Special Issue: Africa and the drama of migration
21 April 2016
CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Advocacy & campaigns
Features
Many people from African countries, especially the youth, leave their homes in hope for a better life. The Global North contributes to these migration movements in various direct and indirect ways, from destroying the livelihoods of farmers and fisher (wo)men to the changing climate. Under these conditions migration is often the only way for young people to survive. Beth Ngari 
After having overcome various obstacles on their dangerous routes, migrants and refugees are confronted with bad living conditions in isolated housing facilities in Europe. Refugee women are especially affected by this, as they are double victims to both systematic racism and sexism.
 The European project of closing down the borders ensures that ever more people migrate to the North due to a lack of alternatives. The theatre director Riadh Ben Ammar is committed to the idea of freedom of movement and has created a theatre play to promote the topic. In this interview, he argues that people would not permanently stay in Europe if everyone would be able to move legally between Southern and Northern countries.
 The majority of refugees comes from war and conflict zones, illegitimate states, areas of natural disasters and economically weak countries. In many cases, companies from the West destroy people's livelihoods by acting ruthlessly. In Nigeria, the oil extraction and production has devastating consequences for the people living in the Niger Delta. But the Geneva Convention on Refugees is not effective in this case.  The current racist agitations against refugees and their homes cannot be separated from the laws which for decades have put migrants into camps and collective housing. The historical perspective on German immigration politics shows how discourses of distinctive national identities and legislative change mutually reinforce one another.
 Migration is as old as Africa itself. People have always moved in search of a better life. The economic crisis in Africa fueled by development policies imposed on the continent by the World Bank, IMF and other donors is one of the factors forcing some Africans to undertake dangerous journeys to Europe in an attempt to improve their lot.
 A passport seems like something natural and like an obvious necessity in the 21st century. A brief review of history, however, shows that this powerful piece of paper is a result of a rather recent development, that is closely related to colonialism and the emergence of nation states.
Advocacy & campaigns
 Today, 19th April 2016 is D - day for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. In this Tuesday over one hundred political parties and social movements in over forty capital cities of the world are simultaneously demonstrating in solidarity with the Bolivarian socialist revolution that is threatened by US imperialism and their counterrevolutionary puppets inside Venezuela.
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Henry Makori and Tidiane Kasse Yves Niyiragira
Editors, Pambazuka News Executive Director, Fahamu
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