Pambazuka News 458: Women’s rights: Looking back or moving forward?
Pambazuka News 458: Women’s rights: Looking back or moving forward?
African Union (AU) experts on women and gender affairs will submit their recommendations to establish the African Union Women’s Trust Fund feasibility study, the African Union Commission Gender Action Plan, and the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade: 2010-2020 to ministers in charge of gender and women’s affairs on 21 November. In order to disseminate and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan the meeting proposed using faith-based groups, imams, and the media to sensitise and transmit messages to women and society at large.
The Municipal Service Project (MSP) systematically explores alternatives to the privatization and commercialization of service provision in the health, water, sanitation and electricity sectors. We evaluate service delivery models deemed to be successful alternatives to commercialization in an effort to understand the conditions required for their sustainability and reproducibility.Our focus is on the water, electricity and primary health care sectors in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The African Union Panel of the Wise held its seventh meeting at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 9 and 10 November 2009 under the chairmanship of Ahmed Ben Bella.
Addressing gender inequality remains central to the drive to improve livelihoods and engender development for all, writes Marren Akatsa-Bukachi. While progress has been made, the key challenge will be to revitalise the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and ensure genuine momentum is sustained around achieving gender equality in all areas of life, the author argues.
The Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) was unveiled some 15 years ago, leading Norah Matovu Winyi to ask what has really changed for Africa's women since the platform's inception. Over the last 15 years progress in women's position has on the whole been regrettably slow the author notes, with a wide gap between commitments and actual action still persistent. But with the unveiling of a new resolution to 'establish [a] new gender-equality entity in the United Nations', there is fresh hope that the international organisation will be able to work with governments and Africa's citizens to revitalise the drive for equality, peace and development.
With Graça Machel set to re-visit Kenya this weekend as a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons overseeing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), L. Muthoni Wanyeki stresses the need for all Kenyans to ensure that those in charge are not permitted to paint a rosy picture of 'achievements' for Machel's team.
Pambazuka News 457: Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai's terrifying gamble
Pambazuka News 457: Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai's terrifying gamble
October has been a month characterised by violence, lawlessness, corruption and the complete abuse of power for partisan and personal objectives. Despite Robert Mugabe’s outrageous claim to the contrary, Sokwanele has logged an incredible 3850 breaches of the GPA by Zanu PF since the start of the ZIG Watch project, making this party responsible for 88.8% of all breaches logged up until the end of October.
In preparation for this Regional Conference as well as to facilitate informed input to the draft regulations as published by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the Kenya ICT Consumers Association in partnership with Akiba Uhaki Foundation, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Article 19, the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights(KNCHR) and the International Commission of Jurists-Kenya Chapter(ICJ-K) has organized the 2-day Kenyan Convening in Nairobi to discuss the key issues and where necessary offer innovative Civil Society alternatives.
Facing History is working in close partnership with Skylight Pictures to bring the documentary film, The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court, and additional film modules into classrooms around the world. This is an invitation to join a free online workshop about justice, genocide, and the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The International Training Programmes are specially designed for persons qualified to participate in reform processes of strategic importance on different levels and who hold a position in their home organisation with a mandate to run processes of change. This methodology is based on the assumption that your country wishes to carry out changes and is willing to invest its own resources to achieve these changes.
According to this September 2008 document from USAID entitled "Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through USAID's Health Programs: A Guide for Health Sector Program Officers", research demonstrates that gender-based violence has implications for almost every aspect of health policy and programming, from primary care to reproductive health programmes, because it not only results in injury and death of its victims, but also it can contribute to the spread of HIV. Reducing violence and coercion is among five high-priority gender strategies of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Published in January 2008 in the journal Political Perspectives, "As a Man This is How You Should Behave! A Critical Look into Methods of 'Developing Men' as a Means of HIV/AIDS Prevention in sub-Saharan Africa" looks at two HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in Uganda that both focus on changing men's attitudes and behaviour. According to the author, both programmes, Operation Gideon and the "Be a Man" campaign, tend to reinforce the same "truth" about Ugandan men, namely that they are the ones in control of their families or society.
Red Card is a component of a health communication campaign led by C-Change in Madagascar that was designed to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and to curb associated risky behaviours by "letting girls call the shots" and sparking conversation between parents and adolescents. The campaign appropriated the signal soccer referees use to kick aggressive players out of a game; paper Red Cards were distributed to 1.5 million young women across Madagascar.
“It’s only us who can really understand our challenges and come up with appropriate solutions. The time for talking is over. It’s now time for action.” These words, from a participant in the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s community conversations on social cohesion, expressed the determination with which the Albert Park community began its second series of community conversations. This community in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), stressed by poverty and insecurity, clearly views dialogue as the way to unearth the causes of their problems and take decisions.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation and its sister charities are pleased with the United Nations General Assembly’s declaration of July 18, Nelson Mandela’s birthday, as “Nelson Mandela International Day”, an international day of activism.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) unreservedly condemns the unlawful arrest and detention in Victoria Falls on Sunday 8 November 2009 of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) President, Lovemore Matombo, together with four other union officials.
Former president Thabo Mbeki, together with his controversial health minister, Manto Tshabalala- Msimang, must be charged with genocide, says the SA Communist Party youth league. Young Communists League leader Buti Manamela said Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang denied hundreds of HIV-positive people access to antiretroviral drugs when they were in government.
A Dan rarther report entitled "All Mine" focuses on an American company, Arizona's Freeport McMoran, which, when it bought a massive copper mine from the government of Congo, also took control of part of the impoverished country's economic future. Critics of the purchase said that the contract for the billion-dollar mine left the war-torn African nation with little in return, and that the U.S. government played a part in what many are describing as a modern day land grab. The episode originally aired on September 23, 2008
It is the ninth time the Global Fund Board approved new proposals to support programs fighting the three diseases. The total two-year value of the programs recommended for funding was US$2.4 billion; the second largest ever approved by the Global Fund, following a US$2.75 billion round in 2008. The Global Fund has now approved a total funding of US$18.4 billion for 144 countries since it was created in 2002.
cc Badilisha
Badilisha! Poetry X-Change ° produced by the Africa Centre°, is an international poetry project based in Cape Town, South Africa. For the past 5 years poets from around the world and across the African continent have been featured at our annual festival engaged with wider audiences and local poetry networks via dynamic interactions in the form of workshops, discussions and multi-media collaborations. Badilisha! Poetry X-Change is now proud to announce a brand new dimension to the live poetry project. We are soon to launch Badilisha!
The newly appointed Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, wishes to carry out a comprehensive research project on the topic of reparations for women who have been subjected to violence. The findings of the research will inform her first annual report, which will be presented at the 14th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2010. The consultant is expected to undertake a study that addresses in a comprehensive and coherent manner the main issues raised above and identify the challenges in the field of reparations to women who have been subjected to violence as well as any good practices and lessons learnt.
Fahamu is seeking an experienced programme manager in its Nairobi office to take responsibility for managing its growing portfolio of projects. Please send your CV, cover letter and names of three referees to: [email][email protected] Applications close 27th November 2009. This is a full time position. Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
On the 8 October, seven prominent Sahrawi human rights advocates were arrested at Mohamed V airport in Casablanca, Morocco. They were driven away by Moroccan security forces immediately after disembarking from a flight returning from Algeria where they had been visiting the Sahrawi refugee camps between 26 September and 8 October.
This week's emerging powers news roundup focuses on the the FOCAC Sharm El Sheikh meeting, reports by the World Bank and OECD on Africa's infrastructural needs, the African land grab by rich nations, and growing Chinese investment on the continent.
For centuries, farmers like Berhanu Gudina have eked out a living in Ethiopia’s central lowlands, tending tiny plots of maize, wheat or barley amid the vastness of the lush green plains. Now, they find themselves working cheek by jowl with high-tech commercial farms stretching over thousands of hectares tilled by state-of-the-art tractors — and owned and operated by foreigners.
An apparent surge in the purchase of African land by foreign companies and governments to grow food and other crops for export has set alarm bells ringing on and off the continent. The headlines have been strident: “The Second Scramble for Africa Starts,” “Quest for Food Security Breeds Neo-Colonists,” “Food Security or Economic Slavery?”
The findings of a study on early childhood education in Senegal shows that 92 per cent of children in that country are out of the pre-school system. According to the report, out of 1,306,214 who can get pre-school education in the country, only 99,038 attend a development structure for early childhood. This means that 1,207,176 are not supported by the pre-school system.
A crony of the newly-elected Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, has been forced to resign from the government due to a magazine report that links him to a financial scandal. Mr Jean Pierra Oyiba who is President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s Chief of Protocol, resigned but has denied links with the scandal that was reported this week by the Paris-based Jeune Afrique magazine.
Does clientelism play a major role in the voting decisions of African elections? Which factors are most important to African voters when choosing a candidate to vote for? This Afrobarometer working paper argues that clientelism is not a major factor in voting decisions. Instead, voters focus on issues relating to the provision of local public goods and the frequency of an MP's visits to the constituency.
Without adequate security or resources for education, young women and men in refugee camps would turn to prostitution or violence, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad said at a Headquarters press conference.Michele Falavigna, reporting on the humanitarian situation in Chad after his first three months, said the country had been at war for 40 years and had virtually "never known peace and development".
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denounced the vote on Friday October 30, 2009 by the National Assembly of a legislation reinforcing the powers of the High Authority of Audio-visual and Communication (HAAC) and which seriously threatens press freedom and freedom of expression in Togo.
The top priority for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the protection of civilians from abuse, be it from the Government forces that it is mandated to support or armed rebel groups, a senior official has said.
At least 83,000 Somali children and women benefited from the Child Health Days Campaign carried out with United Nations support in the Afgooye corridor, which hosts displaced people who fled their homes owing to the violence in the capital, Mogadishu.
The United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) has begun transporting the provisional voters’ list to polling stations around the country as part of the latest phase of preparations for the upcoming presidential elections.
The United Nations refugee agency has voiced regret at Djibouti’s forced repatriation of 40 Somali asylum-seekers, including 13 women and children, who were rescued by a Dutch ship in the Red Sea last month.
The number of civilians fleeing tribal violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into neighbouring Republic of Congo since last week has topped 21,800, the United Nations refugee agency has reported.
Despite good global cereal harvests this year, millions of people in dozens of poor countries are in desperate need of emergency humanitarian aid due to stubbornly high food prices, the United Nations agricultural agency warned in a new report.
Ace Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas of the New Crusading Guide grabbed two awards at the 2009 edition of the Norbert Zongo Awards. He scooped the Norbert Zongo Grand Prize in Investigative journalism and the Segbo Excellence in Investigative Journalism 2009, for his groundbreaking expose on the work of Chinese human traffickers in Africa.
There is rising tension in the Zimbabwe National Army after a number of senior officers allegedly died from torture whilst in military detention. The Herald reported on Wednesday that Major Maxwell Samudzi, a 48 year-old deputy officer commanding One Engineers Support Regiment at Pomona barracks was found dead in his detention cell. The paper said Major Samudzi committed suicide, but army insiders contend he was tortured to death.
The President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Lovemore Matombo, and four other unionists were set free on Thursday after a Victoria Falls magistrate threw out charges against them. The 5 were arrested on Sunday for holding consultative meetings with workers in the town. Police, acting on instructions from Mugabe’s regime, claimed the leaders had violated the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) by holding the meetings without police permission. The magistrate however ruled that trade unions were exempt from seeking police authority for their meetings.
Botswana's president accused Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday of failing to honour a power-sharing deal with his foes and called for new elections to resolve the political deadlock. In a state of the nation address after his re-election last month, Botswana's leader Ian Khama made clear he believed the blame for the political paralysis in neighbouring Zimbabwe lay at the hands of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.
Morocco's National Initiative for Human Development (INDH) has done a solid job of developing a charity network, but still needs more participation by women, children and local councils, according to a recent report by the initiative's oversight body.
Three Tunisian newspapers tied to key opposition parties are withdrawing from circulation for a week to protest what they call the government's "unprecedented clampdown" on the independent media.
Market liberalisation has encouraged massive private investment in Africa's cellular networks, according to a report released by the World Bank. The result was a major revolution in information and communications technology (ICT), which helped boost economic growth to an annual 4 percent between 2001 and 2005, the report on Africa's infrastructure by the World Bank said.
Sub-Saharan Africa needs to double its infrastructure spending to $93 billion a year, 15 percent of regional output, to drag its road, water and power networks into the 21st century, a report said on Thursday. The research compiled by the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) identified the continent's woeful electricity grids as its most pressing challenge, with 30 countries facing regular blackouts and high premiums for emergency power.
"No more commitments... We have had enough of the promises. Can we please see something happening on the ground? Right now, it is business as usual and that’s why Africa is off-track on the MDG target." Jamillah Mwanjisi, executive secretary for the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation attending the Second Africa Water Week in Midrand, South Africa, is not happy WITH what's happening in the water and sanitation sector.
It is one of the world's oldest professions, dating so far back that it is even mentioned in the Bible. But in the deeply cultural and religious country of Swaziland, Senator Thuli Msane stirred a hornet's nest when she publicly challenged a new strict bill opposing prostitution. Msane spoke out against arresting sex workers, when she said government should first address the humanitarian challenges that drive them into the trade.
The incumbent, President Armando Guebuza, has won the Mozambican 2009 elections in a landslide, obtaining three quarters of the votes, according to official results. Leopoldo da Costa, the chairman of Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE), announced that Frelimo’s Guebuza has been re-elected for second five-year term, winning 75.4 percent of the votes.
On the heels of a federal appeals court ruling that only the U.S. Congress and the executive branch of government - not the courts - can interfere with government-sponsored "extraordinary rendition", a U.S. citizen from New Jersey is asking another court to tell the government it wasn't okay to secretly imprison and abuse him in three different African countries over a period of four months.
A new report released by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) / Doctors without Borders, documents both extensive achievements in expanding AIDS treatment in recent years, and the threat that funding slowdowns will not only stall expanding treatment, but also force life-threatening cutbacks for patients already on treatment.
Can religion and homosexuality ever be reconciled? Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM) strongly believes so and says dialogue is a biblical way in which people of faith should tackle “sensitive and painful” issues, rather than debate which “only polarizes and divides people.”
Thousands of people in Cote d'Ivoire poisoned by toxic waste face being cheated out of $45m in compensation after the money, which was deposited in a bank account in the West African country, was frozen. At the same time, a local figure, claiming to be president of the National Co-ordination of Toxic Waste Victims of Cote d'Ivoire and who is unknown to the victims' lawyers, has now applied to have the cash moved to the association's account.
On November 8/9, China’s and Africa’s governments will meet for the 4th summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt. A report published by International Rivers finds that China and Africa have been successful in boosting their financial and economic cooperation, but have failed to deal seriously with the environmental challenges that have resulted from their growing cooperation.
Africa must increase its collection and analysis of data about climate change's impact on water supplies, a meeting has heard. The continent needs information about water resources at local, national, regional and transboundary levels, said scientists at the 2nd Africa Water Week this week (9–13 November), organised by the African Ministerial Council on Water in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Kenya hopes to eliminate malaria by 2017, a malaria conference heard last week. The disease has been in decline in the country in recent years and scientists say they are optimistic that it can be eliminated by then.
Reported cases of kala azar infection, a deadly disease also known as visceral leishmaniasis, have continued to rise in Southern Sudan, according to medical workers. "We are clearly in the midst of a kala azar epidemic," Jill Seaman, working in the Old Fangak clinic in Jonglei State, run by the Sudan Medical Relief organization, said.
Some 20,000 people wounded in Sierra Leone's war are receiving micro-grants as part of efforts to rebuild lives and livelihoods in the still fragile country. The initial grants of 300,000 leones (US$80) each are part of a government "reparations" programme, implemented by the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA).
High school students in the Niger capital, Niamey, learned to put HIV/AIDS and reproductive health in a broader context during a recent essay contest. "In preparing my essay I learned that AIDS is not a death sentence," said one female student who requested anonymity. "This kind of exercise should be encouraged because it allows students to increase their knowledge of AIDS and its consequences."
Even when Guinea is not facing political crisis and reeling from a massacre, daily life is gruelling for many and instability is never far away. In this country that holds 30 percent of the world’s reserves of bauxite, the primary ore in aluminium, most people live hand-to-mouth; only about 19 percent of the population have access to proper sanitation facilities; malnutrition is widespread.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been feeding people in Lesotho since 1965, yet the tiny mountain kingdom is still not much closer to achieving food self-sufficiency. Time to overhaul the approach, aid agencies say. WFP generally only ships and provides food in crisis situations like civil conflicts and natural disasters. Programmes sometimes linger on after the emergency has passed, when food aid used is to help communities rebuild, but the goal is usually to move out.
Three years after the Kenyan government began to promote emergency contraception as part of its family planning strategy, the “morning-after pill” remains as controversial as ever: critics argue that unless the public is better educated about its purpose, it risks undermining the messages of abstinence and protected sex, putting impressionable young people at risk of HIV.
James Donkor, a journalist working with community radio station Radio Progress, in Wa, the capital of Ghana's Upper West region, was reportedly assaulted on 24 October 2009 and briefly detained by two policemen in the area. The journalist, who had photographed a man the policemen had allegedly tied to an electric pole, was accused of "disrespecting" the police officers.
In this week's blog roundup, Dibussi Tande reflects on the similarities between the fall of the Berlin wall and communism in Eastern Europe, and the push for political liberalism in Africa. Elsewhere, Tanzania's education system is failing, Kenya faces a country-wide power blackout, and homophobia rears its ugly head.
The Fourth Ministerial Conference of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC) opened in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 6 2009. Pambazuka News brings you a transcript of a press conference by Premier Wen Jiabao held on November 9, 2009.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivered a speech entitled "Building the New Type of China-Africa Strategic Partnership" at the opening ceremony of the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on November 6, 2009. The following is the full text of the speech.
The New York State African Studies Association (NYASA) will hold its 2010 annual conference on March 26-27 at Binghamton University under the auspices of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies. In view of the impending change in the global order and power relations, and in light of the accelerating interactions between Africa and Asia, the annual conference invites abstracts and proposals for presentations, panels and roundtables on the above general theme and its variations.
With cheap labour, investment incentives and unrestricted exports, one Chinese textile group has turned to Egypt as an ideal location to produce its ready-made garments, beating stiff competition at home. The Chinese-owned Nile Textile Group has set up shop in the Port Said free zone, overlooking the north entrance of the Suez Canal, and developed an industrial estate now hiring 600 workers, 20 percent of which are Chinese and the rest Egyptian.
The Chinese government defended its decision not to block a UN Security Council resolution in 2005 referring the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC).Beijing, despite being a strong ally of Khartoum, abstained from voting on the resolution outraging Sudanese officials who accused China of failing to “protect its friends”.
President Mubarak has called on the Extraordinary African Summit for Refugees and Displaced Persons to alleviate the pains of the refugees, to protect them and to facilitate their safe return to their homelands, as he said “we are capable to do this with our own resources and with the support of the international community and our international partners”.
On November 5, 2009, Christian Aid partners OMUNGA and SOS Habitat were awarded the Civil Society Human Rights National Award, organized by the Human Rights Coordination Committee and Open Society Foundation –Angola. The award was implemented for the first time this year and is granted to organisations and individuals that have contributed to the defence, respect, protection and guarantee of human rights in Angola. This is a fantastic recognition of our partner’s human rights work in the country.
A new technology called "biochar" is being promoted as a major “geo-engineering” solution to global climate change, as well as a means of improving soils and addressing poverty according to this new report by The African Biodiversity Network, Biofuelwatch and The Gaia Foundation. However, this technology raises serious scientific and social concerns. Many questions need to be answered before claims about biochar can stand up to scrutiny.
A coalition of human rights organisations have expressed deep concern about the hostile context in which human rights defenders and journalists operate in The Gambia where hindrances to freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests and detentions, murders and judicial harassment against them are recurrent.
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis. The High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis (HLTF) and its members have supported -over the last 8 months- national authorities as they respond to food and nutrition insecurity. This tracks the progress of the task force over this period.
Until South Africa acknowledges that racism is deeply embedded in the fabric of its society, William Gumede writes in Pambazuka News, solutions will 'only paper over the deep divisions' and 'reconciliation across racial divides will remain elusive'.
The international community’s hasty decision to investigate Guinea’s Captain Camara for crimes against humanity has led to serious setbacks in solving the country’s political crisis, Joseph Kaifala argues in Pambazuka News. Since the only way for Camara to avoid trial at the International Criminal Court is to remain in power, it’s unlikely he’ll be willing to relinquish his military dictatorship any time soon, says Kaifala.
The universal declaration of human rights stipulates that everyone should have access to adequate standard of living including sufficient and appropriate food. Whereas the legal instrument to make the right to food enforceable are still being developed and debated, it is undeniable that states have an obligation to respect, protect and promote the progressive realisation of the right to food for all the populations under their jurisdiction
As social inequalites in Kenya continue to widen, Samuel Abonyo argues in this week’s Pambazuka News that policies that encourage the redistribution of wealth are what the country needs if it is to achieve economic growth and reduce poverty.
Apathy and a failure to speak out on the part of Nigeria’s citizens is fuelling the country’s leadership crisis, Babatunde Oyateru argues in this week’s Pambazuka News. Exhorting his fellow citizens to hold their political representatives accountable, Oyateru says: ‘We do not whisper, we should not cower, we should let our voices ring so loud … so that the generations that come after us will not have to scream, but sing songs of a delivered Nigeria.’
On 18 October 1967, 10 days after Che Guevara’s death, the details of the revolutionary hero’s last moments finally emerged. Before a nation in mourning, Fidel Castro gave this speech. In this emotive text brought to you by Pambazuka News, ‘El Lider Máximo’ revisits the journey of his comrade-in-arms, revealing Che’s human side, his military prowess, his philosophy and his great revolutionary pedigree.
The Partnership for Change has urged President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to cooperate with the ICC and ensure The Special Tribunal Bill is passed and enacted into law within two weeks, failing which, Kenyans resolve to "starve the government of money".
Western governments continue to support Meles Zenawi’s dictatorship because they believe that there is ‘no alternative in the opposition’, Alemayehu G. Mariam writes in this week’s Pambazuka News. But not only could this diplomatic mindset have ‘devastating consequences on Ethiopia’ by providing the moral justification for totalitarianism and a police state, it also makes the West complicit in the sufferings of the Ethiopians under Zenawi’s government, Mariam argues.
A season of fear has returned to Zimbabwe, following Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to ‘disengage’ from the country’s dysfunctional Government of National Unity, Mary Ndlovu writes in Pambazuka News. With unlawful arrests, abductions, beatings, torture, burning of homes and killings by Zanu PF and state agents on the increase again, ordinary Zimbabweans are sceptical that SADC’s latest attempts at mediation will bring the country’s people closer to peace and prosperity. But says Ndlovu, there is ‘still room to hope for a miracle’.
Dearest People,
Congratulations a million times, thank you a billion times for your
persistence, patience and the peaceful manner you have won this
particular battle.
One only wishes that victories like these could be rewarded in a way
which does justice to
All of the people involved, but especially the ones
who have been trampled upon
tortured, raped in ways unimaginable
Hopefully your victory will open the eyes
which refuse to see
because they have been blinded by greed
Your victory shall make the poorest of the poorest
all over the world root
for greater victories
until this predatory
system is rooted out
along with the mindset set
on killing humanity
humility
dignity
solidarity
* Jacques Depelchin is a committed intellectual, academic, and activist for peace, democracy, transparency and pro-people politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
* is the South African shackdwellers' movement.
I am always delighted to receive the informative updates from Pambazuka, but a little concerned for the use of the term .
I work with organisations of persons with disabilities including visual impairment (blindness) but I have had a challenge explaining the good intentions in portraying US efforts in Mali as blindly – please check this.
Thanks and keep us informed for transformation.
Two Zimbabwean activists were intimidated at an on national healing, and one has been forced into hiding since returning home, writes Frances Lovemore, director of the country's Counselling Services Unit.
Following a five and a half year scholarly meditation to tackle explicitly the prejudices ‘still deeply embedded’ in the Western academy, Wendy C. Hamblet challenges the ‘popular assumption that violence is an essential quality of certain populations’, and offers ‘an alternative, more sympathetic, but also more realistic, account of some of the world’s current violences’.
Morissanda Kouyaté
Many and sincere thanks to the hundreds of you who took the trouble to respond to the survey that we launched in September. The survey, conducted for us by the independent market research company , was aimed at getting your perspectives on how we could improve Pambazuka News. Here’s what you said:
More than 90% of you said you were satisfied with Pambazuka News, with 40% saying that you were very satisfied. Thank you!
We said we were thinking of offering a number of additional services. Most of you said you were interested in at least eight of the services, including access to Pambazuka News archives; the ability to have greater interaction and collaboration via the Pambazuka News website with other members, institutions, social movements, policy-makers and others to advocate for social justice; the ability to download ebooks and training materials; and the ability to get discounts on books published by Pambazuka Press.
You were most interested in being able to use the Pambazuka News platform for organising and interacting with others, as well as being able to access the rich archives of some 54,000 records stored on Pambazuka News, with articles written by some 1,700 writers, bloggers, commentators, analysts, academics and activists.
Nearly 40% of you said you would be willing to pay between $3.00 and $5.00 a month to become a member of the new Pambazuka platform.
We were touched by the fact that so many of you were able to devote considerable time and thought to suggesting how we can improve the quality of Pambazuka News – tighter editing, shorter articles, greater breadth of coverage and so on. We take your suggestions seriously. These comments were really helpful.
In order to deliver the kind of improvements you want, we are developing ambitious plans to expand and upgrade the existing website as the hub of social activism across the continent – an independent, self-financing pan-African social network and community of members comprising social justice activists, engaged intellectuals and institutions that have similar missions to those of Pambazuka. The platform will be a space where African civil society organisations, social movements, academic and research institutions, advocacy groups, alliances and coalitions can upload their publications, reports, information about events, training materials, video and audio materials; organise online discussions; hold online seminars; and advertise their products, courses and publications. It will be a space where books (print and ebooks) on African affairs can be obtained at discounted prices.
Access to the Pambazuka News website and e-newsletter will remain free but in addition we will be inviting individuals and institutions to join Pambazuka as fee-paying members in return for an exciting range of new services and benefits.
More details coming soon!
While the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama has understandably enjoyed the lion's share of media comment, Elinor Ostrom's success in jointly receiving the economics prize with Oliver E. Williamson may well prove of greater significance for Africans, writes Korir Sing’Oei.
Lion of hearts
turned to
desert's
dust
blown'n
to wilderness
you
soul of sev'n
part'd years
con-se-quen'tial
supa-politico
text of
world-ly
men's heart
burn'st
you
crack'd dreams
suns and stars
scatter'd
into flight
you
left origin
erstwhile
made you
swallow d'tongue
lockt your lips
once
river-lips
made
voice-less
you, now
turn to
phantoms
of false night
to love
your lips
phantasm-iz'd
bury'n
d'lion's heart
that d'scended
from a place
of saints and sages
you
bend'n anew, to
d'cultured will
dom-in-nance
veild d'lamp
that shun'
on darkenss
ef-face'n
you
folly pillag'd
you
unequal halves
deceiv'd you
foolish thrust
of two world's
hollow'd
your hol
abode
in d'destined hour
tower of darkness
morph'd
you
identity
expropriat'd
you
perch'd behind
colors, blows of red
you, buri'd
what bled
hid'n from
d'night and dayz
masquerad'd
dust of soul
you
now
lust on
d'modernize dayz
daze'd
you
lost what is of "I"
dispossess'd
of "I" by him
to become
another him
to be at all
in relation
to whom?
...to him?
lost, not here nor there
you get closer
to what's there
you, now
shamed to speak
ours, mine, your
mother tongue
you
fall over names
you
stride profess'n
prophet-like
enunciat'n
d'Lord's wisdom
you
perfect'd d'accent
venerating
d'colonized tongue.
You, not here nor there
leaves of life keep falling
again, and again, and again, and again...
Following the revelations around the true age of Nigeria under-17 captain Fortune Chukwudi, Sabella Ogbobode Abidde writes in full support of the honesty of one of the player's former coaches, Adokiye Amiesimaka. As Amiesimaka faces ridicule and defamation of character, Abidde decries the behaviour of the supposedly religious individuals attacking a man who was only telling the truth.
Isaac Newton Kinity stresses that arguments around election rigging are no excuse for Kenya's 2007–08 post-election violence.
While the Zambian government is seemingly content to make nonsensical noises on the subject of the country's Freedom of Information (FoI) bill, it should accept critical perspectives as the words of people who love their country, writes Henry Kyambalesa.
Referring to the misunderstandings, discrimination and at times outright hostility faced by Kenya's transsexuals, Audrey Mbugua discusses the day-to-day hardships faced by transsexual people in the country.
Looking back at the immense optimism Nigeria's citizens felt for their country in the immediate post-colonial period, Sabella Ogbobode Abidde stresses that former pride has been entirely replaced by a pervasive desire to escape into 'exile'. In the face of corruption and poor healthcare and education, the average Nigerian cannot help but lament an absence of opportunities. This reality notwithstanding however, Abidde argues that it is incumbent upon Nigeria's youth to shape a better future for themselves and their children.
With this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) fast approaching – in the year of the 60th anniversary of the institution no less – the Commonwealth needs to do much more in support of civil society and the protection of human rights, writes R. Iniyan Ilango.
Pambazuka News 456: Counterterrorism's blindness: Mali and the USA
Pambazuka News 456: Counterterrorism's blindness: Mali and the USA
Equality Now, a New Field partner, is releasing a new film about female genital mutilation (FGM) entitled “Africa Rising.” The film is showing this week in New York, San Francisco, and Boston, USA. The film is not currently available for sale, but a trailer can be immediately viewed online.
The convictions of Pierre Falcone, Arcadi Gaydamak, ex-president's son Jean-Christophe Mitterrand and Charles Pasqua in a French court for arms trafficking to Angola have exposed the impunity with which arms traffickers supplied weapons to Angola during its 27-year civil war.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) staff member Thulani Ndhlovu who was arrested on Wednesday 28 October in Dete, Hwange has been granted bail out of custody by Magistrate Ms I. Munamati Madzorere. Madzorere ordered Thulani to pay $200 bail and report twice every week (Monday and Friday) at Bulawayo Central police station.