Pambazuka News 700: Strategies for change: Build solidarity, confront power
Pambazuka News 700: Strategies for change: Build solidarity, confront power
Varying Western mainstream media styles of reporting on Ebola confirm how narratives are spaces of domination. The African Ebola patient is classically “othered” and portrayed as a villain and perpetrator, while the American Ebola patient is depicted as a victim.
Nearly two decades of foreign interventions have failed to build peace or a viable state. International engagement has served to deepen the humanitarian and political crisis in Somalia.
The assertion that people under 40 have lost nothing to apartheid is one of the most extraordinary statements from the mouth of a cabinet minister since 1994. The pretense that apartheid’s consequences came to an end in 1994 is sheer denialism that is so out of touch with reality.
Under the guise of ‘mediation’ the ANC is seeking to split Cosatu and weaken the workers’ movement. For the ANC and the SACP, the prospect of Numsa and its radical proposals gaining dominance in Cosatu is an intolerable threat to imperial capitalism and the electoral dominance of the alliance itself.
No case of Ebola has been reported in Kenya, despite several scares. But that is not how tourists see it. The numbers of arrivals are going down.
Over 11 million South African citizens are currently in debt, due to the entrenchment of aggressive capitalist policies. Most debt experiences, such as the author’s, are extremely painful. It is time for the country to rise up against big banking and end the cycle of debt.
Marta Iñiguez de Heredia, from the University of Cambridge, interviews three members of Lutte pour le Changement (Struggle for Change, or LUCHA), which self-identifies as a citizens’ movement. Their members speak about their ideas and the trajectory of this movement since its creation in 2012.
In his role as a philosopher, intellectual, political figure and teacher, Nyerere’s philosophy was centered on humanity and unity of the African people to achieve liberation and build African societies. His legacy remains highly relevant in today’s struggles for unity, justice and peace.
Protest art may not necessarily spur revolutions, but as a change agent its immense value lies in speaking truth to power. It is also educational, cathartic and empowering in situations of injustice.
We're looking for a campaigner to contribute to our campaign against human rights violations in Central Africa. Working as part of the West and Central Africa Team at the Regional Office in Dakar, you will work on a range of projects, including our campaign on impunity in Central African Republic, conditions of detention in Chad and the rights of LGBTI groups in Cameroon. You will act as a focal point providing advice and support to our worldwide membership, including devising campaigning strategies, preparing written and other campaigning materials and providing research support.
Cuba’s exemplary conduct in the world has made the yearly UN vote on the U.S. embargo a singular opportunity for all the world body’s members, except Israel, to chastise the superpower that seeks full domination of the planet. It is the rarest of occasions, a time of virtual global unanimity on an evil in which the Empire is engaged.
Pambazuka News 698: Haiti and Cuba: Separating heroes from villains
Pambazuka News 698: Haiti and Cuba: Separating heroes from villains
President Kenyatta had invested over a year of his presidency badmouthing the ICC to only recently sit subdued in The Hague for his case proceedings. But this was only after much national ‘fanfare’ and grandiose but empty symbolisms and rhetoric that pretended to pursue and protect the sovereignty of the state and people of Kenya
People from countries around the world whose troops are stationed in Haiti under a UN mandate ought to wake up to the reality that this is an occupation force, serving imperialist interests and deeply hated by the Haitian people on account of serious, well-known human rights abuses over the past decade
This week the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH. This deployment is not based on any principles of humanitarianism, but rather is an imperialist occupation which seeks to make sure that the island’s government can implement and maintain repressive policies favourable to international investors. The occupation force must be withdrawn.
The situation in Haiti is very bleak, and extremely serious, Haitian activists say. The current regime is very repressive and has refused to hold elections. But it continues to enjoy the support of the US and UN despite the cries of suffering Haitian people
Jean-Claude Duvalier, or ‘Baby Doc’, died on 4 October without facing justice for his wanton crimes against the Haitian people. Uneducated in the affairs of governance, he ran the country with an iron fist until the people deposed him.
The departure of the first batch of Cuban medical personnel to fight the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone rekindles in the mind of Fidel Castro memories of Cuba’s military support for the liberation struggle in Angola. It is continuation of the Black revolutionary tradition
Cuba recently sent a medical team of 165, consisting of 63 doctors and 102 nurses, to Sierra Leone to support efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak. It is a mission they were happy to undertake and it goes right into the heart of Cuba’s people-to-people solidarity.
Cuba’s contribution to the development of post-independent Africa has always been based on solidarity, liberty and anti-white supremacy. By this principled stand, Cuba builds on and sustains the spirit of the Haitian revolution.
6 October is the anniversary of the first act of terrorism against civilian aviation in the Western hemisphere – the unparalleled Cubana air disaster on the coastline of Barbados on October 6, 1976. Cubana flight 455 was hit by two bombs just after take off from the then Seawell Airport (now the Grantley Adams International Airport) in Barbados
The Cuban government estimates that this economic war against their country has cost their nation one trillion, 112 billion, 534 million dollars [$1,112,534,000,000].
The annual festival has been exploited and co-opted to promote Canada’s multicultural agenda that pushes an illusion of social cohesion and equal opportunity despite widespread discrimination against racialised communities
The white supremacist, colonial/capitalist, patriarchal ruling classes of the U.S. and Europe are clear, even if we are not, that war and repression will be used with brutal efficiency to maintain their hegemony.
The much-canvassed clan-federalism as a strategy for state building in Somalia will yield disastrous results for the country. Clan federalism is not supported by the Constitution, which prescribes that Somali territory and sovereignty are inviolable and indivisible
Kenyans have vested much hope in their new constitution to bring about social justice and manifest the rule of law. Four years after its promulgation, questions arise as to how much that hope is justified
President Mugabe’s wife has been concealing a crime, which itself is illegal in line with Zimbabwean laws. If the allegations are true, she should divulge the names of the culprits to facilitate investigations.
Civil society groups aim to raise $3000 for lawyer's fees to pursue a case against the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, which claims to have been allocated a wetland in Nairobi to build luxury apartments.
The poetry is a journey into the quest for self-determination. Resonating with Ngugi's ‘Re-membering Africa’, Onsando's text focuses on selves that constitute Africa's dismembered self.
Ugandan women rights activist Hope Turyasingura is dead. Turyasingura is former chairperson of Center for Domestic Violence Prevention. This poem celebrates her.
To be a woman in Kenya is to be repeatedly un-homed. This society refuses the right of women to be at home, as the increasingly frightening statistics on domestic violence indicate
‘Arrow of God’ presents a highly imaginative and anticipatory power of Achebe’s insight to the turbulent trajectory of post-(European)conquest African history and politics. This insight anticipates the catastrophe of the Igbo genocide.
On this International Day of Rural Women we, the undersigned organisations, call on African governments to end discrimination against rural women in Africa, especially in their access to traditional leadership roles and inheritance rights.
Sudanese security forces are holding the students following a crackdown that raises many questions. Some of the students are reported to have been tortured.
Evidently, the existing nation-state model does not successfully handle the global challenges facing humanity. Cosmic state theory proposes a different human organization: a supra-state transcending family, state, market, school, gender, race, party, religious and tribal affiliation. The cosmic state is founded upon the values of peace, justice and sustainable human progress.
Britain has a long history of protecting its own interests over the interests of the nations it has occupied, most notably in Africa. This legacy has become relevant recently during Scotland’s referendum for independence. Did Britain adhere to history and intimidate Scotland into voting ‘No’?
The most horrific police brutality targeting ordinary citizens is a deeply distressing reality in ‘liberated’ South Africa. There is no justice for those who fall victim to these agents of state terror –reminiscent of the dark days of apartheid. How long will this go on?
Pambazuka News 697: No easy victories: From Ebola to the World Bank
Pambazuka News 697: No easy victories: From Ebola to the World Bank
The two Summits held last month ended on different notes. But while the world’s leaders failed to live up to people’s expectations, the people on the other hand showed that they will no longer sit idle waiting for a solution to the climate crisis – they are ready to find solutions
What last month’s march did, better than any other event in history, was demonstrate the unity of activists demanding genuine emissions cuts and government funding of an alternative way of arranging society. They offered a transformative view of a world economy that must go post-carbon and post-profit if our species and countless others are to survive.
Comprehensive public education about Ebola is required, including its possible links to biological warfare research in the West. As for the response to the present outbreak in West Africa, the AU and ECOWAS have horribly failed the people of that region and Africa.
Ethiopia will hold national elections next year. It is certain that the US-backed TPLF regime will rig the poll and proclaim a landslide victory. A look at the present repressive political climate shows clearly that there is not a chance for a free and fair election
Members of Parliament on 15 September scrapped the proposed tax on kerosene, which would hurt low-income earners. But last week President Museveni revoked Parliament’s decision, saying the government needs taxes from kerosene to finance its Shs15 trillion budget. Call, SMS or email your MP to reject Museveni’s move
Landless citizens of a location just outside Nairobi have been fighting for their rights to land since Kenya’s independence 50 years ago. Successive governments – including those of two presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and his son Uhuru, who come from the area – have failed to give these people justice.
There can be no excuse for the sexual assault of woman. And no one should be silent regarding the violence allegedly perpetrated by Kenyan columnist and writer Tony Mochama
Small farmers and seed sovereignty activists have for years stood against Monsanto and other GMO giants, the Mexican government, the US government, and the World Trade Organization in a protracted resistance to protect the staple food, maize. They have won some difficult victories
Russia has provided funding for the purchase and supply of medical modules, medicines and disposables for 60,000 people in countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak. More medics and volunteers are expected to go to West Africa in the coming days
Global attention to the crisis that broke out in South Sudan nearly a year ago has almost entirely disappeared. But difficult negotiations are ongoing, despite periodic outbreaks of fighting. To find lasting solutions, the stakeholders need to appreciate the complex realities leading up to the crisis
East African countries have joined the ranks of oil and gas producing nations. How can these countries avoid the ‘resource curse’ that many African nations have been facing and instead turn their resource wealth into opportunities for their citizens?
New report shows that resources are transferred from small-scale farmers to multinational agribusinesses. The farmers are trapped in a cycle of debt and dependency on costly external inputs with limited long-term benefit.
Survival has uncovered serious abuses of Baka “Pygmies” in Southeast Cameroon, at the hands of anti-poaching squads supported and funded by the WWF. Instead of focusing on organized poaching, these squads arrest, beat up and torture Baka people who hunt only to feed their families.
Is the government scared of facing Fanmi Lavalas party in a free and fair election? It seems so. President Martelly was elected in 2011 and parliamentary elections have been due for three years. Aristide’s party presents a clear problem for the US-backed regime
Elections are coming up in Nigeria in February. A quick look at the situation in the country today shows that the elections is ill-prepared for a successful exercise in terms of personnel and funding. But there are also other worrying concerns nationally that will likely complicate the mammoth exercise
The Ebola outbreak is a “Rwanda moment” for Africa. But leadership on this issue from around the continent has been at best too little too late, exposing Africa to external militarization of responses to the epidemic that could creep into other important policy spheres like the economy or upset the regional geopolitical balance
Are assassinations, manipulation of the criminal justice system and intimidation used regularly to protect greedy officials plundering the KwaZulu-Natal public purse? It would seem so when reviewing incidents of violence relating to housing and tender allocations over the last six years in poor communities across Durban.
Karuturi has seemingly lost control of its operations in Kenya, the Netherlands and Ethiopia, there is not much left for the company to hold onto, except some small operations in India – and a whole lot of debt.
This Friday, a new civil society campaign, 'WorldVsBank', featuring protests and teach-ins, will take place at the Bank’s Annual Meeting in Washington and ten other countries, including South Africa’s three largest cities. The campaign arises from widespread recognition all over the world that the Bank has made the world a worse place socially, politically, economically and environmentally.
This is part of the global campaign to isolate Israel through boycott, divestment and sanctions because of the Jewish nation’s murderous violence and apartheid against the Palestinian people.
World Bank President Kim has vehemently rejected legitimate demands to establish accountability even in the most egregious cases of racial discrimination, which numerous Bank reports say is “systemic”. Now there are rumours that Asians have taken over at the Bank and worsened the racism.
AbM have survived nine years of repression. Despite their heroic victories and struggles in communities, the ruling party and the state continue to unleash violence and lies against the movement. This must stop.
Farmers, indigenous peoples and NGOs take to streets in ten cities demanding an end to World Bank’s morally bankrupt development
As a response to the Ukraine crisis, Western countries have imposed bans on exports to Russia, which have especially affected the country’s food import. President Putin turned to other nations and African countries are ready and willing to fill in the gap.
Pambazuka News 696: The quest for social justice in South Africa
Pambazuka News 696: The quest for social justice in South Africa
Thuli Ndlovu had been threatened for being in the forefront of fighting for the rights of shack dwellers and leading spirited opposition to a controversial housing project. Now her blood has been spilled by a gunman.
Leaders of the shack dwellers movement in South Africa live with intimidation and death threats. Ndabo Mzimela is one of them. The movement has been accused of being funded by foreign agencies to cause riots, destabilize the country and undermine the ANC. But the members refuse to give up agitation for land, housing and a dignified life
Thuli Ndlovu knew that she could be murdered. But she continued with her movement work regardless. The mother and militant of the shack dwellers movement was assassinated this week in an attack that left her teenage daughter with serious gunshot wounds. When will this brutality against the poor end in ‘free’ South Africa?
Murder as a tool for political containment is back in South Africa, as the country is gripped by a largely unacknowledged paroxysm of popular ferment. A new authoritarianism is in the making, organised in the name of tradition and patriotism, and mediated through a shift in power to the police, intelligence and traditional authority.
Biko’s Black Consciousness is now more relevant than ever in South Africa. The neo-liberal, white-supremacist order which prevails today not only keeps the Black masses oppressed but also defines the very questions which can be asked about this state of affairs. The elite ‘post-apartheid’ discourse excludes the important questions – like those of land dispossession, racial and class oppression and gender equality – from the agenda.
Ugandan troops are part of the African Union peacekeeping force that was recently accused of sexual violence against women in Somalia. The silence from the international community is shocking - but not surprising. One only needs to look at the activities of presidents Museveni and Kagame in DR Congo and inside their own countries to understand
Pictures of Rev. Jesse L. Jackson shaking hands with the bloody handed dictator of Rwanda, of Andy Young pontificating on stage in Atlanta, are the clearest signals yet that America's black political class are being welcomed to join in the profits made at the Africa end of global supply chains, the profits of 5 million dead in DR Congo.
Armed ANC members acting with police support now openly attack people struggling against corruption and for land in Cato Crest. They are even hiring assassins
Much more needs to be done to prevent the spread of the virus and to effectively treat the thousands who have already been infected. Support services will also be needed for the affected families where many children will be left as orphans.
Although the civil war in the Central African Republic now a religious character, it is not religious in origin. Decades of bad governance and political instability have accentuated sectarian sensibilities which revolve around distribution of dwindling resources in a zero-sum proposition.
Blake and this writer created the Black Music Association’s Toronto Chapter in 1984 to plug African-Canadian music makers into the international music market. It was a huge success.
Real tragedy in Zambia as evidenced by the suicide of a student who was denied a bursary to attend the University of Zambia. More than 4000 students out of 6000 were denied bursaries at UNZA this starting academic year. However, for some of us from poor families, education is the only pathway to a different future. During my time at UNZA everybody got a bursary. Of course those were different times. Fewer students. Plenty of money in government coffers etc. There was also a government policy to fund education. I also put it as a proposition that there was less corruption. There was the Leadership Code. It wasn't a solution to all ills but it was something. Youth and Sports Minister Hon. Kambwili now says it is the job of parents to pay for their children's education. How can poor parents and peasants afford university education? Where are our priorities if they do not include the future welfare of our children? I am very distressed by this death.
A new book called ‘The Coming Revolution’, argues that, contrary to the dominant narrative in western media, the South African revolution remains incomplete.
Discipline, loyalty and duty are among key values of any military in the world. But the recent mutiny in Nigeria and the harsh punishment meted to those involved warranted a deeper assessment of the military as whole
Civil society groups and individuals are piling pressure on the Kenyan justice system to investigate and prosecute a well known writer and newspaper columnist Tony Mochama who allegedly sexually assaulted the celebrated poet
Many Haitians believe that the current political prosecution is a smoke screen to divert attention from the failure of the Martelly government to hold elections. It is also an attempt to exclude the popular Lavalas Party from participating in elections that many observers believe they would win.
On 23 September 2014, human rights lawyer Ms Wendy Wanja Mutegi was forced to cancel her scheduled community meetings for fear of attack from a group of men who had threatened to harm her if she does not halt her advocacy work on behalf of an indigenous community in Eastern Kenya.
Nigerian security forces have consistently failed to deter and halt attacks on civilians, including mass abductions. There is also mounting evidence of grave human rights violations and possible war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and acts of torture, committed against civilians by the security forces and local vigilante groups
There is just too much scaremongering about Ebola in the West, meant possibly to boost the humanitarian industry. The realities of public health concerns throughout Africa have been given little attention
The article by Jon Rappoport (9/22/14), a U.S. journalist, takes aim at the wrong targets.