Just Africa

Photos From 100 Days to Fight AIDS Rally

Kaytee Riek of Health-GAP and ACT-UP Philadelphia and Waheedah Shabazz of CHAMP and ACT-UP Philadelphia each posted some striking pictures from last week's rally by the White House.

The event was a big success, gathering solid press attention, and more importantly, a committment from Obama Transition Team representative Karen Richardson to meet with organizing groups to discuss the incoming administration's plans to implement their ambitious HIV/AIDS agenda.

 

White House Rally to Seek Obama Guarantees for Funding, Fighting AIDS

Voice of America's Howard Lesser did a great piece today profiling the high hopes Africa Action and the HIV/AIDS advocacy community have for Barack Obama. 

AfriGadget: Simple Materials to Solve Big Problems

“Sometimes when you’re walking around Africa you come upon something that at first appears mundane. Then, upon second glance, you realize it is actually is mundane -- but it’s still interesting.” Like this shoeshiner who figured out how an old keyboard could make his job easier.

The premise of AfriGadget is to bring to light projects around Africa that use simple, low-maintenance, locally available technology to solve important problems in ways that were never thought of before. Like using a bicycle on a school’s water pump so that children will have fun while they help fill up the water tank, instead of having to cut time off school and walk miles carrying buckets of water on their heads.

In Kibera, Kenya, “one of Africa’s biggest slums,” a group of Kenyan architects figured out how two solve two major environmental problems with one stone: a communal cooker that helps recycle plastic waste and reduce the use of charcoal energy by turning rubbish into fuel.

AfriGadget’s grassroots project is looking for 10 reporters to travel around Africa to unearth more of these creative and sustainable ideas, help spread the word, and inspire more Africans to put their ingenuity into practice.

Just LEARN. EDUCATE. ACT. DAILY.

On October 30, the performance backroom at Busboys & Poets was animated with calls for “Justice...Peace...Now!” This event marked the launch of Africa Action’s Just L.E.A.D. campaign, uniting an amazing group of socially conscious poets, spoken word and hip-hop artists, to raise awareness on the continuing crisis in Darfur.

Mic Crenshaw (above) headlined the evening. Below, L.I.B. Jackal and Lt. Traxx kick out the solidarity jams. For more pictures of performers and speakers from allies like Darfur Peace and Development Organization and GI-Net, check out our Flickr page. 

Two Key Concepts for Sustainable Development

Rich and poor nations cannot tackle climate change in identical ways, given that they do not have identical technological capabilities and degrees of responsibility in the crisis. Based on this principle, the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the most universally accepted multilateral environmental agreement) lays down different prescriptions depending on a country’s level of development.

• Developed countries are responsible for learning to mitigate global warming. Mitigation addresses the roots of the problem: how can individuals and industries change their practices to hinder the process of global warming? Solutions include cutting greenhouse gas emissions, using renewable energies, reforesting, etc.

South African activist and popular singer, Miriam Makeba has died

Miriam Makeba, aka Mama Africa, a renowned international singer-songwriter and activist who spoke out against Apartheid and lived in exile for almost three decades, died this past Sunday after a performance in Italy. Africa Action's Gerald LeMelle talks about her life and legacy on KPFK's Uprising Radio here. Below is a clip from her address to the UN in 1964.

Angry African on the Loose

“This blog is about me being pissed off from an African perspective.” It is about the sometimes-exasperating ironies of the world we live in. Born and raised in South Africa, Angry African, as he calls himself, now lives in the U.S. and blogs daily to share his passionate feelings. He writes about American society from an African perspective, and about his sense of American perspectives on Africans. Mostly, he writes to “laugh at the world and the funny people living on this small floating rock.” His honesty, creativity, sense of humor and wonderful narrative style will get you hooked.

South Africa’s history and culture regularly come up in his examination of current events. Last week, blogging about the U.S. presidential elections stirred up memories of another historical election, the first elections in post-Apartheid South Africa. He writes with a talent for story-telling that vividly conveys the atmosphere of that particular moment in time: “What struck me was how quiet people were. No partying. No shouting and hardly any laughing. Just a silence as people stood in the queue waiting for the doors to open so that they could go and vote. … I expected people to celebrate. Come on - we are in Africa. We make a noise and party when the kid drools for the first time. Only later did I realize why. People still couldn’t believe that it was happening. And they did not want to do anything until they saw those doors open. After so many years of hardship they still could not believe that the Apartheid regime won’t try and pull a fast one.”

In the “About AA” section of the blog, you’ll be surprised to find out that the author was “born to be the stereotypical ‘good, racist Afrikaner’ in Apartheid South Africa” and then became an “accidental activist,” campaigning in many parts of the world for more justice towards Africa.

Climate Debt

Opponents of the World Bank’s solution to climate change, the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), recommend the UN Framework Convention on Climate Chance (UNFCCC) as a much better alternative. One of their key grievances is the Bank’s intention to issue loans as well as grants to help developing countries hinder and adapt to climate change.

Why would such loans be illegitimate? The UNFCCC makes it very clear: developed countries are primarily responsible for climate change. Therefore, “as historical polluters and due to their higher technological and economic capabilities, developed countries should shoulder the main burden for resolving the crisis” (Celine Tan, Third World Network). Issuing loans for climate financing will put poor countries into illegitimate debt for a problem caused by the industrialization and economic growth of richer nations. At a time when poor countries have to face their own development challenges, debt repayments will further entrap them in economic stagnation.

Exclusive G20 Financial Summit Looks Like Business As Usual for Excluding Africa in Global Economic Policy

President Bush is inviting the G20 members to a “Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy” to be held in the Washington DC area on November 15th.

Bush, along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, outlined and called together the meeting of the G20 at the end of October. The summit is set to take place on November 15 and according to the White House it will discuss the “causes and efforts to resolve [the financial crisis] through more effective regulation and reform” as well as “the effects of the crisis on emerging economies and developing nations” whose concern over the long-term impact has grown extensively since the crisis hit.

The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.

Sadly, it's little surprise that South Africa is the only African country among them.