The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the government of Zimbabwe to guarantee the safety of 15 journalists named on a hit list that appeared to have been leaked from official sources. 'The government of President Robert Mugabe must make it clear to the international community that it is not targeting journalists', said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. 'It can do that by guaranteeing the safety of all the journalists named and all other journalists in Zimbabwe.'

The leadership of Nigeria's House of Representatives acted against the rules in approving contracts worth US$5,000,000 to renovate two official residences and buy 10 cars, a panel of legislators said on Wednesday. The scandal over the contracts has paralysed the House, where emotions run so high that members came to blows last Thursday during a hearing by the investigative panel after some of them shouted 'thief!' at Speaker Patricia Etteh.

Gangs of armed bandits are terrorising the population of the Central African Republic (CAR) as the region is torn apart by violence and lawlessness. The masked outlaws, known locally as 'Zaraguinas', have become stronger and better organised than government forces, leaving local people increasingly vulnerable to grave human rights abuses.

Senior international development leaders have met at United Nations Headquarters in New York to forge an operational work agenda to boost Africa’s as yet failing efforts to meet the ambitious goals the world has set itself to slash poverty, hunger, maternal and infant mortality, and other social ills, all by 2015.

The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission has called on the last major rebel hold-out group in Burundi to 'resume promptly without condition' its participation in efforts to finally close the chapter on years of ethnic violence in the small Central African country. In July the Palipehutu-FNL, which has not signed peace accords reached with other rebel groups, withdrew from the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism (JVMM) set up to monitor a ceasefire it signed with the Government last year, and UN officials have since called on both sides to refrain from any actions that might lead to a resumption of hostilities.

At least 200 people gathered outside the Zimbabwe embassy in London, in protest against the repression of labour in Zimbabwe. Several groups including the Trade Union Congress, Action for Southern Africa, the National Union of Journalists and the Zimbabwe Vigil participated to show solidarity with workers. The demonstration took place as ZCTU leaders remained in hiding following their pursuit by state security agents.

A Darfur rebel group has said it was planning an assembly of fighters, supporters and displaced families to work out demands ahead of peace talks with Khartoum set for October. Khalil Ibrahim, head of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said he expected more than 2,000 people to attend the meeting in an undisclosed rebel-held area of Darfur on October, 25, two days before the peace talks start in Libya.

Freedom House, together with six of the most prominent human rights organisations in the US, issued a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urging him to demand Sudan’s compliance with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) ongoing investigation and issuance of arrest warrants. In particular, the group pointed out that the current Sudanese State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Haroun, is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC.

As part of a three-part project with FAHAMU and local partners, CMFD is working with rural women in Southern, East and West Africa to produce radio/podcast prgrammes about women's rights, especially related to rural women. In collaboration with the Rural Women's Movement and Indiba-Africa, an 8-day training took place from 19-26 August 2007. Over the course of the workshop, women from rural communities in Kwa-Zulu Natal and a representative from the Centre for Public Participation planned, researched, conducted interviews, wrote scripts and created a series of features covering a range of issues affecting rural women.

David Martin was a writer and photographer, and later in life, a publisher. He was a rigorous researcher and investigative writer who exposed the calamity and cost of South African economic and military destabilization in southern Africa in the 1980s. He marched with Frelimo into the liberated zones of Mozambique in 1973, where he met the Zimbabwean military commander, General Josiah Magama Tongogara, during the last phase of the liberation war.

The issue of women in parliament has returned to centre stage in Morocco following the country's recent legislative elections. In 2002, women were elected to 35 of the lower house of the Moroccan legislature's 325 seats; on September 7, 2007, only 34 were selected. Only four women managed to transcend the local lists: Yasmina Baddou of the Istiqlal party, Latifa Jbabdi of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, independent candidate Fatiha Layadi and Fatna Lkhail of the Popular Movement.

Heavy rainy season downpours have left areas of eastern Chad flooded and have seriously hampered efforts by UNHCR and other aid agencies to help tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians. The rains have eased over the past week, but flooding continues to cut land access to the Koukou Angarana region in the south-east, and has forced locals and displaced people in the area to head for higher ground.

When soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army join a United Nations peacekeeping unit in Sudan, early October, they will mark Beijing’s new diplomatic assertiveness. They will also signify a departure from a posture of refusing to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

Since 2003, Mali is the third-largest producer of gold in Africa. Industrial gold mining has led to much hope for Mali’s economic development : the increase in state revenue should have had a positive impact on social expenditures in the areas of education, health, etc. Moreover, the establishment of a mining industry was expected to bring improvements in the situation of local communities.

This paper published by the Inter Parliamentary Union finds that the proliferation of small arms is a major contributer to human insecurity and social unrest. Responsible for the deaths of up to 270,000 people a year in countries officially 'at peace', they also result in five times this number of deaths in situations of war. The role of parliamentarians is critical in turning the tide of global gun proliferation and violence.

Conflict-affected fragile states (CAFS) are home to half of the world’s out-of-school population – 39,000,000 children – yet receive only one fifth of total education aid. This paper published by the International Save the Children Alliance argues that, although international donors have declared the right of these children to an education, and recognise the social benefits and protective effects of education, provision for these children remains a low priority for donors.

The abrupt 50 per cent sale of Gambia's telecommunications company, Gamtel, and its subsidiary company Gamcel shares last month has been creating row within the government circles, with the government accused of pursuing the challengers of the deal. Already, some heads have started rolling, the minister of forestry and environment being the first casualty. Rtd Captain Edward Singhateh was fired as the general secretary of the ruling APRC of president Yahya Jammeh. Singhateh's dismissal was contained in a mere terse press release issued by the office of the president.

Somali police have surrounded the offices of an independent radio station in the capital Mogadishu and opened fire on the building, according to station officials. Tuesday's operation came three days after security forces raided Shabelle's offices, detaining 14 members of staff and accusing one journalist of throwing a grenade at police.

Reporters Without Borders condemns a violent assault on Tope Abiola, the deputy editor of the privately-owned Nigeria Tribune daily newspaper, who was beaten unconscious by prison guards and police at Agadi prison in Ibadan (in the southwestern state of Oyo) on 11 September while trying to cover the aftermath of a riot by inmates. “Nigerian journalists are often subjected to violence on the least pretext, without anyone ever being punished,” the press freedom organisation said.

Zambia and India have signed an agreement that will see India fund Zambian centres to train researchers and the public in information and communication technology (ICT) skills. Peter Daka, the Zambian minister of science and technology, and River Wallang, the Indian high commissioner to Zambia, signed the agreement in Lusaka on 12 September 2007.

Angolan authorities hold that a recent oil discovery in the enclave of Cabinda is up to five times greater than announced by the Australian oil company Roc Oil in August. The gigantic oil reserve could lead to onshore production on the disputed territory. In late August, Roc Oil issued an optimistic press release, saying the Australian company had made an oil discovery enabling it to extract 33,000,000 barrels of oil from the onshore Massambala oil field in Cabinda. Roc Oil's shares immediately rose by 16 per cent.

Somewhere, some time this year, a baby will be born on the 25th floor of a city hospital or the dirt floor of a dark slum shack; a first-year college graduate will rent a cramped apartment in lower Manhattan, and a family of five will finally concede their plot of farm land to an encroaching desert or sea, and turn towards Jakarta or La Paz or Lagos in search of a new livelihood and a new home. The arrival of this family or graduate or baby will tip the world’s demographic scale and, for the first time in history, more than half the human population will live in cities.

With only 19 per cent of children in school following Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war, the former government began an ambitious project to renovate and build more schools. But while brightly painted blue and white classrooms have already popped up in towns and villages around the country they come at a time when fewer teachers than before are willing to work in them.

Unaccompanied children, an average of 14 years old but sometimes as young as seven, are being drawn to South Africa from neighbouring states in the hope of work and receiving an education, according to report published by Save the Children (UK). The report, compiled from a survey of 130 undocumented children in South Africa, said 'there are sufficiently large numbers of children crossing borders unaccompanied to warrant major concern'. An estimated 1,500 underage Zimbabweans enter South Africa each year.

Nigeria is lagging behind in the provision of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for people living with HIV/Aids, and only one out of five people who need the drugs have access to them, according to a new study. Nigeria has a five-year plan to scale up ARV therapy, aimed at providing one million people with the life-prolonging treatment by 2009, but there are indications that it may not meet that target unless the government provides substantially more resources.

When the first cases of extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) were reported in South Africa in 2006, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged other countries in the region to improve their laboratory capacity and implement infection control measures. But Malawi still cannot test for the virtually untreatable TB strain. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) strains cannot be treated by at least two of the main first-line TB drugs, while XDR-TB is resistant to most first and second-line drugs, severely limiting treatment options.

The United Nations and World Bank launched a bid on Monday to strip crooked leaders of the money they steal from poor countries, and to plough the sums into health and development efforts. 'From now on it should be harder for kleptocrats to steal the public's money, and easier for the public to get its money back', said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the world body's agency in charge of the initiative.

While civil society movements have grown, become more vocal and are leading municipal protests, they pose no immediate threat to the ruling African National Congress (ANC), analysts say. These non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have made their presence felt recently by staging service delivery protests across the country, especially in Gauteng. The government has responded by accusing the organisers of misleading communities, saying development plans were already in place.

Veteran award winning reporter Hunter-Gault blends personal memoir with reportage and analysis, to challenge stereotypical reporting of Africa by, primarily, the Western media. It is no secret that media representations of the continent are most often stereotypical or sensationalised, focusing on conflict and disease; and the author sets out to systematically paint a different portrait: one of Africa which shows good, or so-called ‘new’ news.

This guidebook, Claiming Rights, Claiming Justice: A Guidebook on Women Human Rights Defenders, is an important initiative to acknowledge the valuable contribution of women human rights defenders in the promotion and protection of human rights, and to empower them further in their role. It builds on their achievements, including those attained in the framework of the three-year international campaign on women human rights defenders.

On 23 August 2007, Tendai Murove was charged and convicted, on his own plea of guilt, to contravening section 26(1)(a) as read with section 33 of the colonial Censorship and Entertainment Control Act, after he was found in possession of a six-page letter, allegedly sent to him by a friend. Section 26 prohibits the possession of prohibited articles; while section 33 states the determination of what is indecent, obscene, offensive or harmful to public morals.

Thousands of Congolese civilians who were displaced in August by fighting in Sake town, North Kivu Province, are still living in camps out of fear that fighting could resume, a UN official said.

The Maastricht Graduate School of Governance wants to strengthen its senior research and teaching capacity in the broad field of governance, policy analysis and political science. We expect the professor to have extensive experience with inter-disciplinary education and research and with inter-faculty cooperation; expertise and international networks in the fields of political science and policy analysis.

The capacity of large corporations and business associations to shape patterns of social development and government policy in developing countries has increased significantly in recent decades. This is largely the result of pressures exerted through capital flows; global supply chains; lobbying; the participation of non-state actors in consultation and decision-making processes associated with standard-setting and public policy; the internationalisation of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda; and public-private partnerships (PPP). The open conference, held in Geneva from November 12-13, 2007, will be composed of 26 presentations by scholars and researchers from both the North and the South.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is an international advisory organisation that is dedicated to a society in which all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. As a Regional Director you will lead and strengthen our regional advisory practices, effectively addressing cross-border opportunities and creating operational synergy. Closing date: September 29, 2007.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/320/43380.jpgMartin Legassick argues that the high-handedness of the South African housing minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, towards residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement is 'reminiscent of old apartheid ministers. Her behaviour is a symptom of the arrogant, aloof, and self-satisfied unwillingness to listen to ordinary people that increasingly characterises the Mbeki government'.

Since the launch in 2004 of N2 Gateway, housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s pet ‘flagship’ project has run into problem after problem: delayed delivery, cost over-runs, above all lack of consultation. In their 2004-5 report the Development Action Group, an NGO, wrote 'The top-down approach in the N2 project undermines its overall sustainability…the casual, continued and increasing practice of excluding people from decision making about development processes that directly affect their lives is an obstacle that communities are unlikely to tolerate for much longer'.

Their prognosis was vindicated this week when the discontent of Joe Slovo residents boiled over. They closed down the N2 freeway at peak time on Monday morning. After the fire in January 2005, which destroyed 3,000 shacks and made 12,000 people homeless, Joe Slovo residents were promised priority in the allocation of N2 Gateway housing. But they were not accommodated at all in the allocation of the phase 1 flats. Now in 2007, they face being forcibly removed to Delft on the outskirts of the city to create space for the building of phase 2. Not for them, but for those better off. They have lived in Langa for years and do not want to be removed to the margins of the city far from job opportunities. What the Joe Slovo residents are asking for is RDP [low cost] housing to be built in the area for them. They have a plan as to how this can be done without any forced removal at all.

Incredibly, as a result of their occupation of the N2, they have instead been threatened by Lindiwe Sisulu with being struck off all housing waiting lists because they refuse to 'cooperate with government' in their eviction. Additionally, she said she had consulted with lawyers about 'legal avenues to compel' their removal.

Sisulu’s first threat, of course, violates the constitutional right to housing enjoyed by every South African. 'She has declared we are not South African', says the Joe Slovo elected task team member, Sifiso Mapasa, echoing the famous words of Sol Plaatje about the segregationist 1913 Natives Land Act, that it turned Africans into 'foreigners in the land of their birth'.

Moreover housing allocation is a provincial not a national competence, and Sisulu’s action is therefore additionally illegal. As well, at the whim of the minister, her declaration punishes each resident for refusing to cooperate with government, without even giving them a hearing - a third constitutional violation! Sisulu is losing her senses.

The Western Cape and the City of Cape Town waiting lists are anyway, in the words of regional COSATU general secretary Tony Ehrenreich, 'a joke'. There is a backlog of some 400,000 houses in Cape Town. Yet Dan Plato says there are only 3,060 names on the city’s waiting list!

There are not more than 20,000 houses being built each year in the whole Western Cape, barely enough to meet population increase, let alone the backlog. How many people have been waiting 20 years and more on the lists? The government could put the 4-8 million unemployed to work on a crash programme to build homes, were it not wedded to the capitalist profit system.

Sisulu claims that Joe Slovo residents 'would have to make way for people higher up the housing waiting list'. But Phase 1 N2 Gateway housing was not allocated on the basis of waiting lists because very few people could be found who were economically eligible. Instead, advertisements were placed in police stations to attract new applicants. What reason is there to expect any difference with Phase 2, which is so-called ‘gap’ housing for those earning between R3,500 and R7,500 a month? Rather than allocation by waiting list, she is moving out the poor to make way for the better off.

Some people ask why Joe Slovo residents are objecting, since they are only being ‘temporarily removed’ to Delft. But the national housing director-general has admitted that the plans are only to build houses for 1,000 people on the Joe Slovo land; whereas there are presently 6,000 residents. Thus, even if each one of those 1,000 were a Joe Slovo resident, 5,000 would still be stranded in Delft. But, since the projected phase 2 is ‘gap’ housing, most Joe Slovo residents (and most of those on housing waiting lists) will be economically excluded anyway.

Transport MEC Marius Fransman maintained that it was 'unacceptable' in our democracy to blockade the N2 when 'we have the opportunity to access the government'. But Joe Slovo residents have tried many times to 'access the government'. On 3 August 2007, they marched to parliament to present a memorandum to Sisulu and asked to meet with her. It was received by her personal assistant, who promised a reply within a week. In fact the only reply from Sisulu was a disdainful one reported in an article in the back pages of the Weekend Argus of 25 August 2007. Sisulu did not even have the courtesy to deliver her reply to those concerned. Thus she undermined our democracy.

In her reply, she accused Joe Slovo residents of being 'unwilling to accept that communities of the future would cut across race and class'. If that is what she wants, then why does she not 'cut across race and class' and, as Ehrenreich suggested, move them to Constantia? She claimed she wanted to 'eradicate slums'. But what she is doing is merely moving the Joe Slovo ‘slum’ to Delft and installing better-off people in their place.

Sisulu does not like the term 'forced removal'. But what substantive difference is there in her present search for means of 'compulsion', from the apartheid government of the 1970s wanting to forcibly evict Crossroads residents out of Cape Town altogether?

I was an eye-witness to the events of Monday morning from 4am, having been invited to observe by the task team. What I saw, even in the dark, was a peaceful protest interrupted by a police riot. Contrary to some news reports, no guns were fired at the police. Nor were stones thrown, until the police had wounded some 12 people with rubber bullets. Riotous police behaviour was witnessed by reporters again later in the morning when police opened fire on a crowd including old people, children and women with a mere 20 second warning, and wounded many more. As of today, the police are still occupying Joe Slovo and arresting people at will.

On Tuesday, two leaders in Joe Slovo were arrested on charges of 'public violence' for daring to ask the police for permission to hold a general meeting! This too was a constitutional violation. There is a police-state atmosphere of intimidation in Joe Slovo, which is in no way compatible with the democracy talked about by MEC Fransman.

Sisulu’s refusal to meet Joe Slovo residents makes her responsible for these injuries and actions. She now has the blood of women and children on her hands.

She claims that Thubelisha, project manager of N2 Gateway, is responsible for interacting with residents and that she has 'the fullest confidence' in them. Thubelisha was established to build houses, and lacks people-management skills. Residents of Joe Slovo have met with Thubelisha management several times; to no avail.

At the same time as these complaints from Joe Slovo, the N2 Gateway phase 1 residents also have their grievances. Selected as beneficiaries, at preparatory workshops they were suddenly told that rent would be increased from the R350-R600 advertised, to R650-R1,000. Desperate for housing, and given no time even to read the long contracts, they signed. They moved into the flats - only to find cramped accommodation, serious structural problems, cracks in the walls and hopelessly defective plumbing.

Later they discovered that some people were paying the old rents, which, even Thubelisha admits, is an ‘anomaly’. Thubelisha has not addressed their problems to their satisfaction. They have launched a rent boycott in protest, and also marched to parliament on 17 July to present a memorandum to Sisulu – to which she again responded only in the media. They also are threatened with eviction.

The N2 Gateway ‘flagship’ project has become a fiasco.

The high-handedness of Sisulu in all this is reminiscent of old apartheid ministers. Her behaviour is a symptom of the arrogant, aloof, and self-satisfied unwillingness to listen to ordinary people that increasingly characterises the Mbeki government. Sisulu talks of frequent 'consultation' with communities over N2 Gateway. But this 'consultation' has not involved listening, but rather telling communities what they should do.

Minister Sisulu must come to her senses. By delegating the handling of her pet project to others, she has acted like a coward. Instead of issuing ultimatums from afar, she needs, above all, to meet with and listen personally to Joe Slovo residents (as well as those of N2 Gateway phase 1). Then it will become clear to her that both communities are united in their demands, and that they can suggest answers to their problems. Both communities are insistent that any attempt to forcibly evict them will be challenged in court, and, if necessary, physically. But there is a way out of this conflict, if Sisulu lives up to her responsibilities.

This article was originally published on Abahlali baseMjondolo -

Martin Legassick is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Western Cape. For pictures of the blockade and the police attack, as well as a small archive of Joe Slovo task team press statements click here.

Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/320/43382.jpgEvery company, every community, every organisation, every household and every citizen, says Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, should take part in programmes designed to rein in emissions causing global warming. The sentiment may be commendable, but the developed world has not yet taken it to heart sufficiently. Is the same true of the developing world? Four people involved in environmental issues in developing countries around the world discuss the state of things in their country and what they they think needs to change.

What’s happening now?

'Virtually nothing!' is currently being done about climate change in the Arab region, according to Najib Saab, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment & Development). (As an index of this, his magazine is the only one in the region dealing with environmental issues.) ‘The oil exporters [the rich Arab countries of the Gulf] have a “conspiracy theory” about the issue of climate change', he says. ‘They were made to believe that it has been created to hamper their socio-economic development, by imposing trade restrictions on their main source of income, oil.’

The poor Arab countries of the Levant and North Africa, on the other hand, ‘still view climate change as a luxury they cannot afford'. Throughout the region, energy efficiency measures are almost non-existent.

According to Vasant Saberwal of the Ford Foundation in India, very little is happening at government level in India either. ‘There are plenty of stories in the press about retreating glaciers, increased incidence and intensity of rainfall events and drought, and so on, but there is basically no sign of government interest in the subject or the implications of climate change.’

In Nigeria, according to Nnimmo Bassey of Environmental Rights Action, the main problem is resistance from big corporations, in particular oil companies working in the Niger Delta. Communities are trying to make these companies extinguish their gas flares, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. ‘Currently', he says, ‘it is estimated that about 2.5 billion cubic feet of associated gas is flared daily in the Niger Delta region releasing a cocktail of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane sulphur oxides and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere'. The government has set 2008 as a ‘flares out’ target, but Shell has said that this is not feasible.

‘Local communities and civil society groups such as Environmental Rights Action are working to set up Community Climate Crisis Committees to strategically prepare for introduction of survival and mitigation measures.’ In addition, the Nigerian government and local communities have tree-planting exercises to check desert encroachment and at the same time serve as carbon sinks.

We have already heard the Chinese premier’s public pronouncement on the importance of the issue. Wen Bo, Global Greengrants Fund China Coordinator, reports that the country announced a National Climate Change Program in June, which outlined steps to meet a previously announced goal of improving overall energy efficiency in 2010 by 20 per cent over the 2005 level. Wen Jiabao has also urged local governments to curb excessive growth in energy-intensive and polluting industries by measures such as keeping the credit supply in check, while inefficient facilities in thermal power, steel, alumina, iron alloy and cement sectors have been ordered to be shut.

How effective implementation of these recommendations and directives has been is another matter. There is often what Vasant Saberwal calls ‘the classic disjunction between policy and practice’. He cites an instance of it in India which, he says, has the largest number of CDM (clean development mechanism) projects in operation, and in at least some of these sites there are commitments to planting large numbers of trees, with little to show for it. This disjunction, he believes, ‘represents a core part of the problem of such solutions to global warming: how do you enforce compliance following payment for environmental services?’

Developing countries on the receiving end…

Our respondents were largely in agreement that developing countries will suffer most from the consequences of global warming – and, points out Wen Bo, ‘they are also ill prepared for the coming ecological crisis’.

In Nigeria, the coastal belt is low-lying and parts have a tendency to subsidence. ‘Experts estimate that a cumulative sea-level rise of one metre would result in lands lying within 100km of the coastline going under water’, says Nnimmo Bassey. The Arab region, too, ‘will face immense problems in the form of submersion of more than 18,000km of inhabited coastal areas in addition to all the reclaimed land and artificial islands being built in the Arabian Gulf’.

In Nigeria, there are two other serious problems: ‘northern Nigeria is being threatened by the downward march of the Sahara Desert’, says Bassey, while ‘the threat of erosion of livelihoods through crop failures and land pressures in a fragile economy portends a grave disaster’.

…and contributing to a global solution?

So much for the problems they face. On the positive side, what can developing nations do to help find global solutions?

Najib Saab feels that ‘if governments in the Arab Region offer incentives to their population to build solar systems for water heating and electricity generation and support wind energy, that will be a huge opportunity to build the culture of using sustainable/renewable energy’. He mentions the German model whereby the government supports soft loans for individuals to invest in solar panels and wind energy towers with guaranteed purchase of the power generated and cost recovery in less than ten years.

Nnimmo Bassey has a slightly grander vision: ‘Developing nations have the unique opportunity of showing the world that another path to development is possible. This can be done by pioneering a radical shift from the fossil fuel driven path which has brought us all to the precipice.’

Among other things, he advocates a creative interpretation of the measures currently in use to combat climate change and gives as an example ‘the initiative from Ecuador where the government has said they would want to receive carbon credits for keeping the crude oil in the ground in the pristine Yanusi Park’. To him this seems like ‘a practical solution that would both preserve biodiversity and other resources and reduce the supply of fossil fuel, the biggest culprit in this equation’.

Putting aside self-interest

In view of what we have heard about the current state of affairs, what is the likelihood of developing country governments introducing, and peoples embracing, measures to check climate change? Won’t developing countries argue, for instance, that it’s all very well for the developed world to talk about curbing practices that have been crucial to their own economic and industrial development, now that they have entered a post-industrial phase of development, but why shouldn’t developing countries be at liberty to pursue similar means to prosperity?

For Nnimmo Bassey, this is a legitimate question: ‘The emergence of strong growth in developing nations directly raises the issues of equity and justice. I do not see this as just a matter of global warming but one of basic survival in both divides of the world. The arguments over mitigation costs are real, but they belie the real quest to pursue chosen paths of doing things.’

Beyond the question of what is fair, there is a more urgent consideration: ‘Nations must overcome parochial self-interest,’ he says, ‘and realize that we have just one world’.

Wen Bo feels that ‘developing countries would potentially be willing to adjust their development models provided that they are offered technical and financial assistance’. The real barrier, he argues, is political will. ‘“Having a right to develop” is an excuse to ignite nationalistic feeling and avoid being creative in finding an alternative development path.’

Will the poorest lose out?

At a deeper level, Vasant Saberwal is worried that the solutions being suggested might produce a situation where the interests of India’s elite predominate at the expense of those of the very poor. ‘In the past, conserving the environment has often meant converting grasslands into forest lands within which no grazing is permitted. The problem is that the landless in India tend to survive by grazing small herds of animals on common lands...common lands are being identified across the country as wastelands and handed over to private agencies for the production of biofuels. It’s seen as a win-win situation, given that these lands are “unproductive”. Planting jatropha will not only increase vegetation cover, the argument is that it will also lead to improved revenues for residents through carbon credits and fuel production. The only problem is that these are lands that are currently used by the very poor, and so are not “unproductive wastelands” to start with.’

For Nnimmo Bassey, growth in parts of the developing world and the continued and increasing demand in developed countries for energy to fuel their lifestyles throws up the danger of a resources race. ‘The world’, he argues, ‘is already in a serious crisis. And this will only get deeper unless there is a paradigm shift in our modes of production and relations’.

Overcoming the obstacles

Ultimately, feels Najib Saab, ‘developing countries will seriously join the endeavours to fight global warming only when there is a global consensus on the issue within developed countries. This should be accompanied by a practical implementation mechanism’.

He cites the example of ozone depletion, where the implementation of the Montreal Protocol on eliminating ozone-depleting substances ‘would not have been possible without four factors: scientific consensus, which is now also there for climate change; political consensus on clear targets; developing alternative substances which could perform the function of those phased out, and making them available in the market; and a multilateral fund, which helped developing countries cover the cost of phasing out ozone-depleting substances and shifting to safe alternatives. A similar mechanism should be devised for global warming’.

On an optimistic note, he feels that this consensus is coming, with a change of attitude among the US government and people: ‘The next US administration cannot afford to ignore the impact that [Al Gore’s] advocacy campaign on global warming has made, leading to deep change in American perception of the issue, among the public, industries and decision makers alike. In spite of all their reservations, China and India will also join a global consensus, after negotiating suitable trading terms.’

Wen Bo’s approach to the matter is straightforward: ‘We need to empower people and promote people's power around the world. People will know what is best for themselves and for their own environments; and in most cases, they know better than their own governments.’

Showing foundations the opportunities to engage

What can foundations do here? Wen Bo’s view is that foundations and individual donors should support civil society development in countries like China: ‘building a rich and mature global civil society would help educate and pressure governments to act more rationally and responsibly’. They should also support ‘various kinds of individual projects and efforts in tackling climate change’.

Given the levels of interest that the World Bank and other bilateral donors have in developing the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other solutions to global warming, Vasant Saberwal’s opinion is that ‘smaller private foundations could probably play a key role in monitoring the impacts of these interventions through commissioned studies’. In regard to his own foundation, Ford, he admits that ‘the Delhi office is not doing much on climate change’ but he sees opportunities. ‘There are very large potential community-level earnings from trade in carbon credits or from other forms of payment for environmental services’, he says, and while this could prove a double-edged sword, in that it will attract the potentially predatory attention of the elite, ‘it could also generate opportunities for building coalitions/consensus across social divisions. I think the Foundation should support some pilots to begin to get a sense of either process’.

In Nigeria, says Nnimmo Bassey, foundations are currently active in working with civil society organisations to increase the level of awareness and discourse on climate change. In addition to this, he feels, ‘foundations should support actions that build knowledge on the challenges, that promote alternative production systems and of course that encourage popular grassroots actions to build adaptation and mitigation mechanisms'. He adds: ‘Alliance’s primary audience is grantmaking foundations - many of which, I'm sure, feel the problems of climate change are too big and overwhelming for them to tackle. Our aim is to show them the opportunities to engage.’

This article was first published in Alliance [http://www.alliancemagazine.org/">

Alliance would like to thank the following for contributing to this article:

Nnimmo Bassey Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action, Nigeria
Wen Bo Global Greengrants Fund China Coordinator
Najib Saab Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia, Lebanon
Vasant Saberwal Program Officer, Ford Foundation, India

* Andrew Milner is the Associate Editor of Alliance.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Keith Goddard of the organisation Gay and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) suggests that attitudes towards LGBTI rights are a 'litmus test for any democracy'. Human rights must be all inclusive in protecting 'minorities from the excesses of the majority as they protect populations from excesses of the state'.

It is reassuring when one can assume the protection of a large body of international instruments espousing values about rights and freedoms for all members of humanity. But how do these noble documents translate into the lives of ordinary people, in particular the lives of the poor and powerless who need the greatest protection?

They seem particularly abstract and remote at the moment for the lives of most ordinary Zimbabweans, many of whom are struggling to merely survive, or are scrambling to escape from the prevailing political chaos. And in Zimbabwe, it is not only the poor and powerless who are disadvantaged - it is everybody.

The severe deterioration in the human rights record of Zimbabwe has led to a situation where no one’s rights are any longer guaranteed. With the breakdown of law and order, any rights afforded are done so at the whim of the state. Government appears invincible, and no one, inside or outside Zimbabwe, seems able to hold it to account. At present, it appears there is little else that we can do other than sit tight, hope for the best, and when the worst happens, make a plan.

But human rights organisations such as GALZ cannot become dormant; they exist and are responsible for bringing about change for the better.

It is easy to argue that GALZ is unique in that it is the only organisation specifically catering to the needs of LGBTI people in Zimbabwe. Ergo GALZ is too small to make any significant impact within the broader environment. But if GALZ disappeared over night, would it make any noticeable difference?

Luckily, the answer is yes, at least for the few hundred members of GALZ, most of whom, according to an evaluation conducted by the Dutch agency Hivos of the Southern African LGBTI programme, feel that their confidence has been boosted since joining the association. They have ‘learnt something’ and have benefited from the association’s services. But as members of the general population, the quality of life for GALZ members is surely still deteriorating.

Within broader society, GALZ has certainly made significant inroads into being at least ‘tolerated’ within the NGO world, although there is often still a reluctance to mainstream LGBTI issues within these organisations' programmes, not necessarily because of any overt homophobia but because of fears of reprisal from the state.

Marginalising of GALZ is unfortunate, although it does make the organisation even more relevant to those it serves. As far as government is concerned, GALZ is at an impasse and has basically given up.

GALZ may seem small and insignificant but human rights are not about numbers. In fact, human rights exist as much to protect minorities from the excesses of the majority as they do to protect populations from excesses of the state. The struggle for the promotion of a human rights culture is not a linear process. Small and often unforeseen victories often turn out to be as important as any major breakthrough. Just hanging on in there and waiting for a chance to seize is a valid enough reason to exist.

It could be argued that attitudes towards LGBTI rights are a litmus test for any democracy: the burst of government attacks on gay and lesbian people, starting in early 1995, marked the start of a new phase in the serious national decline we now find ourselves in. They ought to have been a warning signal that things were about to get worse.

Human rights organisations should never remain inert, even in the face of apparent demoralising failure to achieve anything positive. They need to be strong, refuse to capitulate and instead espouse a culture of hope, even if this is only among a limited few.

With the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country, GALZ has tried to be imaginative and seek the best ways in which to remain relevant, both to the lives of its members, and within broader society. It has been equally cautious to avoid encouraging feelings of dependency amongst its membership, which in the long term benefit no one.

In recent years, the organisation has also fought against its detractors using the LGBTI issue to deflect attention away from the real problems of Zimbabwe, preferring not to be reactive towards homophobia, but instead proactive in putting out positive publicity about LGBTI issues, albeit it in a limited way.

A welcome break came in 2006 when GALZ was introduced by the Kosmopolis Institute of the University for Humanistics in Utrecht to the 'Capability Approach' developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. This is a conceptual framework which attempts to measure the ability of a human being to enjoy his or her life, both in terms of drawing on what is available within the broader social environment, and in terms of an individual’s personal capacity to benefit from his or her surroundings.

The Capability Approach is not an alternative to the human rights discourse: it could be described as the flip side to the same coin. As its name suggests, the difference lies more in the approach, focusing as it does on the way in which human rights translate into meaningful experience. The ten basic capabilities are particularly relevant to situations where human rights are denied. They help measure an individual’s ability to cope and perhaps even flourish under difficult circumstances. They are summarised as follows:

- Life. Being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length; not dying prematurely, or before one's life is so reduced as to be not worth living.

- Bodily Health. Being able to have good health, including reproductive health; to be adequately nourished; to have adequate shelter.

- Bodily Integrity. Being able to move freely from place to place; to be secure against violent assault, including sexual assault and domestic violence; having opportunities for sexual satisfaction and for choice in matters of reproduction.

- Senses, Imagination, and Thought. Being able to use the senses, to imagine, think, and reason - and to do these things in a 'truly human' way, a way informed and cultivated by an adequate education, including, but by no means limited to, literacy and basic mathematical and scientific training. Being able to use imagination and thought in connection with experiencing and producing works and events of one's own choice, religious, literary, musical, and so forth. Being able to use one's mind in ways protected by guarantees of freedom of expression with respect to both political and artistic speech, and freedom of religious exercise. Being able to have pleasurable experiences and to avoid non-beneficial pain.

- Emotions. Being able to have attachments to things and people outside ourselves; to love those who love and care for us, to grieve at their absence; in general, to love, to grieve, to experience longing, gratitude, and justified anger. Not having one's emotional development blighted by fear and anxiety. (Supporting this capability means supporting forms of human association that can be shown to be crucial in their development.)

- Practical Reason. Being able to form a conception of the good and to engage in critical reflection about the planning of one's life. (This entails protection for the liberty of conscience and religious observance.)

- Affiliation. Being able to live with and toward others, to recognize and show concern for other human beings, to engage in various forms of social interaction; to be able to imagine the situation of another. (Protecting this capability means protecting institutions that constitute and nourish such forms of affiliation, and also protecting the freedom of assembly and political speech.)

Having the social bases of self-respect and non-humiliation; being able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth is equal to that of others. This entails provisions of non-discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, caste, religion, national origin.

- Other Species. Being able to live with concern for and in relation to animals, plants, and the world of nature.

- Play. Being able to laugh, to play, to enjoy recreational activities.

- Control over one's Environment:
Political. Being able to participate effectively in political choices that govern one's life; having the right of political participation, protections of free speech and association.

Material. Being able to hold property (both land and movable goods), and having property rights on an equal basis with others; having the right to seek employment on an equal basis with others; having the freedom from unwarranted search and seizure. In work, being able to work as a human being, exercising practical reason and entering into meaningful relationships of mutual recognition with other workers.

Although it is problematic in Zimbabwe to maintain ‘control over one’s environment’, this in no way diminishes the relevance of the other nine capabilities to the work of an organisation such as GALZ. It is precisely because of the lack of political freedoms that Zimbabwe is now in crisis and plunging into deeper decline and poverty and why other measures of progress need to be taken into consideration.

The GALZ social empowerment programmes, Skills for Life and the Women’s Scholarship Programme, are obvious examples of the application of the Capability Approach, although the organisation adopted them prior to its being aware of this philosophy.

Although it could be argued that the 'Positive Image' access to treatment scheme has encouraged dependency, it has nevertheless saved and given extended quality to the lives of those who would otherwise have died of Aids.

It may seem trivial for a philosophy to incorporate the ability to laugh, play and enjoy recreational activities. But in an oppressive political and homophobic climate, merely offering safe space to relax in is not something to be denigrated. The very existence of the GALZ Centre and the safe space it offers is an encouraging symbol of hope, although there are questions about whether it is enough to provide just a place to drink and dance. To balance this, GALZ has now instituted a programme of entertainment, including sporting activities designed to provide greater variety in members’ lives.

In 2006, GALZ started to move away from serious workshops which, in the past, it has felt obligated to provide as part of fulfilling a mandate that was seen as serious. Although workshops still have their place, the more informal, relaxed group discussions have proved highly popular, since most participants see these opportunities to talk and share ideas as liberating and a chance to express opinions freely, and be treated with respect. And just listening to the experiences of others trying to cope with family pressures can be more helpful than a formal workshop on relationships when it comes to dispelling feelings of confusion and doubt.

The emotional development of a human being is as important as his or her physical protection. The increasing professionalism of GALZ’s counselling services means that members are receiving meaningful help in dealing with emotional problems. By the same token, the annual women’s retreat has proved an invaluable space in which women can open up, often about painful emotional experiences, and gain support from others. But it is often the casual conversations in the health department or the recreational activities of a retreat that help the most.

In all, the Capability Approach is proving useful for determining the ability of GALZ members to reach their full capacity as humans, whether or not they are denied fundamental freedoms such as freedom from hunger and freedom of expression. Many members have used GALZ as a stepping stone to make significant improvements in their lives. Those who have escaped and sought asylum elsewhere can be included in this. This is at it should be. In the wider context, if GALZ were to disappear overnight, LGBTI people in the rest of Africa and the world would be devastated: they would have lost a close member of the family and a strong source of inspiration to continue fighting for justice for all LGBTI people throughout the world.

* Keith Goddard is a human rights defender and a member of GALZ Zimbabwe.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

This is just to say that I liked your argument. I wish it could be much more publicised and made compulsory reading for all those 'delegates' to the AU or SADC conventions.

It is about time that African heads of government took a serious look at the plight of Africans in African countries being abused by African leaders.

I would appreciate more material on similar matters as I am in the opposition in Zimbabwe.

'In a landmark case, we, Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people assembled at the High Court of Uganda two months ago to reinforce our right to privacy, dignity, and property. There were no charges against us. We had done nothing wrong.'

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