29 June 2012 — Pambazuka News
The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa
CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Advocacy & campaigns, 3. Letters & Opinions, 4. African Writers’ Corner, 5. Cartoons
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Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839
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Dear Subscribers,
Please note that there will be no Links and Resources edition of Pambazuka News next week due to staff leave.
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1 Features
AT THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN ‘GREEN ECONOMY‘ AND RIGHTS OF NATURE
Pablo Solon
Under the rhetoric of ‘green economy’, capitalists are actually
attempting to use nature as capital, proposing unconvincingly that the
only way to preserve natural elements such as water and forests is
through private investment.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83206
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THE ELEPHANTS IN RIO
Don’t bank on a new “green economy” to solve our climate challenges.
Janet Redman
One, infinite growth on a finite planet is an exercise in futility.
And two, the 20 percent of the world’s population living in North
America, Europe, and Japan gobbles up 80 percent of the Earth’s
natural resources. These are the elephants.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83207
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THE FALSE SOLUTIONS OF RIO+20
Carbon Trading and REDD+ in Mozambique: farmers ‘grow’ carbon for the
benefit of polluters
Via Campesina – Africa
Food production and people’s sovereignty in Africa could be seriously
compromised by carbon capture projects and the so-called Reducing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+)
mechanism.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83197
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BEYOND CAPITALIST GREEN ECONOMY: IN DEFENCE OF MOTHER EARTH AND THE COMMONS
Democratic Left Front
The Democratic Left Front calls for action against destructive
corporate interests that are driving the commercialisation and
commodification of the natural environment.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83214
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RIO+20: GOVERNMENTS GAMBLE WITH OUR FUTURE
South feminists demand responsible action now
DAWN Executive Committee
“We are outraged that a vocal minority have hijacked the text on
gender and health and blocked mention of sexual and reproductive
rights, claiming that these have nothing to do with sustainable
development.”
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83215
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THE PEOPLE MUST BE THE FOCUS OF ?GREEN? PROJECTS
Indigenous Peoples Movement
Indigenous peoples insist on rights-based approaches and respect for
traditional knowledge and practices in Rio+20 outcomes.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83216
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THE ELECTORAL VICTORY OF POLITICAL ISLAM IN EGYPT
Samir Amin
The Gulf States, America and Israel are hell bent on frustrating the
revolution in Egypt. That is what the results of the presidential
election show.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83202
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SUDAN AND EGYPT: THE UPRISING CONTINUES
Sokari Ekine
Sudanese President al Bashir must contend with the anger of his own
people on the streets; and in Egypt, the people are not convinced the
win by Morsi is their own victory.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83203
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ARE WOMEN OCCUPYING NEW MOVEMENTS?
Hakima Abbas
Long before people took to the streets of Tunis and the squares of
Cairo, two important acts of mass civil resistance tipped the balance
of power and forced concessions for democratization in Guinea (2007)
and Madagascar (2009), with women maintaining visible leadership
within the top tiers of the mobilizations.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83199
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SOUTH SUDAN A YEAR LATER: WHAT TO DO?
Makol Bona Malwal
The problems facing the new nation are the product of non-existent or
underdeveloped state institutions, themselves the product of the
current system’s failure to redefine itself from a liberation movement
to a ruling party with a mandate to deliver services to the
population.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83205
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SIGNS OF THE TIMES IN HAITI
The military, money and the meaning of an occupation
Nia Imara
There are periods in a country’s history when the signs and warnings
that that history will soon enter into a dramatically different phase
are clear as day. Such is the period today in Haiti, where daily
events portend an inauspicious development for the future: the Haitian
Army may soon be returning.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83222
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AND YOU, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? A WORLD WITHOUT SLAVERY
Beverly Bell
Haiti is home to one form of slavery propelled by economic
desperation. Parents who cannot feed or school their children
regularly give them away in the hopes that the family receiving them
will offer more than they themselves can.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83196
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NIGERIA: THE MANY FACES OF ISLAM
Abdulrazaq Magaji
Militant Islam is well known in Nigeria thanks to the atrocities
committed by Boko Haram and other radical groups. What is less known,
but remains a problem, is the intense conflicts among Muslim sects,
which often hurt non-Muslims.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83204
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KENYA RAILWAYS: A CASE STUDY OF HUMAN RIGHTS TRAVESTIES
Kenya Railways Action Group
Kenya Railways Corporation has over the past two decades gone from
being an exemplar of service and care to leaving behind a greed-driven
legacy of retrenchment, dislocation and abandonment of its employees.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83200
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DEMOCRACIA NA AFRICA: ENTREVISTA COM FIROZE MANJI
O que significa democracia?
Firoze Manji
Entrevista com Firoze Manji, redator-chefe de Pambazuka News –
Panafrican Voices for Freedom and Justice
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83227
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A COMPARA??O FALSO ENTRE AFRICA E ASIAN DRAG?ES
Jean-Paul Pougala
Existe uma lenda colonialista zelosamente conservada afirmadora de que
a ?frica estaria melhor repartida nos anos 60 do que os 4 tigres
asi?ticos: Coreia (do Sul), Taiwan, Mal?sia e Indon?sia.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83225
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TRANSFER?NCIA DE TECNOLOGIA
Jean-Paul Pougala
Existe um dom?nio no qual a propaganda ocidental investe de modo
especial na opini?o p?blica da ?frica, e esse assunto, alardeado
atrav?s das suas ONGs c?mplices e seus governos, ? o do dom?nio
inexistente e ilus?rio da chamada ?transfer?ncia de tecnologia?.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83226
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2 Advocacy & campaigns
UMLAZI POLICE SHOOTINGS
Democratic Left Front
This is a case of sustained state repression against community
protests and a violation of basic rights to freedoms of assembly,
speech and association.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83193
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ANOTHER 18 PEOPLE ARRESTED IN UMLAZI, DURBAN
Unemployed People’s Movement
Police disrupt a peaceful party for a child, apparently at the
instigation of the local ANC leadership, which wants to crush a
rebellion in the area.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83209
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RIO+20: A DECLARATION BY AFRICA ALLIANCE FOR GREEN ECONOMY
Africa Alliance for Green Economy
Civil society organisations say the ‘green economy’ concept is vague
and that profit-oriented strategies could endanger Africa’s natural
capital.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83213
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RIO+20 : ACTION AGAINST USE OF AGROCHEMICALS
La V?a Campesina
The militants put up posters throughout denouncing the abusive
practice of using agrochemicals, which poison the food of the
Brazilian population.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83211
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LAND GRABS: THE AGRISOL FILES
The Oakland Institute
Complaint filed with Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board against
Bruce Rastetter over the Tanzania land grab.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83195
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WHY GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD IS DANGEROUS
New report by genetic engineers
Earth Open Source
The initiative for the report came not from campaigners but from two
genetic engineers who believe there are good scientific reasons to be
wary of GM foods and crops.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83210
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SCRAMBLE FOR NATURAL RESOURCES IN EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA THREATENS
MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND FUELS CONFLICT
Minority Rights Group International
The way of life of minorities and indigenous communities in East and
Horn of Africa is under threat as governments and investors expand
natural resource extraction on their lands, Minority Rights Group
International (MRG) says in its 2012 annual report.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83198
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ESKINDER NEGA, 5 EXILED JOURNALISTS CONVICTED OF TERRORISM
Committee to Protect Journalists
They were condemned for using “the guise of freedom” to “attempt to
incite violence and overthrow the constitutional order.”
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83201
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UGANDA TO BAN NGOS ACCUSED OF PROMOTING GAY RIGHTS
Government accuses local groups of receiving foreign funds to recruit
children into homosexuality.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/83194
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3 Letters & Opinions
ON REPUBLICATION OF ‘HOW EUROPE UNDERDEVELOPED AFRICA‘
Gus John
Dear Comrade,
A belated ‘Thank You’ for keeping the message of Walter’s seminal and
timeless work alive and reminding us to always honour his memory.
The symposium that resulted from your collaboration with OWTU, Pat,
Norman Girvan and other comrades in T & T was hugely inspirational
and, for me, it brought back so many memories of more focused action
in equally challenging times.
Thank You!
Solidarity, Peace and Progress!
Gus John
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4 African Writers’ Corner
LIBATION – A POEM
For my elder student
Dennis D Mosiere
I remember the days
when you hold a jar of water
A metal gong
Then you shout that our ancestors must be called
they must be heard
You shout,
CALL THEM! CALL THEM!
Yes we call them
our ancestors
I guess they cheer
our ambition to reunite with them
these lines are a sign
that, like libation,
my soul is yearning
for liberation
unity of mankind
spirituality, may we free our minds
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THE MUSIC OF OBOKANO
Dennis D Mosiere
(English version)
It is me, Masese
Now am coming from Bundo
Look how my body smeared with ebundo* is shining
Am going to the battlefield with a hummer
I have carried with me a spear and a mallet
I have come as a warrior
With warrior spears
Belongings and the spirit of warriors
Listen to the way I play the Obokano*
Trumpets and flutes
I will not close my eyes even if it?s misty
So misty and clumsy like heavy sounds of trumpets
Even if you pierce my waist with a spear-chigi!*
I will sway and fight like grass
On a mountain against strong winds
I come
Wearing clothes like moving stream of water
Now, stand over there and watch, don?t move closer
Look! The way I am preparing shields
Put them down to cover the soil like heavy drops of rain
One man army, one man government
I am the only son like the eye
Even if you trouble me, I can hide in a basket
And come out with a dagger
If we wrestle I will defeat you, like it is a wedding
Weaken you, make you wither before they come to separate us
Before we hold hands and fight
I and you will not draw
I burn like fire glowing from ekerende* and esasi*
Grow and spread further like Emanga* and Esameta* ranges
Grow and spread so you can play pianos- Nda! Nda! Nda!*
Don?t be jealous you may walk naked
Then you burst ? NDA!
If someone troubles you,
Don?t worry yourself too much
Be silent and look for a piano
Or go to your bed and sleep –NDA!
END NOTES
1. Ebundo – a type of paint made from some specific soils and clay
that was used as a kind of body protection from dirt or in ceremonies
2. Obokano – an eight-stringed harp from the Gusii people of western Kenya
3. Chigi – the sound made by a spear when it pierces flesh
4. Ekerende and esasi – these was a traditional tools of making fire
by using a dry wood,ekerende, with a stick to drill; esasi is dry
leaves mixed with dry dung that is fed to the spot of contact between
the wood and the stick.
5. Emanga and Esameta are two great ranges in Gusiiland and normally
people are told to spread out (grow) and produce like the two ranges
6. Nda – the sound of music/strings, largely onomatopoeic here
*Dennis Dancan Mosiere aka Grandmaster Masese is a poet, musician,
actor, writer/editor, human rights educator and a Fahamu Pan African
fellow for Social Justice
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/83224
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5 Cartoons
RIO+20
Gado
Twenty years of Rio: Assessing the progress.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/83219
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THE WINNER IN EGYPT
Gado
Celebrating victory in Egypt’s presidential elections.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/83220
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EGYPT‘S NEW PRESIDENT
Gado
President Morsi’s pledge of service to all is quite sincere, isn’t it?
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/83218
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End of Pambazuka-news Digest, Vol 229, Issue 2
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The New Dark Age 
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