Pambazuka News 580: Challenges to globalisation from the South
Pambazuka News 580: Challenges to globalisation from the South
A bill of rights that protects Nigerians from insecurity and violence on the roads is also needed alongside the coming bill of rights for air travellers.
The first book to focus on China’s involvement in Angola presents perspectives from both countries.
How can these westerners be so cynical to oblige people they formerly colonised to use their democratic paradigm whilst their countries are grappling with the same model that hides xenophobia, unbridled racism, injustice and misery?
The continued theft of large quantities of diamonds by dealers and cartels is a threat to national security and may undermine the work of the inclusive government in Zimbabwe.
Zille's comments brought back memories of the Afro-phobic attacks of 2008; but this time, invoking such phobia between people already living in South Africa.
The key issues around past historical injustices and gender perspectives must be at the center of the land question for it to make meaning in Kenya’s national development discourse.
The involvement of several Sudanese sects, groups, and institutions in the campaigns and events for women is our desired success as an organization working to support women's rights.
A personal account of human rights abuse in Uganda raises questions about the role of mainstream human rights organisations supported by international donors.
'I must say I was more than happy when Ankrah was removed from office in April 1968 and General Akwasi Afrifa, a far more polished and liberal officer, became head of state.'
The Egyptian economy will need of some kind of financial aid within the next few months to avoid a severe downturn.
The increased strength of emerging countries of the South confronts the challenges of contemporary globalization.
The novel exposes the bitter betrayals and collusion between a new, deeply flawed political elite and multinationals, and tells the story of a rebirth of grassroots activism.
The real question worth arguing about soberly is: Does the ANC (or the SACP for that matter) have the capacity to right itself and become a real instrument of genuine liberation of the South African people in the post-apartheid period?
Monday 16 April, 7 - 9pm, Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA.
She is one of the most influential poets of the late 20th century.
March 29 was a sad day... We lost Adrienne Rich, one of the most inspiring poets we were blessed with. She gave our dreams a soul called social justice.
It appears that whites may hunt down blacks with immunity from arrest so long as they leave behind no clue that they were not acting to defend themselves.
Increasing violence and threats raise concerns about 2012 elections.
This is a podcast prepared by Mbonisi Zikhali based on the launch of the African Awakenings book that we held last night in Ottawa hosted by Octopus Books, Inter Pares, Carlton University and Friends of Pambazuka.
We were not there when you enslaved our forefathers
We were not there when you showed us your brutality through colonisation
We were not there when you forcefully stole our resources
We know what you did to Kimathi, Kwame, Lumumba, Modibo, Barka, Samora,
Sankara, Hani and all those who opposed your interests on our continent
But that was in the past
Today we were born, we have grown and we are watching you
We are watching you as you continue plundering the Congo
We are watching you as you steal our minerals through force when corruption
fails
We are watching you as you put up your AFRICOM bases in Djibouti, and your
Lilly-pads all over
We are watching you as you dump nuclear waste on Somali coast, and as you
support their terrorists from behind the scenes
We are watching you as you suppress our economies every time they threaten
your hegemony
We are watching you as you continue to corrupt and to compromise the
leaders that your system imposes on us
We are watching you as you succeed in brainwashing some of us with your
powerful global media
We were painfully watching you, as you negated the rule of law in Ivory
Coast, through the gun
We were painfully watching you, as you murdered our Brother leader, through
the gun
We were painfully watching you, as you took Zimbabwe’s economy to its knees
Today, your killing instincts are leading you into CAR, in the guise of
following some Kony fellow
Today, your killing instincts are taking you into Mali, in the guise of
restoring ‘democracy’
Today maybe, Niger, Nigeria or Algeria will be where you will sent your
religious crap heads and divisive empty heads
But what you may not know is that
Today we were born, we have grown and we are watching you
The Sankaras are in their thousands
The Kimathis are in their thousands
The Kwames are in their thousands
The Samoras are in their thousands
The Hanis are in their thousands
The Gaddafis are in their hundreds of thousands
Maybe you cannot see us
Because the only avenues we have are the demonstrations, the blogs and the
never aired press conferences
Continue thinking that we are asleep, or that we are some ‘lazy
intellectual African scums’
Yes, we are few in numbers, but what we lack in numbers, we compliment with
our energy and zeal
Our forefathers foresaw this age
An age where you would view us as some backward people
An age when some of us would view us as a lesser people
That was why they left for us the magnificent Pyramids all along the Nile
Pyramids that you once claimed were built by you, Pyramids that you today
claim were not built by humans
That is why they left for us the Great Zimbabwe
So developed they were, that you once claimed that the builders came from
elsewhere
That is why the left for us the complicated underground structures all over
Structures that make a child’s play of your subways and skyscrapers
That is why they left for us the arts and cultures
With rhythms that you cannot understand
All these are a reminder, So that when we see them, we may hold our heads
up high, we may be proud of what we achieved, and we may remind ourselves
that we need to regain our lost glory, and bring humanity back into the
world
Just like the phoenix, our continent is burning, and the heat is preparing
us, preparing us to rise
Just like the lion, we will soon roar, and we will care for nothing, but
our freedom and dignity
We have studied your ways
You use your military superiority to rule on us
You take advantage of our goodness to splash your wrath on us
You may not hear our voices, neither do we care
We are organizing
We have learnt from our past
But most importantly
We are learning from your past and present
And when we rise
And when the fire starts to burn
You will realize that the generation has arrived
And we shall not forgive, we shall have no mercy, we shall keep our Utu
aside
We shall use your methods to instill humanity into you
A worse fate will meet your local stooges and puppets
For we have seen that love can’t work for you
And we shall end all this
Once and for all
Because we are tired of watching you
1st April 2012
9:36pm
Al Ahly are very bitter because no justice has been done after scores of their number were killed in the worst incident of violence inside a stadium since Roman gladiators massacred slaves in arenas.
If aid is not in the interests of African peoples’, why would aid conditionality be a tool for African social justice?
The fight for resource control has led to the eruption and escalation of all manner of conflict and violence in the Niger Delta. It’s all about power and control in light of the oil revenue.
I suppose, there is no time even an excellent work will please all "stake-holders".
For someone with the stature of Malcom X, time and space will continue unfurling a myriad intepretations on his life.
He is, as Marable says a part of the Black Aesthetic in America.
To us in the Motherland, Malcom X represents our hope and idea of freedom and dignity for the diaspora Africans.
What Marable has revealed is an extremely complex, protean and fearless African with a special love for his people.He was a man always learning.
Although some aspects of Malcom's life, as revealed in the book are somewhat disconcerting, one is left with a humbling thought that Marable points out:
His fiery and incisive oratory and telling truth to power was a marvel and extremely important during his time.
I find Marable's coverage of Malcom objectively respectful without subservience or sheer myth-making. Malcom X still comes out as an awe-inspiring Afrikan man. Period
After a chilly period as a genuine revolutionary trying to find a way forward within a blatantly corrupt version of ‘post’-colonial neoliberal nationalism, Kasrils should be warmly welcomed for any initiative he pursues.
The first objective is to make the hands-on struggle led by small-scale farmers’ organisations and/or local groups, supported by other organisations, partners, allies, visible.
(Jakarta, 2 March 2012) April 17 is the International Day of Peasant Struggle, commemorating the massacre of 19 peasants struggling for land and justice in Brazil in 1996. Every year on that day actions take place around the world in defence of peasants and small-scale farmers struggling for their rights.
Equality Now and the Movement for Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) recently produced “A Guide to Using the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa for Legal Action.” The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa is renowned for its strong and comprehensive provisions on women’s rights. The how-to guide aims to equip activists with strong tools to protect and advance women’s rights at the local, national, and regional levels.
The guide is on the SOAWR .
To learn more about Equality Now and its work promoting the rights of women, please see its website (in English, French, and Arabic).
On a related note, on March 9, 2012, Cote d’Ivoire ratified the Protocol. For a map of African countries that have signed and ratified the Protocol, please see the SOAWR website.
The president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, has formally resigned after soldiers ousted him in a coup in March, with power set to be transferred to Mali’s National Assembly after elections later this month. The soldiers say they seized power because of Touré’s alleged mishandling of a rebellion of ethnic Tuareg rebels, who have succeeded in capturing several key northern cities, declaring their independence and now calling for international recognition. Officials claim the rebels are a mix of Tuareg separatists and Islamists with links to al-Qaeda. We speak with Firoze Manji, editor-in-chief of Pambazuka News, a pan-African social justice website. He was formerly the Africa director for Amnesty International. Manji recently co-edited a book called "African Awakening: The Emerging Revolutions." Manji argues the political unrest in Mali, Senegal, and beyond is "driven by the fact that over the last 30 years our people have lost all the gains of independence," due in large part to what he calls neoliberal policies imposed on many African countries by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "People feel that their governments are more accountable to the banks and to the international multinational corporations than they are to their citizens," Manji says.
Pambazuka News 577: Special Issue: Germany and genocide in Namibia
Pambazuka News 577: Special Issue: Germany and genocide in Namibia
On 22 March 2012, the German parliament will debate a motion to acknowledge its brutal 1904-08 genocide of the Nama and Herero peoples. Germany’s refusal thus far, and its less than even ‘diplomatic’ treatment in 2011 of the Namibian delegation at the first-ever return of the mortal remains of genocide victims, demands a reassessment of suppressed colonial histories and racism.
The repatriation of human remains more than a century after they were taken to Germany from Namibia has evoked painful memories of colonial wars in which primary African resistance was crushed, and genocide perpetrated (1904–08) in what was then the colony of German South West Africa. This contribution situates the current issues and practices of memory politics between Namibia and Germany within their historical context.
Former Namibian Ambassador to Germany, Prof. Peter H. Katjavivi, who was instrumental in getting the repatriation process with Charité started, calls upon both Namibians and Germans to confront the past honestly as part of the process of recovering human dignity and thereby healing of the wounds of the past. This process, he writes, is in the interest of both nations.
Refuting in detail the arguments proffered by Germany on the questions of apology and compensation for the genocide of the Herero and the Nama, Dr Kwame Opoku notes that the Namibia-Germany case is being keenly observed by other African peoples and states with unresolved issues relating to the colonial era.
Names, dates, statistics, records, photographs – Namibia-based historian, Casper W. Erichsen, explains some of the factual evidence of the multiple atrocities that were part of the genocide in Namibia.
Namibian-born Horst Kleinschmidt provides challenging observations and personal family history linked to the colonial era. Urging both Germany and German-speaking Namibians to confront their past honestly, he offers examples of apologies made in similar circumstances, and guidelines for reconciliation and redress.
In his analysis of the failure over more than two decades to deal with the genocide, Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari looks at the changing attitudes of Namibia’s SWAPO-led government and the role of the Namibian media as well as Germany’s evasive political posturing.
Largely unnoticed by most Namibians, the local German-language daily Allgemeine Zeitung provides a forum for colonial apologetics. Reinhart Kössler and Henning Melber examine recent comments and readers’ letters in this newspaper, exposing the reactionary attitudes and privileging strategies that maintain the minority language as a barrier to national reconciliation.
Statement by Chief Alfons Kaihepovazandu Maharero, Chairman of the Ovaherero/ Ovambanderu Council for the Dialogue on the 1904 Genocide (OCD-1904), on the Occasion of the ‘Requiem of the Martyrs’ at Heroes Acre, on October 05, 2011.
To mark the occasion of the restitution by the Berlin Charité Hospital of the first 20 mortal remains of Namibian victims of the German genocide, the German NGO Coalition presented the Namibian delegation with a Book of Condolences, in which people from all over the world commemorated the dead. The book is still online and open for condolence messages. In the following, we have put together a representative selection of these messages.
The Germans’ inhuman treatment of the Namibian delegation is only the most recent in a long history of injustice and disrespect towards African peoples. It is more than time, writes Saunders Jumah, for Africans to stand together, demand fair and equal treatment according to international law, and refuse exploitation by anyone.
In the critical reading of their exhibition ‘Faces of the African Renaisance’, Adetoun Küppers-Adebisi and Michael Küppers-Adebisi deconstruct German colonial genocide in Africa and contemporary, neo-colonial racism against people of African descent in Germany. The acknowledgement of contemporary visual knowledge management strategies from a Black German and African Diaspora perspective shows how black and white disparities can be overcome by art techniques of discursive intervention that re-empower African communities and the images that exist about them.
Pambazuka News 578: DRC & Senegal: The people's voice unheard
Pambazuka News 578: DRC & Senegal: The people's voice unheard
With the popularity of social media platforms continuing to grow, users should brace themselves for more and more players in the market. Google last week raised its stakes in the battle for South African social media users with the launch of its Google+ platform in Zulu and Afrikaans. In the same week, Yookos, an 'Africa-specific' social media network, announced its entry into the space, claiming 6-million users across the continent.
Anti-government protesters torched a police station in Malawi's capital on Monday 19 March, raising tension in the destitute country that was last year rocked by the police killing of 20 people in similar protests. The latest outbreak of violence followed the weekend arrest of the chairman of the government's Human Rights Commission. The commission had sharply criticised the administration of President Bingu wa Mutharika for the July 2011 crackdown, accusing his government of using unjustifiable violence and arrests to intimidate its critics.
This USAID infographic looks at the rise of mobile phones in Africa, predicting that there will be one billion phones on the continent by 2016.
The Financial Times reports on how Portuguese people are fleeing their homeland in search of economic opportunities in Mozambique. The paper estimates that there are 20,000 Portuguese people in Maputo with the number of people registering at the Portuguese consulate up by 10 per cent in recent years.
Libya's investment authority says it is suing Zambia's government for seizing its controlling share in a mobile phone network. A Libyan telecommunications enterprise that owns 75 per cent of the Zamtel network says the seizure last year by the government of newly elected President Michael Sata was 'illegal and unconstitutional'. The investment authority said in a statement that the network filed demands at the Zambia High Court for $480-million worth of compensation in asset value along with unspecified additional payouts for operating losses should the business not be handed back.
Three Zambian students were severely beaten in Saint Petersburg Russia on the night of 18 March, leaving one of the students in a coma. Police are studying records of CCTV cameras to establish the circumstances of the incident which many believe was a racist attack. Racist assaults are frequently committed by skinhead gangs, which have grown in number in recent years in Russia and specifically Saint-Petersburg.
Michael Sata has threatened to dismiss all public service workers and replace them with staff from his own political party if they take threatened strike action. The staff have threatened to go on strike over prolonged negotiation over salaries and other conditions of service. During his election campaign Sata announced a 100 per cent salary increase for health sector workers, who have since expressed their concern that the promise would not be fulfilled.
South Africa will not probe allegations that mobile operator MTN paid bribes to win a license in Iran, in exchange for Pretoria backing Tehran's nuclear program, the foreign minister said Monday. MTN - which operates in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East - has said it would investigate the allegations, but denied any wrongdoing. MTN owns a 49 per cent stake in the Iranian telecom Irancell, which holds the operating license.
The shocking video Afrikaner Blood by Elles van Gelder and Ilvy Njiokiktjien from the Netherlands has just won first prize in the World Press Photo multimedia category. This slideshow comprises photographs of young white South African teenagers who attend a holiday camp set up by a right-wing racist group.
Hundreds of residents of Ratanda, Heidelberg gathered on the streets on Tuesday 20 March to continue their protest over power cuts and the cost of electricity, Gauteng police said. On Monday, violent service delivery protests in Ratanda were met with police water cannons, stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas. In the Western Cape, meanwhile, residents in Grabouw protested over school infrastructure.
The Supreme Court of Appeal has upheld an attempt by the Democratic Alliance for access to the records that led to the suspension of criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma in 2009. The DA wanted a review of the decision, by then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions Mokotedi Mpshe, to drop charges against Zuma before he was elected president. The SCA ruled that Mpshe should hand over the record to the registrar of the Supreme Court of Appeal within 14 days.
Black and coloured Grabouw residents guarded their schools against attack from either side following violent protests, the Cape Times reported on Tuesday. Coloured Pineview residents and black Siteview residents clashed on Monday 19 March. Police had to form a human shield to prevent the groups from entering each other's territories.
A new UN report strongly suggests that the rush to a NATO ‘humanitarian intervention’ might have been made on exaggerated evidence, and that NATO’s own military intervention might have been less than ‘humanitarian’ in its effects.
What is really disturbing about Invisible Children is, if a group of Africans had made the Kony2012 film would it have got the publicity from around the world? Would they have been able to raise the funds to make the video in the first place?
Human rights group wants Obama administration to remedy the harms that Chagosians have been suffering.
The Canadian government has not addressed the issue of persistent poverty among indigenous peoples, nor implemented the right to free, prior and informed consent, before undertaking projects that affect them or their lands. This was among the conclusions, reached last week, by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). CERD also expressed concern over the impact of Canadian corporations, particularly mining companies, on the lands of indigenous peoples in other countries.
Four months ago, 178 nation states voted to prohibit all exports of hazardous wastes, including electronic wastes. Yet, so-called 'e-wastes' - particularly from discarded mobile phones - continue being dumped across the developing world, especially in West Africa. In an attempt to stem this 'rising tide', two UN agencies last week signed a new agreement to facilitate collection and recycling of such wastes.
The Malawi Government has stepped up security in the country’s major cities, with armed riot police officers seen patrolling all over. This has raised questions among people who are not used to such heavy security. There is now more security after sporadic political riots that started in Area 24 in Lilongwe where UDF MP Atupele Muluzi was stopped from holding a rally. The development also follows the tension that preceded the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) conference in Limbe whose objectives included mobilising key stakeholders and efforts towards a common agenda and collective redress to Malawi’s political and economic challenges.
'While the idea of this campaign against the LRA leader Joseph Kony is welcome, the steam it has created overshadows the real concerns of the sufferers and survivors of this conflict in Uganda. Many former child soldiers and former abductees, women and girls are now struggling with so many challenges such as reproductive health problems, post traumatic stress disorders, food insecurity and livelihood support among others.'
All public service unions in Swaziland are threatening strike action for a 4.5 per cent pay increase. This comes at a time when the Swazi Government is trying to reduce its public sector salary bill by 10 per cent to try to save the kingdom’s economy from meltdown.
As dozens of employees of the nongovernmental organizations raided in December by Egyptian officials await trial, Egyptian citizens debate the charges against them, reflecting various views of the progression of democracy in the country. Meanwhile, US congressmen and the leaders of several organizations contribute their opinions during congressional hearings on the future of aid to Egypt.
The April 6 Youth Movement has issued a demand to have at least one member involved in the process to draft a new constitution for Egypt. The movement issued a statement saying that they reject parliamentary proposals on drafting the new constitution. The movement said that 'the temporary majority of the parliament does not have the power to elect the members of the constituent assembly slated to draft a permanent constitution for Egypt and all of its communities'.
Saudi Arabia and China are buying up significant parcels of agricultural land in South Sudan. So is Egypt. Egypt’s Citadel Capital is buying land in South Sudan, with designs on agricultural production to help feed Egypt’s growing population.
Students at the American University in Cairo have created a biographical history of the Egyptian revolution. Many of the personalities profiled are not widely known in the Western press, but have been important in the evolution of events in Egypt.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has condemned the continuation of the Moroccan security services suppression of peaceful demonstrations that began one week ago in the town of Beni Bouayach in the countryside of northern Morocco. The demonstrations continued for the whole week against the marginalization of the people there and for demands of greater social justice.
A new report by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) points out that millions of hectares of farmland in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America have been leased to foreign countries, sovereign wealth funds, and private corporations over the past four years with little or no explicit legal agreement on how water can and will be used on the acquired properties. With 70 per cent of global water withdrawals used in agriculture, the rapid increase in cultivated farmland will require significant quantities of water to sustain production.
Citing insiders, this article in The East African says there is a renewed sense of urgency within Amisom to complete the military operations by end of July, as the election fever in Kenya starts to gather pace. Kenya’s elections are closely watched in the region both for their potential to disrupt landlocked neighbours, and now for regional security, given the country’s current centrepiece role in Somalia.
Khartoum could dishonour an agreement if Juba did not withdraw alleged support for rebel groups operating in Sudan, officials said. The demand came a day after Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), argued that agreeing on security was a deal breaker for the agreement. The 'Four Freedoms' agreement signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, guarantees citizens of the two countries the right to own property, live, work and move between the two nations.
The turmoil in northern Mali is thwarting efforts to treat and prevent obstetric fistula, say health experts and local NGO workers. It is just one example of the fallout from the latest fighting between Tuareg rebels and the Malian army, triggered when rebels began attacking northern military posts in January. Since then, some 195,000 people are estimated to have been displaced by fighting, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Foreign land investment is on the rise in Sierra Leone and, as with many of its neighbours, the government wants more companies to come in to boost the economy and spur much-needed agricultural development in rural areas. Sierra Leone ranked 180 out of 187 countries on the UN human development index in 2011. But as more and more companies flock to the country to lease large tracts of land, murmurs of protest and unrest are cropping up among local populations who are unhappy with the way the deals are done; and civil society groups are growing increasingly concerned that foreign land deals are not producing the win-win scenarios they had hoped for.
A parliamentary team scrutinising a dossier claiming that President Kibaki is being investigated by the International Criminal Court will start hearings on Monday. The dossier claimed that Britain was working to have two ICC suspects, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto, jailed to pave the way for Prime Minister Raila Odinga to ascend to the presidency.
This UNECA background paper reviews the potential impact of the European debt crisis on Africa and offers policy advice on the actions that African leaders need to take to mitigate those negative effects. To that end, it overviews the characteristics of the euro area debt crisis, before discussing the risks it poses to Africa and the possible channels through which its effects may be transmitted.
Numerous non-governmental organisations used the World Water Forum (WWF) held in Marseille as an opportunity to remind the international community about the serious global impacts of large dams all over the world. Defined as dams higher than 15 metres or with a reservoir volume of at least three million cubic metres, large dams number no less than 48,000 worldwide and present numerous issues, not least of which is a considerably negative impact on the livelihoods of local populations.
This page on the Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising website explores the two-way linkages between informality and growth: the impact of the informal economy on economic growth, and the impact of economic growth on the informal economy. How much and in what ways does the informal economy contribute to economic growth? Or does the informal economy account for low productivity and low growth? Does the size of the informal economy shrink during economic growth and expand during economic slumps or downturns? Is it, in other words, counter-cyclical or pro-cyclical?
A group of independent UN experts has urged member states to include universally-agreed international human rights norms and standards, as well as accountability mechanisms, in the goals that will emerge from a UN sustainable development forum in June. 'Global goals are easily set, but seldom met,' said the 22 human rights experts in an open letter to governments, as the first round of informal negotiations ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) holding in New York, US.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Gabonese authorities to drop legal proceedings against six journalists in connection with articles raising questions about use of a presidential plane. According to a CPJ statement, two of the journalists have fled the country fearing arrest after being summoned by police for interrogation.
Three illegal fishing vessels - the Five Star, Marcia 777 and the Kum Myeong 2 - have fled Sierra Leone, escaping fines for doing illegal fishing and transhipment in the country's Inshore Exclusion Zone, IEZ. The disclosure was made by the Project Coordinator of Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Andy Hickman at a press briefing held at the conference room of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
Illegal logging generates $10-15bn (£7.5-11bn) around the world, according to new analysis from the World Bank. Its report, 'Justice for Forests', says that most illegal logging operations are run by organised crime, and much of the profit goes to corrupt officials. Countries affected include Indonesia, Madagascar and several in West Africa.
Kenyan authorities should hold responsible police officers who assaulted three reporters last week and drop a baseless legal case against one of them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. At least 10 police officers in plainclothes surrounded Suleiman Mbatiah, a reporter for the Daily Nation, after he took photographs of an undercover traffic operation in the western town of Nakuru on 13 March, according to news reports.