Pambazuka News 288: World Social Forum 2007
Pambazuka News 288: World Social Forum 2007
The International Fellowships Programme (IFP) provides opportunities for advanced study to exceptional individuals who will use this education to become leaders in their respective fields, furthering development in their own countries and greater economic and social justice worldwide. To ensure that Fellows are drawn from more diverse backgrounds than ever before, IFP will actively recruit candidates from social groups and communities that lack systematic access to higher education.
The 2007 National Arts Merit Awards nominees were announced in Harare on Wednesday (17 January). This year's edition of the awards, to be held on February 4 at the 7 Arts Theatre, has 25 categories with the media awards being the latest addition. In the outstanding musician category, urban groover Rufaro Cindy Munyavi has sprung a surprise by taking on Oliver Mtukudzi, Kireni Zulu and Amai Charamba. Her song, Spare wheel, is also vying for the outstanding album award together with Joseph Garakara's Idya Banana, Alexio Kawara's Tinodanana and Ellen Kupusa Smith's Mbudzi, reports Kubatana.
Morocco's "march towards light" as its literacy programme is called is brightening up as official figures go, but with far too many shady areas still. Two years after the launch of the programme intended to eradicate illiteracy by 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals, officials claim that illiteracy has diminished to 38 percent of the population of 30 million, from 80 percent in 1960 and 48 percent in 1999.
Two South Africans are fighting the U.S. plan to put their names on the United Nations Security Council list of suspected terrorists alleged to have ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The United States accuses Junaid Dockrat and Farhad Dockrat of being "financers, recruiters and facilitators of al-Qaeda and the deposed Taliban in Afghanistan".
A group of forty Bushmen have managed to return to their homes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve this weekend, despite a heavy police presence and attempts to persuade them to stay in the relocation camps. All the Bushmen in the convoy were allowed into the reserve by the wildlife guards at the gates, although some were only issued with temporary permits.
Recent attacks on villages in the Sudanese state of West Darfur have forced up to 5,000 people to flee their homes and seek refuge in two camps around El Geneina, a nongovernmental organisation working in the volatile area said.
Guinea's long borders and central position mean analysts view it as a regional lynchpin, saying serious domestic instability could easily spill over, ending tenuous progress towards the consolidation of peace in Liberia and Sierra Leone, which both experienced devastating civil wars in the 1990s.
A potentially explosive document related to the Caprivi, which the Swapo Party has persisted in saying does not exist, has suddenly surfaced in Namibia. Compiled over 40 years ago and signed by former President Sam Nujoma, it describes the merger in the 1960s of Swapo and a political party led by Caprivi secessionist Mishake Muyongo.
The embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Edwin Snowe, Jr. has called on the Ministry of Justice to relax activities leading to investigating the alleged bribery involving lawmakers and re-direct its investigation to the disappearance of the chairs of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker from the Centennial Pavilion.
Rising levels of reported rape and sexual exploitation of women and teenage girls in Liberia have sparked concern by both the government and women's rights groups. Despite a peace agreement in 2003 that ended the particularly brutal 14-year civil war, during which fighters sexually assaulted girls and women and sometimes used them as "sex slaves", these types of violent abuse were still common, according to Lois Bruthus, head of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), a leading advocacy group.
The HIV/AIDS and the Media Project investigates the role and the impact of the news media on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa. We offer two annual 4-6 month fellowships to working journalists to undertake longer term and in-depth research and writing outside of the newsroom. The writing that results from these fellowships is published in a wide range of media and peer-reviewed journals, posts Journalism.co.za.
There is need for African governments to embrace Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to enable internet access in schools. Advocates of Sciences and Technology for the People (AGHAM) chairperson Dr Giovanni Tapang says schools in third world countries need to have alternative models to make internet access cheaper. Dr Tapang said only 38 percent of schools in developing countries are connected to the internet of which less than 1 percent is African countries while developed countries have fully connected their primary and secondary schools to the internet.
Amnesty International's global Urgent Action network provides an effective and rapid means of preventing some of the most life-threatening human rights violations against individuals. Tilahun Ayalew (m), Anteneh Getnet (m), Meqcha Mengistu (m), all officials of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA) are prominent members of Ethiopia's main teachers' trade union, which has been critical of the government. Tilahun Ayalew and Anteneh Getnet are reported to be in custody, and are believed to have been tortured. Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience, detained solely for the non-violent expression of their opinions and trade union activities.
With recent films, (both long and short feature films) Tunisia will take a big part in the 20 th edition of the "Ouagadougou International Film Festival" (Fespaco) in Burkina Faso. The festival, Africa 's second film festival, which will be held from February 24 to March 3, 2007 , will also feature a round table around the theme: Tunisia 's experience in producing '10 short films ten gazes'.
The Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation (NIDO), has honoured President Olusegun Obasanjo with an "Exemplary and Visionary Leadership Award". NIDO in Americas Chairman, Ola Kassim, announced the award at a dinner in Toronto, Canada, to end the four-day First Nigeria Worldwide Diaspora Conference.
Swamped by tens of thousands of asylum-seekers, the Department of Home Affairs has challenged a landmark high court ruling declaring its pre-screening of refugees in Gauteng since November 2005 to be unlawful. In an unprecedented move in the Johannesburg High Court on December 12, Judge Pierre Rabie appointed a curator ad litem to act on behalf of an entire class of asylum-seekers.
Reliable estimates of the total number of refugees coming over the border are hard to come by. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has sent a high-level mission down to Ethiopia's remote and porous border with Somalia to gauge their number. According to UNHCR, the flow of Somali refugees to Ethiopia was less significant in 2006 than the 34,000 who went to Kenya. At the peak of the Somali influx into Ethiopia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, more than 250,000 Somalis fled to Hartisheik camp in eastern Ethiopia.
The United Nations forces in Haiti (MINUSTAH) — backed to the hilt by the US, France and Canada — are continuing their bloody assault on the poor majority, targeting especially leaders and supporters of the Lavalas grassroots democracy movement.
HIP - Port au Prince, Haiti - In the early morning hours of July 6, 2005 more than 350 UN troops stormed the seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil in a military operation with the stated purpose of halting violence in Haiti. When the shooting stopped seven hours later, more than 26 people, the majority of them unarmed civilians lie dead with scores more wounded.
From the Haiti Action Committee: “Rene Civil, one of Haiti's most well respected grass roots activists, is still in jail. Despite massive protests in Haiti calling for the release of all political prisoners, Rene and hundreds of others remain locked down in Haiti's jails. It is past time for their release. We call upon the government of President Rene Preval to stand up to the US/UN occupiers of Haiti and release these political prisoners.”
Civil rights activists are urging Liam Byrne, the British minister of state for nationality, citizenship, and immigration, to release Congolese women from detention and review their cases. Ambrose Musiyiwa of the World Press reports that the Home Office has failed to adequately address the current situation in Congo and continues to carry out removals.
The launching of the Charter of Feminists Principles for African Feminists at the 3rd International Feminist Dialogue marks a major contribution by the African Feminist Forum (AFF) and the larger feminist movement to the on-going world social forum. The AFF took place last year in Ghana and this space was created as an autonomous space in which African feminists from all walks of life and at different levels including local levels and the academia, could reflect on a collective basis and chart ways to strengthen and grow the feminists movement on the continent.
Mercy Siame an activist from Zambia sees the launch as a breakthrough in African feminism and encouraged other feminists to rally behind it and support it. “It may be difficult for the AFF to be accepted. We should spend more time and explain the ideologies to the people especially our leaders”. Director Coalition of African Lesbians, Fikile Vilakazi a first time participant to the International Feminist Dialogue is amazed that the space has rallied people from different background of fundamentalism. She says she has learned a lot on the situation of women in conflict situations and issues on gender based violence which she say is a different experience from her native South Africa.
The International Feminist Dialogue was held prior to the WSF from 17th to 19th January 2007 under the theme “Transforming Democracy: Feminist Visions and Strategies”. Over 250 women from different parts of the World attended to deepen the intensive dialogues on feminist perspectives and strategies in addressing fundamentalisms, militarism and neo-liberal globalisation. In organizing the third International Feminist Dialogues, the Coordinating Group (CG) created a vital space for critical minded feminist activists to re-examine, re-imagine and move forward the vital political project of feminist movement building and new forms of democratic processes.
The setting of the WSF in Africa in January 2007 offers a strategic space for feminists to come together in their broad diversity to explore the current moment, their differences and common ground, and their role in the larger social movements. Feminist Dialogues (FD) is a transnational meeting of feminist networks and organizations usually held before the WSF being one such space for this kind of strategic dialogue. The pre-WSF meeting is meant to promote effective intervention in the broader WSF process as feminists organizing for change, and to establish strategic and politically relevant links with other social movements. The first FD was held in Mumbai in January 2003, the second in Porto Alegre, Brazil and the third now in Nairobi, Kenya.
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The plight of about 3000 indigenous Kenyans, on the verge of losing their land has come to the fore at the Kenyan WSF.
They claim that they are fast losing their means of survival to internal displacement by American investors. The investors under the Dominion group of companies are reported to have bought off a bigger part of the Yala area of Siala district, west off Kenya, where the people live and earn their bread through farming. The citizens’ economic mainstay is agriculture and fishing, and the successful sale of the land could spell doom for the activities through denial of access to the land for cultivation and the river for fishing.
These facts came to light when a participant in the on-going World Social Forum expressed dismay at the way the Kenyan government was allegedly handling foreign investment issue in the country. Rapudo Hawl a community mobiliser in the ‘Friends of Yala Swamp’ told African Flame that the investors had taken the land and set up a plant for rice growing in Yala river, the district source of Fish farming, without any proper compensation to the dwellers. He alleged that because of the dam built for the activity, the villagers now have to migrate from their homes to other places such as churches or trees whenever it rains as the water in the dam overflows into their homes.
“This is the second year since the government gave them the authority to take the land and government can’t do much about the situation because the politicians have been compromised and they made sure they signed the treaty to pass a law on investment” claimed Hawl. “It has affected their livelihoods because they have been depending on agriculture and fishing, and the company can’t allow them to go near the river or they will be arrested.” He added that the people who did not heed the prohibition order had in the past been arrested and taken to court. He however stated that his organisation was working towards lobbying government to revisit the decision, saying a survey was being conducted to obtain facts about the consequences of the investment decision on the indigenous people. “The survey was done in October and is ready but is not yet in circulation. We need to lobby government because they say there is no evidence to our claims” he added.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
The LGBTI activists presented a workshop on Sexuality and Social Justice which included Fikile Vilakazi is the director of the Coalition of Africa Lesbians (CAL), Wendy Landau of Behind the Mask, Bridge from the UK and Manohar from Sangama in Bangalore in India. The focus of the workshop was sexual rights and social justice. The concept of sexual rights is a different way of talking about sexual issues in which an integrated approach to sexuality must include women broadly because they made be denied their sexual rights in various ways. The concept is to move away from identity politics to one of integration of sexual minorities such as , sex workers, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, and also breaking these down into class and gender. The approach is a new and radical one which moves to incorporate all minorities and to make alliances with as many oppressed groups across a broad spectrum of the communities in which we live.
Fikile Vilakazi is the director of the Coalition of Africa Lesbians (CAL) which covers 12 countries including, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania. The CAL run a number of programmes for lesbians across Africa including a Creative Expression project to help lesbians come out through writing, discussions, poetry and art. The main issues facing the lesbian community in Africa is that even in countries like South Africa where lesbian rights are enshrined in the constitution, society itself is still very homophobic which puts them at risk of hate crimes including rape, beatings, and even murder. The recent Civil Union / Same Sex Marriage Bill passed by the South Africa parliament is not the primary concern of the LGBTI community in South Africa. Rather women are concerned over the curative hate crimes, and the homophobia in society. Despite the fact the lesbians are legally able to adopt children people still ask how can lesbians be parents in South Africa? There is also the issue of fundamentalist religions, Christians, Muslims and Hindus .
The legalising of of same sex marriage in South Africa has had repercussions in various African countries such as Nigeria and Uganda which have been extremely negative in their response and have used the South Africa decriminalisation to enforce even more draconian punishments of homosexuality in their countries. On a postive note the response by these governments has been that there is now an active dialogue in Africa around LGBTI issues and more and more of the LGBTI community are coming out and challenging their respective governments and religious institutions on the issue of sexuality and human rights.
Manohar of Sangama spoke eloquently about the innovative movement to bring together different sexual minorities across class and caste divisions in India.
* Sokari Ekine is the new Online News Editor of Pambazuka News
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
The Rural Womens Movement is based in Kwa Zula Natal. The organization began in 1998 but was not officially launched until 2000. The RWM grew out of the need to address gender inequalities in the rural areas in post Apartheid South Africa.
RWM works to enable women to access, own, control, use, and manage land and natural resources in their own right. They work mainly with indigenous, poor and landless women and at present there are some 500 community based organizations with a membership of some 15,000 women. of whom 50 percent live below the poverty line.
Yesterday I spoke with Olivia Nomzamo who is a young agricultural activist with the Rural Women’s Movement and who lives in a small village in Kwa Zulu Natal called Underburg. She left school in 1994 and worked in a garage for one year but then decided she wanted to learn about farming as a way of supporting herself so she went to work on a farm. In 1999 Olivia joined the RWM and began to talk to other women in her village about the possibility of acquiring some land and using it to set up a collective farm project and cultivate the land which would bring some income for the women and enable them to feed themselves.
They approached the Traditional Authority in their area which is managed by local chiefs many of whom had been imposed on the community by the Apartheid government. The land is actually held on behalf of the people but the Chiefs act as if they own the land and in many instances people have to pay bribes of 3000 rand plus gifts of beer and vodka in order to receive an allocation of land.
The women of Underburg were given 10 acres for their farm project by the Chiefs and with the help of other local farmers who taught them how to cultivate the land and also lent them equipment they were able to begin the project. The women are divided into 5 groups each with between 20 and 25 members. They all contribute to the purchasing of seeds, one group manages the seedlings and the other 4 groups manage the transplanted seedlings on the main farm where they grow potatoes, beans and vegetables. They have still not been able to purchase any of their own equipment and totally rely on borrowing from male farmers in the area. Most of the food is sold to local markets and a small amount is divided up between the women and used to feed their families. The money they make has enabled them to improve their lives generally including sending their children to school. There is a local clinic in the area which has recently had a change of staff and who are providing a much better service.
Many of the women in the farming project are AIDS widows and some 90 percent of the women are HIV positive so access to decent health care is a huge priority for the village. There is also a large number of orphaned children some who live with relatives but quite a few who live on their own as street kids with no support and have to fend for themselves.
The women of the rural communities in regions like Kwa Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape have benefited the least from the New South Africa. Many of the women in these areas who were ANC activists or part of families who were ANC activists were hounded, beaten and killed by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The regions have the largest numbers of illiteracy due to the poor educational provision during apartied and not much has changed for them since then. In fact many are suffering and starving due to lack of unemployment and HIV/ AIDS. Women are particularly vulnerable as men blame them for the spread of HIV. Women have been evicted from their homes by their husbands or dead husbands male relatives when they have revealed their HIV status as it is the women that go to get tested whilst the men refuse to do so.
Sizani Ngubane is the founder and director of the Rural Women’s Movement and you can listen to an interview with her on Pambazuka Broadcasts. She lives in Pietermaritzburg, is self-educated and has been an ANC and Women’s activist for most of her adult life. If you wish to contact the RWM you can do so at rwm at mail dot ngo dot za
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
As part of our special reports from the World Social Forum, Abd Mohammed from the Western Sahara talks to Sokari Ekine from Pambazuka News about the ongoing occupation of his country by Morocco. Music in this podcast is brought to you by Freddy Macha.
As part of our special reports from the World Social Forum, Fadzai Muparutsu from GALZ speaks to Sokari Ekine from Pambazuka News about LGBT rights in Zimbabwe. Music in this podcast is brought to you by Freddy Macha.
As part of our special reports from the World Social Forum, Fikele Vilakazi & Vanesha Chitty spoke to Robtel Pailey from Pambazuka News about their work at the forum and on rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Africa.
As part of our special reports from the World Social Forum, conscious musicians Hope Raisers speak to Robtel Pailey from Pambazuka News about their music, justice and the obstacles they face being political artists living in the slums of Nairobi. Music in this podcast is brought to you by Hope Raisers and Freddy Macha.
George Wenda from Kenya talks about the plight inflicted on rural people in his country by foreign TNCs who land grab.
Ahead of the Senegalese presidential elections on February 25, ARTICLE 19 publishes a new report on the state of freedom of expression in Senegal which presses for the legal, political and institutional framework for freedom of expression in Senegal to be reformed.
UWA-FACE Foundation’s tree planting project in Mount Elgon National Park, Uganda, by Chris Lang and Timothy Byakola, documents human rights abuses at Mount Elgon National Park in east Uganda, where the Dutch FACE Foundation has been planting carbon ‘offset’ trees since 1994.
The Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund provides fellowships for scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. These fellowships permit scholars to find temporary refuge at universities and colleges anywhere in the world, enabling them to pursue their academic work and to continue to share their knowledge with students, colleagues, and the community at large.
While conflict inflicts suffering on everyone, women are particularly affected by its short- and long-term effects. Sexual assault and exploitation are frequently employed as tools of war; victimization leads to isolation, alienation, prolonged emotional trauma, and unwanted pregnancies that often result in abandoned children. USAID has published a guide to developing programming for women in conflict.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has vehemently condemned the unlawful sacking of seven members of the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ) from the Nation Media Group who lost their jobs because of their involvement in the union.
Feminist Media Studies, a trans-disciplinary, transnational forum for scholars, professionals and activists pursuing feminist approaches to the field of media and communication studies, is inviting contributions to a special issue entitled "Feminist Contributions to Cultural Policy." To find out more, e-mail Alison Beale, Guest Editor at [email][email protected]
The call for papers for the second eLearning Africa conference, which will take place from May 28 to 30 in Nairobi, Kenya, has just closed. The annual event is rapidly becoming the preeminent eLearning capacity-building event for the entire African continent and a forum for all stakeholders engaged in the planning and implementation of technology-supported learning and training.
HakiElimu is one of the leading CSOs in Tanzania. Our vision is to realize public education and debate that enhances citizen agency, fosters creativity and critical thinking, and advances human rights and democracy. For more information visit or google ‘HakiElimu’. For more information on this position, visit the website.
In his strongest attack since he accepted defeat in landmark elections last year, presidential contender Jean-Pierre Bemba warned President Joseph Kabila on Wednesday that abuses and corruption could undermine democracy and threatened to call opposition strikes and protests, reports Joe Bavier for Reuters.
The government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf aims to dramatically increase the country’s enrollment rate through the Education for All law that was enacted in 2004. "The enforcement is getting the results we want. Children are now coming from the farms, off the street and into the classrooms," Sirleaf recently told reporters.
A rise of more than 100 percent in the price of antiretroviral drugs is likely to put the life-prolonging medication beyond the reach of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans living with HIV. Pharmacists in Bulawayo increased the price of a monthly course of ARVs from an average of Z$30,000 (US$120 at the official exchange rate) to between Z$80,000 (US$320) and Z$100,000 (US$400).
Zambia's attempts to promote paediatric antiretroviral (ARV) drug adherence are being undermined by families and communities who shield children in their care from knowing their HIV/AIDS status, health experts say. A report by IRIN revealed that it is easier to counsel adults living with the virus, but families caring for HIV-positive children often hide the truth from the child.
Hana News Agency reports that Microsoft Corporation's products have been locked out of the on-going World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi Kenya. With over 300 computers provided for participants and the press, organizers of the WSF have preferred to provide open source software products and blocked all Microsoft related products for the forum's usage and its related activities.
Duncan Otieno, 22, lives in Huruma, one of four main slums in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Otieno has lived there since coming to the city in 2003 after finishing school in Kisumu, in the west of the country. Four years on, he remains unemployed except for the odd construction job, which helps him pay the rent of his one-roomed house and support his younger brother.
If the present political condition of modern Africa can be judged by current western media headlines, the judgment-call of history is not in Africa’s favour. Current headlines correspond to a biased interpretation of the reality on the ground, encourage the cult of Afro pessimism among its readers, reports John Gashugi for the New Times of Rwanda.
The government of Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar will not lift a ban imposed in 2005 on poultry imports, despite pressure from poultry farmers and retailers, the island's Chief Minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, said on Thursday. The ban will remain in force indefinitely," Nahodha said in a statement issued in the capital, Stone Town.
A long-awaited report on good governance in South Africa identifies crime, graft and xenophobia as potential pitfalls for the continent's biggest economy, according to a leaked copy obtained by Reuters. The APRM report, which will be presented to heads of state at an African Union summit in Ethiopia on Sunday, places official corruption among South Africa's biggest problems.
The World Social Forum (WSF) ended in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital on Thursday, with participants hailing the event as an opportunity for people from around the world to exchange ideas on global social problems often overlooked by capitalist interests they said dominated the world.
The Tide Online reports that in a recent conversation with a group of educated, enlightened and experienced Nigerians, most were disenchanted with the current style of campaigns and primaries by some politicians who are either looking for a second term or aspiring for higher political offices.
Two leading political parties are preparing budgets running into billions of shillings to finance their candidates in this year’s General Election. While ODM Kenya has a tentative budget of Sh2 billion, Narc Kenya’s leadership is working on its own estimates for the election which sources said could go up to Sh5 billion.
Women, especially in the developing world, who continue to bear the burden of the negative impact of globalization, must fight for their rights. "We are not powerless; women are standing together in spite of the burden to dispossess us," Wahu Kaara, an activist and one of the organizers of the WSF, said at the United Nations offices in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Key members of the local chapter of Transparency International board have retired in a move widely seen as aimed at ending the perception that it was close to President Kibaki’s Government. The Daily Nation reports that the decision is being seen as a move by TI-Kenya to cleanse itself especially after two directors were forced to resign by the board.
The World Social Forum (WSF) that took place in Nairobi was one of those 'once in a life time' events for many people; and 'once a year' events for the veterans who continue to attend every one.
It is an all-comers forum. For instance, the gay and lesbian lobby in Africa are there along side the Maoists, Anachists, peasant movements, trade unionists, radical scholars, grassroots movements, all kinds of gender activists and more. The reactionaries will say: all lunatics are in town.
It should be no surprise if there were many Africans since this is taking place in Africa, but so marginalized are we in our own affairs that one is always happy to see Africans at these meetings even when they are happening here. Many of the usual suspects are around, from the veteran radicals to the budding ones; and not only from Africa but from across the world. If you want to gauge the state of global revolutionary consciousness, the frustrations, the challenges and opportunities of the global forces for change and transformation, the WSF is the place to be.
But these gatherings always frustrate me for many reasons. One; they show up Africa's weaknesses whether they are held outside or inside Africa. One of the critical areas is our level of participation and preparedness. A majority of the African participants - even many from Kenya itself - were brought by foreign paymasters or organisations funded by outsiders. Often they become prisoners of their sponsors. They must attend events organized or supported by their sponsors who need to put their 'partners' on display, and the 'partners' in turn need to show their loyalty to their masters.
Two; even when these meetings happen in Africa, the participation of local groups and citizens are constrained by the three factors of fees for participation, language of discourse, and location. Local activists and sympathizers in the WSF had to organize a protest and even a temporary occupation before the fees for Kenyan participants were waived.
Three; we go to these events without adequate preparation about our own agenda and line up behind other peoples' not-so-hidden agendas, although at this WSF there were a number of attempts to forge a Pan-African agenda before the summit consultations. One of them was the Pan-African Youth Forum working closely with the Youth Commission of the WSF. But the truth remains that many of the youth who came did so on the platform of one donor or the other and were mostly not African.
This dependence on foreigners, both financially and ideologically, is so pervasive that it cannot be ignored anymore. There are signs that an increasing number of Africans are not only outraged by it but becoming ashamed by it, and are looking for ways and means of freeing our activism from the clutches of donor funding and donor-driven agendas. These issues were frankly and honestly discussed at many forums before and during the summit.
This dependence on foreigners raises a lot of disturbing issues about the state of Africa's NGOs and CSOs, and their capacity to contribute to lasting changes in the social, economic and political conditions of Africans in favour of social justice.
The first is a question of legitimacy. Who do these NGOs represent? Who are they accountable to? To whom do they owe their loyalty: to their donors or to the African people they claim to speak for? The second is the related question of the generally anti-government posture of these NGOs. They take money from foreign governments/agencies like DFID, USAID, DANIDA, SIDA, allegedly as independent CSOs. But why should foreigners be helping us to be independent of our own governments? How are their own citizens independent of them? The same African NGOs that queue up to suck up to all kinds of foreign governments and funders will raise their eye-brows and shout 'autonomy' and 'sell out' if any of their members has close financial or political links with their own governments.
In effect, the autonomy they are asserting is one of being sovereign against their own government and subservience to any foreigner. Where governments are illegitimate or have bad governance records this may hold for sometime, but in the long run it delegitimises the NGOs concerned.
The third issue is the constant conflation of NGOs to mean CSOs which should not be the case. Genuine CSOs will include trade unions, guild and professional associations, self-help groups, village or town associations, faith-based charities or interest groups, etc. Their most distinctive character is that they are voluntary, membership-based and generate their funds from their members.
How many of our busy-body, noise-making NGOs qualify in this sense? It is similar to our governments being dependent on the aid of outsiders, and we demanding that they should be accountable to us. We do not pay taxes but demand representation and wonder why the leaders are more responsive to any noise that comes from outsiders?
The worst excesses of the dependence on foreign sponsors are the various scams that have developed in many of these NGOs about 'creative accounting', which does not mean accountability: Per diem wrangles, multiple claims, bogus ticket refunds, multiple accounting, budgeting and reporting for similar proposals from the same organisation and many other unsavoury practices that make these organisations not dissimilar to the governments we climb on holy mountains to attack for being corrupt, inefficient and unaccountable.
And this issue of dependence on foreign donors is not just because there are no resources. How come the nationalists freed this continent from the yoke of colonialism without writing proposals to any funder? Why are our peoples not willing or able to support our activism? Could it be that the people do not associate themselves with the self-given mandate of these largely middle-class led, elite focused, and urban-based counter elite? Or worse still, people may be seeing that these self-declared crusaders, whether foreign or local, are only there for their own interest. The proliferation in the last decade of MONGOs (My Own NGO), GONGOs (Governmental NGO) , BONGOs (Business NGO), PONGO (Private NGO), all over Africa, may be an indication of democratic openings, or state collapse, or of the irresponsive state, but are not good indicators of building democratic, people-led, people-based organisations connected to and organically linked to the wider social movements without whom social progress, democracy and development is not possible.
If they truly belong to the masses the masses will defend them. And if they are truly based on the interests of our peoples their first allegiance will be to those they serve.
In that sense it should worry us that the African participation in the first ever WSF in Africa in Nairobi is more of a gathering of NGOs than that of the real social and political movements and peoples' organisations who can make lasting change possible. Many of our successful NGOs and INGOs, like their forebears, have become gate-keepers - or to use a better term - commissioned agents between the masses and their oppressors, occupying spaces for the poor and the marginalized when most of them do not or no longer belong to that class or share their vision of change.
* Dr. 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
African Flames Brenda Zulu speaks with Wahu Kaara, Convener of Mobilisation, WSF
On the main challenges of hosting the WSF in Kenya
The irony of it is that many members of the Kenya Social Forum can not afford to pay the US$ 5 registration fee and these people are from homeless communities like Kibera. The other thing is that we were operating under the budget. I have been convener of mobilisation but was not able to raise the funds.
On the main issues that Kenyans would love to address
Kenyans would love to create a consciousness of good governance because of multi party politics. It should be known that not all the solutions are in politics
On what WSF will do for Kenya and Africa?
It would be able to give us another identity of being an equal actor with others. It would put the record right that we are not a nation of insecurity and not what the Americans are doing to Somalis by chasing them out of their own country.
The World Social Forum has already demonstrated that the government, civil society and mass movements can work together. We have enjoyed having meetings with our government. The World Social Forum has also bridged the working relation between us and the government.
This World Social Forum will give Africans presence and voice in bringing about paradigm shift from neo-liberalism that has perfected exclusion, disposition, violence in the guise of globalisation for prosperity; yet it is globalisation for commoditisation of all aspects of life and natural wealth to serve the interest of market and wealth.
On the impact of the forum
The NGOs and Civil societies have no choice than let go the leadership of social movements in demonstrating this leadership.
On the Forum’s handicap
For our local media there have been no media reports. This has been the main handicap because the media has not been interested in publicising this event.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Media practitioners in Africa have been challenged to help African governments in formulating a regulatory environment that is conducive to the establishment of indigenous media.
Speaking at a media session 22 January at the ongoing World Social Forum at Kasarani in Nairobi, the Director of Highway Africa News Agency (HANA), Chris Kabwato said there was urgent need to engage African governments in media best practices. This kind of dialogue with the government would enable indigenous African practitioners to invest in producing culturally relevant content and counter the highly
Skewed Euro-centric content that Africans are currently consuming. Mr Kabwato said that Africa had for years been infiltrated by foreign media and this had reduced Africans to almost pure consumers of media and not producers. Time had come he said, for Africans to establish home-grown media as alternatives to the foreign media which dominate broadcast and print media in Africa. Mr Kabwato warned that some of the alternative media in Africa relied heavily on donor funding for their operations. This he said was dangerous because it meant that the media were not self-sustainable.
Other issues he outlined as crucial for African government’s to address in order to create indigenous African media with culturally relevant content were : access of media ; citizenship versus consumerism ; the north/south relationship ; hegemony ; and diversity and pluralism. Speaking at the same forum, the Africa director of Inter Press Service news agency, Ms Farai Samhungu revealed that although IPS was formed with the ideal of the South to generate home- grown news, the agency was still donor dependent 43 years later. Ms Samhungu said although IPS publishes in about 20 languages, the cost of translations was exorbitant.
“For example it may cost us three times more to produce a French translation of a news report from English”, said Ms Samhungu emphasizing the expenses involved in producing multi-lingual content. She however said there is room for the co-existence of information as a commodity as well as for the common good.
A communication activist, Jason Nadi, spoke about the liberalization of media content production. Mr Nadi said that the modern information communication technologies such as the Internet, had enabled individuals to produce their own news content culminating in a information society. In common parlance an information society is one where information is treated as a form of currency at different platforms and fora. Mr Nadi said this individually produced media is an alternative to the traditional mass media. Mr Nadi said that in Europe, media conglomerates in individual countries have distorted media freedom as giant companies had the financial power to control content and the manner of distribution. He said information through mass media is becoming less reliable because it is treated as merchandise for consumers not audiences.
“To counter this we need communities to be able to create and exchange their own content and use different platforms”, said Nadi adding that modern technology in the media was operating amid medieval media governance structures. Jon Barnes from the PANOS London office said that his organisation had identified weaknesses and challenges within the African media and began redressing them. For example, he said, PANOS was engaged in building African journalists capacity to report effectively on trade issues especially at international level where there is a dearth of African generated content.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Health campaigners and activists led by 2004 Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Mathai have petitioned the African Union member states for failing to honour their 15 per cent pledge of their annual budgets on health care.
This fact became public knowledge as the WSF entered the third day.
The petition comes ahead of the forthcoming AU Heads of State and Government summit in Addis Ababa.
The petition by South African Nobel Laureate Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, but signed on his behalf by Prof Mathai calls for Africa leaders to act fast and implement their pledges in a bid to reverse the ugly trends of treatable diseases in Africa.
“We write to appeal to you to act without further delay on arguably the most crucial challenge African leaders will have to confront in modern times, that of taking immediate and concrete actions to end the tragic loss of an estimated 8 million African lives annually to preventable, treatable or manageable diseases, illnesses and health conditions,” the Petition read in part.
Prof Mathai noted that sustainable financing for public health in Africa is arguably the most important challenge facing our continent today but which is put at the bottom of their agenda. She has thus challenged African leaders to revisit their 15% commitment as a matter of urgency lest Africans risks dying before their time.
In a campaign rally dubbed ’ 15% now’ activists noted that Africa risks loosing all her people to preventable and manageable diseases that have failed to top its leaders’ budgetary agendas. Yet in 2001 AU member states signed the Abuja declaration that called for each country to commit at least 15% or more of national budgets to health care.
“Africa is at the brink of extinction because our leaders have failed to prioritize the lives of their people. An estimated 40 million people Africans have died from health related conditions as a result of the Abuja commitment not being met.”
Citing the example of her own government’s negligence, she noted that the Kenyan government has failed to stop companies from producing thin plastic bags that litter the streets of Nairobi, acting as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and causing malaria.
Rotimi Sankore of CREDO Africa, an organization that campaigns for African rights lashed on African leaders for failing to break the ceilings as regards health issues. He accused them of prioritizing their own political interests in the expense of the lives of their people.
“Denying people of their health rights is like a death sentence. This is like genocide as generations will continue to be wiped off. Without mincing words, Sankore presented the grim statistics from UNAIDS and WHO indicating that 40 million Africans have died from health related conditions and many more will continue dying if our leaders fail to act accordingly.
The 2006 statistics from global and African health institutions indicate that at least 586,911 Africans are dying from TB annually, this is 35% of the world total. Figures also show that 24 million people living with HIV Aids have TB and that over 4 million children under the age of five die annually due to TB related infections.
Sankore sees the whole picture as damning as these statistics are merely seen as figures. The annual Aids death figures for Africa alone is 2.1 million. An estimated 24.7 million Africans are living with HIV and new infections are as high as 2.8 million. In the case of malaria, annual African deaths are estimated at 1,136,000. Also over 12 million African children have been orphaned by HIV Aids.
Chair of the Nigerian Social Forum, Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi said that Africa presents the worst indicator of women health issues with the continent having the highest number of women living with HIV Aids.
Gender budgeting, she said was crucial if women are to overcome some reproductive health issues that continue to surface amongst them. She urged nations to build alliances and mobilize health institutions. “Our leaders have signed these agreements so it is time we force them to ratify the protocols of the rights of women.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
The African Union Commission has released a draft agenda of the eigth ordinary session due to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between January 29-30, 2007. The main highlights of session include: the election of the chairperson of the African Union Commission and bureaus of the Assembly, adoption of the 2007 budget, adoption of the special report titled An African Union Government: Towards the United States of Africa and consideration of integrating NEPAD into the AU structures.
The 6th Summit of the committee of participating Heads of State and Government of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APR Forum) is set for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 28 January 2007. Click on a link for a draft programme of the summit. The programme of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government implementation committee is expected to be finalised before the end of this week.
The African Union Commission has released a draft agenda of the eighth ordinary session due to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between January 29-30, 2007. The main highlights of session include: the election of the chairperson of the African Union Commission and bureaus of the Assembly, adoption of the 2007 budget, adoption of the special report titled An African Union Government: Towards the United States of Africa and consideration of integrating NEPAD into the AU structures.
A report on the African Union commissioned by three civil society organisations—AfriMAP, AFRODAD and Oxfam—and endorsed by nineteen others, will be launched this evening (January 24) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The report titled Towards a People-driven African Union: Current obstacles and New Opportunities interrogates the key challenges facing the African Union in realising its vision and mandate. The 72-page report is the first independent, substantive and public assessment of the progress of the African Union towards the goal of greater accountability and accessibility since it was founded in 2002. It reviews and makes extensive recommendations on the interaction between the African Union and various sectors, including civil society, in articulating its vision for the continent.
* Grace, tenacity and eloquence: The struggle for women’s rights in Africa
The traditional perception of African women is that they face grinding poverty and harsh cultural, traditional and social prejudices. Yet while it is true that African women are not equal to men, this is only one part of the story.
For in Africa, women are fighting for their rights. And they are fighting with grace, tenacity and eloquence. The contributors describe how African women won a cross-continental campaign for a protocol to protect their rights. In a rich variety of articles, they consider topics such as: women and conflict, the impact of current US policies on women’s health in Africa, women’s rights in Islam, and the implications of the Jacob Zuma trial for women in South Africa.
The articles first appeared in the prize-winning weekly electronic newsletter, Pambazuka News. They provide an easy-to-read introduction to the struggle for women’s rights in Africa.
* African perspectives on China in Africa
China’s involvement in Africa has provoked much debate and discussion. Is China simply the latest imperial power out to exploit Africa’s natural resources, putting its own economic interests above environmental and human rights concerns? Or is China’s engagement an extension of ‘South–South solidarity’, enabling African countries to free themselves from the multiple tyrannies of Western debt, aid conditionality, unfair trading rules and political interference?
Much existing commentary on China focuses on the vested interests of the West. Lost in the cacophony have been the voices of independent African analysts and activists. Here, they present social, cross-continental perspectives on Chinese involvement in Africa in a unique collection of essays. The articles demonstrate that although there is no single ‘African view’ about China in Africa at a continental level, the authors are united in the belief that Africans must organise their side of the story, together, in their own interests, and in the interest of social justice for all.
>>>>>Visit for more information.
Six months after Senegal agreed to an African Union request that it prosecute Chad's former dictator, it has moved very slowly in bringing Hissène Habré to trial on charges of crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper. Human Rights Watch noted that Senegal had not even passed the legislation needed to try Habré.
Rwandan police and judicial authorities must ensure prompt and effective law enforcement to deal with recent killings of participants in the justice system for genocide known as gacaca, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. The 20-page report, “Killings in Eastern Rwanda,” documents two incidents in late November 2006 in which 13 persons were killed.
South Africa will not contribute troops to an African peacekeeping force in Somalia, but will study other ways to help to stabilise the war-ravaged country, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Friday. Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota made the decision after reviewing South Africa's overseas peacekeeping commitments in other parts of the continent.
The UNHCR reports that the general strike paralysing Guinea over the last two weeks has limited access to camps hosting Liberian refugees. Despite this, the organization planned to go ahead with a voluntary repatriation convoy on the 27th of January which will bring to 46,000 the number of refugees it has helped to return to Liberia from Guinea since the repatriation programme started in October 2004.
There is now a political vacuum across much of southern Somalia, which the ineffectual Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is unable to fill, reports the International Crisis Group. Elements of the Courts, including Shabaab militants and their al-Qaeda associates, are largely intact and threaten guerrilla war. Peace requires the TFG to be reconstituted as a genuine government of national unity but the signs of its willingness are discouraging. Sustained international pressure is needed.
Your column on WSF by Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is exactly the sort of stuff that US leaders point to when they want to discredit the WSF and those who support it (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/39303). It's full of mistakes and raving.
The World Social Forum, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya for the first time in Africa, was supposed to be a forum for the voices of the grassroots. But Firoze Manji writes that, despite the diversity of voices at the event, not everyone was equally represented.
As one would expect, WSF was highly heterogeneous. There was a lot going on. At one level no one can deny the diversity of people from all parts of the world. WSF seemingly reflected the heterogeneity of civil society internationally: there were initiatives from grassroots women’s organisations, from feminists, social movements, small and large African organisations, international (or is it ‘multinational’?) organisations, donors and funders, grantees, activists, hustlers and the hassled. There were vociferous anti-capitalists and anti-(capitalist) globalisation meetings and discussions, as one would expect of an event that evolved out of the need to assert an alternative to imperialist globalisations of the Davos kind. And there were those whose politics could reasonably be viewed as part of the civil society infrastructure of modern-day imperial expansion.
But to describe only the diversity would be to miss the real, and perhaps more disturbing, picture. The problem was that not everyone was equally represented. Not everyone had equal voices. This event had all the features of a trade fair – those with greater wealth had more events in the calendar, larger (and more comfortable) spaces, more propaganda – and therefore a larger voice. Thus the usual gaggle of quasi donor/International NGOs claimed a greater presence than national organisations – not because what they had to say was more important or more relevant to the theme of the WSF, but because, essentially, they had greater budgets at their command. Thus the WSF was not immune from the laws of (neoliberal) market forces. There was no levelling of the playing field. This was more a World NGO Forum than an anti-capitalist mobilisation, lightly peppered with social activists and grassroots movements.
And the sense of the predominance of neoliberalism was given further weight by the ubiquity of the CelTel Logo – the Kuwaiti owned telecommunications company that had exclusive rights at the WSF; a virtual monopoly provided to a hotel that provided food at extortionate prices that most Kenyans, if they were allowed in, could hardly afford. And rumours were rife that the business of catering involved people in high places winning exclusive contracts. Hawkers, on whom most of Nariobians depend for providing everything from phone cards to food and refreshment were for a while excluded physically (as well as financially) from entering the China-built Moi Sports Stadium in Kasarani, the venue for the WSF. And it was only when frustrated activists took direct action to occupy the offices of the organisers that a more liberal policy for entry was implemented.
This was the first full WSF held in Africa (Mali was host to one of the polycentric WSF’s last year). But the forum was marked by the under-representation of social activists from Africa – or indeed from the global south. Inevitably this reflected on how debates and discussions were framed. Pambazuka News staff had hoped that this space would be the basis for forging a broader radical pan-Africanism. But that was, sadly, not to be. The white North, with it hegemonic parochialism, was over-represented. Social movements from the South were conspicuous by their numerically small presence at the forum.
Probably the most consistently heavily attended forum throughout the week was that organised by the Human Dignity and Human Rights Network which had the largest tent, and held meeting after meeting throughout most of the week, with a caste of well known speakers. But like most of the events at WSF, the set-up of the meetings was of a traditional platform of speakers with the audience being talked at rather than being engaged in discussion. While we heard the experience of both survivors of human rights abuses and human rights defenders, there was little political analysis.
And that probably catches the sense of most, thankfully not all, of the WSF events: there was lots of talking and sloganeering. There was much discussion about policies and alternatives to existing policies. But one couldn’t help feel the absence of politics. It’s as if many believe that nice policies (or human rights legislations) get made by nice people. But the reality is that what ends up as policy is the outcome of struggles in the political domain – fundamentally between the haves and the have-nots. But in a week in which the voices of the have-nots were under-represented, I guess we should not be surprised by the absence of politics.
I think everyone was disappointed by the surprisingly low turn-out: estimates of 30,000 to 50,000 people attended, compared with an expected crowd of 150,000. What made so many keep away in droves? Despite asking many this question, I have found no satisfactory reasons offered.
* Firoze Manji is director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
FEATURE: Firoze Manji writes about the lack of politics at the World Social Forum in Nairobi
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Read all about what happened at the World Social Forum in Nairobi
PODCASTING: Hear the voices of the World Social Forum with unique Pambazuka News podcasts from Nairobi
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem expresses frustration with NGO funding of events like the World Social Forum
AU MONITOR: An AU summit takes place in Addis Ababa at the end of January
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: The AK47 stands accused of being the worst weapon of mass destruction on the 21st century
HUMAN RIGHTS: Businesses ignore human rights
WOMEN AND GENDER: Women urged to fight for their rights at WSF
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: The way refugees are presented is detrimental to their rights, says a new report
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Concern over ongoing strike in Guinea
DEVELOPMENT: Call for social equity at World Social Forum
CORRUPTION: Peer review highlights South African corruption concerns
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Striving towards a world free of TB
EDUCATION: ARVs and schooling in Kenya
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: Non-whites more likely to be questioned at airports, says report
ENVIRONMENT: Why Uganda is a funny place to store carbon
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Innovation for land rights
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: New report on freedom of expression in Senegal
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Call for action on Haiti
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops
Africa’s Foreign Ministers meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are today expected to agree on a draft charter setting out new benchmarks on democracy, good governance and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. The draft charter outlines measures required to entrench these values and hence foster democracy and the rule of law in Africa. The charter sets out a new threshold against which Africa’s governments can be judged through existing mechanisms which regularly audit their performance such as the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) or those charged with arbitrating violations of rights such as the Africa Court on Human Rights.
Mandisi Majavu, who has been Pambazuka News Online News Editor for the last six months, has won a scholarship to study a two-year Masters Degree in Psychology starting from next year February. This is an opportunity of a life-time for Mandisi, and it was with reluctance that he resigned from his position. We are delighted to inform you that Sokari Ekine has taken over as Online News Editor as of this week. Sokari will be known to many of you both as the founder of the award-winning Black Looks blogsite as well as a regular columnist for Pambazuka News providing, amongst other things, a regular update on African blogs.
We had hoped to send out several issues of Pambazuka News during the World Social Forum. However, it turned out that this was more ambitous than we had imagined, both because of the difficulties of getting access to the internet and because of Pambazuka News staff were tied up with producing podcasts. To make matters worse, there were problems with internet connections during the day yesterday in Cape Town as well as in Nairobi, so we have to apologise for the late delivery of this weeks Pambazuka News. However, we are please to have been able to include copy from the Institute PANOS in West Africa with whom we collaborated during WSF.
Pambazuka News 287: Special WSF bulletin
Pambazuka News 287: Special WSF bulletin
This week a number of us are at WSF in Nairobi. To keep you up to date with events, analyses and commentaries, we will be sending out Pambazuka News on several occasions, mostly with single articles. We hope that readers will find this service useful.
We have also set up a blog site in collaboration with Institute PANOS West Africa to provide regular features. You will find these published at
Bookmark this site. We plan to bring you recorded interviews that you can listen to online or download, or you can subscribe to them as podcasts. There will also be video footage, documents, photos and other interesting items.
To start this week's report, we bring you the popular column 'Pan African Postcard' by our regular columnist, Tajudeen Abdul Raheem.
Best wishes from Nairobi
Firoze Manji
Editor
The World Social Forum (WSF) is holding its Seventh Session in Nairobi, for the first time in Africa, 20-25 January 2007.
This is a global Movement against globalization and the triumphalist neo-liberalism that underpins it. For any African who is casually aware of the painful history of this continent in relation to the rest of the world globalization should not be a new term. Slavery was global and so was colonialism. And Imperialism has always been global.
So why are we using globalization today as if it was discovered a few years ago? It is used as if it all has to do with technology, internet, freer movement of goods, services, people, skills, knowledge, etc. It is all these and more. It has both an ideological, political and class context. Technology is not neutral.
What is distinct about globalization today? One, it is happening in the context of a UNIPOLAR world that is dominated by an illiterate lone superpower: USA. Two, it asserts an end of ideology with another ideology: There Is No Alternative (TINA) thereby turning neoliberalism, into a gospel truth, from which there can not be deviation.
Democratization, progress and survival of humanity, in this discourse, become linked or even interchangeable with western political structures, capitalism and Western culture. Consequently the destiny of the world is to become Westernized and even more brazenly become Americanized!
If Westernization produced prosperity for all the peoples of the world and respect the dignity of all human beings there may not be much opposition to it and its hegemony. But slavery, colonialism, genocide, mass violence, expropriation of majority by the minority, destruction of cultures and peoples and many more atrocities in the pursuit of raw materials, profits and markets are the heritage and contemporary expression of this ideology. Hence it has always provoked resistance from its victims and other peoples who desire social justice and a better humanity.
The WSF movement has evolved from the late 1990s becoming organized expression of the peoples of the world at its first meeting in 2001 at Porta Allegro in Brazil. It brings together all kinds of anti-globalisation forces and social movements struggling against all kinds of class, racial, ethnic, religious, gender and other kinds of oppression at all levels of human existence. It is united by the twin ideology of opposition to the current imperialist anti –people globalization and the totalitarian ideology of there being no alternative to Neo liberalism.
Those may be the only two things they agree on because different groups, organizations and individuals decide where and how they go about confronting the two evils they identify. To the untutored in WSF dynamics it may look like an anarchists’ bazaar. But there is a method to the madness. These are people committed to changing the world they live in and are prepared to sacrifice for it. They may sound like lunatics and champions of lost causes but so did many thought of Mandela who, as a firebrand youth believed they could overthrow Apartheid and bring about Black Majority rule at a time when people thought White power was impregnable.
Winston Churchill infamously and loquaciously declared his opposition to Independence for Non White British Colonies in his rude reaction to Mahatma Ghandi’s mobilization of ordinary Indians against colonialism insisting he had not become the Prime Minster of ‘His Majesty’s government’ to hand over the British Empire ‘to a half-naked Kaffir’. But it came to pass in his life-time. Not only India, but also Ceylon (Sri Lanka now), and several Asian and African Countries became independent before Churchill’s life snuffed out and they were welcomed to England by the British crown in pomp and pageantry at Buckingham palace.
History is full of the contributions made possible by people who were regarded as ‘lunatics’ by their contemporaries and the powers that be that they challenged but with time many of these ideas and issues they fought on became common sense.
Many will snigger and even be amused by the clarion call of the Nairobi WSF: “Another World is Possible”. The cynicism will in part be due to many people believing that the world as we live it today has come to stay, that America will always gets its way and the west will always dominate therefore since you cannot beat them you had better join them or get lost. But this reading of the world’s history is so short sighted as it is ahistorical.
Most of the territory we now know as the USA today used to be a colony of Britain, but now Britain especially under TORY Blair has become a vassal state of Britain. Yet at the height of British Imperial grandeur in the 19th and up to the middle of the 20th century its imperial propagandists use to boast that: ‘The sun never sets on the British empire’ because the colonies stretched against all continents.
Those struggling against British Colonialism used to retort that the reason the sun never sets on the British Empire was because: God never trusted the British in the dark! The Empire did collapse. Why should the American empire be any different? Were not Rome and the Catholic Church imperial power before? What happened to the Egyptians and Greek civilizations? From generation to generations, from one epoch to the other human beings continue to seek alternatives making change the only permanent condition of humanity.
Empires rise and fall. Just imagine the next fifty years with China, India, and Africa, Latin America and other previously marginalized peoples and regions of the world on the rise. The apostles of neoliberalism want to put an end to our imagination but the ‘strugglists’ assembling in Nairobi from all corners of the world for the WORLD SOCIAL FORUM (which should really be World Socialist Forum) just as the beneficiaries of the current unequal and unfair global power structures gather for their annual vultures’ festival in Davos, for the World Economic Forum (really WORLD EXCPLOITERS FORUM) are defiantly reaffirming the truism that Another world , without hunger, poverty and greed is possible and desirable. But more than that they are prepared to work for it.
Karibuni to Nairobi to all of you. A luta continua
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the Deputy Director, Africa, for the UN millennium, Campaign. He writes this weekly column in his personal capacity as a concermed Pan Africanist.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Pambazuka News 286: The crisis in Somalia/World Social Forum
Pambazuka News 286: The crisis in Somalia/World Social Forum
The World Social Forum is widely celebrated as an ‘open space’ that has no clearly defined political programme of its own – other than its Charter of Principles - but rather provides a relatively free and undirected space for all those interested in exchanging ideas and experience about the state of the world, or in developing their own programmes, to do so.
Poets from south and east Africa will participate in a remarkable cultural initiative at this year's World Social Forum. The WSF, this year hosted in Kenya – it's first time in Africa – will see more than 80 000 people from global civil society descend on Nairobi to actively engage with the social struggles facing the world today.
Refugees face many challenges living in camps, but these difficulties vary amongst different groups. Young Liberian refugees in the Buduburam camp in Ghana deal with their problems in specific ways. Studying the social resilience of these groups may help generate strategies for their improvement.
A four-member UNHCR emergency team has been assessing the needs of thousands of displaced people in the Galkayo region of northern Somalia. The team is expected to pave the way for a permanent international presence in the region for the first time since the 1990s.
Abdur Mohammed is part of a massive flood of humanity converging on Bossaso from Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Sudan. The authorities in the town estimate there are over 5,000 people sleeping rough or squatting. The magnet for these people is the chance that Bossaso offers to escape from the misery of their lives in the Horn of Africa.
The ECSS 2007 will be held in Trieste, Italy, from 10 to 14 September 2007. The conference is organized by "Abdus Salam" International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and Regional Agency for the Environmental Protection of Friuli Venezia Giulia (ARPA FVG).