---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pambazuka Editor <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 7:12 PM Subject: Pambazuka News 544: Stealing the commons and looting the streets To: pambazuka-news <[email protected]>
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 544: STEALING THE COMMONS AND LOOTING THE STREETS The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839 CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Announcements, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Advocacy & campaigns, 5. Books & arts, 6. Highlights French edition, 7. Cartoons /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 1 Features STEALING THE COMMONS AND LOOTING THE STREETS Firoze Manji This week the international news has been dominated by two distinct yet not unrelated events – the international financial crisis and the eruption of young people onto the streets of Britain. Two features of these events are worth pointing out, observes Firoze Manji. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75624 ****** THE CHICKENS ARE COMING HOME TO ROOST US credit downgrade Horace Campbell The 'downgrade of the US credit rating is part of the forward planning by the top capitalists to guarantee the political and military hegemony of the richest one per cent of the US population,’ writes Horace Campbell. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75607 ****** STOPPING THE UK’S LOOTERS Alex Free With all the current talk in the media about the riots on the streets of the UK, Alex Free argues that the focus should be on the real looters in the country and global economy at large. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75626 ****** THE BRITISH URBAN UPRISING OF 2011 Paul Tiyambe Zeleza ‘Britain has an enduring problem of racial and class inequality and exclusion, out of which riots occasionally explode,’ observes Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, following four days and nights of unrest across the UK that have ‘left this declining post-imperial country deeply shaken and searching for answers, for redress, for culprits.’ http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75627 ****** THE STRUGGLE TO CONVERT NATIONALISM TO PAN-AFRICANISM Taking stock of 50 years of African independence Issa Shivji Africa’s ‘tale of treasures at one end and tragedies at the other cannot be understood’ without ‘locating it in the trajectory of worldwide capitalist accumulation,’ argues Issa Shivji. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75620 ****** CAPE VERDE’S ELECTIONS: MOST COMPETITIVE EVER Cláudio Furtado Cape Verdeans are going to the polls this month to decide who will replace Pedro Pires as he approaches the end of his second and final term. As Cláudio Furtado writes, regardless of who ultimately triumphs, two things make this particular election stand out: the fact that four candidates – three with a genuine chance of winning – are in the running and the wider implications for the PAICV (Partido Africano de Independência de Cabo Verde) party and the country’s government. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75590 ****** LIBYA, AFRICA AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER: AN OPEN LETTER To the peoples of Africa and the world from concerned Africans We, the undersigned, are ordinary citizens of Africa who are immensely pained and angered that fellow Africans are and have been subjected to the fury of war by foreign powers which have clearly repudiated the noble and very relevant vision enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75542 ****** REFLECTIONS ON THE NORWEGIAN TRAGEDY Yash Tandon Yash Tandon takes a deeper look at the mass killings in Norway on 22 July. The event, he writes, 'gives us a moment to comprehend the deeper meaning of human existence'. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75606 ****** WIKILEAKS HAITI: THE ARISTIDE FILES Kim Ives and Ansel Herz 'US officials led a far-reaching international campaign aimed at keeping former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide exiled in South Africa, rendering him a virtual prisoner there for the last seven years, according to secret US State Department cables,' write Kim Ives and Ansel Herz. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75586 ****** DEFINING ZIMBABWE'S NATIONAL HEROES Letter to the people of Zimbabwe 2011 is a year for all Zimbabweans to begin to challenge those that lead the country and those that insist on imprisoning national consciousness in their versions of heroism and history, says the Committee of the Peoples Charter. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/75574 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 2 Announcements PAMBAZUKA PRESS BOOKS AT BARGAIN PRICES Pambazuka Press titles are now available at bargain prices – get your copies from our website ( http://www.fahamubooks.org ) . Food Rebellions! ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100405800 ) $8 (RRP $27.95) / £5 (RRP £16.95) Ending Aid Dependence ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100770030 ) $8 (RRP $16.95) / £5 (RRP £9.95) Speaking Truth to Power ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100350930 ) $8 (RRP $24.95) / £5 (RRP £14.95) Reclaiming African History ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100162020 ) $15 (RRP $20.95) / £9 (RRP £12.95) My Dream is to be Bold ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100257140 ) $19 (RRP $27.95) / £12 (RRP £16.95) Where is Uhuru? ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100052770 ) $19 (RRP $27.95) / £12 (RRP £16.95) SMS Uprising ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100577370 ) $13 (RRP $20.95) / £8 (RRP £12.95) African Voices ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100741880 ) $6 (RRP $28.95) / £4 (RRP £17.95) Experiments with Peace ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100065280 ) $19 (RRP $32.95) / £12 (RRP £19.95) * As our website uses sterling as its primary currency, prices in dollars are approximations. ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 3 Comment & analysis THE CRISIS OF SUDAN Explo N. Nani-Kofi Competition between rival interests is behind the violence in Sudan, writes Explo N. Nani-Kofi. As a result, voices for empowering popular forces for justice and resistance are not being heard. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/75575 ****** RWANDAN PAPER CALLS PRESIDENT A 'SOCIOPATH', APOLOGISES Tom Rhodes Ishema in Rwanda has published an entire issue as an apology to President Paul Kagame, writes Tom Rhodes. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/75541 ****** PARASITES OF THE POOR? International NGOs and aid agencies in Zimbabwe Diana Jeater ‘The perception amongst workers who are trying to make a difference at the grassroots in Zimbabwe is that big aid agencies such as UNICEF and DfID don’t engage with communities to find out what they need; they deliver to them,’ writes Diane Jeater. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/75588 ****** WHERE HAVE LIBYA'S CHILDREN GONE? Franklin Lamb Of ‘growing public and government concern in Western Libya is the whereabouts of 53 female and 52 male children’, who were ‘part of a government-run home for orphans and abused children that until February was operating in Misrata, now under rebel control,’ writes Franklin Lamb. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/75589 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 4 Advocacy & campaigns SYMPHONY WAY PAVEMENT DWELLERS TO SPEAK IN GRAHAMSTOWN Symphony Way Anti-Eviction Campaign Four of the authors of ’No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way’ ( http://fahamubooks.org/book/?GCOI=90638100888310 ) will be speaking at Rhodes University on Thursday 11 August and at an event at Duna Library in Joza Township with the Unemployed People’s Movement on Friday 12 August. Don’t miss the chance to hear them speak in person! http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/75625 ****** STOP THE LAND GRAB IN MADAGASCAR TANY Sign TANY's petition calling on the Madagascan government to stop the eviction of families from their land to make way for land grabs. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/75623 ****** ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY SHOOTS 16-YEAR-OLD BOY IN KENNEDY ROAD Abahlali baseMjondolo This morning the eThekwini Municipality launched another armed raid on the Kennedy Road shack settlement to try and disconnect the people from electricity. As usual there was resistance, unarmed resistance, to this attack from the Municipality. The Municipality's security guards responded by firing live ammunition at the protesters. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/75540 ****** TELL MALAWI PRESIDENT TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS UNISON Nineteen people died in Malawi's recent protests. Public service union UNISON are asking for your support for a petition to President Bingu wa Mutharika. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/75593 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 5 Books & arts THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN WRITING Personal reflections Mildred K Barya Fellowships and residences play a crucial role in nurturing the talent of budding writers. But although Africa is full of creative and highly innovative individuals, it lacks avenues to support them. The ‘plain truth’, says Mildred K. Barya, ‘is that we need them so we have to create them.’ http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/75591 ****** FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS UPSIDE-DOWN Jared Sacks Stressing the need to turn the publishing sector and the concept of freedom of speech on their head, Jared Sacks discusses the ideas behind ‘No Land! No House! No Vote!’, a book produced by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers in South Africa. With the group seeking support to bring their story and struggle to the wider world, readers are invited to make donations at: http://www.indiegogo.com/SA-Pavement-Dwellers-Book-Tour http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/75587 ****** JAMAICAN VIBRATIONS: ROCKING STEADY TO REGGAE Adalbert Tucker http://www.normangirvan.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/btucker-jamaican-vibrations.pdf On the occasion of the 49th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence, Caribbean Political Economy as reproduced Bert Tucker’s lyrical account of Jamaica’s political climate and cultural ferment in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mr. Tucker, now Ambassador for Foreign Trade and Head of International Cooperation in the Government of Belize, was a student on the Mona Campus of the UWI at the time. As Caribbean Political Economy notes, the reflection was written on the occasion of Jamaica's 38th Anniversary of Independence on 6 August 2000, but has the same freshness and resonance now as it did then. ****** THE DIVERSITY OF DIASPORIC LIVES Paul Tiyambe Zeleza’s ‘In Search of African Diasporas: Testimonies and Encounters’ Carolina Academic Press An ‘ambitious and brilliant book by one of Africa’s leading diaspora intellectuals’, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza’s ‘In Search of African Diasporas’ is ‘filled with analytical insights, captivating stories, and intriguing observations on the complex histories and experiences of African diasporas, their triumphs and tragedies, perils and possibilities, and their enduring struggles for belonging, for their humanity.’ http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/75621 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 6 Highlights French edition PAMBAZUKA NEWS 201: WAR IN LIBYA, AL-QAEDA IN THE MAGHREB AND THE FRENCH MILITARY PRESENCE IN CHAD WHO WOULD DARE BELIEVE IN THE WITHDRAWAL OF FRENCH COLONIAL TROOPS FROM CHAD? Ley-Ngardigal Djimadoum When Idriss Déby was being installed for a fourth term of five as president, France's vague attempts to put an end to its military presence in Chad sounded like a mere bluff. The context of regional geopolitical issues do not favour such an eventuality, not for Paris or the Chadian president. In this regard, Ley-Ngardigal Djimadoum underlines that the requirements of francophone Africa as well as the ‘culture of colonial serfdom’ are still perennial occurrences on both sides. http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/75539 ****** JUSTICE FOR SANKARA: HOMAGE AND TRIBUTE On 10 June 2011, some 21 French parliamentarians lodged an inquiry into the assassination of Thomas Sankara. Twenty-four years after the assassination of the former president of Burkina Faso, this move in search of truth fosters a long-lived symbol in the minds of resistance fighters in Africa and in the world. On 1 July, a dinner with the theme ‘Justice for Sankara, Justice for Africa’ was organised in Paris. Pambazuka brings to you a few short speeches that were made on the occasion of this ceremony which brought together more than a hundred personalities, celebrities, trade unionists, intellectuals and politicians. http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/75534 ****** DEFEAT OF THE WEST IN LIBYA AND IDEOLOGICAL DECLINE Jean-Paul Pougala Lessons from recent history have not helped the West. Given the experiences of Afghanis and Iraqis, just like the contents of United Nations 1973 resolution which prohibits foreign occupation and attacks on Libya, have turned out to be fruitless solutions. But when Europe lost its elite and now only relies on plagiarist intellectuals and philosophers, these kind of atrocities no longer shock anyone, states Jean-Paul Pougala. http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/75533 ****** SENEGAL: THE ORIGINS OF IRRENDENTISM IN CASAMANCE Amady Aly Dieng Here is a book which immerses the reader into the heart of the Casamance drama. In this publication, which is a result of several years of investigations and research, Oumar Diatta, a specialist educationalist and journalist, tackles the Casamance question on the triple plan – political, institutional and administrative – since the colonial era and in the light of the conflict borne of the freedom fighter demands of the Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance (Mfdc). http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/75538 ****** FRANCE AND ITS WAR VETERANS: A NEW PENSION SWINDLE Cheikh Faty Faye It took 66 years after the Second World War to see France decide to align the pensions of the ‘Senegalese riflemen’ with those of French war veterans. For several reasons, Sheik Faty Faye finds this move ridiculous. Worse still, the most complicated procedures have been put in place to discourage any applicant. http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/75537 ****** SEEING SOCIAL MEDIA PROCESSES AS A MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATION Pierre Georges This contribution relates to the connection between the alternatives, media citizens and the process of social forums which have developed during the last ten last years all over the planet. Pierre Georges presents the worldwide social forum as a ‘potentially powerful medium’ and presents the articulations which can help make it a ‘collective media’. http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/75535 ****** ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ 7 Cartoons AL SHABAAB AND THE BOMB-DROPPING INFIDELS... Gado Only it's not bombs they are dropping! http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/75603 ****** KAGAME WELCOMES MUSEVENI A sign of cordial relations between Rwanda and Uganda? http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/75604 ****** NATO AND GADDAFI NATO is agreed that Gaddafi must go, but... http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/cartoons/75605 ****** /\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\ Fahamu - Networks For Social Justice http://www.fahamu.org Pambazuka News is published by Fahamu Ltd. © Unless otherwise indicated, all materials published are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. 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