Pambazuka News 652: Good and bad examples: Sankara, UPOV 91, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara
Pambazuka News 652: Good and bad examples: Sankara, UPOV 91, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara
Africa Contact demands that Morocco releases activist Sidahmed Lemjayed and 24 other political prisoners from Sale prison in Morocco
The operation is in no way a “clean up” of the inner city and does not comply with the City of Johannesburg’s existing economic, spatial or urban management policies or by-laws
While studying at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, Sacks became a leading figure in human rights activism, fighting against apartheid and demonstrating his support for the Johannesburg Jewish community
Dear Chambi,
I love this . It is brilliant.
However, I am not convinced of the need to 'collapse' gender, class and race into one grand category called patriarchy .. and wonder how others feel about it?
I don't agree with the idea that patriarchy as patriarchy is a gendering classing and racializing system of domination .... for me, I remain comfortable with the idea of intersecting social forces of patriarchy and neoliberalism and racism [you may assist me in updating what conceptual tool is used these days for 'intersecting' or interweaving ..]
However I agree and believe you have advanced our analysis forward by insisting on the primacy of gender analysis of patriarchy when analysing any form of power relations in society .. though I would still add 'along with eg imperialism and race'
Thanks for this thoughtful essay.
Marge
Dear readers,
Pambazuka News receives important and interesting articles in Portuguese, which we publish in the Portuguese edition of the magazine. But we believe these articles should also reach our English-speaking readers, hence the need for translation.
We are urgently inviting volunteer translators to join our team.
If you enjoy reading Pambazuka News, this is your opportunity to support the magazine by volunteering as a Portuguese to English translator. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
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THE EDITORS
Activists have organised a protest march to call for the arrest and prosecution of a gang of men who raped a teenage girl and seriously injured her in western Kenya. The men were initially arrested but later freed in unclear circumstances
Group 4 Security (G4S) was the company that BDS South Africa singled out during its message and address at yesterday's Robben Island launch of the "Free Marwan Barghouti and All Palestinian Political Prisoners" campaign
The late Jessica Huntley was a political activist and publisher who contributed enormously to Pan-African activity in her native Guyana and also in the United Kingdom where she worked tirelessly for ordinary working people. She must be remembered by forthcoming generations to excel her deeds
Seventeen-year-old boy has been held in illegal detention with adults for nearly two months for allegedly insulting the president. He has not been taken to court
It is political will, leadership, integrity and the effective implementation of laws, rules and regulations that are essential, if the fishery of Lake Victoria, the lifeline to millions of people, is to be saved
A new legal framework to be adopted by the Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organisation will approve the intellectual property rights of Western commercial plant breeders and fundamentally undermine the rights of African farmers
France’s former African colonies not only need to act in the light of France considering abandoning the Euro zone as the CFA is pegged to the Euro, but that the budgets of Francophone countries continue to be dictated by France
The Coalition of African Lesbians [CAL] invites all our members, partners and friends to submit contributions for a publication celebrating ten years of collective feminist resistance, resilience, revolution and power as lesbian and bisexual women and trans-diverse people across Africa through our association with CAL at various times and in different spaces of our movement.
Here is the complete text of a hand-written speech that revolutionary Burkinabe President and African statesman Thomas Sankara was set to deliver on the evening of the day he was assassinated, October 15, 1987. Pambazuka News published a special issue on Sankara last week
Police summoned Kenya Television Network (KTN, private) journalists, John-Allan Namu and Mohammed Ali, over their report on the Westgate Mall looting by army officers. The network’s CEO, Sam Shollei, has also been summoned.
Pambazuka News 650: Fatal flaws: AU’s ICC tantrums, profiling women and foreign interventions
Pambazuka News 650: Fatal flaws: AU’s ICC tantrums, profiling women and foreign interventions
The US government shutdown is underpinned by a failing economy with a huge debt, massive unemployment, poverty and homelessness. This exposes the limitations of the capitalist economy: It fails to eliminate poverty despite having a lot of riches
Why does the African Union believe sitting heads of state should not be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide? There is no moral or legal difference between a warlord and a head of state who commit such crimes.
The Westgate terror attack brought out the best and worst in Kenyans in which Kenyans donated blood and elements of the military took time to rob high-class stores in the mall. The mentality of ‘our turn to eat’ is corrupting national security and signals a deeper malaise
In Tanzania there is a prevailing assumption that if a single woman or a couple of women enter a hotel alone without being accompanied by a man, they are ‘prostitutes.’ The profiling of ‘prostitutes’ is deep-seated in many African societies and needs to be challenged head on
The Napoleonic syndrome of President Jammeh expressed through his recent withdrawal from the British Commonwealth conceals his gross human rights violations, executions of political dissidents and homophobic pronoucements – rather than any principled opposition against neo-colonialism
A recent conference on Somalia held in Brussels has endorsed a new ‘Somali compact’ with development partners who are mainly from the North, pledging funds. The pact has many serious flaws – among them are the appointment of several foreign advisors without Somali counterparts
Citizens in all parts of the world who want a new relationship with other humans and with planet earth can learn a lot from the long life of Vo Nguyen Giap. The history of the struggle of the Vietnamese people and their victory over US imperialism is an inspiration for those who want another world beyond capitalism
The fact remains that African nations, which are now unhappy with the International Criminal Court, voluntarily accepted the ICC jurisdiction by ratifying the Rome Statute. And it is not true that the court is targeting Africa. But, yes, it has political weaknesses that need addressing
Despite pretensions to the contrary, the regime in Algiers is an obvious ally of Western imperialism. Algeria’s position, as can be seen from its response to foreign interventions in Libya, Mali and Syria, shows that the country has lost its heavy-weight and daring diplomacy of the 1960s and 1970s
Welcome to the new Libya, a country ‘liberated’ by NATO which now finds itself without the oil revenues which could make it rich, with no security, no stability and assassinations and corruption at unprecendented levels
Understanding gender as the primary way of signifying relationships of people enables one to see that even racial and class relations are constructed in relation to gender. One is not simply racialized as black, or classed as working class, but as a black man/woman and as a working class man/woman respectively
Since the advent of the ‘second liberation’ a decade ago, the ground seems to have shifted for three key players in Kenya’s political scene: the media, civil society and Western donor nations. Global realities have changed as well, and so these three need to re-evaluate their role going forward
Even though fast expanding citizen journalism has created new opportunities for the media, its content still clashes with mainstream operators mainly for lack of professionalism. There are especially important questions about ethics in such content
More than 40 former African heads of state and government oppose foreign military intervention and urge continuation of efforts to bring the two sides to a negotiating table to find a peaceful solution to the conflict
The book, among the few in French, details New Delhi's ambitions in the continent and seeks to make African leaders and public opinion aware of the new “Indian reality” that is currently taking shape in the continent
The authors’ bold attempt to provide a theoretical framework for explaining the great divergence in living standards between the prosperous and poor countries in the world, unfortunately, fails to take account of the historical context of uneven relations between particular societies
In the glaring rays of the
Rising Sons and Daughters of the
Global Poor and
Dispossessed
Revealed stinging
Infectious Mosquitos
On the flesh of an
Unjust
Marauding and
Violent giant
As years increased and
High levels of
Global
Deceptions
Larceny and
Injustices are revealed
Attacking Mosquitos multiplied
Weakening and overwhelming
The giant and its surrogates
Till they were no more
Collapsed by Mosquitoes
Whose bites can only
Be healed by
Truth
Justice and
Reparations.
Effective translators must be like the texts they handle — at once bilingual and bicultural. The meaning of a text is to be found within its cultural, historical and literary contexts.
Friends of the Huntley Archives at LMA (FHALMA) are sad to announce the death of Jessica Huntley on Sunday, 13 October 2013, at the age of 86.
Pambazuka News 648: Hidden hands in African lives: Sudan, Somalia and Kenya
Pambazuka News 648: Hidden hands in African lives: Sudan, Somalia and Kenya
Political Islam in Sudan remains very strong and manifests itself in floggings of Sudanese women that are justified by the constitution in the Indecent and Immoral Acts. Yet, Sudanese women remain defiant and resist these unjust and misogynistic laws
It remains to be seen whether MDC would have won the 2013 elections if no rigging had taken place. What would you have voted if you had been that communal dweller who had received a fertile piece of land; if your small mine claim had just been registered; if your small business was gradually getting off the ground; if you had just received U$1,500 dollars at the tobacco auction; if you had been struggling with corrupt MDC council officials about a plot for your house; if …?
Samar Al-Bulushi is interviewed by Jaisal Noor on the recent Westgate mall terrorist attack by Al-Shabaab. Al-Bulushi argues that it is not widely known that the Kenyan government has arisen as a prominent partner of the US government in its war on terror
The group Justice for Blacks appeals to the Finance Ministers of Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya who are to participate in the forthcoming World Bank Annual Meeting to raise the issue of racial discrimination and reform that is sorely needed within the institution of the World Bank
Food Sovereignty Ghana is calling for an open debate on the issue of GMOs to set the record straight as well as to generate answers and questions in order to inform the Ghanaian public, instead of attempting to impose GMOs on people without their knowledge or consent
The latest terror attack in Kenya and other significant events throughout Eastern Africa must be viewed within the context of U S economic and strategic interests in partnership with its NATO allies and Israel. New findings of oil and natural gas are a source of imperialist interest in the region
There are still people who believe the BRICS can help fix global-scale problems caused by the persistent capitalist crisis. Yet strategies advocated by BRICS leaders have so far had no discernible effect on financial volatility
The September 2013 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!
There seems to be a logic that if we get away from words that invoke the old neoliberal order, and instead transplant terminology from ecosystem science, the future will be secured for millions of hungry Africans. But the unstated agenda remains capitalist accumulation
Today, communities all over the world are still engaged in an arduous resistance to the imperialist-capitalist system that is grabbing their lands, robbing their resources and destroying their lives. That is why Lumumba was killed
The document is a bad deal for the people of Somalia because it violates the provisional constitution, delegitimizes the Federal Government of Somalia’s executive and parliament and creates clan satellites controlled by foreign powers
Civil Society has been under vicious attack since March, especially by politicians and in the social media. Human rights defenders have been particularly targeted
International recognition is growing that supporting small farmers and agroecology is the way to solve the global food and climate crisis
Oakland Institute and the Housing and Land Rights Network Submit Human Rights Report on Ethiopia to the United Nations
Following the recent unjustified and brutal killings at Kyari Close, Zone ‘E’, Apo Legislative Quarters, near Gudu Cemetery, Abuja, by some security agents which left no fewer than eight (8) persons dead and several others wounded, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) hereby observes as follows:
Bang bang bang!
Rang out the shots
Stand up if you’re Muslim
Bang bang bang!
Confusion galore
Humans were no more
Bang bang bang!
Rang out the shots
On blacks n whites n coloureds
On Muslims n Christians n others
On rich n middle class n poor
On Kenyans n foreigners
On males n females
On adults n children n the unborn
Bang bang boom!
The death bell rung
Dividing the divided
Uniting the divided
'We cannot continue to pretend that those who have set their sight against that enabling spark that we call creativity, those who arrogate to themselves the right to dispose of innocent lives at will, belong within the same moral universe to which you and I belong'
When the Somali president tried to settle old scores with another clan, opportunity presented itself for Al Shabaab
Pambazuka News 651: SPECIAL ISSUE: Thomas Sankara and inventing Africa's future: 26 years later
Pambazuka News 651: SPECIAL ISSUE: Thomas Sankara and inventing Africa's future: 26 years later
Pambazuka News (www.pambazuka.org) is organizing a special issue for November 2013 on the specific theme ‘Racial Relations in Brazil.’ Given the role and status of Brazil in the current global world order, as an emerging power from the South, some crucial issues in the social development of the country must be discussed. That specific issue is the problem of racial relations is an old one in Brazilian society. It is a country popularly known as a ‘racial paradise.’ However, this foundational myth relies on the cordial relations of the races (black, white and indigenous), but fundamentally Brazil has so far made little efforts to solve this problem.
November is the month historically chosen to celebrate black consciousness in the country. It is the month when Zumbi dos Palmares, who founded the maroon (quilombo) society of freed African slaves during the 17th century in northeastern Brazil, died on 20 November 1695.
We therefore invite people to write about the dynamics of racism in Brazil in order to publish this issue in this special month for not only black Brazilians but to remind our readers in Africa and globally that Brazil has historical, political, social and cultural ties to the African continent. We believe that Pambazuka can contribute to the debate on racism in a country that is emerging. Yet Brazil’s development will be halted if it fails to resolve the structural racism and its psychological impact that continues to withold human development in that country.
Authors are invited to write on any of the following topics (however, the list below is not exhaustive):
1.Racism and gender relations;
2.Race and class;
3.Racism and education;
4.Racism and psychology;
5.Racism and childhood;
6.Racism and the youth;
7.Environmental racism;
8.Institutional racism;
9.Case studies of racial problems;
10.Compared perspectives on racism;
Deadline for submission of articles in Portuguese, English and French languages is 26 October 2013
Texts must be sent to
Word length: articles must be between 1000-3000 words and in Times size 12 font.
Biography: please, submit a two line bio at the end of the article.
Bibliographical Endnotes can be submitted at the end of the article.
On 15 November 1998, Kwame Ture died of prostate cancer. He was also known as Stokely Carmichael, one of the founding leaders of the Black Power movement in the USA during the 1960s. He was a radical figure who connected with downtrodden African Americans fighting for their civil rights in America; he later married the South African singer Miriam Makeba and relocated to Guinea-Conakry where he took up the name ‘Kwame’ after Ghana’s illustrious Pan-Africanist leader , Kwame Nkrumah, and 'Ture' after Guinea’s first leader, Sekou Touré.
Throughout his political career as a dedicated life-long activist, during his time with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Council (SNCC); in the Black Power Movement, as well as in the All African Peoples’ Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) that he founded, Kwame Ture remained committed to Pan-Africanism – that is the unity of all people of African descent in the Diaspora with continental Africans. He was uncompromising in his belief that the plight of people of African descent in the Diaspora was intimately linked with the fate of the African continent for socio-economic and political liberation from the forces of imperialism and neo-colonialism.
This special issue seeks to commemorate the many ideas, activism and contribution of Kwame Ture. The issue seeks to remember his actions, thoughts and their relevance for African people today around the globe.
We would like articles on any of the following aspects (however, the topics below are not exhaustive):
• His contribution to SNCC; the fight for civil rights and Black Power
• Kwame Ture’s political thought
• His founding of the AAPRP and role as a leader and activist
• Kwame Ture’s contribution to internationalism
• His political activism in Africa
Articles are to be between 1000-3000 words in length
Please add a two line biography at the end of your article
Deadline for submission of articles is FRIDAY 1 NOV 2013
Please send articles to:
It has been thirty years since Thomas Sankara took power, before he was assassinated in 1987. The Sankarist Revolution was one of the greatest attempts at popular democratic emancipation in post-Independence Africa and is considered a novel experience of broad economic, social, cultural and political transformation
Written on the ninth anniversary of Sankara’s assassination, insight into the personality and political motivations of Sankara reveal not only a workaholic but a sensitive individual who sided with the poor in Burkinabé society
Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso, was assassinated 26 years ago. His original ideas for his country prefigured the alternative world movement and current approaches to change in Africa and South America
Twenty-six years after the death of Sankara, it remains true that the essence of struggle is to mobilise people to believe in transforming their lives; that they have the capacity to dare to invent the future through collective struggle, rather than belief in an awaited messiah to lead them.
The political ideology of Thomas Sankara, including warmth and compassion towards other humans, dignity for peasants, self-sufficiency for all Burkinabes, women’s emancipation and a politics of anti-imperialism, along with his thoughtful considerations of Burkinabe traditions and histories, assert pan-African alternatives to the discourse and practices of homophobia
Like Nkrumah of Ghana and Nyerere of Tanzania, Sankara sought to restore dignity and honour to his country and to imbue the youth with the ideals of pan-African solidarity, dignity and honour
Instead of a bust, a life-sized carving, a portrait, or a decent tomb with a headstone and his epitaph, Thomas Sankara’s remains are placed beneath dirt and unkempt surroundings overgrown by weeds. Not that he would have cared
Thomas Sankara was a visionary. He was very ambitious and wanted the Burkinabe revolution to bear immediate fruits for his people, and he paid no attention to the political intrigues of the time, which culminated in his assassination. His single-minded determination to serve his people is a lesson for all who aspire to public office
This short shows the neglected grave of Thomas Sankara, and compares to how heroes are celebrated elsewhere: the grave of Martin Luther King Jr and Mahatma Gandhi's place of cremation
The sharpness of Sankara's mind and the courage of his convictions are very apparent in this forceful to heads of state and government attending the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, now African Union) summit in Addis Ababa in 1987. The chains of foreign debt still remain a troubling issue for Africa
Although murdered by retrogressive forces opposed to Burkina Faso’s true liberation and that of Africa, Thomas Sankara’s revolutionary ideas and initiatives remain a powerful inspiration to those individuals and movements that are dedicated to struggles for social justice everywhere
Pambazuka News 649: AU and impunity, Biko, GMOs and political prisoners
Pambazuka News 649: AU and impunity, Biko, GMOs and political prisoners
Digital channels are key to connecting with our supporters, publicizing our campaigning work and encouraging people to take action. In this new post within our Digital Communications team, you’ll oversee the way we use multimedia content to reach target audiences.
Digital channels are key to connecting with our supporters, publicizing our campaigning work and encouraging people to take action. In this new post within our Digital Communications team, you’ll oversee the way we use multimedia content to reach target audiences.
At the conclusion of a visit to Kenya by a delegation of anti-torture experts, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and its coalition of partner organisations in Kenya call for the continuation of the reform path and effective steps to end impunity
Land reform in Zimbabwe was delayed by the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement and Britain’s subsequent failure to honour this agreement. Many African Heads of State applaud Mugabe for the stance he has taken to empower his people through land redistribution
Given the injustices of apartheid, heritage has become a surrogate for the black majority in the country to attempt an earnest conversation with a historically privileged minority (whites) and underprivileged minorities (coloureds, Indians, and other Asians) that reaffirms the value and merit of Africanness in South Africa
The landmark ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice gives Caricom nationals the right of entry into Caricom member states for six months. It is a victory for strengthening the legal basis for the operation of the Caribbean Community
American workers and the poor are not part of the conversation around spending and the debt. When the US government resolves this phony drama of the shutdown, racial and capitalist oppression will not have been altered in any form
The African Union should be working hard to ensure that there is no impunity in Africa. If Kenyatta and Ruto are innocent they should not be afraid to get their day in court. Any discussion at the AU about mass withdrawal from the ICC could be tantamount to self-delegitimization
Africa’s anti-ICC crusaders who are threatening mass withdrawal from the Rome Statute are in a desperate last-ditch effort to rescue their brethren Kenyatta and Ruto from the ICC hook and simultaneously immunize themselves against any future legal accountability for crimes against international law
130 civil society organisations say the International Criminal Court, though having weaknesses, remains the only permanent court with the authority to act when a state with jurisdiction is unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute serious crimes
Representation of Africa in the German public shows that a one-sided racist image prevails, which is disseminated via family socialisation, mass media, school books, films, advertising, and travel magazines/brochures. That is the image that informs German-Africa development cooperation
Thirty-six years after Biko’s death, the issues of land repossession, ownership of the economy and wealth redistribution, which he in the 1970s regarded as essential to the meaning of freedom and power for black people, have now found their way back on our nation’s political discourse
They say COMESA approval of seed trade regulations is a disaster for small farmers and food sovereignty in Africa and will open the door for GMO merchants to flood the region
In efforts to end a political stalemate, Tunisia's governing Islamist Ennahda party and the opposition have agreed on the appointment of a caretaker government composed of independent figures to be in power until fresh elections. But that is no guarantee that the crisis is over