Thursday, December 1, 2011

Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

Kennedy,
Congratulations for forcing me back to this thread, next time you may not be successful. I do not know what these "corrections" mean to you, as for me, this exchange is a friendly one. You deploy angry words as if this is warfare.

Anyway, I am of the opinion that your interpretation of persecution differs considerably from mine, but let us leave it at that.
Let me remind you that in 1966, Achebe working in Lagos or Ibadan had no other reason to go into hiding other than the security hunt on account of his novel. In the North, yes. In Lagos or Ibadan in 1967, yes. This too should be by the way.

Why this Abani thing keeps coming up on this thread beats my imagination, final word, you can send Abani to the hottest part of hell if you like, I do not care.

My brother, since there appears to be a trophy to be won if Chidi Anthony Opara is wrestled to the ground, I accept defeat, you have won. This victory would at least give you peace of mind and me, the chance to "move on"(to Arugo Motor Park Owerri of course).

--------Chidi.


 
 


From: Kennedy Emetulu <kemetulu@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 5:28 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

 
 
 
Chidi,
 
Your skills at misrepresentation is noted, but you of all people ought to know that you wouldn't be going anywhere with that with me. Here is a place of record and I have never and won't hesitate to push your words under your nose where necessary. In your case, it is necessary and I have done so. Indeed, I am now going to do so again, so you are clear about the futility and ill-advisedness of your present endeavours.
 
 
"This is getting more interesting. I talked about persecutions suffered by Hubert Ogunde and Eedris Abdulkarim because of what they said in their play and music, Kennedy "corrected" me that there were no persecutions, only that the play and music in question were banned(as if that is not persecution)." - Chidi
 
Your statement above is untrue, because not only that I didn't say there were no persecutions, my correction was based on your supposed correction of Pius. It is therefore important to revisit what Pius said and your supposed correction. This is what Pius said:
 
"..........No Nigerian writer has ever been persecuted because of a novel or a poem or any such thing. Not even Ken Saro Wiwa or Wole Soyinka have that history. Writers have been persecuted by the Nigerian state because of their political praxis. Never because of literature". – Pius
 
It's obvious from the above that Pius is talking strictly of writers and literature, but you took the liberty to extend it to artistes and neither Pius nor I took issue with that. But then, I took issue with what you said exactly as part of your effort at 'correcting' Pius in relation to the issue. First, here is exactly what you said about Ogunde:
 
Late Hubert Ogunde was severely persecuted in the early 1960s by the Tafawa Balewa and Akintola federal and regional governments for what he said in the play "Yoruba Ronu"Chidi (emphasis mine)
 
And here is what I said by way of correction:
 
"Yes, Ogunde's Yoruba Ronu was banned in Western Nigeria only for sometime, but it had great success elsewhere around the country. Ogunde was never arrested or interrogated. Whatever you call persecution was no more than that ban and it had nothing to do with the Tafawa Balewa government, even though we all know that the Akintola government in the West was in alliance with Balewa's party. If you have other facts to support your claim of him being persecuted in anyway apart from his play being banned in the West, let's have these".
 
So, I corrected you by pointing out the fact that there was no case of Ogunde being "severely persecuted". Banning his play for a short time in one part of the country is not severe persecution. In the context of our discussion as per Abani, Ogunde was not touched – he was not arrested, interrogated, hounded, imprisoned or inconvenienced in any way. You mentioned that Tafawa Belewa's government was part of those who "severely persecuted" him and again, I made clear from facts that he was never a subject of persecution by Balewa's government, neither was the ban on his play extended nationally where the Balewa government had jurisdiction. Finally, if we are to adopt Ogunde as a 'writer', even if not strictly in line with what Pius said, we again justify what Pius said, which is that no writer (in this case we include Ogunde for your convenience) has ever been persecuted because of a novel or poem or any such thing, but only for their political praxis. Ogunde's Yoruba Ronu was his intervention in the Western Regional Elections and the politics of the time (political praxis), which is exactly what Pius was talking about. So, my brother, the bare facts show that you were wrong and Pius was right, even if we extend the meaning of "writers" to cover Ogunde or the term "literature" to cover his work.
 
On Eedris Abdulkarim, this is what you said about him (again in supposed attempt to correct Pius, even though Pius's statement wasn't referring to people like him, as he wasn't referring to people like Ogunde – notwithstanding that he impliedly gave you the latitude to include them):
 
"Eedris Abdulkarim, a Nigerian contemporary musician complained of severe persecutions during the Obasanjo civil regime for what he sang in the music " Nigeria Jaga Jaga"".- Chidi (emphasis mine)
 
And, again, here is what I said by way of correction:
 
"I have met Eedris and had time to talk about what you are referring to above which was no more than Obasanjo taking umbrage at his description of Nigeria as "Jaga Jaja". In typical Obasanjo fashion, he abused Idris and said "Your papa and mama na him be jaga-jaga". Obasanjo banned the song on radio, but it was still being played in nightclubs. But it all ended comically. Obasanjo himself invited Eedris to play in the Tsunami Concert in Aso Rock and there was the rib-cracking story of Eedris asking one of his dancers, a midget called "One Kilo" to slap Obasanjo. The latter ended up only dragging Obasanjo's agbada and Eedris, having confirmed his 'courage' gave him full employment with his La Creme Records".
 
So, I corrected you by pointing out the fact that there was no case of Eedris complaining of "severe persecutions", because there was none. Banning his play for a short time on radio (which was effectively ineffectual) is not severe persecution. In the context of our discussion as per Abani, Eedris was not touched – he was not arrested, interrogated, hounded, imprisoned or inconvenienced in any way. Finally, if we are to adopt him as a 'writer', even if not strictly in line with what Pius said, we again would be justifying what he said, which is that no writer (in this case we include Eedris for your convenience) has ever been persecuted because of a novel or poem or any such thing, but only for their political praxis. Eedris's Nigeria Jaga Jaga was his intervention in the 2003 elections and a criticism of corruption and bad governance by the Obasanjo's government (political praxis), which is exactly what Pius was talking about. So, again, my brother, the bare facts show that you were wrong and Pius was right, even if we extend the meaning of "writers" to cover Eedris or the term "literature" to cover his work.
 
 
"He also revealed that the then President Obasanjo cursed Eedris in public because of the music. Kennedy, if a Nigerian leader show anger towards you in the presence of aides, security, contractors, hangers-on(thugs), captains of industries, etc, that is the mother of persecutions. Do you think any big organization in Nigeria would want to engage a musician who is known to be in the bad book of the President?" - Chidi
 
Here you are obviously scraping the barrel. Persecution is an active thing. In the context of our discussion about Chris Abani's conduct, a mere ban of an album or track does not register as equivalence. More crucially, the Head of State merely voicing disagreement with the content of a musician's song does not qualify as persecution until he deploys the instruments of state to physically antagonize such a musician. Obasanjo didn't. Instead, the controversy shot Eedris to the top of the charts, increased business for him and Obasanjo further 'rewarded' him by inviting him personally to perform in Aso Rock. That did not stop Eedris from robustly responding to the President's criticisms in his Letter to Mr President or paying a tribute to Obasanjo's wife, Stella on her death. There is nothing indicating that Eedris complained of "severe persecutions" neither did Obasanjo's subsequent actions indicate that.
 
 
"I also talked about Achebe arrested and interrogated because of what he wrote in his novel, again Kennedy "corrected" that Achebe went into hiding with his family and resurfaced when normalcy returned, not because of what he wrote in the novel. Obi Nwakanma came into the picture and talked about Achebe hiding because of the content of the novel, he also talked about the "D branch" which I understand is of the Police. I subscribed to that and you guys are saying that because I specifically mentioned "arrest", that I should not have subscribed to that post". - Chidi
 
Misrepresentation at its height! Who told you not to subscribe to Nwakanma's post? The question is you are adopting Nwakanma's post as a validation of your untruth; but in truth, it is, like my account, an exposure of your misrepresentation of the facts! I asked you, what did Nwakanma say in his piece on Achebe that I hadn't said earlier in response to you and in far much more detail? Was Professor Chinua Achebe arrested and interrogated immediately after the 1966 coup for what he wrote in the novel A Man Of The People, as you claim? The emphatic answer is a resounding "No!", so what the bloody point are you making? Of course, Achebe, like all prominent Igbo persons in Lagos at that time had to relocate to the East for fear of their lives, based on the unstable national conditions and the clear persecution of the Igbo in those days by those who just came to power. Or, as I asked you earlier, did every Igbo who relocated to the East in those times do so because they wrote Man of The People or any such thing?
 
 
"I may have wrongly used the word "arrest", but bottom line is that the novelist was sought for, for questioning on account of what he wrote in a novel. He may or may not have been arrested, but whether he was arrested or not is not the issue, the issue remains that he was hiding from security because of what he wrote (at least you guys seem to agree with that), this of course leads to the fact that the Nigerian establishment reads and takes notes of literary productions". - Chidi
 
Is this a round about admission that your attempt at correction Pius was a failure? See above to confirm that all this talk is based on false analysis and conclusion! No one is saying the Nigerian establishment does not read or take note of literary productions; what Pius is saying is that they will not usually arrest or persecute writers or such literary persons based on what they have written, because even though they have the PhDs and a litany of Professors working for them, they rarely can understand literary appreciation to the extent of getting the real message in these works in the literary sense (when Pius says the Nigerian state is illiterate, he meant illiterate in literature appreciation, not in the sense that operatives do not have degrees or haven't been to university). The Nigerian state, as Pius pointed out and as you or anyone has been unable to disprove, only arrests and imprisons writers for their political praxis, not solely for their literary work or message. The arrests and imprisonments of people like Soyinka and Saro-Wiwa confirm this.
 
At any rate, in the context to our discussion here, there's no use dancing on the edges of the core issue. If you have any example of any writer who has been ARRESTED and IMPRISONED in Nigeria solely for his/her art, not his/her politics (as claimed by the lying Abani), tell us now! Otherwise, just admit your incorrect corrections of Pius and move on! You should know that some of us are too long in the tooth to be befuddled by your intellectual abracadabra! Yes, run go your Motor Park and don't return until you are ready to engage here with the degree of intellectual honesty required.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 10:41
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

Ikhide and Kennedy,
This is getting more interesting. I talked about persecutions suffered by Hubert Ogunde and Eedris Abdulkarim because of what they said in their play and music, Kennedy "corrected" me that there were no persecutions, only that the play and music in question were banned(as if that is not persecution). He also revealed that the then President Obasanjo cursed Eedris in public because of the music. Kennedy, if a Nigerian leader show anger towards you in the presence of aides, security, contractors, hangers-on(thugs), captains of industries, etc, that is the mother of persecutions. Do you think any big organization in Nigeria would want to engage a musician who is known to be in the bad book of the President?

I also talked about Achebe arrested and interrogated because of what he wrote in his novel, again Kennedy "corrected" that Achebe went into hiding with his family and resurfaced when normalcy returned, not because of what he wrote in the novel. Obi Nwakanma came into the picture and talked about Achebe hiding because of the content of the novel, he also talked about the "D branch" which I understand is of the Police. I subscribed to that and you guys are saying that because I specifically mentioned "arrest", that I should not have subscribed to that post.

I may have wrongly used the word "arrest", but bottom line is that the novelist was sought for, for questioning on account of what he wrote in a novel. He may or may not have been arrested, but whether he was arrested or not is not the issue, the issue remains that he was hiding from security because of what he wrote (at least you guys seem to agree with that), this of course leads to the fact that the Nigerian establishment reads and takes notes of literary productions.

Abeg I dey go do my Motor Park runs jare.

----Chidi

 

From: Kennedy Emetulu <kemetulu@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:53 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

 
.
 
..
 
C'mon, Chidi! What are you on about? What has Mr Nwakanma said that I haven't said earlier and in more detail in response to you? Just in case you have forgotten, here is what you said in purportedly correcting Pius:
 
"Professor Chinua Achebe was arrested and interrogated immediately after the 1966 coup for what he wrote in the novel "A Man Of The People".Chidi
 
Now read it again and convince me that you and Nwakanma are saying the same thing? If you put yourself forward to correct someone, then be sure of your facts before excoriating them! From my account and Nwakanma's account, it turns out that Pius was right all along. You got your facts wrong! Achebe was never arrested or interrogated immediately after the 1966 coup as you claim! What we know is that there were stories that elements of those who planned the July 1966 coup thought he had knowledge of the coup in their ignorant assessment of his Man of the People. Achebe did not hang around to have a word with these people. In the national atmosphere of the time, like most Igbo persons in prominent position outside the East, he found his way to the safety of his hometown, Ogidi. Or was Achebe the only Igbo man that decided to find their way back East at the time? Did all the Igbo that poured into Igboland from far and near write Man of the People? Look, there is nothing in my account or Nwakanma's account that supports your claim. You got it wrong! Admit it and move on!
 
..
 
 
 
 

From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 9:48
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

"Kennedy:
In 1966, Chinua Achebe's A Man of the People drove him into hiding. The coincidence with its public launch in the same week as the January 15 coup certainly had much to do with it, as with the close reading of a "prophetic" action in the novel which the folk in the D Branch thought too "prophetic" to be innocent. All said, to presume that "the Nigerian state is an illiterate state" is to project a most damning and asinine complex. As many of us who encountered some of the folk of the Nigerian State Security Services quickly found out in the normal course of our work in journalism in Lagos in the late 1980s and 1990s, these were some of the more highly educated Nigerians, recruited from all fields - Literature, Law, the Sciences, etc. They were not dumb. They read and they took note of all texts - from newspaper articles to books published in and out of Nigeria. Indeed, the requirement on local publishers to deposit copies of every book published in Nigeria in the National Library is not an act of arbitrary absent-mindedness. I had on one occasion, during one encounter in Lagos, to answer questions on exactly what I meant with a line in my poem on Fela - then still unpublished, and which surprisingly I had read only at an ANA gathering in Lagos. The "Nigerian state" reads; this you'll only find out but only when the occasion arises......"
--------Obi Nwakanma.

Do I need to say more? I must however state here that I am surprised at some of the replies to this post. Let me make two clarifications; this is not about Abani and certainly not intended as crucifixion of your dear PP. 
........Chidi.
 

From: Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@hotmail.com>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 1:35 AM
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

Kennedy:
In 1966, Chinua Achebe's A Man of the People drove him into hiding. The coincidence with its public launch in the same week as the January 15 coup certainly had much to do with it, as with the close reading of a "prophetic" action in the novel which the folk in the D Branch thought too "prophetic" to be innocent. All said, to presume that "the Nigerian state is an illiterate state" is to project a most damning and asinine complex. As many of us who encountered some of the folk of the Nigerian State Security Services quickly found out in the normal course of our work in journalism in Lagos in the late 1980s and 1990s, these were some of the more highly educated Nigerians, recruited from all fields - Literature, Law, the Sciences, etc. They were not dumb. They read and they took note of all texts - from newspaper articles to books published in and out of Nigeria. Indeed, the requirement on local publishers to deposit copies of every book published in Nigeria in the National Library is not an act of arbitrary absent-mindedness. I had on one occassion, during one encounter in Lagos, to answer questions on exactly what I meant with a line in my poem on Fela - then still unpublished, and which surprisingly I had read only at an ANA gathering in Lagos. The "Nigerian state" reads; this you'll only find out but only when the occassion arises. By the way, this is not in defense of Abani. I worked at the saner side of Kirikiri, where the Canal flowed only beer, cognac, and such "blood" known only to salts:) So, even if he were there at the Dantesque or Darker side Kirikiri, I could not have met him nor did I hear of it,nor would swear even now that he was not there - either in his mind or in his body. The writer makes myth. Kabissa!
Obi Nwakanma


 _____________________ "If I don't learn to shut my mouth I'll soon go to hell, I, Okigbo, town-crier, together with my iron bell." --Christopher Okigbo
 
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:01:12 +0000
From: kemetulu@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

 
 
...
 

 

"dear all
would soyinka and achebe have been imprisoned if they hadn't already had reputations that put them in the national spotlight? or saro-wiwa? would he have been considered such a threat if he hadn't been able to mobilize international opinion?" – Kenneth Harrow
 
 
Prof, below is what Pius said about the above:
 
 
"..........No Nigerian writer has ever been persecuted because of a novel or a poem or any such thing. Not even Ken Saro Wiwa or Wole Soyinka have that history. Writers have been persecuted by the Nigerian state because of their political praxis. Never because of literature. The Nigerian state is an illiterate state. She does not read novels. She would be happier if Soyinka concentrated on writing plays and poems. He would be free to write those to his heart's content. She reacts to writers only when they make political noise, not when they write novels........."Pius Adesanmi
 
 
That is the fact. What you want us to do here in your question is conjecture; but we can make intelligent conjectures from the facts. First, clarification is that Achebe was never imprisoned. Soyinka was, but only because of his politics.
 
I'm sure you've heard the story of those imprisonments and all the legends associated with them – how Soyinka hijacked a radio station at gunpoint in 1965 to demand the cancellation of the rigged elections in the West; how he was arrested and later freed by Justice Kayode Esho; how in 1967, he was arrested by the Gowon government and put in solitary confinement for actively trying to broker peace between Biafra and Nigeria. Before then, he was lauded and sponsored by the state as a writer; but once he began to get into active politics and activism, they arrested and imprisoned him. Achebe, as I said, was not imprisoned; but it was the suspicion that he knew of a military coup (because of the uncannily prophetic novel he wrote before then) that made him a person of interest at a time his ethnic group and men of his stature in the army and Civil Service were being hounded and killed by a state controlled by those opposed to his ethnic group.
 
Saro-Wiwa was a writer also feted and sponsored by the state. His plays were broadcast on national television controlled by the state and he himself, early in his career served in government as a Commissioner in Rivers State and also as a member of a quango created by the Babangida government. But once he took the political road of championing the cause of his ethnic group against the dominant and predatory state in a fierce political battle, they came for him.
 
Of course, all of them had international reputations as good writers before their brush with politics and the state; but it was their political involvement that got them bigger visibility internationally, because what this did was to awaken the international literary and political establishment to their plight as writers being persecuted for their politics. The lines became merged and the rest is history.
 
It is that type of history that Chris Abani is manufacturing to get the credibility of people like the Soyinkas, the Saro-Wiwas and the Achebes. He didn't go through the suffering these people went through for their politics and their art (as both became merged once the state came calling), but he felt by lying that he went through that and prop up these lies with his work of art, he would achieve their status. Well, it would seem he has, if we accept the fraudulently contrived encomiums coming his way. But we are not about to let him get away with it. If his promoters in the West think they can impose his false history on us, they have another think coming. Nigerian literature has never had a fraudulent figurehead. Chris Abani will be purged of his lies and made to walk the plank!
 
 
 
….
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: kenneth harrow <harrow@msu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, 28 November 2011, 21:17
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

dear all
would soyinka and achebe have been imprisoned if they hadn't already had reputations that put them in the national spotlight? or saro-wiwa? would he have been considered such a threat if he hadn't been able to mobilize international opinion?
ken

On 11/28/11 2:49 PM, Pius Adesanmi wrote:
Chidi:
 
Thanks for that detail on Achebe. Correction taken in good faith. But you must admit that starting a new thread with my name and very nearly killing a mosquito with a laser-guided intercontinental balistic missile in the process could make your enemies accuse you of diversion. Although I will defend you if they do but your enemies could come out saying that you are using corner-corner sense to divert attention from the real issues, having been unable to satisfactorily explain to, say, Kennedy and Moses, why you took the unbelievable position you took in the thread that you are now trying to hide under a bushel. Anyway sha, I intend to now start claiming that Buka Sukar Dimka got his coup inspiration from the first poem that I ever wrote and I was put on death row until I escaped to Canada via France. Chances are I will get some dumb institutional do-gooders in America to invest in the story and reward me plenty plenty. If my lies eventually catch up with me, shebi I can always count on my brother, Chidi, whose love for me passeth all understanding? Abi no be so?
 
Pius
 


From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@yahoo.com>
To: USA Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, 28 November 2011, 5:46
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Haba Professor Pius(PP)

"..........No Nigerian writer has ever been persecuted because of a novel or a poem or any such thing. Not even Ken Saro Wiwa or Wole Soyinka have that history. Writers have been persecuted by the Nigerian state because of their political praxis. Never because of literature. The Nigerian state is an illiterate state. She does not read novels. She would be happier if Soyinka concentrated on writing plays and poems. He would be free to write those to his heart's content. She reacts to writers only when they make political noise, not when they write novels........."
.....Professor Pius(PP)

Haba PP,
Professor Chinua Achebe was arrested and interrogated immediately after the 1966 coup for what he wrote in the novel "A Man Of The People".

Late Hubert Ogunde was severely persecuted in the early 1960s by the Tafawa Balewa and Akintola federal and regional governments for what he said in the play "Yoruba Ronu"

Eedris Abdulkarim, a Nigerian contemporary musician complained of severe persecutions during the Obasanjo civil regime for what he sang in the music "Nigeria Jaga Jaga".

In activism, there is no clear boundary between Politics and Literature. If Okey Ndibe, an activist who uses Literature as his primary platform can be taken hostage in a Gestapo-style operation at the Lagos International Airport by the Goodluck Jonathan regime goons, the credibility of your comment above then seems doubtful to me.

There are of course many uncelebrated cases in contemporary Nigeria, like your spouse and children being denied certain benefits they should ordinarily been entitled to by a state government in a state you have lived in for more than two decades and a government official pretending to be a friend, calling and advising you "to cooperate for the sake of your family", and you know very well that you write poems and that you have no other "
political praxis".

PP, your views carry some weight, so, make you no dey yan dis kin yan.
.......Chidi
 
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USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Arab Spring: for women, some achievements, many disappointments

November 30, 2011

Back in March, when I visited Tunisia and Egypt, I met some remarkable women, who told me that for the first time, they really felt Tunisian or Egyptian, and that they were so proud of what women and men had achieved together. It was a phenomenal time to be in Cairo and Tunis. On International Women's Day, I marched down to Tahrir Square, in Cairo, with about a hundred female activists, and felt so proud to be joining them. It meant a lot to them to go back to the same place that helped end decades of authoritarian rule to make the point that citizenship and equality should be the values of a new Egypt. In Tunis, I met up with dozens of women at the Taher al-Haddad Club. This is where the Tunisian feminist movement was born, and I was so delighted to see women, young and old, debate their wishes for the future, and how to embark on fulfilling them. It was understood that women and men both felt ownership of these political transitions, and for women, the upheavals were only the beginning.

The change in the Arab world started in Tunisia, in January, and spread like wildfire across the Middle East and North Africa. Those who sought change complained of government repression, corruption, poverty, and ill-treatment.

The upheavals were not instigated by men alone, but included women who were equally fed up with decades of authoritarian rule, and who wished to live freely. There are many striking pictures from Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and most recently Libya, of women demonstrating alongside men for basic human rights.

Some women's rights activists hoped and believed that the end of repressive governments in Egypt and Tunisia would also bring women's equality and freedom. But it became clear that there was little room for women to join the decision-making bodies defining transitional political processes that would help shape their futures. The harsh reality is that women continue to be marginalized, and their rights -- instead of being recognized as a critical component of reform processes intended to democratize these countries -- are seen as of secondary importance and, in some cases, as bargaining chips.

There is some reason to be positive, though. In Tunisia, some progress is being made. And while the current political climate in Egypt may seem to be threatening the advancement of women's rights, women's rights activists continue their efforts to improve the status of women.

Tunisia leading the way

Tunisian women's rights activists have already secured two significant victories: gender parity in the October 2011 elections for the Constituent Assembly, and the withdrawal of key reservations by the previous government to the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Important concerns remain, but these are hopeful signs of positive things to come.

The gender parity electoral law, which requires equal numbers of male and female candidates, was a breakthrough for women's political representation in Tunisia. But the candidate lists of political parties did not include women at the top of them. Since the seats go to party members starting at the head of the list, this almost guarantees that most of those elected will be men. This is especially significant because the Assembly's most important task will be to write Tunisia's next constitution

It is critical for the new constitution to include strong and effective guarantees of women's rights. Tunisian women's activists have called for a guarantee of gender equality in the new constitution as the legal basis for ensuring that future laws do not discriminate between women and men, and for amending or revoking current discriminatory laws.

With regard to CEDAW, on August 16 Tunisia's Council of Ministers voted to lift all key reservations to the convention, making Tunisia the first country in the region to do so. Tunisian women's rights activists have called for the withdrawal of reservations to the CEDAW treaty since at least 2005. CEDAW prohibits gender discrimination in the family and in education and health and defines a national action plan for governments to follow for ending all forms of discrimination against women.

This remarkable development means that Tunisia has agreed it will provide women with equal rights to nationality and equality within the family in matters of marriage, divorce, and custody. But Tunisia still maintains a general declaration to the Convention, stating that it will not pass any legislation that may be considered contradictory to Article 1 of its Constitution, which establishes Islam as the state religion. This will continue to make it difficult to change some laws, such as inheritance law, if they are considered to be inconsistent with Islamic Shari'a law. Undoubtedly, this declaration should also be abrogated, as no state should use its own constitution to justify non-compliance with international legal standards.

Tunisia and Egypt have yet to sign and ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, otherwise known as the Maputo Protocol. The Protocol guarantees significant rights for girls and women.

Egyptian women pressing for equality

Egypt's January 25th uprising, which led to the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, did not succeed through the efforts of men alone. In fact, women were as instrumental as men in mobilizing people to join the protests to demand an end to Mubarak's rule. For 18 days, women stayed in Cairo's Tahrir Square, vowing to remain there until their demands for justice and democracy were met. But, after Mubarak was finally ousted, women seemed no longer welcome to participate in the deliberations to map out the country's future, or to continue to press their demands for equality.

Women expected that they would have a greater say in Egypt's post-Mubarak future, as ministers, politicians, and decision-makers. But signs of a shift in attitude from the heady days of January and February came on International Women's Day on March 8, when women's rights activists took their demands for equality to Tahrir Square. Although some women had experienced sexual harassment in Tahrir Square during the last days before Mubarak was ousted, the hostility toward women during the March 8 march was clearly different. The women who came to Tahrir that day were subjected even more strongly to verbal abuse and, in some cases, sexual and physical assault and harassment.

I talked with a woman passerby who was with her two small daughters, and asked her what she thought of the march. She responded, to my surprise, that this was not the right time for women to demand their rights, that there were far more pressing issues and priorities for Egypt to deal with. Unfortunately, many people seem to agree with her, not realizing that democracy needs to include equality and rights for everyone. Women's equality cannot be separated from the overall process of democratization in Egypt.

In another discouraging sign, women were excluded from the official eight-member body that the military tasked with formulating amendments to the constitution, amendments that were approved by referendum on March 19. Those amendments established a term limit for future presidents, provided for the appointment of a deputy president, and called for judicial oversight of elections. Only one female minister was appointed to the new interim government, however. Not only was this a big disappointment for the women's movement, but this minister was a long-serving minister under Mubarak.

In July, when interim Prime Minister Essam Sharaf reshuffled the cabinet, he reappointed the same female minister but no other women.

Egypt's parliamentary elections are slated to take place between November and early January, and the new parliament is to rewrite the constitution. Women need an effective guarantee of full equality in the new constitution that will also apply to their rights under personal status codes derived from religious laws for Muslims and Coptic Christians. Whether this happens will undoubtedly depend on which political parties have the most influence in the parliament. Some analysts anticipate that Islamists will form the strongest opposition block. This is likely to mean that any attempts to reform Shari'a-based family laws and replace them with a non-discriminatory civil code will fare poorly.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's ruling military council, provided in article 7 of its March 30 Constitutional Declaration, a transitional document that temporarily replaced the 1971 constitution, for equality before the law and a prohibition of discrimination based on gender. The next parliament should ensure that this provision is included in the new constitution as well, and ensure that equality remains a fundamental principle that all laws and state practices must comply with.

Whether Islamists, moderates, or liberals come to dominate Egyptian politics, the goal of the popular movement that overthrew Mubarak was to advance people's rights, and to democratize Egypt, and this cannot happen without the inclusion of women.

In drafting a new electoral law, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces scrapped a 2009 Mubarak-era law that mandated a 64-seat quota for women, which had little backing and provided little effective clout for women. Almost all the women who served in parliament through the quota were members of Mubarak's political party.

Instead, the new electoral law will require that each party list at least one woman on their party lists in the parliamentary elections, which will consist of 70 percent party lists and 30 percent individual candidates. But it is too soon to tell whether even liberal parties that embrace women's rights, and include women on their decision-making bodies, will put their female candidates toward the top of their list. Their primary goal will be to win seats in the face of stiff competition from former ruling party candidates, and a strong Islamist block. Unless the parties make including women a priority, there is a strong possibility that Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliament will have hardly any women.

Recognizing the long battle ahead, a group of women's rights organizations have formed a coalition to push for the inclusion of strong women's rights protections in the new constitution. The initiative, "Let's Write Our Constitution-Dreams of Egyptian Women," seeks equality under the new constitution with regard to women's political participation, employment, education, health care, and personal freedoms.

The road to achieving full equality in Egypt may be long and treacherous. In the short term, women's participation in decision-making processes, and efforts to achieve greater social equality for all Egyptians, may bring women closer to fulfilling their human rights.

Women across the region, from Libya to Yemen, to Syria and Bahrain, are all taking part in the political struggles facing their countries. Everyone has taken notice of these women, demonstrating alongside men, and in some countries women were harassed, beaten, verbally insulted, and some even killed. As these countries make these significant transitions, it is so important for women to be part of this process, and not excluded as if their rights are completely distinct from other rights.

Disappointments, but some hope

The Arab Spring and the revolutionary spirit that came with it were viewed by women's rights activists as an opportunity to make progress on much-needed rights and freedoms for women in the Middle East and North Africa. But instead of incorporating women's rights as part of a democratization process in which every citizen has certain rights and obligations, the post-upheaval period has disappointed women. Women's rights activists have realized that they still have to fight to have their demands taken seriously. They have formed coalitions to press their interests. In Egypt, they outlined their wishes in a National Charter on Women's Rights, and in both Egypt and Tunisia they formulated examples of what an egalitarian constitution might look like. They continue to place women's rights issues at the centre of current political debates, and insist that their voices also count.

Despite the unwillingness of transitional governments in Egypt and Tunisia to consider the women's rights agenda as part of a nation-building process, the Arab Spring did result in a few achievements, especially for Tunisia's women. I feel some of the same hope I felt marching and talking with the women of Egypt and Tunisia in March. Egyptian women continue to struggle daily to make their demands known, and with time, the road to achieving full equality may be realized.


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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Kenya: Security Forces Arbitrarily Detaining People

(Nairobi) – The Kenyan police and military should stop using illegal mass-round-ups and beatings as a substitute for proper police investigative work, Human Rights Watch said today. Attacks by suspected al-Shabaab sympathizers on the military and civilians inside Kenya do not justify violating the rights of civilians.

Five people were killed and at least 30 injured on the evening of November 24 when grenades were thrown into crowds in two incidents in Garissa, in Kenya's Northeastern province. In a separate incident, one Kenyan soldier was killed and at least ten injured when a military truck hit an improvised explosive device (IED) in the border town of Mandera on the same day. The attack is believed to be the work of Kenyan-based sympathizers of al-Shabaab, although no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

"The attacks in Garissa are shocking," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "But they do not justify rounding up whoever happened to be at the scene."

Responding to the attacks, the Kenyan police and military arrested around 300 people in Garissa and another estimated 300 in Mandera. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that security officers arbitrarily rounded up bystanders at the scene of the IED explosion in Mandera, which took place near the town center. Security forces arrested hundreds, including schoolchildren, and beat dozens.

One witness told Human Rights Watch: "My neighbors were beaten seriously. One man was bleeding from the head and I took him to the hospital. Soldiers were beating young, small school boys of 12, 13, 15 years… Last night we slept in fear that they were coming to beat us again."

Mandera West MP Mohamed Maalim Mohamud told Human Rights Watch that some victims had broken limbs, and that some detainees who had been injured in beatings by police and soldiers were denied access to medical treatment.

Leo Nyongesa, the Provincial Police Officer, confirmed that around 300 people had been arrested in both Mandera and Garissa and admitted that the authorities had not found those responsible for the attacks. Some have been taken to court for entering Kenya illegally. It is not clear how many remain in custody.

Nyongesa told Human Rights Watch that an inquiry was being held into allegations of mistreatment of people by the police and military. He would not state who was conducting the inquiry, but said any member of security forces found to be responsible for human rights abuses would be disciplined.

Arbitrary arrests of large numbers of people ­­­- such as when there is no evidence to believe they are suspects in a crime - is a serious violation of the human rights of the detainees and unlawful detention should be treated as a crime in itself.

"A nation that respects the rule of law does not arbitrarily detain hundreds of people for the crimes of a few," said Bekele. "Kenya needs to win the confidence of its citizens, not alienate them further. It should start by demonstrating a zero-tolerance policy for security agents who mistreat civilians."

Sustained police intelligence work is required to address the attacks, not mass arbitrary detention, Human Rights Watch said. The round-ups follow arbitrary detentions and beatings in Garissa on November 11 in which people were apparently arrested solely on the basis of their Somali appearance.

Background
Kenya invaded Somalia in pursuit of the Islamist militia al-Shabaab on October 16. Al-Shabaab promised to retaliate. A series of attacks since then in Nairobi and Kenya's Northeastern province have targeted both military units and civilians.

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