Ten books to understand Africa today

[Teacher]

Prompted by a thread in another section about how there is a lack of discussion of the situation in Africa today. This is for those interested in the historical context behind the present-day struggles occurring in Africa. I'm copying and pasting the descriptions to save time and because I haven't read all of them (some were recommended to me by comrades who know more about African history than I do).

The Dying Sahara: US Imperialism and Terror in Africa by Jeremy Keenan - In The Dark Sahara, Jeremy Keenan exposed the collusion between the U.S. and Algeria in fabricating false flag terrorism to justify the launch of a new Saharan front in Washington's War on Terror. In this new book, he reveals how the Pentagon's designation of the region as a Terror Zone has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of thousands of innocent people. Beginning in 2004, with what local people called the U.S. invasion of the Sahel, The Dying Sahara shows how repressive, authoritarian regimes, cashing in on US terrorism rents, provoked Tuareg rebellions in both Niger and Mali. Multinationals expropriated Tuareg lands for uranium and puppeteers in Washington and Algiers pulled the strings of a new, narco-trafficking Al Qaeda. Keenan's chillingly detailed research shows that the U.S. and its new combatant African command (AFRICOM), far from bringing security, peace, and development, have created a self-fulfilling prophecy of terror and instability in a region the size of western Europe.

Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation by Patrick Bond - Despite the rhetoric, the people of Sub-Saharan Africa are becoming poorer. From Tony Blair's Africa Commission, the G7 finance ministers' debt relief, the Live 8 concerts, the Make Poverty History campaign and the G8 Gleneagles promises, to the United Nations 2005 summit and the Hong Kong WTO meeting, Africa's gains have been mainly limited to public relations. The central problems remain exploitative debt and financial relationships with the North, phantom aid, unfair trade, distorted investment and the continent's brain/skills drain. Moreover, capitalism in most African countries has witnessed the emergence of excessively powerful ruling elites with incomes derived from financial-parasitical accumulation. Without overstressing the "mistakes" of such elites, this book contextualises Africa's wealth outflow within a stagnant but volatile world economy.

The Hot 'Cold War': The USSR in Southern Africa by Vladimir Shubin - This book analyses the causes of armed conflicts in Southern Africa during the Cold War. It examines the influence of the various external forces in the region during this period and their relationship to local movements and governments. The book focuses on states experiencing violent internal conflict and foreign intervention, that is Angola, Mozambique, Namibia , South Africa and Zimbabwe. The author provides an unique history of the key part that the Soviet Union played in these developments. Spanning 30 years, the book explores how each country struggled for genuine independence against colonialism and apartheid and their place in the wider conflicts encompassed by the Cold War.

[Teacher]

Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land by Joseph Hanlon - The news from Zimbabwe is usually unremittingly bleak. Perhaps no issue has aroused such ire as the land reforms in 2000, when 170,000 black farmers occupied 4,000 white farms. A decade later, with production returning to former levels, the land reform story is a contrast to the dominant media narratives of oppression and economic stagnation. Zimbabwe Takes Back it Land offers a more positive and nuanced assessment of land reform in Zimbabwe. It does not minimize the depredations of the Mugabe regime; indeed it stresses that the land reform was organized by liberation war veterans acting against President Mugabe and his cronies and their corruption. The authors show how ordinary Zimbabweans have taken charge of their destinies in creative and unacknowledged ways through their use of land holdings obtained through land reform programs. US and European sanctions are a key political issue today, and the book points out that sanctions are not just against a corrupt and dictatorial elite, but also against 170,000 ordinary farmers who now use more of the land than the white farmers they displaced.

Do Bicycles Equal Development in Mozambique? by Joseph Hanlon - s Mozambique an African success story? It has 7 percent a year growth rate and substantial foreign investment. Fifteen years after the war of destabilisation, the peace has held. Mozambique is the donors' model pupil, carefully following their prescriptions and receiving more than a billion dollars a year in aid. The number of bicycles has doubled and this is often cited as the symbol of development. In this book the authors challenge some key assumptions of both the donors and the government and ask questions such as whether there has been too much stress on the Millennium Development Goals and too little support for economic development; if it makes sense to target the poorest of the poor, or would it be better to target those who create the jobs which will employ the poor; whether there has been too much emphasis on foreign investment and too little on developing domestic capital; and if the private sector really will end poverty, or must there be a stronger role for the state in the economy?

When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda by Mahmood Mamdani - Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa.

[Teacher]

Modern Africa: A Social and Political History by Basil Davidson - Basil Davidson's famous book -- now updated in a welcome Third Edition -- reviews the social and political history of Africa in the twentieth century. It takes the reader from the colonial era through the liberation movements to independence and beyond. It faces squarely the disappointments and breakdowns that have dulled the early successes of the post-colonial era; yet, for all the sorrows and uncertainties of Africa today, Basil Davidson shows how much has been achieved since decolonization, and the mood of his new final chapter is hopeful and buoyant.

The Horn of Africa: Intra-State and Inter-State Conflicts and Security by Redie Bereketeab - The Horn of Africa, comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia, is the most conflict-ridden region in Africa. This book explores the origins and impact of these conflicts at both a intra-state and inter-state level and the insecurity they create.The contributors show how regional and international interventions have compounded pre-existing tensions and have been driven by competing national interests linked to the "war on terror" and acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia. The Horn of Africa outlines proposals for multidimensional mechanisms for conflict resolution in the region. Issues of border demarcation, democratic deficit, crises of nation and state building, and the roles of political actors and traditional authorities are all clearly analyzed.

Climate Change in Africa by Camilla Toulmin - This book outlines current thinking and evidence on climate change and the impacts such change will have on Africa. Global warming above the level of two degrees Celsius would be enormously damaging for poorer parts of the world, leading to crises with crops, livestock, water supplies and coastal areas. Within Africa, it's likely to be the continent's poorest people who are hit hardest. In this accessible and authoritative introduction to an often-overlooked aspect of the environment, Camilla Toulmin uses case studies to look at issues ranging from natural disasters to biofuels, and from conflict to the oil industry. Finally, the book addresses what future there might be for Africa in a carbon-constrained world.

The Scramble for African Oil: Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa's Natural Resources by Douglas Yates - Africa is often seen as a place to be pitied or feared as an area of instability. This book challenges these complacent assumptions, showing how our demand for oil contributes to the chronic problems plaguing the continent. Douglas A. Yates shows how the "scramble" by the great powers for African oil has fed corruption and undermined democracy. Yates documents how Africans have refused to remain passive in the face of such developments, forming movements to challenge this new attempt at domination. This book is an urgent challenge to our understanding of Africa, raising questions about the consequences of our reliance on foreign resources. It will be vital reading for all those studying development and global political economy.

[adipocere]

Thank you Teacher =) I will add:
Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe by Gerard Prunier - The Rwandan genocide sparked a horrific bloodbath that swept across sub-Saharan Africa, ultimately leading to the deaths of some four million people. In this extraordinary history of the recent wars in Central Africa, Gerard Prunier offers a gripping account of how one grisly episode laid the groundwork for a sweeping and disastrous upheaval. Prunier vividly describes the grisly aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, when some two million refugees--a third of Rwanda's population--fled to exile in Zaire in 1996. The new Rwandan regime then crossed into Zaire and attacked the refugees, slaughtering upwards of 400,000 people. The Rwandan forces then turned on Zaire's despotic President Mobutu and, with the help of a number of allied African countries, overthrew him. But as Prunier shows, the collapse of the Mobutu regime and the ascension of the corrupt and erratic Laurent-Désiré Kabila created a power vacuum that drew Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Sudan, and other African nations into an extended and chaotic war. The heart of the book documents how the whole core of the African continent became engulfed in an intractable and bloody conflict after 1998, a devastating war that only wound down following the assassination of Kabila in 2001. Prunier not only captures all this in his riveting narrative, but he also indicts the international community for its utter lack of interest in what was then the largest conflict in the world.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Looting Africa was a very informational book. I recommend it as well.

A book I've read twice now is Class Struggle and Resistance in Africa. It covers so many labor movements and the revolutionary (and repressive) political history of a dozen African countries.