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Africa Action: Commentary and Letter
Africa Action: Commentary and Letter
Date distributed (ymd): 020910
Africa Action Document
Africa Policy Electronic Distribution List: an information
service provided by AFRICA ACTION (incorporating the Africa
Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the American
Committee on Africa). Find more information for action for
Africa at http://www.africaaction.org
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
+security/peace+ +US policy focus+ +gender/women+
SUMMARY CONTENTS:
This posting contains (1) a commentary by Salih Booker aired on
National Public Radio on September 5, (2) a letter sent to Africa
Action supporters on September 6, and (3) a commentary on The
Lessons of September 11 shared with us by the Kenya Human Rights
Commission. An audio version of the NPR commentary is available on
the NPR web site (http://www.npr.org/archives).
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
National Public Radio
Morning Edition, September 5, 2002
Commentary by Salih Booker, Executive Director, Africa Action
When I remember September 11th, I think of Africa.
I recently returned from Nairobi, Kenya where I once lived and
frequently visit. I stopped at the memorial for the 279 Kenyans
and 12 americans who were killed by the terrorist bombing of the
U.S. embassy in 1998. More than 5,000 were injured.
At that time, official America displayed little empathy for the
African dead and injured. No war on terrorism was declared. The
ensuing investigation and trial received little attention in the
U.S. media. The American public was denied the stories of
suffering and heroism that generate compassion and a sense of
common purpose. We failed to recognize the indivisible nature of
human security then ... perhaps because it was Africa.
But after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last
year, Africans and African governments displayed so much
compassion for Aericans. Services commemorating the dead were held
across the continent. Financial donations were sent to the U.S.
Within one month, Senegal hosted a summit of 30 African countries
to discuss how to respond to international terrorism.
And for a moment it seemed that Americans too, in our tragic hour,
had come to realize that our vulnerability was the same as that of
others ... and that the fragile nature of life was universal. For
a moment longer it seemed we were about to realize that the idea of
"national security" was obsolete ... Because the greatest threats
were global, requiring a shared global response. Threats like
terrorism ... or AIDS ... or global warming ... or poverty.
We stood on the verge of discarding outdated thinking in favor of
a new concept of "global human security" ... a view of the world
preoccupied less with nations and more with the security of people,
families, indeed humanity... an idea that structural violence -
like poverty or patriarchy - was as dangerous as deliberate violent
acts. But such an epiphany eluded us.
Lamentably, in the year since nine-eleven, we Americans have torn
up treaties. We have largely ignored the greatest immediate threat
to global human security - the AIDS pandemic. And our president
would not even attend the Earth Summit on eradicating poverty and
protecting the environment.
All of this is central to Africa's survival. It is why so many
Africans had hoped the U.S. had changed as a consequence of that
sad September. As I traveled around Africa this summer I heard
friends say that the greatest international threat today is not a
bearded band of medieval terrorists... but the policies of a very
21st century Washington.
Surely America's security is not enhanced if our actions threaten
the security of the rest of the world.
Letter to Friends
September 6, 2002
Dear Friends,
I'm just back from nearly one month of travel in South Africa,
Kenya and Nigeria. I'm exhausted and exhilarated. Uplifted by the
dynamic people I met and by their work, but also saddened to know
the policies of the United States only make their missions more
difficult. Most of all I return determined that Africa Action will
succeed here in the U.S. by mobilizing dozens, then hundreds and
then thousands of people to demand that our government do what is
required of it to support the efforts of Africans to create a
better world.
In South Africa the HIV-positive leader of the Treatment Action
Campaign, Zackie Achmat, is refusing to take anti-retroviral
medicines until they are made available to all in South Africa
regardless of economic status. His health was declining while I
was in South Africa and he was unable to attend the International
Conference on AIDS in Barcelona, Spain, but addressed it by video.
Nkululeko Nkesi, the head of the National Association of People
With AIDS (NAPWA) spoke to me with passion and wisdom about the
struggles to get government and international partners to
understand that the failure to fight poverty will ensure that AIDS
continues to spread even if access to treatment improves. He
stressed that not only did people living with AIDS not have access
to AIDS drugs but they were also often denied basic healthcare and
treatment for opportunistic diseases. Many have lost their jobs
because of their HIV status and struggle just to get food for
themselves and their families.
Meanwhile the African Union was born with much fanfare during my
time in South Africa replacing the Organization of African Unity
and offering some hope that African governments are now committed
to greater collective efforts to address the Continent's greatest
challenges. But the marginalization of women so apparent at the
gathering of nearly all 53 male heads of state and their entourages
highlighted the most immediate problem that Africans must address
if poverty is to be reduced, AIDS defeated, and sustainable
development achieved: the liberation and empowerment of women
throughout the Continent!!
In Kenya, long-time dictator Daniel arap Moi was finally preparing
for his departure by early next year. But he is attempting to
arrange his succession to protect his interests once he steps down.
Most political aspirants sadly seek to make it a contest of ethnic
identity and fail to offer a vision of a "new Kenya." But Kenyan
human rights activists like Wambui Kimathi (Kenyan Human Rights
Commission), and AIDS activists like Dorothy Onyango (Women
Fighting AIDS in Kenya) and Asunta Wagura (Kenya Network of Women
with AIDS) are working hard to focus more attention on economic and
social rights, such as the right to health and to promote women's
rights in a patriarchal society. I was outraged when one Kenyan
government official referred to one of my contacts as a woman who
had "confessed" to having HIV!
While in Nairobi, I visited the memorial park built at the site of
the 1998 terrorist bombing of the U.S. Embassy that killed more
than 200 Kenyans and 12 Americans. I was dismayed to learn that
the U.S. Government had balked at funding construction of the park,
which subsequently was financed by a private U.S. foundation. This
memorial, now a small quiet space at the corner of an incredibly
busy city intersection, reminds us of the indissoluble nature of
human security, something the U.S. government has yet to
acknowledge.
I arrived in Nigeria while hundreds of women were staging peaceful
takeovers of oil platforms in the Niger delta "owned" by the huge
Shell and Chevron corporations. The women were demanding a
redistribution of the enormous profits that these companies drain
from Nigeria and a clean up of the environment that they have
polluted. A United Nations report came out when I was in Lagos
that listed Nigeria's population (some 120 million people) among
the poorest in the world, despite the country's vast oil wealth.
Military rule ended officially following the elections in 1999, a
change that Africa Action (under its predecessor organizations) was
very active in supporting. Now Nigerians are using the political
freedoms they've gained to pursue and protect their economic and
social rights. Otive Igbuzor (Citizens' Forum for Constitutional
Reform) and Chima Ubani (Civil Liberties Organization) both
emphasized to me that the legacy of military rule includes a
constitution imposed to maintain the essentials of repressive rule
and to protect the former Generals' interests. They and other
"rights" activists, such as Abiola Afolabi (Women Advocates
Research and Documentation Centre) and Ebenezer Durojaye (Center
for the Right to Health) are laboring to ensure that rights such as
health are not only enshrined in law but also supported in the
national budget and protected by the work of government ministries.
Mohammed Farouk (Nigeria AIDS Alliance) told me that Nigerians
living with AIDS are combating an environment of fear and
ignorance, but making progress in promoting a message of hope.
Nigeria has now created a national body to fight AIDS with the full
participation of people living with AIDS who aim to hold it
accountable.
These are just some of the messages and insights people shared with
me during my journey. But all of the more than 60 people that I
met and had detailed discussions with expressed a keen interest in
our work in the United States. Our campaign focusing on "Africa's
Right to Health" was enthusiastically embraced by African activists
who are looking not only for solidarity and support, but also for
political and social forces in the U.S. with whom they share an
analysis of the changes needed in the policies of the world's
remaining superpower.
They emphasized the need for new U.S. policies on everything from
access to affordable medicines (where the U.S. presently
prioritizes pharmaceutical company interests), to environmental
protection (where the "oiligarchy" in Washington enthusiastically
backs the interests of big oil companies), to changing the policies
of the World Bank and the IMF and getting those institutions to
cancel Africa's illegitimate foreign debts (the U.S. generally has
its way at these international financial institutions as it is the
single largest shareholder).
I want you to know that Africa Action is working tirelessly to
mobilize Americans who care about these issues in order to bring
enough pressure to bear on policymakers to begin to achieve these
objectives. Our partners and allies in Africa are counting on us to
succeed!
There's a lot to do but with your support we've already had quite
a few successes during the past year alone:
- We've held organizational consultations with religious leaders
on the East and West Coasts, and begun the work of targeting key
communities around the country to press for major initiatives on
African debt, funding for the Global Fund for AIDS and rebuilding
primary health care in Africa
- We've amplified the calls to cancel Africa's illegitimate
foreign debts through newspaper commentaries across the country,
through statements signed by hundreds of civic leaders, and through
radio airwaves and the Internet
- We've exposed the negative impact of the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund on healthcare in Africa through release
of a major report on the subject, which we now use, along with
others, to advance the boycott of World Bank bonds in cities around
the country. (See "Hazardous to Health: The World Bank and IMF in
Africa" on our website at
http://www.africaaction.org/action/sap0204.htm).
The present times require an organization such as ours to continue
mobilizing activists to press for change. Today, American
relations with Africa are at the intersection of our shared
concerns about the growing economic disparities in the world; about
democratic participation in defining American foreign policies; and
about the racial inequalities that are increasing between (and
within) the wealthy Western world and impoverished Africa. But we
must secure our institutional future so that we can continue to
provide this vehicle for advocacy for the next generation of
leaders to come. We need you to help us secure that future by
making a contribution today! (for links to make contributions go to
the web version of this letter at
http://www.africaaction.org/join.htm).
In 2003, we aim to celebrate our 50 years of struggle and recommit
ourselves to continuing to fight the good fight, and to win! While
we are planning major events in several cities on which we will
give you more detail in subsequent mailings we are also encouraging
our supporters to suggest ways in which we can celebrate with them
in cities across the country. Please let us know if you have an
idea. And please consider making a special contribution
specifically to honor our 50th Anniversary by supporting our
efforts today.
Sincerely,
Salih Booker
P.S. Many of you have been with us for more than a few of the fifty
years we will be celebrating - see the special message for you from
George Houser, Jennifer Davis, Imani Countess, and me at
http://www.africaaction.org/dir0209.htm.
Kenyan Human Rights Commission
http://www.khrc.or.ke
[distributed by KHRC September 9, 2002]
War, Terrorism, and Human Rights:
The Lessons of September 11
Professor Makau Mutua, Chair, KHRC
Dr. Willy Mutunga, Executive Director, KHRC
On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, most of the world
led by the United States will fittingly remember the
tragic attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City
and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. While we at the Kenya
Human Rights Commission join the international community in
this sorrowful remembrance and mourn for the victims,
their families, and loved ones we take this opportunity to
call for the respect of the international rule of law, human
rights, fairness, and an honest reflection by all states,
especially the United States, in its war on terror.
We were horrified by the wanton destruction of life and
property visited on New York City and Washington DC by last
September's suicide attacks. We in east Africa are no
strangers to the acute suffering and agony of such attacks.
The August 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and
Dar-es-salaam killed hundreds and injured thousands. While
we seek justice against the perpetrators of these horrible
attacks, we must never waver in our resolve to respect the
rights of suspects. We must never be vengeful or target
entire communities or faiths in pursuit of justice. This,
we believe, is a lesson that the Bush Administration has
missed.
Since the attacks of last September, the United States
has pursued domestic and foreign policies that imperil civil
liberties and human rights at home and abroad. While the
United States has a responsibility to protect its citizens
and those who live within its borders, it must do so
humanely and within the law. The promulgation of laws to
establish military tribunals to try individuals designated
as terrorists violate both American and international law,
and set a terrible example to countries elsewhere. Policies
and official pronouncements that target Muslims and ArabAmericans
in the United States violate fundamental human
rights. The passage of laws limiting the rights of suspects
and their lawyers undermines the foundation of American
democracy and invites dictatorships elsewhere to crush their
dissenters. As the lone superpower, the United States has
both a moral and legal obligation to set a better example.
We express deep reservations in the manner in which the
United States has prosecuted its war against terror in
Afghanistan. There have been far too many reports of
needless civilian casualties. To our knowledge, no one has
been held accountable for these killings. We think that
such events only help to engender anti-American sentiments,
and are therefore counter-productive. We think that the
Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners held by the US at its base in
Cuba should be accorded POW status and treated accordingly.
We believe that such steps would indicate that the US was
acting in good faith in its war against terror.
We do not think that there has been an honest, deep,
and open debate and reflection in the United States about
the motivations and implications of the September suicide
attacks. Instead, the question, "why they hate us?," has
been turned into a drumbeat for suppressing civil liberties
and violating human rights abroad. We challenge the
American human rights and civil rights movements to lead the
nation in seeking answers to the attacks, and looking at US
policies abroad as one possible arena for reform to
alleviate the alienation and grievances that other cultures
and countries hold against the United States. We do not
believe that the September 11 attacks reveal a neat "good
versus evil" dichotomy. Real dialogue between cultures,
religions, the rich and the poor, and the North and the
South is the only sure way to resolve the demons that
unleashed September 11.
We add our modest voice to those opposed to a US
military action against Iraq. Since the American-led Gulf
War a decade ago, Iraq has been turned into a living hell.
United Nations sanctions have crippled the country. Tens of
thousands of children have perished of preventable diseases
because of lack of medicine and medical equipment. It is
the common people of Iraq, and not President Saddam Hussein
and his cronies who have borne the brunt of the suffering
wrought by sanctions. Any attempt to overthrow the Iraqi
regime would lead to national disintegration, prolonged
civil strife, and untold suffering by women, children, and
the infirm. The warpath must be abandoned. Otherwise it
will lead to more suffering and a coalescence of the belief
that the United States is bent on the destruction of the
Arab nation. Instead, we believe that US efforts ought to
be focused on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict --
ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine, stopping the
killings on both sides, and establishing a sovereign
Palestinian state, with security guarantees for Israel.
There was an outpouring of support for the American
victims and families affected by the September 11 attacks.
Even a Maasai village community in Kenya presented the
Americans with cattle, as a token of its solidarity with the
victims. It was a touching gesture. We feel that neither
the Clinton, nor the Bush, administration has done enough to
assist Kenyan victims and the families of the 1998 Nairobi
embassy bombing. While the United States has rightly set up
a fund for the victims and families affected by September
11, it should extend some of that caring to victims of the
embassy bombing. This would go a long way in alleviating
their pain and suffering. It would also show that Americans
do not just care about their own victims, but all those
others who, in effect, "have taken a bullet for Uncle Sam."
On this first anniversary of the September 11 attacks,
we want to remember the victims and their families, but also
to underscore the obligations of states, particularly the
United States, to lead by showing respect for the
international rule of law and human rights. We urge and
call upon the Bush administration to pull back from its
confrontation with Iraq. We believe that only a balanced,
internationally inclusive approach, devoid of unilateralism,
can alleviate the hatreds and violations that continue to
characterize our world today. Otherwise, the law of the
jungle will make losers of all of us.
This material is distributed by Africa Action (incorporating the
Africa Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the
American Committee on Africa). Africa Action's information
services provide accessible information and analysis in order to
promote U.S. and international policies toward Africa that advance
economic, political and social justice and the full spectrum of
human rights.
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