South African ambassador to China Ndumiso Ndima Ntshinga has said that South Africa hopes Chinese companies could invest in the country's infrastructure construction. South Africa welcomes investment from Chinese companies and hopes to expand economic and trade ties with China, Ntshinga told reporters before a reception held to celebrate the 13th Freedom Day of South Africa.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) is looking to recruit a representative in Rwanda DIHR works primarily with The Legal Aid Forum: a membership based structure encompassing national and international NGOs, international organizations, professional bodies (the Rwandan Bar Association and the Corps of Judicial Defenders) and university and faith based initiatives. The closing date for applications is 15 May 2007l.

The Africa Governance Institute (AGI) is a pan-African centre of excellence designed to generate innovative and serious thinking on the governance challenges facing the African continent and the solutions that African regional and sub-regional organizations, states, civil society and the private sector should develop in response to these challenges. The AGI is looking to recruit an Executive Director. the deadline for applications is 25 May 2007.

For the past six years, Stephanie Nolen has traced AIDS across Africa, and 28 is the result: an unprecedented, uniquely human portrait of the continent in crisis. Through riveting, anecdotal stories, she brings to life men, women, and children involved in every AIDS arena, making them familiar to us in a way nobody else has.

China defended its approach to the strife-riven Darfur region on Thursday, while pointedly avoiding a war of words with U.S. lawmakers who warned of an Olympics backlash if Beijing did not add to pressure on Sudan. Human rights groups have condemned China over its policies about Sudan's Darfur, where state-linked militia have been fighting rebels, causing widespread bloodshed.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the imprisonment for the second time this year of journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah, a contributor to the opposition weekly Le Renouveau and brother of its managing editor, Daher Ahmed Farah. The state prosecutor yesterday ordered him detained in the capital’s Gabode prison.

Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS) has an UNPAID internship position in its International Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. FAS aims to create strengthen and promote the leading role of women in the prevention, management and
resolution of conflicts on the African continent. The candidate should be interested in actively participating in gender based conflict resolution and peace building in Africa.

Human Rights Activist Network Provides a link to Internships, Employment, Volunteering and Travel Opportunities in Human Rights and Development on their website.

In the late 1950s, the Tonga people of Zambia and Zimbabwe were subject to forced removal on a massive scale, to make way for the construction of a huge hydro-electric dam across the Zambezi River in Southern Africa. The Kariba Dam was the largest man-made dam in the world at that time. It was a powerful symbol for technological achievement and international cooperation. However, little attention was paid to the implications for the 57,000 Tonga who had to leave behind their homes and fertile land along the banks of the Zambezi, according to this Panos report.

Lesotho’s billion-dollar Highlands Water Project involves the construction of a series of massive tunnels and dams to take water from the Senqu/Orange River to South Africa’s industrial heartland, Gauteng province. Lesotho receives annual royalties from the sale of its water, and some hydro-electric power. The first testimonies from a highland community due to be submerged under the waters of one of the dams were gathered in 1998 as part of Panos' mountains project

At least 109 Tanzanians have become victims of the rift valley fever since the outbreak of the disease in January this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed. The contagious viral disease is spread by the aedes mosquito. The mosquito infects animal blood and organs thus transmitting the virus to the milk.

Nigeria’s President-elect, Umaru Musa Yar’ adua, began his maiden tour in Africa on Monday. He had already toured Togo, Benin and Niger. The tour, the first since his controversial election win last month, is meant to enable the new leader to strengthen bilateral relations with other African states. Observers and opposition candidates cited several cases of election fraud, violence, stealing, and other malpractices in the polls.

A review the history of higher education in Kenya, this study details the emergence of private universities, most of them with a Christian religious orientation, as major players in the provision of tertiary-level education.
ISBN: 9780852554425, 224pp, publ. May 2007, £14.95

A sizable number of Gambian female circumcisors publicly abandoned their knives in front of a crowd at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, 12 km from the capital Banjul, swearing that they would no longer use their knives to circumcise or mutilate the genitals of young girls. The move will instil hopes among national and international activists campaigning against the age-old culture of female genital mutilation otherwise known as FGM.

The meeting of the IGAD Capacity Building Programme Against Terrorism (ICPAT) will be chaired by IGAD and is to be attended by IGAD member states and the seven donor countries. The Steering Committee guides the activities of the programme and is expected to agree on activities for the next six months. For enquiries, please contact Amb Hiruyi Amanuel, ISS ICPAT Office, Addis Ababa, Tel: +251 11 372 4720/2, Fax: + 251 11 372 4719, E-mail: [email][email protected]

Two very important meetings that will fundamentally affect the lives of all Africans, alive and those yet to be born, took place this week. Both meetings took place in South Africa. One in Durban and the other in the affluent suburb of Midrand, near Pretoria.

The first is a meeting of the Executive Council of the African Union, which consists of all the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the 53 Member states. The other is the 7th Session of the Pan African Parliament.

What is most significant about the two meetings is the agenda before them. Foreign Affairs Ministers met for final deliberations on the agenda for the forthcoming Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Union in the first week of July in Accra, Ghana. The Summit has a one-item agenda: the United States of Africa.

In addition to other items on the agenda of the Pan African Parliament was the only chance it would have to discuss and pronounce itself on the matter before the Summit – namely, the United States of Africa.

But how many Africans know about these meetings? Of those who know how, many care? And among those who care, how many can influence the process?

It is not too late to inform yourself and also to influence the process because, whether we like it or not, their decision or non-decisions will impact on our lives and the future of our children.

There is no longer a debate about the desirability of full integration of Africa. The powerlessness of most of our states, our marginalization in global trade, finance, the shame of our states competing for who is lowest at the bottom of most human development indexes have won the argument in favour of unity.

However, as in the anti-colonial and immediate independence struggles leading to the formation of the OAU, there are disagreements about how far and how fast we should move on the road to unity. One would have thought that these debates were settled in the process leading to the restructuring of the OAU and its transformation into the African Union. But these divisions have continued to rear their heads and undermine the capacity of the states to fast track unity.

What are these positions? The first group is led by Libya and Brother Leader Muammar Gaddafi, who has been the driving force behind the fast tracking of the United States Of Africa project since 1999. This group wants the immediate union of the states with one government, common citizenship, common defence, a standing Army, Foreign Minister and a president for Africa, etc.

The Second group consists of states opposed to what they consider to be Libya’s haste and argue for gradual integration through consolidation of existing regional economic communities as the key building blocs of the Union. Initially they did not have a clear leader (since most of them could not withstand the roller coaster diplomatic, political and economic pressures from Tripoli) but carried out their anti-Libya manoeuvres through bureaucrats, ambassadors, foreign ministers and the committee systems at which Libya’s proposals are watered down and bogged down in procedural politics. And since the Libyans are not known for paying attention to details they often lose out but take consolation in all kinds of phyrhic victories.

A third group consists of those states who share many of the concerns of the cautious path of the second group, but now say that the AU is there and has enough in its Act of Union, enough authority and consensus to fast track therefore let us consolidate it before going further. This ‘AU is enough’ group is now led effectively by President Thabo Mbeki and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Other important key players like Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria are basically either standing on the fence or trying to hold a dubious half-way house between Gaddafi’s enthusiasm and Mbeki’s cynicism. Other countries are hiding their indecision, ambiguities, hostilities or biases behind the protagonists. But this is an issue that cannot be fudged anymore.

The Durban meeting of Foreign Ministers is basically Thabo Mbeki’s fight back on the road to Accra, juxtaposing his vision directly to Gaddafi’s. The ways in which the South Africans have tabled the matter has already made this clear. Instead of the official UNITED STATES OF AFRICA they are saying AFRICAN UNION GOVERNMENT.

Personally I think we should be more original than just copying USA. But re-branding as Union Government also is neither here nor there. What is it that we expect the government, whether as a Union Government or as a United States of Africa to do?

In spite of the intrigues and manoeuvres by the various camps they share a basic weakness: they are state led and are projecting this vision without the involvement of the broad masses of their own peoples. They do not even involve their own parliaments let alone ordinary citizens. In many cases it is only the Presidency that is involved with Foreign Affairs Ministers playing guessing games.

There are already enough agreements, protocols and statutory instruments to fast track the unity project. What has been lacking is the political will by the leaders to put their money where their mouth is; and what has also been lacking is fully involving the masses. Without both of these, the grand debate will only be another sham executive posturing, which drive our peoples into inertia and cynicism.

It is not too late to reverse this wagon-less executive train threatening to run into each other from Tripoli to Pretoria. The business of Unity is too important to be left to Thabo and Gaddafi, even too important to be left to the 53 heads of state and government the peoples of Africa must have full say in it.

It is not a privilege to demand to be consulted. Rather, it is their democratic right. Otherwise the leaders are engaged in yet another futile attempt to try and shave our heads behind our backs.

In many countries people are organising to have discussions on this matter on Africa day this year: MAY 25. Join one or start one where ever you may be and demand of your president or Foreign affairs minister to debate the options and which side of the debate they are on.

* Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the Deputy Director for the UN Millennium Campaign in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in his personal capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The Mauritian Prime Minister, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, launched the NEPAD e-Schools Demonstration Project on 3 May 2007 at Belle Rose State Secondary School, in Plaine Wilhems District, in south-eastern Mauritius. The project is a joint venture of the Mauritian Government, Cisco Consortium, Microsoft Consortium, and NEPAD e-Africa Commission. The launch, which covers six schools across the country, makes Mauritius the eighth country to launch the project after Uganda, Ghana, Lesotho, Kenya, Rwanda, Egypt and South Africa.

A bill establishing the Nigerian National Information Technology Development Agency has been signed into law by the President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo. Called the National Information and Technology Development Act 2007, the law empowers the agency to oversee the development of IT in Nigeria.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government said it's probing the operations of Central African Mining & Exploration Co., a UK-based copper producer, after being approached by South Africa to help with the arrest of a company shareholder. South Africa's Justice Department asked Congo to assist with an arrest warrant for Billy Rautenbach, a Camec shareholder, on charges of fraud, corruption and theft, Victor Kasongo, Congo's vice minister of mines, has said in an e-mailed statement.

At least 370 Zimbabweans were on Wednesday arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa during a police crackdown on crime and illegal immigrants in the city. In an early morning raid, the police stormed a building in central Johannesburg that they said was a sanctuary for “illegal immigrants and criminals terrorising the city.”

The management of the "Liberian Express" bi-weekly newspaper has been threatened with legal action by a member of the House of Representatives of Liberia. Representative Dusty Wolokollie accused the newspaper of publishing what he termed "a falsehood against him" and boasted that he will take the newspaper to court for libel and will demand US$20,000 in damages.

African Union soldiers were on their way to Comoros on Friday to help keep the peace during next month's elections on the volatile Indian Ocean islands where one local president has refused to stand down. National government spokesperson Abdourahim Said Bacar said 40 AU troops were due to arrive later on Friday.

The United Nations and African Union expressed cautious optimism on Thursday over the prospects of a political breakthrough in the troubled Darfur region of western Sudan. UN envoy Jan Eliasson and AU envoy Salim Ahmed Salim said they were encouraged by the increase in regional initiatives, including the government of south Sudan's latest effort to find a political solution for Darfur.

Nigeria's most high-profile armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), said late on Monday it will shortly resume attacks on oil pipelines in the south of the country. "In pursuance of our pledge to cripple the Nigerian crude oil export industry, we will resume with attacks on pipelines around the entire Niger Delta, in the coming days," Mend said in a statement emailed to the media.

Fifteen years of multiparty democracy in Mali has failed to galvanise voters in the poverty-stricken west African nation, who enjoy the dubious honour of being the world's most ballot-shy electorate. Last week's presidential election garnered a turnout of around 36% -- actually a comparatively high figure given Mali's past record.

Access to second-line antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in developing countries could become more widely available after former US president Bill Clinton unveiled a new venture earlier this week. Clinton told a press conference in New York on Tuesday that deals to provide low-cost ARVs to 66 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean had been clinched with two Indian generic drug companies.

The white sandy beaches, inland salt formations and volcanic landscapes of Sal island, in the Cape Verde archipelago, off the coast of Senegal in West Africa, have been drawing in tourists from across the world, but experts warn that it has become vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The Ugandan government on Tuesday said the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continued to hold thousands of abducted children and women, despite repeated pleas for their release from both the state and international organisations. "We keep reminding the LRA about the request over the issue and on numerous occasions we tell them face-to-face to release the children and women they hold hostage", Okello Oryem, junior foreign minister and deputy head of the government delegation to peace talks with the LRA in Southern Sudan, told reporters in Kampala.

Voluntary repatriation of Southern Sudanese refugees from Uganda is set to increase with the introduction of a third corridor of return to Eastern Equatoria state in August, the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday.

The signing of an Agreement on Comprehensive Solutions to the Causes of War by the Government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on 2 May 2007 in Juba, Sudan, has been hailed as the first step towards a final peace agreement to end more than 20 years of conflict in the nation's North.

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Malawian blogger writes that Malawi is 'going through a period of change' one of which is the increase in 'clean' uranium production.

'Just to put you in the picture. Currently, Malawi produces 275 megawatts of hydro-powered electricity every year. However from next year we will be producing up to 3.3 million pounds of uranium oxide every year. Converted into electricity production, 3.3 million pounds of uranium is enough to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity each year. This is projected to earn the country about 200 million U.S. dollars every year for the mining life span! This is unprecedented for our country. I can't stop thinking of what we could do with electricity generated from the uranium...a stop to the constant power cuts, a huge surge of power into our manufacturing industry, what about a good electricity powered transportation system (don't stop me dreaming) may be thus a possibility?'

So what's the catch? The benefits of the mining goes to the multinationals who have exclusive rights over the Kayalekera mines; questions about the environmental cost of the mining uranium? will the electricity generated reach the Malawian people? What if any will be the impact on unemployment and for the few that do manage to get jobs – how will their salaries relate to the profits of the mining companies and to the salaries of expatriates employed by the MNC.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/blogs_grandioseparlour.gifN... blogger, Grandiose Parlor comments on a post by Dare Obasanjo's blog (son of President) on the occasion of his father's 70th birthday. GP takes particular offence over a photograph and the word 'servant' - the caption reads:

'One of the servants sitting down on the bed of his one room apartment. You can see the entire apartment in this shot.'

All but one of the comments support GP's position on the use of the word 'servant' except for one commenter who writes:

'Oh come on. You guys are too far removed from the realities in Nigeria. In Nigeria its all in a days job for a grown man to receive a slap from the madam. Who amongst you have not used the label “house boy” in the past.'

Well I for one have never used that expression – we were brought up to be respectful to those employed by our parents and not to expect them to work for us as children. The comment is a reflection of the whole lack of respect for people and an acceptance that the status quo is fixed in stone. With that kind of attitude it is no wonder we continue to have such useless and corrupt leadership and a dismissal human rights record in areas such as child labour and child abuse.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/blogs_entrepreneur.gifCamer... blogger, The Entrepreneur considers the debate around the proposed African Union Government or Union of African States. Two meetings will be held, one in May and one in July to discuss the proposal.

'The purpose of the two exercises is to undertake in-depth discussions on the nature of the continent’s integration agenda in order to determine where we are, where we are going, when and how to get there. The need for such an exercise at this point in time, arose from a proposal considered by the Assembly at its 4th ordinary session in Abuja in January, 2005, on the creation of certain ministerial portfolios for the African Union. The Assembly accepted that the proposal was pertinent and forward looking and also in line with the vision of the African Union. It therefore, decided to set up a Committee of seven Heads of State under President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to examine the proposal in all its ramifications.'

For further information on the Union debate see Pambazuka News and the African Union Monitor (accessed from Pambazuka's website)

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Sub-Saharan African Roundtable publishes a disturbing piece on 'Congo's forgotten women'. Women who were taken to Uganda from the Congo by Ugandan armed forces and then left to fend for themselves.

'In 2001, after a disastrous misadventure in the Congo, Ugandan troops trekked back home with a cargo of hundreds of Congolese women they had “married” while fighting in that country. Most of them ended up in northern Uganda where their men had been hastily taken to continue the seemingly endless fight against the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army. But it wasn’t long before the rosy picture the Congolese women had of Uganda turned rough. They were quickly abandoned by their “husbands” who, unknown to most of them, had wives back home. Without anywhere to stay, many turned to prostitution; others joined the nearly two million internally displaced people in northern Uganda, existing in cramped and dingy camps.'

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/blogs_southerncameroon.gifSouthern Cameroons Interim Goverment-in-Exile is a blog dedicated to the liberation of Southern Cameroons – their mission statement reads:

'The Southern Cameroons Interim Government-in-Exile (IG) is dedicated to the liberation of the people of the Southern Cameroons from the brutal colonial control of France masquerading as La Republique du Cameroun. After more than a century of colonization and the failure of Great Britain and the United Nations (UN) to perform their sacred duty and obligation of guiding the people of the Southern Cameroon to “self-government and/or independence," the IG is resolved to return to Southern Cameroonians their humanity and their God given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'

In 2003 the group filed a complainant with the Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights against the Republic of Cameroon for violating the rights of hundreds of citizens of Southern Cameroon. The aim of the Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) and Southern Cameroon Peoples Organisation (SCAPO) is independence from the Republic of Cameroon by peaceful means.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/blogs_vaw.gifViolence Against Women: Do Something is a blog created by Ethiopian blogger Concoction to specifically highlight the global violence against women and to encourage everyone to 'do something' to end the violence. In this latest post she reports that the progress made by VAW activists is being hampered by President Bush's lack of commitment to act on the issue.

'If the Office on Violence Against Women in the Department of Justice, then...critics fear the administration would eliminate or de-emphasize certain anti-violence programs and add funding for new, untested programs. That, in turn, could deny victims access to what advocates say is a "well-rounded" menu of programs that was carefully considered by Congress and signed into law by the president.”... The other issue is funding problem. The Bush administration has not funded some programs at all while severely under fund others.'

Although this post is US specific, VAW is a global issue. One of the barriers to stopping VAW lies with those of us who have been victims of violence – we all need to speak out and testify to our own experiences and that of others we know. Another is families and communities that remain silent even when the violence is staring at them in the face. We all must try to speak out and shame those that commit acts of violence against women and children.

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New Nigerian blogger, Funmi Iyanda's Blog posts on an interview she had with Nigerian actress, Shan George who spoke about the marital violence she experienced.

'At 15 she was married off to a much older man on the promise that he'll educate her. 2 children, six years and many beatings later and the promise of education looked like a mirage. At each beating, she runs to her mother, her only relative who sternly orders her back to her husband and who informs her that if she leaves the marriage she had no home with her.'

In an act of great courage at the age of 21, Shan walks out on the man even though she has no where to go and ends up on the streets of Lagos until she is helped by another woman who takes her into her home. Sounds like a Nollywood movie but this is real life fact. A great post.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/blogs_olawunmi.gifSilent Storms in an ocean of one gets the feeling of power from holding a shotgun – ok he was clay pigeon shooting. Personally I cant see the attraction but I guess it is fairly harmless. At least he wasn't out shooting birds or animals. But then he goes on to analyse his own feelings around holding a gun and the potential of using it as a weapon of power- fortunately not a feeling he is at all comfortable with.

'...because i am still struggling to understand the Virginia Tech tragedy, I wanted to take a few moments to appreciate what holding that gun in my hands felt like. there was a sense of power, reinforced by the kick in my right shoulder as the rifle spit flames; it was a feeling which became a light-headed thrill as each clay-disc disc shattered before my eyes, each hit punctuated by the excited cheering of my friends. .in a flash i understood the attraction that guns have for some people. its a feeling of power, something close to omnipotence. that steel tube feeds the bearer with an assurance that he can exert some control over his own destiny - that i can defend myself and my family if needs be, ensuring that nothing is taken from us without the usurper paying some sort of price. its not even necessarily an aggressive assurance, it could be more passive than that, but its strength nonetheless. the second amendment makes sense when that firearm is within reach, it just does...I was also aware of the menace, the sense that the gun could so easily be used as an instrument of oppression was there. that power that made me feel at ease could also be the tool with which a malevolent nature manifested itself on the world around it. if a man wanted, he could get people to submit, and that is power indeed - just wave the gun and bark a few instructions, and you're the almighty. at least until a more determined person turned up.'

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Black Looks comments on the Imus 'nappy headed ho' incident and the overall trend of blaming it all on “hip hop”. Kameelah writes:

'...first, the language of mainstream hip hop cannot be excused under any circumstances. but, this is really a question of diverting attention from imus to hip-hop culture. imus acts as if he is a 8 year old child who heard a bad word in the school yard and innocently repeated it and as such should carry no responsibility. everyone responds and jumps on the bandwagon on blame hip hop and imus in chilling in the background laughing at critics black and white alike who have completely moved the center and have allowed him to blend into the background as just another victim of the hypnotizing trance of hip hop and its predatory tentacles. let’s play history correctly and remind ourselves that the images of black women did not ORIGINATE within hip hop, rather these images originated in scientific discourse and white racism hundreds of years ago and are often punctuated by the capturing and carnavalizing of difference and inferiority most notably with sara baartman (otherwise known as the hottentot venus). as william jelani cobb says.'

Alexander Kanengoni's Echoing Silences is probably the most engaging and brutally frank account of Zimbabwe's guerrilla war to be narrated quasi-fictionally. Published ten years ago, it unravels the war's ugly underbelly: regular torture and killing orgies sanctioned by kangaroo courts, raging male sexual predators targeting junior female combatants, indiscipline and betrayal among fighters.the list is endless. What strikes me about the book though is none of this. Kanengoni makes a spot on diagnosis of one of independent Zimbabwe's terminal ailments:

27 years into independence and the wheels of state have come off, it seems to me that the 'culture of silence' among many Zimbabweans-especially those who absolutely should have spoken- is a key factor to the crisis. I'll come back to this later.

In the last chapter of his book, Kanengoni captures a fictional rally addressed by Herbert Chitepo and Jason Moyo, a rally where 'fundamental policy changes to the struggle' are supposed to be announced. Although located in the theatre of struggle, the issues raised there describe a post-independent Zimbabwe.

He writes: 'the Chairman (Chitepo) talked angrily of a series of monumental historical betrayals and he said he and a few others were the living examples of such betrays; and Jason Moyo wondered how politics, the wealth and the economy of the entire country was slowly becoming synonymous with the names of less than a dozen people and he asked how in such circumstances the struggle could not be said to have lost its way.'

Wallace Chuma used to work as a journalist for the banned Daily News in Zimbabwe. He can be contacted at [email][email protected]

The full review can be read on NewZimbabwe: http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/indepex22.16293.html

The Uncertainty of Hope
Valerie Tagwira
This novel has been described by Charles Mungoshi as ‘an astonishing debut’. The various and complex lives of Onai Moyo - a market woman and mother of three children, and her best friend Katy Nguni - a vendor and black-market currency dealer, give an insight into the challenges that face those who are surviving by their wits, their labour and mutual support.

Other newly available titles include:

The Mediator. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo and the Southern Sudan Peace Process
Waithaka Waihenya

Shona Companion: A Practical Guide to Zimbabwe’s most Widely Spoken Language
D. Dale

African Oral Story-telling Tradition and the Zimbabwean Novel in English
Maurice Taonezvi Vambe

For further information, see:

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/authors/hakim-adi.jpgTrade in African slaves underpinned the British economy in the 18th century: the rich and powerful, the monarchy and the Church. So why was an enterprise that was so economically important ended so abruptly in the first decade of the 19th century? Hakim Adi explains...

In March 2007 large-scale commemorative events were organised to mark the bi-centenary of the parliamentary act to abolish the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

This unprecedented commemoration of a historical event, in which the British government itself is playing a leading role, was difficult to avoid.

There has been a frenzy in the British media. We have seen government publications (allegedly designed to enlighten the public); meetings and exhibitions; a debate in parliament; an apology from London’s mayor; the issuing of postage stamps; a service in Westminster Abbey; and release of the film Amazing Grace which promotes the well-established myth that abolition was largely due to the efforts of the Hull-based MP William Wilberforce.

It would be hoped that owing to the vast amount of information that is being disseminated, everyone would be now disabused of such erroneous views; and would be able to place both the so-called abolition and the centuries of trafficking of human flesh from Africa in historical perspective. The commemorative events certainly provide the opportunity for broad and in depth discussion of Britain’s history and the crimes against humanity committed over many centuries.

But are we any clearer about what went on 1807? More importantly, do we know why parliament decided to make illegal an enterprise which had underpinned Britain’s economy throughout the 18th century, when Britain was the world’s leading slave trading power?

After all, Britain was involved in the trafficking of kidnapped and enslaved Africans from the mid-16th century, when this enterprise was pioneered by John Hawkins and Elizabeth Tudor, until the early 1930s, when legislation was still being passed outlawing slavery in Britain’s African colonies.

In the 18th century Britain, as the world’s leading slave trading power, transported about half of all enslaved Africans not only to its own colonies but also those of other major powers such as France and Spain. British ships transported at least 3,500,000 Africans across the Atlantic.

In total, this entire ‘trade’ led to the forced removal of some 15,000,000 Africans, transported to the colonies of the European powers and the Americas. Many millions more were killed in the process of enslavement and transportation. Historians now estimate that Africa’s population actually declined over a period of four centuries, or remained stagnant until the early 20th century.

In 1713 the British government was militarily victorious against its rivals in Europe. By the Treaty of Utrecht (the same treaty by which Britain lays claim to Gibraltar) , it gained the lucrative contract to supply Spain’s American colonies with enslaved Africans.

The government promptly sold the contract for £7.3m to the South Sea company, whose first governor happened to also be the chancellor of the exchequer.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/302/slaveship_41131b.jpgIndeed the trafficking of Africans was the business of the rich and powerful from the outset. The monarchy was a zealous supporter and beneficiary, as was the Church of England. The slave trade was Britain’s trade in the 18th century. The British Prime Minister William Pitt declared that 80 per cent of all British foreign trade was associated with it. It contributed to the development of banking and insurance, shipbuilding and several manufacturing industries. Most of the inhabitants of Manchester were engaged in producing goods to be exchanged for enslaved Africans. Their trafficking led to the development of major ports of London, Bristol and Liverpool. Today it is difficult to find any major stately home, or cultural or financial institution which is not connected with the profits generated by this trade and the luxury items associated with it such as sugar, tobacco and coffee.

It might be wondered therefore why an enterprise that was so economically important to the rich and powerful in Britain in the 18th century should have been so abruptly ended in the first decade of the 19th century.

The answer requires the abolition of various myths and disinformation peddled since that time. One such myth is that abolition was largely the work of one man – William Wilberforce; and that it was carried out largely for humanitarian reasons. And there is another myth: that abolition was the work of an enlightened parliament, finally acknowledging the barbarism and inhumanity of the kidnapping, enslavement and trafficking of other human beings.

However, on the contrary, it is a matter of historical fact that the struggle to end the enslavement and trafficking of Africans was first initiated and pursued primarily by Africans themselves.

Historians now speak of centuries' long wars of resistance in the Caribbean; of the maroons; of day to day large and small-scale liberation struggles.

But such resistance also took place throughout the American continent, wherever enslaved Africans were to be found. There were also significant acts of resistance within Africa itself, and on many ships engaged in the human trafficking, most famously on the Amistad.

Such acts of resistance also took place in Britain, where enslaved Africans who liberated themselves were subjects of court cases contesting the legality of slavery throughout the 18th century.

It was as a result of this self-liberation of Africans that drew some leading abolitionists, such as Granville Sharp, into the abolitionist movement in the late 18th century. While the resistance acts of Africans culminated in the famous legal judgement of 1772 which declared that it was illegal for self-liberated Africans to be re-enslaved in Britain and taken out of the country against their will. Africans in Britain had organised their own liberation. But they were assisted by the ordinary people of London and other towns and cities.

African resistance to enslavement and kidnapping contributed to growing public support and opposition to slave trafficking in Britain and elsewhere.

In Britain, a popular movement opposing the trade began in the 1780s. It soon became a broad mass movement of enormous proportions, possibly the biggest. It was certainly one of the first mass political movements in Britain’s history, although it is conveniently ignored in most historical accounts.

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people eventually took part in this movement which involved the petitioning of parliament and the boycotting of slave-produced sugar. This abolitionist movement coincided with a more general concern with and struggle for the ‘Rights of Man’. Its more advanced elements consciously promoted the view that the rights of Africans were indeed part of that struggle. Therefore what was required was a struggle for and defence of the rights of all.

Africans themselves played a leading role in this movement as lecturers, propagandists and activists. The most notable was Olaudah Equiano, formerly enslaved, whose autobiography became a bestseller. But we should not forget the writing of others, for example Phyllis Wheatley, Ottobah Cugoano and James Gronniosaw.

Africans in London, including Equiano and Cugoano, formed their own organisation, the 'Sons of Africa', which campaigned for abolition. It worked with both the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and the wider mass abolitionist campaign.

But African resistance in the Caribbean and elsewhere was an even more important factor in the abolitionist struggle, since it had the tendency to make slavery both less profitable and more dangerous for the slave owners.

Uprisings by enslaved Africans threatened not just the profits of individual owners but the control of entire colonies and the fate of Europe’s economies.

The most important of these liberation struggles, the revolution in St Domingue, the largest and most prosperous French colony in the Caribbean, broke out in 1791 not long after the revolution in France. Revolutionary St Domingue therefore became the first country to effectively abolish the enslavement of Africans.

In Britain, the popular mass abolitionist movement coincided with wider demands for political change, at a time when the vast majority were denied the vote. It also coincided with crucial economic changes; the industrial revolution; the emergence of new social forces with the workers on one side and industrial capitalists on the other, attempting to consolidate their economic and political domination of the country. The industrialists were sometimes at odds with the economic and political power exercised by those who owed their position to the slave-based economies of the Caribbean.

Mass petitioning of parliament, the only means open to the disenfranchised, against the trade was often strong in manufacturing towns such as Manchester, where perhaps a third of the entire population signed. This was viewed with alarm by the ruling class.

The Prime Minister of the time, William Pitt, recognised that popular sentiment might be used to persuade parliament to abolish Britain’s exports of enslaved Africans to its main economic rival, France. It was Pitt who first encouraged Wilberforce to bring an abolition bill before parliament. Wilberforce’s bill was first introduced in 1791. It was defeated, as were several similar bills during the next 15 years.

But during this period several significant changes took place. First, the French Revolution of 1789. Britain’s declaration of war against revolutionary France in 1793 allowed the suppression of the political activity of the people at home, effectively limiting the popular abolitionist campaign and driving it underground.

The revolutionaries in St Domingue successfully defended their revolution against the French army then against invasions by both Spain and Britain. It is worth remembering that this war was pursued by Pitt and supported by Wilberforce, who clearly did not belief that Africans should liberate themselves.

In 1804 St Domingue declared its independence and was renamed Haiti. The revolution in Haiti contributed to, and occurred alongside, other major insurrections across the Caribbean, in Jamaica, Grenada, St Vincent and elsewhere, which severely threatened the entire colonial system.

Even those Africans forcibly recruited into Britain’s West India regiment in Dominica mutinied. Toussaint L’Ouverture and some of the other leaders of the Haitian revolution became nationally known figures in Britain. Abolition came to be viewed by some both as a means to press home a naval and economic advantage over France and its allies, and a means to limit the numbers of Africans imported into British colonies; thereby preventing the likelihood of further revolutions and maintain the slave system.

It was with these aims in mind that parliament passed the Foreign Slave Act in 1806, banning the export of enslaved Africans to Britain’s economic rivals, a measure that effectively ended around 60 per cent of Britain’s trafficking, but which is now hardly remembered, and certainly not commemorated.

There is no doubt that for many in parliament and outside, the demand for abolition was based largely on economic motives. Prime Minister Pitt, and others had been concerned about competition from St Domingue and other Caribbean colonies even before 1791. They had unsuccessfully sought agreement from both France and Holland to prohibit the trafficking of Africans.

Others were more concerned about what they saw as the subsidies given to slave owners and sugar producers in the Caribbean; and government support for economies and a trade that was declining in importance by the end of the 18th century, not least because there was over-production of sugar.

Others in Britain became more interested in developing direct trade links with India, Brazil and other Spanish American colonies. The trafficking of Africans to Britain’s colonies was no longer so important and was seen as by some as being an impediment to important trading links elsewhere.

These economic motives for abolition have long been associated with the names of Eric Williams and C.L.R. James. Many attempts have been made to discredit them. In fact very similar views were expressed by British historians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most importantly economic justifications for an end to ‘the trade’ were strongly advanced in the period preceding the Abolition Act.

What is significant is that this explanation for abolition is hardly ever discussed. It has been largely absent from many of the commemorative events so far and even from the government’s own publication which, it is claimed, is designed to educate the public.

Simply stated, this explanation means that the parliamentary act was passed not for humanitarian reasons but because it was in the interests of the rich and their representatives in parliament to do so. And it should be added that it was the actions of people, and most importantly of the enslaved themselves, in the Caribbean, Britain and elsewhere that made enslavement and trafficking increasing inefficient, unprofitable and dangerous.

In 1807 therefore, parliament was persuaded to pass the Abolition Act; partly on the basis of such economic concerns, partly on the basis that limiting the importation of enslaved Africans would likely limit future revolutions and preserve slavery throughout the Caribbean colonies. Partly it seems, because it was seen as a way of diverting attention away from an unpopular war against France and its allies, and persuading the people that such a war was being fought in the interests of abolition.

Of course after the 1806 act it is arguable that most of ‘the trade’ had ended already. Even some of the major established Caribbean planters were in favour of abolition since this worked against the interests of their commercial rivals, both foreigners and those who had acquired newly captured territory in the Caribbean from Britain’s enemies. They reasoned that this might be especially advantageous if abolition could be forced upon other countries as a consequence of Britain’s military and naval supremacy. Other representatives of the rising bourgeoisie supported the measure as a means to limit the economic and political power of those who had hitherto retarded the development of industrial capitalism and ‘free trade’.

The 1807 Act was subsequently used as the representatives of the rich envisaged, not least as a means by which the Royal Naval might interfere in international shipping across the atlantic.

Yet it did not end British citizens’ involvement in the trafficking of Africans nor slavery itself. Following other major insurrections in the Caribbean and similar economic and political considerations, slavery itself was only later made illegal in 1834. But it continued in some areas of the British empire for another century. The trafficking of Africans in general increased during the 19th century. Many British slavers sailed under foreign flags of convenience.

The 1807 Act did not end Britain’s dependence on slave produced goods such as cotton, the mainstay of the industrial revolution. Even that so-called ‘legitimate commerce’ subsequently developed with Africa, such as the extraction of palm oil, was largely produced with slave labour. The act increased rather than diminished Britain’s interference in Africa which culminated in the so-called ‘scramble’ for Africa at the end of the 19th century: the invasion of the continent and imposition of colonial rule.

It is sobering to reflect that Britain’s first colony in Africa was Sierra Leone. This was the region from where the first enslaved Africans had been kidnapped in the 16th century. It was established allegedly as a haven for liberated Africans in 1807, and has now been under Britain’s domination for the last 200 years Much of this time, it has been occupied by British troops, while its shores are still patrolled by the Royal Navy.

Today the government is demanding that even its basic utilities, such as water, should be privatised for the benefit of British multinationals. Centuries of interference by British governments have produced a country that manages to be one of the world’s poorest - and at the same time the world’s leading producer of diamonds.

The trafficking of Africans over many centuries was one of the greatest crimes against humanity. The current commemorative events, which are organised for a variety of purposes, at least provide the opportunity for widespread discussion.

What is vital is that the myths are shattered and disinformation combated. We must ensure that appropriate and adequate reparations are made for slavery, colonialism and all crimes against humanity. People themselves must draw the appropriate lessons from history, one of the most important being that it is people that make and change history; and that therefore, we are our own liberators.

* Hakim Adi is reader in the history of Africa and the African diaspora at Middlesex University, London, UK.

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INTRAC Open Training Programme: June - July 2007.

The Progressio Development Worker (DW) will work alongside the TALOWADAG Coalition as a HIV/Aids development advisor supporting both its staff and the partner organisations that make up the network to strengthen their support and care to people affected and infected with HIV/Aids by providing community-based care support.

UNRISD director, Thandika Mkandawire, is to participate in a round table discussion at the 4th Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa (Tarifa African Film Festival, FCAT) in Spain, 28 April 2007. The round table entitled 'A new "chance" for Africa? New IMF and World Bank programmes and initiatives', aims to focus on the most recent programmes of these two influential institutions with a view to examining their role in the African continent.