Africa

[editor's note: While I am on vacation I am reposting some of my earlier diaries that I consider particularly important, interesting or well read. This was originally posted on Columbus Day]

I experienced an odd sensation today as I was on the subway today. Today was Columbus Day but I had to go in to work for part of the day anyway. The book I am currently reading is King Leopold's Ghost, a pretty horrifying history of the Congo under colonialism.

Reading about colonial genocide in Africa on Columbus Day. Had a kind of irony to it.

I have been ambivalent, in the litteral meaning of the word, towards Columbus Day for years now. I celebrate America and Columbus' "discovery" of the "New World" because the result of his discovery and the ultimate founding of America is that my family, myself included, is alive and thriving today. Without America, my family would have been exterminated in the genocide of Nazi Germany if not before that in the genocide of the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and later Stalin's genocide in the Soviet Union.

But I am reminded every Columbus day of the genocides on which the founding of America was based. My family had a refuge from genocide because of a previous genocide committed against the natives of America. How's THAT for ambivalence?

King Leopold II set out to turn the entire Congo basin into his own personal colony. It wasn't a colony of Belgium until later. It was a colony held by a single man. According to some estimates, ten million people were killed so that one man could make the modern equivalent of $1 billion. Those people were killed to keep costs down in production first of ivory, then of rubber. Eventually, outrage from Britain, the US, France and Germany led to the transfer of the Congo from Leopold to Belgium...without much change in the genocidal practices.

Societal collapse is not a pretty site. It usually involves many deaths and occasionally even some pretty horrific images creeping in between reports of Paris Hilton's latest prison experience.

We've seen societal collapse. Biafra...Rwanda...Cambodia...the Balkans...

Zimbabwe is predicted to be within 6 months of collapse according to a secretive and leaked report commissioned for aid workers. Alarmist? Unlikely?

Consider this. The current inflation rate in Zimbabwe is 3,714%. Yeah...you read that correctly. Quadruple digit inflation. Add to that 80% unemployment. One third of the population depends on food aid from the international community, which of course requires sufficient infrastructure and stability for food to get through.

I think you already have what amounts to economic collapse. No work and no one can buy anything.

Zimbabwe's dictator of course blames "the West" for sabatoging his nation. Ignore the fact that his regime is among the most repressive and corrupt on earth. It is also one of those nations where nearly a quarter of the population is HIV infected. Combining that with the economic situation, it is not surprising that average life expectancy is in the mid to late thirties.

The international community let genocide occur in the Balkans, in Rwanda, in Darfur. We can make a reasonable guess that Zimbabwe may be next for full scale societal collapse by the end of this year. Will anyone do anything about it?

[Edited for formating and promoted by mole333]

Skepticism in Africa

Leo Igwe

The word skepticism comes from the Greek word ‘skepticos’ which means inquiry. Skeptics are inquirers. And the skeptical outlook is governed by reason, science, curiosity and critical thinking. It is opposed to dogmatism, irrationalism, blind faith, gullibility and superstition. The skeptical temper has inspired distinct trends in human thought, history and philosophy- the renaissance, reformation and Enlightenment.

In countries across the world, the state of skepticism is not the same. Some countries are more skeptical than others.

Last year, I visited three West African countries - Senegal, the Gambia and Sierra Leone to meet with scientists and skeptics and to ascertain the state of skepticism.

In Senegal, the traditional life is still mired in myths, superstition and taboos.

In some communities, people do not go to market on Wednesdays or cut their hairs on Saturdays. They believe that such actions would lead to death and misfortune- these beliefs have gone unchallenged for centuries.

In the Gambia I met with teachers and leaders of the science club at the University of the Gambia. We discussed the prevalence of superstition in the country and how we can tackle it. The students told me how seers and marabus exploit poor ignorant folks by manipulating commonsensical knowledge and data. One of the most common superstitious beliefs in the Gambia is witchcraft. That is the belief that people can harm others through spiritual, occultic and supernatural means. Witches are said to cause diseases, accidents and death. The students said they were brought up to fear owls.

[Editor's note: Formatting edited and diary promoted by mole333]

Human Rights In Africa
5th January
By Leo Igwe

In November I traveled to the Gambia to represent the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) at the 40th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul (November 15-29, 2006). It was my first time to participate in an event organized by this regional body. ACHPR was established in 1987 to promote and protect human and people’s rights in Africa.
For almost two decades after independence African leaders did not pay serious attention to human rights issues on the continent. They focused mainly on liberation, decolonisation, and eradicating apartheid. Hence the continent witnessed flagrant human rights abuses and violations as recorded during the regimes of Mobutu Sese Seko, Kamuzu Banda, Jean Bedel Bokassa, Idi Amin etc.

In 1979 the then OAU (now AU) Assembly Heads of State and Government took an important step in the history of human rights in Africa. They met in Monrovia and adopted a resolution calling on its Secretary General to form a Committee of experts that would draft an African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. The Committee produced a draft, which was adopted at the 1981 meeting of the OAU Heads of State and Government in Nairobi. The Charter came into force on 21 October 1986. and this date is now celebrated as an African Human Rights Day.

Bush continues to ignore Africa, allowing instability to increase, a situation that encourages bloodshed and terrorism. Some time ago I wrote about an evolving situation in Guinea, a nation that had been viewed as an island of stability in an area plagued by unrest in nations like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. It had seemed like stability had returned as the corrupt, strongman President of the country, Lansana Conte, came to an agreement with unions who were leading an uprising.

Now it seems that Conte has betrayed his word and his actions have sparked renewed unrest. From Salon.com:

Citizens were banned from leaving their homes Tuesday morning as a strict curfew took effect in this West African country after the president instituted martial law following days of deadly protests.

The central streets of the capital appeared to be empty early Tuesday, but residents speaking by phone from the suburbs of Conakry said sporadic gunfire continued to sound in some neighborhoods.

"They are still firing heavy arms. I didn't sleep all night because of the shooting," said Aissatou Diallo. "I see from my balcony people walking in the streets who are going to buy and sell things in the market. I even see some taxis."

My recent articles on the civil unrest in the African nation of Guinea (here and here) may yet be able to end happily.

Guinea has been seen as an island of stability in an area where bloody civil wars have been rampant, particularly in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The previously stable Ivory Coast had joined Liberia and Sierra Leone in being rent by civil war. Last week it looked like Guinea might follow suit. The worst of this would have been the way such civil wars quickly destabilize neighboring nations, and since Guinea's neighbors include nations that only recently have come to an uneasy peace, collapse of stability in Guinea could reignite problems in the whole region.

It seems though, at least for now, Guinea's stability has been restored. From BBC News:

Guinean unions have called off a general strike that has crippled the nation and led to deadly clashes, after a deal was reached with the government.

Nearly 60 people have died in protests since the strike was called on 10 January to demand government reforms.

President Lansana Conte agreed on Friday to cede some powers to a prime minister who would head the government.

Earlier I posted a diary discussing the deteriorating situation in the West African nation of Guinea complete with some background and with a discussion of why it is worrisome to those of us not living there.

The situation has evolved since then. Strongman President Conte, after 2 weeks of a general strike and escalating violence, has agreed to one of the key demands made by the strikers, offering to appoint a new Prime Minister. But the strikers aren't satisfied and the situation remains tense. From BBC news:

The general strike in Guinea is continuing despite President Lansana Conte's offer to name a new prime minister - a key union demand...

The trades unions said they wanted first to see concrete action from President Conte before ending the strike.

"The people of Guinea do not want any more promises. They want something concrete," said Abdoulaye Sow, one of the leaders of the Syndicated Union of Workers of Guinea (USTG).

"It is an agreement in principle. Now it is necessary to put it into practice," he said...

The strikers accuse Mr Conte, who is his 70s and suffers from diabetes, of mismanaging the economy and personally securing the release from prison of two men accused of corruption.

I was about to write a review of this great movie, but Tami Hultman does a great job in letting you know what this movie is about. Check it out, I got this from New America Media.

‘Blood Diamond’ Entertains, Educates

allAfrica.com, Review, Tami Hultman, Posted: Dec 11, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the early days of Master Sergeant Samuel Doe's 1980 coup in Liberia, I was entering a hotel in Monrovia with my five-year-old son when soldiers lounging in the lobby started shouting and indiscriminately shooting. Flight seemed the wrong option, especially when one of the shooters challenged me, "Lady, wheh you goin' wi'dat bag?"

"Looking for you," I improvised. "My son wanted his picture taken with a brave soldier. Would that be you? My camera's in the bag. Do you want to see?" Within seconds, half a dozen menacing youth, brandishing assault rifles, were good-naturedly jostling to be in front of the lens, asking my "small boy" how he liked Liberia, would he like to stay with them, would he show their pictures to everybody in America.

That long-forgotten moment lurched into my mind during a pre-release screening of Edward Zwick's new film, Blood Diamond, starring Djimon Hounsou, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. During a tense encounter with young rebels in Sierra Leone, U.S. journalist Maddy Bowen, played by Connelly, defuses the threat by taking their pictures.