features
The new American imperialism in Africa
Michael Schmidt
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc US ArmyMichael Schmidt reveals the alarming extent of American military expansion in Africa. This article was written four years ago, but still holds strong relevance today in the context of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). Schmidt describes three avenues that the US is taking to increase its military foothold in Africa in pursuit of its ‘War on Terror’: ‘piggybacking’ off already strong French military presence, creating an unofficial ‘School of the Africas’ in the guise of the African Centre for Strategic Studies, and with its Africa Contingency Operations Training Assistance (ACOTA) programme ‘aimed at integrating African armed forces into US strategic (imperialist) objectives’. Schmidt places blame beyond the US, however, and uncovers the role that African countries, particularly South Africa, are playing in strengthening US military presence through ‘secret pacts’. In light of all this, Schmidt concludes with a warning: ‘It would be naïve to think that bourgeois democracy… will protect the working class, peasantry and poor from state terrorism.’
Deadlock in the Middle East and Western responsibility
Keeping silent over Israel’s crimes: A Western policy shaped by holocaust and religion
Mourad Bencheikh
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc I N EMourad Bencheikh looks at why the Middle East question – with the Palestinian problem at its core – is in deadlock, as Western “silence” on Israeli policy towards the occupied territories engenders mistrust and suspicion in the Muslim world. The wisest approach, says Bencheikh, would be ‘for Israel to build bridges and not walls’ between the Jewish and Palestinian communities. ‘They both know what suffering means, they are gifted, well-educated, hard working and should work hand in hand towards the stability, development and integration of the whole region.’
South Africa’s forgotten intellectuals
Revisiting the struggle against apartheid
Marion Grammer
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc A LynnMarion Grammer acknowledges the significant contribution made to the liberation struggle by the teachers, writers and intellectuals behind the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM), the first organisation in South Africa to adopt the principle of non-racialism, which debunked the myths about African ‘inferiority’ and administered ‘an antidote to the poisonous indoctrination of apartheid. It was ‘the politics of anti-imperialism and non-racialism learned from the Unity Movement’, says Grammer, that ‘provided the impetus that sent young people marching and protesting and fighting for democracy in the 1970s and 80s’.
The fateful geological prize called Haiti
F. William Engdahl
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc M I Geo‘Behind the smoke, rubble and unending drama of human tragedy in the hapless Caribbean country, a drama is in full play for control of what geophysicists believe may be one of the world’s richest zones for hydrocarbons-oil and gas outside the Middle East,’ writes F. William Engdahl. Engdahl adds ‘oil’ to Haiti’s story, highlighting the increasing evidence that behind the rescue mission in Haiti, there perhaps lies a stark ulterior, but familiar, motive.
DRC’s magic dust: Who benefits?
Khadija Sharife
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc G GKhadija Sharife looks at how commercial and political interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral and natural resources have shaped the country’s history, with devastating consequences for its people, wildlife and environment. Will a new concession with China enable the Congolese to ‘really feel what all that copper, cobalt and nickel is good for’, as President Joseph Kabila says, or will the country continue to be seen as ‘a resource-rich bargain bin, open for business’?
Africa, geology and the march of the development technocrats
Jason Hickel
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc J HarneisJason Hickel asks whether ‘environmental determinism’ – the theory that Africa’s development has been hindered as a result of ‘the environmental conditions that Africans inhabit’ – accurately explains Africa’s poverty. While he commends its attempt to stop blaming underdevelopment 'on the presumed genetic inferiority of black people’, he finds the theory and motives behind environmental determinism to be seriously lacking. Hickel asserts that environmental determinism is both ahistorical and apolitical: ‘Poverty is not a problem of nature, it is a problem of power.’ Furthermore, he argues that to tackle the real issues behind Africa’s slow development and poverty would mean to go against Western economic interests and to radically change the world system in which we exist. ‘The wealth of the West’, Hickel reminds us, ‘is intimately bound up with the poverty of Africa, and vice versa.’
Gado's cartoons: 'Obama one year on' and 'Kenya's MPs and the constitution'
2010-02-04, Issue 468
Check out Gado's latest cartoons...
Putting Haiti into context
Andile Lungisa
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc US ArmyIn the wake of the Haitian earthquake, ANC Youth League Deputy President Andile Lungisa calls for the disaster to be seen within its broader historical context. Discussing Haiti's history as a nation long oppressed by external interests, Lungisa underlines the country's new vulnerability to forces concerned solely for profit in the aftermath of its tragedy.
Putting lipstick on a pig, Ethiopian style
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc A F EbrahimiIn the wake of the Ethiopian government's objections to the conclusions of the 2010 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, Alemayehu G. Mariam argues 'You can put lipstick on dictatorship to make it look like a pretty democracy, but at the end of the day, it is still an ugly dictatorship!'
South Africa’s ‘bling’ culture is a disgrace
William Gumede
2010-02-04, Issue 468
cc Mauritz VA new ‘bling’ culture, pervasive among South Africa’s ruling political, business and public administration elite, which sees lavish lifestyles as the standard for achievement, is encouraging people to use shortcuts to get rich quickly rather than working or studying hard, writes William Gumede.
Haiti: Microcosm of the crisis of development
Yash Tandon
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc Wikimedia CommonsThe 'failure of development' is to blame for the devastating effects of the recent earthquake in Haiti, writes Yash Tandon. Calling for democratic institutions accountable to the country's people to be put in place, Tandon argues that Haiti is ‘a microcosm of the disastrous outcome' of ‘development’ policies and the 'destructive effects of foreign interventionist policies’ in the affairs of the South.
The hate and the quake
Hilary Beckles
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc Gloria Mundi‘Haiti did not fail,’ writes Hilary Beckles, ‘it was destroyed by two of the most powerful nations on earth, both of which continue to have a primary interest in its current condition.' Buried 'beneath the rubble of imperial propaganda', says Beckle, is 'the evidence which shows that Haiti's independence was defeated by an aggressive North-Atlantic alliance that could not imagine their world inhabited by a free regime of Africans as representatives of the newly emerging democracy.’
Haiti 2010: An unwelcome Katrina redux
Cynthia McKinney
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc Wikimedia CommonsWhat is happening in Haiti is, Cynthia McKinney observes, 'shades of Hurricane Katrina all over again’. McKinney depicts, step by step, the US response to Haiti’s crisis and lays bare its unashamedly military nature. McKinney explores the reasons for the US’s militarised rescue operation. She believes it is not only a consequence of US material and oil interests in Haiti, but also the ideological threat that Haiti poses to the Western world: 'Haiti is a light.' In defeating its colonisers, it inspired millions to follow in its footsteps. But McKinney concludes with a warning: 'Every plane of humanitarian assistance that is turned away by the US military … and the … arrival … of up to 10,000 US troops, are lasting reminders of the existential threat that now looms over the valiant, proud people and the Republic of Haiti.’
Haiti ‘Year Zero’: The Afro-Americas and Africa
Time for a new kind of trans-Atlantic relationship
Marian Douglas-Ungaro
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc United NationsHaiti’s earthquake has provided the first opportunity since slavery for slavery descendants in the Afro-Americas to alter and recreate the country’s socio-economic structures and physical infrastructure, writes Marian Douglas-Ungaro. But will former slave-owners and colonial masters hinder or assist with the process, Douglas-Ungaro asks, and will continental Africa notice or care?
Securing disaster in Haiti
Peter Hallward
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc LINKSA fortnight after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010, the initial phase of the US-led relief operation has conformed to three fundamental tendencies that have shaped the more general course of the island's recent history, writes Peter Hallward – the adoption of military priorities and strategies, the sidelining Haiti's own leaders and government, and disregard for the needs of the majority of its people. These same mutually reinforcing tendencies will continue to govern the imminent reconstruction effort too, Hallward cautions, unless determined political action is taken to counteract them.
Haiti can awaken from the dark night of the boar
All together for the redemption of the country that showed us the light of freedom
Amanda Huerta
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc BilltacularAgainst the backdrop of the fundraising 'Hope for Haiti Now’ concert, Amanda Huerta reflects on the impact that it will have. She believes that it will at least draw the attention of 'those who, by commission or by omission, never cast their eyes on the "third world" because they got lost losing the "second" one'. Haiti has two potential paths, Huerta argues, to become even more quashed by the 'military boot’ or to be rebuilt in solidarity whereby 'We will construct among us the morning … that forever ends the night of the boar.’
Letter to Honourable P.J. Patterson
Norman Girvan
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc WSPAInternationalNorman Girvan writes to the Honourable P.J. Patterson, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat’s representative to the Conference of Foreign Ministers on Haitian Relief, which was held in Montreal on Monday 25 January 2010. Girvan makes recommendations for a response which ‘should be based on the principles of solidarity, respect for [Haitians’] rights and respect for their country’s sovereignty'.
Haiti's 'odious debt' must be completely and unconditionally cancelled
Eric Toussaint and Sophie Perchellet
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc Haiti EarthquakeEric Toussaint and Sophie Perchellet criticise mainstream commentary on Haiti for failing to look beyond the earthquake and to ask where Haiti's poverty is rooted. They depict the historical passage of political and economic exploitation and individual greed that has led Haiti into a hole of crippling debt. Haiti, they argue, 'needs to be rebuilt because it has been stripped of its means to rebuild itself'. Toussaint and Perchellet note that 'All current financial aid announced following the earthquake is already lost to the debt repayment!' They conclude that those most responsible for systematically exploiting Haiti, namely France and the US, must pay their compensation through a fund for the country's reconstruction.
Democracy before democracy in Africa
Alemayehu G. Mariam
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc caribbeanfreephotoAlemayehu G. Mariam attacks the common concept that economic democracy must be achieved before abstract political rights. Mariam holds that this ‘democracy before democracy’ notion is rooted in Kwame Nkrumah’s dangerous legacy of one-man, one-party rule designed to ‘avoid genuine multiparty democracy’ and buffer personal power. Mariam warns African rulers following Nkrumah’s ‘political formula’ that ‘Africans want Africa no longer to be the world’s cesspool of corruption, criminality and cruelty.’ Ghana is today, Mariam argues, ironically the best model of democracy in Africa. He concludes that in contrast to beliefs that economic needs precede political rights, Africa wants genuine multiparty democracy now.
Stop 'mutilation' of Kenya's constitution
Yash Ghai
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc america.govAs the Kenya Parliamentary Select Committee conducts its review of a revised draft of the country’s constitution, Yash Ghai reminds the committee that its role is to ‘resolve contentious issues’ in the document, not to determine them.
ANC shareholdings present conflict of interest
William Gumede
2010-01-28, Issue 467
cc Wikimedia CommonsFrom whichever angle you look at, it is simply wrong for a governing political party to own shares in a commercial company, let alone when such a company bids for government tenders, writes William Gumede.
Obama: Defending the 'interests of empire'
Demba Moussa Dembele
2010-01-20, Issue 466
cc S GarfieldFor those anticipating sweeping, immediate change from Barack Obama's election to the US presidency, the results of the president's first year in office will undoubtedly have proven profoundly disappointing, writes Demba Moussa Dembele. Just as his Accra address was rooted in patronising references to 'corruption' and 'tribalism', it should be always borne in mind that Obama operates and will continue to operate first and foremost in defence of the 'interests of empire', Dembele stresses.
Obama's first year: Change we can still believe in?
Ama Biney
2010-01-21, Issue 466
cc AbangbayCan or will Barack Obama deliver a more peaceful, humane world, asks Ama Biney, a year after his inauguration as 44th President of the United States. Offering a tentative evaluation of the path followed by the Obama administration so far, Biney suggests that genuine change lies not with the president, but in the remobilisation of a grassroots movement among the ordinary Americans who had the optimism and motivation to campaign for him.
Obama’s national security policy towards Africa: The first year
Daniel Volman
2010-01-20, Issue 466
cc US ArmyA year into his presidency, Barack Obama is essentially following the same course of militarised action in Africa pursued by his predecessors over the past decade, writes Daniel Volman. A consequence of the US president's faith in the necessity of the global war on terror and pragmatic political concerns around retaining oil supplies, Obama's approach to Africa has been entirely rooted in asserting his country's military might, Volman concludes.
Who killed the president of Rwanda?
Gerald Caplan
2010-01-21, Issue 466
cc WikimediaDebate over who was behind the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana has raged for nearly 16 years, writes Gerald Caplan. But a new report, prepared by an ‘Independent Committee of Experts’ appointed by the government of Rwanda, makes ‘a major contribution to settling the great question of who was responsible’ for Habyarimana’s death on 6 April 1994, two days before the genocide began.
Haiti: The roots of poverty and powerlessness
Rebecca Zausmer
2010-01-21, Issue 466
cc UNDPIt has taken an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude, causing momentous loss of life, to get the world talking about Haiti and its past. As the world digests the tragedy, it begins to remember and to criticise too. Rebecca Zausmer does a round-up of the commentary and analysis that is flowing fast about Haiti and the actors in its history.
The right testicle of Hell: History of a Haitian holocaust
Blackwater before drinking water
Greg Palast
2010-01-21, Issue 466
cc Wikimedia‘There's no such thing as a 'natural' disaster,’ writes Greg Palast, ‘200,000 Haitians have been slaughtered by slum housing and IMF “austerity” plans.’ Palast takes a look both at international community’s response to the Haiti earthquake and at its role in impoverishing a nation that was once the wealthiest in the western hemisphere.
The West's role in Haiti's plight
Peter Hallward
2010-01-20, Issue 466
cc R RoblesFollowing the devastation wrought by the recent earthquake in Haiti, Peter Hallward stresses the role of 'systematic postcolonial oppression' as a chronic obstacle to Haiti's progress. If the West is sincere in its desire to help Haiti, Hallward contends, it will need to stop trying to control the country's government before 'paying for at least some of the damage we've already done'.
Requiem for a Haitian writer: Georges Anglade
John Ralston Saul
2010-01-21, Issue 466
cc UNWriter Georges Anglade and his wife Mireille Neptune died in the collapse of their Port-au-Prince home. John Ralston Saul writes a tribute to a man whose life enriched both Canada and Haiti and which in many ways was a classic Canadian story of exile and commitment. ‘It is hard to accept that such a force of nature could be stopped by nature’, he concludes.
New Orleans, France and slavery: A declaration in US Congress
Marian Douglas-Ungaro
2010-01-20, Issue 466
cc I EThe following 2006 congressional record of the United States Congress, entered by Representative Major R. Owens and drafted by Marian Douglas-Ungaro, praises the work of Christiane Taubira and Gwendolyn Midlo Hall in documenting France's role in the slave trade and recording the experiences of those enslaved across the Louisiana area.