Pambazuka News 610: Confronting Western hypocrisy about Africa
Pambazuka News 610: Confronting Western hypocrisy about Africa
Blacks at the World Bank have been subjected to degrading and dehumanizing treatment for long. In one particularly astounding case, a highly successful official was denied a deserved promotion because “Europeans are not used to seeing a black man in a position of power”
A recent article on the Congo replete with fallacies and half-truths is challenged by Toussaint Kafarhire Murhula, S.J., who argues it is time to end this Western poverty of thinking toward Africa and a promotion of Africa without Africans
For the international community and the government of Tanzania, closing Mtabila Camp and emptying it of refugees might make it look like the problem has been solved, but in reality it has only displaced or dispersed it to Burundi and elsewhere in the region
In some quarters it is believed Africa is ‘rising’ due to a commitment to export-oriented, petro-minerals-centric, finance-driven ideologies. Patrick Bond questions such a paradigm and argues that hope lies in the popcorn protests in Africa
The US Ambassador to the UN has coddled, pampered, nurtured and protected the ruthless dictators of Eastern Africa, shielding them from legal and political accountability
Should the neo-colonial fisheries partnership be agreed upon, it would give economic and political support to the Moroccan regime's occupation of Western Sahara, while furthering imperial resource-grab
The scholars are calling on President Obama to take bilateral actions and actions through the United Nations to protect civilians in the conflict zone of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
Shine Centre encourages children to develop and nurture a love for reading and highlights the many benefits of reading
A new tax on goods and services is being proposed in Uganda to fund HIV and AIDS prevention and protection programmes. But the idea has sparked a debate about government performance in managing funds
The debate about decriminalising homosexuality must be strategically taken to Malawian people. One cannot simply change the law on such a sensitive issue without first addressing attendant social and religious concerns
Human rights lawyers Magdi Saleim and Mohammed Zein Osman have been arrested in Wad-Madani, Sudan, in the context of student protests and the killing of students at Al-Gezira University
Sudanese authorities should investigate the death of four Darfur students and the disappearance of another three last week. Police should stop using excessive force against student protestors
Talk about Chinese investors venturing into vehicle manufacturing in Cameroon is certainly hot air. The central African nation is ill prepared for such an industry
In Sanya Osha’s suspense-filled novel, society is on the verge of irreparable breakdown but manages somehow to pull itself back up from the abyss
In the raw testimony of her torture and abuse, Tina Okpara paints an unforgettable portrait of a child determined for a better life. This powerful memoir will force any parent to think twice before disposing of essential responsibilities for their child.
There is enough evidence that the US Africa Command has increased resource exploitation and imperial expansion, instigated more violence, intensified regional conflicts and undermined the authority of regional organizations and the African Union
Pambazuka News 609: Political pied pipers, worker unrest & toilet apartheid
Pambazuka News 609: Political pied pipers, worker unrest & toilet apartheid
Africans in the Diaspora (AiD) launches its “New Year, New AiD” holiday fundraising campaign to raise resources for three African social change organizations.
Sixty-two English Premier League and 1st division European footballers have issued an open letter in solidarity with Palestinians and condemning UEFA's upcoming hosting of its 2013 Under 21 tournament in Israel.
One of the greatest military victories in African history, conducted jointly by Angolan and Cuban troops in 1987-1988 in the Angolan town of Cuito Cuanavale, is little known in global history
With the on-going conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the emergence of Rwanda’s proxy, M23, Theogene Rudasingwa puts forward five exit strategies to facilitate a long-term solution to problems in the region
Vincent Nuwagaba challenges the Uganda Human Rights Commission on its abysmal failure to promote and protect human rights, let alone award compensation to victims.
Africa will continue to be exploited, pillaged, plundered and militarized by the US administration led by Barack Obama as he continues to serve neoliberal imperialist interests
The State of the Union, SOTU, is carrying out a campaign in which Africans are called upon to urge their governments to ratify the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance and the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Take action: Click ]http://www.sotu-africa.org/?page_id=44]here to sign the petition.
As the COP18 Doha climate crisis talks come to a close, the planet’s climate health is turning worse while conflicting capitals are busy fighting.
There is no question that Chief Obafemi Awolowo is one of the greatest Nigerian political figures ever. But nobody, no matter their ethnic affiliation, would in all honesty support the callousness Awolowo exhibited during and after the Biafra war
Many kids on the streets in northern Uganda are driven there by failing post-conflict recovery and reconstruction programmes and an indifferent central and often under capacitated local governments
The weakness of the second round of strikes by farmworkers in the Western Cape, South Africa, is likely to set back the farmworkers’ struggle for years
As the ANC holds its national leadership conference at Mangaung this month, Dale T. McKinley takes a satirical look at the party elite who have become increasingly tone-deaf to the demands of the masses
Millions of workers in Nigeria look up to their union leaders to organise them to protect their rights. But recent events show that unionists are fast losing the confidence of the masses
Civil society groups urge the government of Burkina Faso to take necessary steps to guarantee freedom of expression
With an increasing number of women occupying positions of power globally, hopes are rising that these women will use their intellectual property to advocate for full and equal recognition and status for fellow women
Although their top leaders were recently feted internationally, Tunisians are restive due to high unemployment and insecurity. Many feel life was better under President Ben Ali prior to the 2011 Arab Spring
Following the August 2011 unrest in cities and towns across England, the British government’s response was emphatic criminalisation and pathologising of those involved, as well as a punitive state response
The Fahamu Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the December 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter. The issue can be found . Please feel free to share it widely.
Neoliberal sanitation experts attending the Toilet Summit may well argue that the world cannot afford flush toilets for everyone. But the alternatives they propose are failing.
Democratic election is a game of numbers and, as things stand, Kenyans in the diaspora who would have been the proverbial swing voters in the March 4 election have effectively been disenfranchised for political reasons
A group of South African Christians and Christian leaders are in the occupied territories of Palestine on a one week solidarity visit till the 9 December
The Sudanese government continues its atrocities against civilians in the Nuba Mountains region. A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding, yet the international community watches in silence
The planned winding down of the global war on terror has major implications for the peace movement internationally and cannot be carried out without vigorous engagement from all.
Pambazuka News 608: Corporate manoeuvres, rising imperialism and racist World Bank
Pambazuka News 608: Corporate manoeuvres, rising imperialism and racist World Bank
Winning essay in the 2012 Royal Commonwealth Competition
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) calls for the effective implementation of the decision of the Human Rights Committee condemning South Africa for acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment
Many women in the Lango sub-region continue to live under systematic abuse and severe reproductive health complications as a result of long years of armed conflict.
Draft resolution adopted by the UNGA Third Committee is a landmark step in global efforts to put an end to this human rights violation
The discriminatory provision in Trinidad’s immigration law is not only wrong in itself but clearly runs counter to the right to freedom of movement of persons.
Rarely are positive stories of Africa represented in the Western media about African people. Steve Sharra shares some inspiring examples of young Malawians that should inspire young and old alike across the African continent.
The world seems to be in a state of paralysis in dealing with the problems in the DRC in which Rwanda and Uganda continue to pillage and plunder the mineral resources of the country. At the same time over 5 million Congolese have died.
World Bank’s much trumpeted ‘alternative’ model of growth – the utilisation of low-cost, skilled labour in the developing world for the export of IT and IT-enabled services to the West – has found a receptive audience amongst certain African politicians and policymakers. But the costs of adopting this model will far outweigh any benefits.
It is not necessarily land scarcity, but rather improper land administration, abuse of power and systems that are key land conflict triggers in northern Uganda.
The shack-dwellers movement in South Africa is growing, with the recent opening of new branches that bring the total to 64.
The recent conference on the M23 rebellion in DR Congo achieved little. With increasing international disinterest in the crisis, Africa must unite to end this conflict.
The power of knowledge in Africa is immeasurable. To emancipate themselves from oppressive political rulers and to achieve advancement, the people should seek education.
The bank’s governance structure has denied Africa a voice for many decades, but utterly appalling is the deeply entrenched bias against black people in the World Bank’s human resources practices.
The solutions for avoiding climate disaster pursued by rich Western nations cannot effectively address the crisis. African civil society organizations want developed countries to accept responsibility.
If the brutal law being considered by parliament is passed, thousands of Ugandans could face execution -- just for being gay
The commission is mute in the face of egregious human rights violations perpetrated by the Museveni regime. The political leanings of its officials undermines their commitment to building a just society
The new regime has proven to be incapable of tackling sensitive economic issues. The loan from IMF is not inevitable or necessary to pull the economy out of an imminent recession, but rather risks pushing Egypt into a spiral of public debt.
The underlying cause of the Zimbabwean crisis lies in the State’s failure to initiate and sustain a growth process that is robust and inclusive.
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cc P S[/urlNorthern Uganda is rising from the debris of a long conflict involving the rebel Lord’s Resistance Movement. Many challenges remain especially on land issues. But human rights defenders are trying to help.
Climate change talks are underway in Doha. Until now corporate power and the interests of a global elite have dictated the direction of the negotiations. It will be disastrous if these interests carry the day on the future of climate finance.
Like Berlin in 1884-85, the BRICS Durban summit is expected to carve up Africa more efficiently, unburdened – now as then – by what will be derided as 'Western' concerns about democracy and human rights.
What is happening in eastern DR Congo is not a civil war, but continuation of a 16-year aggression by the country’s two neighbours, financed and directed by the United States and Britain.
The ‘rainbow nation’ still retains deep social divisions arising from its troubled past and the mixed results of various initiatives over the last 18 years to build a truly cohesive society. A number of things need to be done to aid this process.
Farm workers do backbreaking work sometimes for 12 hours a day to produce food and wine, yet they are forced to work under unsafe and unhealthy conditions
Pambazuka News 607: The tragedy of Goma, Gaza and crony capitalism
Pambazuka News 607: The tragedy of Goma, Gaza and crony capitalism
Statement on Israeli aggression on Gaza read at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Your article ‘Libya all in? Failed Nato mission exposes US generals’ of 15 Nov. by Horace G. Campbell (www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85450) contains a significant factual error. Gen. Ham has not been removed, and continues to serve as Commander of U.S. Africa Command. I urge you to correct this error following basic standards of journalism.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta’s announced intention to nominate Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez to succeed Army Gen. Carter F. Ham as the commander of U.S. Africa Command followed long planned leadership succession deliberations. The leadership transition at this important command has nothing to do with the attack on American personnel in Benghazi.
General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted "The speculation that General Carter Ham is departing Africa Command (AFRICOM) due to events in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012 is absolutely false. General Ham's departure is part of routine succession planning that has been ongoing since July. He continues to serve in AFRICOM with my complete confidence." See
Benjamin Benson, Media Engagement, Chief
U.S. Africa Command, Public Affairs (J035)
Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart-Möhringen, Germany
The response of the Public Affairs Officer of AFRICOM shows that AFRICOM takes its media management seriously. The fact is that the retirement of General Carter Ham was announced on October 18 in the context of a review by the Pentagon of the events of September 11/12, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya.
The fact that the Department of Defense issued a press release on October 31 on the status of Carter Ham does not change the fact that the General will be replaced if and when David Rodriquez is confirmed.
The progressive scholarly community and the peace movement takes no comfort that Carter Ham is to be replaced by Army Gen. David M. Rodriguez. The historic close relationship between David M. Rodriquez and retired General Petraeus (as revealed in the biography of Petraeus, ‘All in: the Education of David Petraeus’) should elicit close scrutiny if the U.S. Congress does its work. Ultimately, whether General Carter Ham is retiring because of ‘long planned leadership succession deliberations’ or he was strongly advised to retire does not change the realities of the insecurity in Libya after the NATO intervention.
This author will accept the word of Benjamin Benson of the media management division of AFRICOM that Carter Ham was not, 'removed.' Whether removed or retiring because of 'succession deliberations' we await the full audit from General Ham of what happened in Libya and how AFRICOM contributed to the present lawlessness in Libya by this intervention.
Horace G Campbell
Professor of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University
Where are we now?
Guinea pigs of slavery
Murderers of our own blood
while we sing of freedom!
Now complacent and helpless
Pretense of humanity
Suffocating Pluralism
Covering to suppress
How we whine!
Of foreigners’ deeds
Decorations of covered crimes?
What are we doing different?
How they turn into their graves!
The great heroes of motherland
Who fought through mountains and valleys!
Thinking it will come to pass!
* The poet Uwineza Mimi Harriet, is a M.A Candidate in Peace and Conflict Studies at Makerere University, a blogger, an author and activist. She has co-founded a think-tank called Peace Associates Network Africa and works with a human rights organization in the Horn of Africa.
Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife is run in an undemocratic manner, with students and other members of the institution excluded from critical decision-making. The 50-year-old university should embark on reform by first restoring the banned students union.
Liberalism creates nothing, in the peripheries of the Global South that agree to submit to it, other than a crony capitalism based on a Comprador State in opposition to the National State committed to sustainable economic and social development.
Having failed to forcibly impose a radical theocracy in Somaliland, militants have now turned to funding political parties to pursue their agenda.
Haitian President Michel Martelly has managed to inspire popular opposition to his regime almost since his election in May 2011.
Reading unlocks the imagination, but it also unlocks the soul of a person. It has the potential to unlock the soul of a nation like Liberia struggling so desperately to find and define itself.
While the films dealt with diverse subject matter, the jury was struck by a common thread – that of the displacement involved in migrant and immigrant lifestyles.
Democratic participation by the rank and file of the ANC in the December national leadership conference is a charade. A genuinely open system in which members are able to choose quality candidates must be introduced.
Who funds the African Union? Africans can not champion their own solutions when they can’t pay for them. Financing Africa’s unification by outside sources endangers genuine development and self-respect.
Designated a ‘failed state’ Somalia’s problems lie partly in the geopolitical strategy of Somalia’s neighbours for managing the liberated areas from Al Shabab, which compartmentalizes the Somali territory, politics and devalues citizenship.
Obama’s second term opens with the worst kind of display of US power – backing two clients, Rwanda and Israel, who are hell-bent on creating mayhem against their neighbours. UN will do nothing against these two.
The ongoing Israeli onslaught on Palestinians should be a major source of frustration for peace-loving individuals and groups who envisage a peaceful resolution to the Middle East crisis.
It is a big shame that UN peacekeepers could not protect the Congolese in Goma from the onslaught of Rwandan-backed rebels M23. Washington and London, Kagame's allies, have made him more intransigent.
Though Africa did not feature much in Obama’s campaigns, it does not mean his administration has no interest in the continent of his father’s birth. But that interest has little to do with the wellbeing of Africans themselves.