PAMBAZUKA NEWS 532: TIME TO BURY THE IMF
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.
Tributes to Tajudeen, 5. Advocacy & campaigns, 6. Pan-African
Postcard, 7. Obituaries, 8. Books & arts, 9. Letters & Opinions, 10.
African Writers' Corner, 11. Highlights French edition
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1 Features
TIME TO BURY THE IMF
Towards an International Bank for Reconstruction and Reparations
Horace Campbell
The demise of the IMF's former managing director Dominique
Strauss-Kahn is an opportunity to dismantle the fund and replace the
current financial architecture with one that 'invests in the repair
and reconstruction of livelihoods and the planet' instead of
'destruction, dehumanisation, exploitation, and rape,' writes Horace
Campbell.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73741
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INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INSTITUTIONS AND EGYPT: AN 'ORDERLY TRANSITION'?
Adam Hanieh
Billions of dollars are set to flow into Egypt from a host of
International Financial Institutions (IFIs), writes Adam Hanieh. But
far from supporting the aspirations of the Egyptian people, their real
aim is to hijack the transition and ensure that the neoliberal project
in Egypt is hastened.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73722
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WORLD BANK'S AFRICA STRATEGY REMAINS IN RUTTED COMFORT ZONE
Patrick Bond
A renewed wave of development babble began flowing soon after the
February launch of the World Bank's 10-year strategy document,
'Africa's future and the world bank's support to it', says Patrick
Bond. Within three months, a mini-tsunami of Afro-optimism swept in:
The International Monetary Fund's 'Regional Economic Outlook for
sub-Saharan Africa', the Economic Commission on Africa's upbeat study,
the African World Economic Forum's Competitiveness Report and the
African Development Bank's discovery of a vast new 'middle class'
(creatively defined to include the 20 per cent of Africans whose
expenditures are $2–4 a day).
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73721
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IMPERIAL NEUROSIS AND THE DANGERS OF 'HUMANITARIAN' INTERVENTIONISM
Yash Tandon
Yash Tandon critiques the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) resolutions
within the UN system to show how the forces of Empire have used
'humanitarian intervention' to advance their own interests. He also
explains how the militaristic solutions advanced under R2P are part of
a neurotic response to the various crises faced by the Empire.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73728
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ILLICIT FINANCIAL FLOWS FROM THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: 1990–2008
Dev Kar
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.'
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73730
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'DEFIANT IN THE FACE OF BRUTALITY'
Uprisings in East and Southern Africa
Sokari Ekine
Uganda's Walk2Work campaign, growing public consciousness in Kenya,
Swaziland's pro-democracy demonstrations, public sector protests in
Botswana and the still invisible LGBTIQ movement feature in this
week's reflection on struggles for social justice across the
continent, by Sokari Ekine.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73738
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COPPER IN ZAMBIA: CHARITY FOR MULTINATIONALS
Khadija Sharife
Despite the apparent 'success' of the privatisation of the Zambian
copper industry, the true picture is one of systemic multinational
exploitation, national assets sold 'for a song' and persistent tax
dodging, writes Khadija Sharife.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73742
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THE SITUATION OF AFRICA
Declaration of the Group for Research and Initiative for the
Liberation of Africa (GRILA)
The Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa
(GRILA), an organisation consisting of researchers and activists,
issued a statement on the situation in Africa on African Liberation
Day, 25 May 2011. The statement calls on the peoples of Africa and its
diaspora to ramp up resistance, both locally and globally, and to
unite on the basis of internationalism and Pan-Africanism.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73727
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TSHWANE DECLARATION ON AFRICA LIBERATION DAY
Africa Institute of South Africa
We the 100 plus delegates from various countries in Africa, Asia,
Europe and the Americas, having met in Tshwane, South Africa, over
three days to commemorate Africa Liberation Day and deliberate on
African affairs and global issues hereby resolved the following
Tshwane Declaration.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73760
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CONGO AND GHANA: EARLY EXAMPLES OF INTER-AFRICAN CO-OPERATION
Cameron Duodu
Although Ghana's alliance with Congo was ultimately unable to save
Patrice Lumumba's life or avert Mobutu's 40-year dictatorship, the
'African Union (AU) would do well to rediscover the spirit of those
days, when Africans knew what was good for their continent, and what
was not so good,' says Cameron Duodu.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73739
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REPORTING SUDAN: DOMESTIC REPRESSION AND DISTANCE IN EXILE
Muhammed Osman and Ron Singer
In conversation with Ron Singer, Muhammed Osman discusses reporting on
Sudan, his experiences of covering the country from both inside and
out, the future of relations between the south and north, and his own
personal history.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73723
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SOUTH AFRICA: ELECTION TRIUMPH FOR ANC, DESPITE INEQUALITY
Hein Marais
Following the African National Congress' victory in South Africa's
latest local government elections, Hein Marais, author of the new book
'South Africa pushed to the Limit', examines the paradox of a
political party that presides over one of the most unequal societies
in the world, where close to half the population lives in poverty, and
more than a third of workers are jobless – yet triumphs in election
after election.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73732
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THE STRUGGLES OF ZIMBABWEAN IMMIGRANTS IN SOUTH AFRICA
'It's dangerous out there.'
Khadija Sharife
For Zimbabweans who cross into South Africa in search of work, the
risk of robbery, rape and extortion at the border is just the
beginning of their problems. Khadija Sharife meets a 'rightless'
underclass who are both exploited and scapegoated, simply for wanting
to feed their children.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/73729
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2 Announcements
SUMMER UNIVERSITY OF PALESTINE: A NEW MIDDLE EAST
People power, democracy and Palestine
Viva Palestina Arabia is organising a seven-day summer university in
Beirut, Lebabon, at the end of July with internationally known
academics, writers, political figures and activists to discuss the
unfolding revolutionary events in the Middle East and what they mean
for Palestine and the international solidarity movement.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/73734
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3 Comment & analysis
SYRIA: PINKWASHING ASSAD?
Amina A.
http://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/
'I do not want personal freedom if it comes at the cost of the
oppression of millions. Freedom is merely privilege extended unless
enjoyed by all,' writes lesbian blogger Amina A. on 'A Gay Girl in
Damascus', as Western imperial powers tout the defence of LGBT rights
as a justification for intervention in the 'Arab Spring'.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73750
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SECURING RIGHTS FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS
Review of 'Myths and Realities About Domestic Workers'
Paul Mwangi Maina
A new booklet ( http://bit.ly/kEZlD0 ) from the International Domestic
Workers Network calls for international regulation to secure the
rights of domestic workers. But are minimum standards enough to end
the exploitation of workers, asks Paul Mwangi Maina.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73735
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'KILIO CHA WAMAMA': TREAT US LIKE HUMAN BEINGS
Fahamu
'Wamama wa Dhobi' are a group of domestic workers in Mathare, a slum
in the city of Nairobi, Kenya. Documentary 'Kilio Cha Wamama (
http://bit.ly/kBUiQf ) ' is about the struggles of women workers in
informal employment; it follows their cries for for fairness and
respect in the eyes of the Kenyan public as well as the law. ('Dhobi
work' is domestic work for pay in an informal settlement).
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73740
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KENYA'S UNGA REVOLUTION: PROTESTING RISING FOOD PRICES
Stephen Musau
As part of the 'Unga Revolution', Kenyan civil society has been
demonstrating over rising food prices and the escalating costs of
living, writes Stephen Musau. And Kenyans should not feel alone in
this struggle, Musau stresses, with the farmer-led movements across
the global South like Via Campesina leading the fight for food
sovereignty and the right to food.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73748
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TUNISIA: REGUEB SUSTAINS MOBILISATION
Amanda Sebestyen
( http://www.flickr.com/photos/magharebia/5384188517/ ) As Barack
Obama and William Hague offer very different kinds of support and
different visions for Tunisia's future, trade unionists and human
rights activists in the region have called for international
solidarity, writes Amanda Sebestyen.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73733
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WHY CANADA SHOULDN'T HOST WSF 2013
National Coordination of the World March of Women in Quebec
( https://picasaweb.google.com/fedaepsa/CambioCivilizatorioVisionYAportesFeministas02#5515338317051318674
) A statement from the coordinators of the World March of Women in
Quebec sets out four reasons why Canada shouldn't host the 2013 World
Social Forum, from the difficulty of obtaining entry visas for
activists from the South, to the need to focus on national grassroots
alliance-building, following the election of a majority Conservative
government.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/73736
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4 Tributes to Tajudeen
THE INSPIRATION OF TAJUDEEN ABDUL-RAHEEM
Daily Trust
Nigeria's Daily Trust commemorated the second anniversary of
Pan-Africanist Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem's passing on 25 May with a
special memorial supplement, featuring contributions from Okello
Oculi, Kole Shettima, Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, Horace Campbell, Aderemi
Oyewumi and Nengak Daniel Gondyi. Read the articles here (
http://bit.ly/jUHYnt ) .
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5 Advocacy & campaigns
ANC THREATENS ATTACK ON THE MAKAUSE SETTLEMENT
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo stands in full solidarity with the
democratically elected leadership of the Makause settlement as they
face threats of violence from the ANC branch in Primrose. We are far
away in distance but close in spirit and we will do all that we can to
mobilise support for the comrades in Makause as their community
politic faces the threat of repression from the party politic. As our
experience shows very well these threats must be taken very seriously
by all democrats.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/73724
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HIGH COURT: ANTI-EVICTION COMMUNITIES WITH MITCHELL'S PLAIN BACKYARDERS
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
Anti-Eviction communities who are facing eviction and whose homes have
been flooded by the recent rains (more on this soon), are joining
backyarders from Tafelsig who are at the Cape High Court today.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/73751
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6 Pan-African Postcard
CHANGING GUARD AT THE IMF
H. Nanjala Nyabola
In the wake of Dominique Strauss-Kahn's resignation from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), H. Nanjala Nyabola wonders why
African governments are not calling for the same withdrawal from the
IMF that they push for with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/73737
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7 Obituaries
ABDIAS DO NASCIMENTO: IN MEMORIAM
1914-2011
Molefi Kete Asante
'Abdias do Nascimento defended the oppressed, advanced creativity,
sought human community and made our lives better by his art, reason,
emotion, and laughter,' writes Molefi Kete Asante, in a homage to
'this brother genius who has cherished our history and culture and who
has made the life and struggle of the African Brazilian people his
personal mission.'
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/obituary/73743
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8 Books & arts
GERMANY'S GENOCIDE OF THE HERERO
Jeremy Sarkin
http://bit.ly/khMHQf (PDF)
Germany's colonial genocide at the beginning of the twentieth century
against the Herero of then German South West Africa, today Namibia,
ranks among the most egregious human right catastrophes. An
extermination order (Vernichtungsbefehl) was issued in 1904. In a very
short time between 60 000 and 100 000 people; almost all civilians,
many of them women and children, were killed by means of German
bullets and clubs, by hanging, or by burning the huts where they
lived. Many were forced into the desert to die of starvation and
thirst or by drinking water at poisoned water wells. Thousands,
including women and children were condemned to slavery in the German
military and civil institutions, as well as for private companies and
on German farms. In the concentration camps the mortality rate was
more than 45 percent. Surviving Herero women were forced to become
'comfort women' for the settlers and soldiers. German geneticists came
to the country to perform racial studies of alleged Herero
inferiority. Herero skulls and skeletons were shipped to Germany,
supposedly for further study. The book argues that the genocide was
not the work of one rogue army general or the practises of the German
military in general, but that German colonial policy at the turn of
the twentieth century laid the foundation for the Herero genocide;
GSWA's status as 'new Germany' precluded the option of military,
economic or social failure in the colony; international and domestic
political pressures fuelled the Herero genocide; Germany conducted the
Herero genocide in order to acquire Herero land, rebuild German pride
and fulfil Germany's racist ideology; the Kaiser ordered the genocide;
and Germany's actions in GSWA provided it with relevant experience to
the orchestration of the Holocaust a few decades later.
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NIGERIA: JALAA WRITERS' COLLECTIVE
http://www.jalaawriters.com/aboutjalaa.html
Jalaa Writers' Collective was created in 2009 by ten Nigeria-based
writers who came together in an effort to tackle the book production
and distribution challenges of the local publishing industry. The
business model of Jalaa is based on the premise that there exists 'a
gap between professional, traditionally published books that sell in
the thousands and amateurish subsidy and self-published books that
sell in the hundreds'. As such, the collective aims to engage the
weaknesses of the industry by pooling the talent, resources and
experience of its members in a systematic and profit-oriented manner.
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9 Letters & Opinions
UNDERSTANDING AFRICA'S EXPLOITATION AND PLUNDER
Osarhieme George
How different is the West's economic model of liberalisation and
privatisation from Apartheid's economic system, asks Osarhieme George.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/73759
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10 African Writers' Corner
BRAGGING FLEA-KS
Dennis Dancan Mosiere
For Al-flea-ks
am using my ammu-diction
to kill your lexicography…
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/73725
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FAHAMU
Dennis Dancan Mosiere
Afrika sasa tumefahamu
Ni mwamko wetu na akili timamu
Kusaidiana ndo ujamaa uwe mtamu
Waache wanaopiga kelele
Kwetu Afrika ni ngoma na si lele
Kumbuka sera ya Mwalimu nyerere
Waambie wale wasiofahamu
Kujifahamisha watie hamu
Huu wito usambae hadi Lamu
Nairobi hata Mombasa Watamu
Arusha na kule Dar es Salaam
Kusoma na kuandika ndo chemichemi
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/African_Writers/73726
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11 Highlights French edition
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 191: AFRICA: TSUNAMIS SWEEPING THE POST-COLONIAL STATE
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.
http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/73680
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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.
http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/73683
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VIS-A-VIS THE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT: THE REACTIONARY BLOCK
Part 2: 2011: Arab spring?
Samir Amin
Just like during the time of a string of struggles in the past, the
anti-imperialist and social democratic movement in Egypt runs against
a powerful reactionary block. This block can be identified in terms of
its social components (of class, obviously) but it also owes its being
to all those who define it by means of political intervention and
ideological speeches in service to the followers.
http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/73678
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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.
http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/category/features/73677
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