Pambazuka News 582: Charles Taylor: One man, two wars, one guilty verdict - justice for whom?
Pambazuka News 582: Charles Taylor: One man, two wars, one guilty verdict - justice for whom?
The partners leading the efforts to control measles have announced a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero. According to a joint statement made available to PANA, the announcement comes with the publication of new data using a state-of-the-art methodology showing that accelerated efforts to reduce measles deaths have resulted in a 74 per cent reduction in global measles mortality, from an estimated 535,300 deaths in 2000 to 139,300 in 2010.
With Swaziland's economy crumbling due to falling revenues and the King's refusal to curtail his lavish lifestyle, a pro-democracy movement has been gaining steam. On April 13, political exiles from Swaziland and their supporters from South Africa and other African nations rallied outside the Swaziland Consulate in Johannesburg. Representatives from more than 20 organizations were on hand.
LAP GreenN, the Libyan Investment Authority’s international telecommunications arm and a major foreign investor in Zambia, said on Monday that it was disturbed by the decision last week in the Zambian High Court not to grant interim protection for its seized assets, which were legitimately purchased at a cost of US$257 million. In a statement, made available to PANA here, LAP GreenN said it had decided for valid reasons not to appeal the court decision, but to address the issue in its case against the government, which is scheduled in the Zambian High Court on 9 July, 2012. LAP-GreenN is an US$8 billion telecommunications investment arm of Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP) and it claims that its assets in Zambia now have a market-value of approximately US$480 million.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will encourage its two million members to take part in a national protest against the e-tolling system, it said. '[Cosatu] is mobilising its two million members for the mother of all protests against the act of highway robbery set to be committed from 30 April 2012 - the Gauteng e-tolls,' spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement. Cosatu is planning several rallies, marches, demonstrations and night vigils at the offices of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the transport department across the country from 23 April.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has apologised for referring to Eastern Cape pupils who flocked to the Western Cape for better education as 'refugees', it was reported. 'I am] very sorry because it was never meant in that context at all and it was never said in that way at all,' she was quoted as saying in the Cape Times.
Zimbabwe police on Monday arrested 15 members of the MDC formation headed by Industry Minister Welshman Ncube, including three councilors, in Tsholotsho district accusing them of holding political meetings without clearance. They will be charged under the widely-condemned Public Order and Security Act, the party said. Police were not immediately available for comment.
The trial of seven Free State policemen accused of murdering and assaulting protester Andries Tatane continued last week. Tatane was killed in Ficksburg during a service delivery protest, allegedly by public order police, on 13 April last year.
Botswana’s has confirmed a cessation clause with respect to Angolan refugees in the country. The ministry said the decision was taken after consultations with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. 'Taking into consideration the recommendations by UNHCR, the government of Botswana hereby declares, pursuant to article 1C (5) and (6) of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees, Article I (4) (e) of the 1969 Organisation of African Unity Governing the specific aspects of the refugee problems in Africa and Botswana’s refugee Act that the refugee status of Angolan refugees who fled Angola as a result of the armed conflicts between 1961 and 2002 will cease as of 30 June 2012,' read part of a statement.
Thousands of Malawians last Monday converged on Ndata Farm, the sprawling private estate of former President Bingu wa Mutharika, to witness the funeral service of the 78-year-old economist-turned politician. Mutharika died suddenly on 5 April after collapsing in his office at the New State House in the capital, Lilongwe. Several African leaders, including Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Armando Geubuza of Mozambique and African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping, attended the Catholic Church Ceremony.
Since it assumed power after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, the performance of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has been, at times, head-scratching, says this briefing from the International Crisis Group. 'Extolled in the wake of the uprising as the revolution’s protector, many have come to view it as an agent of the counter-revolution. It often has been obstinate, before abruptly yielding to pressure. It values its long ties with Washington, from which it receives much assistance, but seemed willing to jeopardise them by targeting US-funded NGOs.'
The recent deaths of journalists in Nigeria, Lebanon, Somalia and Indonesia bring the number of journalists killed so far in 2012 to 36 - which means this year is on track to be the deadliest for the media since International Press Institute (IPI) began keeping records in 1997. 'We are witnessing, by a significant margin, the deadliest start to a year for the media in recent memory,' IPI executive director Alison Bethel McKenzie said. 'As movements for democracy spread across the world, journalists - whose work is critical to any free society - are increasingly coming under violent attack.'
The weekend ransacking of a church compound in Khartoum illustrates the increasing hostility faced by some of the hundreds of thousands of residents of the Sudanese capital whose origins lie in what is now the independent state of South Sudan. Seven years after southern rebels and Khartoum signed a deal to end decades of civil war and nine months after the country split in two, recent borderland clashes have given rise to fears of a return to all-out conflict.
The Zimbabwe Unemployed People’s Association (ZUPA) has issued a statement calling for investigations into allegations that girls, some barely teenagers, at a primary school in Zimbabwe were stripped in front of their male counterparts while adults examined their private parts. 'If true, this would be one of the worst cases of abuse of the rights of the girl child which is why the Ministry of Social Services must immediately commission an investigation into the allegations.'
Thousands of documents detailing some of the most shameful acts and crimes committed during the final years of the British empire were systematically destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of post-independence governments, an official review has concluded. Those papers that survived the purge were flown discreetly to Britain where they were hidden for 50 years in a secret Foreign Office archive, beyond the reach of historians and members of the public, and in breach of legal obligations for them to be transferred into the public domain.
Teachers have threatened another national strike to press for better housing allowances. They are also demanding increases in commuter, medical, hardship and other allowances. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said its members were unhappy with the government’s failure to involve them in budget preparation through which they would have made their proposals.
Pambazuka News 581: Mali, BRICS and how African dictators corrupt Europe
Pambazuka News 581: Mali, BRICS and how African dictators corrupt Europe
The Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) must act immediately to investigate and prosecute abuses against the Tawargha community of black Libyans, said Amnesty International today, after another Tawargha man was tortured to death in a Misratah detention centre. The body of 44-year-old father of two Barnous Bous’a was delivered to his family on 16 April. It was covered with bruises and cuts, including an open wound to the back of the head.
In March 2012, the Government of Uganda tabled the Communications Regulatory Authority Bill, 2012 (the Bill), a major piece of legislation intended to consolidate and harmonise two existing and overlapping laws – the Uganda Communications Act and the Electronic Media Act – and merge the regulators they establish into a single Communications Regulatory Authority (the Authority). Article 19 has pointed out that the bill is out of step with international standards in many and significant ways. Most notably, with the exception of the funding arrangements, it fails to provide any credible safeguards of the Authority’s independence from the Government.
Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration has released its newest publication, 'Rainbow Bridges: A Community Guide to Rebuilding the Lives of LGBTI Refugees and Asylum Seekers'. Rainbow Bridges is the first guide of its kind directed at US LGBT and accepting communities. It is a 48-page guide developed in a pilot project to resettle LGBT refugees in San Francisco. Rainbow Bridges offers practical step-by-step guidance on welcoming new refugees, ensuring their mental and physical well-being, and helping them find support in their new communities.
South Sudan's seizure of a Sudanese oilfield has all but killed off hopes the two countries will settle their disputes soon and Khartoum may demand compensation before returning to talks, a Sudanese oil minister said on Sunday. The newly-independent South seized Heglig earlier this month, raising fears of an all-out war with Sudan. Tensions have mounted since South Sudan declared independence from Sudan in July, under a peace settlement that ended decades of civil war.
The bitter split between two warring ZANU PF factions has widened following the hotly disputed District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections in most of the country’s provinces. The elections, that have seen many candidates linked to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa romp to victory, have however been marred by reports of violence, intimidation and vote-rigging. Signs of growing structural fissures in the ¬former ruling party have emerged with key members belonging to Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s camp openly disputing election results from the restructuring exercise.
Evidence that British intelligence services colluded with Libyan spies by passing over details of refugees who fled the North African country is to be investigated by the UK Parliament. Allegations that MI5 housed two Libyan agents in a central London safe house, providing them with details of asylum claimants who could be coerced into working for Gaddafi's regime, will be examined by MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee, the Home Office said.
Activists have sent another letter to Cepheid, the manufacturer of the revolutionary GeneXpert multi-drug resistant TB diagnostic machine, urging them to bring down the price of their products so that more people can access this lifesaving test.
Rising drug resistance has turned what public health officials call today's Big Three infections - HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria - even more fearsome. Together, these diseases kill millions every year, representing 10 per cent of all deaths globally. Worse, the trio of epidemics is tragically interconnected, with TB, for example, the leading cause of death among individuals infected with HIV.
Policy makers and academics often pay little attention to environmental drivers of migration in Egypt. This paper demonstrates that environmental factors are often the hidden cause of the migration of Egyptians from one region to another. The analysis is situated in the broader studies on migration, and also shows why the findings of this study are significant. The paper makes recommendations that will hopefully help policy makers in understanding the causes of environmental migration and assist them in developing policies to address the problem of environmentally induced migration in a sustainable way.
This report compiled by the National Association of Professional Environmentalists and supported by Friends of the Earth International investigates cases of land grabbing in Uganda, focusing in particular on oil palm plantations in Kalangala, Lake Victoria. It assesses the impacts on rural communities and on the local environment, and questions who benefits from these
projects.
Thousands of young Mauritanian opposition protestors took to the streets of Nouakchott Sunday to demand President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, a former coup leader, step down. 'We're ready to oust Aziz,' the demonstrators chanted during a march that wound up in front of the national broadcaster, which the protestors described as 'the symbol of the regime's tyranny'.
The junta in Guinea Bissau on Saturday said its plan for a two-year transition had only been a suggestion, in an apparent climbdown following threats of UN and regional sanctions. Hours afterwards the opposition politician picked as transitional president by the junta told news agency AFP he was turning down what he described as an 'illegal' appointment. The junta has come under fire from the United Nations and the west African regional grouping Ecowas for failing to restore civilian rule after an April 12 military coup.
So far this year 14 schools have been burnt down in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, northern Nigeria, forcing over 7,000 children out of formal education and pushing down enrolment rates in an already ill-educated region. In a video posted on YouTube in February, Boko Haram, the Islamic jihadist group based in Nigeria, called on their followers to destroy schools providing Western education.
Pacifying the six rebel groups that hold sway across the north and northeast of the Central African Republic (CAR) is both a key component of the country’s security reform and a prerequisite for the economic development needed to end the spiral of armed conflict and criminality that has dogged the state since 1996. But funding shortfalls and the 12 January 2012 arrest of a prominent rebel leader have put the brakes on the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process, the active phase of which got under way in August 2011.
Grantees of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria who allegedly committed fraud or misused funds unwittingly did a lot of damage to the Fund – and, many say, global health - as donors withdrew and the beleaguered organization faced a 'crisis of confidence' in recent years. But the Fund has responded and is undergoing an extensive restructuring process. IRIN/PlusNews takes a look at some of the alleged fraudsters and the progress of the investigations.
In Malawi, an audience-driven radio programme - Nkhani Zam’maboma or 'News from Districts' - has captivated the nation by exposing everyday injustices experienced by Malawians. Grievances are articulated through local idioms and proverbs that have little in common with the individual freedoms espoused by human rights activists. Never before has it been possible for Malawians to share experiences of injustice so publically.
An education strategy released by UNHCR in February recognized the 'huge unmet demand for higher education among refugees' and made improving access one of its goals over the next five years. Although part of this approach involves doubling the current 2,000 scholarships a year available to refugees through the German-government-funded DAFI programme, a key element of the strategy is to make use of internet technologies and partnerships with academic institutions to reach much larger numbers of refugees through distance learning.
Guest Speakers: Denis Goldberg, Sipho Pityana, Eusebius McKaiser and Richard Calland.
The Editors of African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal are pleased to announce a special issue on 'There are no Blacks in Argentina.': Policing the Racial Border to explore the hidden and invisible history of Blacks and the ways in which racial ideology and practice have erased the presence and memory of the African descendant populations while valorizing whiteness in Argentina. While a number of critical works have began to uncover the presence of African descendant populations in Argentina, this topic remains under theorized.
A two-day National Conference on Land Owners and Land Users affected by large scale investments in agriculture organized by the Sierra Leone Network on the Right to Food (SiLNoRF) and Green Scenery, held on the 2nd and 3rd April, 2012 at the St. Edwards Pre- School Hall, Kingtom, Freetown ended up with a recommendation by participants for the formation of a Civil Society coalition that would serve as a watchdog on land issues in the country. In response to this recommendation, the 'Action for Large scale Land Acquisition Transparency’' known as (ALLAT) was formed.
For its ninth annual meeting, the CPA now invites the submission of papers and panels that will engage various aspects of this question of regional race/ethnic change or stability as a result of major tremors and aftershocks in the capitalist world economy.
This special issue is the culmination of an ESRC-funded research project to examine the impact of rising powers on the global politics of development. The research has identified a second tier of rising powers beyond the much-studied BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), including Turkey, South Africa, South Korea and Mexico, that will play a critical role in future politics of development.
The African Anthropologist is the official journal of the Pan-African Anthropological Association. It is published biannually by CODESRIA on behalf of the Association. The journal is planning to produce a special issue focusing on ‘sexuality’. We hereby invite contributions on various aspects of sexuality.
The mission of Congolese Genocide Awareness (CGA) is to generate worldwide awareness on the effects of war in general and the civil war specifically of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Particularly our mission is to generate awareness around the reoccurrence of the rape of Congolese women and the exploitation and killing of children. More information can be found on their website at A video and song shot for their cause can be seen at
Malian scholars, librarians and ordinary citizens in the rebel-occupied city of Timbuktu are hiding away priceless ancient manuscripts to prevent them from being damaged or looted, a South African academic in contact with them said. Cape Town University's Professor Shamil Jeppie said he was in daily contact with curators and private owners safeguarding tens of thousands of historic texts in Timbuktu, the fabled desert trading town and seat of Islamic learning overrun by Tuareg-led rebels on April 1.
The Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA), The Rural Women’s Movement (RWM) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) and 100 representatives of the rural masses met for two days to discuss the impending Traditional Courts Bill. The conference unanimously expressed deep reservations about the bill in its current form. 'The bill will have serious consequences for rural women and the rural population in general in terms of equal access to justice and it erodes the traditional justice system as it were by imposing the senior traditional leaders as the sole adjudicator.'
Are you an African leader with a vision for the future of your continent? Applications for the next Programme for African Leadership at the London School of Economics close on May 4th 2012. Successful applicants will take part in a three week intensive programme of lectures, debates, seminars and events based around issues of leadership as well as international affairs and development. Participants will benefit from gaining access to an active pan-African alumni network of rising leaders, with an annual network forum being held in Africa from 2013. The programme dates are 3rd-21st September 2012, further information is available from
In this Newsclick video, Professor Samir Amin discuses with Aijaz Ahmad on developments in Egypt over the last one year. Samir Amin details the correlation of forces in Egypt today and identifies the current phase as the beginning of a long period of democratic change with its ups and downs.
In 2011, Socfin Agricultural Company Sierra Leone Ltd. (Socfin SL) secured 6,500 hectares (ha) of prime farmland for rubber and oil palm plantations in Malen chiefdom in Pujehun district in the south of Sierra Leone. The firm is now seeking an additional 5,000 ha in expansion plans in the Malen region or neighboring chiefdoms. The initial investment, estimated at $100 million, with promises of job creation, compensation for lost farms, and construction of infrastructures, has enjoyed high-level government support.
Several women were on Monday morning arrested after stripping down to their bras at Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) as they protested the brutal manner in which opposition Forum for Democratic Change Women’s League leader Ingrid Turinawe was arrested last Friday. Ms Turinawe was assaulted on Friday as the police blocked a rally called by the opposition in Nansana, outside Kampala.
South Sudan's army has completed its withdrawal from Sudan's main Heglig oil field, the military said Sunday, but condemned the north for bombing the area. Juba seized the flashpoint oil hub on April 10, claiming that Khartoum was using Heglig as a base to attack the South's oil-producing Unity State. Although South Sudan disputes it, Heglig is internationally regarded as part of Sudan.
The talk will provide an overview of the reality of land grabs in Africa, based on extensive research and advocacy conducted by the Oakland Institute. Learn about resistance from impacted communities, grassroots and national organizations in Africa, and solidarity networks.
'We oppose the dominant economic and financial model that is in favour of privatizing and commoditizing water and sanitation services. Capitalist, extractive development has created dramatic and profound economic, social, and environmental crises. This approach, which considers water to be a commodity like any other, is unjust and ineffective in providing access to water and sanitation to all, and goes against the will and interests of the people.'
To celebrate the fact that the late Manning Marable has been awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for history for his ground-breaking book, Malcolm X – a life of reinvention, Race & Class has made available for free the seminal articles that Professor Marable wrote on the politics of the black working class in the US. The free downloads are:
- ‘Rethinking black liberation: towards a new protest paradigm’ (Race & Class Vol. 38 no. 4, 1997)
- ‘The divided mind of Black America: race, ideology and politics in the post-Civil Rights era’, with Leith Mullings, (Race & Class Vol. 36 no. 1, 1994)
- ‘Memory and militancy in transition: the 1993 march on Washington’ (Race & Class Vol. 35 no. 3, 1994).
A diary belonging to Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, which dates from the mid-1960s, and has been at the centre of a long legal battle between an American businessman and an African scholar from Kenya, will soon be returning home. The Kenyan, who describes himself as Africa’s 'Indiana Jones' has convinced the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania in the US that the diary rightly belongs to Ghana and to the Nkrumah family and should be returned to Africa.
Africa is not cashing in enough from its large gold resources, despite the spiralling price of the precious metal over recent years, according to a working paper published by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The paper, entitled ‘Gold Mining in Africa: Maximizing Economic Returns for Countries’, points out that gold mining is a significant activity in at least 34 of the continent’s 54 countries. A key factor is unfair concession agreements, say the authors of the paper, which severely limit the gains from gold mining that remain in the producing countries. This particularly applies to the royalty rate stated in the agreements.
A quiet walk through nature offers moments of beauty and serenity that often go unnoticed. In celebration of Earth Day 2012, we invite you to take a few minutes to enjoy this journey through cycles of light, water, wind and earth.
On Monday, 23 April 2012, Eddie Webster will be presenting the next instalment of the monthly Ndifuna Ukwazi seminar series. This public talk examines the rise of the workers’ movement and the politics of the ANC (1973–1994). Prof Webster will discuss the historical origins of the links between the ruling party - then a liberation movement struggling through the worst years of Apartheid - and the workers’ movements, which were rapidly developing and newly energised during this period. This question has continued relevance for current politics, given the political affiliation between the ANC, Cosatu, and the South African Communist Party (SACP). It is especially relevant in the year the ANC celebrates its 100 year anniversary, amidst ongoing debates about the state of our new democracy and the future of the party. For those who cannot attend, the event will be live-streamed:
Learn why the carbon trading gamble and ‘Clean Development Mechanism’ won’t save the planet from climate change and why African civil society is resisting. Read the second EJOLT report, 'The CDM in Africa Cannot Deliver the Money', by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society and Dartmouth College Climate Justice Research Project. A dozen researchers from around the globe, under the guidance of Professor Patrick Bond, explain in full detail – and through case studies from South Africa, Niger, Kenya, Mozambique, Ethiopia, the DRC and Tanzania – why the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is failing. The West’s strategy to reduce emissions is causing more harm than good to Africa - the continent that contributes the least to climate change but that suffers the heaviest toll. Disguised as a ‘solution’ to the climate change crisis, the CDM is now creating a second injustice above this existing injustice.
When the US military wants to head into un-chartered, or minimally chartered territory, they call on the experts of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or the NGA. By compiling the most current satellite imagery, existing maps, and layers of data like roads, rivers, and towns they are able to create custom maps and imagery for specific locations or events. Currently, two Geospatial Analysts from Stuttgart, Germany are mapping out the terrain for African Lion 2012 in southern Morocco. AL-12 is a bi-lateral exercise between US Marine Corps Forces, Africa, the Utah National Guard, and the Kingdom of Morocco. It's the 8th annual African Lion exercise in the country.
In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...
Television journalist Gil Noble, who died recently, hosted the New York City public affairs television program 'Like It Is'. One of his legendary interviews was with Stokely Carmichael, a leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee who coined the term 'black power'. Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture after moving to Guinea in 1969. Noble interviewed him in June 1996 about two year’s before his death.
Attorney Bruce Afran's appeal of parole-denial and 10 year hit resulted in the New Jersey Appellate Court's remand to the NJ Parole Board that its 10 year hit be cut to 2 years. It was done and Sundiata has become immediately eligible for a parole hearing again.
(Paris, April 12, 2012) – The French Ministry of Justice should move swiftly to issue an international arrest warrant for the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, EG Justice, Human Rights Watch, and SHERPA said today. On April 11, 2012, judicial sources confirmed that a French public prosecutor has endorsed the request of investigating magistrates to issue a warrant for Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue (“Teodorín”) over allegations of money laundering in connection with his lavish purchases in France.
This is a letter Human Rights Watch sent to all 15 members of the UN Security Council on human rights monitoring in Western Sahara and in camps in Tindouf, Algeria.
Small scale farmers mobilised against the corporate take over of the food chain on 17 April, reports this press release from La Via Campesina.
BAMILEKE:
I am a Mod Ngam
Man of spiders
Often called a diviner.
I am Bamileke
Born in Cameroon
Observing the Earth Spider.
VOICES:
He lives underground
With the nature spirits
Our ancestral messenger.
BAMILEKE:
Earth Spider takes his pick
Movement of leaf and stick.
VOICES (chanting):
He knows the ancient ones.
Earth Spider, tell us what you see;
We await your diplomacy.
DOGON:
I am a Hogan
Diagnosing for the Dogan,
Sands of the Bandiagara.
Come, Sand Fox
There are sticks in the sand
There is drought in the land.
I invoke your presence;
I am the Sunset Chanter.
VOICES (chanting);
Bandiagara
Mountain of freedom
For the Dogon of Mali.
DOGON:
Tell us Sand Fox
Our precious visitor;
Have we offended our ancestry?
BAULE:
I am called Komien
Within the Baule
My special pot called Gbekre.
Once upon a time
The mouse could speak
Of that the Baule toast.
Now he talks
Through the movement of sticks
For us in the Ivory Coast.
KARANGA:
I am an Nganga
Throwing dice called Hakata;
Made of wood
Bone or seed.
Between Ancestor and Karanga,
I endeavour to intercede.
Trusted and respected
I divine, I pray;
For the Karanga of Zimbabwe.
VOICES (chanting):
Ancestor, ancestor
The Healer wants to talk with you.
Whether with mice
Or the use of dice
Diviner wants to talk with you.
ZULU:
Being a Sangoma
I also use bones.
I am Nguni.
That is the Zulu, the Xhosa
The Ndebele and the Swazi.
VOICES (chanting):
Come with the bones, Sangoma
Come as quick as you can
Tell us of Unkulunkulu
Are we drifting from his plan?
ZULU:
From Unkulunkula
I received a special duty.
Having done my training,
Knowing herbs and animals;
I can make the sacred Muti.
I was possessed
I did not choose this profession.
Unkulunkulu called me,
Through my ancestor,
To be a healer of this nation.
VOICES:
Blessed Babalawo
It’s not time for you to go.
Here comes another someone
With troubles in his head;
I think he’s sinking in the flow.
YORUBA:
I am Babalawo
With the gift of Ifa
Giving to my people the Yoruba.
A gift from Olodumare
Through his servant Orunmila
To me, here in Nigeria.
VOICES:
You with great knowledge of Ifa
We beg you, do not go.
Her illness moves fast
Her days grow slow.
YORUBA:
I am a busy Babalawo.
ZANDE:
To raise them from their woes
To reach the spiritual height
I use what God has given us;
Divination by the termite
Two branches in one termite hill.
One from one tree
One from another.
And in their eating
Knowledge begins to gather.
You’ll find us in the D.R.C
The C.A.R. and Sudan-
Those who are called the Zande.
You will see us by the Congo
As well as by the Nile,
Praising the one called Onyame.
POKOT:
I am a Pokot elder
From the land of Kenya,
But just like Dogon in Mali
Our divination,
Whether by goat or by shoe,
Is performed for us by an elder
The elder of the older.
Shoes of he who is missing are thrown.
Like the Zulu bone
The Yoruba palm nut
The Maasai stone.
We continue to interpret the unknown.
VOICES:
The longer you live you get closer to the Shrine
Attracted by the Crucial Flame.
We get closer to Creator,
Called by this and that,
God of a thousand names.
Bamileke: Si
Dogon: Amma
Baule: Nyamien
Zande: Onyame
Zulu: Unkulunkulu
Yoruba: Oludumare
Pokot: Torontot
Karanga: Mwari
VOICES (chanting):
Ancestor, Ancestor
The healer wants to talk with you.
Whether by mice
Or whether by dice,
Diviner needs to talk with you.
©Natty Mark Samuels, 2010
cc WikimediaAfter the tragedy of Obama, the new World Bank president could well be a farce. It’s simply a matter of considering the underlying power relations.
Residents of Nairobi’s numerous slums live in constant fear of demolition of their homes. Yet there is no government plan to solve the problem of housing. The residents need to organise and demand their rights.
Dr Lopes is considered an institutional development and reform specialist.
It is high time the US foregoes its sense of entitlement at the World Bank and allows a merit-based and transparent contest for the presidency to allow non-American candidates a genuine chance of winning.
A discourse of international governance is in the making. Yet market logic like ‘carbon trading’, ‘geo-engineering’, or ‘climate smart agriculture’ cannot restore broken life-support-systems in nature.
It is not only African presidents who are corrupted by European aid-with-strings-attached. Evidence abounds showing a secret and extensive “suitcase” system in which millions of dollars are sent by African dictators to corrupt the European political process.
In Swaziland intimidation and coercion by the state are a frightening reality.
QUESTION: Who is the third biggest arms importer in the world, behind India and China?
ANSWER: Greece
QUESTION: If Greece had spent the EU average on defence over the past 10 years (1.7%) of GDP rather than spending 4% of GDP, how much money would it have saved?
ANSWER: 52% of GDP or Euro150 billion. So why are France and Germany not demanding that Greece cuts its defence spending; a residual fear of the Turk or perhaps there is another reason...?
QUESTION: In the period 2006-2010 which country was Germany’s largest market for munitions?
Answer: Greece, which accounted for 15% of total German arms sales.
QUESTION: In the same period, what country was France’s largest arms export market in Europe (third largest overall)?
ANSWER: Greece
QUESTION: In 2010 (last year data is available) social spending in Greece was cut by 1.8bn Euros, how much did military spending change?
a) Decreased by Euro 900 million
b) No change
c) Increased by Euro 900million
ANSWER: C
Leading a dedicated team to accompany the development and implementation of campaign strategies led by progressive African social justice movements, the Utetezi Director will support innovative strategies to amplify grassroots demands and realize people-centred change.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya or Dakar, Senegal.
Deadline for application: May 7, 2012.
For further information, please the job description and person specification.
To apply, please send the duly completed application form attached to: [email protected].
Barely 24 hours after James Ibori landed a 13-year jail term in the United Kingdom for money laundering, jubilation turned to anger following reports of the planned repatriation to Nigeria of the $250 million stolen by the former Delta State governor. Nigerians both at home and in Diaspora are strongly opposing plans to return the money to Delta State where the current governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, is Ibori’s cousin and 'stooge'.
The draft agenda for the upcoming G20 trade ministers meeting that is being circulated internally among members is too focused on the interests of big industrialized countries and not enough on what developing countries need, says Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan. Gita said that under the current draft, the meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, later this week, would not spare time to discuss the much anticipated liberalization of the agriculture sector, which had been at the heart of the process to create a multilateral trade deal under the Doha Development Agenda. 'I have spoken with Brazil and South Africa, basically we voiced the same concerns. There has to be an initiative to place the issue of trade liberalization of the agriculture sector on the table. We need to take a stance,' Gita said.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will probably expand 5.4 per cent this year as rising commodity prices and increased oil production help to offset a slowdown in Europe, the International Monetary Fund said. Growth is set to accelerate from 5.1 per cent in 2011 and compares with 5.5 percent estimated in January, the Washington-based lender said in its World Economic Outlook report today. The IMF raised its growth forecast for South Africa, the region’s largest economy, to 2.7 per cent for this year from 2.5 per cent.
Three stories on the Farm Radio Weekly website deal with 'land grabs', which are in many cases violations of farmers’ land rights. The first story is from Burkina Faso and tells how land owned by small-scale farmers is being granted to influential 'Sunday farmers'. The government gambled that encouraging investors to create large modern farms would help achieve food self-sufficiency. But few large land owners are even using their new land for farming, and smaller farmers are increasingly locked out of the land market.
'My job as a poet is to wake myself up and take responsibility for learning the truth. That means doing hard work, looking beyond headlines, being willing to interrogate data, structures, systems.'
It appears to be one of the means Greeks use to resist poverty and unemployment imposed by the successive austerity packages. But the consequences of this social economy might be the foundation of a different society.
The BRICS leaders have seen concretely that there is no alternative to moving from a unipolar world to a multipolar world that is based on mutual respect and an end to hierarchies.
In conversation with Jessica Horn, a leading Malian women’s rights activist (name supplied but withheld on request) identifies the roots of the crisis in Mali, and the opportunistic use of the crisis by Malian and international Islamic fundamentalists to gain a popular foothold in the north of the country.
Torture and other inhuman and degrading treatments, arbitrary arrest and detention, forced disappearance, the use of rape as a mean of intimidation, are current practices committed by the Moroccan authorities against Saharawi adults and children.
It remains to be seen whether the new president will be careful in her efforts to mend bridges with the West in order not to be seen as an unconditional supporter of the West.
The MNLA is not Jihadist. It is the main group representing the Azawad independence movement and has aims similar to those of other ethnic nationalist groups.
Ahmed Ben Bella, the first elected president of Algeria and one of the greatest figures of Arab nationalism died on April 11. In this wide-ranging interview, reflects on his life and offers interesting perspectives on world affairs.
Protection to victims of domestic violence has been extended significantly by the granting of a protection order to a learner at a school in Gauteng against her teacher. Last week, a magistrate granted a final protection order to the learner who alleged that her teacher harassed, intimidated and physically and sexually abused her. The learner reported an alleged rape to the police late last year. The Gauteng Department of Education has placed the teacher on precautionary suspension. Since then, the teacher has attempted through harassment and intimidation to force the learner and her family not to pursue the case against him.
Armed men have rounded up top Malian officials including two presidential hopefuls, in a show of force by a junta that seized power last month, as the interim leader named a Microsoft executive as Prime Minister. Those arrested included ex-prime minister Modibo Sidibe and Soumaila Cisse, a former minister who led the West African Economic and Monetary Union until November last year. Cisse suffered an unspecified injury while fleeing his home, and was later arrested at a hospital and taken by ambulance to the junta's headquarters in Kati, near Bamako, his office said.
Kenya’s battle to end food shortages may be won with the introduction of drought-tolerant maize in the next five years, scientists have said. This will make it the third country in the continent after Egypt, South Africa and Burkina Faso to use genetically modified (GM) crops for increased farm yields.
The continuing failure of the Nigerian state to protect the Igbo people from genocide demands new solutions to realise security and self-determination.
An excerpt from a presentation at the United National Anti-War Coalition national conference, 24 March 2012.
Swaziland’s democratic movement remains defiant and resolute in the face of police intimidation and brutality.
A colonial mindset still pervades some intellectual critiques of social movements in post-apartheid South Africa.
As Pambazuka Press republishes 'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa' we publish a tribute to the late Walter Rodney – who was assassinated by government agents in Guyana in 1980 – tracing his life, career and continuing legacy.
A new report from the Auditor General’s office shows that there is need for close to 3,000 lecturers and others in more senior positions in the four of the five public universities. Universities with grave demand for more academic staff include Makerere, Gulu, Mbarara and Kyambogo. In some public universities, the academic staffing is even below half of what is required by the National Council for Higher Education. To make it worse, the few dons in public universities are quitting for jobs in well-paying private and foreign universities and non-academic jobs.
Uganda needs 650,000 more latrines to ensure that every Ugandan has access to a latrine. Currently, at least 3.2 million Ugandans have no latrines at all and their place of convenience is the open space, according to the latest Work Bank report. The report indicates that another 13.8 million Ugandans use unsanitary or share latrines. This poor sanitation is costing the country at least sh389bn annually.
While the Occupy Movement has taken the world by storm, a long history of different types of social movement occupations have marked Latin America for decades. The website has an audio recording of a Left Forum panel dealing with this topic.
A policy paper is to be presented to the annual World Bank conference on land and poverty in Washington DC in the United States, which focuses on the confrontation between peasant producers and investors in the Mozambican province of Zambezia. Written by Simon Norfolk and Joseph Hanlon, the paper looks at divisions in the Mozambican government over whether it should support foreign investment to promote a technological leap in agriculture, or if it should support small scale farming to increase productivity.
In 2010 alone, global military spending rose to an all-time high amount of $1.63 trillion. The second annual Global Day of Action on Military Spending took place on 17 April 2012 to coincide with the release of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) new annual figures on world military expenditures.
What makes the cake episode so deeply offensive is the appropriation, by both artist and his audience, of African women’s bodies and experiences, while completely excluding real African women from the discourse. It is a pornography of violence.
The African Union (AU) has suspended Guinea Bissau from the 54-member bloc with immediate effect, a senior AU official said. The Pan-African organization also threatened to impose more sanctions on the West African nation if the soldiers who seized power there failed to respond positively to the call to restore constitutional order. The decision to suspend Guinea Bissau's membership was taken by the AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC), after discussing the military coup in the country.
An analysis of the relevance of concepts of ‘Common Goods’ and ‘Common Good for Humanity’ in the struggle for alternatives to neoliberal capitalism.
While the IMF’s strategic plan for boosting its financial sector surveillance has not been published, the Fund continues to argue that developing countries need more liberal financial systems. Since the financial crisis, the IMF has been trying to boost its work on overseeing risks from the world’s financial system. The IMF’s strategic plan for financial sector surveillance was due to be discussed at the executive board in February, but neither a date for the actual discussion nor any policy papers were released publicly.