Forget the Green (Springbok Rugby Special) Revolution – What we need is a Red Revolution “bottom-up, participatory, accountable democracy, worker-control of the product of their labor, the socialization of land, state control and public ownership of the major means of production”

Referring to the Springbok mania that is currently gripping South Africa as "The Green Revolution" is but just another example of how the mass media appropriates the language of justice for ends that have nothing to do with the real issues represented by the struggle lexicon. As the big wigs of world rugby and corporate capital smile to the bank-and the Springbok’s victory shift the focus away from the team’s lily-whiteness, the poorest of the poor, the working class and the rural and township majority return from the merry-making ceremonies to squalid, unsafe and unhealthy living and working conditions. Reality dawns upon them that South Africa and the world is far away from the realization of the real green revolution, which among others entails:

•Sustainable development of communities through equitable allocation and distribution of power, wealth and resources and people’s participation in designing, implementing, evaluating and reviewing policies and programmes geared towards their development.

•A break from policy programmes that sacrifice labor-demands and the welfare and wellbeing of society and the environment to profit-maximization, the deity of economic growth and the tyranny of the market.

•Taking tough measures against the ravages of big industry, high finance and corporate and speculative capital on the ecosystem and the economies and cultures of peoples of the world.

•Zero-waste initiatives promoting recycling, energy conversation and nature preservation, environmental awareness programmes at the grassroots, promoting responsible motoring and encouraging the use of public transport. Making big industry to pay reparation to the communities that are victims of their environmental terror.

This green revolution will not be possible without the red revolution: bottom-up, participatory, accountable democracy, worker-control of the product of their labor, the socialization of land, state control and public ownership of the major means of production(the commanding heights of the economy) and equitable redistribution of the wealth and resources of the land. Only when this is achieved will we do way with unequal social and power relations, and therefore be able to close all the doors of prejudice, which is the foundation upon which true integration and a South Africaness that transcends the boundaries of creed, color, language, ethnicity and gender shall be built. Real integration will be possible when access to quality arts, sports and cultural facilities, social amenities and social services, quality health services and good education does not depend on the socio-economic status, and racial background of individuals or their gender.

In other words, real integration will be realized when all the socio-economic factors and institutional and structural arrangements that work against workers and the rural and urban poor, the women, the disabled and Black people have been done away with. In the absence of these conditions the rainbowism that we suddenly fall in love with when the Springboks lift up the world cup only serve to give people a false sense of unity and one-nationess which ignore class contradictions.

Most importantly, the green revolution rainbowism put the enormous gap in the quality of life of the under-classes and the elites and upper-classes, the laborers and employers, and the poor and the rich under the carpet. This is a typical example of using popular sport as an opium, feeding the masses illusions of joy and happiness that distract their attention from issues such as the lethargic pace of transformation in rugby, the fact that in material and economic terms Black people and the poor have no real stake in rugby or 2010, and that the real beneficiaries in the world cup tournaments are the rich and the propertied. We are made to forget that the chances of poor Black hawkers selling at rugby match in South Africa are zilch as much as they will not be able to be within the reach of the stadiums during the 2010 football world cup.

The phantom display of a nation united behind the green banner and the national flag will not change the fact that invariably South Africa is two worlds in one country: the world of utter want, abject poverty, rampant disease and de-humanizing and brutalizing squalor and the world of raging consumerism, shameless opulence and decadent pomp. As Steve Biko put it, integration cannot be imposed on a people, it will automatically happen when all doors of prejudice have been closed. As of now, we are far from achieving what Biko posited as the struggle’s glittering prize: bestowing upon South Africa (and the world) a more human face.

* Mphutlane wa Bofelo is a creative writer, performance and social critic, and is currently the national General Secretary of the Muslim Youth Movement of South Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_01_africanloft.gifOne of the most commented issues in the African blogosphere has been the tragic death of South African Reggae star Lucky Dube. The sadness and anger at his death has been accompanied by widespread belief that South Africa’s crime rate is spiraling out of control. As writes:

“I hope this situation brings the global media’s eyes to what is going on with young black youths in South Africa where many are turning to a life of crime to have access to the “good things of life” . Though South Africa is cited as one full of natural resources and is noted as one of the top destination of global travelers - it is still a country ridden with a high crime rate. According to data collected on crime, South Africa has the second highest rate of murder, rapes, assaults with firearms in the world.

I know that many will cite post apartheid syndrome as the reason why these crime rate is so high but I do not think that law abiding Africans or global citizens should keep on using this as an excuse. It is quite clear that there is a problem and it is up to us to find a way of solving it.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_02_mwankole.gifAnoth… hot topic has been the award of the first Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize for Achievement in African Leadership to former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano. Mwankole Kumushi Kulishani writes that the five million-dollar award is “an incentive to stem presidential plunder and waste” in Africa:

“The first recipient is Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique – Perhaps this will serve as an incentive to stop the plunder and waste of public money by African Presidents. If only our presidents could stomach a simpler existence!”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_03_dion.gifThis view is shared by Dion’s random ramblings who thinks that the huge price money is worth every penny:

“I say well done to Mr Chissano, and well done to the generous benefactor, Mo Ibrahim. May we see many, many more examples of good, honest, integral, African leadership. We are NOT a corrupt continent, we are NOT doomed to poverty and subservience. We are African. We can teach the world another way to live.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_04_meskel.gifMeskel Square quotes a report by the Sudanese official media which states that the Dafur crisis is a “Zionist conspiracy”:

“Presidential advisor Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail said the fundamental cause of Darfur dispute was mainly an economic one. However this reason was exploited by some internal and foreign elements alleging that the dispute was between Arab and African groups. Ismail gave this statement in Doha capitol of Qatar before the meeting of higher committee for reconstruction of Darfur region.

Ismail said the Zionism has exploited the situation and alleged that the war was a genocide led by Arab elements supported by the government against African groups. However he said western countries including the United States of America have started to understand the real cause of Darfur dispute.”

“Of course, it all makes sense now”, the blogger wryly comments.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_05_kenya.gifJamii ya Kenya writes about the dissolution of the Kenyan Parliament in view of the upcoming general elections:

“Our outgoing MPs in this parliament were well paid, we now wait for the house speaker Mr. Francis Ole Kaparo to officially declare their jobs vacant for them to re-apply for their lucrative jobs. The vacant positions are 210 posts but he will be sending 222 MPs home (12 were nominated). Just like previous elections, the posts have attracted applicants from all walks of life to the variety of parties. These positions are so lucrative such that applicants don’t mind paying high non-refundable nominations fees proposed by the parties…. I can only conclude that Kenyan politics is an interesting drama that leaves people in suspense as to what will happen next.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_06_kenya2.gifThe drama of Kenyan politics is also the focus of http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_07_kano.gifPaul Adujie comments on the positive aspects of Nigeria’s “Federal Character” or quota system which he compares to Affirmative Action in the United States:

“The Constitutions of Nigeria, (from 1979 to 1999) for decades now, have made provisions for a Quota System and the reflection of a Federal Character in appointment of public office holders. This in my view makes perfect sense in a diverse country and society as Nigeria. Diversity needs to be actively and purposefully encouraged and legally enforced as provided by Nigeria's Supreme law, the Constitution of Nigeria.

All states, but especially the educationally disadvantaged states, need special provisions and protections in the admission process in Nigeria's educational system, especially in higher education and the professions! All Nigerians and Nigeria will be the beneficiaries of such good policy, that encourages the grooming and nurturing of opportunities for every Nigerian from every communities in Nigeria, and particular effort should be made, in order that Nigeria does not live anyone behind, economically, socially, educationally and developmentally, this is in our national interests, its nothing to jeer or sneer at!”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/325/blogs_08_scribbles.gifhttp://www.dibussi.com

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

"Eyes on Zimbabwe," is a project of the Open Society Institute designed to raise awareness of the crisis in Zimbabwe. In anticipation of the country's 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections, we are launching a blog/social networking outreach program intended to inform and involve as many people around the world as possible about the inevitable violence and corruption surrounding the vote.

The results of a recent survey by the Economic Commission for Africa suggest that, in general, very limited progress has been made in realizing the objectives of the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development. The release of the survey results coincides with the 23-24 October high-level biennial review of the United Nations General Assembly Plenary on the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus.

As World Bank President Robert Zoellick prepares for his first meeting with the Bank’s shareholders this weekend, a new IRN report reveals that the Bank approved more than US$ 800 million for nine hydropower projects in fiscal year 2007. This is more than it provided for renewable energy and efficiency projects combined. As the Bank jumps back into the big dam business and neglects better energy and water solutions, the legacy of its past dam projects tragically lives on.

Although there have been limited improvements in education, healthcare and agricultural productivity in a few countries, the overall trends for poverty reduction, access to clean water and basic healthcare are continuing to plummet, says Ravinder Rena.

Sierra Leone's recently elected leader on Saturday released a complete list of his 20-strong government ministers, consisting mainly of technocrats and his party's stalwarts. Three women - heading the foreign affairs, energy and social welfare portfolios - are on the list that is still subject to parliamentary approval.

Côte d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo has called for an investigation into long-standing accusations that cocoa and coffee boards have embezzled funds meant to aid the producers of the country's lucrative crops, a spokesperson said.

Landmark weekend parliamentary elections in Togo were "free, fair and open", observers from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) concluded in a report on Tuesday. "In spite of a few shortfalls, the legislative elections on Sunday were free, fair and open," stated the 15-nation group, which sent 152 military and civilian monitors to the small country to track Sunday's poll.

A delegation of rain forest peoples from Democratic Republic of Congo will fly to Washington this week to complain to the World Bank about its support for wholesale logging to help rebuild the war-ravaged economy. The visit follows a leak of a report last week by the bank's inspection panel that criticised it for backing a number of logging projects without adequate consideration of their sociological or environmental impact.

Given the experience of Africa over the last half century, it is clear that trade reform and openness alone is not sufficient to sustain economic growth and poverty reduction, say the authors of this paper published by the African Capacity Building Foundation. Commitments made to developing countries under the Doha Development Agenda, to help them participate in negotiate and implement WTO agreements have not been backed by adequate resources.

Less than 100 days to the Presidential election Transparency International’s flagship Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2007 has been published. Kenya’s score of 2.1 out of 10 (rank 150 out of 180) would be classified by Transparency International as indicating rampant corruption within the Government of Kenya. Not for the first time Kenya is the lowest ranked East African Community country, but what will shock some is that Kenya is for the first time lower ranked than Nigeria and apparently as badly regarded as Zimbabwe.

Human Rights Watch has named four members of Nigeria's ruling party who it said should face criminal investigation over their role in sponsoring armed thugs to rig elections. Nigeria held elections in April but political violence and vote-rigging were so widespread that international observers described them as "not credible".

The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has reported that for the first time in years countries in sub-Saharan Africa are actually growing faster than the global economy, but added that conflict and lack of capacity are two of the main challenges faced by the continent in achieving economic progress and development.

The top United Nations official in Sudan has met with members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to discuss its recent decision to withdraw from the Government of National Unity. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s acting Special Representative, Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, travelled to Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, where he held separate meetings with the Secretary-General of the SPLM, and the President and Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir and Riek Machar.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended food distribution in the Somali capital after Government forces invaded the UN compound in Mogadishu and abducted the local head of the agency in a move immediately condemned by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"One of the key predicaments of the ongoing social and political transition in the world today is the subversion of language and ideas to create political smoke screen or delusion or to give a semblance of social and political legitimacy for the hegemonic discourse.” John Samuel argues that the use of the term Civil Society is being used as a smokescreen to give “social and political legitimacy for the hegemonic discourse".

Words are like flowers. Flowers have their own colour, texture and smell. Not every kind of flower blooms in every climate or soil. It's the same with words. Their colour, texture, smell and meaning arise organically from a particular socio-historical and cultural milieu. When demand exceeds the supply of flowers, there arises a market for manufactured flowers. Plastic flowers need neither soil nor climate; they transcend space and time. They may sometimes look like the real thing. But they can never feel like the real thing.

So it is with words in the postmodern condition. There are all too many plastic words, good for decoration and intellectual pleasantries, and little else. One of the key predicaments of the ongoing social and political transition in the world today is the subversion of language and ideas to create political smoke screen or delusion or to give a semblance of social and political legitimacy for the hegemonic discourse. Often progressive-sounding words and phrases are used to conceal the reality on the ground or to create a virtual or projected sense of select images and discourse. The reshuffling of meanings and the subversion of political semantics has become the order of the day. This has become a part of process of creating the new pornography of politics. The very term Civil Society is major protagonist in the post-modern politics of delusive power-plays and elusive semantics. They together often create political and policy mirages.

The term ‘Civil Society’ is contested terrain. Over the last fifteen years it has been used to denote everything from citizens’ groups and activist formations to highly institutionalized non-governmental organisations and foundations. There is another dimension to this process of subversive politics of words from the point of view of the history ideas and the political economy of knowledge.

Civil society as a concept originated in 18th-century Western Europe. It was a theoretical construct useful in analyzing and understanding the emerging socio-political economy of the industrialized west in the 18th and 19th centuries. The concept was resurrected in the late-'80s amidst the ruins of the authoritarian regimes of Eastern Europe. It was born-again in the manufacturing shops neo-democratization ventures in the North. During the second coming of the concept, more stress was laid on producing and marketing the civil society in different colours and shapes, rather than on reflecting the very validity of the idea in relation to real-life situations and experiences. The civil society is being paraded as the new panacea for issues such as poverty, human rights, gender equity and `good governance'.

What is this civil society all about? Whose civil society are we talking about? There is no one answer or even set of answers. The colour and smell of the term will change according to the convenience of the various proponents. As a result of such ambivalence, the second coming of the civil society conceals more than it reveals. Civil society, we are told, is synchronous with democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of choice, good governance and opportunity for economic growth. But what do all these goodies entail? Whose democracy? Whose freedom of expression and choice are we talking about?

The new holy trinity of the State, Market and Civil Society can be capable of concealing the structural inequalities, marginalization and patriarchy, and reduces complex reality into neat spaces. There is an underlying tendency to homogenize the world according to an idealized notion of governance that skips the entire historical process of marginalization and unequal distribution of power in the socio-economic and political arena. The problem with such an ahistorical theorization is that anything and everything outside the market and the State can be considered civil society. So the Islamic Taliban, Sangh Parivar in India and all such fundamentalist formations as well as small self-help groups, neighborhood associations or professional groups can be considered part of civil society. A mega-million non-profit organisation with huge corporate structures and tens of thousand of staff or a mega billion Foundation is as much part of civil society as a small NGO or a small community organisation. This is an interesting logic wherein sharks, sardines and shrimps all say we are fish, though the sharks would like the freedom to swallow sardines and other small fish.

This nebulous concept had its origin in western political theory. The pre-18th century concept emerged in the tradition of Aristotle, Cicero and modern natural law. Till the 18th century, civil society was considered "a type of political association which placed its members under the influence of laws and ensured peaceful order and good government". The discourse on civil society took a critical turn in the 18th century, as a corollary to the discourse on emerging capitalism as well as liberal democratic movements. The ambivalence of this concept is partly because it was an analytical tool used by both the proponents and critics of modern capitalism. On the one hand it served as a convenient tool to legitimize the market outside the sphere of an authoritarian and mercantile State and on the other; it was a tool to rationalize the sphere of individuals and associations to assert their freedom and rights.

One can see three broad varieties of definitions and interpretations of this term. There is a tradition that can be traced back to John Locke, Thomas Paine and De Tocqueville -- the liberal tradition. Though there are differing nuances within this tradition, one of the significant aspects is that civil society is considered a `natural condition' for freedom, and a legitimate area of association, individual action and human rights. Thus the notion of civil society came to be seen in opposition to the State: it allowed space for democracy and the growth of markets.

The classical political economy tradition of civil society emanated from the works of Adam Ferguson, Adam Smith and J S Mill. This stream of thinking perceived civil society as a sphere for the satisfaction of individual interests and private wants. This perspective stressed the primacy of individualism, property and the market. The third stream of civil society discourse can be traced back to Hegel, Marx, Gramsci and Habermass. This stream can be seen as a critique of the liberal and classical political economy tradition. This perspective interpreted civil society as a historically-produced sphere of life rather than the natural condition of freedom. This tradition questioned the notion of an idealized civil society and recognized the internal contradictions and conflict of interests within civil society. For Hegel, civil society was sandwiched between a patriarchal family and the universal State. Though Hegel questioned the idealized notion of civil society, he tended to idealize a universal State. By challenging the idealization of both State and civil society, Marx argued that the contradictions within civil society are reproduced within the State. For Marx, the State is not merely an external force that confronts civil society, but the reflection of it, wherein different interest groups penetrate the State to rule. Both Hegel and Marx pointed out the role of the elite in defining the character of civil society. Gramsci emphasized civil society as the realm of public opinion and culture. It is the public sphere where hegemony is created through consent and coercion.

In the second coming of the civil society in the late-'80s and through the '90s, the predominant trend has been a resurrection of the tradition of Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith, with a doze of De Tocqueville's liberalism. The new civil society discourse is often misused as a poaching ground by the New Right to rationalise and legitimize the privatization of the public services and to reduce the State as a support mechanism to the market.

The other part of the story is that the Civil Society is also being used to denote new democratization, grassroots politics and new way for citizens’ participation and engagement in the process of governance and affairs of the state. While the term Civil Society has broader social and political connotations, the tendency is often to equate the Civil Society with NGOs. The very world of NGOs themselves are very heterogeneous and with multiple institutional, social and funding power relations at play. The NGO world is increasingly looking like an Orwellian Animal Farm, wherein everyone is supposed to be equal but some are more equal than others. This becomes all the more problematic given that many of the new-generation NGOs are more like private enterprises in the public domain. The problem occurs when such groups or entities develop a universalistic claim based on an imagined or assumed legitimacy.

The various political and knowledge traditions behind the term Civil Society co-exit w and often intermingle to create new sense and meaning to the term civil society. This often makes the concept fluid and ambivalent.

The new civil society discourse is also a symptom of the crisis in social theorization. Instead of looking for fresh theories to address the profound socio-political and economic transition, the tendency is to resurrect concepts and theoretical frameworks from the residue of the Enlightenment in the 18th century...

We are in the transitory phase of a new epoch. The notions of nation-state, market, civil society, reason and progress that emerged during the Enlightenment are beginning to get transformed. In the new paradigm shift, we once again go back to the lived experiences of communities and individuals to search for new ways of looking at the transition of the world. We need a new language, a new set of insights and a fresh sense of humility to look at our past, present and future. What we need is to rediscover ethical communities within our societies and the world. We can still question injustice or rights violations based on the whole range of humanizing ethical traditions.

When we have the potential to grow our own beautiful flowers and organic words, why must we be deluded by plastic flowers and words?

* John Samuel is a human rights activist and is currently International Director of Actionaid, based in Bangkok.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/324/43777-Lovinsky.jpgOn the evening of 11th August 2007 Haitian and global activist, Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine disappeared and has not been seen since. Ben Terral of Haiti Action contrasts the Haiti of the US and their proxy army the MINUSTAH with the real Haiti of Lovinsky, the Lavalas movement and the masses of Haitian people.

In the August 9, 2007 Washington Times, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described his late July visit to the Haitian shantytown of Cite Soleil. Ki-moon trumpets armed incursions waged by the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and their success in establishing “security,” and concludes, “I am convinced Haiti is at a turning point. Long the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, seemingly forever mired in political turmoil, it at long last has a golden chance to begin to rebuild itself. With the help of the international community -- and the United Nations in particular -- it can.”

On a July visit to Haiti, most of the people I spoke with were less enthusiastic about the UN presence in their country. On July 28, I observed a spirited demonstration across from UN headquarters on Ave. John Brown in Port-au-Prince. The protest took the form of what Haitian activists call a “sit-in”; such actions are smaller than mass mobilization “manifestations” which involve thousands of people marching. July 28 marked the 92nd anniversary of the 1915 US Marine invasion of Haiti, which many Haitians I spoke to see as a direct precursor to the current UN presence in Haiti, given that MINUSTAH, as the mission is known, was established in 2004 to legitimize the US-backed coup regime which ousted the democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. (Aristide remains in U.S.-enforced exile in South Africa.)

Several activists began posting photos of dissidents killed by military, police and death squads over the past few decades. The photos were placed on a banner that said in Kreyol, “everytime a militant falls, 1,000 will rise to take their place.”

The protestors danced as they chanted, calling out in Kreyol, “what are we asking? For MINUSTAH to leave!” This was immediately followed by a song about their deposed President, which explained “our blood is Aristide's blood.”

A bitterly angry Haitian woman informed me that her 25 year-old daughter was killed in the middle of the night by the UN during a raid on her neighborhood. She told us, “we will never forget how many people the UN has killed.” On previous trips to Haiti, I spoke to other family members of innocent civilians who became “collateral damage” – picked off for no other reason than that they were in the line of fire when UN soldiers went into assault mode on flimsily constructed, densely packed neighborhoods. In one such raid in Cite Soleil, MINUSTAH fired up to 22,000 bullets, according to declassified documents from the U.S. embassy.

The chanting continued in Kreyol: “Calling George Bush, come and get your thieves!” Then the demonstrators began moving up Avenue John Brown, to another entrance to the UN facility about a city block away.

There Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, the head of Fondasyon 30 Septanm, a Haitian human rights organization which advocates for victims of the 1991 and 2004 coup d'etats against the democratically-elected governments of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, read a statement that included this passage: “Yes in 1915 we were subjected to an imperialist, criminal and ruthless occupation. In the year 2004 we again were subjected to another imperialist, criminal and ruthless occupation, even if the dark forces tried to hide their faces behind the army of a few countries that are poor like us.” Lovinsky then added the Kreyol proverb, “Those who pay the band decide what music to play.”

Lovinsky expressed vehement opposition to President Rene Preval's extension of the UN mandate in Haiti. Though elected by the country's poor majority largely because of his past association with Aristide (he was Prime Minister in the first Aristide administration which ended in the 1991 coup), most activists I spoke to now see Preval as at best ineffectual in standing up to rightist forces. And unlike Aristide, Preval has delivered few concrete gains for the poor masses and appears to have little ability or interest in communicating to them what he plans to do to improve their lot.

At the checkpoint Lovinsky directed his bullhorn toward, Jordanian troops stood poised with weapons at the ready in front of a roadblock covered in razor wire. Brazilian, Nepalese, and Bolivian soldiers had also driven by and scrutinized the demonstration at various points.

It was striking how many different uniformed and plainclothes soldiers and officers, including a Phillipine officer wearing a beret, a French officer, and a man with a U.S. flag on his shoulder, repeatedly photographed the assembled demonstrators. UN occupation forces have worked closely with Haitian police, whose widespread use of torture and extrajudicial execution under the post-2004 coup regime has been widely documented, in reports by the University of Miami, Harvard Law School, the Institute for Justice and Democracy and other organizations. Given that holdovers from the coup period still dominate the Haitian police (as well as the judiciary and most ministries), repeatedly photographing protestors seemed more about sending a message of intimidation than a matter of developing files on the fifty mostly elderly men and women in attendance, none of whom posed any physical threat to the heavily armed UN forces.

While Ban Ki-moon praised the Haitian Senate for passing legislation aimed at “creating a legal climate more conducive to economic development and foreign investment,” Lovinsky had a more grassroots perspective at the UN demonstration: “The bourgeoisie favored an occupation which would bring it big profits.”

Certainly a key factor in Jean-Bertrand Aristide earning the enmity of the small number of Haitian super-rich, who collaborated with the U.S., France and Canada on his 2004 ouster, was his Lavalas Party government's work to provide some measure of economic justice by doubling the minimum wage and pushing elites to pay taxes. The Lavalas motto was “from misery to poverty with dignity,” not “working to create a climate more conducive to foreign exploitation.”

Poor Lavalas supporters were swept up en masse throughout the “interim” coup government of 2004-2006. (One of the more prominent current political prisoners, Lavalas grassroots organizer Rene Civil, who helped mobilize thousands in demonstrations to demand the return of Aristide, was arrested on trumped-up charges after Preval took office.) I spoke to a young man in the horrifically overcrowded downtown penitentiary in Port-au-Prince who has been trying with no success to get evidence of his innocence to a judge. His lawyer told me his client was picked up by police in a sweep after the business he worked in was robbed, then he was the one “suspect” police held on to after scrutinizing his history as a nonviolent Lavalas activist.

Untold numbers of other prisoners who identify as Lavalas remain in jail in similarly dubious circumstances. Some have been inside since the 2004 coup without once having seen a judge. One current prisoner estimated that more than 65% of those in the main penitentiary are there for political reasons. Given that I have heard repeatedly from prisoners and families of prisoners that they were offered freedom for cash payments of thousands of U.S. dollars they did not have, in a very real sense these people have been criminalized for being poor.

Incredibly, the outgoing head of UN peacekeeping operations in Haiti, Guatemalan Edmond Mulet gave a recent interview in which he admitted how awful jail conditions are: “We are victims of our own success. They are completely overcrowded. They even have to take turns now to sit or to lie down or to sleep because there is not enough room. So they take turns. They sleep for four hours and then are woken up so the others can sleep. It's pretty horrible. And the sanitary conditions, you have cells that were made for four people and you have
40 or 50 in them. And this poses not only security problems, but also on human rights issue as well. So we are hoping some countries will be interested in putting a remedy to this.”

Mulet went on, “One of the problems we have in Haiti is most of the inmates are in preventive detention mode. They have probably never seen a judge, there's no formal accusation, there's no file, there's nothing. Some of them probably stole a chicken and probably the penalty for that would be five days in jail and they've been in jail two or three years."

Meanwhile anti-Aristide death squad thugs, including perpetrators of the April 1994 Raboteau massacre of Lavalas supporters, convicted and jailed under Haiti's democratic governments are still roaming free after being sprung from jail by paramilitaries who did the dirty work of the 2004 coup.

The sense of solidarity the poor still have for Aristide (a Port-au-Prince resident told me, ‘Aristide was trying to help the lower classes -- that's why he was kidnapped”; the graffiti “VIV RETOU TITID,” or “long live the return of Aristide,” was everywhere) is indicative of the resilience of the popular movement for social and economic justice in Haiti. But given that the current UN mission in the country was established to support a status quo at odds with that popular movement, renewing the UN mandate there will only be another barrier to real democracy and progressive change for the vast majority of Haitians.

ADDENDUM:

On Tuesday, September 18, the Bay Area-based Haiti Action Committee (HAC) held a rally in downtown San Francisco to call attention to the unresolved kidnapping of veteran Haitian human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.

Robert Roth, a San Francisco high school teacher and long-time solidarity activist who took part in a delegation to Haiti in late July (which this writer joined in Port-au-Prince), spoke first at the rally. Roth explained, “It's been over a month since Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine has disappeared. He is a human rights worker, he's a psychologist, he's worked with victims of torture from the coup of 1991-1994. He's continued his human rights advocacy in Haiti during this recent coup in 2004, a coup organized and created by the United States government.”

Roth continued, “When we were there in Haiti, we met with Lovinsky at his house, he talked to us about the current situation in Haiti and how the human rights violations continue against the people. He talked to us about political prisoners, and how they continue to be held in Haiti under the UN occupation, and how they continue to be held under the Preval government.”

Roth added, “He is a deep thinker, and he is a very, very important leader of the people's movement in Haiti. And he has disappeared for over a month, and that's a crime against the people of Haiti, it's a crime against anyone who believes in freedom and justice. It's a crime against anyone who believes in peace and dignity and human rights and all the things that we cherish. And so our hearts are with him wherever he is. And we will not give up. We will not give up our solidarity with Lovinsky. We will not give up hope for his safe return, we will not give up our demand that the authorities in Haiti account for his disappearance, and bring him safely back to his family, his people. And we don't see this as just about Lovinsky. It's about the people of Haiti, it's about the people of Iraq, it's about the people of Palestine, it's about the people of the Philippines, wherever people are fighting for justice. And so we take a moment here to honor him, and we take a moment to let people all over the world now that Lovinsky is with us, we're with him, and we'll continue to be out here until he returns home safely.”

HAC co-founder Pierre Labossiere echoed that internationalist perspective in his comments about “this beautiful brother, psychologist, human rights worker, someone who's at the forefront of the movement for justice, for economic and social justice for the people of Haiti, and for people throughout the world." Labossiere noted that when a member of the July delegation who was helping organize a Human Rights Tribunal on crimes committed during Katrina told Lovinsky of that New Orleans-based solidarity initiative, “Lovinsky said, ‘how do I support it? Let me sign up.’ […] As a matter of fact he was supposed to attend the tribunal when he disappeared three weeks before, the actual tribunal took place. So Lovinsky is one of those brothers who care for people world-wide, he's just … not limited to Haiti. He sees the struggle for justice, and human rights,and equality as a world-wide struggle, and that people need to rally around from wherever you are from and link arms with each other, so we can have a world of peace, a world of justice, where human rights are
respected.”

Labossiere asked the San Francisco protestors to write or call “the US embassy in Haiti, to the Brazilian authorities, who are in charge of the UN mission in Haiti, to the Haitian authorities.” The message: “we need them to exert all their influence – they are very powerful, very influential – with all sectors of Haitian society, from the very top politicians to the underworld, to demand one thing: that brother Lovinsky be returned to his family safely.”

In a September 13 letter to the Brazilian government, Dominican Sister Stella Goodpasture of the Mission of San Jose, emphasized that her appeal was not a request “for the Brazilian mission in Port-au-Prince to crack down militarily as they have in the past. What we are asking for is that Brazilian officials express their concern through any and all channels that the kidnappers should negotiate with Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine's family and that Lovinsky needs to be released unharmed.”

*Ben Terrall is an activist and a member of Haiti Action –

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

More such messages to the authorities in Haiti are still needed.

Haitian Ministry of Justice
Tel: 011-509-245-0474

UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
Tel: 011-509-244-0650/0660
FAX: 011-509-244-9366/67
Or, Fax Office of UN Secretary General in New York: 212-963-4879

United States Embassy in Haiti
Tel: 011-509-223-4711, or 222-0200 or 0354
FAX: 011-509-223-1641

Embassy of Brazil in Haiti
FAX: 011-509-256-0900
Email:[email][email protected]
Tel: 011-509-256-9662 or 6208 or 7556 or 7578

STUDENTS’ UNION. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
October 14, 2007
Press Statement:

Release Akinola Saburi, Dairo Olatunde and Taiwo Hassan Now!!

The students' union of Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) Ile-Ife condemn in absolute terms, the abduction of two union leaders - Dairo Olatunde (public relations officer) and Hassan Taiwo Hussein (National Coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign, ERC) for unjustified reasons. They were abducted at Sport Centre of the OAU while leaving the campus. According to information, they were seriously beaten up and forced into a station wagon car by the men suspected to be members of State Security Service (SSS) and the university's security unit called crackers at the instance of the vice chancellor, Prof. Michael Oladimeji Faborode. We do not know their destination till now.

Furthermore, we condemn the unwholesome closure of the university by the OAU management on a frivolous excuse of giving students "a mid semester break". To further show the intolerant and high-handedness of the Prof. Faborode-led management, heavily armed mobile policemen were drafted to the campus to chase out innocent students after forcing them to abdicate their academic works for no just reason.

The university was suddenly closed down on the night of Wednesday, 10th October, 2007 while students were asked to leave the campus within less than fifteen (15) hours. Students held a congress on the morning of Thursday, 11th October at Awolowo hall and collectively rejected the school closure on the basis that they are not animals who will be forced out of the campus at the whims and caprices of the vice chancellor without due regard to their wishes. Students also questioned the sincerity of the management which refused to grant just one week compulsory lecture free week in February (and rather preferred to close down the campus indefinitely) but is now giving a Greek gift of about two weeks mid-semester break! Yet, it is the same management that will be blackmailing the union leadership of trying to disrupt the academic calendar. We also condemn the closure on the basis that it will cause disruption of the calendar which will lead to mass failure as was witnessed last semester. Consequently, students embarked on peaceful protest to drive home their demand for a review of the closure on Thursday, October 11, 2007. Rather than heed to the request of the students, the Prof. Faborode-led management brought in mobile police men to attack students. This has led to attack on students especially the female students who were in the hall of residence as at the time the police came to campus. According to reports, the students, especially the female students were beaten by the mobile policemen. We are still collating names of those affected.

It is also at this point that Dairo Olatunde and Hassan Taiwo were arrested. We view their arrest as an attempt to stiffen progressive voices on the campus as against the reactionary rulership of Prof. Faborode-ed management. It is worthy of note to state that since the beginning of Prof. Faborode regime, the university has not known peace. In the last six months, three union leaders who are critical of the management style have been arrested/abducted by the management while other leaders are being witch hunted. Also, within the same six months, the campus has been closed down three times while over N20 million has been used to attack the students' union and its leadership. The welfare conditions of students have never been so bad as water is not constant (and not potable) while electricity supply has been erratic, yet hundreds of million was collected from students by the Faborode's administration.

The arrest of Dairo and Hassan to us is an attempt to stop the students from solidarising with their leader, Akinola Saburi who has been illegally arrested by SSS men and whose case is coming up on Monday, 15th October, 2007 at Osogbo High Court. This to us is a violation of Section 40 of the Nigerian constitution and Section 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 which guarantee freedom of expression and association. We therefore condemn the role of the Nigerian police and the SSS for being tools of oppressing Nigerian students. Unlike what the university management wants the whole world to believe that the students' union is causing crisis, it is the management, in connivance with the security agencies - SSS and the Osun State Police Command that has been precipitating crisis in order to attack the union and its leaders.

We see the current attack on the union as a reflection of the undemocratic nature of running our ivory towers and the deliberate under funding of education by the neo-liberal Yar'Adua's government. This is further confirmed by the deliberate criminal silence of the federal government on the OAU crisis while the apparatus of government especially the police and the SSS are being used to intimidate students' leaders who have been at the forefront of the agitation for proper funding of education and egalitarian Nigerian economy; and yet we are made to believe that Nigeria is a democratic state.

Consequently, we demand:
1. Immediate release of Akinola Saburi (OAU students' union president), Dairo Olatunde (Pubic Relations Officer) and Hassan Taiwo Hussein(Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign) and end to culture of victimization. We also demand for N100 million damages for them by the SSS for this illegal arrest.
2. Immediate reopening of the university
3. Immediate removal of the vice chancellor, Prof. Michael Oladimeji Faborode and his kitchen cabinet for high-handedness and gross mismanagement. This is necessary in order to avoid further crisis.
4. Immediate probe of the Prof. Faborode-led management by a democratic committee and arraignment of its officers if found guilty.
5. Improvement in the welfare conditions of students including provision of constant power supply, potable water supply, enough lecture rooms and hostel facilities, etc.
6. End to education commercialization and privatization. For massive funding of education by at least 26 percent of the budget as prescribed by UNESCO.
7. Democratic running of the education sector at all levels to include representatives of ASUU, NASU, ASUP, NUT, SSANU, COEASU, students' unions, etc.

Finally, we enjoin the general public to ignore all propaganda of the university management while we also call on labour and civil society organisations to prevail on the government to take action. OAU students are known to be non-destructive even at the point of the worst provocation; we shall not renege on this principle but we shall not stop in fighting oppression and misuse of power by people like Prof. Faborode. We wish to end by saying that if anything untoward should happen to Akinola Saburi, Dairo Olatunde and Hassan Taiwo Hussein, we shall hold the university management, the Nigerian police and the SSS responsible.

In the struggle for independent unionism, properly-funded, democratically-run education system, nationalization of the Nigerian economy, we shall remain undaunted.

* Signed Ogumah Segun Andrew, Speaker. Oyedeji Nurudeen, Clerk

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The AU Monitor has developed an African Union and Civil Society Calendar for your reference and input. The calendar will be regularly updated each month with relevant pan-African events, meetings and other important dates. Please refer to the calendar regularly and write directly to aumonitor.editor at gmail.com should you wish to add items to the calendar.

This week’s AU Monitor brings you peace and security news from the Comoros, where after a series of failed negotiations, the African Union has imposed sanctions against Anjouan authorities. While a civil society report shows that the cost of conflict on African development was approximately $300bn between 1990 and 2005.

In trade news, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) argues that the Economic Partnership Agreements, due to be signed by the end of this year between Africa and Europe, violate international law and impede development by depriving countries of sorely needed revenue from trade taxes. While church groups are organising the Trade Week of Action from October 14-21 to call for alternatives to enforced free trade. The planned events range from hunger strikes and pickets to worship and high-profile seminars.

In health news, the AU will hold a meeting to discuss the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa, which concludes that “local production can be successfully done in the continent. However there is need for the African countries to reassess the realities, possibilities and the feasibility of the programme so that it moves from being a political slogan to a reality after good ground work.” Further, African-American US Congressional Representative Barbara Lee has introduced the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007 in the US House of Representatives. The bill would authorize $600 million to train healthcare workers in Africa and provide incentives for them to stay in their home countries to reduce the brain drain, which is crippling African health care. Also in the U.S, a Court of Appeals ruled in favour of going ahead with the Khulumani v. Barclays et. al case which charges twenty three multinational corporations with aiding and abetting Apartheid. The case was initiated by eighty seven South Africans, all of whom were victims of gross human rights abuses during Apartheid. By allowing the lawsuit to go to trial, the Court is setting precedent for the possibility of corporations to be held account for human rights abuses outside of their home countries.

At the United Nations, Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari argues that Security Council reform is critical as the United Nations “has not itself transformed and designed the necessary institutions of governance consistent with the noble ideals that drive modern democratic societies” as stated by President Thabo Mbeki at the General Assembly in New York.