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Demand release of Zimbabwean activists

PASSOP

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/56104

We demand the immediate release of all Zimbabwean activists. On 5 May 2009 Zimbabwean courts ordered the detention of 17 previously released Zimbabwean civil society and opposition activists, including Jestina Mukoko, Concilia Chinanzvavana, Chris Dhlamini and Ghandi Mudzingwa. The safety of these detainees is of grave concern, particularly given their public exposure of the torture, humiliation and violent assault they faced when they were first abducted. It must be recognised that they are in danger and that these actions place their lives under serious threat.

On 4 May, the South African government promised Zimbabwean nationals a 90-day visitor’s permit and the lifting of visa restrictions on crossing the South African border. We have concerns about its distribution and some of the details of the arrangement, but this recent decision seems to be a positive development. However if Zimbabwe continues to violate human rights in such a manner, South Africa is only dealing with the symptoms of the problems created by mass migration. The Zimbabwean government must face consequences; action must be taken by South Africa against the Mugabe regime. The new parliament of South Africa can no longer be seen to be standing by Zanu PF.

A protest was held outside Parliament (Plein Street, Cape Town) on Wednesday 6 May at 1pm, during the opening of Parliament. The protest makes the point that Zimbabwean nationals entering South Africa are not exclusively economic migrants, but are also refugees who are unable to return to their home country for fear of doing so.

We encourage media to cover this story.

For comment or information contact:
PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty): Barbara/Braam, + 27 21(0)832561140
Zim Solidarity Forum: Sipho Theys, + 27 21(0)825000811
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition: Elinor Sisulu, +27 21(0)844024931

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Global: Will Obama keep promise to Black farmers?

2009-05-08

http://www.colorofchange.org/farmers/?id=1842-429864

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a long and ugly history of discrimination against Black people. The Department’s new Secretary, Tom Vilsack, recently said “Some folks refer to USDA as the last plantation.” Across the South, White local and regional USDA managers routinely denied Black farmers critical farm loans and disaster assistance—aid that was easily granted to White farmers. This federal assistance often meant the difference between a thriving, economically viable farm and foreclosure.

Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror - By Mahmood Mamdani

Public Meeting announcement

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/56197

Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, politics and the war on terror
Written by Mahmood Mamdani - Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University, New York

Saviors and Survivors is the first account of the Darfur crisis to consider recent events in the context of Sudan’s history. It is a devastating critique of the powerful Western lobby’s calls for a military response in the name of ‘humanitarian intervention’.

When: Tuesday 2 June 2009, 7.30 pm
Where: TOWN HALL, St Aldates, Oxford

Further details from
Pambazuka News, 51 Cornmarket Street Oxford OX1 3HA
01865-727006 info@pambazuka.org Fahamu Trust is a registered charity: 1100304
Oxford Transitional Justice Research
http://www.csls.ox.ac.uk/otjr.php

PAMBAZUKA NEWS - African Forum for Social Justice
http://www.pambazuka.org

Special offer

Saviors and Survivors will be available for sale at a special discounted rate

All are welcome

Riven with divisions: Kenya’s singular tragedy

Kwamchetsi Makokha

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/56114

cc Humanitarian CoalitionDisillusionment with the failure of the 2008 peace deal is the only point of consensus in Kenya, writes Kwamchetsi Makokha, with Kenyans using their shared sense of despondency to hide their frustrations with the decision to force two ideologically parallel political systems to work together for five years. Outlining the demise of the country’s institutions from the judiciary to parliament, Makokha argues that ‘unless the international community forcefully reengages with Kenya and progressive civil society finds a way to engage the middle class to reflect more on their role in rescuing the country, the future looks bleak’. While those who wish to ‘provide leadership face innumerable risks and palpable threats’, the absence of individuals with ‘unquestionable moral authority in the public sphere… feeds the despondency that has come to characterise Kenya’, Makokha concludes.

A bubble of blame is rising in Kenya and quickly becoming the currency of public political discourse, but it only belies the decay of a modern state that for a long time held much promise as the exceptional African example.

Public criticism and condemnation for politicians is rising to a chorus. Disillusionment with the failure to achieve many of the goals set out in the internationally mediated peace deal in early 2008 is the easiest and perhaps only point of consensus in the country. It has given rise to an oft-expressed despondency that now circumscribes the public mood.

This criticism is, however, only politically correct: It is generalised in nature and designed to deliver wholesale condemnation of the entire political leadership as selfish and useless in response to some desire for political neutrality. In truth, it camouflages a nation’s loss of faith in itself as well as the deep-seated divisions that rent the country less than 18 months ago and drove it to the brink of civil war. Like members of a support group, Kenyans use their shared despondency to hide their frustrations with the decision to force two ideologically parallel political systems to work together for five years.

The power-sharing deal that ended the political crisis in Kenya enabled the Party of National Unity’s Mr Mwai Kibaki to remain president, while accommodating the Orange Democratic Movement’s Mr Raila Odinga as prime minister. The two parties shared cabinet portfolios on an equal basis, but many other power centres remained intact. As that reality has sunk in, the popularity of the coalition government has plummeted from 89 per cent, according to a 2008 Gallup poll, to an abysmal 24 per cent this year, because of its ineffectiveness and lack of cohesion.

Implied in the agreement was that the stop-gap arrangement would be a transitional mechanism for delivering reforms the Kenyan public had been hankering for but which had been deferred for more than a decade, perhaps a generation.

The 2007 elections, though overloaded with the expectations of a whole generation, also presented an opportunity for entrenched conservative interests to protect the privileges they have always enjoyed.

A year before the elections, the African Peer Review Mechanism Report on Kenya, while scoring the country highly on development, identified six critical issues that were likely to plunge it into crisis. These included failure to conclude an overhaul of the constitution, the need to reform institutions such as parliament and the judiciary, addressing youth unemployment, poverty and regional as well as gender-based inequity, tackling grand corruption and intractable land issues.

The hurried and flawed deal has made disagreement a defining characteristic of the coalition government – the grouse revolves around the sharing of power and responsibility.

Unspoken in the public despondency is the truth that the political coalition was the last hope for a country that had cannibalised almost all its institutions of governance and destroyed its people’s faith in themselves.

Since the 1980s, Kenyans have been checking off institutions as soon as they let them down. First off was confidence in individual leaders, betrayed in the personality cult cultivated around former President Daniel arap Moi in the single-party decade. His successor, President Mwai Kibaki, has fared little better in building trust between himself and other political leaders on the one hand, and the public on the other.

The political party, a space for public expression gained after a hard-fought battle spanning over a decade, has been captured and corrupted. With over 100 registered at the time that Kenya went to the polls in 2007, the political party in Kenya had become something of a joke – sometimes organised in a briefcase and funded from the personal coffers of its leader, and sometimes having no ideology beyond the promotion of individuals’ electoral candidacy. No elections are held in these organisations and political competition remains anathema.

If political parties have turned mongrel, it is because there has never been a credible referee. The now-defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya destroyed Kenya’s last pretences to being a democracy, by delivering an election that a subsequent independent inquiry found to be so incompetent that no winner could possibly emerge.

The judiciary has lost its credibility as the arbiter of last resort, its officers having distinguished themselves as a special interest group that rabidly resists reforms aimed at injecting efficiency in order to win back public trust.

Weighed down by accusations of sloth, incompetence and corruption, the Kenyan judiciary has done little to inspire confidence in its decisions – remarkably, those with potential to resolve political disputes or deal with intractable problems such as corruption have left a lot to be desired. Today, the judiciary is seen as being singularly unsuited to arbitrate in electoral disputes, especially after the highest court of record rejected Mr Kibaki’s petition against Mr Moi’s election victory in 1997. It is in a similar quandary following the disbanding of the Electoral Commission of Kenya in 2008, with nearly 20 electoral disputes springing from the last election yet to be decided.

With a backlog of 750,000 cases, and no new hearing dates being issued this year, it is not the picture of efficiency – yet it has fought attempts to introduce a performance management culture in the way the courts work. Appointments to the judiciary are opaque, and assessment of effectiveness lacking.

The public loss of faith in the judiciary has created problems of its own. Police accustomed to conducting shoddy investigations no longer bother taking the suspects to court. They execute them instead. This trend has caught the attention of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions who has called for radical reform of the Kenyan police, and recommended the involvement of the International Criminal Court in investigating police conduct.

Police have become a law unto themselves. They have abandoned even the pretences of attempting to be accountable.

Earlier in the year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions visited Kenya and indicted the police. The government has not acted on the preliminary report’s recommendations, which included presidential acknowledgement that extra-judicial killings are a problem and will no longer be tolerated. Additionally, the recommendation for the dismissal of the commissioner of police has met with open resistance with President Kibaki’s allies, as has the call for the resignation of the attorney general, described in the Special Rapporteur’s report as ‘the embodiment of impunity’ for his inaction on human rights violations.

Within weeks of the report’s release, two human rights defenders who had given evidence to the Special Rapporteur were executed in cold blood, in what was believed to be a police operation. The Kibaki corner of the government has resisted – if not frustrated – offers of help to investigate the killings. Human rights defenders continue to face direct and imminent risks to their lives, with at least 20 of them living in hiding in the country or abroad.

Security of the person in Kenya is not guaranteed. Although the political leadership agreed to disband all illegal armed groups, little systematic action has been taken because of the balance of power in government, which is seen to favour the continued existence of militia. In recent months, up to 40 people have been killed in citizen attacks against militia activity and subsequent reprisals from the illegally armed groups.

The rise of extra-judicial killings and the shrinking space for human rights defenders occurs in a time when media freedom is severely constrained by relentless official attacks, and political capture of the public sphere through ownership and advertising control of the media.

Even with the apparent problems in the security services, discussions on democratising the security services are discouraged to the point of being considered taboo by those that control them.

The public service, which has traditionally acted as the embalming fluid of government, creating a façade of life where it long ceased to exist, is riven with political and ethnic divisions. Openly partisan in the last elections and therefore beholden to the conservative forces that secure it, the public service views proposals for reform as inimical to its overweening influence.

Parliament, which often boasts of being the representation of the people, has become the epitome of personal greed and political irresponsibility. So discredited was the parliament before the 2007 elections that less than 40 per cent of its membership was re-elected. The high attrition rate in parliament has created a fatalistic sense of job insecurity in members of parliament. Most MPs show up in parliament to make enough money for the rest of their lives, often with no regard for the electorate. Itself accused of corruption and inefficiency, the legislature is a depressive institution for most Kenyans who wait to wield the big stick at the next elections. Over-criticised and pilloried, parliament has become inured to being the bad boy of Kenyan politics, raising members’ pay and voting against the very interests they are supposed to protect. Today, the strident criticisms that tar every MP have undermined any opportunities citizens might have at constructive engagement with their elected leaders.

The power-sharing agreement was created to secure delivery on the reforms outlined in the Africa Peer Review Mechanism report and condensed into long-standing issues by the mediation team. Overall, the assumption has been that the coalition would hold because it was entrenched in the constitution as a well as law. In any event, it has emerged that the power-sharing agreement, even with these safeguards, is a weak and flawed document. Without a significant shift in power relations, the entrenched forces that have spawned the crisis around the long-standing issues will continue to create obstacles to holistic solutions.

Initially timed to deliver reforms in a year, the mediation agreement now accommodates the political considerations of the parties to the dispute, which did not want an early election.

With election pressure off, the differences between the two political groupings have become blurred as various interests position themselves for the 2012 general election.

The lone smoking gun from the post-election crisis – the internally displaced persons (IDPs) – is an embarrassment the government has worked assiduously to sweep out of sight. As far as the government is concerned, the 663,000 people displaced by the violence and turmoil in the aftermath of the elections no longer exist. Contrary to the President’s claims that 80 per cent of the IDPs have been resettled, the countryside is still littered with transit camps away from the public spotlight. The removal of IDPs from the large camps has come at a heavy price: the government has used push factors such as cutting off food rations and water supply, forcible evictions and threats of further attacks to empty the camps.

The official policy of denying the problem has pushed many desperate people into areas where they seek work as itinerant labourers and petty traders, creating pressure socially and economically and making any efforts at reconciliation impossible to pursue.

President Kibaki, who is serving his last term and therefore ineligible to run, has become a lame duck, beholden to the people who secured his tenure at State House. He is likely to want to extend his patronage to them by creating space for his successors so that the political bloc he leads is not left in limbo.

Prime Minister Odinga has to calm a restless constituency that believes he was cheated out of victory and is keen on early payoffs for their political investment in him. He is expected to make another stab at the presidency in the next election, but such a contest is only possible if the political playing field is levelled through reform of the electoral system.

Since independence in 1963, Kenya has been in the grip of an ideological war between left and right, where the former wanted a radical departure from the colonial state and the latter was happy to tinker a little with it while allowing a few Africans to occupy the places left by the colonial masters. Several times, that conflict has approached boiling point, but never quite spilled over until the 2007 elections – ruled to be inconclusive.

Kenya’s singular tragedy has been that although the international community’s interest cowed the country into accepting the deal, it has not been forceful enough to discourage a regression to the political bigotry that characterised the 2008 crisis.

One factor that has emboldened the conservative forces that have captured power in Kenya is the equivocal finding of the Independent Review Commission mandated to investigate the 2007 elections.

The commission, chaired by South African judge Johann Kriegler, assumed that the unlikely union of sworn political foes would work and refused to make a finding on who won the election. The ambiguity of that report, together with the deliberate failure to find any individual culpable for the numerous election offences committed has created the impression that there are no consequences for what occurred. Its value-neutral verdict on the presidential elections – implying that no-one between Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga won the election – has created a crisis of legitimacy that emboldens churches to call for an election. It is a call that those untouched by the violence are beginning to find attractive.

On the recommendation of that commission, an interim electoral management body is being crafted but all electoral disputes are on hold, the electoral roll suspended and the infrastructure for managing the transition of political leadership not in place.

The reform of the elections management system has been met with heavy resistance by erstwhile members of the discredited Electoral Commission of Kenya, with support from sections of the political leadership.

Other agreed reforms targeting the Judiciary, the security services and the public service have become theatres of conflict for politicians. Those who view the current system as favouring their chances of succeeding President Kibaki have thrown numerous obstacles and distractions in the path of reform. These forces are seen as enjoying greater executive power because of their proximity to President Kibaki. They have consequently continued to undermine the full implementation of the power-sharing deal, which would create opportunities for reform.

Another point of contention is the reform of the justice system, encompassing the security services and the Judiciary on the back of recommendations by the Commission of inquiry into the post-election violence. The commission’s report heavily indicted the police for ‘murder, gang-rape and looting’ and called for an overhaul of the security services to entrench accountability and end the culture of impunity. It attributed nearly 40 per cent of all deaths from the post-election crisis to the police.

The commission outlined atrocities committed by security forces and militia, and recommended the establishment of a Special Tribunal along the lines of the Rome Statute on international crimes. Parliament’s failure to create the special courts – outside the discredited justice system – is a testament of how culpable political leaders have seized important spheres of influence and are using them to protect themselves from punishment while securing their careers.

The crises identified through the mediation process are often broad and overwhelming: They include tackling structural inequality, youth unemployment, poverty, constitutional reform, national cohesion and managing ethnic diversity, reforming the land system and addressing impunity by entrenching transparency and accountability in public life.

Pursuing land reform means losing property for the landed gentry – people who own hundreds of thousands of acres of land now sitting in government. The reform agenda poses numerous threats for powerful individuals and interests. They are fighting back, and viciously.

Kenya is in a state of flux. Corruption has made a bold comeback – even under the tenuous system governing the country.

Constitutional review, which has made several false starts, is apparently on course. Yet, the committee of experts appointed to harmonise views has been starved of administrative support. It does not have offices, staff or transportation because no resources were set aside for it before its inception.

There is a desire among leaders close to President Kibaki to disengage from the mediation process because of the close supervision it was providing. Civil society has provided much-needed oversight on the mediation agreements, but it, too, is not homogenous. It is diverse and not agreed on the kind of uniform agenda to pursue. It is widely suspected that some civil society groups have been hurriedly organised to prosecute a conservative agenda that pays lip service to reform while defending the status quo.

Prime Minister Odinga’s supporters continue to feel that he has little real power and that his inclusion in government has only succeeded in eroding his credibility and popularity. Should he and his ODM (Orange Democratic Movement) party leave the government out of frustration, however, there are no clear requirements in the law or the constitution guaranteeing fresh elections. For now, their push for greater space and say in government is being met with heavy resistance from their coalition partners.

President Kibaki’s PNU (Party of National Unity), which gained international legitimacy through the power-sharing deal, might feel that a walkout by their coalition partners would not injure their position. A remote possibility exists for this section of politicians to withdraw from the coalition – thus excluding their pesky partners – and still continue to govern.

The self-same politicians’ greed for power might very well be what is holding the country together. Should the political marriage cease to make sense to either of the parties, it would foment a crisis of legitimacy for the government with unpredictable consequences.

For each, the fallback appears violent – use of the security forces to put down any forms of resistance for whoever is in government and an anarchic rise in citizen violence far worse than what transpired in the aftermath of the elections.

Unless the international community forcefully reengages with Kenya and progressive civil society finds a way to engage the middle class to reflect more on their role in rescuing the country, the future looks bleak.

There is a palpable desire in Kenya for a clean break with the politics of the past, but those that would emerge to provide leadership face innumerable risks and palpable threats. The absence of individuals with unquestionable moral authority in the public sphere only feeds the despondency that has come to characterise Kenya.

* Kwamchetsi Makokha is a writer, journalist and communications consultant and a member of KPTJ’s steering group.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Pan-Africanism in Mwalimu Nyerere’s thought

Being both king and philosopher

Issa G. Shivji

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56108

cc WikimediaOutlining the essential differences between the respective approaches of Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah, Issa G. Shivji discusses the gradualist and radical positions of two pillars of the Pan-Africanist movement. Underlining the notion of an independent African state as a ‘national liberation movement in power’ as being at the very core of the movement, Shivji stresses that genuine African nationalism can only ever be Pan-Africanism. As both a head of state and leading Pan-Africanist intellectual, Nyerere found himself supporting contradictory ideas around contesting the imposition of colonial borders while emphasising the centrality of states' sovereignty, Shivji notes. While admitting that he is without a complete answer to the question of what intellectuals' role will be in the development of a new Pan-Africanism for today, Shivji stresses that the challenge will be to push forward a 'new nationalist insurrection', one which perhaps ultimately recognises African unity as a dream rather than a vision.

In this 40th year of my association with the University of Dar es Salaam, I am humbled and honoured to be appointed to the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere chair in Pan-African Studies.[1] The inauguration of the Mwalimu Nyerere chair in Nkrumah Hall is neither accidental nor coincidental. It is historical. Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah were towering figures of Pan-Africanism. They arrived at Pan-Africanism through different intellectual and political routes. Nyerere found Pan-Africanism through Tanganyikan nationalism; Nkrumah found Ghanaian nationalism through Pan-Africanism. Mwalimu’s intellectual formation was steeped in missionary influence. When in England he came into political contact with the Labour Party and the Fabian Colonial Bureau. His anti-colonialism was moderate, his approach to change gradualist. Nkrumah went to Lincoln University in the US. It was a black college. He had firsthand experience of racial discrimination, lived in Harlem during summer vacations and was mentored by great African-American Pan-Africanists like W. E. B. Du Bois, George Padmore and C. L. R. James. Nkrumah’s anti-colonialism was grounded in his understanding of the political economy of imperialism; his approach to independence was radical. Nkrumah ended up writing a great treatise, Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. Mwalimu authored the Arusha Declaration: Socialism and Self-Reliance. If the Arusha Declaration had had a sub-title in the stagiest language of Nkrumah, it would have been something like – to borrow from the words of C. L. R. James – 'Socialism and Self-Reliance: The Highest Stage of African Resistance' (C. L. R. James once described the Arusha Declaration as ‘the highest stage of resistance ever reached by revolting blacks’).

Nkrumah did not survive. Imperialism overthrew him in a CIA-engineered coup only a year after the publication of Neo-Colonialism. Mwalimu survived, but the Arusha Declaration did not. Neoliberalism discredited and buried ‘socialism and self-reliance’ in a Reaganite counter-revolution against development and national self-determination.

In spite of these differences in the intellectual and political formation of the two men, they were both unreservedly great Pan-Africanists and fighters for African unity. They differed in their approach. Nkrumah wanted the United States of Africa 'now, now', whereas Nyerere counselled gradualism. Several decades later Mwalimu paid a wholesome tribute to Nkrumah for his single-minded crusade for African unity. In the process, he acknowledged their different intellectual backgrounds and, even, admitted that Nkrumah had a point. Some 40 years of ‘state nationalism’ has made African unity even harder to achieve just when Africa needs it most. On the 40th anniversary of Ghana’s independence in March 1997, Mwalimu said:

'Africa must unite! That was the title of one of Kwame Nkrumah’s books. That call is more urgent today than ever before. Together we the peoples of Africa will be incomparably stronger internationally than we are now with our multiplicity of unviable states. The needs of our separate countries can be, and are being, ignored by the rich and powerful. The result is that Africa is marginalised when international decisions affecting our vital interests are made.

'Unity will not make us rich, but it can make it difficult for Africa and the African peoples to be disregarded and humiliated.'

A year later, in his reflections with Ikaweba Bunting, Mwalimu recalled his encounter with Nkrumah and their different perspectives on Pan-Africanism. Mwalimu described Nkrumah’s perspective as the ‘aggressive Pan-Africanism of W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. The colonialists were against this and frightened of it.’ Mwalimu continued:

'Kwame and I met in 1963 and discussed African Unity. We differed on how to achieve a United States of Africa. But we both agreed on a United States of Africa as necessary. Kwame went to Lincoln University, a black college in the US. He perceived things from the perspective of US history, where 13 colonies that revolted against the British formed a union. That is what he thought the OAU should do.

'I tried to get East Africa to unite before independence. When we failed in this I was wary about Kwame’s continental approach. We corresponded profusely on this. Kwame said my idea of ‘regionalisation’ was only balkanisation on a larger scale. Later African historians will have to study our correspondence on this issue of uniting Africa.'

We are the later day African historians who need to study this because Pan-Africanism is not only historical. It is the present. Only Pan-Africanism can be true African nationalism under globalisation. However, it is not my intention to discuss the comparative perspective of these two paragons of Pan-Africanism, fascinating as it is. My purpose is to engage critically with Pan-Africanism in Mwalimu’s Thought. That is the task of an intellectual.

I propose to isolate two strands in Mwalimu’s thought. One relates to the rationale or justification for the unity of Africa, the other to the agency that would bring it about. Mwalimu deployed three interrelated elements in his argument for unity. For a lack of better words, I sum them up as identity, non-viability, and sovereignty.

IDENTITY

There is constant assertion and argument in Mwalimu’s speeches and writings on the African-ness of the African people. Unlike other people, Mwalimu said, our identity is African, not Tanzanian, Ghananian or Gabonese. Not only is our own perception of ourselves African, even outsiders recognise us as Africans. In his Ghana speech, he summed up this position in his usual simple but graphic fashion:

'When I travel outside Africa the description of me as former President of Tanzania is a fleeting affair. It does not stick. Apart from the ignorant who sometimes asked me whether Tanzania was Johannesburg, even to those who knew better, what stuck in the minds of my hosts was the fact of my African-ness. So I had to answer questions about the atrocities of the Amins and the Bokassas of Africa.

'Mrs. Gandhi did not have to answer questions about the atrocities of the Marcosses of Asia. Nor does Fidel Castro have to answer questions about the atrocities of the Samozas of Latin America. But when I travel or meet foreigners, I have to answer questions about Somalia, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire, as in the past I used to answer questions about Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia or South Africa.'

Although I have used the post-modernist phrase ‘identity’, it is clear that Mwalimu’s argument was political rather than post-modernist. The commonness of Africans lay in their common experience as Africans, rather than their common identity. As he put it:

'For centuries, we had been oppressed and humiliated as Africans. We were hunted and enslaved as Africans, and we were colonised as Africans… Since we were humiliated as Africans, we had to be liberated as Africans.'

Undoubtedly, Mwalimu is talking about common interests, but his notion of ‘interest’ is individual, personal and embedded in political theories of enlightened individualism. Unlike Nkrumah’s, Mwalimu’s characterisation of interest is not social or class, grounded in political economy. This is one of the interesting and significant differences in the philosophical formation and outlook of the two men, which informed their political prognosis. If I were to use the language of Marxist classics, I would say Mwalimu understood Leninist politics better than Marx’s political economy. Nkrumah’s politics was not particularly astute but he had a better understanding of political economy.

Mwalimu’s was a consistent anti-colonialism; Nkrumah’s a militant anti-imperialism. Mwalimu sneered at imperialists; Nkrumah stung them. Mwalimu saw African unity as a goal, which could be achieved by small steps. Any number of African states uniting in any form – economically or politically, regionally or otherwise – was, for Mwalimu, a step forward. For Nkrumah, national liberation and African unity were two sides of the same coin, the coin being an anti-imperialist, Pan-Africanist struggle. Mwalimu conceptualised the task of the first generation of African nationalists as twofold: national liberation (meaning independence), and unity. By 1994, when South Africa formally ended apartheid, the first task was complete. In Mwalimu’s assessment, the first-generation African nationalists succeeded in the task of national liberation but failed in the task of African unity. To an extent, a kind of stagiest approach is implied here – independence first, then unity. Within unity, too, there is a stagiest notion, regional unity leading to continental unity. To be fair, Mwalimu recognised the difficulty of his stagiest theory. He forcefully argued, for example, that the proposed East African Federation should precede the independence of individual countries, otherwise, unity would become difficult. He made this argument strongly and history has proved him right. But the basis and logic of his argument for regional unity first, before independence, was similar to Nkrumah’s one for immediate continental federation. Nkrumah’s position was that regional unities would make continental unity even more difficult. He viewed ‘regionalisation’ as being balkanisation on a larger scale.

Fifty years later, we are less regionalised and even more balkanised. In his Reflections on his 75th birthday, Mwalimu once again returned to the theme of the balkanisation of Africa. He said the Balkans themselves are being Africanised as they are absorbed in the larger European Union, while, we, Africans, are being tribalised! Mwalimu said:

‘…these powerful European states are moving towards unity, and you people are talking about the atavism of the tribe, this is nonsense! I am telling you people. How can anybody think of the tribe as the unity of the future, hakuna!'

There is, I think, another underlying difference between the gradualist and radical approaches of Nyerere and Nkrumah, which has not been sufficiently analysed. I will only hint at it. I think for Nkrumah unity itself, just as liberation, was an anti-imperialist struggle, not some formal process of dissolving sovereignties. Amílcar Cabral captured the national liberation struggle as an anti-imperialist struggle well when he said, ‘[S]o long as imperialism is in existence, an independent African state must be a liberation movement in power, or it will not be independent.’ The notion of an independent African state being a ‘national liberation movement in power’, I suggest, gives us the core of the ideology and politics of Pan-Africanism as a vision of not only unity but liberation. African liberation is not complete with the independence of single entities called countries. ‘Territorial nationalism’ is not African nationalism. African nationalism can only be Pan-Africanism or else, as Mwalimu characterised it, it is ‘the equivalent of tribalism within the context of our separate nation states’. Pan-Africanism gave birth to nationalism, not the other way round. This is a powerful argument implied in Mwalimu’s ideas on African unity. This brings me to the second element of his justification for African unity, the non-viability of African states.

NON-VIABILITY

Mwalimu spent a lot of time demonstrating the irrationality and non-viability of African states. He used the Kiswahili diminutive vinchi to describe them. Without intending to offend linguists, I would translate vinchi as ‘statelets’ (as in islets!). These statelets had neither geographical nor ethnic rationality. There are 53 independent African states, all members of the United Nations. ‘If numbers were horses’, Mwalimu quipped, ‘Africa would be riding high!’ Yet Africa is the weakest continent. World councils make decisions without regard to the interests of Africa. Let us not glorify nation-states inherited from colonialism, Mwalimu used to tell his fellow state leaders. Mwalimu admonished the new generation of African leaders to reject the ‘return to tribe’. He characterised the current upsurge of ethnic, racial, and other forms of narrow nationalisms (which we are witnessing all over Africa, including in our own country) as fossilising ‘Africa into the wounds inflicted upon it by the vultures of imperialism.’

Colonial boundaries were artificially carved up by the colonialists, of the colonialists and for the colonialists. They have little to do with the history or cultures of Africa. The map of Africa is full of straight-line boundaries, compared to other continents. It is as if someone sat with a geometrical set to draw them. That is what, more or less, happened when colonial powers met at the Berlin Conference in 1885 to slice up their newly acquired booty. Teaching us the map of Tanzania, I remember my geography teacher telling us to start by drawing a hexagonal tilted at the bottom and then modify it to get the map. The greatest modification would of course be the shores of the Indian Ocean – the only side of the boundary the colonialists could not get straight!

Related to the argument on non-viability was the third element of sovereignty or self-determination.

SOVEREIGNTY

Mwalimu argued that the mini-states of Africa could not, on their own, exercise their sovereign right to make their own decisions in the global world dominated by the powerful. He emphasised, particularly in his early writings, that our erstwhile colonial masters would divide us based on our sovereignties to continue ruling us. There is no doubt that in his political outlook, Mwalimu placed a great premium on the right of the people to make their own decisions. That was the fundamental meaning of independence – the right to make our own decisions ourselves.

But Mwalimu was a head of state, a political leader. Underlying his position on the right of the people to make their own decisions was the un-stated assumption of state sovereignty. People make their decisions through their states. In fact, the dichotomy and the contradiction between people’s sovereignty and state sovereignty were pretty fudged in Mwalimu’s thought and much more so in his political practice. I shall not go into his political practice except to state that that aspect is closely connected with the other strand in his thought, the question of agency.

AGENCY

Having forcefully argued for African unity, the basic questions of history arise: Who will bring it about? Which social agency will be the carrier of this great historical task? Neither Nyerere nor Nkrumah raised these questions in this form, at least not while they were in power. But implied in their position it was clear that the agency to bring about unity was the state. Partly this was an acknowledgement of the historical formation of the state in colonial Africa; partly it was realpolitik. The state in Africa was a colonial imposition. It did not develop organically through social struggles within the African formation. Thus when we raised the flag of independence, sang our national anthem and proclaimed sovereignty, it was the sovereignty of the state inherited from colonialism. In that sense, it was not our state; we took over the colonial state. There was no internal social class to shoulder the task of nation-building and economic development. The only available organised force was the state. The colonial heritage thus left the first generation of African nationalists with no option. The task of transformation fell on the state, almost by default. This is where the real contradiction lay. For the state which was supposed to undertake the task of nation-building was itself a colonial state, the very antithesis of a national state.

When it came to the task of building African unity, the contradiction was even more blatant. First, independence meant attaining state sovereignty. Independence before unity meant recognising and reinforcing colonial boundaries. Ironically, the man who condemned colonial boundaries most was the same man who moved the motion on the sanctity of colonial boundaries at the 1964 Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in Cairo. To compound the irony, it was the same man who recognised secessionist Biafra and marched into Uganda without regard to borders. That man was Mwalimu Nyerere. As intellectuals and historians, we may say it was ironical. But Mwalimu was not simply an intellectual. He was a head of state. The king and the philosopher combined in him, and they could not always sit together comfortably.

So, ironical or not, he could not escape making pragmatic political decisions. Mwalimu cites two examples which made him move the resolution on boundaries. Just after independence, Hastings Kamuzu Banda of Malawi paid a visit to Mwalimu with some old book of maps. He tried to persuade Mwalimu that part of Mozambique belonged to Malawi and another part belonged to Tanganyika. Mwalimu of course was disgusted at this proposal of swallowing up Mozambique, just like that! Another example is that of Somalia publicly claiming the Ogaden province of Ethiopia, while Ethiopia whispered that the whole of Somalia belonged to Ethiopia. To prevent border wars among Africans, Mwalimu moved his resolution on the inviolability of colonial boundaries. Man proposes, history disposes. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that what Mwalimu feared came to pass, regardless of the resolution. The Ogaden war is still with us. History cannot be re-made, but it can be re-read and re-learnt.

Second in the way of unity were the vested interests of the political class. Unity meant dissolving, even if partially, the sovereignty of the newly independent states. This meant depriving the new political class, which had been landed with state power, of their power, privileges and the accompanying possibilities of acquiring wealth. No wonder, the new rulers of Africa were nervous and resistant to Nkrumah’s call for African unity. Mwalimu alludes with some amusement to the situation at the 1965 Accra summit of the African heads of state during which Nkrumah wanted to establish a union government. I cannot resist quoting him again (he was a captivating storyteller and no one could tell stories of African heads of state as effectively as Mwalimu):

'Once you multiply national anthems, national flags and national passports, seats of the United Nations, and individuals entitled to a 21-gun salute, not to speak of a host of ministers, prime ministers and envoys, you would have a whole army of powerful people with vested interests in keeping Africa balkanised. That was what Nkrumah encountered in 1965.

'After the failure to establish the union government at the Accra Summit, I heard one head of state express with relief that he was happy to be returning home to his country still head of state. To this day, I cannot tell whether he was serious or joking. But he may well have been serious, because Kwame Nkrumah was very serious and the fear of a number of us to lose our precious status was quite palpable.'

Forty years later, I believe, the state has become more than simply a site of accumulating power and privileges. It has become the site of accumulating wealth and capital. This class, which uses state positions to acquire wealth and accumulate property, is not a productive class. It does not accumulate and invest in production. It is an underdeveloped ‘middle-class’, as Frantz Fanon described it on the eve of independence. As he said, it is a ‘little greedy caste, avid and voracious, with the mind of a huckster, only too glad to accept dividends that the former colonial power hands out to it’. In any case, the social character of the African state and its role in the process of worldwide capitalist accumulation is an issue which our research, analysis and debates will have to address. Without understanding issues of state, class and accumulation, we cannot identify and assess the agency of the Pan-Africanist struggle.

These are very general and broad strokes on the Pan-Africanist discourse of the first generation of African nationalists, as encapsulated in Mwalimu’s thought. I have no doubt that the 'mischievous' among you would want me to explore not only Mwalimu’s thought but also his political practice as a Pan-Africanist, specifically in relation to the Zanzibar question. I will not oblige – not because time does not permit. That would be an intellectually lazy and dishonest excuse! I will not do so because I have done a book-length study on the union question.

INSURRECTION OF PAN-AFRICANIST IDEAS

I believe Pan-Africanism is making a comeback. I believe African nationalism is at the crossroads. It can either degenerate into narrow chauvinistic nationalisms – ethnic, racial, cultural – or climb the continental heights of Pan-Africanism. Do not glorify the nation-state, Mwalimu admonished. Rise to the challenge of being Africans first and Africans last, rather than ‘fossilise Africa into the wounds inflicted upon it by the vultures of imperialism’. We, as intellectuals, have to develop a new Pan-Africanist discourse. It will undoubtedly be a different discourse from the Pan-Africanist discourse of the first-generation nationalism. But I have no doubt in my mind that it will be a discourse of national liberation and anti-imperialism – the nation this time around being the African nation. The new Pan-Africanist discourse will have to take account of the failure of the national project and its implication for African nationalism. It will have to question the first-generation nationalism, which was essentially ‘state nationalism’. It will have to research on and analyse the social character of the African state and it will have to interrogate its agency. It will have to examine and scrutinise the neoliberal project and its various forms and manifestations, such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It will have to examine and expose new forms of imperialism and world hegemonies. It will have to do many things but with a single purpose – the liberation of the African people.

What is the role of an African intellectual in the development of a new Pan-Africanism? I do not have a complete answer. I hope that the work of the Mwalimu Nyerere chair will begin to give us some answers. Meanwhile, let me simply assert that we need a new nationalist insurrection – an insurrection of Pan-Africanist ideas in the era of globalisation. In his speech at the inauguration of Kenneth Kaunda as the Chancellor of the University of Zambia in 1966, Mwalimu agonised over ‘the dilemma of a Pan-Africanist’. The dilemma that he was talking about was that of a Pan-Africanist state leader. On the one hand, his conviction and philosophy pulls him to Pan-Africanism; on the other, as a head of state, he presides over building and nurturing ‘territorial nationalism’.

Mwalimu could not resolve the dilemma nor did he pretend to do so! Whatever the case, he said, ‘African unity does not have to be a dream; it can be a vision which inspires us.’ I agree. If Pan-Africanism is only a dream, it is in the sub-conscious; beyond our control. If it is a vision, it is in the realm of the possible. We have to consciously nurture and struggle for it. We, the African intellectuals, have to make Pan-Africanism part of our peoples’ collective consciousness. Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, the chairman of CODESRIA’s scientific committee, says we have to make Pan-Africanism a category of intellectual thought. The task of converting the Pan-Africanist vision into a category of intellectual thought squarely falls on the shoulders of African intellectuals. We do it by engaging critically with Pan-Africanist ideas; many ideas, varied ideas. Let us form Pan-African organisations and Pan-African movements – the Pan-African youth movement, the Pan-African student movement, the Pan-African women's movement, the Pan-African trade unions and so on. This time around, we have to invert the relationship. Let us work from the civil society to the state. We have to work towards building an African civil society. From the vantage point of the African civil society, we have to cajole, persuade, pressurise, criticise, even satirise, the African state. Don’t demonise the State; de-legitimise it by engaging with it, not in it. That would be the beginning of building the hegemony of Pan-Africanism within African civil society. In short, let a hundred flowers of Pan-Africanist thought blossom.

New Pan-Africanism must be anchored in democracy, says Thandika Mkandawire. Africa needs some kind of social democracy, argued Archie Mafeje, whom we lost recently. On Mwalimu’s 75th birthday, I argued that Africa needs a new democracy built around popular livelihoods, popular participation and popular power. But in this day and age of militarised hegemonies and despotic democracies, from Iraq to Somalia, we need to question the very concept of democracy. Where ideas are commodities, manufactured on order by ideas-traders, we need to return to the ideas of commitment and the commitment to the ideas of human emancipation. We need committed Pan-Africanist intellectuals. The question before us is: Who are we, Pan-Africanist intellectuals committed to African liberation and human emancipation, or neoliberal impostors serving ‘imperialist vultures’? In her poem, Intellectuals and Impostors, Micere Githae Mugo sings:

'Tell me

tell me whether

their theories are

active volcanoes

erupting with fertilizing lava

on which to plant

seeds that will

cross-fertilize

into collective being

Knowledge became

action theory

Knowledge became

living testimony

of our people’s

affirmative history

liberated herstory

Actioned theory

Inscribed as protest

Manifesto

Re-aligning our people’s

averted humanity

Yes tell me this

and I will tell you

whether they are

intellectuals

or impostors.'

* Issa G. Shivji is the Mwalimu Nyerere Professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam.
* This article first appeared in the maiden issue of CHEMCHEMI, Bulletin of the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan African Studies of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the editorial board of CHEMCHEMI.
* Where is Uhuru? by Issa G. Shivji is now available from Fahamu Books.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org.

NOTES
[1] This is an edited version of the lecture given by the author on his inauguration as the Mwalimu Nyerere Chair in Pan-African Studies on 23 April 2008.

SELECTED REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Afari-Gyan, Kwadwo. 1991. Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore and W. E. B. Du Bois.Research Review NS vol.7, nos.1&2.
Furedi, F. 1994.The New Ideology of Imperialism, London: Pluto.
Grimshaw, A. (ed.) 1992.The C.L.R. James Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Landsberg, C. & F. Kornegey. 1998. The African Renaissance: A quest for Pax Africana and Pan-Africanism.In Foundation for Global Dialogue.South Africa and Africa: Reflections on the African Renaissance. FGD Occasional paper No. 17.
Legum, L. 1965.Pan-Africanism: AShort Political Guide. (Revised edition) London: Pall Mall Press.
Legum, C. & G. Mmari.(eds.) 1995.Mwalimu: The Influence of Nyerere. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota.
Luthuli, A. et. Al. 1964.Africa’s Freedom. London: Unwin Books.
Nkrumah, K. 1965.Neo-colonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism. London: Heinemann.
Nnoli, N. 1985. External Constraints of Pan-African Economic Integration.In W. A. Ndongko (ed.)Economic Co-operation and Integration in Africa. Dakar: CODESRIA. pp.125-152.
Nyerere, J. K. 1963a. A United States of Africa.Journal of Modern African Studies. January 1963. Cambridge.Reprinted in Nyerere 1967.
--------- The Second Scramble.Reprinted in Nyerere 1967.
--------- 1966. The Dilemma of the Pan-Africanist.In J. K. Nyerere 1968.
--------- 1967.Freedom and Unity: A selection from writings and speeches. Dar es salaam: Oxford University Press.
--------- 1968.Freedom and Socialism. London: Oxford University Press.
--------- 1997. Africa Must Unite.Edited excerpts from a public lecture delivered in Accra to mark Ghana’s fortieth Independence Day anniversary celebrations. United New Africa Global Network website: http://www.unitednewafrica.com/Africa%20Unite.htm.Also in the New African, February 2006.
Nyerere, J. K. and Ikaweba Bunting.1999. The Heart of Africa: Interview with Julius Nyerere on Anti-Colonialism. New Internationalist Magazine, no. 309, January-February 1999.
Nyong’o P.A, Ghirmazion & D.,Lamba. 2002.(eds.)New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD: A New Path? Nairobi: Heinrich Boll Foundation.
Othman, H. (ed.) 2000. Reflections on Leadership in Africa: Forty Years after Independence, Essays in Honour of Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere.On the occasion of his 75thBirthday.VUB University Press.
Sathyamurthy, T. V. 1981. Tanzania’s Non-Aligned Role on International Relations.India Quarterly.January-March 1981.
Sherwood, M. 1996.Kwame Nkrumah: The years abroad, 1935-1947. Legon: Freedom Publications.
Pannikar, K. M. 1961.Revolution in Africa. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.
Shivji, I. G. 2005a. The Rise, the Fall and the Insurrection of Nationalism in Africa.In Felicia Arudo Yieke (ed.)East Africa: In Search of National and Regional Renewal. Dakar: CODESRIA.
--------- 2005b. Pan-Africanism or Imperialism? Unity and Struggle towards a New Democratic Africa.Bill Dudley Memorial Lecture Series No. 2. The Nigerian Political Science Association.
--------- 2008. Pan-Africanism or Pragmatism? Lessons of Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota.

Why I refuse to condemn Mugabe

Adolf Mkenda

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56115

cc WikimediaIt is clear why Zimbabweans want a change of government, writes Adolf Mkenda, but it isn’t clear why the West has been more critical of Mugabe than other leaders with worse records on human rights and democracy. Mkenda argues that two key factors sparked this response: The international connections of white Zimbabweans, and Mugabe’s reneging on the IMF’s structural adjustment program in favour of nationalisation and land seizure, in contradiction with the neo-liberal thinking of the time. ‘International efforts to promote democracy and human rights must be accepted and encouraged, but these must not be allowed to be used abusively as a selective instrument of punishing governments that chart out an independent path for their own people,’ writes Mkenda.

Its clear why Zimbabweans want a change of government, writes Adolf Mkenda, but it isn’t clear why the West has been more critical of Mugabe than other leaders with worse records on human rights and democracy. Mkenda argues that two key factors sparked this response: The international connections of white Zimbabweans, and Mugabe’s reneging on the IMF’s structural adjustment program in favour of nationalisation and land seizure, in contradiction with the neo-liberal thinking of the time. ‘International efforts to promote democracy and human rights must be accepted and encouraged, but these must not be allowed to be used abusively as a selective instrument of punishing governments that chart out an independent path for their own people,’ writes Mkenda.

ORCHESTRATED CONDEMNATION?

The bungled presidential election in Zimbabwe in 2008 sharpened the global focus on the country and increased the international campaign to remove President Mugabe from power. Official results showed that Robert Mugabe trailed Morgan Tsvangirai in the first round of presidential election and the opposition edged the ruling Zanu PF in the parliamentary election, clearly indicating that the people of Zimbabwe were voting for change. It is also clear that had Mugabe not unleashed his brutal security forces onto the opposition activists and supporters, forcing the main opposition party to wisely pull out of the re-run to avert more chaos and loss of lives, he would have lost the presidential election.

Meanwhile the economy of Zimbabwe has been thrown into a tailspin by the combination of economic sanctions, droughts and mismanagement. It is therefore natural that the people of Zimbabwe may seek to change the government in power in the hope that things would get better. The freedom to choose their leaders is a fundamental right of people, a right that must be respected everywhere. That is why many well-meaning people can never forgive Mugabe for undermining democracy in Zimbabwe and for callously presiding over brutal chaos to ensure his stay in power.

In spite of these facts, I find it difficult to join the chorus of those condemning Mugabe. Certainly, Zimbabwe is not the worst country in terms of abusing human rights and undermining democracy. This fact is of little comfort to the people of Zimbabwe who are enduring appalling hardship, and as a matter of principle, it makes no sense to be indifferent to the violation of human rights simply because there are worse perpetrators. It is however important to examine the reasons for the selective focus on Zimbabwe by the West, and why a similar frenzy is absent in the case of, say, the occupation of Palestine. Some would argue that the comparison of Zimbabwe and occupied Palestine is misplaced because the latter has a complex history the context of which must not be ignored. The Zimbabwean case is also complex in its historical context, something that is routinely ignored by the international media and by the Western governments.

There are two factors that explain the high international profile that Zimbabwe’s political problem has assumed. The first has to do with the international character of a significant size of the population of Zimbabwe. Most of the people of Zimbabwe who were negatively affected by land seizure are of European descent, and maintain an extensive network of contacts with Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries where it is easy for them to gain political sympathy from the governments of ‘kith and kin’.

Another reason for the high international profile accorded to Zimbabwe’s politics is the fact that Mugabe reneged on the economic structural adjustment programme (ESAP), and started to talk about nationalisation and the land seizure that he presided over from 2000 to 2003. The issue of structural adjustment and land policy are related and are contrary to the dominant neo-liberal thinking. Charting independent economic policy, which harms western corporate interests and aspirations, has never received favour from the West. The double standards that the West maintains in its pursuit of the human rights and democracy agenda depends very much on whether the ‘perpetrator’ is left-leaning or right-leaning ideologically; the democracy and human rights agenda is pushed with fury to left-leaning countries such as Cuba, while for countries that maintain neo-liberal policies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt there is a benign neglect in following up on this agenda. Mugabe is not a left leaning politician per se, but his reneging on ESAP and his move to seize land was setting a ‘dangerous’ precedent.

I would argue in this piece that the selective focus by powerful countries in the West on human rights records and democracy in developing countries is an instrument that is used to coerce and impose hegemony. There is hardly a government in poor countries that can survive the elaborate economic sanctions and political isolation accompanied with massive support to the opposition movement without either being toppled or suffering a defeat in an election. The campaign against Mugabe, both in terms of economic sanctions and through support to the opposition, that has been orchestrated by the UK and other foreign governments would make leaders in developing countries trip over themselves in morbid fear of what might happen to them should they fail to toe the line of hegemonic power, effectively undermining the very essence of democracy in their own countries.

Clearly a large number of Zimbabweans are grateful for the foreign economic and political campaign to remove Mugabe from power, and some are agitated that more was not done to topple the regime. Nevertheless, it should be clear that freedom to choose leaders must also mean a freedom from foreign manipulation to influence electoral outcomes, particularly when such foreign manipulation aims at imposing ideological and economic hegemony. On a larger picture one can see the undemocratic tendency in the double standard used to single out and punish Mugabe so that his people can reject him. I find it difficult therefore to join the bandwagon of non-Zimbabweans who are condemning Mugabe without feeling that I am abetting in my own small way the extension of a hegemony which negates the very values of democracy I cherish for Zimbabweans and for everyone.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD

The double standard that the West displays in dealing with Zimbabwe is informed by the Jeane Kirkpatrick doctrine outlined in her essay on Dictatorships and Double Standards that asserts that rightwing ‘authoritarian governments are more amenable to democratic reforms than left-wing ‘dictatorships’, and thus it is fine to maintain a double standard by supporting right-wing authoritarian regimes while undermining left-wing dictatorships. Jeane Kirkpatrick, who was an influential thinker and a diplomat in the Reagan administration wrote ‘Dictatorship and Double Standards’ to repudiate Jimmy Carter’s pursuit of human rights and democracy in US foreign relations. Her work gave an intellectual justification for using the ploy of promoting democracy and human rights to covertly and overtly undermine left leaning governments such as Cuba and even the democratically elected socialist government of Allende in Chile, while at the same time propping up brutal right-wing authoritarian regimes such apartheid South Africa and Zaire under Mobutu.

A more recent justification of double standards in the West’s foreign policy relations has been given by Robert Cooper, a Kenyan born British career diplomat, and an influential advisor of Tony Blair who now works for the EU, in his essay The Post Modern State. Cooper considers direct re-colonising of poor countries, which he branded pre-modern states, to be a very desirable but currently untenable arrangement. The alternative to direct colonisation that he proposes is to employ double standards, deceit and force in dealing with these countries, most of which are African. ‘The challenge to the post-modern world is to get used to the idea of double standard’, he wrote. ‘Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open cooperative security. But when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the post-modern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era – force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself’. Mugabe’s reversal of structural adjustment policy and the land seizure policy constitute a tendency towards what Cooper would consider as ‘every state for itself’ and thus justifying the double standard, deceit and even force to get rid of him.

Politicians cannot afford to be as candid as Cooper, and thus in dealing with ‘errant’ countries such as Zimbabwe issues of human rights and democracy are used as justification for coercing compliance and if necessary organising regime change. When Mugabe repeatedly laments that Britain wants to re-colonise Zimbabwe, he sounds hollow in the ears of the hungry Zimbabweans and Africans long tired of dictators who invoke past colonial injustices and looming possibility of re-colonisation to justify their grip on power. Yet Cooper was an influential advisor to Tony Blair and continues to shape the European policies through his position in the EU. Mugabe’s rhetoric against the looming attempt to re-colonise Zimbabwe, even if uttered with narrow self interest of rallying support to his failing regime, is not just a common hyperbole of a man under siege.

Some examples of double standards by the UK and the West on Zimbabwe can illustrate that Kirkpatrick’s and Cooper’s doctrines on double standards are more than academic fantasy. In 2001 a general election was held in Uganda in which Museveni was declared a winner for the presidency. This election was marred by violence and cheating to the extent that the Supreme Court of Uganda unanimously agreed that there was widespread cheating in the election. The candidate who challenged Museveni, Colonel Besigye, had to flee the country after the election in fear of his life. On his return from exile Colonel Besigye was arrested and charged with treason. Similarly, in 2002 Zimbabwe held an election in which Mugabe was declared a winner in an election that was marred with violence and was considered not to have been free and fair. Morgan Tsvangirai, the candidate who challenged Mugabe for presidency was variously charged with treason and for plotting to assassinate Mugabe and has been subjected to numerous arrests. The reaction of the West to these two marred elections in Zimbabwe and Uganda displays classic double standard; Mugabe was condemned and economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, while Museveni continued to be a darling of the West, with massive foreign aid to prop up his government. Thus, principles of free and fair elections are not to be applied universally, they are more important for removing regimes that are ‘difficult’.

Perhaps no episode shows more glaringly the double standards of the US and the UK governments than their condemnation of Zimbabwe for joining the war in the Congo in 1998. It would be remembered that after assisting Laurent Kabila gain power, Uganda and Rwanda fell out with the newly installed and internationally recognised Kinshasa regime. Because of the emerging differences, Museveni and Kagame re-invaded the Congo to topple Kabila, in clear violation of international laws. In August 1998 Mugabe sent the Zimbabwean Army to join Angola and Namibia in defending Kabila against the foreign aggression of Kagame and Museveni. Clearly, an independent and sovereign Congo had all the rights to seek and use military assistance from anywhere to foil the foreign aggression in her territory, and common sense dictates that the international community would have rebuked and even punished Rwanda and Uganda for their aggression while commending Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe for coming to the assistance of the Congo.

As it turned out, it was Mugabe who was singled out for condemnation for his expedition in the Congo. Uganda and Rwanda continued to be the darlings of the West, receiving generous foreign aid, with their leaders held out as examples of the new breed of dynamic African leaders. Double standard by its very nature defies common sense!

A more recent example of double standards can be seen in the reaction to the last general election in Kenya in December 2007, which preceded the election in Zimbabwe by a couple of months. On 30 December 2007 the Electoral Commission of Kenya declared Kibaki the winner of the hotly disputed Presidential election and he was hastily sworn in. The State Department (the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs) quickly congratulated Kibaki and called on Kenyans to accept the outcome, even as international election observers expressed doubt about the tallying of the presidential ballots, and Kenyans took to the streets to dispute the presidential results. It has now come to light that the International Republican Institute had conducted, on the behest of the US government, an exit poll in Kenya and found that Raila Odinga won the election by six percentage points. The Institute, which received funding from the US government, had signed a contract to the effect that it would consult with the US embassy before releasing the exit poll results, taking into account the poll’s technical quality and ‘other key diplomatic interests’. As it turned out, the exit poll results were withheld seemingly on an order from the US government, only to be released one year later, when they cannot have an impact! Releasing the exit poll results on time might have helped the situation, either by forcing the Electoral Commission to seek a more accurate ballot tally, or by shortening the power-sharing negotiation and thus saving some lives. But the exit poll would have also strengthened the hand of Raila Odinga, the opposition presidential candidate, who ‘was viewed sceptically by some in Washington because of his flamboyant manner and his background: he was educated in East Germany and named his son after Fidel Castro’ (New York Times, January 30 2009). Obviously to the US, independence of mind is considered far worse a crime than subverting the will of the people expressed through the ballot box, and the US had no qualm in contributing to the subversion through a tactical withholding of key information from the public and by rushing to congratulate the ‘winner’ in a clearly flawed election.

The contrast in the position taken by the West in the aftermath of the bungled elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe is also instructive. As for Kenya, the US and UK made it clear that the responsibility for breaking the impasse is shared equally between the two protagonists, namely Mr Kibaki and Mr Odinga. The West was careful not to lay blame on the Kibaki government which presided over the flawed and bungled elections and retained power through them. In Zimbabwe however, responsibility for the bungled election was put squarely on Mr Mugabe, and support for Mr Tsvangirai was openly expressed.

In his first decade in power, Mugabe was also the darling of the West. He maintained the same economic structure that he inherited from the Ian Smith regime, even though he expanded social services and funded one of the best educational systems in Africa. His human rights record during this period was no better than his subsequent record in the 2000s, and some may argue, with a good measure of justification, that Mugabe’s regime in the 1980s had a worse human rights record than in the 1990s and 2000s. In early 1980s he presided over operation Gukurahundi which resulted in a massacre in Matebeleland. Still, the West then promoted Mugabe as a model African leader; he was knighted by the Queen of England and given numerous honorary degrees by Western Universities. But that was before he made a U-turn on structural adjustment and forcefully seized land from white farmers. There is a clear double standard in closing eyes to the operation Gukurahundi but coming out in a frenzy of condemnation when land is seized and liberal economic policy reversed.

STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND LAND REFORMS

Many people think that what earned Mugabe the odium of the West was the land seizure that took place in early 2000s. While this played a significant role, the reversal of the economic structural adjustment programme (ESAP) contributed significantly towards economic sanctions, first imposed by the IMF and quickly joined by the US and other Western governments.

It is important to go back to 1991, when Zimbabwe, at the instigation of the World Bank, introduced ESAP. This policy led to massive economic hardship for the people of Zimbabwe. Poverty and unemployment increased at unsustainable levels. The government privatised publicly owned companies, de-regulated the economy, removed protection to its manufacturing industries and introduced user fee charges in the social services, while at the same time reducing subsidies to curb government expenditure. The folly of this one-size-fits-all World Bank/IMF policy has been extensively discussed by many elsewhere. In most cases, a government needed to resort to autocratic tendencies to be able to implement these drastic measures. External pressure, both economic and political, to force countries to sign into structural adjustment programmes was always enormous and in most cases unbearable.

True to form, implementation of ESAP went hand in hand with increased political resistance to Mugabe’s government and an increase in autocratic tendencies on his part. The Trade Union grew in strength and the War Veterans increased their agitation for land re-distribution, a process that had been going on at a snail’s pace. Mugabe was facing strong political challenges from many fronts and was looking for a way to hold on to power.

In 2001 Mugabe officially ditched ESAP, and indicated his intention to increase the role of government in the management of all sectors of the economy. Immediately the IMF suspended cooperation with Zimbabwe, urged Mugabe to revert back to ESAP and offered to assist should the regime revive ESAP. The US Congress passed a bill called Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Bill of 2001, which was quickly signed into law, effectively imposing extensive sanctions on Zimbabwe and extending financial and other support to the opposition movement.

While this was taking place, Mugabe allowed a fast-tracking seizure of land from 2000 to 2003, insisting that Zimbabwe would compensate white farmers for development they had made on the land only, and that it was the responsibility of the UK, the former colonial master who presided over the land seizure from black Zimbabweans in the past, to compensate the farmers for the value of the land. Much has been written about the process, merits and de-merits of the 2000-3 land re-distribution (see for example Mamdani (2008) Lesson of Zimbabwe in London Review of Books Vol 30, No. 23).

It is important to remember the historical context of the land question in Zimbabwe, and the fact that freedom fighting in Zimbabwe was largely a clamour for land re-possession. Whether land reform makes economic sense is an issue that can continue to be debated. There are some who think that development means urbanisation and reduction of the number of farmers and thus conclude that the land reform that Mugabe undertook is taking Zimbabwe backwards. Others think that land reform was a mistake from the efficiency point of view in that white farmers were better established to produce efficiently and thus contribute more to the national economy than the new inexperienced black farmers. The important issue here is that land is not simply an economic issue; it is foremost a political issue with immense historical significance. Mugabe is sometimes accused of exploiting the land issue for his political advantage, an accusation that implicitly admits that land had remained an unresolved political issue in Zimbabwe crying for political action. Even if we look at the economics rather than the politics of land, it would be a mistake to exclusively focus on efficiency and ignore the important economic issue of equity.

An important issue in relation to land reform in Zimbabwe is that of human rights. Violence and arbitrariness accompanied the reforms, and white farmers who individually were not responsible for the historical injustices were violently thrown from the farms they owned. Responsibility for this violence does not exclusively lie with Mugabe’s government. The UK government remains responsible for funding land re-distribution to redress this odious colonial legacy, a responsibility that it had committed itself to but later reneged.

At the end of the day, the merits and demerits of economic policy and land policy in Zimbabwe are matters to be resolved democratically by Zimbabweans. Foreign funding of NGOs and political parties opposed to the government on the one hand, and the sanctions and freezing of assets that belong to government officials and their supporters (including an Anglican Bishop who backed Mugabe publicly) on the other, do not create a free and fair democratic space for Zimbabweans to discuss and resolve these issues.

UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY

International efforts to promote democracy and human rights must be accepted and encouraged, but these must not be allowed to be used abusively as a selective instrument of punishing governments that chart out an independent path for their own people. We must laud human rights activists who tirelessly campaign against injustices anywhere, but we must also be wary of governments that use the noble cause of human rights to push for hegemony which itself negates the very essence of human equality and justice. A litmus test for the misuse of the human rights agenda is the extent to which one allows double standards in one’s position. Human rights and democracy are universal values and must be championed everywhere, in Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Tanzania, the US, Zimbabwe, everywhere, without bias and without ulterior motives of promoting right wing politics or the so called liberal imperialism.

As for Zimbabwe, let us ask ourselves these questions: How many governments in Africa would survive a free and fair election if the UK and its allies selectively employ the same strategy they used against the Zimbabwean government? Is it any surprise that African governments seem to be more accountable to foreign powers than to their own citizens? Is a world order in which governments of some countries are more accountable to foreign powers than to their citizens a democratic world order? How can one fight for democracy within a country and at the same time ignore an undemocratic world order, an order that in its very essence undermines democracy in the same countries we wish to democratise? If there is to be an international campaign and action for human rights and democracy, as there ought to be, shouldn’t it be a universal campaign and action rather than a selective one?

* Adolf Mkenda is in the department of economics at the University of Dar es Salaam.
* This article first appeared in the maiden issue of CHEMCHEMI, Bulletin of the Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan African Studies of the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the Editorial Board of CHEMCHEMI.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Reflections on South Africa’s 2009 election

Sanusha Naidu

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56123

South Africa’s 2009 national election was not a dull affair to say the least. Vibrant, unpredictable and perhaps the greatest showing of voter confidence (77.30 per cent) since 1994, there was no room for complacency amongst the main political parties. Until polling stations were closed, political parties continued their election canvassing with the hope of making a last minute surge.

As soon as the first results started to pour in on Thursday 23 April, the overriding question was whether the African National Congress (ANC) would retain its two-thirds majority. For most of the day the latter question and the pending impact of the Congress of the People (COPE) on the ANC’s electoral confidence became the preoccupation amongst commentators. By Friday, it was a fait accompli that the ANC was the overall winner, even though it dipped in and out of the two-thirds zone.

Clearly some of the smaller opposition parties had been left limping. Even though the emergence of COPE did little to dent the ANC’s electoral support, it had become the grim reaper for the smaller opposition parties, who had to battle with the ‘new kid on the block’ to retain their electoral significance.
Yet one should not discount COPE’s performance. Being only four months old, the party managed to do well, albeit not in a way matching the hype of market research surveys predicting in some instances an overly optimistic performance of between 15 to 20 per cent. Perhaps, as my taxi driver commented, ‘If we knew more about COPE, especially its policies and who was its actual leadership to be represented in parliament, then we would have more confidence in them and their policies.'

That aside, COPE has definitely made its mark on South Africa’s electoral landscape. With 30 seats in the National Assembly, it is now one step closer towards demonstrating the kind of integrity politics that became the hallmark of its electoral campaign. But the COPE leadership would do well to remember that they have more to prove than their ANC counterparts, not least because of their brand, legacy and questionable loyalty which makes them the opponents that the ANC executive, its backbenchers and constituencies will want to thwart at every turn.

Therefore as much as COPE will like to be the ANC’s Achilles heel in government, it will also have to contend with the shadow of the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA pulled out all the stops, especially after its initial attempt to engage COPE in a grand opposition coalition (if the need arose) was rebuffed by the COPE leadership. As it turned out the DA made strategic gains and increased its profile in parliament by 17 seats. Whether the COPE factor or the ‘Stop Zuma’ campaign did the trick, the DA has definitely emerged a stronger opposition party with its leader, Helen Zille, adding almost a million new voters to its electoral base. But the DA still remains a minority party of choice, especially amongst the coloured electorate in the Western Cape.

By concentrating efforts on retaining control of the Cape Town municipality and, in particular, winning the provincial election in the Western Cape through an outright majority, there are concerns that the party could run the risk of confining itself to regional politics instead of taking on the mantle of being the official opposition in government. This was further exemplified by the fact that Zille, the party boss, put herself forward for the position of Western Cape premier, thereby leaving all kinds of speculation as to who will be a capable candidate of choice in filling the opposition leader’s place in parliament in holding the ruling party accountable and keeping its MPs on their toes.

Nevertheless and in all fairness, the DA reaped its reward in the Western Cape by becoming the first political party to actually win a majority in the province. Buoyed by this emphatic victory, the DA will ensure that it continues with its strategy of making the Western Cape a beacon for social service delivery and poverty reduction programmes vis-à-vis the performance of the ANC in other provinces, especially the Eastern Cape, which is considered to be one of the poorest provinces in the country with a grievous socio-economic delivery record.

As much as the ANC can feel undone by its performance in the Western Cape, after initially having controlled the province through a fragile coalition, the party has managed to stabilise its support in KwaZulu Natal by a convincing margin. The massive inroads the ANC made into Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) strongholds of northern KwaZulu Natal are testimony to the party's performance at the administrative helm of the province for five years. Whether it was the ‘Zuma’ factor or the undeniable decline, undermined by its ethnic regional identity, of the Zulu nationalist party since 1994, the ANC had strategically positioned itself amongst the economically indigent through the rolling-out of, inter alia, infrastructure programmes and the social grants system.

On aggregate the ANC’s marginal losses in several provinces, notwithstanding its steep decline in the Eastern Cape, were offset by its more than 15 per cent increase in support in KwaZulu Natal. Whereas in 2004 the ANC entered into an alliance with the Indian-based party the Minority Front to give it control over the province, this time the ANC confidently gained more than a substantial majority to govern the province on its own. So while the ‘coloured vote’ continues to be a variable in the Western Cape, in KwaZulu Natal it seems that the ‘Indian vote’ has lost that appeal. And for parties like the Minority Front that relied on a ‘kingmaker status’ in the past, they now have to be confident that their previous engagements and good graces with the ANC will hold them in good stead under the current Zuma administration, especially for their political lifeline.

But while the ANC may want to headline their triumph over the IFP in KwaZulu Natal, relations on the ground remain volatile between supporters. The ANC administration in KwaZulu Natal therefore needs to be mindful of these tensions and be willing at every turn to engage in an inclusive government and to work towards peaceful coexistence with the IFP, something that Zuma himself alluded to during his address to the National Assembly after being elected as the fourth democratic president of South Africa.

Overall the 2009 election posed serious challenges for the opposition parties. With the New National Party’s (NNP) dissolution after the 2004 election, it seems that its main support base has shifted towards the DA and COPE in the Northern Cape and Western Cape respectively. For the Independent Democrats (ID), the IFP and a host of smaller parties there is now a real need for introspection around how to position themselves in the run-up to the 2011 local government elections. By the same token, while the DA can feel vindicated by its performance, it still needs to develop a coherent strategy that will enable it to make significant inroads into the majority of the African working-class, despite regaining the Indian working-class vote and consolidating its presence within working-class coloured communities.
Similarly COPE must also translate its gains into more viable strategies and develop a coherent identity amongst the electorate so that it mitigates the risk of contracting its future support base, as has been the case with other African political parties like the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO).

Yet, in the final analysis, the ANC’s electoral fight-back cannot be overlooked. From boardrooms to shebeens, the ANC ran an impressive multi-pronged election campaign that was as much about Zuma as it was about the COPE factor and the programme of economic empowerment. Of course having a R200 million piggy bank does go a long way too, but now the real work begins.

As Zuma announces his cabinet, he is mindful that the expectation of the electorate that has returned the ANC to power with a majority mandate cannot be taken for granted, the calls by the Anti-Privatisation Forum or the Landless People's Movement to boycott the election entirely notwithstanding. This Zuma has to do while reconciling the expectations of various individuals and constituencies who have carried him to the union buildings. And Zuma has begun to push his own stamp of doing things by cautioning against inertia in the civil service, stating that he 'does not owe anyone anything’. Of course, the first step towards this is to recognise that the majority of the South African electorate did not vote with their hearts but rather with their feet and for that better life which they were promised.

As Fazila Farouk recently wrote, ‘South Africa’s poor want jobs and houses. They deserve these and more’. And this is what Zuma’s famous ‘Umshini Wami’ must provide today, and not only the rhetoric of the past. Perhaps the warning issued by my taxi driver is something the ANC and Zuma will do well to heed: ‘I voted for the ANC today because they have improved my life. But they still have a lot to more like better housing and more jobs. They have until the 2011 local elections.’

* Sanusha Naidu is the research director of Fahamu's China in Africa programme. She was also an independent political analyst and was part of the SABC’s (South African Broadcasting Corporation) 2009 election analyst panel.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Honest anti-racists lose out to Zionist lobby

Gabriel Ash

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56106

cc flickr.comZionist efforts to keep Palestinian rights off the agenda at the Durban Review conference have undermined the efforts of participants to eliminate other kinds of discrimination around the world, writes Gabriel Ash. Nine countries boycotted the entire conference on the basis of anti-semitism, and the official declaration ‘dropped all mention of Palestine, beyond reaffirming the anodyne original declaration’ says Ash. ‘Their sabotage of the conference, their contempt for the work that it embodies, for the principles it represents and the goals it seeks to achieve left a bitter taste in the mouth of every organisation and every human rights worker and activist who was there for honest reasons'.
Like Israel their idol, Zionist organisations have a tendency to win wars, and to become weaker and more deranged with every victory. The Durban Review conference was a Zionist victory of that kind.

The war was long in the planning. Since being cited from racism by the NGO form in Durban 2001, Zionist organisations began meticulously preparing their assault. The target was the bundle of UN agencies, NGOs and social movements that used the historic delegitimisation of racism in the West to empower victims of racism. From obvious reasons, most if not all of those whose work is devoted to combating racism support Palestinian rights. That is a problem for Zionism. In Durban, the official document, after much wrangling, mentioned Palestinian rights in four innocuous paragraphs that reiterate commitment to the partition of Palestine and that famous ‘peace process’. The document even affirmed Israel's right to security. There was no mention of racism despite this being the subject of the conference. Israel however was not amused by Palestinian suffering even being mentioned in an official document about racism.

A bigger problem at Durban was the adjacent NGO forum, a conference attended by over 2,000 NGOs, whose final declaration contained much stronger (and generally more accurate) language about Israel. No doubt, the NGO forum had some internal problems, but that wasn't Israel's concern. Nor was it anti-semitism. No doubt some anti-semitic material was distributed at Durban, certainly in the demonstrations around town; perhaps, but only perhaps, in some corners of the NGO forum. But how much? Here is what Cecilia Surasky from Muzzlewatch has to say after being in Geneva:

‘Coming here myself has made me distrust virtually all reporting of Durban I. Already, I see terms in the media like ‘hate-fest’ and the ‘racist anti-racism conference’. ...I don’t doubt there was anti-semitic literature and language at Durban I. But was it 90 per cent of the conference, or .09 per cent? I have no way to know. I do know, however, that yesterday’s Sharansky, Voight, Dershowitz session, supposedly on anti-semitism, was a tour de force of insulting and demeaning anti-Muslim/Arab stereotyping and callousness, infused with Islamophobia, and that not one media account will ever call it what it is.’

The problem for Israel was that its racism was undeniable, and that the overwhelming majority of the 2,000 NGOs gathered in Durban were ready to say so despite strong pressure. What was about to be lost in Durban was the power to shape the discourse, in simple words, hegemony. The Durban NGO forum, while not democratic enough, was too democratic, too open to Southern perspectives, too representative of real world public opinion and too disrespectful of the powerful interests that keep racism alive, among other places in Palestine. The tools of international law, the language of human rights and the delegitimisation of racism could become effective.

This was unwelcome not only to Israel, but to a lot in the North, whose current affluence is to a very large extent the fruit of colonial exploitation and racism. The official Durban Conference was discussing slavery and was raising the spectre of reparations, not only to African-Americans but also to Africans. A conversation about racism was also becoming a conversation about existing wealth disparities between South and North. Talking about race could be the antidote to the neo-liberal paradigm that blames poverty on the poor. That was scary to a lot of vested interests, especially as the spirit of the Social Forum was learning to speak the language of the international legal system.

Since Herzl's famous ‘rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism’, Zionist organisations know who their natural allies are. Northern powers wanted the Durban process brought down a notch, and they were happy to oblige. A slew of organisations was created or retrofitted for the task, The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, UN Watch, NGO Monitor, Human Rights First, the AJC, The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, and others. Their goals: To defund NGOs that support Palestinian rights, to discredit and disrupt those U.N. processes that threaten Israel's right to be racist, and to undermine demands for global justice and accountability that inevitably involve accountability from and about Israel. NGO Monitor spells this out in some detail.

Let us first recognise the Zionist ‘achievements’.

Honest anti-racist NGOs have lost a lot of funding, some of it redirected to Zionist astroturf. The UN and the Ford Foundation stepped out of organising an official NGO forum in Geneva. An unofficial effort to have an NGO forum produced a small gathering of around 150 NGOs. The organisers did everything they could to exclude the Palestinian issue. They still got no money. The final declaration, despite the best efforts of the Zionists and the organisers, kept the right tone. But it was hardly noticed by the international press, bamboozled with an extravaganza of Shoa business starring Elie Wiesel, Bernard Henri-Levy, Alan Dershowitz and others.

The official conference was also disrupted. Nine countries, led by all the genocidal settler colonial states (the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) joined Israel in boycotting the conference over fears of imaginary anti-semitism. Nevertheless, and at least to keep European countries from leaving as well, the official declaration dropped all mention of Palestine, beyond reaffirming the anodyne original declaration (as if there was nothing to review in Palestine eight years later). Supposedly, the document avoided mentioning specific victims. In fact, Roma people are mentioned by name, as they should be, and Jews are also mentioned effectively by reference to the Holocaust and anti-semitism. People of African descent are mentioned by name, as they should be, and Muslims are mentioned by one unsatisfactory reference to Islamophobia. But neither the new document nor the original it re-affirmed mentions Palestinians as victims of racism, which, given the horrible and deteriorating conditions in Palestine, is frankly absurd. Worse still, under pressure, the document was adopted early, without discussion and without allowing any input from the thousands of NGO that actually work daily with issues of racism.

With ridiculous excuses, the UN secretariat banned Palestine-related side events at the UN during the week of the conference. Only they didn't ban all of them. Only those that wanted to present a Palestinian anti-racist perspective were banned. The UN did allow a real anti-Islam and anti-Arab hate festival organized by Zionist organizations. You can get a taste of it (if you dare) with this ten minutes of Dershowitz explaining why Palestinians are not victims but "heirs to Hitler”. It is perhaps ironic, but the word that best describes this discrimination by UN officials, discrimination against victims of racism who must listen to racist speech against them inside the UN and don't event have the right to respond, is 'racism.'

The press was successfully fed the Zionist talking points. Obama himself described the original Durban declaration as unacceptable. The New York Times editors, abysmally and shamefully ignorant, wrote that ‘Israel was the only country singled out in the final conference communiqué’.(NYT, April 20, 2009) Indeed, in that final declaration, Israel was the only country mentioned by name as having the right to security. Newspapers feasted on Ahamadinejad's speech and followed the Zionist talking points, calling the Durban Review conference a ‘hate-fest’ and refusing to publish elemental corrections to Zionist disinformation. Indeed it was a hate-fest, a hate-fest against Palestinians and Muslims in general.

I will leave the question of Ahmadinejad's speech to later and focus here on what looks to me as the other outcomes of the conference.

First, the conference was not destroyed. Thanks to Zionist sabotage, the important and concrete struggles against racism all over the world that this conference was supposed to help move forward have been overshadowed and ignored. Nobody paid attention to them and not much was achieved beyond a watered down reference to religious persecution. The text of the declaration was also watered down significantly. That outcome, supported by the Western press and Western governments, is shameful. But on the other hand nothing was rolled back. Most importantly, the Durban declaration has been reaffirmed, and the various UN mechanisms will continue to work with it and advance its specific recommendations.

Second, Zionist organisations exposed themselves as never before as the enemies, not only of Palestinians but of the whole South and of victims of racism everywhere. Their sabotage of the conference, their contempt for the work that it embodies, for the principles it represents and the goals it seeks to achieve left a bitter taste in the mouth of every organisation and every human rights worker and activist who was there for honest reasons. Navil Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who presided over the conference, spoke of 'a widespread, and highly organised campaign of disinformation...that was so determined to kill the conference'. Zionist activists packed meetings, disturbed proceedings, manipulated unsuspecting African groups and exploited Darfur and Rwanda with the goal (in which they ultimately failed) of creating discord and preventing resolutions from being reached. Their dishonesty and unscrupulousness, and their willingness to destroy the UN and the whole edifice of human rights laws, is going to be remembered. One would wish that this memory is going to be proactive. But some of it won't be. As Malaak Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, physically assaulted by Zionist goons, said, ‘the Zionists here are making people hate Jews...I was unfamiliar with the tactics of Zionists. But I got a crash course on it here.’ (JTA, April 28)

(Needless to say, Zionism wins by creating anti-semitism, so there is nothing really strange here.)

The most noted episode of the Zionist attempt to hijack issues was the UN side event organised by UN watch with a panel of two survivors of genocide from Darfur and Rwanda and a gay Muslim Indian filmmaker, Parvez Sharma. Sharma quickly understood that he was in fact being used in a racist Islamphobic event as a token gay victim of Islam. And he blew a top. Two Israeli delegates later spat on him. His account of what happened is worth reading in full. I'll cite only a few sentences that lead to the next point:

‘As the much reviled, almost made-to-be Hitlerian Mr. A. was a few minutes into his speech, the all-Caucasian EU delegations (23 members, we are told) walked out ceremoniously only a few moments after the ‘humble’ (his own term) former mayor of Tehran was pelted with red clown noses, also by Caucasian protestors. But as they made their displeasure known, delegates from African and Asian nations applauded. I wonder if a discussion of race, in terms of skin colour, and indeed, the institutionalised racism in many European nations, is even noticed by the white gentleman's club that usually represents European nations at the UN… As Mr Ahmadenijad walked into his press conference, again a motley crew of twenty-something, entirely white protesters hissed at him with quickly printed signs and hissed, stressing their sibilants: ‘Racccissst’. A British Pakistani man and I were the only two who questioned them on whether they actually had any experience of racism, manifest most simply for both of us in just getting around with our brown skins or Muslim names in most Western nations.’

The Durban Review and the Zionist organised but fully Northern supported Islamophobic hate-fest exposed the limits of a friendly and consensual global conversation on race. The white setter states boycotted the conference from the outset. The pre-planned and staged white European walk-out further dramatised the global strength of racism and its presence at the very institutes of global governance that are supposed to eradicate it. The divisions in Geneva were visibly about colour. The white Western press and punditocracy mostly couldn't notice that the majority brown people stayed in the room and applauded. When they say ‘the world’they mean Europe.

The Russian diplomat who brokered most of the Durban declaration accused the European states that walked out on Ahmadinejad of intentionally seeking to weaken the conference. In this, European states followed through with the wrecking job that was begun by the Obama administration. Professor Vernellia R. Randall describes precisely what Obama was at as he negotiated, got his way, and then still boycotted the Conference:

‘Unfortunately, the Durban Review Conference is being hijacked by governments and members of civil society, including the Obama administration, who may not have the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, especially for African and people of African descent, as their highest priority. In fact, in just the last week, in response to Obama administration ultimatum, the Durban review committee:
• withdrew language related to reparations;
• removed the proposed paragraph related to the transatlantic slave trade being a crime against humanity;
• removed proposed paragraphs designed to strengthen the Working group of experts on people of African descent; and,
• overall weakened the efforts related to people of African descent.
This is devastating.’ (Black Agenda Report)

To be sure, there is an official global consensus against racism, and this should not be minimised. It is a hard won achievement. The North participates and supports international institutions and human rights instruments. This anti-racist commitment is not completely false. Today a majority of white people do abhor crude racism and do pay at least a lip service to the elimination of racial discrimination. That is precisely why the Obama administration, the Zionists and the Europeans, in short, the white front, sought to camouflage their support for racism as ‘anti-racism’. But that commitment has limits and the Durban process exposed those limits. Reparations, redistribution, or indeed any material setback to the perpetrators and beneficiaries or racism, is beyond the pale not only in Palestine, but also in general, and certainly in the US.

The Durban Review Conference was therefore a moment of truth. Masks fell, and the major fault-line reappeared.

* This article was first published on Jews sans frontieres.
* Gabriel Ash is an activist and writer. He co-edits the blog Jews sans frontieres.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Meagre minimum wage sparks worker wrath

Joachim Omolo Ouko

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56107

cc Tom MarukoKenya's president and the prime minister knew people would be angered by the inadequate increases the government has made to the minimum wage, writes Joachim Omolo Ouko, and that’s why they stayed away from Labour Day celebrations. Workers threw stones and ‘shouted at’ labour minister John Munyes, who was invited byCOTU to make the government address in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park. Despite recent growth in GDP, essential commodities are still too expensive for the average Kenyan worker, says Ouko, with many unable to send their children to school, let alone feed them.

President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka knew the consequences of the outcome of yesterday’s Labour Day celebrations. That is why they kept away from the Nairobi Uhuru Park to address the workers.

That is why when labour minister John Munyes was invited by Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) secretary Francis Atwoli to address workers, they did not only throw stones at him, but also shouted at him. Traditionally such celebrations are addressed by the president and not the labour minister.

The president could not attend because he knew that the minimum wages he increased by 20 per cent for agricultural sector workers, and 18 per cent for general workers would not be received well by them.

In his unfinished speech read on his behalf by Munyes, the president directed that the statutory minimum wage for those in the agricultural sector be increased to Ksh3,043 and for the general wages category the minimum wage for those working in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu to be adjusted to Ksh6,130, while all municipalities, including Mavoko, Ruiru, and Limuru town councils to have a minimum wage of Ksh5,655 and other areas to be Ksh3,270.

The increment did not make much difference, as the workers in agriculture sector had been taking home a minimum wage of Ksh2,536 since the 2006 increment. The different was only about Sh 1,000 increment since then.

Workers did not welcome the increment because living conditions in Kenya have become the most expensive today. For instance, in 1978 the cost of a 2kg packet of maize flour was Ksh2.80, but today the vast majority of Kenyans cannot afford the flour.

When Kibaki government took over in 2002, flour was costing Ksh27, unlike Moi’s tenure when it was Ksh24. In 2003 the price doubled from Ksh27 to Ksh54. There is fear that by next year it will double again.

Unlike during Kenyatta’s rule, when Kenya promoted rapid economic growth through public investment, encouragement of smallholder agricultural production and incentives for private (often foreign) industrial investment, during Kibaki’s tenure economic growth through agricultural products is history.

Shortly after independence gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual average of 6.6 per cent between 1963 and 1973. Agricultural production grew by 4.7 per cent annually during the same period, stimulated by redistributing estates, diffusing new crop strains, and opening new areas to cultivation.

When Moi took over from Kenyatta things became worst, especially from 1991 to 1993 when Kenya had its worst economic performance since independence. Growth in GDP stagnated, and agricultural production shrank at an annual rate of 3.9 per cent. Inflation reached a record 100 per cent in August 1993, and the government's budget deficit was over 10 per cent of GDP.

Although economic growth began to recover after 2002 when Kibaki took over from Moi, registering 2.8 per cent growth in 2003, 4.3 per cent in 2004, 5.8 per cent in 2005, 6.1 per cent in 2006, and 7.0 per cent in 2007, ordinary citizens continued to be poorer and poorer.

Essential commodities became too expensive. Many parents cannot afford taking their children to school, leave alone feeding them.

* This story was first published by People for Peace in Africa (PPA).
* Joachim Omolo Ouko is a priest who works with People for Peace in Africa (PPA).
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Kenyan maize scandal causes ODM rift

Joachim Omolo Ouko

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56110

cc E PenceFollowing the Kenyan Orange Democratic Movement's (ODM) allegations of Agricultural Minister William Ruto's role in a maize scandal, Joachim Omolo Ouko discusses the internal mudslinging and internecine feuding within Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party. Ruto's problems with the party stem from his criticisms of Raila last year, Ouko notes, compelling the prime minister to seek a means of fixing the rift developing with the ODM, particularly as his own son is instead now alleged to be involved in the scandal.

Before it was the agriculture minister, William Ruto, today it is Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s name that has been sucked into the controversy over a KSh3.6 billion maize scam, with a parliamentary committee recommending that his son and associates (including his personal assistant) be investigated over the deal. Tomorrow we don’t know who it will be.

This revelation reminds me of the politics played by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan with his son Kojo in 2005. Annan was put to task to resign. He only survived when he said his son Kojo was an adult and himself responsible for what he was doing.

Kojo admitted he did play a role in a scandalised oil-for-food programme with Iraq, a move that prompted a call for his testimony before the US Congress. Kojo Annan was involved in negotiations to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil under the auspices of Saddam Hussein.

According to The Times in London, Kojo was connected to Hani Yamani, the son of Sheikh Yamani, the wealthy former Saudi oil minister who set up the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that came under scrutiny.

Yamani lined up a deal four years ago to sell some US$60 million in Iraqi oil to a Moroccan company, and Kojo is alleged to have travelled to Morocco to help seal the deal. Now that it has become very clear that it was Raila’s son Fidel who was involved in the scam, the big question is whether the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party is going to apologise to Ruto for pressurising him to step aside as agriculture minister.

Some senior ODM officials had alleged that Ruto was to blame for the maize scam. This is why at the height of the censure motion in parliament the ODM was said to be behind these allegations owing to the bad blood between Ruto and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. It explains why Ruto had to do nothing but seek an alliance with Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, a move he later denied after Raila had visited the Rift Valley for consultations over the issue.

According to media reports some ODM ministers had advised Ruto to quit the cabinet to allow for investigations into the maize scandal, on the promise that he would be reinstated once he had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Lands Minister James Orengo and Finance Assistant Minister Oburu Oginga were among the senior ODM officials putting pressure on Ruto to resign, unaware that Oburu’s son had been also mentioned in a similar scandal.

Aware that he was entirely clean in the matter, Ruto humiliated the senior ODM officials in a fight that saw him victorious. It was alleged that Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale, who moved the motion of 'no confidence' on Ruto, was bought by senior ODM officials. During the censure key ODM leaders failed to turn up to the house at the crucial hour that Ruto needed their support. Among the leaders who failed to turn up included the party chairman and Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey and Raila himself, the ODM's leader.

Others included the party's secretary general and medical services minister Anyang’ Nyong’o and the party's deputy leader, Deputy Prime Minister and Local Government Minister Musalia Mudavadi, along with coalition Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo as well as ODM MPs from Nyanza Province.

Those who stepped up the pressure on Ruto to resign included former Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua and Finance Assistant Minister Oburu Oginga.

It is against this background that some political analysts have argued that Ruto’s problem over the maize issue was not of his own making but a calculated move by enemies of the ODM to bring about a rift in the party.

Ruto’s problem with the party began last year when a group of ODM MPs asked him to stop criticising Prime Minister Raila Odinga after he said he would lead the party’s supporters in Rift Valley to decamp from the party.

Ruto had vowed in one of the rallies that he would lead ODM supporters from the Rift Valley in ditching the party if their interests were not safeguarded. This was the first time since the December 2007 elections that he had publicly criticised Raila for failing to defend the interests of the Kalenjin community.

Apart from forming an alliance with Uhuru, Ruto was contemplating leading his Rift Valley MPs to split from the ODM in order to join the United Democratic Movement (UDM), a party that some ODM MPs from the region fielded candidates for in Ainamoi, Bomet and Sotik. Ruto is one of the UDM founders.

Ruto was not pleased with Raila and the manner in which the he was handling the Waki Report and the planned eviction of families from the Mau forest water catchment. Ruto was quoted by the press to have said, 'No one invited us to join ODM and when we feel deemed to leave we shall do so by our choice without having to seek anyone’s permission.'

Although Raila visited the Rift Valley for the second time in a week to renegotiate a reunion and stability within the party, the war is not yet over. Part of his visit came against rumours of an alliance between Ruto and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

* Joachim Omolo Ouko is a priest who works with People for Peace in Africa (PPA).
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Who dropped the baton?

Njonjo Mue

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/56122

cc WikimediaKenya is a country of runners, writes Njonjo Mue, but for all its athletic prowess the country has yet to prove medal-worthy in the relay race of building true nationhood. With the baton passed from race leg to race leg, the Kenyan people have seen participation in the race restricted to a select, exclusivist and often brutal few, with many who have sought to champion the right of others to be involved being severely crushed. The finishing line of true nationhood remains a distant dream, with the runners even having dropped the right baton altogether, and if Kenya is not to perish entirely, the race's next leg can only be run by all Kenyans together.

'The race to nationhood is not a one-person race
But a relay in which all citizens must run a leg.
As Kenyans take stock of their race so far,
A new generation urgently seeks to know…'

Kenya is a country of runners. Even in the darkest times of our history, our light has shone bright on the tracks of the world as our boys and girls raise high the proud banner of Kenya in various stadia around the globe. Kenya’s true ambassadors have not been the dull men in grey suits presiding over the bureaucracies of our missions abroad, but countrymen such as Kip Keino, Paul Tergat, Samuel Wanjiru and Martin Lel, and women like Pamela Jelimo, Catherine Ndereba, Elizabeth Onyambu and Justina Chepchirchir. They represent us more than our appointed career diplomats especially because, like us, they are ordinary people – soldiers and policemen, prison warders and workers, teachers and students – many of whom rose from poverty to conquer the world, most lifting themselves up by their own bootstraps. They epitomise all our hopes and dreams.

But Kenya knows more about middle-distance, cross-country and marathon running than sprinting, and not just on the track. For we as a nation have been running another race, which we don’t seem quite to have mastered yet despite our prowess elsewhere. It is significant that Kenya has rarely won a medal in the relays. Equally disappointing has been our lacklustre performance in the relay race to building true nationhood.

Our race began with the advent of colonial rule with such luminaries as Me-Katilili wa Menza and Koitalel arap Samoei. Waiyaki wa Hinga was also among those courageous daughters and sons who grabbed the baton and led a generation of Africans in refusing to be deluded by the novelty of the white-skinned strangers who spoke in guttural noises, and they started to construct the iron snake that had been prophesied about by the seer, Mugo wa Kibiru. These early runners were unimpressed by the fancy material that covered the strangers’ pale bodies, a material which claimed superiority over the warm and simple animal skins that had covered our nakedness since time immemorial. They were non-committal about the new religion that was part of this strange package from a land they had never heard of; and as they began our race to nationhood, they were unwilling to accommodate the strangers except on equal terms.

But Waiyaki did not run very far. The baton was cruelly snatched from him and he was eliminated from the race for daring to oppose the strange new order that was quickly entrenching itself in the name of queen and Mother England.

But it was not long before the yearning for liberty manifested itself in the heart of another young man. Harry Thuku quickly grabbed the baton and ran elegantly, if impatiently. He engaged the colonial oppressor with the suave sophistication of African pride. In 1922 he marshalled the nascent forces of freedom into a procession in Nairobi. But those who thought that they could stop the train of freedom did their worst, opening fire on unarmed demonstrators and shedding innocent African blood. Many who ran with Thuku fell that day while Thuku himself was banned from the race and incarcerated in a far-away detention camp. The baton fell and for a while we wondered whether, with all the foreign forces marshalled against us, we would ever complete this race.

But a young metre-reader with the Nairobi Municipal Council got off his bicycle and quickly picked up the baton. And a great crowd of witnesses cheered Johnston Kamau Ngengi, running under the nom de guerre of Jomo Kenyatta, as he ran his leg with rare determination. Years of exile in the very country whose rulers he was opposing at home did not deter him. He took the baton to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park and cut a lonely figure in the wintry chill as he made an impassioned plea for the freedom of the black race. In between the laps, he wrote about how African peoples had organised their races before the disruption of those who thought it was their God-given right to show other peoples a more civilised way of running. After enduring several winters and a world war, he returned home with pomp and ceremony to continue running his leg and he was enthusiastically joined by other daughters and sons of the soil.

By this time, the field was becoming a bit crowded. The colonial master tried to ignore the fact that our race to nationhood was on, but the sheer din from the crowd could not easily be brushed aside. On 20 October 1952, our first team of top runners were rounded up and along with Kenyatta, Kung’u Karumba, Alfred Kubai, Achieng’ Oneko, Bildad Kaggia and Paul Ngei were sent to prison.

For a while, the baton lay still at Gatundu where it had been abandoned in the silence of midnight.

But the momentum towards Uhuru was unstoppable. Oginga Odinga refused to pick up the baton, insisting that the star athlete would have to come out of prison and complete his leg before Jaramogi could contemplate running his own. The crowd of witnesses defiantly continued to occupy the stands and agitate for their runners to be set free. They formed Kenya African National Union (KANU) but refused to be drawn into negotiations on alternative ways of completing their race until their team was made complete by the release of their jailed runners.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, another part of the race continued to gain momentum, but this one was not so neatly structured. Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi and General Mathenge led other sons of the soil in Mount Kenya and Aberdare forests, showing the colonial master what the alternative to letting Africans complete their race would be. The Mau Mau were not running their race with batons, but with homemade guns, their makeshift stadiums drenched in blood. They were answering fire with fire and, though they knew they were no match for the might of the British army, they were equally aware that their own race would suffice to make the enemy know that she could not possibly hope to govern an ungovernable people.

The message struck home and, at the dawn of a new hopeful decade, Kenyatta and other detainees were finally freed. James Gichuru gladly handed the baton he had held in safe custody back to the star athlete and our race was on again.

Our grand medal ceremony was held at Uhuru Gardens in the midnight hour of 12 December 1963. The people deliriously cheered in unison as the Union Jack was lowered for the last time, and the black, red, green and white banner of a new proud nation danced contentedly in the crisp new air of freedom, keeping careful watch over a newly freed people against the triumphant sounds of the new national anthem which invited the god of all creation to bless this our land and nation. This magical night marked the triumphant completion of the first leg of our race.

Thereafter, for a few years, our race progressed remarkably well. The team grew with the spirit of the young nation. Nor was it mandatory to merely cheer Kenyatta on as he ran his leg. For others came in to play their part. Jaramogi stepped in as Kenyatta’s able deputy while Tom Mboya organised the famous airlifts to America to help prepare a new generation of runners to continue running the race once the current one was ready to pass on the baton. In due course, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who was not entirely happy with how the star runner was running this race, decided to switch and contribute from the other side of the track. Bildad Kaggia, too, fell out with his erstwhile compatriot-in-arms and eventually retired to a quiet life in the countryside. So did a disillusioned Joseph Murumbi, who did not let the trappings of power as Kenyatta’s new number two blind him to the fact that things were not going according to the original plan. In time, Daniel Moi was anointed to sprint alongside Jomo and prepare to take the baton once the latter called it a day.

But there were signs that the race was not going well at all. Pio Gama Pinto and Tomas Joseph Mboya were gunned down in Nairobi for daring to get too close to the baton. Ronald Ngala too died under mysterious circumstances for looking like he was planning to run a leg. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Jean-Marie Seroney, Martin Joseph Shikuku were all hauled into detention for having the temerity to suggest that this race could be run differently. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, too, was locked up when he suggested that the crowd of witnesses should actually have a say in the way that the race was being run and should be allowed to cheer in their own mother tongues. James Orengo, George Anyona, Chalagat Mutai, Chibule wa Tsuma, Koigi wa Wamwere, Abuya Abuya and Mashengu wa Mwachofi, were contemptuously dismissed and labelled as the seven bearded sisters for their spirited attempts to call the runners to run in the direction the people who chose them had collectively agreed.

The nation began to wonder, wasn’t this precious baton the property of the people? Did not many give their lives to get it where it was? Did the people not have a say as to whom their relay team should be? Why then were Kenyatta and company behaving as if they, and only they, knew how best to run this race?

Josiah Mwangi Kariuki asked these questions a bit too loudly and too often. He was found dead and mutilated beyond recognition in a lonely forest in the outskirts of Nairobi. The people, looking through teary eyes, started to lose interest in a race they no longer felt a part of. Still, Jomo and a cabal of political mafia continued to run and to cheer themselves on. Our star runner refused to hand over the baton even when he should have finished running his leg, preferring instead to bump off all the able runners we had lined up to take over from him. He kept running the race in our name even when we had walked out of the stadium in disillusionment and disgust and found something else to do to occupy our time.

On 22 August 1978, exhausted and old, our erstwhile star athlete dropped dead, and the baton lay lifeless in the resort town of Mombasa. There was temptation from among the ranks of the favoured bystanders to pick it up and run for themselves. But one Charles Mugane Njonjo pushed his chosen successor forward to pick up the baton and run a leg. The people, thinking that they had taken back their race, stormed into the stadium and enthusiastically picked up cheering where they had left off. But the few who understood this game saw the signs of trouble, as one Sharrif Nassir declared on our behalf that we had already chosen our next star runner without so much as giving us a chance to have our say.

It was not long before the nation realised that this race had developed a life all of its own and no longer depended on the people for legitimacy. Moi started off well, releasing political detainees 'that their children might not suffer'. But he completely went astray after five years. In his efforts to get away from Njonjo, who was now chasing him and demanding to run a leg himself, Moi ran right out of the stadium and mapped his own route, following his footsteps to nowhere far from the madding crowd.

The people, left staring at an empty track, were rather bemused when they were assured by VOK (later KBC) radio and TV that the race was indeed going quite well. Yet they could not see their runners for they had bolted right out of sight and were making their own rules as they went along – no opposition parties; introduce Section 2A; disband the entire air force; shut down universities at will; jail and torture dissidents at whim; introduce 8-4-4 by force; vote by queuing. 'It’s our turn to eat, wapende wasipende; put up or shut up!'

And yet the so-called people’s representatives continued to go in and out of the people’s August House, studiously ignoring the immortal words etched at its entrance. These words sought, in a still silent voice, to remind them that the only reason they were sent there by the people was to find strategies on how our race to nationhood might be ran ‘for the welfare of society and the just government of men’.

Meanwhile, after successfully evading Njonjo’s challenge, the runners re-entered the stadium as if to complete a marathon, and alas, the whole nation was surprised to realise that it was Biwott, and not Moi, who was holding the baton, though the latter continued to wield his ivory sceptre and to faithfully mouth the words he was fed by his total advisor. At the end of the 1980s the nation was again rising and asking for their baton back that they may continue running their race to nationhood. But the new boys on the track would hear none of it. They invented all manner of ‘enemies’ as a pretext to banish and jail, torture and kill; all who looked like they might want to run a leg.

Robert Ouko’s only crime was being too eloquent in defending the very runners who were later to brutally murder him. He was found dead and burned beyond recognition on a lonely hill near his rural home. The runners told us that he had committed suicide by burning himself alive and then shooting himself dead.

Alexander Kipsang’ Muge dared to be too vocal in suggesting that there were other sons and daughters of Kenya who might like to run a leg. But he at least had the benefit of being forewarned in public by one of the runners that if he visited Busia that day he would 'see fire and will not leave alive', words that sadly proved all too prophetic for the young Anglican prelate. He was abruptly cut off in his prime by an oncoming truck.

But fortunately, not all voices of reason met the same sad fate. At the dawn of the 1990s, Henry Okullu dared to call for an end to the one-team monopoly in the running of this race. He was joined by another courageous prelate, Timothy Njoya. Oginga Odinga’s voice had never really been silenced. Others came to join the chorus of disapproval at the way this race was being run.

1990 proved to be a watershed for our race. Two gentlemen who had shown their prowess in the world of business and politics, Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba and Charles Wanyoike Rubia, threw down the gauntlet and dared Moi to declare who this baton and this race really belonged to. The chorus had reached a crescendo as the nation defiantly organised trial runs at Kamukunji and elsewhere in the country in what has been immortalised as Sabasaba Day.

But those who had hijacked the baton were not about to give up so easily. They brought the full might of the state into the makeshift stadium and stopped the people’s race in its tracks. Many innocent people fell that day. Harry Thuku must have winced in his grave, distraught at the sight of a black government shedding innocent African blood in scenes reminiscent of what his adversaries had done to his team in 1922.

A year later, special running advisers by the name of the Paris Club pointed out the absurdity of running a race without opponents. The runners, posing for breath at the Kasarani Gymnasium, decided to introduce a form of competition by repealing section 2A of the running rules. But they then set about erecting all kinds of obstacles on the lanes they would assign to their opponents. Not only did they control all the resources of the state, they also insisted that even to go for trial runs around the country, the opposing teams had to apply for permission from the very people they were seeking to take the baton from.

The much expected 1992 tournament proved to be a sham. The divided Johnny-come-latelys clearly stood no chance against the self-proclaimed professor of politics with all the might of the state behind him. The racetrack had been designed in such a way that only one team could win. Alas, we had entered a treacherous leg of this race. We would be forced to cheer the illusion of a competition, coerced to participate in a race in which we really had no part. Over the next five years, the monies we had painstakingly saved in our shared chest for the welfare of society and the just government of men and women was squandered on buying runners from the opposing teams and organising wasteful mini-races to fill the places they left vacant in a wasteful power game.

Nor was the crowd of witnesses guiltless of wrongdoing. With their leaders fighting and haggling over who would wield the baton, the people became like sheep without a shepherd. Poor and confused, they turned to looting their own land at every chance they could get. Others were used by the wealthy runners who turned brother against brother in a desperate attempt to stop the baton from passing on to a new generation.

This race had began with a bang; would it end with a whimper? As 1997 approached, some thought salvation might be found in Kitui Central. 'Run, Charity, run!' they cheered the charismatic daughter of the land who had taken the country by storm. But the field was once again too crowded and the various chants drowned each other out in a cacophony of confusion allowing the star runner to romp home yet again. That round left the whole nation exhausted and wondering whether running this race was worth all this trouble.

In 2002, our reserve runners seem to have finally caught up with the spectators who had all along been urging them to unite to snatch the baton from the old runners and their neophyte protégé, infamously dubbed ‘Project Uhuru’. They came together in a strategy that seemed to offer a glimmer of hope and the stadium erupted with the thunderous sounds of 'Yote yawezekana bila Moi!'

This time, cheered on by the crowd of witnesses led by Jaramogi’s son who declared with finality 'Kibaki tosha!', Mwai Kibaki snatched the baton from those who had killed and maimed to keep it in certain hands and, for a while, we thought that our race to nationhood was back on track. We ran with new confidence believing that indeed, after the 24-year reign, we could finally behold the rainbow.

But our celebration was short-lived. For soon we started hearing murmurs from some of our new dream team about a dishonoured MOU. Before we could understand how the new runners planned to run their leg, there was a great falling-out from the ranks of our chosen team, and they were running helter skelter in different directions.

A discussion on the new rule book in 2005 was turned into a battle of the titans with some runners urging us to approve it and others to reject it without really explaining why. The orange team won on the field but were rewarded by being expelled from the track altogether.

As the country approached the 2007 stretch, the race had turned ugly, with the runners using unorthodox means to retain or get the baton by all means necessary. One side told us that their opponents were thieves and had stolen enough, while the other side tried to convince us that the state of a particular part of a runner’s anatomy was an important determinant for choosing the next team captain. The stage had been set for the spectators to turn on each other at the slightest provocation.

That provocation came from the team of referees who could not say with certainty which team had won the right to lead the race for the next five years but did not hesitate in announcing that Kibaki would continue to wield the baton. Chaos broke out all over the land as angry and disappointed citizens turned on each other in the battle for supremacy and the words post-election violence, IDPs, power sharing and Grand Coalition government were added to our political lexicon. God Himself had to mercifully intervene by sending us an Eminent African by the name of Kofi Annan to calm our extremely frayed nerves and save us from ourselves. Now we have entered confusing times of our race to nationhood with the baton being wielded by two runners at the same time, even though an eminent South African judge told us that neither could with certainty be shown to have won the right to lead this latest round.

But even as we try and extricate ourselves from this latest hole that we have dug ourselves into, another truth has begun to strike on the edges of our consciousness. Could it be that while we slept, the baton – the real baton that was passed on from Me-Katilili and Waiyaki to Thuku, kept in safe custody by Gichuru, touched by Jaramogi, eyed by Mboya, glimpsed by Kariuki, wielded by Moi, defended by Ouko and shared by Kibaki and Raila – could it be that that baton may have been dropped somewhere along the way and surreptitiously substituted with a fake one? Might we have been cheering the wrong team all along and fighting for the wrong prize? For the goal initially was to run our race with distinction, each runner gracefully passing on the baton at the end of their leg, until we finally reached the finishing line of true nationhood. But anyone with eyes can see that our stadium has long since been turned into a battlefield of gladiators where there are no rules and where our national motto has become not just survival of the fittest, but of the most greedy and corrupt.

Where will our salvation come from? Will it be in the re-writing of our constitution? Will it be in organising a whole new race? Will it be in continuing to kill, steal and destroy and just declaring that the last man left standing is the winner?

Or will it be in stopping this mad race to nowhere and acknowledging that we have been chasing the wrong baton, in painstakingly walking together back to the place where not one person really knows, but to the place where nonetheless our collective future lies; to the place where the true baton has been left abandoned.

We may not easily agree where that place is, or who really dropped the baton, or even whom to hand it over to once we find it to lead in running the next leg. But these are challenges that we can face together.

The choice for Kenya at this hour is clear: we can either run together as brothers and sisters, or we can continue running along the destructive path we have taken, only to perish as fools.

Amkeni Ndugu Zetu…

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

I’m not signing up to that

Why no-one will ratify the AU charter on democracy

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/56118

I was in Khartoum a couple of weeks ago. A sweltering heat of over 40 degrees welcomed us as we descended the gangway from a Matatu-like Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi. I was not in town to help the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest Sudan’s indicted president, General Hassan Al Bashir, who travels to carefully selected friendly countries these days as an IDP, giving a new presidential meaning to those initials (Internationally Displaced President), taunting the ICC to get him if they can.

We will know how brave he is and how much braver South Africa will be should Al Bashir decide to go for Zuma’s inauguration this Saturday! Even If I had any delusions that I could become stupidly rich or win the Nobel Peace Prize – or both – for cornering General Bashir on his own turf, the thought soon evaporated because the President was away in a ‘friendly’ non-ICC compliant Ethiopia. The previous weeks he had been in another friendly country with whom his Addis new best friends do not talk, Eritrea.

It is obvious that while the ICC sees Bashir as a villain, his neighbours see him as a bridge proving yet again that ‘one man’s terrorist’ could well be another man’s good friend or even liberator. Needless to say that none of the countries the Sudan President had ‘defiantly’ visited so far has ratified the ICC. The true test of his ‘defiance’ will be for him to go to a country that has ratified the ICC treaty.

I am one of those who actually believe that General Bashir’s regime and his cohorts are guilty of many of the charges against them and should face justice, but I am also not persuaded that the ICC approach is the best course for now. The ICC is not about justice but the triumph of politics without principle at the international level. It denigrates international law and wins support for dictators because of its selective nature. How can the US, which has refused to sign up to the ICC, be one of those states that has used its undemocratic powers and privilege in the UN Security Council to secure Bashir’s indictment?

The ICC will gain universal credibility the day it indicts former president George W. Bush and his British poodle, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and their generals for illegally waging war of aggression against another country based on lies and disregard for international law and the UN, killing and maiming millions of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis. It will be perceived as a credible or neutral arbiter for injured parties when it indicts Israeli generals and politicians for deliberately targeting and killing civilians and destroying civilian properties and facilities including refugee camps and UN buildings in Palestine. Until then the ICC will always be perceived as an instrument for Western vendettas.

But it was not ICC that took me to Khartoum, a city full of African symbols whose rulers insist is Arab. A city that should be a melting pot for Africans and Arabs and others, whose rulers delude themselves is racially and religiously homogenous, in a country whose blackness is proclaimed in its Arab name, Bilad El Sudan, but which is ideologically denied by its rulers. I was there to participate in an African Union meeting on popularisation and ratification of the AU Charter on democracy, elections and governance.

The Charter was adopted in 2007 by the Assembly of heads of state and government. Since then 28 member states have signed the charter signalling their commitment, a kind of expression of intent. But so far only two states, Ethiopia and Mauritania, have ratified the charter. Both countries are not walking adverts for democracy, free and fair elections or good governance. However the charter needs 15 countries to ratify before it comes into force. Any 15 will do. So the AU’s political affairs department, led by its commissioner Mrs Julia Joiner and the head of the governance division, Dr Mamadu Dia, have been holding regional consultations to popularise the charter and also mobilise stakeholders to get the states to ratify the charter. The Khartoum meeting was principally between the AU and regional economic communities, invited experts and other stake holders on how to continue to popularise the charter but more immediately to get it ratified.

There are many reasons for the delay in ratification but my own strong believe is that there is no political will on the part of the leaders. All other reasons will give excuses but not convincing explanations. Many of our leaders sign international instruments and continental ones for political correctness – often donor-driven – but at the back of their minds, they hope that their citizens will never know about them and if they do they are sure that they will never be implemented as long as they are in power. There are also no sanctions for non-compliance. That is why they can sign up and delay ratification. As long as they do not ratify, they have no obligation to comply. Sudan, where we had the meeting, has not ratified the charter. Yet this did not stop it hosting the meeting and we left with no expressed commitment to do so. The AU has 10 commissioners elected from five regions on the basis of two per region. They represent ten countries, none of whom had ratified the charter.

If the chairperson’s own country has not ratified the charter – and his deputy’s (Kenya) and that of other commissioners including the political affairs commissioner (Gambia) who is campaigning for ratification have not done so – what moral or political credibility do they have to persuade other states to do so? It is clear that our Leaders do not respect themselves, therefore it would be expecting too much to ask them to respect the citizens. To respect the citizens, they have to respect themselves first and mean what they say or sign, or say or sign what they mean.

‘Forward ever, backward never’, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-72)

* Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem writes this syndicated column in his capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Holding onto a rich African identity

Tokwe

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/56119

Yes this is it. It is so pleasing to read Sarudzayi's interview and I am happy for her achievement so far and the effort she is making in ensuring that the African child in the diaspora is linked to his own cultural setting. Often most – even us adults – should be on guard against loosing our African identity, which is so rich. Its not that other cultures are not good for us but at least writing stories/books based on our experiences and backgrounds will also be a source of great joy to other cultures. I have also been writing short pieces about how Zimbabweans endured their life in 2008, the worst year for Zimbabweans in living memory, the hunger,violence,hopelessness and being reduced to beggars almost to the extent of scavenging. I feel these are the type of experiences that should be read by our children so that they will work hard for a better future tomorrow. As a matter of interest how can I get hold of Sarudzayi via e-mail, I would also love to read one of her books.

Identity is a matter of survival

Ramesh M Shah

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/56121

I taught at the University of Juba at the time of conflict/war. We had done several researches. Professor Prah was there also for some time. It is true the Sudanese ‘race’ may look similar in terms of skin, features, life style, and even language. The problem is one of identification. Some identified themselves as Arabs and some as Africans or non-Arabs. This identification is based on the benefits and threats, mainly of survival between artificial ‘groups’, since Sudan is a desert with non-fertile, poor land and old-fashioned technology. Should the economy change, and should the opportunity increase for all, such identification will fade away. Some of these threats were imaginary rather than real. The North-South war was more on imaginary, egoistic, ‘supremacy’ related threats.

Kenyan men should zip up and grow up

True manhood lies above the belt

Wandia Njoya

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/56112

When the G10, a group of Kenyan women leaders from civil society, called on 29 April for womenfolk to abstain from sex with their husbands for seven days as a fast to force the bickering Kenyan leaders to act like they have some sense, I dismissed it as a poor re-enactment of the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata. I thought the call was inappropriate and irrelevant, and even dreamed that Kenyans would ignore it or joke about it. I was in for a surprise.

This morning, several Kenyan men called the radio station talk show I was listening to express their anger. Some gave weak lines like their wives are married to them, not to those known as the 'two principals', namely Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki. Like the wives don't already know that. But others boldly voiced their disrespect and outright hatred for and violence against women, with one man boldly saying that 'if my wife refused to sleep with me, she will see' (a euphemism for ‘I will thoroughly beat her up').

The comments were shocking. The first reason is the most obvious – it is unlikely that Kenyan men have sex every night of their married lives. I am sure that some of those men now proclaiming their conjugal 'rights' go for weeks, if not months, without having intercourse with their wives. Others fast for 28 days or more from sex for religious reasons. And now they will have us believe that their marriages will collapse and that they will die because their spouses have said 'no sex'? Please.

The argument that most Kenyan women are not married to Raila and Kibaki doesn't hold. Men seem to have forgotten as much in January and February 2008 when they raped women and children who belonged to the ethnic groups perceived to be on the opposing political side. Other men who felt demeaned by fleeing from ethnic violence are quoted in a report done by the Men for Equality with Women group as saying that they raped their fellow escapees because: 'As men running away to avoid getting killed by other men, the only masculine way of testing their manhood was by gang-raping women escapees in broad daylight without minding whether they were our former neighbours or strangers.' Why didn't the men remember that those women were not Raila's and Kibaki's wives then? Give us a break.

So what is the real issue here? It is not sex, since men do not have sex everyday. Neither is it about concern for politics interfering in marriage. It is about power. The men who are angry with the G10 are angry that women are asserting their right to choose what to do with their bodies and with their destinies. It does not anger them when a woman doesn't sleep with a man, it angers them when she has made the choice not to do so.

The irony is that this model of power relations is the same one that is being played on the national stage and about which men complain. Just like these male callers discussing women, Kenya's leaders have no respect for the wananchi of Kenya . They rape our environment, our public coffers, our food reserves, our dignity and our intellect, leaving millions of Kenyans killing each other or dying from hunger. And instead of men offering an alternative model of manhood and of leadership in Kenya, they are now asserting the right to behave like Raila and Kibaki within their compounds and in their bedrooms. How pathetic.

The other issue is that the manhood of Kenyan men has reduced to their penis, and the same has been done to politics in Kenya . From debates about circumcision versus no circumcision to distinguishing between the ethnic groups of the major Kenyan politicians, to the insane orgies of violence visited upon women during the chaos of 2008, the focus of what makes a man is the engagement of his sexual organ. How savage. I repeat, how savage. And some of these men will be complaining on international platforms about how racism stereotyped the black man as over-sexual and prone to raping (white women). In the same way, politicians have reduced Kenya to such narrow-minded power games that now two men – Raila and Kibaki – have decided to sacrifice our country as they engage in ego-trips and daring each other to see who will be the first to blink.

God made the man with brains and a conscience to think, hands to work for his family, emotions to love his spouse and family and a soul to worship his creator, but Kenyan men have not used the different dimensions of their being to build a more humane Kenya. In 2007 and 2008, they tied their humanity and the identity of Kenya to a single male organ. In addition, they work to enrich themselves; they love themselves and regard the natural and the sacred with disdain. Again, how pathetic.

The G10 have brilliantly proved how pathetic Kenyan masculinity is. For almost two years, women have been trying to get the audience of the country in highlighting the suffering of women and children through petitions, demonstrations and other traditional means, but the only time they have captured the headlines and national attention is when they talk about sex. Shame on Kenyan men, on Kenyan politicians and on the Kenyan press.

The women leaders have a touched a soft spot. In so doing, they have revealed what is ailing Kenya. A flawed masculinity that has corrupted our sense of national identity and threatens to destroy our country. It is high time that Kenyan men zipped up and grew up by employing their brains and muscles to make Kenya a peaceful, prosperous country. And those men who believe they are nothing like the callers to the radio station should talk some sense into their brothers.

Any male species in the animal kingdom can mate and sire offspring. But it takes a man to build a society. True manhood lies above the belt and in every extremity of the male human being. Mere maleness confines itself to a small triangular area below.

* This article was originally featured by The Zeleza Post.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Who did this to Bantu?

Philo Ikonya

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/56120

Thank you Shailja Patel and Pambazuka for this great tribute to Bantu Mwaura. It is precious in many ways. And as we wake up to new dawns that look like sunsets without Bantu Mwaura in the arts, we take courage. But we are wounded in our souls. We are wounded in bodies. Our tears peep all the time from the corners of our eyes and sometimes we yell and let them flow... let them flow. And quietly somewhere in us, Bantu stokes more courage. The sun must rise. I have to say that seeing and hearing Makeba and Mekatilili his children speak of a 'happy family’ at Bantu's memorial at the Kenya National Theatre was sorrowful. Why? Who did this to Bantu? To the children and wife and us and the country? Why? I asked these questions there too. And am glad you still leave the doors open in your piece. We need to know what happened even if it might only help us begin to close a chapter of pain that we will never fully close... We might never know but we need to say we want to know.

Carving a path through Central Africa

An interview with Zvisinei Sandi

Conversations with Writers

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/56103

In an interview with Conversations with Writers, Zvisinei Sandi discusses the intended audience for her works and her approach to writing. A Politics and Literature in Southern Africa lecturer at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University, Sandi's short stories have been published in anthologies like Creatures, Great and Small (Mambo Press, 2005) and Women Writing Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, 2008).

Conversations with Writers: When did you start writing?

Zvisinei Sandi: I started out as a very little child, at about six, seven years old. I used to make plays about my parents and friends and the colourful years back then – the last days of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, the ceasefire, the assembly points and the changes in lifestyle for everyone.

Conversations with Writers: When did decide you wanted to be a published writer?

Zvisinei Sandi: Very early really, in high school, although my parents fought it. They were afraid that my writing would get in the way of my studies. They did all they could to stop me, including taking away my manuscripts and giving me extra chores. When I got the Randalls National Essay Writing Prize in 1990, they were furious with my teachers for encouraging me. However, that prize, handed over to the hardly formed seventeen year old girl who never before had been to a city, determined the course of my life. I decided then that I was a writer, and would always be a writer.

Conversations with Writers: How would you describe the writing you are doing?

Zvisinei Sandi: It’s about the parts of the world I have seen…

Conversations with Writers: Who is your target audience?

Zvisinei Sandi: The world is my audience.

Every person lives a separate life, and has hopes and aspirations and dreams that only they can tell to the rest of the world. I often find that I have a lot to say.

Conversations with Writers: Who influenced you most?

Zvisinei Sandi: My family has had the biggest influence on me – they taught me to love my country, and to value everything that is good and beautiful and decent. They taught me to love music and hard work and to dream. And my writing is mostly comprised of these.

Conversations with Writers: How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Zvisinei Sandi: I would say, a great deal. I remember as a little girl, my first, faltering, almost ridiculous attempts at writing, and father telling me that what I really needed at the time was not to bury myself in a manuscript, but to go out there, and learn, get the certificates that would be my passport to the world, and see the world and then, if I still wished it I would have something to write about.

Now, having grown up, passed through grad school and travelled, I believe I have something to say. I can write about pain, anguish, despair or joy with conviction because I have experienced these things and can talk about them with authority.

Conversations with Writers: What are your main concerns as a writer?

Zvisinei Sandi: Zimbabwe has had a challenging decade, and in an economic meltdown, the publishing sector is always the first to go. At the moment my main concerns are about finding publishers for all the writing I did while in Zimbabwe. This includes a number of novels, short story and poetry collections.

Conversations with Writers: Do you write every day?

Zvisinei Sandi: Every night at 2am, I wake up. That’s when my mind is clearest and I sit up to ponder on the dynamics of my world. That is when I do my writing. It’s a pattern I established long ago, as a young girl growing up in the Zambezi Valley, and the days were too full and fast to allow even a single moment of reflection.

Conversations with Writers: How many books have you written so far?

Zvisinei Sandi: I have written about four books, though I have not yet managed to find publishers for all of them. Two of the books, Through Hararean Mazes, and Tales of the Wild Savanna have been serialised in the weekly newspapers The Southern Times and The Sunday Mail (Namibia and Zimbabwe).

I have also had short stories published in the anthologies Creatures, Great and Small, published by Mambo Press in 2005, as well as Women Writing Zimbabwe, published by Weaver Press in 2008.

Various articles and poetry selections have been published online.

My novels, Vagrant Souls and Flight from the Inferno are still waiting for a publisher.

Conversations with Writers: What is your latest book about?

Zvisinei Sandi: That would be Flight from the Inferno. It’s a fast-moving adventure story that starts in Harare, in 2000, and makes its way into the crowded market places of Lusaka, and then moves into war-torn DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo].

The book virtually carves a path through Central Africa. When I started writing it, I had never been to any of the places. Carrying out the research was one of the most challenging jobs I have ever attempted. However, with the help of my college classmates, most of whom are now scattered in various countries across the African continent, it all came out beautifully. And, now that I have travelled the world, and actually seen these countries, I can present them with authority.

Conversations with Writers: Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

Zvisinei Sandi: It was an exciting adventure putting the thriller together, building into it all the energy and colour of the incredible Central African environment.

Conversations with Writers: What sets the book apart from other things you've written?

Zvisinei Sandi: It’s that excitement you find in it – that 'zazazu' you find in the thrill of fear, and danger and that 'Go! Go!' feeling you get when you encounter a life struggle.

What’s similar between this work and all writing, the world over, is the effort that went into it. Yes, you have a powerful story, and a clever way of delivering it, but all that would amount to nothing without all those long, grinding hours. In the end, you do have to put in a lot of hard work.

Conversations with Writers: What will your next book be about?

Zvisinei Sandi: At the moment, I am working on another colourful short story collection, covering all the places I have been to, and the exceptional people I have encountered.

Conversations with Writers: What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Zvisinei Sandi: My most significant accomplishment? Well, that's challenging for me to say, because you know what? It’s still coming. I see myself as just starting out my writing career, and when I am 90, curled up in front of a fire, surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren, then I will close my eyes and – this I promise you – I will tell you of my greatest accomplishment ever.

* Zvisinei Sandi is a Zimbabwean lawyer, activist and academic.
* This interview was originally published by Conversations with Writers.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Water is language laughing

Sokari Ekine

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/56105

My round-ups have with a few exceptions covered blogs written by Africans at home or in the diaspora. There is, however, a third group of bloggers, some of whom have been writing for four or five years, who are non-Africans writing about African issues. Some of these are aid workers, peace corps volunteers, or just people interested in Africa. I have consciously chosen not to include these blogs in my round-ups.

However because many of them do provide additional insights and more importantly cover issues not covered elsewhere in the African blogosphere, I think it is worthwhile including their voices from time to time. I am therefore going to cover some of these blogs in this weeks round-up and possibly again in a couple of weeks.

My Heart’s in Accra written by Ethan Zuckerman (co-founder of Global Voices and the first African blog aggregator Blog Africa) is the most well known non-African blogging about continental issues. Ethan has been blogging since 2003 and was probably one of the first bloggers I got to know. He was very supportive and has contributed greatly to the publicising of my own blog. Ethan’s blog is presently one of the few blogs covering the political crisis in Madagascar. This is typical of Ethan whose range of knowledge of Africa, politics, economics and technology is huge. In his latest post Free Razily Ethan explains the continued violence in Madagascar and tells the story of Razily, a young man who disappeared after a rally protesting the coup d’etat in Madagascar.

‘One of the reasons the crisis in Madagascar persists is that it is receiving very little attention from the media, even on the African continent. In the absence of sustained pressure and scrutiny, there’s not much pressure on Rajeolina and Ravalomanana to find a solution that allows Madagascar to go forward. I’m often sceptical of the value of online petitions, but I think that demonstrating that people around the world are paying attention to the situation in Madagascar, and to the rights of a peaceful demonstrator, could have an important impact in this case. I hope you’ll join me in signing the petition and in spreading the word about Razily.’

Black Star Journal written by ex-Peace Corp volunteer Brian, has also been around since 2003. Brian’s blog also fills in a gap in the African blogosphere as he is one of the few bloggers to write about Guinea specifically and Francophone West Africa in general. In his latest post Press Freedom in 2008 he comments on Ghana, Mali and Mauritius having the ‘freest presses in Africa’.

‘It is no coincidence they are three of the most stable, democratic countries on the continent. Comoros, Sierra Leone, Angola and Liberia improved their press freedom rating, according to the NGO Freedom House. Though notably South Africa, Botswana and Senegal were among the countries who saw press freedom diminished in 2008. The NGO said Eritrea has the least press freedom in Africa, with Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea not far behind.

Sociolingo’s Africa has been blogging for three years. Unfortunately s/he is anonymous but this is an excellent blog and one of my favourite. In his/her ‘About’ Sociolingo explains the decision to write about Africa and to do so in a positive way and again to write about those issues not covered elsewhere. S/he has found a niche which is broadly in the area of linguistics, arts, history and academic research. The latest post is one on the Dogan stone painters from Mali.

‘Stone is petrified speech, water is language laughing, the sown seed, a promised word: every element of reality is an integral part of Toro Tegu, currently spoken by some 5000 Dogons in the north of Mali.’

Scarlett Lion, written by a freelance photographer and writer, first began in Uganda and now continues in Liberia. Context Africa is a series started by the blogger that ‘highlights projects that go above and beyond daily news to tell a story of a place in its context and create an ongoing dialogue about what it means to tell contextual stories in Africa’. The first in the series is called Sliding Liberia:

‘Sliding Liberia follows Nicholai and his friends to Liberia in search of more than perfect waves. Risking everything to explore the West African country devastated by decades of war, they record the stories of people they meet – people like Alfred, who became Liberia's first surfer after finding a body-board while fleeing from rebels. Besides rediscovering a break that could be the best-kept secret in the surfing world, they find something more important, a way to travel responsibly in the 21st century.’

OTHER AFROPHILE BLOGS:

Meskel Square written by freelance journalist, Andrew Havens is another of the older and more consistent bloggers in the African blogosphere. Andrew, who used to live in Addis Ababa, has been blogging on Ethiopian politics since 2004. He has now moved to Khartoum and now also writes about Sudan.

Jack Fruity, written by Rebekah Heacock, who previously lived in Uganda, is about development and conflict. Her latest post is a video debate between Mahmood Mamdani and John Prendergast on Darfur.




Under the Acacias written by Christian missionary Keith Smith, is a blog on his work in Burkina Faso.







Finally, this week Black Looks has two posts, one by Rethabile, who continues his excellent series of interviews with poets.

The second one Black Looks is yet another homophobic report from Uganda which is fast becoming the most reactionary country, with it’s increasingly vile attacks on the LGBTI community. In this post, former gay activist, who under torture gave up the names of his colleagues, has now gone on TV to further denounce the community by claiming they actively recruit young boys and girls.

The homophobia crusade continues in Uganda as ‘former’ gay activist George (previously known as Georgina) adds his voice to those denouncing the LGBTI community as ‘unAfrican’ and predators. Worse than that, he has contributed to the outing of many in the Ugandan LGBT community and therefore put their lives and livelihoods at very serious risk.

In this video, he claims young men and women are actively recruited by lesbian and gay men. What is shocking and sad is that George is a former gay activist, who knows very well what it is like to be the victim of this horrendous campaign.

* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black Looks
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

China and the Macau Forum

Lucy Corkin

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/56116

Despite the ensuing global economic downturn, Beijing has spared no effort in further developing relations with the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP). It was announced last month in the report issued by the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macau that over 100 high-level visits had been conducted between China and the Portuguese-speaking member countries in 2008. Particular attention in the report was drawn to the three meetings that had taken place between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Brazilian counterpart Luis Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva. Brazil is China’s largest trading partner in the CPLP, with total trade in 2008 reaching US$48.6 billion. China is expected to overtake the US as Brazil’s largest trading partner, given that the financial crisis has hit Brazil’s northern neighbour hard and Brazil–US trade has already faltered.

China will become increasingly important for Brazil as the Latin American country is, according to the Brazilian National Confederation for Industry, expected to enter a technical recession this quarter, with almost zero growth this year. In May this year, while trade volumes of soy, iron ore and oil – which collectively make up nearly 80 per cent of Brazil’s exports to China – are expected to remain the same, the falling prices of soy and particularly crude oil are projected to lower Brazil’s export value to China by 12 per cent. Boosted by the announcement of China’s economic stimulus package, however, the price of iron ore is expected to increase by 13.7 per cent. Brazil’s Vale is on track to deliver a record 30 million tonnes of iron ore to China in the first quarter of 2009.

Brazil’s agricultural exports to China totalled nearly US$600 million this March, representing a 52.5 per cent increase from the previous year. During President Lula’s coming visit to China, a deal was supposed to be struck that would open up China’s markets to Brazilian pork. The emergence of the vH1N1 virus, known as swine flu, may however delay this process. China is the largest producer and consumer of pork meat globally.

China and Brazil announced in April the extension of their programme of cooperation in research, which currently covers aeronautical engineering, energy – notably bio-diesel – and environmental studies. Reportedly, Brazil’s Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Económico e Social (BNDES) will sit on the business council to be formed by Qinghua University’s Brazil–China Centre for Innovative Technologies, Climatic Change and Energy. Such joint research will benefit the Chery group. The company’s world chairman Lin Tongyao has announced that his company intends to have an automotive factory constructed in Brazil by 2012. In order to fully capitalise on the Brazilian market however, Chery first has to develop ‘flexi-fuel’ technology, or car engines with the ability to run on gasoline, bio-fuel, or a combination of both.

China’s relations with Angola remain vitally important for the latter’s reconstruction programme, of which Chinese state-owned banks are the largest financiers. Chinese construction projects are continuing steadily, with almost of US$4 billion of China Exim Bank’s loans having been disbursed to date. One of the latest contracts is between Angolan utility provider Empresa de Distribuição de Electricidade (EDEL) and the Chinese National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC) to reconstruct and expand Luanda’s electrical grid. An Angolan consortium called Progest will be subcontracted to the project as according to agreed stipulations, all such Chinese-funded projects may allow local participation of up to 30 per cent of the contract.

Mozambique also seems to be looking to China as a strategic financier in the economic downturn. China was reportedly the second largest investor in the southern African country after its neighbour South Africa in 2008. In order to capitalise on this trend, two seminars bringing together Mozambican and Chinese investors together have been held in the capital city of Maputo this quarter. The Mozambican Centre for Investment Promotion (CPI) is reportedly analysing more than 20 proposals from Chinese companies. Interestingly, Macau has made it onto the 2008 list of the top 10 investors in Mozambique, largely on the back of gambling mogul Stanley Ho’s investments such as Banco Moza. Stanley Ho dominated the Macau gambling industry for more than 35 years before his monopoly was broken. The Ho family owns three of the six gaming licences in Macau and controls about half of the sector's market share. Stanley has since branched out into various investments in Portuguese-speaking Africa, notably Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.

Stanley Ho first entered the Guinea-Bissau market in 2007 where his company Geocapital acquired a majority stake in the country’s largest bank, Banco da África Ocidental (BAO), by purchasing Portuguese Montepio Geral’s 60 per cent share. He moved onto Mozambique six months later launching Banco Moza, retaining a 49 per cent share. The coup de grace came in October 2008 when Geocaptial entered into a joint-venture holding company with Angola’s state-owned oil company Sonangol called Geopactum with a 49.9 per cent stake. The investments through this holding company are also primarily in banking such as Angola’s Banco Privado Atlântico (BPA), which is the Angolan partner of Millenium BPC, Portugal’s largest private bank. Stanley Ho has recognised the strategic advantage Macau has as a platform for Asian investment into lusophone Africa and wants to take advantage of this platform to facilitate such deals. It was announced in June last year that Geocapital planned to invest US$40 billion in the bio-fuels industry in lusophone Africa by 2018.

Macau itself has been hit hard by the financial crisis. The number of visitors to the gaming mecca fell by another 9.6 per cent this quarter. Doubtless many are pinning their hopes on the announcement that the 10th International Indian Film Awards (IIFA) will be held in Macau in mid-June. The ‘Bollywood Oscars’ looks set to be a gala event.

Although no Macau Forum meetings are scheduled for this quarter, the third meeting of the CPLP on environment and territory was held in Lisbon from 27 to 29 April. Promoted by the Portuguese Ministry for Environment, Territory and Regional Development, the event’s agenda comprised discussion of the Kyoto Protocol, the Montreal Protocol and the establishment of a network of environmental NGOs.

Simultaneously in São Tomé, the inaugural Parliamentary Assembly of the CPLP took place. This meeting has apparently been in the pipeline since 1996, but was only advanced two years later with the establishment of the Forum of Parliaments of Portuguese-speaking Language (FPLP) in Lisbon. The Angolan delegation also proposed the inclusion of the Parliamentarian Women Network in the statutes of the Parliamentary Assembly of CPLP. The Parliamentary Assembly also tackled the sticky issue of Portuguese citizenship and the free movement of people and goods. Results from the session are already bearing fruit. The Mozambican minister for Tourism, Fernando Sumbana after an audience with Angolan Prime Minister Paulo Kassoma, announced that national carriers TAAG (from Angola) and LAM (from Mozambique) would establish direct flight routes between the countries’ capitals. Brazilian airline Air Puma is also looking to establish routes to Luanda from São Paulo and Recife; the current direct route leaves from Rio de Janeiro. This is due to Brazil’s considerable commercial engagement in Angola. Brazilian construction firms, notably the giant Odebrecht, are heavily involved in Angola’s construction industry. Despite the economic downturn, Angola is hosting the African Cup of Nations in January 2010 and is investing US$1 billion in related infrastructure in a bid to boost its tourism industry. China’s Shanghai Urban Construction group has been contracted to build four 40,000-capacity stadiums in Benguela, Lubango, Cabinda and Luanda at a cost of US$600 million. The remaining US$400 million will be used to upgrade infrastructure such as airports and the construction of some 30 new hotels. This is not the first prestige event China has been a part of in Angola. In 2007, Angola hosted the African basketball championships Afro-basket. China National Electric Import and Export Company (CEIEC) was contracted to build four basketball stadia in Cabinda, Benguela, Huila and Huambo provinces, financed by the Chinese credit line.

For the Angolan government, such projects are important politically, both externally in asserting the regional influence the country feels is its due as well internally in galvanising the nation through the universal love of sport. Amid concerns that the Chinese credit line is being used to fund prestige projects, it is expected that the event will boost the economy through the tourism it will encourage. Brazilian construction companies Sequência and OAS plan to build four hotels as the demand for accommodation in the run-up to the international sporting event increases.

* Lucy Corkin is a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and resident Macau Forum analyst for Fahamu’s China in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

China- Africa watch news roundup

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/56195

Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations.
Textile exporters look at alternative markets
China UnionPay's ATM business expands into Middle East, Africa
Situmbeko lauds Chinese investment
China flexes new economic muscle at sea
China's Gold Ambitions
World Bank to invest $45 bln in infrastructure to speed crisis recovery
China Uses Global Crisis to Assert Its Influence
Deputy speaker: China concerned over Africa's setbacks from global financial crisis
40% of Chinese companies plan to expand overseas
INTERVIEW-AU: Africa not benefiting from foreign land deals
Liberia: China Again! -Turns Over US$5.5M Barracks
Zambian power station built by China put into operation
Land grab: The race for the world's farmland
India joins race for land in Africa, China way ahead
China expects to strengthen mutual-benefit cooperation with Eritrea: ambassador
China gives $10 mln to Zimbabwe
In Gabon, Activists Challenge Chinese Mine
South Africa: Trade Beat
India to counter China’s influence in Africa with Pan-African Stock Exchange
China an ‘Equal Partner to Africa
Telkom South Africa Sells Division to Shenzhen Media
Wealthy foreigners taking over huge tracts of African land
Chinese president congratulates Zuma on election as S African president

NGOs tell dam builder to go green

Peter Bosshard

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/56117

Sinohydro is China's leading dam builder, and is developing scores of hydropower projects outside China. Its investments in Africa include dam projects such as Bui (Ghana), Dikgatlhong (Botswana), Grand Poubara (Gabon), Imboulou (Congo-Brazzaville), Kariba North Bank Extension (Zambia), Merowe (Sudan), Tekeze (Ethiopia) and Zungeru (Nigeria). The company is committed to becoming a global brand in the hydropower sector.

On 18 February, a group of NGOs from Africa and Asia, together with International Rivers, sent a letter to Sinohydro. They recommended that the company adopt international environmental standards as part of its quest to become a global brand, and engage in a dialogue with civil society in the host countries of its projects.

On 28 April, Sinohydro responded to the NGOs. The company confirmed its commitment to global and host country laws and regulations, including ISO 14001. It also offered to arrange a meeting with its advisory experts from the Chinese society of hydroelectric engineers and Chinese national committee on large dams when the authors of the NGO letter visit China.

Sinohydro's response is an encouraging sign, and the NGOs will continue their dialogue with the company and its advisory bodies.
Read the correspondence with Sinohydro.

* Peter Bosshard is policy director at International Rivers.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Sinohydro responds to civil society concerns

Peter Broussard

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/56184

Sinohydro is China's leading dam builder, and is developing scores of hydropower projects outside China. Its investments in Africa include dam projects such as Bui (Ghana), Dikgatlhong (Botswana), Grand Poubara (Gabon), Imboulou (Congo-Brazzaville), Kariba North Bank Extension (Zambia), Merowe (Sudan), Tekeze (Ethiopia) and Zungeru (Nigeria). The company is committed to becoming a global brand in the hydropower sector.
Sinohydro is China's leading dam builder, and is developing scores of hydropower projects outside China. Its investments in Africa include dam projects such as Bui (Ghana), Dikgatlhong (Botswana), Grand Poubara (Gabon), Imboulou (Congo-Brazzaville), Kariba North Bank Extension (Zambia), Merowe (Sudan), Tekeze (Ethiopia) and Zungeru (Nigeria). The company is committed to becoming a global brand in the hydropower sector.

On February 18, a group of NGOs from Africa and Asia, together with International Rivers, sent a letter to Sinohydro. They recommended that the company adopt international environmental standards as part of its quest to become a global brand, and engage in a dialogue with civil society in the host countries of its projects.

On April 28, Sinohydro responded to the NGOs. The company confirmed its commitment to global and host country laws and regulations, including ISO 14,001. It also offered to arrange a meeting with its advisory experts from the Chinese Society of Hydroelectric Engineers and Chinese National Committee on Large Dams when the authors of the NGO letter visit China.

Sinohydro's response is an encouraging sign, and the NGOs will continue their dialogue with the company and its advisory bodies. The correspondence with Sinohydro is available at
http://internationalrivers.org/en/node/4263/ .

∗ Peter Bossard is Policy Director at International Rivers Network.

Activist Mukoko granted bial

2009-05-08

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5577

Former news reader with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, Jestina Mukoko was on 6 May 2009 granted bail by Harare Magistrate, Catherine Chimanda after the defence reached a mutual agreement with the Attorney General’s office to that effect. Appearing on behalf of the State, Chris Mutangadura, told the court that there had been communication between the Defence counsel and the Attorney General, and the latter had consented to the bail of all the accused persons with the exception of freelance photojournalist Shadreck Manyere, and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists, Gandhi Mudzingwa and Kisimusi Dhlamini.

Evidence of politically motivated violence against Zimbabwean women

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/56187

The Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU], an NGO working on providing specialist assistance in research and advocacy in the field of human rights , democracy and governance, has released a video and written report documenting political and human rights violations against women in Zimbabwe. The documentary, ‘Hear Us – Zimbabwean Women Affected by Political Violence Speak Out,’ and accompanying report, “Putting it Right: Addressing Human Rights Violations Against Zimbabwean Women,” present the findings of RAU’s study and call for action on the issue of politically motivated violence against women.
New Documentary and Report Provides Evidence of Politically Motivated Violence against Zimbabwean Women

(Harare, Zimbabwe – May 5, 2009) Today, the Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU], an NGO working on providing specialist assistance in research and advocacy in the field of human rights , democracy and governance, released a video and written report documenting political and human rights violations against women in Zimbabwe.

The documentary, ‘Hear Us – Zimbabwean Women Affected by Political Violence Speak Out,’ and accompanying report, “Putting it Right: Addressing Human Rights Violations Against Zimbabwean Women,” present the findings of RAU’s study and call for action on the issue of politically motivated violence against women.

The video tells stories of four women who were tortured for their political activities or those of a family member. In the video a 30-something year old woman named Memory recounts how she was raped by youth militia, She recalls, “When I arrived at the base, they removed all my clothes and I was raped by three men, one after the other.” When she went to the police station to report the incident, she was told that they would not accept her statement. The policeman told her, “We are not dealing with political violence cases. The time will come when we will deal with them.”

Human Rights groups in Zimbabwe estimate that between May and July 2008, over 2000 women were raped at militia camps. Given the fact that the police did not accept reports of politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe and that reports of rape are usually met with suspicion, stigma and hostility towards the victim causing most victims not to report, these groups believe the actual number of women impacted by this violence is much greater.

In the accompanying report, “Putting it Right: Addressing Human Rights Violations Against Zimbabwean Women,” the overriding assertion is that in all situations of conflict, merely by virtue of their gender identity, women are both primary and secondary victims of violence. The political parties in Zimbabwe signed a historic deal on the 15th September 2008, agreeing to put an end to the political and economic crisis and to end politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe. Women in Zimbabwe welcomed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) as it acknowledges the equality between men and women and recognizes women’s role in nation building and the abuses they suffered in the process, and continue to suffer.

Bearing in mind that any transitional process will not be effective unless it addresses the issues raised by those affected and acknowledging the evidence that in Zimbabwe attempts at national healing and reconciliation without retributive measures provide a short-lived remedy to conflict, RAU urges the Zimbabwean government to enact the following recommendations:

*Adhere to the GPA particularly by;

a) Returning to the rule of law (Article 11)

b) Bringing all the perpetrators of violence to book (Article 18.5 (c))

c) Ensuring that there is no discrimination based on gender (Article 7.1(a))

d) Ensuring community integration and national healing (Article 7.1(c))

*Complement any transitional justice mechanism with other programs, e.g. education, legal literacy and socio economic concerns in order that victims especially women and girls be able to rebuild their lives;

*Recognize and involve women at every stage of the transitional process on issues that relate to them as women. The process has to look at human rights abuses perpetrated against women qua women not as generic human rights abuses;

* Incorporate all signed human rights instruments relating to women into domestic law; particularly the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

“Putting it Right” also urges the Southern African Development Community [SADC] to:

*Ensure the Zimbabwe government implements the GPA and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

Harare to receive African credit

2009-05-08

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/176a073a-3843-11de-9211-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

African states and institutions are raising hundreds of millions of dollars in trade credits and business loans to shore up Zimbabwe's bankrupt unity government in the absence of a financial rescue package from the west. Regional officials fear that the reluctance of western and multilateral creditors to provide direct financial support could lead to the collapse of the fragile power-sharing deal they brokered between Robert Mugabe, president, and Morgan Tsvangirai, his opposition rival and now prime -minister.

MDC gives Tsvangirai, Mugabe ultimatum

2009-05-08

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5583

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has given President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai an ultimatum to resolve issues fuelling infighting within the government. The move by the main wing of the divided MDC signals growing frustration within the shaky unity government, which is struggling to find cohesion and deal with the country's economic and social problems.

Africa: Against sexual violence: Solidarity among African women

2009-05-08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=46702

Increased cases of rape and sexual abuse of women and girls is closely associated with armed conflict and its aftermath in Africa. "Rape has been used as a weapon of war by militia, and this hurts women forever, because even in peacetime you find little response in terms of repairing the effects and providing justice," Marie Jalloh told IPS.

Africa: Akina Mama Wa Afrika Regional consultation

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/56220

A Regional Consultative Meeting convened by Akina Mama wa Afrika was held at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort, in Kampala, Uganda on 28th 29th April 2009 on the theme “The Power Of Women’s Leadership And Movement Building: Gender Based Violence And Sexual And Reproductive Rights In Conflict And Post Conflict Africa’. The consultation drew together a cross section of actors in the area of conflict and post conflict in Africa. The consultative meeting reflected on national, regional and continentals strategies, challenges, lessons learnt, emerging trends and experiences.
AKINA MAMA wa AFRIKA REGIONAL CONSULTATION

COMMUNIQUÉ

A Regional Consultative Meeting convened by Akina Mama wa Afrika was held at Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort, in Kampala, Uganda on 28th 29th April 2009 on the theme “The Power Of Women’s Leadership And Movement Building: Gender Based Violence And Sexual And Reproductive Rights In Conflict And Post Conflict Africa’ . The consultation drew together a cross section of actors in the area of conflict and post conflict in Africa. The consultative meeting reflected on national, regional and continentals strategies, challenges, lessons learnt, emerging trends and experiences.

Recognising that the promotion of women’s human rights has gained an unprecedented momentum over the last decade, in Africa and worldwide. In 2000 and 2008, the UN Security Council passed Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 which specifically assert women’s rights to peace and security focusing on their participation in peacebuilding and recognising rape as a war crime and a security issue. On the continent, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa has set precedents on women’s rights in relation to armed conflict and sexual and reproductive health rights. At a sub-regional level, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Protocol on the Prevention and Suppression of Sexual Violation Against Women and Children is in force at the Great Lakes Sub-Regional level.

Appreciating the various intrevetions in the area of women in conflict and post conflict, in 2008, the 52nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) drew attention to the urgent need by governments and development partners to adequately finance women’s rights work if gender equality and empowerment of women is to be realised. This would among others, ensure that; government policies, programs and budgets protect women’s rights, particularly in the context of peace and security as stipulated in national, regional and international human rights standards and frameworks such as: UN Resolution 1325; UN Resolution 1820; the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights; the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platforms for Action and the Millennium Development Goals.

However, despite important milestones in recognizing women’s human rights, African women are still subject to marked discriminations and violations that manifest themselves both in private and public spheres.

We are thus cognizant of the fact that African women’s subjugation is as a result of interconnected sites of oppression that require multi-sectoral approaches, engagement by and with progressive movements and partnership with stakeholders at all levels to contribute to radically transforming the situation of African women. Such an approach contributes to creating greater synergies, impact and avoids duplication.

We distinguish the agency of African women and the importance of strengthening our own movements to appreciate and address the complexities of Sexual and Gender Based Violence and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in conflict and post conflict settings.

The power of movements lies in their ability to create sustainable engagement mechanisms and a proactive citizenry that actively engages in demanding accountable action. Movements make it possible to harness the collective energies of African women that are grounded on a common ideology, goals, agenda and collective organizing.

We identify African feminist theory, practice and organizing as central to strengthening the women’s movement, re-politicizing the struggle and shaping the discourse on peace and security in Africa in a way that makes it possible to tackle contentious issues.

We foreground the leadership and stewardship of women in conflict resolution, transformation and peace building as we believe that this can contribute to changing the face of conflict.

As representatives of intergovernmental agencies, civil society organizations, media and government in partnership with AMwA, we commit to concentrate our efforts on the following issues meriting redress:

Legislative Frameworks:

* Advocating for the harmonization of legislative frameworks that address SGBV & SRHR concerns.
* Aligning national legislative frameworks with regional and international standards, norms, protocols and instruments
* Advocating for constitutional and institutional reforms that address the diversity and complexities of SGBV & SRHR in conflict zones.

Communication and Coordination:

* We commit to redefining our approaches towards communicating about survivors of SGBV through developing effective communication mechanisms that ensure broad coverage of the issues (filter across the board)
* To create ‘Survivor Centered’ media reporting that ensures that African women own their stories.
* To create a database of women experts and women leaders at different levels (in country) and across the continent who can contribute to ensuring the inclusion and articulation of SGBV & SRHR concerns during peace negotiation processes.



Research and Documentation:

* We commit to the development of harmonized data collection tools on SGBV & SRHR that enhance linkages between survivors and key stakeholders.
* Demonstrating accountability to women and survivors of SGBV within the contexts where our interventions are conducted.
* Creation of decentralized documentation centers at all levels to enhance advocacy and resource allocation.



Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA)

Kampala, Uganda

29th April, 2009

Global: Women's struggles for Justice - Inter Pares

A Roundtable on Confronting Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict

2009-05-08

http://www.interpares.ca/en/publications/reportsandpresentations.php#violence

This report and reflection paper documents a roundtable convened by Inter Pares, which brought together over twenty women's rights activists from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Canada, with significant experience working on issues related to sexual violence against women in armed conflict. Although the women present recognized that they were acting in very different contexts, they also identified that their distinct struggles had commonalities.

Kenya: Women stage sex strike

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/c2al64

Women's groups in Kenya have started a week-long "sex strike", in an attempt to press the country's leaders to resolve rifts and work together. Ten non-governmental organisations urged women across the nation to boycott sex with their husbands and partners along with a statement calling for reforms in government and action on promoting women's rights. Rukia Subow, chairwoman of the Women's Development Organisation, said the group believed the boycott would persuade men to press the government to make peace.

Mozambique: Outspoken woman politician perseveres

Fred Katerere

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/56191

At 18-years old, Maria Ivone Soares decided politics was her calling and the decision has paid off well. Soares is now one of Mozambique’s most respected, outspoken politicians. Growing up in Maputo, Soares wanted be part of the democratic revolution, so she joined Renamo, which waged a 16-year old civil war with the ruling Frelimo to fight off socialism and is now Mozambique’s leading opposition party.
Outspoken women politician perseveres in Mozambique

At 18-years old, Maria Ivone Soares decided politics was her calling and the decision has paid off well. Soares is now one of Mozambique’s most respected, outspoken politicians. Growing up in Maputo, Soares wanted be part of the democratic revolution, so she joined Renamo, which waged a 16-year old civil war with the ruling Frelimo to fight off socialism and is now Mozambique’s leading opposition party.

At 29-years old, Soares is also one of Mozambique’s youngest politicians, making her name as a politician, head of Renamo’s external affairs department, as well as spokesperson for the party’s election office. She is also the secretary of women politicians in the Democrat Union of Africa (DUA), an organisation that represents both ruling and opposition parties with centre and centre right policies.

As Renamo’s external affairs spokesperson, Soares is one of the country’s most prized young politicians, but she is still wary of how Mozambican society treats women politicians.

“Most people view women politicians as being not normal, and some decide not to associate with me because of my choice to enter into politics, especially in the opposition,” she says. She adds that many of her detractors were women working in the media, who still prefer to seek comment from male politicians.

Before deciding to enter into politics, Soares worked as a radio personality. “When I entered politics my main job was to plaster the party’s posters during the run up to 1994 elections,” says Soares, who has matured in media as well as politics, and now runs three online blogs.

She has also contributed to local media with work published in the magazine Tempo and the independent weekly Savana, based in Maputo. Her ascendance to politics has also seen her being bold in her politics, through her blogs, such as http://www.mariaivonesoares.blogspot.com Apart from the blogs, which she updates when her demanding political duties permit her time, she also writes poems, which she hopes to publish in a book one day.

Married for five years to a former Italian politician who is now a business executive in Maputo bolsters her position as a politician, as she says she gets support from her husband. Soares adds that one of the biggest factors preoccupying her as a politician is the fact that most women politicians do not get support from their husbands or partners.

“Husbands need to support their wives or partners who decide to enter into politics so that they prosper in their chosen field,” she says. She also noted that some husbands abused their wives who were in politics, as they felt threatened by the power they could wield as politicians.

As Mozambique holds general elections on October 28, this year, Soares’ task will be central as she organises press briefings on the activities of her party. However, she is aware that this is not an easy task, as she will be dealing with the media that she says are sceptical at times when she calls for a media briefing. “Most of the time, the publicly owned media do not want to cover events of the opposition as they mostly follow officials from the ruling party.”

In her experience in dealing with the media, Soares says there is some corruption on the part of some journalists who ask for favours from politicians in order to report stories. “Some of journalists lack resources and most of the time cover events when they are assured that there is a cocktail after the briefing, which affects the way they will report on events,” adds Soares

She says most of these incidences occur because journalists in Mozambique were “poorly paid and some of the time they ask for direct payment from sources.” She noted that better remuneration of journalists and better training was two pillars that could lead reporters to be objective in their work.

She also notes that some journalists continue to prefer to interview male politicians, disregarding women politicians. “There is need to sensitise journalists on issues of gender so that they do not look down on women politicians as incapable of performing the same way as the male counterparts,” she added.

Soares says she receives support from her female political colleagues, but the same does not happen in society in general, which often does not respect women politicians, especially in opposition parties.

She also has a strong message to aspiring women politicians to follow their dreams. “Women who feel they have a calling into politics need to follow their dreams at a young age so that they get enough experience and gain confidence,” she says.

Mozambique is one of Southern African countries with the highest number of women politicians elected to parliament or to ministry positions. The country’s Prime Minister, Luisa Diogo, is one of the country’s top female politicians and as the country goes to elections, it is expected more women will find seats in parliament and as ministers.

However, time will tell when they country could have a woman president or a candidate who will campaign in future elections as a presidential candidate or lead a political party.

* Fred Katerere is a foreign correspondent based in Maputo. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service.

North Africa: Egypt yet to feel impact of FGM ban

2009-05-08

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1580/1/

In the year since Egypt outlawed female genital mutilation the government hasn't prosecuted a single case. Nonetheless, some activists say the law is a tool, among others, for gradually dismantling an ancient tradition.

West Africa: “Pleasure hospital” under construction for FGM/C victims

2009-05-08

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84256

Construction has begun of West Africa’s first clinic for reconstructing clitorises for victims of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Amid high demand, the US non-profit Clitoraid is funding the clinic, dubbed “Pleasure Hospital”, in Bobo-Dioulasso, western Burkina Faso.

Egypt: Activists turn to Facebook

2009-05-08

http://es.getalyric.com/escuchar/V_tBr7MSoxQ/egypt_s_facebook_face_off_egypt

For over 27 years President Mubarak has ruled with an iron fist. With protests and strikes forbidden, activists are finding new ways to fight for democracy. Through Facebook, protestors can now find a voice.

Eritrea: Slender land, giant prison

2009-05-08

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/06/eritrea-slender-land-giant-prison

Eritrea has avoided international attention in recent years in ways that may have protected the Red Sea country's rulers from proper scrutiny but benefit no one else. Even those who recall that the continent's youngest state gained its unlikely independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a bloody thirty-year struggle may be shocked to hear that the optimistic nationalism of the 1990s has been dissolved under President Isaias Afewerki into a despairing void, causing thousands of Eritreans to flee the country that they fought so hard to establish.

Ethiopia: Government must reveal fate of political prisoners

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/qtgezp

Amnesty International today called on the Ethiopian government to immediately disclose the names and fate of more than 35 people believed to be held by its security forces on political grounds since 24 April. Additional arrests have reportedly been carried out over the past several days and sources in the country have told Amnesty International that further arrests are expected.

Liberia: Judges reject Taylor acquittal

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/csp8kz

Judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone have rejected a request by Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, that he be acquitted of war crimes charges. The special tribunal meeting on Monday in The Hague said he must account for allegations of waging a campaign to terrorise Sierra Leone through mass murder, rape and mutilation.

Morocco: Child marriage criticised

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/pb9l7n

Moroccan associations and human rights organisations want the practice of child marriage to stop. Campaigners from various associations recently criticised the way the Moudawana (Family Code), which was intended to limit child marriages, has been applied. The legal minimum age for marriage in Morocco is 18 years, although family judges are empowered to allow exceptions. This loophole has enabled thousands of families to marry off their daughters prematurely.

Sierra Leon: Child miners: a legacy of conflict

2009-05-08

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/europe/article.aspx?id=7340

Since the end of the civil war seven years ago, the Sierra Leonean authorities and child welfare agencies have been battling to remove children from the diamond-mining fields, a trend which began at the height of the conflict, when children were abducted by rebel forces and coerced to work in the mines. "It is now a major post-conflict problem and a threat to social stability," remarks Patrick Tongu of the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), which monitors mining activities in the country.

Africa: Italy turns rescued migrants back

2009-05-08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8037803.stm

The Italian navy has transferred more than 200 migrants picked up in waters off the island of Malta to Tripoli under a new agreement with Libya.The migrants were rescued after they issued a distress call on Wednesday. Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the Libyan government's move could mark a "turning point" in the fight against illegal immigration.

Burundi: The past is a foreign country for some refugees

2009-05-08

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4a02ee332.html

Ogeste Gelevasi sits in front of his humble house, looking out over fields of cassava and tobacco with a wide smile of contentment. He feels at home here in western Tanzania after almost 40 years as a refugee from neighbouring Burundi. For Ogeste, the country he fled aged two is a foreign country; that's why he, like an estimated 165,000 of the remaining so-called 1972 Burundians living in Mishamo and two other "old settlements," have decided to accept a landmark offer by the government to settle in Tanzania and apply for citizenship.

CAR: Violence in Chad contiunes to drive out families

2009-05-08

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84242

Aid agencies are racing to position food and other relief supplies for some 18,000 men, women and children from Central African Republic who fled to southern Chad, most of whom have taken refuge next to the border. Rains due in the coming weeks will cut access to the refugees, aid workers say. Up to 100 Central Africans continue to pour into Chad each day, fleeing armed attacks on civilians and fighting between rebels and government forces in northern CAR.

South Africa: Abahlali to challenge Slums Act in Constitutional Court

2009-05-08

http://www.abahlali.org/node/5120

Abahlali baseMjondolo will once again climb another high mountain for the first time when our struggle for the safety, dignity and equality of the poor ascends to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. In 2005 when we formed our movement we committed ourselves to do whatever it takes to protect the rights, lives and future of the shack dwellers and the poor in South Africa. We are determined to defend our children, without compromising our future generation.

South Africa: LPM Liberation march, June 16

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/56198

The LPM is organising a march from Maurice Issacs High School to the Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto on the 16th June 2009 to repoliticise the meaning of the 1976 Soweto Uprisings. This march is a response to the ANC’s hijacking of the 16th June as they have turned it into a bourgeois event. We as the LPM believe we should not celebrate this day, as our government does, but commemorate it by reflecting on the struggle for the liberation of the youth that is still being fought for by poor communities 15 years into our so-called democracy..
The LPM is organising a march from Maurice Issacs High School to the Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto on the 16th June 2009 to repoliticise the meaning of the 1976 Soweto Uprisings. This march is a response to the ANC’s hijacking of the 16th June as they have turned it into a bourgeois event. We as the LPM believe we should not celebrate this day, as our government does, but commemorate it by reflecting on the struggle for the liberation of the youth that is still being fought for by poor communities 15 years into our so-called democracy.. We would like to invite all the civic organisations and social movements, regardless of their political affiliation, to be part of this march.

We are asking comrades to attend our meeting on the 18th of May 2009 at the Jubilee offices on the 4th floor of the Vogus House, 123 Pritchard Street (cnr. Mooi), Johannesburg. We request that all organisations email or phone us by the 14th May to confirm their attendance at our meeting. Please bring ideas and an open mind and also forward this message to others who may be interested so that we can make this march have a strong impact. Because we continue to be denied our most basic human rights, we refuse to let our government forget that our struggle for liberation is not over.

Our parents will also be doing a night vigil on the 15th June in the hope that the march on the 16th will help set us on the path towards a renewed liberation for the youth in South Africa.

For more information contact:

Bongani Xezwi – youth Coordinator LPM Protea South Branch – 071 043 2221
Maureen Msisi – LPM Gauteng Chairperson – 082 337 4514
Or by email: bongani.xezwi@gmail.com

Africa: Security Council urges open elections to restore constitutional order

2009-05-08

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30705

The Security Council has expressed its concern over the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of government in some parts of Africa, and its negative impact on the economic and social welfare of the people and the development of affected countries. “The Security Council stresses the importance of expeditiously restoring constitutional order including through open and transparent elections,” according to a statement read by Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency for May.

Nigeria: Government condemns post-election violence

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/qg7aqb

Nigeria's federal government has condemned the post-election violence in the South-west state of Ekiti, where opposition party supporters have continued to protest the alleged rigging of the state's governorship re-run by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The re-run, ordered by the court, rounded off on Tuesday, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the PDP candidate, Segun Oni, winner.

Southern Africa: Malawi gets set for elections

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/opwgo7

Malawi has printed its ballot papers in UK which arrived in the country on Wednesday. The ballot papers were printed in Birmingham where the parties were supposed to oversee the movement but they failed as they were told to foot their own bills. The country goes to poll on May 19 to elect a president and MPs.

Africa: Lawsuit on Africa leaders 'valid'

2009-05-08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8035218.stm

A French magistrate has ruled that a lawsuit against three African leaders accused of embezzlement is admissible. Presidents Omar Bongo of Gabon, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Republic of Congo and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea deny any wrongdoing. The French arm of anti-corruption group Transparency International has accused them of buying luxury homes and cars in France with African public funds

Global: Transparency violations common theme for World Bank Inspection Panel

2009-05-08

http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11138.aspx

The World Bank's Inspection Panel Annual Report highlights the problem of access to information within several World Bank-financed projects. Many of the cases brought to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel (IP) for review concern allegations of a lack of transparency, according to the Inspection Panel’s latest annual report. Alleged violation of the Bank’s disclosure policy was raised in 22 of the 52 cases, which equates to 42 percent of all cases brought to the panel since its 1993 inception, according to a summary chart in the report.

Global: Blow to the World Bank

2009-05-08

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ac7abb8e-35ab-11de-a997-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

A third of the World Bank’s support for health, nutrition and population programmes over the past decade has been unsatisfactory, the multilateral agency’s own evaluation unit has concluded. Out of $17bn (€12.9bn, £11.5bn) in support to countries, only two-thirds had satisfactory outcomes, with many projects marred by inadequate risk assessment, weak monitoring and evaluation, and lack of accountability, said its Independent Evaluation Group.

Africa: Africa has to find its own road to prosperity

By Paul Kagame

2009-05-08

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d1218c8-3b35-11de-ba91-00144feabdc0.html

At recent meetings of the Group of 20 and the International Monetary Fund, world leaders have gathered to discuss the global economic crisis. Unfortunately, it seems that many still believe they can solve the problems of the poor with sentimentality and promises of massive infusions of aid, which often do not materialise. We who live in, and lead, the world’s poorest nations are convinced that the leaders of the rich world and multilateral institutions have a heart for the poor. But they also need to have a mind for the poor.

Africa: Launch of the Africa Commission's report

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/rcoce7

The Africa Commission has delivered its final set of recommendations. The Commission is proposing a new consensus for international development cooperation with Africa. Focus should be directed towards private sector-led growth, which creates jobs. The Commission also decided to take action. It will launch five ambitious initiatives aimed at creating job opportunities for Africa's youth.

Africa: Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness in Africa Report 2009

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/pjjcba

The Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness in Africa Report 2009 is both an exercise in 'mutual accountability'- assessing what has been done to deliver on commitments to Africa's development, and a review of 'development effectiveness'- assessing what results have been achieved. It is also intended to be of practical use to political leaders in looking forward to the key policy challenges ahead.

East Africa: Kenya urged to utilise COMESA

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/qeqrel

Kenya has been challenged to exploit the opportunities found within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in an effort cushion the country from the imminent challenges posed by the ongoing global recession, Kenya’s Trade Minister Amos Kimunya said last week.

Somalia: Safer water in Somaliland

2009-05-08

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84172

The availability of water purification tablets, digging of shallow wells in rural areas as well as privatisation of water services have resulted in more people in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland gaining access to clean water and proper sanitation, officials said. At least 45-50 percent of the Somaliland population now has access to safe water, compared with 35 percent in 2000, according to Ali Sheikh Omar Qabil, director of environmental health in the Ministry of Health and Labour.

Africa: Why no Swine Flu cases?

2009-05-08

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84287

No Influenza A (H1N1) cases have yet been confirmed in Africa, causing medical experts to question whether this is due to good luck or the continent’s lack of fully-equipped influenza testing facilities. A (H1N1) cases have been confirmed in North and South America, Asia and Europe, but not yet Australasia or Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Egypt: Viral time bomb set to explode

2009-05-08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=46723

It is a health crisis of alarming proportions. Up to nine million Egyptians have been exposed to hepatitis C, and tens of thousands will die each year unless they receive a liver transplant. Health authorities are taking steps to stop the spread of the blood-borne virus, but must also contend with higher liver failure mortality rates as the disease advances in those infected decades ago.

South Africa: Footballers join AIDS fight

2009-05-08

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84238

After a demanding training session on the soccer pitch, the entire Black Aces football team has squeezed into a small, stuffy room at the club's headquarters in Witbank, a town northeast of Johannesburg, South Africa, for training of a different kind. The men are in various states of repose, leaning back in their seats and resting long legs on chairs, but the air is buzzing with testosterone and the repressed energy of men who are more accustomed to expressing themselves with their feet.

Zimbabwe: Cholera outbreak continues to decline

2009-05-08

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30737

The cholera outbreak that took hold of Zimbabwe from last August sustained its downward trend last month while aid agencies continued their efforts to combat the disease, according to the latest United Nations update. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported 65 cholera infections by the end of April with four deaths, compared to 26 cases and 13 deaths the previous month.

Zimbabwe: What price a CD4 test?

2009-05-08

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84274

At the Opportunistic Infections Clinic at Parirenyatwa Hospital, the largest referral facility in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, a group of 30 HIV-positive patients are having the first of four counselling sessions on staying healthy by eating a balanced diet, disclosing to family members and avoiding cigarettes and alcohol. Counselling is a requirement for starting antiretroviral (ARV) treatment; the results from a number of tests, none of which can be done at the hospital any more, are also necessary.

Botswana: Lesbians demand their day in court

2009-05-08

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=botswana&id=2117

Two members of the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana Organisation (LEGABIBO) have slapped government with a notice to sue for discrimination. Prisca Mogapi, a lesbian employed at Botswana Network Of Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) and Caine Youngman, a gay member of LEGABIBO have indicated their intention to fight it out with government in court over section 164 of the penal code, which criminalises same sex relationships.

East Africa: Uganda 'falls short of its international obligations' - Activists

2009-05-08

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=uganda&id=2123

A petition demanding the government of Uganda to respect people’s rights and fundamental freedoms, as prescribed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is doing the rounds among gay rights and civil society organisations throughout Africa. This is a result of what activists call a threat to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people’s human rights in Uganda caused by the state’s failure to recognise these rights and protect this group’s rights to privacy, equality and freedom.

Senegal: 'Gay man' disinterred

2009-05-08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8032754.stm

The body of a man believed to be homosexual has twice been dug up from a Muslim cemetery in Senegal. The man, in his 30s, was first buried on Saturday before residents of the western town of Thies dug up his body and left it near his grave, police say. His family then reburied him, but he was once more exhumed by people who did not want him buried there. His body was dumped outside the family house.

South Africa: Health centre to bridge service gap for gays

2009-05-08

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=southafrica&id=2122

Results of a needs assessment by OUT LGBT-Wellbeing that showed that many homosexual people, among other risky behaviors, feel uncomfortable talking about safer sex, gave birth to the PRISM Lifestyle Centre to be launched in Tshwane on Friday 08 May 2009. This health and wellness centre is professionally staffed and offers all professional services free of charge but a R20 facility fee to cover administrative costs.

East Africa: Environmentalists condemn fish from Lake Victoria

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/p97u3m

As nutritionists and medical doctors continue advising people to eat more fish for healthy living, environmental experts are now condemning this nutritious food, leaving people confused. The experts are basing their caution on new findings that show increased mercury levels in fish that is finding its way into the lake from mines around the lake.

Eritrea: Climate-proofing for the future

2009-05-08

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84285

"Remember 'We Are the World'?" asked Mahmoud Abdalla, a leader of the Hidareb ethnic community in Eritrea's arid Anseba region along the northwestern border with Sudan, referring to the 1985 hit song by more than 40 top artists. "Remember the 1984 famine in Ethiopia? This region was right in the middle of it." In 1984 Eritrea was part of Ethiopia, where some of the song’s proceeds were spent.

Gabon: Activists challenge Chinese mine

2009-05-08

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6088

Six relatively unknown grassroots activists from around the globe receive a moment in the spotlight when the Goldman Environmental Prize announces its list of annual recipients. The prize, now in its 20th year, is considered the Nobel Prize for the environment. Past recipients include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, former Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva, and Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was killed seven months after his recognition.

Global: Canadian Federal Court orders publication of all mining pollution data

2009-05-08

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/24/court-mining-pollution865.html

The Harper government must report in a national public database all the pollution being produced by mining companies, a Federal Court judge has ruled. The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), created in 1993, details all the industrial and commercial pollutants released into the air, water and land in Canada. Since 2006, NPRI has also required that all pollutants released during mining activities must be reported. Some of the waste found in tailings and waste rock — including mercury, sulphuric acid and arsenic — is deemed toxic by law and must be reported in the NPRI.

Southern Africa: Climate change to shrink agricultural production by half

2009-05-08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=46582

Environmental researchers predict Southern Africa will be hit heavily by climate change over the next 70 years. Agricultural production is projected to be halved - a development that will threaten the livelihoods of farmers in a region where 70 percent of the population are smallholder farmer

South Africa: Farm Repossessions: Consolidating an eitist class project in the rural areas?

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/pxu86r

On 8 April, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana acted on her threat to reclaim redistribution farms that were not being used. In the fifth such repossession, the minister moved onto a Gauteng farm with a group of officials, reportedly telling a tenant: “Do you know who I am? I am the minister of land affairs and this is my house. Pack your bags and get out of my house right now.”

DRC: Government urged to ensure safety of journalists

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/oplfrg

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Governor of the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu to ensure the safety of journalists. The committee also expressed concern about the safety of journalist Tuver Wundi Muhindo following an armed attack on his home.

East Africa: Conference commits to tackle impunity, repressive media laws

2009-05-08

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/102867/

Leaders and representatives of journalists' trade unions, associations and press freedom organizations from 11 countries in Eastern Africa have resolved to carry out an effective and collective campaign against repressive media laws and the culture of impunity against journalists and the media as well as to collaborate to address working conditions of media professionals in the region to enhance quality and ethical journalism.

Madagascar: IFJ condemns arrest of journalist

2009-05-08

http://africa.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-condemns-arrest-of-journalist-in-madagascar

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the arrest of Evariste A. Ramanantoanina, a journalist working with Radio Mada, which occurred on Tuesday 5 May at his residence located in the district of Andrononobe Analamahitsy. “We are concerned by the lack of security for journalists in Madagascar.

Zimbabwe: Journalists spurn government summit on press freedom

2009-05-08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=46764

Zimbabwe’s unity government is stuttering in its attempt at restoring press freedom in a country which had once branded independent journalists as ‘enemies of the state’. The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) has boycotted a state-initiated national media summit which kicked off on May 6 in the resort town of Kariba. They are protesting the re-arrest and detention on May 5 of 18 human rights activists, including Zimbabwe Peace Project director, Jestina Mukoko, and freelance journalist, Andrisson Manyere, on charges including treason, terrorism and banditry.

Zimbabwe: Journalist’s bail application postponed

2009-05-08

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news070509/zimjourno070509.htm

A High Court Judge has postponed the bail application of journalist Shadreck Manyere, MDC Director of Security Chris Dhlamini, and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s former aide Gandhi Mudzingwa, because the State said it needed more time to prepare a response. This is in spite of the fact that 13 other co-accused persons, including Jestina Mukoko, were finally freed on bail on Wednesday.

Ekiti must hold free, fair elections

Ekiti Focus Group North America

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/56113

The ordered gubernatorial rerun election in ten local government areas of Ekiti State took place on 25 April 2009, except in Oye local government area where the election was postponed due to alleged threatened violence. According to different media and eyewitness accounts, the election was not without violence, intimidation and malpractices. There are reported cases of arson, maiming, ballot stuffing, ballot hijacking, and shooting. All these are barbaric acts, which should not be happening in the 21st century. We condemn it in strongest terms.

Out of the nine local governments where the election was conducted, only five local government results have been formally released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); other results are still been held on to, without any justifiable reason, in a manner that is reminiscent of the process that led to the infamous annulment of the 12 June 1993 election by the military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida.

The rumour making the rounds is that, in connivance with the high hierarchy of INEC, a bogus election result, particularly, for the Ido/Osi local government, is to be substituted for the valid one to give an advantage to one of the parties in the election, a plot which reportedly did not go down well with Mrs Ayoka Adebayo, the Resident INEC Commissioner for Ekiti who was quoted as saying, ‘I can't do anything against my conscience. I am a Christian. They want me to announce fake results. I can't at my age; for how much?’ The quoted statement clearly suggests that pressure is being mounted on the INEC resident commissioner to announce election results different from the valid votes made by the electorates. Hence, it could be deduced that the current impasse in Ekiti is as a result of deliberate effort of some people to impose their wishes and pervert the course of justice.

This development has heightened tension in Ekiti State, with pockets of protest and skirmishes that pose a threat to the peace of Ekitiland. As a peace loving and non partisan group of Ekiti indigenes, we are saddened and ashamed of the conduct of those Ekiti brothers, who colluded with outsiders to cause mayhem and unleash violence on fellow Ekiti people, and who would stop at nothing to trample on the collective wish of Ekiti people in order to satisfy their selfish and inordinate ambition; Isedale Ekiti a da won lojo (the spirit of Ekiti will judge them). We are also disappointed in those, across all walks of life, who know the truth and what is right, but failed to do what is just. Their retribution will come – it is a matter of time.

Through this medium, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the Ekiti INEC resident commissioner to announce the remaining true and valid election results. This is important for the image and integrity of the commission, particularly, in the light of the criticism that has been trailing it since the conduct of the 2007 election. This is a good opportunity for INEC to prove to the whole world that it is credible and capable of conducting a free and fair election. Nonetheless, it is doubtful if Ekiti people will settle for anything short of their valid votes.

We equally call on President Sheu Musa Yaradua to rise to the occasion as a true democrat and statesman to ensure that the votes of common citizens count. This is the foundation of true democracy, upon which an egalitarian society can be built. All eyes are on Nigeria; it will be a big disgrace and big disservice if Nigeria, the self acclaimed giant of Africa, finds it difficult to conduct a successful and credible election in just ten local government areas of a state, while elections have been successfully conducted in lesser African countries.

Furthermore, this is a golden opportunity for the president to demonstrate his avowed commitment to the rule of law that is one of the cardinal principles of his government. It is also a test of the seriousness of the president's re- branding initiative. A re-branding initiative without fairness and justice, which comprises free, fair and transparent elections, is just like whitewashing a dilapidating building with a faulty foundation, without making necessary correction. Such an endeavour will be an exercise in futility.

Most importantly, whatever action the president takes on the rerun election in Ekiti State will become part of history. We therefore call on him to be on the right side of history by ensuring that justice is not perverted. The true result of the election should be released without further delay to forestall break down of law and order, and the remaining one conducted without further delay.

The safety of all Ekiti people is of paramount importance to us, hence we implore all the aggrieved parties not to resolve to violence and wanton destruction of properties, in making their demands. This time calls for great circumspection on the part of the law enforcement agencies. They should not make themselves a willing tool that suppresses the legitimate wishes of the people, and should be fair to all parties while carrying out their constitutional duty of protecting and properties.

As a group and organisation committed to good governance and development of Ekiti State, our resolves are:

-The release of the true and valid votes of the remaining election results
- Conduct of the rerun election in Oye local government in a free and fair manner
- Prosecution of all the perpetrators of violence and electoral crime, no matter how highly placed
- Adequate security for life and property of all Ekiti people.
- No declaration of state of emergency in Ekiti.

Where there is justice and fairness, there will be peace.

Signed:
Adebanji Dada (Secretary)
Samuel Ayodele Ogunbanwo (Chairman)

* The Ekiti Focus Group North America is the US-based chapter of the Ekiti Focus Group, which campaigns on socio-political issues in Ekiti State, Nigeria.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Extradition threat for Black Liberation activist

Paul Scott

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/56109

Most Americans are not familiar with Assata Shakur. After all, she's not exactly the type of black super hero that they parade around during Black History Month. This is the type of ignorance that some legislators in New Jersey hope will allow them to extradite Shakur back to the US under the cover of our darkness. Assata Shakur (JoAnne Chesimard) was involved in a 1973 shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that resulted in the deaths of fellow Black Liberation Army member Zayd Shakur and NJ State Trooper Werner Foerster. Shakur was sentenced to life in prison in 1977 but was broken out of prison by her comrades in 1979. She has been living under political asylum in Cuba since 1984. She still remains on the FBI's Most Wanted List with a million dollar reward for any snitch willing to give her up to the feds.

However, with President Barack Obama seeking to open political channels with Cuba and ease US restrictions, politicians in New Jersey have been turning up the heat on Obama to make the Cubans give up Shakur if they want to be in Uncle Sam's good graces. While the current headlines of ‘NJ to press for return of cop killer’ would lead you to believe that Shakur is some heartless street thugstress that went around shootin' up police stations just for kicks, the truth about the government repression which groups like the Black Panther Party and its underground military arm, the Black Liberation Army, suffered has never really been told. We cannot allow the media to even begin discussing Assata Shakur without putting her struggle in the context of COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program). COINTELPRO was an effort by J. Edgar Hoover's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its associated agencies to destroy groups that dared stand against US oppression. It was under COINTELPRO that black leadership suffered under ‘dirty tricks’ that ranged from political assassinations (Fred Hampton) to smear campaigns which are too many to even begin to name here. Even the good Reverend Martin Luther King JR was not immune to Hoover's ‘dirty tricks’. Could you really expect Assata Shakur to get a fair trial under such repressive policies?

According to the late Civil Rights attorney, William Kunstler in his book My Life as a Radical Lawyer, a law enforcement agent told him that during Shakur's trial ‘a member of the New Jersey State Assembly had gone to the hotel where the jury was sequestered and talked to them about the necessity to convict’. In the book, Kunstler hints that even he underestimated the lengths that NJ law enforcement would go to get a conviction of Shakur. Today, those same types of people are at it again. On 17 April, NJ Senator Sean King sent a letter to President Obama asking him to ‘delay normalising relations with Cuba unless they agree to extradite convicted cop killer JoAnne Chesimard.’

Also, NJ Attorney General Anne Milgram has been quoted as saying ‘Obama's move to ease sanctions against Cuba is an opportunity to bring back Joanne Chesimard.’
Now, do I think that Obama would sacrifice Assata Shakur on the alter of ‘democracy’ for political expediency? You're darn right! To appease middle-class white America, President Obama will throw Shakur under the same Greyhound that he threw Reverend Jeremiah Wright. That is, if we don't raise our voices. There are organisations that have been fighting to keep the plight of Assata Shakur in our faces for years.

Black bloggers must start an immediate, emergency mass education campaign to tell the true story of Assata Shakur and COINTELPRO to combat the efforts of the miseducation of the mainstream media. We must make sure that our local and national ‘urban’ radio stations inform their listeners about this issue. (Tom Joyner, Michael Baisden, Russ Parr) We must arm ourselves with information about Assata Shakur and COINTELPRO through websites, DVDs and books such as Show Down by the late Del Jones and Racial Matters and Black America: The FBI Files by Kenneth O'Reilly.

Finally, we must appeal to the Hip Hop artists who have the ears of the people to raise the issue if only for the reason of reppin' for ‘Tupac's kin folk’. (If that will motivate them to take action.) If we do not raise this issue, loudly, Assata Shakur will be back in a US prison or worse before she knows what hit her.

We owe this much to a sister who, as the rapper Common said in Song for Assata:
‘Went through all this...so we can be free..,’

* Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Stop senate renege on black farmer compensation

Colorofchange.org

2009-05-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/56111

Dear friends,

For years, federal officials in the South discriminated against black farmers, denying them federal loans and grants that white farmers easily received.

When Barack Obama was running for president he championed their cause. He created a bill to compensate the farmers, many of whom had lost their land and livelihoods. It helped Obama secure the support of black members of Congress and voters in the rural South.

Now it looks like the Obama administration may be trying to avoid fairly compensating these black farmers. It would be a shame for this to happen.

That's why I've joined ColorOfChange.org in asking President Obama to make good on his commitment to these families. Will you join me? It only takes a minute.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a long and ugly history of discrimination against black people.[1] The department's new secretary, Tom Vilsack, recently said ‘Some folks refer to USDA as the last plantation.’[2] Across the South, white local and regional USDA managers routinely denied black farmers critical farm loans and disaster assistance – aid that was easily granted to white farmers.[3] This federal assistance often meant the difference between a thriving, economically viable farm and foreclosure.

While not the sole factor, historic discrimination has helped drive black farmers out of the business in huge numbers, many of them losing their homes, their farms, and their land. While 14 per cent of all farmers were black at the turn of the last century,[4] by 2002 only 1.4 per cent were black.[5]

In 2001, A man named Timothy Pigford stood up for black farmers, filing a class action lawsuit called Pigford v. Glickman that led to a landmark settlement: Black farmers who could show evidence of discrimination in getting loans and other aid were entitled to US$50,000 and a tax break.[6] But there was a very brief deadline for filing a claim, and the government did such a bad job letting people know about the settlement that many farmers didn't even find out about it in time to get the relief they deserved.[7]

RELIEF DENIED?

As a senator, Barack Obama fought to get these folks access to the money they deserved, and he won. The Senate set aside US$100 million to start paying the farmers back, knowing that this would only cover a small part of the total amount the government owed them. The understanding was that more money would be made available later.[8]

But now that Obama is president, his administration's lawyers have argued that the US$100 million should be a cap on the total amount of money paid out, to be split between all the farmers. This would give each farmer as little as US$2,000 or US$3,000, even though the bill Obama passed as a senator said that farmers should get the full amount called for in the original settlement.[9]

Obama's spokesmen have said that the president is committed to doing the right thing.[10] We want to give the president the benefit of the doubt, but we all know that actions speak louder than words.

President Obama has said that it takes folks like you and me to hold politicians accountable – himself included – and force them to do what's right. Now is clearly one of those times. We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out banks and car companies after years of greed and mismanagement. I think it's time for the administration to do the right thing and give these farmers the relief that they've been denied for too long. Please join me in demanding that they do.

Thanks.

* Colorofchange.org campaigns to make the US government more responsive to the concerns of black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

NOTES

1. http://www.northwestgeorgia.com/opinion/local_story_114155047.html
2. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0209/022309cdpm1.htm
3. http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=433
4. http://tinyurl.com/cxohg2
5. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS20430
6. http://tinyurl.com/de449r
7. http://www.themilitant.com/2009/7317/731704.html
8. http://tinyurl.com/cmr2cs
9. See note 8.
10. See note 8.

Africa: African leaders embrace Darfurian civil society initiative

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/rxlmj7

Darfur has welcomed the support from leaders across Africa who pledged to stand in solidarity with the civilians of Darfur as they meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to construct a mandate for their future. According to a press statement issued by Africa Forum for former heads of state and government, the Elders and the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) all welcomed the initiative.

Africa: Fighting breaks out in eastern Chad

2009-05-08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8039004.stm

Heavy ground fighting between Chadian troops and rebels has erupted in the east, a day after the government said a rebel offensive had been defeated. The government said its forces had killed at least 100 rebels and some of its own soldiers had also died in an hour of combat near Am Dam. It said the rebels were retreating and looting as they left.

Burundi: Dangerous demobilization gaps

2009-05-08

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=84162

Thousands of people associated with a former rebel group in Burundi could threaten the country's new-found peace because they have been excluded from a demobilisation and army integration programme on the grounds they were not actual combatants, according to analysts. Agathon Rwasa, leader of Burundi's Forces Nationals de Libération (FNL), recently handed in his weapons and uniforms to formally start the programme.

Madagascar: Humanitarian Situation, 06 May 2009

2009-05-08

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7RTN9G?OpenDocument

Since January 2009, Madagascar has been experiencing serious political unrest, characterized by sporadic demonstrations and violence in the capital city of Antananarivo and other main urban centres. As of 5 May, some 1,332 casualties, including 191 fatalities, have been recorded in hospitals by WHO. The situation has provoked a climate of fear and uncertainty, leading to a rise in unemployment in key sectors, as well as disruptions in social services. In addition, a number of aid projects throughout the country have been experiencing delays due to difficulties of access and implementation.

Sudan: Government opens up to more aid groups

2009-05-08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8039327.stm

Sudan's government says it will invite new aid groups to work in Darfur and allow those still operating there to expand their activities. The UN's head of humanitarian affairs welcomed the move. Sudan expelled 13 foreign aid groups in March after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Africa: EASSY project delayed by a year

2009-05-08

http://computerworldzambia.com/articles/2009/03/30/africas-eassy-project-delayed-a-year

The East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSY) will be operational in June 2010 instead of June this year, according to a project official. The delay means that the cable, owned by African and international telecommunications operators, is again the subject of speculation and allegations about the lack of seriousness of the project developers. A rival project, the Sea Cable System (SEACOM), has already announced that it will be operational as scheduled in June this year.

Africa: Rapid mobile Internet growth will drive network expansion and media spend

2009-05-08

http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/current1.html

The number of people in Africa using their mobile to access the Internet has rocketed over the last year. In many instances the number of mobile Internet subscribers far outstrips their fixed line equivalent. Sinking voice ARPUs may finally come off their downward curve on the rise of data revenues. Cheaper bandwidth and new developments look set to encourage this growth. The mobile is also a media as increasing numbers of people use it to access stuff and as it establishes itself as a media, advertisers will not be far behind.

Africa: Will Africa join broadband revolution?

2009-05-08

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7987812.stm

A way may be emerging for East African countries to circumvent the mess in telecommunications in the region - and it is rising out of the sea. From having no undersea cable links to the rest of the world, East Africa is now poised to have three. As a result, many businesses are investing in finger-sized underwater fibre-optic cables that will open doors to the rest of the world.

South Africa: Thousands sign up to campaign for cheaper broadband

2009-05-08

http://www.apc.org/en/news/thousands-south-africans-sign-campaign-cheaper-bro

South Africa is on the eve of a major broadband infrastructure roll-out. Affordable broadband can have a significant impact on the country’s socio-economic, political, cultural and educational development; but broadband penetration in South Africa lags behind countries with a similar level of development such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Turkey.

Africa: Mobile Internet Taking Off

AfricaFocus Bulletin May 5, 2009

2009-05-08

http://www.africafocus.org/docs09/ict0905.php

This week's AfricaFocus Bulletin contains this article from the latest Balancing Act Africa (http://www.balancingact-africa.com) on the rapid expansion of mobile internet access in Africa. Also included: a link to a new book on "Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa" (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?9956558532) featuring case studies of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Sudan, and Tanzania; excerpts from another recent article from Balancing Act Africa on the rapid advance of mobile phones for cash transfers in Kenya; and report on a South African initiative to promote a strategy to deliver broadband internet access available to all South Africans (http://www.apc.org/en/node/8361/).

Global: Fellowships for Threatened Academics

IIE Scholar Rescue Fund

2009-05-08

http://www.scholarrescuefund.org/pages/intro.php

IIE is pleased to announce Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) fellowships for threatened academics whose lives and work are in danger in their home country. Professors, researchers and lecturers from any country or field may apply. We invite you to refer suitable candidates, and ask for your help in forwarding the announcement to any academic colleagues who may be interested.

Africa: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Social Science Research

CODESRIA Methodology Workshop Series: Training the Trainers

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/56185

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa is pleased to announce its initiative targeted at those members of the African social research community who have responsibility in their universities for teaching undergraduate and graduate-level course in social science research methods. Over the last decade and half, in cognisance of the multi-faceted crises confronting the African higher education system in general and the universities in particular, CODESRIA has invested itself in offering platforms for postgraduate students and mid-career professionals to be offered opportunities for training in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
CODESRIA

Methodology Workshop Series

Training the Trainers

Theme: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Social Science Research

Date: 26 – 30 October, 2009

Venue: Dakar, Senegal



Call for Applications



Are you a lecturer in an African university? Do you have responsibility for the teaching of courses on research methods? If so, this announcement is targeted at you.



The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa is pleased to announce its initiative targeted at those members of the African social research community who have responsibility in their universities for teaching undergraduate and graduate-level course in social science research methods. Over the last decade and half, in cognisance of the multi-faceted crises confronting the African higher education system in general and the universities in particular, CODESRIA has invested itself in offering platforms for postgraduate students and mid-career professionals to be offered opportunities for training in quantitative and qualitative research methods. The first tranche of such training opportunities centred on quantitative research methods; over the last few years, the accent was shifted to qualitative research methods. Organised as advanced research seminars at which participants were exposed to various methodological techniques and their roots in the history and philosophy of science. CODESRIA organises seven research methodology workshops every year on the basis of one per sub-region, one specially dedicated to Nigeria, and one for countries coming out of conflict situations. In the context of the decentralisation of the management of the workshops to various university and advanced research centres, the Council now also organises an annual advanced training of trainers methodology workshop bringing together those who have responsibility for imbuing others with the basic skills they require in order to be successful researchers.



The rationale for all CODESRIA methodology workshops remains the same: As a field of knowledge, quantitative and qualitative methods have a specialist status which is not given to all social scientists fully to master both in its technical details and philosophical underpinnings. Also, the field of social science research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, has undergone a considerable amount of evolution marked by an incremental improvement in the tools and techniques available to the researcher. And yet, historically, it is an area of pedagogy that was relatively weak in African social research; the weakness was exacerbated by the massive brain that affected the university system in the aftermath of the crises in the university system. This development constituted a major disadvantage for a younger generation of social researchers and was refracted into the overall quality of research carried out. Remedying the gap became a matter for urgent concern; the training of trainers programme represents the latest in the series of interventions developed by the CODESRIA, launched in the context of the organic inter-connection between the research purpose of the university and the mandate and programmatic strategy of the Council.



For the 2009 session of the training of trainers’ workshop, it is proposed to invite up to 25 participants. The workshop will be conducted in English and French. In addition to the presentations that would be made by invited resource persons, the workshop will be structured as a forum for close interaction and networking among the participants so that, beyond the formal sessions, they would be able to continue to share experiences on a continuing basis. Practical lecture-room exercises will also be included as part of the training. Each session will be facilitated by a convenor who will be assisted by three resource persons. The session will be organised over five working days. Each participant will be given access to the latest materials – electronic and non-electronic – available on research methods; presentations will also be made on the philosophy of science.



Those interested in applying to participate in the 2009 session are invited to submit a written application, a copy of their course outline, a short write-up on the major problems they encounter in teaching their methodology classes, a letter of attestation from their departmental head or faculty dean indicating that they do teach courses in methodology, and a copy of their latest Curriculum Vitae. For those interested in being considered to serve as convenor or resource persons, they are invited to send a short letter of application, a copy of their curriculum vitae, a copy of the outline of issues they wish to cover in their presentations, and a sample of one or more of their most recent publication (s). All applications must be received at the CODESRIA Executive Secretariat by 14 August, 2009. Applications should be addressed to:



The CODESRIA Training of Trainers Methodology Programme,

The CODESRIA Secretariat,

BP 3304, Dakar, CP 18524, Senegal.

Tel.: +221-33 825 9822/23

Fax: +221-33 824 1289

E-mail: training.trainers@codesria.sn

Website: http://www.codesria.org

Global: Critical league conference: Genealogy of Human Rights from a Third-World Perspective

2009-05-08

http://www.le.ac.uk/la/clc2009/streams.html#ThirdWorld

This stream invites papers that develop a critique of –or a dialogue with- Eurocentric interpretations of human rights, and proposals that advance an understanding of rights grounded on any of the historical and geographical sites of the modern struggles for self-determination in the Global South. This stream also welcomes papers that, from the point of view of Europe, enter into a dialogue with the Third-World conceptualization of human rights. Please send your name, affiliation, title of your paper and an abstract of no more than 250 words by Friday, 26 June 2009 directly to the stream convenor.

Global: Indian Ocean Studies Workshop -

"Studying the Indian Ocean: New Methodological Approaches and Writing Connected Histories”

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/56182

As a new post-Cold War order takes shape, the Indian Ocean brings into sharp focus many of the forces shaping contemporary world history. The rise of India and China raise questions about whether we are in a ‘post-American’ world. Yet, at the same time, Sino-Indian makes apparent new configurations and contradictions in the ‘South’. More generally, the historical experiences of the Indian Ocean offer a counterpoint to those of the black Atlantic which has become invisibly normative in much social and political theory.
Indian Ocean Studies Workshop
“Studying the Indian Ocean:
New Methodological Approaches and Writing Connected Histories”
New Delhi, India
30 November - 4 December 2009

As a new post-Cold War order takes shape, the Indian Ocean brings into sharp focus many of the forces shaping contemporary world history. The rise of India and China raise questions about whether we are in a ‘post-American’ world. Yet, at the same time, Sino-Indian makes apparent new configurations and contradictions in the ‘South’. More generally, the historical experiences of the Indian Ocean offer a counterpoint to those of the black Atlantic which has become invisibly normative in much social and political theory.

The Indian Ocean has in recent years emerged as a vital area of study and analysis inviting attention from historians, anthropologists, social scientists and cultural studies scholars. The growing corpus of scholarship on the Indian Ocean has in turn raised issues of methodology and OF potentialities FOR comparative research. The very nature of the discursive as well as the physical space of the Indian Ocean discourages a uni-disciplinary perspective and compels the researcher to consider both an expanded archive as well as a more inclusive paradigm of understanding. Colonialism was an obvious factor giving unity to the space of the Indian Ocean giving unity to the space of the Indian Ocean. Religion was another important field of cohesive interaction. The questions that arise as to the nature and dynamics of these historical and contemporary forms of cohesion are many. How for instance, did migrations and anti-colonial resistance experiences shape modern subjectivities in the Indian Ocean? How can we meaningfully understand the notion of multi-culturalism in the Indian Ocean? How were identities forged in the Indian Ocean, and what role did religious, commercial networks and media networks play in this process? The workshop intends to address some of these issues by drawing on emerging analysis of transnationalism, universalism and regimes of circulation in the Indian Ocean, by suggesting new theoretical frameworks for understanding and exploring new methodologies of study.
Workshop structure
The workshop will be organized around lectures by senior international scholars in the mornings and discussions of presentations by the participating students in the afternoons.
Venue and accommodation
The workshop will be held at the Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. SEPHIS will take care of the air travel, accommodation, and local transport expenses of the participants.
Furthermore, a subsistence allowance to cover living expenses will be provided.
Eligibility
The workshop is open to pre-doctoral and early doctoral students registered at universities in the South (Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America).
Application procedure
Applications should include the following:
1) a curriculum vitae (maximum of two pages);
2) a letter certifying that the candidate is enrolled (at a university in the South;
3) a research proposal outlining the candidate’s current research project, including the methodology that is being employed or considered (at most four pages);
5) a letter from the thesis supervisor indicating why this workshop will be of importance to the applicant,
6) a statement that the candidate has not attended a SEPHIS funded workshop before.
Applications must be written in English. The last date for submission of applications is 1 May 2009. Successful applicants will be informed by the end of May 2009. Applications and inquiries are to be directed to Lakshmi Subramanian, Coordinator, IOSP, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India (iosp.jamia@gmail.co, nilgiri98@gmail.com)

Global: Research network on 'The Indian Ocean as visionary area:

Post-multiculturalist approaches to the study of culture and globalisation' - Call for papers

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/56181

An earlier Indian Ocean network conference in Johannesburg in January thisyear explored ‘Print Cultures, Nationalisms and Publics of the Indian Ocean’. At the Goa conference, the aim is to develop further agendas for transnational research, transcending the points of reference provided by national historiographies. An important focus will be the dynamics of port cities, places of transit, and networks of migration, trade and communications, whose interconnectivities criss-cross the histories of empires, colonies and nations.
Research Network on ‘The Indian Ocean as Visionary Area: Post-Multiculturalist Approaches to the Study of Culture and Globalisation’

Call for papers

Conference on ‘Connecting Histories across the Indian Ocean: Religion, Politics and Popular Culture’

onveners: Pamila Gupta - pamila.gupta@wits.ac.za - Preben Kaarsholm -
preben@ruc.dk - and Rochelle Pinto - rochelle@cscs.res.in

Venue: The Sun-n-Sand Hotel, Panjim, Goa

Time: 19 to 21 November 2009

Abstracts of appr. 500 words should be sent as e-mail attachments in Word to Inge Jensen at Roskilde University, Denmark - inge@ruc.dk - before 30 April 2009. Although this deadline has passed, abstracts can still be sent to Pamila Gupta at pamila.gupta@wits.ac.za
The deadline for submission of papers accepted for presentation will be 15 October 2009.
Accommodation in Goa for the three nights of the conference will be offered to paper presenters, but they will be expected to cover their own costs of travel. A small number of travel subsidies can be applied for from the organizers by paper presenters, who are members of the Indian Ocean network,and unable to raise their own travel funds.
For further information about the Indian Ocean network, please see:
http://www.ruc.dk/isg_en/indianocean/

Outline of conference focus
An earlier Indian Ocean network conference in Johannesburg in January thisyear explored ‘Print Cultures, Nationalisms and Publics of the Indian Ocean’. At the Goa conference, the aim is to develop further agendas for transnational research, transcending the points of reference provided by national historiographies. An important focus will be the dynamics of port cities, places of transit, and networks of migration, trade and communications, whose interconnectivities criss-cross the histories of empires, colonies and nations. Another focus will be the interaction of religious mobilisations and discourse in the Indian Ocean region - dialogues and confrontations between Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and other institutions of faith. The interaction of religious diasporas and imperial structures will constitute a further theme. The conference will also bring into the discussion other types of popular cultural articulation and will attempt to understand the cross-border characteristics of identity strategies, cultural politics and struggles over citizenship within the Indian Ocean arena from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

Kenya: Regional livelihoods workshop announcement

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/56186

The Women's Refugee Commission and the SEEP Network are holding a four-day highly participatory workshop designed to bring practitioners from throughout the region to learn new techniques, share experiences, and collect tools designed to improve practice on the ground. Participants should be able and willing to read the Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis. A participatory discussion will be held before the workshops on the scope and concepts presented in the aforementioned publication.
Regional Livelihoods Workshop Announcement

Learn, Share, Network

WHAT: A workshop for UN, international and local NGO staff working on economic and gender-based violence programs (enterprise development, vocational training, skills development, micro-finance, agriculture, cash and food for work programs, etc) with displaced and returning populations.

WHEN: June 23-26, 2009

WHERE: Nairobi, Kenya

WHO: UN and NGO economic programming managers and practitioners from throughout the West Africa region working with displaced and returning populations. The workshop will be limited to 35 participants.

The Women's Refugee Commission and the SEEP Network are holding a four-day highly participatory workshop designed to bring practitioners from throughout the region to learn new techniques, share experiences, and collect tools designed to improve practice on the ground. Participants should be able and willing to read the Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis. A participatory discussion will be held before the workshops on the scope and concepts presented in the aforementioned publication. Two days of the workshop will focus on findings from the Women’s Refugee Commission’s three-year research project on livelihoods in refugee, IDP, and returnee settings and will include practice sessions on usage of the newly released Livelihoods Field Manual. A third day of the workshop will cover findings on the Commission’s project on livelihoods as a tool of protection against gender-based violence and how GBV and livelihood programs should complement each other to better protect women. The SEEP Network will conduct the final day of the workshop to introduce practitioners to SEEP’s Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis, developed as a potential companion to the SPHERE Minimum Standards handbook. This workshop will familiarize participants with and collect in-depth feedback on the Standards.

Deadline for application: May 30, 2009

For participant criteria please see attached. Participants will be required to cover their own travel expenses. Meals and materials will be provided. Participants attending from local NGOs can apply for financial assistance for partial coverage of travel and hotel expenses. Please ask for a Financial Assistance Request Form.

To request an application or for any questions, please contact Sonali at
livelihoodsworkshop@wrcommission.org

Kenya: Regional Livelihoods Workshop announcement

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/56256

This is a workshop for UN, international and local NGO staff working on economic and gender-based violence programs (enterprise development, vocational training, skills development, micro-finance, agriculture, cash and food for work programs, etc) with displaced and returning populations.
Regional Livelihoods Workshop Announcement
Learn, Share, Network
WHAT: A workshop for UN, international and local NGO staff working on economic and gender-based violence programs (enterprise development, vocational training, skills development, micro-finance, agriculture, cash and food for work programs, etc) with displaced and returning populations.
WHEN: June 23-26, 2009
WHERE: Nairobi, Kenya

WHO: UN and NGO economic programming managers and practitioners from throughout the West Africa region working with displaced and returning populations. The workshop will be limited to 35 participants. The Women’s Refugee Commission and the SEEP Network are holding a four-day highly participatory workshop designed to bring practitioners from throughout the region to learn new techniques, share experiences, and collect tools designed to improve practice on the ground. Participants should be able and willing to read the Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis. A participatory discussion will be held before the workshops on the scope and concepts presented in the aforementioned publication. Two days of the workshop will focus on findings from the Women’s Refugee Commission’s three-year research project on livelihoods in refugee, IDP, and returnee settings and will include practice sessions on usage of the newly released Livelihoods Field Manual. A third day of the workshop will cover findings on the Commission’s project on livelihoods as a tool of protection against gender-based violence and how GBV and livelihood programs should complement each other to better protect women. The SEEP Network will conduct the final day of the workshop to introduce practitioners to SEEP’s Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis, developed as a potential companion to the SPHERE Minimum Standards handbook. This workshop will familiarize participants with and collect in-depth feedback on the Standards.
Deadline for application: May 30, 2009

Participants will be required to cover their own travel expenses. Meals and materials will be provided. Participants attending from local NGOs can apply for
financial assistance for partial coverage of travel and hotel expenses. Please ask for a Financial Assistance Request Form. To request an application or for any questions, please contact Sonali at livelihoodsworkshop@wrcommission.org

Participant criteria

Each of the three livelihood workshops will target local and international NGO staff members as well as those from UN agencies, host governments and donor governments. Program managers and implementers of economic and skills development programs are the primary audience.
A participatory discussion will be held before the workshop on the Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis, published by the SEEP. Therefore participants should be able and willing to read the aforementioned publication. The workshops aim to assist practitioners in strengthening their livelihood interventions by improving intervention choices, design, assessments, and tools use to ensure that programs are market driven and participatory.

Participants should:

* Design, manage, implement or fund economic programs (or GBV programs)
* Be conversant in English
* Able to commit four days to attendance
* Able to influence program policy or practice within their organizations
* Be committed to improving their economic programs

Southern Africa: Livelihoods after land reform in Zimbabwe

Small grant competition - call for applications

2009-05-08

http://tinyurl.com/qhhz8a

The land reform that has unfolded in Zimbabwe since 2000 has had diverse consequences. There is no single story. Today policymakers are grappling with the question of ‘what next’? How can a new agrarian structure be supported, and a vibrant rural economy be developed? Yet such discussions are often taking place in a vacuum, with limited empirical data from the ground and overshadowed by misperceptions and inappropriate assumptions.

Nigeria: Executive Director - T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF)

2009-05-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/56196

The T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) seeks to hire an outstanding individual to serve as its first Executive Director based Abuja, Nigeria. The Foundation is a new, independent foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life of the people of Nigeria. The trustees seek a dynamic and creative leader with impeccable integrity to further establish the foundation, and develop and implement strategic grantmaking programs.
T. Y. Danjuma Foundation
Abuja, Nigeria
Job Announcement: Executive Director

The T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) seeks to hire an outstanding individual to serve as its first Executive Director based Abuja, Nigeria. The Foundation is a new, independent foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life of the people of Nigeria. The trustees seek a dynamic and creative leader with impeccable integrity to further establish the foundation, and develop and implement strategic grantmaking programs.

Candidates must be deeply committed to TYDF’s purpose and values. They should bring demonstrated interests, and optimally, professional experience, in the foundation’s two key program areas of health and education, and have a record of accomplishment. They must be interested in working with and answering to an active board that has high standards and also values its participation in policymaking.

TYDF will award grants to select educational and health non-governmental organizations. Each grant is intended to advance the recipient institution’s pursuit of excellence and enhance the educational and health infrastructure of the nation.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

In executing these responsibilities, the Executive Director must be able to engage trustees effectively and provide them with concise and rigorous information to make sound decisions.

The Executive Director will report to the Board of Directors and work closely with the Board chair. The Executive Director will:

1. Assume leadership for the creation, vision and implementation of an operational plan, covering administration and grantmaking, and including the setting of both short and long-term goals and objectives;
2. Review and analyze proposals and grant applications, develop requests for proposals, assess and evaluate programs and make grant recommendations to the board.
3. Develop and implement grantmaking and programmatic strategies that strengthen educational and health care opportunities for Nigerians.
4. Oversee grant payments and the review of grantee narrative and financial reports; the preparation of grant award letters, agreements, and related correspondence; and the determination of payment schedules and monitoring of grant balances;
5. Create a staff organizational chart and be responsible for day-to-day operations;
6. Ensure effective management and guidance of all employees, including recruitment, orientation, hiring, and ongoing supervision, and the development of a personnel manual;
7. Establish and maintain grantmaking policies, procedures and tracking systems;
8. Monitor and assess the impact of all programs, projects and activities;
9. Develop the Foundation’s capacity to evaluate the results of its work and help decide how best to use that information to inform its practices.
10. Promote and publicize the Foundation's work; develop and implement a dynamic communications plan targeting diverse communities and stakeholders in Nigeria;
11. Serve as the Foundation’s spokesperson and develop key relationships with external stakeholders, including the NGO community, other donor institutions, local government officials and policy makers, grantees, international development, education and health care organizations, partner organizations, and the media;

12. Develop and oversee administrative and grant budgets in consultation with the board finance committee.
QUALIFICATIONS

This is an excellent opportunity for a seasoned leader and manager to design new strategies that will generate positive educational and health opportunities for the people of Nigeria. The chosen candidate must demonstrate maturity, leadership, a passion and commitment to the foundation’s mission, and a deep commitment to the welfare of Nigeria’s people. The successful candidate will be hardworking, energetic, outgoing, and enthusiastic.

While no one person will embody all of the qualities enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional abilities, attributes, and experiences:

The ideal candidate will possess:

- At least ten years of progressively responsible management experience in a (preferably) grant-making environment or implementing and managing innovative, successful educational or health care or philanthropic initiatives in Africa—with increasing leadership responsibilities;

- Proven experience in developing, managing and implementing grantmaking programs;
- A minimum of a Masters-level degree in education, health care, social sciences, international development or a related field;
- Experience working with and empowering diverse low-income communities, and building the capacity of local non-governmental organizations;
- Substantial experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa;
- A record of working with an engaged board of directors;
- High personal and professional standards and an impeccable reputation for honesty and integrity;
- Strong oral and written communication skills;
- Excellent analytic skills, intellectual curiosity, and sound judgment;
- A superb ability to chart strategic directions that result in clear operational goals.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

Competitive salary that is commensurate with experience. Benefits include housing, car/driver, relocation and health care benefits.

TO APPLY: Qualified candidates are invited to send a substantive cover letter describing interest in the position and qualifications, resume/cv, salary history, and one writing sample to: michaelseltzer@mac.com by May 18, 2009.

The Danjuma Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes a diverse pool of candidates in this search. It was established in 2008 through the generosity of Lieutenant General T.Y. Danjuma to serve as a perpetual resource for the nation of Nigeria.

Fahamu