Pambazuka News 627: Thatcher and Africa, NGOs, racism and rape
Pambazuka News 627: Thatcher and Africa, NGOs, racism and rape
Police ministry agrees to pay damages after police brutality against Abahlali baseMjondolo members in 2006
New European rules move the world closer to a global standard on transparency. Now other regions and countries must follow this example.
Activists pile pressure on the Chadian government to prohibit international crimes suspect Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from entering the country for the fourth time
On April 14, 2013 at around 17.00hrs, a police officer by the name Martin Kiteu alias 'Kin'gei' attached to Kasarani Police Station, Nairobi, confronted one Kenneth Mwangi, a footballer with Mathare United FC, over an alleged theft of a mobile phone at the Githurai stage. The officer pushed Mr. Mwangi to the ground and shot him fatally and at point blank range three or four times on the jaw, throat and head. This incident was witnessed by several people who were at the scene.
Rights Promotion and Protection Centre (RPP) is deeply disturbed by the level of impunity exhibited by the police and in particular the continuation of the activities of death squads within the Kenya Police. While great strides have been made in creating the necessary legislation to reform the police, there is little reflection of this on the ground and police continue to engage in unlawful killings.
Kasarani Police Station, in particular remains, a major host of the police death squads. The police station also plays host to another policeman known by the nickname ‘Denno’. RPP believes Denno was involved in unlawful shootings in the Kondele area in Kisumu during the 2007/8 post election violence. Other members of this death squad , known by their single names are:- Marel, Maiyo, Fielo and Mutisya.
RPP calls upon all concerned to send a petition to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to investigate this incident and the continuing operations of death squads in Kasarani and other areas.
CONTACT
Odhiambo Oyoko
Executive Coordinator Rights Promotion and Protection Centre (RPP) Upperhill Gardens, Block D-14, Third Ngong Avenue off Ngong Avenue. P.O Box 4636-00200 Nairobi. Tel: 020 2692071 Cell: 0717 431 738 E-mail: [email][email protected]/[email protected] Website: www.rpprights.org
Ruth Mumbi has been nominated for this years Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. The award is to recognise outstanding contributions made by human rights activists. Ruth is one of six nominees selected from a total of 90 nominations. Two of her fellow nominees are currently in prison.
Congratulations go to Ruth. Her work has included mobilisation of women around the new constitution in Kenya. She has also focused on the rights of women farmers and their communities in Kenya, facing threats from armed thugs in the process.
See below her Bio from the Front Line Defenders Website.
Ruth Mumbi – Kenya - is a passionate community mobiliser, and is the founder and current National Coordinator of Bunge la Wamama, a women's chapter of Bunge la Mwananchi a movement that conducts strong advocacy and campaigning on issues of social justice and accountability in different parts of Kenya.
She was born and still lives in Kiamaiko, a Nairobi slum and she began her involvement in community mobilisation initiatives in the late 1990s, when she was barely 16 years of age.
For more information:
At the recent convention, debates on what was initially a very progressive draft constitution became a distorted fascination with limiting rights as opposed to ensuring their universality
How can ties of solidarity be strengthened between continental Africans and black movements in Brazil? To start with, a deep appreciation of a shared of heritage of the two peoples is necessary
Pambazuka News 626: Central African Republic & Fighting global inequality and injustice
Pambazuka News 626: Central African Republic & Fighting global inequality and injustice
The richest 300 people on earth have more wealth than the poorest 3 billion – almost half the world’s population. This is in part a result of neo-liberal policies that have ensured massive transfer of resources from the global South to the North
France has over the decades been a key player in the violent drama of Central African Republic politics. But there are other interested parties involved. CAR is a case study of how neo-colonial greed can destroy a country
Upon the death of an artist society loses sorely. But their works provide a continuing reflection on how to refine ourselves
President Zuma’s speech seemed to equate criticism of the government with disloyalty. The path to national glory has been laid out and no one should ask any questions
Whatever the driving force behind this coup a feeling of déjà vu provokes suspicions. Even if Washington was behind this regime change, France was aware of the entire operation. The spokesperson of an armed group who calls news agencies from Paris is inevitably known by the secret services, and is given the green light to do so.
Lamnyam’s book of poems is a tribute to penmanship. She contends that poets are not dead wood, and attributes much leverage to the weight of her pen
The poems treat a broad range of contemporary social issues in Nigeria. The author has certainly enriched the literary world
There is likely to be a crackdown on NGOs and movements ahead of the election. Political parties are illegal in Swaziland
Although the declaration is a major political milestone in the struggle to end impunity for rape in war, not enough states have opened their doors to prosecuting grave breaches wherever they occur despite international law
We are concerned that the state continues to vilify our kind and actively violates and harasses our kin. As a result our community lives in fear of violence and abuse
For now, the Aregbesola-led Osun State government will be in euphoria for a major conquest of the labour movement with the bankrupt sell out of workers by their leaders over the full implementation of the nationally legislated N18, 000 minimum wage
Land grabbing is widely assumed to be happening only in the global South, but an in-depth analysis by a team of researchers shows that land grabbing is also expanding into Europe
The EU’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 contradicts the fact that its member countries are the biggest exporters of war and arms to the developing world and they are implementing harsh immigration and asylum polices. Protests by asylum seekers and refugees in Germany exposes these realities.
An analysis of the factors that produced the recent coup d’etat in the Central African Republic reveals the interests of France, the US and neo-colonial African forces
The UN Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter exposed the ‘appallingly poor’ record of the Canadian government on the abuse of the rights of Canada’s indigenous peoples. In a vengeful and contemptuous response the Canadian government withdrew from a United Nations convention that fights droughts and desertification.
South African activists are pressing charges against the South African Jewish Community Security Organization (CSO), the South African Zionist Federation and the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) for the recent violent assault of two young women Palestine solidarity protesters (including the daughter of a senior member from South Africa's largest trade union federation, COSATU) . One Palestine solidarity protester was left in a state of concussion due to the assault injuries.
Saferworld is an international non-governmental organisation working to prevent and reduce violence conflict and promote cooperative approaches to security. We believe that everyone should be able to lead peaceful, fulfilling lives, free from insecurity and violent conflict. We work with governments, civil society and international organisations globally and in over 15
countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.
Pambazuka News 625: The legacies of Hugo Chavez, Chris Hani and Martin Luther King
Pambazuka News 625: The legacies of Hugo Chavez, Chris Hani and Martin Luther King
The situation in the country is tense. The government has closed all avenues of dialogue with the main opposition party, which now appears to be contemplating a return to war.
The ghost of the disputed 2007 presidential election and its ensuing violence was omnipresent during Kenya’s 2013 elections, and the overarching message was peace at all costs. Some argue this posture rendered other issues secondary
On April 10, 2013, Sudanese security officers arrested Sharf Eldein Tia, the nephew of Jalila Khmais, the Nuba woman activist who was been detained for 10 months before she has been released last January.
Sharf Eldein arrived from Alliry area in Nuba mountains on April 3, 2013. Eyewitness informed us that he had been arrested by eight plainclothes men who identified themselves to be members of the Sudanese security. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Arry organization is extremely concerned about the safety of Sharf Eldein Tia. He is in danger of torture and ill treatment in detention. We call on the Sudanese authorities to immediately release Tia and reveal his whereabouts, or present charges against him.
'I won’t tire of repeating that we are one people. We are obliged to find one another, going beyond formality and discourse, in the same feeling of our unity.'
Africa today needs five Hugo Chávez’ - one for every region of Africa: North, South, Central, East and West to implement a similar level of socio-economic transformation that Hugo Chávez of Venezuela implemented in his country through peaceful constitutional means as well as in the region of Latin America during his 14 years in power.
‘The death of Chávez is a great tragedy that saddens the Venezuelan people and all those who are fighting around the world for the same cause as what inspired the Bolivarian revolution'
Rwanda has made significant steps in the pursuit of justice for victims of the genocide 19 years ago. But many suspected perpetrators living abroad have not been brought to justice and the government does not seem keen to fulfil its pledges to compensate survivors
He was probably the most demonized democratically elected president in the world because of his bold opposition to US imperialism, denouncing and exposing the predatory capitalist system which is inflicting mass poverty globally
The reasons behind the war crimes suspect’s voluntary surrender to international justice remain unknown. But Ntaganda was not acting alone in destabilising eastern DR Congo. He is a creature of Rwanda, like many other warlords
After four decades of repressive political rule, the legacy of Chavez’s government in terms of huge socio-economic benefits to the majority of Venezuelans are remarkable. The forthcoming national elections will decide whether this legacy is upheld and consolidated or defeated by an oligarchic elite aligned to the interests of the US.
The atrocious war in Syria has not spared children. In fact there is evidence indicating the regime and their opponents are targeting them. This touching story reveals the ugly reality of war that many children in conflict zones throughout Africa would easily relate to
There are genuine concerns that the United Nations Security Council should be reformed to increase African presence and influence. But power intrigues within and outside Africa suggest that the process of inclusion of African nations in the UNSC could have grave consequences for continental unity
A de-colonial, revolutionary shift in power from the 1% to the people is the only way Dr. King’s ‘radical revolution of values’ can be realized in a national and global context in which the West has demonstrated that it will use all of its military means to maintain its hegemony
Sit-in of Algerian citizens in London to oppose the exploitation of shale gas without a national debate
President and his deputy, along with Joshua arap Sang, a former radio host, face trials before the ICC on charges of committing or contributing to the commission of crimes against humanity during Kenya
Hugo Chávez’s implementation of the Bolivarian revolution inspired African American people as well as other oppressed people around the globe. They expressed their opposition to ‘the unconscionable low-intensity war that is being waged against the people and national sovereignty of Venezuela since the inception of the Chávez Frias administration.’
Assessing the extent to which South Africa’s role within BRICS is an opportunity for it to defend its economic interests and that of other African countries will be a tightrope for the country as BRIC manufactures hurt SA’s domestic sectors
Since the removal of the dictator Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian people envisioned a new socio-political and economic order only to see a reconfigured neo-colonial order with the Muslim Brotherhood at its helm. Consequently ordinary people have met state violence with the necessity of revolutionary violence on the street.
Economist Camille Chalmers is a leader in Latin American social movements and executive secretary of the Platform for Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA) and was interviewed by Beverly Bell. He shares his views on Chávez’s vision of a revolutionary Latin America that sought internationalist solidarity with Haiti, Africa and Asia among other issues.
A better world for all is possible. The disgusting opulence of a few people amidst mass suffering is not the natural order of things. But true change will only happen after the spirit of resistance is awakened among the oppressed people. That is the legacy of Hugo Chavez, Chris Hani and Martin Luther King
10 April 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Chris Hani, the legendary freedom fighter and one of the most courageous and talented leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle. Although he was only 50 at the time of his death, Hani’s contribution to the struggle was that of several lifetimes.
Fare thee well great literary spirit
That inspired millions
To dream a new.
Fare thee well great literary mind
That provoked many a mind
To think
creatively.
Fare thee well great literary giant
Father of African literature
Who spiced words for eating.
Fare thee well prophet of social justice,
May things not fall apart as you depart;
May anarchy not befall the
African literary world.
May you join the great ancestors
As you cross the great river;
Rest in peace as you await
The second coming.
We are no longer at ease
Without you;
For you were our arrow of God
Shooting without missing.
You are our man of the people
Traversing the ant hills of the savanah;
Adieu great literary soul, spirit, and mind.
Dear editor,
I enjoyed reading the article 'What’s at stake in the Central African Republic?'. Since it was published in January, no other contribution has been published ever since, which is very frustrating.
I think it's sad for this country forgotten by most African and world media. In spite of your article, I can't help wondering if the CAR is considered a geopolitical issue at all. I've been trying to grasp why this country has been so unstable since it took independence from France in 1960. The CAR gave birth to one of the few panafricanists from the colonial era : Barthélémy Boganda, who died under dubious circumstances. Since his death, the CAR has gone to the dogs. Why? Why has the CAR remained one of the few African states epitomizing instability with its many coups? I would be very grateful if you would contribute an article about the issue.
Jeanne Nyock
As the fate of over 66,000 Maasai families continues to hang in the balance over a government decision to declare village lands in Loliondo as a ‘Game Controlled Area’, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) urges the government of Tanzania to halt the decision.
Pambazuka News 624: Celebrating Chinua Achebe, Kenya's elections & Haiti
Pambazuka News 624: Celebrating Chinua Achebe, Kenya's elections & Haiti
On March 9, the Supreme Court of Kenya upheld the contested victory of Uhuru Kenyatta as president of Kenya and William Ruto as his deputy, without giving any reasons. The full ruling is expected in the coming days. Here is the reaction of one citizen
Saferworld is an international non-governmental organisation working to prevent and reduce violence conflict and promote cooperative approaches to security. We believe that everyone should be able to lead peaceful, fulfilling lives, free from insecurity and violent conflict. We work with governments, civil society and international organisations globally and in over 15
countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.
The April 2013 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now available: Please help us distribute it, and consider contributing in the future. You can also like our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter!
The Sierra Leonean army will be doing the biding of America’s proxy-war in Africa as mercenaries. This is a case of Africans paid to kill other Africans.
Civil society organisations working in Africa call to end intimidations and hate campaigns against civil society organisations in Kenya
Many prisoners, including women and children, are still held in custody most of them without charge.
Should social movements take part in national elections they are unlikely to win due to the fierce competition, shameless manipulation of voters by clever politicians and the heavy finances required? Patrick Schukalla sought the views of a Kenyan social justice activist
Achebe was certainly a great writer. But not all his works are masterpieces; and the idea that he is the ‘father of African fiction’ is romantic and naïve.
As a successful author and editor of the influential and prestigious Heinemann Educational Books African Writers’ Series, Chinua Achebe opened the door to many African writers
Contrary to some media reports, Haiti is far from being on the road to recovery. The situation of women’s access to healthcare is particularly terrifying
‘The lasting and befitting honour that the Lions and the Lionesses of Africa can bestow on Chinua Achebe is to write their own history’
Achebe will be remembered for his literary contributions and his fierce criticism of colonial and post-colonial African society. His books will remain a mainstay of libraries and classrooms for many generations to come.
Achebe fought to dissipate and disabuse the numerous misconceptions that the rest of the world held about Africa and its peoples. He was an incredible truth teller and moral bearer of our time.
Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ brought us face to face with our own story for the first time ever in the history of modern writing. It barely scratched the surface, but it opened the doors in the hearts of many other African writers to start telling their stories.
When Chinua Achebe showed the horrors of colonial rule in ‘Things Fall Apart,’ the narrative easily became the African story that impinged itself on our consciousness. The novel epitomized the case against imperialism
Pambazuka News 623: More on BRICS, Iraq 10 years on and rebuilding Haiti
Pambazuka News 623: More on BRICS, Iraq 10 years on and rebuilding Haiti
We're looking for a Campaigner to contribute to our campaign against human rights violations in North Africa. Working at the International Secretariat, you will contribute to a range of projects, including Amnesty International's response to the momentous changes in North Africa witnessed in 2011 and 2012. You will act as a focal point, providing advice and support to our worldwide membership, including devising campaigning strategies, preparing written and other campaigning materials and providing research support.
BRICS states, except Russia, are enhancing and facilitating land grabs abroad in a way that is inconsistent with their proclamations of sustainable development, cooperation solidarity, and respect of national sovereignty.
Many people now understand that the war against the people of Iraq was an imperialist war. This is an important point at a time when the same fabrication of terrorism is being propagated to justify the expansion of the US war and military campaign in Africa.
The state of waste management and sanitation is catastrophic in Haiti after the earthquake. Things are likely to worsen as there are no plans for any improvements. International NGOs are leaving or scaling down – after making their money
After many years of lack of broad-based civil society coalitions, there now exist new spaces and places in South Africa for progressive civil society to reclaim a unity of strategic purpose and action.
The recent elections showed that tribe is not the main driver of politics in Kenya. But while progress has been made, the fight for democracy has yet to be won, with minority communities, women, the disabled and the Diaspora remaining largely underrepresented
Henry Okah was this week jailed for 24 years by a South African court for the bombings in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2010. The trial raises a number of important issues. The judge was hardly thorough, professional and impartial in handling of the case.
‘I deplore what I regard as a growing tendency among Cameroonians to equate expression of dissent with lack of patriotism. I insist that to criticize one’s country is in itself an act of patriotism.’
The just concluded election in Kenya has been hailed for being peaceful. But there are serious allegations about the conduct of the polls, which are the basis of two cases before the Supreme Court.
Somalia is on the road to recovery after more than two decades of collapse. Now is the time for all the citizens to help the government achieve its goals by being patient and tolerant.
Until politicians, economic elites and citizens sincerely address complex and sensitive policy challenges in Liberia, the quest for national development and identity might remain an elusive dream packaged in shiny slogans.
It was Former President Moi who spawned the winners of Kenya’s presidential election. The sycophancy and corruption of his era are still ingrained in the political culture and were embodied by the rise of his allies in this election.
Just before the BRICS state bureaucrats and corporate interests met in Durban this week to plan how to continue to extract profits, the tragedy of thirteen SA National Defense Force troops in the Central African Republic lost their lives in a vain attempt to safeguard potential mining deals. A different way is needed in which people-led activism challenges and transforms vulture capitalism
The agreement signed in Addis Ababa last month enjoining states in the region in the search for lasting peace in DRC is a welcome move. But there are powerful external players who want the instability to continue.
That Black athletes work hard to hone their craft is unfathomable to some Whites. It is therefore important to showcase Black males who have overcome adversity and, in the process, become models of inspiration, leadership and perseverance.
Our Eagle on the Iroko has flown home... No, not really... Our Eagle is right here – with us. Our Eagle lives on. This has been the solemn promise made since age 28 with ‘Things Fall Apart’ and followed by the unrelenting, exemplifying rigour of the entire consummate stretch of discourses and reflections and yet more discourses during the course of 54 subsequent years that culminated in that towering testament of our age, ‘There was a Country’. Our Eagle lives on.
Focusing on the Eagle´s first discourse, a classic, Kwame Anthony Appiah, literary scholar and philosopher, has argued: ‘It would be impossible to say how ‘Things Fall Apart’ influenced African writing. It would be like asking how Shakespeare influenced English writers or Pushkin influenced Russians. Achebe didn't only play the game, he invented it’.
Chinua Achebe has indeed run a great race. Ka Chukwu anyi gozie his blessed soul and give comfort to his loving family. Odogwu Mmadu, ije oma. Our pledge at this time: Igbo will be free and we will surely bring to a halt this ongoing genocide against our people, which started on 29 May 1966, and we will transform Igboland to an advanced state and society as duly resolved in the Ahiara Declaration.
The lawyer submitted more than adequate evidence to support his allegation of torture and ill-treatment, including being subjected to prolonged electric shocks in the mouth, genitals, fingers, toes and other parts of the body
The youth describe the upcoming elections as undemocratic and meaningless because they will simply consolidate the monarch’s absolute power
Jewish people will be celebrating ‘freedom’ whilst complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people
Commission tells Egyptian government to compensate women as well as to investigate the assaults and punish those responsible
The BRICS are surpassing the US and the EU in terms of emissions of greenhouse gases. The Durban summit was an opportune moment to ask and answer many questions regarding the BRICS’ economic strategies and to radically reduce their levels of emissions.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) that was launched in 2001 is revealing for showing the four other BRIC countries how South Africa seeks to serve as ‘a gateway for investment on the continent.’ From Nepad to Brics, South Africa’s toll at the ‘gateway to Africa’ is high, and there is very little to show for it.
It is necessary to pose what role do the BRICS as semi-peripheries play in the internationalization of production; to what extent are they anti-systemic and anti-imperialist? It is necessary to rekindle a new strategy of non-alignment by the BRICS to not only reject the military hegemony of the North, but to enable a larger degree of maneuver for national development.
In order to prevent the BRICS from ending up as a talking shop they will have to work hard at forestalling the potential for them to become fierce competitors.
Pambazuka News 622: Special Issue: A BRICS reader for the Durban Summit
Pambazuka News 622: Special Issue: A BRICS reader for the Durban Summit
Despite much optimism, there are clear indications that BRICS lacks the capacity to function as a powerful and innovative new force in the realm of global politics and governance
BRICS offer some of the most extreme sites of new sub-imperialism in the world today. They lubricate world neoliberalism, hasten world eco-destruction and serve as coordinators of hinterland looting. The BRICS hegemonic project should be resisted.
There seem to be three narratives about BRICS. The first is promotional and mainly comes from government and allied intellectuals; the second perspective is uncertainty, typical of fence-sitting scholars and NGOs; and the third is highly critical, from forces sometimes termed the ‘independent left.’
The BRICS are catalysts and drivers of a multipolar world, aiming to demolish the hegemony of the West in global affairs.
The academics believe BRICS have covered significant ground since the inception of the partnership and that they must build upon the progress made by consolidating the agreements reached and the achievements registered and by making further concrete proposals for realising the unfolding objectives of the bloc
Although at this early stage the BRICS partnership raises more questions than answers, engaged citizens should help shape its agenda. The bloc may well turn out to be one of the single biggest developments of our era
The ANC embraced neo-liberal capitalism unreservedly in 1994. Similar to the 1884 Berlin conference, the forthcoming BRICS summit in Durban will seek to divide the continent with one common objective: efficient resource extraction through export-oriented infrastructure for continued capitalist exploitation that will enrich a minority and not the masses.
The debate on BRICS is polarized between pro and anti-BRICS elements represented in the South African government and left-leaning civil society activists and academics. It is uncertain South Africa’s new partners in BRIC will treat the country differently
The weaknesses and obstacles confronting the BRICS are explored. However, the elites of the BRICS exist comfortably within the prevailing global world capitalist system and remain more of a spectre rather than a real alliance
There are some who see BRICS as ‘the Center’s fifth column’ whilst Russia sees it as an alternative centre of global influence despite the differing ideological viewpoints of its member states. Russia is committed to BRICS as a constraint to the ambitions of the USA, NATO and the world reactionary forces behind them
The fact that emerging powers are increasingly banding together and promulgating policies that challenge the hegemony of the United States and the institutions that have been produced by the European and Asian core powers indicates that semi-peripherality does not just reproduce the existing global hierarchy.
The West is in decline and the world is becoming more multipolar. Emerging powers such as China, Brazil and India are clamouring for more global power. But whether they will attain this goal remains to be seen, given the odds stacked up against them.
Pambazuka News 621: Issues in Kenyan election, Benin's looted bronzes and Western Sahara
Pambazuka News 621: Issues in Kenyan election, Benin's looted bronzes and Western Sahara
The March 2013 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now available: Please help us distribute it, and consider contributing in the future. You can also like our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter!