you can' really have something called national liberation if the people don't support it. the flights of so many, and the force of the state, suggests something else.
we all started out as supporting revolution in my generation of the 60s. but we also learned of the mis-turns of revolution to totalitarian like states. it isn't all simple, but there is one real lesson, i believe, which is to question the cause, the fight, the methods. we don't accept a struggle on the face of it.
unless we have a real, close analysis of the situation, we can't make anything other than a facile judgment.
anyway, here is the hrw report: http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/eritrea
Eritrea's dismal human rights situation, exacerbated by indefinite military conscription, is causing thousands of Eritreans to flee their country every month. In early 2014, President Isaias Afewerki confirmed his lack of interest in an open society, stating: "[I]f there is anyone who thinks there will be democracy or [a] multiparty system in this country ... then that person can think of such things in another world."
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that about 4,000 Eritreans flee the country each month and that as of mid-2014, more than 313,000 Eritrean –over 5 percent of the population–have fled. More than 5,000 crossed into Ethiopia in October alone. Many have experienced further abuses or death at the hands of traffickers en route to Israel and Europe, while thousands of others have been detained in Libya and Israel in deplorable conditions.
In June, the Human Rights Council condemned Eritrea's "continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms," and adopted a resolution establishing a commission of inquiry to investigate abuses in the country. The most common patterns of abuse include open-ended military conscription; forced labor during conscription; arbitrary arrests, detentions, and disappearances; torture and other degrading treatment in detention; restrictions on freedoms of expression, conscience, and movement; and repression of religious freedom. Members of the Afar and Kunama ethnic groups flee because of land expropriations and discrimination by the government.
In September, Eritrea acceded to the United Nations Convention against Torture.
Indefinite Conscription and Forced Labor
The threat of indefinite military conscription compels thousands of young Eritreans to flee their country. Among recent defections were 11 members of the national football team, including the coach, who fled while in Kenya in December 2013. The national football squad has lost almost 50 members in such defections over the past five years.
By law, each Eritrean is compelled to serve 18 months in national service starting at age 18 but in practice conscripts serve indefinitely, many for over a decade. One 14-year-old refugee said, "The military does not have an end, it is for life." While most young Eritreans begin military training for the last year of high school, children as young as 15 are sometimes conscripted. Desertions and refusals to report became more common in 2014.
Conscripts receive inadequate pay to support family members, a financial plight exacerbated by food-price inflation in 2014. Conscripts are also subject to military discipline and are harshly treated throughout their long service. Perceived infractions result in incarceration and in physical abuse often amounting to torture. The length of incarceration and type of physical abuse inflicted is at the whim of military commanders and jailers. Female conscripts are frequently sexually abused by commanders.
On 6/14/15 9:33 PM, Folu Ogundimu wrote:
I see how well informed you are. Did your Eritrean confidants also tell you what proportion of the Eritrean population is in prison, forced labor camps, and compulsory extended military service? And is it such a mystery that so many of the Africans perishing in the Sahara and the Mediterranean on the flight to Europe are Eritreans? Perhaps these facts are concocted too.
Wake up Dr. Shabazz, true Pan-Africanists don't defend evil blindly just because we are all black brothers. We cannot excuse Western imperialism and its neo-imperial agenda but turn a blind eye to the worst atrocities being perpetrated against the African people by megalomaniac leaders who have self-indulgent aspirations of grandeur.
I will say no more on this topic. You are welcome to your own views and agenda, brother.
F.
Sent from my iPhone--I have met many Eritreans who have told me otherwise. What is your source for comparing Eritrea to Nazi Germany?--
On Jun 14, 2015, at 7:15 AM, Folu Ogundimu <ogundimu3@gmail.com> wrote:
Don't uphold Eritrea as a paragon of a moral, modern African state, please. We can do better than live in Gulags and hail oppressors as patriotic leaders.
F.
Sent from my iPhoneAgree, sister Gloria.
And when African leaders chart a path of self-determination they are assassinated, overthrown, smeared or otherwise undermined--frequently with western connivance. The most recent example being Eritrea now labeled a "brutal dictatorship" by the US govt.
I've ordered Taiwo's book and was able to read the intro and a substantial part of Chapter 1. Interestingly, the author says he identified with Marxist principles in Nigeria. He then went to Canada to school only to discover that capitalism wasn't that bad after all. Modernity is western thing (no mention of the ongoing oppression of First Nations/Indigenous Canadiens). Yes, he concedes, the west has got some things wrong, slavery, for example. However, because they have embraced individualism and the related principle of individual rights, western nations have shown the capacity to correct themselves. He correctly notes that all societies have gone through a communalistic stage. Africans, according to Taiwo, are stuck in this phase thus impeding their development.
African Americans didn't have to invent anything new in their demand for equal rights, they simply insisted that America live up to its lofty principles of modernity. I agree. But that isn't the whole story. He is unaware that communism played a key role in challenging racism in the Jim Crow South. A role that was only reluctantly taken up by the NAACP. He is critical of the conservative American right and what he see as the turn from modern ideas. He mentions specifically mass incarceration, the assault of voting rights, etc.
Taiwo believes that "Africans" haven't embraced "modernity" because they focus incessantly on its negative aspects whilst ignoring the many positive elements. He seems to miss that contemporary geopolitics have also played a significant role in what he calls Africa's "backwardsness"; that western development depends on African underdevelopment; that the principles of modernity didn't just "correct" gross injustices. Rather "modernity" America required the brutal oppression of Indigenous Americans and Africans. That oppression is less brutish but ongoing. Just as development in the west depends on Africa's raw materials presently.
kzs
On Jun 13, 2015, at 3:00 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:
Is Taiwo calling for Africa to embrace neo-liberalism, cut-throat capitalism,
western hegemony, World Governance (unipolarity), extra-judicial drones,
a military - prison-industrial system, Big Pharma and its toxic pharmaceuticals,
corporatism and rule by corporations etc.
These features may be considered part of modernity
by some analysts, rightly or wrongly.
That is why I look forward eagerly to the definition of modernity.
Since you have read the book, Pablo, kindly shed some light on this
so that we don't jump to the wrong conclusions.
G
Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department
CCSU. New Britain. CT 06050
africahistory.net
vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries on
Africa and the African Diaspora
________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Pablo [pidahosa@yorku.ca]
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2015 3:11 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Professor Olufemi Taiwo: "Africa Must be Modern" ?
It would help if people read Femi's book.
Pablo
On 2015-06-13 10:49 AM, Anunoby, Ogugua wrote:
I agree. I will add exploring modernity, warts and all too.
oa
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2015 2:28 PM
To: 'usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>'; Wanazuoni
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Professor Olufemi Taiwo: "Africa Must be Modern" ?
I hope he spent quite a while defining what he considered 'modernity' to be.
GE
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 8:00 PM
To: Wanazuoni
Cc: Waafrika
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Professor Olufemi Taiwo: "Africa Must be Modern" ?
"The apprehension that African nations feel about embracing modernity, which has hindered their economic and political development, is the focus of a new book by Olúfémi Táíwò, professor of Africana studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. In "Africa Must be Modern," Táíwò explores the current problems and political climate in African countries and their progress in recent years; and compares their growth to similar countries in other regions of the world. Costa Rica, for example, preserves its forests and earns substantial revenue from ecotourism, while Liberia risks losing its forests to logging. While the two countries have similar populations, Costa Ricans can expect to live two decades longer than Liberians. "Similar comparisons can be made of, say, Chile and Zambia, Ethiopia and the Philippines, Brazil and Nigeria, and so on," he writes. These comparisons support Táíwò's argument that modernity is necessary for African nations' survival: "If we would compare ourselves with others, rather than differentiate ourselves from them, we might be shamed into action that will move us forward with the rest of humanity." - Africana professor issues call for modernity in Africa | Cornell Chronicle<http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/05/africana-professor-issues-call-modernity-africa>
<http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/05/africana-professor-issues-call-modernity-africa>
Africana professor issues call for modernity in Africa |...<http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/05/africana-professor-issues-call-modernity-africa>
TáíwòThe apprehension that African nations feel about embracing modernity, which has hindered their economic and political development, is the focus of a new book...
View on www.news.cornell.edu<http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/05/africana-professor-issues-call-modernity-africa>
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"In a forthright and uncompromising manner, Olúfémi Táíwò explores Africa's hostility toward modernity and how that hostility has impeded economic development and social and political transformation. What has to change for Africa to be able to respond to the challenges of modernity and globalization? Táíwò insists that Africa can renew itself only by fully engaging with democracy and capitalism and by mining its untapped intellectual resources. While many may not agree with Táíwò's positions, they will be unable to ignore what he says. This is a bold exhortation for Africa to come into the 21st century" - Africa Must Be Modern: A Manifesto<http://www.amazon.com/Africa-Must-Be-Modern-Manifesto/dp/0253012759>
Africa Must Be Modern: A Manifesto<http://www.amazon.com/Africa-Must-Be-Modern-Manifesto/dp/0253012759>
Africa Must Be Modern: A Manifesto [Olúfémi Táíwò] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In a forthright and uncompromising manner, Olúfémi Táíwò explores Africa's hostility toward modernity and how that hostility has impeded economic development and socia...
View on www.amazon.com<http://www.amazon.com/Africa-Must-Be-Modern-Manifesto/dp/0253012759>
Preview by Yahoo
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