Pambazuka News - Pan African Voices For Peace & Justice
Pambazuka News 584: Struggles for the promised land: Letters from West African sisters
Updated: 57 min 50 sec ago
Struggles for the promised land: Letters from West African sisters
2012-05-10
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/1196394966/These simple exchanges between two citizens of Africa show their dreams, pain, hope and civic action to ensure that the continent becomes the promised land where everyone can live in peace and justice, solidarity and prosperity.
Luttes pour la terre promise: Lettres entre soeurs d’Afrique de l'Ouest
2012-05-10
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/advocacy_project/3636466162/NOTE DE L'ÉDITEUR:
Les lettres qui suivent font partie d'un échange émouvant et d’une rare perspicacité entre deux femmes qui ont été, pendant des décennies, des leaders respectés de mouvements citoyens en Afrique de l'Ouest. Deux femmes connues pour leur sagesse, leur courage, leur créativité et leur engagement sans faille pour la justice, la paix et le bien-être de leurs pays respectifs, la Guinée-Bissau et le Mali. Cette semaine, Pambazuka est heureux de partager une partie de ces correspondances personnelles, échangées à la suite des coups d'Etat survenus d’abord au Mali en mars, puis en Guinée-Bissau en avril. Les lettres ont été traduites du français et sont signés avec des noms d’emprunt pour la sécurité de ces femmes, de leurs camarades et de leurs familles en ces moments difficiles qu’ils sont en train de vivre. (La version en anglais des lettres peuvent être lues à [url=http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82019]
Global and national resistance to GMOs
2012-05-09
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/5755426400/To push genetically engineered crops into Africa, the promoters work hard to ensure lax biosafety laws, ignore the Africa Model Law on Biosafety and ensure lack of transparency while truncating participation.
South Africa: Respect our rights
2012-05-09
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/webwalker/2634801750/The proposed law results from consultations between the state and traditional leadership structures. It ignores the voices of millions of rural women disenfranchised by those structures.
Rising tribalism in South Africa
2012-05-09
- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Africa_municipalities_by_language_2001.pngA solidarity for the vulnerable that cuts across the ethnic, regional and political divide is the final counter-balance against tribalism in South Africa.
Courts in charge of (re)writing history?
2012-05-10
- https://plus.google.com/photos/115575226779461238364/albums/5380870422906324305?banner=pwaAre international criminal courts serving political agendas rather than upholding legal principles of justice? The recent ruling on the Charles Taylor case raises troubling questions.
The cabalization of the Republic of Malawi
2012-05-08
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlupic/6092322951/Although the Malawian constitution is clear about succession in the event of the death or incapacitation of the president, a cabal close to the late President Mutharika wanted to install their own man in power instead of Vice President Joyce Banda.
Bingu’s legacy and the political future of Malawi
2012-05-10
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/2553747664/The late President Mutharika was hailed at home and abroad. But after the 2009 landslide re-election victory, his quest to engineer the election of his brother to succeed him in 2014 and increased autocracy astounded many.
Reclaiming Malawi: Solidarity in times of peril
2012-05-08
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/tlupic/5960381311/Various forms of solidarity have been seen in Malawi recently. But effective solidarity can only be achieved when the elites shed their tendency to alienate those groups they see as ‘illiterate’, ‘uneducated’ and ‘ignorant’.
The collapse of the Euro; the Fall of the CFA
2012-05-10
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/manosijmukherjee/5853819344/African countries operating under the exploitative CFA Franc must free themselves from its shackles.
The failure of the Arab “State” and its opposition
2012-05-08
- https://plus.google.com/photos/112014816520859643863/albums/5596848104939203169/5596853762361524114?banner=pwaThe post-colonial Arab state was everything else but a state. Concepts like the rule of law, governing institutions and citizenship rights did not apply. With a few exceptions, the organised Arab opposition seldom challenged this system.
Senegalo – Gambian relations: Continuities in the past and future
2012-05-08
- http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GrEthnSenegal.jpgClose ties between Senegal and The Gambia go back many decades. But the collapse of the Senegambia Confederation underscores one lesson among many: Every effort must be made to ensure popular support for cooperation endeavours.
Algeria’s 2012 Legislative Elections: Is it a make or break moment?
2012-05-14
On Saturday 19th of May, Algeria Solidarity Campaign invites you to scrutinise the context of this month’s elections and how it relates to Algeria’s most recent history. The panellists will discuss the pouvoir’s resilience over the past twenty years, its relationship with leading western capitals and the degree of manoeuvre it has today amidst regional reshaping of polities. The results of the 10th of May elections will also be addressed in the same framework.
South Africa: Court declares Soweto woman customary law heir to prevent eviction
Press release: Housing rights protected as Court recognises customary law adoption of a woman facing eviction
2012-05-14
On 8 May 2012, the Johannesburg High Court declared that a girl taken in and treated as a daughter by a woman in Soweto could inherit as her customary law heir. Judge Coppin declared the daughter (who prefers to remain anonymous and will be referred to as ‘Ms K’) to be the descendant of a woman who died intestate in 2006. This was despite the fact that the woman never formally adopted Ms K and was not her birth mother. Lawyers for the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) successfully argued that Ms K had been adopted in terms of customary law and should be recognised as her mother’s descendant in terms of the Reform of Customary Law and Succession and Regulation of Related Matters Act 11 of 2009.
Egypt: Free Egyptians Party calls for sexual harassment law
2012-05-14
Egypt’s liberal leaning Free Egyptians Party declared its support for the calls and demands by women’s rights organizations and NGOs in the country, which have called for woman’s rights. The party also said it stands against 'the phenomenon of sexual harassment' and called for the passing of a law criminalizing the act. The party condemned in a statement on Sunday the 'shameful stance of the female parliament members of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), who stand against a woman’s right to defend herself and refuse to condemn the man who assaulted the woman and only blame the society and the woman, who is the victim.'
Kenya: New communication platform removes education obstacles for girls in Kenya slum
2012-05-14
The Talking Box is an initiative for girls in Nairobi’s Kibera slum that invites students to write down concerns that they are afraid to discuss with their teachers or parents. According to this article from Global Press Institute, educators say it’s reducing school dropouts and improving academic performances.
Morocco: Women’s rights threatened as Salafists assault, strip woman
2012-05-14
Women’s rights in Morocco have come under the spotlight recently after a young woman was assaulted in a Rabat market by people she called 'Salafists', or ultra-conservative Islamists. She said she was accosted by the men because of the short dress she was wearing. Other witnesses were reported by the Magharebia news portal as saying the girl was attacked with stones and beaten after the assailants said the dress was 'too revealing'.
Chad: Deserting refugees in the Sahara
2012-05-14
As dusk settles over the isolated Saharan town Kufra, young guards order a few hundred migrants lined up at a detention centre to chant 'Libya free, Chadians out', before they kneel down for evening prayers. Most of the prisoners in the small, squalid compound called the Freedom Detention Centre – run by Kufra’s military council – are from Chad. Hundreds more, from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia, were moved to bigger facilities due to overcrowding.
Swaziland: ACHPR rebukes Swaziland
2012-05-14
The African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) has issued a stinging rebuke to the Swazi government - and called on it to respect human rights and take all necessary measures to ensure the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in 2013. The Swazi Media Blogspot says even though the Swazi authorities seem immune to most criticism of their anti-democratic antics and their contempt for human rights, they will surely be embarrassed to read that the Commission is deeply concerned and even alarmed by some of their actions.
Kwani Trust announce a new literary prize for African writing
2012-05-13
To celebrate the African novel and its adaptability and resilience, Kwani Trust announces a one-off new literary prize for African writing. The Kwani? Manuscript Project calls for the submission of unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora. The prize seeks fresh, original work that explores and challenges the possibilities of the novel.
Click the flash players below to hear or the mics to download these Black Agenda Radio Commentaries.
Obama's No-Risk Drive-By On Gay Marriage
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The Empire Holds Its War Council in Chicago
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The United States: An Impoverished, Delusional Society
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Somalia Recolonized – With African Help
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Charters Have Nothing to do With Community Control of Schools
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The Black Church: How Corporate Media & the Prosperity Gospel Make Legions of Ready Dupes
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Why Obama Won’t Help Foreclosure Victims
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Bragging About Killing Osama bin Laden: Old Blowbacks and New
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