Global Affairs

The African Media on the Occupy Wall Street Movement

PTZeleza — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:49:16 -0800

How have the African media and commentators covered the Occupy Wall Street Movement in the United States and elsewhere in the global North? The following reports give a glimpse on African perspectives on the movement, what they see as its causes, resonances with age-old African social and political struggles, and the implications for the continent, Euroamerica, and global capitalism. PTZeleza, Editor, The Zeleza Post.

UGANDA: Anti-capitalism Rebellion in Progress in US By Dani Wadada Nabudere read more »

The Need for the ‘Global African Worker’ By Bill Fletcher, Jr

Guest Blogger — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:55:30 -0800

The African World and Pan-Africanism itself have undergone dramatic changes over the last 40 years. On the African continent, for instance, the last remaining colony is the Western Sahara, and their coloniser is another African nation (Morocco). The apartheid system, as we knew it in Southern Africa, is gone. In the diaspora legalised racial segregation is largely a thing of the past. read more »

Flies on the meat: Tutsi genocide deniers and human rights activists

Wandia Njoya — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:01:24 -0700

In a book chapter entitled "Cultural poetics and the study of African literature," Louis Tremaine tells an interesting story of an African film-maker testing a new film on American students. During a market scene in the film, "the narrator's commentary was drowned out by exclamations from around the room: ‘The meat's got flies on it! Look at the flies on the meat!" The film-maker's remedy was to "re-dub the commentary, reassuring the audience that the meat will be cooked before it is eaten - not to worry about the flies." read more »

Venus Hottentot, Josephine Baker, now Beyonce

Wandia Njoya — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 08:37:16 -0700

It is only in France that people will come up with a ludicrous idea of co-opting a clueless black American diva in their reduction of Africa to blackness. It is in France in the 19th century that Venus Hottentot was displayed like an animal and her genitals preserved in a museum. It is France in the 20th century that convinced Josephine Baker that she was affirming human solidarity across racist boundaries by wearing bananas, coconut bras and sisal skirts. read more »

Africa's World Cup

PTZeleza — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:00:12 -0700

The beautiful game has begun with flourish. South Africa and the entire continent are filled with intoxicating ecstasy, jubilant that the World Cup has finally come to Africa for the first time in its eighty year old history. For some this is South Africa's and the marginalized continent's coming out party, a proclamation to the world that Africa is on the move. read more »

The Predictable Failure of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

PTZeleza — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:13:05 -0800

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference ended in failure today. Never mind the predictable rhetoric from several leaders who welcomed the tepid accord signed after two weeks of intense, acrimonious and chaotic negotiations. read more »

Carbon Trading: Colonizing the Atmospheric Commons By Khadija Sharife

Guest Blogger — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:19:09 -0800

Whether it is used to described rolling blackouts or civil wars, the catchphrase ‘Africa wins again' remains a favourite amongst naysayers naturalising the continent as a place where tragedies symbolise the realisation of Africa's innate ‘destiny' - to self-destruct.

ARMS AND ENERGY

Beyond Bandung: Awakening of the South By Samir Amin

Guest Blogger — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:48:16 -0800

Challenging the imperialist dimensions of capitalism. Capitalism is in crisis, Samir Amin writes in Pambazuka News, creating new opportunities to challenge its imperialist dimensions. read more »

The Internet Goes Multilingual: The Challenges for Africa and African Diasporas

PTZeleza — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:43:25 -0800

Last Friday, October 30, the internet opened a new chapter in its long march towards internationalization. It entered a new era of multilingual globalization. Up to now, web addresses could only be displayed using Latin characters. This increasingly makes little sense as more than half of the world's 1.6 billion internet users employ non-Latin scripts including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, and Russian.

The Undistinguished History of the Nobel Peace Prize

PTZeleza — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:53:06 -0700

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama has provoked a strange storm of controversy. I say strange because the protagonists in the debate--the advocates, ambivalents, and antagonists of President Obama's unexpected award--seem to read too much into the award. As shown by their partisan passions they seem, despite their apparent disagreement, to invest the prize with a measure of worldly greatness that is simply untenable.

2016 Olympics: The Obamas Need New Speechwriters

Wandia Njoya — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:00:56 -0700

I might be the only African who is getting a little tired of the Obama phenomenon. And I might be the only one who was relieved that Chicago didn't win the bid for the 2016 Olympics. And I might be the only one who was pleasantly surprised that Chicago lost in the first round.

The G20 Summit: The Symbolic Birth of a New World Economic Order?

PTZeleza — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:07:08 -0700

As is common with most international gatherings, the G20 Summit which ended in Pittsburgh last Friday was long on symbolism and short on substance. read more »

Global Cultural and Civilizational Contests: The Electoral Drama of UNESCO

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:47:23 -0700

Tomorrow, September 21, the fourth round of voting will take place to elect the new Director General of UNESCO. Elections to leadership positions in UN agencies and other international organizations are ritualized performances in which nations and regions jockey for global recognition and sometimes power. It is often more about the symbolism of global rankings rather than substantive global power, for the latter continues to cohere around the complexes of military-industrial production and projection.

Emerging From the Crisis of Capitalism Or Emerging From Capitalism in Crisis? By Samir Amin

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:38:09 -0700

The principle of infinite accumulation, which defines capitalism as synonymous with exponential growth, and the latter, like cancer, results in death. John Stuart Mill, who understood this, imagined that a 'stationary state' would put an end to this irrational process. John Maynard Keynes shared this optimism of the Reason. But neither was equipped to understand how the necessary overcoming of capitalism could come about. read more »

The Global Land Grab and the Dangers for Africa

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:51:50 -0700

While much of the world including Africa is understandably preoccupied by the current global economic recession, a development of potentially more lasting consequences is taking place behind the radar of public concern and scrutiny. A global land grab is underway in which rich countries and large corporations are buying up large tracts of land in poorer countries to secure food and biofuel supplies for the rich countries and multinational corporations.

Why Do You Call Yourself Black And African?

Carina Ray — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:38:07 -0700

A little over a year ago I received an email with the subject line "Ok I wonder why you call yourself ‘black' and ‘African'" from a self-described longtime New African reader. Even if subsequent emails have been less direct in their articulation of the same underlying sentiment, they all point in a similar direction: some people are confused about my racial background and about the way I racially identify myself. Their need to seek clarification suggests that being able to label me is important to the way in which they understand the conten read more »

Uncivil Societies: Beyond the Valorization of Civil Society and Demonization of the State

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:43:20 -0700

All too often, the underlying ideas that frame public discourse and even policy remain unexamined. One of the most powerful of such ideas is the notion of civil society, which enjoyed particular prominence at the height of the new wave of democratization in the 1990s and early 2000s across much of the world including Africa. Civil society was generally seen as the repository of all that was positive and possible for Africa, which the heinous state had thwarted through its authoritarian inflexibilities, inefficiencies and instabilities.

How Globally Competitive Is Africa

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:37:30 -0700

The African Competitiveness Report was released earlier this month preceding the official opening of the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Cape Town, June 10-12. Jointly produced by the African Development Bank, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum, the report discusses the short- and long-term challenges facing African economies including the current global economic crisis, as well as the successes that have been registered in recent years and how they can be spread and deepened.

SPECIAL REPORT: THE CRISIS IN IRAN

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:47:07 -0700

The current crisis in Iran is, quite predictably, eliciting conflicting and often contradictory commentaries in the media and reactions from governments around the world. As is often the case with charged political events, the prevailing opinions and responses usually reflect existing ideological and political predispositions and tell us as much about what is going in Iran as what the protagonists would like to see happen.

The Islamic Republic at a Crossroad By Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:26:46 -0700

On its thirtieth anniversary the Islamic Republic of Iran has reached a significant crossroads. After validating the questionable re-election of President Ahmadinejad on June 12^th, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has hesitantly but expediently instructed the Guardian Council to assess the allegations of voting irregularities and fraud during Iran's tenth presidential election. read more »