Pambazuka News 581: Mali, BRICS and how African dictators corrupt Europe
Pambazuka News 581: Mali, BRICS and how African dictators corrupt Europe
Demand Obama institute a National Plan of Action for Racial Justice to end the epidemic of Black murders.
Lawrence Ozelle pushes aside his tool box and steps forward to confront us as we photograph Kyapaloni market - a trading centre in Kabaale parish, Buseruka sub-county, some twenty kilometre west of Hoima town. 'Who are you people?' he demands. 'Do you want to steal our land?' Ever since oil was discovered nearby, the locals say, they have had no peace. Strangers come to Kabaale on a daily basis. Some promise development, while others come and go quietly.
Oil transparency activists were disappointed by a ruling against them yesterday in Nakawa High Court, Kampala, but have vowed to continue a legal battle to require the government of Uganda to publish Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) that it has reached with international oil companies. Lady Justice Faith Mwhonda rejected an application from the African Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and three other civil society organisations for permission to present evidence at an appeal by two journalists against a separate ruling which denied them access to the PSAs.
An ecological disaster of massive proportions is imminent in the Vaal River system because of the decision years ago not to implement the mining industry's proposal for the treatment of acid mine drainage. Government's own emergency plan to treat the acid water has resulted in the equivalent of 140 tonnes of salts being discharged into these rivers each day because of the decision to dump neutralised but sulphate-rich water into the rivers of the Western Basin.
Teachers in Swaziland defied a government ban on their meeting and called a two-day strike. More than 300 members of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) met in Manzini where they decided to strike on 9 and 10 May 2012, to demand a 4.5 per cent salary increase.
Government has confirmed Malawi will go ahead to host the African Union summit in June in Lilongwe this year. Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu told Zodiak Radio that hosting the summit would be an honour to late President Bingu wa Mutharika who wanted Malawi to host the summit. Before President Mutharika's death, President Joyce Banda opposed the idea of Malawi hosting the summit due to what she called poor economic situation.
Whether on billboards along the roads or embroidered on shirt collars, mining companies are ubiquitous in this jungle hub of Ghana's Western Region. 'They take the gold and leave these kinds of things,' says Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, executive director and co-founder of the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM).
Uganda’s dismal employment prospects have left more than 12 per cent of the population unemployed or underemployed. New college graduates say they can’t find long-term work or any work at all. In the face of unemployment and underemployment, many are sticking with jobs that underpay or conflict with personal values.
A shortage of doctors and midwives in Cameroon has drawn more men into midwifery in recent years. While many Christian men and women say they prefer male midwives for their attentiveness, Muslim men and women say that it goes against their religion for a male to attend to a woman during labor. The government introduced the country’s first official midwife training program last year in order to ensure the availability of skilled midwives regardless of sex.
65 Egyptian prisoners in Israeli jails began a open-ended hunger strike, according to a report by the Israeli Yedioth Ahronot, quoted by Egypt’s state-owned news agency MENA. The Israeli Prisons Authority also on announced that three Egyptian detainees began a hunger strike to demand their release. The 65 Egyptians are held in various prisons in the Negev Desert in the South of Israel, according to statements by Ibrahim El-Darawi, head of the Palestinian Studies Center in Cairo.
Representing the struggles for political and societal changes in the Middle East merely as a ‘Social Media Revolution’ of an upper middle class youth is selective and simply does not correspond to the situation, says this article from International Affairs. 'It ignores the majority of poor people, also among the urban youth, and misses out the various forms of creative activism on the ground and their grass-root organisation in forms of neighbourhood patrols and cleaning troops.'
Poor sanitation is not only a menace to public health, but also a roadblock to sustainable development and a huge strain on financial resources, according to a new World Bank study. A report by the Bank's Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) finds that poor sanitation is causing a loss of US$5.5 billion every year to 18 African countries. That estimated loss in turn adds up to annual economic damages between 1 per cent and 2.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Moroccan authorities should drop charges and release a rapper who has spent three weeks in pretrial detention on charges that he insulted the police in his songs and a video set to his music, Human Rights Watch said. Police arrested Mouad Belghouat, known as 'al-Haqed' (the sullen one), on March 29, 2012, because of a YouTube video with a photo of a policeman whose head has been replaced with a donkey’s. The lyrics denounce police corruption.
Thirty years ago, on March 31 1982, prisoner number 466/64 of Robben Island was transferred to Pollsmoor maximum security prison (Cape Town), thus ending two decades of banishment to the worst outpost of the South African penal system. During these years, The UNESCO Courier brought regularly news and ideas from the five continents to Nelson Mandela. In November 1983, The Courier published an issue on Racism with a portrait of Nelson Mandela on the cover.
As President Obama seems to be ready to give a green light to Colombia for the implementation of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement this weekend, under the guise of improvements in labour conditions and human rights, the Black Communities Process in Colombia (PCN) raises the question: what will it take for the Obama administration to understand the severity of Afro-Colombians’ human rights?
Over R570-billion will be needed for investment across South Africa's water value chain, in the coming 10 years, according to Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa. The money is needed to pay for water resources infrastructure, water services and water conservation and demand management across national government, municipalities and the country's existing 12 water boards.
Julius Malema will continue to perform his duties as president of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) despite his suspension by the ANC, the league has said. A previous meeting of the NEC resulted in a 'mandate to protect and defend the autonomy of the ANCYL by not agreeing with the removal or release of any of the elected leaders of the ANC Youth League until 2014'. The ANC’s national disciplinary committee suspended Malema for calling President Jacob Zuma a dictator.
The farmers' union TAU SA has voiced concern over the impact toll fees would have on food prices. Union president Louis Meintjes said farmers already have their backs against the wall with rising fuel prices and higher vehicle registration and licence fees. The additional burden of toll fees on Gauteng freeways would put farmers in an impossible position, he told Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele in a letter released to the media.
Shares in Cobalt International Energy fell as much as 11 per cent after news that three of the most powerful officials in Angola have held concealed interests in the Goldman Sachs-backed group’s oil venture in the African country. The fall, which wiped $900m off Cobalt’s market capitalisation, came after a Financial Times report detailed the interests.
Angola is ending its military mission to help modernise the army in Guinea Bissau as a result of requests from unnamed 'sectors' in the country, Portuguese news agency Lusa quoted Angola's foreign minister as saying. Guinea Bissau is currently in the middle of two rounds of voting to elect a new president to replace Malam Bacai Sanha, who died in a Paris hospital in January after a long illness.
Lawyers for Zambia's ex-president Rupiah Banda accused prosecutors Thursday of pursuing his son on politically motivated charges of corruption in the sale of the national telecom firm to Libya's LAP Green. Henry Banda is living in South Africa. After his father lost elections in September 2011 the elite Government Investigative Wing announced that he was wanted for questioning over the $257-million sale of fixed-line operator Zamtel to the Libyan firm.
Mozambique is addressing its chronic skills shortages with a campaign to lure back more than 25,000 nationals living abroad, who fled the country during its deadly civil war. The country is also expanding its skills-training programmes, while hundreds of Mozambican students are in China attending technical training programmes.
Swazi riot police detained at least seven activists Saturday on their way to a pro-democracy church service in the central city of Manzini, one of the activists said. Wandile Dludlu from the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and head of the banned Pudemo opposition Mario Masuku were among those held, Dludlu told AFP.
The newest issue of the Kakuma News Reflector is now available online at The Kakuma News Reflector (or KANERE) is a refugee free press devoted to independent reporting on human rights and encampment.
Water privatisation has been proven not to help the poor, yet a quarter of all World Bank funding goes directly to corporations and the private sector, bypassing both governments and its own standards and transparency requirements in order to do so, says a new report. Corporate Accountability International, the US-based non-governmental organisation that published the report, has called on the World Bank to stop funding the private water sector and start redirecting its money to public and democratically accountable institutions.
Democracy campaigners in Swaziland have come up with a novel protest against King Mswati III - ignore the public holiday called to mark his birthday and go to work instead. The April 12 Swazi Uprising Movement is one of the many groups and individuals in Swaziland angered that King Mswati will be spending millions of emalangeni of public money on his birthday party. They want the Swazi people to boycott any celebration of his 44th birthday that falls on Thursday (19 April 2012).
'Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives' is a series featuring 12 alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. In the third narrative, Deborah James, a leader in the global movement for economic justice, speaks about how international financial institutions hinder countries’ efforts at poverty alleviation, instead prioritizing corporate interests. She also describes citizens’ efforts to oppose the power of these institutions, and tells of the countries that have made strides toward freeing themselves from the economic chains, providing inspiration to us all.
While many Capetownians were running through leafy suburbs from one ocean to another and while others drank and/or sang themselves to stupor in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a unique group of about fifty people staged their second annual Welcome to Hell 'Crucession' from Gugulethu to Khayelitsha. Drenched by the pouring rain despite wearing black garbage bags, we walked, sang and danced a full 16.3 kilometres without even a peep of attention from the local newspapers. I participated in the march, which was organised by the controversial Way of Life Church based in Mandela Park in Khayelitsha because of its message that reminds all of us that 18 years since the fall of the National Party, the ghettoised townships where the poor majority are forced to live, remain a living hell.
The latest issue of the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin is available and deals with anti-corruption legislation.
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The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) in the Netherlands stands accused of being responsible for the suicide of a man who died trying to protect his children from deportation. Alain Hatungimana (36), an asylum seeker from Burundi, took his own life the day before he and his two children were due to be sent back to their homeland. According to friends in the Dutch town of Culemborg, Hatungimana had become very depressed as the deportation date drew near and he had told them his life would be in ruins if he returned to Burundi.
Ikal Angelei, the founder of Friends of Lake Turkana in Kenya, receives the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco today (16 April). The award will honor an activist who is defending the interests of 500,000 poor indigenous people against a destructive hydropower dam, and has successfully taken on many of the world’s biggest dam builders and financiers.
Kofi Annan, Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), has announced the appointment of a renowned African business leader from Kenya, Ms Jane Karuku, as the new president of the organization. Ms Karuku was selected after an exhaustive international search process. She joins AGRA from Telkom Kenya a subsidiary of France Telecom-Orange where she has been Deputy Chief Executive. She takes over from Dr Namanga Ngongi who is retiring after five years as the first president of AGRA.
Fahamu is commissioning an evaluation of its pilot Pan African Fellowship Program. The evaluation will establish the extent to which the initiative contributed to the strengthening of social justice activism in Kenya by developing the knowledge and experiences of fellows who are community based activists, their affiliate organisations and movements, the host organisations and others who were involved in the program. Interested individuals are requested to send in their applications for consideration as Consultants by close of business on Wednesday May 2, 2012.
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.
PEN American Center has named Eskinder Nega, a journalist and dissident blogger in Ethiopia, as the recipient of its 2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Nega, a leading advocate for press freedom and freedom of expression in Ethiopia, was arrested on September 14, 2011, and is currently being tried under the country’s sweeping anti-terror legislation, which criminalizes any reporting deemed to 'encourage' or 'provide moral support' to groups and causes which the government considers to be 'terrorist'. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
'Why Are We So Angry? is a six-part documentary series which explores the underlying issues contributing to what seems to be a collective anger amongst South Africans. This repressed anger, in turn, is now manifesting itself in many different ways in our society.
The April 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now available on our .
In this issue:
- ‘We are in hell’: Legal aid needed for detained asylum seekers in Romania
- Legal aid battles in the Lords: a report from the United Kingdom
- Country of Origin specialists: engaging at what cost?
- ‘Experts’ in the asylum process: are good intentions good enough?
- Court injunction forbids Israel from deporting South Sudanese
- Update: Syrian refugees in Turkey
- Syrian men barred from leaving country without military approval
- More resettlement places in Europe?
- Court rules conditions in Dadaab to be ‘inhuman and degrading’
- Canadian government to include Mexico on ‘Safe Country of Origin’ list
- Mock trial for Europe aims to shed light on human rights
- Petition: Support Refugee Action’s ‘Access to Justice’ initiative
- Petition: Campaign to save North Korean refugees in China from refoulement
Also in this issue: Announcements; Country of Origin and legal news; Deportation news; Requests; Resources; Publications; Vacancies & Opportunities; Calls for papers; Conferences and courses.
Former President Benjamin Mkapa put up a spirited defence for the decision of his third phase administration to privatise state firms, at a public forum held in Dar es Salaam. He told participants at the fourth Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial chair that the poor performance of the firms was due to bad management, in reaction to accusations directed at him personally from some participants. Mkapa said during his time in office when he decided to adopt the privatisation, some 386 state owned industries were privatised, 180 of which were sold to locals. According to Mr Mkapa, all the 386 companies have since collapsed due to what he termed as bad management.
A documentary on the life of Prof Neville Alexander, 'Glimpses of a Life: Neville Alexander', by local filmmaker Nicki Westcott was launched in March. His work and life's legacy is widely celebrated, but who's the man behind UCT's Professor Neville Alexander? Few knew the inner workings of this acclaimed linguist and anti-apartheid struggle veteran - he's fiercely private and humble - until now.
Drawing on the power of creative and entertaining arts to communicate messages, the 'Creative Arts for Youth HIV/AIDS Prevention – Music and Comics in Chamanculo', project is designed to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, as well as inspire youth to know their HIV status. Community Media for Development (CMFD) will be working with the residents of Chamanculo, a peri-urban community of Maputo, to create music and illustrated comic stories. The music will be the focus of a concert in Chamanculo, be distributed to radio stations, and become part of local band Sigauque Project’s regular repertoire of songs.
Global foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows rose by 16 per cent in 2011 to an estimated US$1.66 trillion, surpassing the pre-crisis levels of 2007, UNCTAD’s latest Global Investment Trends Monitor reports. This growth was due in large part to cross-border mergers and acquisitions and to increased amounts of cash reserves kept in foreign affiliates, the Monitor, No. 9, says. The report notes that much-needed direct investment in new productive assets through greenfield investment projects or capital expenditures in existing foreign affiliates appeared to be limited.
The detention and deportation of immigrants has reached an all-time high under the Obama administration. Al Jazeera's Fault Lines investigates the business of immigrant detention and finds out how a few companies are shaping US immigration laws.
The April edition of the Peace and Security Council Report from the Institute of Security Studies has an article which focuses on the situation in Madagascar. 'Against the backdrop of serious obstacles in the process of implementing the Roadmap, the Malagasy military staged protests in March 2012 to air their grievances about poor living and working conditions,' notes the report. 'SADC’s failure to resolutely monitor and guarantee the implementation of the fragile Roadmap risks a relapse into violence in Madagascar,' it says later.
The murder of Trayvon Martin is no isolated tragedy. The murder of Black men and women by police and other state officials and by self-appointed 'keepers of the peace' is standard practice in the United States, and essential to the very fabric of the society. Please join us is pressing these demands to hold the United States government accountable for its failure to fully address the systemic problem of institutionalized racism. You can help by endorsing these demands and raising them to the Obama administration and state and local governments in every venue possible.
Join more than 500 policymakers, activists and practitioners, including young persons, people living with HIV & AIDS, with disabilities, and LGBQTI persons from Africa and around the world at the 5th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights. The conference will will take stock of responses to sexual health and rights on the continent since ICPD, and interrogate the status of sexual health and rights, with particular focus on women, girls, adolescents and youth.
On the day that biotech giant Monsanto released its second quarter earnings, a new report by civil society organisations showed that around the world small-holder and organic farmers, local communities and social movements are increasingly resisting and rejecting Monsanto, and the agro-industrial model that it represents. The new report, jointly produced by La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International and Combat Monsanto - available in English, French and Spanish - provides snapshots of frontline struggles against Monsanto and other agrochemical corporations pushing genetically modified (GM) crops onto farmers and into the environment.
Basile Mahan Gahé, general secretary of the Ivory Coast national trade union center Dignité remains imprisoned in the remote town of Boundiali - some 700 kilometers from the capital Abidjan - together with common criminals. The United Nations' ILO has now formally added its voice to the international protests calling for his release. Use the form available through the link to send a message to President Ouattara (with copies to Ivory Coast embassies in France, Belgium and around the world as well as embassies in Abidjan) calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Basile Mahan Gahé.
Launched in March 2012, the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) supports independent African research on conflict-affected countries and neighboring regions of the continent and the integration of African knowledge into global policy communities. The APN promotes the visibility of African peacebuilding knowledge among global and regional centers of scholarly analysis and practical action and makes it accessible to key policymakers at the United Nations and multilateral, regional, and national policymaking institutions by facilitating the transformation of the quality and scale of African research, consolidating the contributions of African researchers and analysts, and connecting African researchers, policy analysts, practitioners, and networks with each other and with policymaking communities around the world.
A coalition of pressure groups has unveiled a new campaign against three controversial sponsors of the London Olympics, accusing them of using the Games to 'greenwash' unethical corporate activities. With the growing prospect of protests at the Games by groups seeking to highlight the activities of its corporate backers and others planning to use it as a broader canvas to protest against capitalism, the Greenwash Gold campaign marks a new level of co-ordination.
Twelve of the world's poorest countries - including Afghanistan, Pakistan and seven nations in Africa - are going to be hit as the Conservative government looks to slash $377 million in foreign aid over the next three years, Postmedia News has learned. The exact impact on each country is unclear, but the cuts are expected to prompt anger and frustration from the affected countries, which rely on international assistance to provide food and other services to millions of citizens. A number had already seen major reductions three years ago.
China’s economic transformation over three decades has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But impressive economic growth rates in the world’s largest country have come with heavy environmental costs. The air in many of China’s major cities is the most polluted in the world. The water in many major Chinese rivers is unfit for irrigation. Soils in key agricultural regions are contaminated by heavy metals. Scarce arable land and water resources and important biodiversity are being lost. China’s carbon and nitrous oxide emissions are having serious impacts both in China and at a global scale.
Pambazuka News 580: Challenges to globalisation from the South
Pambazuka News 580: Challenges to globalisation from the South
The president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, has formally resigned after soldiers ousted him in a coup in March, with power set to be transferred to Mali’s National Assembly after elections later this month. The soldiers say they seized power because of Touré’s alleged mishandling of a rebellion of ethnic Tuareg rebels, who have succeeded in capturing several key northern cities, declaring their independence and now calling for international recognition. Officials claim the rebels are a mix of Tuareg separatists and Islamists with links to al-Qaeda. We speak with Firoze Manji, editor-in-chief of Pambazuka News, a pan-African social justice website. He was formerly the Africa director for Amnesty International. Manji recently co-edited a book called "African Awakening: The Emerging Revolutions." Manji argues the political unrest in Mali, Senegal, and beyond is "driven by the fact that over the last 30 years our people have lost all the gains of independence," due in large part to what he calls neoliberal policies imposed on many African countries by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. "People feel that their governments are more accountable to the banks and to the international multinational corporations than they are to their citizens," Manji says.
cc E PThe AU and ECOWAS need to act consistently and decisively to protect and uphold democracy when it is threatened by either military or civilian coups.
The most salient outcome of the presidential elections in Senegal is a heightened, irreversible sense of empowerment; the notion that ordinary people constitute the first and most important institution in a democracy.
Address by the South African Minister of Science and Technology at the Archie Mafeye memorial lecture.
Slowly, the South has tried to revive UNCTAD, whose policy framers have become a bit more aggressive in their defence of an alternative to neo-liberalism.
A bill of rights that protects Nigerians from insecurity and violence on the roads is also needed alongside the coming bill of rights for air travellers.
The first book to focus on China’s involvement in Angola presents perspectives from both countries.
How can these westerners be so cynical to oblige people they formerly colonised to use their democratic paradigm whilst their countries are grappling with the same model that hides xenophobia, unbridled racism, injustice and misery?
The continued theft of large quantities of diamonds by dealers and cartels is a threat to national security and may undermine the work of the inclusive government in Zimbabwe.
Zille's comments brought back memories of the Afro-phobic attacks of 2008; but this time, invoking such phobia between people already living in South Africa.
The key issues around past historical injustices and gender perspectives must be at the center of the land question for it to make meaning in Kenya’s national development discourse.
The involvement of several Sudanese sects, groups, and institutions in the campaigns and events for women is our desired success as an organization working to support women's rights.
A personal account of human rights abuse in Uganda raises questions about the role of mainstream human rights organisations supported by international donors.
'I must say I was more than happy when Ankrah was removed from office in April 1968 and General Akwasi Afrifa, a far more polished and liberal officer, became head of state.'
The Egyptian economy will need of some kind of financial aid within the next few months to avoid a severe downturn.
The increased strength of emerging countries of the South confronts the challenges of contemporary globalization.
The novel exposes the bitter betrayals and collusion between a new, deeply flawed political elite and multinationals, and tells the story of a rebirth of grassroots activism.
The real question worth arguing about soberly is: Does the ANC (or the SACP for that matter) have the capacity to right itself and become a real instrument of genuine liberation of the South African people in the post-apartheid period?
Monday 16 April, 7 - 9pm, Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA.
She is one of the most influential poets of the late 20th century.
March 29 was a sad day... We lost Adrienne Rich, one of the most inspiring poets we were blessed with. She gave our dreams a soul called social justice.
It appears that whites may hunt down blacks with immunity from arrest so long as they leave behind no clue that they were not acting to defend themselves.
Increasing violence and threats raise concerns about 2012 elections.
This is a podcast prepared by Mbonisi Zikhali based on the launch of the African Awakenings book that we held last night in Ottawa hosted by Octopus Books, Inter Pares, Carlton University and Friends of Pambazuka.
We were not there when you enslaved our forefathers
We were not there when you showed us your brutality through colonisation
We were not there when you forcefully stole our resources
We know what you did to Kimathi, Kwame, Lumumba, Modibo, Barka, Samora,
Sankara, Hani and all those who opposed your interests on our continent
But that was in the past
Today we were born, we have grown and we are watching you
We are watching you as you continue plundering the Congo
We are watching you as you steal our minerals through force when corruption
fails
We are watching you as you put up your AFRICOM bases in Djibouti, and your
Lilly-pads all over
We are watching you as you dump nuclear waste on Somali coast, and as you
support their terrorists from behind the scenes
We are watching you as you suppress our economies every time they threaten
your hegemony
We are watching you as you continue to corrupt and to compromise the
leaders that your system imposes on us
We are watching you as you succeed in brainwashing some of us with your
powerful global media
We were painfully watching you, as you negated the rule of law in Ivory
Coast, through the gun
We were painfully watching you, as you murdered our Brother leader, through
the gun
We were painfully watching you, as you took Zimbabwe’s economy to its knees
Today, your killing instincts are leading you into CAR, in the guise of
following some Kony fellow
Today, your killing instincts are taking you into Mali, in the guise of
restoring ‘democracy’
Today maybe, Niger, Nigeria or Algeria will be where you will sent your
religious crap heads and divisive empty heads
But what you may not know is that
Today we were born, we have grown and we are watching you
The Sankaras are in their thousands
The Kimathis are in their thousands
The Kwames are in their thousands
The Samoras are in their thousands
The Hanis are in their thousands
The Gaddafis are in their hundreds of thousands
Maybe you cannot see us
Because the only avenues we have are the demonstrations, the blogs and the
never aired press conferences
Continue thinking that we are asleep, or that we are some ‘lazy
intellectual African scums’
Yes, we are few in numbers, but what we lack in numbers, we compliment with
our energy and zeal
Our forefathers foresaw this age
An age where you would view us as some backward people
An age when some of us would view us as a lesser people
That was why they left for us the magnificent Pyramids all along the Nile
Pyramids that you once claimed were built by you, Pyramids that you today
claim were not built by humans
That is why they left for us the Great Zimbabwe
So developed they were, that you once claimed that the builders came from
elsewhere
That is why the left for us the complicated underground structures all over
Structures that make a child’s play of your subways and skyscrapers
That is why they left for us the arts and cultures
With rhythms that you cannot understand
All these are a reminder, So that when we see them, we may hold our heads
up high, we may be proud of what we achieved, and we may remind ourselves
that we need to regain our lost glory, and bring humanity back into the
world
Just like the phoenix, our continent is burning, and the heat is preparing
us, preparing us to rise
Just like the lion, we will soon roar, and we will care for nothing, but
our freedom and dignity
We have studied your ways
You use your military superiority to rule on us
You take advantage of our goodness to splash your wrath on us
You may not hear our voices, neither do we care
We are organizing
We have learnt from our past
But most importantly
We are learning from your past and present
And when we rise
And when the fire starts to burn
You will realize that the generation has arrived
And we shall not forgive, we shall have no mercy, we shall keep our Utu
aside
We shall use your methods to instill humanity into you
A worse fate will meet your local stooges and puppets
For we have seen that love can’t work for you
And we shall end all this
Once and for all
Because we are tired of watching you
1st April 2012
9:36pm
Al Ahly are very bitter because no justice has been done after scores of their number were killed in the worst incident of violence inside a stadium since Roman gladiators massacred slaves in arenas.
If aid is not in the interests of African peoples’, why would aid conditionality be a tool for African social justice?
The fight for resource control has led to the eruption and escalation of all manner of conflict and violence in the Niger Delta. It’s all about power and control in light of the oil revenue.
I suppose, there is no time even an excellent work will please all "stake-holders".
For someone with the stature of Malcom X, time and space will continue unfurling a myriad intepretations on his life.
He is, as Marable says a part of the Black Aesthetic in America.
To us in the Motherland, Malcom X represents our hope and idea of freedom and dignity for the diaspora Africans.
What Marable has revealed is an extremely complex, protean and fearless African with a special love for his people.He was a man always learning.
Although some aspects of Malcom's life, as revealed in the book are somewhat disconcerting, one is left with a humbling thought that Marable points out:
His fiery and incisive oratory and telling truth to power was a marvel and extremely important during his time.
I find Marable's coverage of Malcom objectively respectful without subservience or sheer myth-making. Malcom X still comes out as an awe-inspiring Afrikan man. Period
After a chilly period as a genuine revolutionary trying to find a way forward within a blatantly corrupt version of ‘post’-colonial neoliberal nationalism, Kasrils should be warmly welcomed for any initiative he pursues.
The first objective is to make the hands-on struggle led by small-scale farmers’ organisations and/or local groups, supported by other organisations, partners, allies, visible.
(Jakarta, 2 March 2012) April 17 is the International Day of Peasant Struggle, commemorating the massacre of 19 peasants struggling for land and justice in Brazil in 1996. Every year on that day actions take place around the world in defence of peasants and small-scale farmers struggling for their rights.
Equality Now and the Movement for Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR) recently produced “A Guide to Using the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa for Legal Action.” The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa is renowned for its strong and comprehensive provisions on women’s rights. The how-to guide aims to equip activists with strong tools to protect and advance women’s rights at the local, national, and regional levels.
The guide is on the SOAWR .
To learn more about Equality Now and its work promoting the rights of women, please see its website (in English, French, and Arabic).
On a related note, on March 9, 2012, Cote d’Ivoire ratified the Protocol. For a map of African countries that have signed and ratified the Protocol, please see the SOAWR website.
Pambazuka News 579: Senegal victory: Can Macky Sall deliver?
Pambazuka News 579: Senegal victory: Can Macky Sall deliver?
The East Africa Association of Grantmakers (EAAG) is elated to announce the call for nominations for the inaugural East Africa Philanthropy Awards (EAPA) 2012. Launched in 2011, the Awards seek to identify, recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions of individuals and organizations to strategic social development and to the growth of the philanthropic movement in East Africa.
There has been a development and shift away from privatisation as the dominant strategy towards the so-called corporatisation and commercialisation of public water services. The main purpose of this report is to analyse the strategic development in policy that has taken place, the World Bank's neoliberal strategy on corporatisation of urban water services and concrete case studies of corporatisation projects in Sub-Saharan Africa as examples of this strategy.
Oil transparency activists have vowed to continue a legal battle to require the government of Uganda to publish Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) that it has reached with international oil companies. This comes after a court rejected an application from the African Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) and three other civil society organisations for permission to present evidence at an appeal by two journalists against a separate ruling which denied them access to the PSAs.
Between 1-4 April, hundreds of Sierra Leonean small land owners and community members from all over the country will come together in Freetown to organize against land grabs. Join the Oakland Institute in our pledge to raise $10,000 to fund travel, food, and lodging for 100 participants.
Senegal's political transition will be affected by its response to the youth. Nearly 44 per cent of the population is under the age of 15. Like many other African countries, Senegal will need to find ways to address the challenges facing the majority of the populace – typically employed in agriculture – while also addressing young people's needs, says this article on The Guardian UK blog.
With hundreds of thousands fleeing the conflict in northern Mali, civil society groups in Mauritania are working to ensure the refugee community integrates peacefully with local residents. 'Solidarity for all in Mauritania', a conglomerate of civil society organisations, held a Nouakchott seminar March 20th on activities to support the local population in the border towns of Fassala and Bassiknou. The forum discussed how best to reduce the repercussions of the poor living conditions in areas in light of the dual crises.
Human rights groups and political entities are calling on Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly to enshrine human rights treaties in the new constitution. Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the assembly March 19th urging it to solidify international rights treaties in the constitution. The group also urged parliamentarians to avoid vague wording, such as 'must exercise the rights as required by law', as well as providing mechanisms for the application of human rights, which could include establishment of a constitutional court and imposition of the obligation of all courts and state institutions to respect the human rights enshrined by the Constitution.
This call is for applicants for grants for policy research into global health diplomacy , and particularly in relation to the manner in which African interests around equitable health systems are being advanced through health diplomacy.
Kenya is gearing up for a revision of its energy policy to establish a regulatory system for overseeing the potential opening of the country's first private-sector nuclear power plant. Despite warnings that the world's nuclear waste is growing at alarming rates and with most of the current facilities having outlived their usefulness, a director of a government board said several Kenyan scientists were already receiving training.
Increased financial transparency is critical to stem the illicit capital outflows that are crippling Africa.
Fifty-seven years after the murder of Emmitt Till and 49 years after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Trayvon's murder is yet another galvanising, public call to action to combat ongoing inequities and foster justice.
In the unstable Nigeria of the 1970s, this journalist met Chief Awolowo and tried to press him over the political situation in the country. Only later did the writer realize the meaning of Awolowo’s intransigence.
Earth Hour is the largest global environmental action. Everyone should take part to express their personal commitment to the planet.
‘When we think about our past, we can only find violence, but I think it is precisely this condition that makes one realize that what is important is peace.’
Professor Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is misleading Pambazuka's readers about Tshisekedi.
He writes: "Given the importance of the DRC as a land of considerable natural wealth, the major powers prefer leaders with no national constituency who are easy to manipulate like Joseph Kabila to those like Etienne Tshisekedi who are unapologetically nationalist."
Thsisekedi is not a nationalist. With Mobutu, he betrayed Patrice Lumumba. He called Patrice Lumumba "a frog that must be gotten rid off". Is this being unapologetically nationalist?
This reflection could be written today, tomorrow or any other day without the risk of being mistaken. Our species faces new problems.