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How Yar'Adua has improved Nigerian democracy

Funmi Feyide-John

2010-02-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62187

cc WikimediaWhile President Yar'Adua’s absence – since November 2009 – has left a power vacuum in Nigeria, Funmi Feyide-John believes that this ‘cloud has a silver lining’. Feyide-John describes the events and steps that are being taken within Nigeria to fill the presidential seat: Peaceful demonstrations, letters of demand, court cases, discussions amongst legislators and increasing general discontent. She holds that the handing over of power – be it permanently or temporarily – strongly indicates the strength of the people and the giant steps that are being taken to shape a truly Nigerian democracy.

The title above will seem ludicrous to many who read it. After all, President Yar'Adua was handpicked by former President Obasanjo for the job of president. His elections scandalised the world with the level of violence and rigging that was used to ensure that he and other members of his party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), won. His hand-selected 'wingman', the attorney general, Michael Aondoakaa, has deliberately interfered in and stalled anti-corruption cases against many who have the wealth and connections to guarantee his support. Under Yar'Adua, the anti-corruption crusade – seen to be a bright spot in Nigeria's progress – came to a screeching halt with the removal of Nuhu Ribadu, the former head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Yes, the list could go on and on about the various large and small incidents that illustrate the non-democratic aspects of Yar'Adua and his administration. It is clear that his time as president has been marked by problems, which put into question whether Nigeria is truly a democracy. Ironically, his more than two month absence has done most good for Nigerian democracy, as it has forced actions that will set a precedent in determining the future of Nigeria’s democracy. The number of court challenges, protest marches, discussions amongst legislators and growing discontent of the greater public on the matter will likely go down in history as the steps that led to the entrenchment of democracy. Already, these and other factors have resulted in President Yar'Adua bowing to public pressure and opinion. Depending on how things go in the next few days[1], Nigerians might just have Yar'Adua to thank for taking the nation one step further in the solidification of a democratic system that is uniquely Nigerian.



YAR'ADUA'S ROAD TO THE PRESIDENCY

Yar'Adua, a former state governor, came to power as Nigeria's first university-educated President. When he was handpicked to succeed former President Obasanjo, much was made of his alleged kidney condition. During the presidential campaign in 2007, he was rushed to Germany and rumours grew of his death. He soon gave an interview to the BBC to assure voters that he was very much alive. He eventually went on to win an election, which was declared heavily flawed by local and international observers. Yar'Adua himself conceded that the process needed reform and created a 22-member committee to ‘review the electoral process’ and ‘consider possible changes to the Constitution’.

He stood out from all previous politicians by declaring his assets and giving an acceptance speech that assuaged the fears and concerns of many. His speech even compelled Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants to grant the nation a reprieve from violence with a ceasefire. Yar'Adua soon declared himself a ‘servant leader’ and frequently espoused a 'rule of law' mantra. He also claimed that he was focused on providing, ‘a purposeful and result-oriented administration that will yield tangible and visible benefits for all Nigerians.’ Thankfully, and much to the president's credit, he did not interfere in the court's review and overturn of various election results that had been challenged, including his own. After six months of reviewing evidence on the presidential polls, the election tribunal eventually ruled that Yar'Adua's election results would stand.

SERIOUS BUMPS ALONG THE WAY

The start of his first term as president gave many hope that Yar'Adua would be a different kind of leader. Although he was soon seen as slow – being given nicknames such as ‘Yawn'Adua’ and ‘Baba Go Slow‘ – many did not mind this style because they thought it was an improvement on the attitude of the previous president. Obasanjo was seen as brash and someone who believed that he alone could fix the nations problems – a temperament that caused him to usurp powers that did not belong to the executive office. This eventually caused problems for individuals like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with outright corruption scandals in the power and petroleum sectors, among others.

Unfortunately, Yar'Adua was quickly considered by many to be a non-performer with no sign of progress on certain campaign promises. Popular and international opinion soured further when the State Security Service (SSS), a security agency that reports directly to the president, arrested and unlawfully detained two Nigerian political bloggers because they published information deemed embarrassing to the president. Yar'Adua also ordered the arrest of journalists and sued them. The court ruled, however, that he could not sue as an individual, thus bringing that issue to a close. His party threw out repeated accusations of treasonable offences against opposition parties and at one point even accused President Obama of trying to subvert Yar'Adua's presidency. Discontent, with the failure to provide consistent electricity supply, increased amongst most segments of the nation, particularly as unemployment rose and major corporations left the country. The fuel shortages and closure of public universities, due to striking teachers, only contributed to the list of problems the president had to deal with.

A POWER VACUUM FORCES CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW

During his first two years in office, Yar'Adua took various trips to Saudi Arabia and Germany to seek medical attention for his 'kidney condition'. On 23 November 2009, he was quickly rushed to Saudi Arabia to receive emergency treatment on what was later revealed to be a heart condition called pericarditis (an inflammation of the lining around the heart). Nigerians, seeking to gain additional information about their president's welfare, were overwhelmingly left in the dark. After weeks without knowing whether the president was alive or dead and an international diplomatic incident that resulted in Nigeria's placement on a ‘terror prone’ list, Nigerians began to take to the streets in peaceful protest against Yar'Adua's absence and refusal to handover to the vice president – be it temporarily or not.

The power vacuum created by Yar'Adua's absence was highlighted by the lack of adequate response to the suicide bomb attempt carried out by Abdulmutallab on Delta Airlines on Christmas Day 2009. The inability of the vice president to speak concretely and take executive action, pushed many over the edge. The signature of the 2010 budget, and swearing in of a new chief justice, allegedly by a sick and missing president, were just some of the factors that led some to seek the court's guidance on matters.

THE COURT CASES

Yar'Adua's absence brought up constitutional issues over how executive power is temporarily transferred to the vice president. A previous health emergency resulted in significant criticism for the president, as many believed he violated a constitutional requirement by failing to inform the National Assembly of his absence. In January 2009, President Yar'Adua made sure to inform the National Assembly of an impending two week vacation, so as not to be again accused of flouting constitutional requirements.

Given this history, when Yar'Adua left the country in November 2009 and did not follow perceived protocols, it only took a few weeks for the first court cases to be filed. The Nigerian Bar Association filed a case demanding that the president hand over power to the vice president, so that Vice President Jonathan could have executive powers. Then, the introduction of the 2010 national budget while the president was allegedly on his 'sick bed' fuelled concerns over the forgery of his signature and a court case was filed by the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP). A rights group also brought a case seeking the court to declare Yar'Adua ‘missing’.

A ruling that Yar'Adua was not required to formally inform the National Assembly of his absence, spurred a meeting of pro-impeachment legislators to discuss what legislative action could be taken in light of the court's ruling.

BACK AND FORTH IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Amidst the court cases were deliberations in the national assembly by legislators. Although certain members of the House and Senate announced that they were to fly to Saudi Arabia to discuss matters with the president, that never happened and rumours soon spread that the president's handlers asked the Saudi government to refuse visas for those intending to visit.

Repeated attempts to raise the issue of the president's absence on the floor of the Senate did not get far. In fact, the Senate president repeatedly stated that their ‘hands [were] tied’ on the issue. The Federal Executive Council, which can declare the president incompetent, announced that the president was capable of handling the responsibilities of his office and a court gave the president 14 days to prove that he was capable of handling his responsibilities. Even though it had ignored impeachment calls, the Senate, now empowered, asked the president to send a letter declaring his capacity to govern. The body later announced that it was once again powerless to compel a letter.

As the days without a president increased, 200 members of the House of Representatives signed a letter addressed to Yar'Adua, expressing their willingness to impeach him for his absence and failure to handover to the vice president while away. The letter specified: ‘We, the undersigned members of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, may, in the national interest be compelled to resort to any appropriate legislative process under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to salvage the nation and our hard-won democracy if the present avoidable danger or threat to the existence of our nation and its democracy are not averted...’ The letter went on to clarify that the stance taken by these legislators did not hinge on any personal issues or grievances, but simply on the need to protect the ‘sovereignty of the people ... and the sanctity of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the sustenance of our young democracy and the stabilisation of our diverse and dynamic polity.’

This letter, coupled with international pressure in the form of public statements made by EU and American leaders, seemingly compelled the president to push forward his return to Nigeria. Reports soon revealed that an air ambulance had been ordered to schedule a return flight.

MILITARY MOVES

For almost half of Nigeria's 50 years as an independent country, the nation has been controlled by one military dictator or another. Concerns, therefore, grew that the power vacuum would lead to a military intervention. Nigeria's military leaders, however, collectively informed the public that they had no intention of dabbling in politics and specifically limited troops’ movements so as to dispel any rumours. Considering the power of Nigeria's military and the fact that it has historically overthrown democratic elections, it is encouraging that the military did not just say that it has no plans to govern the country, but also took direct action to limit the possibility of a coup.

PUBLIC DISCOURSE

In the early days of Yar'Adua's absence, many were admonished and heavily criticised for questioning, or outright demanding, his resignation. At that time, many Nigerians felt it rude and unsympathetic to speak of resignation instead of wishing the president a quick and successful recovery. Unfortunately, Yar'Adua's prolonged absence and lack of transparency soon diminished a lot of goodwill, as many felt his decision to hold onto power was not in the interest of the people and it encouraged rigorous debate on the matter.

As the weeks went by with few convincing words on the president's condition, the calls for the president to handover to his vice president increased. Apart from citizens discussing the matter, newspapers looked closer at how much money was being spent on the president's health needs, and examined the productivity of ministers during the president's absence. One paper even pointed out exactly how many days the president had spent outside the country due to his health problems over a 32 month period. The number totalled 109. Unlikely groups, such as the pro-Northern, pro-Muslim organization Arewa Consultative Forum, joined the calls for Yar'Adua to step down. Labour unions planned a one-day strike to encourage the president to 'honour' the constitution and handover to the vice president. On 3 February 2010, a group of 17 Nigerian newspapers & media organizations warned Nigeria's President Yar'Adua to quit in seven days. Even the man who picked Yar'Adua to become president, Olusegun Obasanjo, made a public plea for resignation.

In an unprecedented move, Nigeria's Minister of Information advised the body to admit that Yar'Adua is unable to serve. Her suggestion was rejected by the Federal Executive Council. Furthermore, the House of Representatives considered a bill that would automatically hand power over to the vice president in the event that the president is absent for more than 21 days. If passed and accepted by the Senate, this law would likely pave the way to preventing a repeat of the power vacuum caused by president Yar'Adua's over his 75 day stay in Saudi Arabia.

BOWING TO PUBLIC PRESSURE

Nigeria is a country struggling to create a democratic system tailored to fit its specific needs. In this quest, therefore, there have been starts and stops. But Yar'Adua's health problems and resulting reactions have now resulted in the president's handlers revealing that he is set to temporarily handover executive functions and powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. According to the BBC, a formal letter will be submitted to the houses of the National Assembly in which the president will claim a ‘medical vacation’ as the basis for the transfer of powers. If Yar'Adua, in fact, carries out this line of action, it will be despite the fact that, as noted above, a court ruled that he was under no constitutional obligation to perform such a formal transfer of powers. This can, therefore, be interpreted as the result of 'people power' and will act as a precedent in future situations to empower the people to voice their opinions. It will also act as a reminder to other politicians and future heads of state that the people cannot be ignored. This, in addition to all the various specific occurrences during Yar'Adua's absence, will indeed be a helpful factor in the creation of a Nigeria-specific democracy that will hopefully pay dividends in the future. And to think that Yar'Adua – his sickness, absence and resulting political confusion – just might be the reason for all of this. Maybe it is true that to every cloud, there is a silver lining.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Funmi Feyide-John is a Nigerian lawyer and writer living in Washington DC.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] This article was written before Nigeria's vice president was made acting president. While the article remains relevant, the author acknowledges that events continue to unfurl and gives a news update: 'The National Assembly declared the vice president "acting president", and provided for Yar'Adua to return to the nation's helm when he proves that he is capable of fulfilling his presidential duties. In addition, the new acting president is showing his control with the demotion of the Minister of Justice, Micahel Aondoakaa. Aondoakaa is seen as Yar'Adua's 'wingman' and staunch supporter. He has also been accused of interfering in the nation's anti-corruption crusade.'

MPLA Ltd

The business interests of Angola's ruling elite

Rafael Marques de Morais

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62194

cc WikimediaAt an MPLA meeting in November 2009, Angola’s president José Eduardo dos Santos defined the challenges facing his party in terms of three issues: Keeping watch on government, the irresponsibility of government leaders, and fighting corruption with a policy of zero tolerance. Rafael Marques de Morais reveals the gap between dos Santos’ words and its deeds, through an investigation of the MPLA’s extensive business interests. The ‘concept of social solidarity and equal opportunity,’ writes de Morais, ‘applies only to select members of the ruling elite who have been given the task of looting the country.'

During the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola’s (MPLA)[1] central committee meeting in Luanda in November 2009, President José Eduardo dos Santos defined his challenges facing his party in terms of three fundamental questions: Keeping watch on government, the irresponsibility of government leaders, and fighting corruption with a policy of zero tolerance. In this investigation I deal with the transfer of state assets to the MPLA’s private businesses through a company called GEFI (Sociedade de Gestão e Participações Financeiras/Management and Business Participation Company), and the consequences of its involvement in such money making activities. In order to make clear the gap between the leadership’s words and its deeds, I will analyse those three main questions that dos Santos, both president of the Republic and leader of the MPLA, put forward during his speech when he opened the party central committee meeting on 29 November 2009. In this speech dos Santos spoke of the absence of scrutiny of the acts of government and the irresponsibility and bad faith of political leaders, and announced a zero tolerance policy towards corruption.

MONITORING, IRRESPONSIBILITY AND ZERO TOLERANCE

First, dos Santos accused his party of incompetence in ‘monitoring the government’s activities of governance, through the national assembly and the ‘tribunal de contas’ – the latter being the statutory body responsible for monitoring the use of state finance. This statement is contradictory. Dos Santos has been chairman of the MPLA and head of government for 30 years. His power in government as well as in the party is total. So it is dos Santos who bears primary responsibility for the MPLA’s performance in the national assembly.

The new constitution, approved on 21 January 2010, limits further the national assembly’s potential to keep a check on the government’s actions, because of the process that it lays down for the election of the president. Rather than being elected directly by the public, or indirectly by elected members of parliament, under the new system proposed by the MPLA the person at the top of the candidate list of the winning party in the election will simply be named president (Article 109).

This model invented by the MPLA rules out both the separation of powers and the accountability of the head of government, creating instead an excessive concentration of power in the figure of the president and the leader of the party. In the event that these two roles were not filled by the same person, power would be concentrated in the hands of the chairman of the party, even if he or she were not a member of parliament. In such a case, it is the party leader who chooses who is on the party’s list of candidates for the legislative elections, and which candidate is at the head of the list. The MPLA currently has an absolute majority in the National Assembly, with 191 of the 220 members.

With regard to the tribunal de contas, the president made a serious admission that has gone largely unnoticed by the public. In his speech of 29 November 2009 he stated that the MPLA had not been fulfilling its watchdog role through the tribunal de contas.[2] This apparently ignores the fact that the constitution provides for the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, and hence the independence of the courts. It is not the MPLA’s task to monitor the executive by means of the tribunal de contas. If the MPLA works through the tribunal de contas, this undermines its independence and the ability to perform its role. One example of this is when in 2005 dos Santos ignored the court’s finding that Isaac dos Anjos, at the time the Angolan ambassador to South Africa, had diverted money from pension funds, and convicted him in 2004 for such an offence. Dos Anjos was promoted to be governor of Huila province, with greater responsibility in terms of managing state funds and state assets.

Second, in the same speech the president condemned ‘irresponsible people, people of bad faith’ for taking advantage of the MPLA’s apathy, and ‘squandering resources and administrating in a way that is illegal, as well as dangerous or fraudulent’. The people he accused were members of his own administration.

This is the kind of language that the president adopts whenever he feels the need to reaffirm his authority at times of public discontent: He accuses his subordinates indiscriminately and asserts his own innocence. In 2007, during an extraordinary meeting of the central committee of the MPLA, the president condemned members of the government and administration officials over the use of public funds in their own businesses.

In 2001, the president assured citizens that democracy would allow them to participate in combating corruption and government inefficiency. In 1998, while opening the MPLA’s fourth congress, Dos Santos said that ‘corruption is a worrying problem that must be tackled by political and judicial means and by the police if we are not to lose control of it’. At an MPLA central committee meeting on 16 February 1996, the president spoke out against the ‘wild capitalism that has taken root in the country over the last three years’ and made clear that this practice among the ruling elite was destroying the MPLA and its fundamental goals: ‘the equitable distribution of wealth and national resources, solidarity and social justice.’ In an address to the nation during the 1996 economic crisis, the president called for transparency in government and measures to prevent corruption and influence peddling, at the government and state levels. Dos Santos promised that he would ‘put a definitive end to high-level crime, to organised theft and to the pillaging of state assets’.

Nevertheless, corruption continues to define the government’s actions, since the president and head of government has not taken serious and adequate measures to stop the looting of state assets. Responsibility for criminal acts committed by officials must in the first instance fall upon the head of government, who is exclusively responsible for appointing and dismissing members of government and for instructing, supervising and guiding their actions.

Thirdly, during MPLA’s sixth congress, on 7 December 2009, dos Santos repeated his promise of a zero tolerance policy towards corruption. Nearly two months later, neither he nor his government has presented any plan or programme to fight corruption. It has remained nothing but rhetoric. Nevertheless, the idea must be interpreted as an invitation to the nation to denounce publicly acts of corruption at the heart of government and in the public administration, the looting of state asses and the unjustified enrichment of the elite. Such a process of denunciation must be a fundamental step for nation-building, and to allow citizens to start thinking differently and to seek change in the areas of the law, politics, the economy and the ethics of Angolan society. This was what was recommended by the Interdisciplinary Commission to Study the Phenomenon of Corruption in Angolan Society, co-ordinated by the late minister of justice, Lázaro Dias, and created by presidential decree 22/90 of 15 September 1990.

THE MPLA’S BUSINESS INTERESTS

On 21 September 1992, a week before the first multiparty general elections in Angolan history, leading MPLA figures legally and formally established the ruling party’s business conglomerate GEFI (Sociedade de Gestão e Participações Financeiras/Business Management and Participation Company.) The company’s founding charter was signed by the following people, in the name of the MPLA:

- Francisco Magalhães Paiva, at that time minster of the interior, currently
member of parliament and still a member of the MPLA Political Bureau
- José Mateus Adelino Peixoto, then chief of staff of the president, currently
secretary general of support services to the president of the republic and
member of the MPLA central committee
- António de Campos Van-Dúnem, then legal advisor to the president of the
republic
- Augusto Lopes Teixeira, at the time a member of the political bureau and
chairman of the board of Angola-Telecom, a state-owned company
- Carlos Alberto Ferreira Pinto, member of parliament and member of the MPLA
political bureau
- The Fundação Sagrada Esperança, the foundation which is the party’s social
affairs and investment arm.

GEFI’s current business portfolio includes participation in 64 companies operating in the sectors that include hotels, industry, banking, fisheries, media, construction and real estate. Given the range of its business interests, this article presents merely an overview of GEFI’s activities, based on the availability of official documents. Moreover, this investigation focuses, in particular, on how the government has engendered the murky transfer of state assets to GEFI, for MPLA’s financial and patrimonial benefit.

AVIATION

In April 2009 the Angolan authorities granted permission for the airline Fly540 Angola to begin operating in the country. According to public statements by the multinational Lonrho, which has shares in the company, Fly540 flights would initially cover six of the country’s 18 provinces – Cabinda, Luanda, Zaire (Soyo airport), Benguela, Huambo and Malanje – using ATR72 aircraft.

GEFI has a majority (51 per cent) shareholding in Fly540 through its aviation company Planar, while Lonrho holds 49 per cent of the shares and has a right to 60 per cent of the profits, according to Lonrho’s press release of 2 October 2007. Planar contributed through its air service licence, a 1000m2 hangar at Luanda’s Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport which was given to it by the state, and offices.

The way in which Fly540 Angola was constituted presents a serious problem in terms of Angolan law. The current secretary of the council of ministers, Joaquim António Carlos dos Reis Júnior, in his capacity as manager of businesses for the MPLA and consequently of GEFI, is formally the major shareholder in Planar, with 20 per cent of the shares. In other words, the secretary of the council of ministers is GEFI’s figurehead in the aviation business. Four other individuals linked to the MPLA represent, in the name of GEFI, 60 per cent of Planar’s capital. The remaining 20 per cent is in the hands of individual shareholders. Thus GEFI in effect owns 80 per cent of Planar’s capital. Its management model and the way in which it does business are based on the supposed party loyalty of its members. This creates enormous confusion when it comes to distinguishing between the state businesses, party businesses and the private businesses of MPLA and government leaders.

Nevertheless, from the legal point of view, responsibility for the company’s actions lies directly with those who hold shares, and in the case of Planar, the major shareholder is the secretary of the council of ministers. Joaquim António Carlos dos Reis Júnior is covered by Article 10 (2) of Law 21/90, the law on crimes committed by holders of public office, which prohibits the holders of public office from participating in private business. Fly540 Angola, in order to operate, requires authorisation from the government, namely from the transport minister, Augusto Tomás. He, in turn, requires the authorisation of the secretary of the council of ministers in order to submit any kind of proposal for consideration by the council. The institutional relationship between Augusto Tomás and Joaquim António Carlos dos Reis Júnior creates a situation of influence peddling, according to the definition laid down in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (Article 18, a, b), the SADC Protocol against corruption (Article 3,1,f), and the African Union Convention against corruption (Article 4, 1, f). These articles have been incorporated into Angolan law, and contravening them is punishable under Article 321 of the Angolan Penal Code, with aggravating circumstances provided for under Article 4(1) of the Law on crimes committed by holders of public office.

Lonrho, in turn, by associating itself with Planar, whose major shareholder, Joaquim António Carlos dos Reis Júnior, is in government and therefore able to influence its relationship with the state, creates a situation susceptible to active corruption according to the similar definitions in the United Nations Convention against corruption (Article 15, a), the SADC Protocol against corruption (Article 3, 1, b), and the African Union Convention against corruption (Article 4, 1, b). Lonrho is a company listed on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges.

HOTELS

In Luanda, GEFI owns the Hotel Tivoli, has a 20 per cent share in Hotel President Le Meridien (20 per cent), and benefited from a 20 per cent concession in the shares of Serafim L. Andrade, the company that owns the Hotel Trópico, through the minister of industry’s Despatch no 55/00 of 10 March 2000. The other 80 per cent is owned by the investor, the Portuguese construction company Teixeira Duarte.

Also in the capital city, the privatisation process awarded to GEFI the site of Farol Velho, a restaurant on Ilha de Luanda, which has been destroyed to make way for a new hotel project. GEFI also has 25 per cent of the shares in Hotel Turismo, which previously housed some of UNITA’s (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) leadership and which was consequently destroyed during the fighting after the 1992 elections, while a further 25 per cent of shares are held by Sogec, a subsidiary of GEFI. A new Hotel Turismo is planned for the site.

On 20 May 2009, the state sold two properties in Luanda to GEFI for token prices. Hotel Zimbo cost US$527,000, and a residential, in Largo do Pelourinho, went for US$260,000.The state has also granted GEFA ownership or part ownership of the biggest hotel in Cabinda, Hotel Mayombe (51 per cent), the Hotel Central (80 per cent) in Luanda, and Hotel Grão Tosco (100 per cent) in Benguela.

BREWERIES

On 16 September 2005, Resolution 65/05 of the council of ministers approved the privatisation of the Cuca brewery, after the state secretly transferred 50 per cent of its shares in the brewery to Soba, a holding company owned by the MPLA, GEFI and Brasseries Internationales Holding (BIH), part of the French Castel group. The latter, as the only foreign investor, received 13 per cent of the shares in Cuca. The French company holds 75 per cent of Soba’s capital, and GEFI 25 per cent.

Although it is an MPLA company, no one knows what contributions GEFI has made in its partnership with BIH, in contrast, for example, to the partnership with Lonrho in Fly540. Nevertheless, it is important to look at how the government handled the creation of the business deal. The council of ministers is chaired by dos Santos, who, in approving the privatisation of Cuca, was clearly enhancing his own party’s business portfolio and the business interests of the presidential inner circle – including Adelino Peixoto, secretary general of the presidency of the republic – and other privileged government figures.[3]

Being leader of the MPLA and at the same time chairing the council of ministers, which approves the handing over of state assets to GEFI, puts the president of the republic in a serious situation of conflict of interests and in an embarrassing position with respect to what happens to GEFI’s profits: something that remains unknown even by some members of the Political Bureau. I return to this issue in the concluding remarks.

MEDIA, PROPAGANDA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

The MPLA has been the main beneficiary of the government’s project to create
Angola’s first four commercial FM radio stations since independence. The radio stations were set up entirely with state funds in 1992, but ownership was transferred mostly to GEFI, the MPLA’s holding company. Through its subsidiary A Foto, GEFI owns 60 per cent of Luanda Antena Comercial (LAC), while the remaining 40 per cent is held by the journalists José Rodrigues, Luísa Fançony and Mateus Gonçalves. In Benguela, GEFI through its subsidiary Sopol owns 80 per cent of Radio Morena, of which the remaining shares are owned by António Mendes Filipe, a private individual. In Huila province another GEFI subsidiary, Pontual S.A., has 75.50 per cent of the shares in Rádio 2000, while its managers Horácio Reis and Carlos Andrade own the rest. In Cabinda, GEFI’s subsidiary Orion owns 60 per cent of Rádio Comercial de Cabinda, with the rest being owned by two former local directors, André Filipe Luemba (20 per cent) and Pedro Simba (20 per cent). Orion itself is an interesting case regarding the boundaries between the state and the ruling party. Orion is a partnership between GEFI, with 70 per cent, the former Minister of Social Communication (1992-2005) and current ambassador to Egypt, Hendrick Vaal Neto, who holds 11 per cent, Minister of Planning Ana Dias Lourenço, who holds five per cent, and other figures within the MPLA who own the remaining 14 per cent of the shares. Since 1992, Orion has been the lynchpin of government and MPLA propaganda. This company provides facilities and serves as a front for the Brazilian firm M’Link, owned by Sérgio Guerra, which plans, produces and oversees the broadcasting of MPLA and government propaganda in the media.

Over the past 10 years, the ministry of social communication has paid about US$24 million per year to M’Link for its services to the government and the MPLA, without distinguishing between the two. This agreement was signed by Hendrick Vaal Neto, who has also benefited directly from the profits from this work, in contravention of the Law on crimes committed by holders of public office, which prohibits people in government from using state functions and contracts to their own benefit.

M’Link’s managing director is the journalist and MPLA parliamentarian Luís Domingos, who in partnership with Francisca Pacavira holds 10 per cent of the shares. For several years now, Luís Domingos has presented the weekly propaganda programme ‘Angola em Movimento’ (Angola on the move), which is produced by M’Link on behalf of Orion and broadcast on the state television station, TPA. The constitution (Article 82,1,c) states that the duties of a member of parliament are incompatible with serving as managing director of a private company. Luís Domingos has not declared this conflict of interests and continues to play both roles with the blessing of the MPLA leadership. Pontual is a screen printing business privatised by the state: Its shareholders comprise GEFI (70 per cent), the secretary general of the MPLA, Julião Mateus Paulo ‘Dino Matross’ (5 per cent), the chairman of the board of GEFI and member of the MPLA Political Bureau Mário António de Sequeira e Carvalho (five per cent), and while the remaining 20 per cent is shared among the company’s former managers and party activists.

Other state businesses that were handed over to GEFI as majority shareholder are A Foto (73 per cent), as well as the printing presses Gráfica Impresso (41 per cent), in Benguela, and Edigráfica (27 per cent).

BANKING AND FINANCE
In the banking sector, GEFI is the main shareholder in Banco Sol, holding 55 per cent of shares through its subsidiary Sansul, according to Banco Sol’s latest annual report. Sansul’s capital is in turn owned 99 per cent by GEFI, while four MPLA members share a token one per cent. Direct shareholders in Banco Sol, each with five per cent, include first lady Ana Paula dos Santos, the vice-chairman of the National Assembly and member of the MPLA Political Bureau, João Lourenço, and the MPLA parliamentarian and former minister of finances Júlio Bessa.

Banco Comercial Angolano is controlled by ABSA/Barclays (50 per cent) as investor, while GEFI holds a mere 1.8 per cent of the shares. But leading figures in the regime are numbered among the shareholders, including the MPLA secretary general Julião Mateus Paulo, the ministers of transport and fisheries, Augusto Tomás and Salomão Xirimbimbi, the governor of Huila province, Isaac dos Anjos, and members of parliament Fernando França Van-Dúnem and Dumilde Rangel.

GEFI’s interests also extend to offshore companies, namely Faierden, which it owns outright, and Invest, in which it has a 20 per cent share. Both companies are registered in Panama, but little else is known about their finances or their business activities.

INDUSTRY

In the industrial sector, GEFI’s role is curious when compared to that of MPLA leaders. The government transferred ownership of the country’s main flourmills to GEFI without any tender, while the leading figures in the regime enjoy substantial shares in petroleum and diamond concessions, for their personal benefit. The milling business is nevertheless of great political, economic and social importance since it means partial control over the manufacture of bread, an important food for the whole country, and maize flour, which is the staple diet of southern Angola.

On 14 July 2008, the minister of industry, Joaquim David, and the then secretary of state for public enterprise, Augusto Tomás, drew up Joint Executive Decree no 91/08, with reference to the total privatisation of the Cimor mill in Matala, Huila province. The beneficiaries were Seipo, a GEFI subsidiary (50 per cent), local businessman Fernando Borges (35 per cent) and other smaller shareholders including workers and local professionals (15 per cent). Seipo, in turn, is owned 55 per cent by GEFI, while MPLA parliamentarians João Marcelino Typinge and Alfredo Berner, as well as defence minister Kundy Paihama, have 14 per cent of Seipo’s shares between them, while other MPLA figures own the remainder.

From a legal point of view, the transfer of shares from the state to Seipo involves influence-peddling. Law 21/90 (Article 10,2) prohibits members of the government – in this case, the defence minister – from participating in business in which the state is also involved.

Until May 2008, Cimor was producing 300 tons of maize flour per day. According to information that its manager, Edgar Macedo, gave to Jornal de Angola, the mill intended to triple its daily production to improve the supply to the south of the country.

The decree in question explained the privatisation ‘in terms of a strategy to develop the food industry and to refurbish and increase the productive capacities of the maize milling industry’ as well as ‘to make the private sector participate in the development of these industries.

Ten years before, on 31 July 1998, the then ministers of industry and of finance, Manuel Duque e Alcântara Monteiro, had drafted Joint Executive Decree no 39/98, for the total and direct privatisation of the Heróis de Kangamba mill in Viana, Luanda, to the benefit of GEFI (60 per cent) and its subsidiary Sengoservice (40 per cent). According to the ministers’ explanation, the privatisation took place ‘in terms of the strategy to develop the food industry and the Bread Programme’ and ‘to make the private sector participate in those industries’. After privatisation, the mill – the biggest in Angola – was renamed Moagem Kwaba. GEFI subsequently sold 45 per cent of its shares to a foreign investor, the US-based Seabord. Nevertheless, since 2006 Kwaba has not been in operation due to managerial and investment problems.

As part of the strategy already referred to, and as part of the institutional norms for the privatisation process, all the mills ought to have been sold on the open market, with guaranteed shares for workers and small local shareholders. Formally, the ministers of industry and of finance announced that privatisation would be undertaken through public tenders in the case of 60 per cent of the shares of the Saidy Mingas and Aliança mills in Lubango, Huila province. Another example of public bidding in the same sector was the privatisation of shares in the Empresa Industrial de Produtos Alimentares (EMPAL – Industrial Food Production Company) in favour of Fundo Lwini, which belongs to first lady Ana Paula dos Santos. In Joint Executive Decree no 31/00 of 21 April 2000, the then ministers of finance and of industry, Joaquim David and Albina Assis, declared that ‘there was no public participation by individual or collective entities’ and, consequently transferred ownership of the firm directly to the first lady. Although this deal represents influence peddling in favour of President dos Santos’s wife, the trick of supposedly opening the deal to public tender demonstrates how MPLA leaders comply with the law and the rules of transparency selectively and at their own convenience.

GEFI, though its subsidiary Sogepang, also received 20 per cent of the shares in Cerangola, the second biggest grain processing factory in the country, in Benguela. Seabord was also asked to contribute its know-how to this project. The MPLA’s taste for the bread business extends also to the Sociedade dos Industriais de Panificação de Luanda (Luanda Baking Industries Partnership – Sopão), in which GEFI is the second-largest shareholder, with 20 per cent in relation to Martal’s 35 per cent.

Yet despite the privatisations, the state continues to intervene in the sector through mechanisms that raise further doubts. At the Conference on the Re-launching of the Food Processing Industry 2009-2012, held in May last year, the government announced an investment in US$100 million in the construction of two wheat mills, with a production capacity of 1,000 tons per day. JP Morgan and local banks will lend the money for the construction of the factories, which are to be built in the provinces of Bengo and Kwanza-Sul.

At the same conference, the director of studies and planning in the ministry of industry, José Gonçalves, unveiled plans for the imminent rehabilitation of the Kwaba, Cerangola and Saydi Mingas mills – the latter in Huila province – at a total cost of US$33 million, to be raised from local banks.

In the projects announced at the conference, the line between public and private investment is blurred. The government has increased investment in industry and other sectors, only to give away ownership of assets, virtually for free, to businesses that belong to government officials. This, however, is another story to be dealt with in due course.

THE MOTOR INDUSTRY

A clear example of the use of state power to the benefit of the private businesses of the MPLA and the country’s ruling families is the case of the Volkswagen and Skoda vehicle assembly plant in Angola. On 23 December 2004, the council of ministers passed Resolution 39/04, authorising Agência Nacional de Investimentos Privados (National Private Investments Agency – ANIP) to enter into an investment contract with the American Company Ancar Worldwide Investments Holding, worth US$48 million. On 26 January 2005, ANIP initialled the contract for the assembly of 160 cars per day at Pólo Industrial in Viana, Luanda.

This contract was signed after Ancar undertook to hand over 49 per cent of the shares in its Angolan offspring to five Angolan-based companies, namely:
- Acapir Lda, a company that belongs to the president’s daughter, Welwitchia
dos Santos, usually known as Tchizé dos Santos.
- Mbakassi & Filhos, official representative of Volkswagen in Angola;
- GEFI, the MPLA’s company;
- Suninvest, investment arm of the Fundação Eduardo dos Santos (FESA), the
President’s private institution;
- Tchany Perdigão Abrantes, cousin of Tchizé dos Santos.
Three days after the contract was signed, the chairman of FESA, Ismael Diogo, called a meeting at FESA’s headquarters, with a representative of Ancar, Carlos Garcia, the owner of Mbakassi & Filhos, António Mosquito, and as a witness, the then administrator of FESA and chairman of Suninvest, António Maurício.

Ismael Diogo called the meeting, as stated in the minutes, ‘according to a mandate from His Excellency the President of the Republic, Engineer José Eduardo dos Santos’, to clarify the circumstances and the reality that ACAPIR Lda. would have to participate in the ‘Ancar – Automóveis de Angola’ partnership, owing to the fact that one of the shareholders was the daughter of the head of state, to obtain his favour for the approval of the investment project.

Mbakassy & Filhos felt cheated at having had 16 per cent of the quota meant for them taken away in order to accommodate the president’s daughter, who was then named vice-chair of the board of Ancar – Automóveis de Angola. According to the minutes, ‘at no time did Ancar Worldwide Investments Holding explain the offer of 16 per cent to ACAPIR Lda. in order to benefit from the favours of His Excellency the President of the Republic in the approval of the project.’ The final decision in the council of ministers to approve Ancar’s project rested with President dos Santos, as head of government.

The point worth noting about the Ancar case is that a business row, not a dispute about the legality and transparency of the deal, took place at government level. Dos Santos was involved in a blatant act of influence peddling, in favour of his foundation, his daughter, and his party’s company GEFI, which received 12 per cent of the shares in the project. The case was considered worthy of a second stakeholders’ meeting in order to redistribute the shares among the presidential family, the MPLA’s business interests and those of Mosquito, a businessmen who has benefited from the MPLA’s wealth distribution policies.

Nevertheless, according to information published in the German press in July 2005, the chairman of Volkswagen, Bernd Pischetsrieder, delayed the plans to install the assembly plant owing to allegations of corruption surrounding the project.

Also in the motor industry, GEFI was the direct beneficiary of the privatisation of the Mabor tyre factory, now renamed Pneucar. GEFI received 60 per cent of the shares in the company that owns the factory, which is currently not operational.

OTHER BUSINESSES

In the retail business, GEFI benefited from the privatisation of the country’s largest hypermarket, Jumbo, in Luanda. GEFI formed a partnership with the third-biggest French company in the sector, the Auchan group, GEFI taking 51 per cent of the shares while the French company has since 1996 owned 30 per cent of Jumbo’s capital. Other partners, including the current secretary of the council of ministers, Joaquim Reis Júnior, and others linked to the regime control 19 per cent of the shares.

In the construction sector, the biggest growth area of the last few years, GEFI gained 20 per cent ownership of the metal structures factory set up by the Portuguese company Martifer in Viana, Luanda. Martifer is in turn a subsidiary of the Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil, which is expanding its business interests in Angola through establishing partnerships with influential figures in the regime. This type of investment pattern is the secret of the success of most of the Portuguese and other foreign companies that are doing well in the Angolan market.

On the other hand, when it is unable to attract a foreign investor and manager, GEFI’s day-to-day management capacity is notable. Its subsidiary Sengoservice, which manages Feira Popular (People’s Fair), in Luanda, has turned the country’s biggest amusement park into an informal market selling clothes and household goods. The MPLA’s accumulation of private property, through the privatisation of state assets, also includes the fixed and mobile assets of the old button factory that is currently out of use, and bookshops in the city of Luanda. GEFI also sold thousands of Christmas hampers to state and private institutions, through its subsidiary Dilog, managed by a foreign national by the name of Amin Herji.

GEFI has negotiated with the ministry of fisheries over the management of the Kapiandalo fish-processing factory in Benguela as well as receiving 60 per cent of the company’s shares, with no public consultation, and no consideration to what benefit the deal might have for the state. Still in the fishing sector, GEFI co-owns Epata Fishing, which is licensed to fish in Nambian waters, as well as having shares in other fishing companies.

The MPLA’s incursions into the private security business are also worth noting. GEFI is the sole owner of Socorro, which protects the party headquarters and other buildings as well as its leaders. Sambiente, another GEFI company, is also involved in industrial security despite current problems.

On 16 March 2006, GEFI formed a partnership with the state businesses Sonangol (petroleum), Endiama (diamonds), Porto de Luanda (harbour), Fundo de Desenvolvimento Económico e Social (social and economic development fund), Grupo Ensa (insurance) and a further 18 private entities, as founding partners in the Angolan Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores e Derivativos de Angola), which was constituted as a limited company and is expected to start operating soon.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite various enquiries to people close to the government about the MPLA’s businesses, all that emerges is a consensus about the lack of information, even by the party’s central committee and political bureau, about the amount of capital that GEFI has acquired, how it is managed, its annual profits and where the money ends up. After the party’s fifth congress in 2003, its chairman, José Eduardo dos Santos, put Manuel Vicente, a central committee member and chairman of the board and CEO of state oil company Sonangol, to audit the MPLA’s business interests with a view to better management and better returns. Yet what happens to the profits remains a mystery, as does the question of financial management.

In contrast, some figures in the MPLA speak of the exemplary way in which Maboque, another holding company created by the party, has presented its accounts and duly contributed to the MPLA’s coffers. Maboque is a company that has secured its reputation in Angolan society by offering an annual journalism prize worth US$100,000. João Melo, an MPLA parliamentarian and the director of the magazine África 21, won the prize in 2009. Still, the way in which the MPLA uses the contributions from Maboque raises other questions, which will have to be the subject of a future article on Maka Angola.

The transfer of state assets to GEFI must be understood in the institutional context of the dividing up of state resources among certain figures: The families of the political elite and their Angolan and foreign associates. From the research that I have been doing in the past three years, I have learnt of the workings of an office in the External Intelligence Services (SIE) which has been involved in the allocation of business privileges to political leaders, their families, associates and people co-opted. The office in question sets up companies, chooses their shareholders and suggests which state assets should be given to them, and which foreign investors should be brought on board as partners. The final decision in this regard always rests with the president of the republic.

During an extraordinary party congress in 1980, the MPLA’s biggest decision was the ‘subordination of the state and all economic and social activity’ under the party’s leadership. The subsequent liberalisation of the economy has been used to bring about a system even more perverse than the one created by the MPLA 30 years ago. Nowadays, the state, all economic and social activity in the country, not to mention the MPLA’s own structures, have been brought under the absolute private control of the business interests that benefit the ruling families.

With respect to the MPLA’s role as a party of the left, concerned with the situation of the most disadvantaged members of society, reaffirmed in its sixth congress, in December 2009, the reality is different and the ideology is irrelevant. The concept of social solidarity and equal opportunity applies only to select members of the ruling elite who have been given the task of looting the country.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article first appeared on Maka Angola.
* Rafael Marques de Morais is an Angolan journalist and writer with a special interest in Angola's political economy and human rights.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] MPLA is the Portuguese acronym for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola.
[2] In 2001, dos Santos appointed the then MPLA parliamentarian, Julião António, for a three-year term as Presiding Judge of the Tribunal de Contas. On 28 December 2008, José Magalhães, another judge of the tribunal, wrote a letter to the newspaper Seminário Angolense, complaining that Julião António had been occupying his position illegally since 2004 when his mandate ended. Since then, Julião António had not been reappointed in terms of the relevant legislation, which also imposes a two-term limit on incumbency as Presiding Judge. Magalhães notes that any decisions signed by Julião António therefore have no legal force.
[3] For more information on who benefited from the brewery privatisations, see
http://makaangola.com/wp-content/uploads/O-trafico-de-influencias-do-grupo-gema.pdf

Equatorial Guinea: The good, the bad and the ugly

The UNESCO-Obiang prize

Agustín Velloso

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62205

cc WikimediaEquatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo may be welcome among the world’s most powerful people, who work for his favour behind the scenes in return for lucrative trade deals, but he is less favourably viewed by human rights defenders, development agencies and the citizens of his country. Agustín Velloso looks at Obiang’s controversial effort to obtain wider global respect and appreciation through the creation of an international prize in partnership with UNESCO.

THE BAD

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatorial Guinea’s recalcitrant leader, is a very wealthy man. He has amassed such a fortune that he could only get rid of his bank notes by burning them.

He cannot use his money to buy power – he has, after all, enjoyed that in its absolute form for the last thirty years. His eldest son wants for nothing, and his family is wallowing in plenty. Global Witness published a report entitled ‘The Secret Life of a Shopaholic: How an African dictator's playboy son went on a multi-million dollar shopping spree in the US’.

Neither does Teodoro Obiang need money to earn a place among the world’s most powerful. He is already a welcome member of this cabal, which often treats him with affection. Welcoming him in Washington back in 2006, erstwhile secretary of state Condoleeza Rice said, ‘You are a good friend, and we welcome you’.

He has been welcomed to Beijing six times by Hu Jintao, who said to him, ‘bilateral relations between our two countries have developed through goodwill’.

Obiang is chummy with Spain’s left and right. Foreign minister Moratinos (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) declared in 2006 that Spain aimed to ‘accompany, encourage, and motivate Guinea to progress on the path of democratisation and the defence of human rights’.

This is precisely what Aznar (Popular Party) felt as well, back in 2001, when, as head of government he urged Obiang to ‘carry on the process of democratisation in Equatorial Guinea’.

A parliamentary delegation comprising these two and the Convergence and Unity party visited Guinea in 2007, and noted the ‘progress made in the democratisation process’.

In January 2010, Gustavo de Arístegui, MP and spokesperson on foreign affairs for the Popular Party, elucidated one of Obiang’s best-known qualities by declaring him ‘profoundly hispanist’.

Citizens of Equatorial Guinea, the United Nations and other international agencies working in human rights and development, however, hold a negative, if not loathsome opinion of the man.

THE UGLY

Obiang is not oblivious of what the world thinks of him, and he believes that money is the cure. This is where lobbyists, public relations firms and lawyers come in. Over the last few years, there has been a growing number of internet pages bearing editorials and testimonies praising this evil man.

The strength and growth of the pro-Obiang lobby is remarkable. At the last count, there were around 17,000 personnel in Washington, and another 15,000 in Brussels.

Cassidy & Associates represents Obiang in the US. In 2008, the firm billed US$23 million. Since 2004, the Obiang portfolio has been worth US$120,000 per month – this according to the US Department of Justice.

Cassidy & Associates is credited with the warm welcome given to Obiang by Rice. The photograph of Obiang and Rice is of such enduring value that it features on the front page of the official Guinea website, alongside typical landscape pictures of the country.

Pressure groups have also been very influential in this regard. Frank Ruddy, former US Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea declared, ‘A few years ago, at least US officials wouldn't talk about the relationship with Equatorial Guinea, or they would admit all the problems and horrible human rights abuses. Now, you would have thought this is Mother Teresa's brother running Equatorial Guinea.’

Whereas, these pressure groups are an important source of good publicity for Obiang, it is the support he gets from powerful world leaders that helps create a positive image for him.

More importantly, powerful leaders continue to work in Obiang’s favour behind the scenes within key national, international and bilateral institutions. Obiang, for his part, returns the favour by signing lucrative trade deals, military contracts and other agreements with their governments.

There are ongoing probes into Obiang’s massive corruption both in the US and in Europe. One US Senate sub-committee declared that it had frozen US$700 million in a Riggs Bank account, which had subsequently disappeared. This information is contained in a report entitled ‘Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption’.

In both France and Spain, there are judges engaged in a futile effort to delve into an account in the Santander Bank that holds US$26 million, properties in Asturias, Madrid, Canary Islands and other vast holdings in France that belong to the people of Equatorial Guinea. This information is public, but Obiang’s friends have frustrated the process.

Obiang has accumulated his riches dealing with the multi-nationals that control the country’s oil industry. (See article regarding France by Eulàlia Solé in La Vanguardia ‘Embarrassment for France’, and another article on Spain written in May of the same year).

It is probably because of the disdain with which he regards Spain that Obiang assigns the role of promoting the country there to a clumsy public relations person.

In 2009 this person stated, ‘Until a few months ago, I did not even know that Spanish is spoken in Equatorial Guinea’. This rather bleak calling card notwithstanding, she declares: ‘I proudly run an information service for Equatorial Guinea, here in Spain, and elsewhere’.

Whereas one may lend credence to what she says, it is puzzling that as the head of this service, she uses an email address linked to Centauro, a company associated with 803 and 806 numbers (sex chat lines), and not one associated with the embassy or any other official organ of the Guinean government.

She introduces herself in a pompous and clumsy way on an Internet forum associated with Equatorial Guinea: ‘Hi, my name is N.B. I am a journalist and working for various media. I had the pleasure of meeting Armando who introduced me to this forum, and your contributions’.

Since she is not able to attract the attention that she feels her ‘office’ deserves, she spends her time frequenting and promoting the forum – a task for which she is probably paid. In one message, she refers to an article on Equatorial Guinea that was going to appear in Hola magazine in August 2008. ‘It was I who encouraged the emotive human interest angle of the story, that is in line with the magazine’s character’.

THE GOOD

One of Obiang’s image consultants hit upon the idea of an initiative that the whole world would appreciate for its intrinsic value, and that would be linked to an institution held in high regard by everyone.

Encouraged by this idea, Obiang attended the UNESCO General Assembly in October 2007, where he announced his intention to establish the ‘UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for the Preservation of Life’, to be funded by the government of Equatorial Guinea.

Considering what little regard Obiang has for the lives of his fellow citizens, the name was a little too bloody, even for UNESCO which itself has a shady history of associating with arms dealers and dictators.

Following another brainwave from yet another advisor, the government of Equatorial Guinea presented UNESCO with a document entitled ‘Establishment of an UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences’ on 29 September 2008.

Neither the corruptor nor the corrupted could have anticipated the collateral effects of this proposal. How could they? Here is a powerful man, accustomed to buying whatever he wants. In addition there is the support of the UN and a number of its more neoliberal-leaning agencies only too eager to grab an opportunity to justify their sad existence, in total disregard of their statutory obligations. (See the extension of the deadline for proposals for the prize).

As soon as the matter came to light, a number of governments anticipated the impending storm and voiced their criticism. At the same time, various NGOs who have had Obiang in the cross hairs objected. In January of 2010, it was officially announced that UNESCO was provisionally withdrawing the Prize. UNESCO explained that they were conducting a review of procedures regarding this and other prizes. This was clearly an attempt to lend some legitimacy to the shady dealings.

The mobilisation by this group of influential NGOs along with key personalities succeeded in forestalling a global scandal, and bringing to light a number of key issues:

1. The cynicism of certain international organisations and their inability to fulfil their mandate and that of the UN Charter.
2. The attempts by Obiang and his political and economic cronies to buy what all the money in the world couldn’t buy him: The support of his people and the respect of the rest of humanity.
3. The importance of concerted action by groups of people opposed to impunity and corruption by those in power.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Agustín Velloso is with UNED’s Facultad de Educación.
* Translated by Joshua Ogada.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Shift flawed leader aside or suffer the consequences

William Gumede

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62195

cc W E FJacob Zuma may have been the only candidate who could unseat Thabo Mbeki from the leadership of the ANC, writes William Gumede, but the inherent danger in electing someone with such 'a colourful private life' to lead the party and the country is that is that ‘sooner or later, the excesses of his private life will so dominate public life’ that they paralyse the government itself.

When South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) members, supporters and sympathisers voted for Jacob Zuma as leader of the ANC – and later of the country – they knew his private life and personal finances were shambolic.

Knowing this, at the party’s Polokwane national conference in 2007 many rank-and-file members voted for Zuma because they believed that only he could unseat – and had the daring to stand against – former ANC leader Thabo Mbeki.

Secondly, Zuma promised that under his leadership the ANC collective would deliver jobs, efficient public services and a quality democracy.

Many others of course voted for him because they believed he would defend their ‘interests’ – whether it was giving them government positions, tenders or favouring their partisan policies.

Nevertheless, in the 2009 national elections, many ordinary supporters argued they voted for the ANC as a liberation movement rather than for Zuma the individual. They argued Zuma’s flawed judgements in his private life did not really matter as long as the ANC ‘collective’ government he led delivered to the poor.

The argument went that Zuma, although an ANC leader, would submit himself as ‘a loyal cadre’ to the collective values, traditions and policies of the ‘movement’.

Clearly, the reality is not so straightforward.

The inherent danger of electing someone with such a colourful private life is that sooner or later the excesses of his private life will so dominate public life that they paralyse government itself.

This moment has arrived. The floodgates have been opened. It will be difficult to close them now.

The recent ‘babygate’ revelations of his baby with Sonono Khoza, daughter of soccer tycoon Irvin Khoza, has overshadowed everything else.



It is unlikely that minds across the country will be concentrated on his State of the Nation Address on 11 February, in which he set out the government’s priorities for the year.

The pattern has been set. Every new revelation that might emerge from his private life will dominate the headlines and public debate. It will distract from his public office.

In such circumstances effective governing cannot take place. Valuable public resources, time and energy – which should be concentrated on the delivery of public services – will be spent on dousing dry veld- like fires springing from his private life.

In fact, the tumultuous private life of Zuma the ‘individual’ may now tarnish the credibility of the collective ANC movement and government also.

This is clearly contrary to those who think that Zuma’s ‘individual’ private conduct will be subsumed by the ‘collective’. It is in fact the other way round.

ANC members who voted for Zuma on the basis that he would bring effective government are now starting to worry that his private conduct may be such that it will undermine effective government throughout his term.

Some far-sighted ANC leaders are waking up to this: This is why many persuaded Zuma to apologise even after the party’s spin doctors insisted his private sex life had nothing to do with his public life.

Public disgust about Zuma’s private life might easily translate into rejection of the ANC.

The ANC leadership must soberly consider whether it is not better to get a new leader now, while it is still early days – let Zuma retain the ANC presidency, but move someone else into the nation’s presidency – or suffer the electoral consequences.



BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This article first appeared in the Sowetan.
* William Gumede is co-author of the recently published The Poverty of Ideas.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Proposals for the World Forum for Alternatives

2010–11 programme

World Forum for Alternatives

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62190

cc R BanerjiCreated in Cairo, the World Forum for Alternatives was established in 1997. In this summary of its 2010–11 proposals, the forum sets out a radical vision for a global network of progressive forces rooted in enabling the peoples of the South to organise and determine their own future.

A. The World Forum for Alternatives (WFA) was created in Cairo in 1997

Since then it has conducted activities in accordance with its purpose and political platform, some of the main examples of which are:

(i) The 'anti Davos in Davos', January 1999
(ii) The Bamako General Assembly, January 2006, attended by members of the Enlarged Council of the WFA (around 200) in addition to some 300 participants from Mali and the region (in cooperation with the Forum for Another Mali)
(iii) The Caracas General Assembly, October 2008, attended by 200 members of the Enlarged Council (in cooperation with En Defensa de la Humanidad).

B. The political platform of the WFA has been formulated in the manifesto (Cairo 1997) and the Bamako appeal (Bamako 2006)

The WFA is a network of individuals committed to a radical perspective (socialism for the future) and anti-imperialist stand (supporting the aspirations of the nations of the 'South' – the dominated peripheries in the global capitalist/imperialist system – to become equal to the 'triad' nations in all the dimensions of life: economic development and welfare, political independence and military strength, and cultural respect).

WFA members are 'intellectuals', sharing modest but nonetheless ambitious targets. Modest in the sense that they do not consider themselves 'leaders' of progressive social and political forces in struggle, but nonetheless ambitious in the sense that they do feel that they are among those who can provide in-depth analyses of the realities and challenges, therefore 'useful' for the progressive forces in struggle. They also allow themselves to suggest strategies for action. They are keen to see those analyses and suggestions move out of 'restricted' teams of thinkers to reach the political and social progressive forces.

C. In that spirit the WFA has organised its debates throughout the last 10 years
within the following 8 'areas':

1. The challenge of constructing the 'unity of the labouring classes' in the conditions of our times

The dramatic changes which have developed as a result of the reorganisation of production, produced by strategies of capital and the state powers in their service, have led to the fragmentation of the popular labouring classes, their weakening and their super-exploitation. No significant change in the balances of forces can be reached unless some degree of unity is constructed around targets (for short and longer terms), and the proper patterns of organisation/action formulated and activated. These targets have to be identified concretely at local/national levels, taking into account the actual real and sometimes immense differences from one country to another.

2. The challenge of constructing 'peasant perspectives' for almost half of humankind still living in rural areas

The 'Western' path of historical capitalist development, i.e. the relatively fast and massive expulsion of peasants associated with accelerated urbanisation, cannot be pursued and generalised to modern Asia, Africa and Latin America. The 'peasant alternative' implies guarantees for the access to land to all (as equally as possible) and focus on the progress of the productivity of labour and yields of land for those peasants/families units. The ways and means as well as the political frame to this effect differ from one country/region to another.

3. The challenge of associating the democratisation of the societies to social progress

The dominant blueprints and discourses on these issues (pluri-partism and representative elected governments, 'governance', the 'reduction of poverty' and 'international aid') do not respond to the challenge, and proceed from theoretical premises which dissociate 'economic development' (left to the rationality of capitalist markets expansion) from 'political' issues ('democracy'). The result is that limited 'democratic practices' (whenever existing) being often associated with social regression, are themselves in regression or simply not 'wanted' by the peoples.

4. The challenge of constructing a 'multi-polar' global economic system, in lieu of the 'integrated' capitalist/imperialist global economic order

Re-constructing the auto-centred, peoples-based economic life of nations and eventually regions – i.e., 'de-linked' (or 'de-globalised') – implies derailing the 'top-down' global order operated by the WTO (World Trade Organisation), IMF (International Monetary Fund), the EU (European Union) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It implies, beyond, identifying national structural reforms and policies, giving priority to these targets and conceiving external relations as servants of these targets, not the reverse (i.e., 'adjusting' to global trends).

5. The challenge of constructing a 'multi-polar' global political system

This implies the derailing of the concepts and practises deriving from the ongoing strategies of the imperialist triad – i.e., the 'military control of the planet' – with a view to guaranteeing unilateral access to the natural resources of the planet to the exclusive benefit of the societies of the 'North'. It therefore implies derailing NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and disbanding the network of US military bases. It also implies positively reviving a relevant global political system (the UN, international law, etc) in keeping with the principle of multi-polarity. This implies in its turn proper international negotiations, the formulation and agreement of various charters of rights and setting up adequate institutional bodies.

6. The challenge of constructing patterns of regionalisations in keeping with the above-mentioned strategic targets (as defined in points 4 and 5)

It implies deconstructing those patterns of regionalisations which are conceived as building blocks of the capitalist/imperialist globalisation. It implies positively constructing other patterns and institutional frames for South–South 'cooperations' (trade for development, transfers of technology, complementarities of productive systems and of infrastructure, financial transfers, etc). It implies a critical reading of the initiatives taken in these directions.

7. The challenge of the ongoing phase of development of the crisis of the global capitalist/imperialist system

More precisely this is the challenge of de-globalising the monetary/financial system, derailing the exclusive dollar system or any 'Northern' alternative to it (such as a dollar/euro or any IMF reform conceived in order to keep the 'control' of the imperialist North).

It implies positively constructing alternative, regional, financial coordinated systems (such as those imaginable in the frame of the Shanghai cooperation system or of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America)).

8. The challenge of de-legitimising the dominant social thought and discourses conceived to perpetuate capitalist/imperialist order and annihilate the potential of a radical critique and positive alternative

That chapter concerns a number of complementary areas of debates: the 'theoretical' economics, the political–ideological rhetorics (liberties, democracy, respect of individuals, etc), the vulgar discourses ('governance', 'poverty', etc) deployed to instil the 'liberal virus'.

De-legitimising the dominant ideology, discourses and practise is not enough. A positive, genuinely emancipatory alternative must be formulated. This is a gigantic task which cannot simply reject the contributions of bourgeois Enlightenment and later of historical socialisms, as suggested by some 'post-modernist' fashions. It has to go beyond, develop and enrich the historical heritages, integrating basic values, such as liberties (something other than blueprints for democracy) into the concept of a modern socialist perspective.

D. The development of the debates conducted in the frame described in section C has contributed to helping formulations of 'global trans areas major questions' in keeping with the radical critical point of view of the WFA

Out of the debates conducted in Bamako, Caracas and lastly in our meeting in Brussels (October 2009), it makes sense to add the following paragraphs.

1. The 'military question' has to be considered as absolutely central. Achievements and advances will remain extremely vulnerable as long as the imperialist triad can pursue its military aggressions (whatever are the pretexts, such as 'terrorism', 'security', humanitarian interventions, etc)

The actual real target of the militarisation of the management of the global system is the control over the resources of the planet. That target of the imperialist triad reflects the concept that 'not all peoples have the same right to exist on Earth', and that the perspective of nations of the South reaffirming their equal rights is not tolerated and that these nations should restrict themselves to operating as 'emerging markets' (open for the further expansion of the oligopolies of the North, in eventual association with local capitalisms). That is the major obstacle to the progress of internationalism of working classes and peoples. Movements against wars and militarisation, while fully legitimate and important, are not enough. A positive anti-US military deployment and anti-NATO requires more.

2. Deeper analyses of 'geopolitics' associated with the ongoing conflicts between the unipolar/triad concept of management of the world, and the aspirations of the South to deconstruct it (deriving from the above-mentioned military formulation of the question), are therefore no less central

a) The assumption (to be debated) is that the 'North' cannot pursue its pattern of 'life' without its exclusive access to the resources of the planet, depriving the South from benefiting from them. In contrast, the 'South' can derail these imperialist strategies and annihilate the power that their so-called 'advantages' represent, which are:

- Exclusive access to the natural resources of the planet (by re-establishing the national sovereignty of countries of the South on their resources)
- Control of technologies, artificially hyper-protected by the WTO (a number of countries of the South can develop these technologies, including the most advanced and complex, on their own if they wish to do so)
- Control of the global financial market that can be annihilated through the state control of the capital accounts and independent regional agreements
- Control of the medias and communications (see below)
- Exclusive possession of armaments of mass destruction, including nuclear, now already questioned through the so-called 'proliferation'.

On all those issues the South is now equipped, if it wishes to use its capacities, to compel imperialism to retreat more than in the era of Bandung, when it was deprived of industrial modern capacities and technological knowledge.

b) Will the 'South' pursue such policies which will lead to growing conflicts with the 'North'? The assumption that the answer is positive should be further studied. Indeed the North tries to reduce that danger through different means:

(i) 'Cooptation', which is the very purpose of the G20 replacing the G7. That complex question has to be looked into carefully from different angles:

- Are the 'concessions' made to the Southern members of the G20 'enough'? In fact until today these concessions have been restricted to minor changes in representation on IMF and World Bank boards without any significant changes in the policies of these organisations, according to the adage 'change everything in order to change nothing!'
- Will these concessions encourage the most powerful countries of the South to operate in the weakest regions, as the Northern corporations do, plundering their natural resources and devastating their markets? There are indications of moves in that direction. And will the powerful countries of the South consider for the time being this avenue as good enough for their further expansion 'within that pattern of globalisation'?

(ii) Encouraging South–South conflicts – in particular pitting China against India and eventually east and southeast Asia – and even not impossible new 'wars' would allow the US in particular to play the role of the 'third partner', capitalising on all the benefits associated with the weakening of the involved countries of the South.

(iii) Practising continuous interventions in the internal political affairs of countries of the South, aimed at weakening the national state, and eventually dismantling it, taking advantage of the frequent inability of authoritarian regimes to deal properly with issues related to ethnic, religious and other diversities in order to give an apparent legitimacy to those devastating interventions, but always practising double standards in the selection of those that imperialism supports. That complicates the issues of geo-strategy.

(iv) Substituting a de facto G2 (US–China) for the G20, based on the continuation of China's financial support of the US, itself sinking into endless wars against 'terrorism'.

That would allow the US dollar to remain the major international currency for some time, in spite of the decline of US hegemony, just as the sterling remained in a similar position for decades after Britain had lost its leading position.

c) The new geopolitics of our times is therefore indeed quite different from the one which characterised the Bandung era:

- The first wave of emancipation of the societies of the South (the Bandung era) was initiated with a 'simple' target: the re-conquest of political independence, for which 'national united fronts' could be relatively less difficult to construct. Today the target of the second wave of emancipation implies pursing a significant 'economic development' (necessarily 'de-linked' from globalisation) which is a much complex target and for which local ruling classes are conflicting with popular demands (see below the question of 'actors').

- In the Bandung era the Soviet Union was providing eventual military support which reduced the aggressiveness of imperialist powers. This is no more the case today.

- South–South cooperation in the Bandung era was essentially aimed at reinforcing political solidarities which could bring together countries differing to the extreme from the point of view of their 'strength' (or 'vulnerability'). Today South–South cooperation implies positive economic agreements for which the immediate interests of the involved countries might be conflicting.

The achievements of Asia and Africa in the era of Bandung, which started changing the face of the world, have to be kept in mind along with their limits and unsolved contradictions which put an end that first wave of emancipation and progress, at that time limited to Asia and Africa (plus Cuba), leaving aside a Latin America run by pro-US dictators. That is no more the case and Latin America has initiated advances, seemingly more promising than elsewhere. Nevertheless the difficulties and limits of those achievements should be carefully studied and proposals aiming at reinforcing the movement suggested.

There are obvious signs of growing South–South cooperation, more particularly to resist the top-down strategies through which imperialism tries to keep control over the global system. This is the case of various alliances which took shape within the WTO and common positions taken by the 77 plus China, blocking to a certain extent the Doha round. These initiatives should be analysed critically. Positive projects for South–South cooperationas an alternative to North–South unequal relations need more, and have only been timidly initiated until now.

3. The 'ecological issues' are indeed transversal and have reached a point of qualitative change of importance

(i) A 'top-down' global response to the challenge is unrealistic: 'The problem is global, therefore the response has to be global.' This is a para-logical phrase ignoring real historical processes of change, which deploy themselves through 'de-globalisation', i.e. national different responses. Therefore, little is to be expected from 'global conferences' (such as the Copenhagen planned meeting on climate). 'No country will sacrifice its national policy targets to the benefit of a global positive response', recognised Tony Blair, unfortunately correct in his sad assessment.

(ii) The countries of the South must recover their national (state, hopefully popular) control over their resources. It is only to the extent that they will do so (and whatever use – 'good' or 'bad' – they make of it) that they will compel Northern societies to really adjust to a less wasteful pattern of use of resources. In the meantime 'ecological discourses' will remain rhetoric, no more.

(iii) Patterns of production and consumption less wasteful of energy have to find their ways. 'Socialism will be solar or will not be', as Elmar Altvater said. Yes, and while probably 'solar socialism' is still a long-distance target, the struggle for it must start as of today.

(iv) The ongoing 'financial' crisis has created conditions for a severe additional food/agriculture crisis, aggravated by targets of accelerated development of agro-fuels. This immediate challenge must be faced.

(v) The 'climate issue' is indeed a global and very serious challenge. Yes capitalism is by its own nature unable to face such a challenge, the rationality of economic/financial calculations of capitalism being short-sighted while the challenge compels the introduction of the longer view (even if 'in the long run we are all dead'). Yes the damage will necessarily strike the weakest countries of the South more than the others. But these considerations cannot simply be substituted to find solutions to the problems to which the popular classes are confronted today in their daily struggle for survival (unemployment, deterioration of conditions of life, hunger, etc). Unless these challenges are given top priority for action the 'climate discourse' will not be convincing. It is perhaps a rhetoric that some powerful actors of the North are developing in order precisely to postpone actions in response to the demands of the popular classes.

4. The issue of 'medias' has been raised during our Brussels talks

No doubt that the very aim of the WFA – i.e., having a real impact on the general opinion and on the progressive forces in struggle – implies going beyond 'debates and research'. It implies popularising the results. To that effect two sets of proposals have been made: (i) creating a media centre independent of the dominant forces and (ii) establishing a 'global open university'. While the enormous difficulties that such projects will encounter (financial, linguistic, etc) have been recognised, that should not stop the WFA from establishing a working group clarifying the issues, even if the WFA is not equipped to move ahead and 'implement' such projects.

5. The issue of who are (or could be) the 'actors' for the social/political radical changes requested is of course central and transversal

(i) Actors belong in fact to two families of forces: (i) the ruling classes (who control the power systems), that we should look at as they are, not as they present themselves through their discourses ('democratic', sensitive to peoples’ demands, etc) and that are eventually conflicting (reflecting different so-called 'national' interests) and; (ii) the forces in action (or silent) who defend popular/working-class interests, by nature in conflict with the dominant actors.

(ii) Until now the movements of protest and resistance to capital’s assaults, which are undoubtedly moving ahead, still remain generally fragmented as a result of efficient strategies pursuing that very target and that capital that has developed during the past decades, as well as the result of the loss of credibility of old forms of 'politics'. As long as these movements remain so and therefore also rather on the defensive, not in a position to offer a positive consistent political alternative, they will not occupy the front of stage. Therefore, it is rather the initiatives and strategies developed by the ruling classes, whether convergent or conflicting, that will continue to shape in the visible future the eventual major changes in the balances of forces.

(iii) Our assumption (to be debated) is that the North–South states conflict will deepen and shall be decisive in the near future.

(iv) There will be no 'top-down' global response to the 'crisis', neither within a so-called 'liberal' frame (even with appropriate regulations) acceptable for the 'emerging countries' of the South, a fortiori within a 'neo-Keynesian/social democratic' frame ensuring the redistribution of income to the benefit of the popular classes, supported by appropriate policies (the retreat of privatisation, the restoration of social rights, the expansion of public services, etc). Such proposals remain naive and 'wishful thinking', no more, and could be pushed ahead only (and only) if the popular classes have already modified the balance of forces to their benefit through consistent political struggles, which is not the case.

(v) Are states’ conflicts (basically North–South, but why not also within the Atlantist North) presently united? This is an assumption to be discussed, and social struggles of the popular agents of change against the local ruling/exploitative classes do interact. Our assumption is that the ruling classes in the South are much weaker (less legitimate in many cases) than they are in the North, and that their position is 'ambivalent' since the 'national interests' conflict here with those of the imperialist centres of power. Therefore, changes in the balances of forces – eventually positive – in favour of a 'front' of popular and middle classes agents (a plurality of agents and therefore a variety of forms of alliances giving consistency to their demands) are not impossible. It is also our assumption that such changes will push ahead the North–South conflict and reduce the illusion of further development that could be achieved 'within globalisation'.

The difference between state-power systems in the North and in the South remains gigantic. The Northern governments remain legitimate in the eyes of their people and do not feel menaced whatever the outcome of elections. Therefore, they have developed a full strategic confidence in the relations among themselves. But the triad has no similar confidence in the ruling classes of the South, even if they behave as capitalists and even allies.

(vi) Finally, our assumption is that progress in the North needs defeats of the North in its conflict with the South. Such defeats – i.e., a retreat of the 'imperialist rent' – constitute the condition for further changes of the balance of forces in favour of the working classes in the North. They are therefore the basis for an actual internationalism of working classes and peoples.

6. A focus on the ongoing 'crisis' which will continue to deepen calls for specific additional debates

(i) We do not share the common view that the 'crisis' started with the financial breakdown of 2008. This 'long crisis' started in 1971, and led capital to develop a strategy of further centralisation, globalisation and financialisation. In its turn this 'successful' strategy opened a short 'belle époque' (1990–2008) which could not be sustained (conventional economics is not equipped to understand that). These developments have been mutatis mutandis similar to those which characterised the previous long crisis, starting in 1873 and moving, through centralisation, globalisation and financialisation, to the first 'belle époque' (1894–1914). The second part of that first long crisis (1914–45) witnessed wars (the two world wars), a deep crisis (the 1930s) and revolutions (the Russian and the Chinese). Similarly, but in very different conditions, our long crisis is now entering a period of chaos and wars (this time the global war of North against South).

(ii) The immediate responses which will be given to the growing 'chaos' (the 'empire of chaos') will shape the future balances of forces.

(iii) It is therefore necessary to further analyse that growing chaos and more particularly the responses of the reactionary ruling forces to it. It is no less important to develop counter-programmes for the progressive forces in all the dimensions of the challenge.

7. In conclusion

Our reading of the 20th century (and more particularly of its second half) is that of a first wave of the reaffirmation of the nations of the South, which questioned the domination of the North ('European and US'), the product of an existing capitalist/imperialist expansion fully victorious in the 19th century. That affirmation of the nations of the South will continue to shape the 21st century through a second wave, already initiated by the 'emerging nations' (not 'emerging markets'). It is the major condition for a genuine 'other world', opening the long road to global socialism and generating internationalism.

E. Modus operandi

1. We should pursue our agenda, and not go along with the agenda which the dominant reactionary forces attempt to impose through their discourses ('democracy' and good governance, poverty, international aid, ecology and climate, and global responses). These discourses, even when dealing with obviously real problems (democratisation, pauperisation, ecological sustainability and climate) are formulated with a view to annihilating the chances of progress in favour of the popular classes and of the South. Similarly, we should not give a high priority to the following of the 'big events' organised by the system, such as those many 'international conferences' on this or that (last in view the Copenhagen jamboree on climate) for the same reason, i.e., that the agenda for those events is formulated with a view to reducing the voices of the peoples and of the South to 'protest', with little chance for any significant demand from the victims of the system being taken into account.

While we cannot simply 'ignore' those discourses and events, and will as far as possible respond, our first top priority remains to push ahead our own agenda, in particular moving towards the peoples of the South 'thinking by themselves', 'independently of any other view', as part and parcel of their reaffirming their equal existence on our common planet. In so doing we shall reinforce the internationalism of working classes and peoples, not weaken it.

2. We do not consider very important to discuss endlessly what should be the priorities to be given to the various tasks as described in this short report. The various challenges in the various areas as well as the short and longer perspectives are equally important. The de facto priorities will result from the very choices of our membership organised in working teams (see below).

3. Indeed, the most efficient way to push ahead our debates implies the setting up of small working groups (a maximum 10 people) in order to deepen the thinking and move beyond consensual generalities.

We ought to discuss among us the 'difficult questions', those for which there are different opinions among us, not those for which it is 'easy' to reach a consensus!

The 'large conferences' have their importance and facilitate not only exchanges of views but more importantly help identifying precisely those 'difficult questions'. But they are not a substitute to small working groups.

4. We have been repeating that the success of the WFA rests on setting up a number of 'antennas', perhaps ideally the 15 following: China (or China and east Asia), Japan, India (or India and southeast Asia), the Middle East and Arab region, southern and eastern Africa, west and central Africa, Brazil (or Brazil and the 'Southern Cone'), Andean and central Latin America, the Caribbean, the USA and Canada, western Europe, former eastern Europe, Russia and central Asia, the Pacific and Australia.

It is vital to accelerate this process and set up the antennas within 2 or 3 months. Each antenna should organise itself as it sees it most efficient, but should designate one single person for contact with the secretariat who will help with establishing the organisation and programmes of activities.

The tasks of the antennas have been identified: (i) recruiting members in keeping with our radical and anti-imperialist platform and; (ii) no less important, identifying programmes and setting up the working groups requested. This will require a continuous exchange of views between the antennas and the secretariat since most working groups should associate members located in different regions according to the areas selected for the deepening of our common knowledge and debate. The members of the WFA network associated in these working groups will constitute the core of our organisation.

5. Last but not least we are and should be ambitious in our targets. There are few similar organisations, if any, associated within a global network of radical and anti-imperialist thinkers.

We ought to work with other people and networks, some being close to us (sometimes our 'correspondents'), others less so. But our success will depend on our capacity to keep our own identity and not dilute it in a wider 'network', bringing together 'all' those who 'protest' again the system and wish for 'a better world'.

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* The World Forum for Alternatives (WFA) is an international network aimed at supporting the international convergence of social movements and other civil society actors from below.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

A single act, a punished people: Nigerians face backlash

Funmi Feyide-John

2010-02-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62186

cc WikimediaOrdinary Nigerians, Funmi Feyide-John observes, are experiencing a backlash of discrimination worldwide as a result of the attempted suicide bombing on an American flight by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Following the event, Nigeria has been listed as a ‘terror prone’ country. Feyide-John goes on to reveal that despite most Nigerians having denounced Abdulmutallab’s actions and terrorism, the US is denying Nigerian students their visas, Nigerian travellers are subjected to special ‘rules’ and Nigerian community initiatives in the US are being shunned. He notes that Nigerians are receiving no support from the Nigerian government to overcome these problems. Furthermore, Nigeria’s unstable political backdrop at the moment is one that encourages separation. What is needed, Feyide-John concludes, however, is unity.

The last few weeks have been unprecedented for Nigerians. As a people, they are accustomed to the negative stereotypes and press that come with being known for online princes duping the greedy and unsuspecting, ineptly corrupt government officials, or sporadic outbursts of political and tribal violence and much more. The last few weeks, however, have offered incredible surprises, the first of which was the revelation that a privileged Nigerian attempted a suicide attack on a plane headed to the United States (US). Then, there was Nigeria's surprising inclusion on a ‘terror prone’ list putting the country in the company of state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and Syria. But despite these unexpected incidents, it is the treatment of Nigerian citizens and those of Nigerian heritage that has been the most shocking. Innocent Nigerians and their families have been subjected to embarrassment and sheer discrimination across the world with little support or solace from the Nigerian government, which has a president who has not been seen for months, other authorities that have ineffectively responded to the growing diplomatic crisis, and a senate that chose to wait until it returned from its vacation to address the growing concerns and issues faced by citizens.

THE CHRISTMAS DAY ATTEMPT

On 24 December 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a KLM flight in Accra, Ghana, that took him to Lagos, Nigeria and then on to Amsterdam, where he caught a connecting flight to Detroit, Michigan in the US. The 23 year old, the son of an well respected banker and former Minister, has been indicted with attempting to explode a device over the US. His father warned the US government of his son's radicalisation and that he might be a threat. In addition to this warning, Abdulmutallab was on a British 'watch list' and was refused entry into the United Kingdom (UK). Additionally, American intelligence had information about a Nigerian visiting Yemen for terrorist purposes, and according to President Obama, ‘[t]he U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack’, but failed to do so. And, crucially, the alleged masterminds of the attack were actually former Guantanamo prison inmates who were released by the Bush administration to return to Yemen.

On 3 January 2009, Nigeria was included in a list of ‘terror prone’ countries by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which specified that all travellers flying into the US from a Nigerian airport, regardless of their nationality, would experience additional screening and searches.

THE NIGERIAN REACTION

Before the full extent of Abdulmutallab's objectives were known, some snickered that he was a ‘silly little boy trying to light Christmas fireworks on a plane’ and dismissed the news story as a soon-to-be-cleared-up mistake. However, as more details were revealed, it became clear that Abdulmutallab became a radicalised Muslim while schooling in the UK and spent considerable time preparing to be a suicide bomber in Yemen. There, he apparently met a controversial cleric who is tied to the recent Fort Hood attack (where a US soldier killed fellow soldiers). Abdulmutallab also spent time in Dubai in 2009.

A Nigerian official announced that full body scanners would be introduced at Nigerian international airports, once it was revealed that Abdulmutallab might have been caught in Nigeria's Murtala Mohammed Airport if the device had been used. Embarrassingly, a New York Times report disclosed that Nigeria's four main international airports are already outfitted with body scanners, which were not used on a frequent basis. Nigeria's government issued an official statement reacting to the incident, specifying: ‘The Federal Government of Nigeria received with dismay the news of attempted terrorist attack on a U.S. airline. We state very clearly that as a nation, we abhor all forms of terrorism. The Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has directed Nigerian security agencies to commence full investigation of the incident. [O]ur security agencies will cooperate fully with the American authorities in the on-going investigations. Nigerian government will be providing updates as more information becomes available.’ [sic]

Nigerians around the world expressed their outrage that a fellow citizen would make such a murderous attempt. Many spoke out against Abdulmutallab in the media, such as a group of Nigerian Muslims based in Detroit, where the fateful plane was headed. In no time, others used the social networking site Facebook to create a group condemning the terrorist attempt. Various Nigerian organisations in America issued similar statements in reaction to the incident, such as the Nigerians in the Diaspora Organization and even the militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

BACKLASH AGAINST THOSE OF NIGERIAN HERITAGE

Immediately after the terrorist attempt, Nigerians in the US expressed their worries of a possible backlash. Nigerian immigrants in Chicago feared that their American neighbours would ‘rush into judgment, criminalizing all Nigerians’ and many Nigerians in the Washington DC metropolitan region also discussed with a local news station their fears of a backlash.

And those fears appear to have been justified as disturbing information on the treatment of those of Nigerian heritage is beginning to emerge. At airports, some Nigerian Americans have been asked to enter special lines for additional scrutiny when travelling to Nigeria, despite their American passports. Delta Airlines officially declared that passengers flying to Nigeria could not check in more than 2 pieces of luggage, even if they are willing to pay for the excess baggage (confirmed via telephone as of 12 January). This is despite the fact that the company's website states that all travellers heading to Nigeria can pay for excess luggage. A Nigerian professor^, travelling from South Africa to the US on the weekend of 9 January, was searched at least seven times. Furthermore, visas for Nigerian students, seeking to come to the US to start Master's programmes, were recently denied. As of 19 January, a sign was placed outside the US embassy in Abuja notifying that student visas were not being processed at the time.

In communities with large numbers of Nigerian immigrants, there is increasing pressure. Nigerian communities in the Detroit town of Southfield have been 'encouraged' to ‘deter acts of terrorism’ despite the fact that Abdulmutallab was radicalised in the UK and Yemen. That city's mayor is now being advised by city officials to withdraw his support for the Nigerian community, its many organisations and activities. Interviews with those^ involved in this evolving situation reveal the worry that the hard work that the Nigerian community has put into entrenching itself into Southfield has been erased by the single act of one misled individual.

And the profiling of Nigerians and those of Nigerian heritage increases in the US. Individuals of Nigerian heritage seeking US government clearance are receiving phone calls from American authorities. They are asked ubiquitous questions about their ties to Nigeria. In one specific case, the individual was of Nigerian descent^, born in America to Nigerian parents, and thus a US citizen via birth not naturalisation. Apparently, that reality did not deter the authorities from impinging on this individual's rights by profiling on the basis of national heritage.

UNITY IS CRUCIAL

It is situations like this – and the many more that may never come to light – that make it imperative for Nigeria-related organisations to take the initiative to stem the backlash that all Nigerians – individuals and businesses – experience. Although Abdulmutallab acted without consulting the greater Nigerian public, it is that same public and those in the diaspora that seemingly suffer for his actions. Consequently, the advice given to Nigerian groups in the Southfield area of Detroit is wise – do as much as possible to publicly convince those around you that you are not just against terrorism, but will not harbour the thought. That does not mean disowning Abdulmutallab, it means taking the time to think about the specifically Nigerian issues that might have contributed to his 'creation'. There is no mistake that Nigeria, despite its natural wealth, suffers from ever increasing poverty, an underperforming educational system that forces families to send their children to school anywhere other than in Nigeria, health indicators for women and children that are disappointing, and a government that cannot figure out whether it is run by a president in Saudi Arabia for over two months or someone else. Nigeria's problems clearly encourage separation not unity. Yet, it is unity that is needed more than ever in light of Abdulmutallab and the backlash that some Nigerians are experiencing in the US and around the world. Unity is the balm which Nigerians need – regardless of where they live – in order to tackle both the tough issues at home and the international crisis that the nation must unburden itself of.

BROUGHT OT YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* The individuals in this article marked ^ have asked that the writer maintain their anonymity.
* Funmi Feyide-John is a Nigerian lawyer and writer living in Washington DC.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Voices from Madagascar

The first of a series of testimonials from the Antanosy people in southern Madagascar

The Antanosy people

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62208

cc IRRIIn the coming weeks Pambazuka News will reproduce a series of oral testimonies given by the people of the Anosy region in southern Madagascar. Individuals describe the difficulties that they are experiencing due to climate change, mining and the rapid changes that come with it, food insecurity and no political voice.

In March 2009, Madagascar underwent a political coup in which Marc Ravolamanana’s government was unseated. Until the planned general elections in October 2010 Madagascar is being ‘managed’ by Haute Autorite de Transition (HAT). Since 2005, the mining of ilmenite has become the central drive of the Anosy region’s development strategy, a World Bank programme. This has led to rapid changes in the area on both the environment and the people. More than three-quarters of the population of Madagascar are reliant on agriculture to sustain their livelihoods. As a result, they are especially vulnerable to environmental shocks and the rapid development that has come with the mining. There are stories being told, but these have so far gone by unnoticed.

This week Pambazuka listens to Zababoatsy, a 58 year old, Antanosy man. ‘He feels strongly that the impact of mining activity on the environment has robbed him of any opportunity to “provide a better future for my family”.’ His account tells how mining in the area has had a profound, negative effect on the forest – the community’s ‘source of life’ – on the rivers and he tells how climate change is affecting food resources.**

NEEDING THE FOREST

I am a farmer and I have seven children: four sons and three daughters… Despite the fact that my daughters are married, [two] still live with me, along with their children, because my daughters… contracted a disease that renders both of them disabled. My first daughter has three children and my second daughter has two… I am the only one who takes care of them all… I want to voice my feelings because with my own responsibilities, and the impact caused by the ‘bain-tany’ (literally ‘wound of the earth', Tanosy rural expression meaning a time of hardship and deprivation) – I am talking about QMM (QIT Madagascar Minerals - subsidiary of Rio Tinto mining for ilmenite) when I say bain-tany – I have no opportunity to succeed in life and provide a better future for my family. 
All my belongings are sold in order to take care of my family and I still cannot provide enough for them to eat. In addition, I have to pay for my children's education both in Manambaro and in Fort Dauphin. If only the rains would come, I would be able to farm and harvest to feed my family. [QMM] took advantage of our situation, of us being too weak to oppose them. In addition, we are mostly uneducated people; therefore we had to accept – against our will – what they [proposed].

IN LIFE AND DEATH, THE FOREST PROVIDES

We used to live off the forest in Petriky whenever there was not enough rain for farming… The forest was our source of life… In terms of food, we used to collect lots of fruits from there and it helped us during difficult times… We collected construction wood to build houses.
In addition, if our children or even adults were sick, we went to search for remedies in the forest… We consumed the fruits of ‘vahipiky’ (a species of vine) and we used the vine itself to make baskets and fish traps. We used ‘tombok'akoa’ (another vine species) as well… We sold the baskets and the money was used to buy food for the family. The forest grew along the rivers… After searching for forest resources, we would fish… There were two sources of water: the Eloha and the Andragnasy rivers… We sold our catch… If we needed to bury someone, we cut down a special tree from the forest to make the coffin… There are four villages that have a close relationship: Mokala, Loharano, Agnala Mahasoa and Karinoro. Whenever there is a death in one of these, the four villages gather together near the Eloha river, to decide on what to do… and divide the tasks assigned to each village, before they enter Petriky Forest in search of the special tree… They also assign four people, one from each village, to slaughter and divide the meat that is needed to feed the villagers that day. After this, people enter the forest to search for the wood. In the meantime, the meat is barbecued… After [sharing the meal], people go home to make the coffin and prepare for the funeral. This is an old tradition but of course things have changed now… Nowadays people build tombs with cement and stones, since access to the forest has been prohibited.

THE EXTENT OF LOSS

Given that these tremendous resources at our disposal have been taken away from us, it is not surprising if I call QMM the bain-tany. Why do I call them bain-tany? Because the drought, known to be so bad at killing plants on earth, is as bad as QMM… Actually, QMM can kill not only things on land but also living species in the river… With the forest disappearing, there is an impact on the fish because their natural environment is destroyed. There will not be as many trees to provide shade on the river… Since there is electricity in Ilafitsignana now, which casts light over the river, fish will move to the ocean, because they do not want to live in a lit-up river… Even if they let us have access to Petriky Forest to fish, the impact of their work will chase the fish away – because of the noise generated by their machines.

A CRITICAL SAFETY NET

There are three young people in our village working for QMM. [They] were recruited to plant fruit trees, supposedly to replace the trees damaged [by QMM activities]… I do not believe that trees can still grow in Ilafitsignana… 
I feel bad about these people because sometimes they are laid off and then they have to pay QMM recruiters 20,000 ariary in order to be recruited again, for the same job. It amazes me that an employee has to pay in order to get his job back, instead of getting paid for what he could accomplish… They [QMM together with the local forest service] have started putting in place forest service agents to guard the forest and to delineate a zone that would host the remaining species of animals. The rest of the forest, outside the delineated zone, will be exploited by QMM. They don't care even if they delineate taboo lands or rice fields to be part of their zone. This is why we were trying to protect our resources. The forest sustained our lives, like parents caring for their children. When there was a ‘hainandro’ (drought) we went and sought shelter under ‘our parents' wings’. [Thus] instead of selling our livestock to get money, we go to see our ‘parents’ and collect the fruits of the forest. We could fish in the rivers and sell our catch instead of selling our cows.
MEDICINES FROM THE FOREST

We need the forest because that is our source of medicine. Most forest plants are useful to our bodies. Diseases in the past were not the same as the ones that currently exist, because people travelling from abroad may have brought diseases to our village – and the diseases may have mixed up, rendering treatment difficult. In the past, a disease could be treated easily using someone's knowledge of medicinal plants. [For example, they] used ‘vahironto’ (a species of vine) to treat a cough. We gave a massage to the chest of a sick person using honey, which we collected from the forest. Alongside this, the sick person drank a ‘tisane’ (tea) of vahironto. These are examples of why the forest is important to us, and why we are sad that QMM restricts our access to these resources...

We will suffer for sure. Since we don't have a hospital we will face a difficult situation. Manambaro and Fort Dauphin are too far to go to buy medicines… Doctors are only available in Manambaro and Sarisambo, far from our village. Even if we bring a sick person on a stretcher to a hospital, the people who carry the sick person [face difficulties] due to the bad conditions of the road… The local communities around here gathered together to repair the road but since we do not have enough equipment to execute the work, we were not successful. QMM helped us with it. People had good intentions to work together but due to the problems encountered by many people in sustaining their families, they did not commit further to take regular care of the road… [They] don't have time for it. Instead, people need to spend time searching for food for their families.

DROUGHT ‘HAPPENS EVERY DAY’

Before QMM came to our region my life was good and prosperous. Even if there was a ‘hainandro’ (drought) in the past, we still had rains when the season came. These seasons are not valid any more; drought happens every day. It has been worse since QMM arrived here… In the past, our ancestors knew when the rain would come or if hainandro would happen… We used to be able to predict… where the rain would come from; from the ocean or from elsewhere. People could tell if the rain would come during any given period. People made decisions [to farm their lands] based on their knowledge of the rainfall periods… They could even skip a season of cultivation and wait for the next one if they judged that to be best for them. This is not the case any more.

A FEW BENEFITS

Since QMM has built the road from Manambaro to Ambovo, our cassava and sweet potato plantations have survived… [and] we don't have to make an effort to guard our crops, because the wild pigs have run away! They are afraid of the sound of the machines used by QMM. 

In addition, QMM built a cistern for us where we are supposed to get clean drinking water. But our children do not respect the cleanness of the water; they throw rocks and garbage in the cistern. I think QMM should have covered it, in order to filter out anything that may pollute the water. But even if our drinking water is polluted, at least we have a source of water, thanks to QMM. Some of us understand the need to protect our drinking water but many others do not realise the importance of it, not yet. People were using their buckets with leftover food in them, and scooped water out from the cistern. The leftovers remained in the water and polluted it. QMM said that they had already given us full power to manage the cistern so it was our responsibility.

‘THE TEACHER THINKS WE ARE UNIMPORTANT’

QMM built a school in our village. The school was successful in the past, but now, because of the teacher in our village, children are not willing to study with him because he is interested too much in politics instead of teaching. Furthermore, he doesn't respect the parents, because he thinks that we are unimportant and dirty people… He is also severe on the children, especially when a child doesn't get a haircut. For example, he said to one child: ‘Did your father and mother die, and so could not give you a haircut?’… In the past, as far as I know there used to be a monitoring service… every month, an inspector followed up on the teachers' performance. Now since CISCO/ZAP (Department of Ministry of Education) manages the system, there is no inspection. Teachers can do whatever they want. Whenever there is an election for a mayor or a deputy, our teacher and his wife are always candidates. They do not teach, but spend their time on politics and campaigning… Our hope now is to expand our school so that CEG (secondary level) [can be taught]… Due to our limited resources, we are obliged to tell our children to stop studying. We cannot divide the limited resources we have to support the family in the village and also finance a child's stay in Fort Dauphin [to continue their studies].

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

I harvested my crops and I bought cows with the income I generated. I invested all of my money in these cows. So if something happened to them, I lose all my money. In other words I drown. But I hung on to my cows and actually they saved my life when I faced financial problems. 
I sold one of them to pay for my children's education – their tuition and books – and the remaining money I used to open a small business; a store selling small items for the villagers' daily needs. Currently, my small business looks promising… I could build a house made of tin sheets with the profits from my business.

This interview has been specially edited for the web and cut down by more than half. Some re-ordering has taken place: square brackets indicate 'inserted' text for clarification; round brackets are translations / interpretations; and dots indicate cuts in the text. The primary aim has been to remain true to the spirit of the interview, while losing questions, repetition, and confusing or overlapping sections.

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* This shortened version of the testimonial was published
by Panos London, Illuminating Voices. It was published in its original form in ‘Madagascar, voices of change. Oral testimonies of the Antanosy people’ by the Andrew Lees Trust in 2009.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

** Most of the information in this summary is extracted from ‘Madagascar, voices of change. Oral testimonies of the Antanosy people’, Andrew Lees Trust, 2009.

The danger of a single story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62188

cc M F F OChimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Nigerian storyteller and writer of the acclaimed novels ‘Purple Hibiscus’ and ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ – tells us a tale of ‘the danger of a single story’.

In this powerful, short talk, Adichie takes us on a journey of her own experiences of the single story. Describing how her first writings at the age of seven were full of white, blue-eyed characters, who ‘drank ginger beer… and talked about the weather’, Adichie shows that these only reflected the literature that she knew: Foreign, British children’s books. She ‘did not know that people like [her] could exist in literature’. Adichie goes further to tell of how she herself had been constructed by her American roommate out of a single story: ‘she had felt sorry for me even before she saw me. Her default position towards me as an African was a kind of patronising, well-meaning pity. My roommate had a single story of Africa, a single story of catastrophe. In this single story there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her in any way… no possibility of a connection as human equals’. Yet Adichie also admits that she has not just been a victim, but has herself bought into the single story. When visiting Mexico for the first time, she was surprised and then ‘ashamed’ to realise that Mexicans were not the ‘abject immigrants’ that the US media had depicted. The single story, Adichie argues, is easy to create: You ‘show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.’ And she holds that power and stories are interlinked: ‘Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person but to make it the definitive story of that person.’ Yet, while Adichie warns that a single story can be used ‘to dispossess and to malign’, she also argues so that telling many, many different stories – the negative and triumphant – can be ‘empower and humanise’.

Watch 'The danger of a single story'

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Chimamanda Adichie is a Nigerian writer. Her books Purple Hibiscus, Half of A Yellow Sun and The Thing Around your Neck have won numerous international awards.
* This TED talk was given in July 2009. The TED 2010 line up can be found here.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Food sovereignty: The wisdom of the uncivilised crowds

Suraj Kumar

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62196

cc S T HAgriculture as it was practiced in India over centuries relied and depended on nature’s forces, writes Suraj Kumar. But with the advent of colonialism and a surge in the country’s population, the adoption of new methods of farming have lead to widespread soil degradation across the country. As multinational companies offer genetically modified seeds as the solution to hunger, Kumar calls on his fellow countrymen to use locally produced food and native seeds and help preserve Indian wisdom.

Picture this: A remote Indian village in the Ganges delta a few hundred years ago. The farmer starts his day by letting his flock of ducks into his irrigated fields. The water from the river brings with it, besides nutrients and alluvium, some unwanted (for the crops) pests too. But that is not a problem – the ducks will keep the pests in control. Not only that, they will turn those pests into manure and drop it right inside the pool of collected water to be anaerobically decomposed under the water.

Maybe the farmer doesn't realise it and thinks the Sun god and Nature goddesses are helping him. But that's just a coincidence that's helping him continue his ways. They worship the arrival of the stork – which, by the way, even the Japanese and Chinese do. Coincidence? (I'm willing to bet Mexicans do that too!) There are still pockets in India where people's lifestyles are frozen in time and haven't changed much.

The saying goes ‘unity in diversity’, and it's true for stable ecosystems. Agriculture as it has been practiced in India over centuries has relied and depended on nature's forces. Whether we evolved our practices, designed the system by hand, or got it by sheer luck overnight... every Indian alive today is a proof that we survived in this region for several thousand years. The fertility due to the unique geographical structure of the sub-continent is a natural gift. Consciously/sub-consciously/systemically realising it and living on it for thousands of years is wisdom.

THE GREAT CHANGE

Then came along the colonialists. We all kinda know what happened. I'd just like to place an exerpt from Lord Macaulay's speech in the British Parliament on 2 Feb 1835 (quoted elsewhere in various contexts on the web – typically nationalistic sounding ones). I first found it in Amartya Sen's book ‘The Argumentative Indian’:

‘I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.’

Several things changed after the advent of the colonialists. Some for ‘our’ good, one could argue. For instance, the colonialists left at the end of a major war. (One of the root-causes was colonisation itself!) India was freed, right? The specific form of exploiting of India's resources changed from that of direct occupation to a more subtle and effective form called ‘free trade’. The Bretton Woods system ratified all capitalist nations' interests in continued exploitation of natural resources by the still-ruling powers of the world (namely the US, Britain, France, etc.). Free trade, in other words, is a system of exploitation of a so-called Third World nation's resources by someone with Little Green Pieces of Paper on the lines of, ‘If you let me take your stuff, you'll get these little green pieces of paper with which you can buy the finished goods I produce using your nation's resources.’

FEMALE INFANTICIDE

Besides improvement in the quality of lives of those people who accepted the little green pieces of paper, there were arguably some other improvements. For instance, they ‘taught’ the peoples what it means to be ‘humane’. Female infanticide, what a terrible and ruthless thing it is! But... it is also important to realise that this so-called ‘inhumane’ killing of the girl baby is a very effective means of population control. (By no means am I justifying or arguing for female infanticide here. Far from it.)

In the wild, many males go unmated. A male doesn't mean more individuals. A female that survives, however, very likely results in more children. Educating the females coupled with eradication of female infanticide would have worked. But with India, it was a half done job... and that's worse than not doing the job at all.

Take away that population stabilisation mechanism of female infanticide and add to it the joke called the Green Revolution, and India saw her population rise and her once-stable ways of life completely changed forever. Today, we're a billion-plus and to feed that growing population, we had to adopt ways of agriculture that were previously not thought of. Today, India boasts of vast areas of degraded soil. It was a forgone conclusion that she would end up in this situation given the decisions that were made by the so-called leaders of that era.

WHERE BE THE WISDOM?

The colonialists are back (strong statement, indeed) – under the name of Monsanto, DuPont and several other multinational ‘agribusinesses’ who promise to solve the problem of the world's poverty. (Does that ring a bell?) Last time, it was by releasing the locked up nitrogen in a finite endowment of natural gas to create fertilisers, developing an infrastructure of farm mechanisation that relied (and still relies) on fossil fuels (specifically diesel) and quickly releasing water stored up in deep aquifers through the use of, yet again, cheap fossil fuels. (A significant portion of electricity comes from coal and oil and natural gas.)

This time, they're back with the same old excuse of attempting to solve world's poverty by manipulating our domesticated life forms' DNA.

So what exactly is their system for ‘solving world hunger’?

1) Monsanto has had a successful herbicide product called Roundup. (Remember Agent Orange?) The herbicide kills just about anything in its way. Earlier, farmers had to exercise care when spraying the herbicide because they ran the risk of killing their own crops too. Roundup is a non-selective weed killer. The paradox with life is that, the more we apply selection pressure, the more ‘evolved’ the species we're trying to kill becomes. This is because those individuals that could be killed are already gone! The ones that remain are the ones who were difficult to kill in the first place, and if they manage to leave their progeny, those progeny are likely equally difficult to kill too! Over just a few generations, things become very difficult for one generation of humans. The use of just the herbicide alone didn't scale well. We talk ‘scale’ only when we talk growth. However, stability needs resilience. The job done by the frogs, the sparrows, the spiders, the lizards and the earthworms is now replaced by one single plastic bottle with a TradeMarked logo on it. How neat?

2) Since the herbicide solution didn't scale, they had to do a round two of their fight against nature – through genetic engineering. They ‘invented‘ a new ‘variety’ of crop that was resistant to the herbicide (called ‘Roundup Ready’). All was good for a while, until recently (two years ago) when farmers started reporting ‘super weeds’. Life evolves in amazingly powerful ways. This was just one example.

3) Genetic engineering has two peculiar problems:
a) Bugs: If a Microsoft writes buggy code, they can send a ‘fix’. But what happens when there are ‘bugs’ in the genetically engineered code? How do you fix a plant? Today's genetic engineering methods are still crude. It's not like we insert a nano-particle that reads through the genes and ‘modifies’ the genes. They merely insert some other animal's genes that produce the desired proteins!
b) Intellectual Property: Life replicates. That's the equivalent of piracy, only naturally done by the bees.

To avoid these two problems, they introduced ‘terminator’ technology. Simply put, the seeds produced by the GM crops aren't seeds. They cannot produce new plants when sown. They're merely grains for consumption. Seed saving, the very practice that brought about agriculture, will no longer be applicable since the seeds are all impotent. I'm sure we have all read about farmer suicides and the widespread cause of suffering due to this very enslavement.

Ah, solve hunger by killing people? That makes sense! Oh wait, that ‘scale’ requires farm machinery, which by today's infrastructure, is all designed to run on diesel.

Now, I'd like to draw you to the end of this post by instilling a sense of hope through this real life story that I've been quite proud of...

On our farm, we decided to sow only native variety rice seeds. We picked two varieties namely ‘Garudan Samba’ and ‘Gandakasala’. We had to obtain them with much difficulty since the government makes only narrow-mindedly designed rice varieties from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) available to the farmers. At first, the locals (having forgotten their own ways of traditional, resilient agriculture) laughed at us and even questioned if such things would be ‘practical’ in today's world. Grace be to the all merciless, non-existent God! The rains poured and destroyed their crops at a completely unseasonal time. Our crops were damaged, but not destroyed completely. Now, they are beginning to see the advantages.

They're curious to find out how to obtain these seeds. They're still using pesticides. But they're beginning to see the birds perched atop our now-growing trees helping with pest control. They're still using fertilisers but that's because:

1) Fertile, naturally rich soils aren't anywhere around. Our soil has just begun the recovery from the damages due to prolonged nitrogen fertiliser use in the past (i.e., before we bought this land).
2) Fertilisers are still pretty much free flowing in this peak moment.

I've become pretty much cynical that most of the time, it is only the shock doctrine that helps bring the masses to reality. Those very things can also be learnt by applying thought – however challenging or even depressing that might seem initially.

If you'd like to ‘take away’ anything from this post: All I ask the reader to do is to switch to locally produced foods that are not genetically modified. Every paisa is a profit that helps further their ways of enslavement and suffering. It kills our wisdom, however foolish and ridiculous it might sound to the ‘free thinking’ West. Ridicule works and we must not fall prey to their old ways. Free thought brings with it a sense of confidence and a dash of arrogance. Knowing that arrogance is wisdom. Evolutionary studies today show that the genetic differences amongst the so-called ‘races’ are totally insignificant and that it has just been mere chance that led to the rise and fall of several civilisations. The people of this sub-continent didn't use coal in 19th century and oil in the 20th century like the ‘colonisers’ were doing. But coal and oil are just finite resources. The success of the West is only temporary, and eventually the West will have to deal with reality in ways we've all come to accept in the past – thousands of years ago.

An American Indian quote to end the post:

‘Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.’

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* This article first appeared on Suraj Kumar’s blog.
* Suraj Kumar
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Western diplomatic omerta in Ethiopia

Alemayehu G. Mariam

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/62193

cc B F PDeeply unimpressed with embassies' inclination towards silence, Alemayehu G. Mariam implores foreign officials to speak out in the face of the Ethiopian government's human rights abuses. Suspicious of the 'veil of diplomatic anonymity', Mariam argues that remaining silent while activists like Birtukan Midekssa are kept locked up simply amounts to complicity.

Last week, in a piece reporting on the eerie silence of Western diplomats in Addis Ababa on Birtukan Midekssa, the first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history and Ethiopia’s number one political prisoner, Xan Rice, a reporter for The Guardian wrote:

'That foreign embassies, including Britain's, which have been refused permission to visit Midekssa, have barely made a public complaint about the case appears to back opposition complaints that when it comes to Ethiopia, donors favour stability over democratic reforms or human rights… "The [Ethiopian] government says the more we make noise the more difficult it will be to get her [Midekssa] out," said one Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Are we going to risk our entire aid budget for one person? No."'

Rice questioned in the caption to his piece whether Birtukan is 'Ethiopia's jailed victim of Western realpolitik'.

What kind of double doubletalk is this phrase, 'speaking on condition of anonymity'? Is the climate of fear and loathing so oppressive and pervasive in Ethiopia that even emissaries with full diplomatic immunity are scared pant-less to mention Birtukan’s name in public? Are these anonymous diplomats so afraid of calling a spade a spade that they have themselves become virtual political prisoners in their own embassies? Has a segment of the Western diplomatic community in Addis turned into pusillanimous pussyfooters and gossipy nabobs of cowardice?

One speaks 'on condition of anonymity' when the situation justifies it. For instance, police sometimes 'speak on condition of anonymity' to provide information of value to the community as part of their criminal investigations. During policy negotiations or in formal decision-making settings, stakeholders may engage in anonymous disclosures to obtain strategic advantage. Whistleblowers often report corruption, criminal wrongdoing, fraud, waste or abuse in government anonymously to avoid retribution. Could it be that these anonymous informants are actually diplomats-cum-whistleblowers? One really wonders about the palpable diplomatic rationale for speaking about Birtukan behind a veil of diplomatic anonymity. The fact of her notorious imprisonment is well-known to the world. Many Western governments have publicly condemned her imprisonment and called for her immediate release. Just last week, the new US ambassador-designate to Ethiopia, Donald Booth, told Senator Russ Feingold, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Africa, that he will aggressively take up the case of Birtukan and other political prisoners with the dictators in Ethiopia. Yet some of the resident Western diplomats in Addis choose to cloak themselves in anonymity while pontificating about 'realpolitik'.

It seems these gossipy diplomats have adopted a version of the 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' game plan. Everybody knows many nasty and raunchy things happen in Vegas, but no one will care enough to tell about them. Gross abuses of human rights are daily occurrences in Ethiopia and the jails are full of political prisoners, but no diplomat dares speak openly about them or finger the criminals and abusers. Rather, the Western diplomatic community has ensconced itself around this obscene question: 'Are we going to risk our entire aid budget for a bunch of nameless, faceless, hopeless, moneyless and powerless nobodies? Hell no!'

The real reason for invoking anonymity, while enjoying full immunity, is diplomatic omerta – a conspiracy and code of silence, not unlike that time-honoured tradition of the criminal societies in southern Italy where no one will tell the truth in public or finger the criminals because they are afraid of the 'capo di tutti capi' ('boss of all bosses'). The conspiracy of silence has transformed these anonymous diplomats into the proverbial wise monkeys who 'see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil'. This odious culture of diplomatic omerta in Addis must end.

The 'realpolitik' (pragmatic) justification of the diplomats to 'speak on condition of anonymity' is flawed and logically untenable. The principles of 'realpolitik' apply in the relationship between powerful nations who find it advantageous to deal with each other in a practical and pragmatic manner so as to avoid costly conflict. It is silly to conceptualise the relationship between Western countries collectively and one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of 'realpolitik'. Without the budgetary support and massive economic and humanitarian aid of the West, no dictatorship in Africa can survive even for a single day. These anonymous diplomats now want to convince us that 'realpolitik' prevents them from exercising their political will on the dictators. Poppycock! We know 'He who pays the piper calls the tune.'

On the other hand, if the diplomats are 'speaking on condition of anonymity' because they believe they can finesse the dictators with reason and logic, they are tripping (or in diplomatic parlance, 'it is lunacy'). They ought to know (as they pretend not to know) that they are dealing with some of the rock-hard, dyed-in-the-wool, unyielding and incorrigible ideologues in modern Africa history. These dictators are impervious to reason and common sense; they are driven by the maniacal and insatiable hunger for power. The lessons the dictators draw from the invocation of diplomatic anonymity is that they have succeeded in intimidating the Western diplomatic corps into silence, not that they are buying time to negotiate and craft a fair resolution to the fundamental political problems of the country. Let’s put it bluntly: The dictators are convinced that on the whole Western diplomats in Addis are a klatch of spineless, wimpy, double-talking, forked-tongue equivocators who would rather grovel and wheedle than stand up for principle.

The cunning dictators understand the wishy-washiness of the diplomats and take advantage of their apparent timidity. They carefully orchestrate a programme of manipulation, subtle intimidation, vague threats of expulsion and clever misdirection to string them along. 'Sure, we let Birtukan out, mañana [tomorrow]. Excellencies! Don’t worry, be happy! Did you say "Stop human rights abuses?" Not a problem. Consider it done, mañana. Clean elections? Hoo-Hah! Check out our Election Code of Conduct. Any other questions?!'

As Joseph Stalin sarcastically observed, 'A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.' We are not foolish enough to believe that Western diplomats will work sincerely to help bring change, democratisation and hope in Ethiopia. But they need to know that their diplomatic chicanery and double-dealing will not go unchallenged in the court of international public opinion. Let us look at their do-nothing, kiss-derrière policy in Birtukan’s case. The anonymous diplomat speaking to reporter Rice said that the West would 'not risk [its] entire aid budget for one person'. This is not an idiosyncratic attitude or the view of a single diplomat. It is a wrong-headed outlook widely shared in the general diplomatic community in Addis.

But we should set the record straight: The issue of Birtukan is not a matter of one individual political prisoner. Birtukan is a national symbol of thousands of political prisoners that are held in detention in official and secret prisons throughout the country without due process of law. Birtukan is not a lone dissident on a moral crusade against a dictatorship. She is the head of the principal opposition party in the country and the leader of the largest coalition of political parties. On a level electoral playing field, Birtukan is the kind of leader who could easily beat the pants off the ruling dictatorship. By not raising her righteous cause in public and repeatedly, these veiled diplomats enable and embolden the dictators to remain bull-headed and continue in their gross human rights violations spree. In the end, these diplomats show themselves to be toothless tigers who are afraid of their own shadows and would rather meow than speak the truth in public.

Western diplomats in Addis have the choice of speaking up and standing up for the principles they advocate so passionately and vociferously at the cocktail parties, or remaining silent. It is their right to remain silent to the thundering screams of the torture victims, the faint whimpers of the political prisoners rotting in the dungeons, the cries and lamentations of the opposition leaders and the tormented wails of journalists who flee the country. They can even game us by shedding a few crocodile tears and assuring us that they are doing everything they can to help change things. We know in the final analysis they will wring their hands, pat themselves in the back and tell each other everything is fine and dandy and things in Ethiopia will definitely change, mañana. But they should spare us the crock of anonymous palaver because all they are doing is prove to the world that they do not possess the least scrap of conscience or integrity.

There is a price for silence, which is the loss of credibility with the people of Ethiopia. That may not mean much to the hoity-toity excellencies, but they should know that their empty cocktail party rhetoric about democracy and the rule of law has as much credibility with us. Diplomatic hypocrisy built on a foundation of anonymity, in our book, is called complicity and compounding a crime. Ethiopians understand and like straight talk, not anonymous talk (and not silence). They don’t like those who talk with 'butter on their tongues and dagger in their hearts' ('Afu kibe, lebu chube'). We hope these invisible diplomats will emerge from the dark side and muster the courage to speak on the record and call a spade a spade. If they don’t, we will understand. Silence in the face of inconvenient truths is a hallowed tradition in the Western diplomatic corps.

Excellencies, never mind if the dictators say, 'the more [you] make noise the more difficult it will be to get Birtukan out.' Go ahead, make a whole lot of noise, not silence. Birtukan and the thousands of Ethiopian political prisoners are on pins and needles (no pun intended) waiting to hear your rapturous noise.

I have said it before[1] Excellencies, and I will shout it out again: 'J’accuse!'

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Alemayehu G. Mariam is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles.
* This article was originally published by The Huffington Post.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/jaccuse_b_349802.html

Visiting Scholar (Human Rights) at Peking University Law School

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/62204

Visiting Scholar (Human Rights) at Peking University Law School

The Peking University Law School Research Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law ( RCHR) has long experience in the field of human rights education and was one of China’s pioneering institutions in setting up separate courses on human rights law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in China. In February 2004, a three-semester Human Rights Master Programme was launched at Peking University in cooperation with Sweden’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. As part of the development of our human rights activities, we are offering visiting scholar positions at our centre to facilitate solo and collaborative research and teaching. Visiting scholars will be expected to make a modest contribution to our masters’ programme, teaching a one semester course in a specialist topic of their choice.
We have the capacity to offer visiting scholar position in the forthcoming semesters. It is anticipated that visiting scholars will be self-funded, Peking University providing full support for visa applications and international standard office, computer and library facilities. It is an excellent opportunity for a scholar to live, research and work in Beijing while contributing in a meaningful way to the development of human rights education in China.

Qualifications:
• Five years of teaching experience in human rights;
• Solid reputation as human rights law researcher;
• Experience of working internationally within academia and from participation in international human rights will be an advantage;
• Ability to co-operate with a broad range of actors including colleagues and students;
• Strong research and pedagogical skills, cultural sensitivity as well as excellent interpersonal skills;
• Fluency in English.

Application procedure:
If you wish to apply for the position for any of the time period or combined (i.e. two semesters), please send detailed CV with cover letter, list of references, and a list of publications by e-mail or mail or fax to the Peking University Law School Research Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,

Att: Ms Ma Xili, Secretary of the Centre:

Ms Ma Xili
c/o Professor Bai Guimei
Peking University Law School
Beijing, 100871
P R China
E-mail:cinema0228@sina.com
Fax: 86-10-6276-7087
For further information please contact Ms Ma Xili, Secretary of RCHR (e-mail:
cinema0228@sina.com , Tel: 86-10-6276-7955, Fax: 86-10-6276-7087) or Professor Guimei Bai,
Executive director of RCHR (e-mail: baigm@pku.edu.cn, Tel: 86-10-6276-6152, Fax:
86-10-6275-6542). The current RWI Visiting Professor in human rights at Peking University Law
School is also available for email discussions – Professor Rhona Smith (email: rhona.smith@rwi.lu.se)

Terms of Reference

Visiting Scholar, Peking University Law School
September 2010-December 2010; or March 2011-June 2011; or September 2011-December 2011 or March 2012-June 2012

BACKGROUND

Established in 1904, the Peking University Law School (PULS) has become a leading institution for legal education and a potent force for legal development in China. PULS frequently partners with the government, with law firms and with the business community in the development of cutting edge legal, social and commercial policy. It also has many international links and partnership programs with leading universities and legal institutions around the world. Peking University graduates regularly become top lawyers, judges and government officials while its faculties belong to the elite of China.
The members of the Law School faculty have excellent backgrounds in academic research and teaching; with most having experience at some of leading universities abroad. The faculty possesses a deep understanding of both Western and Chinese legal cultures and are well prepared to lead discussion about not only China’s legal system but of legal systems around the world.
The Research Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RCHR) of PULS was founded on April 25, 1997. It is an academic association with members of professors and scholars in international law, criminal procedure law, administrative law, comparative law and other areas of human rights. The RCHR is dedicated to facilitating academic exchanges between scholars both at home and abroad in the field of human rights, advancing the consciousness of human rights of Chinese citizens, and promoting human rights in China. RCHR has since its establishment held academic symposia and seminars on theoretical and practical problems of human rights both at domestic and international levels. It offers advisory opinions to the Chinese governmental institutions, including legislative, judicial and executive organs on matters such as the implementation of international human rights conventions. The Centre also edits and translates academic works and publishes documents and other materials on human rights.
For those interested in collaborative work or China-related research, a wealth of expertise is available in the Centre.

The Human Rights Masters Programme

In February 2004, a three-semester Human Rights Master Programme was launched at Peking University in cooperation with RWI. Students of the programme are selected on application basis from mainly among graduate students at Peking University. About 100 students have graduated from the programme, and are now playing significant roles in promoting human rights in China at different job positions including diplomats in human rights department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China Central Television. In March 2010, we will welcome our 7th class of 27 students including two visiting university teachers from Chinese western universities.
Outline of programme:
Spring Semester (March-June): Human Rights Protection Mechanisms (compulsory); Human Rights and the Rule of Law (compulsory); Core Rights (compulsory); one optional subject (options offered over the years include European Human Rights Systems ; International Refugees Law and Rights of Women)
Fall Semester (September–December): Series of Lectures on Human Rights in China (compulsory) and two optional subjects drawn from International Humanitarian Law , Human Rights from Comparative Perspectives Business and Human Rights and other options including Minority Rights and Rights of the Child.

Spring Semester (March-June): Preparation of master’s thesis (individual research project)

Visiting scholars are encouraged to teach one of our existing compulsory or optional modules but are also free to offer their own optional module on a human rights topic within their expertise.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER
The Peking University Law School will offer a fully equipped office and facilities including PC, internet with full international access, printer, desk, bookshelves etc. A traditional Chinese bicycle is also available if required for transport around the university and to and from your apartment!
Although we cannot offer accommodation, we can assist with locating accommodation appropriate to your needs. As an approximate guide, you should budget for a one bedroom flat near the university, costing approximately RMB 5,000 per month. Obviously Beijing is a major international city and it is possible to find accommodation in various parts of the city to suit a range of budgets. The subway system is clean, safe and efficient, meaning it is feasible to stay further away from the campus should you prefer.

The visiting scholar will also have access to the university main library and the Law Library, with its large range of English language materials. The library and internet facilities should be sufficient to support most research projects. In addition, the Student Cafeteria on campus is very convenient (an heavily subsidised) for meals (in the buffet cafeteria, you could easily eat three meals for approximately 15RMB)

We will also provide all supporting documentation required for obtaining the appropriate Chinese visa.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the visiting scholars programme is to maintain the international character of the RCHR and its human rights master programme at Peking University Law School, bringing foreign perspectives to Chinese students and colleagues in the centre. Scholars are free to engage in research on any topic during their residency, making this position ideal for someone on sabbatical/ study leave and wishing time, facilities and space to develop a substantial research project.

TASK AND DUTIES OF THE VISITING SCHOLAR
In general and within the context of the above-mentioned objectives, the visiting scholar shall teach one course (two hours a week, 13 weeks a semester) and join the programme monthly meeting. The visiting scholar shall perform the following tasks:
• Arrive in Beijing at least three days before the semester starts;
• Teach one course, the topic of which shall be decided accordingly following the syllabi of the programme;
• Provide syllabus and time schedule for the course at least one week before the semester starts;
• Provide reading assignment for the students to the teaching assistant or the Programme Coordinator at least one week before the semester starts;
• Organize and mark the assessment.
• Attend the programme monthly meeting.

Statement on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Government of National Unity in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/62203

cc WikimediaThe Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has issued a statement in response to the first anniversary of Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity (GNU).
The statement highlights the increasing concern in Zimbabwe over the GNU’s ‘failure to abide by the provisions of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and its apparent inability to address the social, political and economic crisis still facing the country.’ The statement also criticises the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) inability to influence the GNU to deliver on its promises and commitments.

On 13 February 2010, the nation will mark the first anniversary of the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU). This year’s commemoration comes amid growing concerns over the ‘inclusive government’s’ failure to abide by the provisions of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and its apparent inability to address the social, political and economic crisis still facing the country.

In the preamble to the GPA, the parties expressed their concern ‘about the recent challenges that we have faced as a country and the multiple threats to the well-being of our people and therefore determined to resolve these permanently’. More importantly, in Article 2 of the agreement the principles agreed ‘to work together to create a genuine, viable, permanent, sustainable and nationally acceptable solution to the Zimbabwe situation and in particular to implement the (following) agreement with the aims of resolving once and for all the current political and economic situations and charting a new political direction for the country.’ Although the GPA did not truly reflect the will of the people, which is best articulated in an election, it was seen as a potential solution to the political and economic impasse, based on the assumption that the parties would honour the terms to which they had all signed and that it would bring an end to the political violence prevalent at the time.

A year following the creation of the GNU, many of the challenges that faced the country and the multiple threats to the well being of the people of Zimbabwe still exist. The continued power struggle between the main political parties over ‘outstanding issues’ challenges their commitment to putting the people and country first. This bickering has also affected progress in possibly the largest deliverable that the GPA undertook, namely the drafting of a new constitution. The process has already fallen behind the ambitious time lines outlined in Article 6 of the GPA. The Forum also remains concerned with the suppression of freedom of expression and association, as demonstrated by the arrests and harassment of members of civic groups, the continued victimisation, intimidation and abductions of political activists and human rights defenders, the unabated violation of property rights on commercial farms, the disregard of court orders and the continued blocking of official visits by members of the international community invited to verify the human rights situation in the country.

It should however be noted that there have been slight improvements in the progressive realisation of socio-economic rights with the introduction of a stable currency in the economy. Basic commodities are now available in the shops and the provision of some social services has also improved, but at a premium. A large portion of those employed still live well below the poverty datum line. The GNU has also brought about a reduction in cases of overt violence, including a decrease in the cases of politically motivated torture, assaults, arrests, abductions, murders, internal displacements and incidences of unlawful arrests as compared to the period prior to the GNU. Much, however, needs to be done to ensure that durable peace and the rule of law are restored.

The Forum remains extremely concerned at the slow pace at which the GPA is being implemented and the apparent inability of the Southern African Development Community to influence the parties to honour their original commitment to implement the provisions of the GPA. The Forum implores the GNU to address these as a matter of urgency and ‘resolve once and for all the current political and economic situations and charter a new political direction for the country’, which will also ensure justice for the victims of past political violence and foster true national healing and reconciliation.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* The first anniversary of the Government of National Unity is on 13 January 2010.
* Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum produces regular reports on human rights violations in Zimbabwe. Its Public Interest Unit also provides free legal assistance to victims of organised violence and torture.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The WSF on the move

Boaventura de Sousa Santos

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/62189

cc B AndersonWith Porto Alegre hosting an evaluation of the 10 years of the World Social Forum (WSF) in January, Boaventura de Sousa Santos wonders why the mainstream media chose to focus on the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos instead. This is strange, writes de Sousa Santos, 'since the analyses and previsions of the WSF during the last decade turned out to be much more precise than those advanced by the WEF'.

At the end January 2010, there was an important evaluation of the 10 years of the World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, including a debate on its future. At the same time, many events took place in seven cities in the metropolitan region, which gathered more than 30,000 people. The major media did not report on this. Rather, they inundated their readers with details about the meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) taking place in Davos. This is odd, since the analyses and previsions of the WSF during the last decade turned out to be much more precise than those advanced by the WEF. In 2001, the WEF considered neoliberalism (privatisations, free trade and economic and financial deregulation) to be the final solution for the cyclical crises of capitalism. This was the case until the 2008 financial crisis, which the WEF did not foresee. The WSF, on the contrary, maintained that neoliberalism was not the sole solution, indeed, that it was the most unfair one, and that the crises that neoliberalism had been provoking in many countries smothered by the IMF’s recipes would end up striking the heart of global capitalism. This is exactly what has happened. It seems, therefore, wise to bring to light the themes that will be prominent in the WSF in the forthcoming years.

The first theme is peace and democracy. WSF’s analyses foresee the increasing militarisation of social conflicts in the next decade, including the criminalisation of social movements and citizens’ protests vis-à-vis growing economical difficulties and widening inequalities. They also take into account the discontent of victims who are always morally more honest, socially more vulnerable and politically less powerful, a triple condition plaguing the great majority of the world's population. This preoccupation concerns many of the activities scheduled for 2010, from the WSF in the USA to the eight forums to take place in the Arab or Islamic world: the first WSF in Iraq, the sixth European WSF in Turkey as well as the thematic forums featuring unions (Algeria), sexual discrimination (Tunisia and Jordan), rural workers (Egypt), peace and education (Palestine) and democracy (Bangladesh).

All this is converging toward the next edition of the unified WSF to take place in Dakar in 2011, under the topic of South–South dialogues, an emergent topic to be much heard about in the next decade. The second theme is the civilisational crisis resulting from the unsustainability of the dominant economic model. There is no question about this, even though the WEF, once again wrongly, denies it. The current economic model, based on infinite growth, indiscriminate use of natural resources, the privatisation of common goods (such as water, air and biodiversity), consumption (or desire for consumption) – as a gauge of a way of being rooted in the obsession of 'having' and a lifestyle based on the premature discarding of indifferently personal objects – is not only unfair but also unsustainable, and its dangers for mankind will soon be irreversible. What this means is that the bogus notion of civilisational superiority – on the basis of which the West excluded or destroyed whatever threatened it – turns now against itself. The response may be destructive, but it may also herald a new planetary consciousness made up of unexpected convergences among ancestral wisdom (indigenous, peasant and grassroots), environmental concerns and feminist ethics of care. The civilisational debate will be at the core of the fifth Pan-Amazonic Social Forum in Brazil and the fourth Social Forum of the Americas in Paraguay.

The third theme concerns the political subjects carrying on struggles for peace, democracy and a post-capitalist social, cultural and economic model. This is the theme that compels the WSF to reflect on itself: How to avoid squandering the transformative energies it has generated; how to build transcontinental alliances among political parties and movements with converging realistic agendas carrying new hegemonies; and how to render the world increasingly less comfortable for predatory capitalism? Perhaps the WSF should create its own WSF.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Boaventura de Sousa Santos is professor of sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal, distinguished legal scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and global legal scholar at the University of Warwick.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Crises and opportunities in changing times

Carlos Lopes, Ignacy Sachs, Ladislau Dowbor

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/62199

cc P F TIf people are to overcome the systemic challenges that threaten the future of life on planet earth, we need to overhaul the way in which we manage society, argue Carlos Lopes, Ignacy Sachs, Ladislau Dowbor. In a paper prepared for the World Social Forum in Bahia, Brazil in January, Lopes, Sachs and Dowbor attempt to set out the ‘minimum necessary measures to avoid catastrophes and to guarantee a sustainable and dignified life’.

We all have our favourite crises. There are crises of values, pandemics, population growth, economic chaos, energy paradigm change, financial speculation, gaps in education, cultural pasteurisation, poverty prevalent in the world, hunger, and lack of access to such prosaic a luxury as clean water. The issue is not to chose which crisis seems to be more threatening. The real threat comes from an impressive convergence of critical tendencies, the synergy of behaviours that may be understandable, but are certainly irresponsible, and frequently criminal, and which are destroying our fragile spaceship.

In recent decades we have closed the statistical horizon of the planet. Despite never-ending interpretations in detail, we know overall what is happening. And the image that emerges is simply tragic. Initially it was seen in fragments. In Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, we realised what was happening with the environment; in Vienna, with human rights; in Cairo, with population growth; in Beijing, with families; in Istanbul, with urbanisation; in Copenhagen 1996, the social situation of the planet, and now we have seen, again in Copenhagen, the challenges of global warming. Today, even without planetary gatherings, we realise, from reports that cover areas from extinction of species to acidification of the oceans and the disappearance of rare metals, that we now face systemic challenges, where simple arrangements in the way we organise what we can call the overall management of society are not up to the task. Another world is possible, but most of all another management is necessary. The challenges are simply vital, in the most direct meaning of the word.

We are all adverse to catastrophism. We do not want to look like prophets of doom who only paint a bleak future. The Club of Rome went some way toward turning us against alerts that seemed premature. Today we are starting to evaluate the realism of these predictions in a more rational way. With information easily exchanged, the generalisation and improvement of models, online accessibility to the most varied scientific data, allowing for the comparison of results from innumerous research centres, the future is no longer a vague threat, a wavering outline. In a way, and in our consciousness, the future has already arrived. In the strong stance adopted for the title of the Salvador Forum, it is a crisis of civilisation.

We do also worry about keeping our feet on the ground, maybe not in our social dreams which may be infinite, but at least in our proposals. This realism has to be qualified. In most cases, as we see how difficult it is to obtain some tiny progress in pollution reduction or some protection for children in critical situations, we tend to think that setting high objectives is good for dreams but does not ensure good policies. Today, with the intensity of the threats to the planet, this view tends to change. We have to place on our realistic horizon actions which ensure the survival of species on land and in the oceans, the sustainability of our own civilisation. What is the minimum that ensures survival? A politician can afford the luxury of thinking how to reduce his aspirations to obtain a favourable vote. He is being realistic. We, as visionaries, or concerned scientists, have to make clear what are the minimum necessary measures to avoid catastrophes and to guarantee a sustainable and dignified life.

Our task, in this sense, is to define the horizons of systemic results we have to achieve, not any longer as a dream for the ‘possible world’, but as an imperative for what is absolutely necessary. Armed with these systemic results, we will contribute to define strategies, proposals and agendas.

There is no doubt that we are all tired of having to do this. And tired of seeing proposals rejected or postponed, analyses being diluted due to supposed (and often well funded) scientific doubts, and the planet rocked in the cover-up so well qualified as business as usual. What is taking us away from business as usual, and transforming the crises into opportunities, is the fact that the crises affects a multitude of people and are becoming clearly evident. As the good human race we are, we are reacting in a realistic way; in other words, we are reacting, not when the water was around our ankles, but now that it is reaching our necks.

The intended exercise in ‘this text, as we present arguments to stimulate discussion and trigger proposals, is to pinpoint the main areas of change and possible convergence of action plans. What we have ahead of us is an immense planetary task of drawing our efforts together, improving our knowledge of the challenges, and organising an effective wide ranging scientific communication network, with the aim of generating a critical mass of knowledge for a variety of stakeholders. Paulo Freire defined our task well: We are peddlers of the obvious (andarilhos do óbvio). He used to say this in a humorous way, because good humour is part of the process. We want to stop killing ourselves from overwork in building useless things and destroying the planet. We want the prosaic quality of life, the pleasure of daily challenges, in peace, for everyone, and in a sustainable manner.

Read the paper in full.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* This extract comprises the introduction to ‘Crises and Opportunities in Changing Times’, the reference document for the activities of the crises and opportunities group at the Global Social Forum/Bahia (January 2010).
* Carlos Lopes is UN assistant secretary-general in charge of UNITAR, based in Geneva, and the [url=http://www.unssc.org/]UN Staff College, based in Turin. Ignacy Sachs is an eco-socioeconomist. Ladislau Dowbor is a professor in economics at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

AU’s peer review lets Uganda off scot-free

L. Muthoni Wanyeki

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/62191

The coverage of the recent African Union (AU) summit focused, unsurprisingly, on whether Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi would retain the chair.

He didn’t and it passed, as expected, to Malawi’s President Bingu wa Muthurika.

What the coverage didn’t focus on was the pre-summit forum addressing the African Peer Review Mechanism.

There appears to be a growing perception that the AU and its specialised mechanisms are retreating from the promise signalled at its inauguration, that of a continental body that would no longer tolerate gross and systemic human rights violations and generally bad governance.

In essence, what amounts to protection of those involved in gross and systemic human rights violations (as in Sudan and Zimbabwe) – regardless of the motivations for such protection (regional stability, for example) – detracts from its moral standing.

And it seems less and less clear on how to handle arguably civilian coups d’état – involving manipulation, in one way or another, of the electoral process – in now politically pluralist states.

Then look at what’s just happened with the APRM.

The forum is now chaired by the Ethiopian president.

An irony, to put it lightly.

The secretariat is headed by a respected Nigerian economist, whose age and tenure somehow never even came up for discussion as all of the other members of the APRM’s Panel of Eminent Persons were replaced (with the exception of the Algerian member).

The criteria for such replacement somehow also wasn’t discussed, and neither was the audit report of the APRM’s secretariat.

On to the forum’s main business, discussing the self-assessments by states. Some 30 of the AU’s member states have now acceded to the APRM, with 12 countries having been peer reviewed to date (including Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda).

Benin and South Africa didn’t report, as expected.

Burkina Faso did, focused on climate change and drought.

And Uganda did as well, with its follow-up report (and thus the debate by peers) being focused on educational quality, the use of oil revenues and fertility rates.

Yes, educational quality, the use of oil revenues and fertility rates!

It is not that these are not interesting topics to debate. But, in the bigger scheme of things, they hardly constitute the key human rights and governance challenges that Uganda is experiencing, or what constructively critical engagement by its peers could presumably be of assistance with.

Which points to yet another problem with the APRM – without clear guidelines for the follow-up reports, it’s possible for states going wrong to get away essentially scot-free, and for the peers to come away feeling they’ve engaged in some sort of generally useful discussion – all without making a shred of difference to the real state of human rights and governance on the ground in the state supposedly under scrutiny.

So much for Uganda. Closer to home here in Kenya, the secretariat’s chair apparently unilaterally cancelled the second mission of the APRM to Kenya to review the political governance pillar just before the re-composition of the panel.

And now that the panel’s recomposed, it’s not clear who’ll be responsible for Kenya.

What is clear, however, is that none of the panel will have the same background – or the gravitas – of the former lead panel member, Graça Machel, making a second mission useless in any case.

Something needs to be done, by our own governments, by governing councils in the region and by citizens trying to use the APRM process to catalyse progress forward.

Or we risk seeing it degenerate into meaninglessness, as the AU stagnates too.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* L. Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Preparing for a mobile phone uprising in Africa

Anne Perkins

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/62192

The trouble with people who know about mobile phone technology is that they are a lot better at good ideas than they are at explaining to non-techies what their good ideas are for. So I fell upon SMS Uprising: Mobile activism in Africa, a collection of essays by people who either write mobile applications or transfer them to the field, hoping that at last I would understand not so much what's going on as how.

To begin even nearer the beginning than this book does – and in case I am not the last person in the world to know – let me point out that SMS stands for (thank you WikiAnswers) Short Message Service, which is "a communications protocol allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile telephone devices."

It adds, helpfully: "SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application on the planet, with 2.4 billion active users." Mobile telephony relies on GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications, access to which is controlled by individual countries whose approach – monopolistic like Kenya's Safaricom or open and competitive like that ofUganda – has a direct impact on airtime costs, which in turn affects how many people have access to the system.

Among other key considerations are the age (and cost) of mobile handsets in Africa – mainly pre-2003 and, therefore, neither web nor data enabled – and the fees charged by handset manufacturers to operators trying to develop new applications.

Most of this is covered in the first essay, on the economics of the industry. It explains how China and Libya are using monopolistic deals to capture national mobile telephony markets. The advantage to a government of monopolies, of course, is control – not only business control, but also control over content. Bad news for those who see access to a mobile as a powerful weapon in the defence of democracy.

But the essay's author, Nathan Eagle, is particularly interested in the research potential of the information automatically collected by operators about the usage and location of every mobile handset. A force for good or evil? It could be a vital tool to understanding better the sociology of rural Africa, for example. But it might be just what a corrupt government is seeking to monitor citizens' behaviour.

The mobile's capacity to stimulate, record and publish images of protest, for example, has already been established in places as far apart as Iran and Burma.

As the Guardian's Tania Branigan reported recently, ChinaMobile, the state owned operator, shuts down texting at the first sign of trouble – a policy pursued by the Ethiopian government, which has only just legalised SMS.
Optimistic outlook

But the optimists – and the activists like Christian Kreutz, who wrote the second essay in this collection – believe mobiles can extend participation, monitoring and transparency, decentralise networks and provide opportunities for local innovation.

Mobile has greater penetration than television (although not radio, with which it can work as a kind of poor man's internet, with radio broadcasts soliciting citizen journalism to report on local events and conditions). The essential element is not high technology, but universality – and people on the ground who can frame questions, find or write software and then recruit users. SMS activists are the sons and daughters of the first generation of internet users – passionate about open source technology and shared experience.

Theory is one thing: but where these essays really come alive is in the descriptions of projects that have already worked.

Take Amanda Atwood's account of Kubatana, a social and political action initiative in Zimbabwe that began on the internet, but to extend its reach adapted Ken Bank's FrontlineSMS to send out regular news updates to people who had either no news source at all, or none that was trustworthy. This was then developed to find out, during the delicate negotiations between Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change, what people wanted. It was soon discovered that the system was valued as much for its capacity to operate as a genuine information exchange, putting people from across the country in touch with one another. It triumphed at moments of crisis – during the 2008 elections, for example, where users were able to warn others of local developments. "Kubatana! Results have not been officially announced yet. The MDC has claimed victory based on preliminary counts ...". or "Kubatana! Some poll stations asking foreign borns for renunciation certificates. This is NOT a requirement ...".

SMS doesn't always work (sometimes texts are just too slow). But this is a handbook for the small NGO or social change activist who is daunted by technology. Help is at hand, and SMS Uprising will help you find it.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* 'SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa' is edited by Sokari Ekine and published by Pambazuka Press.
* This review was originally published by The Guardian as part of the Katine project.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Review of ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’

C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell

Lucy Corkin

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/62197

This book is a sequel to the acclaimed ‘China: The Balance Sheet – What the World needs to know about the Emerging Superpower’, published in 2006 as a joint collaboration between The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and The Peterson Institute for International Economics. The project is an admirable one, as the intention of the authors is to provide crystalline analysis that can cut through so much of the white noise that often accompanies China-related debates in Washington. Refreshingly, although the leaders of the editorial team are all experienced China hands, they do not condescend to their readers, many of whom will have significantly less first-hand knowledge of China than they. In fact right at the outset, they rather wryly comment that: ‘American China watchers have the somewhat annoying competitive habit of comparing their first China experiences. Those who lay claim to the early 1970’s have special bragging rights. The more recent one’s trip to China, the less intimate is one’s relationship with China. This is a somewhat foolish hierarchy’(p.2). This observation sets the tone for the rest of the book whose primary aim is to demystify China for American policy-makers who might then be able to make more informed decisions regarding US-China relations.

It soon becomes clear that the authors are greatly alarmed by much of the thinking emerging from Washington as regards China, most evident in their discussion of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recent rapid modernisation (pp 191-208). As the authors note: ‘Some on both sides in fact argue that military conflict between the United States and China sometime in the future is inevitable. This, of course, is not true.’ (p.205). One of the primary aims of the book is thus an attempt to shatter this kind of Cold War mentality that poses a threat that would extend beyond merely China-US bilateral relations. It is evident that the mutual distrust felt between the two powers is strong and historically rooted. The authors advocate a more subtle and even-handed approach on the part of US policy-makers: ‘Instead of focussing on bilateral problems and complaints, and seeking to co-opt China into a global economic system that it would try to continue leading by itself, the United States should seek to develop a true partnership with China to provide joint leadership of that system, even if the system requires substantial modifications to persuade China to play that role.’ (p.22)

This is a an interesting departure from then deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick’s concept of China becoming a ‘responsible stakeholder’ initiated in 2005. Essentially an attempt to co-opt China into the existing international architecture, it has been strongly resisted by China’s leadership. Beijing feels no obligation to shoulder responsibility for a system that it had no part in formulating the rules. This is recognised by the authors.

The volume begins with a chapter that acknowledges the systemic challenges that China’s rise poses to the current global order, currently presided over by the US. This is followed by a series of candid discussions of China’s most pressing concerns; weaknesses of the Asian giant’s political economy that are often overlooked when the outside observer is confronted by China’s impressive trajectory over the past 30 years. All the key issues, such as democracy, decentralisation, corruption, energy policy, Taiwan and military development are broached with sensitivity to their controversial nature. They are placed in context and analysed in a way that is both open and constructive.

The book is an assessment of China’s challenges, both internal and external and how this will affect the world in general and the US in particular. It must be borne in mind that this book is ultimately written for US policy-makers. The authors suggest an adaption from the US’s current mode of engagement with China. Naturally such engagement seeks to maintain the US position in the global economy to that extent that it is possible, while taking advantage of the opportunities that China’s rise presents. This notwithstanding, it is an excellent reference for China watchers from any discipline who seek to further understand the complexities of the Chinese state.

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* ‘China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities’ by C. Fred Bergsten, Charles Freeman, Nicholas R. Lardy and Derek J. Mitchell is published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (ISBN 0881324175).
* 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 Pambazuka News.

Proud Teddy at the Proud Bird in Los Angeles

Alemayehu G. Mariam

2010-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/62185

It is really great to be young; but for those who are not, the next best thing is to be at a Teddy Afro concert and jam late into the night with a ballroom full of irrepressible and euphoric, young Ethiopian Angelinos. On 13 February, 'Proud Teddy' brought his triumphant ‘Love Conquers All’ world tour to the Proud Bird, a well-known Los Angeles (LA) institution for half a century themed around vintage World War II war birds. Teddy was in top form, belting out one hit after another as he almost levitated on stage. His Abugida Band and backup singers bellowed flaming rhythms and roots-style music combining traditional Ethiopian melodies with reggae beats. Teddy was on fire at the Proud Bird, as was his enraptured audience.

I have listened to Teddy Afro on CD and viewed his YouTube videos countless times. His voice, his message and powerful lyrics and his melodies have moved me, rocked me, soothed me and lifted me when I was down. But there is nothing that compares with watching this young musical genius live. The difference between watching Teddy live and listening to him on CD or YouTube is the difference between listening to gospel music on the radio and singing it in the choir with the preacher directing. The Proud Bird concert was a quasi-spiritual experience, almost like being at an old time southern Baptist revival. His audience was not only passionately and emotionally involved with the lyrics and melodies in his music, they were spiritually bonded to him with some invisible gravitational force. There was not a single person at the concert who was not movin', swingin', rockin' and rollin' and groovin'.

For those us who had never seen Teddy perform live and witnessed the standing-room only crowd go into semi-conscious trance, it was a walk down memory lane. I recall seeing such deep spiritual connection between an artist and his audience decades ago when Bob Marley came to my alma mater, the University of Minnesota, on 30 May 1978 (Kaya tour) and 15 November 1979 (Survival tour). Those fortunate enough to have been present at a Bob Marley concert know exactly what I mean.

As the show began, for nearly a minute we could only hear Teddy singing from backstage using a remote microphone. It was an electrifying moment of anticipation. As Teddy burst on stage wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with Marley's image, the audience went into total frenzy. I could not help but feel the palpable spiritual presence of Bob Marley on stage that night. Teddy was unbound; he sang and danced and pranced, leaped and twirled and fluttered on stage as streams of sweat flooded down his face. The jam-packed audience cheered, clapped, screamed, shrieked, shouted and hopped; and a sea of upward stretched hands swung side to side in the cavernous hall.

Having seen Teddy live, it is plain that he does not sing just to sing. I really believe the man sings for one reason only: He is hopelessly in love with Ethiopia. How is it possible for anyone to sing for over two hours and manage to include in every song something about Ethiopia, its people, its cities and towns, rivers, mountains and valleys, religions, history, geography, politics and on and on? He sang nearly all of his classic hits, but he ignited the audience on a five-alarm fire when he sang about Africa's ‘father’, Haile Selassie, and sang ‘Yasteseryal’. ‘How is it that thousands of young people, who were not even born at the time the Emperor was murdered by the Derg military junta, have such connection to him’, I wondered. What is it about the song Yasteseryal that drives Ethiopians into near-convulsive ecstasy when they hear it?

To say that there is something extraordinary about Teddy as an artist is to state the obvious. But perhaps what is less obvious is the fact of how Teddy has inherited the mantle from the Bob Marley and adapted it for Ethiopia. Some have indeed compared Teddy to Marley for his ability to bring a political, spiritual and rhythmic power to his music and his raw ability to electrify his audience. Like Marley whose passion was African liberation and pan-Africanism, Teddy's passion is the freedom, unity, reconciliation and harmony of the Ethiopian people. Like Marley, Teddy's music is stirring, thrilling and even heart-wrenching. Like Marley, Teddy sings songs are of love, peace, hope, faith, charity, justice, reconciliation, understanding and forgiveness. These are the sources of Teddy's rhythmic power, which enable him to reach deep into the Ethiopian soul and psyche and suture the festering wounds of despair, soothe the unendurable pain of oppression and prophesy the coming of a new day of love, peace and justice in Ethiopia.

To describe the ‘Teddy Afro musical experience’ as a mere concert is to do injustice to the truth. It is really more than that. It is the closest thing to a spiritual revival meeting. Teddy just does not sing about the love he has for Ethiopia and its people, he makes you feel it in your bones. He does not just talk about bringing Ethiopians together, he brings them together in his concerts. He doesn't just warn against hate, he teaches how love conquers hate. He is not nostalgic about the past, but he wants us all to understand it, learn from it and honour those who have made contributions despite their mistakes. Like any revival meeting, Teddy has the audacity to believe in the coming of a new day, and to prophesy Ethiopia's redemption. Now I know why this young musical genius is loved by millions of Ethiopians, and why he is a national hero and not just an extraordinary artist.

On stage, Teddy appears to be a man of small physical frame and stature, but he is a powerhouse of endless, spiritual energy and musical creativity. He not only can mesmerize his audience with the sheer power and purity of his message, he can actually be seen ‘curing’ souls. He uses his voices to dazzle, his lyrics to seduce, his melodies to spellbind; and combines it all in an exhilarating stage showmanship that captivates, delights, enchants, charms and simply overpowers. He gives everything to his audience, and his audience gives back to him all their love.

The virtuosity of the Abugida Band and the sweet chorus of the backup singers are simply spectacular. They just kept the collective ecstasy ‘jah-ming’. The event organizers are to be commended and appreciated for coordinating such a magnificent tour and for making it possible for Ethiopians in exile to see and enjoy Teddy live. Teddy will continue with his world tour. As he does so, let us be mindful that he is that strong steel bridge that spans the generation and geographic gap among Ethiopians.

In our youth thousands of miles away from our homeland, Jimi Hendrix, a great superstar from Seattle in Washington taught us, ‘When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.’ Teddy has now travelled thousands of miles to America to teach our children, ‘When the power of love overcomes those who love power in Ethiopia, Ethiopia will know peace.’ It is nice to feel young once again. Proud Teddy, thanks for a great lesson. More ‘love power’ to you, brother, and to all of us. Thanks for a great revival meeting in LA.

Jah, Yasteseryal! Love Conquers All! (Fikir Yashenefal)

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* Teddy Afro is a young Ethiopian musician, singer and song-writer, currently on a 2010 world tour.
* Alemayehu G. Mariam is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles.
* This article was originally published by The Huffington Post on 4 February 2010.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Love in time of war

In dedication to the people of Haiti and all people of the world who have endured pain because of natural or man made disasters.

Amira Ali

2010-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/62183

_
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* Amira Ali holds an MA in International Relations and Conflict Resolution. She is a freelance writer, poet and activist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

India: Banking on the future

Greg Mills

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/62200

I never imagined I would find myself cross-legged among a group of Indian women farmers, the so-called 'poorest of the poor' in a country besotted with categorisation, learning about how financial access had transformed their lives. It’s not as if banking is new to India, however. After all, these are the people who gave the world the mathematical 'zero'.

In 'My Early Life', Winston Churchill acknowledges the role bankers played in the
India of the Raj. An 'irrecoverable' debt of 13 rupees is listed against the name of 'Lieutenant WLS Churchill' (of the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars) in the minutes of the Bangalore Club of 1 June 1899.

Today that entry takes pride of place in the entrance hall in the old world club, where visitors are addressed as 'Sah!' and a note at the bar explains the 18 types of rifle on the walls. Churchill later wrote: 'Native bankers... found them most agreeable; very fat, very urbane, quite honest, and mercilessly rapacious.'

After some years of hibernation, these 'native bankers' and entrepreneurs have again been able to put their considerable skills to use. In The World is Flat, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tom Friedman argues how increasingly affordable and ubiquitous telecommunications are erasing obstacles to international competition, 'flattening' the world for those adaptable and skilled countries and entrepreneurs.

Friedman’s book owes its title to a meeting he had with Mandan Nilekani, co-founder of India’s second largest IT company, Infosys. Nilekani, who by 2009 had taken a government job to rollout a national ID card, pointed out that countries like India could now compete for the global knowledge industry as never before since the world had been levelled by the internet and market forces. India is at once dynamic and chaotic, and quite inspirational. It shows what can be achieved if people are given half a chance by government.

Until the early 1990s the pace of India’s economic development was stunted by its isolation from the world economy, and by the inefficiency of its government systems – the so-called 'Licence Raj' –, which sought to control the economy.

The reforms of the early 1990s initiated by then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, finance minister P. Chidambaram, (now prime minister) Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh were based on the (partial) withdrawal of the government from interfering in the economy. The rupee was (partially) floated, state subsidies were reduced, and the economy was opened up to foreign investment, attracted by the large pool of people, talent and low incomes.

The overall results of India’s liberalisation have been spectacular. Over six per cent annual average (real) GDP growth since 1991 has lifted around 100 million people out of poverty and into the middleclasses. India has moved on light-years in little more than a decade. You could have a choice of cars in India in the 1980s: A white or black Hindustan Ambassador, based on a 1950s
Morris Oxford. India has been continuously producing Enfield 'Bullet' motorcycles, a 1931 single cylinder design, in its Chennai (Madras) factory since 1955; while Leyland’s buses and trucks, once the pride of Harold Wilson’s nationalised car industry, are also still in production.

Fifteen years ago, travel in India was courtesy of government services. Where Air India inefficiently dominated the skies, today the now-struggling national carrier has to compete against a whole gamut of private airlines. Or as Prakesh Rao, the head of the Electronics Industry Association of India, puts it, 'The best thing the government did was to get out of business. And the best example of this is in the IT sector.'

India’s IT industry grew from US$100 million in revenue in1992 to more than US$40 billion in 2007. Bangalore is the epicentre of this flat world. Its software industry accounted for 98 per cent of the state of Karnataka’s US$13 billion worth of exports in 2007. Bangalore has enjoyed economic growth averaging more than 10 per cent, making it the fastest growing metropolis in India, the home to more than 10,000 dollar millionaires by 2010.

The presence of government-funded space, aeronautics, machine tool and electronics firms spawned a legion of sub-contractors and necessary skills. This has leapfrogged into other sectors, notably bio-tech. Nearly half of India’s 265 biotechnology companies have their headquarters in the province, including Biocon, the country’s largest biotech company.

This ability of India to take up the opportunities presented by globalisation and domestic liberalisation were related to its skills base. Despite high levels of illiteracy (nearly 40 per cent, or 300 million people), its skills base is impressive.

Today India produces 2.5 million graduates and 350,000 engineers each year. Its graduate pool is 1.5 times the size of China’s, and India produces more than five times the number of engineers as the United States. The pace at which Indians were able to make best use of these new opportunities relates, also, not only to the skills possessed but the inducements.

Whatever the Indian educational system's drawbacks, more than a billion people striving to make a living and get ahead provides a certain competitive element. Competition has been heightened by the slow dismantling of the caste system. 'Reservation' of educational opportunities for so-called lower castes has pushed up the grade requirements for others. No student can now be guaranteed a place in the sciences without a score of more than 90 per cent.

One hour’s flight to Bangalore’s north, Hyderabad was known as the City of Pearls, where dealers still cluster around Laad Bazaar near Charminar. But it too has become a major biotech centre. It has also developed into a major IT and film industry hub, home to the world’s largest film studio, Ramoji Film City.

But hi-tech is not the only story in India – far from it. Two hours’ driving west of Hyderabad, past the futurist buildings of Cyber World, is the Gramapanchayat (village) of Konapur. There the 300 (of 366 families) judged to be poor or 'poorest of the poor' are part of Self-Help Groups. Numbering about 10 women each, originally instigated by the UN Development Programme in the 1960s, since 2000these groups have been part of the Indian government’s Self-Empowerment Rural Poverty
Programme (SERP). Better training, voluntary enforced savings and access to banking finance has transformed the lives of the ten women in the Vasundara SHG.

Meeting each Monday, their weekly 10 Rupee (R1.66) contributions to their communal
'thrift' fund are carefully tucked into their pink notebooks. They vote and prioritise requirements of their members, usually given to food over luxuries. Electricity is less important, they tell me, than rice.

They are benefiting for the first time from the system Churchill tapped into 100 years before. Access to finance has changed their lives, improving their economic conditions, giving them more power in decision-making in their families, and ensuring their children’s education and better health care.

Ten million women from 35,000 villages are organised in this way across Andhra Pradesh province in a scheme that has seen monthly income per family grow in ten years fivefold to $50.The government can only do so much – and where it cannot assist, it is learning to leave it to the private sector. Every one of India’s 600 000 villages with populations of 5,000 or less has cell phone coverage, but fewer than a half have an electricity connection. When I asked a meeting of 30 women, all classified 'poorest of the poor', in rural India how many had cell phones, 10hands shyly went up.

Technology can help to reduce corruption, extend health care and improve transparency and competition. The private sector both can help to extend this, and depends on it for its survival in being competitive in global markets.

While the Green Revolution of the 1960s transformed India from a food-deficit to a food-surplus economy, the smallholder farmer was left behind by these initiatives – one measure being the high number of farmer suicides (199,132 between 1997-2008) driven to desperation by debt, drought and disease.

Farmers would have to borrow from moneylenders at exorbitant rates of interest, sometimes 100 per cent. Now they have scheduled repayment schemes at 12 per cent interest, on which there is zero default. The women themselves meticulously keep the books, and have plans to lease more land and diversify their sources of income.

There is no doubt that much remains to be done in India. It’s a land living in three centuries simultaneously, from the quaint turn of phrase in 19th century English to 20th century infrastructure and (just in some cases) Western standards, and the 21st century Hitech sector

More than 250 million people still live below the poverty line, 150 million lack access to decent drinking water and 650 million to decent sanitation, and half of all Indian children have unacceptable nutrition levels.

While 10 million new jobs are needed each year, just 1 million have been created annually at most. The infrastructure is inadequate, despite massive improvements over the past 60 years since independence, and some of its cultural idiosyncrasies are out of synch with the functioning of a modern economy: the cows ambling on the freeway for example, less Hare Krishna than Hara-kiri.

Thirty years ago there were only five million cars in India, but now there are more than
75 million. No wonder India has the highest number of road fatalities worldwide annually: Experts predict that more than 150,000 Indians will die in traffic accidents in 2010, and 200,000 in 2015, by which level it will probably be India’s single main cause of death, costing as much as three percent of GDP.

The US has six times more vehicles than India, but its road toll is about a third. While India’s vehicles have increased a hundredfold to 30 million from 1960, the road network has increased in density just eight times. Bangalore, for example, still does not have its own power plant, one of the reasons for perennial blackouts.

Also, less than half of solid waste is collected; the remainder is dumped on open spaces in and outside the city. Without more than just catch-up investment, this is likely to get much worse. Only 30 per cent of Indians currently live in the cities, but this has been increasing at between four per cent and five per cent each year, doubling the urban population around every 16 years. Despite the huge pool of graduates, India still does not have a world-class education system, with just two universities in the top 500 in 2005.

Estimates put just 25 per cent of Indian engineering graduates as globally competitive. No wonder that 12 percent (more than four million people) of the country’s unemployed have a university degree. This and the high level of illiteracy are reasons why India’s labour productivity is about 10 per cent of US levels, and one third, at best, of a Chinese equivalent.

Fearing politicians’ short-term narrow interests, the government prefers to hand out subsidies (around 14 per cent of GDP) rather than make tough long-term decisions in the public interest. Corruption is endemic, from top to bottom, reducing GDP growth by as much as 1.5 per cent per annum, worsening inequality in an already highly unequal society. The old social, caste, divisions still persist even under a hi-tech regime.

However, the results of the transition from its paltry rate of growth before the liberal reforms of the early 1990s are impressive. India is now the fourth largest economy in the world. Its reforms encouraged entrepreneurship, the lifeblood of every economy. And the outlook of its entrepreneurs has put it closer to the global economy, better positioned to benefit from trade with the richer world outside.

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* Dr Mills heads the Brenthurst Foundation and is now researching in India. This article was first published in the Sunday Tribune on 7 February 2010.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The new 'scramble for Africa'?

Yves Niyiragira

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/62206

During the recently concluded 14th ordinary session of the heads of State and government of the African Union (AU) that took place between 25 January and 2 February 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it became abundantly clear: world powers, whether developed or emerging powers, all want a presence in Africa.

While the Peoples' Republic of China is building the new headquarters of the AU, which has already cost Beijing more than US$130 million a year until its completion, other powers did not want to miss the grand ball in Addis Ababa by demonstrating their 'solidarity' to the African people. Here are some of the events worth noting that took place during the 14th AU summit:

-Michael A. Battle, USA Ambassador to the AU, officially launched and handed over the Peace Support Operation Centre to the African Union Commission (AUC);
- The chairperson of the AUC, Jean Ping, received Ambassador Jean Marc Hoscheit as the new representative of Luxembourg to the AU;
- Indian Minister of State for External Affairs inaugurated, with Jean Ping, the AU medical telemedicine centre;
- Tetsuro Fukuyama, State Secretary of Japan paid an official visit to the AUC to discuss about AU-Japan cooperation;
- Michael Zilmer-Johns, Secretary of State of Denmark also paid an official visit to the AUC;
Other expressions of 'solidarity' were recalled by Vuk Jeremić, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, who emphasised South-South cooperation while addressing the executive council of the AU:
'My country has stood firmly with Africa throughout its contemporary history.

Our capital, Belgrade, is a city generations of Africans recall with great fondness. It hosted the first Non-Aligned Movement summit in 1961, with a number of African countries in attendance.'

Paavo Matti Väyrynen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development of Finland, complemented Vuk Jeremić's words by also claiming that Africa and Finland have many similarities:

'It might be astonishing to you, but my country, Finland, has many similarities with the African countries...we suffered a lot in the Second World War and after the war we were still a developing country...we have been able to develop into one of the leading well-fare societies. This should serve as an example for many African countries'.

This definitely forced me to ponder the following question: Who are Africa’s real allies, how can our leaders know what are these actors’ true intentions or who should they trust?

Not only is this a difficult question to answer, but one that is subject of most conference discussions and perplexes most civil society actors.

In a press conference that the vice chairperson of the AUC, Festus Mwencha, held at the sideline of the Summit, he told the media that 'it is important to report correctly about China in Africa. Whereas China needs resources, we should also look at the history', he said.

Mwencha reminded journalists of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway built between 1970 and 1975 by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority and fully financed by the Peoples' Republic of China to the value of US$500 million, the largest foreign aid project to be undertaken by the Peoples' Republic of China.

According to Mwencha, one Chinese minister told him that the project cost Chinese peoples 30 per cent of their government's budget following its completion. The railway had a great significance as it was meant to eliminate Zambia's economic dependence on the minority regimes of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and apartheid South Africa during apartheid. It also signalled an important platform of people’s friendship and exchange between ordinary Chinese and Zambians.

In the same vein we must not forget Belgrade’s (in the former Yugoslavia) role in hosting the founding Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement where Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and President of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser initiated the movement. The Summit was based on the Havana Declaration of 1979, which was to ensure 'the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries' in their 'struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well against great power and bloc politics'. It was a significant sign of support for Africa's struggle for independence, though the movement has subsequently lost its purpose due to numerous developments.

When José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, President of the Spanish Government and guest of honour at the 14th ordinary AU summit, made his address to the Summit, he highlighted that: 'Spain and the European Union know that the African Union is a partner...we have been always on the side of Africa, we are always on the side on Africa’. While these platitudes found warm applause amongst our continental leaders, I could not help but wonder whether Africa’s unpleasant history and now the illegal black African migrant issue had made any dent on our leaders as they were rejoicing President Zapatero’s words and our seemingly rejuvenated relations with Spain.

Whether it is about Spain, Serbia, India or China coming to Africa, we have to bear in mind that they have a clear objective of why they want to garner relations on the continent, especially with a population that has already reached a billion people and the abundance of natural resources. It is in our own interest as Africans to decide how to deal with new and old external actors.

There are some strategic partnerships that need to be capitalised on in order for civil society organisation (CSO) actors and African governments to become strong negotiators. This was the message from Ralph Gonzales, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who led the Caribbean delegation: 'There is a strategic desire, need, necessity to build a far reaching, deeper PanAfrican movement…We are here in solidarity to reaffirm our love to Africa'.

The example of the Caribbeans organising a conference in the Dominican Republic, in the coming weeks, to discuss how to assist Haiti’s reconstruction and renewal in which all African states have been invited, could serve as a model of a 'far reaching South to South solidarity'.

Indeed, the Dominican conference would be about bringing back ownership of Haiti to Haitians to avoid a total foreign takeover, which was recently discussed at an international conference held on 26 January 2010 in Montreal, Canada where it asserted that there was a firm obligation ‘to remain committed to the Caribbean nation's reconstruction process for at least ten years'.

The first scramble of Africa happened when Africans had little power to resist, but we cannot watch the Second Scramble, if indeed it is, to also disempower and dispossess ordinary Africans. Here the capacity and capability of our leaders need to be reviewed. The lack of willingness to manage our affairs in a transparent and accountable manner is something that we as civil society must consistently monitor and bring to light where necessary. This is because the difference between the 19th Century Scramble and now is that our leaders are very much active agents in this new ‘scramble’.

Therefore as civil society we must also know who really is on our side, who has always been on our side, who has always stood by us and what is the endgame?
Deciphering this could be the starting point in distinguishing between what new and existing players on the continent want and know how to deal with them. But as we embark on this type of mobilisation, civil society would well remember that in international relations: there are no permanent friends; only permanent interests.

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* Yves Niyiragira is fellow and co-editor of the AU Monitor, an initiative of Fahamu networks for social justice. He attended the AU Summit as part of the CSO engagement on the sidelines of the Summit.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Unveiling the diversity of Chinese finance in Africa

Chris Alden & Riaan Meyer

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/62202

The role of Chinese finance is a key driver of this trend. Through diversification of instruments and sources it is setting the pace for Chinese engagement and concurrently providing a window into its changing approach to global finance.

The conventional view of Chinese finance in Africa is that it is a lump sum concessional loan, negotiated in secret between Beijing and the host government, built around the twin pillars of a substantive Chinese investment in infrastructure in exchange for access to African resources. The idea is that it is all wrapped in a commitment to non-interference and peopled by Chinese companies, unskilled labour and supplies.

Such is the power of this image that African leaders themselves have been seduced by it. Former leaders Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Omar Bongo of Gabon and, most recently, Guinea’s Moussa Dadis Camara all believed that this was the definitive Chinese approach and pursued arrangements with Beijing on this basis. And in the main, their efforts to secure such deals have been dogged by controversy.

Chinese financing towards the continent, in fact, has always been more diverse than is commonly assumed. Financial restrictions on Chinese banks in the past have been placed by Beijing, which have limited their role to operating in the domestic setting when coupled with smaller reserves at the time and lack of experience. Following a series of policy innovations – especially after the establishment of national policy banks in 1994 and the subsequent opening of commercial banking – the scope for involvement abroad widened considerably.

Today, the spectrum of Chinese financial institutions operating in Africa ranges from those with direct ties to the government and its largesse to that of an emergent group of private banks and investment houses.

Those with the closest links to Beijing, such as the China Development Bank, are involved in conventional project finance as well as some more politically-motivated projects, such as the China Africa Development Fund.

China Eximbank, though obviously a policy bank and involved in large-scale infrastructure projects, nonetheless has increasingly sought to emulate the practices and conventions found in other leading national export banks.

Industrial and Construction Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest by market capitalisation, has pursued a joint venture strategy since 2007, purchasing 20 percent of Standard Bank and benefitting from its established position across Africa. It has been taking the lead in structured project finance deals and, through Standard Bank, is poised to use its financial resources to expand into retail banking.

Private finance like China Merchant Bank is testing the waters in Africa while the murky Chinese International Fund (CIF) is pursuing its own joint venture strategy in Guinea and Zimbabwe.

Understanding this diversity of Chinese financial actors is important not only for African policy makers and corporations, but it also sheds light on the changing nature of China’s business engagement with Africa.

With increasing Chinese government financing linked to real projects awarded to Chinese companies, the flow of these funds needs to be managed. Yet the presence of Chinese banks abroad and in emerging markets in particular is limited as these institutions are unable to handle remittances and advances in African countries. The pressure to have a more meaningful presence in Africa is to a large extent driven by the corporate customers of Chinese banks in the domestic market. Such customers would much rather be dealing with Chinese banks or banks that have partnered with Chinese banks.

A series of recent initiatives by Beijing has bolstered the exposure in Africa of Chinese financial institutions.

At the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation meeting in Egypt late last year, China announced it would support Chinese financial institutions in setting up a special loan of US$1 billion for small- and medium-sized African businesses. This is a clear sign that Beijing wants to encourage them to take a credit view on local companies. This was further supported by a Chinese commitment to cancel debts associated with low- or interest-free loans that were due to mature by the end of 2009, paving the way for improved credit terms in the future for these countries.

The broader implications of Chinese experience in the financial sector in Africa and other parts of the developing world are manifold. Chinese corporates have seen a movement to conduct overseas trade on open-account rather than the more traditional letter-of-credit terms with overseas customers. Moreover, in the wake of the global financial crisis, China has demonstrated a willingness to play a much more assertive role in international finance by proposing alternatives to the U.S. dollar in settling international trade transactions.

China is currently piloting international trade settlements in renminbi (yuan) in a number of Chinese cities. The pilot scheme allows for 400 approved Chinese enterprises in five approved cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhuhai, to settle trades with their counterparts in Hong Kong, Macau and Asean member countries.

If the renminbi is finally allowed to trade freely it is only natural that a large part of international trade will be conducted in renminbi. For Africa, whose trade is rapidly shifting eastward but is still dominated by the dollar (except in Francophone West Africa) the switch to renminbi will be a natural progression if the current trends in trade continue.

Clearly then, as Chinese corporates evolve and their banking system becomes more internationalised, these changes seen in the developing world will be increasingly reflected in global trends in international finance.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Chris Alden is a reader at the London School of Economics and senior research associate at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). Riaan Meyer is a research associate at the SAIIA. this article was originally published in Allafrica.com on 9 February 2010.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

WSF: Global South’s growing role in post-crisis world

Denise Ribeiro

2010-02-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/africa_china/62201

Economists, sociologists, trade unionists, communicators, environmentalists and representatives of civil society organisations and universities from many countries met from January 29-31 in Salvador.

The most heavily attended meeting on Friday morning, 'South-South cooperation as an alternative', offered a detailed view of emerging countries’ growing leadership in geopolitics and the world economy.

'It’s no coincidence that in the final negotiating round at Copenhagen (the climate change summit held in the Danish capital) the United States, Brazil, South Africa, China and India sat down together,' said sociologist and economist Carlos Lopes, head of the Geneva-based United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

'Although Copenhagen did not produce tangible results, this fact is significant in demonstrating the new configuration in the political arena,' he said. Lopes reasoned that the economic vigour and investment capacity of these countries can be gauged 'by the gigantic size of the shares traded in their stock exchanges.'

Without China and its enormous dollar reserves to finance consumption in the United States, the U.S. would still be wallowing in the economic crisis, he said. Several panelists said the crisis was a sign of the exhaustion of the neoliberal free-market model. 'The financial crisis, alongside the energy and food crises, is deepening,' said Argentine economist Jorge Beinstein of the University of Buenos Aires.

What is happening, he said, is a process of depolarisation of economic power, formerly concentrated in a few countries. 'There is now a coexisting multipolarity, still in its infancy, between the Asian countries and the South-South countries (in Latin America and Africa), that are seeking non-conventional development pathways,' he said.

The strength of the emerging countries is seen in the series of agreements that they have signed among each other.

'South-South agreements cover a market of four billion people, more than 60 percent of the world population, and this process is already happening, so it cannot be regarded as an "alternative",' Beinstein argued.

However, the professor issued a warning: the process of 'interconnection of countries on the periphery of global capitalism could be a way out of the crisis, or could lead to failure, if we do not find an alternative to the current parasitic model of world trade.'

The trade agreement 'between China and Indonesia, for example, could flood Indonesia with textiles and electronic products, generating unemployment and accentuating the global crisis,' he said.

In Beinstein’s view, a less competitive and less profit-oriented approach could prosper, the best examples of which are fair trade initiatives and the solidarity economy.

Economist Paul Singer, secretary of state for the Solidarity Economy within Brazil’s Labour Ministry, said that solidarity initiatives in Mercosur (the Southern Common Market, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) are already in effect.

He added that this model is also making great strides in India, Japan, Mexico, Africa, Europe and the United States.

But solidarity requires strengthening the scope of democratic debate, which is difficult in a media world controlled by too few outlets, the panelists and audience agreed.

This issue was debated by another panel, on 'Media and Democracy', featuring several experts, like Uruguayan journalist Mario Lubetkin, director general of the international news agency Inter Press Service (IPS); Bernard Cassen, director general of the French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique; and professor Albino Rubim of the Federal University of Bahia.

Members of the panel advocated the need for a greater voice and more visibility for the plurality of opinions and social organisations that characterise contemporary society.

'The traditional media have a monopoly on information and do not admit any criticism of their power. They haven’t the slightest respect for legitimate governments. A look at the international campaign against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, perpetrated by the world’s largest media, will confirm this,' said Cassen.

Learning how to 'dismantle disinformation is a public service that should be taught in schools,' he said.

Making room for social media, newspapers, community radio stations and blogs, among others, as well as reforming the laws that govern communications, are important steps towards democratisation. 'No democracy is possible without democratising the media,' said Rubim.

Lubetkin said 'the scattered nature of civil society’s capacity to generate messages with maximum impact, because it expresses itself through such a plethora of media outlets,' is a matter of serious concern.

'This scattered nature, which has always been a feature of the WSF, is a factor that weakens initiatives of this kind,' like democratisation of the media, he concluded.

* Denise Ribeiro is a journalist with the environmental newsletter Envolverde. This article was published by IPS on 31 January 2010.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Pambazuka News 27: A falácia da terceira república em Angola e a questão de Cabinda

2010-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/summarypt/62184

Indigenisation Minister says new regulation will not be reversed

2010-02-12

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news120210/indigminister110210.htm

Saviour Kasukuwere, the Minister of Indigenisation, in charge of the new regulation that requires businesses to hand over at least 51 per cent ownership to indigenous Zimbabweans, has said the regulation will not be reversed.

Tsvangirai eyes new elections as talks deadlock

2010-02-12

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6410&cat=1

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party has called for fresh elections if the current logjam in talks between rival factions of the frayed power-sharing government persisted.

Global: Creating momentum for women's participation

2010-02-12

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50268

Women's movements have played a critical role in creating political space for female participation in politics around the world. In fact, there are more women in government today than ever before. According to UNIFEM's Progress of the World's Women 2008/2009 report "Who Answers to Women? Gender & Accountability", women now hold an average of 18.4 percent of seats in national assemblies, though the rate of increase is still very slow.

More than 8,000 women raped last year by fighters in eastern DRC

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/ye3v78p

The number of women raped in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where sexual violence committed by warring factions has become endemic, topped 8,000 last year, according to fresh estimates released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Rwanda: Empowering genocide widows

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88069

Sixteen years after the Rwandan genocide, many women are struggling to come to terms with the violence they endured. According to the association of genocide widows NGO, Avega Agahozo, sexual violence was used to humiliate, degrade and abuse women during the 6 April to 16 July 1994 killings. In many cases, the violence was meted out before, during or after the women had witnessed the killing of a relative.

Senegal: For peacemaking, Senegal has just the woman

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yf4jln6

One of Senegal's leading lawyers has mediated labor strikes and defused election violence. Her name is Amsatou Sow Sidibe and Malena Amusa thinks she's a major reason why Senegal is relatively peaceful compared to neighboring Guinea.

South Africa: Polygamy, promiscuity and progressive leadership

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/62214

If nothing else, President Jacob Zuma’s belated apology about his out-of-wedlock child with Sonono Khoza following unprecedented outrage at the way he has demeaned the highest office in the land has shown the power of public opinion in a democracy. We have also established once and for all that the personal is political and that leaders must practice what they preach where HIV and AIDS is concerned.
By Colleen Lowe Morna
If nothing else, President Jacob Zuma’s belated apology about his out-of-wedlock child with Sonono Khoza following unprecedented outrage at the way he has demeaned the highest office in the land has shown the power of public opinion in a democracy. We have also established once and for all that the personal is political and that leaders must practice what they preach where HIV and AIDS is concerned.

Still lacking from the public discourse, however, is how Zuma has taken the country back a few decades when it comes to the progressive gender discourse so proudly a part of the new South Africa. In the week that we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from jail, and await President Zuma’s State of the Nation address at the start of a new decade, his crass behaviour reminds us that there is still a long walk to freedom for South African women.

2010 opened with a frenzy of reports about Zuma’s third wife and fifth marriage, peppered with letters and opinion pieces justifying polygamy on the grounds that it’s not illegal or unconstitutional; that it’s better to be transparent about relationships than have concubines hidden away and that liberalism demands tolerance of all lifestyles.
The love child case shattered this sycophantic barrage. It showed that contrary to Zuma’s own claims about openness within his polygamous circle, the president philanders at will outside this circle. Of course, we already knew this to be the case from the trial that acquitted Zuma of rape, but revealed that he had unprotected extra-marital sex with an HIV positive woman half his age before he became president.

That case and the outcry it caused when he said he had a shower to prevent himself getting infected got conveniently forgotten as Zuma earned brownie points on World AIDS Day by going for testing. Now we are at least waking up to the fact that it’s as dangerous to have a hypocrite as it is to have a denialist leading the country in the fight against this deadly pandemic.
We’re also coming around to the fact that whatever the African National Congress (ANC) and Zuma himself may say about his right to privacy, leaders answer to a higher set of standards than even the courts may set. They are role models who set the tone and pace for the rest of the nation: think, for example, of the messages that Barack and Michelle Obama exude about race and gender in the US and further afield.

Yes, polygamy is not illegal in South Africa. But how does it square with a Constitution that provides for the equal rights of women? The South African Law Reform Commission concluded that a system that allows men to have several wives while a woman can only have one husband is self-evidently unequal. It went on to say that unfortunately allowing women to have many husbands offered no real solution in a deeply patriarchal society. The Commission argued that giving women in polygamous relationships equal rights would protect these women and lead to this system gradually fading away for social and economic reasons.

The role of progressive leaders is to push the envelope, not take us back in time. Mandela, despite having similar traditional roots to Zuma, struck a goal for gender equality when he married former Mozambican first lady Graca Machel who kept her surname and identity, and negotiated a commuter marriage between two countries. With Zuma, who has tried to step into Mandela’s shoes, it has become the fashion to flaunt women and children in a way that says: my conquests, my wealth, my possessions.
In response to the frequently asked question: what about the women who choose to be his additional wives or mistresses it is amazing that we fail to question the meaning of “choice” where the forces of power are still so heavily stacked against women. Wherever there is a power imbalance, some in the ranks of the powerless will buy into the agenda of the powerful: witness for example the homeland leaders under apartheid. That surely did not make the system right!



What is frightening about the effect of Zuma on gender discourse in South Africa is that because the most powerful man in the land is involved, the ANC Women’s League (also the driving force behind the Progressive Women’s Movement) has lost its voice, joining in the cacophony of Zuma’s right to privacy, to practice his culture, without the slightest critique of how this sits with constitutional provisions for equality.
According to Zuma, all men need do if they go around fathering children with many women is accept paternity, pay damages, invoke children’s rights, blame the media and claim their right to privacy. If that does not work, you can also say “sorry” before rushing off to deliver the State of the Nation address.

In a serious case of de je vu its only in another moment of crisis that we are we being reminded that although the judge in the 2006 rape trial did not find sufficient evidence to convict Zuma, he took a dim view of Zuma’s conduct. Following the outrage over Zuma’s comments in court about showering away the AIDS risk, he said: “I wish to state categorically and place on record that I erred in having unprotected sex. I should have known better. And I should have acted with greater caution and responsibility.”

Evidently, no lessons were learned as Zuma has since not abstained, acted faithfully, or used a condom. The issue is not whether or not Zuma should step down as president, but the fact that if we had included attitudes towards women as a key test of leadership- a point many of us made at the time - he should never have been president!

Now, as Sibongile Dabeka, a disgruntled ANC supporter, asks in a letter to the Sunday Independent this week: “How do you market a president who sees young women as potential sleeping partners rather than comrades? How does a revolutionary become a feudalist or traditionalist?” How, indeed, are we to square polygamy, promiscuity and the progressive values of the ANC that Mandela gave his life for and that Zuma agrees he must uphold? If we are to push our democracy to greater heights, how now are we to emerge from this quagmire?

*Colleen Lowe Morna is executive director of Gender Links. This article is part of the GL Opinion and Commentary Service that offers fresh news on every day news.

South Africa: Zuma and Polygamy: A perspective from a Zimbabwean woman

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/62216

I have been following with interest the debate around Zuma and the baby with Irvin Khoza’s daughter. Of course, we know that polygamy is an old-age cultural norm among the Zulu and the Ndebele from Zimbabwe. We may debate the pros and cons of this practice; some say it is disrespectful of women while others say it is a tradition that should be preserved for future generations. Whatever you believe, we need to scrutinise the real issues around the outcry about Zuma.
By Buhlebenkosi Tshabangu-Moyo

I have been following with interest the debate around Zuma and the baby with Irvin Khoza’s daughter. Of course, we know that polygamy is an old-age cultural norm among the Zulu and the Ndebele from Zimbabwe.

We may debate the pros and cons of this practice; some say it is disrespectful of women while others say it is a tradition that should be preserved for future generations. Whatever you believe, we need to scrutinise the real issues around the outcry about Zuma.

First, he is a public official, the most powerful man in the land and therefore what he does is of interest to many and not just South Africans; this includes other Africans. If he keeps having children outside marriage when he already has five wives, what example is he setting for South Africans? Is he saying it is perfectly fine and acceptable to have children out of wedlock? Should we endorse and embrace this practice simply because it is already happening? Should society give up on moral values? What about family values?

Secondly, what is Zuma saying about women in general and the women in his life, in particular? To me it seems that he has no respect for women and he does not view them as normal human beings with feelings. Of course, his wives may not have a say in what he does outside the home but does he stop to think about how they might feel about his behavior? Thirdly, what about his children?

I feel sorry for his children because I do not think that any child deserves to hear their father or mother being criticised in public. We all want to think the best of our parents. Does Zuma understand that his actions not only affect him but those around him as well?

Finally and perhaps MORE IMPORTANTLY, we are living in a worlds where HIV/AIDS is a reality so would it be too much to ask that we discard some of our practices in order to try and minimize the spread of the virus? Africa’s AIDS statistics are really scary and I think for the president of any country this should be a cause for concern.

African leaders should lead by example and take the lead in the fight against AIDS. Never mind the fact that we, as Africans, in the spirit of Ubuntu, should condemn extra marital affairs.
Never mind that Zuma is a public official.

Our major concern right now should be what each and every one of us is contributing in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Every step, no matter how small, is critical in reducing the spread of the HI virus. That is the message we need to be spreading out there.

And for women, what are we saying to the girl child who is sitting in the classroom right now, that she should not bother working hard in her Maths and Science class because she may get married to a powerful man? Or that she is simply there to fulfill a man’s desires and she should not have a life of her own?

* This article is part of the GL Opinion and Commentary Service that offers fresh news on every day news.

Uganda: Activists ask court to ban polygamy

2010-02-12

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/858286/-/wi1enb/-/index.html

If man and woman are equal, why should the former be allowed to have several wives while the latter can only have one husband? This is the question the Constitutional Court will answer after listening to submission from a human rights organisation, Mifumi (U) Ltd that wants the polygamous marriages declared unconstitutional.

Global: International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers

2010-02-12

http://www.choike.org/cgi-bin/choike/2009/eng/jump_inf.cgi?ID=7794

On 12 February 2010, the world celebrates the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers in commemoration of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.

Nigeria: Acting president should address abuses

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yd3lssr

Nigeria's acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, should take immediate and concrete steps to address large-scale violence, endemic corruption, a lack of accountability for abuses, and other pressing human rights problems in Nigeria, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the newly mandated leader.

Rwanda: Ex-army officer jailed 15 years for genocide

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yhz8mrs

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced to 15 years imprisonment Tharcisse Muvunyi, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan army, for direct and public incitement to commit genocide in 1994. Presiding Judge Dennis C.M. Byron, assisted by judges Gberdao Gustave Kam and Vagn Joensen, Thursday also ordered 57-year-old Muvunyi to remain in the custody of the Tribunal pending his transfer to a country where he will serve the sentence.

South Africa: Shoot first, ask questions later: What can South Africa learn from Nigeria?

2010-02-12

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/422.1

The Zuma administration has clearly taken a far harder line on crime, in accord with its populist approach. Central to this is the direct threat to 'get' criminals. Invoking this 'shoot to kill' philosophy has already impacted tragically on innocent lives, writes Glenn Ashton.

West Africa: Senegal urged to intervene in Gambia's 'worsening' rights record

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/ycvw4sd

The global rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI), has called on the Senegalese government to intervene and engage its neighbours, Gambian, with a view to improving the latter's "worsening" human rights record.

Chad: Government taken to task over Darfur refugees

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yajcft3

Amnesty International (AI) has called on the Chadian government to allow UN peacekeepers to continue protecting 250,000 refugees from Darfur and 170,000 internally-displaced people (IDPs) in the east of the country.

Global: Haiti's Homeless Hotel

IRIN'S new film on displacement

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85512

IRIN Films is pleased to release a short film about displacement in Haiti as part of our series on internal displacement entitled Forced to Flee. Filmed in late 2009, just weeks before the earthquake struck, this short film tells the extraordinary story of what used to be Haiti's finest hotel, the Simbi Continental.

Global: Humanitarian system gets a "B-minus"

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88034

The emergency aid industry has improved but must try harder, according to the broadest ever assessment of its performance. Reviewers from the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in humanitarian action (ALNAP) assessed how well donors, UN agencies, the International Organization for Migration, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and NGOs were meeting humanitarian needs worldwide and coordinating.

Nigeria: Jos displaced dread return

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88079

Some 15,400 people who fled violence in the central Nigerian city of Jos remain displaced three weeks later and despite dire living conditions, many do not plan to return and rebuild their destroyed homes.

Ten years after Seattle - Challenges for global social movements

2010-02-12

http://www.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de/?p=381

Ten years ago the WTO-protests in Seattle were the beginning of a powerful re-vitalization of global struggles against capitalist globalization. What is the state of the global justice movement today? Is there a need for a strategic re-orientation? Franco 'Bifo' Beradi argues that social movements were in a deep crisis. His article 'Ten years after Seattle. One strategy, better two, for the movement against war and capitalism' recommends a retreat into monasteries and change of concepts and strategies.

South Africa: NUM on Nelson Mandela and "employ locals only" call

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/62234

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) adds its voice to the many in wishing its Honorary President and former President of the Republic Nelson Mandela well on the 20th anniversary of his release. Nelson Mandela whom the NUM conferred an Honorary life Presidency long before his release in 1990 is a symbol of hope to many hopeless and impoverished people across the globe and continues to inspire hope amongst mineworkers.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) adds its voice to the many in wishing its Honorary President and former President of the Republic Nelson Mandela well on the 20th anniversary of his release. Nelson Mandela whom the NUM conferred an Honorary life Presidency long before his release in 1990 is a symbol of hope to many hopeless and impoverished people across the globe and continues to inspire hope amongst mineworkers.
Parliament of the previous administration resolved to investigate the conditions of mineworkers given the historical role they played in the economy as well as in the industrialization of South Africa. The NUM calls on the current Parliament to implement that resolution.

“Employ 100% locals”
The NUM is highly perturbed by the notion adopted by Balfour and other mining communities’ in calling on the local mine to employ locals only. South Africa is a single united country in which all people enjoy freedom of movement and the right to work any where. “The idea of saying residents of Balfour should be the only ones employed in the area is problematic for many reasons. What if it become a national issue and people of Carletonville, Johannesburg, Pretoria and other areas say the same?” says Frans Baleni, the NUM General Secretary.

Call on the LOC
The National Union of Mineworkers calls on the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to honour its commitment to provide free tickets to construction workers who had worked so hard to deliver the stadia, many of whom are currently unemployed. “It will indeed be a good gesture given that many of them have now retired to be job-seekers on completion of the national assignment” says Baleni.

Frans Baleni (NUM General Secretary)

Brazil accelerates investment in Africa

2010-02-11

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e9550408-1519-11df-ad58-00144feab49a.html

Brazil's mining company, Vale, is preparing to start operations in Mozambique as South America's largest economy steps up its involvement in the scramble for Africa's resources. The remote town of Tete in central Mozambique sits on top of some of the world's largest reserves of coal. With migrant workers and contractors flooding in to take advantage of the opportunities created by this multi-billion dollar Brazilian investment, Tete has become a boomtown, its infrastructure creaking under the constant flow of business visitors.

Emerging powers news roundup

Sanusha Naidu

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/emplayersnews/62241

In this week's roundup of emerging powers news, China wary of ICC genocide ruling against Sudan president, Asia unseats South Africa in gold race, India re-draws strategy in African oil assets, and Brazil accelerates its investment in Africa.
Emerging Actors

General News

NATO looks to India and China to build security ties to counter globalized threats More

Helping Africa Grow- Interview with World Bank Head Robert Zoellick More

Asia unseats South Africa in gold race More

Investing in the new emerging markets More

Ghana's president yesterday opened the seventh Africa Investment forum in Accra More

Venezuela Awards Two Oil Blocks, Leaves One Unassigned More



China&Africa

Standart Chartered Bank has introduced a facility to allow Chinese nationals withdraw cash across the continent More

China's role in Africa's mining sector is exaggerated, declared an acknowledged expert at the annual Mining Indaba conference. More

Unveiling the diversity of Chinese finance in Africa More

China Unicom Ltd. and Spain's Telefonica SA are looking to team up on future joint investments in Asia and Africa More

China wary of ICC genocide ruling against Sudan president More

China Non Ferrous Metal suspend 200 employees in Zambia More

China_Non_Ferrous_Metal_suspend_200_employees More


Africa asks China to make greater efforts to fight climate change More

400 Chinese Workers on Strike and Clashes Reported in Ethiopia More


Developing Nations join West in criticism of Beijing's policies to support Its factories despite fears of global imbalance More


Sierra Leone to help enhance Africa-China cooperation More


Sichinga accuses China of raping Zambia’s resources More



China Civil Engineering Construction Company, and Messr. Costain West Africa Plc have commenced work on the rehabilitation of Nigerian Railway Corporation tracks More

The UK's largest independent oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil has sold a stake in its Uganda's oil fields to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for $2.5 billion. More

Chinese investment in Zambia grew by more than 40% last year compared to a year earlier despite the global financial crisis More

Chinese company joins 2010 sponsors More


India&Africa

Nigeria Offers Free Land and Tax Holiday to Indian Investors More

Liberia’s Vice President Joseph N. Boakai has hailed Liberia-India relations More

India has sought Ghana's help in fighting cyber crime More

India is keen to invest in mining ventures in Africa More

Botswana is seeking training from India in the cutting and polishing of rough diamonds More

The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh says that India will participate in the climate negotiations in a spirit of flexibility. More

Shoprite is still sceptical about their franchise’s future in India More

India re-draws strategy in African oil assets
More

South African hotel chain to venture into India More

India to increase partnership with countries in Africa
More

The quarter-century-old Indo-Zambia Bank is a trendsetter across the continent More


'India and Africa should be partners in capacity-building' More

Ecowas and Indian Business Group Sign MOU More


Bilateral Relations&Investment

A Brazilian mining company is preparing to start operations in Mozambique More

Brazil accelerates investment in Africa More

Wal Mart does not intend to buy South African Shoprite
More

New trade minister says Canada is committed to lowering trade barriers and boosting investment in Africa More

The nationalisation of the mines debate could have a negative impact on attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) into South Africa More


International Business Event Management Ghana Limited is to host a multi-sectoral conference in March
More

Australia upbeat on Doha Pact More

Lukoil expresses interest in investing in Uganda oil More

Ilovo sweet on African investment More

3rd East African Community Investment Conference in April 2010 More

Aureos Capital Africa SME fund reaches $380m final close More

Ghana's Government denies blocking ExxonMobil’s Kosmos bid More

The importance of private sector investment in expanding Africa’s infrastructure has been emphasized during the Investment Forum in Accra. More

UAE hopes for strengthening trade ties with South Africa More


The Japanese government has donated over Rwf950million to Rusizi district in Rwanda More


Japanese government has given a grant contract of K17.9 billion to Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association (JATA) in Zambia More


Minister of State for Commerce and Industry has reassured Nigerians that the federal government is not relenting in making Nigeria, one of the world's 20 most viable economies by the year 2020 More


Program offers opportunities for local students to study in Japan More


Nigerian president has given assurance of improved relations between Nigeria and the Kingdom of Kuwait More


The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic Of Iran to Nigeria has said that a nuclear power plant was needed so as to enable Nigeria put an end to its epileptic power supply
More

Cuba urges Africa to appeal to U.S. to remove sanctions More

Gambia-Venezuela ties outlook positive More

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Sanusha Naidu is the research director of Fahamu's China in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Zambia: Totally out of Africa

2010-02-12

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Bu130210totally_out.asp

On the ground floor of a squat building in downtown Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, tellers sit inside tiny wooden cabins, counting out money. Welcome to the Indo-Zambia Bank, which came into being after three Indian state banks and the Zambian government joined forces in 1984. Its 57-year-old Managing Director, Satish Shukla, describes it as a “joint venture of four cultures”.

Nigeria: US 'gives conditions' for dropping Nigeria from 'terror list'

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/ybh8z6s

Nigeria will be struck off the list of 'countries of int erest' by the United States if the African nation can meet four conditions, the local media have reported. The conditions, issued by the US - according to Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe - include that the Nigerian government must make a public condemnation of acts of terrorism wherever they occur in the world and for Nigeria to take urgent steps to address security lapses at its airports.

Burundi: Ensuring credible elections

2010-02-12

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=2&id=6527

This new report from the International Crisis Group, examines the rise in tensions before communal, presidential, legislative and additional local elections that are to be conducted separately between May and September. Such an escalation could lead to new violence that would ruin the credibility of the electoral process and endanger a fragile democracy.

Cote d'Ivoire: Government suspends review of voters' list

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yjnna94

The Ivorian government has announced the suspension, "until further notice," of the review of voters' list, due to the tension surrounding the process of validating the provisional list. The decision was made at the end of a working session between President Laurent Gbagbo and Prime Minister Guillaume Soro Wednesday evening.

Côte d’Ivoire: UN on alert as voter registration halted due to tensions

2010-02-12

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33756

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern about events in Côte d’Ivoire, where the Government has suspended voter registration ahead of this year’s already delayed presidential election because of rising tensions.

Ghana: Constitution under the knife

2010-02-12

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50295

After 18 years of successful multi-party democracy, Ghanaians are bracing themselves to review the Fourth Republican Constitution. Following cabinet’s approval of a memorandum on the consultative review, government has established an independent body to spearhead the process.

Madagascar: Vice prime minister resigns

2010-02-12

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE61B06420100212

Madagascar's vice Prime Minister Ny Hasina Andriamanjato has resigned in a sign of growing divisions within the government over how to end the Indian Ocean island's year long political crisis.

Nigeria: VP takes office as Acting President, lists priorities

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/y9utwvl

Nigeria's Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has assumed office as the country's Acting President, after the two chambers of the National Assembly (parliament) passed separate res olutions that ended 78 days without anyone being in charge of Africa's most populous nation,.

Rwanda: End attacks on opposition parties

2010-02-12

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/10/rwanda-end-attacks-opposition-parties

Opposition party members are facing increasing threats, attacks, and harassment in advance of Rwanda's August 2010 presidential election, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch urged the government to investigate all such incidents and to ensure that opposition activists are able to go about their legitimate activities without fear.

South Africa: The personal is political

2010-02-12

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/424.1

Just over a month ago the legendary Dennis Brutus passed away. He became a legend for so many across South Africa and indeed the whole world not simply because of his exquisitely crafted poetry of passion and his never-ending activist commitment to justice and equality for all but precisely because he lived a life of principled consistency. The content of his public legend was umbilically linked to the character of his personal example. Simply put, Dennis practiced what he preached, writhes Dale McKinley.

North Africa: Corruption probes rock Algeria

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/ycdm2x7

Corruption scandals are piling up in Algeria, with allegations of nepotism and kickbacks connected to lucrative contracts reaching high-ranking officials. Mammoth state-run energy company Sonatrach still has more secrets to reveal. The courts confirmed on January 28th that two senior managers are being held along with two sons of the CEO, Mohamed Meziane, who himself is being probed for alleged corruption, bribery and criminal conspiracy

Africa: Backing grows for research chairs

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yhto2xg

Support is growing for a bid to persuade the G8+5 nations to fund 1,000 senior research positions in African universities. The Academic Chairs for Africa initiative would require the rich G8 countries and the emerging economies that now attend the group's gatherings — Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Mexico — to commit US$100m per year over a five-year period.

Africa: COMESA signs MoU with ECOWAS

2010-02-12

http://www.tralac.org/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&news_id=81932&cause_id=1694

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with the aim of enhancing private sector development in the two regions.

Africa: NEPAD homes in on investment, growth

2010-02-12

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE61B09K20100212

African leaders must cast aside a tendency to "manage poverty" and instead pursue basic economic growth if they want to improve the lives of their people, a leading regional development expert has said.

Kenya: EU deal 'no threat to EAC'

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yae8sry

The Ministry of Trade has moved to allay fears that Kenya may break ranks with the East African Community because of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) trade deal with Europe.

2010 Red Ribbon Award: Only 6 weeks left to nominate!

2010-02-12

http://www.redribbonaward.org/

The deadline for submitting your nomination for the 2010 Red Ribbon Award is February 28, 2010. The award honours and celebrates outstanding community leadership and action that has helped curtail the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS. Twenty-five community-based organisations will be selected through a community-led process and invited to attend the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010) to be held in Vienna, Austria, July 18 – 23, 2010 where they will have an opportunity to showcase their work.

Africa: Herpes treatment not effective in reducing HIV infection

2010-02-12

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20032639

Treating herpes does not reduce the risk of transmitting HIV, a New England Journal of Medicine study has found. The anti-herpes medication is dispensed from all South African Primary Healthcare clinics in the public sector and has been added to the sexually transmitted infection treatment guidelines.

Benin: WHO stresses good hygiene to prevent cholera spread

2010-02-12

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33725

Officials from the United Nations health agency and the Beninese Government are urging the West African nation’s citizens to be extra vigilant in observing good hygiene amid a recent cholera outbreak that has already claimed several lives. Since the outbreak began in early January, 131 cases have been confirmed of which two resulted in death, according to Léon Kohossi with the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in Benin.

EAst Africa: Vision loss affecting one in ten Ugandan people with HIV

2010-02-12

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/07740443-AA0D-4609-A4FA-55F845A388C1.asp

The lack of routine eye care was the likely cause of the unrecognised but significant and preventable vision loss and eye disease among 11% of HIV-infected adults attending an HIV treatment site in Kampala, Uganda, report Juliet Otiti-Sengeri and colleagues in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Global: Positive Prevention – Prevention strategies for people living with HIV

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yk8ymar

This guide on positive prevention1 was developed to assist people living with HIV, service providers and policy makers to understand, promote and implement appropriate rights-based strategies for addressing the prevention needs of people living with HIV. The guide includes sections which focus on action points and provides useful information on key issues to consider when developing prevention programmes for people living with HIV.

Somalia: Health campaign reaches 600,000 women and children

2010-02-12

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33734

Despite fighting that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Mogadishu, health workers have fanned out across the war-torn capital of Somalia in a three-month United Nations-backed campaign that has immunized nearly 300,000 women of child-bearing age and 288,000 children.

South Africa: Measles outbreak spreading

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88090

The cause of a measles outbreak sweeping South Africa has not as yet been determined, but initial suspicions point to religious objections and unfounded fears that immunizations against the disease increase the risk of autism in children.

South Africa: The President and HIV prevention

2010-02-12

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20032638

Although South Africa has almost a million HIV positive people on treatment, actuaries tell us that over 300,000 citizens are still being infected with the virus every year. This prompted health economist Professor Alan Whiteside to remark recently that “HIV treatment without prevention is like mopping the floor while the tap is running”.

South Africa: Younger teachers more open about HIV

2010-02-12

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88054

Younger teachers in South Africa are taking the lead in talking to students about HIV but are not practicing what they preach, according to new research.

Swaziland: Dating in a time of HIV

2010-02-12

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50283

Jabulile Dlamini* is sweet sixteen and has never been kissed. And she is not expecting to be kissed any time soon or to even receive any gifts this Valentine’s Day.

Zimbabwe: Private schools sprout as public system struggles

2010-02-12

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6399&cat=3

"No disruption to learning" touts a newspaper ad for a new private Zimbabwean school, one of many springing up in living rooms, backyards and plots across Harare.

Kenya: Chiefs block gay wedding

2010-02-12

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8511321.stm

Local chiefs and Kenyan officials have prevented a planned "gay wedding" in Kenya - where such unions are illegal. The marriage had been due to take place in a private villa near the resort of Mombasa but chiefs took action after it was reported in the local press.

South Africa: OUT launches Know Your Status day

2010-02-12

http://www.mask.org.za/article.php?cat=southafrica&id=2479

While South Africa remains one of the countries with highest HIV prevalence rates, gay rights organizations are doing their bit to curb the spread of the syndrome and to ensure that people know their statuses.

South Africa: Foreign nationals attacked with "impunity"

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88052

Foreign nationals are being attacked with "impunity" in South Africa, a leading human rights organization charged as the latest service delivery protests turned violent and several hundred residents turned their anger on Ethiopian refugees living in Siyathemba township, about 80km east of Johannesburg.

South Africa: UN refugee agency accused of ‘xenophobia’ over Zimbabwe migrants

2010-02-12

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news120210/un110210.htm

A refugee rights group in South Africa has accused the United Nations refugee agency of ‘xenophobia,’ for not affording Zimbabwean refugees the same treatment as other refugees in South Africa. The group PASSOP has this week said that Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa are victims of a form of ‘selective assistance’ by organisations meant to help them.

Africa: Much work lies ahead

2010-02-12

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/europe/article.aspx?id=8329

Africa needs urgent action on global warming. The consensus position adopted by African leaders ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen failed. African environmental activists are now debating their way forward.

Ethiopia: Dam critics won't go away

2010-02-12

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50241

Ethiopia is building a 240-metre high dam on the Omo River that is intended to end the country's electricity shortage and supply power to neighbouring countries. Not everyone's happy.

Global: UK, Ethiopia to head climate funding effort

2010-02-12

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE61B0G420100212

Britain and Ethiopia will head a new United Nations panel that aims to secure $100 billion every year by 2020 to help developing nations cut emissions and adapt to climate change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

Botswana: Bushmen angry at president’s empty meeting

2010-02-12

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5535

Hundreds of Bushmen were left angry and frustrated after the Botswana president refused to enter into discussions with them during a meeting on Thursday. President Khama, accompanied by four government ministers, met with Bushmen at the New Xade resettlement camp where they were dumped after being evicted from their lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2002.

Global: La Via Campesina welcomes UN preliminary recognition of peasant's rights

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/y9abnpa

The international peasant's movement La Via Campesina welcomes the preliminary UN recognition of the role and rights of peasants and small farmers in the world. The Fourth Session of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council, who met in Geneva on 25-29 January 2010, adopted the report of the Advisory Committee titled “Discrimination in the Context of Right to Food” (A/HRC/AC/4/2).

Global: Brazil to incorporate Right to Food to national constitution

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yjzo4pu

On February 3, 2010, the Brazilian Congress approved the Constitutional Amendment Project (PEC in Portuguese) 047/2003, to incorporate the Right to Food as a fundamental right in the national constitution. The Right to Food will be included in article 6 of Brazil’s supreme law that already contemplates other social rights such as the right to work, health, education, and social security.

Global: How agri-food corporations make the world hungry

2010-02-12

http://farmlandgrab.org/11027

The Winter 2009 issue of Food First News reports that last November the World Summit on Food Security in Rome issued a declaration that the world is now hungrier than ever before. Significantly, this is not the result of food shortage, with world production at 11/2 times that needed to feed every man, woman, and child on the planet.

Cameroon: Authorities urged to account for two journalists held incommunicado

2010-02-12

http://www.ifex.org/cameroon/2010/02/10/journalists_missing/

Reporters Without Borders calls on National Security Chief Emmanuel Edou to immediately explain what has happened to two journalists, Simon Hervé Nko'o and Serge Sabouang, who were arrested by members of the General Directorate for External Investigation (DGRE), an intelligence agency, on 5 February 2010. There has been no news of them since then.

Mauritania: New two-year sentence for website editor

2010-02-12

http://www.rsf.org/Court-imposes-new-two-year.html

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the harsh, two-year jail sentence which a court passed yesterday on Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, at the end of an incomprehensible and arbitrary trial.

DRC: Militias "causing increased havoc" in northeast

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88082

Eight months after the end of joint military operations by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, many parts of Orientale Province, in northeastern DRC, are still in turmoil, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Attacks on civilians by Ugandan rebels and local militias have left 340,000 people displaced, and 30,000 refugees have fled to Sudan.

DRC: Parents keep children at home amid security fears in Dongo

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88061

Schools in Dongo, Equateur Province, in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scene of inter-ethnic clashes from October to December 2009, are still closed because parents are worried about security, despite a call for their reopening by the provincial government.

Guinea: Medical supplies, humanitarian flight blocked after clashes

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88039

Tensions following clashes in N’zérékoré, southeastern Guinea, are hampering the movement of some humanitarian workers and supplies, according to the UN.

Kenya: Plugging the gaps in disaster preparedness

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88067

Kenya's failure to put in place a comprehensive disaster preparedness policy means its response to high-risk events such as droughts, floods, epidemics and major accidents tends to be slow, poorly coordinated and unnecessarily expensive, say specialists.

Nigeria: Communal violence claims 6 lives in Nigeria

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/y9b6py4

Soldiers have been deployed to help restore order after a resurgent communal violence in Nigeria's northern Gombe state has claimed six lives and left many more injured, the News Agency of Nigeria reported Thursday, quoting a Nigeria Red Cross official.

Somalia: Upsurge in fighting drives more Somalis from Mogadishu

2010-02-12

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MDCS-82LHAD?OpenDocument

Clashes between government forces and the Al-Shabaab militia in the Somali capital Mogadishu are displacing thousands of civilians. Reportedly, some 24 civilians have been killed and another 40 injured in the latest fighting, which erupted on Wednesday.

Sudan: UXO threat to development, elections

2010-02-12

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88073

Major routes in Sudan have been cleared of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) but there are still areas where the devices threaten civilians, as well as affecting aid and development efforts, say officials.

Africa: eLearning Africa -Sneak preview of pre-conference events

2010-02-12

http://www.elearning-africa.com/newsportal/english/news214.php

Before the opening of the main conference at eLearning Africa, pre-conference meetings, seminars and workshops will be held on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, offering participants the opportunity to learn a new skill, enhance their knowledge or gather information about a specific topic. Such activities are not only excellent opportunities in themselves, but are also valuable pre-conference networking activities in their own right.

North Africa: Tunisian television makes leap from analog to digital broadcast

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/yfenosg

As Tunisians prepare to abandon analog TV for digital terrestrial television by the end of March, the government mandate announced in late December continues to pose adjustment problems for providers and the public.

Global:AfricaFocus Bulletin Feb 8, 2010 (100208) USA/Africa: Two to tango

2010-02-12

http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/usa1002.php

Corruption is not a solitary activity, and the networks that promote corruption are rarely confined to one country or one continent. For corruption in Africa, countries outside the continent enter the picture not only when foreign companies pay bribes for access. They are also a preferred location for stolen wealth.

Africa: 2010 AWARD Fellowships: Call for applications

2010-02-12

http://www.genderdiversity.cgiar.org/resource/award.asp

African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), a project of the CGIAR Gender & Diversity Program, is now accepting applications for its 2010 fellowships. The deadline for all applications is 22 March 2010.

Global: Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Award

2010-02-12

http://cambodiajobs.blogspot.com/2010/02/gwangju-prize-for-human-rights-award.html

Each year, the May 18 Memorial Foundation announces this award in a spirit of solidarity with those working towards democracy. The award goes to one individual or organization who has contributed to the promotion and advancement of human rights, democracy and peace in their work.

MA in International Labour and Trade Union Studies - Ruskin College

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/62218

MA in international labour and trade union studies
Start: October 2010
Full-time (12 months) OR
Part-time (24 months)
Limited scholarships available
political activists with the knowledge and skills to campaign for social change. The College is now recruiting to its MA in international labour and trade union studies which starts in October 2010. Ruskin attracts UK and international students from trade unions, NGOs, UN agencies, political organisations and civil society bodies.

‘The MA has broadened my understanding of union revitalisation and
examples from unions in various parts of the world that have embarked on
strategies and actions to confront and arrest union decline and crisis’
- Ariel B. Castro (Full-time MA student 2008-09) Senior Specialist for Workers’ Activities, ILO Sub-Regional Office for South Asia


The MA is available on a full-time (12 months) and part-time (24 months basis) and is accredited by the Open University (OU).

This cutting-edge post-graduate course provides learners with the framework to critically analyse global challenges to organised labour. A stimulating and dynamic educational environment challenges learners to engage with theoretical and practical responses to these challenges and devise their own radical solutions. Full-time students are offered a placement with a trade union or NGO organisation within the UK.

To find out more about MA before applying contact
MA Programme Co-ordinator
Ian Manborde – imanborde@ruskin.ac.uk

For details of MA open days and to apply contact:
ILTUS Administrator
Liz Mathews – lmathews@ruskin.ac.uk – 01865 517820

A highly limited number Chevening scholarships are available to overseas students. For more information go to: www.ruskin.ac.uk/study/finance/scholarships/

For the MA structure and content please visiti our Website

Post-Doctoral Fellowship - Gender and Population

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/62210

ICRW is offering a post-doctoral fellowship for a social scientist with gender and population expertise at its Washington, DC office. This fellowship is geared toward early career Ph.D. professionals who would like to conduct research within an action research organization and network with a wide range of experts on gender, population and development.
ICRW is offering a post-doctoral fellowship for a social scientist with gender and population expertise at its Washington, DC office. This fellowship is geared toward early career Ph.D. professionals who would like to conduct research within an action research organization and network with a wide range of experts on gender, population and development.

The fellow will work directly with the Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Impact and other DC-based research staff at ICRW who focus on international gender and population issues, as well as with experts in this area from other organizations and academic institutions. The fellow will make substantive contributions to a research project examining the impact of fertility decline on women's empowerment in developing countries and participate in ICRW’s program and policy-oriented research on adolescents.

Work Focus:

Collaborate with colleagues on research papers (including methodology development, data gathering, analysis, synthesis, and writing) examining the impact of fertility declines and family planning access on women’s empowerment and gender relations in developing countries. Co-author at least one chapter of an edited volume on the impact of fertility declines and family planning access on women’s empowerment. Participate in a network of experts on gender and population, serving as a core member of the ICRW team convening and strengthening the network. Participate in other program and policy relevant research on gender and population issues at ICRW, especially with a focus on adolescents, including the link between girls’ education and reproductive health outcomes as well as the assessment of programs aimed at delaying marriage and childbearing. Participate in proposal writing and development of new work.

Eligibility

Applicants must have a recent or forthcoming Ph.D. in the social sciences, public health, public policy, or a related discipline with training in gender and in demography/population studies.

Desired Skills and Abilities:

High degree of initiative and proactive responsibility, with the ability to work independently or with minimal direct supervision. Substantive background in gender, population, and social science issues and research. Strong analytical and conceptual skills. Strong interest in linking research with policies and program practice. Excellent written, verbal communication and presentation abilities. Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills. Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues from diverse backgrounds. Interest in and comfort level with networking activities. Fluency in English. Proficiency in additional languages a plus. Duration

The term of the fellowship is one year, extendable to two years with mutual consent. The fellowship is a full-time commitment.

Terms

The fellowship award consists of an annual stipend, health insurance, and annual leave. The fellow is responsible for all local accommodations and living costs. The Fellow will be provided with space in ICRW’s office in Washington DC, and will have access to office support. Travel for fellowship related research activities and limited conference travel will also be supported.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest summarizing their background and interest in the field of gender and population, curriculum vitae, and two writing samples to jobs@icrw.org with “Gender and Population Post-Doc Fellowship” in the subject line.

Screening of applicants will continue until the position is filled.

Global: UNESCO International Leadership Training Programme

2010-02-12

http://cambodiajobs.blogspot.com/2010/02/unesco-international-leadership.html

The UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights at the University of Connecticut invites applications for the sixth annual International Leadership Programme: A Global Intergenerational Forum. The Forum seeks to empower young leaders by involving them in finding solutions to emerging human rights problems, and nurturing individuals to be effective leaders in the field of human rights.

CODESRIA: Sub-regional methodology workshops for social research in Africa

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/62222

This edition of the methodological workshops that is on offer for 2010 is designed for doctoral and masters students as well as young, mid-career African researchers based in Nigeria and elsewhere in English speaking Central and West Africa.
CODESRIA
Sub-Regional Methodology Workshops for Social Research in Africa: 2010 session for Nigeria and other Anglophone West and Central African Countries
Theme: Fields and Theories of Qualitative Research
Date: 23—27 August, 2010
Venue: University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Call for Applications

One of the major weaknesses of contemporary social research in and about Africa is its lack of careful attention to epistemological and methodological issues. This weakness has made itself manifest at a time when the increasing complexities of the social dynamics that shape livelihood on the continent and the wider global context call for a greater investment of effort in the refinement of the procedures and instruments of investigation and analyses with a view to achieving a more accurate and holistic assessment of rapidly changing realities. But instead of such an investment of effort, we are increasingly witnessing an astonishing neglect or misapplication of theory and method on a scale and with a frequency that calls for intervention. At one level, the neglect that has taken place has comprised a serious trivialisation of basic research protocols and their reduction to a fetishistic evocation of superficial recommendations thinly disguised with ritualistic appeals to rigour that are not reflected in the analyses undertaken. At another level, methodological issues have simply been instrumentalised in ways that ensure that narrow ideological considerations and pre-determined outcomes take precedence over science. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to come across studies in which methodological questions are outrightly ignored in the name of an alleged specificity or immediacy that amounts to the exclusion of African social realities from universal debates on the validity of scientific frames of analyses. The result is that in those debates, studies produced on Africa come across as a mix of purely literary discourses without an empirical anchorage or anecdotes hidden under a “scholarly” discourse that is not only pretentious but also vacuous. Consequently, the knowledge produced is bereft of heuristic value and simply becomes an element that, wittingly or unwittingly, justifies a predetermined set of economic, political and social policies. This is clearly not an acceptable state of affairs, if only because it impoverishes African social research. It is, therefore, high time that the social research community revisited and discussed the methodological foundations of current knowledge about Africa in order first to put an end to scientific impunity as it manifests itself within and outside Africa, and give a new impulse to the African social sciences through support programmes targeted at younger researchers.

The future of young social researchers begins with an excellent mastery of core research processes and their patient application to concrete situations as demanded by their work in the field, the archives, and the library. Unfortunately, the combination of the prolonged crises in African higher education systems and the poor example set in the writings of an increasing number of Africanists who have succumbed to the temptation to take liberties with methodological rigour mean that younger African researchers are poorly served in matters of training for independent social research. It is for this reason that the CODESRIA Secretariat has decided to convene young African researchers to methodological workshops on epistemological and methodological issues in social research designed to fill the gaps in their formal and informal training. The workshops are meant to serve as a critical space that would offer experience-sharing in the basic epistemological and empirical prerequisites for rigorous scientific imagination. The workshops will not only offer insights into the current state of the art but also provide an occasion for a critical review of contemporary research procedures, tools and theories as seen from an African perspective. The major question which the workshops will address can be summarized as follows: How can the researcher productively establish a link between dominant theoretical approaches and concrete situations in the field whilst simultaneously taking into account the state of knowledge, the techniques to be mobilized, and the evolution of African societies? In answering this question, the workshops will privilege qualitative research methods and tools on the basic premise that the popular tendency to oppose quantitative and qualitative methods is due to a wrong assumption that the former offers an exactness and “hardness” which the latter is supposedly too “soft” and “fickle” to match. Without diminishing the importance of quantitative research and methods, participants in the workshops will be encouraged to explore qualitative methods of capturing African social dynamics which do not always or often find expression, fully or partially, in figures and which are, therefore, lost to those who are wedded to rigid and exclusively quantitative approaches.

This edition of the methodological workshops that is on offer for 2010 is designed for doctoral and masters students as well as young, mid-career African researchers based in Nigeria and elsewhere in English speaking Central and West Africa. The working language to be employed during the workshop will be English. The session will be led by a director who will be assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged expertise in the application of social science research methods. Senior researchers wishing to be considered for a role as resource persons are invited to send an application which indicates their interest and includes their current CV and an outline of issues they would like to cover in four lectures of two hours each. The outline submitted should be detailed enough to enable the director of the workshop compile a syllabus for the guidance of the resource persons and laureates. Apart from the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the resource persons will also be expected to submit a bibliographic list of texts relevant to the theme of the workshop and which can be made available to the laureates.

Among the issues that will be covered during the workshop are:
1. A critical assessment of the distinction between “quantitative” and “qualitative” research with particular attention to the question of measurement in the social sciences. Participants will be taken through presentations and exercises aimed at showing that the mode of processing data that is collected depends both on the field constraints encountered and the paradigmatic options of data interpretation that are available. The procedures for the “quantification” of “qualitative” approaches will also be reviewed through discussions on the distinction between the non-metrical and “comprehensive” presentation of data and the more mathematical renditions favoured by the quantitativists;
2. A presentation of the methodological principles of “object construction” which enables the researcher to transcend the illusions of immediate knowledge and undertake a hypothetical reconstruction of social reality. This demands that the status of the researcher, as well as the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.
3. An assessment of various techniques of data collection and “fact-finding” instruments available to the researcher. The usual tools of qualitative research such as interviews, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to locate their potentiality for construction of successful research projects.

All interested candidates are requested to submit an application that should comprise the following:
1. A letter of motivation which should also clearly indicate the area of research or topic on which they are working;
2. A statement of their research project (maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic that is being addressed, the kinds of field research to be undertaken, the theoretical and methodological framework being used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered;
3. A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae;
4. Two reference letters, one of which must be from the thesis supervisor and the other from the head of the department in which the applicant is registered. The reference letter from the supervisor is expected to address the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approaches used, as well as the results expected. The reference letter from the head of the department is expected to attest to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate; and
5. A letter confirming the institutional affiliation of the applicant.

Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research question being addressed, a commitment to gender balance that is central to CODESRIA’s institutional strategy. Applications must be submitted by 25 June, 2010.

They should be sent to:
SUB-REGIONAL METHODOLOGICAL WORKSHOPS
(Nigeria and other Anglophone West African Countries)
CODESRIA
B.P. 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 – Senegal.
Tél: +221-33 825.98.22/23 — Fax: +221-33 824.12.89
E-mail: methodological.workshop@codesria.sn
Website: http://www.codesria.org

South Africa: House of Hunger poetry slam

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/62227

Venue - Alliance Francaise, 17 Lower Park Drive/Kerry Road, Zoo Lake, Parkview
Time - 2-5pm
Date - 27 February 2010
Guest Artist - Dikson from House of Hunger Zimbabwe
The WINNER will TRAVEL to GHANA for a POETRY event!
For more info call Linda: 073 081 5194

Global: Short Course Statelessness and International Law

2010-02-12

http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/teaching_short_statelessness.html

The Oxford University Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) course on statelessness and international law will take place from 16–18 April 2010 and is intended for experienced practitioners and graduate researchers. It draws on the expertise of RSC staff and associates, as well as members of external institutions, including UNHCR. Registration is now open. The flyer for this course is available to download (PDF).

Africa: CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodology Workshops for Social Research in Africa

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/62236

The 2010 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research discipline. The East and Southern Africa edition of the methodology workshops is designed for doctoral and masters students and young, mid-career African researchers resident in East and Southern Africa.
CODESRIA
Sub-Regional Methodology Workshops for Social Research in Africa
2010 Session for East and Southern Africa
Theme: Fields and Theories of Qualitative Research
Date: 26 – 30 July, 2010
Venue: University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.
Call for Applications

One of the major weaknesses of contemporary social research in and about Africa is its lack of careful attention to epistemological and methodological issues. This weakness has made itself manifest at a time when the increasing complexities of the social dynamics that shape livelihood on the continent and the wider global context call for a greater investment of effort in the refinement of the procedures and instruments of investigation and analyses with a view to achieving a more accurate and holistic assessment of rapidly changing realities. But instead of such an investment of effort, we are increasingly witnessing an astonishing neglect or misapplication of theory and method on a scale and with a frequency that calls for intervention. At one level, the neglect that has taken place has comprised a serious trivialisation of basic research protocols and their reduction to a fetishistic evocation of superficial recommendations thinly disguised with ritualistic appeals to rigour that are not reflected in the analyses undertaken. At another level, methodological issues have simply been instrumentalised in ways that ensure that narrow ideological considerations and pre-determined outcomes take precedence over science. Furthermore, it is not uncommon to come across studies in which methodological questions are outrightly ignored in the name of an alleged specificity or immediacy that amounts to the exclusion of African social realities from universal debates on the validity of scientific frames of analyses. The result is that in those debates, studies produced on Africa come across as a mix of purely literary discourses without an empirical anchorage or anecdotes hidden under a “scholarly” discourse that is not only pretentious but also vacuous. Consequently, the knowledge produced is bereft of heuristic value and simply becomes an element that, wittingly or unwittingly, justifies a predetermined set of economic, political and social policies. This is clearly not an acceptable state of affairs, if only because it impoverishes African social research. It is, therefore, high time that the social research community revisited and discussed the methodological foundations of current knowledge about Africa in order first to put an end to scientific impunity as it manifests itself within and outside Africa, and give a new impulse to the African social sciences through support programmes targeted at younger researchers.

The future of young social researchers begins with an excellent mastery of core research processes and their patient application to concrete situations as demanded by their work in the field, the archives, and the library. Unfortunately, the combination of the prolonged crises in African higher education systems and the poor example set in the writings of an increasing number of Africanists who have succumbed to the temptation to take liberties with methodological rigour mean that younger African researchers are poorly served in matters of training for independent social research. It is for this reason that the CODESRIA Secretariat has decided to convene young African researchers to methodological workshops on epistemological and methodological issues in social research designed to fill the gaps in their formal and informal training. The workshops are meant to serve as a critical space that would offer experience-sharing in the basic epistemological and empirical prerequisites for rigorous scientific imagination. The workshops will not only offer insights into the current state of the art but also provide an occasion for a critical review of contemporary research procedures, tools and theories as seen from an African perspective. The major question which the workshops will address can be summarized as follows: How can the researcher productively establish a link between dominant theoretical approaches and concrete situations in the field whilst simultaneously taking into account the state of knowledge, the techniques to be mobilized, and the evolution of African societies? In answering this question, the workshops will privilege qualitative research methods and tools on the basic premise that the popular tendency to oppose quantitative and qualitative methods is due to a wrong assumption that the former offers an exactness and “hardness” which the latter is supposedly too “soft” and “fickle” to match. Without diminishing the importance of quantitative research and methods, participants in the workshops will be encouraged to explore qualitative methods of capturing African social dynamics which do not always or often find expression, fully or partially, in figures and which are, therefore, lost to those who are wedded to rigid and exclusively quantitative approaches.

The 2010 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research disciplines. These disciplines are uniformly confronted with broadly similar difficulties of understanding social reality and the challenges posed by techniques of data collection and analysis, which, on account of their “qualitative” nature, are suspected by some to be seriously lacking in scientific rigour. Each workshop will have the following concerns at its core:

i) A critical assessment of the distinction between “quantitative” and “qualitative” research with particular attention to the question of measurement in the social sciences. Participants will be taken through presentations and exercises aimed at showing that the mode of processing data that is collected depends both on the field constraints encountered and the paradigmatic options of data interpretation that are available. The procedures for the “quantification” of “qualitative” approaches will also be reviewed through discussions on the distinction between the non-metrical and “comprehensive” presentation of data and the more mathematical renditions favoured by the quantitativists.
ii) A presentation of the methodological principles of “object construction” which enables the researcher to transcend the illusions of immediate knowledge and undertake a hypothetical reconstruction of social reality. This demands that the status of the researcher, as well as the systematic role of theories and tools be subjected to intense epistemological control.
iii) An assessment of various techniques of data collection and “fact-finding” instruments available to the researcher. The usual tools of qualitative research such as interviews, observation, archival studies, and the less usual ones such as photography, will be reviewed, so as to locate their potentiality for construction of successful research projects.

The East and Southern Africa edition of the methodology workshops is designed for doctoral and masters students and young, mid-career African researchers resident in East and Southern Africa. The working language to be employed during the workshop will be English.

The workshop will be run by a senior scholar who will work as the scientific coordinator, assisted by a team of three lecturers, all with an acknowledged expertise in the application of social science research methods. Senior researchers wishing to be considered for a role as resource persons are invited to send an application which indicates their interest and includes their current CV and an outline of issues they would like to cover in four lectures of two hours each. The outline submitted should be detailed enough to enable the director of the workshop to compile a syllabus for the guidance of the resource persons and laureates. Apart from the actual preparation of lectures and field visits, the resource persons will also be expected to submit a bibliographic list of texts relevant to the theme of the workshop and which can be made available to the laureates.

Scholars and younger, mid career researchers wishing to be considered for participation in the workshop, are required to submit an application that should comprise the following:

i) A letter of motivation which should also clearly indicate the area of research or topic on which they are working;
ii) A statement of their research project (maximum of three to five pages) stating clearly the problematic that is being addressed, the kinds of field research to be undertaken, the theoretical and methodological framework being used, as well as the methodological and epistemological problems encountered;
iii) A detailed and up-to-date curriculum vitae;
iv) Two reference letters, one of which must be from the thesis supervisor and the other from the head of the department in which the applicant is registered. The reference letter from the supervisor is expected to address the relevance of the research project, the state of progress of the research and the theoretical and methodological approaches used, as well as the results expected. The reference letter from the head of the department is expected to attest to the qualities and academic potential of the candidate; and
v) A letter confirming the institutional affiliation of the applicant.

All selected applicants will be expected to give a presentation of their proposals to resource persons and other laureates during the methodology workshop.

Applications will be selected on basis of the innovative nature of the research question being addressed, a commitment to gender balance that is central to CODESRIA’s institutional strategy, and the desire for a geographical diversity that will, in itself, constitute an important aspect of the learning experience at the workshops. Applications must be submitted by
17 May, 2010. All applications should be sent to:

CODESRIA Sub-Regional Methodology Workshops,
(2010 Session for East and Southern Africa)
CODESRIA,
P.O. Box: 3304, Dakar, CP 18524 – Senegal.
Tél.: +221-33 825.98.22/23 — Fax: +221-33 824.12.89
E-mail: methodological.workshop@codesria.sn
Web site: http://www.codesria.org

Africa: The CODESRIA Advanced Research Fellowship Programme 2010 Competition

2010-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/62237

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa is pleased to announce the 2010 session of its Advanced Research Fellowship Programme and to invite interested scholars based in African universities or research centres to submit applications for consideration for an award.
Objectives
The CODESRIA Advanced Research Fellowship Programme is designed to contribute to the reinforcement and promotion of a culture of concentrated and extended reflection among African scholars. It is particularly targeted at a younger generation of post-doctoral African scholars interested in carrying out advanced research on any aspect of the African social reality, historical or contemporary. The programme is open to candidates from all disciplines of the Social Sciences and Humanities. Through the programme, support is offered to scholars interested in charting new research directions or extending on-going research to new heights, the expectation being that this will contribute immensely to enriching the state of knowledge about different aspects of the historical and contemporary experiences ofAfrica. Candidates are free to determine the theme on which they wish to work and to specify their preferred methodology for doing so. In identifying candidates whose applications should be supported, emphasis will be placed on the potential for their proposals to lead to the production of new/original insights. The fellowships will be awarded to cover a period of one year, at the end of which a report of publishable quality shall be submitted for evaluation. Each report is expected to be between 50,000 and 80,000 words long and if accepted for publication will be included in the CODESRIA Book or Monograph Series. For the year 2010, the Council will be awarding ten fellowships of a maximum value of USD 8,000. As part of the award, all laureates will be invited to participate in a two-day orientation workshop.. The orientation workshop is an integral part of this grant and will be paid for by CODESRIA without impacting the grant amount indicated above.

Eligibility
To be eligible, candidates are expected to be holders of a doctoral degree in any of the social sciences and humanities. The doctoral degree should have been obtained within five years of the date of submission of the application. All applicants are required to be affiliated to an African research institution.

Requirements for Application
Candidates wishing to be considered for the award of a fellowship are requested to submit the following documents:

a) Research Proposal
A research proposal of between 10 and 15 pages which should be a clear statement of the work to be undertaken, the problematic that underpins it, the significance of the study vis-à-vis the existing literature, the methodology to be employed, implications of the methodological approach adopted for the empirical research to be undertaken and the expected output. Candidates are strongly encouraged to indicate the innovative or original dimensions which they hope their study will yield; a detailed presentation of the epistemological foundations of the research will also be considered as a distinct advantage.

b) Work Programme
The duration of each fellowship is one year, effective from the date of award. Each application should be accompanied by a detailed work programme spread over a period of 18 months beginning from the date of award of the fellowship.

c) Budget
Applicants are required to provide a detailed budget up to a maximum of USD8,000 which includes the research and dissemination costs they expect to incur throughout the duration of their fellowship. The budget should be structured to reflect the disbursement formula the Council intends to apply, which will consist in paying 50% of the fellowship amount upon signature of the award contract, 25% of the grant upon receipt of a satisfactory scientific progress report and the remaining 25% per cent upon receipt of the final revised version of the research results. In addition to the costs of fieldwork and book acquisition, candidates are encouraged to consider integrating participation in one international conference relevant to their research preoccupation in the budgetary framework of their study. (The final choice of the conference to be attended will be made in close consultation with the CODESRIA Department of Training, Grants and Fellowships, it being understood that requests for support to participate in such an international conference will only be entertained by CODESRIA after the receipt of a first complete draft of the final report of the fellow for which feedback from the international scientific community might be elicited for the revision of the report).

d) Reference Letters
Applications should be accompanied by three reference letters and contact details from scholars who are familiar with the applicants’ work and are in a position to attest to their institutional affiliation. Where possible, candidates are requested to include at least one reference from a scholar based outside their countries of residence.

e) Curriculum Vitae
Each candidate should submit a detailed curriculum vitae showing clearly the candidate’s research publications and participation in research network/activities. Copies of certificates obtained by candidates should be included with the applications.

f) Copy of Doctoral Certificate
Applicants should include a copy of their doctoral degree certificate with their application documents. CODESRIA reserves the right to cross-check the actual date by which candidates completed their studies in order to determine their eligibility for the fellowship programme.

g) Candidate’s Commitment Letter
A one-page letter from the applicant affirming his/her readiness to submit a monograph-length scientific report of between 50,000 to 80,000 words as the outcome of the research carried out under the grant. The applicant should also commit to carrying out all revisions arising from the peer-review of their report in a timely manner, and affirm his/her understanding that the final version of the report will be published in the CODESRIA Book of Monograph Series.

Selection Process
All applications received will be reviewed by an independent Selection Committee comprising eminent scholars. All candidates will be notified of the results of the selection process.

Deadline for the Receipt of Applications
All applications should be received not later than 30 July, 2010. Applications should be addressed to:

The Advanced Research Fellowship Programme,
CODESRIA,
BP 3304, CP 18524,
Dakar, Senegal.
Tel: +221- 33 825 98 22/23
Fax: +221-33 824 12 89
E-Mail: advanced.fellowship@codesria.sn
Website: http://www.codesria.org

Special Issue: foresight: Is Africa the land of the future?

2010-02-12

http://tinyurl.com/ycjyn4t

For the Foresight journal’s Special Issue on the theme “Is Africa the land of the future?”, we invite papers that look at the potential conditions and the roles of Africa and Africans in the future world. In addition to the exploration of possible futures, the theme of the Special Issue also calls for considerations for robust policies and creative strategies that could ensure sustained transformation within the African continent.

Fahamu