Pambazuka News 530: Memory, history and transformation: 'Time future contained in time past'
Pambazuka News 530: Memory, history and transformation: 'Time future contained in time past'
The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) has bowed to the pressure by donors and Monday (16 May) released a much awaited National Governance and Corruption Survey report. The report shows generally that corruption is still a serious problem in the country, with respondents listing the police force, judiciary and education sectors as areas which they perceive to be the most corrupt in the country.
A Kenyan official says a British human rights investigator looking into the illegal deportations and detentions of terror suspects from Kenya to Uganda has herself been deported. Hassan Omar Hassan of the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says lawyer Clara Gutteridge was deported on government orders.
Greenpeace Africa has appealed for a fairer and sustainable fishing partnership that protects the livelihoods of West African fishing communities. The appeal by Greenpeace Africa was directed to fisheries ministers who are set for a meeting in Brussels to discuss the future fishing agreements. Almost one quarter of all the fish taken by the European fishing fleet is caught outside EU waters especially in the once rich West African waters. This number is set to increase as European fish stocks decline because of overfishing.
The Government of Liberia and the European Union have signed an agreement to end illegal logging in Liberia. The deal, in the form of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement, will ensure that all timber exported from Liberia to the EU comes from legal sources. It also contains provisions to ensure that the trade will benefit the Liberian people. Illegal logging was common during the country’s civil war in the 1990s. Former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, was accused of selling timber to fund his regime. Much of this illegal timber found a market in the EU. In response, the United Nations placed sanctions on timber exports in 2006.
Elections for the presidency of the Seychelles will be held from 19 -21 May 2011. A Commonwealth Expert Team has been sent to observe the poll. The opposition leader, Wavel Ramkalawan, told Think Africa Press that the Seychellois people are 'ready for democracy' – a strange phrase to use in a country that has officially been a multi-party democracy since 1993. The current government has been in power since a military coup in the mid-70s overthrew then president, Sir James Mancham.
The government says it is investigating the Ocampo Six, reports Kenya's The Daily Nation. It has dismissed claims by International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and post-election violence victims that police and judicial reforms in the country could hinder it from trying the six locally. While defending its admissibility case at the ICC, the government said the elements necessary for success of its complementarity challenge to the court’s admissibility are in place, providing it with the right to investigate and prosecute.
British journalist Ian Birrell got into a spirited exchange with Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Twitter recently. Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation Louise Mushikiwabo also joined the discussion. The Daily Monitor has published the full transcript on their website.
The so-called 'cabriolet' became a powerful symbol of failed service delivery ahead of local government elections last week. 'There is nothing more powerful than the image of a woman sitting on a toilet without an enclosure,' said Judith February, head of the political information and monitoring service at the Idasa democracy institute. 'Those are very powerful images and they show the lack of compassion there is when politicians are simply not listening to people. It’s a graphic description of local government failure.'
Bangladesh has leased tens of thousands of hectares of farmland in Africa as part of a government drive to improve food security in the poverty-stricken South Asian nation, an official said. Two Bangladeshi companies have leased 40,000 hectares of land in Uganda and Tanzania and another firm will sign a deal for a further 10,000 hectares in Tanzania this week, foreign ministry director Farhadul Islam said.
The rot in public hospitals in the country has been exposed in new reports by the anti-graft agency. Two studies conducted by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) between 16 October and 20 December 2009, found that provincial general and district hospitals are on the sick bed, plagued by staff shortages, corruption and poor facilities. Cartels, in collaboration with management, have taken over the supply chain as overworked and demoralised staff merely watch, according to the reports. The majority of Kenyans, unable to afford health services, mainly go to these health institutions.
The central African Republic of Gabon has been facing a latent political and social crisis since 26 January. André Mba Obame, president of the now banned opposition party ‘National Union', took his oath as the country's president, claiming that he had won the June 2009 election which was officially won by Ali Bongo, son of the former president Omar Bongo. The crisis has since deepened, with protests from students and recently oil workers, despite the exit of Mba Obame from the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) building where he had sought refuge for a month.
The wife of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was being held on corruption charges, has been released on bail after handing over assets. Suzanne Mubarak turned over a villa in a Cairo suburb and $3m (£1.9m) held in bank accounts in Egypt, officials said.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has lashed out at the media for their coverage of recent opposition protests over the cost of living. In a letter published in the state-owned New Vision paper, he called them 'the enemies of Uganda's recovery'. He named Al-Jazeera, the BBC, regional NTV and Uganda's privately owned Daily Monitor as cheering on those behind the month-long 'walk-to-work' campaign.
The request by chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo that arrest warrants for war crimes be issued against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and the head of Libya’s intelligence service, Abdullah al-Senussi, only confirms the role of the International Criminal Court as a tool of the imperialist powers, says this article on the World Socialist Web Site. 'The warrants are, in effect, being issued on behalf of the United States, Britain and France—the chief architects of the ongoing bombardment of Libya. Moreno-Ocampo has gathered his evidence against the three accused with the aim of preventing any possibility of a negotiated end to the war, and to further isolate Gaddafi and pave the way for regime-change.'
Deadly election-related and communal violence in northern Nigeria following the April 2011 presidential voting left more than 800 people dead, Human Rights Watch said 16 May. The victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states. Nigeria's state and federal authorities should promptly investigate and prosecute those who orchestrated and carried out these crimes and address the root causes of recurring inter-communal violence.
The March arrest, conviction, and sentencing of Roger Jean-Claude Mbede to three years in prison for being homosexual is a gross violation of Mbede's rights to freedom of expression and equality guaranteed by the Cameroonian constitution, Alternatives-Cameroun, Association pour la Defense de l'Homosexualitè (ADEFHO), and Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Cameroon's top leaders. Under section 347, a person who engages in 'sexual relations with a person of the same sex' can face a prison term of up to five years. Mbede was sentenced after admitting to his sexual orientation while in police custody. However, the law directly contravenes international human rights treaties, which, the Cameroonian constitution states, apply directly in the country.
Farming with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is becoming more widespread in Kenya due to the promotion of biotechnology through clever schemes, exacerbated by the lack of a legal framework for the commercialisation of these controversial products. The Syngenta Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation attached to the Syngenta Company that researches and produces GM seeds. The foundation is involved in the 'Safe Biotechnology Management' (SABIMA) project aimed at promoting GM technology among small-scale farmers in Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda and Malawi.
There was a slight increase in the number of women running for elections in this year’s local government elections. More than 19,700 women stood as candidates, compared to 15,718 in the 2006 local elections. This means that 37 per cent of the candidates were women, a two per cent increase from 2006. Women remained the majority on the Independent Electoral Committee voters' roll, which has more than 24.5 million South Africans registered.
On the occasion of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, ARTICLE 19 has called on states to combat violence, discrimination and stigma directed against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons around the world by protecting and promoting freedom of expression and the right to information. ARTICLE 19 observes that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons around the world face heightened levels of discrimination simply for expressing their sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Draft Decree is an essential step in preparation of the Tunisian elections for the Constituent Assembly, set for 24 July 2011, which will in turn be responsible for drafting the new Constitution. ARTICLE 19’s analysis of the Draft Decree calls for an improved framework that would fully incorporate relevant international standards on freedom of expression.
Facilities in refugee camps in northeastern Kenya have been stretched to the limit, aid workers say, as more and more Somali refugees flee the conflict at home. 'Dadaab refugee camps continue to receive a significant number of new arrivals who are often very tired and exhausted, having travelled very far, sometimes from as far as [the Somali capital] Mogadishu, in some cases on foot [over 1,000km],' said Emmanuel Nyabera, spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in Kenya. As of 15 May, Nyabera said, Dadaab, the world's biggest refugee complex, was home to at least 348,605 people.
Shocked by the publication of an article claiming black women are inherently less attractive than other women, H. Nanjala Nyabola considers Satoshi Kanazawa’s ‘study’ and underlines a key historical parallel.
I am revolution, I am change.
Effortlessly, I spring out as a tree,
fruit representing the degree of the greatness within me.
I am revolution, consistent in the movement,
so history will change itself fluently.
A speech can transform a country, and a deed
can change the heart of a man, just like a seed of greatness will blossom even though there is famine in the land. Time waits for no one but it waited for me.
I am revolution.
The Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA) supports the demands of South Africa’s landless people for the land claims process to be re-opened, and supports the suggestion that this process should include restitution of land lost prior to 1913.
Since October 1997 – for more than 13 years – the International Justice Committee for Thomas Sankara has called for judicial procedures to be launched in Burkina Faso around the assassination of Thomas Sankara.
With South Africa's municipal elections taking place this week, the Mandela Park Backyarders hosted an 'Anti-Vote Election Summit' on 14 May.
While experts are working with the military council to amend the political rights law, news has leaked about the cancellation of the allocation of seats to women, known as the 'women's quota' and which is one of the positive types of discrimination in law. The women's quota is not the only type of positive discrimination. There is another type: the quota of workers and farmers which is 50 per cent of the elected seats. However, there is not any news on canceling this quota, which raises the question on the validity of canceling the women's quota.
In the new Global Report on Equality at Work 2011, the International Labour Office (ILO) notes that in spite of continuous positive advances in anti-discrimination legislation, the global economic and social crisis has led to a higher risk of discrimination against certain groups such as migrant labour. 'Economically adverse times are a breeding ground for discrimination at work and in society more broadly. We see this with the rise of populist solutions,' said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, adding that 'this threatens painstaking achievements of several decades'.
The indigenous forest dwellers of the Republic of Congo are in danger of extinction, warns David Lawson, UNFPA Representative in that country. His work with national and provincial leaders to promote and protect their rights will be the subject of a discussion at a side event of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Advocacy on behalf of the Congo’s indigenous peoples culminated last February with passage of a bill protecting their rights in the Republic of Congo. It marked the first such legislation in Africa and has been called a ‘best practice’ by the Secretary-General Special Representative for Indigenous People, Mr. James Anaya.
From the adoption of marriage laws in Argentina and Iceland, and the decision of the Brazilian Supreme Court recognising rights of same-sex civil unions, to the issuing of a statement signed by 85 countries at the UN Human Rights Council condemning persecution on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a lot of progress has been made the last year on recognition of LGBTI rights in the world. Though the number of countries criminalising same-sex sexual activities between consenting adults is still the same as last year, namely 76 (including the five which have the death penalty), it is becoming more and more difficult for homophobic states to defend their laws on the international stage. This was one of the conclusions of ILGA’s (The International Lesbian, Gay, Trans, Bisexual and Intersex Association) co-secretary generals Gloria Careaga and Renato Sabbadini in their foreword to the State Sponsored Homophobia report 2011.
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), has welcomed the historic move of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) to adopt a landmark resolution on the safety of journalists and media practitioners in Africa. The resolution, which expressed concern over 'declining safety and security situation of journalists and media practitioners in some African countries', noted that 'killings, attacks and kidnapping of journalists, which are contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law, are often committed in an environment of impunity'. To ensure the protection of journalists’ safety, the African Commission appealed to member States of the African Union 'to fulfil their obligation of preventing, and investigating crimes against journalists, as well as bringing the perpetrators to justice'.
Sudanese armed forces have carried out another round of air strikes against a village in Darfur, this time striking a settlement in the north of the war-torn region, the joint United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur (UNAMID) reported on 18 May. Government aircraft struck the village of Sukamir, about 100 kilometres northeast of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
Ten years ago, Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, was the first place to make antiretroviral drugs available to the public sector, marking a milestone in the beginning of the end of AIDS denialism and the fight for treatment in South Africa. With more than half its population unemployed, Khayelitsha is one of South Africa's largest and fastest-growing townships, and home to one of the highest burdens of HIV and TB infection nationally and globally. In 2009, antenatal HIV prevalence was 30 per cent. Alarming as the figures may be, Khayelitsha is a beacon of hope for the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, where the provision of ARVs had been fraught, marked by a bitter stand-off between AIDS activists and government over the slow pace of the rollout.
An absence of boarding facilities for high school pupils in Zambia's northern province of Luapula is forcing children to share lodgings with their peers - unsupervised by adults - leading to teenage pregnancies and HIV/AIDS infections. Many children live a long way from school and prefer to rent accommodation nearby. Wamunyima Chingumbe, a Health Ministry director in Mansa District, said the absence of boarding facilities at day schools had led to teenage pregnancies and made pupils vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). After malaria, STIs were the most common ailments recorded at makeshift boarding high schools.
The future of the regional human rights court remains uncertain, amid reports that justice ministers from across Southern Africa have agreed that the court’s decisions are null and void. The court was effectively suspended over Zimbabwe’s refusal to honour its 2008 ruling that Robert Mugabe’s land grab campaign was unlawful. The court ordered the then ZANU PF government to protect farmers from further attack, but Robert Mugabe and his party have repeatedly snubbed the court.
Tunisia lifted an overnight curfew in the capital on Wednesday (18 May) saying security had improved since authorities arrested 1,400 people linked to the latest anti-government protests. Protesters at recent demonstrations in Tunis have said they fear democratic change is not coming quickly enough and many complain about unfair working conditions in a country where unemployment runs at around 14 per cent.
Tunisia threatened to report Libya to the UN Security Council if it fired into Tunisian territory again, after Libya's three-month-old conflict spilled beyond its borders. Tunisia's state-run TAP news agency said the government would threaten Libya with diplomatic action over the 'continuing firing of rockets by Libyan forces towards Tunisian territory'. 'The Tunisian government views those acts as belligerent behaviour from the Libyan side who had pledged more than once to prevent its forces from firing in the direction of Tunisia and has failed to respect its undertakings,' TAP quoted a foreign ministry source as saying. On Tuesday at least four Russian-made Grad rockets fired from Libya landed inside Tunisia, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene.
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/530/contaminated_water_tmb.jpgZ... Moloo investigates the impact of a Canadian-based gold mine on the North Mara region in Tanzania. Villagers in the area complain about deaths and ill-health due to pollution of the Thigithe River.
While the burning of shops in Zanzibar is being interpreted as a criminal and political act, ‘nobody has asked where the root of the problem may lie in the economic and social sphere,’ says Abdul Sheriff.
South Africa continues to be the most unequal social formation in the world. Sehlare Makgetlaneng reviews proposals by the African National Congress Youth League to radically overhaul the economic structure of the country.
Multinational Wal-Mart is trying to acquire South African retailer Massmart. Khadija Sharife explains why the deal would be bad for the country and bad for workers.
A multi-national study shows that if an HIV-positive person starts taking antiretroviral therapy early on, that is, when their CD 4 count is still high, their chances of infecting their HIV-negative partner can decrease by as much as 96 per cent. The results of the study are viewed as confirmation of untested wisdom among clinicians who have for a number of years thought that people on combination antiretroviral therapy have a lower chance of transmitting HIV to their uninfected partners.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi needs to seriously rethink his ideas around the ‘backwardness’ of pastoralism and the need for ‘modernity’, argues Abebech Belachew.
In Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, this June, African heads of state and government will gather at a summit with the theme, ‘Youth empowerment for sustainable development’. Youth action is critical to the continent’s development, and more specifically, in ensuring that girls and women can make equally valued contributions to this development.
As such, the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) coalition would like to invite youth to reflect on the importance of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Contestants are asked to respond to the question (in French or in English), ‘Why is the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa important to you?’ in an essay of a maximum of 2000 words. The competition is open to citizens of all African countries aged between 18 and 25.
Facebook is launching a resource center to help non-profits use the social network. The site will include educational materials, tutorials and a downloadable non-profit guide geared toward raising awareness and funds for causes specifically through the social network.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of child labour in the world and estimates show that it continues to grow. This paper examines the causes and magnitude of child labour in Kenya. It finds that socioeconomic status and structure of the household have a strong effect on child labour. Also, a large proportion of working children attend school.
The subject of child abuse and its long-term implications in adulthood has been widely studied in literature in different areas of the world and across different cultures, notes this article in the The Arab Journal of Psychiatry about a study that looked at Egyptian university students. It found that a large proportion of the sample reported both child abuse and several long-term pathological consequences of abuse in adulthood. 'The problem seems to be serious in this middle class sample and it remains possible that these problems could be worse in lower social classes.'
Ethiopia’s abortion laws, Uganda’s walk to work campaign, the Zambian Patriotic Front’s new manifesto, why Gbagbo’s statues had to go, Malawi’s ‘grumpy old man in State House’, and the plight of Gambia’s Hassan Touray feature in this week’s review of African blogs, compiled by Dibussi Tande.
29 May 1966, the Igbo Day of Affirmation, marks both the start of the 1966 genocide against the Igbo people and the day they decided to survive the violence unleashed against them, writes Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe.
Morocco's February 20 Movement, which spearheaded demonstrations across the kingdom, is preparing for fresh protests in Casablanca. The next one is set for 22 May in Sebata and Ben M'sik. On 29 May, a demonstration will take place in the city centre. The march will be followed by a five-hour sit-in which the young people describe as a warning to the authorities to meet their demands.
ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema can only get away with unconstitutional statements calling for black South Africans ‘to take the land without payment’ because there are no social movements strong enough to put his words into action, writes Ronald Wesso.
Amid growing concern about al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) acquiring weapons from Libya, the Algerian army launched a large-scale surveillance and security operation along the joint border. Algerian military leaders met in Djanet to discuss ANP preparedness for possible security problems along the border with Libya, El Khabar reported. The defence ministry tasked the Ouergla and Tamanrasset regional commanders with monitoring security and humanitarian issues related to the influx of refugees.
‘I challenge every one of us to at least talk to one person you know about homosexuality. I’m not asking you to come?out, just yet, even I am struggling with that. But just try and? communicate our fears and insecurities as a minority group,’ writes Kenyan sister Esther Adhiambo, in a piece marking International Day Against Homophobia on 17 May.
‘How can you speak of human rights and the dignity of peoples when you perpetually violate them and block those who don’t share your ideology and must endure your abuses?’, asks 1980 Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel in an open letter to US President Barack Obama.
African leaders have been asked to speed up regional economic integration so the continent can play its rightful role in the global economy. African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha said African states must pay greater attention to economic integration. 'By fostering strong regional trading blocs, African economies could accelerate diversification, generate economies of scale, and mitigate the fallout from any global economic shocks,' he said.
Ministers from countries within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met recently in Lusaka to discuss the progress made towards the proposed tripartite free trade agreement (FTA). The meeting’s discussions centred on the ways to establish a single market by way of a tripartite FTA and thereby promote and attract both cross-border and foreign direct investment. COMESA, SADC and EAC include a total of 26 countries, some of which are already members of more than one of the region’s trade blocs, and a tripartite pan-regional FTA would open up a market of 580 million people.
In what is possibly ‘the first session of its kind in Kenya’s election history’, Bunge La Mwananchi (People’s Parliament) brought together aspiring candidates for Kamukunji constituency at a forum where people could question their would-be MPs. The '[t]ime for lethargic service for Political Leaders and Public Officers is up,’ writes Odhiambo Okecth. (Coverage of the debate is available from
Tanzanian playwright Ebrahim Hussein’s ‘Mashetani’ woke Kenyans up to the Moi regime’s repressive ways, becoming ‘a bible of a kind for the Mwakenya movement’. But the themes in the book are being replayed today as coalition politicians grapple for power, writes Anthony Muchoki.
In the context of the International Year for People of African Descent, the Anti-Discrimination Section of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is launching a Fellowship Programme for People of African Descent from 10 October to 4 November 2011. The Fellowship Programme will provide participants with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the United Nations Human Rights system and its mechanisms, with a focus on issues of particular relevance to people of African descent.
Journalist Ian Birrell writes in the London Guardian: 'Returning home from a Saturday afternoon walk with the dog, I did what has become almost a reflex action and checked Twitter. Bizarrely, there was the president of Rwanda having a go at me over disparaging comments I had made about an interview he gave that morning. This was strange enough - not least since his missives to me were peppered with the sort of text abbreviations used by teenagers (such as "Wrong u r..."). Even stranger, we then traded tweets over human rights and repression in his central African nation, his foreign minister even joining the fray.'
The Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa is seeking a creative and energetic Communications Officer who can promote our work using multimedia, new media, the internet, and publications.
The Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa is seeking a Program Officer to promote state compliance with governance and human rights standards at the East African Community (EAC) and African Union (AU).
Documents revealing the torture of Mau Mau Kenyans directed by the British authorities were a 'sort of guilty secret', a report says. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the papers should now be made public. The internal review found some Foreign Office officials had chosen to ignore the documents' existence. It comes as the High Court is due to rule on a compensation case brought by four Kenyans over alleged human rights abuses in the 1950s and 1960s.
Five Egyptian political parties and movements have united to form the Coalition of Socialist Forces, they announced in a meeting on 10 May 2011. The newly formed coalition is made up of the Social Party of Egypt, the Democratic Labour Party, the Popular Socialist Coalition Party, Egypt Communist Party and the Revolutionary Socialists. It aims to include under its umbrella other socialist movements in Egypt, which are considered fragmented.
On 8 May, Kenyan police officers illegally cancelled a rally to campaign for economic and social rights in Starehe constituency. This could 'set a bad precedence for future engagements between peaceful citizens and law enforcement officers; in as far as exercising of democratic rights is concerned,' write campaign coordinators the Unga Revolution, in an open letter to the Commissioner of Police.
I hope Kenya people could , and everything will come down, I can see there still some problems unsolved since the elections in 2008, but I hope reason will prevail in the solution of your most crucial issues.
My solidarity to the people of Kenya gets to you all.
The fall of apartheid in South Africa has not yielded genuine representation and opportunities for the country’s poor majority, writes Zodwa Nsibande. With political parties happy to remain ‘anti-poor’, it falls upon South Africa’s youth to revolutionise wider society in the struggle for equality and opportunities for all, Nsibande stresses.
Venue: Cyprian Ekwensi Cultural Centre, Garki, Abuja
Date: 25th May 2011
MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM
THEME: “Linking Elections to Good Governance – Don’t Agonise,
TIME: 9:00am to 1:00pm
PANEL CHAIR: Mallam Kabiru Yusuf
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State
SPEAKERS: Dr. Chidi Odinkalu (Open Society Justice Justice Initiative), Dr. Hussaini Abdu (ActionAid Nigeria), Hajiya Saudatu Mahdi (Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative), Dr. Siddique Abubakar (A. B. U. Zaria), Amb. (Hon). Nkoyo Toyo (Member House of Representatives), Dr. Otive Igbuzor (African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development), Oronto Douglas (Presidency), Dr. Mohammed Kuna (INEC) and Dr. Abubakar Momoh (Lagos State University). Chair Organising Committee: Dr Kole Shettima
Musa Okwonga performed his poem 'My love' at a memorial service for murdered Ugandan LGBTI activist David Kato on May 18. Originally written for Eudy Simelane, the South African lesbian footballer who was gang-raped and murdered, the poem also features in the forthcoming '.
Karia presents an 'in tribute' event featuring a presentation by Dr Jeffrey B. Perry based on his biography 'Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918'.
During the discussion he will refer to Theodore W. Allen’s work 'The Invention of the White Race', which he edited.
Centerprise
136-138 Kingsland Road
Dalston, London, E8 2NS
Friday, 20th May, 2011
7:30 – 10:00PM
Donations: £3.00
Restaurant on site
Bookings, and other information from Karia Press: [email][email protected]
Tel: 0750 4661 785
Books will be available for sale at the event.
If you wish to order a copy(ies) of the book(s) in advance, please email or call for availability and prices.
To get to the venue:
London Overground: Dalston Kingsland or Dalston Junction.
Buses: 149, 76, 243, 67, 236.
With London's Africa Centre faced with the threat of closure, Chipo Chung stresses that the centre's board ignores 'the social contract between themselves and the community they serve'.
With the IMF’s (International Monetary Fund) Dominique Strauss-Kahn in hot water over accusations of sexual assault in a New York hotel, Cameron Duodu revisits the effects of the fund’s structural adjustment programme in his home country of Ghana.
The process that brought Michel ‘Sweet Micky’ Martelly to Haiti’s ‘presidency was a farce that will 'force popular forces to distinguish between processes of democratisation and pseudo-elections without democratic participation’, writes Horace Campell, in an article on the people of Haiti’s two-hundred year struggle to reconstruct their society.
As Kenyans take to the streets in protest against the high cost of living, Okoth Osewe lays the blame for the food crisis on the government’s ‘liberalised’ economic policy.
'I was eleven perhaps ten when I met her
When I was introduced to her
She whose voice was rhythmic
In the mountains of Gusiiland
When she spoke, she drew people from far and wide
They came running and walking
Standing and sitting down, listening
To her soothing rhythmic voice…'
‘The educated African is the selfish philanthropist. Touched by the turmoil surrounding her, she longs to “do something” to help those in need. But first, her needs must also be met. For how can she help others when she has not yet helped herself?’ writes Neema Ndunguru.
Five hundred people from eThembeni and Transit Camp in Grahamstown blockaded a national road on Tuesday, in a demonstration for housing, electricity and water, the Unemployed People’s Movement reports.