Highlights from this issue
Pambazuka News Special Issue on Debt and Africa
2005-03-10, Issue 197
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/27191
Printer friendly version
Debt is one of the central issues facing Africa and its future development. In a year when the future of Africa is being discussed at a number of international meetings and as the Commission for Africa prepares to release its final report on the continent’s development challenges, this special issue of Pambazuka News focuses attention on the issue of debt and the impact it has had on generations of Africans.
Its publication coincides with the publication this week of ‘African Voices on Development and Social Justice: Editorials from Pambazuka News 2004’, published by Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Tanzania. The book is a collection of the 2004 editorials of Pambazuka News. The book’s 46 contributors include such distinguished African intellectuals and activists as Demba Moussa Dembele, Mahmood Mamdani, Adebayo Olukoshi, Kewsi Kwaa Prah, Brian Raftopoulos, Pierre Sané and Ernest Wamba dia Wamba. We will be sending out more information about the book next week.
Patrick Burnett and Firoze Manji, Pambazuka News editors
CONTENTS:
A. Toronto, Naples, Lyon, Cologne and London: G7 leaders and the debt trip to nowhere
The rallying cry must be debt cancellation and reparations for Africa's people, states DEMBA MOUSSA DEMBELE, who calls for a World Commission on Debt, an end to conditions imposed by international financial institutions and indefinite postponement of Economic Partnership Agreements being negotiated by the EU. Development will not come from external forces but from African people themselves, he concludes.
B.On Debt, Blair and the Future of Africa
The cancellation of $20 billion dollars of Iraqi debt following the fall of Saddam Hussein shows that political will can result in a solution to the debt crisis. But will UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission on Africa rise to the challenge and take seriously the view from the ground on debt? That, writes KAYODE FAYEMI, is unlikely.
C. The era of debt write off?
EZRA LIMIRI MBOGORI makes a plea for the planet's future generations, saying they are owed a sustainable future. "For me, nothing could speak more eloquently to the need to write off the debts of all indebted countries, than the sense of responsibility that we should be feeling for the damage that has been done already." The time has come to write off all the debts, he says.
D. The Debt crisis and its effect on African women and children
Women and children are the invisible victims of the debt trap facing African countries, documents H.O. KAYA. The burden of debt repayments translates into poor healthcare and high rates of illiteracy for women while the continent's children suffer malnutrition. Debt must be cancelled and countries must be allowed to build up their local economies in order to change the situation.
E. International Women’s Day – Can we dare celebrate?
International Women's day was on March 08. CAROLINE AGENG’O charts progress in the struggle for women's rights from the 1917 food riots in Leningrad through to the hopes for gender equality on the African continent. She concludes by adding her voice to calls by Nobel Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai for debt cancellation.
F. Trade as aid?
It would be wrong to assume that the problem inherent in the in-egalitarian structures of the world economy would be solved only by debt cancellation. Fairer trade would offer the opportunity of a lasting sustainable alternative, says HENNING MELBER as he examines the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in the context of regional integration.
G. Debt: The questions and the answers
Where did the debt crisis originate? Why should it be cancelled? What is the human cost? Find out all you need to know about debt in this question and answer article compiled by PAMBAZUKA NEWS.
H. Zambia: A debt case study
After years of escalating debt levels, Structural Adjustment Programmes, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and being part of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, Zambia stands on the cusp of a possible $3.8billion debt write off - after which it will still owe billions. This PAMBAZUKA NEWS country profile takes a look at Zambia’s experience with debt.
I. A review of 'Debt Relief Initiatives and Poverty Alleviation: Lessons from Africa', edited by Munyae Mulinge And Pempelani Mufune, in the Books and Arts section.
>>>>>PAMBAZUKA NEWS TURNS 200! On March 31, Pambazuka News will release its 200th edition.
The milestone represents a journey from an e-newsletter with a few hundred subscribers to one with over 15 000 subscribers; from an e-newsletter that nobody knew about to one that is widely distributed on the African continent.
We invite subscribers to celebrate with us and send us a birthday greeting. Tell us about your experience with the newsletter and how you find it of use. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org