PAMBAZUKA NEWS 740: ‘AFRICA RISING’ AS REFUGEES DIE FLEEING TO EUROPE

3 September 2015 — Pambazuka News

The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa

Pambazuka News is delivered free to you with the support of donations from Friends of Pambazuka.

KEEP PAMBAZUKA FREE AND INDEPENDENT! BECOME A FRIEND OF PAMBAZUKA NOW! http://www.pambazuka.org/en/friends.php

Follow Pambazuka #PambazukaNews

Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839

CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Announcements, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Advocacy & campaigns, 5. Books & arts, 6. Letters & Opinions, 7. Jobs

////////////////////////////////////

1 Features

BEHIND THE DEHUMANIZATION OF AFRICAN ASYLUM SEEKERS Yohannes Woldemariam

Isn’t it a strange paradox that the death of a lion in Zimbabwe galvanizes global solidarity, whereas poor human beings fleeing misery and death are viewed with utter contempt’ What is yet to enter the public discourse is the West’s complicity for the circumstances that generate refugees in the first place. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95435

******

MASS MIGRATION DEATHS CAUSED BY IMPERIALIST FOREIGN POLICY Destabilization of Africa, the Middle East and Asia prompts millions to flee Abayomi Azikiwe

As migrants and refuges continue to die in their efforts to escape from war or simply to better their lives, and as the EU struggles to cope with the continued influx, what can be done to rectify the situation’ Should the focus be on the traffickers who are getting rich off people’s misery or the European countries that are struggling with their own crises’ http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95453

******

AFRICA NO LONGER HOPELESS, ONLY VOICELESS Samson Demissie Teffera

There is little doubt that Africa’s fortunes have improved considerably in recent years, although poverty, inequality and resource theft remain widespread. Leaders like Obama who have pledged to support Africa should openly fight the entrenched marginalisation of the continent at global decision-making fora. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95447

******

RETREAT OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT FROM AFRICA MEANS LESS LOOTING Gaming, naming and shaming ‘licit financial flows’ Patrick Bond

Governments across Africa are obsessed with foreign direct investment. Yet every year the continent losses billions of dollars through illegal financial outflows connected with FDI. More money is lost through legal transfers of super-profits and foreign investors are responsible for distorting national economies. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95434

******

CANADA IN AFRICA: 300 YEARS OF AID AND EXPLOITATION Yves Engler

Canadian policy in Africa can be summed up in nine words: Do what is good for Canadian-owned mining companies. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95445

******

RESISTANCE TO AN ERRONEOUS ‘DEVELOPMENT’ MODEL A critique of ProSavana in Mozambique Boaventura Monjane

The people of Mozambique are resisting the controversial agricultural development programme ProSavana, fearing it will cause environmental degradation and social displacement. Protest is targeting the neoliberal model of development that fails to spread benefits beyond elites and investors and instead deepens poverty and exploitation. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95451

******

‘A POLITICAL COUP’ IN HAITI An interview with woman politician Youseline Au-gustin Bell on last month’s parliamentary elections Sokari Ekine

Haiti’s 9 August election was a sham. Although the popular Fanmi Lavalas party of ousted President Jean Betrand Aristide was allowed to contest after 11 years, the ruling party of the Western-backed despot Martelly hired armed goons who disrupted the election throughout the country. There are fears about what will happen during presidential elections next month. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95431

******

MAKING BLACK LIVES MATTER IN COLOMBIA Ajamu Baraka

Massive displacement, state and paramilitary violence, assassinations of community leaders, disappearances and an invasion of traditional Afro-Colombian territories by U.S. and other European multi-national corporations who want the land that Afro-Colombians occupy and the minerals beneath the ground, are the new existential threats. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95452

******

THE POPE, THE ACTIVIST, THE MARTYR: AND THE ORGANIZATION PUTTING THEIR WORDS INTO ACTION Jeff Haas

The Mangrove Association, bringing together over 100 communities in El Salvador, has sought to create an egalitarian society where local democracy and environmental stewardship are key principles. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95446

******

WALTER RODNEY COMMISSION OF INQUIRY WAS ABOUT JUSTICE DELAYED Government ministers should not disparage and denigrate it; Cabinet should govern Justice for Walter Rodney Committee

A global committee of activists campaigning for justice for the acclaimed South American intellectual has raised questions about the commitment of the Government of Guyana to let a commission of inquiry set up for the purpose run its course. The committee is concerned that there could be a sinister plot to derail the inquiry. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/95430

******

////////////////////////////////////

2 Announcements

CALL FOR ARTICLES ON THE THEME: WOMEN AND MIGRATION IN AFRICA BUWA! Journal on African Women’s Experiences, Issue 6

Contributors should indicate their interest and focus of the selected piece by 15 September 2015. All full articles should be submitted by 15 October 2015. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/announce/95454

******

////////////////////////////////////

3 Comment & analysis

GAMBIAN EXECUTIONS 3 YEARS ON: SILENCE, SECRECY AND IMPUNITY

Three years after the arbitrary executions of nine prisoners in The Gambia, there is still no response for the families. No one knows where the bodies are, whether they were buried or the motive for the extra-judicial killings that shocked the world. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/95433

******

WATHINT’ABAFAZI WATHINT’IMBOKODO: THE PROMISE OF BREAD AND ROSES Pregs Govender

Across South Africa today, women are still often the victims of human rights violations, despite their rich historical and present contributions to public life. Clearly, democracy’s unconscious choices has not radically altered Apartheid’s conscious policy choices. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/95450

******

DOES PRESIDENT BUHARI GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ASSET DECLARATION? Chido Onumah

President Buhari seems to have embarked on the war against endemic corruption with gusto. His recent appointment of a special advisory anti-graft team of respected Nigerians has met with approval. To truly lead from the front, the president ought to publicly declare his wealth and make other top officials in his administration do the same. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/95449

******

THE POLITICS OF CIRCUMCISION IN SOUTH AFRICA William Gumede

The deafening silence of political, traditional and cultural leaders, who have in the past positioned themselves as the guardians of African culture, on the atrocities arising from circumcision, is surprising. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/95455

******

PAN AFRICA MOVEMENT-KENYA IS A WALKING LIE Julius Okoth

The local organizing committee for the August national congress was driven by private gain, abuse of rules set by the global Pan African Movement secretariat and proceeded contrary to the legitimate and moral expectations of Pan African ideals. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/95448

******

AFRICA’S PROBLEM FROM HELL: SAMANTHA POWER Ann Garrison

Having successfully advocated for US-led NATO wars in Libya and Syria “to stop the next Rwanda,” Power has her sights set on the tiny, impoverished East African nation of Burundi, which has a highly geostrategic border with the resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/95432

******

////////////////////////////////////

4 Advocacy & campaigns

A CALL TO THE GLOBAL CHURCH AND ALL PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE

Kairos Palestine statement on continued confiscations of Palestinian land in the Cremisan Valley of the Bethlehem region. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/95458

******

////////////////////////////////////

5 Books & arts

‘VICTIMS AND VICTIMHOOD’ ‘ AN EAST AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE Ronald Elly Wanda

Govier’s book does a good job of generating anxiety about the future of humanity and of victims, using serious restorative concepts which are very useful in Eastern Africa where there are consistent efforts to rethink the term ‘victim’. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/95456

******

////////////////////////////////////

6 Letters & Opinions

SIERRA LEONE: DEMOCRACY WITHOUT OPPOSITION

Dear Editor,

Below is my comment on the article written by Sankara Kamara.

The problem with SLPP is that after losing the 2007 election to the APC the party reverted to live in the days of Siaka Stevens. Learning from our history that after Siaka Stevens took the reins of power in the late 60s, the APC fought to dismantle the opposition through an unprecedented violence. In less than a decade of Siaka Stevens and the APC rule, the opposition was completely dismantled and for the following two decades, the political system became a One Party affair. Has Sierra Leone fully recovered from this experiment’ In his political slogan for the 2007 election, candidate Koroma preached that the next round of APC rule will be different but only for the country to be fooled. Every policy of the 2000s APC is not only a replica of the 70s, 80s and 90 APC but the new brand of APC leadership has decided to increase exponentially the repressive and corrupt practices of the old.

And so, as the APC has decided to repeat history, the SLPP has followed; fearing the imprisonment and loss of life from false treason trials, the SLPP have become invincible, hoping and praying for another savior to take the APC out. To the average opposition SLPP member in the country, no political pressure will take the APC out of power while on the otherhand, the APC is doing everything in her power to ensure that the savior is not born this time.

I will therefore agree with you in part that SLPP share the blame for the disfunctioning of the democratic system but I don’t believe that the APC will accept the role of a vibrant opposition to make democracy work for the good of the country. The APC leadership will not live with a check their misrule of the country. In our most recent history, Kabba called on the APC in opposition and challenged them to be a functional opposition by putting their house in order when the party was gradually disintegrating from internal squabbles. Will the APC challenged the SLPP to do likewise’ Did the country experience any attack on APC offices during the SLPP rule’ What justification can anyone give for the attacks on SLPP facilities which have become the order of the day since the APC rule took back power’

Yes, the SLPP has a fault but there is no doubt that the APC has control over the making of a dormant and toothless opposition. A vigorous opposition will only meet with more repressive APC who will careless for the loss of Sierra Leonean life in their determination to hold on to power. Truly, history is been repeated.

John Yanguba, MSCE, PE.

******

////////////////////////////////////

7 Jobs

RESEARCHER – FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICA (1215) Status: Permanent Remuneration: ‘50,926 per annum Closing Date: 16th Sept. 2015 A I Amnesty International

The mobile revolution. Geopolitical power shifts. A radically altered global economy. The world is changing, and so is the way that people fight for their rights. In order to be effective, Amnesty International’s (AI) International Secretariat needs to change how we work. That’s why we’ve opened a regional office in Dakar. And why we need your research expertise with us on the ground. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/95436

******

RESEARCHER – SOUTHERN AFRICA (LUSAPHONE) (1088) Closing Date:27 Sept. 2015 Location:Johannesburg Type:Permanent Salary:$66,580 A I Amnesty International

The mobile revolution, geopolitical power shifts and a radically altered global economy constitute some of the evidence to demonstrate that the world is changing, and so is the way that people fight for their rights. In order to be effective, Amnesty International’s (AI) International Secretariat needs to change how we work. That’s why our Southern Africa Regional Office needs your research expertise with us on the ground. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/95346

******

////////////////////////////////////

Fahamu – Networks For Social Justice http://www.fahamu.org

Pambazuka News is published by Fahamu Trust Limited.

‘ Unless otherwise indicated, all materials published are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. For further details see: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/about.php

Pambazuka news can be viewed online: English language edition ( http://www.pambazuka.org/en ) Edi”o em l’ngua Portuguesa ( http://www.pambazuka.org/pt ) Edition fran’aise ( http://www.pambazuka.org/fr ) RSS Feeds available at http://www.pambazuka.org/en/newsfeed.php

Pambazuka News is published with the support of a number of funders, details of which can be obtained here ( http://www.pambazuka.org/en/about.php ) .

To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE go to: http://pambazuka.gn.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pambazuka-news or send a message to editor@pambazuka.org with the word SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line as appropriate.

The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Pambazuka News or Fahamu.

With around 2,600 contributors and an estimated 600,000 readers, Pambazuka News is the authoritative pan-African electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa providing cutting edge commentary and in-depth analysis on politics and current affairs, development, human rights, refugees, gender issues and culture in Africa.

Order cutting-edge climate titles from Pambazuka Press:

‘Earth Grab: Geopiracy, the New Biomassters and Capturing Climate Genes ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/’GCOI=90638100969040 ) ‘ ‘ OUT NOW

To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/’GCOI=90638100628980 ) ‘ OUT NOW

* Pambazuka News is on Twitter. By following ‘@pambazuka’ on Twitter you can receive headlines from our ‘Features’ and ‘Comment & Analysis’ sections as they are published, and can even receive our headlines via SMS. Visit our Twitter page for more information: http://twitter.com/pambazuka.

* Pambazuka News has a Del.icio.us ( http://Del.icio.us/ ) page, where you can view the various websites that we visit to keep our fingers on the pulse of Africa! Visit http://delicious.com/pambazuka_news

End of Pambazuka-news Digest, Vol 372, Issue 1

**********************************************