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...
Thursday, January 30, 2014
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....
Saturday, January 11, 2014
The U.S. and South African Connection: The Budget Deal and Neoliberals
By AMAJU BARAKA
Counter Punch - January 10-12, 2014
It was a fitting historical coincidence that during the same week President Obama was in South Africa to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela, whose Presidency ushered in the South African turn to neoliberalism, a budget deal was brokered by the republicans and democrats that reflected the continued bipartisan commitment to neoliberal policies in the U.S. Hammered out behind closed doors and presented as a done deal to the House of Representatives, the agreement reflected the agenda and demands of the corporate and financial oligarchy that Congressional representatives do what they were sent to Washington to do – ensure that economic and social policies conform to their interests and priorities. Voted on and passed by the House without debate, questions from the public or opportunity for adjustments, the Senate dutifully followed, quickly passing the agreement that was then signed into law by President Obama from his holiday vacation retreat.
Read more...
Counter Punch - January 10-12, 2014
It was a fitting historical coincidence that during the same week President Obama was in South Africa to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela, whose Presidency ushered in the South African turn to neoliberalism, a budget deal was brokered by the republicans and democrats that reflected the continued bipartisan commitment to neoliberal policies in the U.S. Hammered out behind closed doors and presented as a done deal to the House of Representatives, the agreement reflected the agenda and demands of the corporate and financial oligarchy that Congressional representatives do what they were sent to Washington to do – ensure that economic and social policies conform to their interests and priorities. Voted on and passed by the House without debate, questions from the public or opportunity for adjustments, the Senate dutifully followed, quickly passing the agreement that was then signed into law by President Obama from his holiday vacation retreat.
Read more...
12 Years a Slave fails to represent black resistance to enslavement
While there is much to praise in film, omissions from Northup's original memoir miss opportunity to break Hollywood mould Beta
By Carole Boyce Davies
theguardian.com, Friday 10 January 2014
The legendary African-American historian John Hope Franklin used to say that black resistance in stories of enslavement tended to be erased in favour of the narratives of domination and degradation. Yet scholars tell us that while there was often acquiescence under the inhumane conditions of American slavery, there was also always resistance.
Take Harriet Tubman, who was born into slavery but deliberately escaped – and went on to help many more people to freedom. "There are two things I've got a right to and these are death or liberty … one or the other I mean to have," Tubman said. "No one will ever take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty."
But this resistence is almost entirely missing from Steve McQueen's film 12 Years A Slave, which opens in the UK today. While the 1854 memoir by Solomon Northup, on which the film is based, describes several stories of attempted escapes and fighting back on the part of the enslaved, none of these appear in the film. It does show Northup's emotional resistance to his enslavement and there is one scene where he fights back against the man to whom he was mortgaged, but nobody else in the film seems to be allowed that.
Read more....
By Carole Boyce Davies
theguardian.com, Friday 10 January 2014
The legendary African-American historian John Hope Franklin used to say that black resistance in stories of enslavement tended to be erased in favour of the narratives of domination and degradation. Yet scholars tell us that while there was often acquiescence under the inhumane conditions of American slavery, there was also always resistance.
Take Harriet Tubman, who was born into slavery but deliberately escaped – and went on to help many more people to freedom. "There are two things I've got a right to and these are death or liberty … one or the other I mean to have," Tubman said. "No one will ever take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty."
But this resistence is almost entirely missing from Steve McQueen's film 12 Years A Slave, which opens in the UK today. While the 1854 memoir by Solomon Northup, on which the film is based, describes several stories of attempted escapes and fighting back on the part of the enslaved, none of these appear in the film. It does show Northup's emotional resistance to his enslavement and there is one scene where he fights back against the man to whom he was mortgaged, but nobody else in the film seems to be allowed that.
Read more....
Blog blossoms into network
By Li Lianxing in Johannesburg
China Daily Africa - 2014-01-10
Website an antidote to ignorance on China, Africa development issues
Online platforms are fast becoming the venue of choice for African nations to broaden their social participation and connections with China and the rest of world.
Eric Olander, a veteran new media and broadcast journalist, who runs the popular website China Africa Project, says his online platform is dedicated to exploring every aspect of China's growing engagement with Africa.
Olander says the website, which relies on a combination of original content and third party material, has been growing in popularity, with more than 140,000 followers on Facebook. According to Olander, most of the followers are from Africa judging from the vibrant and enthusiastic responses to the various development issues pertaining to the continent.
"We started in 2011, and already have the largest online community in Africa. Every month, we get at least 7,000 new followers," he says.
"Though we focus on China and Africa, we ensure that our coverage is neutral and unbiased. We do not follow any particular agenda or favor anyone, be it the Chinese, the Africans, the Europeans or anyone for that matter. Our objective is to use social media to engage in discussions and not to promote an agenda."
Read more....
China Daily Africa - 2014-01-10
Website an antidote to ignorance on China, Africa development issues
Online platforms are fast becoming the venue of choice for African nations to broaden their social participation and connections with China and the rest of world.
Eric Olander, a veteran new media and broadcast journalist, who runs the popular website China Africa Project, says his online platform is dedicated to exploring every aspect of China's growing engagement with Africa.
Olander says the website, which relies on a combination of original content and third party material, has been growing in popularity, with more than 140,000 followers on Facebook. According to Olander, most of the followers are from Africa judging from the vibrant and enthusiastic responses to the various development issues pertaining to the continent.
"We started in 2011, and already have the largest online community in Africa. Every month, we get at least 7,000 new followers," he says.
"Though we focus on China and Africa, we ensure that our coverage is neutral and unbiased. We do not follow any particular agenda or favor anyone, be it the Chinese, the Africans, the Europeans or anyone for that matter. Our objective is to use social media to engage in discussions and not to promote an agenda."
Read more....
The Black Students Who Wouldn't Leave the Lunch Counter
On civil rights, the Sixties actually started on February 1, 1960. And one of the four men who started it was Franklin McCain, who died Thursday at the age of 73.
By Andrew Cohen
The Atlantic - Jan 10 2014
What happened in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960, took even John Lewis by surprise. In his memoir, Walking With the Wind, the future civil rights icon (whose most intense days at the head of the movement were yet ahead of him as that decade began) recounted the episode:
Read more....
By Andrew Cohen
The Atlantic - Jan 10 2014
What happened in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960, took even John Lewis by surprise. In his memoir, Walking With the Wind, the future civil rights icon (whose most intense days at the head of the movement were yet ahead of him as that decade began) recounted the episode:
Read more....
Amiri Baraka (1934-2014): Poet-Playwright-Activist Who Shaped Revolutionary Politics, Black Culture
Democracynow.org - January 10, 2014
We spend the hour looking at the life and legacy of Amiri Baraka, the poet, playwright and political organizer who died Thursday at the age of 79. Baraka was a leading force in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1963 he published "Blues People: Negro Music in White America," known as the first major history of black music to be written by an African American. A year later he published a collection of poetry titled "The Dead Lecturer" and won an Obie Award for his play, “Dutchman." After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, he moved to Harlem and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre. In the late 1960s, Baraka moved back to his hometown of Newark and began focusing more on political organizing, prompting the FBI to identify him as "the person who will probably emerge as the leader of the pan-African movement in the United States." Baraka continued writing and performing poetry up until his hospitalization late last year, leaving behind a body of work that greatly influenced a younger generation of hip-hop artists and slam poets. We are joined by four of Baraka’s longtime comrades and friends: Sonia Sanchez, a renowned writer, poet, playwright and activist; Felipe Luciano, a poet, activist, journalist and writer who was an original member of the poetry and musical group The Last Poets; Komozi Woodard, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College and author of "A Nation Within a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics"; and Larry Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress in Newark, New Jersey.
Read more....
We spend the hour looking at the life and legacy of Amiri Baraka, the poet, playwright and political organizer who died Thursday at the age of 79. Baraka was a leading force in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1963 he published "Blues People: Negro Music in White America," known as the first major history of black music to be written by an African American. A year later he published a collection of poetry titled "The Dead Lecturer" and won an Obie Award for his play, “Dutchman." After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, he moved to Harlem and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre. In the late 1960s, Baraka moved back to his hometown of Newark and began focusing more on political organizing, prompting the FBI to identify him as "the person who will probably emerge as the leader of the pan-African movement in the United States." Baraka continued writing and performing poetry up until his hospitalization late last year, leaving behind a body of work that greatly influenced a younger generation of hip-hop artists and slam poets. We are joined by four of Baraka’s longtime comrades and friends: Sonia Sanchez, a renowned writer, poet, playwright and activist; Felipe Luciano, a poet, activist, journalist and writer who was an original member of the poetry and musical group The Last Poets; Komozi Woodard, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College and author of "A Nation Within a Nation: Amiri Baraka and Black Power Politics"; and Larry Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress in Newark, New Jersey.
Read more....
Friday, January 10, 2014
Africa’s New Struggle Against Financial Imperialism
By Garikai Chengu
Countercurrents.org - 08 January, 2014
Read more...
Countercurrents.org - 08 January, 2014
One hundred
years ago, the European colonists conquered and plundered Africa because
they had far superior technology. To this very day, European nations
continue to plunder Africa because they posses advance weapon. This time
the weapon of choice in the re-conquest of Africa is financial warfare;
it is no longer military force. The end result is the same: Western
corporations profit, whilst Africa remains underdeveloped and
over-exploited.
Financial imperialism is the system
through which a dictatorship of Western capital exercises authoritarian
control over African economies in order to perpetuate the exploitation
of Africa, for the benefit of the West’s capitalist class.
Africa is a paradox that underscores the
ongoing power of financial imperialism. She is spectacularly rich, yet
the natural capital that is extracted from above and below her
children’s feet continues to enrich, not Africans, but the people who
facilitate Africa's impoverishment: Western capitalists.
Read more...
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Thousands of African migrants protest Israel detention policy
TEL AVIV
Reuters - Sun Jan 5, 2014
(Reuters) - Thousands of African migrants, many holding banners demanding freedom for compatriots jailed as illegal job-seekers by Israel, protested on Sunday in a main Tel Aviv square against a new open-ended detention law.
Human rights groups say more than 300 people have been arrested since the law, which allows authorities to detain migrants without valid visas indefinitely, was passed by Israel's parliament three weeks ago.
Some 60,000 migrants, largely from Eritrea and Sudan, have crossed into Israel across a once-porous border with Egypt since 2006, Israeli authorities say.
Many live in poor areas of Tel Aviv and say they want asylum and safe haven. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he views the presence of many of the Africans as a threat to Israel's Jewish social fabric and his government.
An Israeli border fence has since cut off the influx from Egypt, but migrants who have already crossed can be sent to what the government describes as an open prison in Israel's southern desert.
To read more....
Reuters - Sun Jan 5, 2014
(Reuters) - Thousands of African migrants, many holding banners demanding freedom for compatriots jailed as illegal job-seekers by Israel, protested on Sunday in a main Tel Aviv square against a new open-ended detention law.
Human rights groups say more than 300 people have been arrested since the law, which allows authorities to detain migrants without valid visas indefinitely, was passed by Israel's parliament three weeks ago.
Some 60,000 migrants, largely from Eritrea and Sudan, have crossed into Israel across a once-porous border with Egypt since 2006, Israeli authorities say.
Many live in poor areas of Tel Aviv and say they want asylum and safe haven. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he views the presence of many of the Africans as a threat to Israel's Jewish social fabric and his government.
An Israeli border fence has since cut off the influx from Egypt, but migrants who have already crossed can be sent to what the government describes as an open prison in Israel's southern desert.
To read more....
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