CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Advocacy & Campaigns, 3. Jobs
Features
Walter Rodney has demonstrated through thought and action that it is not inevitable for intellectuals to join the systems of oppression and use their knowledge and skills to perpetuate exploitation. They have the option of committing “class suicide.” Rodney called on the intelligentsia to use their knowledge and skills to challenge and undermine oppression.
Although the presidential commission of inquiry completed its task and published its report, the work of justice for Walter Rodney is not yet over. His family needs justice. The political context in which Rodney was murdered remains largely intact in Guyana. And the lessons of his killing should be the basis of international solidarity against the abuse of state power to silence dissent.
For 22 years, the Rwandan government’s radically simplified and decontextualized history of the massacres of 1994 has been used to justify President Paul Kagame’s totalitarian rule. For 20 years it has also been used to justify the U.S.-backed invasion, occupation and plunder of the immensely resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo.
The frustrations of the First Lady of Nigeria and other Nigerians about the leadership of President Buhari and his many failed promises are understandable. But while her open criticism of him was ill-advised, what is more damaging to President Buhari than that is his old-fashioned and sexist response.
Buhari’s outrageous outburst on his wife in Berlin at the end of his Germany visit completely overshadowed the import of whatever was the original reason for this trip. Quite clearly if ever there was an incontrovertible link between congenital misogyny and genocidist depravity, psychologists and geneticists would have at last found a case study here.
A civil society press statement on President Buhari’s public misogynistic, derogatory and demeaning comments about his wife, Aisha
In an angry reaction to public criticism of his government by his wife, the Nigerian leader retorted that she“belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room”. The president’s reaction has drawn fire from civil society.
Ivory Coast is in crisis. The instability arising from the post-election violence of five years ago continues to deepen. The government is increasingly repressive. Many Ivorians cannot meet the cost of living. Jobs are scarce. Insecurity perpetrated by gangs of unemployed youths makes life uncertain. Yet the government of Alassane Ouattara doesn't seem concerned with any of that. His current project is a new constitution whose barely hidden agenda is to keep him in power beyond 2020.
President Biya does not live in Cameroon and, therefore, does not know Cameroonians. The absentee landlord spends several months in Europe with no specific agenda in mind. Once back home, he retires to his million-dollar castle to play golf and drink champagne. Biya’s inept governance has brought Cameroon to its knees. Cameroonians should rise up and replace him.
For South Africa to dismantle its colonial economic structures it will have to urgently address the knowledge and resources impasse. Through equitable distribution of wealth and resources, free decolonial education should be implemented to cater for the financially excluded Black majority now.
According to one report, Black households in the US will not reach wealth parity with white households until 2241. While disillusionment between young Black Americans and American institutions is real, a growing movement has erupted to challenge forces of white supremacy and funnel dissent into powerful, disruptive change.
We live in a world which is faced with multiple, interconnected problems, such as climate change and significant environmental degradation, inequality, poverty and food insecurity, but we also have the unique opportunity to redesign and recreate sustainable futures. A whole generation of business education students will need to be engaged to think and act in a way that matches the scale of these challenges.
Statement for World Food Day 2016
Instead of heeding the just calls for food, land, and food sovereignty being raised by the farmers and peoples of the world, the powers that be are responding with intensified repression.
Advocacy and Campaigns
Marcus Garvey should be posthumously pardoned for his wrongful conviction for use of the mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud. During a time when Blacks were seen as second class citizens, Garvey led a mass movement to elevate the Black community through economic empowerment and independence. He was convicted after being targeted by J. Edgar Hoover and deprived of a fair trial. Go to:https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/grant-marcus-mosiah-garvey-po...
Announcement
Position available for a highly motivated and resourceful Grants Associate with strong writing skills, attention to detail, and ability to take initiative. Reporting to the Institutional Giving Manager, the Grants Associate will serve as an integral member of the Development team. The position requires close collaboration with program staff across all three regional offices – The Americas (New York), Europe (London), and Africa (Nairobi) – and across program areas.
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Henry Makori and Tidiane Kasse - Editors, Pambazuka News
Yves Niyiragira - Executive Director, Fahamu
Websites: Fahamu.org, Pambazuka.org
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