The recent revelation that the Syrian blogger activist 'Gay Girl in Damascus' was actually 'Straight American Man in Scotland' Tom MacMaster sent ripples through international media circles and left deep scars in the LGBTI community. But why is this hoax so potentially harmful? asks the Association for Progressive Communications. 'It comes down to identity and rights. This case touches on some of the core issues surrounding identity and human rights - especially online...MacMasters, in claiming that his fictitious lesbian persona had been arrested by Syrian authorities, lends credence to the claim of many repressive regimes that LGBTI movements within their countries are somehow alien or under foreign influence.'

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/535/india_in_africa_tmb.jpgPam… Press is proud to announce the launch of ‘’ a new title edited by Emma Mawdsley and Gerard McCann. 'With India and other emerging powers increasingly eyeing the rich resources of the African continent, this book by leading experts makes both timely and essential reading,' writes Yash Tandon, former executive director of the South Centre, Geneva. Featuring contributions from Padraig Carmody, Fantu Cheru, Alex Gadzala, Dave Harris, Paul Kamau, Dorothy McCormick, Renu Modi, Sanusha Naidu, Cyril Obi, Zarina Patel, Luke Patey, Zahid Rajan, Alex Vines and Simona Vittorini, the book enables readers to compare India to China and other 'rising powers' in Africa.

With the legacy of South Africa's 1976 student uprising marked on 16 June, Veli Mbele writes that education is an area in which the ANC has failed South Africa's young black people. 'The situation is so dire that it gives credence to the theory that it serves the political interests of the ruling party to keep a huge section of the population uneducated and trapped in poverty and ignorance.'

Chinese analysts have dismissed a statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that warned Africa to be wary of 'new colonialism' as China expands its ties in the continent, saying that trade and economic cooperation between China and African countries are conducted on the basis of mutual benefit. Clinton said that 'we don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa', when asked about China’s growing influence in the continent during a television interview in Lusaka, Zambia.

The International Freedom of Exchange has announced that they are joining forces with other organisations to launch the first ever International Day to End Impunity on 23 November, the anniversary of the single deadliest attack on journalists in recent history: the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines. On the heels of this announcement the members learned that Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad had been found murdered in Islamabad, most likely for his reporting on ties between Al Qaeda and Pakistan's navy.

A coalition of more than 40 civil society groups from 20 countries around the world on 8 June launched a campaign Make Aid Transparent, which calls on governments and other aid donors to publish more and better information about the money they give. At the centre of the campaign, whose members include Transparency International, the anti-corruption organisation, and 18 groups from developing countries, is a petition aimed at donor governments to make their aid more transparent. 'Providing more and better information about aid isn’t hard, and it will help save lives, reduce corruption and waste and deliver lasting positive change in the world’s poorest countries,' the petition reads.

Impact studies warn that TRIPS-Plus provisions can lead to higher prices and reduced access to medicines, say Nusaraporn Kessomboon and colleagues in this article. The non-technical term TRIPS?Plus refers to provisions for the protection of intellectual property rights that go beyond the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). They include extending the life of a patent beyond the minimum requirement imposed by TRIPS; limiting government permission to reproduce a patented product or to reprocess without the patent owner's consent ('compulsory licensing') in ways not required by TRIPS; and limiting exceptions that facilitate the prompt introduction of generic drugs into the market.

The SADC made a fundamental mistake in adopting a strategy of embracing the headlong rush to implement a regional ‘free trade’ regime, argues this article written for the Economic Justice Network. '... all SADC member nations (with the partial exceptions of South Africa and Botswana) remain in various stages of severe societal under-development, largely due to their continued and mostly similar mono-economic (natural resource) foundations, huge socio-economic inequalities, incredibly high levels of poverty and general lack of popular democratic control and participation.'

Journey to the State House: The Life of Seif Shariff Hamad depicts the long and winding story of one of Zanzibar’s most dedicated politicians. Brimming with accounts from politicians and observers alike, the film paints an insightful backdrop to the sheer political magnitude of Maalim Seif Shariff Hamad being elected into power by the Zanzibari people in 2010..

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

The global reach of the internet, and its ability to transmit information in real time and mobilise populations, creates fear among governments and the powerful, says Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. During the presentation of his report to the UN Human Rights Council 3 June, La Rue mentioned information filtering systems used in China that block access to websites containing key words such as 'democracy' and 'human rights'. The strength of the internet and the popular uprisings in recent months in North Africa and the Middle East, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, 'scares politicians', he told a press conference.

Around the world, street papers have been welcoming people who felt too insecure to stay in their home lands. Whether or not they have official refugee status in their newly adopted countries, what these vendors often have in common is the fear of returning to where they came from. Coming to a new country might save people from a potentially dangerous situation but it is not, by any means, a magical solution for all problems.

China is evaluating the impact of the Jasmine revolution on its overseas investment and outward business expansion strategy, says this article. 'Africa - once considered the lab for Chinese companies’ reach outside – is being relegated into a destination with too many risk factors. Safer political destinations and countries closer to home are likely to benefit from the shift. The readjustment has been in the works for some time but the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have made those subtle shifts more pronounced.'

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers...

A wide-ranging group of civil society organisations from around the globe has sent a letter to World Bank president Robert Zoellick urging him to open up the proposed Energy Strategy to another round of consultations. 'The Energy Sector Strategy has the potential to serve as a blueprint for low carbon, low impact clean energy scale up, while addressing the need of energy poor populations, which is an area of significant expertise and interest for a number of civil society organizations. Given that the
Energy Sector Strategy document will be significantly changed from the Approach Paper that previously underwent consultation, we believe it would be a mistake to not post the full Energy Sector Strategy document for consultation.'

AFRICA: SOCIO-POLITICAL UPHEAVALS AND HOPES FOR POLITICAL FREEDOMS
Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA)

Several major events occurred at the beginning of 2011 on the African continent, particularly from a global perspective. Already weakened by its unfavourable historical insertion into the world system, Africa has endured, in the past two most recent decades, the pangs of the implementation of neoliberal austerity measures, the plundering of resources and the logic of the privatisation of war. The continent is now more than ever at a crossroads because of the failure of the neoliberal model, the crisis of capitalism and the exhaustion of the neocolonial mode of growth.

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2011: ARAB SPRING?
Samir Amin

The year 2011 started with a series of crashing explosions of anger of the Arab people. Will this Arab spring start the second phase of ‘the awakening of the Arab world’? Or, will these revolts trample and finally fall through – as was the case of the first phase of this awakening evoked in my book ‘the awakening of the South’? In the first hypothesis, the developments of the Arab world will necessarily fit in the movement of going beyond capitalism/imperialism on a worldwide scale. The failure to do so would maintain the Arab world in its current status at the periphery of domination, prohibiting it from playing an active role in shaping the world.

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EGYPT AND THE STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES: THE PAKISTANI MODEL
Part 3: 2011: Arab spring?
Samir Amin

The three powers which dominated the Middle Eastern scene during the entire period of decline (1967–2011) are the United States – the master of the system – Saudi Arabia and Israel. Three close allies. The three share the same obsession for the emergence of a democratic Egypt. Because a democratic Egypt could only be a social anti-imperialist which would keep its distance with regard to globalised liberalism and would condemn Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to insignificance, while reanimating the solidarity of the Arab people and demanding the recognition of the Palestinian state by Israel.

This paper, commissioned by the UNDP, ‘explores the scale and composition of illicit financial flows from the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Illicit financial flows involve the cross-border transfer of the proceeds of corruption, trade in contraband goods, criminal activities and tax evasion. In recent years, considerable interest has arisen over the extent to which such flows may have a detrimental impact on development and governance in both developed and developing countries alike.’

More investment is needed to find a cure for HIV, the new head of the International Aids Society has said. Bertrand Audoin admits this might take as long as 25 years, but he says a cure is the only way to keep ahead of the HIV epidemic in the long term during tough financial times. Sunday sees the 30th anniversary of the first medical reports of a new illness.

‘Across Africa, China has become known as the agent of mass construction, wisely bartering infrastructural development … for long-term access to strategic resources,’ writes Khadija Sharife.

Three international organisations have negotiated reductions on key first and second-line, and paediatric antiretrovirals (ARVs) that will help countries save at least US$600 million over the next three years. The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), the international drug purchasing facility UNITAID and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) made the announcement on 18 May. The deal expected to affect most of the 70 countries comprising CHAI’s Procurement Consortium, features notable reductions in the prices of tenofovir (TDF), efavirenz, and the second-line ritonavir-boosted atazanavir (ATV/r) used in HIV patients who have failed initial, or 'first-line', regimens.