George Ngwane

George Ngwane comments on the failures of “State-centric” PanAfricanism which has so far been characterized by “dialectically opposing ideologies and procedural battles on the methodology and ownership of its dividends…”According to Ngwane,

“With the attainment of political Independence by most African countries in the 60s the pendulum oscillitated between an atavist pseudo-nationalist group that held tenaciously to national sovereignty and an economic-integrative bloc that favoured the clustering of sub regions resulting in the Lagos Plan of Action (1980) and the Abuja Economic Treaty (1991). Muammar Gaddafi’s convening of forty Heads of State to Sirte Libya on September 9th 1999 was an acknowledgement of the flawed Pan African promises since 1900 and a resolve to rekindle the Casablanca dream through the transformation of a moribund O.A.U to a fast track African Union. Unfortunately the launching of the African Union on 9th July 2002 in Durban, South Africa, stalled the Sirte revolution and in its place erected a Durban evolution…

Until the ownership of PanAfricanism is citizen-oriented through the concrete establishment of common economic values, shared social identities, a consensual political front and a more authoritative African Union Commission, pan Africanism shall continue to stay at the level of futile state-centric theses and reactionary anti-theses and the result shall be the ubiquitous power jockey among a rent seeking political elite, the scramble for depleted resources among the emasculated masses and the stereotype image of a continent that has erroneously earned the stigma of “a scar on the conscience of humanity”.

Clement Nyirenda’s blog world
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2008/06/12/tutu-is-right-to-call-for-a-sports-boycott-of-zimbabwe/

Ray Hartely commends Archbishop Desmond Tutu's for callling on cricketers to boycott Zimbabwe and condemns South Africa's continued tepid response to the situation in Zimbabwe:

“South Africa’s response to Zimbabwe has continue to be cautious and muted even as pre-election violence escalates ahead of the June 27 run-off election between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai...

This soft approach fails to acknowledge the role played by the sports boycott in dampening the global image of the apartheid state.

Such boycotts send a powerful signal that a government is a pariah and can hasten change by providing the oppressed with evidence that the outside world is in solidarity with them.
South Africa’s struggle leaders should know this better than most because many were at the forefront of the apartheid government’s international isolation.

By carrying on a normal sporting, diplomatic and commercial relationship, we are saying that we accept the Zimbabwean government’s legitimacy, even as it blatantly attacks democracy.”

Virtual Africa
http://virtualafrica.co.za/travel/robben-island-virtual-tour/

The Virtual Africa blog presents an life-like virtual tour of Robben island, particularly Nelson Mandela’s prison pell and the famous cave at the limestone quarry where Mandela and others held meetings. Virtual Africa reveals that the virtual tour project began about a year ago at the behest of South African Tourism:

“This virtual tour was included in the official SA Tourism Google Earth layer and we thought we’d share it with you here.

Robben Island has a unique and colourful history: Leper Colony, World War II fortress, Prison and now …. a museum, a place of remembrance.

You can read the history books and look at the pictures as much as you like, but it simply won’t prepare you for the experience of actually being there.

When you step off that ferry for the first time, you know you’ve arrived at a place of significance.

Walking the halls of the prison, peering into the cells, visiting the quarries where the prisoners had to work and listening to the stories of ex political prisoners is hugely educational, deeply depressing and wonderfully uplifting - all at the same time.”

Sociolingo’s Africa
http://sociolingo.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/coca-cola-speaks-out-about-democracy-in-africa/

Sociolingo’s Africa reprints excerpts of a recent interview by Neville Isdell, the world-wide head of The Coca-Cola Company who argues that economic growth is posssible in non-democratic systems:

“Oppressive societies – that is always a problem. You don't get good growth out of those. Where you have a deficit of democracy as defined today by Western elites, you can still have very good growth because they're putting in place sound policies. Not just economic policies – educating their people, having good rule of law, building infrastructure.

I think the real qualifier for democracy to be not just a vote once, but really to take root is a functioning middle class. That is the democratic stabilizer. There's a little bit of a chicken-and-egg situation here. You do not get a functioning middle class unless you have got a growing economy, unless you've got the right economic policies, and those can be put in by governments which don't meet the current Western democratic norm.”

Addis Journal
http://arefe.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/desperation-as-hunger-grow-bbc/

Addis Journal produces excepts of what it describes as an “appalling” BBC report about hunger in Ethiopia:

“It is a strange and unsettling ride west from the Ethiopian town of Shashamene. The fields are vibrant green. There is water in the creeks. The soil is a deep rich burgundy.However, the people here speak of a ‘green drought’.

It is the time when the land is full of new shoots but there is no food. It happens because the last rains failed and few crops were planted.”

* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org/