Africa

from various sources, 25 November 2008: "Throughout its history, capitalism has functioned through geographical displacement of crisis – attempting to offload the worst impacts onto those outside the core. This article presents a short survey of what this crisis might mean for the Global South..." more

from rinf, 24 November 2008: "The American security company Blackwater is planning to cash in on the rising threat of piracy on the high seas by launching a flotilla of gunboats for hire by the shipping companies. The firm, which gained international notoriety when its staff killed civilians in Iraq, has already equipped one vessel, called The McArthur, which will carry up to 40 armed guards and have a landing pad for an attack helicopter"... more

from email, 15 November 2008: BAMAKO (AFP) — One person died and five were injured Monday when security forces opened fire on a protest over plans to privatise drinking water distribution in northwestern Mali, hospital and official sources said. Authorities intervened after hundreds of protesters ransacked city hall in the town of Lere and threw stones at the mayor and his deputy, injuring them and several other people, said a municipal official. more

posted 12 November 2008: "In this month’s Underreported Struggles: 400,000 Guatemalans Reject Development Model, Philippines Indigenous People Unite for the Land, Riot Police Target Algonquin Blockade, Chagos Islanders Denied the Right of Return, and 17 other stories that you probably haven’t heard about..." more

from priceofoil, 11 November 2008: "If he was still alive, I wonder what Ken Saro-Wiwa would make of it all, if he could see his beloved Delta stuck in a vortex of violence that seemingly has no end. For a man who preached peace, he would undoubtedly despair at the continued kidnapping and bloodshed. Thirteen years after his death, there is no end in sight to the curse of black gold..." more

from the independent, 7 November 2008: The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again -- and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket. When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a "tribal conflict" in "the Heart of Darkness". It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by "armies of business" to seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you. more

from aljazeera, updated 4 December 2008: Somali pirates have accused European firms of dumping toxic waste off the Somali coast and are demanding an $8m ransom for the return of a Ukranian ship they captured, saying the money will go towards cleaning up the waste. The ransom demand is a means of "reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years", Januna Ali Jama, a spokesman for the pirates, based in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, said. more

from email, 1 September 2008: Text of a speech by S'bu Zikode at the Diakonia Council of Churches Economic Justice Forum - an audio recording of the speech, including the discussion afterwards, is available from Diakonia. more

from ZACF by email, 23 April 2008: "We welcome and support the decision by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union for their workers neither to unload nor transport the shipment of Chinese-made armaments destined for Zimbabwe..." more

from email, 23 April 2008: "On Sunday it will be Freedom Day again. Once again we will be asked to go into stadiums to be told that we are free. Once again we will not be going to the stadiums. We will, for the third time, be mourning UnFreedom Day. Since the last UnFreedom Day we have been beaten, shot at and arrested by the police; evicted by the land invasions unit; disconnected from electricity by Municipal Security; forcibly removed to rural human dumping grounds by the Municipalities..." more

from Abahlali, 31 March 2008: Yesterday all charges against the Kennedy 6 were dropped just over a year after the men were first arrested. The Kennedy 6 were arrested on a clearly trumped up murder charge on 21 March 2007 after a well known criminal died in police custody. While in custody they were assaulted and an attempt was made, by Senior Superintendent Glen Nayager, to force them to chant anti-Abahlali slogans. They refused. more