Current Issue

'The Arab revolutions are not over'

Interview by Farooq Sulehria

Adam Hanieh

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79773

cc J RThe struggles against dictatorship that the uprisings in North Africa and the Arab world represent are, simultaneously, intertwined with the way that capitalism has developed across the region.

Saudi Arabia along with other Gulf states have been key protagonists in the counter-revolutionary wave unleashed against the Arab uprisings. Indeed, 2011 has clearly demonstrated that imperialism in the region is articulated with – and largely works through – the Gulf Arab states. "Overall, it is important for the left to support the ongoing struggles in the revolutions as the contradictions of the new regimes continue to sharpen", says Adam Hanieh.

Adam Hanieh is a lecturer in development studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is author of ‘Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States’ (Palgrave-Macmillan 2011) and a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Historical Materialism.

FAROOQ SULEHRIA: The outcome of elections in Tunisia and Egypt went in favour of Islamist parties, even though the revolutions in these countries had a secular character. Islamists are also an integral part, if not the dominant force, in the revolutions in Syria, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain. Is the Arab Spring in fact a victory for the Islamist movements?

ADAM HANIEH: No, I think this is the wrong way to read the Arab Spring. It is true of course that the Islamist parties were the major victors in the Egyptian and Tunisian elections and have been prominent actors in the other uprisings across the region. But we need to take a more circumspect view of the Islamist movements and the difficulties they will likely face in the coming period.

First, we should remember that the initial phases of the revolutions (certainly in Egypt and Tunisia) arose largely outside the orbit of established movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood. In general, the Islamist movements have played – and continue to play – a conservative role. During the protests in Egypt in December 2011, for example, the Muslim Brotherhood took a clear stance against the popular forces. Likewise with the important Egyptian strike wave in September.

These examples (and many others) indicate that while Islamist parties may have received significant electoral support, their relationship with the popular movement is fraught with tension and has the potential to quickly shift. This has also generated schisms and debates within the Muslim Brotherhood itself.

The election results in Tunisia and Egypt are not particularly surprising. In Egypt, the strong showing of the Muslim Brotherhood is partially indicative of its deeper implantation throughout the society and greater access to resources. Under Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood was, in effect, a semi-legal opposition and it has a long history of organising across the country. Many other parties (including some of the parties of the left) have only recently formed or begun organising openly, and it is impossible to expect them to have the reach of the Muslim Brotherhood at this stage.

The Islamist parties were also very well funded (particularly from the Gulf states) – and this makes a big difference in their capacity to run campaigns across the country. Furthermore, in the rural areas, the other parties have a much weaker presence than the Muslim Brotherhood, which has built established patronage and support networks over many years.

Despite the symbolic significance of elections the real questions in front of the revolutions remain unaddressed. The revolutions have raised enormous expectations for a real change in the daily lives of people. After decades of neoliberal "reform", Egyptian society has seen an extreme polarisation of wealth and deterioration in living conditions for the vast majority. Millions of people have been marginalised and are struggling to eke out survival in the informal sector.

There is also the question of the long-standing servility of the Egyptian government and military towards US power in the Middle East, expressed most clearly in the decades-long process of normalisation with Israel. These political and economic issues are intertwined and it is not possible to solve the question of "democracy" without pushing the revolution forward and addressing all of these issues. Indeed, the position of the military is very much linked to the country’s political economy and the relationship with the US and Israel. For these reasons, Egyptian capitalism has a strong tendency towards an autocratic form – whether through the rule of a single individual (like Mubarak) or a veneer of liberal democracy in which the military retains ultimate power behind the scenes.

In this context, I think it is clear that the Islamist forces are not up to solving these problems. They have explicitly stated that they do not intend to break in any significant fashion with the economic program of the old regime. This means continued privatisation, increased exposure to global financial markets, further deregulation of labour markets and more reliance on loans from international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The impact of this neoliberal program over the last two decades was a key factor in the uprising that overthrew Mubarak.

For this reason, I think we can expect a widening gap between the expectations of the Egyptian people for jobs, food, health and other social rights – and the actual policies likely to be implemented by the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies once in power. While it holds the reins of government, it is much more difficult for these movements to hide behind an oppositional rhetoric. The contradictions will be posed much more sharply: between their claims around social justice and their support for neoliberal economic policies, or their "anti-imperialist" language but simultaneous willingness to work with the US and Israel.

There are many indications that this is already happening and, for these reasons, I think it is way too early to characterise 2011 as an "Islamist victory".

FAROOQ SULEHRIA: The victories of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and En-Nehda in Tunisia, the possible demise of the Assad regime in Syria, and the crushing of the revolt in Bahrain all appear to favour the regional interests of the Saudi monarchy. Is Saudi Arabia the ultimate beneficiary of the Arab Spring?

ADAM HANIEH: Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf states, such as Qatar, have been key protagonists in the counter-revolutionary wave unleashed against the uprisings. Indeed, 2011 has clearly demonstrated that imperialism in the region is articulated with – and largely works through – the Gulf Arab states.

The example of the NATO-led attack on Libya is a clear example of this, with Qatar and the UAE, in particular, playing a very important role in this invasion. There are many other examples – we can see it in the billions of dollars that are being promised by the Gulf states to the regimes in Egypt and Tunisia; the military intervention of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE in Bahrain; the offer made to Jordan and Morocco to join the Gulf Cooperation Council (thereby bringing together all the monarchies in the region within a single bloc); and the centrality of the Gulf states attempting to mediate and steer the uprisings in Syria and Yemen. And, perhaps most significantly, the escalating threats that are being made against Iran.

In one sense, the role of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries is a political reflection of how central these states are within the regional economic system. Over the last decade, Gulf capital (both privately owned and state run) was a prime beneficiary of neoliberalism in the region. Across Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere, liberalisation saw massive flows of Gulf capital into newly privatised sectors (particularly real estate, finance and telecommunications). For this reason, the autocratic social structures that characterised political rule in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere are themselves part of how the Gulf established its place atop the hierarchies of the regional market.

The struggles against dictatorship that the uprisings represent are, simultaneously, intertwined with the way that capitalism has developed across the region and, in this sense, are also struggles against the Gulf. This fact – coupled of course with the centrality of the region’s oil supplies and financial surpluses to the US and other imperialist countries – is a key reason why the counter-revolutionary response has essentially been conducted through the tripartite alliance of the Gulf states, the United States and the European Union.

Understanding this fact, however, is very different from saying that Saudi Arabia is the "ultimate beneficiary" of the Arab uprisings. The revolutions are by no means over and – for some of the reasons I outlined in the last question – the demands of the revolution have not been fulfilled. The level of mobilisation remains high in both Egypt and Tunisia, and it will be very difficult for the new governments to continue business as usual. It is an unstable situation.

Yes, there are very many difficulties facing the left and the popular movements. But we shouldn’t underestimate the problems that the other side also faces, or overestimate their ability to re-impose their rule in a global context of multiple, systemic crises and a very limited legitimacy for patterns of governance associated with the old regime.

FAROOQ SULEHRIA: What implications will a failed uprising in Bahrain and a possible overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria have for Iran?

ADAM HANIEH: Obviously, over recent weeks, there has been a ratcheting up of rhetoric against the Iranian regime. But there remain many factors that militate against an attack and I don’t think that a strike by Washington or Tel Aviv is categorically determined.

In the case of Syria, it is clear that the Western states, Israel and the Gulf countries want to see a more pliant regime and this is partially motivated by a desire to undermine Iran’s regional influence (connected of course to Hizbullah in Lebanon). I don’t believe, however, that the toppling of Assad will necessarily lead to a regime that is more closely aligned with Western interests. The overall anti-imperialist sentiment remains strong among the Syrian population and the attempts by parts of the left to smear the entire uprising as a stand-in for imperialism belies a Manichean worldview that badly misunderstands the country’s history.

I don’t see any contradiction in opposing intervention and simultaneously being against the Assad regime – which, we need to remember, has embraced neoliberalism and consistently used a rhetoric of "anti-imperialism" to obfuscate a practice of accommodation with both the US and Israel. But we need to remember that there is a correspondence between the brutality of the regime and internal support for intervention. In this sense, the violence of the Assad regime further serves the broader interests of imperialism in the region (as this violence has long done).

In the case of Bahrain, I think it is mistaken to see the uprising as some form of Iranian "plot". Certainly that is the way it has been portrayed by the Bahraini monarchy and some of the other Gulf Arab states. But the 2011 Bahraini intifada was the latest in a decades-long line of uprisings against sectarian discrimination that is reinforced by the unevenness of capitalist development in that country.

One indication of this is the very high unemployment levels, with unofficial estimates ranging from 15-30 percent among Bahraini nationals, which disproportionately impacts on Shi’a citizens. In 2004, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights estimated that over half of Bahraini citizens were living in poverty and yet, simultaneously, the richest 5200 Bahrainis had a combined wealth greater than US$20 billion. These – and other issues such as inequalities in landownership, widespread use of torture against political opponents, a lack of democracy, political exclusion of the Shi’a population, and the regime’s close alliance with the US – are much more convincing explanations for the uprising than any interference by Iran. These issues have not been addressed in any fundamental way by the Bahraini regime, and for this reason we certainly haven’t seen the last of the uprisings in the country.

FAROOQ SULEHRIA: Washington appears to have taken a contradictory position towards the uprisings – lending support to those in Syria and Libya and undermining or ignoring those in other countries. Is it accurate to say that the US welcomes the Arab Spring, and that the mass movements of 2011 have lacked an anti-imperialist character?

ADAM HANIEH: No, I think that is a completely false characterisation. The question of imperialism is intractably linked to the issues innervating these uprisings. The nature of the Mubarak regime, for example, was not just a question of domestic repression. US imperialism relied upon this regime to build a major pillar of support for its wider hegemony over the Middle East. This was expressed most clearly in the decades-long process of normalisation with Israel, as well as the billions of dollars in US support for the Egyptian military.

As I noted above, the political and economic issues are intertwined and inseparable – if the mass movement is going to win social and economic justice it will necessarily have to take up the question of imperialism. Moreover, I don’t think Washington’s position has been contradictory – rather, it has been entirely consistent with its policies over the last few decades. The overall strategic "line of march" of the US (and that of the EU) has been to find a way to defuse, weaken and deflect the uprisings. The way this has been attempted differs in each context.

FAROOQ SULEHRIA: What implications does the Arab Spring hold for Israel?

ADAM HANIEH: I think the Egyptian revolution, in particular, is potentially the most important development to have occurred in the Palestinian struggle at any time over the last two decades. Egypt is strategically central to the Palestinian question. This is clearly understood by imperialism – witness the absolute priority placed by the US and Israel on normalising relationships with Egypt from the time of [President] Anwar Sadat up through the Mubarak period. I think a revolutionary government in Egypt that refuses to enter into economic or political relationships with Israel, opens the borders with Gaza and supports the Palestinian struggle in meaningful ways would see a rapid and qualitative change in the regional balance of forces.

Now, obviously we are very far from seeing this scenario occur in the current circumstances. But, as I pointed out above, the autocratic and repressive nature of the Egyptian state cannot be separated from its linkages with imperialism in the region (seen primarily in its support for the state of Israel). Any effective challenge to this autocratic nature means confronting the linkages with US power. There is a dialect between these two sides of the Egyptian state – and this means that solidarity with the Palestinian struggle is not an optional extra of the revolution, but central to it moving forward.

FAROOQ SULEHRIA: What should now be the left attitude towards Arab Spring?

ADAM HANIEH: Overall, it is important for the left to support the ongoing struggles in the revolutions as the contradictions of the new regimes continue to sharpen. Concretely, this means offering solidarity to labour strikes and popular mobilisations; publicising the ongoing abuses of the military; agitating against foreign military and political intervention in the region; exposing the role of the Gulf Arab states and their linkages with Western powers; finding ways to support campaigns to cancel the multilateral and bilateral debt of these countries to Western financial institutions; and preventing new financial actors (such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) from entering these areas.

Most importantly, however, there is a need to learn from the revolutionary experiences themselves. We need much more humility, and to realise that the movements of 2011 in the Middle East and North Africa have a great deal to teach the left in the Western world.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* This interview was first published by links.org.
* Farooq Sulehria works with Stockholm-based weekly Internationalen and the online Viewpoint publication. He also contributes to various left publications in the US, Europe and Australia.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Dudley Thompson: A fighter for socialism and African unity

Horace Campbell

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79775

cc L S FLast year the African Union recognised the great work of Dudley Thompson and accorded him the status of the first citizen of the United States of Africa. Thompson was insistent that Africa should be free and united by 2017.

‘Not only are they wicked for enslaving our ancestors but, worse, they have stubbornly and consistently refused to confess their crime against humanity…’ ….. Dudley Thompson

INTRODUCTION

On 20 January 2012 Dudley Joseph Thompson, the indefatigable fighter for African Unity, reparative justice and socialism joined the ancestors. Born in Panama, raised in Jamaica and serving as a frontline activist for African Liberation, Thompson spent the past 70 years of his life working to end domination and exploitation of the African people at home and abroad. He was 95 years old. After graduating from Oxford University, Thompson moved to East Africa (Tanzania) and from there worked tirelessly for the liberation struggles in that region, acting as one of the coordinators of the defense team for Jomo Kenyatta and other leaders of the Kenyan independence struggles. Thompson returned to Jamaica in 1955 where he participated in the political movement for decolonisation. He could not escape the poisonous political atmosphere existing in the Caribbean during this period of the 1970s and thus he worked to promote anti-imperialist positions. He was a member of the government of the People’s National Party (PNP) led by Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley.

This was a moment when the Jamaican political leadership articulated a program of democratic socialism. The United States government and its Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intensified the latent violence and murder of that former slave society. After the popular rebellions of the pre-independence period, both political parties had organised thugs in their ranks. The CIA exploited the basic political mechanisms of the two-party divide and introduced a global connection between guns politics and trafficking of illegal substances. Because of the depth of violence and thuggery of that political system, Thompson was one branch of this political divide. During the period of CIA destabilisation of Jamaica he was the minister of national security and his reputation was permanently tainted by a massacre at Green Bay in 1978. He lived to regret this killing of youths by the Jamaican military. After serving in the Jamaican government (1974 to 1980), he was appointed as the ambassador for Jamaica to Nigeria, West Africa. He worked within the Global Africa reparations movement and from Nigeria strengthened the forces of reparative justice in that society. When Thompson sought to work with leaders such as Nigerian historian Professor J. F. Ade Ajayi and President-elect Chief M.K.O Abiola, the US and Britain were alarmed.

Since the appearance of the twelve elders of the eminent group of Africans for reparations, imperialism has been working overtime to kill this discussion on reparations for the Atlantic Slave trade. Chief Abiola was incarcerated and died under mysterious circumstances in custody. Thompson along with Professors Ali Mazrui and Ade Ajayi continued to promote the cause of reparations seeking out different venues to do this work and inspiring young legal minds to push for the imperialists to acknowledge their crimes against humanity. Thompson could be distinguished from those who simply understood reparations in terms of monetary compensation because he linked reparations to socialism and a new social system. At an advanced age, well after his three scores and ten, he was travelling all over the world promoting the unity of Africa. Despite its limitations, the African Union honoured him in 2011 by making him the first citizen of Africa and they gave him a passport. This was in recognition for his work for building a stronger, more vibrant continent as a base for the liberation of Africans at home and abroad.

This week we join in the international celebration of a life of service and a tradition that should be studied by Pan Africanists and socialists in all parts of the globe.

REARED IN A MOMENT OF WORLDWIDE REBELLION

Dudley Thompson was born in Panama on January 19, 1917. His parents were among the hundreds of thousands of Jamaican workers who were dispersed as migrant workers in Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba and other parts of Central America. He returned to Jamaica to go to school and was raised in a community called Darliston, Westmoreland. This community is important in the history of rebellions of the Jamaican poor because it was in nearby Frome Sugar Estates where the massive working class rebellion broke out in 1938. This Jamaica rebellion was one of the cascading worker protests that brought to life the anti-colonial movement in the Caribbean. The Jamaican iteration of this rebellion broke out one year after Dudley Thompson had been trained as a teacher at Mico Training (now a university) College. In his autobiography, ‘From Kingston to Kenya: the Making of a Pan-Africanist Lawyer’ ,Thompson narrated his search for work and how he had read the ideas of Mein Kampf and how incensed he had become on reading the racist ideas of Hitler. Dudley Thompson volunteered to fight in the British Army in World War II. After war service as a pathfinder and bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Dudley Thompson came in contact with the vibrant Pan-African Movement in the United Kingdom. He met and worked with George Padmore, C. L. R James, T. Ras Makonnen (born as Thomas Griffiths in Buxton, Guyana), T. A. Wallace-Johnson and others who had been at the forefront of the International African Service Bureau (IASB). After the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in 1935, the IASB served as the base for the most militant anti -capitalist activities and writings during the Great Depression. It was in this period when George Padmore wrote books such as ‘How Britain Rules Africa’ and C. L. R. James wrote ‘The Black Jacobins’. The writings of James and Padmore through the journal, International African Opinion, had reached Dudley Thompson gravitating him to these Pan African fighters. He attended the Fifth Pan African Conference which was called in Manchester, England in 1945. It was within the Pan African Congress where he worked with the revolutionary activist and journalist Amy Jacques Garvey.

At the end of the war, Thompson returned to Jamaica but was soon lured back to the United Kingdom after receiving the coveted Rhodes scholarship. Thompson, like the celebrated Pan African fighter Tajudeen Abdul Raheem, was a student at Oxford University but did not allow the trappings of Oxford to blind him to the realities of the ideas of chauvinism and domination. While at Oxford, Dudley Thompson was the head of the West Indian Students Association and linked with the Africans who were active in the West African Students Association. Thompson studied law at Merton College, Oxford, and was called to the bar in the United Kingdom. So organised were the Pan Africanists in that era that when Thompson finished his training and was called to the bar he consulted with the other Pan Africanists to find out where he should practice. Padmore and the other activists recommended that he relocate to East Africa so that he could support the anti-colonial struggles in that region, especially Kenya.

THE MAKING OF A PAN-AFRICANIST LAWYER

When younger students today read the autobiographical work of Dudley Thompson, ‘From Kingston to Kenya: The Making of a Pan Africanist Lawyer’, they will be immediately drawn to the selfless world of Pan African revolutionaries of the period after World War II. Here was a young lawyer starting out in his career and sought advice from other Pan Africanists rather than joining one of the lucrative legal practices where he could earn a large salary. Thompson was ready and willing to take his family into the service of African independence. In his autobiography, he narrated how George Padmore encouraged him to relocate to East Africa so that he could assist the movement for independence and build linkages with the struggles across East Africa. In 1951, Thompson moved to Moshi, Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and established his legal practice there. In the book, we learn of his association with Julius Nyerere long before Nyerere became a leader of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). Dudley Thompson assisted the nationalists in Tanganyika in writing the legal challenges to British control and worked to prepare TANU for their representations before the decolonization Committee of the United Nations. Today, because of the lack of historical continuity, younger East Africans are not aware of the extent to which Moshi, Tanganyika, was a hub for the coordination of work of freedom fighters. Thompson sought to bridge this gap of knowledge of African Unity. Using Moshi as a base of operations, he worked closely with the freedom fighters in Kenya who had formed the Land and Freedom Army (now called Mau Mau). Walter Rodney knew Dudley Thompson and was studying in Jamaica at the University of the West Indies when Thompson returned from Moshi Tanganyika. Later when Walter Rodney was teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam he wrote on this period of liberation support in East Africa in a paper entitled, ‘A Note on Mau Mau in Tanganyika Territory.’ The significance of this paper was to expose the real history that all regions of Tanganyika were involved in the decolonisation process.

Thompson served in a legal and political capacity bringing to the East African political scene his linkages with the wider struggle and keeping in communication with Padmore and the other struggles in other parts of Africa. In his book, ‘The Making of a Pan Africanist Lawyer’, he chronicles the legal aspects of the trials of Kenyan leaders and describes the tasks of linking legal and political work. Currently, the activities of the British state are becoming more known before the UK courts and mainstream scholars are bringing out the criminality of British colonialism. Dudley Thompson lived and worked in the midst of this total war and as we remember him, we should also recollect that it was in the midst of this effort to destroy the ideas of African liberation where the British military developed many of the counter-insurgency tactics that are employed by imperial armies today. Former British officer and expert in low intensity warfare, Frank Kitson used Kenya as a laboratory for the kind of divisive ideas of tribal divisions and gangs against gangs that continue to plague African societies. Before leaving Kenya in 1955, Dudley Thompson defended a Masai and the pride of the Masai in their ideas about community solidarity. Thompson accepted as payment from this Masai a spear. It was a gift that was to link Thompson with the African freedom movement; in Jamaica he was called the Burning Spear.

THE BURNING SPEAR IN JAMAICA

Thompson was a life member of the People's National Party (PNP). This was one of the two dominant political parties in Jamaica since universal adult suffrage. On returning to Jamaica, he threw himself into Jamaican nationalism bringing to the poor his linkages to the Pan African and Pan Caribbean movements. The spear that the Masai gave him was prominently linked to his career as a legal fighter for justice and the Rastafari movement from West Kingston identified with him. At that moment in time, the Rastafari movement was persecuted and Thompson supported the plans of Norman Manley to send a team of Rastafari to Africa to investigate the possibilities for repatriation to Africa. It was during this period that Dudley Thompson formed a strong bond with another Caribbean nationalist and Rhodes Scholar, Rex Nettleford. Rex Nettleford was a distinguished scholar and cultural artist who sought to break the Anglo-saxon mode of Jamaican society. Like Nettleford, Dudley never fell prey to narrow island nationalism and he worked with movements in the Bahamas and Belize for independence.

Inside Jamaica, Thompson was an active politician and fought for the volatile constituency of West Kingston in the independence elections of 1962. Thompson contested for the seat against Edward Seaga, the representative of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). This constituency became the centre for a form of politics that has crippled Jamaican society and the working people. Edward Seaga won the election in 1962 and he became associated with a brand of garrison politics that exploded on the world stage in 2010 when notorious drug lord and Shower Posse gang leader, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, was arrested and extradited from Jamaica to the United States.

Soon after the elections in 1962, the victorious JLP government used the expedient of urban renewal to bulldoze the Rastafari community of that area, dispersing the Rastafari out of their political and cultural stronghold. However, the JLP could not disperse the ideas of African freedom and liberation and the ideas of independence were carried forward so that talented reggae artists such as Winston Rodney took on the moniker of ‘Burning Spear’ and put to music the ideas of African nationalism. It was out of this cultural and political milieu that the most well- known music of Winston Rodney was and is Marcus Garvey’s words come to pass. Dudley Thompson had inspired these cultural artists and in the process he was taking a stand in rehabilitating Marcus Garvey in a society where the ruling elements remained afraid of the ideas of the black self pride of Garvey.

SERVICE IN JAMAICAN POLITICS

After he lost the seat to Edward Seaga, the rising star of the conservative Jamaican nationalist forces, Thompson was appointed to the Jamaican Senate and he served there, 1964-78. When Michael Manley won the elections in the 1972, Thompson was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. From this position he vigorously supported armed struggles for liberation in southern Africa and the non-aligned movement. He was one of the more articulate spokespersons for democratic socialism and for better Jamaica/Caribbean relations with Cuba. In his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs he supported the efforts of the international movement for a new international economic order. It was during his tenure as a member of the Michael Manley administration where he also served as Jamaica’s chief representative in the conference on the Law of the Sea and played a leading role in securing Jamaica as the permanent headquarters for the International Seabed Authority.

Dudley Thompson served as Minister for Foreign Affairs, 1975-77; for Mining and Natural Resources, 1977-78, and for National Security, 1978-80. This period of 1976 to 1980 was a moment of intensified political violence in Jamaica. Bob Marley was shot in 1976 in the middle of the parliamentary election campaign. Michael Manley won that election and it is now known that the CIA worked hard to destabilise the Jamaican government. As Minister of National Security, Thompson was at the centre of this politico-military struggle. It was at this time when there was the killing of young supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party, at Green Bay in St. Catherine.

‘On January 5, 1978, 14 men from the Jamaica Labour Party stronghold of Southside, central Kingston were escorted to the military range at Green Bay, St. Catherine, by soldiers. The men were lured with the offer of jobs. Five of them were allegedly shot dead by the soldiers, resulting in a scandal for the ruling People's National Party.’

It was after this killing of the five young men when Thompson made the infamous statement, 'no angels died at Green Bay.’ Thompson had been caught in the internecine struggle and by this statement he wanted to indict the youth as partisans for the JLP.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND THE POLITICS OF RETROGRESSION IN JAMAICA

It was during the commemoration of Kwame Nkrumah in Accra, Ghana in May 2010, where I had the longest discussion with Dudley Thompson on this sordid period of Jamaican history. It had been my conviction that the PNP leadership of Michael Manley should have used the instruments of the law and ideological training to educate the Jamaican people about CIA subversion instead of arming sections of the working class. In May 2010 the story of Christopher “Dudus” Coke made international headlines and I discussed with Thompson specifically the tragedy of Jamaican politics where armed thugs could control the communities and where the incumbent Prime Minister was held hostage to the traditions of the garrison community. I have made my statement on this aspect of Jamaican politics in my contribution on, ‘Gangsters, Politicians, Cocaine and Bankers: Lessons from the Saga of Dudus in Jamaica.’

In the discussion in Accra, Dudley Thompson expressed remorse at the Green Bay incident and claimed that it was a set up. I encouraged him to write in depth about this period and to expose politicians who were still associated with garrison politics. A discussion that was supposed to last 20 minutes lasted over four hours as Dudley Thompson expressed his pain over this period of Jamaican history. Because of this episode in the history of Jamaica, I had written an unsympathetic review of his autobiography. In that discussion I brought out the contradictions of supporting liberation in Africa while the Jamaican state continued to sow divisions among the sufferers in Jamaica so that the poor would not organize to remove the oppressors.

AMBASSADOR FOR THE REPARATIONS MOVEMENT

Dudley Thompson was appointed as high commissioner (ambassador) to Nigeria (accredited to Ghana, Sierra Leone, Namibia, and Cameroon), 1990-95. During this period he became one of the foremost advocates for reparations for slavery and the slave trade and was named one of the 12 persons appointed by the Organization of African Unity to advocate for the strengthening of the international movement for reparations. The other members of this African Group of Eminent pesons were: Chief Bashorun M. K. O. Abiola, (chairperson), J. F. Ade Ajayi; Professor Samir Amin of Egypt; United States Congressman R. Dellums; Professor Josef Ki-Zerbo ; Mme Graca Machel, Miriam Makeba, Ali Mazrui ; Professor M. M’Bow, President A. Pereira of Cape Verde and Ambassador Alex Quaison-Sackey.

From his position as an ambassador for Jamaica in West Africa, Dudley worked hard within this reparations movement and was one of the organisers of the Pan African Conference on Reparations held in Abuja, Nigeria from April 27 to 29, 1993. Chief M.K.O Abiola was one of the main supporters of this conference and when he campaigned to become President of Nigeria in 1993, the Nigerian people responded positively to the intellectual and political climate that was being developed in the society. When Abiola was elected, the elections were annuled and a period of brutal dictatorship was installed so that Nigeria would not be open to democratic practice and democratic ideas. The Commission on Reparations of the OAU was gaining momentum and the militarists along with the oil companies could not tolerate a state that gave publicity to the Abuja Declaration, ‘A declaration of the first Abuja Pan-African Conference on Reparations For African Enslavement, Colonization And Neo-Colonization.’

The twin ideas of democratic governance and reparations were too dangerous and Abiola was prevented from taking up the Nigerian presidency. The dictator, General Sani Abacha, seized power and even when Abacha died in 1998, the forces of imperialism would not fathom a Nigeria with Abiola as a free political operative fighting for democracy and reparations. Abiola’s wife was assassinated by the military and Abiola expired in 1998 under circumstances that still require explanation.

AMBASSADOR- AT- LARGE FOR PAN AFRICAN UNITY

After leaving Nigeria in 1995 Dudley Thompson returned to the Caribbean and later relocated to the United States to live in Miami, Florida. From these locations, he became an ardent spokesperson for African Unity, socialism and reparations. He was on numerous platforms and inspired lawyers such as reparations advocate Lord Anthony Gifford, who became associated with the reparations campaign. Dudley Thompson spoke on platforms high and low and was famous for his statement, ‘Not only are they wicked for enslaving our ancestors but worse, they have stubbornly and consistently refused to confess their crime against humanity…’

Working inside the Caribbean with the Caribbean Reparations Movement, Dudley Thompson teamed up with Barbadian political activist David Comissiong and Barbadian historian, Sir Hilary Beckles, to strengthen the African Diaspora platform for the World Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001. It was in part due to their painstaking work that we now have the language in international law that, ‘Slavery and the slave trade… are crimes against humanity, and should always have been so, especially the transatlantic slave trade, and are among the major sources and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance… We recognise that colonialism has led to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.’

Since the Durban conference in 2001, the Western European states and the United States have fought a major battle to erase this concept of slavery as a crime against humanity from international politics. The former Jamaican Prime Minister, PJ Patterson has written a glowing tribute to Dudley Thompson praising his work as a freedom fighter. Probably the best tribute that can be paid by the Jamaican government will be to implement the Program of Action of the WCAR and the Durban Declaration on Enslavement so that the textbooks in the Caribbean can carry forward the work of reparations. In this way, the young will understand that reparative justice is not simply about material compensation for the wrongs done against Africans.

In fact, at the 2006 Conference of the African Union and the Diaspora held in Bahia, Brazil, July 12-14, Dudley Thompson as an elder came face to face with a new spirit of mobilisation by young Afro-Brazilians. Embarrassed by the realities of Brazilian racism, the government of Brazil called on Thompson to take the chair and mediate between the government of Brazil and the young Africans from Brazil. These Brazilian militants had intervened in this Second Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora (CIAD II) under the auspice of the African Union (AU) which took place in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. This was one of the more historic Pan African meetings where the veteran Brazilian freedom fighter, Abdias Nascimento, was honoured. It was in this meeting where I heard one of the more radical speeches on Pan Africanism by Stevie Wonder. It was in Brazil where Dudley Thompson came face to face with the next wave of the Pan African struggles; the call of the Brazilian youth for social justice and for an end to Brazilian racism. The leader of the Jamaican delegation, the present Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, gave the most radical speech at the conference, invoking the names and traditions of Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley. I asked the representative from Jamaica why she could not give such a speech in Jamaica. She did not answer and walked away.

Young Brazilians had gone past radical speeches and were intent on pressuring the Brazilian state to recognise the current crimes of racist violence against the Black Youth of Brazil. Here were the youth singing the freedom songs of South Africa in their demonstration against the conference when Frene Ginwala, the veteran freedom fighter from South Africa was chairing the closing session. The combined efforts of Thompson and Frene Ginwala could not halt the wave of energy that was coming forth from Brazil. Pan Africanists from the generation of the period of political independence and anti-colonialism were given a glimpse of the demands of the youth for a better life in the 21st century.

WORKING FOR THE UNITY AND FREEDOM OF AFRICA

Every year, Dudley Thompson, Ali Mazrui and Ade Ajayi organised panels on reparations at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA) in the United States. Thompson carried his message to every corner of the globe and there was not a major Pan African meeting where he was not present. Whether it was the meetings of the African Union with leaders or a community meeting in Harlem, New York, Thompson was travelling and speaking about the urgent need for African unity as the fundamental basis for African freedom. In the United States, he became associated with a group that gave itself the name, the World African Diaspora Union (WADU). In 2007, he was as the first president of WADU. This was an African diasporic formation with personalities representing a wide ideological spectrum.

I sat in small caucuses with Dudley Thompson in Barbados in 2007 when we strategised on how to ensure that the resolutions on African Unity and reparations came out of that meeting of the African Union. He became clearer in his articulation on the need for a break from the recursive traditions of slavery, colonialism and capitalism and he explicitly spelt out the importance of the socialist alternative for Africa. It is our hope that the organisers of the Kwame Nkrumah conference in Ghana will make his 2010 speech available in a medium that could be accessible to the larger population. In that speech, I heard probably the most cogent analysis of the requirements of socialism and unity in Africa.

In an earlier submission to Pambazuka News I had written on the presentations of former President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda and Dudley Thompson and how the progressive ideas of Pan African socialism presented by Issa Shivji and Thompson were received. Right before the youth, Thompson was making a distinction between the state proclaimed African Unity of Abdulai Wade of Senegal and the real sacrifices that had been paid by Kwame Nkrumah in the struggles for independence. Thompson embraced that branch of the Pan African Movement that supported inclusiveness and ensured that the young understood that, although Issa Shivji was of Indian descent, the Pan African Movement was an inclusive movement for all of those who were fighting for social justice in Africa.

Dudley reminded those present that he was in London in 1945 when Nkrumah brought the famous letter of introduction to George Padmore from C.L.R. James. Dudley not only underlined the socialist content of African Unity but also reminded the Ghanaian participants of the role of the African Diaspora in the political life and work of Nkrumah. He made a passionate plea for the regularisation of the citizenship status of African Diaspora community residents in Ghana. There had been hundreds of Africans who had repatriated to Ghana and lived for many years yet the government of Ghana was dillydallying over the question of the citizenship status of these Africans who had decided to return to settle permanently in Africa.

A UNITED STATES OF AFRICA BY 2017?

It was last year when the African Union recognised the work of Dudley Thompson and accorded him the status of the first citizen of the United States of Africa. The United States of Africa is the goal of the current Pan African thrust. It is the view that in a multipolar world, Africans cannot continue to maintain the borders that were created by the imperialist partitioning of Africa. Dudley Thompson had been specific that Africa must be free and united by 2017. Drawing from his experiences of the era of the depression and war, he understood that only a united Africa can withstand the coming turbulence unleashed by the capitalist depression. One day after his birthday, Thompson was on his way to another community meeting in New Jersey when he succumbed to a heart attack and joined the ancestors.

Dudley Thompson will be celebrated by the Jamaican government of February 10, 2012. I will restate my position that the best tribute that can be paid is for the governments of the Caribbean to move from giving lip service to the issue of reparative justice and build the kind of ideas of reparations into the curriculum of the schools so that the next generation will be imbued with the ideas of reparations, Ubuntu and freedom.

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* Horace Campbell is Professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The London conference on Somalia: an act of false generosity?

Abdi Dirshe

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79757

cc US NavyOn 23 February senior representatives from over 40 governments and multi-lateral organisations will come together in London. The aim is to deliver a new international approach to Somalia, but the jury is out on whether the conference will break the colonial mindset that has dominated approaches to Somalia.

The Somali state has become an object of charity after two decades of political crisis; multiple actors claim that Somalia needs international humanitarian assistance and military intervention due to terrorism, piracy and famine. For over 20 years these pleas have led to no progress and the Somali people have seen continuing death and destruction and as a result continue to suffer the consequences. The Somali people feel humiliation, despite claims of international generosity towards them.

The United Kingdom has now decided to host a conference on Somalia. Prime Minister David Cameron said in his speech to the Lord Mayor's banquet on 14 November 2011 that Somalia ‘…is a failed state that directly threatens British interests. Tourists and aid workers kidnapped, young British minds poisoned by radicalism, mass migration, and vital trade routes disrupted.’

This statement does recognise that there is a problem in Somalia that threatens the security interests of the UK and some argue that this recognition to change the conditions that contribute to the Somalia quandary gives a new purpose and opportunity to resolve this problem. Moreover, others go even further and say that this constitutes an act of generosity. But others characterise the London conference as a testament to the Eurocentric neocolonial mentality of the 21st century as Somalis were never consulted about the scope, nature and intentions of the conference. They point to the sketchy non-paper diplomatic details released so far as having colonial intentions. They warn that the conference creates the illusion of action, but will not be different from the 19th century colonial rule that gave Africa its current political configuration. They propose that real change must come from the society itself through a rejection of tribal politics, religious extremism, foreign domination and through becoming real actors in pursuing authentic political change by restoring justice, freedom and unity.

The intention of this paper is to make the London conference an object of reflection for my beloved Somali brothers and sisters and for those who are truly in solidarity with the Somali nation. In doing so, I want all to reflect on the current conditions of Somalia. In this perspective, the Somali people should not be treated as mere objects. This is to urge Somalis to respond to the changes occurring around them and question whether the London conference is an act of love and generosity or whether it is another grand design with predictable and dire consequences. To verify this, we must examine first the current condition of Somalia and contrast it with the proposals of the London conference, good intentions notwithstanding. In doing so, we will discover the intentions and designs of the London conference and arrive at objective discovery after thorough examination. Moreover, this paper will project a vision for Somalia in its conclusion that reflects the desire of the Somali people, hoping that the London conference will make an effort in this direction.

THE STATE OF SOMALIA

Reality in Somalia today is very grave in economic and political terms; there is widespread poverty and sporadic famine. The country is in a political crisis characterised by multiple foreign actors and visions reflective of personal and political desires that are not anchored with the will of the Somali people. The TFG has not evolved to a legitimate institution, despite international support, owing largely to a lack of vision and its lack of responsiveness to societal needs. It is a well-known fact that people in Somalia feel safer under Al-Shabab controlled areas as they face greater risks of robbery and rape in areas managed by the TFG/AMISOM authorities. Targeted killings of reporters and other local leaders are exceptionally high in these areas. Socially, there is awareness among the Somali people that tribal politics (4.5 federalism) and religious sectarianism have failed the nation and overcoming both of these dogmas are urgent priorities for the Somali people. The current Somali leadership have become pawns of these deterministic views and the agenda they push inside and outside Somalia is reflective of the political disconnect and lack of legitimacy these leaders find themselves with in Somalia. The 4.5 power-sharing formula and the foolish actions of Al-Shabab do show this divide. However, the 4.5 clan power-sharing formula and its new political dispensation, federalism, are designed to reshape Somalia into smaller and controllable clan based states.

The proponents of the Somali federalism project are divided into three groups. The first group includes neighbouring countries of Somalia; these are Kenya and Ethiopia, which due to their selfish state interests oppose a strong Somali state with robust central authority. In their view, a weak Somali state is antithesis to Somali nationalism that may pursue the restoration of ‘Greater Somalia’, which calls for the unification of the Somali territories in Ethiopia and Kenya with the contemporary Somali Republic. They fear a strong Somali state and pursue policies that maintain the current ‘weakened state’ status of Somalia. The second group entails individual Somalis who are blinded by clan hatred and desperation for power. They believe that the devolution of power benefits them as they will have power to advance clan interests. The third group, comprised of the US and the EU, is the most dangerous as they fund this project and have a long-term strategic interest in the entire region. In this respect, the US and EU are facilitators of the humiliation and suffering of the Somali people as they continue to empower Kenya and Ethiopia to engage in the destabilisation of Somalia. In this way, a system of domination is created where the Somali people find themselves powerless and on the periphery. Decisions are made without the Somali people through subservient, tribalist ‘Somali leaders’.

The Kampala Accord and its subsequent Somalia roadmap marginalise the sovereignty of Somalia as its proponents, IGAD and UNPOS, dictate to the ‘Somali leaders’ as a result of the mandate of the Accord. The US attaches greater values to democracy while it is strangely supporting this oppressive roadmap. This contradiction supports the argument that this Accord precisely endorses their agenda in Somalia. As a result of this, the wider Somali public feels humiliated. This disgraceful action will lead to Somali nationalism, as history shows by the rise of German nationalism after WWI. It is already taking shape around this circus of ‘Somali Conferences’. How long can the Somali people continue to live in this oppressive reality and remain impotent?

THE LONDON CONFERENCE

As announced in November 2011 by the UK government, ‘over 40 countries and multilateral organisations will come together in London with the aim of delivering a new international approach to Somalia’. From this view, it is evident that there is a recognition that there is an opportunity to build an international consensus to ‘tackle both the root causes and effects of the problems’ in Somalia. The British government is convinced that Somalia represents a security risk, not only to Britain but to the international community, as evidenced by the growing radicalization and piracy in Somalia. London views Al-Shabab, a group listed as a terrorist group, as representing a growing security concern due to a large Somali community present in England. Similar concerns are shared by other countries such as Canada, US, and others in Europe and Africa. Similarly, the growing threat of piracy in Somalia impacts many more nations around the world. Moreover, recurring famine and other humanitarian needs in Somalia represent no less important challenges. These factors are additionally complicated by the weak institutions and complex political environment in Somalia.

Currently there is a Somali peace process that has its contradictions. The new roadmap calls for ending the transitional political arrangement and the recently concluded Garoweh meeting, which was scheduled to formally do so, has produced another four years of the transitional period and institutions. The announcement of the London conference comes in the midst of this confusion.

Recently released documents show an intense consultation and communication from the UK government with other relevant countries, individuals and groups. These papers show the political mindset of the US, UK, Sweden, the United Nations Political Office for Somalia, Italy, Kenya, Ethiopia, some Muslim and Arab countries and the Transitional Government of Somalia and other Somali regional stakeholders. Remarkably, these consultations show that the Somalis were not consulted prior to the announcement. This shows that the intention of this conference is not to empower the Somali people to make a collective decision that the world can support, because if that was the case the logical approach would have been to consult with the affected people, that is to say initiate a consultative phase before announcing the London conference.

It is absurd not to realise that though Somalia is shattered people still have the capacity to understand and be resilient. Often international actors who lack the knowledge of local terrain discount such positive aspects of local knowledge by imposing their will and Western values - as reflected in this upcoming London conference. Moreover, the proposal from Italy bizarrely advances a neocolonial agenda that puts Somalia under trusteeship. This is an affront that outraged the Somali people inside and outside the country. It similarly shows why the Somali people do not and should not trust any foreign intervention. Wholesale euphemisms such as ‘piracy threats’, ‘terrorism’, ‘and humanitarian intervention’ are used to malign and discredit, with the intention to erode the self-determination and sovereignty of the Somali people. The Somali people are deprived of their voice and unjustly dealt with by the US and its European allies of France, Italy and England continually supporting the destabilisation of Somalia by Kenya and Ethiopia. For these states to affirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia over and over again in their communications and support the continuing invasions of Ethiopia and Kenya is an extreme contradiction. Can the London conference be in solidarity with the Somali people who are yearning to address their political, social and economic problems and at the same time continue to support the war crimes continually committed by Ethiopia and recently joined by Kenya? The Eurocentric approach that is expounded in the popular press with slogans such as ‘the Somali people cannot handle democracy and civilized constitutionalism’ as one recent ‘Somalia expert’ purports in, ‘Getting Somalia Wrong? Signs of Hope in a Shattered State - a Realistic but Empathetic Analysis’ must be totally rejected and discredited. Edward Said must be rolling over in his grave every time a European scholar with his/her Eurocentric biases writes as an expert on cultures of other people.

The Somali people have been traditionally making collective decisions in their communities for centuries. Similarly, democracy is a rational or idealistic concept which endorses the idea of collective decision making in areas of mutual interest such as law and order, quality of life, culture and distribution of wealth. Given that democratic decision making is not an alien concept to the Somali people, why is it that an irrational and discriminatory political dispensation such as the 4.5 power-sharing clan formula is advanced in Somalia with the financial support of the international community?

CONCLUSIONS

The aim of the London conference is to ‘pull together international effort’ in order to make sure that the current international effort in Somalia and the Somalia peace process succeed according to the UK government. This conference has surely spurred the interest of the Somali people. Many hope that it may offer a new direction and bring an end to two decades of failed international policy. Others are skeptical and are worried that the UK is not driven by generosity and has its own selfish agenda. However, the Somali people are better positioned this time as there is genuine will to transcend the tribal politics that has undermined State sovereignty and unity for the past two decades. The London conference should capitalise on this goodwill and move to:

- Provide guiding principles, or terms of reference, to make this conference more transparent; so far as the Somalis are concerned, they are suspicious of this conference due to its secrecy and lack of transparency.

- Have a clear, detailed consultation framework at the outset; the fact that this conference will address agendas set by outsiders with no clear framework will only complicate its outcome.

- Provide clarity of what an end result would look like. The UK government can only facilitate and should let Somalis decide the best approach to address the Somali conundrum. Somalis and other participants have common objectives to address security, terrorism and piracy; it is in the best interest of all to address a common problem collectively.

- Make the conference a two round process to develop ideas and refine them; let this be a brainstorming exercise and set up another conference inside Somalia. It is illogical to be holding conferences outside of Somalia while addressing security problems pertaining to Somalia. A serious action plan to address piracy and terrorism needs to be done inside Somalia and supported by the Somali people inside the country.

And finally any outcome must make sure that Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is maintained and individual freedom and choice is guaranteed.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Abdi Dirshe is a political analyst and is also the current president of the Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance. a.dirshe@hotmail.com
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

What do we learn from the Ping-Zuma stalemate?

Yves Niyiragira

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79758

cc E E GThe 18th ordinary session of the African Union Summit was marked by the failure of African leaders to elect a new chairperson of the African Union Commission. Behind the scenes, complex international and regional shenanigans led to the deadlock.

On Monday 30 January 2012 as I was discussing with some colleagues who were attending the just concluded 18th ordinary session of the African Union Summit about the failure of African leaders to elect a new chairperson of the African Union Commission, one point came up in our discussion. Since 1963, Central and West Africa have dominated the leadership of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)’s secretariat and of the African Union Commission since 2003. When I said that apart from the late Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kifle Wodajo, and the Tanzanian diplomat Salim Ahmed Salim, no other non Central or West African has ever been at the top of the secretariat of the continental organisation, a former Ugandan diplomat jokingly said: ‘Southern Africans were not there.’ That was his way of saying that more that two decades after the creation of the OAU, some of the Southern African countries, including Namibia and Zimbabwe, were not yet independent. It was not until 1994 that apartheid in South Africa was abolished. Indeed, one of the main objectives of the OAU was to liberate all African countries.

Last month, Southern African countries led by South Africa were resolute to break that cycle of being distant from the top leadership of the continental institution by supporting Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the position of chairperson of the African Union Commission against the incumbent, Jean Ping. But, why did neither of the candidates win the support of the African heads of state and government to lead the Commission for the four coming years? Did the failure of Jean Ping to obtain the legally required two-thirds majority of the votes cast to get a second term in office amount to a vote of non-confidence in itself? Or did the rest of the continent fear the influence of Africa’s economic power once their candidate got into office? While this article may not be able to answer the above questions, it will attempt to contribute to the broader debate on the failure of our leaders to unite behind one candidate. In addition, this piece will try to analyse lessons that African citizens can draw from that standoff.

To begin with, who are Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Jean Ping? Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist born in 1949. She is a medical doctor by profession and is the current minister of Home Affairs in the cabinet of President Jacob Zuma, her ex-husband, after being minister of health and two times minister of foreign affairs respectively under Presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. Dlamini-Zuma is known for her ‘competent management skills and stern personality’, according to her former colleagues at the Ministry of Health.

Jean Ping is a Gabonese diplomat and politician born in 1942 of a Chinese father and a Gabonese mother. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Paris. He began his career in 1972 as a civil servant at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Between 1984 and 2008, Jean Ping served in the Gabonese government and became one of the most powerful politicians under the rule of late President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba. In February 2008, Ping was elected chairperson of the African Union Commission to succeed former Malian President, Alpha Oumar Konaré, who had declined to run for a second term.

The opposition of Southern African countries to the candidacy of Jean Ping is not new. In 2008, the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) supported the Zambian ambassador to the United States of America, Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, for the position of chairperson of the AU Commission, but Jean Ping obtained 31 votes out of 46 in the first round, thus becoming the second chairman of the AU Commission. Four years later and after four rounds, Ping could only get 33 votes out of 53. In some corners, such a result could have led to an immediate resignation. But he accepted to continue at the head of the Commission until the next AU Summit.

There are different theories on why Jean Ping failed to win a second term in office. First of all, South Africa and its supporters were not happy at the fact that Gabon, the sponsoring country of Jean Ping’s candidacy, recognised Libya’s National Transitional Council while President Jacob Zuma was still persuading the AU to delay recognition in order to arrive at a negotiated solution between the then rebels and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In addition, whereas the official position of the African Union (and that of Jean Ping) in the 2011 post election crisis in Côte d’Ivoire was that Alassane Ouattara was the winner, South Africa favoured a power sharing deal between Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who led the AU delegation to Côte d’Ivoire, said that ‘coalition governments were damaging democracy’. Kenya supported Jean Ping probably because the AU had expressed its support for Kenya’s bid to defer for some time the International Criminal Court’s proceedings in the Kenya’s post election crisis, not least because the win of Jean Ping would have assured Erastus Mwencha - a Kenyan - his second term as deputy chairperson of the AU Commission.

French educated, Jean Ping also started his career in France. He was a protégé of President Omar Bongo and is one of the closest politicians to Omar Bongo’s son (current president of Gabon), Ali Bongo. Considering the strong influence of France in Gabon and in its former colonies, some African leaders may have felt ‘a foreign hand pushing for Jean Ping’s continued tenure’ at the AU Commission. In addition, many African leaders believe that France, after playing leading roles in the wars in Côte d’Ivoire and Libya last year, has now ‘turned its attention to other parts of Africa including meddling in the Madagascar crisis that has seen the Indian Ocean island nation going for nearly three years without a functioning government’. According to the Southern Times, ‘France’s ambassador to Ethiopia, Jean-Christophe Belliard reportedly arm-twisted some countries to back Jean Ping against SADC’s candidate Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.’ President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was quoted as saying ‘we fought imperialism and colonialism and forced them out of Africa...our founding fathers did not have the means, but they stood up and said “no”; but here we are absolutely silent...’

The Angolan minister of Foreign Affairs, Georges Chicoti, quoted by the Angecia AngolaPress before the election of a new chairperson, while denying accusing or criticising whomsoever, ‘stressed that Africans do not want imposition, they want to decide their destination for themselves…a support for the continuity would be the worst option that Africa should avoid’. Even if Georges Chicoti did not point a finger at China, it could not be forgotten the way Jean Ping was influential as foreign affairs minister of Gabon in convincing Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit his country in 2006. This could have taken away some support of leaders who feared his strong ties with China, not least because of his Chinese fatherhood.

Nevertheless, Dlamini-Zuma’s candidature did not magnetise African leaders either. According to the Sudan Vision, ‘South Africa’s attempt to flex its foreign policy muscle by capturing the AU’s top post may be thwarted by nations resentful of its already dominant role on the continent’. Chris Landsberg, professor of politics at the University of Johannesburg, adds that South Africa’s failure to back the African Union’s demand last year that Côte d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo cede power to Alassane Ouattara after a disputed election and its handling of the Libya fallout ‘has hurt it badly on the continent’. Those South African diplomatic decisions may have denied the much-needed support of some Central and West African nations that Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma required for winning the election.

Other analysts saw the push by Pretoria to get their candidate elected as ‘a violation of an unwritten agreement’ that the chairperson of the African Union Commission should come from ‘weaker African nations’ like Gabon, Togo, Mali and Cameroon among others, whose nationals have led the secretariat of the continental organisation. Being a woman could also have played a negative role in denying Dlamini-Zuma the two-thirds majority of the votes. Until now, no woman has been elected chairperson of the African Union Commission and some African leaders may have not been ready to accommodate that change.

Now the big question remains this one: who is going to be elected come July 2012 in Malawi? The current deputy chairperson of the Commission, Erastus Mwencha, could probably be a compromise candidate. Other leading figures including former Burundian minister of foreign affairs, Antoinette Batumubwira, who once vied for the position, may think about giving it a second try. While it is not easy to speculate on who will submit their candidatures, it is clear that both Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Jean Ping will not run again.

The last point that this article is attempting to address is in relation to lessons that African citizens can draw from this stalemate at the continental level. One obvious thing is that Africa is still subject to colonial influence. France and England still have some influence be it political, economic or linguistic in their former African colonies. Jean Ping had the support of most French speaking countries while Dlamini-Zuma enjoyed the backing of most English speaking countries.

Secondly, the recent failure to elect a new chairperson emphasised the fact that most countries are more loyal to their regional economic communities. Both the Economic Community of Central African States and the Economic Community of West African States on the one hand and SADC on the other hand stood firmly behind their respective candidates. As a result, the project of continental integration may be a distant dream if there is no bold political will from African leaders to eliminate those differences between regions.

Thirdly, there is need for a strong uniting figure to lead the African Union Commission and drive the continental integration agenda. The aspiration of the new chairperson of the African Union, President Yayi Boni, that ‘Africa is looking to establish a continental free trade area by 2017 in order to promote the economic development and integration of the continent’, may not materalise if those differences between regional economic communities are not removed.

Fourthly, the influence of the ‘big five’ - Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and South Africa - on the continent may be eroding. With Colonel Muammar Gaddafi gone, the on-going revolution in Egypt and the fear of one in Algeria, South Africa and Nigeria are the only remaining among the big five that can have some influence on the continent. However, the former failed to have their candidate elected and the latter is dealing with multiple internal problems. In addition, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was left out by ECOWAS in favour of Benin President Thomas Yayi Boni for the chairmanship of the African Union.

Finally, the ‘less panAfrican’ celebratory dances within the South African delegation to the African Union Summit when Jean Ping failed to get the two-thirds majority after the fourth round may have damaged the chances of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (or any other South African candidate for that matter) being ever elected to the chairmanship of the Commission in the near future. At least Zuma keeps her ministerial docket, but for Ping, June 2012 may be the end of his four-decade diplomatic career.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* The opinion expressed in this article is solely that of the author, Yves Niyiragira, in his capacity as a commentator on African affairs and does not represent in any way the views of Fahamu.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Rodrigues: a colonial outpost longing to be free

Alain Leveque

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79756

cc G MThe Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues is governed by Mauritius, but it's inhabitants yearn for self-governance. How much longer will they have to wait?

You want to leave the family home to make your own way in the world but you’re too poor. Or you’re stuck in a poisonous marriage that you can’t escape because you’re not economically independent. You’re broke. What do you do? Do you wait until you’re cashed up? Do you wait, until your one moment in all of eternity ebbs away from you, or do you bite the bullet and leave the nest?

Though many countries that once lived under a colonial yoke faced pretty much the same dilemma, most have slipped their bonds and flown the coop - with some exceptions. The Indian Ocean outpost of Rodrigues is one such exception.

Decolonization never visited this island of black pain. In fact, 180 years after the abolition of slavery, trapped in colonial inertia, our people seem fated to remain on the end of a colonially attached leash to Mauritius. Here, our leaders, some more loyal than the king, have barely twiddled the dials of the status quo.

Using the old economic independence chestnut as pretext, our leaders lead us not towards our dreams, but towards our fears. Rodrigues is too small, too poor and not yet ready for independence, they say. Stay or starve. As you can imagine, to the uncritical cast of mind that comes from blindly following the party line, it’s a powerful argument.

But if truth be told, for most countries economic independence is but a pipedream. In reality, it’s a never-ending struggle. And history shows why it shouldn’t take precedence over political independence. Otherwise, more than half the world would still be living under the heel of one colonial master or another. How many countries now free were economically independent at the time of their political independence? Moreover, how many are now self-sufficient? Almost all are buried to the eyeballs in foreign debt, which will take generations to repay, if ever. Today, with an IMF ring through the nose, most are being carted around and told to denationalize anything that moves. Land supposedly being held in trust for their people is frittered away to service mounting interest on foreign debt. Even countries like Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece are going under. Yet, after 300 years under the boots of three foreign masters, puppets want us to wait for economic independence before our children can start reclaiming their homeland, which incidentally their ancestors paid for with life and limb. Admittedly our leaders are handcuffed but still that is no reason to incite this country to be less than it can be.

By less than it can be, have a look at the long term outlook for this country - Mouvement Rodriguais (MR) is inclined to think that instead of free association a sort of tentative federalist system (in say 700 years) where Mauritius would still rule the roost but where our subservience would again take on a different name - is the way to go. Why? As MR tells it, because the world is regrouping. But last time I checked, the Balkans and the Soviet Union had fragmented, and only in the last 40 years, 63 other countries had obtained independence. An independence referendum is forecast for Scotland in 2014 with a bankrupt Ireland getting in on the act in 2016. Even the European Union is on shaky grounds to see out the decade intact. Regrouping indeed.

At least with Organisation Peuple Rodriguais (OPR) the vision is less vague. It goes something like this: Let’s repaint the rusted autonomy bicycle, add a new bell and take it down the same road we’ve always taken and see if we can fly it to a new destination. And mustn’t forget integration too, even though in our case it amounts to a cultural suicide pact.

Then we come to the new kid on the block, Front Patriotique Rodriguais (FPR). Depending on what treatment our political monarchs in Port Louis decide to dish out in the future, it half-heartedly prosecutes an iffy claim for self-determination. But since self-determination is not of itself a political status but the right to choose, such a proviso diminishes the rightful aspiration of our people. Dig one more inch and you hit mud. Despite 97 per cent opposition to it, FPR recognises the 1968 annexation of Rodrigues to be legitimate.

That’s the whole trouble; apart from aspiring to be the Mauritian prime minister’s lap dog, there is no vision except for more of the same with a fresh coat of slogans. Chicanery aside, that’s not a vision - it’s an affliction.

Finally there is Mouvement Independantis Rodriguais (MIR) which is basically a grassroots movement comprising ordinary men and women who wish to redress the wrongs of the past. MIR, of which I am a proud member, operates on a shoestring budget with the help of selfless volunteers. We do not solicit nor will we accept any dirty money and thus are beholden to no one. Independence is our destiny, that’s MIR’s vision.

We hold the view that a people can never be too poor to be free, nor can one be half free anymore than one can be half pregnant or half dead. You are either free or you are not. The Rodriguan people cannot grow in the shadow of the Mauritian state. For the descendants of the ill-fated who ended up here against their will, independence is not a favour sought but a right owed. We do not want affirmative action or a bigger budget - we want our homeland. All people have a right to government by consent and to have a hand in the making of the laws which govern their lives. It’s a fundamental principle; otherwise it becomes possible to sustain the argument that force majeure is a divinely ordained concept which intrinsically holds rational legal and moral authority.

Ever since the hellholes and dungeons of Senegal, Mozambique and Madagascar, the long-suffering people of this island have been at the beck and call of foreign masters and have had to undergo a bone-crushing apprenticeship to be free. How much longer will it take?

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

In search of justice for the Saharawi people

Mohamed Abdelaziz

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79759

cc CCThe President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, gave a speech in the Spanish city of Seville, where the 37th European Conference of Coordination and Support to the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO), was held from 3 - 5 February.

As we start the proceedings of this 37th international conference of solidarity with the Sahrawi people in Seville, I would like, on behalf of the Government and people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, to extend our most sincere thanks and gratitude to the solidarity movement in Spain in general and in Andalusia and Seville in particular for the energetic efforts that they have made to organise this remarkable solidarity meeting in this ancient city.

Whilst we celebrate with the European Coordination its 37th conference, we remember with respect and awe the pioneers of the solidarity movement in Europe and in the world, and we bow to the memory of those that have departed us leaving behind a glorious history of friendship and solidarity between peoples, which is embodied by the international character, which has marked this conference over the years, whose demonstration today is the broad and diverse participation of representatives coming from all continents of the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The exercise by the Saharawi people of their right to freedom, self-determination and independence remains a debt on the international community. The continued delay of this exercise is not in the interest of the aspired-for world, because justice, law and human rights are indivisible. The failure to decisively apply these rules and principles or to overlook them may lead to increased risks and threats to security and peace.

The procrastination and obstacles created by the Moroccan Government, with impunity, continue to cast doubt on the feasibility of the peaceful option, and paves the way for uncertainty and tension. This situation requires that the international community take an urgent and strict action. Until when should the world tolerate this blatant injustice and inequality? Why does it not exert all the necessary pressure and sanctions on the aggressor to accept the peaceful, just and democratic solution?

We cannot understand why the United Nations has failed, for over 20 years, to implement its decisions regarding a simple and clear-cut case, at a time when we see how the mechanisms of the Security Council and the United Nations in general have been deployed effectively and expeditiously to deal with conflicts taking place long after the Sahrawi conflict.

The Sahrawi people only have simple, clear, legitimate and reasonable demands that consist in democracy by means of a referendum on self-determination and the implementation of international humanitarian law through ensuring respect for human rights in Western Sahara.

Europe is called upon to contribute actively to finding a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara. It should not contradict itself and its principles and values by using all means, including military intervention, to protect human rights and civilians in many parts of the world, whilst turning a blind eye to the violations of human rights and law in Western Sahara by the Moroccan occupying power.

The 20th century witnessed a flagrant violation and infringement of the UN Charter and resolutions as well as fundamental human rights and international law in general, when the Kingdom of Morocco occupied by military force Western Sahara, on 31 October 1975, a country in a process of decolonisation and self-determination. This was coupled with the failure of Spain, the colonial administering power of the territory, to comply with its international obligations.

We now hope that the trend set by the electoral programme of the current Spanish Government would be a corrective move that could enable Spain in the 21st century to play the required effective role consistent with its political, legal and moral responsibility towards the Sahrawi people.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Sahrawi people have demonstrated their wisdom and patience in the face of all forms of injustice and tyranny. They have been waging the independence uprising since 21 May 2005, through their peaceful and civilised resistance of which a conspicuous episode was Gdeim Izik Camp, which was set up in November 2010. Despite the brutal repression with which the Moroccan occupying authorities confronted the protest camp, it was an inspiration that sparked off the revolts of many peoples yearning for freedom, justice, democracy and peace.

As a result of the brutal intervention, there are still 23 Sahrawi political detainees in Moroccan prisons, and the Moroccan Government has publically announced that it would put these civilians on trial in military courts.

The solidarity movement is therefore called upon today to accompany the peaceful resistance waged by the Sahrawi people, to lift the Moroccan military siege and media blackout imposed on the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and to support the activists of the independence uprising that are subjected to the most terrible practices of harassment and intimidation.

The Sahrawi peaceful resistance needs support and permanent publicising in human rights and media platforms as well as the massive presence on the ground by human rights activists, journalists, independent observers and solidarity witnesses, because the repressive acts of the Moroccan occupying authorities have exceeded all limits. A case that illustrates the cruelty of those acts is the situation of Said Dunbar, who was assassinated by Moroccan police, but his body has not been buried yet due to the refusal of the Moroccan government to allow a post-mortem of the body to disclose all the circumstances of this crime.

We call upon the United Nations to shoulder its responsibilities towards a territory under its supervision, and to intervene urgently to ensure the release of Yahya Mohamed el Hafed Izza and all Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails and account for more than 651 Sahrawi disappeared by the Moroccan state, and to expedite the establishment of a UN mechanism that would enable the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO, to protect, monitor and report on human rights in the territory.

It is time to end the crime against humanity represented by the 2700-km military separation wall erected by the Moroccan state, which divides the people and the land of Western Sahara, with its machinery of destruction and millions of landmines, including the internationally banned anti-personnel mines, as it continues to pose serious threats to people, animals and the environment.

We hail the decision taken by the US Congress to link military aid to Morocco to the respect for human rights in Western Sahara. We also applaud the position of the European Parliament that rejected renewal of the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement, as it constitutes a flagrant violation of the law and an involvement by the European peoples in the theft and illegal exploitation of the resources of an occupied and defenceless people. In this context, whilst condemning the massive and systematic plundering of our resources by Morocco, we call for this illegal exploitation to cease immediately, and call upon all third parties to refrain from signing any agreement affecting the land or the territorial waters of Western Sahara.

On this occasion, we express our full solidarity with all the Spanish fishermen affected by the non-renewal of the Fisheries Agreement because they, like the Sahrawi people, are victims of the Moroccan colonial policies, and the primary responsible for their tragedy is the Moroccan government. Therefore, the end of this tragedy, like the tragedy of the Sahrawi people, consists in expediting the solution of the Western Sahara issue so that all fishermen work within a legal and legitimate framework and in peace and stability.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We also applaud warmly the solidarity movement that has been growing over the years in terms of its activities and scope, and we express our appreciation for its tireless efforts, sacrifices and endurance. We also condemn the provocation and harassment to which members of this movement have been subjected by the Moroccan occupying authorities in their attempt to prevent them from visiting the occupied territories, such as the cowardly assault on the MEP, Willy Meyer, on his visit to the occupied city of La Aaiun.

We likewise take this opportunity to condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist, criminal and cowardly attack on the Sahrawi refugee camps that resulted in the kidnapping of three European aid workers operating in the humanitarian field, namely Ainoa Fernadez de Rincón, Enric Gonyalons and Rossella Urru.

Whilst affirming that the Sahrawi Republic, party to the African Union Convention on Combatting Terrorism, is committed to making every effort to free the hostages as soon as possible, we call upon this conference and the world at large to condemn this crime and to express its solidarity with the victims and their families.

We also express our concern and regret about the fact that our neighbour, the Kingdom of Morocco, is the largest producer and exporter of cannabis in the world. Morocco today is therefore a source not only of the doctrine and practices of expansionism, occupation and colonialism, but also of drugs trafficking that has become associated with terrorism, which threatens the security and stability of the region.

Talking about the international solidarity movement leads us inevitably to talk about the sisterly Algeria that has been committed resolutely to the principles of international legality, particularly decolonisation and self-determination. Algeria has also been hosting tens of thousands of Sahrawi women and children who fled the bombing by Moroccan aircrafts using the internationally banned napalm and white phosphorus, and has generously opened its hospitals and schools for them.

We also salute the Moroccan brotherly people who, just like us, are victims of the policies of an oppressive regime, and we commend those positions expressed by Moroccan parties, organisations and personalities, such as the Democratic Path (an-Nahj ed-Dimuqrati) and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and others, which are attached to the principles of freedom and dignity and the struggle for justice, democracy and respect for human rights and peoples in line with international law and international humanitarian law.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The struggle of the Sahrawi people and their steadfastness, for more than 37 years, in the face of the attempts to destroy and eliminate the political, social and cultural elements of their existence demonstrates unequivocally that the will of the people is invincible, and that this people are firmly attached to their sacred right to self-determination and independence, however long it may take and whatever the cost may be.

The 13th Congress of the Frente POLISARIO, which was held in December last year, was an opportune forum to assert emphatically the strategic policies of the Sahrawi people and their right to freedom and independence as well as the priorities of the national actions in the coming years, including primarily the building of the state institutions, support of the peaceful resistance and the continuous improvement of management and services.

On the eve of a new round of direct negotiations between the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, the Congress, which affirmed the right of the Sahrawi people to defend their rights by all internationally recognised means, reiterated the genuine readiness of the Sahrawi party to cooperate constructively with the efforts of the United Nations. We sincerely hope that the Moroccan Government would show a sense of responsibility and abandon its intransigence and stop obstructing the decolonisation of Western Sahara, through a free, fair and impartial referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people in line with the precepts of international legality.

The motto of the Congress, namely ‘The Independent Sahrawi State is the Solution’, considering that the Sahrawi State has become an irreversible reality, reflects the will and aspirations of the Sahrawi people to be free and to build a democratic and modern society based on the ideals of freedom, justice, gender equality and coexistence between religions and cultures.

Today we are proud of the leading role played by Sahrawi women at all levels in the state institutions. We are also proud of the great contribution made by young people in the national struggle, and we are keen on promoting their participation now and in the future.

However, the Sahrawi people today face challenges and difficulties resulting from the worsening global economic crisis, which will undoubtedly have a noticeable impact especially on our refugees that rely almost entirely on humanitarian aid.

There is no doubt that the movement will step up its noble and commendable solidarity efforts because we believe firmly that the solidarity of these friends who are attached to law and justice will grow and diversify when conditions become harsher.

Be sure that the Sahrawis today, led by the Frente POLISARIO, despite the ravages of war and the suffering of waiting in the occupied territories and southern Morocco, in the liberated territory and the refugee camps and in the diaspora, are unanimously attached to their scared national rights and to defending them by all legitimate means, until the completion of the sovereignty of the Sahrawi Republic on the entire national territory.

On behalf of the Sahrawi Government and people, I renew to you all our many thanks and gratitude for your historic and principled commitment to the just cause of the Sahrawi people, and I wish every success to this remarkable international platform of solidarity.

Peace be upon you and thank you!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

How to lead opposition to President Nguema

Agustin Velloso Santisteban

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79764

cc E E GPresident Obiang’s major pre-occupation is enjoying the oil wealth of his country together with members of his family and cronies. And the country’s opposition makes sure nobody disturbs the big man.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Plácido Micó, considered the leader of the opposition to Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea’s president since 1979, was on a political tour to the United States during the last week of January 2012.

When Micó enrolled at his local school for the very first time in his life, Obiang already was in national politics and when he had still to earn his end of secondary education certificate, Obiang was the president. During the approximately 20 years that Micó has devoted to political activity, he has visited Obiang’s prisons and has been tortured by his security agents.

As the top leader of Convergencia Para la Democracia Social (CPDS – Convergence for Social Democracy), the defection of another party leader, who joined Obiang’s Partido Democrático de Guinea Ecuatorial (PDGE – Equatorial Guinea’s Democratic Party), stands out as one of the main setbacks he has suffered.

Unfortunately, this has not been the only case; another opponent, who used to introduce himself as ‘the only Doctor of Philosophy in the whole country’, is known nowadays as the only Doctor of Philosophy sold out to Obiang.

Both turncoats are now ministers in Obiang’s government, the last one of Education and Science.

The PDGE has 99 seats at the Cámara de Representantes del Pueblo (national parliament), which has 100, while CPDS has one, occupied by Micó.

On the other hand, Micó and Obiang have got their education in Spain, a country both also visit from time to time, together with the United States, although they do not enjoy the same treatment by the respective authorities.

THE PLOT

According to the last CPDS communiqué, its ‘General Secretary and member of parliament Plácido Micó, travels to the US invited by the State Department. During his visit he will hold conversations with some of its officials, Senate members and House of Representatives, as well as several leaders of non-governmental organizations and organizations and groups with interests in Equatorial Guinea.’

The communiqué also informs about the goals of the visit: ‘This intense diplomatic activity aims to inform firsthand political leaders and international institutions about the stalemate – almost a backing down – of the political process in Equatorial Guinea and to ask the international community for greater support and involvement in order to push that political process forward and lead it towards a true democracy in Equatorial Guinea.’

The trip is not a première. In December 2005 CPDS made public that ‘Plácido Micó, Celestino Bacale (one of the defectors) and Pablo Mbá left Malabo (the capital city) and arrived at Madrid (Spain) where they met the Spanish deputy minister of foreign affairs. Then, they left for the US to meet Jane C. Gaffney, a Department of State official in charge of Africa. Gaffney gathered sound information on the political, social and economic situation in Equatorial Guinea, its relationship with the region, the opposition plan for the transition to democracy and the role the US could play in this respect.’

The 2005 trip was not the first either: ‘In 2002 and 2003, CPDS delegations went to the US and to Europe around the time presidential elections were held in Equatorial Guinea in 2002.’

Nor were those: ‘There were some other previous visits: CPDS leaders have joined the State Department programme for social and political leaders of countries that are in transition to democracy, aimed to teach them more closely how American democratic institutions work. CPDS General Secretary went to the US in 2000.’ (All quotes from CPDS web site.)

To sum up: It looks like the role of opposition leader Micó is to travel to the US (and Spain) to inform about political problems at home and get informed about political solutions from far away.

Obiang travels a lot as well in his role as president, although not mainly to talk. Since he took for himself the oil that US companies extract in Equatorial Guinea – whose owners are all the country’s inhabitants, not only him and his entourage — , he travels to put the money he gets from it in US banks (Riggs), spend it over there (Maryland and Malibu mansions) and appear in pictures together with US and international leaders.

THE PRODUCTION

The plot does not look like something special, however, some clues make it more interesting. Micó is used to introduce both CPDS and himself all around the world as ‘the only non-violent opposition in the country’, which may help to explain the invitations he gets to travel to the US and the European Union, as well as Obiang’s disguised satisfaction with both his intentions and the ongoing situation. Micó then proceeds to deplore that situation and ends asking his hosts for help.

‘During the conversations the political case was introduced: The persecution of political opponents, election fraud, corruption, misappropriation of wealth linked to the oil industry, the systematic violation of human rights, manipulation of the state mechanisms; and this was followed by requests of more effective support for the political transition in Equatorial Guinea.’ See more here.


On the other hand Obiang talks about the progress and happiness brought by his government in the Televisión Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial. In the official web page of la República de Guinea Ecuatorial one can read that, ‘His Excellency Obiang Nguema Mbasogo sent an ‘end of the year’ televised message to the people in the night of the 31st of December of 2011’:

‘The peace, quietness, stability, harmony and development that Equatorial Guinea has been enjoying during the past 32 years is a special benchmark in Africa and a heritage that the whole nation has to maintain and protect’.

However, his main activity – together with his relatives – is to enjoy the oil wealth. According to the US magazine Forbes, ‘after oil was discovered in 1995, Obiang and his government deposited up to $700 million in U.S.’ Riggs Bank, which was fined for not reporting possible money laundering in these and other accounts. The money was later released back to Obiang & Co. and deposited in the Bank of the Central African Monetary Union. Equatorial Guinea’s embassy insists the money belongs to the government, not Obiang personally.’

The rest of the actors play their roles according to Obiang’s and Micó’s. In 2006, then US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said to Obiang: ‘You are a good friend and we welcome you’. One month earlier the State Department had published its annual report on human rights in Equatorial Guinea, which listed cases of ‘torture, arbitrary detention, judicial corruption, child labour, forced labour and lack of freedom of speech and press.’

THE ENDING

It can be safely said that Micó has had enough time in the last 20 years to inform US high officials about the situation in his country, even if the US embassy in Malabo had not supplied Obama with enough information, and even if State Department reports plus those published by United Nations bodies and NGOs specialised in human rights were scarce.

Is this last trip then the end of the comedy? Perhaps not, it could be the contrary and there are some signals that could unveil a change from now on: Obiang’s international image is deteriorating by the day. He knows this only too well and that is why he spends annually hundreds of thousands of dollars in US public relations and lobby firms like Qorvis Communications, led by a former high official of the State Department (naturally).
US custom authorities are after Obiang’s eldest son and proclaimed successor, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, alias Teodorín, who is a multi-millionaire and also the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. The charges are money laundering in the US plus extortion, corruption and misuse of public funds in Equatorial Guinea. Also at the end of 2011 French judges seized around half a dozen of his luxury cars, and Spanish judges are investigating him for money laundering in Spain.

For Obama it would be a real godsend to have the chance to move any of his campaigns – humanitarian, for democracy, freedom, human rights, security, etc. — to the Gulf of Guinea, the basin of a huge oil and gas reservoir.


However, political instability in the sub-region – which includes Nigeria – is not so good for oil companies operating over there and this could be a hurdle for the plan.

Micó could come to the rescue. Besides his pacifist declarations, he is a social democrat and has proved to be a loyal friend of the US and an admirer of Obama. He has shown his biblical patience after 20 years asking the US for help and still waiting for it to back him more than it backs Obiang. Above all, he does not speak about nationalising oil.

Micó has criticised the way Obiang is managing his country’s oil wealth: ‘Increase in corruption, grave violations of human rights, political persecution, ecological damages, Obiang’s mafia connections.’ [1]

It is pretty sure that US officials have not informed him about the US – its government’s and companies’ – important responsibility in this state of affairs.

He should not forget the imperialistic ways of the US around the world and its recent interventions in other countries, which include the support of dictators to the last minute if necessary and – when it is convenient – changing these for new puppets, more or less disguised as democratic presidents.

One can hardly believe that Micó – and CPDS – thinks that in spite of the 30-year-long US support to Obiang, now he will get that support out of love for the human rights of the people of Equatorial Guinea and with no strings attached.

However, sometimes, nature imitates art and politics imitates theatre plays.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Agustin Velloso Santisteban teaches education and developemnt at the Spanish Open University.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The ICC debate: A pan-African perspective

Zaya Yeebo

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79771

cc J SThe International Criminal Court with its selective justice has become a vehicle for enforcing neocolonial interests in Africa. ICC has proven that it is beholden to countries that are not even signatories to the Rome statute that set it up.

Once again, the spotlight is on Africa as four Kenyans – three political leaders and a journalist – have been indicted at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Once again, the question that has never been answered is, why Africa? And why the speed? In Anglo-Saxon parts of the world, some leaders are treated with kids’ gloves when they commit ‘crimes against humanity’. Others, like the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George Bush, go to write memoirs defending their abuse of international laws.

Let us put this in context, in Ivory Coast, ex-President Laurent Gbagbo was ‘abducted’ (the words used by Jerry John Rawlings, former President of Ghana) at midnight and carted off to The Hague. In my view, his crimes remain unknown except to the French and his Ivorian adversaries. Charles Taylor (Liberia) remains in The Hague incarcerated. Now we learn that all along, the former President of Liberia may have been a CIA agent. So we can guess why the leadership of the United States would like to see him remain in The Hague. He knows too much. In the case of Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his sons were even indicted before the ICC could establish whether they had committed crimes ‘against humanity.’ Other Africans from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are also facing charges in The Hague. In the Sudan, a sitting head of state, President Omar Bashir, has also been indicted. The queue of Africans waiting to be hanged by this international court is endless.

Yet, a cursory glance at the world also tells of many crimes committed against ordinary citizens – from Palestine to Afghanistan, to Libya and, of course, Iraq. Who bears responsibility for these crimes? Are we suggesting that the lives of Iraqi, Libyan and Palestanian children and women do not matter? How come no one is facing so-called justice in The Hague?

This raises serious questions about the selective justice and double standards of the international systems of justice that is selectively applied to Africa and especially African leaders by the so-called ‘international community’. It leaves me with no option but to conclude that the ICC has become a vehicle for enforcing neocolonial interest in Africa, which members of the UN Security Council can exploit. What is even more worrying is that the ICC has become a tool in the hands of vicious African elite/politicians fighting for the national cake. All it takes is to convince the so-called international community that your opponent needs to go to The Hague. I will suggest in all seriousness that serious crimes against humanity have been committed in Libya by NATO forces, and by both sides in the post-election crisis in the Ivory Coast. But we are yet to see some action on that front. The work of the ICC will make sense, and justice will be served, if the leaders who authorised the bombing of Tripoli under the guise of UN resolutions also face the same justice that the Kenyans are supposedly going to face.

In the case of Kenya, the facts should be separated from the chaff. There was post-election violence in which over 1,000 citizens died, some under gruesome conditions. Someone or some groups bear responsibility for this. As usual, the international community, and a flaking Kenyan leadership, abdicated responsibility for punishing those responsible to a horde of international experts and UN rapporteurs with lengthy reports.

Maybe, these people did some good, but these reports are now gathering dust while all attention is paid to the antics of the chief prosecutor of the ICC Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The man now thinks he is a celebrity in Kenya. ‘Kenyans love me’, he is reported to have said. Second, the Kenyan ruling class failed to set up a local tribunal to address cases of post-election violence and historical injustices, thereby fuelling the feeling among ordinary Kenyans that the ICC route was the only way to seek justice. Third, the Kenyan elite, especially those in civil society, seem united in their view that to end ‘impunity’, they need the intervention of some foreign ‘knight in armour’ who should descend in Kenya to take out the bad guys (their leaders who are responsible for impunity). I suggest that impunity is deep-seated in Africa, and its historical and structural causes should be addressed. Impunity has colonial and neo colonial roots. The ICC can only deal with the symptoms.

In Kenya, the ICC debate, like most debates, has become a lawyers’ paradise where people talk of ‘the Rome statute’ and similar words with arrogant recklessness and self-satisfaction. That African seads of states signed up to this is ‘Rome statute’ is not in doubt, but for good reasons. Others refused. But this does not constitute a blood oath to which we are bound for life, as the juju takers in Nollywood movies suggest.

The debate about how to seek justice for the victims of the post-election violence in Kenya seems to have been relegated to a few campaigners. The internally displace people (citizens) of Kenya are still living in IDP camps. Women who were abused have not been offered counseling or financial compensation or support to deal with the consequences of the abuse. Children of IDP families are not receiving quality primary education as their families are on the move and lack stability. Kenya is yet to heal, as the ruling elite and the so-called international community engages in futile and sometimes endless debates about ‘impunity’ and the ICC. The nongovernmental organisations and civil society have been caught up in this maze as some seek publicity for themselves and their organisations at the expense of real justice for victims. Playing to the international gallery has become the endgame in Nairobi. Who speaks for the IDPs? Who speaks for the women who were abused?

This reminds me of Sierra Leone. When I visited Freetown after the civil war, there was a lot of talk about ‘impunity’ and justice, as we are hearing today. The UN Tribunal for Sierra Leone was set up in a huge compound in Freetown as a justice centre of some sort to deal with so-called perpetrators of the civil war, nothing about the victims. It was full of young European and American lawyers recruited as ‘investigators’, with their fanciful laptops and mobile phones. All was set for justice. Down the road was an amputee camp, where amputees, real victims of the savage civil war, lived in unimaginable abject poverty. So the question I asked myself was: where is our sense of priority? Are we condemning the living, young as they are, to a life of penury, so that some octogenerian leaders can be put on trial, and for what purpose? Millions of dollars were spent on this illusive justice while the youthful victims of the civil war – ex-combatants and their families – were abandoned by the same international system which has ripped off Sierra Leone for its diamonds. Is that the African sense of justice? Many Sierra Leoneans and other West Africans had the same feeling; we could only shake our heads in disbelief. In the case of Sierra Leone, most of the so-called perpetrators died in jail awaiting trials.

I would suggest that Kenya is headed in that same direction. The broad sense of seeking social justice for victims has been pushed to the dustbin of history as people seek retribution, and settle petty political scores of a different nature. Whether the four indicted individuals deserve to be indicted by the ICC or not is for Kenyans to answer. But some of us will never know, as only those with voices and access to Kenya’s media which is embedded with powerful interests, and positions that appeal to or support the marginalisation of Africa, and the abuse of African leaders in the international system get heard. But it would be churlish and ahistorical to separate what is happening to the Kenyan four . It is part of a broader cat and mouse game of humiliating African leaders to serve the global imperialist interest of some countries, and to justify their continued plunder of the continent and its resources, a game in which Africa will always emerge as the loser.

In the case of the Kenyan four, I cannot help but feel that this is more about the impending election (2012 0or 2013), than about justice for victims. Some in the international community and their minions have suggested that some ethnic groups should be sidelined. A dangerous proposition for a country seeking to build a cohesive society.

In a contribution to Pambazuka News last year, I suggested that an international cabal of pan-African and global imperialist interest are combining forces to destabilise Africa. This is a continuation of this debate. The idea that shipping four Kenyans (Africans) to join the already high number in The Hague is somehow the best way to achieve justice does not appeal to me. My position will be the same if these four were Libyan, Nigerian, Ghanaian or Ugandan. I believe that Africa has come of age to settle its own problems. I believe that neither the UK nor British governments will subject their citizens, especially, young, intelligent and committed politicians, to the sort of humiliation that the four Kenyans are being subjected to in the name of fighting impunity.

The ICC has time and time again proven that it is beholden to countries that are not even signatories to the Rome statute (for example the United States, as in the case of President Charles Taylor). Ocampo has proven that he is anti-African, that his interest is only in persecuting and prosecuting Africans because we have made ourselves vulnerable to this process. This same court which acknowledges that African countries are signatories ignores the voice of the African Union leadership – those we have elected to represent our interest as Africans. Will the ICC ignore the leaders of France, the UK, the European Union and the United States? Yet, the ICC ignored the AU in the case of Sudan, and ignored the pleas of Kenya’s Vice President who had the support of the majority of progressive thinking African leaders in the Africa Union. This underlies the contemptuous attitude towards African leaders by lower officials in international organisations. Why do we allow this to happen?

In the case of Kenya, what is even more worrying is the impact of this process on the national psyche. It destabilises the country, creates unnecessary anxiety and fuels rumours of the dangerous type. Kenyans need closure to the post-election violence if they are to build a cohesive and progressive society based on the ethic of the 2010 constitution. The intelligentsia is supposed to lead this struggle, but it is failing as they are devoid of any ideological leanings or clarity. ‘Human rights’ is treated as if it is value-free, with no ideological underpinnings. The debate about political transition in Kenya is being sidelined and made to look moribund as the country frets and is on tenterhooks awaiting decisions from the ICC. In Kenya, the ICC has been elevated to a ‘god’ with the prosecutor as some sort of deity. Dissenting voices are silenced or seen as irrelevant to this debate.

However, it is important for Africans to realise that there is no alternative to nation-building and to local processes. Neither the US nor France will abdicate such awesome responsibilities to a foreign court or subject the whole nation to such unnecessary anxiety. Africans must have the courage and steadfast belief in our ability to change the continent, to deal with abuses and seek justice on our own terms. For me, the ICC will always remain an imperialist-led institution set up to hold back the forces of progress, while undermining African institutions and our ability to deal with forces of retrogression and ‘impunity’. It is time for African leaders to take charge and not hand over the continent to some faceless ‘judges’ of the international system.

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* Zaya Yeebo is programme manager at Amkeni wa Kenya.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

No Spring in West Africa

Sokari Ekine

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79776

cc H-B-SAfrican awakenings have been sporadic, with short-lived moments of intensity followed by exhaustion. But there has to be a starting point and now many people know that ‘We can’.

Occupy Nigeria has come and gone. Senegal’s week of mass protests continues in sporadic outbursts and it remains to be seen if people will respond to Youssou N’dour’s call for a mass rally next Sunday. N’dour’s candidacy was suspiciously rejected by the Constitutional Council on the grounds he was unable to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures. But maybe it is not such a bad thing he is not running in this year’s election. It is possible he will be far more influential in bringing about change outside the formal political arena as support for Wade falls with many defections from his camp.

No matter how much mind pushing we engage in, the ‘African Awakenings’ have been sporadic with short-lived dream-like moments of intensity followed by exhaustion. However, there has to be a starting point and the political dynamics have forever changed and at least all of us now know that ‘We can’. Whether we will or not is another question. But a more considered truthful analysis is needed where people stop exaggerating and ignoring realities on the ground. Some Ghanian bloggers have been expressing their thoughts on the real or imaginary African awakenings. Nana Yaw Sarpong [Ready to Go] is rather scathing and calls for a more sustained mobilisation rather than intense street moments...

“But many have asked, in fact the questions have been led by the media, if West Africa could go through a similar Spring. My response is this: There is no Spring in West Africa. More so, I cannot urge anyone to be influenced by some half-awakening. The preamble, or prelude, to the question of protests across West Africa is foul. And we must be weary of those who are quick to compare Nigeria to Tunisia or Egypt. It is erroneous.....I am for mobilising; creating awareness among people; networking to ensure a strong people who know the ins and outs of government. I am for opening the eyes further to activities within our communities; how our resources are been applied; how we can creatively change the systems we have inherited to suit our collective progress. Not some Spring. That obviously is the wrong way to go.”

In answer to the BBC question, ‘Is an African Spring necessary?’ Gameli [The Gamelian World] writes that, no, Africa does not need more ‘violence, deaths and destruction’. Instead, the continent needs a

‘refinement of our democratic systems so as to get them to work in the way we want. In many African countries, government goes and government comes but still, the people see no change. Protests and wars, resulting in deaths, injuries and destruction of valuable national assets will not bring immediate solutions to our socio-economic problems. I don't see the change whatever government any uprising raises will bring. However, if we continue setting up governance structures, going after corrupt officials, voting out incompetent governments, cutting down on discrimination in its many forms, building patriotic consciousness and collaborating meaningfully with the larger world, we stand a better chance at progress.’

George N Ayittey has some answers to the question of how we can defeat dictators and fight tyranny and move beyond the streets. African Dictator.

‘As Professor George Ayittey, Obama adviser and veteran Africa author and analyst, knows too well, such drama is merely the denouement. There is far more to ousting dictators than convening a crowd, as in Tahrir Square. And western military intervention, while it toppled its targets in Libya and Iraq, is hardly a template that should or will be rolled out across the world. (Atrocious as the crackdown in Syria is, few expect the west to intervene.)
Rather, as Ayittey makes clear in his latest work, undermining dictators is a science that requires time and thought, not to say a long hard grind. He correctly concedes that there is one enduring lesson once a revolution is under way: as soon as army units turn, the end is in sight. The principal reason most in the region expect Mr Assad to cling on for a while is that soldiers have defected as individuals and not en masse. After all, it was only when Romania’s crowds could confidently shout “armata é cu noi” (‘the army is with us’) that Ceausescu’s goose was truly cooked. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has defied political logic and stayed on primarily because he has kept the security chiefs on side.’

Women have been conspicuously absent from many of the African Awakenings [not including Egypt]. Women especially those identifying as feminists often find themselves bullied and victimised on social media. In response and with the aim of making their online presence felt, a group of African feminists have chosen the hashtag #AfriFem as a way of discussing a broad range of issues from uprisings and occupy movements on the continent to forced marriages, bullying and abuse on Twitterspheres and homophobia.

To follow the discussion from now use the hashtag #AfriFem - some of the Twitter handles @blacklooks [me] @nas009 @MzAgams @sheroxlox @FahamuAfrica @saratu @fowora @wapinduzi @zawadin, @spectraspeaks @NFF2008 @MsAfropolitan @eccentricyoruba @pdbraide @rmajayi @stillSHErises and more to follow.

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* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black looks.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The myth of South Sudan

Makol Bona Malwal

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79774

cc S ELack of unity is South Sudan’s most profound crisis, one that underlies the country’s economic and political woes. It will take a long time and sustained efforts to build one nation with common values.

South Sudan was conceived on the myth that we are one people with one common destiny. We are now discovering that regional and tribal differences are not dissolving and that South Sudanese think and act very differently from one another.

The simple fact is that people who are raised thinking of their tribe/nationality as Pojulu, Dinka, Shuluk, Zande, Bari, Murle, Nuer, or what have you will probably always think of themselves in that way. It may take several generations for the concept of being Pojulu, Dinka, Shuluk, Zande, Bari, Murle, Nuer, or what have you to become the equivalent of being a New Yorker or Californian to an American, and those generations will be longer than generations were in the USA in the 1800s.

It is very important that we highlight the possible challenges and the inconsolable pains to face South Sudan beyond the passionate emotions for independence and try to stimulate the start of thinking rationally for all our future’s sakes. Our new country will face many challenges, despite simplistic categorizations of our war of independence as being between Africans and Arabs/Christians versus Muslims. South Sudanese are not a unified group; this is a profoundly and proudly multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious lot/land.

Any sense of a common national identity that does exist was forged in the struggle against the Mundukuru (north Sudan), something that we are all acutely aware of.

The point is that South Sudanese must ask themselves if a 'South Sudan Nation' is, in fact, truly what they want. A true nation of South Sudanese will require the majority of its citizens to share common values, common ideals, common mores and most likely a common language. If these do not exist naturally, they must be cultivated and that leads to some very difficult ground for debate and discussion (and the potential for many, many problems). As part of this, South Sudanese must ask themselves why they want a nation. Is it to compete economically with the Mundukuru (north Sudan), East Africa and other large population economies (a really bad reason to build a nation)? To prevent any possibility of another grand South Sudanese civil war (South Sudan imploding)? Or why?

This lack of unity is South Sudan’s most profound crisis, one that underlies the country’s economic and political woes. Most South Sudanese have little idea what the country stands for, what binds its people together, where it has come from in the past and where it is going to in the future. After decades of war and a hefty (and still growing) death toll, we have succeeded in attaining independence without gaining a nation.

Yes, but what is a South Sudanese?

Values matter because they are the glue that binds countries and peoples together. They help define what a society stands for and against. There is no consensus within South Sudan or among South Sudanese, not even the beginning of a consensus, about what South Sudanese values are.

Diversity does not equal tolerance and the existence of differences does not mean acceptance of them. A fact that has come glaringly to the fore as South Sudan has slipped deeper into crisis and relationships have strained among its people and tribes.

The relationship between peasant communities and pastoralists with shared livelihoods need to be effectively managed or else violence is the natural outcome of mismanagement.

One can of course have multiple identities. Some Europeans are Catalan and Spanish, as well as European. But identities cannot be artificially created; they are forged early on and never go away. We must construct common institutions, laws and create all the symbols of a nation-state. Prosperity for a war-torn country, freedom from tyranny and peace among our people and tribes after decades if not centuries of bloodletting should be some of the ideals we should aspire too.

This is not to say that a united South Sudan will never happen, but it must be understood that it will be a long, slow process and will likely be longer and slower than the process was in the US for example, due to a longer legacy of conflict between our tribes and people and of all things longer life-spans of those generations today that think of themselves as coming from specific tribes rather than being South Sudanese.

Over the long term though, people need the solace and sense of community and shared culture, history and custom that nationhood provides.

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* Makol Bona Malwal can be reached at this address.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Nigeria: Resolving the Boko Haram Challenge

Okachikwu Dibia

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79772

cc T-CNigerian authorities have handled the Boko Haram crisis badly, resulting in more bloodshed. The key to resolving sectarian agitations is dialogue and not the use of force.

In my unpublished article titled ‘Dialectics of Boko Haram’ written on the 12 August 2009, I decried the mishandling of the issue by the federal government, in particular the Nigerian police. That year, police killed one Alhaji Yusuf, alleged to be the leader of the Boko Haram sect and went ahead to arrest many of its members, assembled them somewhere in northern Nigeria and shot them one by one. This was shown to the whole world by Aljazeera in its television channel and website. Yet the Nigerian government did nothing about all these.

By 2011, desperate and unintelligible northern politicians had recruited members of the sect to rig the elections. And after doing the job, the sect members were dumped. So, in revenge, they decided to use the guns and bombs facilitated by the finances of the politician to fight against the politicians and the government. This is alleged to be what happened in Borno, Yobe, Kano, Bauchi and other states and today Boko Haram, while fighting these enemies, remembered the Christian ‘infidels’ in the north. Indeed, they are said to be against all forms of Western lifestyles in their midst. So they are against the police, government, Christians and westernisation. As at 2009, Nigeria had lost about 800 lives (excluding the Boko Haram people massively killed by the police) and between 2011 and today, Nigeria has lost more than 1,000 lives. Do not ask me the value of properties so far destroyed. What a country?

The ‘use and dump’ practice by Nigerian politicians is not new. It happened in Rivers State between 2001 and 2004 when more lives were lost in Port Harcourt, Wezena, Ogbogoro, Rumuolumeni, Okrika, Emohua, Rumuekpe, Rumukpalukwu-Ugbonwo etc. All these communities are in Ikwerre, except Okrika. We can begin to imagine what Ikwerre people had suffered when militants and cultists in Rivers State were recruited into politics and the politician reneged on his own part of the bargain. Thereafter, the boys, now with sophisticated guns and ammunition, remembered their immediate and remote enemies in their respective communities. They killed and destroyed many people in communities in Rivers State and yet the Rivers State government had not deemed it right to properly reconcile these communities, rehabilitate them and apologise to them for the wrong use of state resources to destroy the people they were sworn to protect. Since December 2005, my own community, Rumukpalukwu-Ugbonwo in Rumuakunde Emohua, has been refugees and our habitation has become desolate and turned into forest. A shame that may probably live with me for the rest of my life on earth!

In the Boko Haram case, a very dangerous dimension had been added : they enjoy overwhelming sympathy across all strata of the north, including security officers. If not for these sympathizers, maybe the Boko Haram fire would not have raged so fast and President Jonathan is not comfortable with this. So he has opted for dialogue with Boko Haram because this issue truly requires a political solution. It was this option that made me remember my 2009 article. My basic idea in that article was that the government should have the political courage to sincerely discuss with Boko Haram group, get what they actually want, present the government’s view, proffer solutions and reach a consensus. This was not done because in our country, political leaders passionately hate contrary views that tend to interrogate the status-quo, which is certainly not healthy for a federation with diverse religious, social, political, economic, cultural, educational and professional interests. One sure way to build a federation is to consistently welcome opposing views to the discussion table with the aim of convincing each other and reaching a common ground upon which true progress can be made and sustained. Such a common ground or consensus is always better than the uncontested one-sided solution package like the ‘Doctrine of Nigeria’s Settled Issues’ given by General Ibrahim Babangida recently at the ninth Daily Trust Annual Dialogue held in Abuja.

So, what should the government do with the Boko Haram crisis? Obviously, dialogue which, like in the case of the Niger Delta militants, could lead to amnesty, should not be the only item in the solution package. Government needs to properly organise the solution by thoroughly thinking-through the solutions so that at the end, we will have solutions that can give us the sustained peace that we need instead of living in fear.

The solution approach should have short and long term measures. In the short term, government should quickly constitute a discussion and reconciliation committee peopled by respected African social leaders like Captain Elechi Amadi (Rtd), General Yakubu Gowan (Rtd), Prof. Ali Mazrui, Dr. Kofi Annan, Prof. Chinweizu, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Justice Belgore, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Justice Eso and Justice Oputa. They should be given six months to sincerely discuss with Boko Haram, render apologies for the past mistakes on the part of the government, seek to know their grievances and interests (immediate and remote), persuade them to understand the secularity of the Nigerian state, reach a common understanding of what should be the solution to their problems, reconcile them with the government and allow the government to execute the agreement.

Government may need to rehabilitate the group and this is where the idea of amnesty comes in. For an ideological group like Boko Haram, Nigeria needs amnesty to support the political solution stated above; the use of force cannot provide such support and must be dropped forthwith. Again amnesty will assist in moving them out of their thinking, engage them economically and assuage them. Next is to disarm them and discourage them from bombing, destroying and carrying arms against fellow Nigerians. Thereafter, the government must discretely determine and prosecute any person(s) who had used and dumped members of the sect or who had encouraged them in any form in carrying out their activities. Also, government needs to vigorously persuade sympathisers of Boko Haram to cut their support. At the immediate end, government needs to deeply apologise and provide little support to all those identified to have lost properties and/or lives arising from the insurgence.

On a long term basis, the government needs to re-engage the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to do its work with re-energised focus than it had been done before. A federation in a socio-political crisis as Nigeria cannot afford to have a national agency like the NOA operating but is hardly heard or seen. NOA should put in place a national re-orientation programme through which they can regularly interact with idle Nigerian youths. NOA needs to learn how to deepen the use of inspirational leaders from across the world to calm the raging nerves of the youths and gradually identify what else the youths can do to earn a living and channel them there. NOA should be able to discover the talents of these youths and retrain them through a robust free education system.

That takes us to a very important solution in this effort. Nigeria urgently needs total free education for all her children. Since God created talents in every child, the free education should not discriminate in the areas of study; it should be for all talents and faculties. A child’s talent should be discovered at the conclusion of their secondary education and that should guide what the child is to study in the university. If a child is passionate about knowing more and developing their religion, they should be given full support to pursue same. Talent development should not continue to be on a ad-hoc basis as implemented by corporate organisations under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. It should be ingrained into the formal educational system of the Nigerian state. This will help to discover early the talents in our children, train them along their talents and teach them how to apply their talents to earn a living. Unemployment is chiefly caused by the talent-education-productivity disconnection occasioned by the irrelevant nominal education system adopted in Nigeria and indeed in most Third World countries.

There is need to overhaul the Nigerian security system, starting with the police who messed up the Boko Haram issue. They do not have the basic attitude to deal with such a sophisticated social problem. In the first instance, we need to ask: who should be in the police? This is because the character portrayed by the Nigerian police does not qualify them to be there. The basic problem with the Nigerian police goes beyond the availability of arms and ammunitions, equipment, salary, etc. It is about attitude! A well-disciplined and trained Nigerian police can protect lives and properties even without arms. Because of their very negative attitude to work, no matter how much they are paid, they may not be able to deliver. The entry qualification into the police should be a university degree and those without it should gradually leave the system. When we have a police force that understands its work and goes about it sincerely, respecting the public and seeing an accused person as being innocent until proved otherwise, the police will surely have the cooperation of the general public. Without this cooperation, the police cannot succeed.

Nigeria needs a social revolution that will seriously address the issue of discipline. Lack of discipline is what is destroying Nigeria. It cuts across all strata of Nigerian society especially among the elites. Nigeria aspires to be among the best 20 developed countries by the year 2020, but she does not have the discipline that should support realisation of that aspiration. Nigeria needs a fundamental change in behaviour among its people. That change is simply to do the right thing. Bring back the war against indiscipline (WAI) in a more civil manner and Nigeria may work again. Nigerians also needs to address the issue of how they can respect one another, love themselves and live together in a true federalism. She also needs to determine what type of development she needs. Does she need to have the American or European or Asian or Arabic or African model of development? The issue is not about capitalism or socialism or communism: it could be about any one of them or a combination within an African milieu. These determinations will help to appropriately focus Nigeria’s social, political and economic efforts.

By and large, in seeking solutions to the Boko Haram crisis, Nigeria stands to gain so much in simultaneously resolving other important issues affecting her as a federation. The key to resolving sectarian agitations is dialogue and not force. Nigerians need to do things that are right. Nigerians need to sit together in a Nigerian Peoples Conference (NPC) and determine how to stay together. President Goodluck Jonathan can become the best president of Nigeria if he is able to resolve the Boko Haram challenge, enable Nigerians become a disciplined people, living together within a generally agreed political structure and working under an appropriate mode of production that reduces poverty and increases happiness to many within the African context.

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* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Angola: Understanding President Dos Santos’ Rule and succession game

Rafael Marques de Morais

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79813

cc WikimediaThis is a brief narrative of the power struggles between the president and his own party since the establishment of a multiparty system in 1991. It features deployment of constitutional coups, patronage and legal measures to address such internal rifts, as well as the consequences that reverberate today.

The past year witnessed a critical shift in Angolan politics with regular youth-led public protests calling for the President’s resignation. Two factors made the outcry for Dos Santos to step down the main challenge to both the conventional political discourse and public perceptions of power: the 2010 Constitution and the popular uprisings in North Africa.

This paper provides a brief narrative of the power struggles between the President and his own party, since the establishment of a multiparty system in 1991. It addresses the deployment of constitutional coups, patronage and legal measures to address such internal rifts, as well as the consequences that reverberate today.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The 2008 legislative elections offered President Dos Santos the most legitimate, ambitious and unique opportunity to extend his grip on power, as well as to reform the state and its political economy. His ruling party, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) had won by a landslide (81.64 percent). Furthermore, the newfound democratic legitimacy had been magnified by five main elements: double-digit growth rates (an average 14.2 percent real GDP growth of from 2005-2009) , Chinese control of a fast-paced nationwide program of national reconstruction, the squashing of the political opposition, overwhelming international endorsement, and an atmosphere of hope within the country.

Such reforms would, in turn, enable the President to establish the timing and the conditions for his own exit strategy from power. By building strong and democratic institutions, the President would demonstrate great statesmanship in devolving power to the state institutions. These, in turn, would afford the President the legal and political protection for his peaceful retirement in the country.

But the course of events points towards a different political outcome, as will be further explained.

Read the entire analysis, “Understanding President Dos Santos Rule and the Gaming of His Succession”, http://makaangola.org/2012/01/o-poder-e-a-sucessao-de-jose-eduardo-dos-santos/?lang=en]here.

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* Founder of the anti-corruption watchdog Maka Angola, Rafael Marques de Morais is currently a visiting scholar at the African Studies Department at the John Hopkins University (SAIS).
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Is the DRC slowly falling into the trusteeship of the UN?

Antoine Roger Lokongo

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79760

cc W MThe United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has a less than glowing image in the DRC, but there is no sign in sight of the mission's end.

The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has a current strength of 18,997 uniformed personnel. The figure breaks down as follows: 17,010 military troops, 746 military observers, and 1,241 police. The uniformed personnel are supported by around 4,000 civilians (mostly UN staff and local staff). Their mission is to help bring peace and stability in the DRC. As Clapham suggests, the UN does bring to the task not only some distinctive capabilities, but also a number of weaknesses[1]. It has therefore to be acknowledged that MONUSCO and Congolese Armed Forces’ military pressure has contributed to FDLR desertions and voluntary participation in MONUSCO’s ‘Disarmament, Demobilisation, Repatriation, Resettlement and Reintegration’ (DDRRR) process.

According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s report[2] last year, since military operations began in January 2009, 5,238 FDLR elements have been repatriated to Rwanda, including 2,266 former combatants and 2,972 dependents.

In addition, China’s 12th peacekeeping force is particularly to be commended. Made up of military engineers and medical staff, as Xinhua reported, the peacekeeping team successfully completed missions related to road and bridge construction, medical care, epidemic control and humanitarian aid in the DRC. The team’s 218 members renovated 102 km of roads, built 14 bridges and offered medical treatment to 1,878 people after being dispatched to the DRC in November 2010. This is according to a statement issued by the peacekeeping affairs office of the Lanzhou Military Area Command on 30 July 2011.[3]

Nevertheless, in page four of his report, the UN Secretary General acknowledged that serious human rights violations by the armed groups and national security elements also continue. For instance, between 30 July and 2 August at least 303 people were systematically raped in 13 villages on the Mpofi-Kibua axis in Walikale territory by FDLR and Mayi-Mayi Cheka elements (local Congolese militia). At least 923 houses and 42 shops were also looted, and 116 civilians abducted and subjected to forced labour by the assailants. Partial reports of the attacks reached MONUSCO only several days after they began, and MONUSCO patrols and protection mechanisms in this case were unable to detect the gravity of the situation, prompting widespread criticism of a perceived failure to protect civilians. FARDC units based in the area had been redeployed some two months prior to the attack.

David Smith reported that Atul Khare, the UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping, conceded in a report that ‘while the primary responsibility for protection of civilians lies with the state, its national army and police force, clearly we have also failed. Our actions were not adequate, resulting in unacceptable brutalisation of the population of the villages in the area. We must do better’.[4]

If their mission is to help bring peace and stability in the DRC, how come UN troops have been involved not only in sex abuse of young girls, but also in gold smuggling and helping the rebels, as Escobales reported? American researcher Nile Gardiner (2005) even described what was going on in the DRC as ‘acts of great evil and barbarism perpetrated by United Nations peacekeepers and civilian personnel entrusted with protecting some of the weakest and most vulnerable women and children in the world, including forced prostitution of women and young girls across the country, including inside a refugee camp in the town of Bunia in north-eastern Congo. The alleged perpetrators include U.N. military and civilian personnel from Nepal, Morocco, Tunisia, Uruguay, South Africa, Pakistan, and France.’[5]

Two more facts: Reuters reported that Colonel Chand Saroha, an Indian peacekeeping officer, was investigated in 2008 after being accused of showing support for eastern Tutsi rebels. A transcript seen by Reuters and other UN sources identified Colonel Chand Saroha as the former commander at Sake, a strategic town in the eastern province of North Kivu.
‘We are like brothers,’ Saroha allegedly told Laurent Nkunda, Bosco Ntanganda and their fighters at the ceremony in April 2008 marking his departure from the zone, according to the transcript. ‘Officially we are not allowed to meet you. But your good conduct, your good discipline…made us feel we were associated with proud people,’ Saroha added.
Amid chants from his soldiers, according to the transcript, Nkunda thanked Saroha, saying: ‘You have helped us a great deal.’[6]

Agence France Press (AFP) reported that a driver working for the United Nations was sentenced to three years in jail for trying to smuggle minerals to Rwanda. He was caught trying to cross into Rwanda with more than a ton of cassiterite (tin ore) in a UN vehicle. This time the Congolese policemen at the border were to be recommended because they refused to be bribed by the driver and his accomplice - which is unusual for the Congolese military and the police. The 22,000-strong UN peacekeeping operation in the DR Congo denied any part in the affair and said the scam was the individual ‘work of a member of the national staff of the mission’.[7]

Despite this catalogue of scandals, the UN has been renewing the mandate of its scandal-hit peacekeeping force in the DRC since 2002. But its presence is having no impact or changing the Congolese people’s lives in areas in which it is deployed.

Associated Press (AP) reported that in May 2010, President Joseph Kabila met with officials from the UN to discuss when the 20,000-strong peacekeeping force will withdraw. He initially wanted it to leave before 30 June 2011 when the DRC celebrated its 50th independence anniversary so the country can ‘fly with its own wings’. After meeting UN officials, he suggested that the force leave by the end of 2011. The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, perhaps reckoning that Kinshasa has yet to display the ability to control the violent outbreaks in North and South Kivu in eastern Congo, said he wants to ensure that military operations against rebels in eastern Congo are successfully completed, that well trained and equipped Congolese army units can take over the UN force’s security role, and that the government extends its authority in areas freed from armed groups before the largest UN peacekeeping operation in the world departs. The secretary-general did however recommend in the report to the Security Council that the withdrawal start immediately, with up to 2,000 troops leaving peaceful areas of the central African nation by 30 June, the 50th anniversary of Congo’s independence.[8]

Moreover, Congolese opposition leaders (who reckoned that they could only feel safe during the election campaign if MONUSCO was present), Western media and international NGOs added to the skepticism. A few hours after Kabila’s request, Enyele insurgents attacked Mbandaka, the provincial capital of Equateur Province in the west. The insurgents’ entry point into the city was very close to the Mbandaka UN headquarters (the UN is expected to have enough intelligence sources to have prevented this). The UN has now made itself indispensable in the DRC arguing that instability continued not just in the east but now also in the west. The mission was eventually extended as the Congolese government and the UN agreed to a UN presence in the country during the 2011 elections. MONUSCO was to provide the logistics, especially the transportation of ballot boxes and other materials throughout the country, according last year’s June 2010 UN Security Council’s report.[9]

The following fundamental question therefore arises: ‘What is the role of the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC if the blue helmets are backing the rebels in eastern Congo, as the above reports confirm, and if peace in western Congo is still volatile after Enyele insurgents could attack Mbandaka, the provincial capital of Equateur Province last year? (with the support of neighbouring countries such as Congo Brazzaville and even Western countries, including Great Britain and Luxembourg, according to revelations made by Colette Braeckman.[10]) Is MONUSCO playing ‘a double game’, creating or contributing to the insecurity or the criminalisation of the areas in which it operates in order to continue to traffic in minerals which it evacuates via Rwanda; so much so that the more the destabilization lingers, the longer the UN peacekeepers will stay on to do business?

What is shocking is the fact that every announcement by the UN Secretary General that MONUSCO has renewed its mandate has always been preceded by a massacre in the east. Ban Ki Moon announced on 10 January 2012 that he was for the extension of MONUSCO’s mandate in the DRC up to 2014. That was after a massacre of Congolese took place in Shabunda, South Kivu province between 31 December 2011 and 4 January 2012. Forty-five people were killed, reportedly by Hutu rebels of the Forces de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR).[11] It is estimated that there are still 5,000 to 8,000 FDLR left in South Kivu. How can 5,000 to 8,000 FDLR pose a challenge to the whole Congolese army, 18,997 UN troops and the Rwandan army, which has intervened many times in Congo to eradicate them? It beggars belief, doesn’t it? What is at stake here is eastern Congo’s most wanted strategic minerals, especially coltan - out of which mobile phones and computers are made and on which the whole world’s high tech industry depends.

If you take into consideration the catalogue of scandals that has been attributed to the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC, it becomes rational to put ourselves in the shoes of former South African President Thabo Mbeki (2011) and ask: ‘How many blatant abuses of power will Africa and the rest of the developing world experience before the vision of a democratic system of global governance is realised?’

Mbeki who served as the mediator for Côte d’Ivoire from November 2004 to October 2006, came to the realisation that the UN became a casualty in the Ivorian conflict, severely undermining its acceptability as a neutral force in the resolution of internal conflicts, such as the one in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mbeki concluded that ‘it will now be difficult for the United Nations to convince Africa and the rest of the developing world that it is not a mere instrument in the hands of the world’s major powers. This has confirmed the urgency of the need to restructure the organisation, based on the view that as presently structured the United Nations has no ability to act as a truly democratic representative of its member states’, adding that ‘thus, in various ways, the events in Côte d’Ivoire could serve as a defining moment in terms of the urgent need to reengineer the system of international relations. They have exposed the reality of the balance and abuse of power in the post-Cold War era, and put paid to the fiction that the major powers respect the rule of law in the conduct of international relations, even as defined by the UN Charter, and that, as democrats, they respect the views of the peoples of the world’.[12]

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* Antoine Roger Lokongo is a journalist and PhD candidate at the School of International Studies, Centre for African Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES:

[1] Clapham, Christopher. (1999) ‘The United Nations and Peacekeeping in Africa’, Monograph, no. 36, April 1999.
[2] Available online
[3] Xinhua：‘Chinese peacekeepers return home from DR Congo’, 30 July 2011.
[4] Smith, David. (2010) “UN has failed Congo mass rape victims, says investigator”, guardian.co.uk/Associated Press, 8 September 2010.
[5] Gardiner, Nile, Ph.D. (2005), “The U.N. Peacekeeping Scandal in the Congo: How Congress Should Respond”, The Heritage Foundation Report, 22 March 2005.
[6] Reuters: ‘UN Congo probes Indian officer over rebel ‘support’”, 10 July 2008.
[7] AFP: ‘DR Congo court jails UN driver for mining scam’, 25 August 2011.
[8] AP: ‘Congo’s president urges peacekeepers to leave’, 6 April 2010.
[9] See.
[10] Braeckman, Colette (2010). ‘Un commando vise Mbandaka’, Le Soir, 6 Avril 2010.
[11] Radio Okapi (2012). ‘Massacre de Shabunda: les ressortissants de ce territoire déplorent l’inaction des autorités’, 14 janvier 2012.
[12] Mbeki, Thabo (2011) ‘What the World Got Wrong in Ivory Coast’, Foreign Policy, 29 April 2011.

The Faith Diaries: When silence brings you HIV

Faith kaManzi

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79777

cc WikimediaStudies have shown that the highest rates of HIV infection are among women stuck in financially dependent relationships where the only right is the right of the man. Silence increases violence.

Being HIV positive for almost ten years now, I have had my fair share of serious and not so serious infections which have at times seen my immune system succumb and often come close to collapse. I would believe that I had full-blown Aids only to revert back to being HIV positive after some interventions.

In December 1999, on the eve of the new millennium, I was raped by two young men. I don't know if that was when I contracted HIV. But I distinctly remember in December 2003, a sexual liaison with someone who knew his status and, apparently, was on a mission to infect as many women as possible by luring them to his house, never intending to use a condom. As intelligent – and HIV aware – as I was, especially because I was at the time a volunteer at an HIV & Aids 24-hour trauma centre (IKhaya Lobomi), just outside Botha's Hill in that magnificently well-sculptured landscape known as The Valley of a Thousand Hills, I fell prey to his scheme. He won his quest.

And now he's dead. I met him just before he died several years ago on the street. He looked like he was suffering; losing his balance as he wobbled by. I never said a word to him, nor him to me. His physical condition told all and I dared not mock him.

But immediately after I had slept with him I had truly horrible vaginal thrush, which became uncontrollable, covered with red blisters. Oh! The pain from itching! I knew, immediately, that it was him. I called Patience, who did an HIV blood test which came back HIV negative. However she said to me, "Sis Faith, we will only be certain after another test in three months."

So together with a woman doctor who was also a volunteer at Ikhaya Lobomi, a gynaecologist, Patience tried to manage this infection. Not every prescribed medication would work immediately, which meant that, at night, while people were preparing to sleep, the itch would come back in an unforgiving manner.

I would yank and pull my hair, sit in a cold bath and scratch, while crying. I had someone in hand always willing to help and I would phone him. I remember that late one night, I had, all alone oblivious to the danger I was putting myself in as a woman, walked to the police station to call him. When he got to me we drove to the doctor's house. Without a hint of being upset or offended, the doctor welcomed us into her home.

That night she gave me beeswax-based medication. It became a breakthrough salve when I applied it. So that infection was overcome. While this was all happening, I had just been employed on contract by SABC Radio to specially report on events taking place prior, during and after, the 2004 local elections.

This was the highlight of my media career. During this contractual employment, another infection hit me, and this one, right on my face. It was dermatitis: like thousands of black ants crawling furiously all over my face. And I was scared to scratch my face – you know how egotistical we women are when it comes to our faces.

I endured this bad itch without scratching my face. I was scared of scaring it so I would just pat it all over with the palms of my hands. Patience said another HIV test was due. And it came back positive. Right then I had no time to emotionally deal with the news; I was concerned about my face. I remember thinking that at least my SABC contract was for radio and not television, so the people who heard my voice did not know my predicament. I also remember saying to God, how can He allow this infection to be in my face because as much as I was HIV positive, I was still a woman and that my face meant a lot to me.

The way I had excelled in my job at the SABC, everyone was gunning for me to become fully employed but the gun had stopped with a certain male official.

Again, as much as it was a man who did not want to help me advance in my career, and as it was a man who had deliberately infected me with HIV, it was also a man who provided constant emotional, physical, mental and financial support: my ex. To him I was still intelligent, mentally challenging, funny and sexy - as well as a lot of headache at times. I gave him flak.

So what is the issue? Incidences of daily infections for youth in their twenties is about eight per cent. In South Africa, experts say over 17,000 people die every single day from Aids. Currently, there are six million people living with HIV. The infection rate amongst pregnant women has risen from 29.4 per cent last year to 30 per cent this year.

In South Africa women have no ownership, or rights, over their vaginas. I can bet that most of the six million living with HIV are women, from the working class, from poor communities, or unemployed. The reason why I say that I can bet the gender primarily infected and impacted with HIV in South Africa are females is because poor and unemployed women - and even some from the working class - have no ownership, or rights, over their vaginas (and I can be polite and say reproductive organs – but I won't). This is so because of their financial dependency on men.

The excellent research results from a handful of African organisations and universities integrated as the EU-Africa project: CoBaSys (Community Health Systems for HIV Treatment) says much of the same: the highest rates of infection come from women stuck in financially dependent relationships where the only right is the right of the man. Women without income, fighting for daily bread, turn to risky sex work. Women caught in poverty traps with little opportunity for water and waste sanitation, living in close quarters with too many people, are easily re-infected. Women afraid of violence and abuse, stigmatization, being labelled adulterous and other similar vicious outcomes, like abandonment, may be too frightened or intimidated to pursue testing and treatment. The extra costs - $2 or more - to travel to clinics that are based so far away make it impossible. If they try it becomes dangerous for their lives, and costly for the businesses they leave behind, which feed their children. Women, the report says, are always hit hardest, and they explain the reasons why.

I can go on and say every six minutes a woman dies in South Africa at the hands of a man she has been intimate with – whether a husband, the father of her child or a lover. I can say according to the statistics, every few minutes a woman is beaten up and raped in South Africa - but then we know that the statistics include only reported cases, not those that were kept quiet. Which means that if we had to report all the rape cases and the cases of violence against women, we will no longer be repeating that after every few minutes a woman is either raped or beaten in South Africa. We would be saying, rather, that there is no time at all where a woman is not raped, beaten, violated emotionally and psychologically. We will not need 16 days of activism to raise awareness against this scourge – we will speak about it every day because it happens every hour, every minute and every second even as I speak.

Poor and unemployed women, women from the working class and to some extent women from the middle class, have been forced by men to forfeit their reproductive rights in issues pertaining to sex and protection from HIV. Women who are dependent on men for their livelihood are forced not to use protection from STDs and HIV infection. Married women have to sleep with cheating husbands without condoms, knowing that they have been unfaithful with other women, knowing they did not use protection during sexual encounters with those women.

Friends of mine who are sex workers say that married men especially from the middle class and the upper classes up their prices when they want to have sex with them without a condom. Most of my sex worker friends are drug addicts and are only in the street to get money for another fix and sometimes would accept such proposals knowing that more money means going to the street less to sell one's body to get high.

Unemployed women depending on their partners can hardly negotiate the using of protection because they get told, ‘I pay the rent, I buy the food and your clothes, and I take care not just only of you but also of your children’. That is why it is not so hard to understand that these women who depend on their lovers for their livelihoods sometimes sacrifice their daughters' reproductive rights at the altar of sexual abuse by their lovers and these cases go unreported, again because of financial dependency.

Some women make the mistake of patting men on their backs by saying, ‘He's such a good man because he does not abuse’ – but there shouldn't be patting on their backs at all because there shouldn't be a scenario of some abuse.

As one man on a radio station stated a few weeks ago, to people who were being abused, 'Silence increases Violence'. I would like that to be every individual's thought for the day.

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*This article was first published by The Africa Report
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The back story to CIDA-mining partnerships

Catherine Coumans

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79812

cc E W AMining companies' branding of themselves as bringers of development needs to be critically examined against the burgeoning 'resource curse' literature that links mining to deepening national impoverishment in mining-dependent developing countries

The Canadian International Development Agency's funding of Corporate Social Responsibility projects mostly near mine sites is intended to help Canadian mining companies compete for access to lucrative ore bodies in developing countries in the face of increasing local opposition to mining.

As I write this, thousands of Cajamarcans in Peru are protesting Newmont Mining Corp.'s proposed Conga mine that will destroy four lakes they depend on for their water supplies and livelihoods.

Last month an estimated 10,000 people marched at the governor's office in La Rioja, Argentina calling for the cancellation of Osisko's gold mine agreement citing fears that the water they need for their world-class wines, olives, and nuts would be depleted and polluted.

There are at least 10 provincial and 32 municipal moratoriums on large-scale mining in the Philippines leading to a resolution tabled in the House of Representatives in 2010 calling for a moratorium on large-scale mining in the country as a whole, noting that local government units "are not convinced of the claimed development benefits of mining" (House Resolution No. 528).

In Latin America, communities are increasingly carrying out consultas, or referendums, to demonstrate their collective opposition to mining, invariably citing the need to protect the natural resources they depend on for their food security and future development.

Community-level opposition to mining, often by poor and marginal peoples at great cost to themselves, is increasingly taking place before a mine has received its permits, as even remote communities have become aware of the severe and long-term risks mining poses. Local-level opposition and conflict is a serious problem for mining companies seeking to secure stable access to ore bodies. The industry recognizes this when it speaks of needing to secure a "social licence to operate."

CONFLICT COMES HOME

In Canada, encounters between parliamentarians and people who travelled from afar to relate the harm they suffered as a result of Canadian mining operations led to a groundbreaking parliamentary report in 2005 recommending that the Canadian government "establish clear legal norms in Canada to ensure that Canadian companies and residents are held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies." This report led to government-mandated Corporate Social Responsibility Roundtables on the extractive sector in 2006 and a greatly increased awareness among Canadians of the negative impacts associated with mining in developing countries.

As a participant in the multi-stakeholder advisory group of the CSR Roundtables I heard mining industry participants repeatedly decry the reputational damage the industry was suffering as a result of heightened attention in Canada on the industry's problems overseas. I also heard industry pleas for greater support from the Canadian government to ensure continued competitive advantage for Canadian mining companies operating globally.

In particular, industry participants asked for unprecedented support from CIDA directly at mine sites where companies often face fierce community opposition. The industry was strongly opposed to any mandatory accountability measures by the Canadian government that would enforce better social and environmental performance overseas.

JOINING FORCES

As the final report of the CSR Roundtables was presented to the Canadian government in 2007, industry leaders, disgruntled with the consensus recommendations of the report, initiated closed-door meetings with large development NGOs, creating what was to be called the Devonshire Initiative. I learned that as the Devonshire Initiative, mining and development NGO executives jointly lobbied CIDA to 'partner' with them on mine site CSR projects. It wasn't until 2009 when the Canadian government issued its response to the CSR Roundtable report, called "Building the Canadian Advantage," that CIDA was officially given the policy cover the agency needed to enter into such partnerships—policy cover that was not intended by the CSR Roundtable report.

It is not the least surprising that Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of Canada, recently wrote a piece that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen titled "CIDA changes long overdue." Nor is it particularly surprising that CIDA, as ever a tool of foreign policy objectives of the government of the day, is responding to direct appeals from the industry by channelling taxpayer dollars to mining companies to subsidize their CSR projects mainly near mine sites.

CIDA is spending $26.7 million to support three pilot projects that Canadian NGOs Plan Canada, World University Service of Canada, and World Vision Canada are running in partnership with IAMGOLD, Rio Tinto Alcan, and Barrick Gold, respectively. The projects involve skills training and capacity-building for local leaders mostly near mine sites.

Subsidizing the CSR projects of well-endowed multinationals is an irresponsible use of public funds by CIDA, particularly as these CSR projects mask rather than address the serious local- and national-level development deficits caused by mining.

If the Canadian government were interested in addressing the negative impacts of mining on development it would have implemented the recommendations of the parliamentary report of 2005 and the CSR Roundtables of 2007.

For the first time, top executives of World Vision, World University Service of Canada, and Plan Canada last week published their collective view on their current partnerships with mining companies in the Globe and Mail. In an opinion piece these Devonshire Initiative NGOs advance the industry's own message that mining companies are "already significant development actors in their own right."

Mining companies' branding of themselves as bringers of development needs to be critically examined against the burgeoning 'resource curse' literature that links mining to deepening national impoverishment in mining-dependent developing countries (through loss of competitiveness, loss of development of other economic sectors, and unequal distribution of benefits associated with mineral wealth, for instance) and against the growing global local-level opposition to mining.

The Devonshire Initiative NGOs further justify their partnerships on the basis that mining is "at the heart of a developing country's own economic development plans," showing no awareness of the fact that the industry itself, as I have documented elsewhere, through the International Council on Mining and Metals, promoted for the inclusion of mining in the poverty reduction strategies of mineral-rich developing countries.

Finally, the NGO executives note that "sitting on the sideline is not an option." Here we can agree. These NGOs played no role in attempts by parliamentarians and civil society organizations to develop home state accountability mechanisms to ensure high environmental and social standards for the operations of Canadian mining companies overseas. Their support for this ongoing effort would be welcomed.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Catherine Coumans is the research co-ordinator and Asia Pacific program co-ordinator for MiningWatch Canada. She is the author of Whose Development? Mining, Local Resistance, and Development Agendas.
* This article was first published by embassymag.ca.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Why I don’t want to visit the US and UK

An open letter to the United States government and British government

LI Anshan

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79761

cc WikimediaFinger-printing in the visa application process for visitors to the US and UK concerns millions of people. One Chinese academic has decided not to visit the countries in protest at 'this uncivilised measure'.

My name is LI Anshan and I am a professor of history at the Center for African Studies, School of International Studies at Peking University. I have visited the US and UK several times and exchanged ideas frequently with colleagues of both countries. Yet I decided not to visit the US and UK anymore when finger-printing was adopted as a measure for visa application purposes.

I called this the ‘barbarianization of civilization’, since both the US and UK are regarded as two great civilized countries, yet the measure of finger-printing is recognised as a barbarian one. More than 100 years ago, the Asian community, both Indians and Chinese, protested in South Africa (Transvaal) against the measure of ‘compulsory taking of finger-prints’ in the process of re-registration in 1907. The reason for their protest was that in their societies the ‘only people compelled to give fingerprints were illiterates and criminals’. The world famous non-violent humanitarian Gandhi led the Indian community while the Chinese community had its own leader. The two communities united and waged a brave fight against this uncivilised measure.

One Chinese immigrant named Chow Kwai For ‘committed suicide for conscience sake’ during the protest movement. Later, a monument was set up in Braamfontein cemetery, Johannesburg, to memorize him (Melanie Yap and Dianne Leong Man，’Colour, Confusion and Concessions, The History of Chinese in South Africa’, pp.147-149, LI Anshan, ‘A Hisotory of Chinese Overseas in Africa’, pp.199-202).

A barbarian measure of a century ago is now re-adopted in the US and UK, the two most ‘civilised countries’. It is really ironic. What is more, if a country regards the visitor as suspect and a potential enemy, the visitor may become its enemy someday. Is it a hard power or soft power? I don't know. In recent years, I have turned down a few offers from various institutions and universities in the US and UK, including the invitation of last year from Sir John Holmes, the director of The Ditchley Foundation in the UK and Mr. Nathan Harpainter, the intern/Freeman Chair in China Studies Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the US. The finger-printing is really humiliating and a lot of my friends who visited the two countries have voiced their grievances, and some share my view or adopted the same action as mine.

The director in charge of China affairs at the Soros Foundation, an organisation which is also opposed to this measure, visited my office several years ago. He agreed with my idea and suggested that I should write an article to express my views. My answer at the time was that the issue was related to the internal affairs of the US and I should not interfere with this. Recently, I received another invitation from Oxford University’s China-Africa Network (OUCAN) for a conference, ‘China as a Development Aid Actor: Rethinking Development Assistance and its Implications for Africa and the West’, which will be held on 14 March in the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Oxford. As usual, I thanked them for the generous invitation but politely declined the offer.

My Oxford University colleague, although respecting my decision, kindly advised that I should write an article clearly laying out my views and objections, since ‘this is clearly not just Anglo-Saxon internal affairs but an issue that concerns millions of people who, since the start of the Global War on Terror, have seen their freedoms dramatically curtailed and have gone from being seen as visitors to possible suspects. A powerful testimony from a senior academic like yourself might help stir up much-needed debate on the difficult trade-offs between security, dignity and hospitality.’ I think he is right and thus decided to write this letter to stir up the debate.

I do appreciate various US and UK institutions for their generous invitations and really want to exchange ideas with people from academia, yet I can’t endure (at least for the present) the increasing inhuman measures which go against human conscience. My resistance carries no nationalistic feeling but expresses my humanistic caring, since I really don’t want to see human society progress in the wrong direction. If the Chinese government were to one day use finger-printing as a measure in the application for a visa, I would also protest. Since this matter concerns millions of people who are willing to visit your countries yet have to experience a kind of humiliation during the visa application process, I do hope you may think of other measures and thus coordinate security, dignity and hospitality harmoniously.

Best regards,

LI Anshan
Professor, Peking University
Center for African Studies
School of International Studies
Peking University

Rigging the Rules: unfair land deals in South Sudan

Nickolas Johnson

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79816

cc E PAccording to a recent report by the Oakland Institute, 'Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa: South Sudan', a large influx of one-sided foreign investment has flooded into South Sudan. These unfair land deals undermine the land rights of rural communities, increase food insecurity, further entrench poverty, and might result in skewed development patterns in South Sudan. One case studied by the report involves an Egyptian equity firm, Citadel Capital.

Foreign investors have increased investment in South Sudan since 2005 and the ability to obtain one-sided agreements through local power brokers has caused conflicts. Just from 2007 to the end of 2010, private interests sought or secured more than eight percent of South Sudan’s total land area. In order to ease growing tensions, in September 2011, President Salva Kiir Mayardit promised to review lease agreements signed during the interim period as well as to pass new procurement legislation to regulate future land deals.

In 2009, Citadel Capital obtained a 25-year lease to 105,000 ha of land in Gwit and Pariang counties of Unity State in South Sudan through a portfolio company, Concord Agriculture. Concord estimates that there are about five villages in the project area with a total population of approximately 1,250 people, not including Fellata pastoralists from across the border in Sudan who pass through the area on a seasonal basis. Concord reports that the purpose of the investment is to grow maize and sorghum for sale in primarily local markets.

GROUND REALITY

Although Concord’s leasehold is entirely on community-owned land, the company signed its lease agreement directly with the state government with no lease payments for the community landowners or any other form of direct community benefit. Additionally, Concord has disregarded community requests for employment opportunities, preferring to outsource labour from other countries in Africa.

Furthermore, the 2009 Land Act requires for the first time that companies must conduct environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) prior to land allocation. When asked if Concord had conducted ESIAs, the Unity State governor asserted that the company had brought in an expert from the World Bank to conduct the studies. According to CEO of Concord Agriculture, Peter Schuurs, however, Concord did not conduct any assessment of likely impacts. ‘Since the funders were funding the start-up out of their own pocket, there was no need for a detailed ESIA, nor did the government or the agreement require it,’ Schuurs reasoned.

Disregarding the need for impact assessments and mitigation plan can sharply increase the risk of negative impacts on host communities.

ONE-SIDED INVESTMENT

In a conversation with the Oakland Institute researchers, Schuurs stated that the agreement ‘is strongly tilted in favour of the lessee.’ He cited that Concord is exempt from taxes on machinery, agricultural imports, and profits for the first 10 years. Concord is also permitted unlimited capital repatriation.

Although Concord asserts that it will prioritize sale of its produce in local markets in the short to medium term, its clear priority is to make money. With no export restrictions within the investment agreement, Concord is free to export as much as they would like even in times of increased food insecurity in the country. Also as reported to the Oakland Institute, the company is hoping to secure a contract for feeding the South Sudan Liberation Army.

To achieve food security, Schuurs and Unity Governor, Taban Deng, believe that large-scale industrial agriculture projects (such as that of Concord) are the answer, as opposed to smallholder farming and pastoralism in Unity State. This skepticism is due to the widely held misconception that pastoralists are solely concerned with their cattle. While agriculture is not as central to pastoralist communities as with agriculturalist communities, family farms that pastoralist communities maintain with their cattle are crucial to local food security.

Schuurs maintains that Concord will take further steps in being a responsible investor, but acknowledges that any steps taken are not binding: ‘I don’t want us to be seen as money grabbing, land grabbing thieves. But none of [these obligations are] in the investment agreement.’ This has created an agreement void of any formal community benefit and has left the possibility of future steps to be taken only through informal discussions with the Unity State government.

CARTE BLANCHE TREATMENT

Because Citadel has funded the Concord project without outside investment, it intends to scale down its interest in the company over time. According to Deng, Citadel has explored having the Bank of South Sudan (BoSS) provide a guaranty for Concord to pursue a loan or outside investors to compensate for the loss of the capital from Citadel. If Concord were to default on a loan guaranteed by the BoSS, then the government would be required to pay back the loan for Citadel. For a project that has yet to prove itself economically viable, it is shocking to see how far the government is willing to go in order to facilitate foreign investment in South Sudan.

UNFULFILLED PROMISES

Both Schuurs and Deng claim that Concord maintains a good relationship with the local community. The locals however complain about lack of employment opportunities and Concord’s preference for migrant labourers from Southern Africa. According to Schuurs, the company employs 15 to 20 local people as casual laborers and nine permanent staff.

In addition to employment, Concord claims to provide numerous social services including a health clinic, horticultural training, and technology transfers. The residents, however, reported to the Oakland Institute that the health clinic is not functional and with a largely absent nurse. Locals further report that agricultural training, although promised, has not yet been implemented by Concord.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Nickolas Johnson, 2012 Intern Scholar at the Oakland Institute (OI), is majoring in Political Science at San Francisco State University. This backgrounder on Concord Agriculture in South Sudan is based on OI’s project, Understanding Land Investment Deals in Africa: Country Report South Sudan.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

There is need for a new ethics and language to discuss identity

Tom Odhiambo

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79817

cc Sacks08Stereotyping can become the only reference point or source of knowledge about the other people. The prejudice we hold against someone else can end up limiting our ability to know more about the stranger.

The question ‘Where Do You Come From’ is never far from the introductions involving people who are strangers to each other. It is often an innocent statement; a search for an entry point into the social life that the meeting between the people will inaugurate; some kind of ‘I don’t know you, you don’t know me, so let’s set the agenda by stating our interests in this meeting.’ But these days, in many parts of the world, the answer to this question can be very dangerous. Revealing your identity can easily translate into a life versus death struggle.

Very often, throughout recent history, women and men have exploited differences to dehumanize others. Belonging to a different race or ethnicity or socio-economic; or being of a different religious or political conviction; or being originally from ‘elsewhere’ has always provided the identity tag that often triggers unimaginable consequences for those deemed different from the mainstream, the majority, or those in power. Prejudice and intolerance against those whose identity is different from the group that is interested in and defining that ‘other’ identity are common occurrences.

The marking of those who are different disguises itself as simple ethnic, racial or religious identification but which can quickly be used to profile the whole society. The kind of intolerance and violence that many Kenyans suffered in the wake of the disputed presidential elections in December 2007 may have surprised many Kenyans; although it surely shouldn’t have. Throughout our history as a country, Kenyans have always enjoyed a good laugh when a joke is made against members of another tribe. Jokes about Luos, Luhyas, Kikuyus, Waswahilis, Indians/Asians, Arabs or Europeans (Caucasians) abound in this country. It is a national pastime to know the latest joke about the thieving habits of a certain community, or the extravagance of another, or the meanness of another, etc. We never just stop for a moment to examine the hidden intentions of these jokes.

The stereotyping can, in the long run, become the only reference point or source of knowledge about the other people. In other words, the prejudice we hold against someone else can end up limiting our ability to know more about the stranger. Because we assume that members of tribe A or race B are secretive or manipulative, respectively, we see no reason why we should interact with them, know their language or appreciate what makes them different from us. We forget that just as they appear ‘different’ to us, we are equally ‘different’ in their eyes!

How many times do we casually stand, stare or listen and wonder at how someone else is dressed (horrified that she or he could actually dress so differently from us)? Have you ever called someone else’s language ‘incomprehensible chatter’? Did you ever go to a dinner and get ‘horrified’ at what ‘those’ people were eating? These emotions and reactions are probably just right. But it is the way they constitute the archive to which we go back now and then in order to describe others (‘ooh, those people who walk naked’; ‘no, the Chinese speak an unintelligible language’; or ‘how can someone eat caterpillars?’) that may turn mere annoyance or irritation into something to use to hate others.

Many scholars on the subject of racism have argued that prejudice and the increase in intolerance of immigrants, visitors or strangers even as the world is changing in many ways is due to fear of the unknown. Arjun Appadurai has recently argued that the fear of those who we cannot easily relate to and who are generally small in number (in relation to the rest) but are likely to be successful (whichever way you define success) is a defining factor of intolerance in the world today (Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger, 2006). Intolerance of a few can easily turn into killings like it happened in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, northern Uganda or Palestine. Genocide is real and it happens because of fairly small doses of fear and anger which overwhelm the capacity to see ourselves in the shared humanity with the others.

Ethnicity, race and religious differences today account for much of the polarization of identities and the fracturing of communities across the world. As people travel and information flows to the far corners of the world, in a time less than a second and to billions of people, ignorance of difference, ironically, spreads too. Democracy and globalization are touted as liberating but they have not helped the American right (and really many others) to understand that hundreds of millions of Muslims all over the world are not ‘potential killers.’ The captain of England’s national team is being accused of racist slurs uttered in public. Palestinians continue to be strangers in their own land. Here in Kenya thousands of families live in destitution whilst the land from which they formerly earned a living lies idle because their neighbours forcibly removed them from it. Yet Kenya is a democratic state, with a new constitution that guarantees the freedom to live and earn a living anywhere within its territory.

Despite, or even in spite of, state claims to the contrary, Muslims or people with Somali-like features are being subjected to extra ‘scrutiny’, as they supposedly pose a security threat. I have heard relatively educated, liberal-minded and supposed defenders of human rights argue that if it is necessary to subject Somalis (even Kenyan Somalis) to security checks, then let it be. Their reason is: you can never be sure. When challenged to explain this statement such individuals resort to mumbling incomprehensible details about innocent-looking suicide bombers.

We have conveniently forgotten that a few years ago the same security measures that we are allowing agents of the state to take against Somalis caused much suffering and deaths of Kenyans from all walks of life because the state then deemed anybody opposed to its policies as a saboteur. How can Somalis whose ancestry is in this country, who may have no idea where Baidoa, Mogadishu or Kismayu is, who have served this country like many other Kenyans, who pay their taxes, or who swear their loyalty to the nation of Kenya suddenly become ‘like their cousins?’ How else would such Kenyans affirm their Kenyanness? Or rather, should they even be interested anymore in claiming their citizenship?

These questions are not new in this country. In fact they are questions that many communities that straddle country borders live with everyday. But they are pertinent to ask because they highlight how bigoted the many can be when relating to the few. The category of the few is a very political one. Are people of Asian descent in Kenya a minority or not? And if they are, in what sense are they? If we use the term commonly used in Kenya, Indians are a minority demographically. But they are a fair number in the business world. They control a large chunk of the Kenyan economy. For that many Kenyans like them, because they offer a livelihood. But because when compared to Black Africans they become a minority, many Kenyans willingly see Indians in a different light; a very prejudiced colour.

This is why stories abound of how many Indian families go on ‘holiday’ abroad when general elections are in the offing. Some accounts claim that rich Kenyans from the other races too ‘travel abroad’ around election time. This action underlines the ambiguity of the multiple identities that many Kenyans live with. Modernity has saddled millions of people with different forms of identification, many of which can’t be easily reconciled. Probably there is never a need to merge these identities because in many cases one only needs a few to transact social life every day. But the demands of an often wildly transforming life in which the television, the internet, the mobile telephone, or air travel seem to have imposed on humankind a tougher assignment of how to deal with the different refractions of our, and others’, identities.

What do we do when someone we thought we knew so well turns out to be an assassin or a religious fanatic calling for the deaths of those with different religious beliefs? How should we react when at the airport we are asked to ‘step aside’, for extra security checks, simply because we are wearing a hijab or because one’s skin colour is too dark or because one has an accent? Should we get angry and swear to pay back when back at home or whenever opportunity to reciprocate in such bigotry presents itself?

Can the prayers of those who preach cosmopolitanism like Kwame Anthony Appiah (see Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, 2007) and those who preached multiculturalism before really be answered in the modern world? Isn’t today’s world too fractured, too individuated or too beholden to the market and consumption to really care about how we treat each other? Is it possible to ever remain loyal to one identity these days when, to use a religious term, temptations abound? But the flipside question is: can we really reject some of our primary identities? Can I dump my Luo identity when it is cast in my surname? Can we even start to ponder discarding our Kenyanness, however elusive and illusive it might be. What do we do with the simulacrum of the village that globalization presents to us? Probably Appiah is right: we need a new ethics and a new language with which to begin ‘seeing’ others as belonging to the human race again, if we intend to start a conversation on identity in the 21st century.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Tom Odhiambo is a senior lecturer in literature at the University of Nairobi.
* This article was first published by Awaaz Magazine.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Celebrating Citizenship Bills?

Adam Hussein Adam

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79819

cc I H HIn a multi racial society like Kenya is it really necessary to collect data on one’s tribal background? Has such data ever helped the country? No! Those without recognized tribes or descent have always had problems proving their right to citizenship.

‘It’s celebration time’, declared the Minister for State for Immigration and Registration upon receipt of five draft Bills on citizenship and related provisions of Kenya’s Constitution 2010. By 15 July, 2011 the jubilation was even infectious among a few Civil Society Organisations (CSO) that had been frustrated tracking the work of a Task Force entrusted with the development of the citizenship Bills. There had been an open mistrust between the CSOs and the Task Force which the Minister gazetted on 20 December, 2010. The Task Force commenced work in January 2011 and delivered the five draft laws by mid July 2011.

Two Bills, the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Bill, 2011 and the Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service Bill, 2011 are among the many that were enacted into law by 27 August thereby operationalising Chapter 3 of the Constitution on Citizenship. The remaining three drafts Bills: namely the Identification and Registration of Kenya Citizens Bill, 2011; the Births and Deaths Registration Bill, 2011; and the Kenya Refugee Bill, 2011; are pending and await deliberation by Cabinet and Parliament. Indeed, when all the citizenship laws are in place and have achieved their intended goals, there should be even greater celebration.

THE GAINS IN THE CITIZENSHIP LAWS

Giving life to Chapter 3 of Kenya’s Constitution 2010 within the specified time is positive, in addition to other gains. Despite the lack of resources, the Task Force conducted an extensive consultation responding well to its Constitutional obligation under Chapter 3, and to its terms of reference. It came up with a Bill that legislates on dual citizenship, foundlings, refugees and the stateless population in Kenya. It set limits on the claiming of Kenyan citizenship by birth on Kenyan descents born outside the country. While urging both the Constitutional Implementing Commission (CIC) and the Cabinet to adopt the draft Bills, the Minister pointed out that the Bills will address long standing problems surrounding citizenship such as statelessness (the lack of legal recognition) and discrimination.

In Kenya citizenship has been closely associated with discrimination, mainly on gender, ethnicity and race. Both constitutions proscribe discrimination but the former constitution granted citizenship based on paternal descent, thus creating gender discrimination. In the 2010 constitution women can confer citizenship on their children or spouses. The five Bills therefore have had one aim which is to protect these constitutional gains. However, ethnic and racial prejudices are embedded in our social practices making it much more difficult to eradicate.

For its part, statelessness in Kenya arises from a combination of factors. First, it is historical and relates to state succession. The Independence Constitution defined Kenyans by birth (automatic) as those who were born in Kenya or were of Kenyan descent. Any person born in Kenya at, or prior to, independence was deemed a Kenya citizen if at least one parent of such a person was a British protected person. Section 89 of the Independence Constitution also provides that any person born in Kenya after 11 December, 1963 will be a Kenyan citizen if at least one of the parents was a Kenyan citizen. In addition, that Constitution also provided for people with citizenship of a Commonwealth country to register, while those with habitual residency and family or business ties could naturalize.

Second, rather than Kenya determining who was/were British protected people as stated in the Independent Constitution, Kenya focused on tribes and descent to determine who automatic citizens were. This resulted in the discrimination of migrants. Should ‘tribe’ be the key factor for Kenyan citizenship today? This has always been a major question. Since independence, the Kenya Government has chosen not to reach out to several groups which it regarded as migrants to explain their citizenship status. Instead, it focused on registration of persons on ethnic grounds. Since independence the Government has created obstacles in accessing Identity Cards to a number of migrant communities such as Nubians, Makonde, Kenyan Somalis, South Asians, and Kenyan Arabs, among others. People of mixed race also find it difficult to claim citizenship, or access citizenship-related documents. Ethnic, racial and administrative practices relating to nationality documents have been the leading causes of statelessness. The Citizenship and Immigration Law, 2011 however, adequately offers ways to resolve statelessness in all generations of migrants and people historically not recognized as Kenyans.

THE CHALLENGES WITH THE BILLS

In Kenya, as in many African states, the challenge of creating a citizen based nation remains a challenge despite many years of self rule. At independence the citizenship laws in Kenya defined a citizen as one born in the country and to Kenyan parents. In practice however automatic citizenship became a subject of ethnic identity. Those born of the so-called 42 ethnic groups became automatic Kenyans. Those without such an affiliation either assimilate or have had to constantly prove their Kenyan-ness – a category which is neither defined nor provable.

Who is a Kenyan and what makes one a Kenyan? None of the five Bills defines a Kenyan citizen. The citizenship and immigration Bills refer to provisions of the Constitution which has not defined who is a Kenyan. Essentially, there is no clear definition of who a Kenya is. Is ones tribe the proof of Kenyanness? What about race? What happens to foundling that the Constitution confer citizenship without reference to their parents? In these times of war, xenophobic tendencies and regional balance in public sector these questions assumes even bigger significance but remain unanswered.

The lack of outright definition of who is a Kenyan perhaps indicates the challenges that come with a definition in a multi-racial, multi-ethnic and secular but with religious mindset state. In other jurisdictions in the continent of Africa, citizenship has been defined in a narrow nomenclature such as ethnicity and this has led to many conflicts. Sierra Leone citizenship is based on Negro-descent; in Uganda citizenship is based on recognized ethnic groups. The longest civil war in the former Sudan was partly the outcome of Sudan being defined as an Arab state – and so de facto negating the right of black Africans to acquire citizenship. Like pouring new wine in an old skin; the challenge facing Kenya’s progressive citizenship regime is not just a problem of creating laws, but more so that of changing practices and attitudes.

The burden to prove one’s nationality in Kenya has, and continues to be, on the applicant. The draft Identification and Registration of Kenya Citizens Bill, 2011 maintains the practice and also factors in ‘tribe’ as an element for determining and registering a citizen. Being born in Kenya does not make one an automatic citizen because to possess a Kenyan birth certificate is not a proof of citizenship. For a Kenyan, in the absence of outright citizenship documents, one can only establish citizenship through descent.

There is an emerging practice on regional balancing in state jobs. The main criteria used are one’s ethnicity or birth place as stated in one’s Identity Card. Such descriptions often reflect one’s parents’ particulars not necessarily where a citizen resides or earns his/her livelihood. Many people acquire ID cards at the age of eighteen when they are students; but only later attain a fixed geographical identity. In an article ‘Who’s County? The Challenge of County Citizenship’ - Part of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission’s Ethnic and Race dialogue in Kenya - Joyce Nyairo decries Kenya’s obsession with ethnic and regional identity. She points out that such practices are counter productive to national cohesion because they create a notion of fixed identities. In the new dispensation of devolution it creates the concept that counties are mono-ethnic, which is not true. Identity and internal migration being fluid, she concludes that an identity is what one becomes, not what one was. Thus, demanding that people be identified by their tribe and/or fixed region of birth undermines the very integration that Kenya so badly needs. She further emphasised the emergence of a new culture that is urban; a collective of the best of what can be regarded as ‘Kenyan’ and which has no reference to tribe. Thus, embracing such a culture may be a way of curbing discrimination and ethnic violence in the process of establishing county governments.

In a multi racial society like Kenya is it really necessary to collect data on one’s tribal background? Has such data ever helped the country? No! Hence those without recognized tribes or descent have always had problems proving their right to Kenyan citizenship. For instance, in the course of Kenya’s War against the Al-Shabaab in Somalia; Kenyans of Somali descent have to provide evidence of their nationality. The ID card is one such documentary evidence. But in a community without documents that often must prove its Kenyan affiliation, and sometimes justify even its physical presence, many of its members become victims of the xenophobia from state authorities. Thus, the continuing reference to ‘descent’ and ‘tribe’ in determining the citizenship of people born within Kenya is a relic of our colonial past whereby racial and ethnic discrimination and statelessness is manifested. Orphaned children over the age of eight not having proof of parental documents may become the next stateless population.

MISPLACED OPTIMISM

It is not misplaced to celebrate progress toward a clear right to citizenship in Kenya. Lately, Kenyans have been privy to several happy and proud happenings such as the Constitutional promulgation, the Brand Kenya Initiative, the Kenyans for Kenya campaign to save the hungry in Northern Kenya; among others. Most of these initiatives are a correction of errors we have made in our past. The long term goals of building a nation state; developing a cohesive society based on equality; and forging a citizenry that socializes on the basis of its legal identity are processes which will remain a challenge if we continue basing our nationality on our ethnicity.

As a mosaic of cultures, faiths and populations, Kenya is a country of migrants – the only difference being the point and time of entry. Focusing on descent and tribe to determine citizenship is retrogressive and exclusionary; it has created second class citizens and stateless populations, and endangered our integration as one nation. However, by restoring citizenship as the supreme bond between the people and the state in Kenya, the country can be taken to a higher level of cohesion and integration – we surely then will celebrate even more enthusiastically.

Note: Growing up in Kenya, Adam Hussein Adam received several attractive offers: a place on the national rugby team, a scholarship to study in New Zealand or work for international organisations in the Middle East and Somalia. He was unable to realise any of his dreams for one simple reason: he could not get a passport.
Adam is a Nubian, whose ancestors were brought to Kenya from Sudan by the British during their scramble for empire in the late 19th century.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Hussein Adam is an equality rights champion who has focused his work on cultural communication, diversity and inclusion; and Earth Jurisprudence. He is the current Citizenship Statelessness Program Coordinator at the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa. He can be contacted at [email=ahussein@osiea.org[/email].
* This article was first published by Awaaz Magazine.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

The fabric of our other lives

Indian African quilts at the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco

R. Benedito Ferrao

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/79818

cc WikipediaThe exhibit provides the opportunity to rethink Afro-Indian diasporic cultural heritage through the symbolic quilting together of these identities and their markers in the patchwork fabric.

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) display titled: ‘Soulful Stitching: Patchwork Quilts by Africans (Siddis) in India’ was historic for many reasons. Held between 15 July and 25 September, 2011, it was billed as the first exhibition of quilts, known as kawandi, by Siddis outside India. Nonetheless, the legacy of Siddis, who are South Asians of African descent, is little known in the subcontinent itself. In bringing kawandi to an international audience, the exhibit provides the opportunity to rethink Afro-Indian diasporic cultural heritage through the symbolic quilting together of these identities and their markers in the patchwork fabric.

Curated by Dr. Henry J. Dewal, Professor of African and African Diaspora Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Dr. Sarah K. Khan, Director of the Tasting Cultures Foundation, New York, the collection comprised of 32 quilts by members of Karnataka’s Siddi Women’s Quilting Cooperative, a non-profit. Siddis are as widespread as Balochistan, Pakistan and Junagadh, Gujarat. The collection at MoAD, however, came specifically from descendants of Africans enslaved by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century and brought to Goa. Fleeing most notably during the Inquisition (1560-1812), the runaway slaves set up free communities in nearby Karnataka which still exist.

Goa’s relationship with Africa is generally associated with the British Empire. During its colonization by Portugal, Goa’s occupational scope was limited. As a result, Goans migrated from India Portuguesa to British India and, from there, to other colonies. British East Africa became a primary destination.

Selma Carvalho’s Into the Diaspora Wilderness (2010) notes that Goans ‘were unfailingly described by British Colonial officers as the back bone of the civil service ...’. Yet, within the colonial multiculturality of early twentieth century East Africa, the author points out that ‘[the] British relationship with Goans was as ambivalent as it was evolutionary. They subjected them to all the prejudice they felt towards non-White populations’. Even in their disdain, Carvalho argues, the British could not do without the Goans who ‘enjoyed their status as a distinct nationality in East Africa. It was almost a relief not to be called ‘bloody Indians’ or ‘coolies’. The special status Goans ‘enjoyed’ as second class citizens in East Africa, assumes a monolithically constructed ethnic group, with little said about their internal class and caste distinctions. The hardships of being displaced from their homeland as voluntary migrants, for the most part, were alleviated by the reputation accorded them. Carvalho represents these impressions of Goan East African identity as desirable, negating the community’s participation in colonial design, even as they were victims of it. The reprieve of not being ‘bloody Indians,’ it might be surmised, was a far second to not being considered the same as Africans. Carvalho concedes: ‘Whether any East African Goan ever shed a tear for the social unrest, poverty and turmoil of indigenous Africans is difficult to say.’ Into the Diaspora Wilderness indicates the pervasive and inherent racism of colonial projects, which even embittered the relationship within and between colonized groups.

Where Goans voluntarily took up employment in Africa under the British, Africans were enslaved and brought against their will by the Portuguese to Goa in the Early Modern period. Not entirely by coincidence, the East African coast was the destination for one of the aforementioned communities and the point of origination for the other. The first successful Portuguese navigation to the fabled Indies came with Vasco da Gama’s landing in Calicut on India’s west coast in 1498. Shortly thereafter, Portugal made Goa the capital of its Asian empire with the region’s conquest in 1510. Vasco da Gama’s own voyage to Asia would not have been possible without having gained knowledge in Africa of the routes taken by traders who plied an Afro-Asiatic trade well before Occidental contact with either location. The growth of Portugal’s imperial designs, which encompassed various locations, fuelled its demand for enslaved labour from such places as present-day Mozambique on Africa’s eastern coast. When Britain entered the colonial arena, Portugal saw its global power diminish. Goa became one of the last bastions of its erstwhile empire.

Because African slaves escaped persecution by fleeing to Karnataka, their presence as part of Goan history has become a dim memory. Even so, it would be myopic to believe that colonially-influenced prejudice and internalized racism do not play their part in who is deemed Goan. Often, when interraciality is acknowledged, it is to privilege whiteness; ironically, in the Luso-Asian encounter, miscegeny was highly limited. In the centuries of the African presence in Goa – a time span that parallels that of the European presence - there had to have been more than a little genetic exchange. It takes a certain suspension of disbelief to imagine the homogeneity of any ethnic group. Particularly with Goa’s position as a cultural and colonial gateway for more than five hundred years, any suggestion of ethnic purity would be nothing short of the highest fiction.

In her novel Skin (2001), Goan American author Margaret Mascarenhas takes up the subject of miscegeny, weaving together a tale that spans generations and continents. Pagan, the novel’s protagonist learns of her Goan family’s role in the slave trade from Esperança, an African-descended maid in her household:

... [S]hips were coming in and out of Goa, piled high with things the Europeans wanted from India and Africa, and things they had taught the Indians and Africans to want from them … The ships … from Goa’s harbours did … carry gold, as well as silks and spices. Portuguese merchant ships plying the route to the African colonies carried firearms for trade with the natives … [T]hey traded their weapons of destruction for diamonds, copper, ivory, gold and mostly … black gold … Which is to say, mostly slaves …

Pagan discovers the truth about her multiraciality as the novel progresses – She is cast as a living bridge between different sides of the history of colonization, not solely along the lines of colour but class, additionally. The materiality of the effects of colonization are exemplified in Pagan’s racial heritage and signified in the words her mother leaves her to read in a diary entry: ‘You see, there were stories within stories, myths, dreams, legends, skeletons in closets. Mothers and fathers who weren’t … A melting pot of histories, races, religions. People who owned people … Hearts that mattered, shattered, scattered.’

Skin artfully recalls many strands of Goanness, in all their painfulness and possibilities. Art’s ability to uplift everyday objects, such as quilts, urges a recognition of history and identity. Kawandi were not primarily created to hang in museums. They are purposeful in the most mundane ways. The use of bright colours rather than just being decorative, serves a visual function in living quarters with little light. Quilters from the cooperative are from rural areas with basic amenities. The women’s quilts are pieced together from garments such as saris and clothes children have outgrown. A 2004 quilt by Clara Cristos of Mainalli village assimilates the V-neckline and shoulders of shirts into its design. Rabia Bakarsahib of Gunjavati provided a 2005-06 quilt that appears to have small tears in it, but these are in fact the button-holes of repurposed shirts and blouses. Quilts may bear crescent-shaped ornamentation to signify the maker as a Muslim while the works of Catholics utilize cross motifs. Interestingly, Dumgi Bastav’s 2004 quilt from Mainalli bears both icons. What is common to all kawandi is that they are considered incomplete if not embellished at the corners with layered triangular pieces. These are called phula, which in Konkanni – spoken in Goa and Karnataka - means flowers. The adornment, incorporating the linguistic with the artistic, recalls the Siddi community’s past in Goa. In delivering the legacy of quilting from one generation to the next, Siddi women not only maintain cultural traditions but also the community’s history.

The cooperative provides women with the opportunity to sell quilts. They are then able to fund basic community projects. Despite being utilitarian, the aesthetic quality of the quilts cannot be eclipsed. Bibijan (Senior) of Kendalgiri manifests her artistry in the use of a single floral patch at the centre of her 2005-06 crib quilt, as it contrasts with otherwise solid-coloured fabric pieces. The use of seemingly random bits of cloth in kawandi is thought-provoking. Shanta Mingel’s 2005-06 crib quilt, made in Mainalli, has a patch with the word ‘Brazil’. Even if not deliberate, it connects the Portuguese legacy of African slavery in South Asia and South America. So also, the MoAD exhibit, in addition to highlighting Afro-Asiatic cultural heritage, serves to link various African diasporic communities. The United States, no stranger to slavery, has its own tradition of quilting. After the Civil War, an all-African American community of freed slaves was founded in Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Quilts from the rural area are known for their distinctive patterns. Like the Siddis of Karnataka, the women of Gee’s Bend passed down their knowledge of quilting between generations. Quilts as diasporic and postcolonial fabrications, patch together identities and chronicle displacement. In this, they still leave space for further exploration of cultural legacies and the history of communities.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* R. Benedito Ferrao was born in Kuwait, has family roots in East Africa and now lives in England.
* This article was first published by Awaaz Magazine.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

South Africa: Battle of the egos at Rondebosch Common

Charlene Houston

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/79793

cc D v d MPeople are beginning to search beyond political parties for solutions. The youth are doubtful even of old style community organisations and are now exploring new forms of activism and new vehicles for change.

There are never any winners when people and their real issues are sacrificed at the altar of politics. Sadly, this is what took place in the battle for Rondebosch Common, which could also be referred to as the “battle of the egos”.

We live in a time of shared awareness and a shift in global developments - many people have realised that regardless of which political party is in power, whether it’s the ANC or the DA, their material conditions remain the same.

Ordinary people are beginning to search beyond political parties for solutions. Citizens of the world, especially youth, doubtful even of old style community organisations, are exploring new forms of activism and new vehicles for change.

Cape Town’s citizens are not immune to this shift and this awareness could make any government anxious about new developments on the ground.

Perhaps the DA government overestimated the real power of Communities for Social Change (CSC), an emerging grassroots social movement. Hence the party’s determination to crush its leader, Mario Wanza’s, spirit. He remains the only person still left with criminal charges against him after the outrageous mass arrest of 40-odd protesters, all of whom, the police were forced to let go.

Perhaps the ugly pageant was unnecessary, as it is unclear how many citizens actually put their faith in the nascent CSC. The “Land, Housing and Jobs Summit” of 27 – 29 January 2012, billed as “Take Back the Commons” at Rondebosch, was to be the first test of its might.

Had the Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia De Lille, responded as a strategic leader, a possible scenario could have been an outcome more favourable for her administration. Perhaps it would have just been a case of a memorandum being handed over to a government representative by an insignificant number of protesters.

The initiative would possibly have fizzled out as Wanza himself continued to alienate community organisations with old paradigm rhetoric and the occasional aggressive confrontation.

The test of CSC’s support has been overtaken by the events of 27 January 2012. These events will most likely have the effect of boosting the popularity of the rather marginal organisation until recently.

On the day in question, a march to Rondebosch Common - where the summit was to be held - turned ugly when police attacked protesters, effectively giving them the moral high ground. Police outnumbered protesters by many and themselves “invaded the common” when they drove an armoured vehicle across its treasured indigenous fynbos plants, towards picketing protesters across the street from Rondebosch Common.

Protesters, who sat down in passive resistance to the command to disperse, were met by heavy-handed, apartheid-style police action.

Teargas, a water cannon and physical manhandling, is an excessive abuse of power in reaction to passive resistance by a small crowd. Forty protesters were arrested and the summit, subsequently, called off.

In the months preceding there had been a build up to this stand off. Given this volatile situation, one has to wonder what the real focus of the protest was. Was it about making progress on the issues affecting the voiceless, or was it about playing politics, where the politicos involved were Wanza, de Lille and Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille?

If the organisers had complied with the City’s procedures, it is still doubtful that they would have gained permission to stay overnight on the Common. So was this showdown not inevitable? In which case, what were the organisers really trying to achieve?

Wanza announced the intention to occupy the site in several public meetings, including a Provincial Government Indaba where Zille abused the platform (in the process demeaning herself) by launching a personal attack on him. It could be argued that this provoked Wanza who responded as anyone would after being publicly subjected to Zille’s vitriol. It appears he resultantly and tenaciously proceeded with arrangements for a weekend gathering on the Common.

Weeks before the summit, Mayor de Lille joined Zille in the ugly pageant, personalising her objection to the action. Like Zille, she too dismissed the question of “unequal access to opportunities” and instead opted for a character assassination of Wanza in her weekly newsletter as well as in her opening address at the first Council meeting of 2012.

Wanza met their insults with repeated utterances of the intention to “reclaim the land”. As time passed, both parties missed the opportunity to articulate and respond to the real concerns of the masses. Sadly, the honourable objectives of the campaign became obscured in this battle of egos.

Implicit in the campaign is an intention to tackle practices that promote inequality. Citizens can all benefit from deepening the dialogue on the nature of that inequality – but any attempt to address it must rest on an increased consciousness of its roots and our present context. Nevertheless, South Africans have been slow in mobilising around class issues and analyses of the issues are either outdated or shallow, while proposed solutions are too few.

In the lead up to 27 January, both the DA government and the campaign leaders missed opportunities to engage disadvantaged communities and concerned citizens on the challenges of unemployment, land use, housing and transformation.

Community leaders must not forsake their obligation to be accountable for the statements they make, even as they attempt to hold government leaders to account.

As a campaign not aligned to any political party, the “Land, Housing and Jobs Summit” had the potential to unite organisations across a wide spectrum, filling a need that social movements have not been able to meet in recent years. Campaign leaders could have occupied the public space more imaginatively.

For its part, the DA government could have acknowledged the existing humiliating and frustrating living conditions of thousands of Capetonians by opening public discussion on its priorities, budget allocations and by committing to improved relationships with citizens. This is what good governance is about.

The DA leadership’s ongoing destructive comments about civil society organisations suggest a desire to suppress those who are currently filling gaps in their poor service delivery. Their understanding of the principles of democratic society and governance flies in the face of the liberalist tradition that the DA prides itself on.

There have been repeated statements to the effect that the DA must be left to govern since it won the election. And, that only those elected have the right of opinion and decision-making.

The heavy handed militaristic response to the protest last week reinforced this. Notwithstanding the organisers’ failure to follow procedures, the DA could have displayed leadership on the right to demonstrate, as provided for in Chapter 2 of the South African Constitution and the Regulation of Gatherings Act of South Africa. The Act considers the management of gatherings so as to reduce disruption and avoid damage to property. Instead the police were sent in, in full riot gear with armoured vehicles, looking ridiculous in contrast to the carefree, camera-toting protesters. There is clear evidence of this in video footage that can be viewed on You Tube.

Police reaction was reminiscent of the Hangberg conflict of 2010 when Premier Zille defended their actions by saying some in the community were throwing rocks and petrol bombs. The show of brute force is a reminder that the DA has its roots in the demise of the old National Party.

Several video clips on You Tube prove that these protesters were passive. In fact, some legal experts suggest that the police acted in violation of the Act, in prohibiting the meeting and therefore, all subsequent actions and arrests would be illegal.

The Premier and the Mayor have not denounced police action and the battle is far from over with another event on the Common set to take place on 4 February 2012.

The struggle to break down class divisions and other inequalities will be slow in finding articulation if this showmanship is to continue.

As new heroes rise and others show their true colours, it is the voiceless, disadvantaged communities, yet again, who are the biggest losers. Those who are privileged to have voice and access should act more responsibly.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Cherlene Houston is an activist, storyteller and public history scholar based in Cape Town.
* This article was first published by the South African Civil Society Information Service.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Kenya: Male sex workers are entitled to their human rights

Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/79823

The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya and its member organisations have noted with concern the continued debate on male sex workers and the challenges they face on a daily basis. We make this statement at a time of widespread media reporting on male sex work, including through the widely publicised special feature on Kenya Television Network (KTN) dubbed ‘Muffled Killer.’ We would like to ensure that the conversation surrounding sex work, and more so, male sex work, remains well-informed, based on fact rather than sensationalistic reports.

It an undeniable fact that men are as much a part of the sex industry as women and members of the gay community are not an exception. However, not all men who have sex with men are gay. Men having sex with men (MSM) are male persons who engage in sexual activity with other men, regardless of how they identify themselves. These are men who choose not to accept the label “gay” or “bisexual.” Gay is a sexual orientation that describes people whose enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attractions are to people of the same sex.

Men in sex work and the sex workers’ rights movement have faced a harsh backlash, homophobia and invisibility in addition to the traditional ignorance of and hostility toward the profession. There is a dire need to address human rights violations such as murder, rape, torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment. These violations are committed by both law enforcement agents and clients and must be stopped. Decriminalization of sex work is a major step in ensuring that sex workers are able to keep themselves healthy and safe. It is time that the society at large recognized sex work as legitimate work: “his body, his choice.”

The claim made by KTN that in every two male sex workers one is infected with HIV has not been verified as truth. Although sex workers are severely affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya, they are also one of the groups most likely to respond well to HIV prevention campaigns and so no effort should be spared to reach out to them. Prevention campaigns aimed at male and female sex workers not only reduce the number of HIV infections that result from paid sex; they can also play a vital role in restricting the overall spread of HIV in a country. It has been proven in some countries that general reductions in the national HIV prevalence have been largely attributed to HIV prevention initiatives aimed at sex workers (male and otherwise) and their clients.

Decriminalisation of sex work will reduce the stigma surrounding workers in the industry, which will enable them to better seek medical support. It will also ensure that sex workers are better able to establish and enforce rules like mandatory condom use with their clients, which will in turn help the already infected ones stop the spread of HIV. Currently, sex workers risk facing violence at the hands of their clients when they attempt to enforce safer sex.

It is important to note that though not all men who have sex with men for money are gay, however, a large population of male sex workers do identify as such. We must embrace the diversity from within our community instead of lashing at others because of choices they have made in life.

As sexual and gender minorities, the LGBTI community stands in solidarity with sex workers and we frequently work alongside each other in activism. We are all fighting for the ability to make our own decisions about how we use our bodies, and to live our lives in dignity, safety and health.

SIGNED:

GALCK and its member organisations and many others.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Tanzania: Activists demand government action to resolve health crisis

Marjorie Mbilinyi

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/79822

Thirteen leaders of national and grassroots activist organizations in Tanzania have been detained today by the government in the Oyster Bay Police Station, Dar es Salaam, in a government clamp down on protests by women/feminist and human rights activists against the failure of the government to resolve the health crisis arising from a two-week doctors’ strike in Tanzania.

The leaders come from LHRC, TGNP, GTI, TAMWA, NEDPHA and several other grassroots organizations. They and others were on their way to Muhimbili Hospital to await the outcome of talks which the Prime Minister was having with striking doctors. On Wednesday 8 February more than 200 activists successfully ‘occupied’ Salendar Bridge and the roads leading into it for two hours, and got major media attention and support from motorists and passersby for their action, based on the posters demanding that the Minister of Health and other top officials must resign; and protesting the failure of the President’s Office and the Parliament to give the situation priority. Countless numbers of people have died as a result of the strike. However, as the participating organizations such as TGNP have noted, people were dying long before this strike because of the lack of adequate human, financial and material resources provided to health care at all levels.

Many of the organizations leading the protest are members of the Feminist Activist Coalition, Fem Act, including TGNP, GTI, TAMWA, LHRC, HakiElimu, SIKIKA, and NEDPHA; others belong to Policy Forum, including Policy Forum itself.

[Anna Kikwa is one of the TGNP leaders locked up, along with Diana Mwiru and Dorothy Mbilinyi from GTI; Helen Kijo Bisimba and Marcos of LHRC, Anananilea Nkya of TAMWA, Specioza Mwankina of NEDIPHA and several GDSS organisations]

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Uganda: 2009 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill re-tabled in parliament

Front Line Defenders

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/79788

On 7 February 2012, the 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill proposed first in 2009 was re-tabled at a parliamentary session in Kampala. The Bill contains harsh provisions which, if introduced, would severely limit the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly and would threaten the existence of human rights organisations working for sexual minorities issues as well as the safety and freedom of human rights defenders – in addition to that of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people generally.

On 7 February 2012, David Bahati, a Ndwora West legislator, re-tabled the 2009 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill to the parliament’s agenda in Kampala. The Bill, one of ten re-tabled at the session, was then sent to the committee stage. The speaker presiding over the parliamentary session, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, reportedly asked that the committee scrutinise the Bill and return it to parliament as soon as possible. It is reported that both government and opposition members of parliament clapped in support of reintroduction of the Bill.

The 2009 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill is one of 22 bills which expired with the dissolution of the last parliament on 13 May 2011.

The Bill seeks to introduce new provisions into the penal code, criminalising any form of "promotion of homosexuality". The provisions may be used to effectively ban the work of any human rights organisations advocating for the protection of LGBTI people or, for example, addressing issues around sexuality in education. The Bill would also result in the serious impediment to effective anti HIV-AIDS programmes. The Bill effectively prohibits any kind of community or political organising around sexuality in Uganda, criminalises advocacy and support for the rights of homosexual Ugandans, and prohibits any public discussion of homosexuality. It severely curtails the rights, protections and freedoms of LGBTI rights defenders and poses a risk to the wider community of human rights defenders in Uganda through its effect upon freedom of expression, conscience, association, and assembly, as well as internationally recognised protections against discrimination.

The re-tabling of the Bill comes a few days after the first anniversary of the murder of prominent LGBTI rights defender David Kato, killed on 26 January 2011. His killer was eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison in November 2011. The murder followed a deterioration of the security situation for all LGBTI rights defenders in Uganda, who saw their names and photos repeatedly published together with threats in the media. The 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill significantly contributed to this climate of insecurity.

Front Line Defenders reiterates its grave concern that the passing of the Bill would further hamper the work of human rights defenders and public health workers who work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people. Front Line Defenders is also concerned that political rhetoric and media coverage could incite further violence against human rights defenders working on LGBTI issues.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Uganda to:

Unconditionally reject the 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill, as it would severely curtail the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders and their legitimate human rights work;

Provide security to those who defend the rights of LGBTI people and those who speak out against the Bill.

Guarantee that all human rights defenders in Uganda are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all restrictions includingjudicial harassment.

--
Kasha .N. Jacqueline, Executive Director Freedom and Roam Uganda. Office:+256 (0) 31229 4863, Cell: UG-+256772463161, Email, Alternative. Website: Faruganda

BREAK THE SILENCE

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

Blyden-Cowart: George Padmore’s daughter dies, February 3, 2012

Edwin S Wilson

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/obituary/79804

One of the most profound persons I ever knew and I loved the whole family...She made the transition to the realm of the ancestors...Her life force has left me with deep rivers of sadness...Most probably have never heard of Blyden-Cowart, so let me fill in some spaces about the unique name....The father of Pan-Africanism is considered to be George Padmore, her father. He was a good reader and mentor to Edward Wilmot Blyden, the grandfather of African liberation who came from the Virgin Islands at that time under Danish rule...When Padmore was leaving his home in Trinidad for America in 1924 he told his newlywed bride that the first child born should be given the name 'Blyden' after the Virgin Islander Edward Wilmot Blyden...It's hard to write in this vein because I talked with her almost on a weekly basis and she gave me the nuance of daily living questions I asked about George Padmore, her father....She sent little mementos like the photo of her with C.L.R. James in Cuba and another of New Beacon Bookstore founder John La Rose...I have a small collection of these things...When my mother passed away she was my new mom in absence, but we talked by phone; those conversations mean the world to me...Most folks don't know that they were watched by the FBI probably all their lives because of the work that (Padmore) her father did with Kwame Nkrumah of the new independent Ghana...The journalist Edward R Marrow did a documentary on George Padmore in the 1950s and I actually saw it in my youth where he stated that the American government said that Padmore was one of the most dangerous Black men in the world...Let me close by saying Momma Blyden-Cowart you was one of the few of your generation who inspired me, you instill the Wasafiri spirit in my soul and your children you showed them love, integrity and an adherence to African principles you brought from Trinidad...Momma Blyden, I love you, rest in peace...Edwin

Blyden-Cowart's funeral will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2012 at the Palms Mortuaries & Cemeteries. Phone: 702 464 8300. Address: 1325 N Main St, Las Vegas, Nv.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

5th Talent Campus Durban

Talent Campus Durban calls for filmmakers and film critics

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/79820

Superimposing an African imagination on filmmaking processes, the 5th Talent Campus Durban will ignite the creativity of 40 selected filmmakers from Africa in a series of masterclasses, workshops and industry networking opportunities during the Durban International Film Festival. Talent Campus Durban entices filmmakers to enhance skills, develop collaborations and interface with the dynamic future of the film industry in Africa and the world.

The five-day programme also includes the 2nd edition of Doc Station, where selected documentary projects submitted by accepted talents will be finessed and packaged for presentation within the DOC Circle at the 3rd Durban FilmMart. Two Doc Station projects won PUMA.Mobility and PUMA.Creative prizes adjudicated by Channel 4 BRITDOC at last year’s Durban FilmMart.

A new addition this year is Talent Press, a mentoring programme for African film critics in collaboration with FIPRESCI and Goethe Institut. Talent Press will publish reviews and reports on the Talent Campus Durban and the festival films and events in general.

Held in co-operation with the Berlinale Talent Campus, and with support from the German Embassy of South Africa, Goethe Institut of South Africa, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, Talent Campus Durban runs from 20 to 24 July. Apart from the main event in Berlin, Talent Campus partnerships also take place at selected festivals in Buenos Aires, Guadalajara, Tokyo and Sarajevo. Opportunities for participating talents are enhanced through Talent Campus networks and the Berlinale’s global information platform.

Africa is a great source of stories, and an innovative new wave is emerging from the multiple contexts and challenges of Africa, to tell these stories. Under this year’s theme of Africa Superimposed, Talent Campus Durban will add new layers of inspiration, and skills, to give impetus to this process, and with the talents of this vibrant gathering of filmmakers representing countries and cultures from around the continent, it is hoped that Africa will impose an ever-stronger presence on the world of filmmaking.
Application is open to filmmakers and critics who are resident in Africa. Applicants are encouraged to apply well before the deadline of 15 March in order to submit their work samples timeously.

Visit ukzn or talent campus for submission regulations.

Applications must be entered on line here.

The 33rd Durban International Film Festival takes place from 21 to 29 July. The DIFF is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and support from the National Film and Video Foundation, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism, and the City of Durban. Durban FilmMart is a partnership project between the Durban Film Office and the Durban International Film Festival.

For DIFF and Talent Campus Queries
+27 (0)31 260 1650 / 2506
Email both: Talent.Durban@gmail.com / talent@ukzn.ac.za
Website: www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
Twitter @DIFFest

For media queries:

Sharlene Versfeld
Versfeld & Associates: The Communication Works
+27 (0)31-8115628
+27 (0)833263235
sharlene@versfeld.co.za
Twitter sharlvers
Skype: sharlene.versfeld

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

Review of ‘African Awakening: The Emerging Revolutions’

Gary Blank

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/79790

© Pambazuka PressThe collection of spirited essays issues a trenchant and timely challenge to the widespread assumption that the Arab Spring can be understood in splendid isolation from the rest of Africa.

Recent moves to eliminate fuel subsidies in Africa’s most populous country awakened unprecedented protests among workers and youth, including a week-long, nationwide general strike. After months tracking the revolt in North Africa, media pundits inevitably looked southward in search of a sequel. Were we witnessing a ‘Nigerian Spring’? Might there be a new wave of revolutions, this time south of the Sahara?

In making this comparison, few seemed to realise they were issuing an implicit challenge to much received wisdom. The conventional narrative of the Arab Spring, after all, accords primacy to a tech-savvy middle class pursuing liberal virtues – not trade unionists defying market reforms. Indeed, structural adjustment and globalisation were supposed to underwrite a golden era of comparative stability in sub-Saharan Africa, unleashing the animal spirit of a burgeoning middle class and enriching millions. The very possibility of a ‘Nigerian Spring’ seems to call into question prevailing assumptions about the geographical boundaries and social dynamics of African revolt.

Into the breach steps ‘African Awakening’, a spirited collection of essays originally ‘published’ in Pambazuka News during the first six months of 2011, when the Arab Spring was at its peak. Styling itself as ‘a platform for progressive Pan-African perspectives’, Pambazuka News is an online weekly which justly boasts of providing probably the most comprehensive coverage of African struggles for ‘dignity, self-determination and emancipation’. By bringing a selection of this coverage to a broader audience, ‘African Awakening’ issues a trenchant and timely challenge to the widespread assumption that the Arab Spring can be understood in splendid isolation from the rest of Africa.

High expectations are built in the two introductory chapters of the book, where the editors sketch a bold portrait of a continent gripped by revolutionary ferment. Events in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and the Middle East dominated headlines last year, but the tide of revolt extended far beyond the Arab-speaking world. Demonstrations, strikes and other expressions of mass discontent shook ruling classes in every corner of the African continent, from Malawi to Madagascar, South Africa to Sudan.

The movements initiating these protests are hardly homogenous. Yet each is responding to a common experience of social, economic, and political dispossession engendered by three decades of neoliberalism in the global South, and further exacerbated by the current capitalist crisis. If their basic demands for justice and popular self-determination are to be fulfilled, nothing less than a thorough ‘social transformation’ is required. What we are witnessing, the editors conclude, is not an Arab Spring but an African Awakening: emerging revolutions on a continental and even world scale, whose fate will be determined in years and decades to come. Nigeria, it might be added, is not the first, but simply the latest example of this trend in sub-Saharan Africa.

If the rest of the volume proves to be somewhat disappointing, it is only because it never quite succeeds in bringing the pan-African picture into clear focus. It seems that the editors had a precise understanding of the overall theme they wished to convey, but much less of a handle on how to structure coherently the raw material at their disposal.

After debating at length whether to group the essays thematically or geographically, they ultimately decided that a chronological presentation would ‘give a sense of the growing excitement of catching history on its wings’. This is a rather cheery way of making virtue out of necessity. Most of the ‘essays’ in African Awakening are in fact extended news reports, blog posts, and eyewitness accounts – the type of journalistic pieces which undoubtedly made for exciting reading in an online newsweekly, but which lose more than a little pertinence several months after the fact.

Taken together, the short, journalistic essays do cast a welcome light on social struggles that have otherwise received lamentably little attention, ranging across Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Cameroon, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Swaziland, Morocco and Algeria. Yet overall coverage remains surprisingly uneven for a book devoted to Africa’s ‘emerging revolutions’. South Africa garners a miserly four pages, Nigeria and Kenya none at all; but Egypt, Tunisia and Libya claim no fewer than 18 of 32 chapters between them. And the deeper the reader delves, the more skewed the coverage becomes. The substantive analytical and comparative pieces are mostly served up at the end of the book – and each, without exception, is devoted to North Africa.

These critical reassessments of the Arab Spring prove to be the gems among the baubles, penned by some of the keenest observers of African political economy. Adam Hanieh, Patrick Bond and Samir Amin uncover the class dynamics behind the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Mass protests targeted not just the idiosyncratic abuses of Mubarak and Ben-Ali, but the brutal social logic of neoliberal capitalism – which Washington and dominant classes now seek to maintain under the rubric of an “orderly transition”.

Mahmoud Mamdani, Charles Abugre and Yash Tandon extend this critical gaze to Libya, exposing the hypocrisy, cynicism, and outright lies underlying Nato’s ‘humanitarian’ intervention. In their telling, the Western powers sought regime change from the start. Whether this was done to test a ‘new generation of weapons’ (as Mamdani off-handedly suggests) or to secure oil and other economic resources (as Tandon and Abugre more convincingly claim), all three authors agree that it illustrates inherent dangers in the ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine.

Without similarly detailed analyses of uprisings south of the Sahara, African Awakening cannot fully deliver on the promise of its title. Yet this collection deserves to be read not for the breadth of its coverage, but for the novelty of its perspective. By encouraging us to reassess social movements across the continent in terms of a common political-economic dynamic, the book offers a sound and necessary framework for future enquiry. Certainly, any ‘Nigerian Spring’ will not be intelligible without it.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS.

* Gary Blank is a research student at the Department of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science.
* ‘African Awakening: The Emerging Revolutions’ by Firoze Manji and Sokari Ekine (eds.) is published in Oxford by Pambazuka Press. 2012. x + 314 pp.
* This article was first published in the LSE blog.
* Please send comments to editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

Africa: Africa Today on North and West Africa developments

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/79924

http://bit.ly/xmOmOX

Syria: 'CIA death squads behind Syria bloodbath'

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/79921

http://bit.ly/yOJI7O

Western Sahara: The Sahrawi News Media in pictures

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/79928

http://bit.ly/zFoPmJ

Zimbabwe: Meeting aborted as Mugabe, PM clash

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/79743

http://bit.ly/zk0HWf

Zimbabwe: Mujuru death inquest wraps up

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/79735

http://bit.ly/xe9iuj

Zimbabwe: The sanctions standoff

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/79923

http://bit.ly/yzv3XG

Zimbabwe: Typhoid exposes city council

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/79742

http://bit.ly/AefyMN

Zimbabwe: WOZA activists released

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/79783

http://bit.ly/zbOdOp

Global: Gender and the World Development Report 2012

Limits, gaps, and fudges

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/79807

http://bit.ly/x3uXXs

Global: Reporting on trafficking in women

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/79781

http://bit.ly/zsrjUj

Global: Visualising women's rights in 2011

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/79927

http://bit.ly/y7CWFu

Mali: Women of Mali organise against new bill

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/79750

http://bit.ly/zitneb

Africa: A petition to Human Rights Watch

Support separation between religion and state

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79904

http://bit.ly/wDnyUQ

Burundi: Prominent corruption activist arrested

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79799

http://reut.rs/yXpbVD

Egypt: NGOs accused of meddling in politics

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79784

http://bit.ly/wZZQAB

Egypt: The revolutionary road, one year on

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79931

http://bit.ly/xId03H

Guinea: Official charged over stadium massacre

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79809

http://bit.ly/zgqj2n

Liberia: Ex-warlord George Boley to be deported from US

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79789

http://bbc.in/wwsTvF

Mauritania: Detention of activist condemned

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79765

http://bit.ly/wUZ6lk

South Africa: Support pledged for Palestinians

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79769

http://bit.ly/yIAYaj

Swaziland: Police shoot woman protestor

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/79752

http://bit.ly/wNQnlh

Africa: The brain drain in context

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/79905

http://bit.ly/zOUIQn

Liberia: How an asylum seeker to the US ended up in a Liberian jail

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/79787

http://bit.ly/wOPMBD

Mali: UNHCR steps up support for refugees

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/79794

http://bit.ly/Aehdpn

Somalia: Government evicting hundreds of squatters

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/79768

http://bit.ly/AawEnL

Zimbabwe: Deportations rob vulnerable of remittances

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/79912

http://bit.ly/yOwL1r

Latest edition: emerging powers news roundup

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/emplayersnews/79920

1. China in Africa

Malawi vendors chase out Chinese
Vendors in Kalonga, the Northern district of Malawi, on Wednesday petitioned the District Commissioner to flash out all Chinese nationals who are doing their businesses in the district. The petition, signed by over 33 representatives of the vendors, says the Chinese investors have gone over bound taking over small-scale business which the natives can ably do.
Read More

China starts trade talks with Libya
A Chinese Commerce Ministry delegation held talks Monday with Libyan officials on bilateral cooperation and resumption of Chinese businesses in post-war Libya. The Chinese delegation, led by Wang Shenyang, director of the ministry's Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Department, is seeking China's participation in Libya's post-war reconstruction and to negotiate on obstacles facing Chinese companies resuming projects here.
Read More

China skirting African corruption in direct aid gifts; Uganda’s president gets a new office
China last month sent a senior official to symbolically hand over the keys to a nine-story twin tower to house Uganda’s president and prime minister, a gift from Beijing. The white structures with a sloping roof cost China $27 million to build. But — in a strategy that China is increasingly employing around Africa — Beijing didn’t just deliver the money and let Ugandan officials see the project through. It was built by Chinese workers in what aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.
Read More

Sudan Rebels Free Kidnapped Chinese Workers
Twenty-nine Chinese workers kidnapped in Sudan have been freed, 11 days after they were taken hostage by rebels in Southern Kordofan state. The Red Cross flew the workers from the Kauda area in Southern Kordofan on Tuesday to Nairobi where they were handed over to Chinese embassy officials.
Read More

Breathing fire into SA-China trade
South African-Chinese trade increased by a massive 77 percent last year when compared to 2010, according to official statistics. And it should remain strong this year – the Chinese Year of the Dragon – despite the economic woes facing Europe and other countries. China has enjoyed rapid growth which has seen foreign delegations and business flock to the mainland in search of ties – including South Africa which was invited to join the BRICS (the acronym coined by Goldman Sachs banker Jim O’Neill in search for the next “big thing”).
Read More

2. India in Africa

Congo invites Indian companies to invest in timber
Home to one of Africa's largest forest expanses, the Republic of Congo wants Indian companies to invest in the timber industry, the second biggest money-spinner after oil in the central African country, says its Forestry and Environment Minister Henri Djombo. "We have a big timber industry and would want Indian private companies to come and invest in the our timber companies," Djombo said in an interview here.
Read More

Ethiopia seeks Indian help to train rookie diplomats
Like many countries in Africa, Ethiopia has sought India's help in setting up an institute to train rookie diplomats. A four-member delegation from Ethiopia's foreign ministry is in India to take home a few lessons on establishing its Foreign Services Training Institute and on how to run it. The team is also looking to forge relations between its strategic affairs and diplomacy institutions and those from India such as the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), a strategic affairs and diplomacy think tank established in 1943 that now enjoys statutory body status.
Read More

India: Africa operation boosts revenue of Indian telecoms firm
The local media Friday quoted the company as saying in a statement that the revenue growth was particularly strong in Nigeria and other African operations, which boosted the revenue by 32 per cent to US$1.057 million. Airtel currently operates in about 13 African countries, including Nigeria,. Ghana, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Seychelles and Zambia.
Read More

3. In Other Emerging Powers News
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister expresses support to UNAMID peace efforts
The Head of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari, received today Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov at UNAMID's Headquarters in El Fasher, Darfur. The visit of the Deputy Foreign Minister took place further to discussions held by the JSR with senior Russian officials last November in Moscow.
Read More

4. Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications

The Chinese model is morbidly obese
South Africa wants to adopt 'the Chinese economic model', President Jacob Zuma is expected to announce this week. This would be a very grave mistake. The Chinese miracle is not what it seems. Just like with the American and European debt crises, this will become painfully clear soon enough.
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China’s Growing Role in Africa: Myths and Facts
China’s emergence as a major player in Africa’s trade, investment, and aid has led many to question the nature of its involvement. Critics say that China is only interested in resources, its exports to Africa threaten local industries, and it is displacing Africa’s traditional partners, like the United States.
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The west has no right to criticise the China-Africa relationship
We all know that China has firmly arrived in Africa, but do we know what that means in practice, or how things are changing? Much has been said about this phenomenon, but often based on little research and/or tainted with a hardly disguised nationalistic slant in which China is seen as a competitor or usurper.
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AU Optimistic on FOCAC Membership
This year, the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in China. Recently, Ambassador John Kayode Shinkaiye, Chief of Staff, Bureau of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), shared his thoughts with ChinAfrica reporter Liu Wei on the role that FOCAC has played in strengthening Sino-African relations, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His thoughts are as follows
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China's tightening grip on Africa
China has promised more gifts for Africa in the Year of the Dragon. But, behind pledges of food and financial aid, skills development, assistance with building infrastructure and win-win economic ties, lies a cunning strategy to become more politically powerful by convincing us all its intentions are noble. This is revealed in a close inspection of China's African Policy.
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Egypt: Calls for civil disobedience intensify

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79747

http://bit.ly/wMwFhZ

Egypt: Campaign calls on Egyptians to boycott army products

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79748

http://bit.ly/Ah7VUg

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood confronted on Twitter

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79754

http://bit.ly/zx5lfx

Egypt: The walls of Cairo

2012-02-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79825

http://bit.ly/A24PFu

Ethiopia: Is Ethiopia's Zenawi really eying the exit door?

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79918

http://bit.ly/yGADEe

Malawi: Mutharika's speech is hopeless and doesn't make sense, says opposition head

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79741

http://bit.ly/wFPXGz

Morocco: Touch of Arab Spring Comes Late to Morocco

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79917

http://bit.ly/xwJ3RL

South Africa: Malema to wait for his fate

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79737

http://bit.ly/zKcaMJ

Uganda: Civil society ask Members of Parliament to reject cars cash

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/79785

http://bit.ly/zAw6lk

Africa: The scramble for Africa's oil, gas and minerals

2012-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/79895

http://bit.ly/zqkVwc

Angola: Top officials reap the cream

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/79736

http://bit.ly/wBkQtL

Kenya: Move to revive Anglo-Leasing cases

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/79932

http://bit.ly/wKK8a7

South Africa: A cell company and the Iranian military

2012-02-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/79828

http://bit.ly/yfRa4P

Global: World Bank mines rich seam of controversy in extractives policy

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79808

http://bit.ly/AbWv4L

Mozambique: Foreign mining companies criticized

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79744

http://on-msn.com/zhRXvJ

South Africa: Mine nationalisation off the agenda

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79734

http://bit.ly/zdtcRm

South Africa: We won't be bullied on nationalisation, says Mantashe

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79738

http://bit.ly/wVbbFI

South Africa: Zuma outlines economic plan

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79916

http://aje.me/ylyCQc

Swaziland: A gift for a king

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79746

http://bit.ly/z9IZyM

Zambia: Mines audit planned

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/79762

http://bit.ly/xo29Fm

Africa: Concern over impact of EU-India trade agreement on generics

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79753

http://bit.ly/AgqZvh

Central African Republic: Outbreak of cholera begins to subside

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79800

http://uni.cf/xqJDEG

Côte d’Ivoire: Leprosy fight still flagging

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79802

http://bit.ly/xsrPYx

South Africa: Plan for R1,6bn pharmaceutical plant

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79933

http://bit.ly/wV42FT

South Africa: Projects face closure in Global Fund crisis

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79810

http://bit.ly/Ave6Hn

South Africa: TAC ready to litigate against health department

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79811

http://bit.ly/zuzh5G

Tanzania: Activists demand government action to resolve health crisis or resign

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79907

http://bit.ly/yqVoMw

Zimbabwe: Improved AIDS levy collections fill part of funding gap

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/79803

With global funding for HIV/AIDS on the decline, Zimbabwe's innovative AIDS levy - a 3 percent tax on income - has become a promising source of funding for the country, with a dramatic increase in revenue collected in the past two years. The levy was introduced in 1999 to compensate for declining donor support, but low salaries and the poor performance of industry meant not enough money had been collected - until recently. According to recently published audited financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2010, a total of US$20.5 million was collected in 2010 against $5.7 million the previous year.
http://bit.ly/yUmtgI

Cameroon: Graduates turn down government jobs

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/education/79919

http://bit.ly/xrlNaq

Kenya: 'Gold mining beats school any day'

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/education/79913

http://bit.ly/wqwNev

South Africa: Remembering victims of hate crimes

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/79770

http://bit.ly/x93FHh

Uganda: Anti-homosexuality bill ‘a grave assault on human rights’

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/79767

http://bit.ly/yyt9zo

Uganda: Government disowns anti-gay bill

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/79930

http://bit.ly/zWTHSA

Global: GM food a commercial flop in Europe

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/79815

http://bit.ly/xTGMJ2

Nigeria: Chevron rig burns off Nigeria as damage hits shore

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/79739

http://bit.ly/w9IhPP

Nigeria: Communities decry effects of Bonga oil spill

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/79903

http://bit.ly/xl1x4g

Uganda: Charcoal boom a bust for forests

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/79801

http://bit.ly/A65k8o

Africa: Bumpy ride for Indian land buyers

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/79902

http://bit.ly/z6Xuic

Horn of Africa: Agricultural investments in Ethiopia and the Sudans

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/79786

http://bit.ly/AcOtJj

Tanzania: Minister backs GMOs

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/food/79749

http://bit.ly/wQE3pJ

DRC: Journalist Solange Lusiku honored for fortitude

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79798

http://bit.ly/y5uv8L

Egypt: Two journalists attacked, one detained

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79766

http://bit.ly/ziSeSm

Eritrea: Pleas on behalf of imprisoned journalists

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79922

http://bit.ly/xqw9hh

Nigeria: Military obstructs journalists covering unrest

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79797

http://bit.ly/AcQG07

Somalia: Government plans 100 schools

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79780

http://bit.ly/zVLz9q

South Sudan: Journalist assaulted, humiliated at parliament

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79745

http://bit.ly/xLFg4f

Tunisia: Fears of return to internet censorship

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79926

http://bit.ly/yLSglS

Zimbabwe: Foreign papers to be banned

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/79779

http://bit.ly/zTToYB

Ghana: Water shortages strain residents

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/79751

http://bit.ly/xBhUJx

Malawi: Rising prices and looming maize shortages

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/79925

http://bit.ly/zLZG7Y

Mali: Plan to probe child labour in gold mines

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/79796

http://bit.ly/yjfcxV

Nigeria: Thousands of children need treatment for lead poisoning

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/79795

http://bit.ly/ztOH1z

Ethiopia: Sudan and S Sudan sign non-aggression pact

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79915

http://aje.me/yRr8Wd

Global: New report on R2P challenges humanitarians

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79911

http://bit.ly/yCAK4n

Libya: Libya demands Niger hand over Gaddafi's son

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79914

http://aje.me/zejKGc

Libya: NTC ‘cannot stop’ fighters joining Syria rebels

2012-02-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79827

http://bit.ly/wIiQjm

Malawi: Police, street vendors clash

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79740

http://bit.ly/z0hR0m

Mali: Rebels threaten new offensive

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79778

http://bit.ly/zF3hbn

Mozambique: Cyclone aftermath crisis

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79806

http://bit.ly/w8xwup

Somalia: Suicide car bomb kills 11

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79782

http://bit.ly/AvlDqs

Sudan: Arms supplies continue despite ongoing human rights violations

2012-02-09

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79805

http://bit.ly/ykSApf

Sudan: Army says seizes rebel-held area in border state

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/79929

http://bit.ly/zeJJDk

Global: Satellite tweeting now available

2012-02-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/79826

http://on.mash.to/xFMfx5

CODESRIA: 2012 Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing

Call for Applications

2012-02-13

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/569/ENGLISH_SMALL_GRANTS.doc

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing for the year 2012. The grants serve as part of the Council’s contribution to the development of the social sciences in Africa, and the continuous renewal and strengthening of research capacities in African universities, through the funding of primary research conducted by postgraduate students and professionals.

South Africa: Publishers invitation programme to the Cape Town Book Fair

2012-02-12

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/569/Programme Announcement.pdf

The Goethe-Institut, in co-operation with the Cape Town Book Fair and APNET, is once again offering an invitation programme for publishers from sub-Saharan African countries. The aim of this initiative is to support the participation of publishing houses from sub-Saharan African countries at the Cape Town Book Fair 2012 and to provide training and networking opportunities for publishers from this region. The grant comprises of travel costs to Cape Town, participation in a workshop on 14 June 2012, a small stand at the Cape Town Book Fair (15 – 17 June 2012) and accommodation during the workshop and the Book Fair. Costs for the transportation of books and other materials to be exhibited are not covered.

State of the Union inception workshop

Highlights from workshop outcomes

2012-02-12

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/569/feb inception workshop v7012012.docx

The workshop took place around three main conversations namely: peer learning from the 2011 experiences, learning on innovative strategies to employ in the future from various experts and developing a common plan for the next implementation phase. Various experts provoked conversations around various topics including building people’s power to engage governments (Firoze Manji/Pambazuka), campaigning using digital media for social advocacy (John Kipchumbah/Huduma), play for the union (Valerie Traore/NIYEL), moving from ratification to implementation (Alexandria Muhanji/SOAWR), monitoring and evaluation (Kimberley Bowman/Oxfam and Gavin Steadman/Pamoja), evidence based policy research (Marie LaBerge), how governments navigate policy through to implementation (Dr Michael Chege/Ministry of Finance, Government of Kenya) among others. Click on the link to read the full briefing.

University of Oxford: Part-time Masters in International Human Rights Law

Admissions open for five scholarships for candidates from African Commonwealth countries

2011-11-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/77659

The Department for Continuing Education and the Faculty of Law at Oxford University are very pleased to announce that admissions are now open for five scholarships for candidates from African Commonwealth countries to study for the part-time Masters in International Human Rights Law at the
University of Oxford, starting September 2012. The course website can be found at http://bit.ly/s37dHr and details about the scholarships, including eligibility criteria and how to apply, can be found on the Fees and Funding pages at http://bit.ly/ugKcPf

Africa Media Review 2012 Special Issue

Media and Gender in Africa

2012-02-13

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/569/ENGLISH_AMR.doc

In November last year CODESERIA held its annual Gender Symposium in Cairo, Egypt on the theme 'Gender and the Media in Africa', opening up a much needed platform on which gender and media scholars could renew reflection on the multi-faceted connection between media and gender in Africa. This special issue of Africa Media Review seeks to continue the dialogue by examining how political and social transformations on the continent resulting from re-democratisation, neo-liberalism and globalisation are implicating the nature of the relationship between media and gender.

Book reviews for Interface: a journal for and about social movements

2012-02-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/publications/79906

Interface journal is seeking additional book reviewers for its upcoming publication. Our list of 'books offered for review' are here: http://www.interfacejournal.net/submissions/book-reviews/

We welcome contributions by movement participants and academics who are developing movement-relevant theory and research. Our goal is to include material that can be used in a range of ways by movements - in terms of its content, its language, its purpose and its form.

If interested in reviewing a book feel free to write to Mandisi Majavu: majavums@gmail.com

Egypt: Tweets from Tahrir

2012-02-08

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/publications/79763

http://bit.ly/zDdMFV

Nokoko Journal Volume 2 now available

2012-02-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/publications/79901

http://bit.ly/w3wKGJ

Research and Campaign Assistant, Central Africa

Amnesty International (AI)

2012-02-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/79755

Location: London
Salary: £30,444

Amnesty International is looking for a Research and Campaign Assistant to work in the Central Africa Team.

About the role

We are looking for a committed Research and Campaigns Assistant to work as part of the Central Africa team in the International Secretariat. The Central Africa team covers Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Responsible for managing efficient and effective administrative systems, you will monitor and gather information, be the first point of contact for handling enquiries and ensure that relevant developments in the region are brought to the attention of the right people. You will also assist in the production and distribution of research and campaign materials.

About you

You will need proven administrative skills, specifically maintaining filing and retrieval systems and an ability to deal with large volumes of information including maintaining manual and computerized databases. You will also need to have good general knowledge of Central Africa, fluency in written and spoken English and French and a strong commitment to our aims. You’re an enthusiastic, lively team member, highly organised and comfortable with deadlines and creating strong lines of communication and robust administration systems for a team.

About us

Our aim is simple: an end to human rights abuses. Independent, international and influential, we campaign for justice, fairness, freedom and truth wherever they’re denied. Already our network of almost three million members and supporters is making a difference in 150 countries. And whether we’re applying pressure through powerful research or direct lobbying, mass demonstrations or online campaigning, we’re all inspired by hope for a better world. One where human rights are respected and protected by everyone, everywhere

To find out more about this and all our other opportunities, and to apply online, please visit www.amnesty.org/jobs

Closing date: 22nd February 2012
CVs will not be accepted.

Fahamu