Pambazuka News 607: The tragedy of Goma, Gaza and crony capitalism
Pambazuka News 607: The tragedy of Goma, Gaza and crony capitalism
Many people who are critical about the legacy of Nelson Mandela have beeb outraged by the South African Reserve Bank's decision to place his iconic image on the South African paper currency. Some say Madiba is being appropriated by capitalists and government officials.
The new health extension worker programme has been successfully implemented in several countries and its supporters are optimistic that it will help Namibia fill gaps in its over-stretched health system.
Hurricane Sandy, coming fast and furious after the numerous storms of this century, is one more wake-up call for humans to retreat from the wrong headedness of private accumulation of wealth.
Pambazuka News 606: The struggle for politics of human dignity
Pambazuka News 606: The struggle for politics of human dignity
Only a tiny percentage of African students are admitted to university because of limited capacity at the institutions. Developments in computer technology can address this problem, as the case of African Virtual University shows.
South Sudan analyst responds to critiques of his previous articles on the challenges of building the new nation.
This Sunday, Sierra Leoneans head to the polls where President Ernest Bai Koroma faces his main rival Julius Maada Bio. But key issues affecting the people have not featured in the campaigns.
While the nomination to key ministerial posts shows commitment of the government to involve women, it must not mask the massive day-to-day persecution of women in Somalia. A drastic ideological change is needed.
A new report has found that despite government denials, the illicit trade of Marange diamonds is alive and well, with the full knowledge and complicity of top state officials.
Trade justice organisations have published a new report titled, ‘Southern alternatives to EU Trade Policy’, which proposes a diverse set of alternative to the current unjust international trade system.
PEN Kenya condemns in the strongest spirit possible the attack on the person of Okoiti Okiya Omtatah on 8 November 2012 and the attempts and threats on his life which he has often spoken about. Regardless of the reasons for his attack, we know Omtatah to be a voice of free expression, a political activist as well as a writer. We know that he has lost a tooth before after an attack by the then acting boss the Nairobi Central Police Station Richard Mugwai (now transferred but who was promoted after he beat up several activists) and that case is documented. We know that Okoiti continues being a political activist and that he was attacked outside the Nairobi Police station and he lies in hospital with a deep gash on his head and more lost teeth.
Silencing the voices of the outspoken is meant to instil fear in one and all. Insecurity in Kenya is a matter of grave concern. We urge one and all not to be intimidated and condemn this case and others fearlessly as we look to an election year. We must be secure in Kenya and enjoy all our freedoms. May justice be served to Omtatah and his attackers be brought to book. We must be the defenders of justice and peace since justice and peace have been prevented from being our shield and defender for many years now.
Philo Ikonya
Austria,Vienna
09-10.2012
Member, PEN Kenya
Board Member, PEN International
At the heart of the quota system debate is the incredibly small number of students who are admitted to Malawi’s public universities. Malawi ranks bottom in the university-age cohort of young people enrolled annually.
There is hardly any meaningful international response to the horrible suffering of up to a million Sudanese now targeted in a military campaign by President Al Bashir – who is already indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Despite living in dehumanising conditions in their own country, the organised shack dwellers of South Africa find dignity in working together to resist their oppression. They build the power of the poor from below.
The ‘New South Africa’ or ‘Rainbow Nation’ is today a country of two nations: one is the extremely rich white settler minority and the other is the extremely poor African indigenous majority. All this thanks to a land law passed a hundred years ago.
Most well-intentioned corruption busting remedies in Africa fail because the root causes of corruption on the continent are often poorly understood.
There are at least 37,000 domestic workers in upper and working class suburbs of the Mozambican capital earning low wages and working long hours. Recent moves to include them in labour protection schemes could change their fortunes.
Soyinka presents ‘Of Africa’ as a long overdue retort to a white supremacist who had challenged him in Germany to admit that Africans are inferior, otherwise Europeans and Arabs could not have enslaved and colonised them for centuries.
This ‘superbly well-written, well-documented and passionate book’ reveals tragic failures of the international community in tackling the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Nigeria is handing over the country’s strategic power sector to private investors ostensibly to improve service delivery. This is being done despite the glaring and costly failure of privatization in other sectors. Nigerians should resist this fraud.
The Fahamu Refugee Programme is pleased to announce the November 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter. The issue can be found . Please feel free to share it widely.
The detainees are in danger of torture and ill treatment by the security forces. They should be released immediately or formally charged and allowed access to family and lawyers.
The extramarital affair cited for the resignation of CIA chief Gen Petraeus is insignificant by far compared to his belonging to a section of US military and intelligence elite pursuing a complex right-wing global agenda.
Pambazuka News 605: Obama's 'Occupy' win, Biya clocks 30 and beyond the ANC
Pambazuka News 605: Obama's 'Occupy' win, Biya clocks 30 and beyond the ANC
Adèle Kirsten, Local Government Action, and Tshepo Madlingozi, Khulumani Support Group, talk about the massacre of Marikana, their ambivalent relationship to the ANC, white capital and the revolt of the poor in today’s South Africa.
It seems likely that more South Africans who really care about the future of the country will move beyond the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and start the difficult, protracted affair of building political alternatives. Some already are.
'To restore Afrikan power, Africans must reassert themselves. We have riches of all kinds. We must control our raw materials. We must acquire technology to process these raw materials in Africa and export them as finished goods. We must break free from exploitative relationships with the West'.
Nigeria’s perplexing ‘quiet diplomacy’ in the pursuit of precious pieces of art looted by the colonialists over a century ago has not resulted in the return of the artefacts. It is time to make loud, firm and vigorous demands.
A woman is killed every eight hours in South Africa, the Medical Research Council (MRC) told MPs. The number of femicides identified had decreased from 3793 in 1999 to 2363 in 2009, MRC researchers told Parliament’s portfolio committees on health, and women, children and people with disabilities. It was presenting the findings of its latest study into female murders.
The International Monetary Fund has urged Sudan to cut fuel subsidies further, despite public anger over austerity measures meant to counter the country's economic crisis. The IMF did not offer any financial assistance, but economic help is on the horizon from another direction -South Sudan. The two countries signed a deal in September to restart South Sudanese oil exports through pipelines that run through Sudan to its Red Sea port.
Rapid urbanisation is being portrayed – by the UN, the World Bank and many others – as a potential developmental 'silver bullet' for Africa. Cities, we are frequently told, will be the drivers of economic growth and poverty reduction on the continent in the years to come. At present, such claims are too simplistic, and counter-productively over-optimistic, states this article from Africa Review.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his Cabinet that improved security deployment and a new high-tech barrier along the Egyptian border had succeeded in ending illegal entry by Africans seeking work or asylum in Israel. 'In the last month, only 54 infiltrators crossed the border and all - without exception - were taken into custody,' Mr Netanyahu said in statements sent to Xinhua.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is no stranger to controversy, especially in Sierra Leone. This time round he has angered opposition supporters by openly endorsing and campaigning for the incumbent President Ernest Bai Koroma ahead of elections set for November 17. The former Nigerian leader arrived in Freetown Sunday unannounced, reportedly aboard a presidential jet, and was flown out of the capital in a government-provided helicopter to where President Koroma was canvassing for votes.
A large explosion has rocked the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing one person, the AFP news agency reported, citing its own reporter who was at the scene of the blast. The cause of Wednesday's (7 November) explosion was not immediately clear. The blast, believed to be a car bomb set off close to the parliament, is the latest in a string of attacks in the war-ravaged Mogadishu.
More than two million Nigerians have been forced from their homes by this year's floods, officials say. The National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) says the heavy rains killed 363 people since July. The worst floods in five decades have affected many areas of the country - especially near the River Niger.
Torture has become routine in prisons and police stations in the Republic of Congo, according to a 2 November report by the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH). The report is based on a series of field investigations OCDH conducted, with financial support from the European Union, between 2010 and 2012 in prisons around the country. These investigations aimed to, among other things, understand 'the extent of the practice of torture in the country, with a view to attracting the attention of national and international opinion'.
With just over one year left to achieve its target of having some 1.1 million men circumcised as part of HIV-prevention efforts, Kenyan male circumcision programmes are ramping up efforts to bring more men into clinics, compensating them for their time and encouraging them to bring friends in for the procedure.
The Primeiras and Segundas have been approved as a marine protected area in Mozambique making this diverse ten-island archipelago Africa’s largest coastal marine reserve. Comprising ten islands off the coast of northern Mozambique, and featuring abundant coral and marine turtle species, the protected area will cover more than 1,040,926 hectares.
When it comes to social media's heavy hitters, there are no bigger players than Facebook or Twitter, right? Not if you're in South Africa. Mobile network Mxit claims to have nearly 10 million users in the country, making it South Africa's most popular social media platform by far, eclipsing Facebook's six million users and Twitter's 1.1 million subscribers. Founded seven years ago by Namibian-born software developer Herman Heunis, Mxit has grown from an instant messaging application into a global mobile social network.
There are important lessons for South Africa from the hurricane that hit America last week. But nobody in officialdom is ready to admit the dangers posed especially to the Port of Durban.
There is a new, but deceptive, foreign drive to end hunger in Africa through large-scale agribusiness. Yet helping poor households in rural Africa feed themselves in an affordable manner means introducing low-cost, sustainable enhancements to farming.
President Obama won re-election thanks to the amazing organisational capability of his campaign team and the massive outpouring of a new political coalition in America inspired by the new energy of the Occupy Wall Street Movement of the past two years.
Islamic militancy has taken root in various parts of Africa over the past decade. This problem will not be solved by the US-driven war on terror. The roots of this virulent streak of Islam need to be understood and tackled.
Obafemi Awolowo University is celebrating 50 years of service to the people of Nigeria through teaching, research and community service. But strangely, the university administration banned the students union last year.
The Sudanese government is involved in grave human rights violations against blacks in the Nuba Mountains and other areas. The state is also targeting human rights defenders and other activists for speaking out against the killings and destruction.
Paul Biya’s three decades in power have been marked by political repression, official corruption, poverty and many other ills. But the people have not looked on passively. The country has a rich history of popular resistance.
It has once again happened that intellectual freedom has been curtailed in Uganda following the raid by police of an anti-discrimination play by Talented Ugandan Kuchus (TUK), a group of young talented performers whose message is of non-discrimination.
The production titled ‘Lighting the Shadows’ was rudely interrupted by one gentleman who had several policemen to back him. The audience was dispersed and so was the cast. Everyone was ordered out of the theatre. The Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CSCHRCL) was one of the major sponsors of this advocacy event to which the public as well as the diplomatic corps were invited.
Jeff Ogwaro, CSCHRCL Co-coordinator, Kampala Uganda
'As citizens in a country that still calls itself a democracy we have a right to know what is in this report'.
Two South African organisations, the SA Artists Against Apartheid collective and BDS South Africa, have written an open letter to the organizers of the upcoming Cape Town World Music Festival calling on the Festival to #DropIsrael from its program.
The government has long tried to channel the few scraps that come to the poor through organisations loyal to it to reward obedience and at the same time repress dissent.
Civil society organisations line up activities ahead of the national anti-corruption week in December.
Although some states in Nigeria have enacted relevant laws, not much has been done in terms of public enlightenment, enforcement and attitude change. Domestic violence is still treated as a ‘domestic affair’.
In Zimbabwe, HIV positive mothers and soon-to-be mothers used to be sterilised. The procedure was seen as the only way of preventing the transmission of HIV to their unborn or newborn babies. Now the tide has turned. Medical advances mean HIV mothers have a much better chance of having healthy babies. And some women are now seeking compensation from the government.
West African heads of state will meet in Abuja on Sunday to adopt a plan for their troops to recapture northern Mali from radical Islamists, the grouping said in a statement. Once approved by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders, the strategy 'will then be transmitted through the African Union, before November 15, to the UN Security Council'.
'I don't want to die of hunger and cold,' says Patrick, one of many sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco desperate to reach Spanish shores and start a new life in Europe as winter approaches. More than 90 of them, including women and children, have died in the past two weeks as they braved the perilous crossing, according to a toll calculated from reports by Spanish and Moroccan authorities and members of the African migrant community.
Libya should not grant amnesty for war crimes committed during last year's uprising against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, regardless of who committed them, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said. In her first official presentation to the UN Security Council as The Hague-based court's top prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda said that the ICC's pre-trial chamber would decide 'in due course' on whether the late Libyan leader's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi should be tried in Libya or The Hague.
Egypt's national body for women's issues, the National Council for Women, held a conference on Monday entitled 'Egyptian women reject the draft constitution'. According to the Council's head, Mervat El-Tellawy, the draft constitution has not taken into consideration various international charters and agreements which Egypt has signed. Furthermore, the Al-Azhar document of suggested principles for all parties to abide by while writing the constitution has not been incorporated into the draft.
Town Two Khayelitsha is the site of tension between a local business association and Somali shops. The Zanokhanyo Business Association (ZBA) is accusing Somali shop owners of not abiding by a 2008 agreement which says that no new foreign owned shops should operate in the townships following the May 2008 xenophobic attacks.
Following widespread land wrangles in the oil-rich Albertine region, the Ministry of Lands has announced plans to resolve this through guidelines to aid in compensation of customary land owners. 'It is crucial at the moment since people’s rights are at stake and we have the responsibility of protecting the poor and their property. We therefore have to put in place guidelines to ensure that those big oil companies and investors have an arrangement to adhere to and operate within the laws,' Ministry spokesman, Dennis Obbo, told Oil in Uganda.
In a decision that represents the end of any judicial relief in Canada for victims of the Kilwa massacre, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the application for leave to appeal brought in the case against Anvil Mining by The Canadian Association against Impunity (CAAI), an organization representing survivors and families of victims of the 2004 Kilwa massacre. The CAAI expressed its profound disappointment with the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case. 'It is unacceptable that in 2012, victims are still unable to hold Canadian companies accountable in Canadian courts, for their alleged involvement in serious human rights violations committed abroad. We look forward to a time when Canadian companies are held responsible for their actions,' said Matt Eisenbrandt, a member of the Board of Directors of the CAAI.
The plight of women in Swaziland is far from over as parliamentarians opposed the protection of women from stalking. Senators were discussing the longstanding Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of 2000. The proposed law seeks to protect among others women from unlawful stalking. The senators argued that stalking was part of social cultural norms hence proscribing it will violate the culture of Swazis.
Swaziland’s government has failed to improve the economy in any appreciable way and cannot pay its bills. This means immediate public expenditure cuts are needed if the government is to meet the budget targets it set itself in February 2012. These are the latest findings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has just finished a visit to Swaziland.
One of Swaziland’s most vocal pro-democracy groups has called for a new law to ban hate speech against homosexuals. The call by the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) follows a debate in the Swazi House of Assembly in which MP Aaron Sotsha Dladla called for gays and lesbians to be outlawed in the kingdom. Dladla said a new law should be put in place to deal with ‘this mushrooming anti-social’ behaviour of gays and lesbians. He went on to make a number of disparaging comments about homosexuals.
Despite the Malawi government's move to suspend a law banning same-sex relationships, activists say winning a total repeal will be an 'uphill battle' in a country where homosexuality is considered a sin. 'Malawi culture remains conservative,' Billy Mayaya, a leading rights activist, told AFP just hours after President Joyce Banda's government announced the suspension of tough anti-gay laws, pending a parliamentary debate. Despite the jubilation, Mayaya and others are far from confident that a full repeal is in the cards, and until that happens gay Malawians still face the threat of up to 14 years in jail with hard labour.
Sierra Leonean polls slated for November 17, 2012 will be adequately secured. The assuarance came from the country's security chiefs, who also allayed fears of likely intimidation by security agents saying that the decision was a precautionary measures to avoid any likely chaos. According to the security officer, the polls will see over 15,000 security personnel deployed under the Integrated Elections Security Planning Committee.
West African nations have agreed to send a 3,300-strong invasion force to take back northern Mali from Islamists. The agreement occurred at an emergency summit of ECOWAS, a bloc of West African nations that has been discussing military actions in Mali for the last several months.
Somalia's al Qaeda-linked militants are moving north into the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, long regarded as a relatively peaceful area, after having been squeezed out of their strongholds further south, the president of Puntland said. Until now, Puntland has largely escaped the worst of the upheaval in Somalia, which has been deprived of an effective central government for the past two decades.
This article analyzes the impact of agro-industrial policies on women and the key role that peasant women in the Global North and South play in the production and distribution of food. It analyzes how the dominant agricultural model can incorporate a feminist perspective and how the social movements that work towards food sovereignty can incorporate a feminist perspective.
In the middle of the night on 14 March 2012, the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) abducted a woman named Jalila Khamis Kuku from her home and took her into custody. Denied access to a lawyer and even a change of clothes, Jalila was dragged into a pickup truck in her night gown accompanied by a dozen NISS officers in civilian clothes, reports Global Voices Online. Out of the eight months Jalila has served in jail so far, three of them were spent in solitary confinement. She is now under threat of the death sentence as she has been accused of serious charges under the Sudanese criminal law; namely Article 51, of waging war against the state, and Article 50, which entails undermining the constitutional system.
Zimbabweans providing cheap labour in the fast-growing Chinese mines bear the brunt of extremely harsh conditions and low wages, a Johannesburg-based advocacy group, Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) reveals in its research, the first such report detailing China's labour practices in the country. Hard labour, exposure to risky conditions, violation of labour laws, long working hours, non payment of overtime, disregard of public holidays and use of Chinese language in corporate literature were among extreme conditions faced by workers at most Chinese interests in Zimbabwe, the report said.
A revised penal code decriminalizing abortion under certain circumstances has met opposition from the community, reports Global Press Institute. In the revised Penal Code of Rwanda, Article 165 decriminalizes abortion when the pregnancy is a result of rape, forced marriage or sexual intercourse with a close family relative. It also decriminalizes abortion when the pregnancy jeopardizes the health of the unborn baby or the mother.
An Ethiopia woman revealed that she was the victim of sex slavery after she attempted to find work as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia. For H, who asked that her identity remain anonymous, her ordeal began after she took a boat to Yemen, where after two months she was able to cross into Saudi Arabia and was hired by what she told Bikyamasr.com was a 'nice couple' for a 'decent salary.' Tens of thousands of Ethiopian migrants and refugees have entered Yemen since the end of July, according to a new report published by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Department of Home Affairs on Monday (12 Nov) squared off in court over the attempted deportation of more than 30 foreign nationals. On Friday the commission launched a scathing attack on the department, alleging it had acted dishonestly over the issue. About 10 days ago the commission, together with the non-governmental organisation People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty, brought an urgent application in the South Gauteng High Court to stop the department from deporting 39 asylum seekers detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp.
The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Cameroonian officials to drop criminal charges against a journalist arrested last month in the southwestern town of Buea for covering a secessionist gathering. The journalist is free on bail but faces a fine and up to six months in jail. Baature Edua Mvochou, a Nigerian national and editor of African Drum magazine published [in] Jos, Nigeria, still faces a charge of unlawful assembly.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Mali, Mr Iliya Nuhu, has raised the alarm over the high rate of trafficking of Nigerian girls to the West African country. Nuhu said in Bamako, the Malian capital, that the problem had grown in 'magnitude and sophistication' to the extent that a substantial number of Nigerians in Mali seem to be thriving on it. He described the practice as 'a kind of modern-day slavery' with Nigerians going to their villages or towns to bring in young girls between the ages of 10 and 15.
Iran is making calculated steps to bolster trade in the continent. Due to sanctions, Iran’s economy – heavily dependent on oil revenue - has suffered and inflation has risen. Iran has been trying to use its crude oil as leverage, but trade with the West has gone down.
Sudanese government forces have blocked international peacekeepers accessing the site of an alleged attack that killed up to 10 civilians in the western Darfur region, the peacekeepers said. The African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said a team of peacekeepers went to investigate on Saturday after receiving reports of an attack on civilians in Sigili village, some 40km (25 miles) southeast of North Darfur's state capital El Fasher.
In this blog entry, Julia Farrington, Head of Arts at Index on Censorship, reports on the launch of Arstfex, the first international civil society network dedicated to promoting free expression for artists. 'There are clearly parallels between investigative journalists and artists who reveal uncomfortable truths. But when controversy breaks, artists are much more exposed because they use their own personal language to tell the story, and bring their own experience and imagination into the narrative.'
An estimated 135,000 children are at risk of polio in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Three years ago, Al-Shabab insurgents banned polio vaccination in Kismayo and other parts of central Somalia.
A 21 October attack in Guinea-Bissau - when soldiers stormed barracks near Bissau's main airport, targeting military figures and leaving six people dead - has provoked more fear than the numerous coups and counter-coups of recent years. The transitional government branded the attack a coup attempt, and accused former colonial power Portugal of backing it in an attempt to propel former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, who is in exile there, back into power. Within days, alleged coup leader Captain Pansau N'Tchama was arrested on the island of Bolama, in the Bijagos archipelago. He is expected to face a military court later in the year.
Bulawayo Magistrate Learnmore Mapiye on Thursday 08 November 2012 ended the four-day detention ordeal for three Counselling Services Unit (CSU) representatives who were finally charged with causing malicious damage to property, in contravention of Section 140 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, four days after their arrest. According to State prosecutor Marlvin Nzombe, the three CSU representatives together with some unidentified individuals smeared some MDC graffiti on an information centre located in Mpopoma high density suburb in Bulawayo 07 October 2012.
Mercy Womeh attends the J Chauncey Goodridge school in Monrovia, Liberia's capital. She pays her school fees by crushing rocks, earning 35 Liberian dollars ($0.47) for each bucket. Three years ago, her family moved from the countryside to the Monrovia suburb of Gbawe Town to find work. But in a country with 85% unemployment, crushing rocks was the only option.