Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
The US Militarization of Africa Is Well Underway and Nothing Good Will Come of It
By Nick Turse, Haymarket Books | Book Excerpt
TRUTHOUT - Friday, 29 May 2015
The following is an excerpt, "Finding Barack Obama in South Sudan," from the book Tomorrow's Battlefield: US Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa:
Juba, South Sudan. The camp is a mess of orange muck and open earthen
sewers. A single wood plank provides passage over a roughhewn trench.
Children peek out from tarp-tents. Older men and women sit in homes of
mud-speckled plastic sheeting that become saunas in the midday heat.
Young women pick their way through refuse, some with large yellow jerry
cans of water balanced atop their heads, others carry their homes in
similar fashion - a mess of wooden poles and a folded tarp - as they set
out for another camp hoping for better to come.
As I walk down the main thoroughfare of this camp for internal exiles, I suddenly see his smiling face, the one I'd know anywhere. Here, in Juba, the capital of South Sudan amid tens of thousands of people crammed into a fetid encampment visibly thrown together in haste, out of fear and necessity; here, as huge water tanker trucks rumble past and men in camouflage fatigues, toting automatic weapons, stride by; here, in the unlikeliest of places in the heat and swirling dust and charcoal smoke, the air heavy with the scent of squalor, is a face I've seen a thousand, or ten thousand, or a million times before. Here in a camp where hopelessness is endemic and despair reigns, is a face that, for so many, was once synonymous with hope itself. It's a sight that stops me in my tracks. Here, 7,000 miles from my home, Barack Obama is smiling his familiar smile amid the results of a decades-long American project in Africa.
READ MORE.....
TRUTHOUT - Friday, 29 May 2015
The following is an excerpt, "Finding Barack Obama in South Sudan," from the book Tomorrow's Battlefield: US Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa:
As I walk down the main thoroughfare of this camp for internal exiles, I suddenly see his smiling face, the one I'd know anywhere. Here, in Juba, the capital of South Sudan amid tens of thousands of people crammed into a fetid encampment visibly thrown together in haste, out of fear and necessity; here, as huge water tanker trucks rumble past and men in camouflage fatigues, toting automatic weapons, stride by; here, in the unlikeliest of places in the heat and swirling dust and charcoal smoke, the air heavy with the scent of squalor, is a face I've seen a thousand, or ten thousand, or a million times before. Here in a camp where hopelessness is endemic and despair reigns, is a face that, for so many, was once synonymous with hope itself. It's a sight that stops me in my tracks. Here, 7,000 miles from my home, Barack Obama is smiling his familiar smile amid the results of a decades-long American project in Africa.
READ MORE.....
Saturday, May 23, 2015
South Africa's second-biggest grocer talks about their strategy
The Africa Report - Friday, 22 May 2015
Dutch retail partnership Spar sees big opportunities to expand in markets where other Western chains fear to tread, exploiting a model of sharing global best practice among independent businesses trading from Angola to India and Ukraine.
"The potential in China is still enormous and in Russia it is too because we've only just started opening hypermarkets," managing director Gordon Campbell told Reuters in an interview at the group's Amsterdam headquarters.
"We see enormous potential in India. We're only just starting in Indonesia." In addition to entering Indonesia and India, Spar opened its first stores in Angola, Malawi and Georgia in 2014 and is in active discussions with potential partners in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, Campbell said. Spar International licenses its brand to independently-owned national or regional partners, provides them with a range of 300 Spar own-brand products and offers guidance on issues ranging from store layout to merchandising and logistics.
READ MORE....
Dutch retail partnership Spar sees big opportunities to expand in markets where other Western chains fear to tread, exploiting a model of sharing global best practice among independent businesses trading from Angola to India and Ukraine.
"The potential in China is still enormous and in Russia it is too because we've only just started opening hypermarkets," managing director Gordon Campbell told Reuters in an interview at the group's Amsterdam headquarters.
"We see enormous potential in India. We're only just starting in Indonesia." In addition to entering Indonesia and India, Spar opened its first stores in Angola, Malawi and Georgia in 2014 and is in active discussions with potential partners in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, Campbell said. Spar International licenses its brand to independently-owned national or regional partners, provides them with a range of 300 Spar own-brand products and offers guidance on issues ranging from store layout to merchandising and logistics.
READ MORE....
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Global_Geneva’s annual NGO ranking shows that the “white savior” status quo remains intact
Fairouz El Tom
Africa is a country - May 13, 2015
Teju Cole wrote that a white saviour is someone who, “supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening”.
Global_Geneva recently released the third annual Top NGO ranking, and unfortunately, it’s more of the same. In 2013, I reviewed the Board profiles of the previous ranking, focusing on their gender balance and diversity, and links to the tobacco, weapons and finance industries. The findings were troubling. Many of the listed NGOs were not adequately diverse or representative, and over half had links to the above industries.
This year’s ranking reveals similarly disturbing trends. Though 78% of the activities of the NGOs listed take place in the majority world, the ranking remains skewed towards NGOs headquartered in the West (64%). This once again sends signals about who has value and expertise, and reinforces the fallacy that citizens of Western countries are best equipped to change the world.
READ MORE....
Africa is a country - May 13, 2015
Teju Cole wrote that a white saviour is someone who, “supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening”.
Global_Geneva recently released the third annual Top NGO ranking, and unfortunately, it’s more of the same. In 2013, I reviewed the Board profiles of the previous ranking, focusing on their gender balance and diversity, and links to the tobacco, weapons and finance industries. The findings were troubling. Many of the listed NGOs were not adequately diverse or representative, and over half had links to the above industries.
This year’s ranking reveals similarly disturbing trends. Though 78% of the activities of the NGOs listed take place in the majority world, the ranking remains skewed towards NGOs headquartered in the West (64%). This once again sends signals about who has value and expertise, and reinforces the fallacy that citizens of Western countries are best equipped to change the world.
READ MORE....
Monday, May 11, 2015
Are African Americans really Americans?
By Nnamdi F. Akwada
THIS IS AFRICA - December 18, 2014
Whereas regular folks on the continent have demonstrated in solidarity against the extrajudicial killings in America, the thugs in power have remained mute. One could only imagine what the outcry from Africa would be if we still had leaders like Kwame Nkrumah.
There are the evocative feelings that come with claiming the American citizenship. These emotions are prominent during the swearing in ceremonies of immigrants (with other national origins and tongues) as new citizens. However, those emotive reactions are clouded in the hype rather than the realities of what the European interpretations and applications of American nationality is truly about. For American citizenship, contrary to the popularly held assumption, is not rooted in the jargon of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Rather it is centred on the notions of white patriarchy and privileges. This accounts for the duality of meaning in the invocation of American citizenship between European Americans and African Americans. For the former it is about segregating themselves from others while coveting their resources and for the latter about drawing closer to the privileged white folks evocative of colonialism.
READ MORE.....
THIS IS AFRICA - December 18, 2014
Whereas regular folks on the continent have demonstrated in solidarity against the extrajudicial killings in America, the thugs in power have remained mute. One could only imagine what the outcry from Africa would be if we still had leaders like Kwame Nkrumah.
There are the evocative feelings that come with claiming the American citizenship. These emotions are prominent during the swearing in ceremonies of immigrants (with other national origins and tongues) as new citizens. However, those emotive reactions are clouded in the hype rather than the realities of what the European interpretations and applications of American nationality is truly about. For American citizenship, contrary to the popularly held assumption, is not rooted in the jargon of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Rather it is centred on the notions of white patriarchy and privileges. This accounts for the duality of meaning in the invocation of American citizenship between European Americans and African Americans. For the former it is about segregating themselves from others while coveting their resources and for the latter about drawing closer to the privileged white folks evocative of colonialism.
READ MORE.....
Ghana, a place for African-Americans to resettle
By Efam Dovi
The Africa Report - 11 May 2015
In Prampram, a town just an hour's drive east of Ghana's capital Accra, many holiday houses line the shores of the South Atlantic Ocean. One of them belongs to Jerome Thompson.
Located only 500 metres from the water, Thompson's house is resilient to the effects of the salt and wind. The floors, windows and doors are made of hard wood. His self-designed furniture is made from quality Ghanaian timber and hand-carved by local artisans.
"The ocean helps me fall asleep and wakes me up in the morning," says Thompson, an African-American retiree taking a stroll on the beach where palm trees shade hand-carved canoes.
"Where else can I live this close to the ocean? It would cost me millions of dollars!"
Thompson, a native of Maryland in the United States, retired to Ghana 11 years ago. He first visited the West African country on a tour in 2000.
READ MORE....
The Africa Report - 11 May 2015
In Prampram, a town just an hour's drive east of Ghana's capital Accra, many holiday houses line the shores of the South Atlantic Ocean. One of them belongs to Jerome Thompson.
Located only 500 metres from the water, Thompson's house is resilient to the effects of the salt and wind. The floors, windows and doors are made of hard wood. His self-designed furniture is made from quality Ghanaian timber and hand-carved by local artisans.
"The ocean helps me fall asleep and wakes me up in the morning," says Thompson, an African-American retiree taking a stroll on the beach where palm trees shade hand-carved canoes.
"Where else can I live this close to the ocean? It would cost me millions of dollars!"
Thompson, a native of Maryland in the United States, retired to Ghana 11 years ago. He first visited the West African country on a tour in 2000.
READ MORE....
‘West still treats Africa as former vassals’ – South Africa’s Zuma to RT
Russia Today - May 10, 2015
Western “colonial” states are not interested in S. Africa’s development, but rather want to take its natural resources and never give anything back, Jacob Zuma, S. African president, told RT. It’s China’s investment that Zuma sees as a way to prosperity.
“The Western world or the European countries, in particular, came to Africa [in the 19th century] to colonize and they had been taking the resources of Africa,” Zuma said.
But even after the continent decolonized itself in the mid-20th century, its relationship with the US, UK, France and other Western countries “remained the same,” he stressed.
“They still regard us as the Third World, as a kind of people, who must be related to as the former subject [state], etc. That talks also to the economics… Their intention has never been to make the former colonial countries develop,” the president explained.
READ MORE.....
Western “colonial” states are not interested in S. Africa’s development, but rather want to take its natural resources and never give anything back, Jacob Zuma, S. African president, told RT. It’s China’s investment that Zuma sees as a way to prosperity.
“The Western world or the European countries, in particular, came to Africa [in the 19th century] to colonize and they had been taking the resources of Africa,” Zuma said.
But even after the continent decolonized itself in the mid-20th century, its relationship with the US, UK, France and other Western countries “remained the same,” he stressed.
“They still regard us as the Third World, as a kind of people, who must be related to as the former subject [state], etc. That talks also to the economics… Their intention has never been to make the former colonial countries develop,” the president explained.
READ MORE.....
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Cheap imports threaten Ghana's textile industry
To revive the fragile sector, the government is encouraging people to buy local fabrics.
Al-Jazeera - 10 May 2015
West African prints have made it to the fashion catwalks of the Western world, yet at home the fabric industry is suffering because of cheap fake imports.
In response, the government is encouraging people to support the industry and promote their culture by wearing local fabrics.
Al Jazeera's Ama Boateng reports from Ghana’s capital Accra.
READ MORE.....
Al-Jazeera - 10 May 2015
West African prints have made it to the fashion catwalks of the Western world, yet at home the fabric industry is suffering because of cheap fake imports.
In response, the government is encouraging people to support the industry and promote their culture by wearing local fabrics.
Al Jazeera's Ama Boateng reports from Ghana’s capital Accra.
READ MORE.....
Telling “the African story”
Africa is a country - July 31, 2014
We often hear political and business leaders and Africanists talk about the need to “tell the African story.” For us, “tell the African story” means nothing. In other words, it is a cliché of no value. We don’t know what it is supposed to mean. It may be that the idea of a definitive “African story” gains traction as a response to bigoted representations of the continent that have been influential in Western journalism and thinking. But like the idea of the need for “positive stories about Africa”, it’s facile and unhelpful. Our suspicion is that political and business leaders say that when they feel uncomfortable with airing real problems that ordinary Africans experience. The phrase also assumes–as our blog title mockingly suggests–that Africa is a Country. African journalists rarely think or talk about their vocation in these terms. In most cases, they lack the continental consciousness to think or write in this way. The national trumps any continental solidarity or focus. So does the local. Their focus is very different from their counterparts in the West who report on “Africa.”
READ MORE....
We often hear political and business leaders and Africanists talk about the need to “tell the African story.” For us, “tell the African story” means nothing. In other words, it is a cliché of no value. We don’t know what it is supposed to mean. It may be that the idea of a definitive “African story” gains traction as a response to bigoted representations of the continent that have been influential in Western journalism and thinking. But like the idea of the need for “positive stories about Africa”, it’s facile and unhelpful. Our suspicion is that political and business leaders say that when they feel uncomfortable with airing real problems that ordinary Africans experience. The phrase also assumes–as our blog title mockingly suggests–that Africa is a Country. African journalists rarely think or talk about their vocation in these terms. In most cases, they lack the continental consciousness to think or write in this way. The national trumps any continental solidarity or focus. So does the local. Their focus is very different from their counterparts in the West who report on “Africa.”
READ MORE....
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