Pambazuka News 585: Of flowers, thorns and coups d'état
Pambazuka News 585: Of flowers, thorns and coups d'état
Female protesters continue to participate in pro-democracy demonstrations that remain deadly more than a year after President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. Primary school teacher Reham El Hakim, for instance, was on the front lines on 5 May when the 12th person was killed during demonstrations against the military government in Abbasaiya. It's now commonplace, however, to hear people say that the military government and Islamic politicians, who did not at first approve of the anti-Mubarak demonstrations, have 'hijacked' the revolution, reports
Two human rights groups in Uganda have launched a documentary entitled 'She is My Son - The Pain of being an Intersex person in Uganda.' At the launch the groups urged the Uganda government to protect intersex people by making available information on intersexuality to families. The two organizations, Support Initiative for People with atypical Sex Development (Sipd Uganda) and Uganda Health and Science Press Association noted with concern that many intersex people are denied their full potential in life for simply being who they are.
Based on the Wikipedia model, FarmAfriPedia is a platform for different stakeholders in the agricultural sector from the African continent to collectively learn and share from each other; and especially on issues pertaining to best farming practices using local content.
Clinical trials are underway to test a new treatment for pregnant women, which could tackle some of the leading preventable causes of death for babies in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) said. A large number of pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with both malaria and sexually transmitted - reproductive tract infections (STIs - RTIs), according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Several political parties, largely Islamists, are challenging the results of Algeria's legislative election. The National Liberation Front (FLN) came away with 220 out of a possible 462 seats in the People's National Assembly, according to the preliminary tally released Friday (11 May). But those displeased with the outcome have spoken of irregularities and alleged fraud in the way the election process was handled.
This Amnesty International report looks at the crisis in Mali over the last five months. 'Since the beginning of 2012, Mali has been faced with the worst crisis of its recent history, one that has questioned both the integrity of its territory as well as almost 20 years of political stability. A Tuareg rebellion, fueled by fighters arriving from Libya after the fall of Mouammar Gaddafi, launched attacks against the Malian garrisons in the North of the country in early January 2012. The armed groups also committed serious infringements of international humanitarian law by executing the soldiers they caught in combat. The Malian army responded by bombing indiscriminately the civilian population.'
South Africa has been urged to deal with the situation at its border with Zimbabwe, which an activist has described as ‘chaos’. There are ongoing reports of victimisation and violence at the border where thousands of Zimbabweans cross between the two countries every week. While many of the crossings are legal, others continue to be done illegally, with Zimbabweans still risking jumping the border into South Africa to flee the situation back home.
Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for over three decades. And even though her earnings were meagre, she was able to provide all her children with a tertiary education. But now, like her many fellow poverty-stricken slum dwellers in this East African nation, she is feeling the pinch of the high cost of food and other commodities, which have skyrocketed globally.
During almost 20 years of exile in Guinea, Joseph did not know if his family was alive or dead. When he recently found out by chance that they had survived the attack that caused him to flee his native Liberia, he decided he must go back. 'For the first time, I am eager to return home. I want to see my family,' said the 55-year-old fisherman, who is joining a growing number of Liberian refugees who are returning home with UNHCR help before they lose refugee status.
Botswana’s security forces are arresting and intimidating Bushmen, despite the tribe’s legal right to live and hunt in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), says Survival International. 'Survival has received several reports that a large group of police officers have set up a permanent camp close to the community of Metsiamenong, which famously resisted Botswana’s brutal evictions.'
Are you a Kenyan based community women’s rights activist aspiring to strengthen and develop new knowledge and skills in movement building? Then the forthcoming Women’s Rights Movement Building Boot Camp organised by Fahamu is for you. This one-week learning camp will develop knowledge and praxis on community organizing strategies, theories of change and much more. Follow this link for more details about the application process
Charlotte Hill O’Neal aka Mama C, visual and spoken word artist, musician, filmmaker, long time community activist and co Director of United African Alliance Community Center UAACC based in Tanzania, East Africa is pleased to announce that plans for UAACC Heal the Community Tour 2012 have begun!
Mama Charlotte will be visiting the United States starting from late September for up to three months. She will be available to visit your community or school to speak on more than two decades of UAACC outreach in America and East Africa including the UAACC Leaders of Tomorrow Children’s Home program; screen unique and inspiring films; perform her music and poetry and spread the inspiration and love!
To make arrangements to bring Mama Charlotte to your school or community contact her at: [email][email protected]
Mama Charlotte was born in Kansas City, KS in 1951 and has lived in Africa with her husband Pete O’Neal, founder of both UAACC and Leaders of Tomorrow Children’s Home (LTCH), since 1970. She is the mother of two children, Malcolm and Ann Wood ‘Stormy’.
The Chinese government is eager to balance the international media coverage of Chinese image and this approach is becoming more and more urgent for Beijing’s strategy of engagement in Africa.
More than 70 000 illegal abortions are carried out in Zimbabwe every year, with Zimbabwean women running a 200 times greater risk of dying of abortion complications than their counterparts in South Africa, where the procedure is legal.
Something fishy is definitely going on in the belated trial of journalist Ramiro Aleixo over articles he wrote nearly five years ago. It is an extraordinary opportunity to evaluate the Angolan judicial system.
Just as secessionist leader Odumegwu Ojukwu moved in 1967 to declare the independence of Biafra to protect his people from genocidal killings, the group is asking ICC to intervene on their behalf before they are completely exterminated.
By the late 2000s, the bed had turned into a fully fledged forest. Not content with what were already very decent wage packages financed by the public purse, high-ranking politicians and public sector officialdom at every level were awarding themselves with super-salaries and a huge range of benefit sweeteners. Indeed, South Africa has to be one of the countries in the world where the majority of this public sector ‘cadre’ are made millionaires every year and that’s not counting what many of them make on the side.
18th May, 2012 Royal Commonwealth Society in London
8.30-18.00hrs
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
• Dr AlisonBisset
• Prof .ColmCampbell
• Mrs CarlaFerstman*
• Mr CourtneyGriffiths*
• Mr DonaldDeya
• Mrs FatouBensouda*
• Prof. HansKo?echler
• Hon. JusticeAwaNanaDaboya*
• Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo*
• Prof. MaxduPlessis
• DrPaulMoorcraft
• Dr Sarah Nouwen
• Prof.StephenChan
• Dr Suleiman Baldo
• Prof. Susana Sa? Couto
• Prof. Tim Alley
• Dr William Pace
*To be confirmed
As the ICC approaches its tenth anniversary and makes its first conviction, we cordially invite you to participate in an engaging and enlightening one- day debate to review the effectiveness of this highly controversial court. Through this forum we will assess the role of the court and its impact especially in Africa, where all of its indictments have been made. We will look at alternative solutions in the administration of justice to achieve reconciliation and the restoration of peace. Bringing together some of the most knowledgeable and experienced experts from the fields of law, academia and civil society, as well as policy makers, this unique one-day forum will seek to determine whether the court has met its mandate, how it works and its impact. We will also discuss what can and should be done to resolve and deal with some critical issues which affect the stability of many countries across Africa and the world.
ATTENDANCE IS FREE BY INVITATION
Registration is essential:
or contact Toma?s Paquete at +44 (0) 20 7841 3237 or [email][email protected]
Organised by IC Events
Although Egypt is a signatory to international refugee conventions, it refuses to allow refugees to work in Egypt, often denies them residency, imprisons them without due process, and harasses their community leaders.
‘We oppose any attempt by sections of the religious sector to stifle informed, open and honest public debate on this important issue on the basis of their own perceptions and beliefs on private morality.’
The members were jailed for wearing the regalia of the defunct Republic of Biafra.
The WSF Free Palestine will be a global encounter of broad-based popular and civil society mobilizations.
Struggle to end Israel’s oppression and international complicity continues.
Widespread opposition to the document stems from the way it was formulated in secret without public mandate or the input of Somali civil society, intellectuals and constitutional experts.
South Sudan will soon acquire anti-aircraft missiles to defend its territory against air attacks it says are frequently carried out by warplanes from neighbouring Sudan, the South Sudanese military said. South Sudanese army spokesman Philip Aguer told Reuters on Wednesday Juba's military intended to acquire anti-aircraft missiles as part of the new African nation's plans to modernise and re-equip its armed forces, which had previously fought for years as a rebel guerrilla army against Khartoum.
The South African academic community should break out of its “silent and inert”, albeit sympathetic, posture toward the Palestinians and fully reject cooperation with Israeli institutions.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) estimates that that more than U$1.6-billion in additional funding will be available over the next two years. A statement released in Geneva said the new forecast was a result of 'strategic decisions made by the Board, freeing up funds that can be invested in countries where there is the most pressing demand'. It added that the Board had adopted a plan to transform the Global Fund, leading to improved financial supervision and overall efficiency.
The Saudi Labor Ministry has begun taking steps toward canceling the highly controversial individual kafala, or sponsorship, system, the Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadia reported on Monday, quoting a ministry official. The sponsorship system, which is applied in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, raises concerns over foreign workers’ rights.
Hundreds of families living in a camp for internally displaced people in Carrefour, in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, are being harassed and intimidated and are at imminent risk of forced eviction. Residents at Grace Village camp, in the Carrefour area of Metropolitan Port-au-Prince are at imminent risk of forced eviction. At least 30 families have already been forcibly evicted, after their shelters and belongings were destroyed during the night of 28 April. They were forced to leave their properties without any due process and without being offered any alternative accommodation.
Uganda’s proposed National Oil Company will have the right to acquire a 15 per cent stake in the oil fields that Tullow Oil, TOTAL and CNOOC are developing, according to Eoin Mekie, Tullow’s General Manager in Uganda, speaking exclusively to Oil in Uganda. The arrangement was included in the agreements signed between Tullow and the government in early February, in defiance of a parliamentary moratorium on further oil contracts.
The Swaziland Government has been accused of trying to close down the press with the publication of a new Bill to bar public servants from disclosing any information about their work that relates to ‘public policy’. They will also be prevented from talking about the economic strategy of the kingdom. The new Public Service Bill also states civil servants must not ‘publish in any manner anything which may be reasonably regarded as of a political or administrative nature’.
A UN report indicates that the rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) have killed at least 50 civilians in eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the beginning of May. 'Since the start of this month, at least 50 people - including displaced persons - have been killed by presumed FDLR members under similar conditions,' the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said.
Gumede is right in his conclusion that people will seek refuge in tribalism when democratic institutions are made to fail.
New data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) titled, 'World Health Statistics 2012 Report' has focused on the growing problem of the non-communicable diseases burden. According to the report, one in three adults worldwide has raised blood pressure, a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease; while one in 10 adults has diabetes. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan, said: 'This report is further evidence of the dramatic increase in the conditions that trigger heart disease and other chronic illnesses, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. In some African countries, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure.' And although no new case of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) was reported in the last two weeks in Nigeria, the country accounts for 56 per cent of global cases recorded in 2012.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has denounced the crackdown of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and Security Services on the freedoms and rights acquired by the Egyptian people after the revolution. 'ANHRI considers the raid on the office of al-Alam news channel in Cairo on May 13th as a new episode in the series of stifling press freedom and clamping down on media work in Egypt for exposing the violations committed in the transitional phase.'
It is unfair for a small group of individuals to disenfranchise Zimbabweans through a premature campaign to abandon the constitutional review process without affording the people an opportunity to engage directly with the draft.
On 10 May 2012, Egypt's first ever presidential debate took place between two presidential candidates, Amr Moussa and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh. The debate was three hours long and the candidates were asked questions on various topics such as human rights, health plans, the economy, foreign relations, sharia law, and the role of the military. Both Egyptians and Arabs around the region were tweeting the candidates' replies - a summary of the tweets is included in this post.
The Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process relating to former rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) is back on track: More than 1,000 already disarmed fighters of the Popular Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD) led by Jean Jacques Démafouth began to be demobilized on 12-13 May. APRD says 1,431 disarmed ex-combatants were demobilized on 12 May in the northern-central prefecture of Nana Gribizi in the presence of the Central African Armed Forces; representatives of the Mission for the Consolidation of Peace Central Africa (MICOPAX); Jean Jacques Démafouth in his capacity as senior vice-president of the DDR Steering Committee; and CAR Disarmament Minister Gen Xavier Sylvestre Yagaongo (second vice-chairman of the committee). The process is due to take a week to complete.
Do I have a right to a fair hearing? Do I have the right to freedom from torture, inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment? Do I have the right to live in dignity as a human being? That’s what I demand.
Dr Nawal al Saadawi’s continued hope, after decades of persecution by the Egyptian political and religious authorities, and the as yet unfilled promise of Tahrir, offers inspiration to everyone challenging the violence and abuses of patriarchy and capitalism.
The celebrated Kenyan writer reflects on how much India has been an important thread in his life and in the wider anti-colonial struggle in Africa, and calls for greater interaction between Africa, Asia and South America to escape the long shadow of the ‘Age of the European Empire’.
The story of Haiti represents that of the Africa of today: trying to stand up, to reconstruct, to rebuild, she stumbles, hesitates, and sometimes retreats in the face of threats from the watchdogs seeking to liquidate humanity and replace it with a substitute known as humanitarianism.
‘I’ve dedicated my entire life to documenting queer lives. I wanted to make sure I document (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) lives. All my major projects are gone.’ -Zanele Muholi, Cape Town
Transgender and intersex people in Uganda face physical and verbal abuse, are denied access to health services, are victims of blackmail and extortion as well as unlawful arrests and mob justice.
La Via Campesina has called on all the peasant organisations of the world and their allies to organise actions in the month of June. 'The advance of the capitalist system that has reached unprecedented dimensions in the past two decades is resulting in crises that are of equally unprecedented dimensions. The financial, food, energy and environmental crises are phases of the structural crisis of capitalism, which has no limits in its search for more profits. And, as in other structural crises, it impacts the peoples of the world and not the elites.'
Activist Zackie Achmat writes about the recent showdown between Cosatu and the Democratic Alliance on the streets of Johannesburg: 'Cosatu’s counter-demonstration was an elephant dealing with a mosquito by stamping on it instead of snorting. Cosatu conceded the moral high-ground to the DA. The federation’s power and the moral force of its leaders particularly Zwelinzima Vavi has protected our society and politics from an uncontrolled slide to corrupt authoritarianism and courageously addressed the ANC government’s betrayals of democracy and social transformation.'
There are at least four million young people without jobs in South Africa. This is the country’s worst crisis, yet some people still say that the ANC has done well with the economy.
A Somaliland military court has sentenced 17 people to death and jailed five others for life following what it said was their role in attacking an army base. The ruling by the court sitting in Hargeisa, some 1,500 kilometres northwest of Mogadishu were immediately seen as harsh and raised concerns over its impartiality given the speedy delivery and absence of independent lawyers for those charged.
An international group of research organisations are collaborating on a project to boost Internet access in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. The project was discussed at a meeting of the board of the Global Research Alliance (GRA) - an international organisation that seeks to align the efforts of its members with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals - in Sydney, Australia, this month that looked at new strategies for improving access by the developing world to science and innovation.
The twelfth volume of Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African Countries is published by the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank Group. The publication also provides some information on the broad development trends relating to gender, poverty and environmental issues in the 53 African countries.
Journalists in Mali are accusing the military authorities of illegally tapping their telephones as a means of silencing critical opinion in the country. The accusation followed the arrest and subsequent detention of Birama Fall, managing editor of Le Prétoire, a privately-owned Bamako-based bi-weekly newspaper on May 12, 2012. The authorities had illegally listened to Fall’s phone conversation with a former government minister over civilian deaths during the recent counter coup attempt. Fall was, however, released after two hours without charge.
‘I find myself marking these dates as if they were personal milestones because they are two of many landmarks, not only for the entire modern world, but for my own family’.
For Guinea-Bissau to achieve stability, there must be a return to constitutional order and a conclusion of presidential elections.
A recent crackdown on doctors in Nigeria is symptomatic of a wider state attack on the working class.
Is the authority of the UN and regional bodies divine, such that it cannot be challenged by the Somali people? The only ‘crime’ the Somali democratic movement has committed is to dare dream of freedom in the land of its birth.
As central bankers from China to Venezuela and from Argentina to Japan are seeking ways to exit from the contagion of the speculative trading of US bankers, progressive forces must renew the call for the nationalization of the big banks, which are supposed to be too big to fail.
Date: 24th May 2012
Venue: UN Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
In honour of notable Pan-African civil activist - the late Dr. Tajudeen Abdul Raheem (6 January 1961 – 25 May 2009)
PANELISTS
1. Prof. Horace Campbell
2. Prof. Mohamed Salih
3. Dr. Kayode Fayemi
4. Dr. Funmi Olonisakin
5. Mr. Napoleon Abdullahi 6. Dr. Patricia Daley
7. Mr. Brian Kagoro
8. Mr. Ahmed Rajab
9. Ms. Uduak Amimo
For registration and attendance please contact :
Ms. Abijah Yeshaneh (email: [email][email protected] or 011 544 3536) or Mr. Gideon Gamora (email: [email][email protected] or 011 544 5479).
Last day for registration 21st May 2012.
Organized by the Governance and Public Administration Division (GPAD/UNECA)
Press release
Pambazuka Press and GRAIN
17 May 2012
Pan-African publisher Pambazuka Press in collaboration with GRAIN, a small international non-profit that works to support small farmers, is to launch a vital text in the studies of food, land and climate, The Great Food Robbery: How corporations control food, grab land and destroy the climate. Available worldwide in May 2012, this publication marks the five-week countdown to Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
After the failure of the United Nations Climate Change Conference at Durban last December to formulate a united response strategy, there are mixed feelings on what Rio+20 will be able to achieve. But what is clear is that all participants will need to be well informed. ‘Everyone should read The Great Food Robbery – every citizen, every political leader – to understand how agribusiness, which has created hunger and disease, is now contributing to the biggest resource grab since Columbus,’ said Dr Vandana Shiva, physicist, internationally renowned activist and founder of Navdanya International. Shiva is one of many high profile academics from around the world who have endorsed The Great Food Robbery. Others include Dr. Hans Herren, Naomi Klein, Eric Holt-Giménez, and UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof. Olivier De Schutter.
Henk Hobbelink, of GRAIN, in his speech to the Swedish government upon receiving the Right Livelihood Award stated the latest trend in global land grabbing for outsourced food production is just one facet of a much greater attack. ‘Land grabs for mining, tourism, biofuels, dam construction, infrastructure projects, timber and now carbon trading are all part of the same process, turning farmers into refugees on their own land.’
The Great Food Robbery is an advocate for the rural communities that have fed the world for millennia. It examines how agribusiness is driving today’s global food crisis and highlights the culpability of the industrial food system regarding the climate crisis, revealing how land grabbing is being fuelled by a financial industry unconcerned by its exploitation of the world’s poorest.
GRAIN has collected materials on topics ranging from agribusiness and food sovereignty to land grabbing and the climate crisis to produce The Great Food Robbery. It is an essential introduction to understanding the powers that are controlling our food system and crucially offers the means to challenge the status quo. It will be of interest to activists, academics, students, journalists, development and NGO professionals.
???FOR INTERVIEWS:
Contact
- Aaron O'Dowling-Keane (Ms.)
Publishing and Marketing Coordinator, Pambazuka Press
Tel: +44 (0)1865 727006 x204
Email: [email][email protected]
www.pambazukapress.org
- Dexter X
Information worker, GRAIN
Tel: +1 (0) 514 585 3987
Email: [email][email protected]
www.grain.org
NOTES TO EDITORS:
GRAIN supports small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. In 2011, GRAIN was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (the Alternative Nobel Peace prize) for ‘its worldwide work to protect the livelihoods and rights of farming communities and to expose the massive purchases of farmland in developing countries by foreign financial interests’.
BOOK DETAILS
17 May 2012
9780857491138
Paperback
GB pounds 14.95 / US dollars 24.95 / CAN dollars 24.95
216 x 279 mm
164 pp
Shailja Patel’s unique artistry is a provocative global mash-up of genres. She’s a slam poetry champion and star of her award-winning, one-woman play “Migritude” about the intricate webs of global migration and cultural identity. As an acclaimed poet of South Asian and Kenyan ancestry, through her fearless art she embodies the authentic voices of women, South Asians and Africans who are otherwise seldom heard. For her, the ultimate destination of poetry is justice -- too heart-breakingly beautiful to be denied.
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Large-Scale Land Investments are violating human rights and undermine food security in Ethiopia.
Media Foundation for West Africa,in its bid to promote issues-based and decent language campaigning in Ghana’s 2012 elections, launched a project to monitor and report indecent expression by politicians and political activists in the campaign process. The level of indecent expression increased from nine in the fourth week to 24 in the fifth week covering the period April 29 to May 5, 2012.
Brazilian diversified mining major Vale has confirmed that its portfolio includes investments of $7.7-billion in projects in nine African countries. Speaking at a recent seminar on Africa hosted by Brazil’s National Economic and Social Development Bank (better known by its Portuguese initials, BNDES), Vale CEO Murilo Ferreira reaffirmed the importance of Africa in his company’s strategy.? He highlighted that Vale continued to be interested in the continent and specifically cited coal and copper as sectors in which Vale continued to make investments in Africa.
Ghana’s Immigration Service is getting tough with illegal immigrants drawn to the country by the robust economic growth and its stability and has now set a deadline to start flushing them out. Most of the illegal immigrants are said to have entered the retail business and gone into illegal gold mining whilst others have targeted oil services, irking many locals who accuse them of stealing their jobs.
This is to invite you to Kilombo 2012, which is an event on Africa, Africans and Social Justice. This is going to be an annual event and the first which is Kilombo 2012 will lay the foundation for launching the Kilombo Centre for Civil Society and African Self-Determination.
UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet has announced the members of her Global Civil Society Advisory Group that will facilitate regular consultations and dialogue between civil society and UN Women. The establishment of UN Women Civil Society Advisory Groups at the global, regional and national levels was announced earlier this year at the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The South African government decided last week to draw attention of consumers that products they buy labeled “Made in Israel” could have been made in illegal Jewish settlements mushrooming the occupied Palestinian territories, a press release issued by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee said. It said that after more than a year of joint work between Palestinian and South African organizations, South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies announced he will forbid false and misleading labeling of settlements products.
'The Unemployed People’s Movement rejects the Youth Wage Subsidy as a solution to the unemployment crisis that is leaving millions of young people without a future. We note that there has been a concerted attempt by big business, their academic and media allies and the DA to present workers as lazy and overpaid. This is outrageous. Workers have struggled bravely for a living wage over many years and the gains that have been won must be defended.'
On 17 May 2012, Trans Support Initiative Uganda (TSI-U), a Transgender and Intersex Organization in Uganda joined the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. 'We take this day to remember all the injustice, violence, discrimination and murders that have already occurred to colleagues, relatives and friends. It has not been long since we lost our very own David Kato because of homophobia, Aunt Victoria from Tanzania because of transphobia, the denial to access of medical services more especially HIV/Aids drugs to people like Beyonce and the closure of human rights workshops denying already marginalized people access to information.'
This special program of Africa Today is on the case of the Angola 3 - Herman Wallace, Alert Woodfox and Robert King. Woodfox and Wallace have served more than 14,500 days in solitary confinement in the Louisiana Prison System. A discussion on the issues of incarceration and solitary confinement with Robert King of the Angola 3, Marina Drummer of the Angola 3 Support Committee, Everette Thompson of Amnesty International and Professor Allen-Bell.
Africa's impressive growth during the financial and economic crisis of the last five years will be put at risk unless action is taken to combat rising inequality, according to the annual health check on the continent from a panel led by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The report from the Africa Progress Panel found that African countries were growing consistently faster than almost any other region, with booming exports and more foreign investment. But it warned that there was a contrast between a growing yet still relatively small middle class and the Africans left behind after a decade of buoyant activity.
'Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives' is a series that features 12 alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. The latest installment looks at water being turned into a good for sale and for profit. 'Driven by a different vision and by economic necessity, a global counter-trend is growing to assure that household water be free or cheap, accessible, and safe, and that the earth’s water be kept pure and flowing. Marcela Olivera is a part of this movement. In 2000, she played a key role in organizing the massive protests in Cochabamba when residents of the city forced the Bechtel Corporation to give up control of the municipal water system, thereby restoring water as a human right for all instead of as a source of corporate income. This victory has been repeated elsewhere in Bolivia and around the world.'
The African Union Commission, in collaboration with South Africa, will hold the first Global African Diaspora Summit on 25 of May 2012 in the southern African nation. The summit will coincide with the African Day. 'The African Union recognises the fact that the African Diaspora, found in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and various parts of the world are an integral part of the continent,' the commission said ahead of the summit.
While the National Transitional Council government heads to elections, local militias threaten to launch secessionist movements and others refuse to demobilize. As preparations intensify for elections on 23 June for a parliament that will write a new constitution, much of Libya is still under the control of local militias.
The UN has found asylum-seekers increased by 20 per cent in 2011. The Guardian UK has mapped the countries where asylum-seekers are coming from and the countries they are going to.
Algeria's legislative election saw women take almost a third of the seats, making the national assembly the most gender-balanced in the region but activists say the battle is far from won. According to official results made public Wednesday, 143 of the enlarged national assembly's 462 seats will be occupied by women, up from a representation of only seven per cent in the outgoing house.
Thousands of people rallied Saturday in a demonstration by the opposition Unita, to celebrate a surprise court victory that forced the national elections chief to step down months ahead of polls. Dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a photo of Unita boss Isaias Samakuva, with many wearing caps in the party's trademark red and green, thousands sang and danced in a plaza in the Angolan capital.
A recent brush between Leader of Opposition Nandala Mafabi and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Members of Parliament reflects a deeper problem in the FDC, Uganda’s leading opposition party, reports The Independent. 'The Independent has learnt that as FDC President Kizza Besigye pays more attention to protests, a power vacuum has developed within the party that many players are now trying to fill, including perhaps, the ruling party. Within FDC, jostling for the top job has taken centre stage and issues like fundraising been neglected, leaving the party broke, unable to finance crucial elections, and its leadership splintered.'
Fresh clashes between the DR Congo's army and a group of mutineers erupted Sunday in the eastern province of Nord-Kivu, defectors said, a day after fierce battles near a gorilla park. 'We're on the ground. We've been confronting the FARDC (the Democratic Republic of Congo's military) since this morning three kilometres (two miles) from Bunagana ... where we were yesterday,' Vianney Kazarana, a spokesman for the mutineers' March 23 Movement, told AFP by telephone.
The International Trade Union Confederation is demanding that the Algerian authorities stop repression of the country’s emerging independent trade union movement. A wave of harassment of members of the National Independent Union of Public Administration Personnel (SNAPAP) has led to seven members of the union’s board, including four women, starting a hunger strike on 6 May. One of them, Fayza Abrakan, has been admitted to hospital in a serious condition.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has withdrawn its advisory team from Swaziland, saying it is unable to support the government’s proposed financial reform programme. The IMF was assisting the government in implementing the Fiscal Adjustment Roadmap (FAR), to right-size the budget, where government spending currently exceeds its revenue. 'Government has yet to propose a credible reform programme that could be supported by a new IMF staff monitored programme… the budget allocates an increasing share of resources to some sectors at the expense of education and health,' Joannes Mongardini, head of the IMF team in Swaziland, told a recent press conference.