Zimbabwean blog ‘Enough is Enough’- (http://enoughzimbabwe.org/tsvangirai-suprise-march-surprisingly-late)comments on opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai’s march from the MDC party headquarters to parliament last Friday. He wonders if the march, which was reported as being a “surprise”, was really that much of a surprise to the Zimbabwean authorities.

“What surprises me is that the police don’t perceive MDC to be a viable threat so they’ve essentially stopped monitoring the party and have started looking elsewhere for threats to the state. This despite Tsvangirai’s insistent protestations that this winter was going to be a ‘winter of discontent.’ With Zimbabwe’s winter gone and no protests led by the MDC, it’s surprising that the police or other government authorities weren’t expecting the march.”

'Ethiopundit' - Ethiopundit (http://ethiopundit.blogspot.com/2006/09/intellectuals-and-their-disconte...) writes on the appropriation of intellectuals by the Meles Zenawi government to justify his continued rule in Ethiopia.

“As we discussed in Short Term Memory, Cheerleaders and Sachs & Violence, there is a long tradition of intellectuals 'adopting' African tyrants stretching back to those 'romantic' revolutionaries Nkrumah and Nyerere and their destruction of the Ghanaian and Tanzanian economies and societies. All that is needed from a tyrant is to speak the right progressive language while flattering their ferenji intellectual sponsors - even as boots stomp the faces of and impoverish the 'people' everyone pretends to be so concerned about.”

Ethiopundit makes an excellent point here that could be applied to other African leaders such as Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo whose appalling human rights record and negative strategy of “hit fire with fire” in the Niger Delta is ignored by the West. Obasanjo fits well into the above analysis. Ethiopundit goes on to say:

“The folks at Columbia fit squarely in that tradition of excusing oppressive governments with some variety of the old 'making the trains run on time' justifications for evils past. Take this sentence from the Initiative statement quoted in full above that describes a non-existent "remarkable degree of macroeconomic stability and good growth on average" in Ethiopia.”

Intellectualism in this case is a tool to justify the lack of political will by the West to take Zenawi’s dictatorship to task.

Kenya blog, 'Pandemonium Today' - Pandemonium (http://pandemoniumtoday.blogspot.com/2006/09/call-to-arms_11573023083985...) comments on the tendency to view Africa solely in terms of “corruption, greed, inefficiency, neglect, and political irresponsibility.” He believes that we as citizens also have to take responsibility and are at least partially to blame for the failures of our countries. He writes:

“I observe many people who will quickly denounce their country yet hang on to identification with it. Their nationality or place of origin will come second to their name when asked who they are yet, in the same breath they will let out a condemning supercilious cry, 'Africans!' What is pathetic is for us to think we stand above it all when this position itself mirrors the same denial and irresponsibility that several of our less-than-acceptable leaders exercise.”

South African blog, 'YBlog ZA' - YBlog ZA (http://128.241.192.81/blog.html) comments on what he considers to be the ridiculous conclusion of a recent opinion poll in South Africa claiming that South African Blacks are the biggest racists in the country.

“Yeah, well, there you have it. I knew there was something about them I didn't like. They're a bunch of bloody racists. Plus 94 Research tells me so and the Sunday Times, our largest-circulation paper, spells it out. The poll results headlined this past Sunday's edition, which was avidly snapped up by countless millions who've always suspected our black brothers and sisters of having it in for us... Not only are they racist, they're twice as fucking racist as we are. But this doesn't bother me. I am, after all, a blogger, a professional, and a hard man to boot. I have nothing to fear but blacks with white teeth and big guns. Given this, I decided to tackle the racists head on, and so beat a path to their favoured hangout, Muggers Alley, on Cape Town station's upper deck.”

An excellent piece that goes to the heart of how racism is constructed not only in South Africa but throughout the world.

'The Voice of Somaliland' - Voice of Somaliland (http://waridaad.blogspot.com/index.html) discusses why “Black Africa should resists Arab domination of the African Union.” He looks back historically at Arab racism towards Africans until the 2001 statement by Gaddafi to the Arab League calling on Arabs outside Africa to join the African Union. He describes the statement as “nothing but a declaration of race war on Africa. It is an invitation to more Arabs to invade and colonize Africa. Indeed, it is a call for the final phase of the 15 centuries old Arab lebensraum war on Afrikans - a war to Islamise and conquer all of Africa, from Cairo to the Cape and from Senegal to Somalia, and to then enslave or Arabise all the conquered Afrikans. In order to make that clear, it is necessary to first put his invitation in the context of the traditions of Arab melanophobia and negrophobia, and of Arab expansionist ambitions and conquests that go back to the time of prophet, Mohammed.”

One way of countering any notions of “conquest” by Arabs over Africa would be for Africa to reclaim the whole continent including North Africa or Arab speaking Africa as it’s own and end the divisive geographical markings that separate the continent into Sub Saharan Africa and North Africa.

'Sudan Reeves' -

As Khartoum continues to vehemently refuse the deployment of UN troops even under a Security Council resolution, Reeves suggests that there is one alternative supported by Darfuris, both in the camps and in the Diaspora.

'Black Looks' – Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/09/paradise_found.html)

‘Black Looks’ comments on the rising numbers of migrants from Africa landing in Spain, and the response of the Spanish government. Only last weekend, some 1,900 men and women landed in the Canaries. On Tuesday, the Spanish government issued a statement that it was no longer going to tolerate the continued arrival of immigrants from Africa and that their respective countries must begin to take responsibility and act to prevent people leaving in the first place. Two weeks ago the Senegalese government in an unprecedented move, signed an agreement with Spain which will allow the Spanish Guardia Civil to patrol Senegalese waters to prevent people from leaving in boats. However, ‘Black Looks’ points out that migrant labour from Africa has been beneficial to Spain and Europe as a whole and questions the rhetoric of the Spanish government in their calls for the end of illegal immigration.

“There are layers of realities around immigration in Spain and Europe as a whole. The country has benefited from the cheap Moroccan and West Africa labour on construction sights and in their agricultural sector which has resulted in a 2.6% growth in the economy over the past 10 years. Without immigrant labour it would have fallen by 0.6% annually. Similar growth figures apply for the whole of Europe. The Spanish government’s rhetoric that it will not tolerate the continued arrival of migrants cannot be taken very seriously as long as Spain continues to need cheap labour to produce cheap food. The difference between today and a year ago is the sheer numbers that are arriving such as the 1,900 since Friday.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org