Newswires: Africa | WOMBLES - News, Information for anarchist direct action

CONGOLESE DEMO in Manchester

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:47:00 +0000

Congolese Protesting against deportations, theft of mineral resources, President Kabila and Western Media silence.

Southern Sudan: Forced marriage - one journalist’s story

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

A trainee community radio station reporter considers her own expeience as a bride at 16 and resolves work to empower her community and create awareness of the importance of education for all. DN

Too Many Women Dying in U.S. While Having Babies

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:27:15 +0000

Via: Time: Amnesty International may be best known to American audiences for bringing to light horror stories overseas such as the disappearance of political activists in Argentina or the abysmal conditions inside South African prisons under apartheid. But in a new report on pregnancy and childbirth care in the U.S., Amnesty details the maternal health care [...]

Solidarity: Sikhula Sonke’s Motion of Distrust Against the ANC and Government

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:17:18 +0000

11 Mar 2010 Motion of distrust against the ANC will be put to the United Nations Commission and Minister of International Affairs on refugee rights for the situation in De Doorns and Government and the African Union’s lack of intervention in the torture of our Zimbabwe brothers and sisters and trade union leaders in Zimbabwe.The denial [...]

Squatter City: Squatters and the World Cup

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:15:23 +0000

http://squattercity.blogspot.com/2010/03/squatters-and-world-cup.html Squatters and the World Cup South African squatters are suggesting that they will protest during the soccer World Cup to dramatize the lack of affordable housing and horribly deprived and neglected condition of their communities. Understandable. After all, the South African government and various municipalities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the Football World Cup, including, the Telegraph notes, $170 million just for security. read more

South Africa's Social Conservatism: A Real and Present Danger

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:34:25 +0000

As much as those of us who identify ourselves as social progressives would like to believe otherwise, the reality is that South Africa is a bastion of social conservatism. Indeed, one of the most glaring contradictions of South Africa’s post-apartheid ‘transition’ is that the widely acknowledged (and regularly celebrated) social progressiveness of the Constitution is, in large part, at fundamental odds with the beliefs and views of the majority of South Africans themselves.

Seattle Activists Target JP Morgan Chase

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:07:29 +0000

Activists in Seattle have been busy lately targeting their local JP Morgan Chase branches. Here’s a description of last Saturday’s protest from Chad in Seattle: “It was another fun filled day of protest at Chase Bank. A lot of people stopped and chatted with us and a lot of info was handed out to the [...]

In search of light: Uncovering the Exile History of the ANC and SWAPO

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:12:09 +0000

http://respectnamibia.ning.com/forum/topics/in-search-of-light-uncovering David Lush spoke to the author Paul Trewhela about the relevance of Inside Quatro to southern Africa today. (This is a transcript of that interview published in Insight Namibia) While Inside Quatro documents meticulously the abuses of the ANC and Swapo in exile, there is little reflection or analysis on what implications these abuses have had for the ANC and Swapo's governance of South Africa and Namibia respectively. Wasn't this a missed opportunity? read more

M&G: ANC urges calm after Gauteng service-delivery protests

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:05:50 +0000

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-11-anc-urges-calm-after-gauteng-servicedelivery-protests KARABO KEEPILE | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Mar 11 2010 12:34 ANC urges calm after Gauteng service-delivery protests By mid-morning on Thursday, five metro police cars were lined up on Impala Road in Dobsonville, Soweto, keeping a watchful eye where protests had erupted at about 8am. Taxi marshal Lucky Mokwena told the Mail & Guardian he watched protesters who had taken to the streets demanding RDP houses hours read more

37 Years of Solitary Confinement: The Angola Three

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:48:40 +0000

At Angola, eighty per cent of the prisoners are African-Americans and, under the watchful eye of armed guards on horseback, they still work fields of sugar cane, cotton and corn, for up to 16 hours a day. "You've got to keep the inmates working all day so they're tired at night," says Warden Burl Cain, a committed evangelist who believes that the rehabilitation of convicts is only possible through Christian redemption. read more

Pretoria News: Flames of fury in Tshwane

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:04:52 +0000

http://www.pretorianews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20100312041237100C374155 Flames of fury in Tshwane 12 March 2010, 07:44 By Mogomotsi Magome, Graeme Hosken and Patrick Hlahla Tshwane experienced its third service delivery protest of the week; this time in informal settlements outside Atteridgeville. Police and soldiers patrolled the streets on Thursday as the protest - once again over the lack of housing and services - turned violent. But speaking in the city, Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said the fact that South Africa was a democratic country did not mean disgruntled citizens could do what they want. read more

Kenya: Women's liberation is dead

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

In this opinion piece the author analyses why the one day dedicated to women - March 8 - went by in such muted fashion in Kenya. She calls for the revival of the women’s movement that hitherto fought for real gender equality. HSEN

QUAND DEUX TAUREAUX SE BATTENT: FEMMES ET FILLES PRISES AU PIÈGE DANS LE CONFLIT DE LA RDC

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Le passé colonial de la République démocratique du Congo et sa richesse en minéraux ont concouru pour lui donner son histoire violente depuis ses débuts en 1960. Les femmes et les enfants sont les principales victimes de cette violence, particulièrement dans la dernière décennie. Le viol est devenu une arme de guerre importante, surtout au Congo de l’est. La résolution des problèmes de violence actuels demandera le démantèlement des structures de pouvoir politique et économique et l’appropriation graduel du pouvoir par les femmes. The Democratic Republic of Congo's colonial past and mineral wealth have conspired to give it a violent history since its beginnings in 1960. That violence, particularly in the last decade, has women and children as its main victims. Rape has become a major weapon of war especially in the eastern Congo. Resolving the ongoing problem of violence requires a dismantling of the present political and economic power structure and the gradual empowerment of women.

Peak oil, gas, prices, and supplies - Mar 11

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:31:07 +0000

-Is East Africa the Next Frontier for Oil?-'Market can absorb spare Saudi capacity' - Al Falih-Royal Dutch Shell halts gasoline sales to Iran-Traders bet on higher gasoline prices-How a 22-year-old student uncovered peak oil fraud read more

Papal Aide Linked to Vatican Gay Prostitution Ring

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:44:12 +0000

Via: Irish Times: “AT WHAT time does he have to be back in the seminary?” The question might seem innocent enough, were it not for the fact that the man asking it is a Papal Gentleman, Angelo Balducci, and the man of whom he is asking it is his pimp, Vatican chorister and Nigerian, Chinediu Thiomas [...]

Squatters and the World Cup

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:54:00 +0000

South African squatters are suggesting that they will protest during the soccer World Cup to dramatize the lack of affordable housing and horribly deprived and neglected condition of their communities.Understandable. After all, the South African government and various municipalities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the Football World Cup, including, the Telegraph notes, $170 million just for security. But what a difference a different newspaper makes. Here's the lede from the coverage in The Star: "Poor and homeless South Africans are threatening to turn the World Cup into a bloodbath by unleashing a wave of riots during the tournament."A bloodbath? Riots?The Star seems to believe that people have no right to point out the horrible inequity of spending millions for the sporting event while spending almost nothing for people's homes and communities.

Calais - effective disruption of police

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:46:00 +0000

With a few more of us on the ground in Calais we were more effective at protecting the large Africa House squat last night

Carta: Mondiali al contrario

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:12:02 +0000

http://www.carta.org/campagne/dal+mondo/africa/19284 Appello. «Mondiali al contrario» [8 Marzo 2010] Le organizzazioni sociali interessate a ospitare il movimento sudafricano Abahlali [«quelli che vivono nelle baraccopoli»], in Italia in maggio, cioè prima della coppa del mondo di calcio, possono scrivere a Carta. Care amiche e cari amici, alcuni di voi potrebbero essere interessati a incontrare le attiviste e gli attivisti del movimento sudafricano Abahlali baseMjondolo [«quelli che vivono nelle baraccopoli» in lingua zulu]. read more

IPS: Community fears World Cup will cause homelessness

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:45:23 +0000

http://www.afrika.no/Detailed/19456.html South Africa: Community fears World Cup will cause homelessness Inter Press Service (IPS) / Monday, 08 March 2010 Cape Town (South Africa) - While South African parliamentarians attended a swanky pre-International Women’s Day celebration at Cape Town’s International Convention Centre, a group of destitute women in decaying Kewtown, just seven miles away, worried about looming homelessness. The women were notified by the municipality that their homes will be bulldozed to make way for an extended parking lot for Cape Town's Athlone Training Stadium, while others were asked to vacate their flats for renovations. But residents fear their flats, situated in a prime location for the Soccer World Cup in June, will be rented out to soccer fans. read more

The South Africa World Cup: Invictus in Reverse

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:25:53 +0000

By Dave Zirin - March 10, 2010 There are the dispossessions as thousands have been forced from their homes into makeshift shantytowns, to both make way for stadiums and make sure that tourists don't have to see any depressing scenes of poverty. The United Nations even issued a complaint on behalf of the 20,000 people removed from the Joe Slovo settlement in Cape Town, called an "eyesore" by World Cup organizers. read more