Sokari Ekine review blogs from:

My Nigeria
Moot Box
Africa is a country
Kenya Environment & Political News
Black Looks
Timbuktu Chronicles
Tales from the loo

Sokari Ekine reviews the following blogs:

Ranger witnesses the murder of his father
Lions Guardians
Dudu Diaries
Lamu Marine Conservation project

Sokari Erkine reviews the following from the African blogoshphere:

Dulce Camer
Koluki
African Loft
Jonathan Elendu
Nigerian Curiosity
Gorilla CD
Black Looks

Sokari Erkine reviews the following from the African blogoshphere:

Mama Ethiopia
Wondering the World
What An African Woman Wants
Ore’s Notes
Black Looks
Uganda Scarlett Lion
Helen Zille

Two of the prolonged myths about Africa is that her history is limited to the continent’s colonial past and secondly African’s have contributed little to the development of the world’s science, technology and agricultural innovations. And even the few publications which do mention Black inventors rarely cite inventors outside the US. Keith Holmes sets out to counter these omissions and in doing so, he provides us with a comprehensive catalogue of Black inventions and inventors as well as a glimpse into the socioeconomic and political history of Black people.

Sokari Ekine interviews Tunji Buhari, an environmental campaigns worker for Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Friends of the Earth, Nigeria. Buhari is based in Lagos and has been working with ERA on their anti-tobacco campaign.

:

My Haven expresses his disappointment at a statement by Rev Desmond Tutu, condoning voter abstention as a way of protest the political climate in South Africa. For Matuba, not voting is not an option and an insult to those who died for freedom in South Africa.

“Archbishop Tutu says the rifts in the ANC left citizens insecure. I have said it before and I am going to shout once more; YOU DON'T LIKE THE ANC? THEN GO TO THE POLLS NEXT YEAR AND EXPRESS IT BY VOTING FOR ANOTHER PARTY. It is that simple.”

Somali blog, Harowo:

Harowo comments on the recent seajacking of an arms ship by Somali pirates stating they could not have known the ship was full of tankers nor that it was probably part of an illegal arms deal sending tanks to the Sudan from the Ukraine. Harowo describes the Somali pirates as the equivalent of pickpockets stealing a mafia suitcase.

“Ali’s small-time gangsters, in their sneakers, have climbed up onto a world stage normally reserved for bigger players. In the ensuing drama, the boundaries between the good guys and the villains have become difficult to discern, primarily because there may not in fact be any good guys. In this production, the pirates are the equivalent of pickpockets who had the bad luck of stealing a mafia godfather’s briefcase. In reality, the incident is about much more than a hijacking and Ali’s demand for $20 million (€13.8 million) in ransom money. It is also about anarchy in a failed state like Somalia, and about the interests of the United States, Russia and the European Union, as it gradually takes on a new role on the world stage.”

Who are the other criminals in this saga – the Ukraine government, Sudan, possibly China who may have if only indirectly provided the funding for the tanks and the international community who are failing to challenge all of the above.

Ethiopia Watch:

Ethiopia Watch wonders if the Ethiopian famine has really been averted. He refers to an article by Rob Crilly on his blog “from the frontline” who suggests the original story was more of a “fabrication” based on the desire of some journalists “putting their critical faculties to one side in favour of reporting a worst-case scenario peddled by NGOs with an interest in collecting cash? Did we jump when they cried wolf?”

White African:

White African calls for a reframing of “Brand Africa” , that is the way we Africans think about technology in Africa. What White African is saying is that as Africans need to have the confidence to export our technology explaining it’s uniqueness and advantage in the global context.

“Most people outside of Africa don’t align any type of technological edge to what we do here on the continent. In fact, most are surprised when a developer from Africa pops up on the international stage at all. Though there are fewer software developers in Africa per capita relative to their Western counterparts, what most don’t realize is that those few are really quite talented.

This means the South Africans as well as their counter parts in Ghana, Uganda and Senegal. We’re all in this together, whether we like it or not. Remember, to outsiders we’re one homogeneous landmass. What we each do reflects on everyone, whether we’re creating for local or global markets.”

Stories from Malawi:

Stories from Malawi publishes some good news from Malawi where this year’s tobacco crop has earned the country “US$461 million” an annual increase of $196million. The even better news is that the income of local farmers has also increased. The bad or rather sad news is all this money being made from something which kills!

BlackLooks:

Blacklooks is critical of the Ugandan government over its continued harassment of LGBTI activists, along with the threats to publish names of sexworkers and to punish women for wearing mini skirts :

“Instead of focusing on violence against women, child labour and sexual abuse the government’s latest assault is a misogynist attack on women which blames them for causing car accidents. All of these attacks, against the LGBTI community, sexworkers and women show a government and religious leadership in a state of crisis and fear of loosing control over women’s bodies and in particular a fear of sexuality. All of this is underpinned by this thing they call “our culture”. Culture is not viewed as a construct, in constant change or for that matter static. It is not even historical but rather something constructed on a subjective set of myths from the past which bear little meaning in the present except to oppress women and anyone who dares express difference in terms of their sexuality, dress and ideas.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

As to be expected South African bloggers are focused on the forced resignation of President Thabo Mbeki. Most bloggers whether supporters of Mbeki or not are concerned with the precedent set by “recalling” a president in the manner in which Mbeki was particularly as a further 11 minister have followed him and also resigned. Sokari Ekine reviews:

My Haven
Commentary South Africa
YBlog ZA
The Moor Next Door
Black Looks

Sokari Ekine reviews this week the following blogsites:

CyBlug
Timbuktu Chronicles

Black Looks

Sport is continuously being assigned to a non-political space but no-one lives in a bubble – sports people or LGBTI people. The arrival in London of the Chosen Few (CF), a team of young out Black lesbians from the township of Soweto to play in theInternational Gay & Lesbian Football Association World Championship , which is overwhelmingly dominated by white gay men, is very much a political event. An event in which the only other three lesbian teams have a total of three Black players, and where the CF are stomped and fouled upon with some outrageously poor and unprofessional refereeing.

A little background on the tournament: one of the fixtures of the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association which was started in 1980. The description of the games in the

“to foster and augment the self respect of gay women and men throughout the world, and engender respect and understanding from the non-gay world, through the medium of football (soccer).”

But the IGLFA also needs to accept that there a huge amount of work to “engender respect and understanding” between LGBTI people. For example, acknowledging lesbophobia and racism as expressed by white gay men, as well as sexism and other prejudice in the non-gay world. The event claims to be a “World” tournament inclusive of lesbians and gay men. Yet no less than 95% of the participants were men, of whom 90% were white with only three teams from outside Europe and America – Japan, Mexico and Argentina. On the women’s side there were only five teams - the two CF teams from South Africa, one team from Chicago and two local London teams.

Sokari Ekine reviews a selection of African blogs:

Mostly Maurice
Black Looks

Sokari Ekine review blogs from:

Intern Africa
Ghana Web
Gathara’s World
Dipesh Pabari of Sukuma Kenya
Kenya Environmental and Political News Blog
Black Looks

Kameelah Writes

Kameelah Writes points to the Chimurenga Library, “curated by contributors to the African cultural and literary magazine, Chimurenga – www.chimurenga.org [You know the one you love to read but never know what the heck they are talking about – OK maybe YOU do, but I’m honest and for all but the odd “piece” haven’t a clue]
“The aim of the Chimurenga Library is not to produce a comprehensive bibliography of periodicals published in Africa; our approach is purely subjective. These are simply objects we read and admire, and which have in one form or another, influenced publishing and editorial choices at Chimurenga.

Some of these periodicals are deep in the postcolonial canon, others smaller and obscure, virtual even. All these projects built on the work of Drum, Presence Africaine, Transition, Black Orpheus and so on but are also alternatives to those monuments. It’s a sort of archipelago of counter-culture platforms that impacted on our concept of the paper-periodical, the publishable even.”
Whilst you are at Kameelah’s blog, take the time to enjoy a photographic experience on her flickr site @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/foojoygreentea/
African Loft
http://www.africanloft.com/mbilia-bel-the-first-transcontinental-african-diva/
African Loft introduces Mbilia Bel, the “Queen of Rumba and musical diva from Congo. For those with reasonable broadband you can watch a short video from YouTube....

“Mbilia joined Tabu Ley in 1981 and definitely brought in the Mbilia Bel flavor and therefore turning Tabu Ley concerts (who was a success in his own right) into a must attend one for many Africans. Her popularity with Tabu Ley helped when she decided to embark on a solo career in 1987. This decision was born out of Tabu Ley’s choice to recruit Faya Tess who was another female artist. After she left the group, Tabu Ley sold fewer albums and accumulated less awards. Mbilia Bel became the most famous member of Tabu Ley’s group. Her most recent cd is called Bellisimo. I think it is her best cd so far.”

Nigerian Curiosity

http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2008/06/rewriting-abachas-history.html
Nigerian Curiosity comments on the recent statements by previous Nigerian military dictators on the anniversary of the death of General Sani Abacha, claiming he never looted the Nigerian treasury.

BUHARI & IBB ON ABACHA’S LOOTING HISTORY
“So, as I read statements from former dictators General Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida, I realized that I would have to spend some time pulling up some facts that would contradict their statements. Particularly, their comments regarding Abacha and stolen Nigerian funds. Now, Babangida is quoted as saying,
“...it is not true that he looted public treasury. I knew who Abacha was because I was close to him”
Hmm, like Nigerian Curiosity, I did not know Abacha personally but this goes beyond the realms of fantastic fiction to outrageous ehh “Nigerians must be fools”. Just as the media were discussing the did he, didn’t he steal $millions, the government of Switzerland announced......(and yes, Like NC I am inclined to believe the Swiss government in this instance rather than former fellow Military Dictator Ibrahim Babangida
“A member of the Swiss diplomatic corps assigned to Abuja gave a specific breakdown of looted monies that were returned. The money was returned in instalments and looks as follows -
1. $290 million was transferred on September 1, 2005,
2. $168 million was transferred on December 19, 2005,
3. $40 million transferred at the end of January 2006.
4. $7 million was transferred into a ‘blocked account’ in Nigeria, as the Swiss government could not identify its origin, this money remains in the blocked account.”

Ijebuman’s Diary

http://naijaman.cfmxdeveloper.co.uk/diary/2008/06/finally-godfather-passes-on.html
Ijebuman’s Diary also comments on a Nigerian politician, Mr. Lamidi Adedibu whose death like that of General Sani Abacha, brought people into the streets dancing and cheering
“As expected, Adedibu’s death has elicited widespread jubilation in Ibadan, a city where the late gadfly sharpened and practiced his thuggish brand of politics. One observer told Sahara reporters that people were seen in different parts of the city rejoicing over Mr. Adedibu’s demise.

YA Blogs ZA

http://128.241.192.81/2008/06/reintegration-and-politics-of-death.html
Ya Blogs ZA posts on the announcement by President Mbeki that 24th June will be a national day of mourning for murdered foreigners” in South Africa. He comments on the contradictions between the government’s hollow promises and the realities on the streets....
“However, as many citizens and NGOs pretend a ‘return to normal’, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the eMzantsi Ubuntu Coalition and several other organizations have opposed the nakedly racist motives of the city in forcing traumatized refugees back to townships they fled in fear of their lives. ..............By denying the refugees inner-city shelter, the city and province are actively pursuing apartheid-era policies to divide and rule the desperate, disparate, and disconnected groups of foreigners. Very few community or church halls have been opened in Cape Town’s predominantly white southern suburbs..........Earlier this week, with the assistance of the TAC, several hundred belonging to the ‘Caledon Square Group’ managed to infiltrate and enforce their right to shelter and protection in the Cape Town Civic Centre, a stone’s throw from the ‘Culemborg Group’. “

Black Looks

http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/06/we_are_not_all_like_that_the_monster_bares_its_fangs_.html
Black Looks Andile Mngxitama writes on the recent acts of xenophobic violence in South Africa and provides an excellent analysis of a complex set of events and socioeconomic and political structures that underpins the violence in the townships and shacks of South Africa.

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

MentalAcrobatics reports back from Japan on the TICAD conference (4th International Conference on African Development) – Mental begins by stating the strange phenomena of holding African conferences in far off places.....
“So here we are at another conference on Africa, full of Africans, held outside Africa at an Asian economic powerhouse. This all sounds very familiar”.
However he then goes on to justify the familiar “talkshop Africa” and the cost of Africans meeting in this instance in Japan. Africa may need African solutions but Africa does not exist in a vacuum outside of the global community....

“These African solutions, however, cannot exist in isolation from the rest of the world. Rather active, positive and accountable engagement with partners is required. These partners may be development organisations such as the numerous UN bodies, these partners could be individual countries, such as Japan and China.”

Maybe he has a point but until we see the G8 meeting in Accra or Windhoek, I am not so sure.

Nigeria, What’s New

http://nigeriawhatisnew.blogspot.com/2008/05/53-nigerians-were-arrested-in-mlaga.html

Nigeria, What’s New reports that 53 Nigerians have been arrested in Malaga following the exposure of a Spanish lottery scam in which 25,000 letters were sent out every day around the world informing people they were winners. Apparently 2 out of every 1000 people responded making the scammers a cool €27million.

Nata Village Blog

http://natavillage.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/nata-gets-an-in.html

Nata Village announces the launch of an internet cafe....from small beginnings come great things and now the citizens of Nata village will soon be connected up to the big wide world - “Hallelujah!!! We are 120 miles from a bank and a grocery store but we're getting an internet cafe. Pictured above is the small addition to the Nata Post office. Thanks to Post Net, the government postal service in Botswana, we are getting 4 computers and access to the internet.”

Abagond

http://abagond.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/stereotype/

AbaGond has an interesting post on stereotypes on which xenophobia, racism and other prejudices are built....

“A stereotype is a picture you have in your head about people who belong to a certain race, religion, country or whatever. For example, “Asians work hard”, “Black women are loud-mouths”, “Rich people are stuck up” and so on..... Stereotypes are mostly applied to the sorts of people you barely know. Because if you knew them well enough you would know that the stereotypes are somewhere between useless and wrong”.

Regrets Only, An African Journal

http://reporterregrets.blogspot.com/2008/05/us-counterterrorism-training-program.html

Regrets Only, An African Journal reports that the US counter terrorism programme which targets the Sahel region is finally under way. The initiative is part of the US’s obsession with terrorism on the one hand and policy to find any excuse to have US troops and security personnel stationed in Africa.
“The initiative is a multimillion dollar security training and equipment program to assist Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger in countering terrorist operations.

The program, funded by the State Department and carried out by the Pentagon, got under way this month in Mali and will continue in the other three countries over the next several months.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

The blogosphere is dominated by the “xenophobic attacks” against foreigners in South Africa [mainly Johannesburg, but other cities have also experience violence in the past 6 months]

Turista Africana

Turista Africana a Kenyan academic living in Johannesburg has written two of the most comprehensive pieces on the violence in the past couple of days.
In the latest post she covers the radio discussions with comments ranging from those cheering on the mob violence to those who believe in Ubuntu and love “all Africans”. Comments also from foreigners and businesses - one woman was asked if they hire foreigners! (presuming they did they would become targets?)
“Many good solutions and places to start are articulated in the course of these radio discussions (mostly education, education, education, and raising of self-esteem). I wonder if those responsible for social development in government are listening (to radio with notebook and pen handy)? Probably not. Because, on this continent, government will not bring the solutions we seek. We need to come up with new models of problem solving. I know many Kenyans were busy quoting how decentralization has helped South Africa. All policies look great on paper. The rub is in their implementation. Right now, all South African provinces are not equal. Some are paying more attention to development than others which are busy making corruption their mainstay. Give it another 10 years of this trend and you’ll have a right proper ethnic situation, and how it develops will be determined by how this current situation is handled.”

Groogle
http://groogle.co.za/2008/05/18/does-burning-an-alive-human-being-constitute-a-crisis-thabo/

Groogle asks Thabo Mbeki whether burning people alive constitutes a crisis – a comment on what he views as Mbeki’s “denialism” both on Zimbabwe and the state of South Africa and writes.....
“I am ashamed to be associated with this image. I am ashamed that there are people out there with no sense of humanity. I am ashamed, I am angry; I am actually fucking pissed off! This image better be a wake-up call to the South African government, to our very own president, who has so far left his people in the lurch, and has left those fleeing from his quiet diplomacy to burn in hell, literally!”

Nigeria, What’s New
http://nigeriawhatisnew.blogspot.com/2008/05/violence-against-immigrants-south.html

Nigeria, What’s New wonders what happened to the “my brother’s keeper” tradition that is supposedly part of “all Africa”? He goes on to say that immigrants have become the scapegoats of all South Africa’s problems...
“Its high rate of unemployment, a shortage of housing and one of the worst levels of crime in the world. But then again this is not new. In 1983, Alhaji Shehu Shagari's government expelled more than one million foreigners, mostly Ghanaians, saying they had overstayed their visas and were taking jobs from Nigerians. History repeating!”

African Loft
http://www.africanloft.com/south-africans-burn-the-welcome-mat/

The xenophobia in South Africa is well documented and no African foreigner who has visited or lived there comes away without experiencing it first hand. However when presented with a historical list of events on which anti foreign violence took place in post independence South Africa, the violence seems even more disturbing.

Black Looks
http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/05/more_thoughts_on_anti-immigraton_violence_.html

Black Looks tries to go beyond the violence by dwelling on the fragility of South African society and the failure of the post apartheid government to meet the expectations of the masses. This does not in anyway justify the violence but does put it in a global context of poverty and social injustice.
“The reasons given by indigenous people for their dislike of immigrants is the same whether in South Africa, Britain, France or the US. They are taking our jobs, our women, they are responsible for increases in the crime rate, they walk off the plane / boat / bus and into a flat, they undermine our labour. Sit on a bus in London and watch when a Somali woman gets on with a pram and a toddler. The hostility is so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife and it’s not just white people who are hostile. The reality is so far from the myth, so how does the myth begin to dominate and feed the hostility and violence?

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

It’s been a while since I have written a roundup for Pambazuka News and after browsing through the last couple of months I notice there has been an absence of news on what is happening at grassroots level in Africa and the Diaspora so I have focused on activist blogs or blogs posting on local community issues.

Shackdwellers
– Housing Struggles Worldwide

I’ll start with two new blogs from the South African housing / land rights movement. First up is Shackdwellers. Although Housing struggles worldwide is an aggregator of posts from on housing struggles worldwide and other related social movements, it is based in South Africa and supports three African campaigns: The Abahlali baseMjondolo [SouthAfrica], Ota Benga Alliance [DRC] and the campaign to reinstate Fazel Khan who was fired by the university of KwaZulu Natal for being critical of the university.

The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
http://westerncapeantieviction.wordpress.com

The AEC is an umbrella body for some 15 communities in the Western Cape who are fighting evictions through the legal process and direct action and mass mobilisation and education.
This week AEC highlights the negative impact of the 2010 World Cup on the poor particularly in the area of housing via an article in Le Monde Diplomatique by Philippe Rivière [http://mondediplo.com/2008/05/13southafrica]
“South Africa will host the World Cup in 2010 so construction – and corruption – is booming. But almost none of the building or the money can be accessed by the poor who live in shantytowns without proper water, sanitation or electricity.”

Africa Rise
http://unitedafrica.blogspot.com/2008/05/haiti-community-driven-development.html

Africa Rise reports on a grassroots initiative in Haiti to provide water and roads to a local community.
“The water project in Carice is one example of how communities in Haiti are deciding their own priorities. Other communities have chosen different activities, ranging from soil conservation to building a fruit processing center, buying a plough, or building a community school.”

Sokwanele
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/

Sokwanele continue provide the most up to date news of the continuing oppression, violence and election crisis in Zimbabwe. They have created a series of maps on the election results which includes documenting violence by Mugabe’s supporters. Their most recent post shows how the violence has escalated since the elections nearly 4 weeks ago.
“Last night we received unconfirmed reports that eight people were executed in Shamva. Their bodies are in the morgue, but their names are still unknown.
A little after this report came in we heard that ten people were killed in Mazoe, not Shamva. There is some confusion about whether eighteen people have been killed, or whether it is ten. Some of the confusion may stem from the fact that Mazoe is on the road to Shamva.”

Black Looks http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/05/eudy_simelane_another_lesbian_raped_and_murdered.html

Black Looks reports on yet another vicious rape and murder of a South African Lesbian, Eudy Simelane. Unlike other recent cases, five suspects have been arrested and denied bail. They remain in custody until the trial.
“Violence against lesbians and gays is unSouth African. Here, oppression and discrimination have no place, still there are parents who reject or kick children out to the streets; siblings, friends and communities who hurt, beat, rape, torture and even kill lesbians and gays. If they survive all this, they face further victimisation at in the hands of the police and even the courts THIS IS NOT JUSTICE AT ALL. People who inflict harm upon and even kill lesbians and gays (or anyone else) do not belong in South Africa. Leaders and communities that do not oppose violence against gays, lesbians, women, children, rape survivors and HIV+ people do not belong here.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

“Web 2.0 [is] a venture capitalist’s paradise where investors pocket the value produced by unpaid users, ride on the technical innovations of the free software movement and kill off the decentralizing potential of peer-to-peer production.”

Reading the quote above you get the feeling we are being seriously ripped off but still we all — well a good percentage of the world’s cyber addicts — continue to spend our days on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and all the copies from all corners of the globe including Africa.

Within 24 hours of the outbreak of the post election violence in Kenya, Kenyan blogs were posting hour by hour reports. On December 31st there was a complete shutdown of the mainstream media. Sokari Ekine, who blogs at explores how bloggers filled the information gap.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_001_kenyanpundit.gif reports on Kenyan Women’s March for piece as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations last Saturday.
“Kenyan women have endured tragedy in the past two months. Too many of us have lost family members and homes. Others of us have done what we can to help them. Regardless of how we have fared, none of us feel we have done enough to ease the anguish of our nation. It is time to stand up and be counted. No matter who we are or which part of Kenya we come from. Put your best foot forward to unite in solidarity and march for peace.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_002_mshairi.gifLondon, Kenyan blogger, http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_003_blacklooks.gifBlack Looks marks International Women’s Day by celebrating the lives of African lesbians through the works of South African photo activist, Zanele Mutholi exhibition titled, “Faces and Phases”.
“The essence of each of the women is captured through their faces which together with stance and clothing are expressions of their sexuality. The photos [both this exhibition and others by Zanele] give an insight into how we create meaning of ourselves and the world around us, the feelings from inside which drive us to being who we are. I can’t express where these feelings come from, I just know they are deep inside and the only relief is to let them out by expressing them physically and emotionally. When those meanings - attitudes, beliefs, expectations, dreams, everything that is YOU - challenge patriarchy and social mores they become stigmatised and hold painful consequences for those who dare to release their inner selves. In such hostile environments, coming out is an act of resistance and creating meaning through community is a further act of resistance and also one of survival.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_004_nthambazale.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_005_fiyanda.gifNigerian talk show host and blogger, Funmi Iyanda publishes her interview with former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. The interview is also on YouTube on the New Dawn site. Although the interview is never really challenging it does touché on a host of issues from the US elections, to 9/11, Muslims, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and “trade dealing in Africa” and you guessed right “poor people are not stupid” and even more interesting the markets in African cities are full of traders selling everything from spark plugs to tins of milk – what revelations! But then it’s possible that many Americans including Secretary’s of State, think we live in barren lands, surrounded by flies, living off food hand outs.
“As long as I live I will not forget this, we were in Nairobi and went to the slum there and to a place called the 'toy market', and it has nothing to do with toys, but it's just called that. It was filled with people selling in stalls, selling...with mud up to my hips, basically, but stores where people where selling spark plugs to each other, t-shirts to each other and they came and we had a semi formal meeting and I was so impressed - poor people are not stupid, poor people are entrepreneurial and that is the part that was so good. You know what happened? And I will describe it to you…it was so incredible. First of all they did a performance about HIV/AIDS, but mostly what they were explaining to me was that they had set up their own credit system. And they had trust enough to put one Kenyan dollar a night into a pot, which is about 10 cents American money. And they then had system whereby they lent money to each other. They created a credit bank and were able to lift themselves up as a result of that.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_006_yblog.gifYBlog ZA comments on the disgusting racist video produced by students of the University of the Free State in which Black workers were subjected to eating pissed on food and other horrible acts. Yblog responds to a statement by “among others, Nadine Gordimer, Andre Brink, John Perlman, Max du Preez, Arthur Chaskalson, Zapiro and Phillip Tobias.”that states this most never happen again. As Yblog writes, these kind of racist violations and worse happen every day all over the country. Nonetheless I don’t agree that with his submission that they and the media are dehumanizing the whole episode by blowing it out of all proportion. The fact that this kind of racism well any kind exists daily is no reason not to publish and be outraged at this particular incident.

“Quite frankly, people, I think you’re dehumanising the whole episode by blowing it out of all proportion. First, I'd like to hear from the workers involved. They've been conveniently airbrushed from the story. Have they no opinion (untutored)? Are they not able to speak for themselves?

I guess not. They are, after all, mindless peasants who just happen to be black. Not that we have anything against mindless peasants. Or black people, for that matter. Some of my best friends...

Secondly, I wish to God you'd put your names to documents worthy of such pious indignation. What of the rape and pillage of our country by all and sundry? Violence, corruption, gangsterism, racketeering, substance abuse, and income disparity all combine to form a lethal cocktail, the kick of which we have yet to feel. What of our kids — violated, butchered or disappeared at an increasingly alarming rate? What of our refugees — hounded as amakwerekwere countrywide and denied local citizenship unto succeeding generations?”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/353/mar12_007_africanloft.gifAfrican Loft reports on Henry Okah - the “Guerrilla Entrepreneur” of Niger-Delta, not yet a billionaire but possibly making his way up the steps. My only hope is that if he does get there he will share his wealth with the people and put electricity in my home town and other towns and villages in the ND....... please, ah beg ohoooo!

“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (“MEND”) is a militant indigenous people’s movement dedicated to armed struggle against the exploitation and oppression of the people of Niger Delta and the degradation of the natural environment by foreign multinational corporations involved in the extraction of oil in the Niger Delta and the Federal Government of Nigeria. MEND has been linked to attacks on foreign owned petroleum companies in Nigeria (source: Wikipedia).

Henry Okah is rumored to be the founder of MEND and the master strategist behind the militant operations that have cut Nigeria’s oil production by 25 percent. In February this year, Okah was arrested in Angola while on a business trip, he’s presently in government detention on treason charge”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_01_matubalemurphy.gif by Matuba Mahlatjie.
Matuba Mahlatjie is a gay blogger living in Pretoria. He comments on the possibility of Jacob Zuma becoming the next President of South Africa. He is particularly concerned over the recent acceptance by Zuma to attend a luncheon by Black Journalists Forum in South Africa.
“This forum of black journalists is so anti democracy and transparency. I listened to all their excuses for barring white journalists and they did not make any sense. The truth is they are making us look like uneducated savages who are comfortable with being repellers of change.

It is unfortunate that the people (Journalists) who are supposed to help the nation eradicate the evil spirit of racism - are the ones who are painting the country black and white. All media houses in South Africa have black journalists, but I like the fact that Talk Radio 702 and e.tv deliberately sent white journalist to expose the devil that possess the Black Journalist Forum here in South Africa.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_02_lesbianrules.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_03_bandwidthblog.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_04_jontyfisher.gifThe Fish Bowl comments on an article by Dr Steven Friedman on the political and economic realities of the ANC
“The article summarises what I have been trying to push for some time. We keep trying to look at the ANC through Western prisms, when the leader of the ANC party is not usually the decision-maker. Mbeki was the ultimate decision-maker in his cabinet, but it is this type of leadership that has sparked the current "revolution" in voter sentiment. There are many players in the NEC and the NWC who hold vast business interests, the it is much more likely that a third way scenarion will occur.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_05_yblog.gifYblogZA uses the total eclipse of the moon as a metaphor for the downward spiral of South Africa largely due to the ANC.
Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, told the Cape Argus that South Africans had to face the fact the rest of the world had reason to be "very concerned" about the direction in which the country was moving.

“[Moeletsi] Mbeki also criticised new ANC president Jacob Zuma for "bad-mouthing" his own country's political and justice system in a foreign country. Zuma claimed in court papers in Mauritius this week that fraud charges against him were part of a political move against him. Moeletsi Mbeki, who is deputy chairperson of the SA Institute of International Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, said: "Here we have the president of the ANC, the possible future president of the country, claiming that the 16 charges of fraud against him are part of a political campaign to keep him out of office.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_06_khanya.gifKhanya has a philosophical discussion on “political and spiritual identity and personal values” and the separation of the church and state.
“Earlier today I got a message from another blogger about the liberation struggle in South Africa and its spiritual basis. Here are some preliminary thoughts, linked to the example above. I was a member of the Liberal Party, and while the humanist student in the example I gave was not, there were several others with views similar to his. The student whose banning we were protesting against was, however, both a Christian and a member of the Liberal Party. And one of the interesting things was that people with radically different religious backgrounds and worldviews were able to work together in a political party for common political goals. Christians, atheists, humanists, agnostics, Jews, Muslims and Hindus worked together for a common political goal of a democratic nonracial South Africa. Their reasons for pursuing that goal may have been very different, and almost opposite. But no matter what the reasons, they were able to agree on a political goal and a political programme.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_07_abahlali.gifhttp://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/349/feb26_08_blacklooks.gifBlack Looks has another report on the diamond empire of Israeli billionaire, Lev Leviev whose diamond mines in Angola have been cited for human rights violations and which fund illegal settlements in the West Bank and his real estate business in New York using underpaid workers in hazardous conditions.
“Leviev’s wealth was built while trading with a business that was a huge pillar of the South African apartheid regime. He then went on to use the proceeds to construct an apartheid reality in the West Bank.”

* Sokari Ekine blogs at Black Looks and www.africanwomenblogs.com