As concerns about Mandela's health make news around the world, it seems appropriate to begin a reflection on the life and legacies of the man and the icon.
Pondering Mandela's Legacies
6/13/2013 12:14:00 AM
africa, human rights, Tributes, world
Jun 10, 2013
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Recent events in Mali, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan seem to confirm one of the most durable stereotypes of Africa, namely that the continent is unstable and uniquely prone to nasty political violence.
Writing in Foreign Policy two years ago, New York Times East Africa correspondent and Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Gettleman espoused this view. He painted a dismal picture of pointless wars waged by brutes and criminals “spreading across Africa like a viral pandemic.”
Gettleman is right that warfare and political violence are changing on the continent, but he is wrong to portray that change as one of brutal violence increasing out of control.
In fact, as I show in a recent piece in African Affairs, looked at since the end of the Cold War, wars are not becoming more frequent in Sub-Saharan Africa. To the contrary: according to the Uppsala Armed Conflict Data Program, the preeminent tracker of warfare worldwide, wars in the 2000s are substantially down from their peak in the early 1990s. Even if one counts an uptick during the past two years, there were about one-third fewer wars in Sub-Saharan Africa in the period compared to the early-to-mid 1990s.
Another prevailing view is that Sub-Saharan Africa is the most war-endemic region. Not so, especially if one looks at the continent’s history since 1960. Wars in Sub-Saharan Africa (compared to other world regions) are not longer or more frequent on a wars-per-country basis. Those distinctions effectively go to Asia, where between wars in India, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, among others, wars are more frequent and longer lasting.
Wars Do End: Why Conflict In Africa Is Falling – By Scott Straus
6/10/2013 03:20:00 AM
africa, war and peace
Jun 1, 2013
The Diamondback, Thu May 30, 2013.
As the U.S. continues to focus most of its military efforts on fighting extremist groups in the Middle East, university students from Africa know this is a battle playing out on a much broader stage.
Countries such as Somalia and Sudan have long struggled against radical Islam, and only in the past decade has the U.S. been active against the problem of extremism — albeit in a different region — a fact that irritates Nana Asare, a graduate electrical engineering student, because he sees the U.S. putting its economic interests over its expressed goals of fighting terrorism on a global scale.
“I do think it has to do with the U.S. interests, of course oil comes to mind,” Asare said, adding that while a native of Ghana, a more stable state in the region, those close to the violence across the continent are “fellow Africans — African brothers and sisters.”
The issue has come more into the spotlight in the past year as radical Islam has found a new home: Mali. Mali has long been the site of separatist movements against the Malian government, such as a coup in 2012 that ousted a sitting president. But a new influx of rebels fighting under the banner of radical Islam has changed the scope of the conflict.
After an uprising in nearby Libya led to former ruler Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster and assassination in 2011, forces loyal to him, including the nomadic Tuareg people, took weapons and ammunition from the fallen regime and moved westward to Mali.
“Over the years, [Gadhafi] built a band of very loyal militias,” said Bonny Ibhawoh, an professor of African, Global and Human Rights History at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. “He did have a lot of military and political influence beyond Libya, so that once Libya [collapsed] and Libya became less hospitable for these foreign troops … they had to find refuge elsewhere.”
The episode in Mali illustrates how a country the U.S. once considered an emerging civil society could become an unstable piece in a volatile region, Ibhawoh said.
As the U.S. continues to focus most of its military efforts on fighting extremist groups in the Middle East, university students from Africa know this is a battle playing out on a much broader stage.
Countries such as Somalia and Sudan have long struggled against radical Islam, and only in the past decade has the U.S. been active against the problem of extremism — albeit in a different region — a fact that irritates Nana Asare, a graduate electrical engineering student, because he sees the U.S. putting its economic interests over its expressed goals of fighting terrorism on a global scale.
“I do think it has to do with the U.S. interests, of course oil comes to mind,” Asare said, adding that while a native of Ghana, a more stable state in the region, those close to the violence across the continent are “fellow Africans — African brothers and sisters.”
The issue has come more into the spotlight in the past year as radical Islam has found a new home: Mali. Mali has long been the site of separatist movements against the Malian government, such as a coup in 2012 that ousted a sitting president. But a new influx of rebels fighting under the banner of radical Islam has changed the scope of the conflict.
After an uprising in nearby Libya led to former ruler Moammar Gadhafi’s ouster and assassination in 2011, forces loyal to him, including the nomadic Tuareg people, took weapons and ammunition from the fallen regime and moved westward to Mali.
“Over the years, [Gadhafi] built a band of very loyal militias,” said Bonny Ibhawoh, an professor of African, Global and Human Rights History at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. “He did have a lot of military and political influence beyond Libya, so that once Libya [collapsed] and Libya became less hospitable for these foreign troops … they had to find refuge elsewhere.”
The episode in Mali illustrates how a country the U.S. once considered an emerging civil society could become an unstable piece in a volatile region, Ibhawoh said.
Africa’s spreading extremism concerns experts, expatriates
6/01/2013 03:04:00 PM
africa, politics, war and peace
Apr 28, 2013
Every city in the world has its share of the urban homeless. Like many people, I am sometimes guilty of assuming that all urban homelessness is self-inflicted. "They just don’t want to work", "He must be on drugs", "She should go find a shelter."
In this gut-wrenching video, Ronald Davis, a homeless man in Chicago, forces us to rethink our assumptions about the homeless. He says: “It's really humiliating to be shaking a cup 24 hours a day, and people just look at you're like some kind of little bum,” Davis goes on to tell stories of how passers-by call him a bum and yell at him to "get a job." He also tells of his struggles to get a job and leave the streets.
"I'm not a bum," Davis says, "I'm a human being."
Come to think of it, if Jesus lived in any urban city today, he would be labelled a bum. He was itinerant, had no visible means of livelihood and relied on the charity and good will of others. He also had "no place to lay his head."
Luke 9:58: "And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
Lesson: We must strive to be less judgement of others and see the above all else, our collective humanity.
In this gut-wrenching video, Ronald Davis, a homeless man in Chicago, forces us to rethink our assumptions about the homeless. He says: “It's really humiliating to be shaking a cup 24 hours a day, and people just look at you're like some kind of little bum,” Davis goes on to tell stories of how passers-by call him a bum and yell at him to "get a job." He also tells of his struggles to get a job and leave the streets.
"I'm not a bum," Davis says, "I'm a human being."
Come to think of it, if Jesus lived in any urban city today, he would be labelled a bum. He was itinerant, had no visible means of livelihood and relied on the charity and good will of others. He also had "no place to lay his head."
Luke 9:58: "And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."
Lesson: We must strive to be less judgement of others and see the above all else, our collective humanity.
"I'm a Human Being"
4/28/2013 11:16:00 PM
human rights, reflections, world
Apr 26, 2013
Academics are constantly being asked to produce knowledge that enrich their communities and serve the greater common good. Lately, in Canada, the preferred term for this is "Knowledge Mobilization." There have been varied and sometime conflicting interpretations of what exactly this means. In this workshop, we hope to raise critical questions about the meaning and practice of "knowledge mobilization" as defined by scholars, practitioners and funding agencies. Join us. Registration required.
Knowledge Mobilization: Enriching our Comunities
4/26/2013 01:30:00 PM
education
Apr 23, 2013
Lately however, I have been concerned, even disturbed, by some of his tweeter rants and Facebook postings on the subject of gays and gay marriage. Yesterday, I felt compelled to send him the message below:
Dear xxxxxx
I have followed your comments on gays and gay marriage on twitter and Facebook. They have not taken the usually measured tone that I have come to expect of you. I understand that as a Christian, you have a right to express the values of your faith. I feel that need too. However, we must do so with caution, tolerance and sensitivity.
The line between homophobia and professing one's faith can be a thin one. The language I hear today from you is eerily similar to the language of a bygone era. As a friend with whom I share the Christian faith, I feel compelled to send you the quote below as a reminder of the need for us to tread cautiously. The more things change, it seems, the more they remain the same:
"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that He separated the races show that he did not intend for the races to mix." -- Judge Leon Bazile, an “upright Christian” judge in a judgement upholding Virginia’s segregation law against interracial marriage in the case of Loving v. Virginia (United States, 1959).
History has not been kind to those who spoke like this. Let's learn from the judgement of history.
Your friend,
Bonny
Letter to a Christian friend on the subject of Gay Marriage
4/23/2013 09:31:00 PM
human rights, reflections
Mar 23, 2013
"A peace of no choice must be approached with the same determination and creativity as one approaches a war of no choice."
- David Grossman as quoted by President Barack Obama in a speech on the Palestinian Israeli conflict in Jerusalem 2013
Quote of the Week
3/23/2013 05:16:00 PM
reflections, war and peace
Mar 8, 2013
In conflict situations, compromise and peace is more likely to be achieved when women are at the negotiating table. There are several anecdotal evidence of this but my favorite one comes from Sudan.
During the tense and difficult negotiations between Sudanese leaders in 2011 over where to draw the border separating the north and the proposed state of Southern Sudan, negotiations stalled suddenly. The dispute was over which country would control a particular river at the proposed border. Negotiators on both sides considered the river so important that neither side was willing to bulge.
Negotiations stalled until one woman, among the male-dominated negotiating parties, reminded her colleagues that the disputed river dried up several years ago. There was, in fact, no river. How could she be sure of this, other negotiators asked. The woman responded that she lived in that region and had fetched water from that river for several years before it dried up. Apparently, the men had never had cause to visit the river that they now so desperately wanted to claim. It was subsequently confirmed that the maps were incorrect and the women’s account was true. Negotiations resumed and consensus was achieved. That is the power of a woman’s insight.
On this International women’s day, I salute the courage, fortitude and wisdom of women around the world – mothers, daughters, wives and sisters.
We live in an age of transformation where women are poised to take leadership roles in every sector of our globalizing world. Societies that devalue and repress their women do so at their own peril!
In Solidarity with the Women of the World
3/08/2013 12:08:00 PM
human rights, Tributes, war and peace, world
Feb 20, 2013
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I join two of my colleagues to discuss issues of human rights and global Justice in the "Crossing Boarders Series" of the Society for Philosophy and Culture.
Human Rights and Global Justice
2/20/2013 01:09:00 PM
education, human rights
Jan 18, 2013
“An even more disturbing concern – which has received very little attention in the media – is the impact that the Libyan crisis could have on the rest of Africa. During his 40 years in power, Gaddafi has thrown his influence and money across the continent to prop up or bring down governments. He has done this more than any other African leader. His fingerprints can be found on armed conflict from Chad to Sudan to the Central African Republic. He has also cultivated a loyal band of mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa that he now uses to terrorize his own people.”
The broader fallouts of the Libyan civil war and the collapse of the Gaddafi regime are now becoming evident. The insurgency gathering pace in Mali has been exacerbated by an influx of arms from the 2011 Libyan civil war. Among the Islamist rebel groups sweeping south from northern Mali is the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) led by Malian Tuareg who, while in exile in Libya, fought alongside Gaddafi’s forces. Once the Gaddafi regime collapsed, some of these well trained and battle-hardened militants retreated south to Mali.
The international community led by France is now scrambling to do what should have been done much earlier – engage effectively to strengthen security and reconstruction in post-Gaddafi’s Libya. It is estimated that only about a quarter of the surface-to-air missiles accounted for before the conflict in Libya could be accounted for afterwards. It is almost inevitable that some are now Mali being used by the Islamist rebels.
This is the tragedy of how the international community has addressed conflicts in this region – false steps, missteps, too little too late. The circle simply continues. There is simply no political will to act until security situations get totally out of hand; then there is a scramble for a Band-Aid solution. Peace is not actively cultivated. We must learn to wage peace as vigorously as we wage war. It would have much taken less of the international military efforts now being put into pushing back the Islamist insurgents in Mali to enforce security and promote reconstruction in Libya. It reminds me of the old adage - a stitch in time saves nine.
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Also published in The Mark
From Libya to Mali: Triumphs and Consequences
1/18/2013 12:04:00 AM
politics, war and peace
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