July 1, 2020

Action Matters

Fredson Guilengue

Six success stories of struggles for commons in Africa


In 2018, the Africa Unit of Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung initiated a period of reflection which led to the objective of producing a collection of stories inspired by the success of local groups and individuals in fighting for peoples’ access to, and control of, common goods (commons).

Our notion of “success” here is informed by local socio-economic, political, cultural, and environmental dynamics. It is this reflection that led to this publication.


Fredson Guilengue (Ed.)

Andrew Bennie
Defending the Commons – The Case of the Amadiba Victory on the ‘Right to Say No’

Ines Mahmoud
“Common Good Before Private Profit!” – A Peasant Struggle for Land in Jemna

Nadir Bouhmouch
Building Power from Below – The Movement on Road ’96 as a Horizontal, Local, and Autonomous Model

Aly Sagne
Complaint Filing at International Financial Institutions – Successes and Weaknesses in the Case of the Sendou Coal Power Plant

Richard Ntakirutimana
Twa Communities in Rwanda – Advocating against the Impact of the Volcanoes National Park

Allan Kalangi
No to Encroachment – A Long History of Resistance in the Albertine Graben