This week on Africa Now! We’re talking about Tuberculosis. It’s a disease that many in wealthy countries think of as a disease of the past. Indeed, the world has known how to cure TB for half a century. Yet on the continent of Africa, TB kills millions who cannot access the basic $20 treatment that can cure the disease. And, in Sub-Saharan Africa the TB crisis is combining with the AIDS pandemic—as the two diseases fuel eachother in a deadly spiral of co-infection.
Next week leaders from around the world will be meeting at the United Nations to address, for the first time, the combined TB and HIV pandemics in a high level forum. Will the world begin to turn the corner on TB and HIV? Can global leaders really marshal the funding and the programs needed? Can we tackle TB without also tackling the driving force of poverty? We’ll ask those questions and more this week on Africa Now!
Joining us Joining us to talk about this issue is Winstone Zulu—a TB and HIV activist from Zambia who is in the US on a speaking tour on his way to the first ever “UN Global Leaders Forum on TB/HIV” in New York. Winstone joins us by phone from Los Angeles. in the Studio is Matthew Kavanagh, Global Campaigns Director for RESULTS Educational Fund—a non-profit advocacy group that campaigns on issues of poverty, economics, and health.
ALSO, the DC Caribbean Filmfest 2008—we’ll be joined by Mwiza Munthali of Transafrica forum to talk about this event that starts this weekend
The Hearts of Darkness: How White Writers Created The Racist Image of Africa is the latest book by Ugandan-born author Milton Allimadi that explores in thoroughly-researched detail, the roots of the current negative perceptions of Africans. In the book he chronicles the beginnings of images of Black people that serve to assist a system of white dominance, such as Blackness and beastiality; savages, tribal, uncivilized, etc. He is the Editor in Chief of the New York City-based The Black Star News, a weekly investigative newspaper with targeting primarily African Diaspora readers. The newspaper was founded in 1997 by Mr. Allimadi and the paper’s motto is “Speaking Truth To Empower,” by covering news significant to its target readers that are often ignored by the major corporate newspapers.
During his research for the book, Allimadi discovered documents –correspondences between New York Times reporters sent to Africa from the 1950s to the 1990s and editors here in New York—that details some of the racist attitudes towards Africa and even exposes some concoctions published in The New York Times to perpetuate the racist characterizations of Africa.
Mr. Allimadi has lectured about the topic at Columbia University, Syracuse University, Pace University, The New School University, The London School of Economics, and at numerous book stores around the country.
please note, this show was recorded during WPFW’s fund drive and call in contributions are not currently being accepted. Please visit www.WPFW.org to support the station.
According to the organization ‘Witness for Peace’, Northern Uganda has been at war for 20 years. Over the past few days Uganda’s government has rejected a key rebel demand that it try to get war crimes indictments lifted against three Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leaders. Two decades of armed conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government in the Northern Uganda, has caused some nearly two million civilians to be displaced from their homes. Ordered into so-called protected camps, Internally Displaced Persons face heightened insecurity, appalling living conditions and the lack the means of subsistence. While the LRA have been perpetrators of these crimes, the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces, the national army, has also committed human rights violations against civilians that include arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killing, torture and rape. The UPDF whose mandate is to protect civilians, has not only failed to prevent attacks and abductions by the LRA, but has also perpetrated grave abuses against civilians in a climate of impunity. Last September, the U.S. Senate passed Resolution 573 on Northern Uganda. In addition to broader humanitarian and human rights issues, this resolution addresses the lack of accountability and impunity within the Ugandan military. Today we learned that the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army signed an extension to a ceasefire paving the way to an expected final peace deal after decades of fighting. A reporter from the French news agency AFP witnessed the signing ceremony in Juba where negotiators for the Ugandan government and LRA have been holding peace talks since 2006.
GUEST: Betty Bigombeis a former Ugandan Minister of State and has been the chief peace negotiator between the government of Uganda and the LRA. She is now the Africa Program Distinguished African Scholar at the Wilson Center. Ms. Bigombe is also a Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace; Formerly served as Ugandan, Deputy Minister and Project Manager for the African Development Bank.
ALSO
There is an article in the February issue of New African magazine, the headline reads…DIVIDE AND RULE: How Africans and African Americans are prevented from working together. The author of the article contends that the Carter Administration in1978 recommended that the CIA set up a program to interfere with African and African American organizations that seek to work together. But that was 1978. Did the plan work? Is there some great government conspiracy to keep those of us born on the continent and those of born in the U.S. apart? Or are there issues we must resolve between us in order to unite against the common demons that destroy our culture, politics and lives?
GUEST: Mwiza Munthali is the Director of Public Outreach at TransAfrica. He was born in Malawi but has lived in the US for many years and deals everyday with Africans and African Americans in the struggle to maintain unity. Netfa Freeman is the Director of SALSA, Social Action and Leadership School for Activists at the Institute for Policy Studies. He too works every day with Africans from throughout the Diaspora seeking ways to unite the groups.
This week on Africa Now we examine President George W. Bush’s second trip to the Africa African Contintent. President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush are on a six-day visit to Ghana, Benin, Rwanada, Liberia, Tanzania to highlight the Administration’s legacy on health, education, and economic development. In a speech before he left President Bush stated that his Administration has “revolutionized the way we approach development” by ending what he called “paternalism.”
But many activists in the US and on the continent are challenging this contention—suggesting that perhaps Mr. Bush’s legacy is not one of ending “paternalism” but of expanding unilateralism and militarism in US-Africa relations.
What is the reality of Bush’s legacy? We will examine the good sides and the bad sides beyond the mainstream headlines on a wide range of initiatives including the AFRICOM (the planned US military Command on the continent), Debt Cancellation, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), The Millienium Challenge Account, The Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the administration response to crises in Kenya, Darfur and Chad and of course the U.S. growing interest in African Oil. We’ll also talk about the next administration and what we might see out of a Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, or John McCain presidency.
GUESTS:
Emira Woods is the Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.
Roxanne Lawson is the Director of Africa Policy for TransAfrica Forum.
Matthew Kavanagh, Director of Global Justice, home to the Student Global AIDS Campaign and Student Campaign for Child Surivival.
Since the close of contested presidential elections in late December 2007, the nation of Kenya has been embroiled in a bitter political power dispute that has quickly spiraled into what many now see as uncontrollable violence between supporters of incumbent president Mwai Kibaki and those of opposition leader Raila Odinga. Former UN chief Kofi Annan has traveled to Kenya to negotiate a political settlement that some say might be too late to stop the strife. Meanwhile, US Undersecretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frasier was quick to label the conflict: “ethnic cleansing.” What exactly is fueling this crisis? What is the political context? What is the nature of the political interests involved and how have these interests influenced the unravelling of this crisis? From the point of view of Kenyans living the US, Africa Now goes beyond the post-electoral crisis to examine the real human tragedy that has overtaken Kenya, once a model of stability in Africa.
ALSO, What happens when you pit an Indomitable Lion, an Elephant, a Pharaoh and a Black Star against each other? You get the explosive semi-finals of the 2008 African Cup of Nations, which will reached its inevitable conclusion Sunday February 10 with the Egyptian Pharaohs ruling the roost for their second consecutive Championship. We will recap the excitement of the Nations Cup, examine its impact on the economy of host country Ghana, and appraise the state of African Football today as the continent looks towards hosting its first ever world cup in South Africa in 2010.
GUESTS:Mukoma wa Ngugi is a poet and activist from Kenya. He is co-editor of Pambazuka News, a weekly forum for social justice in Africa, and author of Hurling Words at Consciousness and a political columnist for the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine. He can be contacted at mukomangugi@gmail.com. Julia Nekessa Opoti is an editor and writer with KenyaImagine, an interactive opinion, analysis and debate magazine platform for the promulgation of ideas in communion with Kenyans from around the world. She can be reached at nekessa@kenyaimagine.com Fore the Nations Cup segment, the guest is Francois Gouahinga a staff writer at AllAfrica.com and editor of the French AllAfrica website. Contact him at fgouahinga@allafrica.com.
Tonight we are going to give you an in-depth look at the life and political development of a living African legend: Nelson Mandela.Over the next hour Dr. Robert R. Edgar (PhD) a professor of Southern African history, and Religious and Political Movements at Howard University will share his thoughts on the life of Mandela and his impact on Africa and the global fight for freedom.
GUEST:
Robert Edgar is the author of Sanctioning Apartheid and is Professor of African Studies at Howard University , where he has taught for several decades. He has also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Virginia , Georgetown University , and the National University of Lesotho. He has written extensively on twentieth century African religious and political movements, as well as African-American historical connections with South Africa .
Please Note: This show was broadcast as part of WPFW’s January 2008 Fund Drive. To support member-driven WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington DC, please visit www.wpfw.org.
Last Thursday, November 8, at George Washington’s Lisner Auditorium, a Festival in the Desert took place. And while it didn’t feature the sands of the Sahara, it did feature the sounds of that desert region in Northern Africa. The Festival in the Desert blew into town with two critically-acclaimed musicians from the musically rich country of Mali: Touareg guitar heroes Tinariwen, a band whose electrified incarnation of the music of the Sahara nomads have made them global cultural ambassadors of the Touareg people, and (seconding the bill was ) Vieux Farka Toure, the 26 year old guitar virtuoso and son of the godfather of Mali blues, Ali Farka Toure, easily one of the greatest African musicians who ever lived.
Africa Now caught up with Tinariwen and Vieux Farka Toure for exclusive interviews before their electrifying performances at Lisner Auditorium to talk about the worldwide popularity of Malian Music, the independence struggles of the Touareg peoplesof the Sahara, and how a new generation of Malian musicians are building on the towering legacy of their predecessors.
GUESTS: Abdullah Ag Husseini, vocalist and guitarist of Tinariwen. Tinariwen’s latest record Aman Iman, available on Independiente
Vieux Farka Toure. Vieux’s latest record Vieux Farka Toure is available on Modiba Records.
HOST(S): Akenji Ndumu
SPECIAL THANKS to Sameer Dossani and Francoise Champey for arranging and translating the interviews.
Thanks to Sameer Dossani, line producer of this week’s program, Joia Jefferson Nuri, our senior producer, Warren Turner, our engineer and Ron Pinchback, WPFW General Manager.
The United Nations and the African Union have begun meeting in Tripoli to evaluate the peace process in Darfur, the war-torn Sudanese region burdened by fragmented rebel groups and competing initiatives.
The meeting is aimed at unifying competing peace plans and set the stage for negotiations to end a conflict that has killed an estimated 200 000 people in more than four years.
The meeting is being held amid hopes of a breakthrough to end the conflict after the African Union secured a commitment from a rebel chief to take part in talks to create a “final and lasting peace.”
Joining us to discuss the Sudan meetings in Tripoli and the African America response to the situation in Darfur is Nii Akuetteh, Executive Director of Africa Action.
ALSO
For the first time in its 81 years in Liberia the Firestone Tire company has allowed a Union election. The United Steele Workers of America were among the international observers. Our guest today, Mr. Michael Zielinski was in the delegation.
In a press conference he reminded us of the horrid conditions of the Firestone plantation in Liberia. He said, “Firestone has all the it needs to build high schools, colleges, bigger hospitals, transportation for workers and their children, but has failed, only because they want to have uneducated workforce who will not ask them of their rights.”
Host: Akenji Ndumu
Guests:
Nii Akuetteh, Executive Director of Africa Action
Mike Zelinski, United Steel Workers of America
Emira Woods, Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus
The First Ever United States Social Forum took place from June 27 to July 1 in Atlanta, GA. The event, billed as “more than a conference, more than a networking bonanza, more than a reaction to war and repression” was seen as a major step towards building a progressive movement for justice in the United States.
Joining us today is Sameer Dossani, Director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network. Sameer attended the Forum in Atlanta and also served on the National Planning Committee of the USSF, the group that helped put the whole thing together.
Also with us is Rosa Lozano from the FMLN and the DC Committed for immigrant rights.
