The Nigerian witnesses and plaintiffs send you their thanks and regards from the Niger Delta. After nearly three months in the San Francisco Bay Area during the human rights trial against Chevron, all of the Nigerians are safely and happily back at home. Although the U.S. jury did not hold Chevron accountable for its actions, it was never refuted in the Northern California District Court that Chevron paid and transported the Nigerian military to the platform in May 1998 and that two people were killed and several others injured by the military and police.

cc. In response to Israel’s continued action over Gaza, Kali Akuno argues for the intensification of the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. In a bid to properly contextualise the current developments, the author contends that events must been seen as part of a longer history of assault on the Palestinian people, a history that will only begin to be put to bed through an international solidarity movement aimed at restoring Palestinian rights.

I totally agree with Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s comments especially on solidarity in the essay, . However, I would like to express my disappointment with the double standards the West especially USA has continued to show about human rights.

Imagine it was another country carrying out that genocide in Gaza! To us in the developing worlds this is all the more reason why we need solidarity. The Western world is not for us, the signs are there to see ranging from trade agreements and now to extermination.

The Gaza invasion is a shameful failure of our generation and it will be with us in time come like the Nazi brutality. Who knows may be the Israelis want to inherit Hitler but whatever the case the Israeli leaders are worse than Mugabe.

A private sector-employment agency in Togo that trains, places and advocates for domestic workers said it is trying to improve notoriously abusive work conditions for domestic workers. In October 2007, the Togolese government classified domestic work as one of the worst forms of labour, making it illegal for anyone younger than 18 to be employed as domestic workers.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has embarked on one of the largest vaccination campaigns in the history of the Central African Republic (CAR), aiming to give 800,000 children the tools they need to address the three leading causes of preventable death: malaria, measles and diarrhoea. “UN agencies and non-governmental organizations run campaigns all the time, but this is a big one and we want it to stand out,” UNICEF Representative in CAR Mahimbo Mdoe said of the 10-day initiative.

President Kibaki’s decision to cancel the traditional New Year’s Eve state festivities at State House Mombasa is a laudable and encouraging move towards people sensitive leadership. For a long time, the Kenyan civil society has been vocal in condemning the unnecessary, spendthrift and morally irregular expense of holding grand state festivities in the same country where citizens are suffering grand social injustices and unaccountable unresponsive leadership.

We have often said that as the poor our only strength is in our discipline. Our numbers mean nothing if we are not organized and we cannot be organized without being disciplined. Our discipline has never been about taking orders from above. Our movement grew out of a rejection of the top down politics of the councillors, the ward committees and the branch executive committees. We have always rejected top down politics in all its forms - including those NGOs that want to remote our movements.

The events of the past three days compel us to evaluate the state of fundamental freedoms in Kenya, and the verdict is singularly unfavourable. On December 12, 2008, as Kenya marked its 45th Jamhuri Day, the Grand Coalition Government signaled its definitive departure not just from the ideals of independence. It also departs from agreements reached under Agenda Item One of the mediation process, which sought to restore full fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to assembly and peaceful protest.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), learnt with deep shock and dismay the violent abduction and secret detention of the ZPP Executive Director and ZESN Board member Ms Jestina Mukoko. ZESN joins the long list of organisations and concerned individuals who have expressed their grave concern and condemnation of the abduction of Ms Mukoko.

We, the undersigned African scholars, are greatly concerned about threats of military intervention in Zimbabwe, ostensibly in the name of human rights and for humanitarian purposes. We fully recognize the political impasse in Zimbabwe and the resultant prolonged suffering of its people. For that very reason, we appreciate the regional initiative taken by SADC to resolve this impasse politically. We are of the view that the political process must be given the space and the opportunity to be resolved in a peaceful and democratic way. The political process is the only way to allow the people of Zimbabwe to arrive at a sustainable solution. We condemn the use of violence to short cut the political process. We call upon the political actors in Zimbabwe to seek a solution that does not subject its people to suffer the consequences of violence. The duty of Africans and states is to facilitate this process in the spirit of Pan-Africanism as an act of solidarity with the Zimbabwean people.
Experience shows that the inevitable consequence of military intervention to resolve social and political conflicts has been endless wars, as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia clearly demonstrate. In all these military interventions millions of people have suffered. Women and children are the most affected. Military interventions exacerbate political and socio-economic crises and internal differences with profoundly detrimental and destructive regional implications. We recognize that threats of military intervention come from imperialist powers, and also through their African proxies. Its consequence will be continued domination of the African continent while dehumanizing its peoples.

Military intervention in Zimbabwe will militarise the whole of Southern Africa. In protesting against threats of military intervention in Africa we confirm the right of African peoples to a peaceful life and to social justice, and to self-determination, including the right to solve our own problems through peaceful means.

Signed by Professor Issa Shivji, Professor Samir Amin, and 200 other scholars attending the 12th Congress of CODESRIA.

Yaounde, Cameroon
10TH DECEMBER 2008

During the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence, 114 gender activists from Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Uganda, the majority of them men, travelled to remote areas of Kenya by bus, urging people from all walks of life to take action on gender violence.

In a country where close to 1 in 2 women has experienced violence, responses were varied and complex – with many people coming out to report cases or explaining how they take action to curb violence, and others pledging never to give up on their power over women.

As 36 activists disembark from a bus branded with messages on the role men can play in ending gender violence, people around the central market place in Machakos town turn to watch, interrupting their normal business. The group quickly gets organized, forming a circle, and moving around dancing and singing, while hundreds of curious people, gather around them – and the scene is set. The Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN Kenya) drama group, with assistance from Malawian and Zambian activists, does its first skit, on the theme of gender-based violence.

As they perform, people trading at the market place, people coming to do their shopping and passers-by join the show, laugh, get surprised, comment loudly on the happenings, or just look on quietly. Afterwards, one of the leaders introduces the group, and talks about gender-based violence, what it entails, what people’s rights are, and how survivors can seek redress. Many stay on to discuss issues on a one-on-one basis with members of the group, all easily identified in their red t-shirts with messages on domestic violence, after the session is over. Several people report on cases of gender-based violence, which the Rapid Response Team of MEGEN, are tasked to follow-up, then the group gathers to move on to the next destination.

The market place session is one of the strategies utilised during the “Men’s Travelling Conference” (MTC), that has been organised by FEMNET, through its project Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN) since 2003, during the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence. This year, the MTC lasted for 5 days, with buses carrying a total of 114 activists travelling on 3 different routes from Nairobi: to the Western and Nyanza provinces, to Coast province and to Central province. The team included gender trainers, counsellors, police officers and artists. The aim of this initiative is to extend the discussion on gender-based violence during the 16 days of activism beyond conference halls, TV-shows and newspapers, which rarely reaches to grassroots men and women residing outside of the major urban centres.

The Confédération Paysanne du Congo (Peasant Confederation of Congo), COPACO-PRP, member of La Via Campesina in Africa, launches an appeal for international solidarity, given the armed conflict and insecurity situation that has intensified in the last weeks in the Northern province of Kivu, on the border with Rwanda.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) became aware of the abduction of our sister Jestina Mukoko on Wednesday from her home in Norton. We are advised that 15 armed men took her away in her nightdress whilst her teenage son looked on helplessly.

We firmly believe that these were state agents and wish to say that we hold Robert Mugabe and his party that is still illegally ruling accountable for this abduction. We demand her immediate and unconditional release.

We call on all solidarity networks to please call Norton police station +263 62 2120 and demand her immediate release.

To state agents who took her our message is simple: your identity will not remain a secret and you will be held accountable – we are mobilising – the world is watching.

4th December 2008
For more information, contact Jenni Williams through [email][email protected] / [email][email protected] or www.wozazimbabwe.org

On Tuesday last week (25/11) Thokozani Mkhotli, from the Arnett Drive settlement in Reservoir Hills, was shot by a Securicor Guard with live ammunition. The bullet entered his left buttock and emerged lower down in the front of his left thigh. The trajectory of the bullet shows clearly that he was shot from behind and from above. Thokozani is 33. He is from Bizana and works as a builder's labourer fixing ceilings.

From 26-28 November 2008, the Centre for the Study of Violence of Reconciliation (CSVR) hosted the ‘South African Domestic Violence Act (DVA) Lessons from a Decade of Legislation and Implementation’ conference in Johannesburg. Attended by approximately 120 delegates came together to review the implementation of the DVA over the past 10 years.

We, the undersigned members of the Name and Shame Corruption Networks (NASCON) Campaign, working with Bunge La Mwananchi, the Goro Goro Campaign (Hosted by the Citizens Coalition for Constitutional Culture – 4Cs) and other Civil Society networks throughout Kenya, Concerned that the current crises facing the Kenyan nation have resulted from a leadership crisis and have caused much suffering to the citizens of this country...

Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), appeared in Bulawayo Magistrate's Court this morning before a packed courtroom. They were on trial for charges relating to the combined cases of the 16 October 2008 case and a 19 June 2004 arrest. The state, represented by Mr. Shawarira, was not ready for trial however and so Magistrate Msipa postponed the trial until 22 January 2009.

I am a mother of 4 children. I was staying together with them and my husband. My husband was jealous, and as for me I did not have any suspicions about him. He was cruel and I did not realise that at the time. He used to beat me up for nothing but I was not aware, I sometimes wondered if I was born to suffer.

I was born 3 of July 1955 at Katlehong and grew up with polio after being diagnosed when l was eight months old. I stayed at the Germiston Hospital, Baragwaneth, and later ended up in Natal-Spruit Hospital where they kept disabled people. In 1993, l received an RDP house. It was nice because l was working and l could do whatever l wanted. My house was very beautiful.

I grew up in the arms of poverty, having just basic meals and two sets of my uniform throughout my primary and high school years. One pair of sandals got me through many years right up to high school. As a Hindi speaking child, I had to live within a certain protocol. I felt as if I did not have any rights. I was not supposed to demand, but to do as I was told. Doing household chores and my schoolwork was not enough. I had to do the homework of my brothers as well.