Pambazuka News 825: G20 Compact with Africa:
Whose agenda?
8 June 2017
![]() FAHAMU
AT 20:
A MESSAGE FROM THE
DIRECTOR
Dear friends and
partners of Fahamu,
this November 2017 we
will celebrate the
20th anniversary of
Fahamu’s establishment
as a pan-African
organisation that
collaborates with
movements to tackle
social injustices. On
behalf of my
colleagues, I would
like to thank from the
bottom of my heart
every individual or
organisation that has
supported and
continued supporting
Fahamu’s work since
1997. They include,
but not limited to,
the founders of
Fahamu, former staff
members and trustees
of Fahamu, volunteers,
various social
movements across
Africa and beyond,
thousands of
individual supporters,
hundreds of
foundations, trusts
and organisations that
believe in the work of
Fahamu. The
achievements of Fahamu
are your achievements
too. [SEE OUR STORY]
CONTENTS: 1.
Features 2.
Announcements
Features
![]() On
Monday-Tuesday next
week, Berlin will host
the G20 finance
ministers’ negotiations
with African elites led
by a South African,
Malusi Gigaba. Is this
the next neo-colonial
defeat for the
continent, harking back
to another process 132
years ago?
How the Compact
with Africa pushes
Africa towards its
next debt crisis
![]() With its Compact
with Africa the
German G20 presidency is
actively promoting
private loans and
investment as solutions
to infrastructure
deficiencies on the
African continent. The Compact aims
at using public
resources in order to
improve the investment
climate and mobilize
private capital to
finance investment
critical to achieving
sustainable development.
Maureen
Sigauke
![]() The G20
Compact with Africa
downplays climate change
and sustainability,
relegating them to mere
side-effects of doing
business. There is no
acknowledgement of the
ecological debt the
North owes the South.
For sustainable
development, climate
justice and action, it
is imperative that the
G20 meeting gives more
attention to climate
justice.
![]() If African
leaders had an ounce of
self-respect, they would
be expressing their
absolute condemnation of
the US withdrawal from
the Paris Accord, or
using this moment as an
opportunity to speak out
on the dangerous
consequences of not
taking climate change
seriously.
![]() Ironically,
by pulling out of the
Paris Agreement, Trump,
the great negotiator,
may expose America to
greater global backlash
than if he had just
stuck with the agreement
while doing little to
nothing to actively
address climate change.
![]() Often
considered to be largely
insulated from the
unrest and upheaval
brought about by the
Arab Spring, Morocco is
now facing mounting
turmoil throughout the
country. The methods
inherited from
colonization and
currently used by the
government are doing
little to appease the
basic demands of a
population hungry for
equal opportunities and
social justice.
Shawn
Hattingh
![]() The hope
that the end of
apartheid would herald a
better life for the
oppressed in South
Africa has evaporated.
Their conditions today
are materially as bad as
under apartheid - and
even worse in some
cases. But the upper
classes are having the
time of their lives.
Working class struggles
should be intensified
and linked, based on
self-organising and
direct democracy to
bring about real change.
![]()
Baby Jayden Khoza,
aged just two weeks
old, was killed during
violent repression of
a community protest by
the police. The baby’s
killing underlines the
utter inhumanity of
the post-apartheid
South African state in
dealing with poor
people who only demand
the right to a decent
life. Jayden could
have become a teacher,
a doctor, a leader in
his community or even
a revolutionary
president; an honest
president.
![]() Banro
operates in a region
that has seen incredible
violence over the past
two decades and the
secretive company has
been accused of fuelling
the conflict. In 1996
Banro paid $3.5 million
for 47 mining
concessions that covered
more than one million
hectares of land in
Congo’s North and South
Kivu.
![]() As
business continues to
grow in influence
globally, sometimes
enjoying asymmetrical
power relations with
developing states, a new
report notes serious
concerns over private
sector practices that
are leading to increased
human rights abuses and
attacks on fundamental
freedoms.
![]()
Britain is voting in
a snap general
election on June 8.
From Brexit to
security and future
immigration policies,
the manifestos of most
parties will have
implications for
refugee protection.
![]() The
Manchester atrocity
lifts the rock of
British foreign policy
to reveal its Faustian
alliance with extreme
Islam, especially the
sect known as Wahhabism
or Salafism, whose
principal custodian and
banker is the oil
kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Britain's biggest
weapons customer.
![]() As
neoliberalism plunges
deeper into crisis,
militarism and wars are
being promoted and
intensified throughout
the world, especially in
Asia-Pacific. There is a
need to build a global
anti-war and social
justice movement that
opposes militarism and
wars of aggression;
respects the right to
self-determination of
oppressed peoples; and
supports various forms
of resistance to
imperialist aggression
and intervention.
A trail of imperialist
militarism and
super-exploitation
![]() America’s
Africa policies have
consistently remained
destabilizing and
predatory over the
decades, despite the
well-choreographed
pretenses. It is this
imperialism that has
impeded the capacity of
African nations to
direct their future.
Despite Africa’s vast
mineral and agricultural
wealth and labor power,
a renewed debt crisis
compounded by US
interference is
reversing the modest
gains made in past
years.
![]() Nigerian
author Chido Onumah
argues that Nigeria’s
key problem is
nationhood. Except for a
popular revolution that
would fundamentally
change the country,
restructuring is the
best option. That way,
the country will remain
one in order to deal
with other serious
issues such as poverty.
“And the restructuring
we are pushing is not to
divide the country along
ethno-religious lines
but to create a civic
nation along the
principles of
federalism.”
![]() The Igbo
cannot possibly be a
part of the proposed new
Nigeria, no matter how
attractive the idea is
made to look by its
advocates. On 29 May
1966, the Igbo renounced
forever their Nigerian
citizenship. While
wishing Nigeria and
Nigerians well in their
quest for a workable
solution to their
national problem, the
Igbo have unequivocally
opted for a separate
Igbo identity and the
separation of their
territory from Nigeria.
![]() The fuel
subsidy regime was a
huge scam in the Nigeria
oil and gas sector, with
the state colluding with
its friends to steal
from the people. It was
during this time that
entrenched corruption
such as inflation of the
subsidy figures, the
rise of proxy marketers,
over-invoicing and
non-record keeping
became common.
![]() Extra-judicial
killings are “normal” in
Kenya, especially
targeting poor young men
in urban slums who
police accuse of being
criminals. The exact
numbers of the victims –
and their stories –
remain unknown, because
few people or
organizations have the
courage or interest to
document this form of
state violence. Mathare
Social Justice Centre
has just published
details of these
killings in their own
community.
![]() Prof.
Mahmood Mamdani imperils
the survival of the
programme he heads at
Makerere University by
his capriciousness and
reliance on political
connections. This raises
serious questions about
his integrity as a
person, scholar and
administrator. Mamdani
has for a long time
abused the goodwill of
many well-meaning but
unsuspecting people who
looked up to him.
States must ban
Israeli settlement
products to help end
half a century of
violations against
Palestinians
![]()
The international
community must ban the
import of all goods
produced in illegal
Israeli settlements
and put an end to the
multimillion dollar
profits that have
fuelled mass human
rights violations
against Palestinians,
said Amnesty
International today.
Announcements
![]() The
objective of the
special issue is to
examine the discourses
of national, inclusive
and equitable
transformation as
opposed to a mere
exercise of power
transfer between
political elites.
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Henry Makori and
Tidiane Kasse -
Editors, Pambazuka
News
Yves Niyiragira
- Executive Director,
Fahamu
Websites: Fahamu.org, Pambazuka.org
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