Pambazuka News 669: Africa's assorted barbarians and lootocrats
Pambazuka News 669: Africa's assorted barbarians and lootocrats
International Women’s Day on 8 March 2014 marked 40 years commemoration of women in an unequal world. In Lagos, Benin and Abuja women protested against the brutal killing and abduction of innocent students in Yobe, Nigeria. Women continue to mobilise for action and change around the world
The recent freezing of the assets of the former Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha by the American government indicates that the writing is on the wall for Africa’s lootocrats. But will ordinary Nigerians benefit from the returned money?
The level of indiscipline in the Nigerian military, as revealed by this sad episode, is truly appalling. Soldiers should be professional at all times and respect the citizens who pay their salaries and whom the armed forces are created to protect
Kenya’s well regarded media ought to shift attention from the sideshows and power duels politicians engage in and instead focus more on important national development issues. It is a year since the devolved system of government was implemented. The media should lead in assessing how citizens have benefited from devolution and what needs to be done better.
The late president of Venezuela was not only a great socialist revolutionary but also a passionate pan-Africanist. On the first anniversary of his passing, his eminent example of the struggle against imperialism is a model for all those who aspire to truly empower themselves and their people
The project model for Inga 3 does not prioritize access to electricity for the poor, especially considering that the bulk of the power has already been committed for export. Social and environmental impacts of the dam have not been given due attention
The release of this former Panther organizer illustrates the injustice of the U.S. political and legal system but also draws attention to the fact that there are many other political prisoners detained inside a country which claims to be the citadel of democracy
Chokwe Lumumba ran for mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, in order to set in motion a process of ‘social transformation from the ground up.’ He died eight months into his term, but the state refused to do an autopsy. Lots of folks suspect he was assassinated for challenging the ruling order
The corporate media are a key component of the U.S. imperial machine. Although styling themselves as watchdogs, they are in fact the dogs of war, whose mission is to hide Washington’s aggressions behind a fog of lies. War crimes are committed with impunity in part because presidents get a helping hand from their corporate media partners.
The United States is more than just an ally to fascists in Ukraine and everywhere else; the American South provided an historical model for fascism. The fascist order of the pre-Sixties Solid South was simply a domestic expression of U.S. Manifest Destiny – the national religion. The fascists – both local and imperial – have laid siege to Russia.
What is the situation for women in Nigeria today? Where have they come from and how much further do they have left to go before they can stimulate positive transformation for gender rights in their country?
The Nigerian Constitution has signed several international conventions to promote gender equality and women’s rights. However translating this legislation into real life advancements for women is yet to fully materialize.
Pambazuka News 668: Africa's next strategy: End state failure, attain economic freedom
Pambazuka News 668: Africa's next strategy: End state failure, attain economic freedom
Guidelines to national, regional and international partners on how to offer support now that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill has become law
The French have a historic role in the current crisis in the Central African Republic in assisting dictators install themselves into power. A way forward is for a Christian and Muslim Monitoring Group to identify individuals perpetrating hate crimes and help bring justice to all victims
Fifty years after Lumumba was assassinated and the passing of Nelson Mandela, Africa’s strategy must now emphasize intellectual and economic freedom. The necessary liberation must now be secured through incisive independent knowledge founded on strength of character, courage and fearlessness
The suspension and replacement of Lamido Sanusi, the radical head of the Central Bank of Nigeria who has become a whistle-blower exposing the billions that have gone missing at the central bank, is symptomatic of an amoral and corrupt Nigerian oligarchy
Squeezed between rising economic costs of education and living standards, and low motivation for academic studies in a socially intolerant environment, authorities have been struggling to lure foreign students into educational institutions in post-communist Russia for more than a decade now.
Inequality between and within countries is the outcome of capitalist development, and not a natural outcome of social processes, as seen in Tanzania and Zambia. New models of development are needed to resolve the structural contradictions of endemic poverty in the Global South
Every time Kenya’s security forces launch an operation in the bandit-ravaged arid north, they leave behind broken limbs and raped women. That has been the story since the colonial days. And no one has been held to account for the horrendous human rights violations. In Isiolo, the victims of state terror cry for justice
The continued high-profile attacks by the Somali-based Islamist group are prove enough that various efforts to neutralize Al-Shabaab have not fully succeeded. More work is needed, not only by national and regional governments but also globally.
In Canada, the rhetoric of multiculturalism fails tremendously to open up conversations around equity and anti-oppression where Black people are concerned
The R2P principle offers potential to protect civilians from crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes. Yet in Africa violations continue to occur despite the legal peace and security architecture to deliver on the principle
Ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, who suffered a stroke last year, has announced he will run again in elections next month. He apparently wants to die in office and the clique around him will not let him go
Young people, especially those pushed into difficult circumstances, will find the story of Nelson Mandela greatly inspiring. Pain and struggle are not meaningless or endless, if one remains focused and determined to achieve their goal
An urgent appeal has been launched to stop an Italian-Senegalese land grabbing project in Senegal, strongly opposed by the communities of the northern region of Ndiaël, because it deprives them of access to their lands and threatens their basic means of subsistence. The Senhuile-Sénéthanol project poses a grave threat to the food sovereignty of 9000 inhabitants in the affected region, and it is implemented by a very shady corporate structure.
She is a Zimbabwean editor whose books have won the biggest number of international awards for the country. In this interview she shares her experiences
The March 2014 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now available: Please help us distribute it, and consider contributing in the future. You can also like our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter!
Pambazuka News 667: SPECIAL ISSUE: The struggles for homosexual rights in Africa
Pambazuka News 667: SPECIAL ISSUE: The struggles for homosexual rights in Africa
Zimbabwe’s gay community expresses solidarity with their counterparts in Nigeria where President Goodluck Jonathan signed a stringent bill into law in January outlawing same-sex sexual relationships. Solidarity among gay movements across Africa is critical in challenging state-instigated violence
The baseless belief that homosexuality can be cured through forced sex is widespread, especially in South Africa where many LGBTI persons have fallen victim. Greater public awareness needs to be created around this issue urgently
In post-apartheid South Africa, sexual violence has become a socially endorsed punitive project for maintaining patriarchal order. Black township lesbians have not benefited from legal protection because of important weaknesses in the justice system. These need to be addressed
Whereas much of the work in the West has assisted African same-sex sexualities in providing visibility to same-sex desire, the theorising has not sufficiently provided for a contextual understanding of phenomenon – that of unpacking deeply entrenched ideas of fundamentalist conceptions of religion and patriarchy, and of untangling a psychological colonization resultant from a colonial past
Does creating conditions for all members of the society to access health, including homosexual people, of necessity undermine religious and moral aspirations of the Kenyan society? Is criminalization of homosexuality a theological necessity? There are options for resolving this seeming fundamental misunderstanding between the religious leaders and homosexual persons
The personal anguish that homosexual people go through in a society that rejects and attacks them is unspeakable. Does an innocent human being deserve this?
As these three sad stories show, refugees and asylum seekers who happen to be gay are subjected to the double stigma and violence of homophobia and xenophobia in the Rainbow Nation that has some of the most progressive inclusive laws in the world
The decision to ‘come out’ as a homosexual is ultimately a personal one – even when this helps the gay community as a whole. Whatever the considerations, one must carefully try to gauge the consequences in a world still gripped by moral hysteria
With the advent of the pervasive information and communications technologies, communities advocating sexual and gender minority rights can learn useful lessons on how to deploy these technologies to further the cause
The decision to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law in Uganda by President Yoweri Museveni is another development in the worrying practice of penalising homosexual conduct, a legacy of colonial-era law. The time has arrived to press for urgent reforms
It is intriguing that even faiths whose adherents never sit around the same fire seem to converge on a vehement denunciation of LGBTI persons. Narrow interpretations of the scriptures are responsible for this bigotry. For sustainable peace, believers should instead learn to embrace the ‘other’
The continued persecution of LGBT persons and the government’s intolerance of Zimbabwe’s sexual and gender minorities violates basic rights guaranteed by the constitution and international law. The state must stop wasting time and resources suppressing an essentially private issue
A trend is forming from African nations – which already criminalize same sex acts, albeit, through laws inherited from colonial masters – to further put in place legislation that amplify, further criminalize and increase punishment for same sex acts
Uganda’s gay organisations have been forced to operate underground due to public hostility and state persecution of their members . The formation of the Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CSCHRCL) has been vocal in campaigning for the rights of gay people and exposing the harmful operations of right wing American religious fundamentalists in the country
Theologian Masiiwa Ragies Gunda from Zimbabwe argues that LGBTI people are being attacked from the pulpit by politicians who are deflecting from other societal ills. The essence of being Christian is missed when homophobic diatribe is used to deny the humanity of LGBTI people in society
Gay people in Nigeria are people persecuted online and need to be very careful. The organisation Queer Alliance Nigeria is now illegal in Nigeria and decriminalization of homosexuality as a top priority in many African countries is now crucial
Not all priests have joined the cacophony of homophobia in Africa. Instead an honest and open national dialogue in Nigeria and the rest of the continent is necessary. A priest expresses his misgivings of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013 signed by the Nigerian President
The state is always present in your bedroom. Its absence has an impact on your access to services and this is the source of the tenuous relationship between citizens and governments. Surveillance on LGBTI people and what they seek to do in private is measured against the ideal of the hetero-normative paradigm
Kenya is a secular state, a country that can be described as a state with many nation, a diverse country with many strengths and varieties, different ethnic groups, races cultural expressions, literature and art, traditional celebrations, social and moral values all of which demand and are entitled to recognition, respect, safeguards, promotion and are reconciled with the need to develop a sense of national unity “Kenyannesse”.
The constitution’s Equality Clause ensuring non-discrimination because of sexual orientation was not South African exceptionalism or simply the benevolence of the ANC: it was the result of consistent work by anti-apartheid gay activists, including black women
The young man begs to be identified only as Tanaka Tarambwa — a name he is confident no other man has because society has ‘largely labelled homosexuals as outcasts who do not deserve a place in society.’
Debate on homosexuality in Malawi is complex. The unpredictable and sometimes tense course of the debate provides a snapshot of the difficulties encountered when confronting the dilemmas and anxieties around the issue in Africa
On 20 December 2013, the Ugandan Parliament passed the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’, which is now law. The law not only broadens the criminalisation of adult consensual same-sex relations, but lays down prison term for anybody defending LGBTI rights as well as health and sexual education providers. LGBTI rights defender Clare Byarugaba explained the context and potential consequences of the Bill. Watch
Young lesbians face a lot of hardships, right from their homes to a rabidly homophobic world outside. But they can stop being victims by taking their lives into their hands, as this powerful case of Namibia shows
Homophobia is on the rise in Africa, in significant part due to donations provided by US-based conservative evangelical organizations. US organizations intending to support the LGBTI rights struggle in Africa need to reflect carefully on a number of important factors
A team of top scientists appointed by the government to give an opinion on homosexuality is unanimous that this sexual orientation is natural and has existed in Africa and everywhere in the world since time immemorial. It is strange for President Museveni to claim he relied on this expert report to assent to the draconian anti-gay bill
What problems is an anti-gay law supposed to cure? How would people in a country benefit from the mass imprisonment for life, or even execution, of homosexuals? The punitive laws targeting persons merely for their sexual orientation are grossly unjust and should be resisted
The mobile revolution. Geopolitical power shifts. A radically altered global economy. The world is changing, and so is the way that people fight for their rights. In order to be effective, Amnesty International’s (AI) International Secretariat needs to change how we work. That’s why we’ve opened a hub in Johannesburg. And why we need your campaigning expertise with us on the ground.
Pambazuka News 666: Fighting inequality: Malcolm X, the Chinese and Davos dreamers
Pambazuka News 666: Fighting inequality: Malcolm X, the Chinese and Davos dreamers
Many newspapers in East Africa are thriving--some fat with ads, enjoying solid circulation and little competition--but there is broad concern that all that advertising is also promoting self-censorship and corrupting news coverage
Malcolm X was convinced that racism against Black people was a global problem. He campaigned in Europe, Middle East and Africa against the scourge. At the Second Annual Summit of the OAU in Cairo 50 years ago, he made a direct appeal to African leaders for solidarity in ending the plight of African Americans under US national oppression
The world’s richest nations have admitted that global inequality is appalling. But are they prepared to radically tackle the capitalist system that harbours rich tax thieves and appropriators of labour, who increase their wealth with political favours? A system that safeguards the interests of the minority at the expense of the majority poor?
China has never denied that its Africa policy has its own strategic interests. However, one of the most outstanding features of China’s policy is its aspiration to promote South-South cooperation and to achieve the renaissance of Asia and Africa. Unlike the former colonial masters, China’s engagement provides Africa with new development opportunities
South Africa's largest union has resolved to establish a socialist movement. While this is an attractive idea, it is important to note that mass workers' parties have been thwarted elsewhere. The Left might have to contemplate whether it wants to build a social-democratic mass workers’ party that will squander another 20 years ora revolutionary mass workers’ party that will engage in mass action.
Karuturi Ltd, the Kenyan flower production unit of Karuturi Global, is in financial collapse and been put under receivership. One of the world's most infamous landgrabbers is in its deepest trouble yet.
There are many instances of mismanagement witnessed at Nigerian public universities, including embezzlement of the inadequate funds doled out by the capitalist state. This needs to be investigated and the culprits made to face the law
In the 1990s, Muslim fundamentalists in Algeria declared Jihad against the entire society, killing some 200,000 people. In 1994, a widely acclaimed producer of a popular TV show was lucky to survive an assassin’s bullets
A new 32 berth port, to ship South Sudanese oil to China, is planned for the Lamu archipelago, a stunning green field heritage site in northern coastal Kenya, teeming with rare species, coral reefs and marine biodiversity and, of course, people. But none of this richness, or the indigenous people for whom this is home, seem to matter to the Government of Kenya and private developers
The type of federalism being promoted in Somalia is a foreign initiative meant to abort national reconciliation and institutionalize social fragmentation
The Western media misdiagnoses the root causes of African conflicts and reduces them to tribalism and religion as in the respective case of South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The complexity that lead to conflict need to be reported on by the Western media
A debate has started about the code of conduct that will define the preservation of public liberties. The courageous Edward Snowden has achieved his goal to a large extent. His action should also contribute to a reflection on whistleblowers and their protection
The African Union (AU) deserves applause for standing up to the European Union and choosing Mugabe as First Vice-Chairman of its executive. The AU has greater challenges to face in the context of recolonisation and imperialist domination to control Africa’s resources
Few remember that Germany once had several African colonies.
Berlin is seeking to revise its constitutional restraints on its pacifism and absenteeism in military engagements by increasing its troops to Mali. It seeks no longer to remain on the side-lines of world politics
Malcolm X, otherwise known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was a fierce African American human rights crusader with an international agenda. Progressive people commemorating his assassination this week reflect on his legacy to the Black struggle and to all people around the world who are oppressed by imperialism and capitalism
Pambazuka News 673: Revisiting the sub-imperialist BRICS
Pambazuka News 673: Revisiting the sub-imperialist BRICS
How has Rwanda fared in the past two decades since the 1994 genocide? And what does the future hold for this nation of 11 million people? Pambazuka News invites articles for a special issue to be published in April
This week’s special issue takes a gloomy look at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and their subimperialist extractive tentacles around the African continent. Social justice movements must start with a common critical analysis of the BRICS in order to intensify South to South resistance and solidarity
The BRICS are united in their drive for foreign direct investment, a thirst for natural resources and poor environmental regulation. A closer examination of the predatory capitalist penetration of each BRIC nation reveals multi-national companies carving up Africa in a similar way the countries of the 1884 Berlin conference did to Africa
Namibia has enjoyed a good reputation for its nature conservation, but there is evidence the illegal trade in wildlife products is taking off.
New development projects along the Congo River are bound to restore colonialist structures and looting of resources in the DRC. These will benefit elite companies and countries, but fail to prioritise poverty and access by the poor - serving only as a repressive tool to locals.
The bank is touted as being a good potential host of the proposed BRICS bank. But its record so far suggests otherwise. A lack of representativeness, dubious appointments and investments, incompetence and a tendency towards privatisation have left many questioning whether the bank even fulfills its own mandate in the region
Industrial investment in Africa by BRICS nations has been mired in scandal at times but on the whole appears to be welcomed. Farai Maguwu takes a closer look at the real impact of BRICS investments in Zimbabwe, and questions what is required for Zimbabwe’s long term benefit.
Despite their anti-imperialist potential, BRICS states have promoted neo-liberal and imperialist practices that facilitate capital accumulation, resource extraction and expansion of their markets. But growing popular unrest against exploitation, ecological destruction and neoliberalism in the BRICS countries may lead to a different, anti- imperialist, course
The Lobito Corridor between Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is a game-changer in the new scramble for Africa’s mineral riches.
Chinese companies are implementing huge infrastructure projects in Nigeria. But like the colonialists before them, they are engaged in serious labour violations apparently with impunity. How does this ‘south-south cooperation’ benefit the Nigerian worker?