There is a lot of news about Africa that simply does not make it into the mainstream papers. For example, President Bush has just met with leaders of three African nations in the last week. He met with the president of Angola — this, just days after rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed; he met with the President of Botswana; and he met with the President of Mozambique.

Then there is South Africa. Thabo Mbeki came to New York at the beginning of February for the World Economic Forum. He was not out there protesting; he was inside, marketing his “New Project for Africa’s Development” (Nepad). The project garnered widespread corporate applause during the WEF, and will soon be the subject of similar attention at the upcoming G-8 meeting in Canada. It is Mbeki’s solution to what he, and others in his government, have described as “global apartheid.” But is Mbeki, along with other leading South Africans, really seeking to break the chains of global apartheid–or merely to shine them? Today, we speak with author and activist, Patrick Bond, about globalization, poverty, and the struggle for economic justice in South Africa. He has just completed a book called Against Global Apartheid.

Guest:

• Patrick Bond, Alternative Information and Development Centre in Johannesburg. He is also an associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Public and Development Management.