The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 12 Issue 34…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…August 23, 2009

Venue for an Artist

My Hope Is In You

By Youssou N'Dour

I never know

But now I know

Some day we'll see

All the possibilities

My hope in is you

I wanna watch your spirit

Touch the sky

So much more we can do

My hope in is you

If you take your love and fly away

I know you'll make it through

You'll make it through

Drop your guns and go to school

Do you hear me brother?

Some day we'll know

Just how far we can go

My hope in is you

I wanna watch your spirit touch the sky

So much more we can do

If you take your love and fly away

I know you'll make it through

Feel the earth beneath your feet

So much more that we can be

I know you see, I know you see

Your future is shining

Ohhhh

My hope is in you

I wanna watch your spirit touch the sky

So much more we can do

My hope is in you

If you take your love and fly away

I know you'll make it through

You'll make it through

About Me: Born October 1, 1959 in Dakar, Yousson N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. He is most popular for his mbalax beat, a blend of Senegalese traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with Afro-Cuban and Haitian kompa arrangements. N'Dour is called "Roi de Mbalax" (King of Mbalax), and his is a household name Senegal, Gambia and neighboring countries in West Africa.

News You Use

Return to Gorée

Gorée is a small island sheltered by the Cape Vert Peninsula that is part of the city of Dakar, Senegal. First settled by Portuguese around 1450, Gorée is known as the location of Maison des esclaves (House of Slaves), built by an Afro-French Métis family about 1780-1784. The House of Slaves, one of the oldest houses on the island, is a tourist destination to dramatize the horrors of the slave trade throughout the Atlantic world.

In 2006, internationally renowned Senegalese singer Yousson N'Dour decided to give a Jazz concert on the island to commemorate the humanity of those who started their journey in life as slaves in the New World and created, against all odds, one of the most important and celebrated musical expressions in the world. Directed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud, Youssou N'Dour: Return to Gorée documents the artist's travels to various cities in Europe and the USA to recruit talented musicians for the concert.

Youssou N'Dour: Return to Gorée was among the more than 2500 films submitted to the 16^th Annual Pan African Film Festival. Of the 162 films selected, it won Best Documentary in the 2008 Pan African Film Festival. With the participation of musician and writer Imamu Amiri Baraka, pianist Moncel Genoud, and drummer Idris Muhammad, among others, Youssou N'Dour: Return to Goree is a film that uniquely galvanizes the global black experience. The film is in English and French with English subtitles; a preview of this celebration of black music is available online at www.retouragoree.com/trailer.html.

Bit of History

Pan-Africanism

By John Burl Smith

Pan-Africanism has been an evolutionary movement, deeply rooted in the estrangement of African slave, the domination of colonialism and economic exploitation of neo-colonialism. It began as a dream in the minds of former slaves longing for repatriation and the anguished cries for liberation by Africans subjugated in their own homeland. The first Pan- African conference was organized by Henry Sylvester-Williams. It was convened in London in 1900. Its goal was to address the problems of colonialism, oppression and exploitation faced by African people worldwide. An expression of self-esteem against doctrines of racial superiority, Pan-Africanism emerged as a psychological underpinning for blacks in disparate parts of the world fighting political exclusion and economic enslavement.

David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World published in1829 ignited a firestorm in the United States (US), even though slave descendants had been denied education and were considered ignorant. Their fight for emancipation equipped them with requisite skills that placed them at the forefront of the Pan-African movement. Between 1919 and 1945, W.E.B DuBois convened and presided over 3 Pan-African congresses. The fifth Pan-African Conference held in 1945 heralded the beginning of a new era. Proclaiming African political and economic dependence must end, it demanded an end to colonial rule and racial discrimination.

Africans from Africa, the Caribbean, US and Europe united to propel African independence as a major goal. Ninety delegates attended the conference, with Africa supplying twenty-six, including Peter Abrahams of the African National Congress (ANC) and future leaders Hastings Banda, Kwame Nkrumah, Obafemi Awolowo and Jomo Kenyatta. The Fifth Pan-African Conference emerged as the dominant voice for decolonization. It injected a note of militancy, forging the hope and vision of a United Africa. This notion was carried back to Africa and served as catalysis in the struggle for national independence.

During the 1950s, Africans behind Kwame Nkrumah turned to uniting the continent. He promoted an independent West African Federation as the first step towards a United States of Africa. Pan-Africanism moved beyond idealism to practical reality when Nkrumah led Ghana to independence in 1957. Ghana gave Pan-Africanism a much-needed base on African soil which enhanced the continent's struggle for unity, while paving the way for closer co-operation among Africans struggling for liberation.

The realities of national liberation struggles and the demands for unity were themes at the Conference of Independent African States held in Accra in 1958. Leaders from Libya, Ethiopia, Liberia, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and the United Republic of Egypt discussed common problems involving political, economic, cultural and social matters. That following December 1958, the All-African People's Conference met at Accra under a banner proclaiming "HANDS OFF AFRICA! AFRICA MUST BE FREE!" It was the broadest representation of political and public organizations of African countries ever achieved, and Pan-Africanism seemed a reality.

Overwhelmed by their success, Dr. Nkrumah recognized the special contribution of American and West Indian slave descendants in advancing Pan-Africanism. He said, "Many of them have made no small contribution to the cause of African freedom. Names which spring immediately to mind in this connection are those of Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois. Long before many of us were even conscious of our own degradation, these men fought for African national and racial equality. Long may the links between Africa and the peoples of African descent continue to hold us together in fraternity."

The crossroads for Pan-Africanism came when the Congo gained independence from Belgium. An enthusiastic supporter of Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Congo, was opposed by multinational mining corporations. The mining multinationals fermented a secessionist movement in Katanga province and deployed Belgian troops in the rebellion. Aided by the US, Belgian troops captured Lumumba and eventually murdered him. Favoring anti-Lumumba forces, the UN - with US backing - sent peacekeepers to protect mining corporations' interest.

This was a moment of decision for African leaders. Should they pursue Nkrumah's goal of Pan-African unity or follow former Belgian and French colonies that preferred to continue aid through colonial ties? This group of francophone independent states held a conference in Brazzaville, Katanga and praised the Belgian/UN invasion of the Congo. The other independent states held a separate meeting in Casablanca and denounced it. The Brazzaville group believed Pan-African socialism would frighten the West, and they would lose aid and investments. The Casablanca group argued that going hat in hand to get aid strengthened Western economic exploitation. They believed it was more important to develop an African common market and other institutions. Both sides met in Monrovia in 1961 but failed to bridge the gap.

A second gathering was held in Tunis, Tunisia in January 1960 and a third in Cairo, Egypt in March 1961. The search for unity continued until May 25, 1963, when 32 African heads of states came together and formed the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to advance the continent's drive towards the United States of Africa. (Sources: www.marcusgarvey.com, http://en.wikipedia.org, www.africanhebrewdevelopmentagency.com and www.modernghana.com)

Hood Notes

Double Standards Don't Embarrass the West

By Joseph Ochieno

Described on the front page of The London Paper (2008) as "the man of the moment," Mr. Nelson Mandela came to town for a series of celebrations making his 90^th birthday on July 18th, exactly one month after Thabo Mbeki's.

He had tea with Queen Elizabeth II, joined by his third wife Gracia Machel, a survivor whose first husband Samora Machel was blown up in an aircraft, by suspected apartheid South African terrorists.

For Africans, it's give and take. While the Mandela's had tea, Robert Mugabe's Knigthood was being withdrawn. Granted, in 1994 he had excellent bilateral relations with the British, his economy was booming, he was a respected African intellectual and a man we could do business with.

His finance minister was white, 70% of the arable land was in the hands of 400 white farmers, millions of landless Africans were servants, no need for 'opposition' politics; you never heard about events in Matebeland in 1982. Then Brits were helping to train the new Zimbabwe army! They were doing the same to Uganda's UNLA.

Anyhow, 'oppositioning' during the Cold War days was nice, certainly not a reviled terminology like in Uganda these days. If your government was supported by Americans with apartheid satellites like Malawi or Zaire, you could always seek Soviet eyes and ears. Or if you desire to be a well paid opposition, take your dissent to Haile Mengistu's Ethiopia, or Angola then you will enjoy like Jonas Savimbi did. I am not talking about Mr Museveni at all.

With the Cold War gone, it is really tricky, unless of course you are Zimbabwean. You get all the free press, prepared lobby texts, sponsored UN resolutions, backed regional Summits and AU Sessions, free radio stations linked to the BBC and you are sure that your opponent-country shall get 90% of Africa's international coverage. You know South Africa will get 5%, Darfur 2% and the remaining 3% shall be shared by the rest of Africa.

And the package gets even better. Unlike the concentration camps in Northern Uganda, where there is no genocide, you will get easy refuge at European diplomatic missions. You will not hear from Bishop John Sentamu on Uganda, since the Queen has just been, but he is prepared to go on hunger strike for you. He must be right because Archbishop Desmond Tutu agrees by suggesting to the BBC that if the selective unilateral sanctions are not biting enough, we should go for a comprehensive one because it is an "additional suffering that will do the trick".

Yes, these are men of God. They must be right, for their silence on those other issues that concern you chaps in Kampala must be for God. And right because British foreign secretary David Milliband and former Africa minister Peter Hain both said that the 'victor' of Zimbabwe's first round elections of March 29 should be declared winner! Mr Museveni must have enjoyed this change through the dispatch box until he remembered that the last universally free and fair election in Uganda was in December 1980.

Journalist Mark Urban suggested that a "victor of a one-horse-race cannot be a legitimate winner." In Tripoli or Kampala they either win or never hand over, so Mark was not talking about Uganda since 1986. Friendly revolutionaries never retire. As for Gordon Brown, "holding power only through violence and intimidation is not acceptable."

Sky News' Emma Hurd is resolute that Zimbabwe has become an embarrassment to Africa. I suggest that double standards, selective politics and indifference to genocide in Africa are never an embarrassment to the West.

The New Hope of Africa

By John Burl Smith

There is a maxim that states, "Those who do not remember their past are domed to repeat it or continue to fall victim to it." However, it is not always a matter of remembering; sometimes an inability to do anything to change it is the problem. The point here is, considering the history of African people, including slave descendants, this maxim seems to be of limited value. For instance, when one says "Africa's problems," it is easy to subsume its vastness, millions of peoples and cultures into a homogeneous whole where the past and present become indistinguishable from its future. Those offering prescription with the hope of improving Africa's present cannot simply dismiss the actions in the past which produced the current circumstances in order to envision a better future.

Retrospectively, one cannot speak of Africa without offering an extensive dissertation on colonialism and the impact of Europe during the18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries on the socioeconomic and political development of the continent. Fast-forward to the so-called independence era of Africa (1950s and 60s) and one finds no sub-Saharan African nation actually acquired total independence or freedom. All former colonies remained tethered to their former rulers through some arrangement, like the United Kingdom's "Privy Council."

Before the guise of independence, colonial governments amassed huge debts that the so-called liberated nation had to agree to pay off as a condition of independence. This meant that as much as 60% of their GDP would go to serving the debt made by their former colonial lords and under which they still labor today. If a country refused to pay these debts, Europe and the US employ economic sanctions, driving them into bankruptcy, as they did in Zimbabwe.

Presently, most African countries are controlled by pro-western male dominated elites that are subservient to multinational corporations. These governing elites are motivated by greed and power. Any leader who is not and seriously attempts to assert independence by demanding fair prices for his people's resources will suffer the fate of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah and many others. Today, the Congo is the major source of coltan, used in cell phones and other small electronics. The Congolise people will never be allowed to control this strategic mineral.

However, today a new breed of leaders is coming to power in Africa that opposes neo-colonialism and exploitation. Women are the new source of power in Africa. They are not aligned with corruption and military coups. They have not sold themselves to the highest bidder for crumbs from US and Europe's tables. They are not fashion statements or political divas.

Their paramount interests are home, family and community. This does not mean they cannot have careers with ambitions and the ability to lead their nations. Women coming to power, such as Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, Zimbabwe; Minister of Foreign Affairs Sidibé Fatoumata Kaba, Guinea; President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia; Vice-President Marina Barampama, Burundi; Minister of Foreign Affairs Asha-Rose Migiro, Tanzania; Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria; and Foreign Minister Rosemary Kobusingye Museminari, Rwanda have built broad- based coalitions that appeal across the political spectrum.

They are the bright lights on the horizon illuminating Africa's future. They have the insight to look upon Africa with new eyes and see hope where despair shrouds the present and prosperity where poverty lingers like the heavy hand of colonialism. Theirs is a monumental task and the most pressing among their leadership challenges is salvaging the "children" soldiers of Africa, who are like buried mines left behind after a war.

This is another legacy of greedy men hungry for power and riches. Many of these "child" soldiers were impressed into lawless gangs that masqueraded as liberation armies. Many were forced to watch as their parents and siblings were murdered. Turned into killing machines, they endured things that make old men cringe. They were inducted into a society devoid of love at early ages, where violence and brutality were daily occurrences. Now orphans facing hunger and poverty without education or opportunity, what has a cruel world to offer them but more pain?

If these abused and misused children are not brought back into the fold, most will live out what is left of their lives as predatory beast. What does that portend for Pan-African unity? Changing this future demands that women be involved. Psalm Chapter 127 verse 3 says "Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward."

Leadership in Africa today is not about just saving children in one's own country; love must reach across borders. This is the task before the new leaders of a United States of Africa or Africa will truly be a "Dark Continent." (Sources: www.assatashakur.org, www.pambazuka.org, and http://blogs.wsj.com)

Disgruntled wants to know: According to a recent Post-ABC poll, a majority of Americans do not believe the Afghan war is worth fighting. Yet, in all likelihood, the US will send more troops to die in a conflict most of us believe is worthless. Moreover, many of us felt the decision to start a war in that country was wrongheaded. Still, the US has been an Afghan occupier since 2001 and that will not end anytime soon. During the Bush administration and the presidential campaign in 2008, those against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were very vocal and politically active. Now that the "peace" candidate occupies the White House, the peace or anti-war movement appears to have expired without achieving anything remotely resembling its mission. In addition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is an undeclared war in Pakistan in which people are dying, possible US military intervention in parts of African, particularly Somalia and Nigeria, not to mention the tough talk against Iran. Rather than achieving peace, the US is engaged in and considering more warfare than when the warmonger-in-chief, George W. Bush, steered this ship of state. Given that reality on the ground, can it be true? Is the peace movement over?

Disgruntled feels: Double-standard! I will be the first to admit that I am somewhat disappointed in this president, but I am willing to give him more opportunities to bring about the "change" he promised. After all, he has been in office for less than a year, and change does not happen overnight. With that said and faced with dozens of daily threats, the US Secret Service must diligently work to protect Obama from the crazies out there that adamantly oppose having a black man in "their White House," regardless of his politics. Ostensibly to protect the president, during the two terms of the Bush administration, protesters were confined to areas euphemistically called "free speech zones," which were located miles away from Bush venues. These zones were maintained and monitored by local law enforcement officials. Bush never saw the protesters and mainstream media rarely mentioned them. Enter the much-threatened first black president and a new standard for handling protesters. Not only are they allowed to wear derogatory t-shirts, carry signs and voice their negative opinions at Obama venues, but they can carry guns, including assault rifles. Even more of a glaring double standard, the media cover Obama protesters, which are mostly angry white men.

Disgruntled says: I just do not get it! On 9-11, the US was not attacked by the nation of Afghanistan. According to the "official" account of the events on that tragic morning, a rogue organization named al Qeada, which was led by US former agent Osama bin Laden, perpetrated the dastardly deed. Even that characterization of what happened that day has been shot full of holes by others who question the official account of events that day. Suffice it to say, Afghanistan did not attack the US. So, how do we call the war in Afghanistan "a war of necessity" that is "fundamental to US security," when in reality, we are just guarding a pipeline and the opium fields, the targets of US interests in that country? Yet, war of necessity is precisely how President Barack Obama characterized the conflict in his speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars this week. Obama used the exact same terminology as the warmonger George W. Bush. Continuing Bush's imperialistic "war on terror" in Afghanistan, Iraq and extending it to Pakistan, does not bode well for the "change" we hoped would be manifested by the Obama administration.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email glen.ford@blackagendareport.com ...Clinton Threatens War in Horn of Africa...By Glen Ford...Hillary Clinton has confirmed that the Obama administration is bent on pursuing the same "war on terror" and regime-change strategy in the Horn of Africa as its predecessor. Having made George Bush's war in Afghanistan and Pakistan his own, Obama dispatched his Secretary of State to draw battle lines in Somalia and to threaten the neighboring nation of Eritrea. Clinton depicted Somalia as the Afghanistan of Africa, and Al Shabab, the Islamist enemies of America's pitiful puppet regime in Somalia, as the Taliban. Clinton's words could have been written by a Bush speech writer. "If Al Shabab were to obtain a haven in Somalia which could then attract Al Qaeda and other terrorist actors, it would be a threat to the United States, she said." That's Bush war talk, pure and simple. No one, but the US and its flunkies, claims that Al Shabab is anything but homegrown. But Washington needs to manufacture a Somali Taliban to justify its own crimes.

Email www.un.org ...More than 1 million Kenyans affected by a prolonged drought are getting the food aid they desperately need, the UN's World Food Program (WFP) said Tuesday. The agency is providing emergency food aid to some 2.5 million people in this East African nation, but another 1.3 million still need help, said Gabrielle Menezes, a spokeswoman for WFP. She appealed to donors to come forward to help alleviate the situation. As a result of dry land and no food, prices have gone up. According to Jacob Cramer of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, "In most areas, they used to buy a can of water for ten cents. Now they pay a dollar for it. If you live on a dollar a day, you have to choose between water and food." Since the hardest hit semiarid southeastern regions and parts of central Kenya have only one harvest a year of maize - Kenya's staple - if the autumn rainfall, which has largely failed this year, does not materialize later in the season, the situation is likely to deteriorate further.

Email www.ap.com ...Economic troubles roil Africa...By Donna Bryson...Amid signs the rest of the world may be recovering from the global financial crisis, Africa is still being hammered. South Africa, among Africa's most diversified economies, had already seen a plunge in demand from the cars, machinery and other goods it produces. Africa's larger economies are more directly affected by the crisis, but even smaller economies are feeling pinched, said Richard Mkandawire, an economist at the African Union's development agency. On a continent where most people live in abject poverty, any downturn is magnified. Some African countries are seeing tourist dollars drop as foreigners cut back on exotic travel. In countries like Ghana, there is evidence expatriates working in the West are sending less money home, Mkandawire said.

Email howardpt@gmail.com...The president exhibits crazy speech patterns...By Cindy Sheehan...What is fundamental to the defense of our people is a sane foreign policy, not more war crimes brought to the world by the War Criminals in DC. What is fundamental to our health and prosperity is to bring the troops home from Iraq-Af-Pak and reduce the Pentagon budget so we can afford such basic human rights as health care, housing and education. Besides Afghans and Pakistanis being killed and displaced at a Bushian clip, these days, our troops are increasingly being killed and wounded so the War Profiteers can squeeze more bucks out of violence. More of our families will be harmed while most of the anti-war movement stands down for Obama. This is unconscionable. I don't care if you love Obama, hate him, or something in between, we must loathe his wars and his crazy hate speech directed at our brothers and sisters in war torn regions. Please join us on Martha's Vineyard from August 26th-30th to demonstrate to the world that there are still some people here in America who want peace no matter who inhabits the Oval Office.

Email joycemarcel@yahoo.com ...Like Arguing with a Table...By Joyce Marcel...Clearly, something is very wrong with American journalism. How do you treat people showing up with guns to presidential meetings as OK when people were getting arrested at Bush rallies for t-shirts and bumper stickers? How do you talk about people comparing Obama to Hitler without mentioning Timothy McVeigh and the militias? How do you talk about angry people showing up at meetings without talking about the lobbyists who are stacking these meetings to make sure rational debate is impossible? How do you do "he said/she said" journalism in a country that's having a nervous breakdown? Truth is more important than objectivity. It's also more important than a career in the mainstream media. The way you deal with hate speech is to call people on it. Counter hate speech with better speech, with honest speech, with truthful speech. Or you could quote Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who at a town hall meeting responded to a woman heckler with this: As you stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler, and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. Trying to have a conversation with you would be as interesting as trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it."