Pambazuka News 766: World Bank racism, sham elections and interventions
17 March 2016 CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Announcements, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Advocacy & campaigns, 5. Jobs
Features MY LIFE STORY, NOT MY OBITUARY: FIGHTING CANCER AND RACISM AT THE WORLD BANK Jane Biko  The overlords in the World Bank, who are protected by absolute immunity from lawsuits, do not realize that racial discrimination is not all about rejected positions and denied promotions. It is a traumatic experience because it chips at people's human dignity. It costs lives. BLACK MOTHERS LITERALLY DYING FOR THEIR CHILDREN IN THE WORLD BANK A call for the resignation of World Bank President Jim Yong Kim  Dr. Kim has taken an uncompromising stance protecting violators of human rights and denying their victims access to justice, even in the most egregious cases involving those who are battling cancer and depression. Dr. Kim has only one honourable thing to do: Resign. If he fails, the Bank's Board of Governors should force him out. '
WORLD BANK COMPARES AFRICAN STAFF TO ANIMAL': RETIREES REACT  On February 16, 2016, Pambazuka News carried an article by Yonas Biru, a former World Bank staff, titled, 'World Bank compares African staff to animal in official report'. The article precipitated an exchange among three former senior staff of the Bank, which we reproduce here. We have withheld their names and edited their comments slightly to protect their identities. A DATE WITH THE MACHETE: LOOMING CHAOS IN KENYA'S 2017 ELECTIONS Henry Makori  As Kenya prepares for its next general elections in 2017, the parallels to previous violent elections are staggering. The electoral commission and the courts have lost credibility in the eyes of the public. Already the country is polarized along ethnic lines. The ruling party insists it will win a second term. The opposition says there are rigging plans afoot and that it will not accept a fraudulent outcome or go to court to seek redress. The signs are ominous. BURDENED BY HISTORY: WHERE DOES MUSEVENI GO FROM HERE? Vick Lukwago Ssali  With opposition candidates roughed up, arrested and held in house detention for fear they might 'disrupt' the electoral process, the man who once preached that staying too long in power would lead to corruption has been "re-elected" for an incredible fifht term to stretch his 30-year reign - and now himself lives under a cloud of corruption and abuse of power. What can Ugandans do? CONTESTED ELECTIONS: UGANDA'S FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN Odomaro Mubangizi  By all accounts, Uganda's elections last month were far from free and fair. Many people find it difficult to accept that the declaration of Museveni as winner reflected the will of the people. Irregularities were massive. Repression of the opposition was shocking – to the extent that leading Museveni opponent Kizza Besigye was placed under house arrest to prevent him from lodging a petition at the Supreme Court. It is not clear how the post-election period will unfold. REMEMBERING HUGO CHÁVEZ: A LEGACY THAT LIVES ON IN AFRICA Yves Niyiragira  March 5 marked the third anniversary of the death of the revolutionary Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Revolutionaries are rare. Chávez's socialist thought and visionary policies aimed at radically transforming his country and meeting the needs of the majority of his people have vital lessons for Africa and the rest of the Global South. EXPOSING THE LIBYAN AGENDA: A CLOSER LOOK AT HILLARY'S EMAILS Ellen Brown  The US-NATO intervention was allegedly undertaken on humanitarian grounds, after reports of mass atrocities. But Hilary's emails reveal that the chief concern was not about the security of the people. It was about the security of global banking, money and oil. PENTAGON ATTACKS IN SOMALIA EXPOSE FAILURE OF DECADE-LONG WAR STRATEGY Bombings and ground campaign have not brought stability to the country Abayomi Azikiwe  The latest phase in the war of containment, domination and control of the resource-rich Horn of Africa state is approaching ten years since Washington attempted its renewed efforts to impose a political dispensation on the country beginning in 2006. CAN THE ANC RESOLVE THE LAND QUESTION IN SOUTH AFRICA? Motsoko Pheko  The whole point of the freedom struggle was the repossession of land by African people from the hands of Europeans who had grabbed it. But the ruling ANC will never resolve land question in South Africa. Its "Freedom Charter" long renounced the land question in 1955. Its "willing seller and willing buyer" policy is an unmitigated disaster. ARCHIE MAFEJE: AN UNFORGETTABLE AFRICAN INTELLECTUAL GIANT Frank Lekaba  Archie championed the pan-Africanist ideal that Africans should speak for themselves and understand themselves through their own efforts. As an anthropologist he made immense contributions to a better understanding of African people, their achievements and struggles. In a continent where the academy is often occupied by fence-sitters and academic cowards, Archie's thought is an outstanding challenge. REWRITING THE LEGACY OF WALTER RODNEY? Matthew Quest  The invented "Rodney" as human rights activist and advocate of economic development is reconcilable with a sense of wonder that, had he not been assassinated, he may have become a future president of Guyana. Why have there been silences in recent years avoiding the matter that Rodney was a revolutionary who wished to overturn nation-states and ruling classes above society?
Announcements NIGERIAN SENATE REJECTION OF THE GENDER AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES BILL (GEOB). Nigerian Feminist Forum(NFF) Lagos, 17th March 2016 - The rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill (GEOP) by members of Nigeria's Senate on Tuesday the 15th of March 2016, did not come as a surprise, given the consistent indications of trivializing gender related issues observed in the present political dispensation in Nigeria which also has the lowest representation of women in key elective and appointive decision making positions since 2007. The Nigerian parliament as presently constituted has roughly 4% of female members of parliament. The overwhelming rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill by a male dominated legislature is a clear indication of why more women are needed in decision making positions in order to safeguard the erosion of their rights and welfare.
PUBLIC LECTURE BY THE "DICTATOR HUNTER' The New York City Bar's Committee on African Affairs and the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice cordially invite you to a presentation by REED BRODY, Esq., Counsel and Spokesperson for Human Rights Watch, who specializes in pursuing abusive leaders for atrocities and human rights violations. Monday, April 11, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. Fordham Law School, Classroom 3-02 140 West 62nd St., New York, NY (between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues) Dubbed the "Dictator Hunter" in one of the four documentaries about him, Reed has worked since 1999 as counsel for the victims in the case of the exiled former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, who was finally tried in Senegal after a 25-year campaign to bring him to justice. The historic trial is the first time a deposed ruler has been tried by a court of a country other than his own for human rights violations. It also marks the first time that a trial in Africa has relied on the international law principle of universal jurisdiction a trial in Africa has relied on the international law principle of universal jurisdiction which allows a court to hear a case concerning serious crimes committed by foreign actors against foreign victims. Reed has also worked with the victims of Augusto Pinochet and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. He is the author of four Human Rights Watch reports on U.S. treatment of prisoners in the "war on terror". The presentation is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the NY City Bar's Committee on African Affairs (co-Chairs, Elizabeth Barad and Jason Spears) and the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School (Executive Director, Elisabeth Wickeri) and co-sponsored by the NY City Bar's Committees on International Human Rights (Chair, Anil Kalhan), and International Law (Chair. Caline Mouawad), Council on International Affairs (Chair, Martin Flaherty) and the Cyrus R.Vance Center for International Justice (Alexander Papachristou, Exercutive Director). Please R.S.V.P. to elizabethbarad@gmail.com CALL FOR ARTICLES: THE AU AND PAN-AFRICANISM TODAY Pambazuka News invites contributions to assess the extent to which the African Union (AU) has promoted and protected Africa's unity in the current globalised world.
RECONSIDERING AUTOMATIC PRIVILEGE AND TOKENISM IN POLITICAL PROCESSES Salma Maoulidi Women's exclusion from public spaces, and particularly the political realm, is systematic. It is structural in nature and is intensified by attitudes, cultures, norms and practices that seek to explain rather than address their exclusion from positions of power.
WILL THE SKY FALL WHEN BIG NGOS MOVE SOUTH? Valerie Bah INGOs moving their HQs to the Global South will not alter the management problems with international development and human rights work, manifest in elitist decision-making and unequal resource distribution.
FREE ETHIOPIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS! Stop the criminalization of environmental and human rights defenders One year after their arrest on March 15, 2015, three food, land, and human rights defenders continue to languish in an Ethiopian jail. After several court hearings, the prosecution has yet to present any evidence to support the spurious charge of "terrorism" under Ethiopia's controversial counter-terrorism law. A March 1 hearing was once again adjourned and rescheduled for March 15, due to the failure of witnesses to appear in court.
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