda to Zimbabwe, conflict and poverty scar Africa. But Africans everywhere are investing huge energies in search of democratic change and social betterment. openDemocracy writers examine the new worlds of an old continent.

South Africa's shifting attitude towards Zimbabwe may have decisive effects in both countries
Rwanda’s people, refusing to be trapped in or defined by the 1994 genocide, write a new chapter in their history
People are losing their fear and voting for change even in Robert Mugabe's political strongholds
The systemic realities of political violence in Kenya underpin the post-election crisis 
Zimbabwe's president turns 84 with a lavish party in his starving country. Wilf Mbanga, former friend turned exiled editor of "The Zimbabwean", writes to him (archive)
A month of fear has left tens of thousands of Kenyans displaced
Kenyan citizens living out their country's crisis offer insight into how boundaries of ethnicity, clan and class can be overcome
The key to post-election crisis in Kenya lies in the role of the post-colonial state
The political tragedy in Kenya makes the "Zuma tsunami" look good
The post-election violence in Kenya exposes its ethno-political divisions
How far were the pogroms prefigured by Kenya’s political elite long before the first ballot was cast?
It is only by listening to those most affected, that we can bring about real change in tackling HIV/Aids
Listen to Takyiwaa Manuh on her work to empower women in Ghana plus: tackling domestic violence in Africa
Faustina Fynn Nyame talks about returning to her native Ghana to campaign for womens' right to safe abortion.  Plus: blogging 16 days
All roads in Sudan's nightmare lead to Khartoum
“Mosques have never been so full, nor hearts so empty”. In war’s painful aftermath, Algerians are seeking new accommodations between religion and politics
Aid made the G8 headlines, but it is a sideshow alongside the real-world anti-poverty measures people in Africa need
The global discourse on Africa is stuck in a comfort-zone that ignores the agency of Africans themselves
The G8 summit leaders should use the presence of a Nigerian president elected by fraud to advance the interests of his country's people
As the 2007 G8 summit approaches, Patricia Daniel sees Angela Merkel at the top and asks, how do women best influence the political agenda - from inside, from outside or through the worldwide web? Read the rest of this post...
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