The New Dark Age

6 December 2013 — Pambazuka News

 

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Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839

 

CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Announcements, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Advocacy & campaigns

 

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1 Features 

HEY BRA, HOW MUCH DO YOU CHARGE TO WASH MY CAR? The vicissitudes of the social advancement of black [1] people in Brazil [2] Ivo de Santana

 

Afro-Brazilians who have become part of a minority black middle class may have managed to escape a subaltern position common to most of their peers, but they continue to face racial prejudice, discrimination and distrust in entering the public sector and building a career http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89846 

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THE METAPHOR OF RACE RELATIONS IN BRAZIL Black, slum-dweller, builder’s assistant, Amarildo Pablo Mattos

 

The case of Amarildo, an Afro-Brazilian teenager tortured to death by the Brazilian police represents the dispossession of blacks and institutionalized racism of Brazilian society as black people of the favelas continue to confront racial stereotypes that dehumanize and ultimately take their lives http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89847 

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RACISM IN CHILDHOOD: THE SCARS OF EXCLUSION Maira Streit

 

How does a person become racist and what effect does being a childhood victim of discrimination have on adult life? Some very real heart breaking case studies of the effects of racism are explored, demonstrating the scars of racism on Afro-Brazilians http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89851 

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WARSAW AND BRICS LESSONS IN UNSUSTAINABILITY Patrick Bond

 

What is to be done, in the wake of the Warsaw climate summit’s conclusive failure to cap emissions two weeks ago? The answer: walk out ( http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/11/21/environment-groups-walkout-warsaw-cop19-climate-change-talks) of the United Nations process when it needs delegitimation, and work much harder to curtail pollution in your home sites of struggle, everyone in civil society agreed http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89849 

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SOUTH-SOUTH LAND GRABBING: WHAT THE CASE OF EGYPT AND SOUTHERN NEIGHBOURS REVEALS Marion Dixon

 

‘Emerging regional powers’ in the South have produced powerful finance capitalists such as the Egyptian firm, Citadel Capital that is buying land, rights to water and precious metals. Allied with global governance institutions, such finance capitalists represent greater control over vital resources and distribution routes for private wealth accumulation http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89848 

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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF AN AFRICAN UNION MEMORIAL? Rachel Ibreck

 

The African Union has resolved to create a memorial to the victims of human rights violations in Africa at its headquarters in Addis Ababa. This promises both a deeper engagement with human rights and a more holistic approach to conflict transformation by the continental body http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89853 

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ABRAR AND MADONSELA: CELEBRATING AFRICA’S FEMALE WHISTLEBLOWERS Bashir Goth

 

Abuse of public office by the ruling class to enrich themselves remains a major governance problem in Africa. Two recent examples of women in high office determined to end this vice are quite inspiring http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89850 ******

 

THE END OF AMERICAN THANKSGIVINGS: A CAUSE FOR UNIVERSAL REJOICING Glen Ford

 

The Thanksgiving story is an absolution of the Pilgrims, whose brutal quest for absolute power in the New World is made to seem both religiously motivated and eminently human http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/89852 ******

 

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2 Announcements 

DECEMBER 2013 ISSUE OF THE FAHAMU REFUGEE LEGAL AID NEWSLETTER

 

The December 2013 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now available: http://frlan.tumblr.com/ Please help us distribute it, and consider contributing in the future. You can also like our Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter! http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/89860 

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CALL FOR ARTICLES: AMILCAR CABRAL

 

Pambazuka News seeks to commemorate 41 years since the death of this important African political thinker. The Editors invite articles for a special issue on his life and work http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/89544 

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3 Comment & analysis 

INCONCLUSIVENESS: INEC ERRED IN FACT AND IN LAW Biko Agozino

 

The Independent National Elections Commission (INEC) officials erred in law and in fact by declaring that the Anambra State Governorship election was inconclusive http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89856 

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NIGERIA CENSUS: DIARY OF A YOUNG PARTICIPANT Abdulrazaq Magaji

 

Nigeria is preparing for another census in 2016. Head counts in the West African nation are, like elections, controversial do-or-die affairs. Powerful vested interests always tussle to have the numbers in their favour http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89855 

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CRITICAL QUESTIONS IN THE NEW MANO RIVER UNION POWER PLAN Presley K. Wesseh, Jr.

 

Could the Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Electricity Network Interconnection spell a solution for sustainable electric power supply in the Mano River Union? http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89854 

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FROM THE ETHIOPIAN FIRE INTO THE SAUDI ARABIAN FRYING PAN Alemayehu G. Mariam

 

Over the past decade, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians have voted with their feet to escape one of the most ruthless and brutal dictatorships in Africa. But Saudi Arabia where many of them have ended up is no better than their own motherland http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/89857 

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4 Advocacy & campaigns 

CAMEROON, HERAKLES LAND LEASE SIGNATURE AN ALARMING DEVELOPMENT

 

Campaign groups Greenpeace and the Oakland Institute say work and forest clearing has been conducted in violation of national law, despite fierce local opposition, and would destroy a forested area of vital biodiversity surrounded by protected areas http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/89858 

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CSO POSITION ON ARIPO DRAFT LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION

 

The proposed draft legal framework undermines the sovereign of governments to regulate matters concerning plant varieties as all authority to grant and administer plant varieties granted at the regional level vests with the ARIPO office http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/89859 

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KENYA: STATUTE LAW BILL POSES GRAVE THREAT TO CIVIL SOCIETY AND MUST BE REJECTED – UN RIGHTS EXPERTS

 

“The Bill is an evidence of a growing trend in Africa and elsewhere, whereby governments are trying to exert more control over independent groups using so-called ‘NGO laws’” http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/89862 

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SOUTH AFRICA: MOKOAPE, VAVI, NAIDOO & KASRILS TO SPEAK AT THE ASSEMBLY OF UNEMPLOYED Unemployed People’s Movement

 

From the 7 to 9 December Unemployed People’s Movement, other organisations of the unemployed and the poor, and allies in unions, civil society and other progressive formations will converge on Grahamstown for the first Assembly of the Unemployed. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/89863 

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THE KENYA UPINDE AWARDS (FORMERLY GAY AND LESBIAN AWARDS) 2013 Nominations call

 

The Upinde Awards (formerly gay and lesbian awards) is an annual event organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. The Awards aims to appreciate the contributions made towards making Kenya an open democratic society by equality actors and allies as well as LGBTIQ individuals and groups The awards are also to honor politicians, journalists, employers, business leaders, journalists and other allies who are committed to advancing equality and social acceptance for LGBTIQ individuals in Kenya. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/89861

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End of Pambazuka-news Digest, Vol 291, Issue 1

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