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Featured this week

2006-01-19

EDITORIALS: Hopes are high that a new wave of women leadership will result in real changes for the life of African women. But will it? Salma Maoulidi investigates the case of Tanzania
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Focus on Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS)
- Soenke Zehle examines the practicalities, politics and debates surrounding the emerging FLOSS movement
- Sokari Ekine says switching to FLOSS is not so much a change in software as a change in culture
- Karoline Kemp looks at the benefits of freeing yourself from the grip of Microsoft domination
LETTERS: Readers debate the new Diaspora and South Africa under Thabo Mbeki
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine reviews what African bloggers are saying about Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajedeen Abdul-Raheem wants to know if Mama Ellen can deliver liberty to Liberia?
AFRICAN UNION WATCH: Irungu Houghton on civil society engagement with the African Union
CONFLICTS & EMERGENCIES: “We will shut you down,” militants tell oil companies in the Niger Delta
HUMAN RIGHTS: How can the African Union maintain its credibility in Darfur when it holds a summit in Khartoum?
REFUGEES & FORCED MIGRATION: UNHCR granted more time to interview Sudanese refugees in aftermath of Cairo massacre
ELECTIONS & GOVERNANCE: Calls to address Ethiopian post-election crisis; the politics of space in South Africa; on the campaign trail with the Ugandan president
WOMEN & GENDER: Campaign update from the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition
DEVELOPMENT: World Social Forum kicks off in Bamako, Mali; Africa Spends US$4bn a Year On Western Expatriates
CORRUPTION: Kenya spends 800 million on luxury vehicles
HEALTH & HIV/AIDS: Lessons from an African response to the HIV/AIDS crisis
EDUCATION: Chomsky joins academic freedom row in South Africa
MEDIA & FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Libyan cyber-dissident Al Mansouri completes a year in prison
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Corporates and mainstream media gloss over Martin Luther King’s denunciation of America
INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY: Africa Open Source 11 wraps up in Uganda
FUNDRAISING & USEFUL RESOURCES: How to make the transition from fundraising to development
COURSES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS: Strategies for ratification and rights realization
PLUS…Jobs, Books and Arts

Pambazuka News to launch French edition 31 July

Press Release: 19 January 2006

2006-01-19

Pambazuka News, the newsletter and website with a focus on social justice issues in Africa, recently nominated by PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy as one of the top ten websites internationally “who are changing the world of internet and politics”, is to begin publishing of a French language version of it highly popular electronic newsletter on January 31, 2006.

“The newsletter has succeeded in creating a pan-African community, uniting people working in human rights, conflict prevention, health, social welfare, environment and social justice right across the region,” said Kenyan Director of Fahamu and Editor of Pambazuka News, Firoze Manji. “But there is a significant and unfortunate gap between those working in English-speaking and French-speaking countries, and we intend to bridge that gap through producing a French language version of Pambazuka News. ... But publishing in these languages is only the first step,” he said. “In the longer term we want to publish an Arabic edition, and then look at other African languages such as Kiswahili.”

Existing Pambazuka News subscribers are asked to:

- Inform Pambazuka News if they, as existing subscribers, would also
like to receive the French version of the newsletter by sending an email
to frencheditor@pambazuka.org with ‘subscribe French edition’ in the subject line and their full name in the body of the email.

- Inform French colleagues, networks, family and friends that they can subscribe to the upcoming French version of the newsletter by sending an email to frencheditor@pambazuka.org with ‘subscribe French edition’ in the subject line.

Watch out for more information in subsequent editions!

Click on the link to read the full press release.
Pambazuka News launches French edition
Press Release: 19 January 2006
Fahamu
www.fahamu.org

Pambazuka News, the newsletter and website with a focus on social justice issues in Africa, recently nominated by PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy as one of the top ten websites internationally “who are changing the world of internet and politics”, is to begin publishing of a French language version of it highly popular electronic newsletter on January 31, 2006.

Produced by Fahamu, Pambazuka News currently has more than18,000 subscribers and a readership estimated at 100,000 across Africa and internationally. The weekly newsletter, which is now five years old, has become the most widely known forum for debate, commentary and insightful analyses of current affairs in Africa.

“The newsletter has succeeded in creating a pan-African community, uniting people working in human rights, conflict prevention, health, social welfare, environment and social justice right across the region,” said Kenyan Director of Fahamu and Editor of Pambazuka News, Firoze Manji. “But there is a significant and unfortunate gap between those working in English-speaking and French-speaking countries, and we intend to bridge that gap through producing a French language version of Pambazuka News.”

“But publishing in these languages is only the first step,” he said. “In the longer term we want to publish an Arabic edition, and then look at other African languages such as Kiswahili.”

Early editions of the French language version of the newsletter will consist of translated commentary, analysis and snippets from the English version of the newsletter. Soon, however, staff in West Africa will be providing original French content for the French version of Pambazuka News. “It is hoped that in the future the French edition will rival its English counterpart in terms of reach and content,” said Manji.

The Pambazuka News website has also been overhauled to allow for French content to be displayed and visitors will soon be able to choose their language preference.

For further details contact:

Firoze Manji: + 44-7786-628686
Patrick Burnett: + 27 73 232 3043
Atieno Ndomo: + 254- 733 912930

[ends]

Those interested in subscribing to the French e-newsletter can do so by sending an email to editionfrancaise@pambazuka.org with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line and their full name in the body of the email. All requests for subscriptions are considered confidential and Fahamu has a strict policy of not sharing email addresses with third parties. From the beginning of February, a subscribe function will also be available from the Fahamu website.

Issued by:

Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice
www.fahamu.org

Pambazuka News website
www.pambazuka.org

Write to editor@pambazuka.org for queries.

ABOUT FAHAMU

Fahamu has a vision of the world where people organise to emancipate themselves from all forms of oppression, recognise their social responsibilities, respect each other’s differences, and realise their full potential.

Fahamu is committed to serving the needs of organisations and social movements that aspire to progressive social change and that promote and protect human rights. We believe that civil society organisations have a critical role to play in defending human rights, and that information and communications technologies can and should be harnessed for that cause. We are committed to enabling civil society organisations to use the internet to promote social justice.

Formed in 1997, Fahamu uses information and communication technologies as a tool for social change by developing supported distance learning materials for human rights and civil society organizations; innovative ways to make information and learning for change accessible; being a catalyst for critical social debate; producing social justice e-newsletters; and undertaking social policy research on Africa.

Fahamu comprises a small core of highly skilled and experienced staff based in Oxford (UK), Nairobi (Kenya) and Cape Town (South Africa). We also have an international network of Associates. Our work is also made possible through the commitment of volunteers and interns.

Pambazuka News is a project of Fahamu.

Fahamu is registered as a company limited by guarantee in the UK (4241054). Fahamu Trust is registered as a charity (1100304). Fahamu is also registered as a trust in South Africa (IT 372/01).

Fahamu’s work has been supported by the following: Article 19; Australia Aid; Commonwealth of Learning; Commonwealth Secretariat; Christian Aid; DANIDA; DFID; European Union; Ford Foundation; Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Foundation for Human Rights (South Africa); Geneva Foundation; HIVOS; International Development Research Centre, Canada; JG & VL Joffe Charitable Trust; New Field Foundation fund of the Tides Foundation; NOVIB; Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa; Oxfam GB; SIDA; Sigrid Rausing Trust; TrustAfrica; University of Oxford; University for Peace; and many individual donors.

ABOUT PAMBAZUKA NEWS

Pambazuka News means ‘awaken’ or ‘arise’ in Kiswahili. The service is published by Fahamu (www.fahamu.org) and is a weekly electronic newsletter and complementary website for social justice in Africa with a subscriber base of over 18 000. Pambazuka News is widely forwarded and reposted and it is estimated that the newsletter therefore reaches some 100,000 people on a weekly basis. This number excludes those who read the newsletter online at www.pambazuka.org or at www.allafrica.com where the newsletter appears in full each week.
Pambazuka News has:

- Supported for the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
- Produced special editions on women’s rights for broader dissemination and for lobbying at African Union meetings. One of these editions was also produced as a pamphlet and in .PDF version and entitled ‘Not Yet a Force for Freedom’. Pambazuka News acted as a platform for the news and views of the coalition campaigning for the ratification of the protocol.
- Pambazuka News has developed and hosted a petition on the Pambazuka News website in support of women’s rights. This has also involved the development of an SMS function that enables people to sign the petition by SMS and receive SMS updates about the campaign. News about the petition has been covered by VOA, BBC, Reuters, SABC, UN-IRIN and African radio and newspaper outlets in at least 20 countries.
- Supported the campaign for the Remembrance of the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in 2004 by producing a special issue that profiled the genocide through a series of ten editorials. Pambazuka News also acted as a forum for the distribution of news and information on the commemorations.
- Produced an editorial book entitled ‘African Voices for Development and Social Justice’ profiling key editorials carried in the newsletter during 2004. The book is distributed internationally through African Books Collective.

The production of a French language version of Pambazuka News has been made possible by a grant from the New Field Foundation, a fund of the Tides Foundation.

Ends

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Women leaders: Rights for all women or only ruling women?

2006-01-19

Salma Maoulidi

The recently concluded general elections and the appointment of the new cabinet have attracted mixed reviews. In particular, gender activists and progressive voices laud the unprecedented appointment of women holding key posts in the cabinet as a positive development. Hongera to all appointees! Skeptics, on their part, are crossing their fingers waiting for one faux pas to criticize the President for his audacious move.

And what do I say to all this? For those who have watched Boyz in the Hood, there is a line that I will make reference to in putting this historic feat in its proper perspective. The line is uttered by Angela Basset to Laurence Fishburn, the father of her son Trey, who unlike many black men in the projects has chosen to be involved in the upbringing of his son and wanted some recognition from his ex. She informed him that he is far from special since what he is doing is what women have done for centuries without accolade. Indeed, women have led families and communities - clothed them, fed them, educated them and cared for them with little appreciation from society or the government.

But I will be more generous and credit President Kikwete for being bold in actually being the President who had enough courage and confidence to do what his predecessors thought was unthinkable or perhaps unpalatable for the masses. And he scores highly. But more can be done. For instance, since it is not only women in public office that matter, what about the home front: Is our first lady apt to represent us? What about the wives of the other big shots in government, since this empowerment has to start at home lest the appointments are not seen as genuine but token gestures, albeit with weight.

Also, Tanzania is yet to ratify the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa when countries without a history of progressive legislation with regards to women, like Mauritania, have. The Protocol offers great opportunity for women to push for the realization of gender equality in national laws. How can we continue thus when our very own Getrude Mongella is the president of the Pan African Parliament?

Indeed, the general elections 2005 have recorded important milestones for women in Tanzania. More women stood as candidates, not just in their traditional roles as supporters. In some respects they provided a good challenge to male figures. (Hon. Mary Nagu successfully contested against the outgoing Prime Minister, Fredrick Sumaye, in Hanang constituency, such that the latter decided to gracefully withdraw his name. Hon. Daniel Yona was not so lucky and was given a run by Hon. Anne Kilango.)

It is however notable that during the race, most political parties did not give a lot of visibility to women. Only two parties had female running mates, NCCR Mageuzi and CHADEMA, the latter only after the death of his first running mate. Only one party stood as a female candidate. It was perhaps at the constituencies that women were expected to rise up, and to a certain extent their performance is not bad. In fact it could have been better if bribes and education were not the determining factor in approving candidacy. Thus in a Parliament of 319, at present there are 97 women. Of these 75 are special seats, 3 are presidential appointments and 2 are from the Zanzibar House of Representative.

It is disconcerting that of the six female ministers, only two successfully got elected into parliament by contesting in their constituencies. The rest, including long-term political figures, have not been able to secure the vote of the electorate and are elected into the government by virtue of nomination or presidential appointment. This indicates that whereas these women are renowned at national and international levels, they are yet to gain the confidence of local populations. There is thus more work to be done in raising the profile of women candidates at the local levels. Conversely it indicates how key affirmative action measures are in guaranteeing that women will get access to positions of influence otherwise closed to them on account of sexist attitudes or political naiveté.

This did, however, not spell doom as elected officials of the new parliament began the first coup by electing the first female deputy speaker in the person of Anna Makinda, a long term politician and former minister and regional commissioner. She was unopposed. Perhaps this gave the new president the confidence to outdo parliament by electing 6 women in key cabinet positions like foreign affairs, finance, constitutional affairs, education, president’s office and community development. He appointed even more deputy ministers who are women, also in key ministries. It therefore remains to be seen how the public will judge these women compared to the male personalities that have occupied the seats of power since independence.

Activists can take comfort knowing that the president went out of his way to attract a cabinet with women who have been civically engaged. Dr. Asha Rose Migiro for example is a lawyer, who has a history in the women’s movement as well as in efforts to build a strong civic culture. Ms. Sitta on the other hand is an educationalist with a long history in the Teachers’ Union as well as in teaching. The president thus scores highly in electing women who are seasoned leaders and champions of rights, which should dispel any thought that these women were purely rewarded for some favour, without taking into consideration their competence.

What is worrisome, however, is whether they can maintain their feisty spirit once in office where bureaucracy and “politics” dictate performance. We know, for example, from the Kibaki government in Kenya, that upon assuming legislative or administrative positions many activists who came from Kenyan civil society and were invited to join the government became subdued and could no longer take on the government the way they did when operating from the outside. Effectively, their appointment is an effective way to appease or neutralize them since they now are sworn to the office and “collective responsibility”, not the voters. Of course the situation in Tanzania has an added dimension of unwavering loyalty to the party and its manifesto, which is more paramount than any nationalistic fervour.

Already there are worrying signs as to how much revolution these women will muster once in office. The party manifesto is clear, as is the existing policy framework, which intends to continue the same trend of neo-liberal expansion and accumulation adopted with the economic liberalization agenda in the early nineties. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Asha Rose Migiro, has already indicated that her priority will be economic diplomacy. We can make our own conclusions as to what this means. Nonetheless, what implication will this have on socio-economic and socio-cultural rights which she has been working on and which without doubt were key issues at the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children where she last served? Also, will this compromise the rights of local producers, a key concern for women and social justice groups in the recently concluded Hong Kong Ministerial?

Hon. Zakia Meghji has been appointed to head finance. She comes from a successful spin at the Ministry of Tourism where she recorded key gains in publicizing Tanzania as an important tourist destination, encouraged ecotourism and local tourism. She is one of the senior ministers as this will be the third government she serves under. Nevertheless, there is great concern about the vices of the tourism industry and its impact on women - low wages with little labour protections, prostitution and loss of livelihood in some areas where tourist hotels have been established.. More importantly, how does this history influence budgetary allocations in the future? Certainly, gender activists would like to see more allocation to social services, especially to reproductive health, education and water.

What is my role and others like me after the jubilation in closing in on the seat of power? Often times, as activists we have not been as critical of our own when they come to positions of power. Also we have not been as helpful to them, thinking that they are better placed to help our cause and us. We do not recognize that while the positions mean these women are well connected, they may need us more than ever to provide them with vital information in key policy areas: to be their extra pair of eyes, ears and heart, so to speak. It is therefore a defining moment for all of us.

Our biggest challenge is whether we will be courageous enough to demand the same level of performance and accountability from our sisters and colleagues as we do from those who seem opposed to our doctrines. We should be brave to criticize where needed and praise where warranted. We can no longer afford to be content thinking that since she is “one of us” our business is in good hands. We also cannot afford to be silenced by a sense of loyalty to a sister, a friend, a relative, or a comrade when there are bigger issues at stake. In fact these friends depend on us to give them the reality check they need to remain sane and committed, a luxury public office does not always afford. Certainly, the experiences in South America with the left, as well as the experience in Kenya, underscore that as activists we can’t afford to drop our guard.

Importantly, we have an obligation to the citizens of our country. This is the only truth we can’t afford to loose sight of. Similarly, we have for decades, if not centuries, called for an even playing field, for similar treatment and opportunity. Slowly, our voices are being heard and the doors of leadership are creaking open. We must therefore ensure that women can indeed make a difference once in office, a difference that is seen and felt in action, in culture and in impact. Certainly, if we want more women to be considered for leadership positions in the future we have to create a positive impression all round lest we fall victims to the “See, women can’t lead” rejoinder.

* Salma Maoulidi has an LLM in Law from Georgetown Law. Affiliated to the women's national and transnational movement with a strong interest in social justice issues and development, she is currently heading a women's development network, Sahiba Sisters Foundation, that aims at building the leadership and organizational capacities of women and youth in Tanzania.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Notes on African Software Politics

2006-01-19

Soenke Zehle

Soenke Zehle traverses the virtual world of Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS), examining the practicalities, the politics and the debates surrounding an emerging movement that rivals the multinational software companies.


With a host of corporations, foundations, and organisations active in the fields of advocacy and assistance, free and open source software (FLOSS) has become a dynamic area of info-developmental cooperation. In the eminently pragmatic approach adopted by many of these efforts, the intense controversy over free vs. open source software and the extent to which advocacy should stress freedom over commercial applicability somehow seems a thing of the past. At the same time, the focus on FLOSS as an economic strategy of autonomous development within a global network of capitalism rather than a post-capitalist practice of collaborative creation recalls some of the general ambivalences at the heart of software-political struggles (1).

FOSSFA

In many African countries where computer users are not necessarily owners, important choices are often made by those in charge of establishing public ICT infrastructures. While many companies and organisations have chosen to adopt FLOSS on their own, the status of governments as the largest procurers of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) means that government action is bound to stimulate industry in various ways, including the provision of FLOSS training and support. The recently founded Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), currently headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, has therefore identified national ICT policy and procurement procedures as major advocacy targets (2). For Bildad Kagai, co-founder and one of its secretaries, the licensing, localisation, and local skill building advantages of FLOSS, coupled with ‘leapfrogging’ technologies like wireless that help skip an entire generation of expensive infrastructural investments, offer an alternative to the technological dependency and resource drain associated with an exclusive reliance on mainstream proprietary software.

Given the many problems that beset the ICT sector in Africa, FLOSS advocacy is inevitably tied to political reforms in contracting, public services, and competition policy, as well as the creation of FLOSS related employment and business opportunities. FOSSFA has created an effective advocacy coalition: Kenya’s ICT policy now gives preference to open source (and open standards) over proprietary solutions, and FOSSFA also convinced the Committee on Development Information of the Economic Commission for Africa (CODI) to adopt a policy that prioritises FLOSS.

This is no small feat, given that many African states have yet to articulate any ICT policy whatsoever, and FOSSFA is also educating policy makers across the continent about FLOSS (3). The 2004 Idlelo meeting in Cape Town, co-organised by FOSSFA and the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources Project (AVOIR) at Western Cape University, was the ‘First African Conference on the Digital Commons’ (4). Bringing some 200 FLOSS activists and developers from across the continent together with international researchers, Idlelo emphasised the need to shift from the mere adoption of FLOSS to the local development of FLOSS applications, the use of FLOSS in education, and the development of non-proprietary open content alternatives. Hoping to be able to recruit government representatives from all 53 African states, Idlelo 2 has already been scheduled for 2006 (5).

South Africa Goes Open Source

The breakdown of Idlelo participants by country reveals the uneven geography of IT development in Africa: by far the largest contingent came from South Africa, followed by Nigeria and Kenya (6). South Africa’s influence in the African FLOSS movement is related to its dominance of the African IT sector at large. But there are other reasons, one of which is the impact of projects sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth (7). Shuttleworth, a South African celebrity entrepreneur known for his space travel – Shuttleworth was the first ‘afronaut’ – as well as his philanthropic ambition, has overseen the development of Ubuntu (an already-popular linux distribution updated in regular release cycles) and his Shuttleworth Foundation has co-launched a nation wide ‘Go Open Source’ campaign (8).

But is South Africa ‘really’ Africa? FOSSFA’s Kagai notes that ICT developments in South Africa are not representative of Africa at large, and some see in the ideas of an ‘African Renaissance’ less a new Pan-Africanism than a mere culturalisation of South Africa’s own economic and geopolitical ambition (12).

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, FLOSS has not been an easy sell. One reason, suggests Ethan Zukerman, might be the overemphasis on free beer at the expense of free speech; a reference to Richard Stallmann’s famous definition of free software (15). Zukerman, a co-founder of GeekCorps – ‘an international non-profit organisation that transfers tech skills from geeks in developed nations to geeks in emerging nations’ – and initiator of ‘BlogAfrica’, believes that many African users continue to associate ‘inexpensive’ with ‘inferior’, a legacy of technology transfer and appropriate technology projects that sometimes amounted to little more than the dumping of obsolete technology (16). And in areas where non-licensed copies of proprietary software are widely available as well as a great deal of corresponding ‘street’ expertise, comparatively expensive manuals and a lack of bandwidth for accessing online support can easily increase the total cost of ownership of non-proprietary alternatives generally assumed to be ‘free’. FLOSS advocates should stress the expandability, transparency and resulting high performance of their software instead.

While a growing number of studies make an empirically based case for FLOSS in general, less is known about the experiences of FLOSS adoption across Africa (17). One such report has been published by Bridges.org, an international NGO with offices in South Africa and the US (18). FLOSS, concludes the report, has become a mainstream alternative. Yet because of the level of expertise required to establish and maintain a FLOSS based computer lab, it tends to work better in large projects that have the resources to address the practical problems of migration, training, and support, in contrast to individual labs that can simply take advantage of proprietary solutions that are already in place.

Info-Political Visions

Beyond the issue of appropriate means, how do the local politics of software relate to competing visions of what ‘info-development’ is and should be about? In the larger info-political vision that frames local decisions over software and standards, questions of autonomy are central, frequently articulated in response to the hegemonic presence of corporate software and IT giants. FLOSS advocates have criticised the most recent wave of international public private partnerships in this area, for example, because they involve only the usual transnational suspects. Microsoft, HP, and Cisco are all well represented in the activities of major development agencies, advertising themselves as ‘partners in development’ to promote ICTs as the vehicles for ‘good governance’ and ‘effective service delivery’, but also to stake out their own commercial claims, crowd out grassroots or public sector alternatives, and subvert South-South cooperation.

Take SchoolNet Namibia (19). Having to work with substantially fewer resources than the Shuttleworth Foundation, SchoolNet has nevertheless set up FLOSS-based thin client networks in over a hundred schools, launched an ISP to offer subsidised internet service, and is exploring the set up of wireless access in rural areas. Once they had found that students were a lot more likely to embrace FLOSS than their teachers, and standard advocacy tools were not doing much to change that, SchoolNet launched Hai Ti (‘Listen Up!’), a comic strip that features real life FLOSS users (20). Its contractual agreement with schools specifies that the teams who manage the local computer lab include students as well as teachers. Yet occasionally, SchoolNet finds that their FLOSS-LANs remain unmaintained while students use equipment donated by Microsoft and administered with support from MS certified engineers. Executive director Joris Komen is convinced that Microsoft has targeted Namibian schools specifically because SchoolNet Namibia has become an outspoken critic of the company and its philosophy (21).

Commenting on recent agreements between Microsoft and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Bildad Kaigai of FOSSFA agrees that such deals work to confine the software choices these agencies can make and effectively transfer wealth away from an emergent local software industry. Kagai calls on African leaders to emulate the successful development strategies of Asian countries instead (22).

Other ICT analysts note, however, that African countries will have to do so under dramatically different circumstances. Yash Tandon stresses that “most of the so-called ‘technology transfers’ ... are essentially excuses for transnational corporations (TNCs) to take over local companies, or to carve out a share of the domestic markets” (23). Rather than “stripping naked” to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from the North, Tandon also makes the case for the “creation of a home based Domestic Scientific and Technology Capacity (DSTC), including capacity to undertake relevant research and development, the actual purchase (as opposed to transfer) of appropriate technology from the open market, and a transfer of technology, preferably between South-South, only under certain conditions.”

It seems that third worldist strategies sustained by a generalised critique of neocolonialism have been replaced by the exhausting creation of advocacy networks that hold local governments just as accountable as transnational corporations (24). Yet while visions of Africa’s future have sobered significantly, the emergent dynamic of South-South cooperation still echoes a tricontinentalist spirit. Brazil’s official commitment to what its minister of culture, Gilberto Gil, has refererred to as a ‘tropicalisation’ of open source has been a major push for FLOSS advocacy in Africa (25).

An increasing “post-third wordlist” cooperation is visible in other international info-political fora as well. One example is the campaign for a “WIPO Development Agenda” and a Treaty for Access to Knowledge, supported by a broad coalition of southern governments as well as grassroots organisations (26). The World Intellectual Property Organisation is a UN agency whose current mandate is “the maintenance and further development of the respect for intellectual property throughout the world”.

In the eyes of its critics, this mandate limits WIPO to the role of an enforcer of Euro-American positions on intellectual property, supporting the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as well as at least condoning the aggressive ‘TRIPS-Plus’ bilateralism both the US and the EU have engaged in to effectively bypass the ongoing review process of key TRIPS provisions (27). The access-to-knowledge campaign puts the question of FLOSS and the struggle over open standards in a much broader context. WIPO defines creativity in relation to the prospect of proprietisation, as culture is defined as the creation of private property. The FLOSS controversy, on the other hand, is not just about reducing the cost of running a computer lab, but over the implications of its approach to “commons-based peer production” (Yochai Benkler): i.e. processes of collaborative creation and an information and knowledge commons actively enlarged in opposition to the “second enclosure” (James Boyle) associated with an ever expanding IPR regime (28).

Take the role of FLOSS developers. Rishab Ghosh, FLOSS Program Leader at the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT), stresses that licensing costs do matter, especially when GDP is taken into account (29). But another key emphasis in his studies on FLOSS in developing countries is on the skills-building in FLOSS networks. In addition to standard developer skills, open source communities address, almost by default, questions of copyright law and licensing, and introduce users to new forms of collaborative creation.

Info-Political Pragmatism

Ghosh has been a major global FLOSS advocate, and his projects specifically address the use of FLOSS outside Europe. Yet some of his economic arguments are based on the assumption that proprietary alternatives are not locally produced. What Ghosh describes as the benefits of “deep access” offered by locally developed FLOSS applications – customisation, quick bug fixing, as well as the re-use of code in other applications – is exactly how Herman Chinery-Hesse, CEO of Ghana’s successful Soft Tribe, describes his own approach (31). All of Soft’s software is based on “tropically relevant” code, Chinery-Hesse’s reference to the full spectrum of constraints he associates with local computer use: frequent savings to disk help deal with power failures and work offline lowers costs for online access. In the case of Soft’s document management software for the Ghana Human Rights Commission, storage on remote servers addresses possible interruptions caused by a change in government. And unlike Ubuntu, Soft’s applications are optimised for the low-end hardware that dominates Ghana’s offices and cybercafés.

Soft trains the majority of Ghana’s programmers, often left to their own devices in poorly equipped computer science departments. Yet Chinery-Hesse thinks that FLOSS would impede the development of a local software industry, as developers would, he worries, be reduced to installers of pre-existing applications. His main concern, however, seems to be possible tampering with the code both by users and competitors – Chinery-Hesse fears internal mismanagement and has no interest in interoperability that could threaten Soft’s pole position in the local software market. Soft rarely releases beta versions, software does not have an auto-install function, and bug fixes are not generally released. Evidence of Chinery-Hesse’s entrepreurial pragmatism, he has also entered into a cooperation agreement with Microsoft, hoping to take advantage of its global distribution channels to bring an add on from Ghana to desktops around the world.

For Guido Sohne, a former Soft employee and vocal FLOSS advocate, Soft’s deal with Microsoft is a form of technology transfer rather than a simple sell-out, prompted by the departure of some of its key developers without whom their previous portfolio of applications could no longer be maintained (32). Sohne left in part because Soft did not want to explore FLOSS-based alternatives to address this development impasse. Microsoft is there to stay, but it looks like Soft’s emergent competitors are already relying on FLOSS. So while Ghana’s developer community as a whole has not yet embraced FLOSS, this is likely to change.

In the current ‘Africanisation’ of the politics of software, the proprietary/non-proprietary divide is but one of several vectors. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise, given the hybrid dynamic of FLOSS itself. In her analyses of the cooperation between corporations and the FLOSS community, techno-feminist Yuwei Lin describes this process as “hybrid innovation”, marked as much by a sense of interdependence and mutuality as by unease over the irresolvable tension between commercial and community-oriented practices (33).

The dependence on corporate support illustrates the paradoxes of immaterial labour and suggests that common assumptions regarding the relationship between FLOSS and visions of a post-capitalist future be revisited. Often understood in terms of an anti-monopolistic practice, FLOSS is not, as such, anti-capitalist. One of the reasons for the popularity of the FLOSS paradigm is that it appears to be able to accommodate a wide range of visions of cultural, economic, and social transformation, from cyberlibertarian views of natural capitalism to the post-autonomist vision of a coming communism, actively anticipated by way of multitudinal self-organisation. Countercultural cachet notwithstanding, the high visibility of FLOSS as a mainstream alternative to proprietary software is due in large part to the support from corporations like IBM or Sun Microsystems, and the commitment to openness reverberates with an info-capitalism attempting to reinvent itself around concepts of trust and transparency.

And while the controversies over software licenses are so intense because their clauses redefine what property means in the network society, not all of FLOSS is geared toward an enlargement of the information commons. Following the popularity of user-defined license provisions like Creative Commons, Sun Microsystems has announced its own “Open Media Commons” initiative to develop FLOSS based digital rights management tools (34). FLOSS, already adopted by cost cutting governments across the world, is also easily aligned with state power – South Africa’s FLOSS and open content strategy includes, after all, the migration to FLOSS of its prison management systems (35). This makes one-size-fits-all approaches to the politics of software almost impossible, even more so in the context of African ICT controversies.

While it is too soon to say what transformative impact FLOSS efforts may already have had, examples like FOSSFA or SchoolNet show that FLOSS is not reducible to an imperial voluntarism out of sync with the “real” Africa. FLOSS‘s collaborative ethic is not a post-materialist luxury limited to those on the sunny side of the digital divide. Instead, the Africanisation of FLOSS in terms of an ‘ubuntu’ philosophy of sharing may soon connect to other collective efforts in a larger Pan-African vision of renewal. This project driven mainly from below is rarely included in the sovereign perspective of afro-pessimist prophecies accompanying the current wave of imperial nostalgia (36).

In his documentary afro@digital, Congolese director Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda retrieves the story of the Ishango Bone, the oldest known table of prime numbers, to suggest that mathematics, and by implication the network society as a whole, needs to be given a new, Afrocentric genealogy. FLOSS advocacy may not have to go that far. Yet perhaps a discussion of software politics in Africa should not begin with the question of software, but with the contradictory images of Africa that linger in the collective post-colonial imagination.

* Soenke Zehle (s.zehle AT kein.org) teaches transcultural media studies at Saarland University, Germany. This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in Mute Magazine (http://www.metamute.com). It is reproduced here with permission of the author.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

FOOTNOTES

1 For an account of free software vs open source software in terms of a struggle over discursive hegemony, see David Berry, ‘The Contestation of Code: A preliminary investigation into the discourse of the free/libre and open source movements’, Critical Discourse Studies 1.1 (April 2004), 65–89, http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/berry1.pdf

2 http://FOSSFA.net

3 Bildad Kagai and Nicolas Kimolo, ‘FOSSFA in Africa: Opening the Door to State ICT Development Agendas – A Kenya Case Study’, SSRC The Politics of Open Source Adoption (2005), http://www.ssrc.org/wiki/POSA; CODI, ‘Resolutions of the Fourth Meeting of the Committee on Development Information (CODI-IV)’, UNECA Commission on Development Information (23-28 April 2005), http://www.uneca.org/codi/codi4/codi_iv_report.pdf See the country policy tables at: http://www.bridges.org/FLOSS/index.html

4 http://avoir.uwc.ac.za/

5 http://www.FOSSFA.net/idlelo2

6 Derek Keats, ‘Idlelo: First African Conference on the Digital Commons’, Final Report to Department of Science & Technology South Africa (2004), http://www.catia.ws/Documents/Indexpage/IdleloFinalReport.pdf

7 http://www.markshuttleworth.com

8 http://www.ubuntulinux.org, http://www.go-opensource.org/

9 http://www.freedomtoaster.org/, http://www.go-opensource.org/go_open

10 http://www.edubuntu.org/, http://www.tuxlab.org.za/
A thin client is a computer (client) in client-server architecture networks which have very few resources, so it has to depend primarily on the central server for processing activities. A thin client network centralises maintenance tasks on a (remote) server

11 http://wiki.go-opensource.org/taskforce

12 For a middle of the road assessment of the African Renaissance, see Elias K. Bongmba, ‘Reflections on Thabo Mbeki’s African Renaissance’, Journal of Southern African Studies 30.2 (June 2004). For more critical views, see Neil Lazarus, ‘The South African Ideology: The Myth of Exceptionalism, the Idea of Renaissance,’ South Atlantic Quarterly 103.4 (Fall 2004), 607-28, and Neville Alexander, ‘South Africa – Example or Illusion?’ An Ordinary Country: Issues in the Transition from Apartheid to Democracy in South Africa, New York: Berghahn Books, 2003, 137-73, 188-90

13 John Perry Barlow, ‘Africa Rising,’ Wired 6.01 (1998) http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.01/barlow_pr.html

14 http://www.balancingact-africa.com/

15 Ethan Zukerman, ‘Free Beer Doesn’t Sell’, Linux Journal 111 (July 2003) http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6785

16 http://www.geekcorps.org/, http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/

17 David Wheeler, ‘Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FLOSS)? Look at the Numbers!’, (May 2005) http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html

18 Bridges.org, ‘Comparison study of Free/Open Source and Proprietary Software in an African context: implementation and policy-making to optimise community access to ICT’ (May 2005) http://www.bridges.org/software_comparison/index.html

19 http://www.schoolnet.na/

20 http://www.schoolnet.na/haiti

21 http://tatejoris.blogspot.com

22 Bildad Kagai, ‘FOSSFA responds to Microsoft-UNDP Deal’ (Feb 2004), http://FOSSFA.net

23 Yash Tandon, ‘An Alternative View on Technology’, SEATINI (Sept 2004), http://www.seatini.org/publications/factsheets/technology.htm

24 Thandika Mkandawire, ‘Good Governance: The Itinerary of an Idea’, D C Development and Cooperation 31.10 (01 Oct 2004) http://www.inwent.org/E Z/content/archive-eng/10-2004/tribune_art1.html

25 Rebecca Wanjiku, ‘Brazil opens its arms to Africa’, Highway Africa News Agency (05 April 2005) http://www.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za/hana/textviewer.asp?item_id=339

26 http://www.cptech.org/a2k/, http://www.eff.org/IP/WIPO/dev_agenda/, http://www.access2knowledge.org/cs/

27 Peter Drahos and John Brathwaite, ‘Who Owns the Knowledge Economy? Political Organising Behind TRIPS’, Corner House Briefings (Sept 2004), http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/briefing/32trips.pdf, also see http://www.bilaterals.org/

28 Yochai Benkler, ‘Coase’s Penguin, or Linux and the Nature of the Firm’ (2002) http://www.benkler.org/CoasesPenguin.html; James Boyle, ‘A Politics of Intellectual Property: Environmentalism For the Net?’ (1997) http://www.law.duke.edu/boylesite/intprop.htm

29 Rishab Ghosh, ‘Free/Libre/Open Source Software for developing countries: skills, employment and costs’, 2nd National Congress on Software Libre, Buenos Aires, Argentina (07 June 2005), http://www.flossproject.org/papers.htm

30 http://www.eriders.net

31 G. Pascal Zachary, ‘The African Hacker,’ IEEE Spectrum Online (Aug 2005), http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/aug05/0805ahac.html

32 My assessment of Soft is based on an email exchange with Guido Sohne (Sept 2005). Also see http://sohne.net

33 Yuwei Lin, ‘Hybrid Innovation: How Does the Collaboration Between the FLOSS Community and Corporations Happen?’ Knowledge, Technology and Policy 18.2 (Summer 2005), http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/lin4_hybrid.pdf

34 http://www.openmediacommons.org/ As the history of commons-based resource management systems shows, ‘commons’ doesn’t necessarily imply the free-for-all often associated with it, and it is not necessarily obvious – a point made frequently by advocates of indigenous and traditional knowledge databases, for example – that ‘commons’ and ‘access restrictions’ are mutually exclusive; what emerges instead are ‘hybridised’ commons that take the information needs of specific communities into account.

35 http://wiki.go-opensource.org/taskforce/CorrectProj

36 Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, London: Free Press, 2005; Seumas Milne, ‘Britain: imperial nostalgia’, Le Monde Diplomatique (May 2005). Also see Chris Landsberg and Shaun Mckay, ‘Engaging the new Pan-Africanism’, Centre for Policy Studies (Sept 2005) http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001537/CSO-Guide_pan-africanism_2005.pdf

Reviewing the state of open source in Africa

2006-01-19

Sokari Ekine

Sokari Ekine points out that moving to open source requires not just a change in software solutions but a change in the culture of NGOs to more cooperative and sharing organisations. Ekine believes that issues of expertise and support will be overcome as take up of FLOSS increases and concludes by reviewing some innovative open source projects on the African continent.


Back in June 2005 KnowProse picked up on a paper by Gabriella Coleman, "The Politics of Open Source Adoption, NGOs in the Developing World". Briefly the paper discusses the initial take up of FLOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and some of the problems NGOs have encountered and continue to have with the transition from proprietary software to FLOSS.

The paper states that: “These challenges are usually magnified in the developing world, where institutional resources and society-wide IT infrastructures are inconsistently available or scarce. Adoption is further are hampered in countries (including nearly all developing countries) where the private sector in open source technologies is underdeveloped.”

Coleman goes on to say that the private sector in FLOSS technologies is essential to providing the necessary local tech support that would put FLOSS solutions on a level terrain with commercial players such as Microsoft. KnowProse adds that:

“There is still a culture within NGOs where they are simply used to buying things with project money. Some open source support costs money through maintenance, but this is a different culture for many - whereas, Microsoft and other proprietary software entities advertise and lobby actively, while offering discounts. The open source advocates have not displayed this ability, and it's unlikely that we will in the future simply because we don't have the budget of a small country.”

I would add to this that NGOs and individuals are often wary when offered something for "free" or when asked to change from traditional software solutions to FLOSS. Moving to FLOSS requires not just a change in software solutions but a change in the culture of NGOs to more cooperative and sharing organisations.

One advantage proprietary software has over FLOSS in Africa is the availability of pirated proprietary software which at the moment still has the advantage of local knowledge and expertise. As Coleman points out:

“The existence of a thriving black market in pirated (proprietary) software, for example, often supports local IT expertise trained in that software - typically in industry standards such as Microsoft software. Some NGOs keep their operating costs down by using pirated software and drawing on these support networks. FLOSS technologies and secondary support networks have generally not overcome this illicit network and its lock-in effects in many countries.”

This brings me to a recent statement reported in Timbuktu Chronicles in which a Nigerian representative for Microsoft said: "Africa has no need for Free Open Source Software." Gerald Ilukwe, the general manager of Microsoft Nigeria, said that cost is not important, even though he admitted that the average annual salary in the West African country is only $160 (£91). "It's easy to focus on cost and say how much is a product, but at the end of the day it's the total impact that's important. You can give people free software or computers, but they won't have the expertise to use it."

Microsoft do have a point here but I believe that the issue of expertise and support will be overcome as take up of FLOSS increases. In other words it is not a given fact that FLOSS will continue to lack support. As the blog Timbuktu Chronicles points out this opens up Microsoft's intentions in Africa which as I see it is to prevent as much as possible the development and use of FLOSS on the continent. One could even ask whether Bill Gates' altruism towards Africa in the form of some £200 million dollars for R&D into Malaria has any link to their ambitions in the African market, which is worth a lot more than $200 million.

So what is the present state of FLOSS in Africa?

WazobiaSoft (Timbuktu Chronicles) is a Nigerian open source software translation project which aims to make software available in Nigeria's three main languages - Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. They choose to use Open Source:

"because it is free and probably the only way people will be able to use software legally at little or no cost".

Wazobia - which is derived from the words for 'come' in the three languages, wa, zo and bia - believe that:

“Wazobia.org is helping in the modernization of core languages in Nigeria. Although, English is the official language in Nigeria, however, we believe that by having local language translation in computing, we will encourage and stimulate growth in Computer literacy. Also, it will be easier for people to become computer literate when the barrier of having to learn English is removed particularly for the people whose primary form of communication is not English.”

OpenCafe (Digital Africa) is a community based computer center that uses and promotes the use of open source with an internet cafe, training, art online project and the Software Freedom Day, both part of their Pan African project which aims to:

"…keep in touch via the Net with bloggers, artists, and Linux users from all over Africa (we also work with people outside the continent.) So we thought it's time for creating an online section dedicated to African FLOSS users, artists and bloggers and everyone else interested in our projects."

Shuttleworth Foundation is a South African based organisation who have identified "improved education" as the major challenge for South Africa and:

“…endeavours to support projects that seek to pilot more effective ways of using existing resources more efficiently in education.”

The Foundation also has an Open Source project which aims to unite the SA open source community and again promote the tak eup of Open Source Software by facilitating, supporting and funding "initiatives on a corporate, private and government level that lead to the awareness, uptake and growth of open source in South Africa."

Their projects include the Freedom Toaster - which enables users to freely burn open source software as they require. Go Open Source aims to encourage the use of open source software amongst non-specialist IT users. Tuxlab Programme for schools, establishes open source computer centers in schools. Translate.org, is a translation project to produce multilingual software for South Africa.

LinuxChix Africa is a project established by a group of African women to promote and highlight the use of FLOSS. They have joined with Kasi Open Source Software (KFLOSS):

“…to develop GNU/Linux and Open Source Software development and technical skills in South African townships. The long term strategy is to replicate this model to rural areas and villages. And of course, Linuxchix Africa will then develop similar parallel programmes throughout Africa.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Software alternatives: The benefits of Free and Open Source Software

2006-01-19

Karoline Kemp

So you’re thinking of going open source? Karoline Kemp looks at the benefits of freeing yourself from the grip of Microsoft domination, touching on issues of cost, accessibility and participation, but also cautioning that issues of infrastructure and compatibility need to be taken into account. The article ends with a listing of useful resources related to open source.


Free and open source software is not a new concept or tool, but is only beginning to gain in popularity. This too is the case in Africa, where, by its very nature, it is beneficial for organisations working with few resources. By way of a brief introduction to Free and open source software (FLOSS), a definition may be useful. Wikipedia defines FLOSS as “computer software and the availability of its source code as open source under an open source license to study, change, and improve its design.” FLOSS has over the years become an area of increased interest, not least because, as University of California FLOSS expert Steve Weber has stated: “Software determines how information is manipulated, where it flows, to whom, and for what reasons.”

That said, FLOSS’s growing popularity can be put down to a number of reasons. These can be identified as the following:

- Reduced costs and less dependency on imported technology and skills;
- Affordable software for individuals, enterprise and government;
- Universal access through mass software rollout without costly licensing implications;
- Access to government data without barrier of proprietary software and data formats;
- Ability to customise software to local languages and cultures;
- Lowered barriers to entry for software businesses;
- Participation in global network of software development;
- Supplier independence;
- Patches or updates become available quicker, which limits breakdowns and security risks.

A further examination of these benefits reveals the following.

Free and open source software is free in the sense that its code is free, and can thus be changed and manipulated. The difference between FLOSS and proprietary software is that there are no restrictions coming from patents, copyrights, licensing fees, etc. Because the code for FLOSS is free, it can be run for any purpose and further, can be studied, adapted, improved and then redistributed. It may not necessarily be free monetarily, but is often much cheaper than proprietary software.

The potentials for FLOSS to NGOs to become autonomous from corporate providers are also notable. Not only does this address economic issues, but it also gives the freedom of self-reliance. This means that NGOs using FLOSS can reduce their dependence on external technology providers. They also own what they have developed, thus building on capacity development. If a community owns their resources – understands how it works, adapts it for their specific purposes and takes pride in the fact that they have reclaimed something that was once not a part of their own infrastructure, then capacity is built.

FLOSS also has a political role to play. Not only does it offer a commercial alternative to Microsoft domination, but it also puts software into the hands of people, making it a freely available public good. This increases the choices available to users and means that software can meet a diversity of needs.

One of the primary advantages of FLOSS is its capacity to be customized and localized.
FLOSS can be used by anyone, but can be advantageous to NGOs in a number of ways. Groups can run and operate computers with FLOSS that have been programmed to meet their specific needs and preferences. The possibilities for software customisation are unlimited.

Free and open source software can also be localized to meet local demands, including the use of local languages. This aspect has huge potential, as it makes accessibility to information and communications technology widespread. This involves writing software so that words appear in a different target language.

Governments are often the heaviest consumers of information and communication technologies in developing countries, thus their participation is paramount to the success of any open source initiative. Historically, research and development of ICTs have responded mainly to global market incentives. Because developing countries do not usually have the resources to invest in these sorts of schemes, they have often been left behind. FLOSS introduces the potential to close this digital divide, and this is one area where the government has a crucial role to play. In addition, both governments and non-governmental organisations in the developed world alike are increasingly becoming computer enabled, which means that they will favour interaction with countries in the developing world that are similarly enabled and can interact effectively with their information and management systems. FLOSS also has the potential to save governments large amounts of money, as well as make them less dependent on the developed world in general terms of technological and skills transfer. Long term cost savings may also occur as a result of reducing reliance on single sources and suppliers.

The development of FLOSS also represents a means for skills development and knowledge transfer. Local personnel can be trained in the field – organisations benefit, jobs are created and African programmers thus have the opportunity to participate in a global market. This potential also creates prospects for further involvement in creating and strengthening the traditional ICT field of a country - business opportunities are thus created.

There do exist certain problems with FLOSS in Africa. The primary pitfall of FLOSS is that it needs, from the outset, someone with enough IT knowledge to implement the software. Having the actual resources – computers and some initial software also pose challenges, as does the ability to pay IT staff. Having the appropriate infrastructure to support all of this is also a problem, but not one confined to FLOSS users. What is unique, however, is the problem of compatibility with other operating systems as well as hardware. Having to adapt software to make it fit with other operating systems poses a big challenge. Being able to find existing FLOSS is also difficult, as it is generally not advertised. Upon finding the appropriate software it is often accompanied by documentation that is not user friendly.

* Karoline Kemp is a Commonwealth of Learning Young Professional Intern assigned to Fahamu.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Sources/Further Reading:

Alternative Routes in the Digital World: Free and open source software in Africa. Victor van Reijswoud and Corrado Topi
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/reijswoudtopi.pdf

Open Software & Open Standards in South Africa: A Critical Issue for Addressing the Digital Divide. National Advisory Council on Innovation (Open Software Working Group)
http://www.dst.gov.za/reports/discussion_docs/NACI%20opensource%20discussion%20doc.pdf

Open source software in Developing Economies. Steven Weber
http://www.ssrc.org/programs/itic/publications/ITST_materials/webernote2.pdf

Open source software: Perspectives for Development. Paul Dravis
http://www.infodev.org/files/837_file_Open_Source_Software.pdf

Straight from the Source: Perspectives from the African Free and Free and open source software Movement. bridges.org in collaboration with the Tactical Technology Collective
http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource/essay

The Politics of Open Source Adoption, NGO's in the Developing World. Gabriella Coleman
http://www.tacticaltech.org/SSRC_Report

Further links and reading:

NGO in a Box
http://ngoinabox.org/
(Offers peer reviewed and selected OSS tailored to the needs of NGOs)

Martus - http://www.martus.org/
(Offers software that allows users to document human rights abuses, upload them and store them on redundant servers around the world)

Nigerian Open Source Project
http://www.wazobiasoft.org/
(A Nigerian Open Source Project that aims to make software available in the three main Nigerian languages)

Ubuntu Linux
http://www.ubuntulinux.org
(OSS project based on the belief that OSS should be available free of charge, software tools should be useable in their own language and that people should be able to alter it)

Tactical Tech Conference http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource2
Conference in Uganda in Free and Open Source Software in local communities. It is an eight day conference aimed at building the technical skills of those working with African NGOs

Open Source Africa
http://www.opensourceafrica.org
(Aims to bridge the information divide by raising awareness about the benefits (and pitfalls) of open source software on the ground in Africa.)

Open NGO
http://www.openngo.org/
(Builds OSS for non-profit, NGO and social sectors)

Freedom Toaster
http://www.freedomtoaster.org.za/
(Provides free OSS downloads across South Africa)

NonProfit Open Source Initiative
http://www.nosi.net
Informal group of non-profit sector tech providers interested in the way OSS could benefit their work

Source Forge
http://sourceforge.net/
Largest OSS website, hosting OS code and applications

Open Knowledge Network
http://www.openknowledge.net/
Among other things, OKN uses OSS for the creation, display and exchange of locally relevant information)

Linux Chix Africa
http://www.africalinuxchix.org/
(Linux training of trainers in South African Townships)

Resources:

Free and Open Source Software in Africa - http://www.FLOSSfa.net
(Promotes the use of OSS in Africa and partners with the Health, Education, and Government Departments to meet ICT objectives in Africa)

Shuttleworth Foundation
http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/
(Supports education and social development through technology, including OSS)

Opensource Initative
http://www.opensource.org/
(Non-profit corporation dedicated to managing and promoting OSS for the good of the community)

Association for Progressive Communications
http://www.apc.org/english/index.shtml
(International network of CSOs dedicated to supporting social justice through the strategic use of technology, including the internet)

Tectonic - http://www.tectonic.co.za/
(Source for African OSS news)

Can Mama Ellen deliver liberty to Liberia?

2006-01-19

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in this week as President of Liberia. Tajudeen Abdul Raheem wishes her well in what promises to be a stormy voyage, and raises questions about some of the problems that might crop up over the next four years. Will her reign mean better times for all women or only for ruling women? Will she be able to unlearn all her IMF/World Bank doctrines and put social change at the forefront of her agenda?


On Monday 15 January 2006, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as President of the Republic of Liberia, Africa's oldest modern republican state, founded by freed slaves largely from the USA in 1847. The search for liberty took them to Liberia, but the reality for the majority of the peoples of the country for most of the 160 years of its existence has been anything but freedom.

The Americo-Liberians, newly arrived from slave plantations in America, over the years established similar exploitative systems over the indigenous peoples of Liberia. The last three decades of Liberia is more widely known for its gruesome rulers, but the previous periods should not be excused their own gruesomeness that created the basis for the post 1980 dictatorships that we are so grimly aware of.

Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf's election and assumption of office is rightly celebrated both for its historical significance and symbolic resonance for the continuing struggle for democracy and fullest participation of African women in the affairs of this continent. Her election has lifted the spirits of all those who believe in gender equality and full recognition for Africa's majority, who are women. It is also another slap in the face of all those Afro pessimists, both African and non Africans who profit from bad mouthing Africa and seeing only doomsday scenarios and catastrophies coming out of Africa.

As we enjoy these positive feelings we should also sober up to the enormous challenges that Johnson-Sirleaf is going to face. How many of those heads of state, prominent politicians, assorted state officials from across the world who were there to shine in the glow of celebrations will still be there for her in a few months time? Would those regional and international leaders who obviously preferred her candidature now be willing to travel the long journey ahead? She will sooner rather than later discover that she needs more than election war chest pledges to realize the hopes and ambitions of millions of war ravaged and traumatised Liberians who will be expecting her to be the "mama fix it' of their misruled and abused country.

Her inauguration speech was uplifting, understandably emotional but also highly measured in a way as not to raise too many hopes. She is too much of a seasoned politician and has a long and varied experience as a banker, donor dispenser and NGO activist at national and international levels to be that extravagant with her promises.

But her cautious disposition will not stop millions of Liberian women and men from looking up to “Mama Ellen” to fix all the various challenges that have confronted them. She is also not coming in with a clean pair of hands, having been part of a previous regime and collaborated with other regimes - including that of the pariah of the moment, disgraced and indicted former dictator, Charles Taylor.

While many may see her as a saviour, others will be suspicious and say “wait and see”. In a continent that has seen too many false prophets before it is not an unreasonable attitude. Many of the sit tight leaders we are moaning about today were once promised messiahs and heroes!

Some of the issues that were raised during the campaigns that may have contributed to her winning the run off against “The Footballer”, George Weah, may actually come back to haunt her. One, the fact of being a woman was an empowering position to be in an election in which women really mattered, not as victims of the wars but also as agents of change through the transformations that sometimes come with dislocations brought about by prolonged conflicts. Old barriers break down and sometimes oppressed groups break out and kick up the ceiling. But would Mama Ellen be able to deliver to the Women of Liberia?

She has been approvingly called “The Iron Lady” comparing her to Britain's former hardline right wing Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. I am not sure if many British women and men who were victims of Thatcher's “greed is good” politics will welcome her African reincarnation. If she is past tense in London why should she be a new currency in Monrovia? Would this mean prosperity for poor women beyond gender symbolism? Or is it more likely to be better times for ruling women?

Two, her Harvard University education versus the “Street University” background of her main challenger portrayed the battle as one between the educated against the so called illiterate. It is a battle that resonates across Africa. When it comes to the right to vote we do not have any qualifications but when it comes to being voted for we demand “minimum” qualifications. Does that mean that so called illiterates have no other right than to be voting for those who are educated? In the case of Liberia, Johnson-Sirleaf and her generation of politicians share the responsibility for the mass illiteracy in the country. How can they turn around and condemn the generations they denied the right to education to and look down on them as unworthy? It is very strange that George Weah was cleared to contest the election despite being an illiterate. If he was cleared to stand surely he must have passed some “education threshold”. Or was he cleared with the hope that he would not win? If we do not have a policy of free and compulsory education up to a certain level for all our citizens it is very discriminatory and a violation of their rights to insist that they must possess certain qualifications in order to be voted for.

Another undemocratic side of this illiteracy debate is the shameful fact that the business of government is conducted in many of our countries in languages that the majority of the people do not understand, thereby mystifying the process of governance. When we say someone is an illiterate, in what language are we stating this? I wonder how many of our so-called educated elite will pass an elementary test in their mother tongues?

Three, a lot was made of her experience as a World Bank staffer and UN bureaucrat. This is very odd given the fact that many countries on this continent were destroyed by following the prescriptions of the Washington twin vultures of the IMF/WB through successive failed experiments with the lives of our peoples through SAPs and the current Neo-liberal policies. In Johnson-Sirleaf we are being asked to trust the judgment of a former employee of these same institutions. She cannot solve the problems of Liberia by acting like some bank clerk or repeating the neo-liberal mantra of her former employers or the globalisation fantasies of her friend, George Soros.

Liberia needs an effective, responsible and responsive state that will protect and defend its peoples, create jobs and empower people to transform their lives. It does not need a state that hands off social and economic development, trusting the ghosts of an unfree market. She has to unlearn all her IMF/World Bank doctrines if she wants to succeed as a change agent rather merely acting as an agent of the Bank and the Fund. As for her UN background I have only one question: Is Africa now effectively a UN mandate territory that previous experience of the UN is now required for aspirations of public office? Well, she needs to look no further than her friend next door, Alhaji Tejan Kabah of Sierra-Leone, to ask if working in the UN and acting as UN mandate governor guarantees development or even a free flow of foreign investment and donor funds. No amount of foreign support can be a substituted for the efforts of your own people.

Four, Johnson-Sirleaf has promised to wage war against corruption. She needs to tread carefully here and be serious. She should learn from the credibility gap surrounding similar efforts by her biggest regional patron, Olushegun Obasanjo of Nigeria. One way she can make a difference is not by insisting asset declaration but also liability declaration. Politicians should declare how much they owe those who funded their campaigns and how they propose to pay them back.

Finally, Johnson-Sirleaf has also made one of those rash promises that many Africans have become disdainfully familiar with. She has reportedly promised to serve only one term. I hope she will break the mould by actually honoring that pledge, whether it was made verbally, in public or in private. Out of the many heads of state she will be meeting at her first AU summit in Khartoum there is no high level of redemption of past similar promises.

Congratulations Mama Ellen, it is not going to be easy, but if you do not abandon the people they won’t abandon you too. I wish you well.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.

Darfur and Rwanda: Not Just Our Imaginations

2006-01-19

Pervenia P. Brown

No one can deny the striking similarities of the Zalingei and Mornay refugee camps in Sudan compared to Kibeho’s refugee camp at the time of the Rwandan genocide.

Everyday, newspaper articles advertise “fresh violence” in Sudan as if it were fresh produce or fresh coffee. Everyday, precious lives are being lost in Darfur while the media practices verbal gymnastics, trying to find the most animated way to describe the violence in Darfur, while Arab militiamen known as the Janjaweed (men on horseback carrying G3 guns) daily emulate the Rwandan genocide. The question is, “What are we going to do about it?” Ceasefire agreements have been broken, humanitarian efforts have been blocked, refugees returning to their villages have been shot and killed, the death toll is 50,000, at minimum; yet Geneva’s United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman, Peter Kessler, “can’t tell if people are being led into a trap.”

It is a shame that we have so horrific an example before us – the Rwandan Genocide – yet we are avoiding the obvious solution to the problem in Darfur. Neither the United Nations nor the United States has deployed military troops to Darfur, Sudan .

The United Nation’s reluctance to use force, however, is, in fact, inviting more violence and atrocities to the region. If the Janjaweed know that the UN does not plan to intervene militarily until “things [get] much worse,” (in accordance with Article 41 of the Security Council’s 30 July Resolution), the Janjaweed can intermittently curb the violence in Darfur just enough to prevent UN intervention. Moreover, since there are no military troops in Darfur humanitarian aid has been severely stifled. Some Darfuris believe that the restriction of humanitarian aid is a ploy by the Janjaweed and the Sudanese government to exterminate Darfuris through “forced starvation”. As a result, the death toll has climbed.

Subsequently, the high death toll in Darfur is a direct result of the lack of military intervention. If UN troops had been deployed to Darfur more than a year ago when the ethnic cleansing began, chances are the death toll would be significantly lower than the estimated 50,000 today. Even more Darfuris are being killed as they leave the Zalingei and Mornay refugee camps to return home to their villages. In spite of the fact that Rwandans were similarly killed as they journeyed home from the Kibeho refugee camp, the UN has yet to intervene militarily.

In the same way commissioner general for humanitarian affairs, Sulaf Din Salih, is encouraging Darfuris to leave the Zalingei and Mornay refugee camps and return home to their villages, the interhamwe in Rwanda urged internally displaced persons at the Kibeho refugee camp in 1995 to return to their homes. Like Rwandans, Darfuris attempting to return home in Sudan are being senselessly and brutally murdered in the same way Tutsis were killed by génocidaires a decade ago in Rwanda.

After Rwanda, we cannot feign ignorance. If there is no military intervention in Darfur, we know how the story will end; someone will author another “genocide” book entitled “Re-Imagining Sudan,” assessing the mass deaths and the effects of ethnic cleansing in Sudan on surviving Darfuris. Let’s do our part to stop the ethnic cleansing in Darfur so we won’t have to re-imagine Sudan.

Open letter to Thabo Mbeki

2006-01-17

Susie Clark

Dear Thabo Mbeki,

In your message to the South African people this week introducing the ANC’s local government manifesto you spoke about many vital issues that are close to our hearts and urgently in need of the government’s attention. You spoke of halving unemployment and poverty, of speeding up service delivery and increasing local government efficiency and accountably. All admirable aims, but where is your plan for addressing a health crisis that threatens to wipe out millions of South Africans?

You speak of your commitment to realizing “the goal of a better life for all” and to ensuring that “all South Africans are fully able to enjoy the full dignity of freedom” without once acknowledging the reality that by 2014 many millions of South Africans may not be around to enjoy a better life or the benefits of democracy because they will have died of treatable AIDS-related illnesses.

AIDS is already taking a devastating toll in lives in this country and yet in the entire manifesto, HIV/AIDs makes one cameo appearance, featuring third in a list of diseases that government promises “fewer people will be victims of” in the coming decade. That is simply not enough when six and a half million South Africans are infected with HIV, more than any other country in the world, and the majority of them don’t even know it.

How much longer do the South African people have to wait before you make fighting this epidemic a priority for your government that features in every manifesto you issue and in regular public statements? This level of commitment and openness has had proven impacts in countries like Botswana, Uganda and Kenya, often in more resource-poor settings than South Africa.

According to the latest UN AIDS Epidemic Update, the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS remains perhaps the most difficult obstacle to effective HIV prevention. Instead of attempting to reduce stigma by speaking openly and frequently about AIDS or taking the step of publicly testing and so setting an example to those who look to you for leadership on this issue, you have more than likely contributed to stigma by remaining resolutely silent on the topic.

This manifesto is yet another missed opportunity to put HIV and AIDS at the top of your agenda and uppermost in the minds of the people you are asking to assist you in building “a better life for all.” So far, people have responded to this epidemic to the extent that they are able to. Grandmothers are using their pensions to care for their orphaned grandchildren; village and township women with only the most basic health training are providing door-to-door home-based care to AIDS patients for little or no salary; and community-based organizations depend on private donations to feed and care for people sickened by the virus.

But there is only so much people can do considering that in most cases they lack the training, resources, life-saving medications and financial support that only the government can provide.

If you really want to honour and uphold your much touted “People’s Contract,” why not begin with acknowledging the scale of the HIV/AIDS crisis and then truly working in partnership with the people to address it.

Thanks to Pambazuka News

2006-01-18

Bryan Haddon

I would like to thank you for a fine job - in difficult times. As all of us grow increasingly concerned about the more and more desperate situation that so many fellow Africans are facing, it is immensely helpful to have such a valuable source of information, and it keeps up our spirits to see and be linked with so many people who are struggling fiercely to turn things around. Thanks to the Pambazuka team.

The new diaspora

2006-01-18

Cheryl Sanchez

I have completed reading the essay about the relationship between African Americans and the new arrivals from Africa. The geographical divide between Europe and Africa is not that far but the relationship between the Diaspora Africans and mainland Africans in London and Europe is the same. I would use the word contentious.

There are lots of anxieties expressed whenever two Africans from different groups marry. There are many harsh words and insults exchanged between and among Africans. Some of the unfounded opinions mentioned can be heard over here as well. The communication problems are getting worse. There is cooperation as well but, there is more insults, in-fighting and discrimination between and among Africans.

As SAP, IMF and WB programmes viciously squeeze the life- blood out of the Africa continent, new arrivals are becomming more and more desperate. When the majority of unskilled, manual workers and unemployed arrive here, they want their economic needs met first. Then, they look for people from their own country and then they form an exclusive church or clubs, which excludes other Africans. They practice a virulent brand of discrimination.

I have gone to clubs in London where only Ivorian or Congolese music is played. The myths, misinformation and ignorance run riot amongst the various communities. Unity is frowned upon. Open and frank discussions are ignored. When you people meeting here to compete for the lowest paying jobs in this declining capitalist island, you have a recipe for more in-fighting.

There is widespread evidence of disrespect especially when Africans talk to other Africans. Africans from the mainland tend to look down on the Caribbean born ones. The communication skills are quite poor. Illiteracy rates are high among Africans born in Britain/Jamaica. We as a people do not read, ask questions, explore other ideas, countries. Most Africans only know their country and London. I work with families so I suspect I have the most up to date information. The homes are always full of electronic/stylish furniture and other latest fads. However, the bookshelves are empty except for the revered King James Version. The parenting skills are better suited for the 16th century society. There is no realistic understanding of how capitalism works and no knowledge about colonial history. There are children born here who cannot string proper sentences in grammatically correct English. Some of our people are often very defensive and offended when they are challenged about destructive habits.

The author needs to come here and see London. It is not different to Washintgon DC, New York and the other cities in the USA. The most pleasant conversations I have had is with Africans from the continent who have read or have traveled around other African countries who do not live in a noisy church and who are curious enough to ask questions. So, all is not lost! We live in hope.

The new diaspora (2)

2006-01-18

Jean Y. Owensby

Sunshine and light to you all and wishes for a brilliant 2006! A very interesting article, indeed. But my personal belief, as someone who has both personal and professional ties with continental Africans from East, West and South of the Motherland, is that no further publicizing of our self-segregation is necessary.

There were at least four different race terms used in the article, i.e. Black, African American, African Africans, new Diaspora Africans...whew! Let's not continue to serve the self-interest of the economic powers that be, including the IMF, WB, NATO, etc. They have already wildly succeeded in this area. The Berlin Conference and the historical patterns of "divide and conquer" are still largely responsible for the tensions, myths and misperceptions between continental and Diaspora Africans.

Mother Africa, the birthplace of civilization, renders us all as simply AFRICANS. We have a shared rich history, culture, birthplace and geography that cannot be denied. As Malcolm X said, we are not defined by our place of birth, we are defined by our ancestry. If I was born in Japan, China or Italy, truly I would have the same beautiful brown skin, heavy hair and body type. If I were to identify myself as "Japanese" because I was born there, the Japanese person would ask, then who are your parents?

The new diaspora (3)

2006-01-17

Nicky Robertson

Interesting article - especially as I was formerly a foreign student in the US and I became aware of the pressure put on African students by the African American students not to associate with white students like myself.

I notice you say 'Tanzanian born and American raised, Msia Kibona Clark is half Tanzanian and half African American'. Having talked about bi-cultural children I find the use of 'half' highlights differences and implies inadequacies. I believe it is time we stop referring to people's culture or identity as 'half' of anything. I feel strongly about this as my children are both Ethiopian and British and I hope that by both parents having told them this since birth, they feel they are complete people, who have the right to identify fully with both countries and both cultures if they chose to do so. Msia may be familiar with the term 'nusu-nusu' ('half-half') that is used in Swahili for mixed race children. We need new expressions to foster positive attitudes toward self and others in our multi-cultural world!

Child Soldiers in Africa

2006-01-18

Alcinda Honwana

http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14183.html

Young people have been at the forefront of political conflict in many parts of the world, even when it has turned violent. In some conflicts, for a variety of reasons, including coercion, poverty, or the seductive nature of violence, young children become killers before they are able to grasp the complexities of morality. Yet it has been only in the past ten years that this component of warfare has captured the attention of the world. Images of boys carrying guns and ammunition are now commonplace as they flash across television screens and appear on the front pages of newspapers. Less often, but equally disturbingly, stories of girls pressed into the service of militias surface in the media.

Poetry and Protest

A Dennis Brutus Reader

2006-01-18

http://cbsd.com/detail.aspx?Inventory=18018

This vital original collection of interviews, poetry, and essays of the much-loved anti-apartheid leader is the first book of its kind to bring together the full, forceful range of his work. Brutus, imprisoned along with Nelson Mandela, is known worldwide for his unparalleled eloquence as an opponent of the apartheid South African regime. Since its fall, he has been a voice for justice and humanity, speaking and writing extensively on issues of debt, poverty, war, racism, and neoliberalism.

The Trial and Other Stories

2006-01-18

Ifeoma Okoye

http://www.africanbookscollective.com/

A collection of nine short stories, from Ifeoma Okoye, an established academic and writer of fiction, who won the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, Africa Region, in 1999. The title story tells the tale of Anayo, a grief-stricken and pregnant widow, who stands accused by her jealous brother-in-law, Ezeji, of poisoning her husband. Anayo faces a dehumanising and humiliating trial under the clan's traditional laws. An educated women, she stands firm and achieves some concessions, but can do little in the face of entrenched discrimination.

African blogs praise Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

2006-01-18

Sokari Ekine

http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

The inauguration of Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been the focus of a number of African bloggers this week.

Jewels in the Jungle - Jewels in the Jungle (http://jewelsnthejungle.blogspot.com/2006/01/liberia-ellen-johnson-sirleaf-sworn-in.html) writes that he was deeply moved by the inauguration ceremony. He makes a link between the inauguration and the celebration in the US of Martin Luther King, which took place on the same day.

“It was also not lost on me that January 15th is our (USA) national holiday for remembrance of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. According to the Reverend Samuel Sumo Payne, a Liberian immigrant to the United States who will be participating in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration activities this year in Ohio, Dr. King’s impact on social justice and civil rights reverberated far beyond the shores of the United States.”
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Jewels comments that President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is determined, like Dr King, “to heal a nation and move forward and build bridges between former combatants and victims of the brutal conflict”. Although I appreciate what Jewels is saying here, I do think the linkage with Martin Luther King is somewhat tenuous. The Liberian President, for all her qualities which I sincerely admire, has not been involved in a protracted civil rights or liberation struggle. We are all very excited about having a woman leader in Africa and have high expectations. Nonetheless I believe we should wait and see how she proceeds and deals with these issues before likening her to Dr King or other liberationist struggles.

Fire Angel - Fire Angel (http://fireangel2007.blogspot.com/2006/01/africas-first-elected-female-leader.html) writes on how excited she was:

“When I first heard about it, I jumped up and down like a little school-girl…At the same time I'm trying not to turn my excitement into wishful thinking, because Sister Ellen has one heck of a job in front of her. Besides having the enormous task of bringing Liberia ‘back to life’, she ultimately represents the African woman and her role in today’s African society.”

Black Looks -Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2006/01/ellen_johnsonsi.html) looks at the impact on African women of Mrs Sirleaf-Johnson’s Presidency. She writes:

“We should not underestimate the significance of this Presidency to all African women. The only event that comes close was the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Wangari Maathai. Just as the Nobel Prize was for Kenya and for Africa, so too is the election of Johnson-Sirleaf for Liberia and Africa. It is not just Liberia's future at stake. The stability of the whole region very much depends on the success of Liberia.”

Continuing with the subject of women in government, Mental Acrobatics - Mental Acrobatics (http://www.mentalacrobatics.com/think/archives/2006/Jan/.php) writes on the appointment of two women by the newly elected Tanzanian President to two of the most important ministries -

Zakia Meghji, the Minister of Finance, and Asha-Rose Migiro, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

However it is not all good.

“Of the 29 ministers and 31 deputies in his new Government, only five women were appointed cabinet ministers while 10 others were made assistant ministers. That is better than Kenya. Kibaki’s government has 34 ministers and 49 assistants. Only two women are ministers, Martha Karua of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Charity Ngilu of Health and five women are assistant ministers. This is a drop from pre-referendum levels.”

On a completely different note, Africa Unchained - Africa Unchained (http://africaunchained.blogspot.com/2006/01/what-am-i-doing-here.html) points to an article by Stella Orakwue, “Not in Black or White” who calls on Africans to return home.

"What are Africans doing in Europe? Can someone tell me, please? I was brought here as a four-year-old child. If you are reading this and you are an African in Europe, I ask you this: Why are you here? Why did you come? Why did you stay? What are you doing?”

With considerable bitterness she goes on to say:

“I know everything I need to know about Europe: everything that 40 years of hard-won knowledge can bestow about European cultures, English people, British attitudes. And I know this: Europeans do not deserve Africans. We’re too good for them. But hear this, get this: Without us they would be unable, incapable, of running their own countries! How’s that for you. We work, they play. But they treat us like we are nothing, nobodies, dirt. And now they want to destroy our minds so that we can continue to ‘work’ for them like 21st century plantation slaves. Were we ever supposed to live among them?”

Chippla’s Weblog - Chippla's Weblog (http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/01/welcome-to-france-egalit-myth.html) also focuses on Europe, this time the myth of Egalité France. He refers to an article in the Washington Post:

“…that calls into question the fabulous concept of egalité in modern France. Yes, egalité does exist but to enjoy its fruits you must be lily white. A golden, brown or dark brown skin is enough to shut you off from certain jobs especially in the service industry. Having the requisite skills is simply not sufficient, one must also have the right skin colour.”

He concludes that racism in Europe is no less than the US and may in fact be worse.

Finally African Bullets and Honey - AFrican Bullets and Honey (http://bulletsandhoney.blogspot.com/2006/01/ex-africa-semper-aliquid-novi-buy.html) comments on the latest “save an African from poverty” scheme. This one is advertised at Lastminute.com under their “Feel Good Gifts” section called Farm Africa. Here you can “Buy a sheep, a goat or some chickens”.

“So you’re not Gordon Brown and you can’t cancel the debt of the Third World. But with lastminute.com and Farm Friends you have the chance to do something amazing, just by buying a gift for a friend (or even for yourself). You can choose a sheep, a goat or a brood of chickens. Of course, they won't be delivered to you or the person you're buying the gift for. Instead, they'll get a really cute model of the chosen animal, while Farm Africa will give the real animal to a poor African farmer, who is struggling to feed his family. Just a few pounds buys the greatest gift of all - a happier, healthier future. A goat, for example, provides milk to fight-off malnutrition and any excess can be sold to pay for medicine or schoolbooks.”

Bullets & Honey comments: “Imagine how good you will feel when you add a good deed to your vacation. Not only will you be helping a worthy cause like poor African farmers or abandoned kitties, but your lucky recipient will receive a gift pack with information about the charity and a unique gift to open on their special day.”

You could of course change the name from “Farm Africa” to “Do good and be guilt free”!

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: African Union, NEPAD and African CSO engagement

2006-01-19

Irungu Houghton

African Union heads of state and government meet in Khartoum, Sudan, from 23-24 January for the sixth ordinary session of the continental body. Human rights groups have protested against the decision to hold the summit in Khartoum, due to the continuing conflict in the Darfur region of the country. For the latest news, information and statements coming out of the summit, visit http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/ In the article below, Irungu Houghton tackles the subject of civil society engagement with the African Union, noting that as 2007 nears a series of important events offer the opportunity to “get things right”. He concludes that: “With the completion of the AU Strategic Plan, 2007 marks the first major review moment for understanding the progress towards the union. The year is also very powerfully symbolic in that it also marks the year in which the World Social Forum will take place in Nairobi, Kenya. It will also mark the advent of celebrations towards the 50th anniversary of Ghanaian and Guinean independence and 200 years since the abolition of slavery. Within this context, we cannot but remained inspired that Africa can, and must move to new heights of relationships between its states and its peoples before 2007.”


“We continue to interact with civil society groups at various levels. On a generic level, a civil society desk has been established at the NEPAD Secretariat with a view to having a one-stop focal point for civil society. At a sector level, all programmes are being implemented in consultation with relevant civil society groups. However, it must be noted that the level and extent of civil society participation in the implementation of NEPAD programmes is largely dependent on the capacity of civil society groups.” - Prof. W.L Nkuhlu, Former Chief Executive, The New Partnership for Africa’s Development, June 2005

"The Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) must be against authoritarian regimes, hostile external efforts and the negative waves of globalization ...You should be by the side of those who suffer injustice and are deprived of their basic human rights." - H.E. Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairman, African Union Commission at launch of ECOSOCC, March 2005.

“Many colleagues in the NGO sector have cited instances when they have been asked if they would facilitate an interface between civil society and some public institution – at first because the institution wanted to look good in the eyes of some donor or other. More recently though, it appears that creative leaders are starting to recognize the value that comes from engaging broadly and seeking wide participation of all stakeholders.” - Ezra Mbogori, in Landsberg C. & Mckay C, Engaging the new Pan-Africanism: Strategies for Civil Society Paper

The establishment of the key facilitating structures for CSO and parliamentary participation within the African Union and NEPAD over 2005 come mid-way in the African Union Strategic Plan (2004-2007). Experience so far, suggests that the vision of a people driven Pan Africanism is yet to be translated into sustainable relationships in practice. The experience so far suggests that partnership between African CSOs and continental institutions would be more mutually respectful if they were re-designed around principles of solidarity, inclusion and autonomy. Until then, partnership will remain stuck at a very minimal level of the more comprehensive project of building a pan African consciousness and citizenship in Africa.

With the completion of the AU Strategic Plan, 2007 marks the first major review moment for understanding the progress towards the union. The year is also very powerfully symbolic in that it also marks the year in which the World Social Forum will take place in Nairobi, Kenya. It will also mark the advent of celebrations towards the 50th anniversary of Ghanaian and Guinean independence and 100 years since the abolition of slavery.

Making the links with Continental Citizenship, Public Accountability and Governance

Theories of citizenship often draw from the relationship between citizens and their rights and responsibilities and states and their duties and obligations on the other. Good governance is built on the understanding that the state is accountable to the public for the stewardship of public resources, public services and the upholding of the rights of its citizens (2). This model is only partially true for the path that the AU, NEPAD and even the RECs have embarked upon. In the absence of a basic state infrastruct