The Rebirth of the African Phoenix
Roger McKenzie, Manifesto Press, £20

ROGER MCKENZIE’s The Rebirth of the African Phoenix is a powerful antidote to the historical amnesia and systemic oppression that have long stifled Africa’s potential.

The book is more than just a text — it is a call to awakening. With unflinching clarity, McKenzie charts a path for Africa’s resurgence, drawing on the continent’s painful past and its unyielding spirit of resistance. This is not a work of wishful thinking but a compelling assertion of an inevitable reality — Africa, like the mythical phoenix, will rise from the ashes of colonial exploitation and neo-colonial subjugation.

McKenzie’s narrative is steeped in the revolutionary traditions of African icons such as Queen Nzinga, Queen Nanny, Yaa Asantewaa, and Amilcar Cabral to mention a few. Their prophecies of liberation echo throughout the book, reinforcing his central thesis — that Africa’s rebirth is not a distant dream but an unfolding certainty. The author’s unshakable optimism is contagious, even as he confronts the brutal legacies of slavery, colonialism, and economic exploitation.

One of the book’s most harrowing passages recounts the horrors of the Middle Passage, where enslaved Africans who perished were “thrown to the sea and fed to the sharks,” denied even the dignity of burial rituals. McKenzie reminds us that the Atlantic Ocean remains a vast graveyard, its depths haunted by the unresolved trauma of millions. Yet, rather than dwell in despair, he uses these historical injustices to galvanise readers, urging them to reclaim Africa’s stolen legacy.

The timing of this book is no coincidence. As global powers once again scramble for Africa’s resources — minerals critical for green energy, vast arable land, and untapped labour — McKenzie exposes the insidious mechanisms of neo-colonialism. He meticulously details how multinational corporations backed by regressive financial institutions perpetuate a cycle of extraction and debt bondage. The book’s section on odious debt is particularly damning, highlighting how post-colonial nations like Jamaica and Haiti remain trapped in economic servitude, forced to repay loans that benefited their oppressors.

South Africans will find McKenzie’s discussion of apartheid-era debt especially resonant. The racist regime’s loans, sourced from German and Swiss banks, were inherited by the democratic government in 1994 and dutifully repaid — a stark example of how colonial debts continue to strangle the continent. McKenzie revives the call for reparations, arguing that compensation is not merely a moral imperative but a quantifiable demand. He challenges the hypocrisy of a system that indemnified slave owners while offering nothing to the enslaved, and he demands the return of stolen artefacts and ancestral remains, drawing parallels to the repatriation of Sara Baartman’s remains.

The book does not shy away from contemporary injustices. McKenzie critiques the structural adjustment programmes imposed by the IMF and World Bank, which forced African nations to slash social spending in service of crippling debts. He also highlights the illicit financial flows that drain billions from the continent annually, depriving African communities of vital resources. Yet, despite these systemic barriers, McKenzie’s message is ultimately one of hope. He celebrates the resilience of African resistance, from the rebellions of enslaved people to the modern-day movements for economic and political sovereignty.

A particularly compelling chapter examines the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation whose wealth has been turned into a curse by imperialism, when it should be a blessing. McKenzie traces the devastation wrought by King Leopold II and how some Western countries and some Gulf states serve as markets for illicit minerals fuelling conflict. Yet, he also points to projects like the Inga Dam — a potential catalyst for regional electrification — as evidence of Africa’s untapped potential. Such initiatives, he argues, must be funded and controlled by Africans, free from the conditionalities of predatory international institutions.

McKenzie’s vision is unapologetically Pan-Africanist and socialist and in his hands, Marxism is turned into a powerful force of ideas for change. He calls for unity between the continent and its diaspora, emphasising that Africa’s liberation hinges on collective action. Says McKenzie: “It is vital that we build communities of resistance with working-class and peasant communities who are white, Asian or indigenous.”

The book’s closing chapters are a rallying cry for a new multilateral order, one where Africa, alongside allies in the global South and global North, challenges the hegemony of Western capitalism. As McKenzie writes: “Africans are simply going about the business of constructing a new way of doing things that breaks away from the rules set by the global minority.”

The Rebirth of the African Phoenix is not just a book — it is a manifesto for action. It demands that readers move beyond passive acknowledgment of Africa’s struggles and actively engage in its resurgence. McKenzie’s prose is accessible yet profound, blending historical analysis with urgent contemporary relevance. For Africans on the continent and in the diaspora, this book is a reminder that our liberation is interwoven, and our victory is inevitable.

As McKenzie asserts: “Africa is a phoenix rising from the ashes of the burnt-out colonial world.”

This book is a powerful spark that will add to the flames of that rebirth.

Book launch with Roger McKenzie at Marx Library and Workers School, July 12. Tickets from eventbright.co.uk  
Molly Dhlamini is an international relations, peace and security practitioner, and an activist in South Africa serving in the mass democratic movement of the country.