Current Issue

Forced repatriations taking place in Uganda

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/action/67065

The Government of Uganda is violating the Article 12 (5) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples rights, by resorting on mass expulsions of non-nationals (Rwandan Refugees) on the basis of nationality and ethnicity. In addition of refoulement; it is very substantial to note that the ultimatums, verbal abuse, deadlines, anti-Rwandan refugee rhetoric, destruction of crops and huts, restriction of access to humanitarian assistance, bars on granting of refugee status, and starvation are some of tactics that are currently used by the Government of Uganda (GoU) to induce and force us to return to Rwanda.

In absence of evidence, Government Minister of Disaster Preparedness, Relief and Refugees, Prof. Tarsis KABWEGYERE, continues to unfoundedly accuse Rwandan Refugees to be criminals (Reuters, Uganda Defends Deportation of Rwandan Refugees,July 20, 2010). Rwandan refugees are always treated as criminals who are running away from justice. This has resulted into perpetuated ethnic stereotypes and it is gradually becoming an excuse for Ugandan authorities to violate our rights. In the other hand, it has been a pretense always advanced by Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) to genocidal massacre Hutu refugees.
Prof. Kabwegyere threatened that push factors and refoulement would not be desisted soon.” If Rwandan refugees insist, we shall chase them or they can contact UNHCR so that they are relocated elsewhere. This is the government position, UNHCR knows about it and they should arrange with Rwandan refugees and take them to another country”: he added (IRIN, Uganda Starves Rwandan Refugees to Force Them Return to Rwanda, July 19, 2010).

However, UNHCR is always asserting that they are not informed about the situation. So far, the Rwandan High commissioner in Uganda, Maj. Gen. Frank MUGAMBAGE, confirmed that UNHCR knows what is going on as it was reported by Daily Monitor in July 2010. “ The Rwandan envoy to Uganda, told Daily Monitor in Kampala that UNHCR has declared that, by next, all Rwandan refugees in Uganda will be returned home”: written in the Daily Monitor article “ Rwandan Refugees to Return”; Says Rwandan envoy to Uganda. So, the lack of rationality and transparency is weakening the credibility of UNHCR in general and, in particular, narrows the confidence of Rwandan refugees.

At one end of the scale, Government of Rwanda (GoR) is seeing the simple recognition of refugee status to Rwandan refugees by GoU as a hostile act as they are struggling to cover up the crimes of genocide perpetrated in DR Congo.

This is despite the fact that both African (Article 11 (2)) and Ugandan (Section 3 (1)) refugee Laws explicitly provide that the grant of refugee status is intended to have strictly humanitarian effect.

Subsequently, if GoU is unwilling and finds difficult in continuing to grant asylum and protection to Rwandan refugees, they should appeal directly to the International Community (IC) for lightening the burden as it is enshrined by the article 11 (4) of 1969 OAU Refugee Convention and 1951 UN Refugee Convention

Nevertheless, this option and the IC’s commitment may be needled by some calculations, because we are clearly hostages to political reckoning.
The numbers of returnees, and with the speed they return, are computed as indicators of political gain and would undoubtedly help the RPF-dominated government to formulate pseudo motives to dismiss the UN report on Genocide perpetrated by RPF against Hutu refugees in DR Congo.

The politicization of Rwandan refugees’ protection emanates not only from Uganda and Rwanda, but also from the broader IC. The latter’s failure to help prevent genocidal massacres in Rwanda and DR Congo, and to respond effectively to the refugee emergency which ensued, for example, may make donor governments eager to encourage the return – whether through the activities and policies of UNHCR or bilaterally. This results in their prone to overlook shortcomings in governance and human rights protection in Rwanda.

The IC has clear obligations to intervene where required. The UN Security Council Resolution 1296 (2000) invites the UN S General Secretary to bring to the attention of the Security Council situations where refugees and IDPS are vulnerable to infiltration of armed elements.

Subsequently, if GoU is unwilling and finds difficult in continuing to grant asylum and protection to Rwandan refugees, they should appeal directly to IC for lightening the burden as it is enshrined by the article 11 (4) of 1969 OAU Refugee Convention and 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

Otherwise, cycles of return and flight are inevitable if sustainability and voluntariness as central pillars of return programs are scarified in the cause of political reckoning and of garnering short term increases in the number of returnees.
Furthermore, one of the ways to ensure the protection of blokes against militarily backed dictatorship, against fanatical discriminatory politics and against refoulement; is that the flight of a certain percentage of Rwandan, who managed to escape the RPF iron fist, should give the UNHCR as well as the IC the right and duty to intervene for support of Rwandan refugees.



REPORT ON THE OUTCOME OF THE 14TH JULY REFOULEMENT OF RWANDAN REFUGEE IN NAKIVALE REFUGEE CAMP.


I. List of people killed during the refoulement of Rwandan refugees.

Names Age
(Years) Status Ration Card Number Cause of death
1. NDAHIRO Aloys 35 Refugee 132 146 Strangled by Rwandan agents
2. MUKANGARAMBE
Mélanie 25 Asylum seeker - Shot dead by a policeman
3. MUGENZI 28 Refugee 131 895 Shot dead by police
4. MUTUYIMANA Agnes 32 Asylum seeker - disenwombed
5. MUHIRE 30 Asylum seeker - Jumping off the truck
6. MUKESHIMANA 6 Asylum seeker - Flattened during the stampede
7. MUTONI 3 Asylum seeker - Flattened by the crowd
9. NYIRAKAMANA Cécile Refugee 128 782 Died of injuries
10. MUKAMANA ( with her
two children) Asylum seeker - Died of police beatings when she was trying to rescue her kids from the stampeded crowd
11. MUGISHA Silas Asylum seeker - Shot by police in the neck and waist
12. KANAMUGIRE Jean Paul Asylum seeker - Died of injuries caused by police beatings
13. DUSINGIZIMANA
Pacifique Asylum seeker - Jumping off the truck
14. KIMONYO Asylum seeker - Genitals amputated by the barbed wire

NOTE: The above list is an evidence to dismiss the official versions which claimed that
only two (2) people died trying to leap from the trucks.



II. Burial places and time of some people killed during the refoulement.

• In the night of 14th July 2010, policemen buried two (2) bodies of adults and four (4) bodies of children in presence of Commandant Festo WAFUTA. The burial took place at RUHITA (between Isangano and Gityaza Zones). The bodies were lumped in plastic sheeting;
• On 15th July 2010, an OPM staff member, KIZA Samuel, brought two (2) bodies with an ambulance from MBARARA Hospital and impelled Burundian and Congolese refugees to burry the bodies in JURU II Zone;
• On 16 July 2010, three (3) bodies were buried in the valley of RUHOKO-KABWEERA under the surveillance of commandant Festo WAFUTA ;
• On 17th July 2010, two (2) bodies was buried at KABAZANA Zone by Burundian and Congolese refugees after that police and camp authorities threatened to inflict to them similar mistreatments as Rwandans if they would refuse to;
• One (1) body was buried in the cemetery of KABAHINDA C Zone



III. Some of the Separated families.

Repatriated Remaining
1. HABARUREMA Innocent (Husband) MUKARUHIRE Josée (Wife) with 6 kids
2. NSENGIYUMVA Yohana (Husband) KAMPIRE Pierrine (Wife) with 5 kids
3. MUKANDAYISABA Emmelite (Wife) HABINEZA François (Husband)
4. TUYISABE Claudine (Wife) MINANI Jean Bosco (Husband)
5. BIGIRIMANA Emmanuel (Husband) MUKANDAYISHIMIYE Claudine
6. NIBAGWIRE Alice MBARAGA Etienne



IV. Some people who were forcibly repatriated where as they were granted refugee
status.

Names Ration Card Number
1. NKURUNZIZA Donat 125 760
2. NSABIMANA Augustin 358 239
3. NYIRARUKUNDO Zawadi 361 040
4. NIRERE Valentine 118 192
5. SIBOMANA Pierre 125 745
6. MUKANDANDA UWIMANA 128 431
7. BAZIRAMWABO Télésphore 402 233
8. MUSABYIMANA Odette 120 702
9. NKURUNZIZA Bosco 408 042
10. HABIYAREMYE Télésphore 402 234
11. NGABONZIZA Augustin 356 843
12. HAKIZIMANA Pierre 128 744
13. MUKARUNKUNDO 126 321
14. NZARAMBA Alphonse 121 247
15. NDIKURYAYO Simon 121 804
16. NZABANDORA Aloys 128 782
17. MUKARUGAMBA 410 911

NOTE: The UNHCR and Government of Uganda (GoU) have always denied that
recognized refugees were among people who were forcefully repatriated.



V. Children who were forcefully repatriated to Rwanda leaving their parents in
Uganda.

Child Age (Years) Parent (Mother or Father)
1. UWAMAHORO Ester 8 UWIZEYIMANA Anastase
2. BAHATI 4 HABYARIMANA
3. BYAMUNGU Innocent 7 SAGAHUTU Damascène
4. MIKANDAYISABA Josée 11 SIBOMANA Gilbert
BIZIMUNGU Mark 5 KIMONYO Syprien



VI. Children whose parents were forcefully repatriated.

Names Age ( Years) Zone
1. KAMANAViateur 13 Isangano
2. KAMANZI 8 Isangano
3. MUKAMANA 5 Isangano
4. KARASANYI 3 Isangano
5. TUYISENGE Emmanuel 1 & ½ Isangano
6. TUMUKUNDE Francine 7 Isangano
7. GARUKURORE Léolantine 8 Isangano
8. MUKAGAKWAYA Jidiya 17 Isangano
9. HARINDIMANA 4 Isangano
10. UWINEZA Joselyne 3 Isangano
11. SIBOMANA Aimable 13 Juru I
12. NYIRANSABIMANA Espérence 12 Juru I
13. KOBWA 7 Juru I
14. NSHIMIYIMANA Daniel 9 Juru I
15. IHIGUKUNZE Antonia 2 Juru I
16. NDIKUBWIMANA Céléstin 16 Juru I
17. NTEZIRYAYO Jean Claude 17 Juru I
18. NSHIMIYIMANA Innocent 6 Juru I
19. WARAMBA Sylivie 4 Juru I
20. UGIRIWABO Gratia 14 Juru I
21. MARIMA Sophia 12 Juru I
22. HABIMANA Zakayo 10 Juru I
23. SHUKURU 3 Juru I
24. KEMIREMBE 2 Juru I
25. MBYARIYEHE Gilbert 16 Juru I
26. UZABAKIRIHO Emmanuel 10 Juru I
27. KAREGEYA 1 Juru I
28. TANGA 1 & 2/3 Juru I
29. SADIKI Bosco 8 Juru I
30. NSHIMIYIMANA Moses 10 Juru I
31. UWIZEYIMANA 17 Juru I
32. NDAYISENGA Salima 14 Juru II
33. SUDI 1 & ½ Juru II
34. ISHIMWE GIHOZO 17 Juru II
35. BAHIZI Fils Jean Pierre 14 Kigali
36. TWINEOMUJUNI 6 Mayanja
37. RUBOTI 4 & ½ Mayanja
38. KADUSABE 3 Mayanja
39. MUHOZA 1 & ½ Mayanja

NOTE: Minister Tarsis KABWEGYERE admitted that only four children were
separated from their parents. And, no effort has been apparently driven to
arrange family reunification.




NOTE: It needs more meticulous investigation with the accord of the government of
Uganda, because the garnering of this information has been carried out
clandestinely. The Ugandan authorities have menaced and intimidated any
refugees who would divulge the reality and the journalists were restricted access
to place.

This report is for the case of NAKIVALE Refugee Camp. And there are some zones that were not covered because of lack of financial means. And, we were avoiding any danger that could occur by drawing the attention of Ugandan authorities.

I am projecting to go for collection of data in KYAKA II Refugee Camp also.

Proposal – Queer African Reader

Pambazuka Press

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/67004

Proposal – Queer African Reader

Project Consultant: Sokari Ekine
Proposed Editors: Sokari Ekine, Hakima Abbas

We are writing to invite you to participate in the publication of an African LGBTI Reader to be published by Pambazuka Press in June 2011. The African LGBTI Reader is being published in response to the increasing homophobia and transphobia across the continent which aims to silence the voices of African Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex people.

The African LGBTI Reader [Working Title] seeks to make a timely intervention by bringing together a collection of writings and artistic works that engage with the struggle for LGBTI liberation and inform sexual orientation and gender variance. The book seeks to engage with primarily an African audience focusing on intersectionality and will include experiences from rural communities, post-conflict situations, religious experience as well that of immigration and displacement.

We are proposing an alternative framework for the book based on a participatory model in which we ask prospective contributors and the broad queer activist community to discuss possible topics to be included that will push analysis and thinking within this distinct and diverse movement across the continent writing from the standpoint of both personal stories and experiences as activists. We feel this is important because of the multi layered issues which exist historically, regionally and politically with regards to sexual orientation and gender variance in Africa as well as the overall struggle for African liberation.

We hope to facilitate the writing of key African LGBTI leaders, activists and thinkers by providing a two week retreat where activists can create the space to reflect, share their ideas and writing, peer review each other’s work, have access to sources and resources provided by prominent academics and the institution. The writing retreat will be fully sponsored and contributors will be provided an honorarium for their writing which will enable them to take the time away from their activities to provide a critically reflective piece.

Possible Topics - not including personal stories, poems, stories

We have identified eight themes which are listed below with a brief summary of each. We are suggesting each of you think about the theme[s] that interest you and suggest specific topics on which you could write or would like to see addressed.

1. WHAT’S IN A LETTER:

We repeatedly use the terms lesbian, gay, bi-sexual transgender and intersex but what do these mean in your own experience, your own community and country? How limiting or inclusive are these labels? Are they appropriate and do they reflect your own experiences? Does the identity cause more problems than the behavior? Does gender variance or gender non-conforming provide a more appropriate entry point for discussion in Africa given silence around all sexualities? How do we organize across definitions? Why should we?

2. RESISTING OPPRESSION - TOWARDS LIBERATION:

What kind of strategies have been used or could be taken up to resist / challenge queer oppression?

Should we be talking about movement-building? What conceptualisations, experiences and visions of movements do we have / should there be?

Should the struggle for LGBTI Rights be framed within a Western construct which sees Rights as instruments and legislation or should the struggle for rights be constructed within a framework of movement building around which the oppressed organise?

How has the reliance on the NGO Industrial complex supported or hindered movement building? If the latter, what possible alternatives are there to organising and fund raising? How can we move towards more collaborative and collective ways of working which support movement building? What kind of strategies have been used or could be taken up to resist / challenge criminalisation and homophobia including that coming from religious institutions and the media? How should we understand and transcend the limits of the NGO-dominated activist space?

3. PINK COLONIALISM AND WESTERN MISSIONARIES:

What are the problematics of internationalising campaigns and how do we work with allies in the West? How do we overcome donor dependence as a movement? Do the donors and bilaterals save us from ourselves? How do we measure victory e.g. in Malawi and Uganda?

4. A CHANGING WORLD: SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BRICS:

Does South Africa have a particular role to play in supporting queer liberation in Africa? Does the shift in global power create opportunity or threat for African queer liberation? What other geo-political factors determine the course for queer liberation?

5. AFRICAN QUEER LIBERATION AND CLASS STRUGGLE:

What are the intersections between the broader social justice movement in Africa and the movement for queer liberation? Why should one care about the other?

6. ARE GAY MEN FEMINISTS?

What political frames are useful in our movement building? While LBT activists have tended towards feminism does it exclude GT men? How do we address patriarchy and sexism in our movements and personal relationships even among women-identified folks? Why do many straight identified African feminists resist taking on queer issues as a feminist issue in Africa?

7. GOD AND QUEER – INCOMPATIBLE OR INSEPARABLE IN AFRICA

Does the movement have to come from a secular space? Given that many African queer folks identify as religious how do we overcome fundamentalism? The US right wing church are using Africa as a battleground for queer bashing – why is this effective? What of countries with majority Muslim populations or Islamic law for queer liberation? What is liberation theology today from a queer liberation and broader social justice perspective? What are our strategies here? Are there existing experiences of this, and what can we learn from there? What are the conceptual, spiritual and strategic challenges that the concept of liberation theology throws up to religious queers?

8. RECONCILING THE PERSONAL WITH THE POLITICAL:

What particular role has been/can be played by those engaged in activism through the creative arts? What has been/is the personal cost to working as social justice activists often working in relative isolation and in hostile environments? How can we better balance our lives as social justice activists with that of social people and the need to care for ourselves?

Submissions can be any of the following: essays, case studies of lived experiences on any of the suggested themes, personal stories, poems, art work, photography, short stories, short plays.

Submissions are welcome from Africans both on the continent and in the diaspora.

Download the Concept Note here.

Launch of ‘Change’ online platform

Fahamu

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/67006

Fahamu in partnership with Society for International Development (SID) and the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (SIDA) wishes to announce the launch of the Change website.

The change site is an open platform for the Kenyan people and friends of Kenya to interact and share information.

The site is one of the outputs of the Change Conference held in October 2009 in Nairobi, and is aimed at increasing access to resources and encourage dialogue towards realising change at the national level be it through government institutions, NGOs or at the community level.

The site highlights activities taking place under the Change project of Fahamu including Citizens' Forums across Kenya and showcases documentaries including ‘Making Change’ by Maina Kiai.

Everyone is invited to write articles to be posted on the blog as well as share your views on change in Kenya.

Please visit: http://www.fahamu.org/change/

Kindly forward your comments to Patita or Paul.

Pambazuka News 500th issue and 10th anniversary approaching

Help us to celebrate

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66982

In October 2010 we will publish the 500th issue of Pambazuka News as we reach our 10th birthday. Over that time, we have built up a database of some 60,000 articles and news items on the website - all available for free. Some 2,500 authors have contributed articles, poems, audiovisual materials and commentary. Pambazuka News has become the oldest and largest (and of course most dynamic) citizen journalism site for social justice in Africa.

The number of readers continues to grow - some 660,000 unique visitors to the site during the last 12 months. Pambazuka News has played a significant role in supporting social movements to get their voices heard, and is widely used in advocacy by a wide range of alliances and networks. Pambazuka News provides a perspective of a proud, active and resonant Africa fighting for progressive social transformation.

We think this is something to celebrate. We'd like you to join us in this celebration. If you'd like to send messages of solidarity, congratulations (or even commiserations!), we'll publish them on this site at the same time that we publish a special anniversary issue of Pambazuka News.

We'd also like you to join us by helping us to reach the 1,000th issue of Pambazuka News - forward to the next 500 issues and our 20th anniversary.

We've given you the first 500 free. But now we want your help. Would you consider donating at least $1 for every issue we publish in the future. Make a monthly donation of $4.00 - or an annual donation of at least $48 - to enable Pambazuka News to continue to support the movement for freedom and justice. You can sign up for a direct debit online here.

We want to raise $300,000 to expand the services provided by Pambazuka News to our readers. Please consider this appeal as a serious one: it is the only way we can make sure that Pambazuka News survives and grows, but above all, remains independent.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Racism, Islamophobia and capitalist depression

Horace Campbell

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/67014

cc Viktor NagornyyFollowing inflammatory remarks made by Florida pastor Terry Jones around burning the Qu'ran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, Horace Campbell considers the resurgence of Islamophobia and attempts by powerful sections of the US conservative ruling class to stoke up the flames of conflict. At a time of acute economic downturn, Campbell contends, the forces of peace and understanding must complement one another in a bid to prevent discrimation, prejudice and conflict from gaining traction and cementing the position of the US neo-conservative establishment.

When the news of the plans to burn more than 200 copies of the Qu’ran reached international headlines, any sane person wondered if US society had gone crazy. The incendiary plan came weeks after international debates about the plans by a group to build an Islamic community centre in New York City. Conservatives in the United States distorted the true story and there were wild claims that there were plans for the building of a mosque at Ground Zero in New York. Ground Zero is the name of the site of the fall of the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001. It is my view that the decision to burn the holy book during the period of the commemoration of the events of September 11 was a calculated effort to maximise the propaganda effort to heighten the scourges of racism and islamophopbia in the United States and in those societies in western Europe allied to conservative forces in the USA. As a propaganda tool, this announced plan to burn the Qu’ran achieved its most important goal, that is, to promote the ideas of war and hatred. It was for this reason that the timing of the Qu’ran burning was to coincide with the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Racism and anti-Islamic propaganda had been refined to serve the purposes of the US military–industrial complex. The divisions in the military over whether they were in a war against Islam or in a war against terrorists had been accentuated by the belief of some sections of the military that the commander in chief was in fact a Muslim, and therefore not an authentic citizen of the USA. For two decades US rulers had used the threat of Islamic fundamentalism as a justification for keeping a high military, economic and political profile in the Middle East while supporting the extremists in Israel. The troops and private contractors from the US military machine who had been pumped up by the association of Islam and fascism (so called Islamofascism) had to hear a credible voice from the neo-conservative establishment. Pastor Terry Jones was given wide publicity and the conservative sources of news were now caught in the contradiction of promoting racism and hatred of Islam in a way that made US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan vulnerable to popular outrages. The most challenging aspect of this new period of hate was the spinelessness of liberals. In a period of the most serious capitalist depression since 1930, the scenario planners for the capitalist class had decided that a division between white and black workers was to be supplemented by divisions between Christians and the followers of Islam.

RACISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA

The extreme forms of racism that have been on the rise in the United States since the election of Barack Obama have shaken those who have been pontificating about a post-racial United States. Evidence of racial profiling, discrimination and the aggressive acts of exploitation of black and brown peoples in the United States have only been surpassed by the passionate statements of the racists who are turning up at the Tea Party rallies crying out that ‘we want our country back’. This chant by the conservative is an overt statement by the more racist section of US society that Barack Obama is an illegal president. Carl Paladino, who was running to become the gubernatorial candidate in the USA for the Republican Party in the state of New York, sent out emails with offensive racist and sexist images. My hometown newspaper reported that this candidate sent an email depicting a horse having sex with a woman and another that included a pornographic video and the headline ‘Miss France 2008 F[***]ing.’ He also reportedly sent out an email depicting President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as a pimp and prostitute. Paladino won the nomination with this message. Down in the South, the Obama presidency is dubbed as the ‘nigger show’.

Paladino come out of obscurity with this kind of message to become a frontline candidate in the race between Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate and Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate. After the primary elections on Tuesday 14 September 2010, the Tea Party emerged as a real force in US politics. In nine major races for the Senate the candidates backed by the Tea party won the right to contest in the November elections to be held on Tuesday 2 November. These victories gave the extreme racist and conservative forces front-line spaces to propagate falsehoods, lies, division and hatred of followers of the Islamic faith.

From the Tea Party followers we have been provided images of Obama as the Islamofascist when Obama was being compared to Hitler. These statements from the whipped-up crowds at political rallies have been supported by politicians who have called for the repeal of the 14th Amendment of the US constitution. This amendment was that instrument of the constitution that gave Africans the rights to be citizens of the United States after the Civil War of 1861–65. Prior to this constitutional change, Africans could not be citizens and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 had stated clearly that descendants of enslaved persons could not be citizens of the USA. The question had been posed before the Civil War in the US courts.

‘Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen?’

The answer as handed down by the US Supreme Court was: No.

This decision was overturned by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution after the Civil War. Since the US Civil War and the granting of citizenship to blacks there has been a debate among conservative jurists on whether it was a mistake to grant citizenship to blacks, who were considered inferior in any case.

After the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the conservatives were alarmed and started a campaign that Obama was not a real US citizen because he was not born in the United States. These citizens who carried this line were called ‘birthers’. As the conservative and right-wing forces gained confidence from millions of dollars being spent by billionaires to finance them and from the silence of the middle, the more extreme politicians went further to target not only blacks but citizens of Hispanic backgrounds. This double assault on black and Latinos was manifest in the posture of the Arizona state that adopted neo-fascist laws against immigrants and oppressed peoples. It was in this climate of heightened racial polarisation that Senator John Kyl (R-Ariz.) became the highest-ranking Republican to suggest support for the repeal of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. Appearing on a popular Sunday television show, Kyl said that he opposes allowing children of undocumented immigrants to be granted US citizenship and wants Congress to hold hearings on the matter. The subtext of this statement was to send a signal to the neo-conservatives that it was time to intensify the racist ideas that can leave blacks and Hispanics insecure in the USA. This insecurity would serve to divide the poor at a moment when all poor persons – black, white and brown – should be focusing on unemployment, loss of homes and the fighting of two wars at the same time.

Racism and capitalist exploitation have always gone hand in glove with strengthening the powers of the capitalist classes in the United States. This racism carries with it the ideas of white supremacy. Through the power of the Anglo-American media and propaganda, this racism became a worldwide phenomenon. Racism, sexism and homophobia became weapons in the toolbox of exploitation. Although the United Nations has retreated from linking racism to capitalism, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had been clear on the meaning of the terms of racial discrimination.

‘the term “racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.’

In my most recent book, ‘Barack Obama and Twenty-First Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA’, I linked racism and sexism and defined both in the following terms:

‘Racism emanates from a set of ideas, practices, attitudes, actions and institutional structures which systematically subordinate a person or group because of their color. Sexism refers similarly to attitudes, actions or institutional structures which systematically subordinate a person or group because of their sex. Sexism is usually buttressed by the belief in heterosexism that is the belief that normal sexual relations should be between humans of different sexes. Genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics raise new challenges for the 21st century as the repression and conservatism of the neo-liberal era placed US society in a league of its own on the questions of racism and sexism.’

In this book, I have raised the dangers of the kind of thinking that guides researchers in the fields of computer science who are working for the era of technological singularity. It was my argument that the techno-utopians who subscribe to a future era of a new and reinforced hierarchy of human beings are reproducing the old ideas of white supremacy. As one of our students recently remarked, ‘singularitarians’ represent the most evangelical and fundamentalist group of techno-utopianists’.

The point that is to be communicated is that the right-wing racism of politicians of the Tea Party and of the posturing of conservative senators is surmounted by an even greater danger, that of the racists in white lab coats who operate under the radar of public scrutiny. The fight against racism is not only a fight against the prison–industrial complex, racial profiling and all of the other sores of institutionalised racism, but against the new forms of bioengineering that propose a new definition of what is a ‘human’ being.

ISLAMOPHOBIA

The evangelical and fundamentalist groups of techno-utopia draw some of their inspiration from a new form of religious stridency that has served the interests of the US rulers since the end of the Cold War. This is the idea of Islamophobia, which is prejudice against, or an irrational fear of Islam or Muslims.

As the dominant military power on planet earth, the US leaders needed a new idea to motivate the citizens to support the massive military–industrial complex. The forward planners from among the neo-conservatives came up with the idea that the USA was a Christian country and that this heritage was threatened by Islam. Invoking the ideas and language of the period of the Crusades these ideas of hostility to Islam gained ground among the most conservative sections of the US society after the events of September 11, 2001. But the whipping up of the hysteria against Islam had preceded September 11, 2001. There are now books that have detailed how an army of evangelical Christian millenialists led by Jerry Falwell and Tim LaHaye found themselves in the service of the neocon crusade to remake the Middle East and, in the process, became the club shaped by Karl Rove and wielded by those two unabashed power-freaks and unreconstructed Nixonians, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. John Anderson in his review of the book, ‘The Fall of the House of Bush’, detailed the planning and propaganda by these conservative forces in what was described as a triangular relationship. Anderson quoted from one writer who described the ‘the GOP Triangular Trade, in which Southern evangelicals provide the votes for a party financed by and run on behalf of Wall Street and with policies devised by a gang of New York intellectuals and scribblers.’ In its essence, what this means is that, ‘Richard Scaife provides the money to help keep his taxes low. Bill Kristol comes up with the ideas. And Mike Huckabee provides the votes.’

What became clear after the war against the people of Iraq was that the idea of hatred of followers of Islam was needed to motivate the troops and the private contractors fighting against the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq. It was not by accident that the Air Force Academy in Colorado was dominated by neo-conservatives who were from a branch of Christian fundamentalists who were also rabid racists.

These observations on 2008 came before the maturation of the seeds of Islamic hatred in the USA. Now that the seeds of this Islamophobia are maturing it is necessary to state the linkages between the military planners and the hatred for Islam.

As far back as 1997, the Runnymede Trust of the United Kingdom defined Islamophobia as the ‘dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, to the fear and dislike of all Muslims,’ stating that it also refers to the practice of discriminating against Muslims by excluding them from the economic, social and public life of the nation. It includes the perception that Islam has no values in common with other cultures, is inferior to the West and is a violent political ideology rather than a religion.

One other definition represented Islamophobia as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history as extremist; denying the existence of a moderate Muslim majority; regarding Islam as a problem for the world; treating conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault; insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion; and inciting war against Islam as a whole. ‘

One scholar properly identified these ideas of Islamophobia as anti-Asian and anti-Arab racism. Mahmood Mamdani was more perceptive. His book ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror’ detailed how the intelligence operatives sought to use differences within the Islamic community to isolate Iran after the revolution in Iran in 1979. It is this mix of racism, militarism and religious hatred that was to later surface in the US press when sections of the liberal media coined the phrase ‘Islamofascism’. This is the term that equates some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early 20th century.

William Safire, one of the departed scions of the neo-conservatives, had lent his considerable reputation to the usage of this term when he used his platform at the New York Times to promote this formulation. Using his column on language to promote this concept he wrote that the term Islamofascism fulfils a need for a term to distinguish traditional Islam from terrorists: ‘Islamofascism may have legs: the compound defines those terrorists who profess a religious mission while embracing totalitarian methods and helps separate them from devout Muslims who want no part of terrorist means.’ Christopher Hitchens, who before the events of September 11th functioned as a member of the liberal intelligentsia, became one of the foremost supporters of the wars against the peoples of the Middle East and publicly defended the term Islamofascism in the so-called liberal magazine Slate.

THE INHERITANCE OF KORAN BURNING

After the tenure of the forces of the Carlyle Group in the executive branch of the US government during the presidency of George W. Bush, the language of ‘good and evil’ became standard in the rhetoric of the militarists. President Bush was mobilising the citizens in a war to combat the ‘Axis of Evil’. It was for this reason that it is correct to see the pastor in Florida within the tradition of the militarists. The pastor who threatened to mark the ninth anniversary of September 11th by burning more than 200 copies of Qu’ran, the sacred text of Islam, at his small church had been mobilised by the language of Islamophobia and had made his own contribution by writing on ‘Islam is of the Devil.’

Pastors such as those in this small church had a material basis for wanting the return of the Republicans to the executive branch of the government. Under the Faith Initiative of the Bush–Cheney–Rumsfeld period, billions were doled out to the conservatives to whip up racism and hatred. There were many blacks who had internalised this hatred by espousing the most homophobic and sexist aspects of the campaigns of the neo-conservatives.

Thus it is necessary to grasp the toxic environment that the US finds itself in at the period of the worst depression since 1930. What could be considered a fringe group before the depression is now taking centre-stage of US politics as the signs of the economic depression set in. The Tea Party then becomes the vehicle to move to the next stage to get the popular votes of poor whites to support rabid racism and Islamophobia. The recent victories of the Tea Party nation in the primaries show that the planned strategy of a right-wing assault on humans is gaining traction. The furore over the burning of the Qu’ran served the purpose of heightening passions all over the world to the point where there is no longer a question of if there will be an incident that will trigger major confrontations, but merely when such an incident will take place.

STANDING TO SHOULDER AND FOOT TO FOOT

The fact that it required the secretary of defense to cool out the passions that were mounting is one indication of the impact of this climate on the armed forces of the USA. Increasingly, the strength and power of the militarist is evident from the fact that in the midst of a depression when everything else is being slashed, the military budget of the USA is going up. The anti-Islamic fervour has gone beyond the USA, and is manifest in societies such as Denmark, France and other parts of Europe. The xenophobia in France is now manifesting itself in the expulsion of the Roma peoples and the legislation banning the wearing of the veil (the burka) by women in France.

The conservative forces have so far benefited from the timidity of liberals who have been silent. However, it is in the world of Islam where the heritages of racism and Islamophobia carry many contradictions. In many parts of the Islamic world, non-whites have internalised the racism of the US conservatives and racists. This is manifest in the treatment of Africans in some states of the Middle East and other states in Asia. This contradiction is compounded by the fact that some of the leaders of Islamic states who are flush with oil funds spend their resources to prop up the same neo-conservatives of the Carlyle Group and the Bush family. It is this alliance of some of the Sheiks with the neo-conservatives that can explain the fact that Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater, the private contracting firm, could decide to move to Abu Dhabi. Why would someone with a track record of linkages to the most conservative section of the religious fundamentalists in the USA find a home in the Middle East at a time when there were questions in the US media about the killings of innocent Iraqis by this firm?

One of my brothers has complained of the hierarchy of his mosque where citizens from Bosnia and North Africa treat citizens from Africa as second-class Muslims. This brother has pointed out that at a moment when all people should be praying shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot for peace, some of their brothers from parts of the Middle East do not want to stand shoulder to shoulder with Africans. Some Africans have also internalised this hierarchy and the Somali Bantu are treated as second-class humans by other Somali.

DECENT PEOPLE MUST STAND FIRM FOR PEACE

The proposition by Pastor Terry Jones for the burning of the Koran was one more calculated act to promote war. The very fact that the idea was floated and was given wide publicity was an indication of how conservative the US media had become. This act was intended to strike a note of discord with 1 billion Muslims following news of Islam. The president of Nigeria understood the meaning of this provocation. He said firmly that burning the Koran would ‘assault the sensibilities of our Muslim brothers and sisters’.

This was a clear statement from a president who had witnessed the fanning of the flames of religious wars in Jos. These same flames of religious war are being fanned in Sudan. The US media is trapped by its support for militarism and the Wall Street barons who benefit from war. Those who support peace and tolerance must oppose the idea of burning religious text and oppose the furore over the so-called mosque at Ground Zero. Those in the peace movement should see this for what it is: an attempt to divide working people in the midst of a depression. Islamophobia is more than an empty propaganda term. It is an incitement for war.

The continued debates on the so-called mosque at Ground Zero serve the purpose of diverting energies from the peace and justice forces in the world. The announced plans for the burning of the holy book on the day of the sad events of September 11th pointed to an aspect of US politics that had been hidden from the rest of the world. This is the way in which the neo-conservative forces had worked to manipulate the divisions within Islam to serve the most conservative sections of the US ruling forces. That it took the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to call this unknown pastor in Florida was revealing in one profound sense. Gates had to take care of massaging the new propaganda lines in the US military machine. This commentary is designed to alert all supporters of peace to stand up and be counted among those who are opposed to the virulent racism and Islamophobia which is being used as a weapon to bring the neo-conservatives back into the control of the executive branch of the United States. In this struggle to oppose a special type of militarism and conservatism, those sections of the Islamic world who are aligned to the conservatives in the United States must be condemned, exposed and if possible removed from political power. The struggles for peace and social justice, religious freedom and rights for all are interconnected in all parts of the world.

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* Horace Campbell is a teacher and writer. His latest book is 'Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA', published by Pluto Press.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The real pirates in Somalia: Washington, Paris and Oslo

Abdulkadir Salad Elmi

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66955

cc CT Snow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposed a new international anti-piracy plan in August, but with rich countries after the oil and fish reserves of Somalia’s internationally recognised waters, Abdulkadir Salad Elmi wants to know who the real pirates are.

Many people seem not to understand, or refuse to understand, that more than half of Somalia consists of the seas around the country. This makes the oceans vital to the survival of the Somali people.

Somali territorial waters (TW), declared in 1972, consist of an 825,052km2 area. A 1989 exclusive economic zone (EEZ) overlays the same area as the TW. An additional 55,895km2 of continental shelf zone (CSZ) makes up Somali ocean territory.

The sum of the total internal area of Somalia of 637,657km2, together with the TW and EEZ, make up a total of 1,462,709km2, which with the additional CSZ expands to 1,518,604km2.

These figures hopefully make clear the importance of marine waters for the Somali people and also why vested interests try to get their hands on these waters, thereby trying to push back the interests of the Somali people.

THE LEGAL REGIME

Somalia has territorial waters of 200 nautical miles (nm), based on Law No. 37 on the Territorial Sea and Ports, of 10 September 1972. This law states clearly that fishing in territorial waters and the regular transportation of persons and goods between Somali ports is reserved for vessels flying the Somali flag, and other authorised vessels with a licence and permission from the legitimate Somali government and not by a regional government.

States like the USA do not like to recognise and/or respect this law and pressurise states to give up their 200nm of territorial waters established by acts of law. Meanwhile, for reasons of national sovereignty or security the USA has not even ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and pushed for alterations to its provisions, which would otherwise curb their rights.

Many peoples and states around the world do not like that the USA does not respect many international laws or conventions like the land-mine ban. A vast majority of people and states want the USA to abolish national laws that impose the death sentence, but nevertheless the country applies their own laws in their territory.

Likewise, they have to at least tolerate Somalia applying its own laws in its territory. The Americans would never give up an ounce of national sovereignty unless they thought they could win it back – along with a little chunk of the sovereignty of other states. Just look at the farce of the Organisation of American States. The plan was to cow Latin America and Canada into a neo-imperial arrangement with ‘USAmerica’ as the core and the rest of the two continents of North and South America as the economic periphery dependent on ‘USAmerican’ patronage to maintain export-oriented primary industry-focused economies. This was disgustingly parasitic of the USA, but, crudely efficient at dominating the world for the past 60 years, this regime has persisted.

It was the USA who was the first country to expand its territorial waters beyond the common idea of the old-world states, which had claimed since medieval times only three nautical miles (the distance where it could be enforced by a canon shot from land) as their territory on the sea. Using the customary international law principle of a nation’s right to protect its natural resources, US President Truman in 1945 extended US control to all the natural resources of its continental shelf. Other nations were quick to follow. Between 1946 and 1950, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Ecuador extended their rights to a distance of 200nm to cover their Humboldt Current fishing grounds. Other nations extended their territorial seas to 12nm. By 1967, only 25 nations still used the old three-mile limit, while 66 nations had set a 12-mile territorial limit and eight had set – like Somalia in 1972 – a 200-mile limit. As of 28 May 2008, only two countries still use the three-mile limit: Jordan and Palau. The limit is also used in certain Australian islands, an area of Belize, some Japanese straits, certain areas of Papua New Guinea, and a few British Overseas Territories, such as Anguilla.

The visionary expansion of the territorial seas to 200nm by Somalia and other states therefore has legitimacy and – although perhaps belittled by piracy – it is also an expression of taking responsibility. Notwithstanding the present deplorable state of Somalia’s security, the vision that the Somali people will again have the strength to fulfil their responsibility to govern the Somali seas to a distance of 200nm, must and cannot be neglected.

Somali Law No. 37 also governs the so-called ‘innocent passage’ of foreign merchant vessels, which can only be permitted if the state whose flag the vessel is flying is recognised by Somalia and if the Somali authorities have at least been made aware and raised no objection to the passage. Illegal weapon transports like that allegedly done by the MV Faina, French research vessels prospecting for oil or foreign-flagged vessels fishing illegally in Somali waters certainly have violated this basic Somali law.

Article 10 of Somali Law No. 37 also stipulates that since 1972: ‘Foreign warships are not allowed to pass through the territorial sea (200nm) unless they are authorised by the Somali Government.’ That was and is the rule and was internationally respected and enforced from 1972 until 1991.

However, a non-existent letter, allegedly signed by former Transitional Federal Government (TFG) president Abdullahi Yussuf, or the illegally signed later version – signed by the non-Somali Ould-Abdallah, who anyway held no Somali governmental powers – certainly do not bear any legal significance concerning any such ‘permissions’ or requests, which makes the present occupation of Somali waters by the naval armada likewise illegal. Although everybody clearly agrees that piracy has to end and sees the necessity to curb piracy and other crimes on the high seas as well as inside Somali territorial waters, one has to realise that one injustice cannot be curbed with another injustice. Meanwhile, it has become clear to anybody that piracy originating from the Somali coast and maritime crime committed by Somalis cannot be exterminated by a naval armada violating the rights and sovereignty of Somalia and the Somali people. Laws are made and should be enforced to avert and fight injustices, but not to create new injustices.

Somalia has an exclusive economic zone of 200nm based on the United Nations Common Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) derived from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Somalia was one of the first 40 signatories and which was ratified by the Somali parliament on 24 July 1989 – five years before the required number of countries signed on to make it applicable. The convention came into force on 16 November 1994 and is therefore binding for all signatory states – even if they have not recognised subsequent Somali governments after 6 January 1991. Even when certain states argued that there would be no ‘legitimate and recognised Somali Government’, this does not mean that the legal regime of persisting national legislation and the relevant international laws – like UNCLOS – are no longer applicable. It is very simple to understand: If you knock on the door of a house which is not yours and nobody welcomes you inside, you certainly do not have the right to enter just because nobody answers you. Likewise, if for example the captain of a fishing vessel wants to enter Somali waters and believes that it is not necessary to have the permission required by national or international law because the flag-state of the vessel has not recognised the legitimacy of a given Somali government or simply because nobody had responded to a request for entry, he would be wrong, and would have to stay outside Somali waters – no matter what.

It doesn’t matter that certain states and groups repeatedly try to create the impression that Somalia does not have an EEZ arguing that the relevant maps are not shown on the UN website. The Somali government has declared its EEZ and the relevant charts were in Mogadishu and also with the UN offices before the war. It is not the fault of Somalis if the UN has misplaced them.

However, the key issue here is that Somalia did declare its EEZ based on and together with its signature and ratification of UNCLOS in 1989. The concept of the EEZ cannot and should not be misused to diminish the rights of Somalia concerning its waters.

Somalia has a CSZ of 350nm, based on international law and Somalia’s claim documented and handed in by Somalia on 17 April 2009 to the UN and the International Seabed Authority before the deadline of 13 May 2009. The establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200nm is the right of all coastal states under international law. That there might be issues about how the law will be used and interpreted to elaborate binding agreements concerning specific boundaries is notwithstanding to the fact that the boundaries (for example, between Kenya and Somalia or between Djibouti and Somalia) have been and are clear since Somalia signed and ratified UNCLOS in 1989. Attempts to bend or alter such memoranda, which like in the case of Kenya was instigated by Norwegian interests, should be a warning.

SOMALI SOVEREIGNTY, MARINE AND MARITIME RIGHTS

While the AU (African Union) and states like Indonesia and Germany respect the Somali Law of the Sea and the Somali EEZ, countries like Spain or Italy only respect this legal regime indirectly by having told their state-flagged vessels to stay out of the 200nm area, while Spanish- or Italian-owned vessels fly flags of convenience and like many others, continue poaching fish in Somali waters.

But even states like France, who tried at first to maintain the line that since the UNCLOS-EEZ maps were not shown on the UNCLOS website and therefore Somalia should not have an EEZ, have by a declaration of their president Nicolas Sarkozy – given during a meeting in Libya – officially stated that now France will also respect the 200nm zone of Somalia. The fact that the European Union (the conglomerate of old-world countries) shares its economic zones does not affect Somalia, but was interestingly the reason why Norway itself did not enter the EU as a member.

But what Norway (and other players like the EU and IMO – International Maritime Organisation) try to manifest with the ‘re-establishment’ of the Somali EEZ and their unwarranted ‘help’ is not only to follow the line set by the USA, which would force the Somalis to abolish the Somali Law on the Sea and its 200nm territorial waters, but also that all the cases involving violations of Somali law which have been documented over the last 20 years should be brushed under the carpet and forgotten. All the cases over the last 20 years – during which Somalia could hardly defend its rights – would be thrown out because it would be argued that this newly done ‘formal establishment of an EEZ’ would mean that there had been no EEZ before, which is simply not true.

Many were present in Mogadishu in the years before 1991 and are still living as key witnesses to events, when delegation after delegation from other countries tried to coerce or convince the Siad Barre government to do away with the Somali Law on the Sea and its 200nm provisions because they wanted unhindered access to Somali waters and resources.

Laws of states like Somalia and Peru led the international community to realise that it would be a good idea to have marine waters governed by the coastal states to which they belonged. This gave rise to the legal provisions found today in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the basic idea of creating a 200nm EEZ for all coastal states, and to make provisions for those who had yet to declare a 200nm zone. To turn this around now and go against one of the founder nations must be seen as an outrageous act of aggression.

Today, after 20 years of civil war, and while the Somali government and the Somali population, which never in Somali history has been so weak and vulnerable, outside forces believe they have an ideal moment to press for the twisting of legal history solely for their own interests.

Let us not forget that the only interest the Norwegian state machinery has in Somalia are the potential oil reserves and fish resources. This is especially so with offshore oil concessions, where they believe they can gain an advantage over the French, who already have secret contracts concerning offshore drilling in Somali waters. That the Norwegians actually did help to beat the deadline of 13 May 2009, which the International Seabed Authority had set for the declaration of interests in the CSZ, should not lead to a situation where Somalis can be blindfolded into giving up other rights.

Though with the new 350nm continental shelf regulations further Somali rights have been manifested, this should not lead to a situation where an expansion of certain limited rights is traded in for a weakening of core-rights in the rear. That especially the USA is not happy with states, which based on international and national law can refute the US Navy from sailing right up to the shores of a sovereign state, is clear and was recently manifested by a near-deadly stand-off between China and the USA in the South China Sea.

Likewise, Indonesia’s UN delegate stated at the UN that the south-east Asian nation had joined Security Council efforts to address piracy incidents off the Somali coast by adopting UN resolutions 1816, 1836 and 1846. But the delegate stressed that while the resolutions tackled piracy, they must not affect the rights, obligations or responsibility of states under international law, which first and foremost was to respect the sovereignty of a nation in the first place.

Somalia has a 200nm zone of territorial waters, like the recognised nation states of Benin, Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Liberia and Peru. In Peru these provisions are even enshrined in the constitution.

Such maritime dominion and the right to exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction should not be given up by Somalia, especially also because the 1952 Santiago Declaration in its preamble affirms that ‘governments are bound to ensure for their peoples the access to necessary food supplies and to furnish them with the means of developing their economy’. The declaration also affirms how the economic zone should extend not less than 200nm from the coast.

The 1970 Declaration of the Latin American States on the Law of the Sea further added that the decision to extend the jurisdiction beyond the former territorial sea limits was a consequence of ‘the dangers and damage resulting from indiscriminate and abusive practices in the extraction of marine resources’ as well as the ‘utilisation of the marine environment’ giving rise to ‘grave dangers of contamination of the waters and disturbance of the ecological balance’.

The natural resources of Somalia’s seas are the only sound assets left for a prosperous future of the Somali people, which is why even the AU during the 1990s and at the Maputo and Cape Town conferences on the coastal development of Africa clearly urged the world to respect the Somali EEZ. Anybody who says that Somalia has no EEZ is giving a slap in the face to the Somali people, but also to all nations of the AU.

Let us beware of Norwegian wolves or their Somali ‘counterpart’ Warabe appearing in the skin of an Ido and pretending to be a friend. Let us stand and stay strong in defending the sovereignty of Somalia as a whole, including its waters and natural resources.

That we might have to go through a phase of sorting out internal issues by strengthening regional and local government in order to regain our former unity are issues of our own internal affairs and do not affect the internationally relevant legal provisions. Somalia’s problems must not give reason to disrespect our commons or weaken our common defence against any outside aggressor.

Even when we are down on our knees and have to sometimes beg for help, the so-called international community has to first and foremost respect Somalia’s sovereignty and laws before they can be accepted as friends. Gifts in the form of Trojan horses must be rejected and those colluding with such scams must be seen for what they are: traitors and enemies of the Somali people.

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* This article was first published by Somali Talk.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

African civil society organisations: Chinese perceptions

How should African CSOs engage China?

Xiao Yuhua

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/67002

The following is an extract from Pambazuka Press's new book, 'Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa', now available at www.pambazukapress.org. 'Chinese and African Perspectives' brings together the views and analysis of a range of Chinese and African commentators, who discuss the impact, cooperation and challenges of the growing relations between the Asian giant and African continent.

The strengthening of Sino-African relations has attracted interest across the world. As a matter of fact, the red-hot relationship between the Middle Kingdom and African countries is so significant that it might be a prelude to the formation of a new world economic and political order which favours not only the developed North, but also the underdeveloped South.

In this process, civil society has an irreplaceable role to play, as inter-cultural exchanges and understanding will not come automatically as by-products of growing economic and political ties. Exchanges and understanding between cultures are highly important for building a peaceful world, without which the common evils of conflicts and confrontations – be they ethnic, religious, political or cultural – cannot be resolved. It is in these areas that Chinese and African civil society organisations (CSOs) can demonstrate their unique functions.

It is imperative to stress, however, that Chinese and African CSOs have different characteristics, thus presenting challenges for mutual understanding and dialogue. In this chapter I will discuss the mainstream opinions of Chinese people about African CSOs and how African CSOs should present themselves to China.



CHINESE PERCEPTIONS OF AFRICAN CSOS

It would not be proper to generalise about the opinions of Chinese people as the country and its people are much more diverse than most people think. The much-hailed and publicised Sino-African relations are an important factor in shaping Chinese perceptions about African CSOs, generating different views in different sectors about African CSOs. Therefore, it is necessary to examine Chinese perceptions of African CSOs from the different perspectives of the government, the general public, academic circles, businesses and Chinese CSOs.

The government

Although some people still doubt the existence of civil society in China, the truth is that the country’s civil society has a long history and has always been interested in the outside world.1 The Chinese government keeps a close watch on domestic CSOs, but is beginning to realise and acknowledge their relevance in promoting good governance, social welfare, environmental protection and various social services. As the government cannot meet all the needs of its people, especially in times of natural disasters and in the fields of social services, the Chinese leadership has become more tolerant of sectors outside the government, allowing more space for the activities of civil society.

The improvement in policies related to the activities of civil society in China does not mean the government necessarily has the same opinions about all foreign CSOs operating in China indiscriminately. For those involved in environmental protection, poverty reduction and social services, governments at all levels are more hospitable, and in some cases, officials even provide help for these organisations to implement their programmes. But there are also foreign CSOs who take the common ‘naming and shaming’ approach to embarrass the government, albeit to no avail. This is because such organisations do not truly understand the Chinese ideology and have taken the wrong means to achievement of an honourable end.

In traditional Chinese culture, to maintain a certain kind of ‘face’ is vital for the government, as well as for individual citizens, to retain honour, and hence authority. Over two millennia of centralised feudal rule (221bc–1911) have left an indelible mark on the mind of both the ruling and the ruled. When it comes to building a modern democratic system with the consent of all parties involved – including the ruling and the ruled – this history therefore poses a dramatic challenge to a Chinese government undergoing a period of significant economic, political and social transformation.

In the context of contemporary Chinese politics, it is not realistic to assume that the overall environment for CSOs – be it domestic or foreign – will be changed radically in a short time. CSOs operating in the country need to understand the culture of the Chinese nation and the diversity of the people, so that programmes can be oriented to conditions on the ground.

African CSOs have little, if any, influence in China. Save for some African communities in a number of business hubs, such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Yiwu, African CSOs are mostly unknown when compared to CSOs from other regions of the world.

However, the historical and friendly ties between Chinese and African governments may serve as a bridge for civil exchange between the two sides. With large amounts of Chinese commodities being exported to African markets by African as well as Chinese traders, some African CSOs have voiced concern over the impact of these goods on local producers – the exploitation of natural resources notwithstanding – especially in terms of the profits accrued and benefits enjoyed by Chinese and African political and economic elites. Therefore, governments on both sides of the relationship need to listen to the voices of CSOs.

The general public

The majority of the Chinese public has little knowledge about the African continent, let alone African CSOs. Some people think Africa is mysterious and has a variety of indigenous cultures, but their knowledge is mostly from books, magazines, newspapers and other mass media. CSOs occasionally come into their sight when political turmoil, conflicts and wars happen. They are more often seen as humanitarian entities rather than advocacy groups. This perception is in line with political conditions inside China. The general public’s impression of African CSOs evolves with the transformation of the government’s policies. In recent years, positive aspects of African CSOs have been more frequently covered in the Chinese media. A growing number of Chinese people have come to the knowledge that CSOs are the forces not only serving the needs of the needy, but also fighting against government injustices and contributing to the democratisation process.

Academic circles

Academics are beginning to show more interest in African CSOs. This is becoming a trend as the government is loosening its control over domestic CSOs in a bid to build a more harmonious society and world. Papers have been published discussing the role of CSOs in facilitating democratisation.

But it is necessary to point out that African studies had long been a marginalised discipline in Chinese universities and research-oriented institutions. The recent ‘Africa rush’ among scholars is mainly due to spiralling Sino-African relations, its direct objective being to serve the country’s foreign strategy. Up to now, scholars involved in serious African studies are estimated to number not more than 100. Even that number is believed to be optimistic.

Those scholars whose main interest is African CSOs are of the younger generation of Africanists. These young Africanists, with a more open perspective about the contemporary world and the future of the Chinese nation, see more common features between China and Africa. By studying African CSOs, they are able to see the importance of combining western ideas and structural designs with the conditions of a given country.

Furthermore, Chinese academics are becoming more knowledgeable about African cultures. They also have a mission to promote understanding of Africa and African peoples in China. In recent years, Africanists in China have had more chances to visit Africa. Their contribution is essential to enlightening the Chinese public about African CSOs.

Businesses

Chinese businesses are most known for their labour-intensive production mode. Outsourcing to Africa can be beneficial to both sides. Businesses are usually profit-driven, but they are under paramount pressure from local people in Africa to listen to the voices of African civil society.

Also, Chinese business people in Africa are not as well-positioned as their western counterparts because of language barriers and their limited knowledge about Africa. Most Chinese business people have no idea at all about African CSOs. Small Chinese businesses are more used to dealing with Africans directly rather than going through trade unions or rights groups. In those African countries where the rule of law is more mature, Chinese businesses are learning the lessons of fitting in. The charges of ignoring workplace safety measures, deplorable working conditions and low wages levelled against Chinese businesses have forced them to adapt to local requirements.

CSOs

Compared with their African counterparts, Chinese CSOs are more cooperative with the government. The question of the level of independence and/or closeness to government reflected in the behaviour of trade unions and the lack of rights groups has led some analysts to conclude that Chinese CSOs are governmentoutreach branches. I see no point in debating the independence of Chinese trade unions, but it is worth noting that apart from trade unions, international CSOs operating in China are pioneering ways of facilitating people-to-people exchanges. It is hard to deny that aid and endowments from western donors are important for Chinese and African CSOs to have first-hand information about each other, and then to conduct joint programmes. Cooperation and dialogue between African and Chinese CSOs lag far behind red-hot trade ties. Eliminating this imbalance is the key to long-term sustainable development.

HOW SHOULD AFRICAN CSOS ENGAGE CHINA?

As different parties hold different opinions about African CSOs, it is necessary for African CSOs to adopt different approaches in dealing with China if they wish to build a relationship with the Middle Kingdom in line with their own agendas.

The government

To start with, we should note that the Chinese government is much more open than the outside world, especially the West, likes to think. Constructive dialogue with the government can help African CSOs to present their concerns, and therefore to gain access to this enormous and diverse country. Government approval and support also increase African CSOs’ chances of realising their agendas on the ground.

In order to build a healthy relationship with the government, it is important to understand the government’s concerns about CSOs. China’s ‘one-party rule, multi-level cooperation’ political system influences the overarching environment in which CSOs – be they domestic or foreign – have to operate. The political system is flexible as it has the ingredient of ‘multiparty cooperation’, thus justifying the activities of factors other than the ruling party, but it also sets the bottom line – no one is allowed to challenge the authority of the ruling party. This bottom line is regarded as essential for the stability of the Chinese nation and has also contributed to the fast economic and social development of the past three decades.

African CSOs – which up to now have had little contact with China – can and should win the recognition and support of relevant Chinese government departments so that they can access the country in the first instance. The Ministry of Civil Affairs (in charge of domestic non-governmental organisation (NGO) affairs) and the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (in charge of foreign NGO affairs) are commissioned to deal with issues relating to CSOs.

As most African countries maintain friendly ties with the Chinese government, African CSOs will enjoy an equal, if not more favourable, treatment if they choose to operate in China. Particularly for those advocacy groups which have previously employed ‘naming and shaming’ tactics, by coming to China they can have direct contact with the Chinese people and avoid being described in the media as an alien ‘other’. However, there is one thing that African CSOs have to keep in mind: the Chinese government strongly rejects interference in its domestic affairs (especially on political issues). CSOs, be they African or western, should understand this reality and take a flexible approach while not compromising their principles.

The general public

The Chinese public is always cautious about new things and new people, but once they perceive friendship, they will be most willing to embrace new ways of life.

African CSOs should first come to China to publicise their agendas so that Chinese people can understand Africans and their cultures. Prejudices against the African continent, its cultures and its peoples exist not only in developed countries, but also in the Middle Kingdom, whose people had for thousands of years seen themselves as part of the greatest civilisation in the world. However, modern science and technology developed in the West, crushing this dream a century ago. Knowledge of and contact with African cultures, if well-publicised, will help the Chinese people to appreciate other cultures and to reconsider issues which used to seem so far away from them. Contributing to this process could become a focal point of African CSOs’ mission.

Academic circles

Academics are the pioneers in understanding African CSOs. African CSOs should take the initiative to set up links with various institutions of higher learning and research to share information. This is the most efficient way to make their voices heard in a nation of 1.3 billion people.

Although Beijing provides the greatest convenience for the exchange of information and its dissemination, it is not the only place where African CSOs can operate. As a matter of fact, the vast regions of west China and some booming Chinese cities have many similarities with Africa, and exchanges in the fields of development and grassroots governance are important for longterm development.

Organising joint conferences with Chinese universities or research institutions is a good way to use the knowledge of academics to boost understanding of African CSOs. Currently, the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, based in Beijing, and the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, based in the city of Jinhua in Zhejiang province, are the two biggest entities in China involved in African studies. Centres of African studies have also been set up in other universities such as Peking University, Shanghai Normal University, Xiangtan University and Yunnan University. These centres might be smaller in size, but their scholars are long-time Africanists whose contributions have been the driving force behind the development of African studies in China.

African CSOs can also include Chinese Africanists in their programmes for inter-cultural exchanges. As academics, Chinese Africanists maintain a degree of independence which is lacking in most government departments. It is also more constructive for Chinese Africanists to point out problems existing in China’s policy toward Africa (such as on the Darfur issue); the shaming China campaign organised by some western civil society activists before the Beijing Olympics had little if any positive impact on the policy of the Chinese government. It is high time that CSOs worked with academics to pursue their objectives.

Businesses

Pressure levelled against Chinese businesses operating in Africa can be helpful in regularising corporate behaviour, but violent incidents only cause lasting damage to the already difficult relationship among involved parties. Negotiation and legal litigation should be strengthened.

As more and more Chinese companies rush into Africa to do business, the working conditions and treatment of their employees need to be better supervised and reported objectively. It is also important to recognise that workplace safety in Chinese businesses is not only a problem in Africa, but is also a serious problem within China. Media reports of accidents at small mines and kilns have caused frequent outcry in China. African environmental NGOs and rights groups can present their complaints to relevant Chinese government departments in order to regulate the practices of Chinese businesses in their country. They should use Chinese media more than western media to publicise their information so that the message will not lead to a nationalistic response but rather to a rational re-evaluation of China’s role in Africa.

CSOs While academics enlighten the government as well as the general public on issues relating to Africa, Chinese CSOs can be the best partners in executing joint programmes as they are more familiar with Chinese conditions. Statistics from various sources show that the number of NGOs registered at the Ministry of Civil Affairs reached 266,000 by the end of 2003, growing at an annual 34 per cent. These figures do not even include NGOs operating either on the fringe or outside of state margins.

Different CSOs in China have different agendas. For African CSOs seeking to set up cooperative relationships with Chinese CSOs, the China International Exchange Association (CIEA) may be a springboard to an ocean of Chinese CSOs. With close relations with the Chinese government, the CIEA is commissioned to facilitate non-governmental economic and cultural exchanges and to promote mutual understanding and friendly cooperation with foreign countries. It also aims to make contributions to world peace, in which field African CSOs can present their concerns about issues such as Darfur.

CONCLUSION

After a tentative discussion of the topic, I have come to the following conclusions:

• Since the country adopted its reform and opening-up policies 30 years ago, opinions about African CSOs in China have been diverse.
• The political atmosphere in China has become more and more open and inclusive over the past three decades, and the space for the activities of both domestic and foreign CSOs has also expanded dramatically. Especially in the wake of China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001, more international CSOs are flooding into the long-isolated country.
• There is a lot of work which African CSOs can do to improve their knowledge of China, and they can first get into China through government-affiliated entities, research institutions or through partnerships with other Chinese CSOs to achieve their goals.
• There is enormous potential for Chinese and African civil society to strengthen cooperation and dialogue. Mutual understanding can be achieved if African CSOs engage China in different ways with different approaches, and vice versa.

Speaking generally, the role of CSOs in Sino-African relations requires greater attention as a potentially effective alternative to solving some of the problems hindering the healthy development of the relationship between China and Africa.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Edited by Axel Harneit-Sievers, Sanusha Naidu and Stephen Marks, 'Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa' is now available from Pambazuka Press.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTE

1. While not as well-organised as modern CSOs, public venues in traditional Chinese societies such as teahouses were instrumental in the dissemination of information and contributed to social mobilisation in different phases of history.

Park51 and the pastor: A right to offend?

Sokari Ekine

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66986

cc WyscanThe recent furor over a Florida pastor’s plans to burn copies of the Qu’ran on the anniversary of 9/11 and protests against a proposed Islamic community centre near New York City’s Ground Zero feature in this week’s roundup of the African blogosphere, along with Monsanto, Haiti and a message for Mugabe.

For seven days last week and reaching a climax on Friday 10 September, the US and other western media frenzied around a tiny church in Gainesville Florida which had promised to burn copies of the Qu’ran on the anniversary of 9/11. Around the fifth day the pastor, Terry Jones, on the apparent suggestion of Sarah Palin, conflated the threatened Qu’ran burning with the protest against the proposed Islamic community centre, Park51, to be built a few blocks from ‘Ground Zero’ In New York City. One of the things I found most disgraceful and distasteful about the whole Qu’ran burning threat, was the willingness of the media, the politicians and religious leaders to pander to Pastor Jones’ blatant publicity-seeking self. Instead this man, who in another era might well be at the forefront of a lynching crowd, was allowed to hold the US to ransom – in what can only be called an act of terrorism.

The two events are part of an increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobia in the US. Egyptian blogger, Mona Eltahawy discusses Park51 and the Gainesville church in the context of the right to offend. Her thesis is that if you believe you should be free to publish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, write derogatory slogans on the New York sidewalk outside Park51 or burn the Qur’an, then you should also believe in the right of others to offend, whether that be building an Islamic community centre near Ground Zero or a mosque anywhere in small town USA. You cannot have it both ways – which is what extremists on both sides of the fence seem to be demanding.

‘When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in 2005 that led to huge and at times deadly demonstrations across several Muslim-majority countries the following year, I defended the newspaper’s right to offend.
The freedom guaranteeing publication of those cartoons is the same as that which guarantees Park51’s right to build right there, two blocks from Ground Zero, and the same as that which guarantees the right of a Gainesville, Fla., pastor and his congregation to burn copies of the Qur’an on the anniversary of 9/11.

‘The U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of expression, whether they offend people or not. Hurt feelings cannot be the basis of public policy. And that’s why I did not call on Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville not to burn the Qur’an when he threatened to do so.’

The negative side of religion also showed its face in Nigeria’s capital Abuja. Abuja City reports on a planned ‘witch and wizard hunt’ to take place in the city under the auspices of ‘Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministeries’. Abuja City is critical about the practice, though he also appears concerned with how it will affect ‘brand’ Nigeria as much as the children themselves.




















‘[T]his is very unjust and a lot of innocent children are affected by what people like Helen and Liberty foundation ministry are doing. If Helen is serious, there are many other places to chase out demons in Abuja, and believe me Nigeria will save million$ of petrol dollars from that exercise. Stop spoiling our Nigeria @ 50 re brand exercise...

‘Everything possible should be done to monitor and stop the activities of these so called witch hunters.’

Kenya has voted in a new constitution whilst Zimbabweans continue to debate theirs. Kubatana Blogs has a series of informative posts on the process as it pertains to women in particular. One video has been making it’s round in the African blogosphere is the one by FreshlyGround, ‘Chicken to Change’.

‘Top local band Freshlyground have added a cheeky spin to the music video of their latest single, Chicken to Change, as they challenge Zimbabwean president Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s leadership. The video, done in collaboration with the satirical Internet show ZA News, is the second for the seven-member band’s album Radio Africa. In the song, lead singer Zolani Mahola sings about what a noble “supernova” Mugabe was, but then says that somewhere along the way, he fell.’

Bombastic Element has a series of posts on the use of comics for social and political commentary in Africa. Comics work in a kind of sideways approach which can be just as hard hitting as conventional text, video or audio journalism but it allows the reader/viewer to use their own imagination, to interpret the story as they see it rather than be spoon fed.

























There are also two reports from Haiti where earthquake survivors demand right to education, shelter and protest against the continued UN occupation of their country.

Haiti Land of Freedom reports on the continued lack of educational and shelter provision for the thousands of internally displaced people despite the billions of US dollars supposedly collected and available for the country. Journalist Kevin Pina recently reported that the published sums of money amounted to about US$30,000 per ID person in the country, so the question is where is all this money?

‘As children all over the world returned to school this month, the majority of Haitian earthquake survivors are still living under tarps, tents and sheets without access to basic services and have no schools or educational programs for their children to attend. Since food distributions were halted months ago, in many camps the children are beginning to have orange hair, a sign of malnutrition.

‘Eight months after the earthquake, non-governmental organisations have enormous amounts of money in their accounts and protests are multiplying to demand that funds be used to meet the immediate needs of earthquake victims. Tents distributed months ago have shredded and been destroyed by the searing sun by day and rains that force victims to stand without sleeping under tents, tarps and sheets nearly every night.

‘Despite the millions of dollars already spent since January 12th, less than 3% of the population has transitional housing. At the same time, the number of NGOs in earthquake-affected areas has increased. The brand new all-terrain vehicles and heavy security of the foreign humanitarian aid community stand in contrast to the desperate conditions of earthquake survivors. Haitians are demanding to know who the money donated is truly for, as they are suffering the same uncertain future and lack of immediate relief eight months after the quake as they were only eight days after.’

The Haitian Blogger reports on the death of a young man in Cap Haitian last August. 16-year-old Gérald Jean Gilles’ body was found near the base of the UN Nepalese forces in the city. The UN are claiming his death was suicide but many doubt the truth of this as Giles worked in the UN camp was heard to cry out that he was being strangled. Haitian Blogger comments on a number of other incidents of violence involving the UN this year and also on the rumour of a deployment of Israeli soldiers to the country.

























‘Reportedly, Israeli police forces have deployed to Haiti to serve "under the command of UN" military forces. Question: If these "special patrol officers" that make up this task force are only in Haiti "to fulfill policing roles, assist in quelling public disturbances and maintain public order, as well as securing the personal safety of Haitian residents," then why will they reportedly be living "in field conditions, spend the night in sleeping bags and tents, and will be equipped with army rations, special uniforms and wide-ranging personal equipment that will allow them to remain there for an extended period." Won't this camping out arrangement make it rather difficult for MINUSTAH to "command" these fourteen "specialist?"

‘As for the continuing oppressive UN military presence, many "manifestations" or demonstrations have been organized to protest MINUSTAH this year alone.’

Black Looks has two posts on Africans in ancient China and Chinese in ancient Africa. She also posts on the recent disclosure that the Bill Gates Foundation has directly invested up to US$21 million in the biotechnology giant Monsanto.




















‘The food and crops: Apart from Bt cotton, GM food is being sent to Africa, Asia and Latin America via food aid. Example – “In 2003 Nigeria received 11,000 metric tons of soy meal as food aid from the US under the title “Food for Progress”. Taking into account that around 60% of soybeans in the US is GM it is quite likely that Nigeria has been receiving GM food through the back door so to speak. Another example Bassey gives is in Latin America where corn varieties not authorised for human consumption have been found in food aid sent in 2002 and in 2005.

‘More recently and one that cannot have been missed by Bill and Melinda Gates happened in Haiti in May this year. 5 months after the earthquake that killed up to 250,000 people and hundreds of thousands more left homeless, Monsanto in one of it’s most despicable acts sent 475 tons of seeds in an aid package to Haitian farmers. They clearly thought that hungry people will accept any food even food that will kill them and their future. But the Haitians refused. The seeds are patented to Monsanto. They cannot be reused meaning farmers become forever dependent on Monsanto. A bit like Microsoft, at least in the early days, when it had a monopoly on operating systems and software for all IBM clone machines. So one could say this kind of consumer lock-in is familiar to the Gates.’

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sokari Ekine blogs at BlackLooks.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Connecting the struggles: An informal chat with black Americans

Amilcar Cabral

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66966

cc WikimediaDuring his last visit to the US Amilcar Cabral asked the Africa Information Service (AIS) to organise a small informal meeting at which he could speak with different black organisations. The AIS contacted approximately 30 organisations and on 20 October 1972, more than 120 people representing a wide range of black groups in America crowded into a small room to meet with Amilcar Cabral. At the meeting, the vitality, warmth and humour of Cabral the person became evident to those who had not met him before.

'The problem of the nature of the state created after independence is perhaps the secret of the failure of African independence.' - Amilcar Cabral, 20 October 1972, New York.

I am bringing to you - our African brothers and sisters of the United States - the fraternal salutations of our people in assuring you we are very conscious that all in this life concerning you also concerns us. If we do not always pronounce words that clearly show this, it doesn’t mean that we are not conscious of it. It is a reality and considering that the world is being made smaller each day all people are becoming conscious of this fact.

Naturally if you ask me between brothers (and sisters) and comrades what I prefer then if we are brothers it is not our fault or our responsibility. But if we are comrades, it is a political engagement. Naturally, we like our brothers (and sisters) but in our conception it is better to be a brother (or sister) and a comrade. We like our brothers very much, but we think that if we are brothers we have to realise the responsibility of this fact and take clear positions about our problems in order to see if beyond this condition of brothers and sisters, we are also comrades. This is very important for us.

We try to understand your situation in this country. You can be sure that we realise the difficulties you face, the problems you have and your feelings, your revolts, and also your hopes. We think that our fighting for Africa against colonialism and imperialism is a proof of understanding of your problem and also a contribution for the solution of your problems in the continent. Naturally the inverse is also true. All the achievements towards the solution of your problems here are real contributions to our own struggle. And we are very encouraged in our struggle by the fact that each day more of the African people born in America became conscious of their responsibilities to the struggle in Africa.

Does that mean you have to all leave here and go fight in Africa? We do not believe so. That is not being realistic in our opinion. History is a very strong chain. We have to accept the limits of history but not the limits imposed by the societies where we are living. There is a difference. We think that all you can do here to develop your own conditions in the sense of progress, in the sense of history and in the sense of our total realisation of your aspirations as human beings is a contribution for us. It is also a contribution for you to never forget that you are Africans.

Does that mean we are racists? No! We are not racists. We are fundamentally and deeply against any kind of racism. Even when people are subjected to racism we are against racism from those who have been oppressed by it. In our opinion - not from dreaming but from a deep analysis of the real condition of the existence of mankind and the division of societies - racism is a result of certain circumstances. It is not eternal in any latitude in the world. It is not the result of historical and economic conditions. And we cannot answer racism with racism. It is not possible. In our country, despite some racist manifestations by the Portuguese, we are not fighting against the Portuguese people or whites. We are fighting for the freedom of our people - to free our people and to allow them to be able to love any kind of human being. You cannot love when you are a slave. It is very difficult.

In combating racism we don’t make progress if we combat the people themselves. We have to combat the causes of racism. If a bandit comes into my house and I have a gun I cannot shoot the shadow of this bandit. I have to shoot the bandit. Many people lose energy and effort, and make sacrifices combating shadows. We have to combat the material reality that produces the shadow. If we cannot change the light that is one cause of the shadow, we can at least change the body. It is important to avoid confusion between the shadow and the body that projects the shadow. We are encouraged by the fact that each day more of our people, here and in Africa, realise this reality. This reinforces our confidence in our final victory.

The fact that you follow our struggle and are interested in our achievements is good for us. We base our struggle on the concrete realities of our country. We appreciate the experiences and achievements of other peoples and we study them. But revolution or national liberation struggle is like a dress which must be fitted to each individual’s body. Naturally, there are certain general or universal laws, even scientific laws for any condition, but the liberation struggle has to be developed according to the specific conditions of each country. This is fundamental.

The specific conditions to be considered include economic, cultural, social, political and even geographic conditions. The guerrilla manuals once told us that without mountains you cannot make guerrilla war. But in my country there are no mountains, only the people. In the economic field we committed an error. We began training our people to commit sabotage on the railroads. When they returned from their training we remembered that there were no railroads in our country. The Portuguese built them in Mozambique and Angola but not in our country.

There are other conditions to consider as well. You must consider the type of society in which you are fighting. Is it divided along horizontal or vertical lines? Some people tell us our struggle is the same as that of the Vietnamese people. It is similar, but it is not the same. The Vietnamese are a people that hundreds of years ago fought against foreign invaders like a nation. We are now forging our nation in the struggle. This is a big difference. It is difficult to imagine what a difference that makes. Vietnam is also a society with clear social structures with classes well defined. There is no national bourgeoisie in our country. A miserable petit bourgeoisie yes, but not a national bourgeoisie. These differences are very important.

Once I discussed politics with Eldridge Cleaver. He is a clever man, very intelligent. We agreed on many things but we disagreed on one thing. He told me your condition is a colonial condition. In certain aspects it seems to be, but it is not really a colonial condition. The colonial condition demands certain factors. One important factor is the continuity of territories. There are others, which you can see when you analyse. Many times we are confronted with a phenomenon that seem to be the same, but political activity demands that we be able to distinguish them. That is not to say that the aims are not the same. And, that is not to say that even some of the means cannot be the same. However, we must deeply analyse each situation to avoid loss of time and energy doing things that we are not to do and forgetting things that we have to do.

In our country we have been fighting for nearly 10 years. If we consider the changes achieved in that time, principally in the relationship between men and women, it has been more than 100 years. If we were only shooting bullets and shells, yes, 10 years is too much. But we were not only doing this. We were forging a nation during these years. How long did it take the European nations to be formed - 10 centuries from the middle ages to the renaissance. (Here in the United States you are still forging a nation - it is not yet completed, in my opinion. Several things have contributed to the forming and changing of this country, such as the Vietnam war, though unfortunately at the expense of the Vietnamese people. But you know the details of change in this country more than myself.)

Ten years ago, we were Fula, Mandjak, Mandinka, Balante, Pepel, and others. Now we are a nation of Guineans. Tribal divisions were one reason the Portuguese thought it would not be possible for us to fight. During these ten years we were making more and more changes, so that today we can see there is a new man and new woman, born with our new nation and because of our fight. This is because of our ability to fight as a nation.

Naturally, we are not defending the armed fight. Maybe I deceive people, but I am not a great defender of the armed fight. I am myself very conscious of the sacrifices demanded by the armed fight. It is a violence against even our own people. But it is not our invention - it is not our cool decision; it is the requirement of history. This is not the first fight in our country, and it is not Cabral who invented the struggle. We are following the example of our grandfathers who fought against Portuguese domination 50 years ago. Today’s fight is a continuation of the fight to defend our dignity, our right to have an identity - our own identity.

If it were possible to solve this problem without the armed fight - why not?! But while the armed fight demands sacrifices, it also has advantages. Like everything else in the world, it has two faces - one positive and the other negative - the problem is in the balance. For us now, it (the armed fight) is a good thing in our opinion, and our condition is a good thing because this armed fight helped us to accelerate the revolution of our people, to create a new situation that will facilitate our progress.

In these 10 years we liberated about three-fourths of the country and we were effectively controlling two-thirds of our country. We have much work to do, but we have our state, we have a strong political organisation, a developing administration, and we have created many services - always while facing the bombs of the Portuguese. That is to say, bombs used by the Portuguese, but made in the United States. In the military field we realised good things during these 10 years. We have our national army and our local militias. We have been able to receive a number of visitors - journalists, filmmakers, scientists, teachers, writers, government representatives, and others. We also received a very good report about the situation in our country.

However, through the armed fight, we realised other things more important than the size of the liberated regions or the capacity of our fighters, such as the irreversible change in the attitudes of our men. We have more sacrifices to make and more attitudes to overcome, but our people are now accustomed to this, and know that for freedom we must pay a price. What can we consider better than freedom? It is not possible - nothing compares with freedom. During the visit of the special mission of UN to our country, one of the official observers, while on a long march, asked a small boy if he ever got tired. The boy answered, ‘I can’t get tired - this is my country. Only the Portuguese soldiers get tired’.

Now we can accelerate the progress of the liberation of the rest of our country. Each day, we get more and better workers. Now we need more ammunition in order to give greater impact to our attacks against Portuguese positions. Instead of attacking with 80 shells, we have to attack with 800, if not 2,000, and we are preparing to do this. The situation is now better in the urban centres. We are dominating the urban centres in spite of the Portuguese occupation. Links with our underground organisation in these centers are very good, and we have decided to develop our action inside these centres. We told this on the radio to the Portuguese. We told all the people because the Portuguese cannot stop us. We told them before they would be afraid, and they are. They are even afraid of their shadows.

Another very positive aspect of our struggle, is the political situation on the Cape Verde Islands. Some days ago, there were riots between our people and the police. This is a sign that great developments are coming within the framework of our Islands.

We have taken all measures demanded by the struggle, in the political as well as the military field. With the general election just completed in the liberated region, we are now creating our National Assembly. Naturally we are not doing a National Assembly like the Congress you have here (USA) or the British parliament. All these are very important steps in accelerating the end of the colonial war in my country and for its total liberation.

We have decided to formally proclaim our state, and hope that our brothers and sisters here (USA), our brothers and sisters in Africa, and our friends all over the world, will take the necessary position of support for our initiatives in the political field. In an armed fight like ours, all the political aspects have been stressed. They are stressed naturally when you approach the end. It is a dialectical process. In the beginning the fight is political only, it is then followed by the transformation into the armed stage. Step by step, the political aspect returns but at a different level, the level of solution.

I am not going to develop these things further, I think it is better if you ask questions. We are very happy to be with you, our brothers and sisters. I tell you frankly, although it might hurt my visit to the UN; each day I feel myself that if I did not have to do what I have to do in my country, maybe I would come here to join you.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

CABRAL: I am at your disposal for any kind of question; no secrets, or ceremonies or diplomacy with you.

QUESTION: I am from Mali. I don’t know how comfortable you will be with this question, but given the nature of the fight you have been leading, are you satisfied with the type of moral, political and military aid you have been receiving from other African countries?

CABRAL: First of all, let me say to my brother that I am comfortable with any kind of question - there is no problem. Second, when one is in a condition that he has to receive aid, he is never satisfied. The condition of people who are obliged by circumstances to ask for and receive aid, is to never be satisfied. If you are satisfied it is finished, you don’t need aid. Third, we have to also consider the situation of the people who are helping us. You know the political and economic circumstances conditioning the attitudes of the African countries. It’s true the past decade of the 1960s was a great achievement for Africa - the independence of Africa. But we are not of this tree of independence of Africa. We must take our independence with force and our position is to never ask for the aid we need. We let each people give us aid as they can, and we never accept conditions with aid. If you give us aid like this, we are satisfied. If you can give more, we are more satisfied.

I have said to African heads of state many times that the aid from Africa is very useful, but not sufficient. We believe that they could do better, and so do they. Last June in the Rabat summit meetings (of the OAU) they agreed to increase their aid by 50 per cent. Why didn’t they do this before? We know that they had not only financial and economic difficulties, but political difficulties as well. In some cases, the difficulty was a lack of consciousness about the importance of this problem. But each day they are realising more and maybe when they fully realise the importance of this problem we will all be independent.

QUESTION: I would like to know what forward thrust your country would have in the absence of NATO support, that this country gives, and what the arguments are that the US offers for its participation in NATO which we all know is the conduit which supplies the Portuguese with their arms? This is something that we can take immediate political action on.

CABRAL: You see, Portugal is an underdeveloped country - the most backward in Western Europe. It is a country that doesn’t produce even toy planes - this is not a joke, it’s true. Portugal would never be able to launch three colonial wars in Africa without the help of NATO, the weapons of NATO, the planes of NATO, the bombs of NATO - it would be impossible for them. This is not a matter for discussion. The Americans know it, the British know it, the French know it very well, the West Germans also know it, and the Portuguese know it very well.

We cannot talk of American participation in NATO, because NATO is the creation of the United States. Once I came here to the US and I was invited to lunch by the representative of the US on the United Nations’ Fourth Committee. He was also the deputy chief of the US delegation to the UN. I told him we are fighting against Portuguese colonialism, and not asking for the destruction of NATO. We don’t think it is necessary to destroy NATO in order to free our country. But why is the US opposing this? He told me that he did not agree with this policy (US support of NATO) but that there is a problem of world security and in the opinion of his government it is necessary to give aid to Portugal in exchange for use of the Azores as a military base. Acceptance of Portuguese policy is necessary for America’s global strategy, he explained.

I think he was telling me the truth, but only part of the truth because the US supports Portugal in order to continue the domination of Africa, if not over other parts of the world. I must clarify that this man left his position in the UN and during his debate in the US Congress took a clear position favourable to ours and asked many times for aid to Portugal to be stopped, but the government didn’t accept.

What is the justification for this? There is no justification - no justification at all. It is US imperialism. Portugal is an appendage of imperialism, a rotten appendage of imperialism. You know that Portugal is a semi-colony itself. Since 1775 Portugal has been a semi-colony of Britain. This is the only reason that Portugal was able to preserve the colonies during the partition of Africa. How could this poor miserable country preserve the colonies during the partition of Africa? How could this poor miserable country preserve the colonies in the face of the ambitions and jealousies of Germany, France, England, Belgium, and the emerging American imperialism? It was because England adopted a tactic. It said - Portugal is my colony, if it preserves colonies they are also my colonies - and England defended the interests of Portugal with force. But now it is not the same. Angola is not really a Portuguese colony. Mozambique is not really a Portuguese colony. You can see the statistics. More than 60 per cent of the principal exports of Angola are not for Portugal. Approximately the same percentage of the investments in Angola and Mozambique are not Portuguese, and each day this is increasing. Guinea and Cape Verde are very poor and do not have very good climates. They are the only Portuguese colonies. Portugal is, principally for Angola and Mozambique, the policeman and the receiver of taxes. But they will not tell you this.

QUESTION: My question concerns the basis of law you are using in your country. Are you using the laws of the Portuguese in terms of the National Assembly? What kinds of criteria are you going to use?

CABRAL: If Portugal had created in my country an Assembly, we would not create one ourselves. We don’t accept any institution of the Portuguese colonialists. We are not interested in the preservation of any of the structures of the colonial state. It is our opinion that it is necessary to totally destroy, to break, to reduce to ash all aspects of the colonial state in our country in order to make everything possible for our people. The masses realise that this is true, in order to convince everyone we are really finished with colonial domination in our country.

Some independent African states preserved the structures of the colonial state. In some countries they only replaced a white man with a black man, but for the people it is the same. You have to realise that it is very difficult for the people to make a distinction between one Portuguese, or white, administrator and one black administrator. For the people it is the administrator that is fundamental. And the principle - if this administrator, a black one is living in the same house, with the same gestures, with the same car, or sometimes a better one, what is the difference? The nature of the state we want to create in our country is a very good question for it is a fundamental one.

Our fortune is that we are creating the state through the struggle. We now have popular tribunals - people’s courts - in our country. We cannot create a judicial system like the Portuguese in our country because it was a colonial one, nor can we make a copy of the judicial system in Portugal - it is impossible. Through our struggle we created our courts and the peasants participate by electing the courts themselves. Ours is a new judicial system, totally different from any other system, born in our country through the struggle. It is similar to other systems, like the one in Vietnam, but it is also different because it corresponds to the conditions of our country.

If you really want to know the feelings of our people on this matter I can tell you that our government and all its institutions have to take another nature. For example, we must not use the houses occupied by the colonial power in the way they used them. I proposed to our party that the government palace in Bissau be transformed into a people’s house for culture, not for our prime minister or something like this (I don’t believe we will have prime ministers anyway). This is to let the people realise that they conquered colonialism - it’s finished this time - it’s only a question of a change of skin. This is really very important. It is the most important problem in the liberation movement. The problem of the nature of the state created after independence is perhaps the secret of the failure of African independence.

QUESTION: Looking at Africa geographically, where does the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC) get most of its support, North Africa, or Sub-Saharan Africa, and in a broader sense, how does support from Russia and China compare?

CABRAL: We don’t like this division of Africa. We have the support of the OAU for some years now. We have the total support of OAU. All African countries support PAIGC, no exceptions of any voice against us. And through the OAU, the liberation committee gives us financial help. There are some African countries, maybe not more than the fingers on the hand, that help us directly also. With them we have bilateral relations. Some are in the north, others in the west, and others in the east.

About China and the Soviet Union, we always had the support of the socialist countries - moral, political and material. Some have given more material support than others. Until now the country that has helped us most is the Soviet Union, and we have said it many times before at all kinds of meetings. Until now they’ve helped us the most in supplying materials for the war. If you want to verify this you can come to my country and see. This is the situation.

QUESTION: My question is about the role of women. What is the nature of the transformation from the old system under imperialism?

CABRAL: In our country you find many societies with different traditions and rules on the role of women. For example, in the Fula society a woman is like a piece of property of the man, the owner of the home. This is a typical patriarchal society. But even there women have dignity, and if you enter the house you would see that inside the house, the woman is the chief. On the other hand, in Balante society women have more freedom.

To understand these differences you have to know that in Fula society all that is produced belongs to the father. In Balante society all that is produced belongs to the people that work and women work very hard so they are free. It is very simple. But the problem is about the political role in the fight. You know that in our country there were even matriarchal societies where women were the most important element. On the Bijagos Islands they had queens. They were not queens because they were the daughters of kings. They had queens succeeding queens. The religious leaders were women too. Now they are changing.

I tell you these things so that you can understand our society better. But during the fight the important thing is the political role of women. Yes, we have made great achievements, but not enough. We are very far from what we want to do, but this is not a problem that can be solved by Cabral signing a decree. It is all part of the process of transformation, of change in the material conditions of the existence of our people, but also in the minds of the women, because sometimes the greatest difficulty is not only in the men but in the women too.

We have a big problem with our nurses, because we trained about three hundred nurses – women – but they married, they get children and for them it’s finished. This is very bad. For some this doesn’t happen. Carmen Pereira, for instance, is a nurse, and she is a member of the high political staff of the party. She is responsible for all social and cultural problems in the southern liberated region. She’s a member of the executive committee of the party. There are many others too, trained not only in the country but in the exterior also, in foreign countries. But we have much work to do.

In the beginning of the struggle, when we launched the guerrilla struggle, young women came without being called and asked for weapons to fight, hundreds and hundreds. But step-by-step some problems came in this framework and we had to distribute, to partition the war. Today, women are principally in what you call the local armed forces and in the political war - working on health problems, and instruction also.

I hope we can send some of our women here so you will be able to know them. But we have big problems to solve and we have a great problem with some of the leaders of the party. We have (even myself) to combat ourselves on this problem, because we have to be able to cut this cultural element, with its great roots, until the day we put down this bad thing - the exploitation of women, but we have made great progress in this field in these 10 years.

QUESTION: Comrade Cabral, you spoke about universal scientific laws of revolution. It is very clear that in this country, we too, are engaged in some stage of development of a revolutionary struggle. Certainly, one of the most controversial aspects of our struggle is the grasp of these scientific universal laws. Would you, therefore, talk about your party’s understanding of revolutionary theory, particularly as related to Cuba, China, the Soviet Union, and the anti-colonial wars of national liberation? So I wonder, would you speak on this problem?

CABRAL: You see, I think that all kinds of struggles for liberation obey a group of laws. The application of these laws to a certain case depends on the nature of the case. Maybe all these laws are applicable, but maybe only some, it depends. In science you know water boils at 100 degrees centigrade. It’s a law. Naturally, with the condition that we are speaking in centigrade degrees, this is a specification. What does it mean if we are measuring Fahrenheit - it’s not the same. And it is also only at sea level. When you go into the mountains this law is not true. It is sometimes more complex.

It’s the same in the field of the scientific character of the liberation struggle. Cuba, Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and so on. Sometimes you can even explain conflicts between their people because of the different nature of their struggle, dictated by the different conditions of the countries - historical, economical, and so on.

I have to tell you that when we began preparing for our struggle in our own country, we didn’t know Mao Tse-tung. The first time I faced a book of Mao Tse-tung was in 1960. Our party was created in 1956. We knew less about the struggle of Cuba, but later we tried to know the experiences of other peoples. Some experiences we put aside because the difference was so great that it would waste time to study them. We think the experiences of other people are very important for you, principally to know things you should not do. Because what you do in your country you have to create yourself.

The general laws are very simple. For instance, the development of the armed fight in a country characterised by agriculture where most, if not all, of the population are peasants means you have to do to the struggle as in China, in Vietnam or in my country. Maybe you begin in the towns, but you recognise that this is not good. You pass to the countryside and mobilise the peasants. You recognise that the peasants are very difficult to mobilise under certain conditions, but you launch the armed struggle and step-by-step you approach the towns in order to finish the colonists.

For instance, this is scientific: in the colonial war there is a contradiction. What is it? It is that the colonial power in order to really dominate the country has to disperse its forces. In dispersing its forces it becomes weak - the national forces can destroy them. As you begin to destroy them they are obliged to concentrate, but when they concentrate they leave areas of the country you can control, administer and create structures in. You can tell me its not possible in the US, the US is not an agricultural country like this. But if you study deeply the conditions in your country maybe you will find that the law is applicable. This is what I can tell you because it is a big problem.

QUESTION (continued): I’d like to rephrase part of it. What I am trying to get at is how, in setting up a cadre training school that you set up in Conakry, did you access the revolutionary experiences of countries I mentioned? The point I am trying to drive at is not the form of waging a revolutionary struggle. I understand the differences in concrete conditions. I want to know how one moves through a colonial or a semi-feudal conditions into socialism (clearly the dominant revolutionary experience in the world). How were you able to set up a training program in which cadres were exposed to this information?

CABRAL: In the beginning we established in Conakry what you call a political school of militants. About one thousand people came from our country by groups. We first asked: Who we are? Where are we? What do we want? How do we live? What is our enemy? Who is this enemy? What can he do against us? What is our country? Where is our country? We asked things like this, step-by-step explaining our real conditions and explaining what we want, why we want it and why we have to fight against the Portuguese. Among all of these people some, step-by-step, approached other experiences. But the problem of going from a feudal or semi-feudal society or tribal society to socialism is a very big problem, even from capitalism to socialism.

If there are Marxists here they know that Marx said that capitalism created all the conditions for socialism. The conditions were created but never passed. Even then it is very difficult. This is even more reason for the feudal or semi-feudal tribal societies to jump to socialism - but it’s not a problem of jumping. It’s a process of development. You have to establish political aims based on your own condition, the ideological content of the fight. To have an ideology doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to define whether you are communist, socialist, or something like this. To have an ideology is to know what you want in your own condition.

We want in our country this: to have no more exploitation of our people, not by white people or by black people. We don’t want any more exploitation. It is in this way we educate our people - the masses, the cadres, the militants. For that we are taking, step-by-step, all the measures necessary to avoid this exploitation. How? We give to our people the instrument of control, the people to lead. And we give to our people all possibility to participate more actively each day in the direction of their own life.

Naturally, if an American comes he may say you are doing socialism in your country. This is a responsibility for him. We are not preoccupied with labels, you see. We are occupied in the content of the thing, what we are doing, how we are doing it, what chances are we creating for realising this aim. There are some societies that passed from feudal or semi-feudal stages to being socialist societies. But one of their specifics was having a state imposing this passage. We do not have this. We have to create for ourselves the instruments of the state inside our country, in the conditions of our history, in order to orientate all to a life of justice, work for progress and equality. Equality of chance for all people is the problem. The problem of equality is equality of chance. This is what I can tell you. This is a big discussion, philosophical if you want something like this.

QUESTION: What direct relationship does the OAU have with your party? You mentioned the OAU several times and I heard some things about the OAU, but I wanted to know whether or not it has been helpful to you, and if it has, in what ways?

CABRAL: Yes, they are good relations. Now we can even tell that we are nearly members of the OAU, because at the last summit conference in Rabat, they admitted the recognised liberation movements, like my party, to participate in the debate concerning their own cases. The relations are very good. We have the help of the OAU - not enough we think, but they are trying to increase this help and we think that in our own case, maybe next year, we will be a member, a full member of the OAU.

QUESTION (continued): Why? Do you see it as the organisation for Africa?

CABRAL: A real organisation for Africa? It depends. Now at this stage of the revolution in Africa, the OAU is a very good thing. It is such a good thing that imperialism is doing its best to finish it. Naturally, maybe for your ideas the OAU doesn’t answer well, doesn’t fully correspond to your hopes. Maybe you are right, but this is not the problem. In the political field, you have to know at each stage if you are doing the possible or not, and preparing the field for the possible for tomorrow or not. This is the problem.

QUESTION (continued): Yes, but how was it created and how is it being supported?

CABRAL: Oh, that’s a very big matter. You don’t know how it was created? They met in May 1963 in Addis Ababa, and they established a charter.

QUESTION (continued): Who is supporting this organisation?

CABRAL: Who is supporting it? The states - the African states? Yes, the African states. The imperialists - no, you are not right. You are not right, my sister. We can tell that some of the African states (interrupted)

QUESTION: (continued): If there is such an organisation why are we still where we are? It is just the leaders that elect to go there, not the kind of people like yourself, who are coming down to the masses and speaking the truth. These are neo-colonial leaders.

CABRAL: No. But that is not the problem. You are confused. You are making a mistake. One problem is the problem of the OAU. The OAU is an organisation of African states, it’s true. Are imperialists supporting the OAU? On the contrary, they do their best not to because there is a potential danger for them. The other problem is: are these African states all really independent? Some of them are neo-colonialist, but you have to distinguish this thing in order to do something. If you confuse all - it’s not possible.

QUESTION: (continued): But brother, why is it that each time the question of Pan-Africanism is brought to the discussion most of them take different views?

CABRAL: Oh, yes. You see you cannot demand all the African states to agree immediately on Pan-Africanism. Even if we discuss Pan-Africanism you would be surprised. I am for Pan-Africanism. I am for African unity. But we have to be for these things and do them when possible, not to do it now. You see, my sister, you here in the US, we understand you. You are for Pan-Africanism and you want it today. Pan-Africanism now! We are in Africa; don’t confuse this reaction against Pan-Africanism with the situation of the OAU. I can tell you, the head of state in Africa I admired the most in my life was Nkrumah.

QUESTION (continued): He was the only one. He was the father.

CABRAL: Nkrumah was not the father of Pan-Africanism. An American, Du Bois, was the father, if you want. Pan-Africanism is a means to return to the source. You see, it’s a very big problem. It’s not like this. Nkrumah told me in Conakry - unfortunately he is not alive, but I am not lying, I never lied in my life, he was one of my best friends, I’ll never forget him and you can read my speech at his memorial - you see he told me, ‘Cabral, I tell you one thing, our problem of African unity is important, really, but now if I had to begin again, my approach would be different.’

Unfortunately, I am leaving, but if I would like very much to speak with you in order to show you Pan-Africanism is a very nice idea; but we have to work for it, and it is not for me to accuse Houphouet-Boigny or Mobuto, because they don’t want it. They cannot want it! It is more difficult for some heads of state in Africa to accept African unity as defined by Nkrumah than it is for them to come here to the most racist of the white racists and tell them to accept equal rights for all Africa. You see, more difficult. It’s a great problem, my sister. And we think on this problem every day because our future concerns that.

We have a meeting at half past seven with the chairman of the decolonisation committee. We have to go there. It is about 20 minutes from here. I am late.

QUESTION: When will we see you again?

CABRAL: Again? I never know. It is difficult for me, but I hope in two years. Also for some of you, if you want, you can come to my country and see me and see our people.

QUESTION: How?

CABRAL: By paying the fare. (laughter)

QUESTION: What are some of the specific financial and political things we can do to further the struggle?

CABRAL: Personally I don’t agree with this question. I think that this meeting is a meeting of brothers and sisters. You represent several organisations. I am very glad because we want your unity. We know it’s very difficult - it’s more difficult to make your unity than Pan-Africanism maybe. But we would like you to consider this meeting a meeting between brothers and sisters trying to reinforce not only our links in blood, and in history, but also in aims. I am very glad to have been here with you and I deeply regret that it is not possible to be with you longer. Thank you very much.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Amilcar Cabral was secretary-general of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC). He was born in 1924 and assassinated on 20 January 1973.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

More than a Continent? Remapping Africa

Chambi Chachage

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66980

cc OxfamDrawing on the works of intellectuals Issa Shivji, Kwesi Kwaa Prah, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Paul Zeleza, Chambi Chachage discusses competing concepts of Africa. ‘Those who claim to be of Africa ought to truly seek its intellectual and material prosperity,’ he argues, ‘It is such an Africa-centred progress that will surely undo the yoke which has continually left us fragmented.’

'To us, Africa with its islands is just one Africa. We reject the ideas of any kind of partition. From Tangier or Cairo in the North to Cape Town in the South, from Cape Guardafui in the East to Cape Verde Islands in the West, Africa is one and indivisible.' – Kwame Nkrumah on ‘Africa Must Unite!’

Interesting things have happened since I promised to post a forthcoming sequel to my review of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Re-membering Africa (2009). The ensuing online debate caught the critical eyes of key theorists of ‘things African’. Out of this ‘debatable Africa’ a complimentary copy of Kwesi Kwaa Prah’s ‘2nd Impression’ of ‘The African Nation: The State of the Nation’ (2009) found its way from his Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) in Cape Town to my Base for African Studies Enhancement (BASE) in Dar es Salaam. As a ‘bibliomaniac’ I am grateful for that. In this regard I feel honoured to address this key question which his treatise seemed to have posed to those of us who have taken what it refers to as the ‘continentalist position’: ‘Isn’t Africa more than a Continent?’ As an attempt to kill, albeit only figuratively, two birds with one stone, I will tackle this question in relation to Ngugi’s quest to re-member a dismembered Africa. However, I will also drag Issa G. Shivji’s inquiry ‘Where is Uhuru? Reflections on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa’ (2009) and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza’s inquest ‘Rethinking Africa’s Globalization Volume 1: The Intellectual Challenge’ (2003) into this conversation.

My first encounter with Prah’s writings was through Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa (LOITASA) publications. As someone who subscribes to Pan-Africanism as far as continental unity is concerned, I found his analysis of ‘African Orthographies’, whereby he asserts that many African languages interact and can thus be used intelligibly by a number of ethnic groups, useful in bringing about Africa’s unity. I, myself, observed this in South Africa where, somehow, Africans who speak IsiZulu and IsiXhosa interact with each through what Prah calls a ‘South African Orthography.’ It is this schematic background, as well as a curiosity on why I was asked whether I have read this other book of his, that informs my critique.

Taking, explicitly, what can be dubbed a ‘diasporic position’ in ‘The African Nation’, the author asserts that right ‘from its emergence, African Nationalism or Pan-Africanism has straddled both sides of the Atlantic’ (Prah 2009). Therein lies the first factual pitfall - equating ‘African Nationalism’ and ‘Pan-Africanism’. Incidentally I first encountered such a glaring conflation in the writings of Prah’s contemporary, ‘Thus African nationalism is Pan-Africanism. There is no, and cannot be African nationalism outside of, apart from, or different from Pan-Africanism’ (Shivji 2009). However, upon querying him about the nationalism(s) of the likes of Shaka and Mkwawa prior to the Nkrumahs and the Nyereres, Shivji clarified that it is in the context of the 20th century struggles for independence that we can correctly assert that ‘African Nationalism was born out of Pan-Africanism and not the other way round’. It is only in this (historical) regard that I can factually agree that through ‘all stages of its evolution and development, the Diaspora has been a key reference point’ (Prah 2009) to ‘African Nationalism or Pan-Africanism’.

Upon reaching this point of agreement, that Pan-Africanism is a ‘modern’ concept, which may have not necessarily informed African Nationalism(s), we can then jointly locate the role and place of the Diaspora in Africa. Ever true to its history, the ‘father of Pan-Africanism’, W.E.B. Du Bois thus located it to one land - the continent - in his preview of The Pan-African Movement,

'The idea of one Africa uniting the thought and ideals of all native peoples of the dark continent belongs to the twentieth century, and stems naturally from the West Indies and the United States. Here various groups of Africans, quite separate in origin, became so united in experience, and so exposed to the impact of a new culture, that they began to think of Africa as one idea and one land (Du Bois 1970).'

Our two key conversationalists so far can hardly agree less, ‘The Pan-Africanist idea was developed in the diaspora towards the end of the 19th century and beginning of 20th century by such great Afro-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans as Henry Sylvester Williams, George Padmore, W.E.B Du Bois, C.L.R James, and others’ (Shivji 2009); ‘The term Pan-Africanism is the brainchild of the Trinidadian lawyer, Henry Sylvester Williams, uncle of George Padmore’ (Prah 2009). As far as the early 1920s when the third Pan-African Congress was being organised, its main organiser could thus still point out, ‘So far, the Pan-African idea was still American rather than African, but it was growing, and it expressed a real demand for examination of the African situation and plan of treatment from the native African point of view’ (Du Bois 1970). If indeed, as both Shivji and Prah alludes, early Pan-African thought hardly included the notion of a united Africa but, rather, revolved around racial and cultural issues, when and how did the idea of one continent emerge across Africa? It was through ‘the interpenetrational dynamics of continentally-based, African intellect and the Diaspora equivalent’ (Prah 2009). All this happened within the context(s) of a people and a continent that was thus dismembered,

'The dismemberment of Africa occurred in two stages. During the first of these, the African personhood was divided into two halves: the continent and its diaspora. African slaves, the central commodity in the mercantile phase of capitalism, formed the basis of the sugar, cotton and tobacco plantations in the Caribbean and American mainland. If we accept that slave trade and plantation slavery provided the primary accumulation of capital that made Europe’s Industrial Revolution possible…we cannot escape the irony that the very needs of that Industrial Revolution - markets for finished goods, sources for raw materials, and strategic requirements in the defense of trade routes - led inexorably to the second stage of the dismemberment of the continent. The Berlin Conference of 1884 literally fragmented and reconstituted Africa into British, French, Portuguese, German, Belgian, and Spanish Africa. Just as the slave plantations were owned by various European powers, so post-Berlin Conference Africa was transformed into a series of colonial plantations owned by many of the same European powers (Ngugi 2009).'

The forceful, physical removal of human resources from our continent created the ‘diasporic African’ who, as Ngugi notes, was ‘now separated not only from his continent and his labor but also from his sovereign being’. Since then the progeny of the ‘classical diasporic African’ epitomised by Michelle Obama and even the ‘contemporary diasporic African’ epitomised by Barack Obama and their daughters, Sasha and Malia, in contrast to relatively recent immigrants from Africa, are grappling with an idea of Africa and what it means to be African which does not necessarily apply to Africans living within the geographical boundaries of the continent of Africa. Writing provocatively, yet brotherly, at the peak of the Black Power Movement, the author of ‘Negroes are not Africans’ thus aptly captured this ‘Afrodilemma’,

'The Negro is a unique creature. He is of Africa; and yet not quite. He is of Europe; and yet not quite. He is of America; and yet not quite. But he combines these three disparate strands in his constitution. The confusion which ensues from this combination is the root of all his problems. In these late days of race pride, he has just awakened to the search for racial, cultural, and historical roots. Hastily, he is likely to pounce on Africa. If he sticks to that, and that only, he is mistaken. For although African slaves were transported to America three or four hundred years ago, the moment they left the African coast, they were no longer African entirely (Lo Liyong 1975).'

Predictably many radical remnants of classical diasporic Africans have deliberately decided to stick ‘to that, and that only’, leading to romantic views of what they call ‘Pan-Afrikanism’ and the ‘Africana World’. As a result they are still stuck in the essentialist racial ideology that locked many of our Pan-African predecessors in ‘anti-black racialism’. When some of us point this out we are branded Eurocentric as if being ‘Afrocentric’ is not a by-product of Eurocentrism. To us, as Nkrumah affirmed many years ago, Africa and its islands is just one Africa and that is why we reject any kind of partition whether it be between ‘Africa’ and ‘diaspora’ or ‘sub-Saharan’ Africa’ and ‘supra-Saharan Africa.’ Of course, as Prah (2009) claims, this continentalist argument starts with geographical unity as the basis for the definitions of Africans. However, it by no means ‘leave little space for the African Diaspora’ or ‘pushes out the African Diaspora’ altogether as he further alleges. Rather, in line with Africans’ quest for wholeness, it calls for the re-membering of our continent. But, with Marcus Garvey’s aborted ‘Back to Africa, Pan-African Movement in hindsight’, is this mission of making Africa(ns) whole possible in this day and age?

It is indeed possible if we admit that the geographical bounderies of the African continent have always been shifting and thus accommodating. We know of islands which, geographically and politically, are supposed to belong to the African continent yet they do not. Why? Well, simply because they were conquered or chose to continue to be colonised by Euro-American countries. Why then shouldn’t Haiti - where it is poetically claimed that ‘Negritude’, as in ‘Blackness’ or ‘Africanness’, stood up for the first time - become one of the islands of the continent of Africa? Or how come many of the Caribbean countries which identify or are identified with Africa do not deliberately become members of the AU? Addis Ababa’s doors, I am told, are already opened for them since the diaspora is now seen, at least symbolically, as part of Africa politically. The moment you start to truncate Africa in terms of ‘African’ and ‘Arab’ or ‘Black’ and ‘White’ even this inclusion of the diaspora won’t be possible for, as Lo Liyong reminded us, the moment our kith and kin left the shores of the continent they ceased being entirely African. It is out of these concerns that I find this conceptual definition of Africa racialist and exclusivist,

'In much the same way as the Arabs have an organisation, the Arab League, which defines them collectively and nationally, we need to create an organisation which realises our nationhood as Africans, including our Diaspora. The African Union (AU) does not serve that purpose. Otherwise what it all means is that Africanness is simply a geographical expression. While Arabs on this continent belong to the Arab nation (extending beyond the continent), which is historical and cultural, we are lost in the woods with a mere geographical entity, with no collective sense of nationhood. It is as if they are saying to us, “what belongs to you belongs to both of us, but what belongs to me is mine alone.” It is simply an unacceptable situation. Right from the start of the OAU [Organisation of African Unity] in 1963, the institutional basis for the unity of Africa was compromised and confused in favour of a largely geographical and regional platform. The sort of reasoning which led to this, in effect, put the cart before the horse; a rationale which made the cause the consequence. What do I mean? Simply this; the struggle for unity is in the first instance not a territorial one, it is not a search for lebensraum. It is not territorial Africa, which is being freed and united. The struggle is about people, Africans who want to be free and united. The logic is supremely transparent, if Africans unite, consequently most of the continent will unite (Prah 2009).'

I wonder where Frantz Fanon, the ‘diasporic African’ who embraced and was embraced by the Algerian Liberation Movement in the so-called Arab Africa, would fit in such a definition. More close to home I wonder where is the place for those who straddle both the so-called ‘Arab Nation’ and ‘African Nation’ after fully participating in our movement for independence. How on earth can we say ‘our black colour is a benefaction, which Africans generally have’ (Prah 2009) and truly expect that constructing a ‘nationhood’ of a people thus defined for the sake of our liberation would ultimately not exclude many Africans who are not ‘generally black enough’? When the ‘metaphorically’ shifts to the ‘literally’ what would be the consequences of this essentialist claim: ‘Metaphorically, from a mile off, the person of African descent can be invariably picked out’ (Prah 2009)? Study South Africa. Remember Rwanda. No wonder people also cling to a flexible definition of an accommodating Africa such as the following one,

'Africa is a place, a material and imagined place, or rather a configuration of places, an embodiment of spaces that are socially produced and produce the social. Its material and symbolic boundaries are constantly shifting, for Africa’s spatiality, like all spaces, encompasses the vast intricacies, the incredible complexities, and interlocking and dispersive networks of relations at every scale from the local to the global…Africa in short, is a geography, a history, a reality and an imaginary of places, peoples and positions, both an invented intellectual construct and an object of intellectual inquiry (Zeleza 2003).'

In such a space ‘diasporic Africans’ can always relate and return to symbolically and even physically. However, such ties that bind us can only be useful if we all cast our lot with the geopolitical entity that is arguably the poorest continent. Those who claim to be of Africa ought to truly seek its intellectual and material prosperity. It is such an Africa-centred progress that will surely undo the yoke which has continually left us fragmented. Africa must unite, continentally.

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* Chambi Chachage is an independent researcher, newspaper columnist and policy analyst, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

REFERENCES

Du Bois, W.E.B. (1970) ‘The Pan-African Movement’, in Kedourie, E (ed), Nationalism in Asia and Africa, New York, The New American Library

Lo Liyong, T. (1975) ‘Negroes are not Africans’ in Drachler, J (ed), Black Homeland/Black Diaspora: Cross-Currents of the African Relationship, New York, National University Publications

Thiong’o, N. (2009) Re-membering Africa, Dar es Salaam, East African Educational Publishers

Prah, Kwesi Kwaa. (2009) The African Nation: The State of the Nation, Cape Town Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS)

Shivji, Issa G. (2009) Where is Uhuru? Reflections on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa, Nairobi, Fahamu Books

Zeleza, Paul T. (2003) Rethinking Africa’s Globalization Volume 1: The Intellectual Challenges, Asmara, Africa World Press

Prisoner of the prisoners

Alemayehu G. Mariam

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66987

© freebirtukan.orgAs Ethiopia celebrates its new year, Alemayehu G. Mariam resolves ‘to continue to call attention and raise awareness’ of the ‘unjust imprisonment’ of opposition political leader Birtukan Midekssa by the Zenawi government. Mariam highlights parallels between Midekssa and South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, with their 'genuine empathy and understanding for the ruthless dictators who are themselves "locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness".'

The great Nelson Mandela said, ‘In my country we go to prison first and then become president.’ He assured the masters of the apartheid system, ‘You may succeed in delaying, but never in preventing the transition of South Africa to a democracy.’ On the occasion of the Ethiopian New Year (2003) celebrated on September 11, I contemplate the words of Mandela as I admiringly think of Birtukan Midekssa, (Ethiopia's No. 1 political prisoner and first ever political party leader), and the prospects of Ethiopia's eventual transition from dictatorship to democracy.

In December 2008, Birtukan's ‘pardon’ from a kangaroo court conviction was revoked and her life sentence reinstated. She was literally snatched from the streets and thrown in solitary confinement for six months, despite a court ruling that such punishment was a violation of her constitutional rights. She is denied access to visitors except for her aging mother and five-year old daughter, despite a court order granting her visitor access without restrictions. She has been the object of ridicule by dictator-in-chief Meles Zenawi who has characterised her as a ‘chicken’ who did herself in and an idle prisoner sitting around and ‘putting on weight’.

Mandela said, ‘Prison itself is a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is above all a test of one's commitment.’ It is comforting to know that Birtukan is receiving ‘a tremendous education’ at Kality ‘Unversity’ Federal Prison where she continues to face daily humiliation, isolation, degradation and dehumanisation. But Birtukan perseveres and shall certainly overcome. To paraphrase William Ernest Henley's poem ‘Invictus’ (Unconquered), for nearly two years Birtukan has been shackled in Zenawi's ‘pit of wrath and tears’ and faced the ‘horror’ of solitary confinement and degradation without ‘wincing or crying out loud.’ Her ‘head has been bloodied, but unbowed.’ Though she faces the ‘menace of the years’ in prison, she remains unafraid because she is the ‘mistress of her fate and the captain of her soul.’

It was in prison that Mandela realised the true meaning of freedom:

‘It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.’

THE PRISONER OF THE PRISONERS OF HATE, PREJUDICE AND NARROW-MINDEDNESS

It is remarkable how Birtukan's views mirror Mandela's. In all of my conversations with her during her visit to the US in the autumn of 2007, (when she led the official delegation of the Coalition of Unity and Democracy [Kinijit]), her Mandela-like compassion and understanding of her jailors and tormentors was instructive and humbling. Like Mandela, Birtukan has steely resolve and unflinching commitment to the rule of law, democracy and human rights. But her political convictions never overpowered her deep compassion for others, including those who continue to mistreat and abuse her. Like Mandela who showed good will to the apartheid masters, Birtukan also shows genuine empathy and understanding for the ruthless dictators who are themselves ‘locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness’. Like Mandela, that makes Birtukan one of the most unique prisoners on the planet: A prisoner of the prisoners of hatred, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Like Mandela, Birtukan understands that she must first free the prisoners of hatred, prejudice and narrow-mindedness before she can free herself or her country.

Like Mandela, Birtukan also hungers for freedom. Her hunger for freedom is not just for herself; it is for the freedom of all the Ethiopian people regardless of ethnicity, language, religion and region. Above all, she knows all too well ‘that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed.’

MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

It is customary in free societies to make resolutions for the new year. Accordingly, I pledge to continue to call attention and raise awareness of Birtukan's unjust imprisonment in the court of world opinion, unceasingly continue to demand her release and the release of all political prisoners in Ethiopia, and urge all freedom-loving people throughout the world to do whatever they can to help secure the release of all political prisoners in Ethiopia.

I am sure that Birtukan's captors will snicker and giggle at the very idea of releasing her from prison. After all they have declared her release to be a ‘dead issue.’ It does not matter if they giggle or heehaw; the truth about her unjust imprisonment and abject prison conditions will be told and re-told a million times to the world. I also do not believe that prisoners of hatred, prejudice and narrow-mindedness have the moral capacity or basic human decency to set Birtukan or any other prisoner free. Only the ‘truth shall set her free’; and if Birtukan were to read my words here, she would gently correct me and say: ‘The truth shall set them free too from nineteen years of solitary confinement behind the locked steel bars and stone walls of hatred, prejudice and narrow-mindedness’.

MELKAM ADIS AMET! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Our Great Sister and Ethiopia's First Daughter Birtukan Invictus (Ayibegere)! The truth shall set you free!

FREE BIRTUKAN MIDEKSSA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN ETHIOPIA.

* This article first appeared in the Huffington Post.
* Alemayehu G. Mariam is professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Piracy in Somalia: Competing definitions

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/66950

cc E LIn conversation with Zahra Moloo, Mohamed Abshir Waldo discusses the subject of piracy within Somali waters [mp3]. There are two main types of piracy, Waldo argues: the illegal fishing and dumping of waste by foreign ships and the consequent response of local producers resorting to hijacking in defence of their livelihoods.

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* Zahra Moloo is currently based in London, UK. This is an independently produced audio piece, which previously featured on the Amandla! radio show at CKUT 90.3FM radio station in Montreal, Canada. She is also currently working on the www.angalia.org website.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

What makes a Zimbabwean hero?

Glow

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/66997

cc C FRequests to accord national hero status to the late Gibson Sibanda, former trade union leader and MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) founder, have been denied, despite petitions to Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe. Sokwanele’s Glow argues that ‘the definition of heroism’ in the country should not be 'controlled by Zanu PF alone’, given the 'multi-party political reality'.

In Zimbabwe, it would seem that the definition of heroism is controlled by Zanu PF alone.

Last week Gibson Sibanda was buried at his home town of Filabusi, having succumbed at the age of 66 after a long and painful battle with cancer. Zimbabwe is no doubt poorer for the death of this extraordinary man who was, as Arthur Mutambara stated, ‘an icon of the trade union movement, a freedom fighter, soldier of soldiers, and a hero of heroes.’ Gibson Sibanda was a prominent trade union leader before independence, was arrested several times by the Rhodesian government for his liberation activities and was a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change. More recently he acted as one of the three ministers responsible for national healing, reconciliation and integration. It is little wonder that so many Zimbabweans consider Sibanda to be one of our greatest men.

Nevertheless, when colleagues of Sibanda petitioned the president to accord Gibson Sibanda national hero status, their request was abruptly denied.

The Sibanda snub comes only a few weeks after President Mugabe’s sister, Sabina, was unilaterally declared a heroine by the Zanu PF politburo. As well as being involved in politics, Sabina was among a number of senior Zanu PF politicians who were directly implicated in the violent farm invasions that began in 2000. MDC politicians have expressed outrage that her heroine status was decided without their consultation. Sibanda’s snub also comes only a day before Mugabe declared his late brother-in-law, Robert Marufu, a liberation war hero. Marufu is likewise a controversial character. After he retired from the CIO, he spent most of his time at the Bindura farm he grabbed in 2002, having forcibly acquired the farm equipment and chased away the manager. Marufu also controversially claimed huge sums of money from the War Victims Compensation Fund, after claiming 95 per cent disability from war injuries. In response to the controversy generated by his state-conferred hero status, Mugabe said it pained him that there were people actively working to erode what the likes of Marufu had sacrificed for. Needless to say, Mugabe has few qualms about actively eroding the extraordinary efforts of Gibson Sibanda.

Hero designation has always been in the hands of the Zanu PF Politburo, though non-Zanu PF parties have recently demanded that the designation process be made more inclusive to reflect the multi-party political reality. Mutambara is one of many who have registered extreme indignation at the apparent favouritism over hero designation; ‘We do not recognise the Zanu PF politburo as an authority in determining who becomes a national hero, so we reject the decision by the Zanu PF politiburo that Gibson Sibanda is not a national hero,’ Mutambara said. There are those of us who might wonder why he petitioned Mugabe in the first place. National Heroes Acre has become a veritable who’s who of those who excel in towing the Zanu PF party line. Under Mugabe, ‘heroism’ has become synonymous with demonstrating unswerving acceptance of the Zanu PF status quo. Gibson Sibanda is just one more name on a list of valiant and distinguished Zimbabweans – including Ndabaningi Sithole, James Chikerema, Patrick Kombayi and Henry Hamadziripi – who appear to have been denied hero status primarily because they dared to disagree with Mugabe.

It has been clear for a long time now that Mugabe is disseminating a version of history, patriotism and heroism that simply has no place for those who disagree with him. Owen Maseko is another Zimbabwean who is currently learning what it means to challenge Mugabe’s simplistic definitions. The accomplished painter will find himself on trial later this month for exhibiting realistic depictions of the Matabeleland massacres that took place in the 1980s under the regime of Robert Mugabe. Needless to say, his paintings do not maintain the one-sided, singularistic narrative that Mugabe has sought to sustain. Maseko’s depiction of the violence exacted against Joshua Nkomo and his supporters hardly accords well with the nationalistic documentaries that play on ZBC, where Joshua Nkomo is referred to as ‘the father of Zimbabwe’ without any mention of the fact that he had to flee for his life in the 1980s.

In a further attempt to consolidate the myth, a statue of Nkomo has recently been erected in Bulawayo, ostensibly to commemorate his role as a liberation hero. But the statue remains mysteriously shrouded. A second statue in Harare has courted controversy, mainly because it has been erected at the Karigamombe centre, which is a Shona word meaning ‘he who fells the bull by its horns’. Since Nkomo’s Zapu (Zimbabwe African People's Union) political party symbol was a bull, the controversy is unsurprising. Once again Mugabe loudly embraces Nkomo into the fold with one hand whilst covertly stabbing him in the back with the other. Zapu supporters have called the move ‘a reminder of the Gukurahundi atrocities and… a repetition of the same thing through a new form of ideological attack’. But for Zanu PF this ability to propagate myths and control a narrow history has been central to redefining simplistic boundaries of exclusion and inclusion that offer political benefits.

If you can define who’s in and who’s out, and control their legacy, you can dictate who has the legitimacy to oppress and who has no right to ask questions. Zanu PF operates on the basis of categorising Zimbabweans into traitors versus patriots, enemies of the nation versus authentic national subjects, puppets and sell-outs versus heroes. In short, Zimbabwe’s politics is the politics of subtle exclusion. Arguably, Mugabe’s whole regime survives because it is predicated on excluding men and women exactly like Gibson Sibanda from the category of ‘hero’.

In anticipation of the suggestion that I may be inferring an exclusionary agenda where there is none, it is probably worth quoting at length from The Herald, Zanu PF’s media mouthpiece;

‘…what MDC leaders have done and willed on Zimbabweans can never be considered heroic; it’s treasonous which is why it came as a surprise that Tsvangirai would have the temerity to write to President Mugabe seeking National Hero Status for Gibson Sibanda… MDC leaders have to be told in no uncertain terms that the National Heroes Acre is not for everybody. It is for those who distinguished themselves in liberating this country, and those people can only be found in the ranks of the former liberation movements Zanla and Zipra that came together under Zanu-PF… MDC leaders may be heroes in Whitehall and the White House but they are not heroes here.’

In Zimbabwe, we have been unequivocally told that heroism is Zanu PF and Zanu PF is heroism and there is no room for anyone else. So much for this farce of ‘inclusiveness’. Trudy Stevenson, the MDC-M’s policy co-ordinator and Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal, has insisted that Sibanda’s death was a golden opportunity missed by Zanu PF to do some national healing. ‘They should have taken this opportunity and declared him a national hero to move things forward in a polarised nation like ours,’ Stevenson said. Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the MDC-T, said Mugabe’s Zanu PF party was now showing their ‘true colours.’

Perhaps Mugabe did miss a golden opportunity. Or perhaps polarisation has become the only way that Zanu PF can maintain its survival? Perhaps they are like Shakespeare’s Macbeth, ‘in blood. Steeped in so far that, should [they] wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er.’? Yes, theoretically Mugabe could have confirmed Gibson Sibanda’s heroism. But in doing so he would have risked sending the message that difference is healthy, that critique is welcome and that pluralistic narratives will be tolerated. Could Zanu PF survive such openness? If one’s rhetoric is only a thin disguise for self-serving motives then embracing difference is hardly a risk worth taking. A content-less populism cannot bear the revealing light of open debate. Its method of operation must remain the very antithesis of democracy if it is to survive politically. So sayeth Machiavelli, the father of Realpolitik. To maintain a dictatorship, the despot must suffocate the possibility of dialogue or transparency, he must slander and silence his opponents and completely erode all chance of healthy discussion. He must extinguish the possibility of choice. In short, he must operate exactly as Zanu PF has been doing. Where opposition parties in healthy democratic polities are viewed as offering valuable intelligent dissent, Zanu PF’s model allows for no recognition that the opposition might have a useful role or any views that should be given consideration. Difference in Zimbabwe exists only as an enemy to be initially oppressed and ultimately vanquished. So, under the legitimising guise of an inclusive government, Mugabe works tirelessly to exclude men like Gibson Sibanda from gaining any aura of acceptability.

Mugabe would like to have us believe that men like Sibanda and Maseko are traitors and disloyal Africans, purely by virtue of their persistence in challenging the status quo. But I would counter that those are the only type of heroes worth having. Zimbabwe needs men and women who challenge oppression wherever they see it, regardless of colour, party, or ideological concerns.

Zimbabwe needs men and women who courageously refuse to fit the mould.

Since a burial in Hero’s Acre has come to signify blind conformity with the same people who committed the Gukurahundi atrocities in the 1980s, who ruthlessly suppressed food riots in 1998, conducted Operation Murambastvira in 2005 and orchestrated the post-election violence of 2008, there are many Zimbabweans who will consider Sibanda’s very exclusion from the National Hero’s Acre to be less a denial than a confirmation of his true heroic status.

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* This article first appeared in Sokwanele.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Crunching numbers at ‘Africa’s biggest slum’

Rasna Warah

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/66970

cc G VSituated outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the densely populated Kibera slum was thought to have been home to as many as 1 million people. International agencies, NGOs and governments scrambled to attention, but recent figures show the numbers of people living in Kibera are much less than previously thought. Rasna Warah explains how a lie became the truth.

It is now official: Kibera is not the biggest slum in Africa. The 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census shows that one of the world’s most famous slums houses just 170,070 residents, not one million, as previously believed.

While many may dispute these figures, I find it highly unlikely that the margin of error in the census was so huge that the population of a settlement dropped dramatically to one-fifth of its previous estimate in just a few years - unless the drop can be explained by a natural disaster or epidemic.

The more likely scenario is that, in the absence of authoritative statistics, the population figure for Kibera was entirely made up to suit the interests of particular groups. And because no one publicly challenged the figures, a lie became the truth.

Let me confess at the outset that I am among those people who have published inflated population estimates for Kibera without having any solid evidence to back up the figures. In the 2007 edition of the ‘State of the World’ report published by the Worldwatch Institute, for instance, I stated that population estimates for Kibera ranged from 400,000 to 600,000.

These figures were based on documents published by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), where I had worked for several years. One such report published jointly with the government in 2001 estimated Kibera’s population to be 377,624. This figure was close to the one cited by the then Permanent Secretary for Planning David Nalo, who, in a 2002 unpublished technical report, estimated the number of Kibera residents to be around 250,000.

The latter figure is close to that of the Map Kibera Project, which in 2009 used a mapping technique to come up with a fairly accurate population estimate of between 220,000 and 250,000 for the settlement.

But some time after 2004, when the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (a project implemented jointly by the government and UN-Habitat) was launched, population estimates for Kibera started to rise dramatically, and before we knew it, the slum was being touted as one of the largest in Africa, a claim both UN-Habitat and the government appeared to endorse.

A UN-Habitat brochure entitled ‘UN-Habitat and the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme’ published in 2007 states that ‘Kibera… is the second largest informal settlement in Africa’ and ‘the estimated total population in the settlement ranges from 600,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants’.

NGOs added fuel to these figures, and by 2009, Amnesty International was reporting that one million people lived in what had by then probably become the most filmed, researched, photographed and visited slum in the world.

Before we knew it, the figure spread like a virus, giving Kibera the unenviable reputation of being the biggest slum in Africa, if not the world.

However, even within UN-Habitat, there was no consensus on what the actual figure might be, nor was there any attempt to conduct a survey to determine the population. Quite often, the figure varied depending on which section of UN-Habitat was publishing it, and for what aim.

This problem was compounded by the fact that there was no official and publicly available database within the organisation that could provide numbers for the settlement, which meant that different sections within the same organisation used different figures. The inflated figures were not challenged, perhaps because they were useful to various actors. They were useful to the government and to UN-Habitat, who probably used them to solicit more donor funds for slum upgrading.

They were particularly useful to NGOs, which used them to ‘shock’ charities and other do-gooders into donating more money to their projects in Kibera. (In a brilliant expose of the numbers game, Nation writer Muchiri Karanja found that there are between 6,000 and 15,000 NGOs working in Kibera alone. In other words, there is at least one NGO for every 30 residents.)

Journalists too, used the figures to write up stories on the horrors of urban Africa. But these ‘stakeholders’ need not lose heart. As a Nation reader satirically stated, if they try hard enough, they can still ‘uplift Kibera to be the biggest slum in Africa’.

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* Rasna Warah's 'Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits: An Anthology' (ISBN: 9781434386038) is published by AuthorHouse.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Namibia’s privilege and poverty: Liberation’s limits

Henning Melber

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/66981

cc VigeIn permitting the rise and enrichment of a self-serving political elite, Namibia’s party of liberation, SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation), has betrayed its once noble goals of creating a more egalitarian society, writes Henning Melber. In the absence of a ‘human-’ rather than ‘elite-centred’ postcolonial trajectory, the country now sustains two sides of an ugly face of privilege and poverty, Melber concludes.

‘Solidarity, Freedom, Justice’ was the guiding motive for the Namibian liberation movement SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organisation) in its struggle for self-determination and independence, guided by the intention to seize legitimate political power in a sovereign state to govern in the interests of the people. It was understood that such aspirations and their underlying notions imply an obligation if not a promise to the people: that the struggle against foreign rule, occupation and apartheid was also a struggle for political and social emancipation. This is namely that independence is the first necessary step towards building a new society, one which benefits the previously excluded, marginalised and oppressed colonised majority. The political programme adopted by the SWAPO Central Committee meeting from 28 July to 1 August 1976 in Lusaka stated: ‘social justice and progress for all is the governing idea behind every SWAPO policy decision’ (SWAPO of Namibia, undated: 45). Twenty years into independence, SWAPO has remained the sole political force responsible and accountable for the achievements, but also the failures, of our struggle.

FAILED PROMISES

Measured against the noble aim, post-independence statistics speak a sobering language: an official Household Income and Expenditure Review published towards the end of 2008 by the Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that almost one-third of the country’s 2 million people lived on US$1 or less per day. Moreover, the report also noted a sharp rise in households classified as ‘severely poor’, i.e., living on less than US$20 per month. The same survey found that one-fifth of the population has a share of 78.7 per cent of the country’s total income, while another fifth has to survive on 1.4 per cent of the country’s annual income.

Namibia ranks among those countries with the biggest income gaps in the world and the highest discrepancies in the distribution of wealth, as measured in terms of the Gini coefficient. Nominally, the average income per capita even among the poorer segments of society has grown slightly. But when contrasted and compared with the cost of living (just look at the price of one litre of milk, a bag of miliemeal, fruits and vegetables or a loaf of ordinary bread in our supermarkets!) and the lack of basic social services, as well as other criteria contributing to the Human Development Index, the overall trend is negative. As one UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)-affiliated economist concluded, ‘[O]ver time income poverty appears to be decreasing while human poverty is increasing’ (Levine 2007: 29). Moreover, according to official figures released in 2010, the unemployment rate has crossed the 50 per cent mark. In sum, this social reality contrasts sharply with the statement quoted from SWAPO’s political programme, suggesting that present-day Namibia is quite another country from the one the movement – as guided by promises of ‘solidarity, freedom, justice’ – suggested that it wanted to lead ‘towards the abolition of all forms of exploitation of man by man’ (SWAPO of Namibia, undated: 46).

In retrospect, measured against these stated policy intentions, one can only share the conclusion presented in a recent analysis by André du Pisani that the nationalist claim merely ‘operated as a rhetorical device, casting SWAPO in the role of “revolutionary agent,” bent on reconfiguring the socio-economic and political landscape’ (du Pisani 2010: 24). Yet, in fact, the reconfiguration of the socio-economic landscape, based on control over the political commanding heights of the newly proclaimed Namibian state, operated only through the vehicles of ‘affirmative action’ (AA) and ‘black economic empowerment’ (BEE), a redistributive strategy based on the cooptation of a new elite into the old socio-economic structures (cf. Melber 2007). As underscored by André du Pisani, the ‘national reconciliation’ of such a class character could only be ‘an elite discourse bent on maintaining the legitimacy of the state and responding to the inherent contradictions that characterize SWAPO’s [own] anti-colonial discourse’ (du Pisani 2010: 31).

In contrast to past promises, the new terminology by which the ordinary people have responded to the sobering realities since 1990 highlights reference to a new species, the ‘fat cats’. For it is well understood that a new political and bureaucratic class now uses its access to the country’s natural wealth to appropriate public goods and state property for private self-enrichment. Similar to such appropriation strategies in other countries of the region, we witness a ‘predatory elite’ in operation. This term was recently used by Jay Naidoo, who had been a long-standing trade union leader in the South African struggle for emancipation, then a minister, and is now among those self-critical voices admitting failure to deliver, if not betrayal of the people. Meanwhile, legitimacy for the unashamed appropriation strategy by those comrades in business has followed in Namibia the same tendency as in all other southern African cases of liberation movements as governments by being cloaked in a nationalist discourse. It has operated through an aggressively crafted version of ‘patriotic history’, supportive of the erstwhile liberation movement’s claim to be the dominant (de facto, one and only, solely legitimate) political force as representative of ‘the’ Namibian people – including, of course, the impoverished majority.

Making hardly any distinction between its roles as party, as government and as state, SWAPO has, since independence, stressed the notions of peace and stability while also paying lip service to democracy. Interestingly enough, the terms ‘justice’ and ‘equality’ have never featured prominently, if at all, in its official vocabulary since holding the political power as government. Instead, ‘national reconciliation’ became the programmatic slogan for a cooptation strategy based on the structural legacy of settler colonial minority rule and its corresponding property relations. SWAPO’s strategy becoming one of facilitating, as ‘cultural entrepreneur’, an elite pact designed to ‘reinvent’ by means of an Africanisation of the settler structure ‘an historical communality and continuity among the Namibian people(s) and [to project] a common destiny into the future’ (du Pisani 2010: 16).

What, in the meantime, of Namibia’s social structure? Here Volker Winterfeldt (2010) has recently offered some helpful methodological arguments as to the need to apply a more rigorous class analysis. While stressing the need for a more systematic and stringent methodology to explore the character of the ‘blackoisie’ in emergence, he pays little attention, however, to the rent-seeking nature of the new black class-in-formation, a blend of political office-bearers and of entrepreneurs. These are mainly fledgling business people, although more in the sense of ‘tenderpreneurs’ who lack substantial elements of the classic features of a bourgeoisie. As the former ANC (African National Congress) MP Andrew Feinstein explained with reference to similar strategies in South Africa:

‘The practice of high-ranking members of the party, and those close to them, benefiting from decisions about tenders of the government has become so widespread that the title “tenderpreneur” has been coined to describe the beneficiaries’ (Feinstein 2010).

Their strategies for securing and maximising profit are of a parasitic nature and not – like a ‘patriotic’ bourgeoisie – oriented towards long-term investment in productive sectors for the further accumulation of capital. Instead they use access to the state coffers for their self-enrichment strategy at the expense of the public purse (Melber 2007). According to a government official, himself a beneficiary of this form of ‘redistribution’, politics and economics are close bedfellows but clearly not about any meaningful kind of social reconstruction: BEE, in his honest view, is quite simply about, ‘empowering individuals who have business ideas and need information and capital to take off’ (The Namibian, 27 May 2010). This kind of individual reading of redistribution is in harmony with the neo-imperialist pact among elites, under which the unabated exploitation of the country’s natural resources continues without any meaningful benefits for the majority of the people.

‘International investors’ currently represent a wide panorama of old and new players. They range from the ABC of the ‘old’ imperialist powers (Australian, British, Canadian, French, German, Japanese and American multinationals), mainly operating in the mining and energy sector (while Spain has concentrated on the lucrative fishing industry), to the government’s fiercely competitive new friends beyond the ‘big brother’ on the other side of the southern border. These are: Russia offering to develop a nuclear reactor for local use of Namibian uranium and seeking to control access over the natural gas fields off the coast; India and South Korea joining the race for benefitting from the further exploration of the uranium deposits (Namibia ranks 4th among the world’s producers of uranium) with Iran already holding a smaller portion of shares in one of the established uranium mines; Brazil cooperating in the strengthening of a local navy; the Chinese entering the race not only for access to the country’s mineral and energy resources and base metals, but also for large parts of the construction sector; and with the North Koreans having built the pompous Heroes’ Acre and the megalomaniacal new State House complex. Out of business in all this are many pre-existing Namibian companies and their local workforce, while local hawkers and street vendors are confronted with the fierce competition of Chinese shops.

In fact, most new ventures simply generate – often with a short-term perspective – high profits at the expense of the local economy and people. The beneficiaries, such as they are, are – if at all – to be found only in the higher echelons of the public service or political offices, as the saga of the Malaysian textile manufacturer, Ramatex, suggests. This company started to manufacture apparel and textiles for export to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in a newly established complex in Windhoek. In a classic case of ‘race to the bottom’, several southern African governments had competed for favours in return for the sanctioning of the investment, with Namibia, in the end, winning out, but not for long. For several years Ramatex did indeed produce profits (to be transferred primarily to its Malaysian owners, of course), before closing down abruptly one day and re-locating its production to China where the Multi-Fiber-Agreement provided a more lucrative option. The Namibian taxpayers and the Windhoek municipality were the losers in this deal, while several thousand unqualified workers (almost exclusively young women) could merely return, after years of hard work under horrible conditions (no trade union was allowed in the factory and the Namibian labour laws were not applicable, since the location was declared a ‘free trade zone’) to their shacks without any compensation or savings. In his detailed case study, Winterfeldt (2007: 91) concludes:

‘Does this hold out the prospect of social progress, as measured against the principles of social equity? The liberal discourse, whether in its classical or its present shape, boldly rests on the glorification of the principle of social retardation: first comes the successful individual, the entrepreneur; then (if all goes well, and always to a lesser extent) society, that productive majority actually instrumental in creating economic wealth. First come, first served. The liberal economic ideology is not the epitome of social responsibility. It is class-biased, and so is its concept of development… The analysis of Ramatex’s Namibian operations shows that neoliberal economic orientations, seen in the long term, tend to affect or even negate collective structures based on social solidarity. Conversely, any vision of social welfare must [instead] make the preservation and promotion of collective structures of social solidarity the focal point of accelerated sustainable development.’

BIG AND ‘FAT CAT’ SYNDROME

The recent debate around a basic income grant (BIG) bears the promise of something a bit different. Indeed, BIG has help launched a significant symbolic discourse as regards social policy priorities under the current government. The BIG initiative, springing from a campaign spawned by a church and labour movement alliance, in collaboration with like-minded NGOs, undertook a pilot project in one selected (and quite destitute) village, which paid monthly cash allowances of N$100 to each individual resident there in an effort to convince the government that, in the absence of any other meaningful alternative, this might for the time being begin to contribute to the empowerment of local communities. Yet since its inception BIG has been met with an almost knee-jerk response that ridicules such proposals for financial transfers as naïve justifications for free rides for those who do not really want to earn a decent living by working with their own hands.

Thus, when President Hifikepunye Pohamba delivered his State of the Nation address in Parliament earlier this year, he was asked his views on BIG and on the attendant demands that the Namibian government should introduce a generalised BIG for all Namibians. His position: to dismiss BIG as a form of exploitation of those who are able and privileged to earn their living through work, which provides them and their families with a salaried income, while their taxes would then be used as payouts for others! Quite simply, for Pohamba and for other political leaders, greed seems to be much the more acceptable way. Note that it was these same political leaders who reportedly celebrated the 20th anniversary of Namibia’s independence by toasting with French champagne at N$1,000 a bottle. Moreover, cabinet members recently were granted new top-class Mercedes Benz limousines, perhaps (as the permanent secretary, seeking to justify the expenses for this fleet reportedly amounting to some N$300 million indeed suggested!) because the cars in use had become too small for their well-fed bodies!

As if to add insult to injury, the Namibian trade union umbrella body, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), announced in July, and out of the blue, that, with immediate effect, it had abandoned the BIG coalition. NUNW is, as it happens, affiliated to SWAPO and the move was widely seen as a response to the president’s dismissal of the initiative. The NUNW president in a press conference cited a lack of creative ideas to address poverty as the reason for this move and stated: ‘We are sincere in our belief that there’s serious need for poverty alleviation in this country. We believe that that the [BIG] coalition’s idea is good but not the best. We’re striving for the best.’ He failed to offer a proposal, however, of which circumstances would be the best, but merely emphasised the need to reproduce wealth, which, in his view, would be almost impossible if money were handed out to individuals for free: ‘We’d rather suggest that instead of giving out $100 to everyone each month, Government should be pushed to make it easier for equity participation by Namibians in local companies.’ (New Era, 8 July 2010).

This sounds more of the same self-enrichment strategy for individuals with access to the state’s coffers, which are filled with revenue income and pension money and abused for dubious handouts disguised as deals claiming to represent an empowerment strategy but merely ending in fiascos for the public purse. All too often the beneficiaries of such an empowerment strategy are found among the former trade union officials and higher-ranking public servants as well as political office-bearers, but hardly ever (if at all) among those who would qualify as truly in need of some financial support to embark on a meaningful business to feed themselves and those able to be employed for the further creation of wealth. Seeming representatives of the organised Namibian labour movement had come a long way from the days when the slogan ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’ had a different meaning – forgetting, apparently, that solidarity is a complementary notion to social justice and part of an ongoing struggle to achieve it. The total loss of N$1.8 billion as estimated by Namfisa (including the estimated opportunity costs of N$1.2 billion) as a result of the N$650 million in capital losses wasted through the failed Development Capital Portfolio (DCP) of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) as reported in The Namibian (6 August 2010) would have come a long way if spent on other forms of ‘poverty reduction’ than easing the plight of the failed entrepreneurs who cash in their status as previously disadvantaged at the expense of the truly disadvantaged masses.

SOLIDARITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, NOT CHARITY

Of course, BIG may not be, in and of itself, the best answer in order to solve the challenge of structurally rooted inequality and destitution in Namibia. But at least the initiative had sought to contribute to creating a society in which all members obtain the minimum standard of living they deserve. It has been an effort to create an environment that could begin to enable the excluded to master their living conditions in a more empowering way and with some degree of dignity, allowing for self-respect. In Namibia, any such effort is simply dismissed by those who seem to care more about securing and further advancing their own privileges than showing empathy with the plight of ordinary people. But the hard-fought-for liberation from minority rule (and against privileges for a few at the expense of the majority) must now mean more than merely the renewed promotion of Social Darwinism. As a result of this latter mindset the fat cat (species Namibiana) prospers and advances – while, in sharp contrast, the people of Namibia, who are battling to survive their anything-but-self-inflicted misery, are once again quite simply losing out. The BIG initiative does at least suggest that some resistance remains. Indeed, for so long as ‘a luta continua’ continues to be translated, in practical terms, as ‘the looting continues’, the struggle in Namibia will be far from over.

The controversy around BIG provides interesting evidence that it mobilises a debate, which has its focus on delivery and the plight of the poor. The fact speaks for itself, as the Windhoek Observer in its 22 July issue titled its editorial with ‘Let them eat cake’ (thereby revoking the memory of Queen Marie Antoinette, who allegedly made this flippant remark in the 18th century French monarchy when hearing about the protesting masses who during a famine demanded bread). The editorial in the state-owned New Era of 6 August appeals to ‘[f]ind amicable solution to BIG’. These are indications for a concern that the official responses to the BIG initiative lack the degree of social awareness one would expect from the political leaders in this country, who claim to act in good faith and the public interest. In addition to similar doubtful views expressed in the public arena through SMSes and readers’ letters in the print media, postings on the SWAPO party website also suggest that the BIG remains a contested issue even inside the belly of the beast.

There seems to emerge a certain degree of productive confusion, at least among a few of those, who are guided by and maintain a rather strict loyalty to the political dons and their official positions – if only in the interest of their own career. A case in point is the latest opinion article by the SWAPO party Youth League proponent Paul Shipale. He indicated his willingness to engage critically with the notion of BEE and offers a courageous (mis)representation of Marxist thought, merely to end with another blatantly apologetic pseudo-reasoning for neoliberal Social Darwinism cloaked in a preference for individual liberties. As he daringly suggests:

‘Tyranny is when a governing power defines and enforces charitable giving against your will. The concepts of individual freedom, liberty and unalienable individual rights cannot coexist with the concepts of “social justice,” for there is no means by which to provide “social justice” which does not trample on the individual rights of some, for the benefit of others. For the nation to be “socially just,” it must trade individual freedom and liberty for the right to “equal stuff’”’ (Shipale 2010).

You cannot get it much more wrong in the effort to abandon any social responsibility. Even at the height of Cold War defamation strategies against anything, which smelled of socialism, the apologetics of the ‘capitalist freedom’ were hardly as daring to deny as bluntly any social responsibilities. Actually, the social welfare systems of enlightened capitalist societies would then have been in constant violation of such fundamental principles of freedom by supporting the individual autonomy of people allowing them to develop their freedom as responsible and active members of a society, in which they have a minimum material security through the policy of the state. Why then, following the approach advocated by Shipale, not stop paying taxes as a legitimate entitlement of the individual freedom of choice over collective responsibility? After all, tax contributions are among others supposed to finance social responsibilities executed by the state and its authorities in the public interest, and not supposed to offer free rides for the new elite.

Recall the social awareness and responsibility expressed by Thomas Paine, in his tract ‘Agrarian justice’ of 1797, where he argues for the creation of a national fund to provide every citizen above the age of 21 with an annual financial amount independent of their other income and property. ‘Poverty’, as he diagnosed, ‘is a thing created by that which is called civilized life.’ As a result, so-called civilisation, ‘make[s] one part of the society more affluent, and the other more wretched, than would have been the lot in a natural state.’ He therefore maintained: ‘It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am pleading for.’ In Namibia, more than two centuries later, the argument still holds.

John Saul (2010) quotes the South African prelate Reverend Fuleni Mzukisi, who in 2008 expressed his frustration over the lack of delivery by commenting that poverty was now worse than apartheid and a ‘terrible disease’:

‘Apartheid was a deep crime against humanity. It left people with deep scars, but I can assure you that poverty is worse than that… People do not eat human rights; they want food on the table.’

The reverend is however overlooking that indeed food on the table is a fundamental human right (even though many do not even have a table to put the food on, provided they would have something to eat). According to John Saul, such a sad if not tragic state of affairs in southern Africa (by no means restricted to social realities in Namibia alone) reflects a choice of economic strategies,

‘that can now imagine only elite enrichment and the presumed “trickle down benefits” of unchecked capitalism as being the way in which the lot of the poorest of the poor might be improved there. How far a cry this is from the populist, even socialist hopes for more effective and egalitarian outcomes that originally seemed to define the development dreams of all the liberations movements. Indeed, what is especially disconcerting about the present recolonization of the region under the flag of capitalism is that is has been driven by precisely the same movements (at least in name) that led their countries to independence in the long years of overt regional struggle’ (Saul 2010).

Privilege and poverty as the two faces of Namibia’s society are a complementary result of the limits to liberation and the failure to transcend the colonial legacy into a human-centred (in contrast to an elite-centred) project of emancipation from the scourges of the past. Poverty remains a festering wound, reminding us of the promises betrayed. Privilege and poverty are, however, not really two faces. They are inseparable integral parts in reproducing the structures of a deeply unequal society at the expense of the majority of the people – a far cry from the noble policy declarations adopted during the struggle days. Namibians deserve better. Privilege and poverty are two sides of one ugly face, which is in urgent need of more than merely cosmetics.

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* This paper is based in part on a text published in September 2010 in Africa Files, at issue ezine (vol. 12, no. 5).
* Dr Henning Melber joined SWAPO in 1974 and was director of the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) between 1992 and 2000. He is currently executive director of The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Sweden.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

REFERENCES

du Pisani, André. ‘The Discursive Limits of SWAPO’s Dominant Discourses on Anti-colonial Nationalism in Postcolonial Namibia – a First Exploration’, in André du Pisani/Reinhart Kößler/William A. Lindeke (eds), The Long Aftermath of War – Reconciliation and Transition in Namibia. Freiburg: Arnold Bergstraesser Institut 2010, pp. 1-40

Feinstein, Andrew. ‘Rise of the tenderpreneuers, the fall of South Africa’, New Statesman, 7 June 2010

Levine, Sebastian. Trends in Human Development and Human Poverty in Namibia. Background paper to the Namibia Human Development Report. Windhoek: UNDP, October 2007

Melber, Henning. ‘Poverty, politics, power and privilege – Namibia’s black economic elite formation’, in Henning Melber (ed.), Transitions in Namibia – which changes for whom? Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute 2007, pp. 110-129

Saul, John. ‘Southern Africa: The Liberation Struggle Continues’, Africa Files, at issue ezine, vol. 12, no. 1, May 2010

Shipale, Paul T. ‘PRE-vue [discourse’s-analysis] TRI-vium – Let’s finish the BEE building’, New Era, Windhoek, 6 August 2010

SWAPO of Namibia, The Constitution and The Political Program. Lusaka: SWAPO Department for Publicity & Information, undated.

Winterfeldt, Volker. ‘Liberated economy? The case of Ramatex Textiles Namibia’ in Henning Melber (ed.), Transitions in Namibia – which changes for whom? Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute 2007, pp. 65-93

Winterfeldt, Volker. ‘Postcolonial Dynamics of Social Structure in Namibia’, in André du Pisani/Reinhart Kößler/William A. Lindeke (eds), The Long Aftermath of War – Reconciliation and Transition in Namibia. Freiburg: Arnold Bergstraesser Institut 2010, pp. 139-170

South African Parliament botches delivery protest investigation

Patrick Bond

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/66996

cc L NThe South African Parliament has just released a report that investigates the service delivery protests that have rocked the country over the last decade. But, argues Patrick Bond, the report is ‘utterly inadequate’ and fails to identify the root cause of the protests.

If the report issued last week by a Parliamentary committee regarding causes of social protest in South Africa is any indication, our political elites are not willing to take the steps required to address society’s deep divisions.

A year ago, the so-called Ad Hoc Committee on Coordinated Oversight on Service Delivery was given a mandate ‘to specifically investigate the underlying reasons for the often violent protests for services’. What they have produced is utterly inadequate. The MPs failed to notice most of the major protests even in high-profile sites like Durban where they came to gather testimony; they failed to apply their minds to information they gathered; and they accepted a biased explanation about the causes - mainly malgovernance - without digging up an even deeper root of the problem: money.

Dating to the time service delivery protests began in earnest, when Thabo Mbeki became president in 1999, the most seductive response for politicians is ‘policy denialism’. They avoid blaming the national executive (where policies are made) and the legislature (where they should be vetted and oversight provided). Instead, it’s easier to claim that provincial and municipal government officials simply refuse to properly implement the otherwise laudable policies, programmes and projects.

That’s what the committee concluded in explaining South Africa’s world-leading protest rate, ‘The interface of politics and administration, the quality and frequency of public participation, [and] responsiveness to citizens override all other factors.’ As a result, the ‘neoliberal’ (pro-market) orientation of the state is disguised and the conservative fiscal policy imposed by former finance ministerTrevor Manuel and maintained by his successor Pravin Gordhan goes unquestioned. That policy stresses ‘cost recovery’ and refuses to transfer adequate funding for infrastructure and services required by poor people.

The committee is not entirely wrong, because naturally, malgovernance accompanies neoliberalism. More precisely, crony capitalism - ‘Zuma-family Economic Empowerment’ (ZEE) at national scale, and locally, the patronage system of EThekwini Municipality city manager Mike Sutcliffe - replaced the social democracy promised by the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1994 Reconstruction and Development Programme.

As the committee put it, in a remark that hits home in Durban, ‘The tender system in municipalities needs to be tightened to close gaps that allow corruption to flourish.’ However, the committee’s parachute tour allowed only an outlandishly positive top-down view of Durban management, which is allegedly ‘performing well in service delivery including housing, long-planning and building partnerships with the private sector to provide services and build catalysts for development [sic]’.

The masses beg to disagree, judging by the past decade’s worth of major protests. Chatsworth is the site most often named as the epicenter of post-apartheid mass democratic community unrest. Recall that Fatima Meer’s Concerned Citizens Forum arrived there to promote the ANC in the 2000 municipal elections. Soon realising that ANC officials worsened not lessened the socio-economic problems of both Indian and African ‘poors’, Meer switched sides to civil society and a new, critical way of relating to government was born.

Since then, Durban service delivery protests have regularly broken out against various state departments for a range of reasons. The 70 we documented over the past year and a half in the Centre for Civil Society’s ‘Social Protest Observatory’ (on our website, http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs) represent only a fraction of the anger, but are illustrative.

Noticing just one of these protests, in Wentworth over the Barracks housing project, the committee recorded how that ‘community was furious about the condition of the new housing development because there was clear poor workmanship which the Metro and residents should have resolved amicably by forcing the contractor to fix the defects. It was clear that the municipal leadership was not aware of the frustration and concerns of residents.’

Come off it, of course Sutcliffe and his colleagues were aware (surely they read The Mercury, where it was covered). Most of the problems raised in these protests could easily be fixed with a dollop of money untainted by corruption. To prove this, when Durban’s water department raised prices during the late 1990s and early 2000s (doubling the real water price within six years), the lowest-income third of Durban residents cut back their consumption by 30 per cent. Then, recognising that such neoliberal water policy caused debilitating protests and lawsuits in Johannesburg, Durban officials remedied their mistake in 2008 with a 50 per cent increase in the amount of free water, a 9kl per household monthly ‘lifeline’. That’s the right government response to service delivery protests: recognize genuine grievances and spend a bit more if that’s what’s required.

The visiting MPs never once recognise this obvious strategy, even when observing that Durban ‘opposition parties complain that senior administrators are pursuing their own agendas and deprive them of information’. But instead of honing in on the problem associated with so many services (affordability) and the solution (more subsidies), the committee only remarked upon the ‘need to strengthen communication between councillors and communities’. Ducking hard issues is why Parliament has a joke reputation and why no change in service delivery can be reasonably anticipated - until more intense protests certainly follow.

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* Patrick Bond is based at Centre for Civil Society within the University of KwaZulu-Natal's School of Development Studies.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

South Sudan: Africa, Bashir and the ICC

Francis Kornegay

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/67000

cc O DFollowing Omar al-Bashir’s attendance at Kenya’s constitutional celebration last month, Francis Kornegay speculates on strategic reasons behind Kenya’s defiance of the ICC’s arrest warrant on the Sudanese president. ‘Could there be a connection between al-Bashir’s visit’ and ‘a regional conflict prevention diplomacy addressing the anticipated referendum on South Sudan self-determination in 2011?’ asks Kornegay.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s visit to Kenya’s constitutional celebration in August caused quite an international stir given his being on the International Criminal Court (ICC) wanted list.

Why would Kenya defy the ICC on the arrest warrant out for Bashir to face genocide charges regarding Darfur?

Suppose, however, there was more to the visit than met the eye? Could there be a connection between al-Bashir’s visit to Kenya and a regional conflict prevention diplomacy addressing the anticipated referendum on South Sudan self-determination in 2011?

And even that might be the tip of an ‘iceberg’ given polarisation between Nile Basin upstream countries in the East African Community (EAC) on the one hand and Sudan and Egypt on the other on the recently tabled Nile Basin treaty, signed by the upstreams but rejected by Cairo and Khartoum.

Indeed, could the Nile be part of the referendum peace versus conflict equation, given past dark hints of retaliation against upstream countries in East Africa developing their portion of the Nile against Egypt’s wishes tied to the colonial era treaty of 1929 between Egypt and Britain?

Hence, back to Kenya’s defiance of the ICC. Could there be a quid pro quo in the making? If not, there should be. After all, Khartoum could obstruct the 2011 referendum and/or destabilise the South via its time-tested technique of arming proxy forces against the Government of South Sudan (GOSS), as it has in the past against the SPLA.

Might it not be plausible that, as signatories to the ICC, Kenya and other EAC countries could hold the ICC arrest warrant over al-Bashir’s head as potential politico-diplomatic isolation leverage should Khartoum re-ignite a North-South civil war to forestall GOSS independence and other undermine and destabilise it? Moreover, could this not even become a cause celebre in an unprecedented mobilisation of sub-Saharan Africa, in what might develop into a sharpened North-South fault-line extending beyond Sudan in dividing the African Union (AU) between North African and sub-Saharan geopolitical camps?

And would this not throw a spanner in the geopolitical works of economic diplomacy for any number of external actors – like, for example, China, France, the Arab League, the Non-Aligned Movement or ultimately the UN?

Beijing, however, is already re-balancing its interests in Sudan as it goes about opening an official mission in Juba in anticipation of a southern referendum vote for independence. China will not be caught flat-footed given the predominance of Sudan’s oil in the South. But, then, this also ups Beijing’s stakes for responsibility in the unfolding North-South Sudan scenario.

All in all, these are extremely critical strategic considerations in as much as the Maghreb which, apart from Nigeria and South Africa, bankrolls the AU, has been much more united and focused on Sudan and Horn of African issues generally than sub-Saharan African AU members. Indeed, there is no clearly defined countervailing mobilisation in solidarity with the non-Muslim sub-Saharan ‘blacks’ of South Sudan in Africa as a whole, including, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

However, should not sub-Saharan Africa do some judicious muscle-flexing in the wider pan-African interest on South Sudan as a ‘red line’ not to be crossed in the balance of power in inter-African relations between the North African Maghreb and sub-Saharan African interests? Moreover, this is a power equation that extends over into the anglophone-francophone divide wherein, in rough alignment with Paris, there exist an ever-ready Arab-dominated francophone Afro-Arab bloc of Maghreb geo-cultural hegemony which, in fact, among other things is a major bone of contention in the International Inter-Parliamentary Union, where there is a bid for Arab League hegemony on African parliamentarians.

Indeed, the Arab-dominance that is exerted in such instances masks itself in the garb of a ‘continentalism’ that is ranged against the much broader pan-African globalism that is inclusive of the sub-Saharan rooted African diaspora spread over the Americas, Europe and to some extent even in parts of the Middle East and Asia. Little wonder then that the Maghreb members of the AU have been lukewarm at best on the AU’s diaspora project wherein the African diaspora might be considered the AU’s Sixth Region.

And suppose the pan-African inter-parliamentary union initiative of establishing a Global African Parliament should gain traction after South Africa hosts next year’s much-awaited African diaspora summit? Thus far, within the international Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), it is the Arab Parliamentary Union orchestrating a proposed African Parliamentary Union, reportedly financed by Libya with the secretary-general, a Sudanese based in Cote d’Ivoire.

South Africa’s position, among that of other sub-Saharan members, is that it is the Pan-African Parliament that must represent the secretariat of the African geopolitical region of the IPU, not the Arab League-backed set up to represent Africa within the IPU. Thus, does the Sudan conundrum in its Darfur and North-South dimensions feed into a wider intra-continental power struggle over whose geopolitical agenda will determine Africa’s future.

But this digresses from ‘whither Sudan and the GOSS referendum.’ But there is a connection. It not outside the realm of possibility (probability being something else altogether) that a sub-Saharan/North African divide wherein executing the ICC arrest warrant against an al-Bashir waging renewed war against the GOSS could find expression in a Global African campaign inclusive of the diaspora and diasporan legislators as well as sub-Saharan parliamentarians putting pressure on their governments to honour the ICC arrest warrant, effectively circumscribing al-Bashir’s movements outside Sudan, save for the Arab/Muslim world and much of Asia.

Indeed, South-South cooperation could be complicated by such a scenario. But its potential doesn’t end there. After all the EAC is already in something of an undeclared war with Egypt and the Sudan over the Nile already, and it’s not unlikely that Cairo and Khartoum could retaliate by destabilising South Sudan and even Northern Uganda (and parts of eastern Congo and the Central African Republic) as well via the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) given suspicions that the LRA’s staying power results from covert Khartoum backing anyway.

The EAC could up the ante even more beyond leveraging the ICC arrest warrant. Let’s say war breaks out once again in South Sudan. An EAC summit could be held wherein the five heads of state declare the community, which is moving toward federation, as the focal point for an even broader geopolitical project: The launching of the Sub-Saharan Union of African States (SSUAS). Meanwhile, it should also grant associate membership in the EAC to the GOSS. Indeed, this should happen whatever scenario unfolds.

What is fascinating about such a gambit is that it need not necessarily mean a clean formal break-up of the AU, as much as the SSUAS constituting a ‘caucus’ or ‘lobby’ within the AU. Albeit, promoting a SSUAS option could employ an accession process toward membership wherein individual AU member states outside East Africa would join the Sub-Saharan Union at their own ‘speed’ and volition in what could effectively evolve into a ‘two-speed’ Africa. Diaspora countries such as those in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and diaspora communities such as in the US via the Congressional Black Caucus could join and/or become otherwise affiliated as well.

Divisive as such a Sub-Sahara Union scenario might appear, it really is not as ‘splittist’ as it appears as much as constituting a strategically alternative route to African integration that empowers sub-Saharan ‘black’ Africa and its diaspora in balancing the power equation between the North African Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. To be sure, it could complicate certain grand projects such as the COMESA-SADC-EAC tripartite free trade area (FTA) given the membership of Egypt and Libya along with the Sudan in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

Might not the sub-Saharan members of COMESA move to have them suspended based on their complicity in conflict escalation in South Sudan and in retaliation over the development of the Nile waters in contravention of the 1929 Nile treaty?

On the other hand, this tripartite combine might also be moved to initiate a conflict resolution/management scenario (one that might include Algeria as well). Indeed, such a confrontation might even inspire greater unity among the sub-Saharan members of the tripartite orchestrated by the EAC and supported by South Africa and Ethiopia. This, in turn, could even conceivably bridge the Afro-Arab fault-line by holding out the prospect of expanding EAC accession to include Khartoum as well as the GOSS. Conceivably this constitute a route toward Sudan’s re-unification within a future greater East African federation.

However the Sudan scenario and its broader geopolitical ramifications unfold, there are, however, a number of caveats that can qualify the scenario outlined above. France would be sure to try and exert pressure via the francophone Afro-Arab coalition as a counter to a Sub-Saharan Union if not against implementation of the ICC warrant against Bashir. Otherwise, the one ‘good thing’ about French-inspired resistance is that this might limit the extent to which an SSUAS gambit might be perceived as a Western ploy to divide the continent.

Alternatively, it might go down as an Anglo-American backed anglophone hegemonic strategy to shift the power balance in Africa not just away from leverage exerted by the Maghreb but further away from Paris as well.

At the same time, however, it could throw a spanner in the works for China’s economic diplomacy on the continent. Indeed, Beijing might have every interest imaginable to exercise some preventive diplomacy aimed at forestalling renewed war and destabilisation in South Sudan as it would contemplate how complicated Africa’s geopolitical terrain could become at the expense to its mercantilist interests. Hence, the importance of Beijing’s diplomatic presence in South Sudan as well as in Khartoum.

In the final analysis, more than likely, a SSUAS – even an ICC leverage – scenario won’t happen. Bold stroke politico-diplomatic ‘great games’ of revisionism aimed at status-quo transformation may be just too much to expect out of Africa’s conservative political culture. Geopolitical imagination in the service of advancing Global Africa is a rare commodity on the continent. But the South Sudan/Nile conflict conundrum may well demand some game-changing scenarios if Africa’s movement into the emerging power sweepstakes is not to be severely set-back by Cairo-Khartoum ruthlessness at the continent’s expense.

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* Francis Kornegay is a research associate at the Institute for Global Dialogue and a political analyst with a particular focus on African and international geopolitical and foreign policy issues.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Kenya's constitution: Power and progress

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/66951

© S 1In an interview with Zahra Moloo, Tony Moturi talks about the background [mp3] to the Kenyan constitution, the potential from the new document and the flaws with the constitution in its previous guise. Among the most important features of the new constitution, Moturi stresses, are the supremacy it grants to the Kenyan people and changes around gender-based citizenship.

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* Zahra Moloo is currently based in London, UK. This is an independently produced audio piece, which previously featured on the Amandla! radio show at CKUT 90.3FM radio station in Montreal, Canada. She is also currently working on the www.angalia.org website.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Nigeria and IBB: Facing past and present

Okachikwu Dibia

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/66971

cc O DWith former Nigerian president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) suggesting a desire to run the country once more, Okachikwu Dibia argues that IBB would be wise to clarify the question marks around his past actions, in particular by agreeing to be prosecuted over his government’s annulment of the 12 June 1993 elections.

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (alias IBB) overthrew the disciplined government of General Muhammadu Buhari in August 1985 and ruled Nigeria for eight years. Within those years, Nigeria alleged that IBB was involved in the killing, through a letter bomb, of one of Nigeria’s finest, foremost and brilliant journalists, Dele Giwa, on 19 October 1986. Nigeria is also pointing accusing fingers at IBB, stressing that he should explain how the US$12 billion oil ‘freefall’ or ‘windfall’ funds in 1991 were spent. Besides, Nigeria is not happy with IBB concerning the annulment on 23 June 1993 of the country’s acclaimed freest and fairest election, held on 12 June 1993. Nigeria strongly thinks that these issues are too important to be ignored and swept under the carpet, especially now that IBB is all-out to rule Nigeria again.

To assist both Nigeria and IBB in fully resolving one of these matters, SERAP, a civil society organisation, is interested in prosecuting IBB. I think this is a good opportunity for IBB to thoroughly lay this matter to rest; instead, he has wrongly warned and told Nigeria to shut up on the Dele Giwa matter and 12 June 1993 election annulment. The reason? These are mundane issues!

For somebody who wants to lead Nigeria, this democratic decree is highly unfortunate, undemocratic and clearly shows that IBB neither understands society nor understands what it means to lead it. Hence, he may not have a good sense of a positive perspective on history. Yet, he appropriates history. To lead Nigeria means to assist the country in organising and administering its resources with the purpose of resolving the social, political and economic issues which it feels strongly about. These three issues must be seen in this perspective.

Unfortunately, the attorney general of the federation (AGF) of Nigeria and other public officers, who should be responsible in the resolution of the US$12 billion issue, are frustrating it by claiming that the original copy of Dr Pius Okigbo’s panel’s report on the matter is missing and that the one submitted by SERAP to the AGF is not original enough for them to take up the matter. This is highly illogical and therefore the AGF and all the officers involved in this illogicality should be separately prosecuted for unwarranted high-level official fraud and recklessness. Thereafter, IBB should be fully allowed to defend himself on the matter to enable him settle this sore point of his in the history of Nigeria’s economic underdevelopment. This must be, even if both IBB and SERAP could base their arguments on a copy that is not ‘original enough’, or maybe IBB could assist to produce a copy which is ‘original enough’. If these efforts fail, the current AGF should know that he had entangled himself into a thorny issue he probably knew nothing about prior to his appointment, and the history of Nigeria will not forgive him for wasting yet another golden opportunity in settling this issue between Nigeria and IBB.

Gani Chambers should again quickly sue IBB on the gruesome death of our dear Dele Giwa. The court and IBB need to allow this matter to be fully prosecuted so that the latter will answer whatever questions concerning the matter. This will facilitate to clear and clean his name on the death of Dele Giwa, especially now that Akilu and co. are alive.

Let the human rights groups team up and sue IBB for annulling the 12 June 1993 election because it is a criminal offence to organise an election with the funds and times of Nigeria and waste it. More so, the consequences of that annulment led to the deaths of Nigerians, the destruction of properties worth millions of Naira and a loss of productivity during the crisis. This must be quantified so that IBB and the entire world will know how grievous and serious the losses incurred by Nigeria due to IBB’s annulment of the 12 June 1993 election are. The losses are heavy, painful and still affecting Nigeria to date. This is not a matter before constitutionalism; it is one with the social and economic destruction of Nigeria. IBB needs to know the consequential weight of what he did to Nigeria. Nigeria is still crying and bleeding from that annulment. Besides, it is not just enough to say, ‘yes, I annulled the election. I am sorry.’ It goes beyond that and that is why he must be fully prosecuted so that at the end, he will lay to rest this nightmare called 12 June 1993. If this is not done, any president can decide to annul Nigeria’s elections in the future if he does not like the result.

The courts need to ensure that in all these matters before them, they should accord speedy attention to them so that judgments are delivered before 22 January 2011 when the next presidential election will be held in Nigeria. This will enable IBB to stand cleaned and cleared to seek to lead Nigeria again. Also, Nigeria will have gone a long way to resolve these issues that have been disturbing it since IBB stepped aside in 1993 and wants to step in come 2011. Otherwise, we no go gree!

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* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The Kenyan census and the future

Muthoni Wanyeki

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/66972

So the census results are finally out, a year after the fact and just in time for the immense amount of planning needed to affect the devolution envisaged under the new Constitution.

The debate and discomfort that the census has evoked is worthy of comment. The initial results were, apparently, ready well in advance of their eventual release. But, at the higher political levels, two issues reportedly provoked much discussion. First, the figures pertaining to the Gikuyu. And second, the figures pertaining to Kenyans of Somali descent - the latter of which, as has since been reported on ad nauseum, had apparently spiked beyond credible bounds.


With the populist result in relation to the Gikuyu, all manner of admonition, conjecture and speculation is still going on in the popular media. The admonitions being to the effect that procreation (within the tribe) is now a ‘duty’. And the conjecture and speculation being to the effect (outside of the tribe) that Gikuyu women are somehow rather more wanton (to put it politely) than others. A more sober and technical result, in relation to Somalis, is the ongoing attempt to document the largely unregistered urban refugee population. All other ‘alien’ registration processes are, in fact, currently on hold - the priority being the Somalis.


Both the discussions and their consequences are, of course, disturbing, reeking of chauvinism both sexist and xenophobic. 


But they are not new discussions. In anticipation of this, one effort prior to the census urged Kenyans not to respond to the questions on ethnicity and race, but to instead insist on being counted as ‘Kenyans’ only. It would be interesting to know just how many Kenyans responded to that particular call to arms in defense of a collective identity.


Other Kenyans, of mixed ethnicity and/or race, had their own particular grievance. They wanted the right to name themselves in their entirety - rather than, as is expected and the common practice, in alignment with just the ethnicity and/or race of their fathers. Needless to say, that wasn’t an option.

The question is, beyond interest, why the figures are important. Because Kenya’s official planning process is obviously not on the basis of ethnicity and/or race - it is on the basis of geographical units. It is true that ethnicity is assumed to be synonymous with geography. But that assumption is (and has increasingly been) an erroneous one to make. Again, our complex history of migration and settlement, forced and otherwise, means that no geographic unit is ethnically homogeneous.


All manner of people are everywhere. I’ve met Somali traders in western province - whose families have been there for generations, their fluency in Bukusu testifying to that fact. It was in western province too that I was first informed that ‘my’ people, the Gikuyu, are called the ‘pumpkin people’. Why? Because ‘we’ apparently, like pumpkin plants, sprawl out everywhere. I laughed.


But we continue to deny the heterogeneous nature of all our geographies. We continue to pretend that we can sweep that complex history of migration and settlement under the carpet. We cannot. The census results - and the reactions to them - are our pointer that we need to resolve our past, while looking firmly forward.

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* Muthoni Wanyeki is executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
* This article was first published by The East African.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Denouncing Gates Foundation purchase of Monsanto Company shares

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/66985

La Via Campesina (www.viacampesina.org), a global peasant movement representing small farmers, landless workers, fisherfolk, rural women, youth and indigenous peoples, with 150 member organizations from 70 countries on five continents, has denounced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s recent acquisition of Monsanto Company shares. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded in 1994 by Microsoft founder William H. Gates, and today exerts a hegemonic influence on global agricultural development policy. The Foundation channels hundreds of millions of dollars into projects that encourage peasants and farmers to use Monsanto’s genetically-engineered (GE) seed and agrochemicals. In August the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which manages the $33.5 billion asset trust endowment that funds the Foundation’s philanthropic projects (and to which Bill & Melinda are trustees) disclosed that it purchased 500,000 shares of Monsanto shares for just over $23 million.(1) According to Dena Hoff, a diversified family farmer in Glendive, Montana and North American coordinator of La Via Campesina, “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust’s purchase of Monsanto shares indicates that the Gates Foundation’s interest in promoting the company’s seed is less about philanthropy than about profit-making. The Foundation is helping to open new markets for Monsanto, which is already the largest seed company in the world.”

Since 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has collaborated with the Rockefeller Foundation, an ardent promoter of GE crops for the world’s poor, to implement the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which is opening up the continent to GE seed and chemicals sold by Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta. The Foundation has given $456 million to AGRA, and in 2006 hired Robert Horsch, a Monsanto executive for 25 years, to work on the project. In Kenya about 70 percent of AGRA grantees work directly with Monsanto (2) , nearly 80 percent of Gates' funding in the country involves biotech, and over $100 million in grants has been made to Kenyan organizations connected to Monsanto. In 2008, some 30 percent of the Foundation's agricultural development funds went to promoting or developing GE seed varieties (3).

In April the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and finance ministers from the US, Canada, Spain and South Korea pledged $880 million to create the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), managed by the World Bank to “tackle world hunger and poverty.”(4) In June GAFSP announced that it gave $35 million to Haiti to increase smallholder farmers’ access to “agricultural inputs, technology, and supply chains.”(5) In May Monsanto announced that it donated 475 tons of seed to Haiti, which is being distributed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The administrator of USAID is Rajiv Shah, who worked at the Gates Foundation before being appointed by the Obama administration in 2009.

According to Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Haitian Peasant Movement of Papaye and Caribbean coordinator of La Via Campesina, “It is really shocking for the peasant organizations and social movements in Haiti to learn about the decision of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to buy Monsanto shares while it is giving money for agricultural projects in Haiti that promote the company’s seed and agrochemicals. The peasant organizations in Haiti want to denounce this policy which is against the interests of 80 percent of the Haitian population, and is against peasant agriculture—the base of Haiti’s food production. ”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also funds the US government’s Feed the Future initiative, administered by the State Department. At a July 20 congressional subcommittee hearing on Feed the Future, executive vice president for Monsanto Gerald Steiner testified that “Feed the Future is exciting not least because it recognizes both the business imperatives by which Monsanto and other companies must operate… We want to do good in the world, while we also do well for our shareholders.” Steiner mentioned Monsanto’s project to develop drought resistant maize for Africa, also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.(6)

According to Hoff, “Foundations, however well meaning, should not be setting food and agricultural policies for any nation of peoples. Democracy demands the informed participation of civil society to determine what is in the best interest of each nation's population. ‘Doing well for our shareholders’ seems an ulterior motive for meddling in the health and welfare of the planet and all its inhabitants in order to make a profit.”

Perhaps not by coincidence, in July Monsanto’s chief executive officer and president Hugh Grant purchased $2 million of company shares, and vice president and chief financial officer Carl M. Casale bought $1.6 million of shares. “Grant and Casale have pocketed nice sums from selling Monsanto shares over the years.”(7) Purchase of Monsanto shares by Gates, Grant and Casale could have been in anticipation of last week’s news that researchers published the genome for wheat, the staple grain for one-third of the world's population. “For Monsanto, a quality wheat genome map could potentially help in our efforts to bring better wheat varieties to farmers," said Monsanto. (8) In 2008, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $26.8 million to Cornell University to research wheat, and in May awarded $1.6 million to researchers at Washington State University to develop drought-resistant GE wheat varieties.(9)

The Gates Foundation continues to push Monsanto’s products on the poor, despite mounting evidence of the ecological, economic and physical dangers of producing and consuming GE crops and agrochemicals. In June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monsanto Co. vs. Geertson Seed Farms, its first case about a GE crop. The Court recognized that genetic contamination of non-GE crops from transgene flow of DNA from GE crops, which occurs through the spread of pollen by wind and bees, is harmful and onerous to the environment and farmers. According to the web site of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “AGRA and its partners have released more than 100 new varieties of improved seed across the [African] continent.”(10)
La Via Campesina maintains that the best way to ensure healthy food, adapt to climate change, conserve soils, water and forests, and revitalize rural economies is with policies that promote food sovereignty and small-scale, agroecological farming systems—the foundation of which is native seed varieties. The United Nations estimates that 75 percent of the world’s plant genetic diversity has been lost as farmers have abandoned native seed for genetically-uniform varieties offered by corporations such as Monsanto. Genetic homogeneity increases farmers’ vulnerability to sudden changes in climate and the appearance of new pests and diseases, while seed agrobiodiversity—with native seed adapted to different microclimates, altitudes and soils—is fundamental for adapting to climate change. Saving and replanting native seed increases agrobiodiversity and strengthens crops’ genetic plasticity (their capacity to adapt rapidly over generations to changing growing conditions).

According to Henry Saragih, general coordinator of La Via Campesina in Jakarta, "La Via Campesina condemns this missappropriation of humanitarian aid for commercial ends and the privatization of food policies"

For more information or media requests, contact viacampesina@viacampesina.org

Memorandum of Diaspora Congolese women living in Great Britain

Common Cause UK

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/66984

We witness and express on one hand our solidarity and the other our concern for innocent Congolese people, particularly women, old and young girls who fell and still fall under the throes of armed conflict. Many of them live in permanent human insecurity, suffering from sexual and gender-based violence, kidnapped, tortured, raped, starved, wounded and wandering in the forests, mountains, valleys, and Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps beyond the borders, and fleeing the inhuman treatment they face unfairly. This situation has hurt the very principles that underlie the universal values of human rights, dignity and democracy.

We bitterly regret the numerous reports on the appalling number of victims of violence and crimes committed, truly unprecedented (5.4 million dead), and no effective protection of people (especially women) has really been provided by the Congolese authorities and the UN Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), mandated by the Security Council of the United Nations. We recall that for over a decade, the Congolese populations in Ituri, North and South Kivu suffer the consequence of the fratricidal conflict between ethnic Rwandans (Hutu and Tutsi) who was exported on Congolese soil mandated by Operation Turquoise by the United Nations Security Council in 1994. Under the pretext of self-defence, Rwanda officially invaded the DR Congo and engaged in genocidal killings of civilians, Congolese and Rwandan refugees, and took this opportunity to plunder Congolese natural resources. This incited the convoitise of other countries bordering the DRC, including Uganda. This gave rise to a regional war on Congolese soil, which included more than seven foreign countries, including the Rwandan and Ugandan armed forces who fought a fierce battle with international impunity, despite numerous reports on the Congolese civilian casualties.

We condemn both the hegemony of certain countries, (particularly those under the protection of permanent members of the United Nations Security Council), the slave, dehumanizing and genocidal practices of capitalist multinationals outlawed in the twenty-first century, and the complicit silence against this attack on the body and mind of black Congolese women which destroys the entire Congolese society and prevents communities from having peace, develop, live in dignity and understanding.

We accuse the crime of failure to assist persons in danger demonstrated by the United Nations Security Council through MONUC / MONUSCO, the African Union, the European Union, the countries of the ECAC, the Great Lakes of Africa and EAC and the current Congolese government against these crimes imposed on the Congolese civilian populations.

We condemn the international, regional, national and local impunity in response to crimes that Congolese women continue to be subject to and all sorts of discrimination and violence since 1996 which marked the invasion of foreign forces in DR Congo.

We call for an end to the occupation of the DRC by foreign forces and the demilitarization and non-legitimization of violence as a means of gaining power in state institutions and the governance of the country.

We demand that justice be served to restore peace and dignity of the Congolese people, and ensure the reconciliation of peoples in the Great Lakes Region.

We are calling on permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, particularly Britain and the Congolese government on their following commitments:

-The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948.
-The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols of 1977.
-The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of 1979
-Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court, on sexual and gender-based violence.
-Resolutions 1325 and 1820 of 2000 by the UN Security Council on Women, Peace and Security.

We recall the United Nations Security Council resolution 1674 (2006) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, resolutions 1493 (2003), 1596 and 1616 (2005) 1698 (2006), 1768 (2007) 1771 (2007 -2008) on arms embargoes.

We invoke United Nations Security Council resolution 1756 (2007) on the situation in DR Congo, which established a link between armed conflicts, exploitation of natural resources, multinational companies, rape and sexual violence against women and girls used as a weapon of strategic warfare by armed groups.

We cite the United Nations Security Council resolution 1794 (2007) that stresses that the protection of civilians must be given priority when deciding on the use and capabilities of available resources and stated that the UN Security Council Mission to use all necessary means to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.

We evoke the 2008 report published by UN experts showing the involvement of several Western companies and nationals in the financing of the conflicts in eastern DR Congo and in particular the rebel movements.

We mention the new report "Mapping Project" by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, according to Resolution 1794 (2007), concerning serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed between March 1993 and June 2003 on the Congolese territory.

We demand the implementation of Article 5 of the Rome Statute under the jurisdiction of the court over crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, facing what is defined in Articles 6, 7 and 8.

1) Article 6: On the definition of crimes of genocide (including points b, c, d)
2) Article 7: On the definition of crimes against humanity (including points (g), on sexual violence, (h) on the persecution and (d) on forced displacement.
3) Article 8: On the definition of war crimes

It is time for reason, morality and human dignity to prevail over profit and injustice in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. The blood of innocent victims is flowing and will only stop with justice and the restoration of peace

As residents and members of the British society, we challenge the British Government, a member of the United Nations Security Council, to demonstrate political will to end armed conflicts in the Great Lakes region of Africa, which Consequences are therefore the violence against women. We ask this government to commit to enforcing the OECD guidelines that are violated by multinational companies based in Great - Britain, quoted in the UN experts report on the exploitation of Congolese natural resources, and are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

We demand that justice and reparations are made to Congolese women as well as civilians in the DRC and the Great Lakes region of Africa.

We encourage the British government to double efforts through the support of institution building that ensures the sovereignty of a rule of law, social transformation and human development in DRC.

London September 7th , 2010

COMMON CAUSE UK, Platform of Congolese Women in the UK

Resolution against the war on African-Americans

Biko Agozino

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/66983

The intensifying violence among poor urban youth across America, the Caribbean, South America, South East Asia and Africa have all been linked to struggles over the control of the lucrative illicit drugs trade that governments could tax for revenue to support education, health and social services while saving on unnecessary repressive enforcement. The attempt to arrest a single drug lord in Jamaica for extradition to the US resulted in the death of nearly 80 innocent Jamaicans in 2010 and the war on drugs in Mexico has claimed more than 30,000 lives in three years while a similar attempt to make Thailand ‘drug-free’ in 2003 resulted in the extra judicial killing of 2800 people.

Not surprisingly, three former South American presidents, including the eminent sociologist, Dr. Cardozo of Brazil, issued a policy statement in 2009 denouncing the war on drugs as a costly failure that should be abandoned. The Drug Czar of the Obama administration, Gil Kierekowski, in 2009 announced that the war on drugs was inconsistent with the goals of a democratically elected government that should be serving the people and not waging war against its own citizens but insisted that there is no need for a change in policy except the stopping of the raids on medical marijuana dispensers in states that approve of the legal prescription of the drug for patients and promised only a change in language.[4]

Research by Human Rights Watch in 2010 reported that “blacks comprise 62.7 percent and whites 36.7 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prison … federal surveys and other data detailed in this report show clearly that this racial disparity bears scant relation to racial differences in drug offending. There are, for example, five times more white drug users than black. Relative to population, black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men. In large part because of the extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenses, blacks are incarcerated for all offenses at 8.2 times the rate of whites. One in every 20 black men over the age of 18 in the United States is in state or federal prison, compared to one in 180 white men.”[5]

Based on the available overwhelming evidence, there is no doubt that the war on drugs is a war against African American men and women primarily and we call on the Obama administration to immediately end this injustice and free the drugs war prisoners who are in prison for no violent offences.

We declare that the war on drugs is part of the systematic processes to strip African Americans, Hispanics and the poor generally of the constitutionally guaranteed right to equal protection and return them to prison slave plantations where their labor is exploited cheaply by the industrial complex and we call on President Obama to abolish this racist affront to democracy without further delay the same way that President Lincoln proclaimed the abolition of slavery with a stroke of the pen.

As educators, we are confident that we could teach our communities to use their civil liberties to choose not to consume dangerous substances the same way we have been able to teach large sections of the community to say no to tobacco and alcohol which kill many more people around the world than all the illicit drugs put together. We know from research that one illicit drug, marihuana, has never killed anyone but is used as the major pretext (with 800,000 arrests annually in the US alone) for the criminalization of otherwise law-abiding youth from the African American, Latino, South Asian, Caribbean, African and poor white communities worldwide at huge costs to tax payers.

We suggest that illicit drug dealers are the major beneficiaries from the war on drugs and therefore they oppose decriminalization because the war makes drugs relatively expensive and directly increases their profit margins the way bootleg liquor enriched organized criminals before the ending of prohibition. We are confident that the same way the Mafia violence associated with prohibition was ended with the ending of prohibition, the violence associated with the turf wars for the drug trade would be significantly reduced once this racist war primarily against African American,

Hispanic and poor communities worldwide is brought to an end with rehabilitation programs for the prisoners of the war on drugs. In line with the emphasis on prevention in the health reform act, we call for harm reduction through the hospitalization of those who fall sick from drug dependency just like tobacco and alcohol patients who are more numerous and more likely to die despite the fact that tobacco and alcohol remain legal. We call on President Obama to extend his policies of hope and reduce the politics of fear and greed by borrowing from the experiments in countries like The Netherlands and more recently Portugal which have been implementing different forms of decriminalization with the result that their prisons are decongested, their streets are safer and their citizens face reduced harm compared to the US, France, UK, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa and Russia, to name a few examples of the battlefields of the so-called war on drugs.

Many law enforcement officers favor decriminalization to remove the temptation of corruption, increase respect for officers in the community, and free them from a racist war so that they could concentrate on the real bad guys. The Vienna Declaration on illicit drugs has also called for policy change to help reduce the epidemic spread of HIV/AIDS.[6] Thanks to Dr. Cornel West of Princeton University, the only eminent public intellectual with the courage to endorse the draft of this resolution within 24 hours after it was sent to him. I invite others with moral and intellectual courage to sign on to this resolution and help to bring about a change in policy for the benefit of all.

The endorsements of Prop 19 below show that more black public intellectuals and organizations need to join this campaign given that the war on drugs is a war on the black people who do not use more drugs, especially in the case of black women who are close to suspected black men.[7] Endorsements The following people and organizations have endorsed Proposition 19 to allow local jurisdictions to legalize marijuana in California.

To submit your endorsement of the initiative, click here

Biko Agozino
Professor of Sociology and Director of Africana Studies Program,
Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, VA 24061,
agozino@vt.edu

1-540-231-7699

Lewis Nkosi, writer and academic

1936–2010

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/obituary/66999

South African writer and academic Lewis Nkosi died on 5 September in a Johannesburg hospice. He was 73. He had been in poor health since suffering a stroke last year.

Nkosi was born in Chesterville, Durban, and educated at the M.L. Sultan Technical College. He worked for Ilanga Lase Natal before going to Johannesburg to join Drum magazine where he was part of the famous generation of young black writers he described as ‘the new Africans … urbanised, eager, fast-talking and brash’. In 1961 he was awarded a fellowship to study at Harvard and left his home country on a one-way exit permit, which led to a long exile.

He worked at one time for the BBC in London and taught literature at universities in Europe, Africa and the US. In later years his home was in Switzerland, although, after 1994, he regularly spent time back in South Africa.

Professor Lindy Stiebel of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who with Elizabeth Gunner co-edited ‘Still Beating the Drum’, a collection of critical essays on Nkosi’s work as a novelist, playwright, essayist and newspaper columnist, said yesterday that she considers he was very underrated in South Africa due to his long exile.

‘He was a fearless critic, a clear analytical voice. He didn’t have to align himself with any group and spoke his mind on both literary and wider cultural issues.’

Nkosi’s 1986 novel ‘Mating Birds’, which dealt with sex between a black man and a white woman and with rape, was banned by the apartheid government.

His most recent novel ‘Mandela’s Ego’, which was published in 2007, dealt in a humorous way with the consequences of excessive hero worship.

Nkosi leaves his wife, Astrid Starck, and twin daughters. His funeral will be held in Durban on Friday.

* © 2010 The Witness
* This article first appeared in The Witness.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Lewis Nkosi: He brightened our lives and thoughts

1936–2010

Wangui wa Goro

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/obituary/66998

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* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Solidarity needed for people of Pakistan

Jubilee South

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/67011

The whole nation of Pakistan continues to reel from devastating impacts of the unprecedented disaster that hit the country over a month ago.

The responses thus far from the international community are far from adequate and, in the case of the IMF, World Bank and ADB, even deplorable. These institutions have chosen to offer more loans rather than cancel the debts they claim from Pakistan. Together, loans from these institutions and other multilateral financial institutions constitute more than 50% of Pakistan’s total outstanding external debts. As of 2009 outstanding credits from the IMF are US$5.1B, outstanding loans from the World Bank amount to US$11.5B and from the ADB it is US$9B. Bilateral loans comprise more than 30%. The major bilateral lenders are Japan (US$6.67B), France (US$B2.17B), Germany (US$1.82B), USA (US$1.51), and China (US$1.88B). Total external debt of Pakistan as of 2009 is US$50.7B. (for more information see Annexes)

We call on our members and other peoples’ organizations, movements and citizens groups in the South and throughout the world to step up our efforts to press for Debt Cancellation for the people of Pakistan.

In addition, in the face of this climate-related disaster, we must urge those responsible for the climate crisis to pay reparations for its impacts on the people of Pakistan and other South countries. Many of the lenders to Pakistan are among those principally responsible for the historic and continuing excessive emission of greenhouse gases and massive deforestation thus the dangerous levels of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere causing the climate chaos. They must not only cancel the debts they claim from Pakistan, these institutions and countries must provide the financial reparations necessary for Pakistan to deal with the impacts of the floods and build resilience for future climate-related disasters.

We urge the following urgent actions:

1. Release press statements and letters to the editor to local and international media to disseminate our calls for debt cancellation and climate reparations. We are providing a pro-forma press release that you may revise according to your specific requirements. Also included as annex/attachment is the JSAPMDD statement which you may revise and use for your own organization’s statement or as basis for letters to the editor.

2. Promote calls through the internet via appropriate listserves, instant messaging & social networking, tools like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Friendster, Yahoo Messenger and dissemination of stickers, posters, short statements

3. Use a common logo for posters, profile pictures, stickers, postcards and other materials. The logo is on this paper and attached as a separate file.

4. Send a barrage of telecommunications messages (telephone, mobile phone, fax and e-mail) to the headquarters of the World Bank, IMF, ADB and/or to their offices in Pakistan and/or in your countries. For greater impact, let us do these together during the week of September 20 to 24. (Pls see Annex for Telephone & Fax #s and Email addresses). Send similar messages to embassies and finance ministries of bilateral lenders with priority to Japan, France, Germany, USA and China.

5. Sign up to petitions calling for debt cancellation for Pakistan such as the Avaaz online petition which you can find on:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_cancel_the_debt/

6. Holding of mobilizations in front of the offices of the IMF, World Bank, ADB in our respective countries.

Finally…

Lemlem Tsegaw

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/66947

On 2002 February,

God did sojourn

Angola

To deliver Savamibi

From himself.

In the process,

Issued ultimatum

To all Dictators

"Never again

Engage the continent

In wanton war."


Come on my people,

Let us dance

With our ancestors’ spirit,

Beating the drum

From north to south,

From west to east

Singing hallelujah

Finally

God has returned

To Africa.

Dedicated to all Angolans who have suffered from the senseless war by Jonas Savimbi.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Lemlem Tsegaw's new book, 'Hear Me Now', is available from www.blurb.com.
* © Lemlem Tsegaw, 2 March 2002. Dedicated to all Angolans who have suffered from the senseless war by Jonas Savimbi. The poem was inspired by his death.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

I could not dare

Lemlem Tsegaw

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/66949

Your eyes,

Your faces,

Staring

Solemnly

With despair,

I could not dare

To blink

Or to take away

My eyes

From yours.

What shall I do to resolve

Your plight

And save you

From that tyrant

Who created

Your endless

Helplessness?

I could not dare

To think what I do not have

As I stare,

Oh,

at your eyes and faces.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Lemlem Tsegaw's new book, 'Hear Me Now', is available from www.blurb.com.
* © Lemlem Tsegaw. Dedicated to the Ethiopian refuges in Yemen.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Let Us Cry Loud for the Somali Land

Lemlem Tsegaw

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/66948

O Lord!

What happened

To the Somali Land?

No wonder

It is full of sand.

No rain

To grow the grain

Nor is there any vegetation.

Only the dried, crusted

Blood of children.

There are, of course, MEN OF WAR

Who roam all over

Murdering those who care

For the elderly, women and children.

Tell me, MEN OF WAR

How long are we to endure

The pain from our cruel WAR?

As for me, I CRY LOUD

For the Somali Land.

I CRY LOUD

For all the children

Who lost self and a homeland.

I CRY LOUD

For the beautiful Somali Land,

Where the children used to play

And dance in Mogadishu.

I also cry loud for Ethiopia

As part of East Africa.

What happened to the Somali Land

Could also happen

To the Ethiopian Children.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Lemlem Tsegaw's new book, 'Hear Me Now', is available from www.blurb.com.
* © Lemlem Tsegaw. The poem is in response to an article titled 'Border town strangled by Ethiopian-Eritrea tensions' (Sunday 24 July 2005) by Ed Harris of the BBC.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Three African Vignettes

Chi Mgbako

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/66946

Shelter (Nigeria, 1999)

I'm walking home on the streets of Enugu from an afternoon of volunteer work in the orphanage, where I draw circles on the children's backs, blow them kisses in the air, sing them Ella Fitzgerald songs. Where the nurses and I play with the children on the concrete floor, the steel cribs surrounding us like baobab trees in a forest. Leaving the orphanage most days, tired yet warmed by the hot sun of the harmattan season, I often hope that the children's lives will one day be as vast as the plains of Tarangire.

I continue walking home, the children floating in my head, and as quickly as Athena from the head of Zeus, the first unexpected thunderstorm of the season arrives. Raging, drumming, spilling rain. I run into a nearby wooden shack and ask the shopkeeper if he can provide shelter from the storm. He nods his approval.

It's like a mad dash of heaven outside. I'm soaked but happy. I look at the old Igbo shopkeeper, who's content to sit in silence. Life has carved deep rivers into the old man's face and his clothes, worn and tattered, are resolved to hang onto his skin. He never looks at me; instead, he watches the rain and hums to himself softly. I can't take my eyes off him because he is both regal and a bit weary, and this shack, although not much, is his. He should have been a chief, I think to myself, realizing that he is as much of my shelter as the wooden planks.

He's selling political newspapers plastered over the walls with bold headlines of dreams for the New Nigeria (the hope that the New is not simply a mask of the Old).

He's old enough to have lived through a million dead in the Nigerian civil war, to have witnessed Sani Abacha's wholesale looting of the country, to have sold newspapers about Ken Saro-Wiwa at the gallows, to still have faith in this maddening, vibrant country. I can only imagine his stories, his phantom memories. But I know that on this day, in this storm, he is content with being an unknowable but kind stranger, his memories his own.

Much of the work in my future life will involve sitting in wooden shacks like this one and collecting stories from seemingly ordinary people like the shopkeeper, always aware that there is epic in the domestic. That we each, despite the seeming smallness of our existence, live grand lives, epic lives. The storm passes, sighs, and ends as quickly and as passionately as it began. I leave, shaking the shopkeeper's hand, "Dalu. Thank you for the shelter."

* * *

La route des esclaves (Benin, 2002)

I'm in the Vodun town of Ouidah, in Benin, waiting for the guide to accompany me on la route des esclaves. He finally arrives, so eager, so happy. He says I am the first person who has visited in a long time. I look ahead at the red clay earth of "the route of the slaves," empty, lonely.

We begin the journey at the former European slave fort, where millions of captured Africans from what is now Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo were held before being transported to the Americas. After months in the bowels of the slave fort the men, women, and children were sold to European slave traders. Five slaves for one wooden pipe.

There were countless young African women like me, in their once bright and shimmering youth, who walked the 2 ½ mile long route from the fort to the slave ships waiting on the Atlantic's sorrowful shores. I imagine one young woman walking, shackled, towards the sea. She mournfully watches the children riding on their mothers' swollen backs.

As I walk in her footsteps, I see the voodoo fetishes hanging off the trees in nearby villages, warding off evil spirits. I see statues of the ancient king of Dahomey whose kingdom was enriched by the trafficking in slaves. I see symbols of the sacred python of the Vodun religion, an embodiment of the gods. The gods, who weep with her as she walks this haunted path.

Along the route, I pass the ancient baobab tree that she circles three times as a symbol of her final farewell to the land of her birth and her nurturing and her future longing. She hopes this simple act of devotion will allow her spirit to return to Africa.

Finally, I reach the sea, the edge of the Atlantic, the waves in all their deep sorrow and memory. It's here that she boards a ghost ship stained with blood, bound for the Americas. It's here that I must leave her. I think of her and remind myself not to confuse the futility of the man-made world with the beauty of the lambent, giving earth.

Later, over a somber dinner with friends back in Cotonou where the motorbikes fill the streets like fireflies, we talk about historical trauma, about what is lost that can never be regained. "f I was born in a different time her fate could have been mine," I tell them, my skin as dark as Fela Kuti's "African Woman," my ancestors buried in Agukwu Nri and Enugwu-Ukwu, not far to the east. Only time, which bends, separates me from her, from those men, women, and children of Mandinka of Igbo of Yoruba.

* * *

Bisesero (Rwanda, 2004)

On the road to Kigali, I watch the red orange sun set over the emerald green hills of Gikongoro, the Rwandans on their bicycles dwarfed by the enormous natural beauty surrounding them. I listen to Joni Mitchell's song "A Little Green," where she sings that "sometimes there will be sorrow" and remember the genocide survivor I met that morning who graciously let me into her home.

She was only 30-years-old when she lost her husband and two of her three children in the 1994 genocide. Towards the end of our visit, she stares at me for a long time and finally asks, "Are you Rwandan?" "No," I answer, with nothing to offer her, not even a bag of sugar. "You look just like my sister, who was killed," she says gently. "They would have taken your nose and your eyes." When I leave, she places her hands on my shoulders and presses her forehead softly against mine, a sign of friendship.

I think of her again on the road to Kibuye, a town where thousands of Rwandans went on top of Bisesero mountain and fought bravely against the militia who were called in from all corners of the country to kill them. They died fighting to stay alive, throwing sticks and rocks at the militia swarming below. I've come to Lake Kivu in Kibuye to write about all that I have learned and all that I still do not understand about justice, reconciliation, forgiveness - with Bisesero mountain at my back, and the spirits of those bravely departed visiting at the shore.

* * *

Not every moment here is weighty and burdened. There are times when I am floating in happiness. Like, when for the first time since the genocide Rwanda appears in the African Cup, the most celebrated sporting event in African football. My flying Rwandan friends and I are gathered around the hotel television set. It is more than just a football game - it is redemption, small healing. When the Rwandan team scores its first and only goal the hotel terrace erupts in deafening cheers echoed throughout Kigali. "Is this being broadcast around the world!?" I ask my Rwandan friend as we jump, like kites, in the air. "I think even in heaven," he replies.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Chi Mgbako is a Nigerian-American human rights professor and writer based in New York City.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Dakar World Social Forum

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Dakar2011/66952

Pambazuka News 158: L'Afrique du Sud face au cancer de la xénophobie

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/summaryfr/66945

Pambazuka News 157: Droits humains, développement et engagements de femmes africaines

2010-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/summaryfr/66944

Cartoons by Francodus

Francodus

2010-09-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/67009

MDC says ZPF deliberately delaying implementing GPA

2010-09-16

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news150910/silence150910.htm

This week the coalition government that is currently running Zimbabwe reached two important milestones. Tuesday was the end of the 30 day deadline, suggested by South African President Zuma and facilitator of the Zimbabwe crisis, to resolve and implement 24 of the remaining problematic issues in the GPA. Wednesday ushered in the second anniversary of the signing of the Global Political Agreement that created the so-called ‘inclusive government’. A statement released late Wednesday by the MDC criticized what it called ZANU PF’s deliberate delaying of implementing the GPA.

Global: Women hold key to MDGs but …

2010-09-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90499

Just days before the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) summit, Andrew Mitchell, the UK’s International Development Secretary, announced a change in direction, putting women and children at the centre of its aid policy. This shift will double the number of female and newborn lives saved by 2015, Mitchell will tell the assembled heads of state in New York on 20-22 September.

Malawi: Women leading the way on water and sanitation management

Dingaan Mithi

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/67015

It is mid-morning and the workday is underway. People are moving in all directions, going about their daily chores. But it is mostly women who move the fastest, many of them carrying water through the impoverished and overcrowded streets. In Mgona, on the outskirts of Lilongwe, most men have ignored the many problems faced by the community, chief amongst them issues of waterborne disease.
Waterborne diseases are common in this country of 13.1 million people and a 2008 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found that 12,000 Malawian children under the age of five die every year due to diarrhoea and other associated diseases.

Mgona, with 36,000 people, has historically been affected by the problem, but a recently-formed water-users association spearheaded by local women has taken the initiative to advise the denizens of this tiny community on good water and sanitation management.

Lucy Kaombe, a mother of seven, leads the Committee and hopes that one day Mgona will be free of waterborne diseases.

“We advise households to keep their surroundings clean by sweeping in order to stop waterborne diseases,” says Kaombe, who was inspired to take up water management in her community after seeing how common waterborne diseases were becoming in the area. “The committee is working hard to advise households to use modern sky-loo toilets.”

The sky-loo is a step-up toilet that minimises the possibility of groundwater contamination and diverts urine through a series of pipes to an area where it is soaked up by a nitrate-absorbing tree.

Kaombe‘s committee started its work in 2007 and conducts weekly visits to households.

The result is that three years later waterborne diseases have mostly been eradicated from Mgone, unlike in other parts of the country.

“Waterborne diseases have gone down, and for the past three years cholera and diarrhoea have been significantly reduced,” she says.

Because men in the community mostly view issues of water management as women’s work, Kaombe’s group is dominated by local women, although there are now three men on her committee.

According to WaterAid, a UK-based water and sanitation organisation, 80% of African countries are currently off-track for meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) sanitation target while simple and cost-effective programmes that deliver sanitation and hygiene could easily be implemented, also reducing other issues such as pneumonia.

A report by the organisation states: “Simply using a safe toilet can reduce the incidence of diarrhoea by 40%, while a toilet together with safe water and hygiene can reduce the disease by 90%.”

Every day 2,000 African children die from diarrhoea and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 28% of under-five deaths are attributable to poor sanitation and unsafe water.

Another Mgona resident and committee member, Falesi Jeffrey, thinks there are other benefits to undertaking water and sanitation management. “Another advantage of the toilets is that we can harvest manure from solidified human waste,” she says.

Esther Sakala lost a grandchild to diarrhoea in 1995. She is a big supporter of Kaombe’s work to bring proper sanitation to Mgona.

“I would like to urge government to invest more resources in these toilets, so we can reduce deaths,” she says.

Whether or not it does, through the work of community leaders like Kaombe, it appears the importance of proper hygiene is catching on. The Malawi Interfaith AIDS Association (MIAA) with support from UNICEF has recently developed a manual to guide religious leaders to promote hand-washing in various congregations in the country.

The manual states: “It is hoped through this initiative that religious leaders will be incorporating social sanitation messages in their regular religious meetings and gatherings. Our prayer is that a snowball effect will take place quickly and effectively, resulting in everyone in Malawi whether in Government or homesteads practically and passionately implementing the agenda on social sanitation.”

Father Patrick Semphere observes that religious leaders have an obligation to their people to ensure social sanitation issues are known.

“By the virtue of their calling, religious leaders have to assist the people in their physical and spiritual well-being,” he notes.

* Dingaan Mithi is programme officer for Journalists Association Against AIDS in Malawi. This article is part of the GL Opinion and Commentary Service.

Uganda: Organizations to receive small grants on VAW and ICTs

2010-09-17

http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/562/1/

As part of their work in Uganda, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Women of Uganda Network made a call for proposals for projects that seek to address the intersection between violence against women and girls, and/or to stop violence against women and girls through the strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the month of June 2010. Four (4) organisations have been selected as beneficiaries of the small grants and they include Uganda Women Media’s Association, Mahyoro Rural Information Centre and Hope Case Foundation and Isis WICCE. Implementation of the activities is expected to commence September 2010 to June 2011.

West Africa: Ministers discuss gender issues

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/bMVH3q

West African ministers in charge of gender issues, as well as women organizations, have started a forum devoted to taking stock of the participation of women in the region in conflict prevention, peace-building and maintenance.

Africa: Only one-third of disabled Angolans are assisted, says organisation

2010-09-16

http://tinyurl.com/2wzhsm7

Only 46,722 people, approximately a third of the number of the disabled in Angola, receive assistance from the National Association of the Disabled (ANDA), according to the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP). More than 150,000 disabled persons are registered in Angola, but this figure is unreliable as the national census had overlooked areas in the country with large numbers of disabled people.

DRC: Kidnapping spurs fresh call to end impunity

2010-09-17

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=52811

Civil society is calling for an end to impunity for the harassment of human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The renewed call comes as an activist kidnapped at the end of August have described their detention and torture by uniformed captors. Bwira Kyahi, president of civil society in Masisi, a town in the province of North Kivu, and another human rights advocate, Balisi Kapumba, who works as an organizer with the NGO Solidarity Action for Peace and Development, were kidnapped during the last week of August in Goma. Kyahi was found Aug. 30, 2010.

Kenya: Online human rights radio station launched

2010-09-17

http://safariafricaradio.com/

The Centre for Rights Education and Awareness CREAW, and the Africa Community Development Media ACDM together with other partners have set up Safariafricaradio which is an online human rights radio station broadcasting online. This is in recognition of the need for a radical paradigm shift of the societal mindset that is anchored on core human rights values , democratic governance and developmental principles that shall drive the kind of change that Kenya needs to get it out of current challenges.

Malawi: African children stuck in legislation limbo

Philippa Croome

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/67016

Andrew Adam is 12 years old, and a fisherman by trade. In Malawi’s southern district of Zomba, Lake Chilwa is the lifeblood of its villagers. Since Adam left school more than a year ago, he has been working as a bila boy – a worker who dives underwater and pulls the nets in.
It’s a dangerous profession, but Dinnes Whispah, a fisherman who maintains he doesn’t employ children, also says, “Going to the lake at a young age is like going to school and learning a trade… the figures have been reducing in the past two years, but you can still find some children coming to the lake on their own for profit.”
But MacBain Mkandawire, executive director of Youth Net and Counselling (Yoneco), says young Adam is just one of thousands being employed in Lake Chilwa’s fishing industry.
Yoneco is the on-the-ground monitor for the United Nations (UN) Right to Development Programme in the area. The Malawian child rights organisation is tasked with training community-based educators and village rights committees – an initiative that aims to inform locals of practices that are infringing on their human rights.
The same format for child labour monitoring has been implemented in Tanzania by International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), and highlighted as good practice in a May 2010 report.
“Child labour is impinging on the right to development,” he says. “By not making children go to school, we are perpetuating poverty.”
He says while groups such as his are making piecemeal progress, poverty affecting Malawi’s largely rural population (84.7% of the country’s 13.1 million people) remains education’s main barrier and child labour’s biggest determinant.
A Plan International report, “Hard Work, Long Hours and Little Pay” found Malawi represents the highest incidence of child labour in southern Africa, with 88.9% of children between the ages of 5 and 14 working in its agricultural sector.
Children’s work ranges from helping out on a family plot after school to full time employment on tobacco plantations.
The Malawi government ratified the UN conventions on the rights of the child in 1991, and recently enacted the Child Care, Protection and Justice Bill, which increases the minimum working age to 18. Previously, Malawi legislation only protected children between the ages of 14 and 18 from hazardous work.
However, like much new legislation around the MDGs, there is limited capacity for enforcement.
As a full-time fisherman, Adam seems resigned to his fate; he is currently unable to afford secondary school and the nearest one is 20 kilometres away.
“If I had the choice, I would go to school,” he says. “I just need to make money.”
By the time the deadline for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is up in five years, Malawi will have been offering its children free primary education for more than two decades.
Of the UN’s eight MDG platforms for 2015, Malawi has been a leader on this front in Africa’s southern region – the first of Tanzania, Zambia or Uganda to meet the universal standard.
Upon ushering in free primary education alongside a multiparty democracy in 1994, enrolment rates in the country skyrocketed, from 1.9 to 3.2 million. But an overwhelmed system faced teacher shortages and a lack of resources the government hadn’t accounted for – a common side effect of “access shock.”
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) says sub-Saharan Africa will need more than 1,361,000 new teachers between 2000 and 2015 to meet the new demands of free primary education.
And the inevitable drop-off of enrolment once students complete primary school is already underway. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) numbers show that while net primary school enrolment ratio is at 84 for males and 90 for females between 2003 and 2008, these numbers drop to 25 and 23 respectively at the secondary level.
While legislation is undoubtedly the first step towards achieving the MDGs, breaking the cycle of poverty will require more dedication to enforcement and changing ingrained practices says Mkandawire.
Otherwise, like Adam, a new generation of Malawian teens is at risk of being stuck in legislation limbo, forced to wait for the next set of international goals to advance beyond primary education.

* Philippa Croome is a media trainer based in Malawi with Journalists for Human Rights (jhr). This article is part of the GL Opinion and Commentary Service.

Zimbabwe: Secret diamond auction takes place

2010-09-16

http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=6887&cat=1

Zimbabwe held a secret auction of diamonds from its Marange fields, where the army has been accused of forced labour and torture, an official said on Tuesday. 'Yes, the sales were carried out this weekend,' said Secretary for Mines Thankful Musukutwa, as reported in the Mail & Guardian.

DRC: The vicious cycle of displacement in Eastern Congo

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/deBtMp

This 88-page report documents abuses against the displaced by all warring parties in all phases of displacement – during the attacks that uproot them; after they have been displaced and are living in the forests, with host families, or in camps; and after they or the authorities decide it is time for them to return home. The report is based on interviews with 146 people displaced from their homes in eastern Congo, as well as government officials, humanitarian workers, and journalists.

Somalia: A young Somali's long journey to safety

2010-09-16

http://www.unhcr.org/4c7fbe466.html

Earlier this year, 25-year-old Adam Osman Abdile received an ultimatum from Somalia's Al Shabaab: join the militia or die. He decided to flee to Kenya. The journey nearly killed him, but it is one that many young men are willing to risk in Somalia and other countries in eastern Africa to escape persecution or violence.

Emerging powers news roundup

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/emplayersnews/67047

Launch of Newsletter
The Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa Programme is pleased to announce the launch of its newsletter. It aims to serve as a platform to discuss and analyse developments between the emerging powers and Africa, while also serving as a hub of useful information and resources on the topic. We encourage contributions from CSOs based on experiences on the ground, and implementation of projects within this area as we seek to develop a lively and active debate that promotes advocacy and enables informed perspectives on this important subject.
Issue 1, September 2010 available here

General
Trade: It’s the End of the Export-Led Growth Model, Says UNCTAD
While the recovery from the financial and economic meltdown remains fragile in especially the developed world, the outlook for Africa inspires optimism, according to UNCTAD. The agency also believes the crisis might be the death-knell for the export-led economic growth model—especially African countries should leave it behind. With the major industrial countries not being able to consume as much as before, export-led growth – mainly by encouraging investment in cheap labour-intensive industries – has no future. Developing countries, especially in Africa, should therefore boost domestic consumption and allow wages to increase in line with productivity growth, according to UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). The findings are contained in the agency’s Trade and Development Report 2010, entitled “Employment, Globalisation and Development, which went public on Sep 14.
Read More

AfDB will consider more funding for Eskom – Kaberuka
African Development Bank (AfDB) president Donald Kaberuka at the weekend said that the financial institution would consider stumping up further funding to South African power utility Eskom, and that there was "no doubt" that the Grand Inga hydropower project would happen "soon". AfDB had already loaned $1,6-billion to Eskom for the construction of the Medupi coal-fired power station in Lephalale, in Limpopo province, and had "full confidence in the financial sustainability of Eskom", Kaberuka told Engineering News Online.
Read More

Land-grabbing, a new form of sharecropping?
"Land-grabbing can rein in the global economic growth of the host nations since these projects are directed away from them (as products destined for export), and this reinforces their food dependence and gives no stimulus to local activity. In fact the privileged agro-industrial model is based on capital, monoculture, and technology, which creates little employment and excludes the local farmers. Faced with an agriculture which is far more productive than their own, if measures are not taken, the local farmers have no choice but to abandon their land and to work for the agricultural companies, often in very poor conditions." Some models of action exist, for example in Ecuador, and there is urgent need to extend them to other regions of the world.
Read More

China in Africa
Chinese Loan Underwrites Lake Turkana Destruction
NGOs are outraged after confirmation that the world’s largest bank will finance the destructive Gibe 3 hydropower dam. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is underwriting a $500 million contract awarded May 13 to Dongfang Electric Corporation for the dam’s turbines and electro-mechanical works. Although ICBC has not publicly announced the loan, an official confirmed September 8 by email that the financial agreement between ICBC and the Ethiopian government was signed in July. The funding undermines ICBC’s efforts to build a global reputation as a socially and environmentally responsible lending institution.
Read More

Legal forum under Forum on China-Africa Cooperation opens
The second legal officials' forum under the framework of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opened in Beijing Thursday. At the opening ceremony, Han Zhubin, president of the China Law Society, proposed the two sides strengthen law-related exchanges, expand cooperation fields, enhance the role of laws and enrich the forum with more content. Han expressed the hope that law societies of the two sides will strengthen mutual trust and understanding, and give full play to laws in promoting people's livelihood and regional cooperation.
Read More

Nation to hike SEZ spending in Africa
China is willing to accelerate investment in special economic zones (SEZs) in Africa under a partnership with the World Bank, top officials and analysts said on Tuesday. "SEZs and infrastructure construction are among fields that can best reflect features of Chinese economic development since reform and opening began more than 30 years ago, and have contributed to the country's growth greatly," said Wang Jun, vice-minister of finance, at the opening ceremony of the third China-Africa Experience-Sharing Program held by the Chinese government and the World Bank in Beijing.
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China Telecom Europe's Dubai Operation to Expand into North Africa
The Dubai-based Middle East regional headquarters and network hub of China Telecom Europe (CTE) is to be expanded to cover North Africa as the giant international wholesale telecommunications carrier continues to enlarge its network and services between the EMEA region, China and the wider Asia Pacific market. "Dubai has been an important and highly successful part of our network from the outset and we have decided to utilise it for our growth into North Africa," said Ou Yan, Managing Director of China Telecom (Europe) Ltd.
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EDF, China Guangdong May Partner on South Africa Nuclear Plant, Echos Says
Electricite de France SA may partner with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co Ltd. in a bid to develop a nuclear plant in South Africa, Les Echos reported, citing people it didn’t identify.
No decision has been taken on which reactor will be used for the EDF bid and whether the French utility should promote versions other than the EPR, developed by Areva SA, such as the Chinese CPR-1000, the newspaper said.
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China makes inroads into Zim bank sector
A Chinese bank has snapped up a major stake in the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) in the latest sign of the booming Asian nation’s growing stranglehold on the resource-rich but cash-strapped southern African country. The China Development Bank (CDB) and the IDBZ – formerly the Zimbabwe Development Bank – have entered into a deal that will see the injection of fresh capital into Zimbabwe's energy, transport and infrastructure development sectors.
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Seeking proof of China's ancient trade with Africa
A little to the north of the popular tourist town of Malindi — one mile by foot along the white sand beach, six miles by car along the potholed inland road — is Mambrui. It is the suspected site of an ancient Swahili kingdom, home of the sultan of Malindi and destination of Zheng He, a 15th century Chinese admiral, merchant, emperor’s emissary, explorer and eunuch. “Malindi is a very important point between China and Africa trade,” said professor Qin Dashu of Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology who is leading a team of nine Chinese and six Kenyan archaeologists. China’s government is spending $3 million on the three-year long project.
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PetroSA in talks with China on refinery
South Africa's national oil company PetroSA said it held fruitful talks with China's oil group Sinopec and was speaking to other potential investors as it seeks partners for a new $10 billion refinery. Chairwoman Linda Makatini said PetroSA was looking to sell up to a 30 percent equity stake in the planned 400,000 barrels-per-day refinery, which would be among the largest in sub-Saharan Africa and reduce South Africa's reliance on imports.
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Zambia eyes Chinese funds for power plant
Felix Mutati, Zambia's trade minister, said he was hopeful of finalizing Chinese funding for a new $1.5 billion power station in the southern African country. The leading Zambian politician spoke following talks in Beijing with senior figures from Sinohydro Corporation. It was revealed last month that the Chinese State-owned company is set to be part of a joint venture with Zesco Corporation, Zambia's leading power utility, to build the new 600-megawatt Kafue Gorge Lower power plant.
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We need to sell grain to China - Pieter Mulder
"China (People's Republic of China) and South Africa could find each other in terms of the export of grain and oil seeds in the interest of both countries," Dr. Pieter Mulder, deputy minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. Dr. Mulder was addressing a dinner which was held in Johannesburg for a Chinese Sinograin delegation which is currently visiting South Africa . Sinograin is a Chinese company which purchases and distributes grain and oil seeds on behalf of the Chinese government. The chief executive officer of the company is a member of the Chinese State Council which is the equivalent of the South African Cabinet.
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Sundance signs CHEC to design port
Iron ore miner Sundance Resources Ltd says it will work with China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) to design a bulk materials port at Lolabe in the Republic of Cameroon. WA-based Sundance says it will work with CHEC to establish the scope, cost and delivery of the Port, which will support a planned output of 35 megatonne per annum of iron ore from mines in Cameroon and the Congo.
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China shakes Europe's dominance in African trade
African trade with China is growing, but its imports and exports with other major global markets are either flat, or on the decline, according to a new report from the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Africa-China trade represents more than 10 per cent of the continent’s trade. In value terms, it represents $114 billion — $52 billion in exports and $62 billion in imports. Africa has a trade deficit with China of about $10 billion, according to AfDB’s report, Chinese Trade and Investment Activities in Africa.
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India in Africa

Navies from IBSA countries conducting exercises off Durban
International waters off Durban are currently abuzz with combat manoeuvres with 11 warships as well as several aircraft and helicopters from India, Brazil and South Africa engaged in a complex trilateral naval exercise. Intensive anti-air and anti-submarine warfare, visit-board-search-seizure operations and anti-piracy drills are being conducted in the IBSAMAR exercise, which brings together navies from three democracies on three different continents in a unique strategic endeavour.
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India ups training slots for Africans
India has substantially increased the number of slots for training African nationals in this country's institutions, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here Wednesday. 'We have substantially increased the number of ITEC (Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation) slots for Africa,' said Rao at a function to mark the ITEC Day here Wednesday evening. ITEC is a programme administered by the external affairs ministry to allow nationals from other developing nations to be trained in short-term courses at premier Indian educational institutions.
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Bharti Airtel to sell African towers to arm
Bharti Airtel will sell the mobile phone towers of its African operations to arm Bharti Infratel, raising badly-needed cash and taking a big step towards replicating the outsourced business model that has underpinned its growth in India. The deal is expected to be sealed for Rs 12,000-15,000 crore by December 2010, two persons with direct knowledge of the proposed transaction said, adding that Bharti Infratel will in turn raise money by selling stakes to sovereign and private equity funds.
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India a hit with African patients
India seems to have become the most-favoured destination for patients from African countries. Earlier they moved to the West, UK, US, and even Singapore, but now they are coming in huge numbers to India. Sagar Hospital alone gets around 30 to 40 African patients each month and is all set to launch its first information centre in Nigeria. This hospital has signed MoUs with hospitals in West Africa and also the government.
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India sends 80% of AIDS drugs to poor nations
A new study published on Tuesday has established that Indian generic manufacturers supplied more than 80% of donor-funded AIDS medicines to developing countries in the last seven years, confirming India's status as the pharmacy of the Third World. The study -- A lifeline to treatment: the role of Indian generic manufacturers in supplying antiretroviral medicines to developing countries -- was done by UNITAID, an international facility for the purchase of drugs against HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB founded in 2006, Boston School of Medicine and the Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
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Indian firms look to team up with SA peers in African assault
India and South Africa would be looking to form cooperative ventures and advancing those partnership businesses into the rest of Africa, business leaders from the two countries said last week. Speaking after the India-South Africa CEO Forum, in Johannesburg, Ratan Tata, chairperson of India’s largest industry group, Tata, said that the two emerging economies had an opportunity to form partnerships to grow into Africa.
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South Africa's Health Insurer Discovery eyes Indian Market
South African health insurer Discovery could target fast-growing India eventually as it explores opportunities in Asia, its chief executive told Reuters. The company on Thursday reported a 24% rise in full-year profit and said it was positioned for further growth. “The two countries that I think are exciting for us are India and China,” Adrian Gore told Reuters on Thursday following Discovery’s full-year earnings.
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In other Emerging Powers News

Scrambled in Africa
When ICBC, the world's biggest bank by value, paid $5.5 billion for a 20% stake in Standard Bank in 2007, bankers around the world sat up and took notice. The deal with South Africa's largest lender suggested Africa was no longer a curiosity but a potentially big source of profits. Some elements of the continent's vaunted financial blooming have since wilted: Nigeria's banks, which had briefly seduced Western investors, suffered a crisis (see article). But the main business logic-that Africa's growing trade links with other emerging markets have raised its strategic importance in banking-is intact.

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Cnooc Interest in Brazil Assets Driven by China Need for Energy, Chemicals
China Petrochemical Corp., the nation’s second-biggest energy company, and Cnooc may offer at least $7 billion for Brazilian oil assets and a stake in OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA of Rio de Janeiro, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Sept. 10. Cnooc shares rose to the highest in more than two years this week on speculation it may bid for valuable properties in Latin America’s biggest economy.
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Brazil's huge new port highlights China's drive into South America
Reputedly the largest industrial port complex of its type in the world, Açu is also one of the most visible symbols of China's rapidly accelerating drive into Brazil and South America as it looks to guarantee access to much-needed natural resources and bolster its support base in the developing world. When Acu opens for business in 2012, its 10-berth pier will play host to a globetrotting armada of cargo ships, among them the 380-metre wide ChinaMax – the largest vessel of its type, capable of ferrying 400,000 tonnes of cargo.
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Cameroon hopes Brazil project will boost cocoa output
Cameroon plans to use genetically modified seedlings developed in Brazil in an effort to more than double its cocoa production by 2015, the central African nation's cocoa development body SODECAO said on Monday. The world's fifth-largest supplier of the main ingredient in chocolate officially produced just under 200,000 tonnes during the 2009-10 season which ended in July, down from 205,000 tonnes in the previous season.
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Iran-Africa trade meeting begins
In an opening speech to the Iran-Africa summit on Tuesday in Tehran, President Ahmadinejad said Iran and Africa share similar ideals, “Rich culture, a history full of ups and downs, and an aspiration for a bright future for the human kind are part of commonalities of Iran and Africa.” The two-day Iran-Africa summit is aimed at exploring ways of expanding political and economic ties between Iran and African states. The Iranian chief executive said that his country and the African nations call for a new world order based on "justices, respect for nations' rights and dignity, and brotherhood." Representatives from governments and private sectors of over 40 African nations including the presidents of Senegal and Malawi are attending the conference.
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Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications
Position Paper of the People's Republic of China At the 65th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
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Remarks for the High-Level China-Africa Experience-Sharing Program on Special Economic Zones and Infrastructure Development
Robert B. Zoellick, President, The World Bank Group
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Speech by the Minister in The Presidency: National Planning Commission, Trevor A Manuel, MP, at the opening of the China – World Bank 30th Anniversary Conference, Beijing
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Why Decoupling is (Mostly) a Good Thing
Tarun Khanna is Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at HBS and co-author of Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution (Harvard Business Press, 2010). Ian Bremmer is president of Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, and author of The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations (Portfolio: 2010). This is the second installment in a discussion (conducted via e-mail) revolving around the two books.
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Aubrey Matshiqi and Francis Kornegay: Change, or be just another Bric in the wall
Presdident Jacob Zuma has concluded an ambitious round of economic diplomatic visits to all the Bric (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. All of these emerging economic powers are in favour of SA joining Bric. But at a time when there may be growing scepticism about Bric, its cohesion and staying power as a forum, what are SA’s prospects for achieving Bric status in real and substantive terms beyond the prestige of political inclusion? Where does SA stack up as a potential member of this powerful quartet, and will its domestic politics give it credibility in such a grouping?
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BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Compiled by Hayley Herman, programme officer at Fahamu’s Emerging Powers in Africa programme based in South Africa.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Guinea: FEMNET calls for peaceful and free and fair elections

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/67018

Network (FEMNET) is extremely concerned with the unfolding pre-election violence in the Republic of Guinea and is calling on political leaders in Guinea to ensure that the elections to be held on 19th September 2010 are conducted in a peaceful atmosphere which secures people's free participation. Guinea has twice postponed its elections since last year. Media reports reaching FEMNET indicate that confrontations between supporters of the two main political parties turned violent on September 11th 2010.
Network (FEMNET) is extremely concerned with the unfolding pre-election violence in the Republic of Guinea and is calling on political leaders in Guinea to ensure that the elections to be held on 19th September 2010 are conducted in a peaceful atmosphere which secures people's free participation. Guinea has twice postponed its elections since last year. Media reports reaching FEMNET indicate that confrontations between supporters of the two main political parties turned violent on September 11th 2010.


One person is reported to have died in the violence and many were injured. We call on the two main candidates in the elections and the party leaders to seriously tackle all elements that are a threat to a peaceful election. They have to put in place practical measures at party level to guard against all forms of election violence and respect the right of the people of Guinea to a free and fair election of their leader. FEMNET also calls on the African Union to support the September 19th elections in Guinea and ensure that this time round the elections are not postponed, and are held peacefully. In doing so the AU will demonstrate its commitment to ensuring that its member states adhere to the democratic principles and practices that safeguard the rights of the people to vote for their leaders through peaceful electoral processes as enshrined in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other international human rights instruments.

The Guinea elections come at the time when the world is commemorating two very important days; the International Day of Democracy on the 15th September and the Peace Day on 21st September 2010. Peaceful elections are a prerequisite for building strong democracies and upholding the rights of all citizens to participate equally and fairly in the democratic process. FEMNET is concerned that violence and intimidation will disenfranchise many people in Guinea particularly women voters. Guinea let this Year of Peace 2010 usher in a new beginning. For more information, please contact: Norah Matovu-Winyi Executive Director FEMNET Tel 254 20 2712971/2 Email: Email: director@femnet.or.ke Background
The Republic of Guinea goes to elections on 19th September 2010. The two main candidates are Alpha CONDE- Rally of the Guinean People Rassemblement du Peuple Guinéen (RPG) and Cellou Dalein DIALLO-Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea Union des forces democratiques de Guinee (UFDG). Currently Sekoumba KONATE is the interim leader. He replaced Moussa Dadis CAMARA following the attempted assassination of CAMARA on 3 December 2009.

Guinea: Presidential run-off halted

2010-09-16

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/Guinea%20halts%20presidential%20run-off/-/1066/1012016/-/ub4r9dz/-/index.html

Guinea has halted Sunday's presidential run-off after days of violence, as the military ruler called for fresh regional mediation to prevent the country heading for a 'dead end'. In a solemn televised address to the nation, transitional leader General Sekouba Konate said the West African country risked a 'grave political and social crisis', reports the Daily Nation.

Nigeria: Candidate declarations expected for January elections

2010-09-16

http://www.ansa-africa.net/index.php/views/news_view/elections_put_nigeria_on_the_brink_but_of_what/

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his main rivals are expected to formally declare their candidacy for January elections this week and the political temperature is already rising, reports Reuters. From alleged death threats against a presidential aspirant's adviser to calls from the opposition for the date to be postponed, the vote looks set to be just as contentious as previous elections in Africa's most populous nation.

Nigeria: Presidential race widens as former anti-graft Czar joins

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/c5Hk2G

Former Nigerian anti-corruption Czar Nuhu Ribadu has joined the country's presidential race, widening the field ahead of the Jan. 2011 presidential election. 'I'll contest for President to remake Nigeria,' the local press Friday quoted Ribadu as saying during a breakfast session with journalists in the capital city of Abuja.

Sudan: Call for peaceful referenda

2010-09-16

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35941&Cr=sudan&Cr1=

The Security Council has called on all parties to take urgent action to ensure that next January’s referenda to determine whether southern Sudan remains part of Africa’s largest country or becomes an independent nation are peaceful and held on time.

Global: TI calls for MDG transparency

2010-09-16

http://tinyurl.com/274nzeq

Transparency International (TI) has warned that the failure by governments to address corruption is threatening the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In a news release, TI called on governments, donors and non-governmental organizations to adopt anti-corruption measures in all their MDG action plans.

Africa: A development perspective on WTO and EPA compatability

2010-09-16

http://tinyurl.com/39n9jq5

The discussion on World Trade Organisation (WTO) compatibility in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries has so far been very narrowly defined, and largely from the perspective of the EU, says the South Centre. In an analytical note, the centre presents a matrix providing a comparison of the EPA commitments the EU is asking ACP countries for, and treatment of these issues in the WTO, including where appropriate, the type of flexibilities available for the different developing country groupings at the WTO.

Africa: Commission for Africa deplores ‘glacial’ progress in trade talks

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9HYK6q

The Commission for Africa has criticised the “glacial” progress of talks aimed at eliminating the regime in which rich countries stack the odds in favour of their traders and farmers at the expense of those in developing countries. An excerpt from the commission’s new report, dealing with talks being conducted through the World Trade Organisation, the current round of which began in Doha, Qatar, in 2001

Africa: Fewer hungry but more hunger waits

2010-09-16

http://ipsnews.net/newsTVE.asp?idnews=52827

Figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) presented this week revealing a reduction in the world's number of hungry people in 2010 for the first time in 15 years should be a cause for celebration. Unfortunately, the fall is down to short-term improvements in the global economic climate, rather than real, lasting progress in the fight against empty stomachs, says this article.

Africa: Namibia asks EU to step back

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9Dum6d

Namibia has called on the European Union (EU) to “take a step backwards from the current excessive demands in the economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations to allow Africa the policy space which it requires to advance its development”. Speaking at the Parliamentary High-level Conference on EU-Africa in Brussels, Peter Katjavivi, Swapo Chief Whip in the National Assembly (NA), on Wednesday called for greater understanding by the EU towards Africa, “as the consequences [of the EPA] will greatly affect Africa, far more than Europe”.

Global: ILO, IMF call for global job creation policies to stimulate economies

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/bkYVIB

The heads of the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have called for a broad global commitment to policies that focus on creating jobs to reverse the economic downturn be devilling the world. The call was made at a conference in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, hosted by the country's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, and co-sponsored by the IMF and the ILO.

Global: MDGs leaving out the poorest due to human rights abuse

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9oqvlg

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are failing the world's poorest people because governments are ignoring and abusing their human rights, Amnesty International said as heads of states prepare to meet to review progress on the MDGs at a United Nations (UN) summit in New York on 20-22 September. More than a billion people living in slums are not even included in MDG efforts because the MDG target on slums only commits to improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers.

Sao Tome& Principe: Organic and fair trade production revitalize cocoa industry

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9cNikF

More than a decade ago, cocoa producers in Sao Tome and Principe were suffering because of falling global prices for cocoa. Many of them abandoned their cocoa plantations, while others cut down the trees to clear land for maize or other crops. Thanks to IFAD and its partners, nearly 2,200 farmers are now growing cocoa certified as organic or fair-trade for the international chocolate industry.

Southern Africa: Social transfers reduce poverty

2010-09-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90514

Southern African countries have some of the world's worst income distribution, but can often afford social transfers, which have proved an efficient means of reducing the number of poor, regional experts said at a two-day meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. "Money can always be found – where there is political will there is always a way," said Nicholas Freeland, director of the Johannesburg-based Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) funded by the UK and Australian governments, and one of the co-hosts of the meeting.

West Africa: Liberia hails $1.2bn debt pardon by Paris Club

2010-09-17

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11341667

Liberia's government says the decision by a group of creditor nations to write off its debt will allow the country to write a "new Liberian story". The 19-nation Paris Club pardoned $1.2bn (£764m) worth of debt owed by the West African country. Liberia's Finance Minister, Augustine Ngafuan, told the BBC's Network Africa that debt servicing took up large amounts of its national budget.

West Africa: Nigeria rethinks 'failed' science policy

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/bnYc9Q

Nigeria's science and technology policy, widely seen as inadequate, will be rewritten to serve the wider goals of the country, its science and technology minister said at a stakeholders' meeting in Abuja. Mohammed Ka'oje Abubakar told representatives from government ministries, international agencies and professional bodies that a review of the policy is necessary to harmonise it with socio-economic policies in the country.

Africa: Financing public health

2010-09-16

http://ipsnews.net/newsTVE.asp?idnews=52832

Campaigners for increased health financing have welcomed the commitment by African Union member states to direct more resources to health. But the needs of the continent seem to dwarf available budgets. Africa, is home to 12 per cent of the world’s population, yet accounts for 22 per cent of the total global disease burden.

Africa: Governments failing to take the threat of HIV seriously

2010-09-17

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52784

Experts worry that African governments are failing to take the threat of HIV seriously enough by not dedicating enough of their resources to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) efforts. For Graça Machel, Chair of the Campaign to End Pediatric AIDS (CEPA) Council, the struggle to stop the spread of the disease is a matter of inequality.

Africa: New HIV infections drop by more than 25% in most affected countries

2010-09-17

http://unaidstoday.org/?p=819#more-819

Ahead of the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on 20-22 September 2010, UNAIDS today released data on progress towards MDG 6 and called for leveraging the AIDS response to support all MDGs. The data shows that countries with the largest epidemics in Africa—Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe—are leading the drop in new HIV infections. Between 2001 and 2009, 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a decline of more than 25% in new HIV infections. The number of new HIV infections is steadily falling or stabilising in most parts of the world.

Africa: Stories in maternal mortality

2010-09-16

http://tinyurl.com/36yuako

The recent drop in maternal mortality rates - by about a third worldwide - seems to validate what many health experts have been saying for years: that the strategies for reducing maternal deaths are straightforward and that the missing ingredient has been commitment and resources. Nevertheless, the 2.4 annual rate of decline in maternal death is less than half of what is needed to meet the MDG 5 target.

Africa: Young African women orphaned by AIDS speak to Canadians

2010-09-17

http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/caravan.htm

This week, the Stephen Lewis Foundation launched the AfriGrand Caravan, a cross-country tour with young African women orphaned by AIDS and grandmothers faced with an orphan care crisis in AIDS-ravaged sub-Saharan Africa. The Caravan will travel to 40 communities, St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia, from September 7 to November 10, creating a forum for the women to tell their stories and engage thousands of Canadians in a meaningful dialogue about the grassroots response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Cameroon: WHO advocates cross-border intervention against cholera

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/aVaND4

The resident representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Cameroon, Charlotte Faty Ndiaye, has called for a 'cross-border intervention' involving Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad to tackle the cholera epidemic that is ravaging the three countries. Cameroon has recorded 417 cases from 6,239 cases, Chad has recorded 65 deaths from 10,040 cases while 614 have died from 11,359 cases in Nigeria, according to Ms Ndiaye.

Global: UK scientists devise 'one-hour test' for TB

2010-09-17

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11297640

Scientists in the UK say they have devised a new ultra-sensitive test which can diagnose the presence of the tuberculosis bacterium in one hour. The test has been developed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Its developers claim the test can spot all strains of the disease and could reduce both the incidence and the consequences of the disease worldwide.

Kenya: Home-based testing improves HIV diagnosis rate among children

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9Dxmgb

Home-based voluntary HIV counselling and testing (HCT) provided an opportunity to identify 60 new paediatric HIV cases among 1300 high-risk children between the ages of 18 months and 13 years of age in a single community in rural western Kenya between June 2008 and June 2009, researchers reported in a retrospective analysis published in the advance online edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Malawi: Government rules out policy on circumcision as anti-AIDS strategy

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9uVBqi

Malawi will not make it an official policy to promote and encourage circumcision among men as a way of preventing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, two government officials announced. 'We have no scientific evidence that circumcision is a sure way of slowing down the spread of AIDS,' said Dr. Mary Shaba, Principal Secretary for HIV and AIDS in the Office of the President and Cabinet.

Nigeria: Poor surveillance helps spread cholera

2010-09-16

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90476

Poor diagnostics and weak surveillance are hampering government efforts to stem cholera in Nigeria says a government health worker. The disease is most severe in the north; as of 8 September 781 people have died and 13,000 cases were reported.

South Africa: Clinical trials to go ahead on anti-Aids gel

2010-09-16

http://www.genderhealth.org/media_and_publications/news/clinical_trials_to_go_ahead_on_anti-aids_vaginal_gel/

UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation have agreed to hold two further clinical trials on a vaginal gel, which shows promise in reducing the risk of HIV. Experts attending a meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa last week decided new trials should be conducted as quickly as possible to confirm preliminary hopeful results.

Kenya: Africa must rethink MDG approach

2010-09-16

http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=5440&magazine=300

Academies (private schools) are reported to be growing in popularity as Kenyan middle class parents shun free primary school education, writes James Shikwati. 'Parents are subliminally communicating to policy makers that they prefer quality over the mere quest to scale up Millennium Developing Goals (MDG) enrolment statistics.'

Zimbabwe: No temporary teachers, less schooling

2010-09-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90486

A recent government directive forbidding unqualified teachers - estimated to comprise as much as 60 percent of the staff complement at rural schools - is causing severe disruptions to education. "It is surprising that the government has chosen to stop temporary teachers from resuming duty this [third] term, when it is well known that they form the bulk of teaching staff in rural areas," said Janet Chikawa, a teacher at a secondary school in Seke district, about 50 km south of the capital, Harare.

Cameroon: Media catching the drift on homosexuality issues

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/bzPeQ1

Following a joint statement with Human Rights Watch (HRW), calling for the decriminalisation of consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex, Alternatives Cameroon, a gay rights organisation, says it has now chosen to use revendication rather than a confrontational approach, since attitudes towards homosexuality issues seem to be slowly changing in the country.

Africa: Africa, EU set energy target of 15,500MW

2010-09-16

http://www.domain-b.com/industry/power/20100916_energy.html

The European Union and Africa have agreed to take joint action to achieve a goal of setting up over 15,500 MW of renewable energy facilities in Africa and pledged to provide sustainable energy to at least 100 million Africans additionally by 2020.

Africa: Climate aid threatens to reverse debt relief

2010-09-16

http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/uk-‘climate-aid-threatens-reverse-debt-relief-wins-developing-countries

The UK government has come under fire for delivering 75 per cent of its climate finance for developing countries as loans, which the World Development Movement warns threatens to reverse decades of hard-fought progress on debt relief. Rich countries claimed a key success of the Copenhagen Accord was the announcement of $30 billion of new climate finance to developing countries. But UN Adaptation Fund, set up specifically to manage climate finance, has received just one per cent of money committed so far by donors.

Africa: World Bank invests record sums in coal

2010-09-16

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/15/world-bank-coal

Record sums were invested last year in coal power - the most carbon intensive form of energy on the planet - by the World Bank, despite international commitments to slash the carbon emissions blamed for climate change.

Global: Is climate change the missing link in the millennium goals?

2010-09-17

http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/20316/2010/08/17-152620-1.htm

Climate-smart, climate-resilient, climate-compatible development - call it what you will. These days, it's received wisdom in the aid sector that extreme weather and longer-term climate shifts are hitting the poor hard and things are likely to get worse as global warming heats up the planet. Many agencies now plan their work with at least an eye on the weather and climate hazards forecast for the coming months and years and how that could affect their programmes and the people they're helping. A growing number of projects aim to equip local communities with tools and knowledge to cope with increasingly adverse meteorological conditions.

Nigeria: Outrage at Shell funded UN report on Nigeria oil spills

2010-09-16

http://www.eraction.org/media/press-releases/224-outrage-at-shell-funded-un-report-on-nigeria-oil-spills

Friends of the Earth International says it is outraged by reports that a major UN investigation into Nigerian oil spills funded by oil giant Shell relies more on figures produced by oil companies and Nigerian state statistics than on community testimony and organisations on the ground who work with communities.

Africa: Beyond the smoke and mirrors of World Bank land grab report

2010-09-16

http://farmlandgrab.org/15542

Last week, on 7 September 2010, the World Bank finally decided to publish its much anticipated report on the global farmland grab. After years of work, several months of political negotiation and who knows how much money spent, the report was casually released on the Bank’s website - in English only. The report is both a disappointment and a failure.

Mozambique: The food riots and BHP Billiton

2010-09-16

http://www.sacsis.org.za/site/article/546.1

The recent Mozambican food and fuel riots raise the spectre of food insecurity and social unrest in the future, writes Saliem Fakir. 'We certainly have the capability to feed all of the world’s population, but the political economy of agriculture, food production and distribution somewhat has a greater influence as to whether people can feed themselves or not.'

Nigeria: Oil and food security

2010-09-16

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/09/13/nigeria-oil-wealth-flows-hunger-persists/

Nigeria had a strong agricultural base before the oil boom, but throughout the years its big farms and plantations have been neglected, says this Global Voices article. As a result, Nigeria has become one of the world's biggest importers of food staples, particularly rice and wheat. Even with these imports though, more than a quarter of Nigerians younger than five suffer from malnutrition.

Global: Corporate Land-grabs threaten food security

2010-09-17

http://farmlandgrab.org/15537

Proponents of the local food movement like to talk about keeping “food miles” to a minimum. Buying a New Zealand apple in New England is a big no-no. Imagine if instead of stores buying fruit from the South Pacific, the government was buying land in South America to produce “our own” food. Yet that is what’s happening all over the world, as wealthy countries buy or lease large tracts of land in poorer countries for agricultural production and export.

Angola: Journalist murdered

2010-09-16

http://en.rsf.org/angola-journalist-with-critical-radio-09-09-2010,38334.html

Reporters Without Borders has expressed shock at the death of Alberto Chakusanga, the host of a programme on a radio station critical of the government. The first journalist to be murdered in Angola since 2001, he was found dead in the kitchen of his home in the Luanda district of Viana at dawn on 5 September.

Eritrea: Journalists still being hunted

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/aNgvDS

The Eritrean authorities continue to gag all forms of free expression and recently arrested another journalist as he was trying to flee the country, Reporters Without Borders said, on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the start of a brutal political purge in Asmara on 18 September 2001. The organisation wrote to the British authorities yesterday urging them to prosecute one of the purge’s organisers, who now lives in Britain.

Somalia: Article 19 calls for media law reform

2010-09-16

http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/somalia-article-19-calls-for-media-law-reform.pdf

Article 19 has called on the government of Somalia to amend the media law based on proposals by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and recommendations made by ARTICLE 19 in a legal analysis released on 13 September. Somalia’s 2007 adoption of the Media Law raised serious concerns for media freedom. The law subjects all media to a largely government-controlled regulatory regime.

Uganda: Calls for urgent action as journalist is murdered

2010-09-17

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35952

The head of the United Nations agency entrusted with defending press freedom has urged Ugandan authorities to launch a full investigation into this week’s murder of a radio news presenter, the second journalist

Uganda: Murder of journalist condemned

2010-09-16

http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-condemns-brutal-murder-of-another-journalist-in-uganda

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the murder of Prime Radio anchorman, Dickson Ssentongo, who was severely beaten by unknown assailants and abandoned to die in a cassava plantation in Mukono District some 35km from the capital Kampala on Monday, 13 September 2010. 'The killing of Dickson Ssentongo signals a serious deterioration of the security of journalists and the Ugandan Government must reassure journalists and the public in general that the perpetrators of this heinous crime will be apprehended and brought to justice very quickly.'

Zimbabwe: SWAfrica jammed in Harare

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9mCDZl

Reporters Without Borders condemns the jamming of some of the programmes of Short Wave Radio Africa (SWRA), a London-based radio station staffed by Zimbabwean exile journalists that broadcasts to Zimbabwe. Various sources said they thought Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) was responsible for the interference, which began on 1 September.

Africa: Angola hosts 3rd African meeting on Cuba solidarity

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9QQICb

The third African meeting on Solidarity with Cuba was held in Luanda, Angola, 11-12 September, to consolidate the friendship between the African and Cuban people and contribute to strengthening African solidarity towards the Caribbean island nation. The general secretary of the Association of Angola/Cuba Friendship, Fernando Jaime, told the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP) that the event aimed to consider the difficult financial situation in Cuba due to the economic blockage imposed over the past 50 years by the US.

Africa: East Africa faces fresh famine threat, warns Oxfam

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/bOYwJM

East African countries will face more devastating food crises in future unless governments take action now, international aid agency Oxfam warned Thursday in a new report aimed at tackling world hunger within the next five years.

Chad: UN agency sounds alarm on mounting hunger

2010-09-17

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35947

Although there are signs of improvement in Niger, which is in the midst of a severe food crisis, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that child malnutrition rates are alarmingly high in neighbouring Chad.
“We’ve seen the positive impact of timely, well-coordinated food and nutrition assistance delivered in partnership with the Government in Niger,” where almost half of the 15-million strong population are hungry, said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. But in Chad, which experienced a long and crippling lean season, “children are weak and need to continue receiving food and nutritional support,” she stressed.

Kenya: Insecurity without borders

2010-09-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90505

The Islamist insurgency in Somalia has had a spillover effect on security in the northeast of neighbouring Kenya, affecting livelihoods and the delivery of services, say residents and officials. The worst crimes reported in the region recently include killings, carjackings and abductions – including, in 2009, of aid workers and, in 2008, of two nuns. Insecurity in the borderlands has led thousands of livestock herders to abandon their traditional grazing land, say locals.

Mauritania: Floods cause devastation

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/apiOr0

This year's rainy season in Mauritania damaged critical infrastructure and displaced hundreds of families, but it may have alleviated the threat of famine facing other countries in the Sahel. The considerable rainfall has led to widespread damage and cut the main routes linking the capital, Nouakchott, to the rest of the towns and cities in the country's interior.

Sudan: Make or break for Kony

2010-09-16

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/node/756

Recent reports of LRA attacks in the Central African Republic and southern Sudan suggest something significant is happening. The LRA is either in complete disarray and acting out of desperation, or the rebel group has rediscovered a sense of purpose: to destabilize southern Sudan in return for military support from Khartoum. As is often the case with the LRA, the truth is hard to ascertain, says this article on Raise Hope for Congo.

Africa: Mobile phones no silver bullet for Africa, says study

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/aSYbQs

The potential of mobile telephony to transform Africa will only be achieved if the development of other infrastructure keeps pace, says a study. The number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa soared from 16 million in 2000 to 376 million in 2008, with 60 per cent of the population using them in 2008 compared with 10 per cent in 1999.

Mali: Remote sensing and web 2.0 tools make water use more efficient

2010-09-16

http://ictupdate.cta.int/en/Feature-Articles/Remote-control

Managers of the Office du Niger irrigation scheme in Mali are using remote sensing data to analyse the efficiency of the system without having to physically check the infrastructure. The information will help them prepare for future expansion.

South Africa: Let tech-love rule

2010-09-16

http://ikamvayouth.org/blog/2010/09/15/let-tech-love-rule

IkamvaYouth has been working on IkamvaYouth-in-a-box which aims to translate the experiences that many Ikamvanites have collected over the years into an information pack. This super high tech system will enable information to be stored in a central database that will make all the information accessible to those who need it.

Africa: Thinking beyond acronyms

AfricaFocus Bulletin Sep 16, 2010 (100916)

2010-09-17

http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/pov1009.php

"Even if globally the poverty rate is reduced by half by 2015, as the latest United Nations progress report on the MDGs [Millennium Development Goals] suggests, about one billion people will still be mired in extreme poverty by 2015. ... The report argues that current approaches to poverty often ignore its root causes, and consequently do not follow through the causal sequence. Rather, they focus on measuring things that people lack to the detriment of understanding why they lack them." - UNRISD Report on Combating Poverty and Inequality, September 2010

South Africa: 14th Poetry Africa International Poetry Festival

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/67020

Poets from around South Africa, Africa and the world will descend on Durban for an exhilarating rollercoaster of words, rhythms and ideas at the 14th Poetry Africa international poetry festival, which takes place from 4 to 9 October. Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and with principal support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Poetry Africa’s exciting week-long programme is preceded by a three-stop Poetry Africa tour to Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
14th POETRY AFRICA

International Poetry Festival

Durban, South Africa : 4 – 9 October 2010

Tour : Cape Town ICC, 26 September/ Zimbabwe: Harare : Manneberg and Book Café 28 & 29 September/

Malawi: Blantyre Arts Festival 1 October

Poets from around South Africa, Africa and the world will descend on Durban for an exhilarating rollercoaster of words, rhythms and ideas at the 14th Poetry Africa international poetry festival, which takes place from 4 to 9 October. Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and with principal support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Poetry Africa’s exciting week-long programme is preceded by a three-stop Poetry Africa tour to Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Over twenty poets from twelve different countries will feature in the main Durban programme and the full lineup will each present an introductory poem on The Opening Night of the festival (4 October, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre), providing an ideal précis of the diverse voices the public can expect during the rest of the week. The week will thereafter feature 5 poets every evening, through to 8 October, before the rousing Festival Finale at the BAT Centre on 9 October. Each evening at the Sneddon Theatre will begin with curtain-raising performances by poets representing the various active Durban poetry circles. Another unique aspect of this year’s festival is the residency of Concord Nkabinde and Erik Paliani. Nkabinde, an acclaimed bass guitarist who has performed with the likes of Johnny Clegg, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ray Phiri, Phil Manzaniera, Zim Ngqawana, Darius Brubeck, Deepak Ram and many others, will collaborate with Malawian producer, musician and singer-songwriter Erik Paliani in nightly musical curtain-raisers. Nkabinde and Paliani’s passion for collaboration provides the perfect metaphor for the cross-cultural artistic meetings that Poetry Africa seeks to stimulate.

The broad selection of poetic voices, forms, and cultures at the festival includes the vivid verse of Frank Chipasula (Malawi). Apart from poetry, the BBC Poetry Prize winning and twice Pushcart Prize-nominated Chipasula is also a widely-respected writer, academic and editor. The African lineup also includes Kenyan Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, a poet whose intelligence and subtlety is abundantly evident in her first book of poems Blue Mothertongue, a collection which examines notions of home, loss and healing. Returning to Poetry Africa after an absence of six years is poet and academic Barolong Seboni (Botswana), whose astute grasp of history and its meaning, is spread over numerous acclaimed collections. Charlotte Hill O’Neal, better known as Mama C, is an American-born visual artist, musician and poet, who was a member of the Black Panther Movement before relocating to Tanzania in 1972. Her collection Warrior Woman of Peace was launched in 2008 and her fourth album of poetry and music is forthcoming. Both in his words and music the captivating voice of internationally celebrated Souleymane Diamanka (Senegal/France) offers an expressive cultural bridge between his French home and his Fulani ancestry.

The strong South African presence this year includes established luminaries and exciting new voices. Pitika Ntuli combines a vast store of African mythology and history, a keen awareness of the contemporary and an astonishing ability to improvise in his evocative poetry. Storytelling and myth also figure large in the verse of Durban icon Gcina Mhlophe. Lebo Mashile, arguably the best-known contemporary South African poet, brings to the Poetry Africa stage her candid and richly weaved words. The award-winning poet and playwright Kobus Moolman will present poems from his new collection Light and After as well sneak peeks at his next collection. Light and After (Deep South), a sparse and bravely honest work will be launched at the festival. Other launches include: Piece Work (Modjaji Books) by Ingrid Andersen and Scent of Footprints (Unisa Press) by Pitika Ntuli, Xaba.

Poetry Africa welcomes back the 2005 DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Poetry winner Gabeba Baderoon, the author of three collections of complex and intensely lyrical poetry. The Afrikaans-language poet Ronelda Kamfer’s entry into South African literature has been memorably described by poet Charl Pierre Naude “like a Guy Fawkes’ rocket at Pentecost”. Kamfer’s remarkable ability to artfully filter the political and social through a personal lens marks her as a young poet to watch. Natalia Molebatsi combines spoken word and singing in an intoxicating cocktail that touches base with genres such as jazz, dub, hip hop and reggae. Well-known Durban poet Busiswa Gqulu, like Molebatsi, combines poetry, song and performance to startling effect. Another well-respected Durban poet, Marí Peté, explores dreamscapes, everyday experiences, and the thin membrane between these states of being in her poetry.

The international presence at Poetry Africa is particularly strong this year. Celebrated poet, author, radio host, actor and social critic Mutabaruka was the first well-publicized voice in the new wave of Jamaican poets making themselves heard in the early 1970s. He has recorded numerous poetry albums which have helped forge the unique genre of music commonly referred to as dub poetry. As an actor, Mutabaruka has starred in Haile Gerima’s award-winning Sankofa (1993).

In honour of activist and poet Dennis Brutus (1924 -2009) Poetry Africa introduces the Letters to Dennis segment featuring a poet of high excellence who reflects Dennis’s passion for human rights and integrity. The Letters to Dennis references the famous poem Letters to Martha, written while Dennis was in prison. The Letters to Dennis poet for 2010 is Ghassan Zaqtan of Palestine. At one time the editor of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s newspaper, Ghassan Zaqtan is one of Palestine’s most respected poets and his urgent yet paradoxically gentle and contemplative poetry abounds with luminous imagery.

Jayne Fenton Keane (Australia) is a highly awarded and respected poet whose blend of poetry-song cycles, spoken word-music fusions and shamanic performances have challenged and inspired audiences and critics around the world. Poet, writer-activist and translator Meena Kandasamy (India) uses writing, translation and activism to confront her womanness, her Dalitness and her Tamilness - three categories of belonging that continue to enshrine a history of resistance to oppression. Jorge Palma (Uruguay) is a poet and storyteller whose sensitive and elegant poetry is most concerned with addressing and dissecting the human condition, while Italian Claudio Pozzani is poet and musician whose work has been translated into more than ten languages.

Saturday, 9 October sees a full day of activities at the BAT Centre, with poetry workshops, open mic opportunities, the Durban SlamJam all culminating in the Festival Finale on Saturday night which includes a performance by the Imperial Tiger Orchestra, a Geneva-based band that performs songs from the Golden Age of Ethiopian modern music (1969 – 1978). Although this six-piece orchestra’s repertoire consists primarily of revamped and reworked Ethiopian music, they are not to be mistaken for a covers band. Instead the Imperial Tigers explore uncharted territory in this form, playing with textures and dynamics, adding distortions and noise to complete beautiful new pieces based on the Ethiopian originals.

Apart from the evening performances at the Sneddon and the BAT, a packed daily programme utilizing the expertise of festival participants includes performances, seminars, workshops, a prison programme, poetry competitions, and school visits all aimed at inspiring heightened interest in poetry.

Poetry Africa on Tour

Poetry Africa on Tour is an effort to celebrate poetry with ever-wider constituencies and to stimulate meaningful cultural exchange between artists, audiences and countries. With the support of the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), Mimeta and Pro-Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland, the 2010 tour kicks off at the Cape Town ICC on Sunday 26th September, featuring Frank Chipasula, Mama C, Lebo Mashile, Gcina Mhlophe, Mutabaruka, Barolong Seboni, Pitika Ntuli, includes musicians Concord Nkabinde and Eric Palliani and a unique collaboration between Comrade Fatso (Zimbabwe) and Ewok (South Africa). With the exception of Mhlophe and Ewok, and with the addition of Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, the tour continues with shows at Manneberg and Book Café in Harare on 28th and 29th, before being part of the Blantyre Arts Festival in Malawi on 1st October. In each of the centres the tour will also showcase local poets, and incorporate workshops, discussions and engagements with artists and cultural activists.

The full programme of Poetry Africa activities, plus participant bios and photos, is available on www.cca.ukzn.ac.za . Enquiries to 031-260 2506 or 031-260 1704.

Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), the 14th Poetry Africa festival is supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (principal funder), HIVOS (Humanist Institute for Development Co-operation), City of Durban, Arts and Culture Trust, Pro Helvetia Arts Councit of Switzerland, Mimeta and the French Institute of South Africa.

Festival Queries to Tel: 031-260 2506 or 031-260 1704 cca@ukzn.ac.za

For Media Queries Contact Sharlene Versfeld Tel: 031-8115628 Fax: 0866827334 Email: sharlene@versfeld.co.za

Zambia: Call for Papers, Access to information in quality education

Conference Details: 14-16 February 2011, Livingstone, Zambia

2010-09-16

http://www.idasa.org.za/

From 14-16 February 2011 the Right to Know, Right to Education project will host a regional conference to address the issues of quality basic education for all.

Addressing transitional justice in the context of African challenges

21 - 27 November 2010

2010-09-16

http://www.refugeelawproject.org/IATJ.php

The Refugee Law Project (RLP), Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in collaboration with the African Transitional Justice Research Network (ATJRN) has established an Institute for African Transitional Justice (IATJ). The institute is pleased to announce its first short course on African Transitional Justice that will take place in Kampala, Uganda from 21 - 27 November 2010.

Kenya: SAMOSA Festival 2010

2010-09-17

http://www.samosafestival.com/

The SAMOSA Festival is the premier biennial festival for cross cultural interaction in Kenya. The festival showcases the best in African, Eastern and Western cultures in the region, and is a celebration of race, cultural and ethnic differences. This year's theme is different is exciting. Art, music, dance and poetry are some of the best ways for humanity to embrace diversity.

Global: The Tipping Point Film Fund - Screening and panel

Monday 20 September, 2010

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/cXiRVF

The Tipping Point Film Fund launches its very own Film Club at The Lexi Cinema in Kensal Rise on Monday 20 September with a screening of Stephanie Black’s award-winning ‘Life and Debt‘. The film, which starts at 7.15pm, will be followed by a panel discussion and includes guest speaker, broadcaster and academic, Dr Robert Beckford.

Global: IIE Fellowships for Threatened Scholars

Applications due October 4, 2010

2010-09-17

http://bit.ly/9VScVI

The IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) is pleased to announce a call for applications for threatened academics whose lives and work are in danger in their home countries. Fellowships support temporary academic positions at safe universities and colleges anywhere in the world. Professors, researchers, and lecturers from any country or field may apply. Please refer eligible candidates and forward this announcement to any academic colleagues who may be interested.

Southern Africa: Access to information in quality education standards

February 2011, February 14-16

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/67028

From 14-16 February 2011 the Right to Know, Right to Education project will host a regional conference to address the issues of quality basic education for all. The conference will provide a platform for regional bodies, academics, civil society organisations and international aid organisations to deliberate critical questions such as the role of international quality standards for Sub-Saharan African countries
Call for Papers

Access to Information in Quality Education Standards: Should Access to Information be a Cornerstone Standard to Achieving Quality Basic Education in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Organisation: Idasa Economic Governance Programme,
Conference Dates: February 2011, 14-16 / Livingstone, Zambia

From 14-16 February 2011 the Right to Know, Right to Education project will host a regional conference to address the issues of quality basic education for all. The conference will provide a platform for regional bodies, academics, civil society organisations and international aid organisations to deliberate critical questions such as the role of international quality standards for Sub-Saharan African countries; the effective monitoring of education standards in-country; how the right of access to information could be promoted by multi-lateral agencies; and whether quality education can be realised without stakeholders’ free and open access to relevant information? Also, the contentious notion of the nexus between resource and outcomes will be discussed. The latter is important especially in the context of delivering targeted resources to poor and vulnerable schooling communities. Finally, the conference will probe the role of regional institutions such as SADC, PAP and the AU in promoting a quality basic education agenda.

Background and Rationale

According to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to receive and disseminate information and this is the basis upon which state parties should establish national level policies and legislation to allow citizens access to information. Since this declaration was made, access to information has been viewed as a basic human right as well as a leverage right, enabling citizens to secure other fundamental rights. It is widely accepted that by preventing citizens from accessing information, their basic rights will not be addressed and this sets in motion a vicious cycle that makes it difficult to address with any precision the concerns of especially poor and vulnerable groups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The right to basic education is a right that has a great impact on other rights such as the right to health, security and the right to food. Over the past decades, a great deal of international resources have been mobilised to securing the basic education goals set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With enrolment numbers increasing each year, the focus has inevitably shifted to the quality of education that children are receiving. However, the idea of quality basic education for all, reliant as it is on effective and efficient processes, has not really been well understood, leave alone effectively implemented. In this regard, there are a number of on-going debates about whether countries should adopt country-specific or regional educational quality standards, or if education systems should be geared towards the realisation of international input or output standards. There is growing support for the adoption of in-country standards but a complimentary demand is the development of rigorous monitoring and evaluation systems.

The Education for All campaign under UNESCO has stated a number of input standards for the realisation of quality education, yet none of these provisions include access to information. This Idasa regional conference seeks to explore the linkages between the right of access to information and the right to quality basic education. The proposition being tested is that access to information matters as much as physical access to schooling. Access to information is often overlooked as a secondary right, yet without it, citizens are unaware of their entitlements and therefore cannot often demand other basic rights. The conference will provide a platform for policy makers, academics, community members and CSOs to discuss their views, and through debate, propose the way forward to making quality education a norm across the region.

Key Outcomes of the Conference

• A networked group of activists, government officials and academic professionals creating space for in-country and regional discussions about the state of quality basic education in Sub-Saharan Africa;
• A better appreciation of the intimate connection between the realisation of quality basic education and the right of access to in formation;
• An improved understanding of the respective roles of governments, civil society, regional and international bodies, and schools and communities in the realisation of quality basic education; and
• An improved understanding of the relationship between resources and outcomes and how targeted resource interventions may promote quality basic education in poor schooling communities.

Sub-Theme 1: Access to Education, Quality of Basic Education and Linkages with the Right of Access to Information

Physical access to basic education is a critical condition that must be addressed before considering seriously the concept and reality of quality basic education. This may sound unnecessarily linear but many African countries continue to go through processes of reconstruction and restoring education in its most basic sense. This forces the attention on enrolment, retention and survival ratios, which is entirely appropriate given local challenges. However, physical access in the absence of quality education not only threatens viable social and economic outcomes, but may encourage the idea of education not being relevant as a lever for change. Recent shifts to making agriculture and small-scale agriculture the key anti-poverty tool of some African governments confirm just how vital it is that a quality education agenda be advanced. In response to the quest for quality education a number of developed countries have begun to link school quality to the academic outcomes achieved by publicly-funded schools. This has occasioned tremendous controversy because initially such results did not take into account the socio-economic composition of the learner body, which has an enormous impact on results. This raises formidable question about the appropriate standards that governments and schools need to be guided by in establishing and maintain quality outcomes in public schools. Following from this, what should be the informational regime to allow countries to chart a quality path and what is the role of civil society and international aid agencies in driving the demand for relevant information? How do countries develop rigorous monitoring and evaluation frameworks that provide regular information to stakeholders that will allow them to hold governments to account? And is there a coherent and compelling case for the linkage between the right of access to information and the right to basic education and does this differ according to country contexts? And finally, what role does the right of access to information play in creating the conditions for quality education in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Sub-Theme 2: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Policies and Outcomes: The Role of Governments, Civil Society and other Non-State Actors

National governments play a critical role in the implementation of quality education standards. Looking at how governments and regional bodies respond to and allocate funds for education is generally monitored by multi-lateral agencies and international finance institutions. A central concern relates to the way national governments put in place extensive monitoring and evaluation plans to ensure that valuable State resources are used in the best possible way to achieve quality basic education. While civil society is potentially in a good position to monitor the roll out of funds and the delivery of quality education, inadequate access to relevant information has seriously attenuated civil society’s ability to hold governments to account. So apart from governments and civil society, we also have to ponder the role of regional bodies, multi-lateral agencies and the private sector in the delivery of quality basic education. In a nutshell, this theme will explore the role of multi-stakeholders in realising quality basic education and whether it’s possible to map a coherent multi-stakeholder approach to quality basic education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Case studies of country interventions as well as regional interventions by multi-stakeholders in securing quality basic education will be examined. In what way has the involvement of multi-lateral institutions and donors bolstered the capacity of governments to deliver quality basic education? Has civil society taken a lead role in the monitoring and assessment of education policy and is there evidence of impact on government’s policy decision-making? Are CSO’s in a legitimate position to demand information and to monitor government progress, if not what alternative systems can be put in place to ensure that progress is being made? Is there a role for regional bodies in shaping the governance and quality agenda in basic education?




Sub-Theme 3: The Nexus between Resources and Outcomes in Basic Education

School resources and their relationship to academic outcomes have been a contentious topic for the last 30 years. While some researchers unequivocally claim a weak to non-existing relationship, more recent research affirms the importance of school resources in determining academic outcomes (achievement, drop-out rates etc.). Solid answers to these questions are important especially in the prevailing economic context where government resources are stretched and where policy-makers have to make the best possible decisions about where to spend scarce State resources. One of the key questions to clarify is what are the key components of what we want to define as “school resources”? And, given this, is there a positive relationship between school resources and academic outcomes? If we regard social capital as a resource, is there evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa, that it makes a difference to the realisation of quality outcomes? Does poverty (however defined) affect the academic outcomes of children of male-headed and/or female-headed households differently? This theme will examine case studies from different parts of the continent using both quantitative and qualitative methods in answering this important question.

Abstracts

We are inviting abstracts for any one of the three themes and our aim is to have a fair distribution of abstracts and papers across the three sub-themes. The abstract should be citation-free and should not exceed 150 words. They should include the title of the paper, name(s) of the author(s), organisational affiliation(s) and contact information of the author(s). All abstracts should be sent to Francina Mhundwa at fmhundwa@idasa.org.za and Rose Hemmer-Vitti at rhemmervitti@idasa.org.za by October 31, 2010 for consideration.

Final Papers

Final papers should be evidence-based and theoretical; they should also include case studies and relevant policy information. The papers should be unpublished and reflect on the critical gaps in the debate on quality education. The papers should not exceed 6000 words or 20 pages in length. They should be typed in 12pt Times New Roman with 1.5 margin spacing.

The paper should include the following:
• Title of paper
• Full name(s) of author(s)
• Contact details of author(s)
• Biographical note of the author(s) (100 words max per author)




Note for presenters

Presenters must be able to present their findings at the conference that will be held on 14 to 16 February 2011 in Livingstone, Zambia. Subject to peer review, some papers will be chosen to be published in an edited conference book through a reputable publisher. For further inquiries, please contact Rose Hemmer-Vitti at rhemmervitti@idasa.org.za

Africa: Reflections on International Humanitarian Interventions in Africa

A Symposium - 21 to 23 September 2010

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/67049

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the recording of “We are the World”, United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa), in collaboration with Trust Africa, Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Humanitarian Action and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) will host a symposium entitled:
“Reflections on International Humanitarian Interventions in Africa” from 21-23 September 2010 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the recording of “We are the World”, United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa), in collaboration with Trust Africa, Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Humanitarian Action and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) will host a symposium entitled:
“Reflections on International Humanitarian Interventions in Africa” from 21-23 September 2010 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The symposium seeks to stimulate a discourse on international humanitarian interventions in Africa among thinkers, practitioners and activists on the continent and beyond. It aims to engage participants in conversation and dialogue towards shaping a new paradigm for Africa.

Among other issues, participants will address the following: What have these interventions meant for the Continent? What implications or consequences have they had for the famine of ‘biblical proportions’ in the SAHEL, the tragedies in Darfur, the genocide in Rwanda, the scourge of racial discrimination and Apartheid? What is the significance of the ties felt by the Diaspora, both old and recent who often mobilize humanitarian assistance, for the future of Africa?

Media queries: Contact: Sophia Denekew sdenekew@uneca.org <mailto:sdenekew@uneca.org>

Africa: PeaceTalk Newsletter # 16

Beyond Juba Project

2010-09-17

http://www.beyondjuba.org/peace_talk.php

The Beyond Juba Project proudly announces the sixteenth issue of PeaceTalk, a newsletter targeting Ugandan teenagers. Issue # 16 (Vol.3 Issue 4) will be published in the Monitor newspaper of Sunday, September 19, 2010, and will be uploaded onto our website www.beyondjuba.org/peace_talk.php on Monday, 20 September, 2010.

Executive Director - Open Society Initiative for West Africa

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/67021

The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is pleased to announce an opening for the position of Executive Director.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)
August 2010
The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) is pleased to announce an opening for the position of Executive Director.

The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and communities.

Investor and philanthropist George Soros in 1993 created OSI as a private operating and grantmaking foundation to support his foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. OSI has expanded the activities of the Soros foundations network to encompass the United States and more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each Soros foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities.
OSIWA is a private Foundation which supports, makes grants and advocates for initiatives that promote Open Society values in eight focus countries of West Africa . OSIWA’s principal niche is to build capacity of West African government institutions and civil society organizations through support to catalytic and innovative initiatives.
OSIWA operates programs around four major strategic pillars, which are Governance; Law, Justice and Human Rights; Health and Development; and Information Technology, Communication & Media. OSIWA has identified the following 5 strategic objectives, which will drive its interventions in 2010-2011: strengthened democratic institutions, processes and structures; reduced levels of impunity; enhanced citizenship and public participation in decision-making; enhanced protection of groups exposed to discrimination; and improved equity and transparency in the management of resources.
The core of OSIWA’s interventions has been built around promoting, strengthening and working towards ensuring credibility in the governance process by promoting transparency and accountability. The Foundation, therefore, pursues efforts to identify avenues for building the capacity of both public institutions and civil society to ensure good governance. OSIWA’s intervention strategies are at three levels: sub-regional based initiatives built around the ECOWAS to cover the countries under its mandate, working mainly at the policy level; using multi-country interventions that cover initiatives across a number of countries, with emphasis on the need to share experiences and address issues of various levels of similarities; initiatives that are supported within a single country or local council, and generally meant to serve as pilot cases for duplication in other countries and local communities, within and outside the area. The sub-regional and multi-country foci have given OSIWA the leverage to widen its program reach to all the countries in the sub-region.
A. Key Duties and Performance Areas

OSIWA leadership and development
• Provide strategic direction and initiative in the development of the foundation, constantly identifying opportunities and threats to the foundation and articulating leadership objectives in relation to these opportunities and threats.
• Conceptualize open society issues and strategies in the Western African context, effectively relating these to African and global trends and dynamics, and interpreting the same in leadership to stakeholders.
• Continually position OSIWA as a leader in promoting open societies in Western Africa, exploiting and developing the foundation’s ability to combine programming approaches ranging from advocacy, convening, grantmaking, capacity building, and work through partnerships.

OSIWA management
• Manage all aspects of OSIWA, including its human and financial resources.
• Assume and responsibly exercise overall legal and executive authority for the offices, programs, positioning, relationships, risks, assets and liabilities of OSIWA in Dakar, Abuja, Monrovia, Freetown and any other site out of which the Board may in future direct the location of OSIWA’s operations or those of its affiliates.
• Manage and develop responsive relationships with the foundation’s stakeholders.
• Report to and closely work with the foundation’s Board of Directors, effectively carrying out the mandate and directions of the Board as developed from time to time.

OSIWA partnerships, networking and communications
• Define and maintain strategic relationships with West African regional and national civil society partners, governments, private sector entities, and other actors relevant for the construction and sustenance of open societies in the region.
• Provide intellectual and strategic leadership and support to the heads of OSIWA spin offs including West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) and West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI).

OSIWA fundraising and resource development
• Effectively raise resources for the foundation from traditional as well as new donors.
• Maintain strong and mutually enriching relationships with donor organizations working on human rights-related issues in the region.

B. Key Outcomes

An effective and highly dynamic foundation, maintaining its ability to proactively model African leadership on the complex challenges of West African societies today, with respect to the existence and depth of the ideals, institutions, policies, laws, and practice of open society.

C. Person Specifications

• At least a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, preferably from the social sciences/ humanities or management sciences.
• Senior management experience within a multilateral, and/or donor organization.
• Evidence of creative leadership over at least five years in the not-for-profit sector, including demonstrable exposure to complex questions of leadership in the West African regional context, and a track record of delivery.
• Close knowledge of, and evidence of contribution to, the major discourses in human rights development and public policy in West Africa, including the nexus between these and broader African and international issues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Fluency in English and French;
• Role competence as a Representative, including the possession of superior communication skills; ability to effectively operate in relevant regional languages beyond English and French will be a distinct advantage.
• Independent functionality with office computer packages such as MS Word, Excel, Internet and E-mail required.
• Commitment to social justice, human rights, and development.
• Strong ability to inspire others and to work in a team.
• Demonstrated experience in managing inter and intra-organizational relationships in complex organizational environments;
• Capacity to work long hours towards multiple objectives in a pressured environment, and to organize own work as well as information.

Start Date: Immediately

Compensation: Commensurate with experience.

To Apply

Please email resume and cover letter with salary requirements before October 15, 2010 to: humanresources@sorosny.org Include job code in subject line: ED-OSIWA

OR

Open Society Institute
Human Resources – Code ED-OSIWA
400 West 59th Street
New York, New York 10019
FAX: 212.548.4675

No phone calls, please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

The Open Society Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Global: Legal consultancy: "Mapping statelessness in Belgium"

Call for Expressions of Interest

2010-09-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/67029

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has a mandate to work for the identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness worldwide as well as the protection of stateless persons. On the basis of this mandate, the UNHCR’s Regional Representation for Western Europe in Brussels plans to undertake an interdisciplinary research project covering the demographic, social and legal aspects of statelessness in Belgium. The goal is to provide an overview of the socio-demographic profile of stateless persons in Belgium and to examine the legal situation pertaining to such persons.
Legal consultancy: Call for Expressions of Interest

"Mapping statelessness in Belgium"

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has a mandate to work for the identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness worldwide as well as the protection of stateless persons.

On the basis of this mandate, the UNHCR’s Regional Representation for Western Europe in Brussels plans to undertake an interdisciplinary research project covering the demographic, social and legal aspects of statelessness in Belgium. The goal is to provide an overview of the socio-demographic profile of stateless persons in Belgium and to examine the legal situation pertaining to such persons.

The research will benefit from the guidance provided by an Expert Consultative Panel.

The final product of the research shall consist of a report providing an analysis of the statistical and demographic data gathered on statelessness as well as the main difficulties identified in national law and practice, with recommendations.

In this context, we welcome expressions of interest from persons corresponding to the profile described below for a consultancy position starting on 15 October 2010.

A legal consultant, for a 6-month position, with a possible extension of 3 months, with the following qualifications:
* an advanced degree in law, preferably with a specialization in international public or refugee law, and a strong academic record;
* relevant professional experience gained after obtaining the degree, preferably with UNHCR or other international organizations;
* excellent understanding of international and European instruments relating to statelessness;
* previous research on statelessness is an asset;
* professional fluency in English, French and Dutch;
* excellent drafting skills in English;
* proven research ability.

Responsibilities:
The legal consultant will be responsible, inter alia, for: conducting field and desk-based research (including analysis of applicable legislation, relevant case-law and decisions by the aliens’ office); where appropriate, contacting the courts, lawyers and individuals to gather relevant information on the law and practice in the determination of statelessness (including procedural aspects), the rights of stateless persons and the prevention of statelessness; and identifying necessary recommendations. The legal consultant will also be responsible for drafting, in close cooperation with a demographic consultant, the interim and final reports to be used by UNHCR in its work on issues relates to statelessness. The legal consultant shall ensure that participatory assessment methodologies and an age, gender and diversity mainstreaming (AGDM) approach are adopted throughout the research and reflected in the final report.

Expressions of interest from suitable candidates accompanied by a motivation letter, CV, and a writing sample in English (of no more than 15 pages) should be sent by email to Ms. Pamela Williams (williapa@unhcr.org) as soon as possible and no later than midday on 23 September 2010.

The UNHCR is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse workforce and encourages minorities, disadvantaged groups and women to apply.

Please send replies to Ms. Pamela Williams: williapa@unhcr.org

Fahamu