Pambazuka News 716: War games: Libya, South Sudan - and cricket
Pambazuka News 716: War games: Libya, South Sudan - and cricket
The German Foreign Minister recently visited Africa and described Rwanda as an “anchor for stability”. On the contrary, the true characterization of President Paul Kagame’s ruling clique is that the last 20 years have been a reign of terror with a distorted and deceptive narrative that criminalizes and marginalizes Hutus in particular and all his opponents in general.
The constitution of Kenya places great importance on citizen participation in their governance. Under the devolved system, county governments should do everything they can to ensure citizen’s voices are taken into account in decision-making process.
A billion indigenous trees of different varieties hold the potential to significantly reduce widespread poverty among Morocco’s farming communities. The government is establishing community tree nurseries. It is an initiative that the people should wholeheartedly embrace.
The proposed food policy shies away from confronting capital interests within the food value-chain. Apart from acknowledging that the emerging agricultural sector is in need of assistance, the policy is silent on the influence of big-business in the food system.
Four top TV stations have been off air for about three weeks following a dispute with Kenya’s telecommunications regulator over digital migration. The plight of these mainstream media outlets has attracted little sympathy from the public, as Kenyans are increasingly losing confidence in corporate media as reliable allies in their democratic struggles.
The Summit in Dakar, Senegal, March 10-12, 2015 seeks to build a movement of like-minded institutions to transform the African higher education sector.
Pambazuka News 715: Vatican Lies, Malcolm X and White Empire
Pambazuka News 715: Vatican Lies, Malcolm X and White Empire
Step by step Burundi is reverting to the police state of the 1980s and 1990s during which human rights defenders and journalists were routinely portrayed publicly as enemies of the state. This is now the trend in East Africa.
Internationalists who are in agreement with Malcolm X’s internationalism and global justice commitments ought to actively support the fight for self-determination, independence and development of the labouring classes in Haiti.
A plan to power Europe from Saharan solar plants seems to have stalled, but several large North African solar projects are still going ahead despite local concerns. Hamza Hamouchene asks: where did the Desertec project go wrong, and can desert solar power yet play a role in a democratic and sustainable future?
Karuturi has nothing to show for his “investment”, except a humongous debt. Where are the tens of thousands of hectares of oil palm, sugar cane, rice, edible oils and maize and cotton he promised? Where are the 60,000 workers? They exist only in the warped imaginations of the corrupt state fat cats in Addis Ababa.
Churches supported the establishment of colonial regimes, especially through the destruction of societal, cultural and religious systems in Africa. Until today racist and ignorant assumptions about African cultures inform the justification of keeping artefacts that missionaries looted from Africa to create collections and museums in Europe.
As Egyptian President Sisi calls for more support in the fight against NATO-funded militias in Libya, the West’s refusal to back him raises the question of their ultimate aims in entering the region. The West is complicity in enabling ISIS to gain a strong foothold and further destabilise Libya, Syria and, potentially, Egypt.
50 years have passed since the shooting of Malcolm X, yet the institutionalized racism he fought against, as well as its resulting violence, poverty and inequality, still blight many African American communities in the US. It is time to revisit Malcolm X’s life, death, and legacy to find a way out.
In the quest for regional integration, it is helpful to look at some of the less known yet strategic locations such as Katuna for models of emulation and improvement. Katuna offers a model of integration from below.
Despite the fact that apartheid officially ended in 1994 in South Africa, new forms of racism and elitism continue to linger on, grounded in enduring asymmetries of power. Such power relations continue to serve the interests of elites whilst marginalising millions of indigent people.
The issue of land ownership in South Africa has been on the minds of millions of Africans for many decades, some with no place to bury their dead while being surrounded by luxurious golf courses and palatial hotels. This must change.
Regarding the repeated and contemptuous silence of the different Tunisian governments, which have taken place since the revolution, to requests from families to know the fate of hundreds of missing young Tunisians who have been lost at sea since the revolution, we call on you to organize an international solidarity movement with the activities they have decided to initiate today Tuesday, February 24, 2015 in Tunis; a rally at the seat of government in the Kasbah area of Tunis.
After the fall of the regime, tens of thousands of young Tunisians from working class districts have crossed the Mediterranean on small boats in search of a better future they can’t find in their country. Thousands could reach the coasts, but hundreds have disappeared and many remained at sea. Four years after these dramatic events, families are still helpless, their sufferings have deepened day by day at the refusal of the successive governments, including the current one, to respond to their request to create a commission of inquiry equipped with the necessary means and skills to know the truth about the missing young Tunisians. We suggest that you send your support to the following address: [email][email protected] and organize all actions that you consider useful and rallies in front of consulates and embassies in Tunisia Wednesday, March 4, 2015.
TUNISIAN FORUM FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS
Denied bail, Nigerian bombing suspect Charles Okah has spent four years in jail as his case drags on. He denies the charges leveled against him and accuses President Goodluck Jonathan of a vendetta, whose details he does not disclose.
Most African countries have failed to transform the much-trumpeted economic growth into economic development for their citizens. Africa’s rising therefore mainly benefits multi-national corporations and local elites.
The position that whenever a prosecutor makes decisions that are unpopular to the defence Counsels, then such decisions are political is bizarre. Defence counsels ought to separate legal issues from their own political views about Rwanda.
Inspired by the man himself, The Malcolm X Movement is a Black and Asian decolonial and anti-imperialist initiative launching in August 2015 in the UK, which is trying to develop unity among the peoples of the Global South in fighting all oppression.
Fundamentalism rooted in politics, religion and culture, allows and justifies unbearable violence now reported in many parts of Africa. We are potential victims. We must have the audacity to denounce it.
Are you heading out to Africa to carry out some research? Well, you are not the first one, as you might know. That has been going on for ages. But certain tendencies that insult the African people persist. Here are some:
Recent gains in the fight against Boko Haram have justified growing calls for appropriate sanctions for those found complicit in playing politics with an insurgency that has claimed more than 13,000 lives, placed hundreds in captivity, displaced thousands and virtually grounded the economy of Nigeria’s northeast.
British colonial soldiers committed genocide in the Kingdom of Benin in 1897. They then looted some 4,000 pieces of art which have never been returned. A Nigerian film recreates the invasion, exposing the bestial brutality of Empire.
Fahamu has launched Mapinduzi Afrika Mailing List for progressive individuals and groups throughout the pan-African world to share their thoughts, experiences, events, strategies, struggles, opportunities and updates in the ongoing efforts to destroy entrenched oppressive, anti-people systems. Sign up!
International Conference on Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Environmental Ethics: Implications for Peace-building and Sustainable Development: 28-30 April 2015, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Pambazuka News invites articles on the evaluation of the Millennium Development Goals and the question of the post-2015 Development Agenda in Africa to help readers make sense of the debate in order to influence the UN’s construction of a Post-2015 Development with Africa as an active partner.
Pambazuka News 714: Reclaiming Africa's revolutionary roots
Pambazuka News 714: Reclaiming Africa's revolutionary roots
A no-holds-barred debate, of the kind that one cannot hear inside Rwanda, erupted online this week. People expressed themselves freely about the ongoing campaign to remove presidential term limits from the constitution so that Paul Kagame can continue in power after 2017. The debate reveals that there is far more to Rwanda than the dictatorship allows the world to know via massive PR.
The political situation in Nigeria is increasingly grim. Pre-election violence and hate have risen in the past weeks. The nation’s war against Boko Haram extremists is not yet won. There is a lot of worry about whether the elections postponed to next month will pass off peacefully. It is time for all Nigerians to put their country first.
The Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Kenya gives his impression of a conference he attended in Venezuela on the global fight against neo-liberalism and imperialism. He concludes that Africa and Latin America must strengthen revolutionary friendship in order to build a more just and humane world.
After an explosive start to his State of the Nation Address last week, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma turned to nuclear, coal, fracking and offshore drilling projects – but what about the country’s free sunshine, wind and tides?
February 27 marks 37 years since the passing away in the hands of the apartheid regime of the great pan-Africanist leader. His radical dedication to the total freedom, unity and prosperity of Africa ought to stir up the present generation to embrace a similar commitment.
The ANC decries the brutal military occupation of Palestine by Israel in public, but behind closed doors props up the Israeli apartheid system. Diplomatic relations are so cordial that the Israeli secret service is permitted to operate its own office inside OR Tambo airport.
China has huge interests in the three Southern Africa countries – Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania – that South Africa now seems to target as the source of natural gas. These interests count for multi-million investments encompassing bilateral agreements.
Many victims of Boko Haram attacks have been men and boys. Reducing the terror attakcs to gender violence is a distortion of actual events and disrespectful to male victims and their families.
Boko Haram exists, but what is being witnessed in Nigeria today are attempts by the West to expand their military presence in West Africa, using the terrorist group as an excuse. There is nothing new in these tactics.
Prof. Alhassan was been quoted as dismissing anti-GMO groups because, according to him, they allegedly do not have any scientific proof or knowledge to offer when it comes GMO technology. But he is wrong.
Progressive literary fiction has not always been highly regarded within African literature. Ahjamu Umi makes the case for its consciousness-developing and educational properties, and argues for its wider acceptance in African societies.
The Kenyan social movement stands with the People of Venezuela and social movements in South-South solidarity, defending the independence and sovereignty of Venezuela against any imperialist attempts to undermine the social progress made in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela under the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro.
Unbeknown to many people, some powerful conservative Somali clerics are strong-arming famous musicians into ending and disowning their own musical careers, on spurious claims that the music is prohibited in Islam. Music is very important in Somali culture and in Islamic traditions. Extremists must not be allowed to go on with this senseless eradication of heritage.
More people are being killed without the murderers being brought to justice. The peace promised residents by eThekwini Municipality and Provincial Government in KwaZulu Natal is nowhere to be seen. How long will these senseless killings last?
From street hustler to powerful orator, Malcolm X’s life was cut short when he was brutally murdered in front of family, friends and supporters. Fifty years on he is still at the forefront of political debate, but his legacy as a towering revolutionary pan-Africanist with important messages for our time is not in doubt.
Since January 12, 2015, Michel Martelly has ruled Haiti by decree with US-UN guns backing up his dictatorship. The UN Security council, led by Samantha Powers, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, recently visited Haiti to legitimize and reinforce their commitment to Martelly over the objections of the people of Haiti.
Africa often seems to be stuck in an endless cycle of dictators, rancid revolutionaries and false dawns. But genuine champions of change exist, some great others quite ordinary people.
Six years of the Jonathan presidency have pushed the country to the precipice. The way it looks, Nigeria might take a dangerous plunge if Jonathan remains in office beyond May 29, 2015. Another four years under the present dispensation is an open invitation to chaos.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) made a political decision to give complete immunity to President Paul Kagame and the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) for their crimes and as a result they have been granted impunity to commit the terrible war crimes in Rwandan and Congo since: because they know they can get away with it.
The continued banning of certain films in Kenya without making known detailed reasons for such censorship is a big blow to artistic expression and a clear violation of artistic freedom guaranteed by the constitution of Kenya, Article 19 says.
Opponents says the law currently awaiting final approval in the Senate prior to its final review by the Congress of Deputies would introduce unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly in Spain and would legalise the practice of summary returns to Morocco from Spain’s enclaves in North Africa.
As former Chief of Appeals and Legal Advisory Division at the ICTR, Obote-Odora surely knows that sworn testimony as well as public assertions of fact exist from members of Kagame-Power circles concerning the events leading to the genocide, including the names of RPF personnel participating with Kagame in planning the shoot-down of the plane carrying President Habyarimana.
Fact: Four trial chambers and the Appeal Chamber acquitted the entire national political and military leadership of the Habyarimana government of conspiracy to commit genocide, or any other crimes, before April 7, 1994, the day after the assassination of the President.
The mobile revolution. Geopolitical power shifts. A radically altered global economy. The world is changing, and so is the way that people fight for their rights. In order to be effective, Amnesty International’s (AI) International Secretariat needs to change how we work. That’s why we have opened an East Africa Regional Office in Kenya. And why we need your field research expertise with us on the ground.
Pambazuka News 713: Justice for despots, power to the people
Pambazuka News 713: Justice for despots, power to the people
Nigeria has postponed its fiercest presidential election scheduled for this weekend. Nothing new. What is, however, worrying is the fact that every Nigerian election is a referendum on the continued existence of the country. A genuine national conversation about whether the country is sustainable the way it exists today is needed.
Jacqueline Moudeina is a Chadian lawyer and President of The Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATPDH). She is a recipient of the 2011 Right Livelihood Award. Moudeina is pursuing justice for the survivors of former Chadian president Hissène Habré’s terror regime.
At least 221 women and girls were raped in Tabit over 36 hours beginning on October 30, 2014. The mass rapes would amount to crimes against humanity if found to be part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population.
Lorraine’s work has made a significant contribution to the artistic and political expression of the African American people in their struggle against national oppression and economic exploitation. Her writings and social activism will inevitably be studied by generations to come.
A multi-pronged approach is needed to end FGM in one generation. This includes prevention, protection, provision of services, partnerships and prosecutions. States must live up to their international obligations to protect women and girls.
A lot of work needs to be done in the current climate of infighting and breakaways at MDC. Last year’s crushing defeat at the elections was a clear indication that a divided and weak opposition will never remove President Mugabe and ZANU-PF from power.
Africa Contact urges Crabs Montana Forum to move its forum in March from Africa’s last colony, Moroccan occupied Western Sahara. Other organisations deploring the holding of the forum in an occupied territory include the African Union and Western Saharas exile government.
Farmers of the remote Gassol community in Nigeria’s Taraba State are facing a battle for their livelihoods in the face of a land grab backed by UK aid.
Africa is fast becoming the go-to continent for countries wanting access to the vast and rich resources. But can the countinent harness its potential, negotiate effectively and have the confidence to take charge of its own future, without allowing global financial giants to ride rough-shod over it?
The journalist and former political prisoner questions the authority and universality of South African and African Union statements on nation-building, equality and secularity – at a time when South Africa remains stubbornly quiet on the atrocities being committed by Boko Haram and religious extremists in north, west and east Africa.
My exchange with Herman and Peterson has reached a dead end. I do not want to communicate with them any more, particularly as they are constantly denying what they write and revise their narratives as they go along.
As the Cuban revolutionary icon knows only too well, Empire’s war against countries aspiring to live with dignity is widespread: ranging from organizing subversion and coups to economic sabotage.
The president of the main Cuban student union describes his unique meeting with the leader of the Cuban Revolution and former Cuban president Fidel Castro. The 88-year-old revolutionary has become scarce in public after resigning from office citing health concerns, but as this young student narrates, Fidel is still very vital and aware.
America’s new ambassador to Kigali has hit the ground running, with a recent letter to the Rwandan people in which she reiterates the pro-Kagame policies of the U.S. Government. It is amazing that the US chooses to look the other way in the face of many reports, including its own, detailing rampant atrocities committed by the Kagame regime.
The Kenya civil society network KPTJ has written to the UK Serious Fraud Office providing context about the real cost of bribing election officials ahead of the sentencing of Smith and Ouzman and two of its directors who were recently convicted of bribing IIEC officials in the 'Chickengate' scandal.
Estela Hernandez is both a member of the national assembly and a leader in the transformational social movement, La Coordinadora of the Lower Lempa and the Bay of Jiquilisco in rural El Salvador. Here she talks about a radical vision and practice of direct, participatory democracy by the citizens in the government of the FMLN.
The Gambia, ruled for the last 20 years by an eratic and brutal tyrant, is one of the worst places on earth to work as a journalist. One prominent journalist who lived under the Yahya Jammeh regime has placed on record his own harrowing experiences and those of others – plus insights into media history and operations in the tiny West African nation.
Pambazuka News 712: Pitfalls of transitional politics in Africa
Pambazuka News 712: Pitfalls of transitional politics in Africa
The November issue of the International Refugee Rights Initiative’s Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter (formerly the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter) is out. Find the full newsletter .
“Prime Evil” de Kock, the apartheid assassin who was convicted on 89 charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison, is to be released. While he has a right to seek parole, the claim by Minister Masutha that de Kock’s release serves “nation building and reconciliation” is objectionable. It is the kind of rhetoric that silences rather than builds the nation.
Over 100, 000 African elephants have been killed by poachers in just three years. But the greatest threat elephants is not parts of the world’s appetite for ivory, but something far more dangerous and difficult to stop: Climate change. Each of us can do something about this.
Over 65 experts and activists from different countries have written to the BBC in support of the documentary “Rwanda's untold story”, aired last October, which they say has significantly contributed to establishing previously ignored historical truth in the African Great Lakes Region. They want the UN to set up a mechanism to prosecute all persons responsible for horrendous crimes committed in the region since 1990.
The creation of the Eurasian Economic Union parallels two deepening interrelated crises: the growing rift between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and the looming economic crisis in Russia.
It is remarkable that an organisation like the African Union, supposedly committed to values such as democracy, economic development and human rights – not to mention gender equality – can choose someone like Mugabe as its figurehead, given Mugabe’s patchy record in these areas. He is a symbol of the AU's hypocrisy.
In this latest installment of the ongoing exchange between Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, on the one hand, and Alex Obote-Odora, on the other, the authors of ‘Enduring Lies’ conclude that there is no point in arguing with the former senior official of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. His attempt to legitimise the assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana, which sparked the genocide, is just part of efforts to cover up the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s culture of impunity, argue the authors.
Popular support of Mozambique’s liberation party FRELIMO has declined over its 40-year rule. The newly eleceted President Nyusi has a huge task before him of addresssing malpractices of fraud and self-enrichment within the party, growing security concerns and mass poverty in the country.
There is little to show for America’s pledged help in Nigeria’s war on Boko Haram. In this piece Abayomi Azikiwe examines how the West still wields economic and political influence over Nigerian policy and discusses some recent cases of South-South cooperation that could help Nigeria and other African states.
Nigeria is not lacking in literary talent, yet there still aren't many Nigerian books freely available in the country, and they aren't quite as easy to find as foreign books. However, all is far from lost: There is a movement that is breathing new life into Nigerian storytelling.
As a response to the need for reinstating the stamped-out history of Black heritage and achievement, observing and celebrating February as Black History Month is a necessary act of liberation.
Mugabe’s poor execution of the redistribution of farmland to the black majority left African farmers unable to provide for the needs of the population. With imposed sanctions, a Western ban and a questionable business philosophy can the man who has brought the country to its knees really be the best option for chairman of the African Union?
The context and timing of the Lady Justice’s appointment to the highest judicial position in the land raises important questions about perceptions in a country where corruption is widespread. President Edgar Lungu named Justice Mambilima to the post just two weeks after she declared him winner of the tightly contested presidential poll whose results are still controversial.
Presidential elections are coming up in Nigeria next week on 14 February. The top contenders are the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and former head of state Mohammadu Buhari. In the opinion of this writer, electing Buhari represents a quiet revolution for Nigerians who have been longing for good governance for a long time, even as reactionary and retrogressive forces become more deeply entrenched in the country.
The Heads of States and Governments of the African Union adopted a Declaration on the planed organisation of Crans Montana Forum in the occupied territory of Western Sahara, and estimated “it can only create an atmosphere of confrontation in the territory”.
Pambazuka News 711: Pushing back: The people vs. elite power
Pambazuka News 711: Pushing back: The people vs. elite power
The developments of the past week in Soweto [widespread attacks on foreigners] manifest from sectional politics that our people were exposed to. When the Pan Africanist Congress adopted the noble idea of Pan Afrikanism it was seen by others as racist. Mangaliso Sobukwe, the first president of the PAC, a visionary, a thinker, speaking about South Africa said: “I wish to state that the Afrikanists do not at all subscribe to the doctrine of South African exceptionalism. Our contention is that South Africa is an integral part of the indivisible whole; that Afrika cannot solve her problems in isolation from the rest of the continent.”
We have a mission as true Pan Afrikanists to educate our people. People might be slow to understand Sobukwe’s noble ideology but that is what will bear the best for human kind. Good ideas are not adopted automatically; they must be driven into practice with courageous patience. The failure of addressing the National Question by the current ruling party has exposed it as not having a clear vision.
FORWARD TO PAN AFRIKANISM,TOMORROW THE UNITED STATES OF AFRIKA!
The 88-year-old revolutionary former President of Cuba does not “trust the US, nor have I exchanged any words with them,” he says in a letter addressed to the student federation at the University of Havana. This is the first time Castro has spoken publicly since the 17 December US push for a historic reconciliation between the two nations.
The two leading candidates in Zambia’s presidential by-election last week were in fact unfit to vie, given their record of activities that constitute elections offenses in the Zambian law. A complaints authority should be set up to investigate the claims.
Apparently inspired by last year’s massive protests in Burkina Faso that ended the regime of President Blaise Compaore who wanted to extend his rule, Congolese citizens last week poured out into the streets to oppose perceived attempts by President Kabila to hold onto power. The people won. But will Kabila still pursue his ambition?
Colonialism and capitalism have produced a profiundly unjust food regime, imposing on Southern Africans a diet that generates widespread malnutrition and obesity. The solution to this problem lies in a concerted government-led efforts to implement local solutions that prioritise people over profits.
Although the numbers of women and men in Uganda are comparable, there exists a great gap in access to resources and to positions of power between the sexes. This inequity affects the structure of the country as a whole and must be corrected.
Sierra Leone’s elections are still two years away, but with the country rocked by the recent Ebola crisis, campaigning is already underway. Sankara Kamara looks closer at one presidential candidate, and what lies behind his predominantly online campaign.
Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan is surrounded by discredited men who are doing his re-election campaign more harm than good.
When white South Africans see themselves as having a special connection to global whiteness they often succumb to the narcissistic fantasy that their presence in this society, in Africa, constitutes a unique and precious gift.
The cartoon series on prophet Mohammed, insulting to Muslims, was clearly intended to provoke. While expression of opinion is part of democracy, the French government, on the one hand, ignored this conscious bigotry; on the other, it shut up a popular French comedian, Dieudonne, for what it construed as anti-Semitic jokes.
The World Bank proclaims its mission is to strive to end extreme poverty at the global level and promote shared prosperity. But a leaked report reveals a conspiracy of silence to cover up crimes against humanity committed against the Anuak people in Ethiopia with the complicity of the World Bank itself.
The campaigns lacked any clarity about how the candidates would tackle the huge socio-economic problems bedeviling the Southern African nation. But now that there is a new president in office for the next 18 months, he must strive to heal the deep ethnic cleavages and craft and implement a programme that will improve the quality of life of the majority of Zambians.
It is unfortunate that the professor of finance and the journalist have elected to promote a political posture and criticism in the guise of an ostensible legal analysis. In the end, their analysis contributes very little or nothing at all to the scholarship of international law, while at the same time generating unwarranted, misinformed controversy.
Pope Francis has used his soft power to speak progressively against an international system that creates and maintains economic inequality and poverty. This year the pope is expected to travel to Africa - a much needed visit for Africans of all faiths as it will once again remind the world of persistent injustices as well as the vast potential of the continent.