The abduction by the Islamic fundamentalist Boko Haram group of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok in the north of the country and the way the Nigerian government has reacted to it has highlighted the truly corrupt nature of the regime. It has revealed its utter cynicism in the face of the real suffering of the masses. Fred Weston comments on the contradictions in Nigerian society.

We publish here an article by Musa Atiku, a Marxist in northern Nigeria, who provides an overview and an analysis of the activities and origins of Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organisation who are responsible – amongst other atrocities – for the recent abduction of 300 schoolgirls.

274 miners have been declared dead and up to a hundred are still trapped underground after an explosion in a Turkish coal mine in the western town of Soma. The accident reveals the ruthless exploitation and extreme inequality behind the economic growth of the past decade, and has led to an explosion of anger and protest across Turkey against the hated Erdogan government.