Pambazuka News 522: Libya: Neither US invasion nor Gaddafism!
Pambazuka News 522: Libya: Neither US invasion nor Gaddafism!
The High Court in Kenya has relied upon the work of Stuart Wilson, the Socio-economic Rights Institute of South Africa's director of litigation, in granting a conservatory order preventing the eviction of thousands of informal settlers in Nairobi. In granting the order, Mr. Justice Musinga held that 'Eviction should not result in individuals being rendered homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights. Where those affected are unable to provide for themselves, the State party must take all reasonable measures, to the maximum of its available resources, to ensure that adequate alternative housing, resettlement or access to productive land, as the case may be is available.' The Judge also urged the Kenyan government to adopt a comprehensive housing policy which includes measure to provide interim relief for desperately poor people facing eviction.
Hundreds of residents have been left homeless in Juba town following demolitions at Custom Residential Area. The demolitions came following a week long notice given to the residents to vacate the area. Authorities of Central Equatoria State warned the residents that the State government wanted to use the land for constructing a government building.
Unregulated large-scale land acquisition in south Sudan by foreign companies threatens the rights of the people, with an area bigger than Rwanda earmarked for use by outside businesses, a report warns. Investigations commissioned by Norwegian People's Aid calculated that between 2007 and 2010, 'foreign interests sought or acquired a total of 2.64 million hectares of land (6.52 million acres) in the agriculture, forestry and biofuel sectors alone.'
The political crisis in Cote d’Ivoire is increasingly having a toll on the country's neighbours, with the spillover effects ranging from the political and social to the economic. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has already suggested that growth in the region would be affected this year if the stalemate persists. Many experts have also raised the alarm, saying that it is an example that must not be allowed to take root in West Africa.
This year a million people will die of HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa. Hundreds of thousands more will die of easily preventable diseases. To discuss this crisis and to develop campaigns to end it, on 25 and 26 March 2011, SECTION27 will be bringing together 60 activists and experts from 15 countries, mostly in Southern Africa but also India and Brazil to discuss how to strengthen, publicise and unite campaigns for the right to health.
After stalling for some time, negotiations for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) on the one hand and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), Mozambique and Angola on the other have recently restarted. In a letter sent to the South African Minister of Trade and Industry on 7 October 2010, SECTION27 raised concerns 'that South Africa may face undue pressure from the EU to agree to certain provisions [in the EPA] that – if adopted and given effect in domestic law – will undermine access to medicines.'
Nobody seems to like the Land Tenure Security Bill, writes PLAAS Senior Researcher Ruth Hall. 'It has raised the ire of both of the constituencies whose interests it sets out to address: those who own commercial farms and those who live and work on them. Contrary to its name, the Land Tenure Security Bill appears to deal largely not with how to secure people’s land tenure, but rather how to manage their resettlement off farms.'
The Tanzania government has failed to comply with requirements that would have made her a compliant member of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, EITI. For a country to qualify for EITI compliant membership, it must exercise transparency and accountability in revenues that accrue from its resources such as oil, gas and minerals.
It's the deal of the century: £150 a week to lease more than 2,500 sq km (1,000 sq miles) of virgin, fertile land. Bangalore-based food company Karuturi Global says it had not even seen the land when it was offered by the Ethiopian government with tax breaks thrown in. Karuturi snapped it up, and next year the company, one of the world's top 25 agri-businesses, will export palm oil, sugar, rice and other foods from Gambella province – a remote region near the Sudan border – to world markets.
Peter Wuteh Vakunta reviews Nelson Mandela’s ‘Conversations with Myself’. He underlines that ‘Countless books have been written and will continue to be written about this memorable man, but this one towers above them all on account of the intimacies and intricacies it contains.’
An estimated 51 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - or three quarters of the population - have no access to safe drinking water, even though the country holds over half of Africa's water reserves, the United Nations Environment Programme said in a new study. The country's troubled legacy of conflict, environmental degradation, rapid urbanisation and under-investment in water infrastructure has seriously affected the availability of drinking water, UNEP said in the study, unveiled to coincide with World Water Day.
In early February of this year, thousands of people from around the globe gathered in the historic city of Dakar, Senegal for the 2011 World Social Forum. Grassroots activists, community leaders, indigenous people, students and leftist politicians came together to celebrate the peoples' movements that are creating a new world and discuss strategies for moving forward. Particularly in light of the then-emerging social movements in Tunisia and Egypt that have now spread across North Africa and the Middle East, the World Social Forum in Dakar represented the energy, hope and determination of the African continent to challenge the neoliberal paradigm and declare that 'another world is possible'. are scenes from the opening March where President Evo Morales of Bolivia delivered a rousing opening statement to the people gathered and leaders from the African Social Forum council welcomed the marchers to Dakar. Dakar is of particular significance as one of the last African ports where slave ships stopped before crossing the Atlantic on their way to the Americas. Goree Island, with its door of no return through which millions of slaves passed during the transatlantic slave trade, is a reminder of that history. The World Social Forum is a symbol of the historic resistance to injustices that once took the form of slavery and today have many different faces.
Italy's interior minister is to visit Tunis for talks aimed at stopping the flow of migrants to the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. More than 15,000 people, mainly Tunisians but including some Libyans and Moroccans, have arrived since January's uprising in Tunisia. The UN refugee agency says tensions are rising between migrants and the local population and there is 'chaos and disorganisation'.
In light of its dubious leadership and disingenuous soundings on the need for ‘youth empowerment’, Eyob Balcha has little patience with the African Union: ‘[F]or me the African Union is the most hypocrite institution that I’ve ever heard and seen.’
Zimasa Lerumo tells the story of her experiences growing up in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.
The three-month campaign of organised violence by security forces under the control of Laurent Gbagbo and militias that support him gives every indication of amounting to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch has said. A new Human Rights Watch investigation in Abidjan indicates that the pro-Gbagbo forces are increasingly targeting immigrants from neighboring West African countries in their relentless attacks against real and perceived supporters of Alassane Ouattara, says Human Rights Watch.
Senegal should accept an African Union (AU) plan for the trial of Hissène Habré during discussions set for 23 and 24 March in Addis Ababa, a coalition of human rights organisations said today in a letter to Senegal's president. The African Union, which called at its summit in January for an 'expeditious' start to a long-delayed trial, invited Senegal to the Ethiopian capital to discuss an AU proposal to try the former Chadian dictator before a special court within the Senegalese justice system whose president and appeals chamber president would be appointed by the AU. The Senegalese delegation to the talks will be led by Justice Minister Cheikh Tidiane Sy.
US political prisoner Jalil A. Muntaqim gives a statement of support for Egypt’s youth.
Part of the delay in the finalisation of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) is due to the so-called non-execution clause that gives the EU the power to take steps against its African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trading partners if they violate human rights, democracy and good governance principles. 'African governments and civil society resist this clause because EPAs are commercial agreements where the two parties give and take,' explains Cheikh Tidiane Dieye, the civil society representative of the West African EPA negotiating team.
‘The best legacy that we can bequeath to our children and grandchildren [is a] legacy of pride in ourselves, and of excellence,’ asserts Veli Mbele.
Antumi Toasije suggests the AU is preventing Pan-African unity.
Responding to the work of scholars like William Carroll, Samir Amin considers the evolution and shape of globalised capitalism and the extent to which it might be termed ‘transnational’ or ‘collective imperialism’. He stresses: ‘Globalisation is an inappropriate term. Its popularity is commensurate with the violence of ideological aggression that has prohibited henceforth the utterance of “imperialism”.’
Kibera, Nairobi’s most notorious slum, is now the subject of a reality TV show. Rasna Warah slams the growing fashion of 'slum tourism'.
The blood it flowed
Down an undetermined path
Washing with it
The expressions of a non-violent wrath
The fire it blazed
Over the body of Bouazizi, vegetables he was selling
Igniting a flame
Of global freedom story telling...
As Côte d’Ivoire’s political deadlock continues, Maurice Fahe discusses the country’s geostrategic importance for the West, the long-term role of foreign multinationals in the country, the political implications of ‘Ivoirité’ and the differences between the current crisis and that of 2000.
Several organisations used Human Rights Day to voice their dissatisfaction with the eThekwini municipality, accusing it of violating human rights by failing to deliver services to needy communities. Hundreds marched to the Durban city hall, with some threatening to boycott the local government election on May 18. Representatives and supporters of Right2Know, shack dwellers’ organisation Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, ratepayers’ associations, the Durban Social Forum and KZN Subsistence Fishermen were among the marchers.
A three-day international seminar on the theme 'The Global Crisis and Africa: Commodity Dependence and Structural Transformation' took place in Accra, Ghana’s capital last week. Forty scholars from Africa and other parts of the world participated in the meeting. Setting out the context and key issues for the meeting, Tetteh Hormeku, head of programmes at TWN-Africa, said the influence and impacts of the crisis in Africa were shaped largely by the nature of the continent’s systemic integration into the global economy as primary commodity export dependent economies.
This paper from the South Centre argues that the policy of quantitative easing and close-to-zero interest rates in advanced economies, notably the US, are generating a surge in speculative capital flows to developing countries in search for yield and creating bubbles in foreign exchange, asset, credit and commodity markets. This latest generalised surge constitutes the fourth post-war boom in capital flows to developing countries. All previous ones ended with busts, causing serious damages to recipient countries.
As the West intervenes in the Libyan crisis, the Afreeka in Unity group demands ‘the immediate end of the imperialist invasion in the African country of Libya’.
Despite the collapse of the formal economy and of central government in Somalia, a remarkably resilient 'parallel' economy has emerged, notes this briefing paper from Chatham House. Based on traditional clan relationships, a lack of bureaucracy and well-established channels for remittance payments from the diaspora, this model has travelled with Somali émigrés to Kenya. Some businesses that began in the informal sector are making the transition to formal enterprise and Kenyan authorities should seek to encourage this with an enabling regulatory environment, says the briefing paper.
The African Virtual University (AVU) launched the interactive Open Education Resources portal [email protected] in January this year. The portal can be accessed at and contains quality resources developed together with twelve universities in ten African countries.
The recorded number of people displaced within their country due to conflict or violence rose to 27.5 million in 2010, which is the highest in a decade, according to a report by the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The report was launched by the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, and the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Elisabeth Rasmusson. 'Close to three million people in 20 countries across the world were newly displaced from conflict and violence during 2010, and large scale displacement continues,' Rasmusson said.
On World Water Day on 22 March, ARTICLE 19 issued a statement reminding the international community that freedom of expression, the free flow of information and transparency are central to the full realisation of the right to water. 'Local initiatives and community’s participation, particularly amongst poor and marginalised people, need to be fostered in order to promote transparency, accountability and good governance related to water management,' the statement said.
Walasia Noor EL Shabazz catches a train - and gives some tips about how to innocuously frighten the racists.
The Ugandan police Rapid Response Unit frequently operates outside the law, carrying out torture, extortion, and in some cases, extrajudicial killings, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. Ugandan authorities should urgently open an independent investigation into the unit's conduct and activities and hold accountable anyone responsible for human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said. The 59-page report, 'Violence Instead of Vigilance: Torture and Illegal Detention by Uganda's Rapid Response Unit', documents the unit's illegal methods of investigation and serious violations of the rights of the people it arrests and detains.
The Libyan government should release all Libyan and foreign journalists detained because of their reporting and allow them to cover the crisis in Libya freely, Human Rights Watch has said. Since anti-government protests began in Libya on 15 February 2011, the government has harassed, detained, and beaten journalists trying to cover the story. A Libyan journalist and a Qatari cameraman have been killed by gunfire in unclear circumstances.
This blog post from Scarlett Lion is made up of pictures of some of the more than 40,000 Ivorian refugees who have fled post election violence and insecurity in Cote d’Ivoire. 'Liberians, who had been refugees in Ivory Coast just a couple of years earlier, are hosting many refugees in villages along the border and others are being relocated to camps by UNHCR.
The 2011 Small Grants Facility (SGF) aims to provide tangible support, through established channels, to victims of trafficking in persons. The 2011 Small Grants Facility will accept project proposals from eligible not-for-profit, non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Free Gender is a black lesbian organisation based in the Khayelitsha township of Cape Town. Their blog contains news about LGBTI issues and events.
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a leading non-profit that uses international law to defend the right to a healthy planet, has announced the release of a new report, 'Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal'. The report examines the economics underlying the Bank’s $3 billion loan to support a massive new coal-fired plant in South Africa. Specifically, the report evaluates whether the Bank adequately considered the impacts the 4,800 MW Eskom Project will have on human health and the environment and the likely economic costs of these impacts. The Bank’s operational policies require that these ‘externalities’ be taken into account to determine whether a project’s long-term economic benefits outweigh its costs. CIEL’s analysis reveals that, at least in this case, the Bank failed to adequately address and quantify important negative environmental effects, such as water scarcity and quality, air quality, and transboundary impacts.
Amnesty International has urged the Nigerian authorities to act to stem a rising tide of political, ethnic and religious violence that risks threatening the stability of April elections. In a short report entitled 'Loss of life, insecurity and impunity in the run up to Nigeria’s elections' highlights how hundreds of people have been killed in politically-motivated, communal and sectarian violence across Nigeria ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls.
A joint declaration by 85 member countries of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, calling for an end to violence, criminal sanctions and human rights violations against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity is a very significant step forward towards international consensus on LGBTI people’s rights, according to ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. ILGA considers the fact that the amount of countries willing to sign on to a declaration like this is approaching a majority of UN members, is a credit to the increased sensitivity of national governments, and the work of international, regional and local LGBTI human rights activists all over the world, particularly the international coalition of LGBTI organisations that worked together with national governments and provided the information they requested through the process of preparing the declaration.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said the killing of Mohammad 'Mo' Nabbous in the city of Benghazi highlights the increasing risks to the safety of journalists covering the Libyan conflict.
Nabbous, who ran the Voice of Libya channel (Libya al-Hurra), died on Saturday during the attack of forces loyal to Colonel Moammar Gaddafi on Benghazi. The IFJ is also concerned over reports that staff of the AFP news agency and the international broadcaster Aljazeera are missing or in detention. Nabbous became the second journalist killed in Libya after the murder of Aljazeera cameraman Ali Hassan Al Jaber who was shot dead by unknown attackers while returning to Benghazi from reporting on an opposition protest.
In Ghana, a local bamboo bike industry is emerging to deliver a sustainable and affordable form of transportation that satisfies local needs and suitable for export. Compared to the production of traditional metal bicycles, bamboo bikes require less electricity and no hazardous chemicals.
The MDC says it is considering all available options, including possible legal action, over Tuesday’s (22 March) unilateral cancellation of the vote for Speaker of Parliament. ZANU PF Clerk of Parliament, Austin Zvoma, unilaterally froze the workings of the House after announcing that the anticipated Speaker vote would not take place. Zvoma, who is now the chief officer in Parliament after the Supreme Court nullified the 2008 election of the MDC’s elected Speaker Lovemore Moyo, said the House would be adjourned indefinitely. He gave no date as to when the election would be.
Countries with high numbers of people living with HIV, especially where access to antiretroviral treatment is patchy, are sitting on a drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) time bomb, which may have in some instances already exploded. South Africa and other high burden countries are diagnosing the tip of the DR-TB iceberg with the large majority of people who have DR-TB (multi-drug and extensively-drug resistant TB) dying because they are not diagnosed or receive the medication when it is too late.
Hospital and pharmacy workers have told IRIN that many medicines and other supplies are scarce weeks after the European Union applied sanctions, blocking vessels arriving at Côte d’Ivoire’s ports. About 90 per cent of medical supplies in the country come from Europe - 80 per cent by sea, according to Christine Adjobi, health minister in the cabinet of incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo.
Swaziland's government, feeling the pinch of a growing financial crisis, has suspended this quarter’s pensions for the elderly and redirected the money to pay the school fees of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). '[Government] will utilise the funds allocated for the elderly grants, since they have R46 million (US$6.5 million) in that account currently, with a view that it shall be reimbursed timeously,' said a finance ministry report to parliament explaining how the R38 million ($5.4 million) bill for OVC school fees would be met.
In one of the largest and oldest refugee settlements in the world, education is a luxury denied most of the 90,739 children who live there. Set up at the outset of Somalia’s civil war in 1991 to accommodate 90,000 refugees, three camps near the northeastern Kenyan town of Dadaab - Hagadera, Ifo and Dagahaley - are now home to more than three times that number, and persistent conflict in Somalia, from where 95 per cent of the refugees originate, means the population grows daily.
With the escalation of fighting across Somalia since January, armed groups have reportedly recruited more child soldiers to their ranks, some even forcing teachers to enlist pupils. In a recent offensive against rebel groups in Bulo Hawo town on the border with Kenya, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stated on 17 March, '...children were involved as fighters and a significant number of them were killed. According to reports, intense fighting in the area between Dhusamareb and Ceel bur in Galgadud has also resulted in many child casualties.'
The bicycle has become a symbol of hope for hundreds of women who have been trained in repairing one of life’s favorite transport modes. More than two hundred women from around the Bwindi National Park, in the country’s southwest, have been taking part in a two-week course on bicycle repair, organised by the group Ride 4 a Woman. The idea of the workshop is simple: to help disadvantaged women gain new, marketable skills and at the same time promote an environmentally-friendly form of travel, namely, cycling.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that because of their weakened immune system, people living with HIV are less able to fight infection and are more likely to develop active TB. In the streets of Bulawayo, this well-known connection is slowing the fight against both diseases. The two diseases are like evil twins. Co-infection rapidly increases the mortality rate and untreated sufferers of both HIV and TB are the most infectious, posing the greatest risk to those around them.
Uncertainty and speculation mounts about the future of the pending Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill which was discussed in parliament on 22 March with some suggesting it might be dropped and its author insisting it will be passed. 'I am very, very confident that if it [the Bill] comes to the house it will be passed, the chair person of the liberal affairs committee has assured us that it is going to be the next on the agenda. He is going to work on it and we are very confident that it will pass,' said David Bahati, the author of Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Bill in a recent interview with Carolyn Dunn of Radio Canada.
Despite their long stay in western countries where homosexuality is accepted, African people living in Canada have not really accepted the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community and still share the same prejudices with the large majority of those living on the African continent, according to Honoré Noumabeu, a Cameroonian born film director. Une Vie Interdite/The Forbidden Life produced by Noumabeu is a documentary that looks look at how homosexuality and transgender are perceived within Québec’s African community.
What Africa needs is ‘transformational leaders with vision, commitment and a resolve to make Africa a better place for its younger generation and generations yet unborn,’ writes Phidelia Amey. Can the African Union deliver?
South African shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo marched to Durban City Hall on 21 March to deliver the message to the local councillors that ‘they have corrupted this city for too long and that? their time is up.’ Pictures from the march are available on the . Below is the statement Abahlali made.
Community representatives from all corners of Africa spoke out last week about their frustration with the slow pace of international action and the urgent need to use local and indigenous knowledge alongside modern science in how we prevent and adapt to climate change.
Aristide’s return to Haiti, the West’s war on Gaddafi, AU intervention and protests in Senegal and Morroco are among the stories covered in this week’s round-up of African uprisings, compiled by Sokari Ekine.
The successful candidate will have a strong track record of proven leadership ability and be capable of juggling many priority projects working independently. This individual should possess the capacity to assess, analyse and design strategic organisational structures, programs and processes and handle the organisation’s day-to-day operations.
In the face of the Rockefeller and Gates foundations-funded AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) lobby ‘to extend outdated 20th century industrial agriculture’ to the continent, Carol Thompson and Andrew Mushita look at alternative African approaches for improving agriculture that focus instead on farmers' rights and build upon local knowledge.
London via Lagos is a daring festival of new plays by British-Nigerian playwrights offering three radically different visions of the relationship between Nigeria and the UK. Over ten weeks, from London via Lagos brings to the London stage three innovative and contemporary plays; each with its own perspective spanning the political, the personal, and the domestic. All three dramas investigate today’s Britain and all reflect the vigour and passion of Nigeria.
Oval House Theatre
Tuesday 3 May – Sunday 10 July, 2011
On holiday with her streetwise son in Lagos, a British-Nigerian mother is in turmoil. Should she leave her only child in a strict Lagos boarding school, or return him to the ‘battlefields’ of inner London…? A family spanning three generations and two continents meet together in Lagos for the first time in over thirty years. But the joy of reunion also unleashes long-suppressed truths. An
exuberant mix of comedy, tragedy and family drama, Pandora’s Box reveals the heartbreak behind the choices every parent must make.
Oval House Theatre
Tuesday 3 – Sunday 22 May, 2011
Bloggers across the continent are dissatisfied, dismayed and disappointed by the Africa Union’s handling of the crises in Libya and in Côte d'Ivoire, writes Dibussi Tande.
Over a thousand claimant families who are claiming in excess of 18,000 hectares of land in the Weenen, Mooi River and Estcourt areas have waited since 1998 for the claim to be settled, according to the Association for Rural Advancement. 'In 1998 three communities (the AmaThembu, the AmaChunu and the Motane) submitted claims for restoration of land in terms of the Restitution of Land Rights Act (Act 22 of 1994) to the Provincial Commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal. Despite it being in the interests of all parties to resolve this matter speedily, the Commission took three years merely to confirm and gazette two of these claims and a staggering seven years to do so in respect of the third claim. This was the start of a pattern of inaction and delay on the part of the Commission that has persisted until the present.'
The ‘people of Libya deserve all our sympathy – for having been obliged to endure the calamitous rule of a man, apparently destined to inflict so much suffering on them,’ writes Cameron Duodu.
Police in Algeria's capital have used teargas to disperse a crowd of young men who threw stones and petrol bombs to try to stop bulldozers demolishing dozens of illegally built homes. Wednesday's (23 March) riot was unusually violent and took place at a time when Algerian authorities are wary of any sign of contagion from the unrest elsewhere in the Arab world. A police spokesman said 50 officers were injured in the clashes. Reporters on the spot said the demonstrators replied with iron bars and stones.
Fighting in eastern Libya between pro-government and opposition forces has left thousands of Libyans internally displaced in recent days. Libyans arriving at Egypt's Sallum border crossing said civilians had been seeking shelter with host families as well as in schools and university buildings.
Reporters Without Borders is having difficulty establishing whether Cameroonian mobile phone operator MTN’s Twitter via SMS service has finally been restored after being blocked for about 10 days at the government’s behest. Contradictory statements are being made. Many Tweets suggested the service had been restored in practice. But an MTN representative said the contrary.
The US predicted the outbreak of violence in the 2007 General Election 10 months before Kenyans cast their votes. In a cable posted to Washington on February 5, 2007, ambassador Michael Ranneberger warned that the increasing tribalisation of Kenyan politics could plunge the country into chaos in the run-up to the elections.
The American Embassy believed in March 2007 that President Kibaki's government planned to arrest opposition leader Raila Odinga over the controversial Artur Brothers, according to Wikileaks. 'Post (the embassy) has various pieces of evidence suggesting that the men are associated with either State House or one of the 'first families' and Kamlesh Pattni, the man behind the Goldenberg scandal,' said the cable from ambassador Michael Ranneberger dated 14 March 2007.
AwaaZ Magazine invites you to a FREE screening of Venezulan documentary 'Inside the Revolution' on 4 April in Nairobi. Filmed in Caracas in November 2008, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Hugo Chavez’s controversial presidency, this full-length documentary takes a journey into the heart of Venezuela’s revolution to listen to the voices of the people driving the process forward.
Unless Libyans themselves own the struggle against Gaddafi, opponents to his regime may find that even if he has been removed from power, ‘Gaddafism’ will continue – but this time propped up by the West, Horace Campbell warns.
The Commission for Gender Equality says the Employment Equity Act needs to be reviewed. The call came after it emerged that black women had not significantly progressed in occupying positions of executive management in the corporate sector. The latest Women in Leadership Census 2011, which the Businesswomen’s Association (BWA) presented on Thursday (24 March), showed the percentage of female executive managers had increased, but the number of black women appointed had decreased. The census focuses on JSE-listed companies, state-owned enterprises and government departments.
The Nigerian woman with a famous last name is now 64 and could be home with her grandchildren, but she is here instead, at a dilapidated police barracks urging officers' wives to take a stand. 'This is time to say enough is enough,' said Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, a cousin of the late Fela Kuti, the iconic Nigerian musician, and a longtime activist for democracy and women's rights. Ransome-Kuti has now decided to take her struggle to the campaign trail by running for senate under an opposition party banner in the economic capital Lagos.
Hundreds of women from several West African nations converged at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, to demand immediate action from West African leaders holding their summit here 23-24 March. Wearing white T-shirts with the inscription 'West African women demand peace in Cote d'Ivoire', they chanted slogans backing their demand and carried placards seeking urgent action in the West African nation that is now in the throes of post-election crisis that is threatening to push the country into war.
Long known as a 'boy's club', the worldwide media industry continues to struggle with gender equality, with new research showing women are still under-represented in the majority of newsrooms across the globe. The study, conducted over a two-year period for the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), covered 170,000 people in the news media and involved interviews with 500 companies in 59 countries. On average women are underrepresented in all media positions, in sectors ranging from news media ownership, publishing, governance, reporting, editing, photojournalism, and broadcast production.
'Women farmers have a wealth of knowledge about agriculture and biodiversity and significant contributions to make to debates about food security, food sovereignty and the right to food,' says this paper from Isis International entitled 'Women - Right to Food, Food Security, Food Sovereignty'. 'More than ever, organising women farmers has become an important strategy towards a clearer understanding of the issues, enhanced knowledge and capacities, and stronger solidarity. Many of these tasks begin with making men understand women by providing gender-sensitivity among husbands, leaders of farmers’ organisations, and other members of the communities.'
Amnesty International has called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate serious allegations of torture, including forced ‘virginity tests’, inflicted by the army on women protesters arrested in Tahrir Square earlier this month. After army officers violently cleared the square of protesters on 9 March, at least 18 women were held in military detention. Amnesty International has been told by women protesters that they were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to ‘virginity checks’ and threatened with prostitution charges.