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Revolt in Burkina Faso and the Challenge of Working People’s Alternative

Revolt in Burkina Faso and the Challenge of Working People’s Alternative After what seems like atrophy in mass movements in Africa, aftermath of counterrevolutionary rise in countries of the Middle East and North Africa, the working people and youth of Burkina Faso have brought the issue of mass movement and revolution back to the political agenda. The attempt of corrupt and politically bankrupt Blaise Compaore to grant himself extra term(s) in addition to his 27-year old rule could now only bring the mass discontent already bottled up, to the fore. The working people, youth and the poor could not stomach a day extension for a government that would only assure more poverty and misery for the majority. Against all odds, and throwing their fears to the sea, the mass of working people and youth stormed onto the streets, and in a sign of clear revolutionary instincts, stormed the centres of power – the parliamentary building, the seat of government, Place de la Nati...
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Where are the Libraries? Despite all the crocodile tears being shed by Nigerian ruling elites, about the abysmal reading culture and dismal education quality, the glaring fact is that they are comfortable with the current horrible situations. Nothing exemplifies this than the state of Nigerian libraries. I am not referring to various elite libraries like the presidential library, but those that should be available to the vast majority of our youth and poor Nigerians, who constitute the majority of the population. My recent experience and subsequent inquest reveal this much. I was desperately in need of some literatures, but with dearth of functional and well-stocked bookstores in Osun State and quantity of work to be done, I had to make use of public libraries within reach, hoping to get more than I would need. Based on my previous experience with the local government library in Ile-Ife town, I resolved to approach the national and state libraries in the state capital, as the...
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Revolt in the Maghreb - Introduction

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Introduction The events unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa (subsequently referred to as MENA) since December 2010 have been indeed breath taking. From Tunisia to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and in a limited but complicated situations, Syria, one autocratic regime after another was challenged by mass movements. Some of these mass uprisings were successful in ejecting dictators from the rented palaces they have used the sweat, blood and flesh of working people to forcefully (and seemingly perpetually) occupy. However, most of the movements were derailed. In places like Bahrain (despite brutal crackdowns), Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the working people, youths and the downtrodden in general challenged their dictators and corrupt rulers. The small rats of the Maghreb had hitherto assumed the statures of giants having been given magnifying mirrors by imperialism as gifts for their subservience and turning in of their peoples’ lands to imperialist fiefdoms. Th...
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