Pambazuka News 727: Radical makeover: Put people before profit
Pambazuka News 727: Radical makeover: Put people before profit
Unique historical evidence of the ancient cultures of a continent is being put up for sale on the open market in Europe. Yet in the countries of Africa where these priceless treasures belong, there is little public interest in the matter.
For too long, Monsanto has been the benefactor of corporate subsidies and political favoritism. Organic and small farmers suffer losses while Monsanto continues to forge its monopoly over the world’s food supply, including exclusive patenting rights over seeds and genetic makeup.
Despite a crippling US blockade lasting more than five decades, the Cuban revolution has stayed intact. Cubans have curiously excelled in technological development and innovation where much more advanced countries have achieved dismal results.
The twin forces of poor leadership and collective war trauma seem to be pushing the Great Lakes Region into endless conflict, creating a self-perpetuating circle of power-chasing and abuse. Namakula E. Mayanja considers why this is the case, and what the region needs to break this vicious cycle.
Museums allow objects to speak, to bear witness to past experiences and future possibilities and thus to reflect on how things are and how things might otherwise be.
The film describes the fight for democracy and socio-economic justice in the tiny sub-Saharan country through the eyes of Bheki Dlamini, a young activist and leading member of Swaziland’s largest banned political party
Pambazuka News 726: Burundi: No to coup, no to third term
Pambazuka News 726: Burundi: No to coup, no to third term
The African Academy of Languages invites Africa scholars in the continent and the Diaspora to submit contribution for publication in a special edition of KUWALA (ACALAN’s Journal), which will explore the academic, conceptual and practical elements on the contribution of African languages to Agenda 20163.
Key challenges include how to support genuinely addressing the root causes of many intractable conflicts, which often involve deeply entrenched inequalities of wealth and power, while often having to meet headquarter demands for short term, quantifiable results rooted in linear and problematic assumptions about how change manifests.
‘African solutions to African problems’ is a popular adage among the ruling classes on the continent. Africa is old enough to deal with its own issues. Yet leaders in the 15-member SADC bloc are in the process of dismantling their own regional court to shield governments, heads of state and other powerful people from justice.
The NGOs are concerned that not enough is being done throughout the continent to promote the rights of women enshrined in domestic laws and in African Union protocols and policy documents.
Over one hundred organisations have issued a statement addressed to World Bank president, Jim Kim, questioning the Bank’s support for a multinational chain of low-fee, profit-making private primary schools targeting poor families, which Kim recently praised as a means to alleviate poverty.
The government sent the bill to parliament in the aftermath of the March 18 attack by gunmen that killed 23 people at the Bardo Museum in Tunis and a series of lethal attacks on the security forces by armed groups.
Carding is . It must end through the mass refusal of the people of Toronto, especially Afrikan Canadians, other racialized peoples and the white working-class, to share their personal information with the cops.
Post-civil war Burundi faces steep challenges that remain unaddressed. History seems to be repeating itself after a decade of fragile, hard-won peace following the signing of the 2000 Arusha Accord. President Nkurunziza's departure alone will not heal the nation.
A few days before the 'attempted' coup this week, a blogger in the Burundian capital Bujumbura gave a chilling account of the breakdown of law and order in the capital. The organisers of the protests seemed to have no particular plan and the people were beginning to turn against themselves.
The protests occurred against a backdrop of sustained political and economic marginalisation by the Nkurunziza regime and widespread fear. Protest leaders successfully tapped into individual discontent and anxieties generated by exclusion and repression by a violent dictatorship.
The argument pushed by Nkurunziza and his backers for a third presidential term is unconvincing. This, and the fact that many people have really not enjoyed the fruits of peace under his 10-year rule, is what has galvanized relentless opposition to the regime.
President Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader, has run Burundi according to the only model he knows: an authoritarian, predatory and aid-dependent regime. But this week's coup against him must be condemned. The African Union and the continent’s leading nations must support Burundians to attain democracy.
Pierre Nkurunziza is neither the first nor the only head of state in Africa’s Great Lakes region to seek another term of office against provisions of the constitution. Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni orchestrated the removal of term limits from the constitution altogether. DR Congo and Rwanda’s presidents both want an extension of their regimes.
Ethiopia is going into elections in less than two weeks. A US senior official caused a storm when she recently described the country as a “young democracy”. It is a stunning hypocrisy that America continues to support one of the vilest dictatorships in Africa.
In the search for alternatives to capitalism, existing democratic economic projects are frequently painted as noble but marginal practices, doomed to be crushed or co-opted by the forces of the market. But is this inevitable?
A thousand protesters will march on the French Consulate in Johannesburg on May 15 against France's plan to build a toxic coal-fired power station in South Africa. African lives, it seems, are only worthy of sacrifice to coal boilers.
Land ownership and its reclaim are the next phases of Africa's struggle for total freedom. Do not now begin to sell off Africa to foreign landownership. No other continent does.
The project falls within a framework of rapid transformation and conversion of the Nacala Corridor, at the epicentre of a struggle for control of land and water by large international corporations, including international cooperation agencies.
If the economic and human rights situation in Ethiopia is really as rosy as it is painted by the EPRDF government, how come hundreds of thousands of its youthful population are risking their lives to flee the country and die in the deserts of the Sahara, Sinai and Arabia, beheaded by fundamentalist lunatics in Libya and killed in South Africa?
The increased expansion of Empire in Africa now requires a re-examination of the theories of Pan-Africanism and Socialism as advanced by Kwame Nkrumah and other anti-imperialist leaders of the 1950s-1980s. Africa cries out for unity now more than any other period of the post-independence era.
Pambazuka News 728: Special Issue: From MDGs to SDGs: Claims vs. reality
Pambazuka News 728: Special Issue: From MDGs to SDGs: Claims vs. reality
The goal of the Director of Programs is to manage the programs of TrustAfrica (convenings, grant- making, knowledge generation and provision of technical assistance) working under the supervision of the Executive Director and in close collaboration with All Staff.
The proposed Sustainable Development Goals suffer from the same failings as the Millennium Development Goals they are replacing. Ideas and practices of sustainable development should reflect the complexities of development issues and not be based on abstract agendas and strategies that are constituted in a universalist frame.
Without radical rethinking, the new project of setting a post-2015 agenda is in danger of suffering the same fate as its forerunners. Development in its classical understanding is of no use now. What is needed are real changes corresponding to the various local and national necessities.
A sustainable and effective post-2015 development agenda for Africa must have its emphasis on building the capacity of Africans to identify, grow and strengthen their own systems and processes.
One of the MDGs is to reduce sexual transmission of HIV by 50 percent by 2015. But new infections are outpacing scaled up treatment, basic knowledge about HIV is poor, only about 35 percent of those infected receive treatment, and only about 40 percent of people living with HIV know their status.
Since the Millennium Development Goals are an unfinished journey, they are still relevant, but there is a need to go beyond the MDGs in order to take into account new and emerging issues and aspirations.
It is because of indigenous African women’s strength and resilience that our families and communities have been kept alive, not western development concepts and models.
The vision of an economy in the service of life, where poverty is eradicated, social justice is embraced and ecological justice promoted, must be the essence of the next generation of Sustainable Development Goals and beyond.
In an ever-globalising world, developing nations are robbed of the capacity to deal with global challenges to their own interests. Strong regional bodies are an opportunity to resist this by adopting common positions and protecting the interests of member states.
Pambazuka News 724: Resistance: From Baltimore to Burundi
Pambazuka News 724: Resistance: From Baltimore to Burundi
Burundi is burning. If the UN, the international community and the African Union don’t act quickly, and prepare to intervene if necessary, the small East African nation could explode into a full-scale civil war that will destabilize the entire Great Lakes region.
Despite the sharp salience of ethnicity in Burundi’s politics historically, the ongoing disturbances are not about that. They centre on one issue: the people are protesting against violation of their Constitution by a greedy and dumb political class.
Maybe President Zuma and his xenophobic countrymen are right, after all. Why would a Nigerian close his barber shop in Karmo ghetto to go operate the same in Soweto? Why would a second degree holder prefer to travel to Johannesburg to be a cabbie when that line of business would have been more profitable in Lagos?
The African-American political establishment within Obama’s Democratic party constituency appears to be ‘missing in action’ instead of acting as a core base of support for Obama’s attempt at a complicated resetting of Middle East policy.
The only supreme quality of Tory that was left unexpressed by these endorsers-cum-cheerleaders is his ability to walk on water or raise Bob Marley or Claudia Jones from the realm of the ancestors.
The ruling party vocally supports the struggle for freedom and justice of the Palestinian people. But South African Jews – in flagrant violation of the law – have enlisted in the Israeli armed forces that have committed wanton crimes against humanity in Palestine.
Race and oppressive violence have always been at the center of the US racist colonial project. It is only when the oppressed resist that they are counseled to be nonviolent like Martin Luther King – by murderous warmongers like Barack Obama.
Mere ‘be-nice’ appeals and marches will not address the root causes of xenophobia in South Africa. Jacob Zuma’s ANC government is at fault not only for neoliberal, pro-corporate, job-killing policies, but for tightening immigration regulations, compelling refugees to live under illegal informality. That requires resistance.
President Zuma’s son Edward is xenophobic and racist. Like the disgarceful Zulu King Zwelithini he supports, whose reckless utterances sparked the attacks on foreginers, Edward continues Cecil Rhodes’ odious legacy of dividing Africans.
At times like this you can almost forget the good and gentle South Africans you have met over the years. The slow Sunday brunches after a foray into the Mall when everybody calls you ‘My sister’…
April 18, 2015 marked 60 years since that historic day that began South-South Afro-Asian collaboration for decolonisation, development and freedom. As we commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the Bandung Conference, it is important to build more hope in the ongoing quest for a new inclusive world.
When refugees from the Indian subcontinent, sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America and other places risk their lives for a chance at low-wage precarious labor in Europe or the US, it's because of decisions taken at the center of global economic and political power, places like Washington D, London, Brussels and New York.
With national “elections” close - periods historically marked by boycotts, corruption and vote-rigging, violence and repression – Ethiopia merits attention. It’s a country characterized by widespread torture, oppression and crackdowns on perceived dissidents.
The government of Swaziland must fully respect the rights of Chief Justice Ramodibedi, Justices Anandale and Simelane, Registrar Nhlabatsi and Mr. Shongwe, as accused persons.
Witnesses could not even identify the four, but this was immaterial to the judge. ‘You opposed the ANC and therefore you are guilty’, is the message from the courts.
Drawing on decades of on-the-ground experience as a high level negotiator in bodies such as the World Trade Organization, Tandon challenges prevailing orthodoxy, insisting that, for the vast majority of people, and especially those in the poorer regions of the world, free trade hinders development and visits relentless waves of violence and impoverishment on their lives.
The loss of lives, injuries to persons and damage to private property and the dignity of foreign nationals living in South Africa are a grave violation of their rights protected under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Statement by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project to 56th Ordinary Session of the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Banjul, Gambia, 21 April 2015
As spaces to engage in issues related to social justice and human rights continue to shrink on the continent and globally, the granting of observer status to the Coalition of African Lesbians is a milestone in the African human rights system and indicates commitment from the Commission to the principles of the African Charter on Human Rights.
I appreciate to make your case. I am happy to hear you refer to pragmatic PanAfricanism. Whatever cannot be built piece-by-piece is a project at-risk. Only a Napoleon of sorts can build such a continental government.
Some of the hurdles to a united Africa - and I use "united" with reservation - are language/cultural diversity, dictatorial or corrupt politicians, religious extremism, and perceptions of racial divide between black and Arab Africa.
The United States of America was practically envisioned to be a unity of white, English-speaking, Christian, free-market and democracy loving immigrants. The Americans did not have as many hurdles as we Africans.
Let's be pragmatic about our future, Africa !
Saint John
[email][email protected]
Awethu! joins the call for an urgent end to the xenophobic atrocities bedevilling the country.
His fearlessness in the face of violence, torture and even threats of death meant that he carried the message against the planet-plundering oil companies around the world, speaking truth to power, no matter the price.
With Buhari freshly elected, the higher education community in Nigeria has hope that their underfunded sector will reap benefits in the president’s honeymoon phase. But students and educators must not relax now; they must take advantage of this changing of the guard to advocate for their needs with renewed vigor.
A lot of questions remain unanswered about Kenya’s 700-kilometer wall now being constructed on the Somali border ostensibly to keep out Al Shabaab militants. The consequences are serious for the Somali people in Kenya and across the border. It is an apartheid idea derived from Kenya’s military partners: America and Israel.
The movement expresses solidarity with Burundians and appeals to authorities to uphold the human rights of all citizens, including the freedoms of assembly, association and expression. East African leaders should act quickly to prevent the current crisis from spiraling into a full-scale disaster.
Pambazuka News 725: The Mediterranean drownings and Empire’s crimes
Pambazuka News 725: The Mediterranean drownings and Empire’s crimes
Pambazuka News, in collaboration with AfricAvenir (www.africavenir.org), invites contributions on the evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the question of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Kellom’s killing clearly demonstrates that the systems criminalizing Black communities, people of color, and immigrants are integrally related in America. There must be an end to government-sanctioned violence in all communities.
While international attention is focused on the constitutional crisis in Burundi, Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers have again violated the territorial integrity of DR Congo by sending troops into the country. What are they up to?
The public outcry against the mass drownings of desperate people at the hands of slave traders demands a solution. But the solution offered by Empire does not include eradication of poverty or resolution of wars. It is military intervention.
The Yonge Street Uprising has made it clear that the oppressed might have to resort to violence in order to occupy the stage of history as the principal actors in the drama of emancipation.
The pan-Africanist spirit is alive and strong, but building a solid Pan African Movement remains a big challenge – as witnessed in the Pan African Congress in Accra, Ghana, in March. A Pan Africanist political culture must be inculcated, nurtured and institutionalized throughout the six regions of the African world.
Naomi Klein’s book ‘This Changes Everything’ shows how climate change and the bleak future we are marching toward are inextricably bound up with unfettered capitalism. To preserve capitalist excesses, hi-tech fixes for warming—like Solar Radiation Management—may be employed that hasten the demise of large parts of Africa and Asia and the natural world.
The EU’s new policy is to let as many refugees as possible drown in the Mediterranean to deter others from attempting similar voyages. Yet these refugees are often fleeing from wars and miseries created by the West and its allies.
Corporate media writes of drowning refugees fleeing poverty and violence in the Middle East and North Africa without mentioning the actions of the United States and its European allies that have caused the humanitarian catastrophe.
When we commemorate May Day we rarely reflect on why it is a public holiday in Africa or elsewhere. Sian Byrne, Paliani Chinguwo, Warren McGregor, and Lucien van der Walt tell of the powerful struggles that lie behind its existence.
The police and public watchdog institutions are increasingly unwilling to hold government accountable and to protect the constitutional rights of citizens.
The real parasites in South Africa are institutions such as the moribund royal households that are maintained in luxury by taxpayers without delivering any meaningful public good.
Economic growth in West Africa is badly threatened by the cocaine trade. The power of cocaine cartels is enormous, and the scope of their business to pervert and corrupt society at every level is making itself felt.
Thousands of persons displaced by Boko Haram attacks in northern Cameroon are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. But they have virtually been forgotten by the Paul Biya government whose attention is focused - rather disproportionately - on refugees.
The book examines how repeated failed counter-terrorism operations throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia have led to broader interventions and the promotion of the military and intelligence theorists who concoct these operations.
To maintain their relevance, African rights groups will have to become more innovative and nimble. They must keep their ears to the ground, forging new and more creative partnerships with the activists of new social movements.
If belonging is articulated in rigid exclusionary terms, where everyone however mobile, is considered to belong to a particular homeland somewhere else, a place they cannot outgrow and which they must belong to regardless of where they were born or where they live and work, then South Africa can only belong to one group of people, those who were there before everyone else: the San.
to the Government of Burundi via Embassy of Burundi in Kenya on the prevailing political
crisis and violence.
To the rest of the world, they are merely statistics of persons drowned at sea while trying to reach Europe in illegal voyages. But these are real human beings, with complex lives, pursuing a dream.
Pambazuka News 722: When the state fails the people
Pambazuka News 722: When the state fails the people
Despite the bravado routinely displayed by government officials and their backers every time a deadly al Shabaab attack happens, in reality the Somali-based terrorist group has fully exposed Kenya’s deep security weaknesses. Now everyone lives in mortal fear.