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سرمایهداری و دگردیسی آفریقا
طی ده ها سال آینده، جنگها، بحرانهای اقتصادی، اجتماعی و سیاسی، نبردهای طبقاتی انفجارآمیز و مبارزات انقلابی ای در پیش خواهد بود که زحمتکشان آفریقا در حد بی سابقه ای در شکل دادنش نقش خواهند داشت. نویسندگان که از گینه استوایی در آفریقای مرکزی گزارش می کنند، تمرکزشان بر دگردیسی اجتماعی است و اینکه این دگردیسی در آنچا چگونه متبلور می شود و چگونه درآمد ناشی از استخراج نفت از اعماق دریا برای ساختن زیربنایی بکار می رود که افزایش بارآوری کار، پیدایش صنعت و پیشرفت بر آن متکی است. این کشور که هرگز تاکنون اینگونه به بازار جهانی کشیده نشده، شاهد آن است که هم طبقه ی سرمایه دار دارد پا به عرصه ی وجود می گذارد و هم طبقه ی کارگر. کار داوطلبان بریگادهای پزشکی کوبایی در گینه استوایی نیز مثال زنده ای از انقلاب سوسیالیستی کوبا است؛ انقلابی که بیش از پنجاه سال پیش به دست کارگران و کشاورزانی متحقق شد که به سمت کسب قدرت هدایت شدند. این رشته ها که ظاهرا ناهمخوان می نمایند- شروع دگردیسی تولید و روابط طبقاتی در گینه استوایی و خط سیر پرولتاریایی انقلاب کوبا- آینده ای را نمایان می سازند که امروز باید برایش کوشید
- GenresAfricaNonfiction
185 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
25 people want to read
About the author
Mary-Alice Waters
78 books16 followersSocialist feminist, journalist and activist in the United States.
Waters became involved in Trotskyist politics at a young age, and joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the 1960s. She became the editor of their youth paper, Young Socialist, and the national secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance.
In the early 1980s, Waters, along with Jack Barnes and others in the SWP leadership, began to reject the label of "Trotskyism" and the theory of Permanent Revolution, in favour of building links with the Cuban Communist Party and Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Today, Waters is the President of the Pathfinder Press and the editor of New International magazine. She has written a number of books on political topics.
Waters became involved in Trotskyist politics at a young age, and joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the 1960s. She became the editor of their youth paper, Young Socialist, and the national secretary of the Young Socialist Alliance.
In the early 1980s, Waters, along with Jack Barnes and others in the SWP leadership, began to reject the label of "Trotskyism" and the theory of Permanent Revolution, in favour of building links with the Cuban Communist Party and Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Today, Waters is the President of the Pathfinder Press and the editor of New International magazine. She has written a number of books on political topics.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 14, 2022
Gives a little insight into the post colonial history of Equatorial Guinea and the gradual transformation of the Central African nation into a capitalist society with a growing working class. The introductory chapters attempt to formulate the mode of societal organisation prevalent in the so called "imperliast countries" and how that is gradually encroaching into Guinea with a preclass society devoid of class conflicts. The author of that introductory chapter practically uses the Communist Manifesto as a Bible, drawing several quotes from Marx and Engels. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading the Communist Manifesto a day before picking up this book. Further chapters shower praise on the Cuban revolution and their missions in Africa, particularly in Equitorial Guinea. While I think the Cuban missions are praise worthy, I couldn't help but notice biases in the authors' analysis in favor of the socialist nation. And it may just be me but after a while, you get tired of seeing the word "imperialist" thrown about. I'm in no way fan of the dealings of the so called imperliast countries in Africa, but I've come to learn that things are never simply black or white and so appreciate a deeper analysis and constructive argumentation which isn't one-sided. In general, a good read which should help one to gain a little understanding about the economic and political situation in Equitorial Guinea at the time of writing.
November 19, 2018
The book is kind of a mixed bag: a compilation of reports by the authors about various developments in Equatorial Guinea, a travel diary kept by one of the authors, and transcripts of speeches held on a book fair (including one by Víctor Dreke who fought in the Cuban Revolution). Overall it's an interesting read, especially the parts that showcase Cuban medical internationalism. However don't expect some thorough or methodical overview of the history of capitalism in Africa as the title might suggest.
May 15, 2010
....the book "provides reliable basic information about contemporary Equatorial Guinea...that would be of much value to any reader who is not familiar with the country."
---From African Studies Quarterly, Spring 2010,
Mary‐ Alice Waters and Martin Koppel.
Capitalism and the Transformation of
Africa: Reports from Equatorial Guinea. New York: Pathfinder Press, 2009.
Excluding an Introduction and a “Reporter’s notebook,” this book is a collection
of six reports by the above authors and a speech by a diplomat (the Cuban
ambassador to Equatorial Guinea). The authors are editors of two left‐wing
magazines, New International (Waters) and Militant (Koppel). Waters is also the
founder of Pathfinder, a left‐wing publishing company; Koppel is the Spanish
language editor of the company. Both are supporters of the Cuban revolution.
The reports are based on the authors’ findings in two trips to Equatorial Guinea
in 2005 and 2008 and were originally published in Militant.
As Mary‐Alice Waters wrote in the Introduction, this book is “a spotlight
[on:] the transformation of the instruments of production and the new class
relations emerging today in Equatorial Guinea.” The book focuses on the period
from the mid‐1990s, when oil and gas were discovered in commercial quantity in
the continental shelf bordering the two main parts of the country—the
continental region (Mbini) and the island of Bioko. But it begins with a brief
historical background. This country, they report, was a Spanish colony, and
Spain’s main activity in the colony was plantation farming. Spain did not bother
to develop the country socially and in physical terms. The country became
independent in 1968 but was misruled under its first president (Macias
Nguema). In 1979, it was rescued by its current leadership, which is headed by
Obiang Nguema. Until oil and gas were discovered, it was one of Africa’s least
developed countries—a country of peasant farmers, illiterate, without modern
infrastructure, without industry, and without skilled workers. There are about
five ethnic groups in the country. One, the Fang, is predominant. Ethnicity is a
politically salient factor in the country’s affairs.
Since the discovery of oil, the authors continue, much has changed in the
country. Foreign, mainly United States, oil companies were licensed to produce
the oil. The wealth from oil is being used to develop massively infrastructure and
establish educational and health facilities. It has also attracted large numbers of
foreign experts, workers, and business people. Rather grudgingly, the authors
acknowledge that the changes wrought by oil have raised the standard of living
of the general population and given them hope of a prosperous future. They
furtherreport, however, that activities in the oil industry have widened class
differences and established new forms of domination. Concerning class
differences, the authors often draw attention to contrasts between the
neighborhoods and standards of living of staff of foreign oil and construction
companies, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, those of the majority of the
citizens of the country, as well as artisans and traders from other countries. They
blame such differences on capitalism. But they express the hope that, as the activities of capitalist companies increase the number of the world’s proletariat,
Equatorial Guinea’s workers will help to bring about a global socialist
revolution.
Aside from the activities of oil companies, the authors report extensively
on the activities of Cuban health workers in Equatorial Guinea. Under an
agreement with Cuba, about 160 Cuban health workers serve in Equatorial
Guinea’s hospitals and train its doctors in the country’s newly established
university as well as in Cuba. The Cubans are paid just a living wage. The
authors report that, unlike the oil workers, the Cubans live amidst those they
work for, and are not distinguished from them on the basis of wealth. Cuba, they
stress, is not in this country to exploit the country, but to help its people develop
their capacity to be self reliant.
We conclude by stating that this is not an academic study. It belongs to the
category of books that would be classified as journalism. It is needful to add,
though, that it is good journalism. It provides reliable basic information about
contemporary Equatorial Guinea, information that would be of much value to
any reader who is not familiar with the country. However, many readers that are
not left‐inclined would find many of the comments of the authors—comments
that downplay the contributions of capitalist firms and exaggerate those of
socialist Cuba—rather disquieting.
Okechukwu Edward Okeke, Abia State University, Nigeria.
African Studies Quarterly | Volume 11, Issues 2 & 3 | Spring 2010
http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/pdfs/v1...
---From African Studies Quarterly, Spring 2010,
Mary‐ Alice Waters and Martin Koppel.
Capitalism and the Transformation of
Africa: Reports from Equatorial Guinea. New York: Pathfinder Press, 2009.
Excluding an Introduction and a “Reporter’s notebook,” this book is a collection
of six reports by the above authors and a speech by a diplomat (the Cuban
ambassador to Equatorial Guinea). The authors are editors of two left‐wing
magazines, New International (Waters) and Militant (Koppel). Waters is also the
founder of Pathfinder, a left‐wing publishing company; Koppel is the Spanish
language editor of the company. Both are supporters of the Cuban revolution.
The reports are based on the authors’ findings in two trips to Equatorial Guinea
in 2005 and 2008 and were originally published in Militant.
As Mary‐Alice Waters wrote in the Introduction, this book is “a spotlight
[on:] the transformation of the instruments of production and the new class
relations emerging today in Equatorial Guinea.” The book focuses on the period
from the mid‐1990s, when oil and gas were discovered in commercial quantity in
the continental shelf bordering the two main parts of the country—the
continental region (Mbini) and the island of Bioko. But it begins with a brief
historical background. This country, they report, was a Spanish colony, and
Spain’s main activity in the colony was plantation farming. Spain did not bother
to develop the country socially and in physical terms. The country became
independent in 1968 but was misruled under its first president (Macias
Nguema). In 1979, it was rescued by its current leadership, which is headed by
Obiang Nguema. Until oil and gas were discovered, it was one of Africa’s least
developed countries—a country of peasant farmers, illiterate, without modern
infrastructure, without industry, and without skilled workers. There are about
five ethnic groups in the country. One, the Fang, is predominant. Ethnicity is a
politically salient factor in the country’s affairs.
Since the discovery of oil, the authors continue, much has changed in the
country. Foreign, mainly United States, oil companies were licensed to produce
the oil. The wealth from oil is being used to develop massively infrastructure and
establish educational and health facilities. It has also attracted large numbers of
foreign experts, workers, and business people. Rather grudgingly, the authors
acknowledge that the changes wrought by oil have raised the standard of living
of the general population and given them hope of a prosperous future. They
furtherreport, however, that activities in the oil industry have widened class
differences and established new forms of domination. Concerning class
differences, the authors often draw attention to contrasts between the
neighborhoods and standards of living of staff of foreign oil and construction
companies, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, those of the majority of the
citizens of the country, as well as artisans and traders from other countries. They
blame such differences on capitalism. But they express the hope that, as the activities of capitalist companies increase the number of the world’s proletariat,
Equatorial Guinea’s workers will help to bring about a global socialist
revolution.
Aside from the activities of oil companies, the authors report extensively
on the activities of Cuban health workers in Equatorial Guinea. Under an
agreement with Cuba, about 160 Cuban health workers serve in Equatorial
Guinea’s hospitals and train its doctors in the country’s newly established
university as well as in Cuba. The Cubans are paid just a living wage. The
authors report that, unlike the oil workers, the Cubans live amidst those they
work for, and are not distinguished from them on the basis of wealth. Cuba, they
stress, is not in this country to exploit the country, but to help its people develop
their capacity to be self reliant.
We conclude by stating that this is not an academic study. It belongs to the
category of books that would be classified as journalism. It is needful to add,
though, that it is good journalism. It provides reliable basic information about
contemporary Equatorial Guinea, information that would be of much value to
any reader who is not familiar with the country. However, many readers that are
not left‐inclined would find many of the comments of the authors—comments
that downplay the contributions of capitalist firms and exaggerate those of
socialist Cuba—rather disquieting.
Okechukwu Edward Okeke, Abia State University, Nigeria.
African Studies Quarterly | Volume 11, Issues 2 & 3 | Spring 2010
http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/pdfs/v1...
January 3, 2026
The authors of this book made two trips to Equatorial Guinea (the one Spanish-speaking country in Africa) at the invitation of Cuba's ambassador to that country, Víctor Dreke, who many years before had been second-in-command to Che Guevara in the Cuban attempt to bolster the Congolese forces who had supported their murdered prime minister Patrice Lumumba (see The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo and From the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution by Dreke).
Everyone who wants to understand the modern world should read Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, and The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo. But there's another side to the equation--as Marx explained--everywhere capitalism goes it creates its own gravediggers--the working class. Most of this book was written as articles for the socialist newsweekly the 'Militant,' and they attempt to capture what was happening in the country in 2005 and 2008. It's top-notch journalism.
Mary-Alice Waters writes, "We spotlight the transformation of the instruments of production and the new class relations emerging today.... We look at the working class, drawn from the four corners of the earth, that is beginning to develop--in the same measure as a bourgeoisie is being formed, together with expanding layers of traders, middlemen, and professionals."
They also went to see the volunteer work done by the more than 230 Cuban internationalists who serve as doctors, nurses, medical technicians, teachers, and more. Cuban volunteers, especially medical volunteers, can be found throughout Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia (see Red Zone: Cuba and the Battle Against Ebola in West Africa).
People interested in the transformation of Africa will also want to read Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87, and the various works of Mandela, especially Nelson Mandela Speaks: Forging a Democratic, Nonracial South Africa, his speeches as the mass movement was bringing apartheid to an end.
And as of Jan. 1, 2026, there's a new book, Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire In Africa by Víctor Dreke.
Everyone who wants to understand the modern world should read Lenin's Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, and The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo. But there's another side to the equation--as Marx explained--everywhere capitalism goes it creates its own gravediggers--the working class. Most of this book was written as articles for the socialist newsweekly the 'Militant,' and they attempt to capture what was happening in the country in 2005 and 2008. It's top-notch journalism.
Mary-Alice Waters writes, "We spotlight the transformation of the instruments of production and the new class relations emerging today.... We look at the working class, drawn from the four corners of the earth, that is beginning to develop--in the same measure as a bourgeoisie is being formed, together with expanding layers of traders, middlemen, and professionals."
They also went to see the volunteer work done by the more than 230 Cuban internationalists who serve as doctors, nurses, medical technicians, teachers, and more. Cuban volunteers, especially medical volunteers, can be found throughout Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia (see Red Zone: Cuba and the Battle Against Ebola in West Africa).
People interested in the transformation of Africa will also want to read Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87, and the various works of Mandela, especially Nelson Mandela Speaks: Forging a Democratic, Nonracial South Africa, his speeches as the mass movement was bringing apartheid to an end.
And as of Jan. 1, 2026, there's a new book, Cuba and the Independence War in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde: The Fall of the Last Colonial Empire In Africa by Víctor Dreke.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews