USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Pambazuka News 613: Lumumba, M.L.King Jr, woes at World Bank continue

PAMBAZUKA NEWS 613: LUMUMBA, M.L.KING JR, WOES AT WORLD BANK CONTINUE

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Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839

CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Comment & analysis, 3. Advocacy & campaigns,
4. Books & arts, 5. Letters & Opinions


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1 Features

LETTER TO PATRICE EMERY LUMUMBA
Ama Biney

On the 52nd anniversary of the vicious assassination of Patrice
Lumumba, Ama Biney reflects on both the current state of the DRC and
Africa, arguing that the Congo is not only a 'world problem' but
remains critical to the future unity of Africa due to its resources
and geo-strategic location
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85972
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PATRICE LUMUMBA'S RELEVANCE
Ideas for today's generation of African leaders
Antoine Roger Lokongo

During the short life of Patrice Lumumba, before he was savagely
assassinated, he committed himself to several important ideas and
principles that a new generation of Africans must re-visit
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85969
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UN WANTS TO MAKE WAR IN CONGO?
For whom, for what, against whom?
Jean-Paul Kimonyo

The UN in the DRC is stabilizing the predatory Congolese state and
part of the failure of the stabilization strategy is due to the
insecurity stemming from conflicts between communities revolving
around land, citizenship, control of space and the externalization of
neighbouring instability
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85966
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MLK'S LEGACY AND THE LABOUR MOVEMENT
Abayomi Azikiwe

From the Montgomery bus boycott, the marches on Detroit and Washington
to the sanitation strike in Memphis, civil rights and labour worked to
break down US apartheid which is integral to the legacy of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85970
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WORLD BANK RACISM: DEATHS AND SUFFERINGS
Fatuma Mokaba

The group Justice for Blacks indicts the World Bank for its racial
injustice against its own black staff as America celebrates Dr. Martin
Luther King's birthday and questions whether the new President of the
bank will uphold the caste system of discrimination against blacks or
seek to walk a different path that genuinely addresses systemic racial
discrimination
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85968
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AFRICAN AMERICANS AT THE WORLD BANK
Beneath the racial underneath
Phyllis Muhammad and Adrienne Smith

The birthday of Dr Martin Luther King reminds the world that African
Americans suffered for centuries under slavery and during the Jim Crow
era of legalized segregation. Yet the World Bank continues to target
them to this day
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85971
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ZUMA AND ZULU NATIONALISM: A RESPONSE TO GUMEDE
Gary K. Busch

A long memory is necessary in untangling the political relationships
among the Zulus as well as the historic conflict between the ANC and
Inkatha, which Gary Busch assesses in his rejoinder to William Gumede
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85967
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2 Comment & analysis

ELECTIONS 2012: GHANA ON THE PATH TO DEEPENING ITS DEMOCRACY
K. Owusu-Ampomah

The recent elections point to the increasing legitimation of liberal
democracy and suggest a political culture that seems to reiterate
Nkrumah's belief that "the black man is capable of managing his own
affairs"
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85982
******


ETHIOPIA: A TIME TO HEAL, A TIME TO RECONCILE
Alemayehu G Mariam

Evidence on the hate crime committed at Addis Ababa University does
not point an accusatory finger at students but at an invisible hand,
possibly the State. The time has come for Ethiopian youth to lead in
national healing
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85974
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WHAT WENT WRONG? LESSONS FROM MALAWI'S FOOD CRISIS
Autocracy and aid dependency killed an agriculture success story
Masimba Tafirenyika

Malawi has gone from bountiful maize crops to renewed uncertainty:
Strong, democratic leadership and sound policies are essential for
ensuring food security
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85977
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NIGERIA: JONATHAN, TWO BISHOPS AND THE REST
Uche Igwe

Nigerians are getting increasingly disappointed by President
Jonathan's uninspiring record. Religious leaders could play a greater
role in pushing him and other politicians to dutifully discharge the
mandate given by the electorate
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85976
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WAR ON TERROR KENYA STYLE
Abdul Ghelleh

Besides the bitter political infighting, endemic culture of corruption
and the ever-present fear of more tribal and political violence during
the upcoming March 4 elections, Kenya's war on terror has hurt many
innocent people
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85978
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WORLD BANK ROLE IN NAMIBIAN EDUCATION CRISIS
Shaun Whittaker

Namibia has scrapped primary school fees, a stark rejection of the
World Bank's neo-liberal fundamentalist education model imposed on the
country, which denied many their basic right and resulted in vast
social disparities
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85979
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BEYOND CHIMAMANDA AND THE 'RUMU'-'UMU' CONTROVERSY
Okachikwu Dibia

Research on Ikwerre origin does not suggest they are Igbo. But a long
lopsided relationship with Igbo led to the loss of Ikwerre identity.
They have suffered all kinds of humiliation and marginalization within
the Federal Republic of Nigeria
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85980
******


COULD THERE BE EXCEPTIONS TO INVIOLABILITY OF DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY?
Munyonzwe Hamalengwa

International law protects the inviolability of the integrity and
dignity of diplomatic agents and this extends to the property and
premises of diplomatic missions. But could there be any exceptions to
the inviolability in international law of diplomatic immunity? Should
there be?
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85973
******


AMERICANS AND KING'S HOLIDAY: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Yvette Marie Alex-Assensoh and A.B. Assensoh

King's holiday will be celebrated in America next Monday. It is an
opportunity for everyone to remember the revered civil rights
crusader's contribution not just to the liberation of African
Americans but all oppressed black people in the world
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85981
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TIM SCOTT TO THE U.S. SENATE: BIG DEAL OR MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
Judson L. Jeffries

Until Scott actually campaigns for the office and is elected, any
definitive proclamation regarding his recent good fortunate should be
tempered
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/85975
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3 Advocacy & campaigns

AFRICAN VOICES OF LEGAL EMPOWERMENT
Chi Mgbako

With the cost of a lawyer quite high in Africa, leaving poorer
individuals to navigate the winding road to justice alone, community
paralegals are helpind individuals and communities demand and realize
their rights
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/85983
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SUDAN: END THE CRACKDOWN ON NGOS
Amnesty International

Working on development, human rights and peace has become increasingly
difficult in Sudan. In the last month, at least three NGOs have been
closed and their staff harassed and questioned by the National
Security Service (NSS). This crackdown is expected to continue in the
coming weeks.

Take action to stop the crackdown. Sign the action here (
http://amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/CrackdownOnSudanNGOs ) and an
email will be sent directly to the Sudanese government demanding that
they allow the NGOs to reopen, end harassment of their staff and
respect freedom of association.
******


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4 Books & arts

A REAL LIFE DJANGO
Margaret Kimberley

Audiences cheering the exploits of the Django fictional character do
so in part because they mistakenly believe that this work of fiction
has no historical basis in it at all
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/85987
******


WHAT IS HAITI TO ME?
Ama Biney

The heartbeat of Africa cloned to the Caribbean;

A nation of defiant and valiant freedom fighters who dared to rise up

Against the French, Spanish and British colonial overlords against the
chains of slavery;

Who desired freedom and were prepared to wage a 13-year-long guerrilla
war against

European overlords who did not believe in 'liberte, fraternite,
equalite' for blacks;

A nation of half a million Africans who cherished their African-ness
in the Vodun religion

Against the caricatures and demonization of this religion by Hollywood;

A people who believed their freedom was worth paying the French 150
million francs -

Yet were to be squeezed and punished in other ways by American occupation

And deathly neo-liberalism that fails to trickle down growth;

A people who know the meaning of struggle, pain, suffering, tragedy -

But remain in spite of hurricanes and tornadoes that cannot quench
their spirits and hopes for a dignified life

A people who profoundly know the meaning of dictatorship lived during
the Duvalier era

That 'disappeared' thousands, killed many who spoke out against
kleptocracy, corruption, and inequality;

A people who know the meaning of neo-colonialism; that house negroes
remain in the land;

A people who know that uncle toms and aunt jemimas are a powerful
minority in collusion

With Uncle Sam wearing a black face and their neo-colonial brothers
and sisters across in the neo-colonial Dominican Republic;

A people who know that colorism remains in the land and the ruling
elite are not safe

Under a genuine democracy but with their US supplied automatic rifles

The presence of the Tonton Macoutes that they support and the various
military attaches Uncle Sam funds to allow the rich to sleep easily at
night;

It is a people who have recovered their agency and voted for a radical
priest in two genuine elections

Only for the US and their detractors to deny this electoral victory on
account that they did not like what the radical priest represented;

It is the masses who see the rich minority seated at a 'vast table
covered with white damask and overflowing with good food' whilst the
people are 'hunched over in the dirt and starving' [1] - waiting once
more to knock down that table and construct a new one in which all
will equitably eat.

ENDNOTE

1. Words of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
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5 Letters & Opinions

TIME TO LEGALIZE ACCESS TO GUNS IN NIGERIA?
Niyi Adebisi

With the spate of murders and assassinations of unarmed Nigerians in
Nigeria by security agents and armed robbers, is it not the time to
call for legislation that legalizes self protection by allowing
Nigerians to legally possess?

The daylight murder of Dr. Irawo Adamolekun in the city of Lagos with
dozens of passersby, AND with IMPUNITY, calls for urgent revision of
our gun access laws.

If at least two or three Nigerians who witnessed that shooting had
guns, they would have at least prevented that hoodlum from escaping
from the scene without trace. In the same vein, many Nigerians would
be able to challenge armed robbers that operate in their
neighbourhood. In addition the unprovoked maltreatment of civilians by
security agents in Nigeria will be limited if such security agent know
that the civilian they are about to victimize may possess gun and may
be able to defend themselves against unprovoked aggression.

The current debate about gun control in America due to recent spate of
violence may be an argument against my proposal, but we have to
realize that things are getting out of hand in Nigeria and the
Nigerian security agents are not protecting Nigerians. This is the
main reason to start looking for alternative ways to ensure protection
of Nigerians.
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