Thursday, February 28, 2013

USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: NSIA’S SEARCH FOR A NEW FOREIGN POLICY

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

From: Folake Olowookere <olowookerefolake@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:09:01 -0800 (PST)
To: ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com<ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>
ReplyTo: Folake Olowookere <olowookerefolake@yahoo.com>
Subject: NSIA'S SEARCH FOR A NEW FOREIGN POLICY

NSIA'S SEARCH FOR A NEW FOREIGN POLICY
AYO OLUKOTUN
On Monday, the 25th of February, scholars, diplomats, military officers, civil society actors as well as university students gathered at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos to listen to and discuss a lecture on our foreign policy delivered by Emeritus Professor Akinjide Osuntokun. Organised under the auspices of the newly revived Nigerian Society for International Affairs (NSIA), the lecture, entitled ' A Hegemon in a Peripheral Region of the World: The Future of Nigeria's Foreign Policy' provided analytic, historical and hands-on assessments of our foreign policy, with a view to overhauling it.
Before the lecture proper, the president of the society, Professor Jide Owoeye, who is also the Pro chancellor and founder of Lead City University, Ibadan mainstreamed the day's intellectual activity by noting the ever expanding boundaries of the disciplines of international relations in its bid to capture emergent issues of terrorism, climate change, trans border crime, gender conflict and globalization. This is another way of making the point that the search for a new foreign policy for Nigeria connotes a diversified intellectual menu spanning several disciplines, as well as an inclusive political and philosophical agenda with a society wide purview.
Chairman of the distinguished lecture General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) hinted at one of the paradoxes of Nigeria's external relations and self image when he queried poignantly: 'How realistic is it to play in China's league when our economic and Social infrastructure are weak and in some cases non-existent… and where corruption appears to define our political culture?'. In other words, and as Osuntokun also remarked, any rethinking and reforming of foreign policy must begin with an earnest effort to clean up our act, domestically, by creating n exportable Brand Nigeria as well as undertaking a harnessing of our soft power indices. Consider, for example that the lecture itself was held in the face of a national strike by the Association of Academic Research Institutes, which includes the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) venue of the lecture. Persistent underfunding and refusal of government to honour outstanding agreements are the main grouses of the Association. And, so we are dealing with a political elite stashing away enormous financial resources to contest the 2015 elections but which has no time or patience with properly funding the research institutes which constitute its brain box.
The contradiction of mounting vigorous external relations in a context of state decay was pointed out by Osuntokun who alluded to our earned reputation for successfully policing West Africa through interventions, in Guinea – Bissau, Togo, Principe, Sao Tome, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali. The scholar, Nigeria's former ambassador to Germany and a member of the elite Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations, nonetheless went on to say that "in recent times, due to corruption and the Nigerian factor, our troops have sometimes been provided with poor arms and equipment leading to our troops performing below par and consequent United Nations criticism of our troops' ineffectiveness and lack of courage". This is the international outworking of state dysfunction and anomie in which disorder and corruption at home are exported abroad, with serious consequences for our image and human resources. Extremely interesting is the question raised slyly by Osuntokun as to whether Nigeria is a hegemon on its own behalf or on behalf of western military and economic power. He alludes to Nigeria's intervention in Cote d'Ivoire and more recently Mali in which French interests were barely disguised as well as our support for a western-led effort to remove Gaddafi. In his words: "A Situation where a former colonial power intervenes to remove a sitting African President and with Nigeria being complicit in this removal raises a fundamental question in one's mind''. This is to say that we need to think through our policy options with a view to reasserting our national identity and leeway, rather than merely acting out scripts authored in London, Paris or Washington.
Political economists, a dying intellectual tribe in Nigeria's endangered scholarly tradition would pursue the question further and ask whether a country so beholden to the west and which routinely relegates its scholars who ought to theorise new perspectives can define a foreign policy in its own image. For sure, globalization reduces the margins of independent action for all nations, great or small; but the international system, partitioned by a Westphalian paradigm of sovereign nation states permits nations a sense of manifest destiny and role-definition even in a globalised arena. There is the question too in Osuntokun's lecture of what Nigeria gets for all its good neighborliness and philanthropic gestures in the sub region. To rephrase the question in Professor Ibrahim Gambari's classic formulation: Is Nigeria paying the piper without calling the tune? The examples given by Osuntokun in support of this argument include; the scuttling of Nigeria's unanimous election into the UN Security Council in 2010 by Guinea which absented itself and by Liberia, Togo and Sierra Leone which voted against Nigeria. Paradoxically, these are countries which at one time or the other had benefitted from Nigeria's generosity and in some cases, peace keeping operations to prevent their collapse. Along the same lines, Nigerians have often been treated harshly by several countries to which Nigeria has extended various kinds of assistance. The scholar advocates that 'in future, this kind of behavior should not go without consequence. There ought to be a limit to our tolerance, in spite of our avowed policy of sisterly relations with countries in our region and on the African continent as a whole'.
Controversially, Osuntokun somewhat in contradiction of his earlier point on preserving our national interest in the face of challenges from the west argues that there is nothing wrong in Nigeria allowing American bases in the country in the interest of our security. To quote him 'the point I'm making is that an American base does not necessarily translate to a derogation of a country's sovereignty'. Expectedly this latter point generated heated debate during the question and answer section which also saw the lecturer robustly defending his position. The lecture was notable not just for the quality of the presentation but more importantly for the vigorous audience feedback from what one may call the foreign policy elite which included former Director Generals of the NIIA such as, Professor Obiozor and the current DG, Professor Akinterinwa. There were also in attendance academics such as Professor Akinboye of the University of Lagos, Professor Soremekun of Covenant University Ota, Professors Dasylva and Yerima of Redeemers University, Professors Jinadu, Akinyeye, Akinyele as well as Dr Olajumoke Yacob-Aliso. Lead City University which currently host the secretariat was heavily represented by such scholars as Professors Ogunsanwo, Nwoke among others. There were also the Professorate from the NIIA and other well known foreign policy scholars such as Professor Saliu of the University of Ilorin and Dr Obuoforibo of the University of Port harcourt. It was a most rewarding afternoon of engaging and stimulating conversation on Nigerian foreign policy; it remains to be seen how much of this intellectual exchange will impact on the remaking of Nigerian foreign policy.
Olukotun is Professor of Political Science and Dean Faculty of Social Sciences at Lead City University, Ibadan.

USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: S Africa shocked as man dragged at back of police van

RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

It is right to worry about a suffering collective of thousands of people but it must not be at the cost of any one innocent person. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Mumia deserves justice.

There are two sides to the Mumia case. Each case’s supporters seem to be stridently inattentive to the other. If they listened to each other more, both group of supporters might get closer to the truth about Mumia’s guilt or innocence. It must not be forgotten that there is one victim- the slain policemen who deserves to be spoken for too. He too deserves justice.

 

oa

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ikhide
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 4:01 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

 

Professor Emeagwali,

I almost regret my intervention here, because you know what, minds are made up about Mumia, that is the lunatic brilliance of that manipulative man. You can read stuff like this. Why Mumia is Guilty and it still doesn't matter because a lunatic fringe in the deep left sees this dude as their poster child. People make mistakes, he made a mistake as a young man, he will not admit it. I would respect him a lot more if he as much as acknowledged that he did something wrong.

A pox on all his houses. I don't really do singletons, my mind is on the thousands of beautiful brown people, children, that are hunted down, shackled and frog-marched into the prison-industrial complex. Our black intellectuals including Obama are too busy being middle class and elite to worry about that. Mumia does not rock my boat.

- Ikhide

 

Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide

Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide

 

 


From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:44 AM
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary


'Obama could care less about structural changes to the judicial system that would stop hunting down our children like prey. THAT is what we should be advocating for,
not for the wretched life of a sniveling coward.' Ikhide

Ikhide, Mumia is by no means a coward.  He is one of the most valiant fighters of the post
civil rights era. Have you listened to his speeches?

You are right about the need for structural changes in the judicial system, though..


Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
www.vimeo.com<http://www.vimeo.com/>

________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ikhide [xokigbo@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 9:04 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

It would be a travesty of justice if anyone pardons Mumia or whatever that cowardly thug's name is. He was convicted of killing someone in uniform. He refuses to man up and accept personal responsibility. He games the system blatantly, plays the liberal left like a violin and now we have to watch a movie about him? I am sure he has free wi-fi in prison!

Here, we have African intellectuals crying up a storm about ONE man who is living in the laps of luxury in a pretend-prison for killing a police officer. They will not say a word for the hell-holes that are prisons in Black Africa (Kirikiri, Oko ita, etc). No, that is not sexy enough, let the BBC go to the slums of Makoko to film a living hell, out come their pens wailing racism - at the BBC. You can't win.

Who cares about Mumia when the prisons of America are warehouses for brown people? Thanks to clinton era discriminatory drug sentencing brown children have filled hell-holes like Angola prison, no one does anything about that. Obama could care less about structural changes to the judicial system that would stop hunting down our children like prey. THAT is what we should be advocating for, not  for the wretched life of a sniveling coward.

- Ikhide

- Ikhide

Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide<http://www.facebook.com/ikhide>



From: Abdul Karim Bangura <theai@earthlink.net>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; Funmi Tofowomo Okelola <cafeafricana1@aol.com>
Cc: leonenet <leonenet@lists.umbc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

And watch Obama leave office without pardoning him!

http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/trailers_mumia.html



Before he was convicted of murdering a policeman in 1981 and sentenced to die, Mumia Abu-Jamal was a gifted journalist and brilliant writer. Now after more than 30 years in prison and despite attempts to silence him, Mumia is not only still alive but continuing to report, educate, provoke and inspire.
Stephen Vittoria's new feature documentary is an inspiring portrait of a man whom many consider America's most famous political prisoner - a man whose existence tests our beliefs about freedom of expression. Through prison interviews, archival footage, and dramatic readings, and aided by a potent chorus of voices including Cornel West, Alice Walker, Dick Gregory, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman and others, this riveting film explores Mumia's life before, during and after Death Row - revealing, in the words of Angela Davis, "the most eloquent and most powerful opponent of the death penalty in the world...the 21st Century Frederick Douglass."
STEPHEN VITTORIA, Writer/Director/ Producer/Editor
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is Stephen Vittoria’s current documentary and it opens in theatres this fall. His last film, One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern won top honors at the Sarasota Film Festival as “Best Documentary Feature” and was released nationwide by First Run Features. In 1987, Vittoria wrote, directed, and edited his first film, the dramatic feature Black & White, starring Kim Delgado and Frank Vincent – a story about racism set against the backdrop of post-World War II America. In 1995, Vittoria produced, wrote, and directed Hollywood Boulevard, starring John C. McGinley, Jon Tenney, and Julianne Phillips – a dark and satirical look at the motion picture business.
In 1998, Vittoria wrote, directed, and edited the six-hour health documentary Save Your Life – The Life and Holistic Times of Dr. Richard Schulze, and then in 2005 he wrote, directed, and edited the television documentary Keeper of the Flame with journalist Linda Ellerbee and actor Wilford Brimley – a film that deals with the current ecological crisis facing American forests.
Recently, Vittoria was a producer on two feature documentaries by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney:Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and Magic Trip. Vittoria is the founder and creative director of two Southern California production companies – Street Legal Cinema and Deep Image. One day, Steve hopes to play centerfield for the New York Yankees.  He lives in Los Angeles (under protest).

Praise for Stephen Vittoria's MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary
"Coverage of public discourse in the United States often makes it seem as if the only ideologies still in the game were the far right and the moderate everybody else. But “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary” is proof that there are still outspoken champions of views too radicalized to qualify as left-wing: people distrustful of law enforcement, the political system, the justice system, the news media and the very notion that America is at heart the land of the free. Getting a concentrated dose of activists like Angela Davis and Dick Gregory, academics like Cornel West and Michelle Alexander, and the many other talking heads in this film is certainly a bracing change from the usual back-and-forth of the evening news." - Neil, Genzlinger, The New York Times
"Tracing the path of a brilliant journalist whose message cannot be silenced...this passionate advocacy docu should spark debate. Part of Abu-Jamal's persuasive power flows from the specificity of his analysis of black history and his ability to see the struggle for freedom in larger, nonexclusive terms. Vittoria closely follows the government's desperate efforts to silence Abu-Jamal...[and] triumphantly heralds his return to the political scene as a rallying cry for an alternate political discourse joyously shared by the film's community of interviewees." -Ronnie Scheib, Variety
"The film is part biography, part commentary... and part drama. ("Mumia") is a film that provokes and entertains." - Counterpunch
"Passionate, partisan, and persuasive!  A compelling documentary about a riveting historical figure, with a who’s who of storytellers woven by Vittoria into coherent narrative, with each one playing a brilliantly cast role: their own. It retells a history that is almost unbelievable if one did not experience it firsthand." -Eric Mann, War Resister's League
"Puts a human face on its subject, for so long now just an anti-capital-punishment icon… also makes the case, COINTELPRO and beyond, that power is hardly to be trusted in America." - Michael Atkinson, Time Out NY
"Juicy, visual…Vittoria does a fine job setting the stage and dissecting racial tensions in Philadelphia." - New York Daily News
<http://criterioncast.com/reviews/joshua-reviews-long-distance-revolutionary/>"Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is one of the early part of this year’s crowning gems... And it’s as great a film as we’ve seen now a month into 2013."
-Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast
"! Doesn’t seek so much to clear the controversial figure’s name as to showcase his intellect and longstanding defiance of ‘The Establishment’." - Kam Williams, Philadelphia Sunday
"Vittoria constructs a powerful narrative of Abu-Jamal’s life and career as a journalist and social critic." - Jay Cassano, Inter Press Service
"Uncompromising, disturbing…Abu-Jamal’s voice has the clarity and candor of a man whose impending death emboldens him to say what is on his mind without fear of consequence." - The Boston Globe
"Vittoria tells of an exceptional black Philly kid growing up in the days when police chief Frank Rizzo was attempting to beat the civil rights movement back with 1,000 nightsticks. (The film) sets Mumia the statue aglow." -The Village Voice
"Did Abu-Jamal really kill the officer, or was he railroaded because of his activism and ties to the Black Panthers?  'Mumia' raises issues of racism in America (flashback to George Wallace) that are worthy of discussion." -V.A. Musetto, New York Post
"Tells the story of a man who expresses deep compassion and public-mindedness, despite existing in Hellish conditions." -Yolande Brener, Harlem World
"Fascinating and persuasive. Vittoria creates a context that suggests how easily innocents could be railroaded.  The result is not unlike Oliver Stone’s rewrite of U.S. history."
- John Hartl, Seattle Times
"Study of the civil rights era tends to end with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  ‘Mumia’ is fascinating because it covers the overlooked time period -- the late sixties through the seventies -- by examining race relations within the northern city of Philadelphia, a place not popularly associated with racial injustice." - Alicia Fox, Student Handouts
"Mumia” is a vital documentary." - Wolf Entertainment Guide
"Vittoria creates a tantalizing tension... (Mumia) has a prophet's insight into our nation's racial and judicial ills... he's clearly a singular intellect and writer." - Seattle Weekly


Funmi Tofowomo Okelola
--The art of living and impermanence.




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USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: curricula about ancient Africa?: REPLY

To Douglas Thomas:

I have not fully followed this discussion, don't know how it started, and the trajectory it has taken. You may consider my intervention as an unusual intrusive quibble, based solely on the quotation below, which from my considered standpoint, should have been carefully nuanced and generously problematized. You write:

"Also those people like Molefi Keti Asante and the late Asa Hilliard who
are considered to be scholars and have held high positions in academia
have written about African history but are not trained historians. Thus
they present views that totally ignore the existing scholarship in the
field as Konadu stated earlier. Scholarship must engage the existing
work in the field." (Douglas Thomas)

You are right in so many ways, but does it mean that only those with PhDs in history must write African history? However defined the methodological rigor that informs the works of Molefi Asante and Asa Hilliard have forced "trained" historians to rethink African and African Diaspora histories. Kwame Arhin, perhaps the best Ghanaian "historian" of Ghana, in my view not Adu Boahen, trained as an anthropologist and a sociologist. Sadly, your cocky certainty that only trained historians should write African history, your reason for dismissing the works of Molefi Asante and Asa Hilliard, collapses on itself: you state that "For West African History, I use West Africa by Mendonsa which is an anthropology book but it works well for me."

Let us forget the narrow, if not your reductionist, take on "untrained" historians who fail to consider historiographies – "existing works in the field" - and focus on narratives of oral historians who make no references to "existing works in the field." Does it mean that African history is genuine and acceptable only when it is packaged in writing by "trained" historians who build on extant historiographies? I thought that the works of Jan Vansina, David Henige, etc. long ago fruitfully intervened on behalf of oral historians. As an example, some of the most comprehensive histories of pre/colonial Akans of Ghana are not found in archives and books. In fact, local "palace" officials and other knowledgeable constituencies have more detailed accounts and better perspectives on Akan histories than what passes as histories in books minted by "trained" historians who rely for the most part on jaundiced "Western" sources.

In sum, most historians of Africa cobble hegemonic narratives of organized chaos memorialized in the reports of colonial officials and Christian missionaries as the authentic African history. This is where and how the works of Molefi Asante and Asa Hilliard can help in assessing the weight of historical moments in Africa. I wonder why you did not mention Henry Louis Gates, the worst "untrained" historian of Africa and its Diasporas, who retails barber-shop ruminations as African history and the history of the Atlantic slave trade, and who is held in high esteem by the Western academy, the very watershed and vendors of Eurocentric-laden slabs of African history.

Absolutely, "untrained" historians lack the firm utilitarian grip that the historian's craft has on "trained" historians. Then again, African history has become a vulnerable field open to "specialists" of all kinds: I have seen media people on TV, who specialize in and chase after tornadoes and hurricanes in the USA, discuss African history as if Africa is a sum total of the indecipherable lines in their clenched fists that poise and push hegemonic epistemologies.

Kwabena Akurang-Parry
Shippensburg University & University of Cape Coast
kaparr@ship.edu


________________________________________
From: H-Net Discussion List on History and Study of West Africa [H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU] on behalf of Becker Charles Centre d'etudes africaines [beckerleschar@ORANGE.SN]
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 6:41 PM
To: H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: Re: curricula about ancient Africa?: REPLY

Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:11:37 -0600
X-Posted from H-NET Discussion List for African American Studies
<H-AFRO-AM@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
From: Abdul Alkalimat <mcworter@ILLINOIS.EDU>
_____________

REPLY

From: thomasd@gram.edu

Ms Woods:

My labeling of pseudo-scholars as two-bit hustlers and pimps should not
bother you unless you fit the bill. I am referring specifically to
those who have hijacked Afro-centric scholarship to serve as a conduit
for their nefarious revenue-generating schemes and/or to boost their
suffering egos. I don't know you ma'am so I'm not in the position to
say one way or the other about you.

In reference to your neat little history lesson, I think it is needful
to be mindful of the battle that was fought to bring serious
intellectual inquiry to Africa and the life of Africans and the African
Diaspora. However, that doesn't erase the fact that there are those who
make a total mockery of scholarly work and insult me, my work, and the
entire academy. They don't seek to teach or learn facts, but to
promulgate beliefs. This is repugnant and absolutely disgusting.

Also those people like Molefi Keti Asante and the late Asa Hilliard who
are considered to be scholars and have held high positions in academia
have written about African history but are not trained historians. Thus
they present views that totally ignore the existing scholarship in the
field as Konadu stated earlier. Scholarship must engage the existing
work in the field.

Now back to the original question in this thread, I use Africa in World
History by Gilbert and Reynolds in my African History survey courses.
For my East African History class I use Maxon's East Africa and
supplement it with readings from the Horn of Africa. For West African
History, I use West Africa by Mendonsa which is an anthropology book but
it works well for me. I also supplement all classes with movies and
Keim's Mistaking Africa.

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: Pambazuka News 618: Special Issue: Western Sahara - Africa's last colony revisited

Subject: Pambazuka News 618: Special Issue: Western Sahara - Africa's last colony revisited

PAMBAZUKA NEWS 618: SPECIAL ISSUE: WESTERN SAHARA - AFRICA'S LAST COLONY REVISITED

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Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839

CONTENTS: 1. Features


/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\/\/\//\
1 Features

WESTERN SAHARA OCCUPIED, AFRICA RE-COLONISED Malainin Lakhal

In introducing this second special issue on the occupied Western Sahara in Pambazuka News, Malainin Lakhal argues that it is 'a subject that should concern all Africans, and all actors who know that Africa can never rise up as a Union or as a future power unless it jointly struggles for its freedom from poverty, ignorance, re-colonisation, foreign exploitation, internal rivalry, and lack of communication between all its peoples and elite.'
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86408
******


AFRICA'S LONGEST AND MOST FORGOTTEN TERRITORIAL CONFLICT Aluat Hamudi

Despite wide international recognition, Western Sahara still remains under occupation because of a complex web of geopolitical and strategic interests of neighbouring countries and their Western allies
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86426
******


OAU/AU AND THE QUESTION OF WESTERN SAHARA Sidi M. Omar

The continental body, which admitted Western Sahara to its membership in 1982, has consistently defended the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence. But Morocco has always proved to be cunning.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86402
******


THE QUESTION OF WESTERN SAHARA: FROM IMPASSE TO INDEPENDENCE Pedro Pinto Leite and Jeffrey J. Smith

There is little hope for a genuine referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people. Their international supporters and the UN General Assembly should now work towards universal recognition and acceptance of the statehood of Western Sahara.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86407
******


PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND GENDER MAINSTREAMING An ethnographic exploration of Saharawi informal representation in Italy Sonia Rossetti

The Saharawi case represents a unique example of women's inclusion in state-building for an Islamic government-in-exile.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86425
******


ANOTHER MOROCCAN 'COUP DE THÉÂTRE'
Konstantina Isidoros

The latest trial has yet again stunned the world with regard to Morocco's persistent audacity to blatantly defy international law, digging itself deeper into a geo-politically embarrassing legal ditch of its own making.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86412
******


LETTER TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL
Suzanne Scholte

In this letter to the President of the UN Security Council, Seoul Peace Prize Laureate Suzanne Scholte urges the Council to prevail upon the King of Morocco to overturn the draconian sentences recently handed down to 24 Sahrawi activists
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86422
******


THE EU-MOROCCO FISHERIES AGREEMENT
POLISARIO brings an action against EU's plunder before the European Court of Justice Joanna Allan

Morocco is working in cahoots with the European Union to pillage Western Sahara's fish despite opposition from the European people. The plunder is a crime under international law.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86410
******


HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING IN WESTERN SAHARA Thomas O'Bryan

There are horrendous human rights violations in Western Sahara perpetrated by agents of the Moroccan authorities. But the UN mission has neither mandate nor capacity to monitor and document the violations.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86409
******


DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENTS IN DISPUTED NATION Alice Wilson

When refugees turn out to vote, and when they raise their voices, in participatory meetings or in their homes, to criticise their government, they show how much they value the possibility for democratic participation.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86411
******


A LAWYER'S TESTIMONY TO THE UN
Comments of Katlyn Thomas before the Special Political and Decolonization Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, October 2012

'After examining every available legal argument to support Morocco's presence in the territory we have come to the conclusion that Morocco cannot claim a legal right to the territory on the basis of any historic relationship it had with the territory prior to its colonization by Spain.'
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86404
******


THE DESPERATE FISHERMEN
Khalil Asmar

This short narrative of the diminishing optimism of several Saharawi fishermen casting their rods in the seas of the Western Sahara illustrates how the Moroccan authorities and EU fishing agreements have pillaged the seas and denied these fishermen not only hope but a livelihood
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86418
******


THE VALIANT FISHERMAN
Khalil Asmar

In this interview with Mohammed El Baykam, a fisherman and the spokesman of the fisheries association in Dakhla, Western Sahara, his uncompromising determination to expose the plunder of European Union trawlers and those of the Moroccan authorities shows how his resistance has denied him gainful employment
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86421
******


WAITING FOR 'ISTIFTAH'
Self-determination and independence of our homeland Fatimetu

Reflecting on her life as a refugee in the Tindouf camps Fatimetu contemplates how the Saharawi people are wholly dependent on humanitarian aid whilst Morocco exploits the wealth of the Western Sahara. For all Saharawis it is an independent homeland that they seek.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86419
******


THREE STORIES
Senia Bachir Abderahman

In this personal account refugee Senia Bachir Abderahman reflects on her own educational sojourn in Algeria and Norway, the cultural beauty of the El-melhfa fabric as well as those Cubaraui who left their homeland to study in Cuba and returned with considerable skills to help the Saharawis in their struggle for freedom
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86420
******


DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IS 'HOMELAND' FOR A REFUGEE?
Asria Mohamed Taleb

Many people may take for granted being the citizen of a free, sovereign nation. But for someone who was born in a refugee camp and has only heard about her occupied homeland, the question of citizenship stirs up very strong feelings.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86416
******


THE LIFE OF A SAHARAWI STUDENT
Mohamed Brahim

The Moroccan regime goes into appalling lengths to dehumanize Saharawi school children, even promoting drug use among them to break their resistance. But many of the children are increasingly politically conscious
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86403
******


MY STRUGGLE TO GET A GOOD EDUCATION
Agaila Abba Hemieda

Education is every child's right. But for Saharawi children, getting an education may require making tremendous sacrifices, including prolonged separation from family and loss of culture and language.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86417
******


A VIOLENCE THAT GOES UNNAMED
Vivian Solana

The conflict in the Western Sahara is inadequately represented by terms such as 'stagnated', 'frozen' and 'locked', which contribute to obscure the reality that this conflict represents the continuation of French, US and Spanish colonial practices in Africa.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86424
******


HOPING FOR A UN SPRING
Salah Mohamed

Blatant violence against peacefully protesting Saharawis, official propaganda that misrepresents the situation in the occupied territory and blockage of independent external observers are just a few of the many dirty tactics employed by Morocco in Western Sahara. How long will this be allowed to go on?
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86413
******


SAHARAWI MUSIC AND ITS ROLE IN THE INDEPENDENCE STRUGGLE Violeta Ruano

Music and poetry have been key elements in Saharawi culture since nomadic times, when they were efficient ways of transmitting news and stories, providing entertainment and establishing links among the tribes. After Spain abandoned Western Sahara and Morocco and Mauritania invaded the territory in 1975, music became the voice of the revolution. It played an essential role in the formation and establishment of the new Saharawi Republic and the reshaping of the society. Music, thus, was used by the Saharawis to foster social change.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86406
******


STUDIO-LIVE: EMPOWERING SAHARAWI VOICES THROUGH MUSIC Danielle Smith

Setting up a music project in the Saharawi refugee camps in south-west Algeria may not seem to some an obvious priority for a population that relies largely on humanitarian aid for its survival. Yet that is precisely what London-based arts and human rights charity Sandblast has been hard at work doing since early 2010.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86423
******


USING CULTURE AS COVER AFTER PLUNDERING RESOURCES Said Zeroual and Rugaibi Abdullah Mohammed Sheikh

Morocco, which militarily controls Western Sahara since its occupation in 1975, is trying to present a false image of the situation in Western Sahara, taking advantage of the military siege and the media blockade imposed on the region.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86414
******


BOOK REVIEW OF 'WESTERN SAHARA: THE REFUGEE NATION'
By Pablo San Martín. Iberian and Latin American Studies. Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 2010.
Anthony G. Pazzanita

The book gives a credible history and analysis of the ways in which the Sahrawis, from Spanish colonial times to the present, have come to see themselves and have coped with the often-wrenching changes to their environment
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/86415
******




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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

Freedom ?

Hopefully you haven't missed this:

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/28/after_40_years_in_solitary_in

Whilst Mwalimu Osagyefo Bangura would like to see Mumia breathing the
free air around Tom Paine,what about humbly beseeching Brother Obama
on behalf of Brother Jonathan Pollard?

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=5&gs_ri=psy-ab&cp=16&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=Jonathan+Pollard&es_nrs=true&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=Jonathan+Pollard&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43148975,d.bGE&fp=a6674baedcbf35ae&biw=1024&bih=610


On Feb 28, 5:26 am, Abdul Karim Bangura <th...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> And watch Obama leave office without pardoning him!http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/trailers_mumia.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Before he was convicted of murdering a policeman in 1981 and sentenced to die, Mumia Abu-Jamal was a gifted journalist and brilliant writer. Now after more than 30 years in prison and despite attempts to silence him, Mumia is not only still alive but continuing to report, educate, provoke and inspire.
>
> Stephen Vittoria's new feature documentary is an inspiring portrait of a man whom many consider America's most famous political prisoner - a man whose existence tests our beliefs about freedom of expression. Through prison interviews, archival footage, and dramatic readings, and aided by a potent chorus of voices including Cornel West, Alice Walker, Dick Gregory, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman and others, this riveting film explores Mumia's life before, during and after Death Row - revealing, in the words of Angela Davis, "the most eloquent and most powerful opponent of the death penalty in the world...the 21st Century Frederick Douglass."
>
>
>
> STEPHEN VITTORIA, Writer/Director/ Producer/Editor
>
> Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is Stephen Vittoria's current documentary and it opens in theatres this fall. His last film, One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern won top honors at the Sarasota Film Festival as "Best Documentary Feature" and was released nationwide by First Run Features. In 1987, Vittoria wrote, directed, and edited his first film, the dramatic feature Black & White, starring Kim Delgado and Frank Vincent – a story about racism set against the backdrop of post-World War II America. In 1995, Vittoria produced, wrote, and directed Hollywood Boulevard, starring John C. McGinley, Jon Tenney, and Julianne Phillips – a dark and satirical look at the motion picture business.
>
> In 1998, Vittoria wrote, directed, and edited the six-hour health documentary Save Your Life – The Life and Holistic Times of Dr. Richard Schulze, and then in 2005 he wrote, directed, and edited the television documentary Keeper of the Flame with journalist Linda Ellerbee and actor Wilford Brimley – a film that deals with the current ecological crisis facing American forests.
>
> Recently, Vittoria was a producer on two feature documentaries by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney:Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and Magic Trip. Vittoria is the founder and creative director of two Southern California production companies – Street Legal Cinema and Deep Image. One day, Steve hopes to play centerfield for the New York Yankees.  He lives in Los Angeles (under protest).
>
>
>
>  Praise for Stephen Vittoria's MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary
>
>
>
> "Coverage of public discourse in the United States often makes it seem as if the only ideologies still in the game were the far right and the moderate everybody else. But "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary" is proof that there are still outspoken champions of views too radicalized to qualify as left-wing: people distrustful of law enforcement, the political system, the justice system, the news media and the very notion that America is at heart the land of the free. Getting a concentrated dose of activists like Angela Davis and Dick Gregory, academics like Cornel West and Michelle Alexander, and the many other talking heads in this film is certainly a bracing change from the usual back-and-forth of the evening news." - Neil, Genzlinger, The New York Times
>
> "Tracing the path of a brilliant journalist whose message cannot be silenced...this passionate advocacy docu should spark debate. Part of Abu-Jamal's persuasive power flows from the specificity of his analysis of black history and his ability to see the struggle for freedom in larger, nonexclusive terms. Vittoria closely follows the government's desperate efforts to silence Abu-Jamal...[and] triumphantly heralds his return to the political scene as a rallying cry for an alternate political discourse joyously shared by the film's community of interviewees." -Ronnie Scheib, Variety
>
> "The film is part biography, part commentary... and part drama. ("Mumia") is a film that provokes and entertains." - Counterpunch
>
> "Passionate, partisan, and persuasive!  A compelling documentary about a riveting historical figure, with a who's who of storytellers woven by Vittoria into coherent narrative, with each one playing a brilliantly cast role: their own. It retells a history that is almost unbelievable if one did not experience it firsthand." -Eric Mann, War Resister's League
>
> "Puts a human face on its subject, for so long now just an anti-capital-punishment icon… also makes the case, COINTELPRO and beyond, that power is hardly to be trusted in America." - Michael Atkinson, Time Out NY
>
> "Juicy, visual…Vittoria does a fine job setting the stage and dissecting racial tensions in Philadelphia." - New York Daily News
>
> "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is one of the early part of this year's crowning gems... And it's as great a film as we've seen now a month into 2013."
> -Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast
>
> "! Doesn't seek so much to clear the controversial figure's name as to showcase his...
>
> read more »

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

Professor Emeagwali,

I almost regret my intervention here, because you know what, minds are made up about Mumia, that is the lunatic brilliance of that manipulative man. You can read stuff like this. Why Mumia is Guilty and it still doesn't matter because a lunatic fringe in the deep left sees this dude as their poster child. People make mistakes, he made a mistake as a young man, he will not admit it. I would respect him a lot more if he as much as acknowledged that he did something wrong.

A pox on all his houses. I don't really do singletons, my mind is on the thousands of beautiful brown people, children, that are hunted down, shackled and frog-marched into the prison-industrial complex. Our black intellectuals including Obama are too busy being middle class and elite to worry about that. Mumia does not rock my boat.

- Ikhide
 
Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide




From: "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:44 AM
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

'Obama could care less about structural changes to the judicial system that would stop hunting down our children like prey. THAT is what we should be advocating for,
not for the wretched life of a sniveling coward.' Ikhide

Ikhide, Mumia is by no means a coward.  He is one of the most valiant fighters of the post
civil rights era. Have you listened to his speeches?

You are right about the need for structural changes in the judicial system, though..


Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
www.vimeo.com<http://www.vimeo.com/>

________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ikhide [xokigbo@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 9:04 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

It would be a travesty of justice if anyone pardons Mumia or whatever that cowardly thug's name is. He was convicted of killing someone in uniform. He refuses to man up and accept personal responsibility. He games the system blatantly, plays the liberal left like a violin and now we have to watch a movie about him? I am sure he has free wi-fi in prison!

Here, we have African intellectuals crying up a storm about ONE man who is living in the laps of luxury in a pretend-prison for killing a police officer. They will not say a word for the hell-holes that are prisons in Black Africa (Kirikiri, Oko ita, etc). No, that is not sexy enough, let the BBC go to the slums of Makoko to film a living hell, out come their pens wailing racism - at the BBC. You can't win.

Who cares about Mumia when the prisons of America are warehouses for brown people? Thanks to clinton era discriminatory drug sentencing brown children have filled hell-holes like Angola prison, no one does anything about that. Obama could care less about structural changes to the judicial system that would stop hunting down our children like prey. THAT is what we should be advocating for, not  for the wretched life of a sniveling coward.

- Ikhide

- Ikhide

Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide<http://www.facebook.com/ikhide>



From: Abdul Karim Bangura <theai@earthlink.net>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; Funmi Tofowomo Okelola <cafeafricana1@aol.com>
Cc: leonenet <leonenet@lists.umbc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

And watch Obama leave office without pardoning him!

http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/trailers_mumia.html



Before he was convicted of murdering a policeman in 1981 and sentenced to die, Mumia Abu-Jamal was a gifted journalist and brilliant writer. Now after more than 30 years in prison and despite attempts to silence him, Mumia is not only still alive but continuing to report, educate, provoke and inspire.
Stephen Vittoria's new feature documentary is an inspiring portrait of a man whom many consider America's most famous political prisoner - a man whose existence tests our beliefs about freedom of expression. Through prison interviews, archival footage, and dramatic readings, and aided by a potent chorus of voices including Cornel West, Alice Walker, Dick Gregory, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman and others, this riveting film explores Mumia's life before, during and after Death Row - revealing, in the words of Angela Davis, "the most eloquent and most powerful opponent of the death penalty in the world...the 21st Century Frederick Douglass."
STEPHEN VITTORIA, Writer/Director/ Producer/Editor
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is Stephen Vittoria's current documentary and it opens in theatres this fall. His last film, One Bright Shining Moment: The Forgotten Summer of George McGovern won top honors at the Sarasota Film Festival as "Best Documentary Feature" and was released nationwide by First Run Features. In 1987, Vittoria wrote, directed, and edited his first film, the dramatic feature Black & White, starring Kim Delgado and Frank Vincent – a story about racism set against the backdrop of post-World War II America. In 1995, Vittoria produced, wrote, and directed Hollywood Boulevard, starring John C. McGinley, Jon Tenney, and Julianne Phillips – a dark and satirical look at the motion picture business.
In 1998, Vittoria wrote, directed, and edited the six-hour health documentary Save Your Life – The Life and Holistic Times of Dr. Richard Schulze, and then in 2005 he wrote, directed, and edited the television documentary Keeper of the Flame with journalist Linda Ellerbee and actor Wilford Brimley – a film that deals with the current ecological crisis facing American forests.
Recently, Vittoria was a producer on two feature documentaries by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney:Gonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and Magic Trip. Vittoria is the founder and creative director of two Southern California production companies – Street Legal Cinema and Deep Image. One day, Steve hopes to play centerfield for the New York Yankees.  He lives in Los Angeles (under protest).

Praise for Stephen Vittoria's MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary
"Coverage of public discourse in the United States often makes it seem as if the only ideologies still in the game were the far right and the moderate everybody else. But "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary" is proof that there are still outspoken champions of views too radicalized to qualify as left-wing: people distrustful of law enforcement, the political system, the justice system, the news media and the very notion that America is at heart the land of the free. Getting a concentrated dose of activists like Angela Davis and Dick Gregory, academics like Cornel West and Michelle Alexander, and the many other talking heads in this film is certainly a bracing change from the usual back-and-forth of the evening news." - Neil, Genzlinger, The New York Times
"Tracing the path of a brilliant journalist whose message cannot be silenced...this passionate advocacy docu should spark debate. Part of Abu-Jamal's persuasive power flows from the specificity of his analysis of black history and his ability to see the struggle for freedom in larger, nonexclusive terms. Vittoria closely follows the government's desperate efforts to silence Abu-Jamal...[and] triumphantly heralds his return to the political scene as a rallying cry for an alternate political discourse joyously shared by the film's community of interviewees." -Ronnie Scheib, Variety
"The film is part biography, part commentary... and part drama. ("Mumia") is a film that provokes and entertains." - Counterpunch
"Passionate, partisan, and persuasive!  A compelling documentary about a riveting historical figure, with a who's who of storytellers woven by Vittoria into coherent narrative, with each one playing a brilliantly cast role: their own. It retells a history that is almost unbelievable if one did not experience it firsthand." -Eric Mann, War Resister's League
"Puts a human face on its subject, for so long now just an anti-capital-punishment icon… also makes the case, COINTELPRO and beyond, that power is hardly to be trusted in America." - Michael Atkinson, Time Out NY
"Juicy, visual…Vittoria does a fine job setting the stage and dissecting racial tensions in Philadelphia." - New York Daily News
<http://criterioncast.com/reviews/joshua-reviews-long-distance-revolutionary/>"Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is one of the early part of this year's crowning gems... And it's as great a film as we've seen now a month into 2013."
-Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast
"! Doesn't seek so much to clear the controversial figure's name as to showcase his intellect and longstanding defiance of 'The Establishment'." - Kam Williams, Philadelphia Sunday
"Vittoria constructs a powerful narrative of Abu-Jamal's life and career as a journalist and social critic." - Jay Cassano, Inter Press Service
"Uncompromising, disturbing…Abu-Jamal's voice has the clarity and candor of a man whose impending death emboldens him to say what is on his mind without fear of consequence." - The Boston Globe
"Vittoria tells of an exceptional black Philly kid growing up in the days when police chief Frank Rizzo was attempting to beat the civil rights movement back with 1,000 nightsticks. (The film) sets Mumia the statue aglow." -The Village Voice
"Did Abu-Jamal really kill the officer, or was he railroaded because of his activism and ties to the Black Panthers?  'Mumia' raises issues of racism in America (flashback to George Wallace) that are worthy of discussion." -V.A. Musetto, New York Post
"Tells the story of a man who expresses deep compassion and public-mindedness, despite existing in Hellish conditions." -Yolande Brener, Harlem World
"Fascinating and persuasive. Vittoria creates a context that suggests how easily innocents could be railroaded.  The result is not unlike Oliver Stone's rewrite of U.S. history."
- John Hartl, Seattle Times
"Study of the civil rights era tends to end with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  'Mumia' is fascinating because it covers the overlooked time period -- the late sixties through the seventies -- by examining race relations within the northern city of Philadelphia, a place not popularly associated with racial injustice." - Alicia Fox, Student Handouts
"Mumia" is a vital documentary." - Wolf Entertainment Guide
"Vittoria creates a tantalizing tension... (Mumia) has a prophet's insight into our nation's racial and judicial ills... he's clearly a singular intellect and writer." - Seattle Weekly


Funmi Tofowomo Okelola
--The art of living and impermanence.




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You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
  For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
  For previous archives, visit  http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
  To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-   
  unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
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