As West African countries try to battle Ebola, countries such as Uganda provide a model for improved detection and prevention
By Betsy McKay, Nicholas Bariyo and Drew Hinshaw
The Wall Street Journal - Aug. 22, 2014
In 2000, the deadly Ebola virus struck Uganda. And like the current outbreak in West Africa, now the largest in history, Uganda was completely unprepared. Combating it in a remote northern district under siege from a rebel insurgency, Ugandan health authorities failed to stem an initial outbreak. Frightened residents—many displaced by militants and living in congested camps—hid their ill relatives, infecting themselves as they wiped away the sweat and blood of the sick or as they prepared infectious bodies for burial. Patients fled hospitals, spreading the disease. Health-care workers ran away too. Uganda defeated the epidemic several months later, but by then, 425 people contracted Ebola, and more than half of them had died. It was the largest Ebola outbreak on record—until this year. Today, Uganda has a different Ebola story to tell. The East African nation has had four more occurrences with the disease, but none has proved as deadly as the first in 2000. Authorities from the nation's president to village leaders exhort Ugandans to be on the lookout for people with symptoms. Health officials screen airline passengers and have stockpiled hospitals with supplies. Teams of veterinarians test wildlife for viruses like Ebola that can infect humans. Uganda has even sent doctors to West Africa to train medical staff there during the outbreak.
READ MORE.....
Monday, August 25, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Africa Rising
"In Economics, the Majority is Always Wrong" Stories of Africa's economic boom rest on shaky foundations. John Kenneth Galbraith can help.
Think Africa Press | 18 August 2014
This US-Africa Leaders Summit, held at the start of this month, fell at a time of rising concern over the sustainability of Africa’s economic emergence. In particular, many watch with excitement, as well as anxiety, at the ravenous investor interest in African debt and in new joint ventures that aim to serve the continent’s consumers. The boom in investment has been so striking of late that these flows could soon be Africa’s leading source of hard currency.
However, while these trends continue to inspire hope in some quarters, in many other circles faith in the idea that this capital surge will generate full employment, reduce inequality and eradicate poverty is waning. Instead, various commentators now worry about overheating, overreach, resource misallocation and non-performance. Meanwhile, stories such as excessively-indebted Ghana’s recent expression of interest in subjecting itself to another course of International Monetary Fund (IMF) medicine provide further fodder to those that emphasise the potential for bubble trouble south of the Sahara.
READ MORE....
Think Africa Press | 18 August 2014
This US-Africa Leaders Summit, held at the start of this month, fell at a time of rising concern over the sustainability of Africa’s economic emergence. In particular, many watch with excitement, as well as anxiety, at the ravenous investor interest in African debt and in new joint ventures that aim to serve the continent’s consumers. The boom in investment has been so striking of late that these flows could soon be Africa’s leading source of hard currency.
However, while these trends continue to inspire hope in some quarters, in many other circles faith in the idea that this capital surge will generate full employment, reduce inequality and eradicate poverty is waning. Instead, various commentators now worry about overheating, overreach, resource misallocation and non-performance. Meanwhile, stories such as excessively-indebted Ghana’s recent expression of interest in subjecting itself to another course of International Monetary Fund (IMF) medicine provide further fodder to those that emphasise the potential for bubble trouble south of the Sahara.
READ MORE....
Friday, August 15, 2014
Africa: Another Apple of Discord Between China and US?
Marina Dzhashi
Rianovosti - 14/08/2014
Africa holds great economic potential for foreign investment, however the ongoing local conflicts present a lot of threats associated with the opportunities. Find out what developments are likely to follow as a result of the summit and what's in store for Africa in this edition of Agree or Disagree.
As a continent of great economic potential and strategic importance Africa attracts investors from abroad with the Chinese investment so far being the most aggressive. Some analysts believe that China and the US rivalry over Africa may escalate to the point of cold war.
Radio VR’s Agree or Disagree discusses how justified this view is withGeorge Koo, the founder of Strategic Alliances and Brendon O' Reilly, a journalist and writer for China Outlook. Nearly 50 African heads of state converged on Washington DC to discuss how to strengthen ties between the US and one of the world's fastest-growing regions.
READ MORE....
Rianovosti - 14/08/2014
Africa holds great economic potential for foreign investment, however the ongoing local conflicts present a lot of threats associated with the opportunities. Find out what developments are likely to follow as a result of the summit and what's in store for Africa in this edition of Agree or Disagree.
As a continent of great economic potential and strategic importance Africa attracts investors from abroad with the Chinese investment so far being the most aggressive. Some analysts believe that China and the US rivalry over Africa may escalate to the point of cold war.
Radio VR’s Agree or Disagree discusses how justified this view is withGeorge Koo, the founder of Strategic Alliances and Brendon O' Reilly, a journalist and writer for China Outlook. Nearly 50 African heads of state converged on Washington DC to discuss how to strengthen ties between the US and one of the world's fastest-growing regions.
READ MORE....
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
A New Article: Contributions of Africana Scholars to the Theory of Human Rights in Sociology
By Biko Agozino
Theoria and Praxis: International Joural of Interdisciplinary Thought
Vol 2, No 1 (2014) The Idea of Human Rights
Eurocentrism dominates and distorts human rights discourse as is the case with almost every other topic in sociology. The assumption is that human rights are Western values with the best exemplars of the tradition to be found in western liberal democratic states based on theoretical and legal-philosophical ideas developed by the Enlightenment and by the Western scholars who inherited that tradition. By neglecting other communities of interpretation on the human rights discourse, Eurocentrism contributes to the stunting of social thought the way ethnocentrism usually does. This papyrus departs from the Eurocentric approach by focusing on the profound contributions of people of African descent to the theoretical clarification of human rights issues and to the heroic historical struggles to advance the practice of human rights for all of humanity.
Download the article.......
Theoria and Praxis: International Joural of Interdisciplinary Thought
Vol 2, No 1 (2014) The Idea of Human Rights
Eurocentrism dominates and distorts human rights discourse as is the case with almost every other topic in sociology. The assumption is that human rights are Western values with the best exemplars of the tradition to be found in western liberal democratic states based on theoretical and legal-philosophical ideas developed by the Enlightenment and by the Western scholars who inherited that tradition. By neglecting other communities of interpretation on the human rights discourse, Eurocentrism contributes to the stunting of social thought the way ethnocentrism usually does. This papyrus departs from the Eurocentric approach by focusing on the profound contributions of people of African descent to the theoretical clarification of human rights issues and to the heroic historical struggles to advance the practice of human rights for all of humanity.
Download the article.......
Monday, August 4, 2014
A New Book: The Scramble for African Oil
Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa's Natural Resources
Douglas A. Yates
PLUTO PRESS, 2012
Africa is often seen as a place to be pitied or feared as an area of
instability. This book challenges these complacent assumptions, showing
how our demand for oil contributes to the chronic problems plaguing the
continent.
Douglas A. Yates shows how the 'scramble' by the great powers for African oil has fed corruption and undermined democracy. Yates documents how Africans have refused to remain passive in the face of such developments, forming movements to challenge this new attempt at domination.
This book is an urgent challenge to our understanding of Africa, raising questions about the consequences of our reliance on foreign resources. It will be vital reading for all those studying development and global political economy.
Douglas A. Yates is Professor of International Relations & Diplomacy at the American Graduate School, International & Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris, and Anglo-American Law at the University of Cergy-Pontoise. His most recent book is The French Oil Industry and the Corps des Mines in Africa (2009).
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PART ONE: POWER FROM ABOVE
1. Foreign States and Trade Relations
– Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism and Globalization
– Reserves, Production, Peak Oil and War
– Case Study: Neo-Colonialism in Gabon
– French Domination by Elf-Gabon
2. Multinational Corporations and Nationalization
– The Legacy of Geography?
– The Legacy of Slavery?
– Case Study: Yankee Landlords of Cabinda
– Portuguese Colonialism, American Imperialism
– Angolan Nationalism and the MPLA
3. International Organization and Governance
– Improving Governance in Africa's Oil Sector
– International Organizations: TI, Global Witness, PWYP, EITI
– Case Study: Chad and the World Bank Model
4. Rentier States and Kleptocracy
– Oil Rent and the Rentier
– Rentier Mentality, Allocation State
– Spanish Guinea (1778-1968)
– Dictatorial Guinea
5. Praetorian Regimes and Terror
– Soldiers and Oil
– Typology of Military States
– The Military in Congo-Brazzaville
– From Praetorian Rule to Personal Dictatorship
PART TWO: POWER FROM BELOW
6. Journalists and Intellectuals
– The Treason of the Clerks
– Cameroon: the Agathon of Mongo Beti
– The Return to Cameroon
7. Political Parties and Elections
– Electoral Democracy in Africa
– Multiparty Democracy in Sao Tome E Principe
– Oil and Corruption in Multiparty Democracy
8. Armed Struggle for Independence
– Oil and War
– Regional Identity and Violence
– Southern Identity and Violence in Sudan
– John Garang and the 'New Sudan'
9. Popular Resistance and People Power
– Things Don't Fall Apart
– Oil and Violence in the Niger Delta
– Collapsing the Failed State
10. Unscrambling the Scramble for African Oil
– Solution 1: Controlling Corruption
– Solution 2: Direct Distribution of Oil Revenues
– Solution 3: Invest in Social Development
– Solution 4: Boycott African Oil
– Solution 5: Stop Consuming Oil
READ MORE.....
Douglas A. Yates
PLUTO PRESS, 2012
Africa is often seen as a place to be pitied or feared as an area of
instability. This book challenges these complacent assumptions, showing
how our demand for oil contributes to the chronic problems plaguing the
continent.Douglas A. Yates shows how the 'scramble' by the great powers for African oil has fed corruption and undermined democracy. Yates documents how Africans have refused to remain passive in the face of such developments, forming movements to challenge this new attempt at domination.
This book is an urgent challenge to our understanding of Africa, raising questions about the consequences of our reliance on foreign resources. It will be vital reading for all those studying development and global political economy.
Douglas A. Yates is Professor of International Relations & Diplomacy at the American Graduate School, International & Comparative Politics at the American University of Paris, and Anglo-American Law at the University of Cergy-Pontoise. His most recent book is The French Oil Industry and the Corps des Mines in Africa (2009).
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PART ONE: POWER FROM ABOVE
1. Foreign States and Trade Relations
– Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism and Globalization
– Reserves, Production, Peak Oil and War
– Case Study: Neo-Colonialism in Gabon
– French Domination by Elf-Gabon
2. Multinational Corporations and Nationalization
– The Legacy of Geography?
– The Legacy of Slavery?
– Case Study: Yankee Landlords of Cabinda
– Portuguese Colonialism, American Imperialism
– Angolan Nationalism and the MPLA
3. International Organization and Governance
– Improving Governance in Africa's Oil Sector
– International Organizations: TI, Global Witness, PWYP, EITI
– Case Study: Chad and the World Bank Model
4. Rentier States and Kleptocracy
– Oil Rent and the Rentier
– Rentier Mentality, Allocation State
– Spanish Guinea (1778-1968)
– Dictatorial Guinea
5. Praetorian Regimes and Terror
– Soldiers and Oil
– Typology of Military States
– The Military in Congo-Brazzaville
– From Praetorian Rule to Personal Dictatorship
PART TWO: POWER FROM BELOW
6. Journalists and Intellectuals
– The Treason of the Clerks
– Cameroon: the Agathon of Mongo Beti
– The Return to Cameroon
7. Political Parties and Elections
– Electoral Democracy in Africa
– Multiparty Democracy in Sao Tome E Principe
– Oil and Corruption in Multiparty Democracy
8. Armed Struggle for Independence
– Oil and War
– Regional Identity and Violence
– Southern Identity and Violence in Sudan
– John Garang and the 'New Sudan'
9. Popular Resistance and People Power
– Things Don't Fall Apart
– Oil and Violence in the Niger Delta
– Collapsing the Failed State
10. Unscrambling the Scramble for African Oil
– Solution 1: Controlling Corruption
– Solution 2: Direct Distribution of Oil Revenues
– Solution 3: Invest in Social Development
– Solution 4: Boycott African Oil
– Solution 5: Stop Consuming Oil
READ MORE.....
Friday, July 11, 2014
What is the Future of Pan African, Black Nationalist Movements?
By Saaed Shabazz
Black Press USA - July 8, 2014
The deaths of Chokwe Lumumba, Amiri Baraka, Jitu Weusi and most recently, Elombe Brath raises critical issues and questions on the status, direction and future of Pan African and Black Nationalist movements inside the United States. The modern-day drum, now known as the text message, continued for hours May 19, announcing the passing of Mr. Brath, described by Empress Phile Chionesu, convener of the historic 1997 Million Woman’s March, as “a true champion of African liberation, who lives his Blackness – walks and talks his Blackness like a robe of honor.” Pam Africa, the Minister of Confrontation for the Philadelphia-based MOVE organization and coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal said drummers and chanters outside of Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church set the tone for Mr. Brath’s home going memorial. “But, the most important thing was the young people who were out there chanting “Elombe, Elombe,” she said, adding, “That shows us that the spirit of his work continues,” said Ms. Africa.
READ MORE.....
Black Press USA - July 8, 2014
The deaths of Chokwe Lumumba, Amiri Baraka, Jitu Weusi and most recently, Elombe Brath raises critical issues and questions on the status, direction and future of Pan African and Black Nationalist movements inside the United States. The modern-day drum, now known as the text message, continued for hours May 19, announcing the passing of Mr. Brath, described by Empress Phile Chionesu, convener of the historic 1997 Million Woman’s March, as “a true champion of African liberation, who lives his Blackness – walks and talks his Blackness like a robe of honor.” Pam Africa, the Minister of Confrontation for the Philadelphia-based MOVE organization and coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal said drummers and chanters outside of Harlem’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church set the tone for Mr. Brath’s home going memorial. “But, the most important thing was the young people who were out there chanting “Elombe, Elombe,” she said, adding, “That shows us that the spirit of his work continues,” said Ms. Africa.
READ MORE.....
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Africa: Imperialism's New Strategies
By Ama Biney
AllAfrica - 3 July 2014
A review of 'Divide and Ruin: The West's Imperial Strategy in an Age of Crisis', by Dan Glazebrook, published by Liberation Media, 2013
Dan Glazebrook's volume demonstrates that the infamous
imperialism of the past has not disappeared but has instead adopted new
strategies to obscure its intentions, such as proxy wars and media-based
indoctrination. These tactics must be exposed and imperialist resisted
Individuals on the 'left', or those who prefer the characterisation 'progressives', 'radicals' or 'activists' are conscious of the fact that the imperialist leopard never changes its spots. Though it may appear to do so, the change is illusionary.
Hence, the collection of articles in this new and slim volume reveal that since 2008, when 'things were not looking good for imperialism' (p. vii) with the onset of the capitalist economic crisis, it has meant that imperialism has resorted to reconfiguring strategies of domination and control over the planet's resources and to eliminating governments and people that fail to demonstrate subservience to the whims and interests of empire.
As Glazebrook argues, 'The truth is that Empire's strategy is far more insidious than in the days of Bush and Blair. Imperialism today no longer swaggers onto the world stage in a cowboy hat declaring its determination to launch "crusades" on behalf of the "haves and the have mores", to use the memorable phraseology of George W. Bush; its strategy today is a lot more cunning' (p. viii). In short, imperialism has shifted to wars by proxy - whether it be in Libya or Syria, which as the author claims, 'is also a sign of vulnerability and weakness' (p. viii).
READ MORE....
AllAfrica - 3 July 2014
A review of 'Divide and Ruin: The West's Imperial Strategy in an Age of Crisis', by Dan Glazebrook, published by Liberation Media, 2013
Individuals on the 'left', or those who prefer the characterisation 'progressives', 'radicals' or 'activists' are conscious of the fact that the imperialist leopard never changes its spots. Though it may appear to do so, the change is illusionary.
Hence, the collection of articles in this new and slim volume reveal that since 2008, when 'things were not looking good for imperialism' (p. vii) with the onset of the capitalist economic crisis, it has meant that imperialism has resorted to reconfiguring strategies of domination and control over the planet's resources and to eliminating governments and people that fail to demonstrate subservience to the whims and interests of empire.
As Glazebrook argues, 'The truth is that Empire's strategy is far more insidious than in the days of Bush and Blair. Imperialism today no longer swaggers onto the world stage in a cowboy hat declaring its determination to launch "crusades" on behalf of the "haves and the have mores", to use the memorable phraseology of George W. Bush; its strategy today is a lot more cunning' (p. viii). In short, imperialism has shifted to wars by proxy - whether it be in Libya or Syria, which as the author claims, 'is also a sign of vulnerability and weakness' (p. viii).
READ MORE....
Sunday, June 29, 2014
The African Village where every House is a work of Art
By MessyNessy - 10th Jan, 2013
Burkina Faso is by no means an area frequented by tourists, but at the base of a hill overlooking the surrounding sun-drenched West African savannah lies an extraordinary village, a circular 1.2 hectare complex of intricately embellished earthen architecture. It is the residence of the chief, the royal court and the nobility of the Kassena people, who first settled the region in the 15th century, making them one of the oldest ethnic groups in Burkina Faso.
I found these rare photographs of the village from a dedicated Flickr user Rita Willaert who traveled to Tiébélé in 2009 despite all odds (see all her photos of the village here). The village keeps itself extremely isolated and closed to outsiders, most likely to ensure the conservation and integrity of their structures and to protect the local traditions. There is interest in developing the site as a cultural tourism destination to generate economic resources for conservation but it is a delicate process.
READ MORE.....
I found these rare photographs of the village from a dedicated Flickr user Rita Willaert who traveled to Tiébélé in 2009 despite all odds (see all her photos of the village here). The village keeps itself extremely isolated and closed to outsiders, most likely to ensure the conservation and integrity of their structures and to protect the local traditions. There is interest in developing the site as a cultural tourism destination to generate economic resources for conservation but it is a delicate process.
READ MORE.....
African migrants protest Israeli treatment
About 1,000 people, mainly Eritrean and Sudanese, leave open detention centre and march to the border with Egypt.
Al-Jazeera - 29 Jun 2014
About 1,000 African migrants protesting Israel's policy on asylum-seekers have marched out of an open detention centre and are camped out near the southern border with Egypt.
The mainly Eritrean and Sudanese migrants left the Holot camp facility on Friday because Israel had not processed their claims for asylum, a statement by migrant activists said.
"We are going to stay near the border with Egypt until a solution is found so our rights are respected," the statement said.
The sit-in came a day after Israeli soldiers stopped the demonstrators from crossing the border.
The protesters, who are allowed out during the day, said that their march was to protest against their "inhuman and unlimited" detention at Holot.
READ MORE....
Al-Jazeera - 29 Jun 2014
About 1,000 African migrants protesting Israel's policy on asylum-seekers have marched out of an open detention centre and are camped out near the southern border with Egypt.
The mainly Eritrean and Sudanese migrants left the Holot camp facility on Friday because Israel had not processed their claims for asylum, a statement by migrant activists said.
"We are going to stay near the border with Egypt until a solution is found so our rights are respected," the statement said.
The sit-in came a day after Israeli soldiers stopped the demonstrators from crossing the border.
The protesters, who are allowed out during the day, said that their march was to protest against their "inhuman and unlimited" detention at Holot.
READ MORE....
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Africa: American Aid As a Political Tool - If Uganda, Why Not Egypt?
By Liesl Louw-Vaudran
ALLAFRICA - 26 June 2014
Ugandans are outraged at the United States (US) sanctions against their country, which the Ugandan government says will harm the poorest of the poor and jeopardise crucial joint military exercises. The US sanctions, which were announced on Thursday last week, were in retaliation to the stringent anti-homosexuality bill signed into law by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in February.
Among other measures, the US suspended plans to fund a health institute, cancelled a US-sponsored military exercise and are imposing visa restrictions on 'certain individuals' - without specifying who they may be. The Ugandan shilling plunged this week following the US announcement. Predictably, Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said the country wouldn't be blackmailed into changing the law and that, in any case, it wasn't 'critical' for Ugandans to travel to the US - or any other country for that matter.
The response in Uganda raises the question whether this is really the best way to deal with regimes accused of curtailing their citizens' human rights, be it through legislation or otherwise. Does the US administration offer enough carrots in its carrot-and-stick policy towards Africa? Or has US President Barack Obama simply failed to lure the continent into seeing things his way - something he seemingly won't manage to do before the end of his second mandate? And if sanctions are maintained against Uganda, why not re-impose sanctions against Egypt? Surely the harsh sentences against Al Jazeera journalists, announced earlier this week, is an affront to media freedom and journalism around the world?
READ MORE.....
ALLAFRICA - 26 June 2014
Ugandans are outraged at the United States (US) sanctions against their country, which the Ugandan government says will harm the poorest of the poor and jeopardise crucial joint military exercises. The US sanctions, which were announced on Thursday last week, were in retaliation to the stringent anti-homosexuality bill signed into law by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in February.
Among other measures, the US suspended plans to fund a health institute, cancelled a US-sponsored military exercise and are imposing visa restrictions on 'certain individuals' - without specifying who they may be. The Ugandan shilling plunged this week following the US announcement. Predictably, Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said the country wouldn't be blackmailed into changing the law and that, in any case, it wasn't 'critical' for Ugandans to travel to the US - or any other country for that matter.
The response in Uganda raises the question whether this is really the best way to deal with regimes accused of curtailing their citizens' human rights, be it through legislation or otherwise. Does the US administration offer enough carrots in its carrot-and-stick policy towards Africa? Or has US President Barack Obama simply failed to lure the continent into seeing things his way - something he seemingly won't manage to do before the end of his second mandate? And if sanctions are maintained against Uganda, why not re-impose sanctions against Egypt? Surely the harsh sentences against Al Jazeera journalists, announced earlier this week, is an affront to media freedom and journalism around the world?
READ MORE.....
Thursday, June 19, 2014
What Really Happened in Congo
The CIA, the Murder of Lumumba, and the Rise of Mobutu
By Stephen R. Weissman
FOREIGN AFFAIRS - July/August 2014 Issue
It didn’t take long for Congo’s transition from Belgian colony to sovereign state to turn ugly. Both the Soviet Union and the United States were keeping a close eye on the mineral-rich country at the heart of Africa when, on June 30, 1960, it gained independence under a democratically elected government headed by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. A charismatic nationalist, Lumumba led the only party in parliament with a nationwide, rather than ethnic or regional, base. Within days, however, Congo’s troops mutinied against their all-white officer corps (a holdover from the colonial era) and started terrorizing the European population. Belgium responded by sending forces to reoccupy the country and helping Congo’s richest province, Katanga, secede. The United States, declining the appeals for help from the new Congolese government, instead threw its support behind a UN peacekeeping mission, which it hoped would obviate any Congolese requests for Soviet military assistance. But Lumumba quickly came into conflict with the UN for its failure to expel the Belgian troops and end Katanga’s secession. After issuing a series of shifting ultimatums to the UN, he turned to Moscow for help, which responded by sending transport planes to fly Lumumba’s troops into Katanga.
READ MORE....
By Stephen R. Weissman
FOREIGN AFFAIRS - July/August 2014 Issue
It didn’t take long for Congo’s transition from Belgian colony to sovereign state to turn ugly. Both the Soviet Union and the United States were keeping a close eye on the mineral-rich country at the heart of Africa when, on June 30, 1960, it gained independence under a democratically elected government headed by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. A charismatic nationalist, Lumumba led the only party in parliament with a nationwide, rather than ethnic or regional, base. Within days, however, Congo’s troops mutinied against their all-white officer corps (a holdover from the colonial era) and started terrorizing the European population. Belgium responded by sending forces to reoccupy the country and helping Congo’s richest province, Katanga, secede. The United States, declining the appeals for help from the new Congolese government, instead threw its support behind a UN peacekeeping mission, which it hoped would obviate any Congolese requests for Soviet military assistance. But Lumumba quickly came into conflict with the UN for its failure to expel the Belgian troops and end Katanga’s secession. After issuing a series of shifting ultimatums to the UN, he turned to Moscow for help, which responded by sending transport planes to fly Lumumba’s troops into Katanga.
READ MORE....
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
A New Documentary: FRAMED - What's behind the West's fascination with "saving" Africa?
FRAMED
by Cassandra Herrman and Kathryn Mathers
What's behind the West's fascination with "saving" Africa?
This film, which asks that question, needs you.
In American media and pop culture, Africans remain objects of our pity or moral outrage or fascination. The images are deeply disturbing, even enthralling, but they aren’t really about Africans; they’re about us. FRAMED takes a provocative look at image making and activism, following an inspiring young Kenyan photojournalist turned activist who shatters the stereotype of the passive aid recipient. As he challenges American students to focus their efforts close to home, FRAMED turns a lens on popular representations of Africa and Africans, as seen through the eyes of Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina and South African born educator Zine Magubane, who ask a chorus of questions about the selling of suffering.
WATCH THE TRAILER........
by Cassandra Herrman and Kathryn Mathers
What's behind the West's fascination with "saving" Africa? This film, which asks that question, needs you.
In American media and pop culture, Africans remain objects of our pity or moral outrage or fascination. The images are deeply disturbing, even enthralling, but they aren’t really about Africans; they’re about us. FRAMED takes a provocative look at image making and activism, following an inspiring young Kenyan photojournalist turned activist who shatters the stereotype of the passive aid recipient. As he challenges American students to focus their efforts close to home, FRAMED turns a lens on popular representations of Africa and Africans, as seen through the eyes of Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina and South African born educator Zine Magubane, who ask a chorus of questions about the selling of suffering.
WATCH THE TRAILER........
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh orders end of English as official language
Agence France-Presse in Dakar, Senegal - 12 March, 2014
English will be dropped as the official language of Gambia, according to the latest diatribe against the former colonial power by President Yahya Jammeh.
"We're going to speak our own language," he said, without specifying which of the poor West African country's indigenous tongues would replace English.
The Gambian strongman is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of the press, and citizens who have fled have set up critical news outlets against the regime.
A video of his latest broadside against Britain, delivered in English during the swearing-in of a new chief justice on Thursday, was uploaded on YouTube.
The country has several languages to choose from as a replacement for English.
About 40 per cent of Gambians speak Mandinka, while Fula or Wolof are used by another 34 per cent. Jammeh himself is from the minority Jula tribe, which speaks a Manding language most closely related to Bambara, spoken in nearby Mali.
READ MORE....
English will be dropped as the official language of Gambia, according to the latest diatribe against the former colonial power by President Yahya Jammeh.
"We're going to speak our own language," he said, without specifying which of the poor West African country's indigenous tongues would replace English.
The Gambian strongman is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of the press, and citizens who have fled have set up critical news outlets against the regime.
A video of his latest broadside against Britain, delivered in English during the swearing-in of a new chief justice on Thursday, was uploaded on YouTube.
The country has several languages to choose from as a replacement for English.
About 40 per cent of Gambians speak Mandinka, while Fula or Wolof are used by another 34 per cent. Jammeh himself is from the minority Jula tribe, which speaks a Manding language most closely related to Bambara, spoken in nearby Mali.
READ MORE....
Friday, May 23, 2014
The Case for Reparations
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Atlantic - May 21, 2014
nd if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.
— Deuteronomy 15: 12–15
Besides the crime which consists in violating the law, and varying from the right rule of reason, whereby a man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature, and to be a noxious creature, there is commonly injury done to some person or other, and some other man receives damage by his transgression: in which case he who hath received any damage, has, besides the right of punishment common to him with other men, a particular right to seek reparation.
— John Locke, “Second Treatise”
By our unpaid labor and suffering, we have earned the right to the soil, many times over and over, and now we are determined to have it.
— Anonymous, 1861
I. “So That’s Just One Of My Losses”
Clyde Ross was born in 1923, the seventh of 13 children, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the home of the blues. Ross’s parents owned and farmed a 40-acre tract of land, flush with cows, hogs, and mules. Ross’s mother would drive to Clarksdale to do her shopping in a horse and buggy, in which she invested all the pride one might place in a Cadillac. The family owned another horse, with a red coat, which they gave to Clyde. The Ross family wanted for little, save that which all black families in the Deep South then desperately desired—the protection of the law.
READ MORE....
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Atlantic - May 21, 2014
nd if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.
— Deuteronomy 15: 12–15
Besides the crime which consists in violating the law, and varying from the right rule of reason, whereby a man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature, and to be a noxious creature, there is commonly injury done to some person or other, and some other man receives damage by his transgression: in which case he who hath received any damage, has, besides the right of punishment common to him with other men, a particular right to seek reparation.
— John Locke, “Second Treatise”
By our unpaid labor and suffering, we have earned the right to the soil, many times over and over, and now we are determined to have it.
— Anonymous, 1861
I. “So That’s Just One Of My Losses”
Clyde Ross was born in 1923, the seventh of 13 children, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the home of the blues. Ross’s parents owned and farmed a 40-acre tract of land, flush with cows, hogs, and mules. Ross’s mother would drive to Clarksdale to do her shopping in a horse and buggy, in which she invested all the pride one might place in a Cadillac. The family owned another horse, with a red coat, which they gave to Clyde. The Ross family wanted for little, save that which all black families in the Deep South then desperately desired—the protection of the law.
READ MORE....
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
A new project of the Black Left Unity Network (BLUN).
Comrades and friends:
We are launching a new website to showcase our Black Liberation Theoreticians project. This is a project of the Black Left Unity Network (BLUN).
This project is an attempt to be inclusive of Black people who are part of the freedom movement, part of the anti-capitalist , anti-racist, and anti-patriarchy forces spread out all over the country. This is representative of the Black left that actually exists. These people share more in common that the various issues that divide them. We think it is necessary for all of these forces to be in dialogue with each other and to maximize the possibility of unity of action.
We send out links on an individual every day. If you would like to get this as a daily email we can hook you up.
We are launching a new website to showcase our Black Liberation Theoreticians project. This is a project of the Black Left Unity Network (BLUN).
This project is an attempt to be inclusive of Black people who are part of the freedom movement, part of the anti-capitalist , anti-racist, and anti-patriarchy forces spread out all over the country. This is representative of the Black left that actually exists. These people share more in common that the various issues that divide them. We think it is necessary for all of these forces to be in dialogue with each other and to maximize the possibility of unity of action.
We send out links on an individual every day. If you would like to get this as a daily email we can hook you up.
There are an equal number of men and women.
There are political as well as cultural workers in this directory.
All of the people in the directory are currently alive, and veterans of the struggle.
We will soon turn to the ancestors and begin to include those who have made their transition.
Also, we will begin to include brothers and sisters from the African Diaspora as well.
We invite discussion and especially welcome suggestions to add people to this project. This is not just a project for “famous” people. We need to include people at every local site of resistance, every organization, every tendency in our movement.
The BLUN needs you!
Abdul Alkalimat
http://brothermalcolm.net/SOLDIERS/
There are political as well as cultural workers in this directory.
All of the people in the directory are currently alive, and veterans of the struggle.
We will soon turn to the ancestors and begin to include those who have made their transition.
Also, we will begin to include brothers and sisters from the African Diaspora as well.
We invite discussion and especially welcome suggestions to add people to this project. This is not just a project for “famous” people. We need to include people at every local site of resistance, every organization, every tendency in our movement.
The BLUN needs you!
Abdul Alkalimat
http://brothermalcolm.net/SOLDIERS/
Monday, May 19, 2014
Keorapetse Kgositsile
Nikitah Okembe-ra Imani
Chair of Black Studies
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Into Africa: China’s Wild Rush
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
The New York Times - MAY 16, 2014
Read more....
The New York Times - MAY 16, 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya — For nearly a decade, as China
made a historic push for business opportunities and expanded influence
in Africa, most of the continent’s leaders were so thrilled at having a
deep-pocketed partner willing to make big investments and start huge new
projects that they rarely paused to consider whether they were getting a
sound deal.
China
has peppered the continent with newly built stadiums, airports,
hospitals, highways and dams, but as Africans are beginning to fully
recognize, these projects have also left many countries saddled with
heavy debts and other problems, from environmental conflict to labor
strife. As a consequence, China’s relationship with the continent is
entering a new and much more skeptical phase.
The
doubts aren’t coming from any soured feelings from African leaders
themselves, most of whom still welcome (and profit from) China’s
embrace. The new skepticism has even less to do with the hectoring of
Western governments, the traditional source of Africa’s foreign aid and
investment (and interference). In a 2012 speech in Senegal, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, then secretary of state, implicitly warned Africa about
China. The continent needs “a model of sustainable partnership that adds
value, rather than extracts it,” she said, adding that unlike other
countries, “America will stand up for democracy and universal human
rights even when it might be easier to look the other way and keep the
resources flowing.”
Read more....
Friday, May 16, 2014
British universities need Black Studies
In the US, black students see their lives and their history reflected in their studies. The UK must follow suit
By William Ackah
theguardian.com, Wednesday 14 May 2014
In San Francisco in 1968 a group of primarily black students went on strike to demand that their college establish an academic programme that reflected their lives and experiences. Their demand was met, and San Francisco State College became the first in the US to have a department and degree programme in Black Studies.
Nearly half a century later, Black Studies, Africana Studies or African-American Studies, as they are now variously named in different institutions, are a coast-to- coast academic discipline. Their academic departments in Ivy League institutions such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia are home to internationally renowned scholars.
Built on the two foundational pillars of academic excellence and social responsibility, Black Studies in the United States has led to the emergence of more black professors, heads of department and university administrators. From small beginnings, it has emerged as a genuine success story of the 1960s Civil Rights struggle.
Read more.....
By William Ackah
theguardian.com, Wednesday 14 May 2014
In San Francisco in 1968 a group of primarily black students went on strike to demand that their college establish an academic programme that reflected their lives and experiences. Their demand was met, and San Francisco State College became the first in the US to have a department and degree programme in Black Studies.
Nearly half a century later, Black Studies, Africana Studies or African-American Studies, as they are now variously named in different institutions, are a coast-to- coast academic discipline. Their academic departments in Ivy League institutions such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia are home to internationally renowned scholars.
Built on the two foundational pillars of academic excellence and social responsibility, Black Studies in the United States has led to the emergence of more black professors, heads of department and university administrators. From small beginnings, it has emerged as a genuine success story of the 1960s Civil Rights struggle.
Read more.....
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
African States Taking Cue From Zimbabwe’s Policies
AFRICANGLOBE - May 12, 2014
Political parties championing resource nationalism are gaining popularity in Africa’s body politic.
By embarking on successful land reforms and empowering Zimbabweans through indigenisation and empowerment laws, Zanu-PF has remained the dominant player in Zimbabwe’s politics.
Now, other African parties of like mind are following suit.
Barely eight months after its formation, South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters — led by firebrand politician Julius Malema — made tremendous inroads in the May 7, 2014 polls with more than one million votes.
The party, which wants to nationalise mines and banks and pursue land reforms, yesterday had 6.2 percent of the vote with most ballots counted.
The result made EFF the third largest political party in South Africa and is on course to get around 20 seats in that country’s parliament.
A “political infant”, the EFF also scored big in North West province where it is now the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress party, which had 62.4 percent of the national vote at the time of writing.
Read more.....
Political parties championing resource nationalism are gaining popularity in Africa’s body politic.
By embarking on successful land reforms and empowering Zimbabweans through indigenisation and empowerment laws, Zanu-PF has remained the dominant player in Zimbabwe’s politics.
Now, other African parties of like mind are following suit.
Barely eight months after its formation, South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters — led by firebrand politician Julius Malema — made tremendous inroads in the May 7, 2014 polls with more than one million votes.
The party, which wants to nationalise mines and banks and pursue land reforms, yesterday had 6.2 percent of the vote with most ballots counted.
The result made EFF the third largest political party in South Africa and is on course to get around 20 seats in that country’s parliament.
A “political infant”, the EFF also scored big in North West province where it is now the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress party, which had 62.4 percent of the national vote at the time of writing.
Read more.....
10 More Years: Obama Secures Foothold for Killer Drone War in Africa
President calls Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti 'critical'
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Common Dreams - May 5, 2014
The United States has agreed to sign a long-term lease agreement with the government of Djibouti, President Obama announced Monday, cementing the U.S. military's presence at Camp Lemonnier, home to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and key foothold for the killer drone program.
In a statement announcing the agreement with Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Obama hailed Camp Lemonnier's "critical role as an operational headquarters for regional security," emphasizing "the importance the base plays in protecting Americans and Djiboutians alike from violent extremist individuals and organizations."
The only "official" U.S. base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier is known as the "busiest Predator drone base outside the Afghan war zone," according to The Washington Post, and is central to drone operations in Somalia and Yemen. The base primarily serves the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) and currently houses more than 2,000 U.S. personnel.
Human rights groups have accused Djibouti of being a "knowing participant" in the CIA's rendition program and of housing CIA "black sites," where prisoners of the U.S. military have been held and tortured.
Read more.....
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Common Dreams - May 5, 2014
The United States has agreed to sign a long-term lease agreement with the government of Djibouti, President Obama announced Monday, cementing the U.S. military's presence at Camp Lemonnier, home to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and key foothold for the killer drone program.
In a statement announcing the agreement with Djibouti President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, Obama hailed Camp Lemonnier's "critical role as an operational headquarters for regional security," emphasizing "the importance the base plays in protecting Americans and Djiboutians alike from violent extremist individuals and organizations."
The only "official" U.S. base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier is known as the "busiest Predator drone base outside the Afghan war zone," according to The Washington Post, and is central to drone operations in Somalia and Yemen. The base primarily serves the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) and currently houses more than 2,000 U.S. personnel.
Human rights groups have accused Djibouti of being a "knowing participant" in the CIA's rendition program and of housing CIA "black sites," where prisoners of the U.S. military have been held and tortured.
Read more.....
White House Escalates Interventionist Plans for Nigeria
Abduction of students sparks outrage while imperialists pour in
By Abayomi Azikiwe (Pan-African News Wire)
Modern Ghana - 13 May 2014
A video purportedly released by the armed Boko Haram sect based in northeastern Nigeria showed what was said to be school girls who have been held by the group for a month. The Boko Haram leader said that the young women could be released in exchange for the prisoners belonging to their organization being held by the Nigerian government.
With the convening of the World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria, during the week of May 5, international media attention was focused on the country. The issue of internal security in Nigeria was also paramount since the detonation of two deadly bombs in Abuja during a three week period which resulted in the deaths of over 80 people.
Simultaneously the story involving the missing high school students from the village of Chibok in Borno state in the northeast which has been under a government-imposed state of emergency for months, was utilized to mobilize the intervention of military and intelligence personnel from Washington, London, Paris and Tel Aviv. The problems of the Boko Haram insurgency has existed since 2009 when the government deployed police and soldiers to attack the headquarters and residences of the group which had functioned for several years with the public support of some prominent northern-based politicians.
Read more....
By Abayomi Azikiwe (Pan-African News Wire)
Modern Ghana - 13 May 2014
A video purportedly released by the armed Boko Haram sect based in northeastern Nigeria showed what was said to be school girls who have been held by the group for a month. The Boko Haram leader said that the young women could be released in exchange for the prisoners belonging to their organization being held by the Nigerian government.
With the convening of the World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria, during the week of May 5, international media attention was focused on the country. The issue of internal security in Nigeria was also paramount since the detonation of two deadly bombs in Abuja during a three week period which resulted in the deaths of over 80 people.
Simultaneously the story involving the missing high school students from the village of Chibok in Borno state in the northeast which has been under a government-imposed state of emergency for months, was utilized to mobilize the intervention of military and intelligence personnel from Washington, London, Paris and Tel Aviv. The problems of the Boko Haram insurgency has existed since 2009 when the government deployed police and soldiers to attack the headquarters and residences of the group which had functioned for several years with the public support of some prominent northern-based politicians.
Read more....
ANC Wins Big Again in National Elections
Spy Ghana - May 12, 2014
Twenty years after Freedom Day in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has won overwhelmingly in the fifth national democratic elections held inside the country. The ANC, which has dominated South African politics for decades even prior to coming to power two decades ago in the first non-racial democratic elections, officially received 62.5 percent of the vote.
Following way behind the ANC is the Democratic Alliance (DA) headed by Helen Zille, the former mayor of Cape Town, which gained 22 percent of the vote. This represents an increase of five percentage points since 2009 but leaving it one-third of the support earned by the ANC.
Perhaps the most significant development in the national poll was the performance of the newly-formed Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by Julius Malema, the ousted president of the ANC Youth League. The EFF won 6 percent of the vote and is now the third party behind the DA and the ANC.
Read more....
Twenty years after Freedom Day in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has won overwhelmingly in the fifth national democratic elections held inside the country. The ANC, which has dominated South African politics for decades even prior to coming to power two decades ago in the first non-racial democratic elections, officially received 62.5 percent of the vote.
Following way behind the ANC is the Democratic Alliance (DA) headed by Helen Zille, the former mayor of Cape Town, which gained 22 percent of the vote. This represents an increase of five percentage points since 2009 but leaving it one-third of the support earned by the ANC.
Perhaps the most significant development in the national poll was the performance of the newly-formed Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by Julius Malema, the ousted president of the ANC Youth League. The EFF won 6 percent of the vote and is now the third party behind the DA and the ANC.
Read more....
Much of Britain's wealth is built on slavery. So why shouldn't it pay reparations?
The benefits of slavery have accrued down the generations, so why are we so nervous about the responsibility for the slave trade doing the same?
By Priyamvada Gopal
New Statesman 23 April, 2014
“Should we be responsible for the sins of our fathers?” Any discussion about the deeply polarising topic of reparations for slavery, if it happens at all, takes place in these quasi-religious terms. Unfortunately, the language of the confessional immediately constrains, indeed skews, the debate. Turning a matter of material justice into one of proxy atonement does the question of our demanding relationship to history a profound disservice. It implies, wrongly, that historical events of such vast reach as slavery have no discernible material impact on our present, as though what happened to or was done by our ancestors doesn’t filter down and impact our present. This is a curious belief in a society which believes so passionately in inheritance. How is possible, at one and the same time, to believe deeply in the right to inherit wealth and property acquired by progenitors while insisting that we in the present cannot, in any way, be responsible for the mechanisms of wealth-making in the past? It’s convenient enough: my grandfather’s house is my house but how he came to own is none of my business.
“Say NO to paying for something that happened 100s of years ago,” screamed one meme that was doing the rounds on social media around the time tabloids began to claim that Caribbean nations were “suing” for reparations. They aren’t, strictly speaking, and nor can something which ended only in 1838 be compared, as it often is, with the Viking invasions or Roman conquest. The CARICOM group of nations, led by Barbados , is really calling for a wider dialogue about historical justice. Why should Britain – or any other former slave-trading nation – shy away from it?
Read more.....
By Priyamvada Gopal
New Statesman 23 April, 2014
“Should we be responsible for the sins of our fathers?” Any discussion about the deeply polarising topic of reparations for slavery, if it happens at all, takes place in these quasi-religious terms. Unfortunately, the language of the confessional immediately constrains, indeed skews, the debate. Turning a matter of material justice into one of proxy atonement does the question of our demanding relationship to history a profound disservice. It implies, wrongly, that historical events of such vast reach as slavery have no discernible material impact on our present, as though what happened to or was done by our ancestors doesn’t filter down and impact our present. This is a curious belief in a society which believes so passionately in inheritance. How is possible, at one and the same time, to believe deeply in the right to inherit wealth and property acquired by progenitors while insisting that we in the present cannot, in any way, be responsible for the mechanisms of wealth-making in the past? It’s convenient enough: my grandfather’s house is my house but how he came to own is none of my business.
“Say NO to paying for something that happened 100s of years ago,” screamed one meme that was doing the rounds on social media around the time tabloids began to claim that Caribbean nations were “suing” for reparations. They aren’t, strictly speaking, and nor can something which ended only in 1838 be compared, as it often is, with the Viking invasions or Roman conquest. The CARICOM group of nations, led by Barbados , is really calling for a wider dialogue about historical justice. Why should Britain – or any other former slave-trading nation – shy away from it?
Read more.....
Saturday, May 10, 2014
The Corporate Land Grab in Africa
"When Our Land is Free, We are Free"
by SILAS SIAKOR and JACINTA FAY
Counterpunch - May 07, 2014
Right now in Abuja, Nigeria, agribusiness corporations are courting African governments at the Grow Africa Investment Forum to“further accelerate sustainable agricultural growth in Africa”.
That sounds harmless enough, until you know what it really means. Corporate interest in agriculture in Africa has certainly accelerated corporate control of land, seeds and water. But it has done little to support agriculture that will feed the continent.
Rather than support family farming and smallholder agriculture, private sector investment in agriculture has resulted in grabbing land from communities – the land which they farm sustainably and rely on for their survival.
Read more....
by SILAS SIAKOR and JACINTA FAY
Counterpunch - May 07, 2014
Right now in Abuja, Nigeria, agribusiness corporations are courting African governments at the Grow Africa Investment Forum to“further accelerate sustainable agricultural growth in Africa”.
That sounds harmless enough, until you know what it really means. Corporate interest in agriculture in Africa has certainly accelerated corporate control of land, seeds and water. But it has done little to support agriculture that will feed the continent.
Rather than support family farming and smallholder agriculture, private sector investment in agriculture has resulted in grabbing land from communities – the land which they farm sustainably and rely on for their survival.
Read more....
The Journal of Pan African Studies
The Journal of Pan African Studies is a trans-disciplinary on-line peer reviewed scholarly journal devoted
to the intellectual synthesis of research, scholarship and critical
thought on the African experience around the world. Since our inception
in 1987, we have provided an international forum for diverse scholars to
advance a host of perspectives and theoretical paradigms relevant to
the social, political, economic and cultural issues that impact the
African world community. Thus, the goal of the journal is to build a
transnational community of scholars, theorists and practitioners who can
ask questions and pose solutions to contemporary and historical issues,
based upon an affirmative African centered logic and discourse of
liberation.
The
complexity and dynamism of the African global community warrant
discussion and multifaceted engagement, hence, this journal represents a
resource for informed minds to address the challenges facing the
African world. We welcome your participation in this process, thus
contribute an article, or simply inform your colleagues of our presence.
Thank you for your support,
Itibari M. Zulu, Th.D.
Senior Editor
P.O. Box 24194
Los Angeles, California 90024-0194
Western intervention will turn Nigeria into an African Afghanistan
Counterfire - Tuesday, 06 May 2014
by Lindsey German
I t seems almost beyond belief that more than 200 girls can be kidnapped from a school in northern Nigeria, held by the terrorist group Boko Haram, and threatened on a video – shown worldwide – with being sold into slavery by their captors. The disbelief is compounded by today's news that, overnight, eight more girls have been kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in north-east Nigeria. This tragedy touches the hearts of everyone, evoking a feeling of revulsion not only at the danger and loss of freedom itself, but at the assumption that for young girls their destination must be forced marriage and servitude, not education. There is rightly anger that so little has been done by the Nigerian government to find the girls, and that those who have demonstrated in huge numbers against President Goodluck Jonathan have themselves been accused of causing trouble or even temporarily arrested. But we should be wary of the narrative now emerging. This follows a wearily familiar pattern, one we have already seen in south Asia and the Middle East, but that is increasingly being applied to Africa as well. It is the refrain that something must be done and that "we" – the enlightened west – must be the people to do it. As the US senator Amy Klobuchar put it: "This is one of those times when our action or inaction will be felt not just by those schoolgirls being held captive and their families waiting in agony, but by victims and perpetrators of trafficking around the world. Now is the time to act."
Read more....
Chinesetakeaway: African Railway
C. Raja Mohan
Indian Express | May 7, 2014
On his first visit to Africa this week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has once again underlined the importance of high-speed railways in Beijing’s diplomacy. From America to Asia and Europe to Africa, Chinese leaders are offering technology, finance and project management in the construction of high-speed rail networks. In Addis Ababa on Monday, the first stop in a four-nation tour of what he called the “continent of hope”, Li outlined a plan to connect all major African cities through a high-speed railway network. The project is at the heart of a new framework for Sino-African partnership that Li elaborated upon in his address to the African Union in Addis Ababa.
In talking about the “Chinese dream” for a continent-wide railway in Africa, Li was not playing with words. He was invoking China’s enduring romance with railways. Sun Yat Sen, who led Beijing’s first republic in the early 20th century, believed railways would modernise and unite China. Sun’s rail strategy was not limited to the borders of China; he wanted to extend Chinese railroads to India, the Middle East and Africa.
Read more....
Indian Express | May 7, 2014
On his first visit to Africa this week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has once again underlined the importance of high-speed railways in Beijing’s diplomacy. From America to Asia and Europe to Africa, Chinese leaders are offering technology, finance and project management in the construction of high-speed rail networks. In Addis Ababa on Monday, the first stop in a four-nation tour of what he called the “continent of hope”, Li outlined a plan to connect all major African cities through a high-speed railway network. The project is at the heart of a new framework for Sino-African partnership that Li elaborated upon in his address to the African Union in Addis Ababa.
In talking about the “Chinese dream” for a continent-wide railway in Africa, Li was not playing with words. He was invoking China’s enduring romance with railways. Sun Yat Sen, who led Beijing’s first republic in the early 20th century, believed railways would modernise and unite China. Sun’s rail strategy was not limited to the borders of China; he wanted to extend Chinese railroads to India, the Middle East and Africa.
Read more....
Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists?
By Farouk Chothia
BBC Africa - May 7, 2014
Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.
This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.
Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president.
Read more....
BBC Africa - May 7, 2014
Nigeria's militant
Islamist group Boko Haram - which has caused havoc in Africa's most
populous country through a wave of bombings, assassinations and now
abductions - is fighting to overthrow the government and create an
Islamic state.
Its followers are said to be influenced by the Koranic phrase
which says: "Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is
among the transgressors". Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.
This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.
Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president.
Read more....
Friday, April 25, 2014
'Never keep silent': Tunisia confronts racism
A number of black-rights advocacy organisations have emerged in recent years to tackle legacy of discrimination.
By Afifa Ltifi
Al-Jazeera - 24 Apr 2014
Tunis - For four consecutive days last month, black Tunisians marched against racism, travelling from the island of Djerba in the southeast to Tunis in the north.
The "Equality Caravan", which marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, was organised by a group of black Tunisian citizens who hoisted banners reading "Wseef is not a colour," referring to a pejorative racial epithet sometimes used against black Tunisians.
"We wanted to raise awareness, break the taboo subject of racism through this march. We wanted to shock people about the reality of discrimination," said event organiser Maha Abdulhamid, the co-founder and a former member of the black rights' organisation ADAM for Equality and Development in Tunisia.
Read more....
By Afifa Ltifi
Al-Jazeera - 24 Apr 2014
Tunis - For four consecutive days last month, black Tunisians marched against racism, travelling from the island of Djerba in the southeast to Tunis in the north.
The "Equality Caravan", which marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, was organised by a group of black Tunisian citizens who hoisted banners reading "Wseef is not a colour," referring to a pejorative racial epithet sometimes used against black Tunisians.
"We wanted to raise awareness, break the taboo subject of racism through this march. We wanted to shock people about the reality of discrimination," said event organiser Maha Abdulhamid, the co-founder and a former member of the black rights' organisation ADAM for Equality and Development in Tunisia.
Read more....
ANC's glory fades as South Africa's 'born free' generation votes
By David Smith
Twenty years after South Africa's first multiracial election, political history cuts little ice with the young electorate
The Guardian, Thursday 24 April 2014
Six months pregnant, Elizabeth Kganyo was determined to cast her vote, even if it meant standing in a sun-baked queue for hours on end. "I was so excited because it was the first time," she recalls, sitting on an upturned plastic basket outside her shack in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg. "Everybody wanted to vote. Everybody was happy."
South Africa held its first multiracial election 20 years ago on Sunday, defying bombs, bluster and the threat of civil war to conjure a spectacle of voters in long, winding lines that ravished the world. But for Kganyo, like millions of others who put a cross beside the face of Nelson Mandela, those days of miracles and wonder are a fading memory. "It's not the same now. We're not happy to vote any more. It's not like the first time."
Next month, South Africans return to the polls for the first election since Mandela's death and the first in which the so-called "born free" generation – those whose lives began after racial apartheid – are eligible to vote. The African National Congress is in no doubt of a fifth consecutive victory on 7 May but faces an unprecedented long-term challenge both on the streets and at the ballot box.
Read more.....
Twenty years after South Africa's first multiracial election, political history cuts little ice with the young electorate
The Guardian, Thursday 24 April 2014
Six months pregnant, Elizabeth Kganyo was determined to cast her vote, even if it meant standing in a sun-baked queue for hours on end. "I was so excited because it was the first time," she recalls, sitting on an upturned plastic basket outside her shack in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg. "Everybody wanted to vote. Everybody was happy."
South Africa held its first multiracial election 20 years ago on Sunday, defying bombs, bluster and the threat of civil war to conjure a spectacle of voters in long, winding lines that ravished the world. But for Kganyo, like millions of others who put a cross beside the face of Nelson Mandela, those days of miracles and wonder are a fading memory. "It's not the same now. We're not happy to vote any more. It's not like the first time."
Next month, South Africans return to the polls for the first election since Mandela's death and the first in which the so-called "born free" generation – those whose lives began after racial apartheid – are eligible to vote. The African National Congress is in no doubt of a fifth consecutive victory on 7 May but faces an unprecedented long-term challenge both on the streets and at the ballot box.
Read more.....
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
French, Korean consortium to build $1.4 bln Abidjan rail line
By REUTERS
Ivory Coast said it had signed an initial agreement with a consortium including France's Bouygues and South Korea's Hyundai and Dongsan Engineering to build a 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) urban rail line in Abidjan.French-speaking West Africa's largest economy has been emerging from a decade-long political crisis that ended in a brief civil war in 2011, and the government is now seeking to improve long neglected infrastructure. The proposed project would involve construction of a 37 km (23 mile) rail line from Abidjan's international airport in the south of the city, through the city centre to its northern suburbs. The line would transport an estimated 300,000 passengers a day, alleviating the traffic jams that currently plague the city of around 5 million inhabitants, the government said in a statement. "The estimated cost of the project is around 1 billion euros," an official with Ivory Coast's transport ministry said, declining to give a timetable for when construction was expected to begin.
Read more...
Ivory Coast said it had signed an initial agreement with a consortium including France's Bouygues and South Korea's Hyundai and Dongsan Engineering to build a 1 billion euro ($1.4 billion) urban rail line in Abidjan.French-speaking West Africa's largest economy has been emerging from a decade-long political crisis that ended in a brief civil war in 2011, and the government is now seeking to improve long neglected infrastructure. The proposed project would involve construction of a 37 km (23 mile) rail line from Abidjan's international airport in the south of the city, through the city centre to its northern suburbs. The line would transport an estimated 300,000 passengers a day, alleviating the traffic jams that currently plague the city of around 5 million inhabitants, the government said in a statement. "The estimated cost of the project is around 1 billion euros," an official with Ivory Coast's transport ministry said, declining to give a timetable for when construction was expected to begin.
Read more...
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Stage set for South Africa's biggest election
The Africa Report - 8 March 2014
South Africa's electoral body, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says all is in place for the country's fifth democratic elections, set for 7 May.
IEC chief electoral officer, Mosotho Moepya said the body had certified the voters' roll, with 25,390,150 registered to vote.
Moepya said there had been a 9.5% increase in the number of people registered to vote, from 2,208,153 five years ago, while the number had gone by almost 40% from when the roll was first established ahead of the 1999 elections.
Meanwhile, all parties interested in contesting the poll in the nine provinces and the national election had to pay a deposit, submit documentation, including candidate lists last Wednesday,
"A total number of 33 political parties have indicated their intention to contest the election of the National Assembly – although four parties are yet to fully comply with prescribed deposits and may be ruled out before the election," IEC spokeswoman, Kate Bapela, said, although she did not name the parties.
Read more...
South Africa's electoral body, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says all is in place for the country's fifth democratic elections, set for 7 May.
IEC chief electoral officer, Mosotho Moepya said the body had certified the voters' roll, with 25,390,150 registered to vote.
Moepya said there had been a 9.5% increase in the number of people registered to vote, from 2,208,153 five years ago, while the number had gone by almost 40% from when the roll was first established ahead of the 1999 elections.
Meanwhile, all parties interested in contesting the poll in the nine provinces and the national election had to pay a deposit, submit documentation, including candidate lists last Wednesday,
"A total number of 33 political parties have indicated their intention to contest the election of the National Assembly – although four parties are yet to fully comply with prescribed deposits and may be ruled out before the election," IEC spokeswoman, Kate Bapela, said, although she did not name the parties.
Read more...
Friday, March 14, 2014
Gambia to stop using "colonial relic" English
BANJUL
Reuters - Wed Mar 12, 2014
(Reuters) - Gambia will drop English as an official language soon because it is a colonial relic, President Yahya Jammeh has said, without indicating which language the tiny West African country would use in its place.
Gambia's 1.9 million people speak several African languages including Mandingo, Fula and Wolof, the most widely spoken language of Senegal, its only direct neighbour. The country gained independence from Britain in 1965.
"We no longer believe that for you to be a government you should speak a foreign language. We are going to speak our own language," Jammeh said in an address in English last week that was broadcast on Tuesday.
Read more...
Reuters - Wed Mar 12, 2014
(Reuters) - Gambia will drop English as an official language soon because it is a colonial relic, President Yahya Jammeh has said, without indicating which language the tiny West African country would use in its place.
Gambia's 1.9 million people speak several African languages including Mandingo, Fula and Wolof, the most widely spoken language of Senegal, its only direct neighbour. The country gained independence from Britain in 1965.
"We no longer believe that for you to be a government you should speak a foreign language. We are going to speak our own language," Jammeh said in an address in English last week that was broadcast on Tuesday.
Read more...
Sunday, March 2, 2014
South Africa's largest union eyes new political party
By AFP
Africa Review | Monday, March 3 2014
Read more......
Africa Review | Monday, March 3 2014
South Africa's biggest trade union, the 340,000-strong National
Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), said Sunday it was laying the ground for a
new "working class" political party.
Union spokesman Castro Ngobese announced the
launch of a new platform, called the United Front Movement for
Socialism, that would group together left-leaning organisations to fight
for better education, healthcare and municipal services for South
Africa's poor.
This would be "a build up to the formation of an independent political party of the working class," he told AFP.
Last year, NUMSA broke with the ruling African
National Congress (ANC), complaining the policies of the former
liberation movement had become too capitalist.
"We should work closely with social and community
organisations as part of making sure that we connect NUMSA with working
class issues," stressed Mr Ngobese.
Read more......
Manufacturing in Africa
An awakening giant If Africa’s economies are to take off, Africans will have to start making a lot more things. They may well do so.
The Economist - Feb 8th 2014 | ADDIS ABABA
LESS than an hour’s drive outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a farmer walks along a narrow path on a green valley floor after milking his cows. Muhammad Gettu is carrying two ten-litre cans to a local market, where he will sell them for less than half of what they would fetch at a dairy in the city. Sadly, he has no transport. A bicycle sturdy enough to survive unpaved tracks would be enough to double his revenues. At the moment none is easily available. But that may be about to change.
An affiliate of SRAM, the world’s second-largest cycle-components maker, based in Chicago, is aiming to invest in Ethiopia. Its Buffalo Bicycles look ungainly but have puncture-resistant tires, a heavy frame and a rear rack that can hold 100kg. They are designed and assembled in Africa, and a growing number of components are made there from scratch, creating more than 100 manufacturing jobs. About 150,000 Buffalo bikes are circulating on the continent, fighting puncture-prone competition from Asia.
Read more....
The Economist - Feb 8th 2014 | ADDIS ABABA
LESS than an hour’s drive outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a farmer walks along a narrow path on a green valley floor after milking his cows. Muhammad Gettu is carrying two ten-litre cans to a local market, where he will sell them for less than half of what they would fetch at a dairy in the city. Sadly, he has no transport. A bicycle sturdy enough to survive unpaved tracks would be enough to double his revenues. At the moment none is easily available. But that may be about to change.
An affiliate of SRAM, the world’s second-largest cycle-components maker, based in Chicago, is aiming to invest in Ethiopia. Its Buffalo Bicycles look ungainly but have puncture-resistant tires, a heavy frame and a rear rack that can hold 100kg. They are designed and assembled in Africa, and a growing number of components are made there from scratch, creating more than 100 manufacturing jobs. About 150,000 Buffalo bikes are circulating on the continent, fighting puncture-prone competition from Asia.
Read more....
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Africa & the Struggle Against Imperialism
Why neocolonialism should be opposed in the western capitalist states
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Pan-African News Wire - March 1, 2014
Note: Below are excerpts from remarks made at two public meetings in Boston and Philadelphia on Feb. 22 and 24 respectively. The events were part of an African American History Month tour sponsored by Workers World Party and the International Action Center branches based in both of these cities.
Feb. 21, 2014, marks the 49th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik Shabazz, who was gunned down before hundreds of people in Harlem at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965. Nearly five decades since his murder there are still many remaining questions about the conspiracy to eliminate this heroic and iconic figure who was a legend in his own time and has been immortalized since he was taken away from his family, comrades and supporters worldwide.
Malcolm X represented the best within transformational leadership during the 20th century. He was born into a Garveyite family with both of his parents playing leading roles within the Universal Negro Improvement Association—African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).
Read more......
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Pan-African News Wire - March 1, 2014
Note: Below are excerpts from remarks made at two public meetings in Boston and Philadelphia on Feb. 22 and 24 respectively. The events were part of an African American History Month tour sponsored by Workers World Party and the International Action Center branches based in both of these cities.
Feb. 21, 2014, marks the 49th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik Shabazz, who was gunned down before hundreds of people in Harlem at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965. Nearly five decades since his murder there are still many remaining questions about the conspiracy to eliminate this heroic and iconic figure who was a legend in his own time and has been immortalized since he was taken away from his family, comrades and supporters worldwide.
Malcolm X represented the best within transformational leadership during the 20th century. He was born into a Garveyite family with both of his parents playing leading roles within the Universal Negro Improvement Association—African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).
Read more......
Friday, February 21, 2014
A New Book: Africa's Urban Revolution
Zed Books, 2014
Table of Contents
1. Africa's urban revolution in context - Edgar Pieterse and Susan Parnell
2. Conflict and post-war transition in African cities - Jo Beall and Tom Goodfellow
3. Sub-Saharan African urbanisation and global environmental change - Susan Parnell and Ruwani Walawege
4. Linking Urbanisation and development in Africa's economic revival - Ivan Turok
5. Religion and social life in African cities - Carole Rakodi
6. Feeding African cities: the growing challenge of urban food insecurity - Jonathan Crush and Bruce Frayne
7. Transport pressures in urban Africa: practices, policies, perspectives - Gordon Pirie
8. Decentralisation and institutional reconfiguration in urban Africa - Warren Smit and Edgar Pieterse
9. The challenge of urban planning law reform in African cities - Stephen Berrisford
10. The education and research imperatives of urban planning professionals in Africa - James Duminy, Nancy Odendaal and Vanessa Watson
11. Filling the void: an agenda for tackling African urbanisation - Edgar Pieterse
12. Infrastructure, real economies and social transformation: assembling the components for regional urban development in Africa - AbdouMaliq Simone
13. National urbanisation and urban strategies: necessary but absent policy instruments in Africa - Susan Parnell and David Simon
14. Urbanisation as a global historical process: theory and evidence from sub-Saharan Africa - Sean Fox
Postscript: Building new knowledge and networks to foster sustainable urban development - Thomas Melin
LSE Review of Books - Reveiwed by Jonathan R. Beloff - February 7, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Ben Affleck to Testify Before Congress as an Africa Expert
BY John Hudson
Foreign Policy - FEBRUARY 20, 2014
With a vicious spate of mass killings plaguing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a Senate panel is calling on experts to appear before U.S. lawmakers next week. One of them is Hollywood actor and serial activist Ben Affleck, The Cable has learned. Affleck is slated to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next Wednesday to discuss the troubled central African country of 75 million people. The Argo director has shown a keen interest in Congo in recent years through his philanthropic organization, the Eastern Congo Initiative. But not everyone thinks Affleck's resume qualifies him to testify on Capitol Hill. When the Seattle-based advisory firm working for Affleck, WilliamsWorks, tried to set up a similar event in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, Republicans did not accept, according to a Congressional aide familiar with the matter. "It was floated and turned down," said the aide.
Read more.....
Foreign Policy - FEBRUARY 20, 2014
With a vicious spate of mass killings plaguing the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a Senate panel is calling on experts to appear before U.S. lawmakers next week. One of them is Hollywood actor and serial activist Ben Affleck, The Cable has learned. Affleck is slated to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next Wednesday to discuss the troubled central African country of 75 million people. The Argo director has shown a keen interest in Congo in recent years through his philanthropic organization, the Eastern Congo Initiative. But not everyone thinks Affleck's resume qualifies him to testify on Capitol Hill. When the Seattle-based advisory firm working for Affleck, WilliamsWorks, tried to set up a similar event in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, Republicans did not accept, according to a Congressional aide familiar with the matter. "It was floated and turned down," said the aide.
Read more.....
Friday, February 7, 2014
Manufacturing in Africa
An awakening giant If Africa’s economies are to take off, Africans will have to start making a lot more things. They may well do so
The Economist - Feb 8th 2014 | ADDIS ABABA
LESS than an hour’s drive outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a farmer walks along a narrow path on a green valley floor after milking his cows. Muhammad Gettu is carrying two ten-litre cans to a local market, where he will sell them for less than half of what they would fetch at a dairy in the city. Sadly, he has no transport. A bicycle sturdy enough to survive unpaved tracks would be enough to double his revenues. At the moment none is easily available. But that may be about to change.
An affiliate of SRAM, the world’s second-largest cycle-components maker, based in Chicago, is aiming to invest in Ethiopia. Its Buffalo Bicycles look ungainly but have puncture-resistant tires, a heavy frame and a rear rack that can hold 100kg. They are designed and assembled in Africa, and a growing number of components are made there from scratch, creating more than 100 manufacturing jobs. About 150,000 Buffalo bikes are circulating on the continent, fighting puncture-prone competition from Asia.
Read more....
The Economist - Feb 8th 2014 | ADDIS ABABA
LESS than an hour’s drive outside Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a farmer walks along a narrow path on a green valley floor after milking his cows. Muhammad Gettu is carrying two ten-litre cans to a local market, where he will sell them for less than half of what they would fetch at a dairy in the city. Sadly, he has no transport. A bicycle sturdy enough to survive unpaved tracks would be enough to double his revenues. At the moment none is easily available. But that may be about to change.
An affiliate of SRAM, the world’s second-largest cycle-components maker, based in Chicago, is aiming to invest in Ethiopia. Its Buffalo Bicycles look ungainly but have puncture-resistant tires, a heavy frame and a rear rack that can hold 100kg. They are designed and assembled in Africa, and a growing number of components are made there from scratch, creating more than 100 manufacturing jobs. About 150,000 Buffalo bikes are circulating on the continent, fighting puncture-prone competition from Asia.
Read more....
Thursday, February 6, 2014
The Question of International Aid
Chérie Rivers Ndaliko
Africa is a country | February 6th, 2014
In 2013, Alkebu Film Productions released a 34-minute documentary, Mabele na biso (Our Land), that profiles a community in the Isangi region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has staunchly refused to be controlled by international aid. Within the matrix of extraordinary initiatives organized in this region, the film focuses primarily on the Mabele Community Radio, that not only offers local programming, but is powered by a generator fuelled by locally produced palm oil. Through its programs, the radio has made significant impacts in the domains of education, agricultural production, women’s rights, and health. As such the radio emerges almost as a character of its own in the film’s larger critique of international aid in Africa. Yet, while the radio is an admittedly inspiring example of community empowerment, the analysis of aid policy offered by key figures in the region is arguably the most compelling aspect of this project.
And this is precisely where things get complicated, for this is a project that both criticizes international aid and is–at least in part–funded by it. What follows is a brief reflection on this film and the ways in which the process of its creation and its potential future shed light on some larger questions of international aid. Here’s the film’s opening scene:
Read more and watch the short documentary.. ..
Africa is a country | February 6th, 2014
In 2013, Alkebu Film Productions released a 34-minute documentary, Mabele na biso (Our Land), that profiles a community in the Isangi region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has staunchly refused to be controlled by international aid. Within the matrix of extraordinary initiatives organized in this region, the film focuses primarily on the Mabele Community Radio, that not only offers local programming, but is powered by a generator fuelled by locally produced palm oil. Through its programs, the radio has made significant impacts in the domains of education, agricultural production, women’s rights, and health. As such the radio emerges almost as a character of its own in the film’s larger critique of international aid in Africa. Yet, while the radio is an admittedly inspiring example of community empowerment, the analysis of aid policy offered by key figures in the region is arguably the most compelling aspect of this project.
And this is precisely where things get complicated, for this is a project that both criticizes international aid and is–at least in part–funded by it. What follows is a brief reflection on this film and the ways in which the process of its creation and its potential future shed light on some larger questions of international aid. Here’s the film’s opening scene:
Read more and watch the short documentary.. ..
2014 APSA Africa Workshop CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
“Distributive Goods and Distributive Politics”
June 30 to July 11, 2014
Maputo, Mozambique
The American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP) are pleased to announce a call for applications from individuals who would like to participate in a workshop on “Distributive goods and distributive politics” in Maputo, Mozambique. The two-week workshop will be held from June 30th to July 11th 2014 at the Higher Institute of Public Administration in Maputo, Mozambique. The organizers, with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will cover all the costs of participation (including travel, lodging, meals, and materials) for up to 26 qualified applicants. This year's workshop will be conducted in English.
The workshop leaders are Anne Pitcher (University of Michigan, USA), Rod Alence (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Brian Min (University of Michigan, USA), Carlos Shenga (Higher Institute of Public Administration, Mozambique) and Sylvia Croese (Stellenbosch University, South Africa).
Workshop Theme
This two-week workshop will focus on the theme of distributive politics — the study of how governments allocate goods and services and how these allocations affect political outcomes. Some questions we will examine are: Why do governments offer such goods? What kinds of goods do they deliver? Do distributive strategies seek to reward supporters or win over opponents? How do such strategies vary with regime type and electoral institutions?
To understand patterns and outcomes of distributive politics, the course will combine discussion of classic and contemporary theoretical and methodological research on goods provision with hands-on statistical training in the use of R, a publicly available statistical package. Fellows will work with a range of datasets and strengthen their ability to analyze the distribution of public and private goods and their political impacts. In addition to the substantive elements of the course, students will have opportunities to share their work and to receive helpful comments on their research projects.
Follow this web link to the online Application Form. The application deadline is March 14, 2014. Follow this link to download a digital copy of this Call For Applications.pdf.
Workshop Fellows
The workshop is targeted at university and college faculty in the social sciences residing in Africa who are in the early stages of their academic careers. APSA welcomes applications from scholars who have completed their Ph.D. as well as those who are working towards completion. Up to four advanced U.S. Ph.D. students will also be accepted. All Workshop Fellows must be actively engaged in a research project in political science or an area of inquiry related to politics. Fellows should be working on a manuscript, paper, book chapter, or article during the workshop that can be developed into an eventual publication. Preference will be given to scholars working on projects related to the theme of the workshop on distributive politics, but this is not required. All instruction will be in English and all participants should command a high level of proficiency in English. In addition, opportunities to converse informally in Portuguese will be available and Portuguese-speaking scholars are encouraged to apply.
Applications
To submit an application for participation in the workshop, first review the eligibility requirements on APSA’s Africa Workshop website and then follow this web link to the online 2014 Application Form: https://apsa.wufoo.com/forms/2014-apsa-africa-workshop-application-form/. If preferred, a copy of the Application Form in Microsoft Word can be e-mailed to you upon request. Complete applications, including all necessary supporting documents, should be sent to APSA electronically by March 14, 2014; please email all materials directly to africaworkshops@apsanet.org. The final list of selected Workshop Fellows will be announced in early April.
Applications must be submitted in English, and must include:
The completed Application Form (online at www.apsanet.org/africaworkshops).
A detailed, recent Curriculum Vitae/resume.
A 500-word statement that describes your current research plans or ideas and how it relates to the workshop theme.
The draft working paper or manuscript in progress that you propose to take with you to the workshop. This can be a work-in-progress drawn from your current research, or part of a paper, article, or chapter under development. At a minimum, this should be a 2,500-word document that includes: 1) a 150-word abstract; 2) a description of research design; 3) a one-page bibliography of literature most relevant to your paper.
Two letters of reference on official letterhead and scanned as electronic files. If you are a graduate student, one letter should be a letter of introduction from your supervising professor. If you are a researcher or faculty member, the letters can be from a former dissertation supervisor, a colleague or collaborator at your home institution or elsewhere, a university official, or an employer.
For questions, contact Andrew Stinson at africaworkshops@apsanet.org. Please do not contact the workshop leaders directly.
June 30 to July 11, 2014
Maputo, Mozambique
The American Political Science Association (APSA) and the Higher Institute of Public Administration (ISAP) are pleased to announce a call for applications from individuals who would like to participate in a workshop on “Distributive goods and distributive politics” in Maputo, Mozambique. The two-week workshop will be held from June 30th to July 11th 2014 at the Higher Institute of Public Administration in Maputo, Mozambique. The organizers, with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will cover all the costs of participation (including travel, lodging, meals, and materials) for up to 26 qualified applicants. This year's workshop will be conducted in English.
The workshop leaders are Anne Pitcher (University of Michigan, USA), Rod Alence (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Brian Min (University of Michigan, USA), Carlos Shenga (Higher Institute of Public Administration, Mozambique) and Sylvia Croese (Stellenbosch University, South Africa).
Workshop Theme
This two-week workshop will focus on the theme of distributive politics — the study of how governments allocate goods and services and how these allocations affect political outcomes. Some questions we will examine are: Why do governments offer such goods? What kinds of goods do they deliver? Do distributive strategies seek to reward supporters or win over opponents? How do such strategies vary with regime type and electoral institutions?
To understand patterns and outcomes of distributive politics, the course will combine discussion of classic and contemporary theoretical and methodological research on goods provision with hands-on statistical training in the use of R, a publicly available statistical package. Fellows will work with a range of datasets and strengthen their ability to analyze the distribution of public and private goods and their political impacts. In addition to the substantive elements of the course, students will have opportunities to share their work and to receive helpful comments on their research projects.
Follow this web link to the online Application Form. The application deadline is March 14, 2014. Follow this link to download a digital copy of this Call For Applications.pdf.
Workshop Fellows
The workshop is targeted at university and college faculty in the social sciences residing in Africa who are in the early stages of their academic careers. APSA welcomes applications from scholars who have completed their Ph.D. as well as those who are working towards completion. Up to four advanced U.S. Ph.D. students will also be accepted. All Workshop Fellows must be actively engaged in a research project in political science or an area of inquiry related to politics. Fellows should be working on a manuscript, paper, book chapter, or article during the workshop that can be developed into an eventual publication. Preference will be given to scholars working on projects related to the theme of the workshop on distributive politics, but this is not required. All instruction will be in English and all participants should command a high level of proficiency in English. In addition, opportunities to converse informally in Portuguese will be available and Portuguese-speaking scholars are encouraged to apply.
Applications
To submit an application for participation in the workshop, first review the eligibility requirements on APSA’s Africa Workshop website and then follow this web link to the online 2014 Application Form: https://apsa.wufoo.com/forms/2014-apsa-africa-workshop-application-form/. If preferred, a copy of the Application Form in Microsoft Word can be e-mailed to you upon request. Complete applications, including all necessary supporting documents, should be sent to APSA electronically by March 14, 2014; please email all materials directly to africaworkshops@apsanet.org. The final list of selected Workshop Fellows will be announced in early April.
Applications must be submitted in English, and must include:
The completed Application Form (online at www.apsanet.org/africaworkshops).
A detailed, recent Curriculum Vitae/resume.
A 500-word statement that describes your current research plans or ideas and how it relates to the workshop theme.
The draft working paper or manuscript in progress that you propose to take with you to the workshop. This can be a work-in-progress drawn from your current research, or part of a paper, article, or chapter under development. At a minimum, this should be a 2,500-word document that includes: 1) a 150-word abstract; 2) a description of research design; 3) a one-page bibliography of literature most relevant to your paper.
Two letters of reference on official letterhead and scanned as electronic files. If you are a graduate student, one letter should be a letter of introduction from your supervising professor. If you are a researcher or faculty member, the letters can be from a former dissertation supervisor, a colleague or collaborator at your home institution or elsewhere, a university official, or an employer.
For questions, contact Andrew Stinson at africaworkshops@apsanet.org. Please do not contact the workshop leaders directly.
We may soon learn France's real role in the Rwanda genocide
In a milestone court case in Paris, unprecedented testimony could reveal the Elysée's links to the 1994 génocidaires
By Linda Melvern
The Guardian, Wednesday 5 February 2014
The trial this week of a Rwandan genocide suspect in a Paris courtroom is a well-earned victory for the French human rights groups who lobbied so hard and so long for justice. The milestone trial signals the end of France as a safe haven for génocidaries. But more than this, the trial is likely to see intense public scrutiny of one of the great scandals of the past century – the role of France in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi of Rwanda, which for 20 years journalists and activists have tried so hard to expose.
Pascal Simbikangwa, the defendant in Paris, is said to have been a member of an inner circle of power in Rwanda that devised genocide as a planned political campaign. Developed by Hutu ideologues, it was intended to prevent a power-sharing system of government that was to include the minority Tutsi. The genocide claimed up to a million lives.
A captain in the Rwandan gendarmerie until 1986, when he was paralysed in a car accident, Simbikangwa – a fanatic who hoped to create what was known as "a pure Hutu state" – worked for the security services in the capital Kigali. He was eventually found hiding out in the French department of Mayotte, an island group in the Indian Ocean, with 3,000 forged identity papers – more than enough for the hundreds of Rwandan fugitives still at large. He denies all the charges, and his lawyer says he is a scapegoat.
Read more....
By Linda Melvern
The Guardian, Wednesday 5 February 2014
The trial this week of a Rwandan genocide suspect in a Paris courtroom is a well-earned victory for the French human rights groups who lobbied so hard and so long for justice. The milestone trial signals the end of France as a safe haven for génocidaries. But more than this, the trial is likely to see intense public scrutiny of one of the great scandals of the past century – the role of France in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi of Rwanda, which for 20 years journalists and activists have tried so hard to expose.
Pascal Simbikangwa, the defendant in Paris, is said to have been a member of an inner circle of power in Rwanda that devised genocide as a planned political campaign. Developed by Hutu ideologues, it was intended to prevent a power-sharing system of government that was to include the minority Tutsi. The genocide claimed up to a million lives.
A captain in the Rwandan gendarmerie until 1986, when he was paralysed in a car accident, Simbikangwa – a fanatic who hoped to create what was known as "a pure Hutu state" – worked for the security services in the capital Kigali. He was eventually found hiding out in the French department of Mayotte, an island group in the Indian Ocean, with 3,000 forged identity papers – more than enough for the hundreds of Rwandan fugitives still at large. He denies all the charges, and his lawyer says he is a scapegoat.
Read more....
Monday, February 3, 2014
80,000 South African Platinum Miners Strike For A Living Wage
By JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER
Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.
The Real News - Feb. 3, 2014
In South Africa, miners have rejected a 9 percent wage increase offer from the platinum industry as their strike enters its second week. Tens of thousands of members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, or AMCU, walked off the job last week to protest harsh working conditions. They are also asking for a living wage that will double their current wages. Tensions have been high between the sides, with the media reporting several acts of violence in mining towns. This is the largest strike in the mining sector since the Marikana strike in 2012. South Africa is the leading supplier of the world's platinum, and the strike is expected to take a toll on its economy. Now joining us to discuss all this is Patrick Bond. Patrick is the director of the Centre for Civil Society and professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Read more....
Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.
The Real News - Feb. 3, 2014
In South Africa, miners have rejected a 9 percent wage increase offer from the platinum industry as their strike enters its second week. Tens of thousands of members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, or AMCU, walked off the job last week to protest harsh working conditions. They are also asking for a living wage that will double their current wages. Tensions have been high between the sides, with the media reporting several acts of violence in mining towns. This is the largest strike in the mining sector since the Marikana strike in 2012. South Africa is the leading supplier of the world's platinum, and the strike is expected to take a toll on its economy. Now joining us to discuss all this is Patrick Bond. Patrick is the director of the Centre for Civil Society and professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Read more....
14 African Countries Forced by France to Pay Colonial Tax For the Benefits of Slavery and Colonization
By Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN
Silicon Africa - Jan. 28, 2014
Did you know many African countries continue to pay colonial tax to France since their independence till today!
When Sékou Touré of Guinea decided in 1958 to get out of french colonial empire, and opted for the country independence, the french colonial elite in Paris got so furious, and in a historic act of fury the french administration in Guinea destroyed everything in the country which represented what they called the benefits from french colonization.
Three thousand French left the country, taking all their property and destroying anything that which could not be moved: schools, nurseries, public administration buildings were crumbled; cars, books, medicine, research institute instruments, tractors were crushed and sabotaged; horses, cows in the farms were killed, and food in warehouses were burned or poisoned.
The purpose of this outrageous act was to send a clear message to all other colonies that the consequences for rejecting France would be very high.
Slowly fear spread trough the african elite, and none after the Guinea events ever found the courage to follow the example of Sékou Touré, whose slogan was “We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery.”
Read more.....
Silicon Africa - Jan. 28, 2014
Did you know many African countries continue to pay colonial tax to France since their independence till today!
When Sékou Touré of Guinea decided in 1958 to get out of french colonial empire, and opted for the country independence, the french colonial elite in Paris got so furious, and in a historic act of fury the french administration in Guinea destroyed everything in the country which represented what they called the benefits from french colonization.
Three thousand French left the country, taking all their property and destroying anything that which could not be moved: schools, nurseries, public administration buildings were crumbled; cars, books, medicine, research institute instruments, tractors were crushed and sabotaged; horses, cows in the farms were killed, and food in warehouses were burned or poisoned.
The purpose of this outrageous act was to send a clear message to all other colonies that the consequences for rejecting France would be very high.
Slowly fear spread trough the african elite, and none after the Guinea events ever found the courage to follow the example of Sékou Touré, whose slogan was “We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery.”
Read more.....
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Strengthen Stability in Africa
By Michael E. O'Hanlon
Brookings - January 23, 2014
The United States should, with a focused effort and in partnership with other states, make a significant push to improve security in Africa. No massive deployments of U.S. troops would be needed, and in fact no role for American main combat units is required. But we should step up our game from the current very modest training efforts coordinated through Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The continent is too big for a comprehensive approach or one-size-fits-all initiative. However, the United States could make a major difference by deploying several thousand Americans to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and several hundred trainers to Libya. In the case of the DRC, by supplementing the U.N. mission that has achieved some recent battlefield successes against rebel forces, Americans could help train and mentor a DRC army so that it can gradually replace the U.N. while establishing control over much of the country’s interior (especially in the east). The Congolese war has probably been Africa’s most lethal over the last 15 years; success here could be game-changing.
Read more...
Brookings - January 23, 2014
The United States should, with a focused effort and in partnership with other states, make a significant push to improve security in Africa. No massive deployments of U.S. troops would be needed, and in fact no role for American main combat units is required. But we should step up our game from the current very modest training efforts coordinated through Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The continent is too big for a comprehensive approach or one-size-fits-all initiative. However, the United States could make a major difference by deploying several thousand Americans to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and several hundred trainers to Libya. In the case of the DRC, by supplementing the U.N. mission that has achieved some recent battlefield successes against rebel forces, Americans could help train and mentor a DRC army so that it can gradually replace the U.N. while establishing control over much of the country’s interior (especially in the east). The Congolese war has probably been Africa’s most lethal over the last 15 years; success here could be game-changing.
Read more...
Friday, January 24, 2014
Our Man in Africa
America championed a bloodthirsty torturer to fight the original war on terror. Now, he is finally being brought to justice.
By Michael Bronner
Foreign Policy - January/February 2014
On the last night of november 1990, the city of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, was on edge. President Hissène Habré, who had seized control of the country in a coup eight years earlier, was in power -- but the vise was closing.
Rebels were converging on the city in Toyota pickup trucks mounted with machine guns and packed with fighters -- turbaned against the dust and sand, armed to the teeth, and screaming pedal-to-the-floor across the desert. Supplied and funded by Libya, they had crossed into Chad from their camp on the Sudanese border some 700 miles to the east, led by Habré’s former chief military advisor, Idriss Déby.
It was an odd time, then, for a diplomatic dinner party.
The gathering was a last-minute affair organized by the wealthy and well-connected Lebanese consul at the urgent personal request of a key minister in Habré’s cabinet. The presence of some two dozen Chadian elites, French businessmen, and notable expats was really just a ruse to invite the one guest who really mattered: Col. David G. Foulds, the U.S. defense attaché.
Read more....
By Michael Bronner
Foreign Policy - January/February 2014
On the last night of november 1990, the city of N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, was on edge. President Hissène Habré, who had seized control of the country in a coup eight years earlier, was in power -- but the vise was closing.
Rebels were converging on the city in Toyota pickup trucks mounted with machine guns and packed with fighters -- turbaned against the dust and sand, armed to the teeth, and screaming pedal-to-the-floor across the desert. Supplied and funded by Libya, they had crossed into Chad from their camp on the Sudanese border some 700 miles to the east, led by Habré’s former chief military advisor, Idriss Déby.
It was an odd time, then, for a diplomatic dinner party.
The gathering was a last-minute affair organized by the wealthy and well-connected Lebanese consul at the urgent personal request of a key minister in Habré’s cabinet. The presence of some two dozen Chadian elites, French businessmen, and notable expats was really just a ruse to invite the one guest who really mattered: Col. David G. Foulds, the U.S. defense attaché.
Read more....
Thursday, January 23, 2014
DEAR WHITE FOLKS: You Need Black Studies Classes (and Here's Why)
Could racism be dismantled with a little education? David Leonard says it's worth a try
By David Leonard
Ebony - January 17, 2014
Recent months have seen a wave of campus racism at America’s colleges and universities, including Fordham University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Northwestern University, and the Ohio State University. While racism is as commonplace at America’s “liberal” training grounds as binge drinking, I found myself wondering about occupying America’s universities. I found myself wondering how Black studies and ethnic studies have the potential to change America’s racial path. How Black studies and understanding the ongoing history of racism is essential to a quest for a “more perfect union.”
Imagine if every student took at least one Black studies course per year during college alongside of Chicano Studies, Asian American Studies and Native American Studies. What if students, what if white students, starting in kindergarten and through graduate school, American’s future leaders, teachers, and voters learned a 4th R – racism – alongside 'reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic? Surely institutional racism would remain an obstacle, but Whites who inhabit those institutions, from the classroom to the Capital, would likely be changed.
Learning about minstrelsy and the history of racist imagery would surely impact the decision from White students to don blackface for the sake of fun, parties and Halloween. Learning about the history of slavery and lynchings would hopefully encourage thought from entire communities the next time a noose appeared on campus, the next time someone scrawled lynch on a chalkboard or dorm room door. There would be no more excuses and claims of ignorance about these histories.
Read more....
By David Leonard
Ebony - January 17, 2014
Recent months have seen a wave of campus racism at America’s colleges and universities, including Fordham University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Northwestern University, and the Ohio State University. While racism is as commonplace at America’s “liberal” training grounds as binge drinking, I found myself wondering about occupying America’s universities. I found myself wondering how Black studies and ethnic studies have the potential to change America’s racial path. How Black studies and understanding the ongoing history of racism is essential to a quest for a “more perfect union.”
Imagine if every student took at least one Black studies course per year during college alongside of Chicano Studies, Asian American Studies and Native American Studies. What if students, what if white students, starting in kindergarten and through graduate school, American’s future leaders, teachers, and voters learned a 4th R – racism – alongside 'reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic? Surely institutional racism would remain an obstacle, but Whites who inhabit those institutions, from the classroom to the Capital, would likely be changed.
Learning about minstrelsy and the history of racist imagery would surely impact the decision from White students to don blackface for the sake of fun, parties and Halloween. Learning about the history of slavery and lynchings would hopefully encourage thought from entire communities the next time a noose appeared on campus, the next time someone scrawled lynch on a chalkboard or dorm room door. There would be no more excuses and claims of ignorance about these histories.
Read more....
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
The amazing, surprising, Africa-driven demographic future of the Earth, in 9 charts
By Max Fisher
The Washington Post - July 16, 2013
The United Nations Population Division, which tracks demographic data from around the world, has dramatically revised its projections for what will happen in the next 90 years. The new statistics, based on in-depth survey data from sub-Saharan Africa, tell the story of a world poised to change drastically over the next several decades. Most rich countries will shrink and age (with a couple of important exceptions), poorer countries will expand rapidly and, maybe most significant of all, Africa will see a population explosion nearly unprecedented in human history.
If these numbers turn out to be right – they're just projections and could change significantly under unforeseen circumstances – the world of 2100 will look very different than the world of today, with implications for everyone. It will be a place where today's dominant, developed economies are increasingly focused on supporting the elderly, where the least developed countries are transformed by population booms and where Africa, for better or worse, is more important than ever.
Here is the story of the next 90 years as predicted by UN demographic data and explained in nine charts. The charts are interactive; move your cursor over them to track and compare the data.
Read more...
The Washington Post - July 16, 2013
The United Nations Population Division, which tracks demographic data from around the world, has dramatically revised its projections for what will happen in the next 90 years. The new statistics, based on in-depth survey data from sub-Saharan Africa, tell the story of a world poised to change drastically over the next several decades. Most rich countries will shrink and age (with a couple of important exceptions), poorer countries will expand rapidly and, maybe most significant of all, Africa will see a population explosion nearly unprecedented in human history.
If these numbers turn out to be right – they're just projections and could change significantly under unforeseen circumstances – the world of 2100 will look very different than the world of today, with implications for everyone. It will be a place where today's dominant, developed economies are increasingly focused on supporting the elderly, where the least developed countries are transformed by population booms and where Africa, for better or worse, is more important than ever.
Here is the story of the next 90 years as predicted by UN demographic data and explained in nine charts. The charts are interactive; move your cursor over them to track and compare the data.
Read more...
Monday, January 20, 2014
Tribute to an African giant: Komla Dumor
By Josef-Israel
Theafricareport.com - Monday, 20 January 2014
My Eritrean colleague was on the phone when I got to the canteen, but as I approached, he put his mobile phone away, giving me his undivided attention. "It's a sad day for us isn't it?" he uttered in a lowered reverend voice. It was a question that required no answer.
I sighed and pointed behind him to the seating area, to one of those classy looking but never ending long benches you find in the dining halls of secondary schools across Ghana. "He was sitting right over there having breakfast just before Christmas and I wished him "Afi Hyia Pa" (Merry Christmas).
Read more...
Theafricareport.com - Monday, 20 January 2014
My Eritrean colleague was on the phone when I got to the canteen, but as I approached, he put his mobile phone away, giving me his undivided attention. "It's a sad day for us isn't it?" he uttered in a lowered reverend voice. It was a question that required no answer.
I sighed and pointed behind him to the seating area, to one of those classy looking but never ending long benches you find in the dining halls of secondary schools across Ghana. "He was sitting right over there having breakfast just before Christmas and I wished him "Afi Hyia Pa" (Merry Christmas).
Read more...
The good white folks of the Academy
By Willie Osterweil
Al-Jazeera - January 15, 2014
How Oscar-nominated films misrepresent African-American history
The Academy Awards have made progress in terms of racial representation. This year a film about slavery is the clear front-runner in many of the major categories, and if “12 Years a Slave” or “Gravity” wins best picture, it would be the first time a movie by a nonwhite director takes the prize. It’s also possible that Lee Daniels (“The Butler”) could join Steve McQueen (“12 Years”) and Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”) to make best director a majority-minority category for the first time ever.
It’s certainly a relief to see Oscar-nominated films about black experience actually written and directed by black people (unlike, for example, recent Oscar darlings “Django Unchained,” “The Help,” and “The Blind Side”). But it’s the movie’s producers — who have more power over a film’s content than most recognize — who will actually walk up to accept the best picture statuette. Unsurprisingly, most of them are still white.
That might be one reason why the representations of black experience that the Academy deems best-picture-worthy remain fundamentally unchallenged. Out of the 120 films that received a best picture nomination in the last 20 years, only 17 featured nonwhite protagonists or major characters. In all but four of those films these characters were either extremely poor or criminals. Out of the four remaining, one featured a slave (“Django,” 2012), another an entertainer (“Ray,” 2004), another an athlete (“Jerry Maguire,” 1996). Needless to say, the white characters in these and the other 103 films nominated for best picture held a much wider variety of occupational and socioeconomic positions.
Read more.....
Al-Jazeera - January 15, 2014
How Oscar-nominated films misrepresent African-American history
The Academy Awards have made progress in terms of racial representation. This year a film about slavery is the clear front-runner in many of the major categories, and if “12 Years a Slave” or “Gravity” wins best picture, it would be the first time a movie by a nonwhite director takes the prize. It’s also possible that Lee Daniels (“The Butler”) could join Steve McQueen (“12 Years”) and Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”) to make best director a majority-minority category for the first time ever.
It’s certainly a relief to see Oscar-nominated films about black experience actually written and directed by black people (unlike, for example, recent Oscar darlings “Django Unchained,” “The Help,” and “The Blind Side”). But it’s the movie’s producers — who have more power over a film’s content than most recognize — who will actually walk up to accept the best picture statuette. Unsurprisingly, most of them are still white.
That might be one reason why the representations of black experience that the Academy deems best-picture-worthy remain fundamentally unchallenged. Out of the 120 films that received a best picture nomination in the last 20 years, only 17 featured nonwhite protagonists or major characters. In all but four of those films these characters were either extremely poor or criminals. Out of the four remaining, one featured a slave (“Django,” 2012), another an entertainer (“Ray,” 2004), another an athlete (“Jerry Maguire,” 1996). Needless to say, the white characters in these and the other 103 films nominated for best picture held a much wider variety of occupational and socioeconomic positions.
Read more.....
12 Years a Slave: Yet Another Oscar-Nominated 'White Savior' Story
The Academy, like the movie industry overall, tends to gravitate toward stories about slavery when they feature a merciful white man bringing freedom.
By Noah Berlatsky
The Atlantic - Jan 17 2014
A few weeks back, I noted that there are not many movies about slavery. Given that, though, the list of slavery films that have been real contenders come Academy Award season has been surprisingly large. Besides 12 Years a Slave, which won a Golden Globe for Best Picture of the Year (Drama) on Sunday night and yesterday received nine Oscar nominations including one for Best Picture, films recognized in major categories on Oscar night over the past 30 years include Glory, (1989, Best Supporting Actor award), Amistad (1998, Best Supporting Actor nomination), Lincoln (2012, Best Actor award), and Django Unchained (2012, Best Supporting Actor award, Best Original Screenplay award).
Despite the number of films, though, there's a relative paucity of thematic range. All of these critically acclaimed films use variations on a single narrative: Black people are oppressed by bad white people. They achieve freedom through the offices of good white people. Happy ending.
Read more....
By Noah Berlatsky
The Atlantic - Jan 17 2014
A few weeks back, I noted that there are not many movies about slavery. Given that, though, the list of slavery films that have been real contenders come Academy Award season has been surprisingly large. Besides 12 Years a Slave, which won a Golden Globe for Best Picture of the Year (Drama) on Sunday night and yesterday received nine Oscar nominations including one for Best Picture, films recognized in major categories on Oscar night over the past 30 years include Glory, (1989, Best Supporting Actor award), Amistad (1998, Best Supporting Actor nomination), Lincoln (2012, Best Actor award), and Django Unchained (2012, Best Supporting Actor award, Best Original Screenplay award).
Despite the number of films, though, there's a relative paucity of thematic range. All of these critically acclaimed films use variations on a single narrative: Black people are oppressed by bad white people. They achieve freedom through the offices of good white people. Happy ending.
Read more....
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