The Collage Network, an online Cultural Directory that promotes the work of Sudanese refugee artists living in Cairo, has been launched. The first of its kind, The Collage Network seeks to unite the Sudanese community through participation in the arts. The site features an online gallery, artists profiles, video and audio downloads, information on workshops, performance groups and an online booking form that makes engaging Sudanese culture for special events easy and accessible.

Economic experts, private sector leaders and others who converged at the Pan-African University, Lekki, Lagos, over the weekend, concurred that Nigerians in the diaspora are a critical factor in the federal government's efforts towards seeking foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country. Delivering a lecture entitled "A Competitive Economy for an Oil Rich Country," 2001 Nobel Prize winner and former vice president of World Bank, Professor Joseph Stiglitz stressed the need to encourage Nigerians in the diaspora to support the development situation at home, while positing the need for the federal government to cash in on the ongoing high prices of oil in the international market.

Africans are present in nearly every country on the planet. In the diaspora, Africans have produced thousands of newspapers and periodicals beginning in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately this potentially valuable resource is beyond the reach of scholars and others because of the absence of a comprehensive international documentation strategy for the collection, preservation, and access to these publications. The goal of the African Diaspora Press Project is to begin to address this vast task. The Project is in its infancy but over the 10-15 years that such an effort may take, hopes to provide valuable service to the scholarly community and beyond.

This web site contains a comprehensive listing of news about the diaspora in a variety of subject areas.

Each year, hundreds of African students and professionals leave the continent to study or to seek greener pastures abroad, especially in countries like the UK, US, Canada and Australia. This has been attributed to the many conflicts and the economic collapse that parts of the continent have been experiencing over the years.

This book shares the story of Tsoaledi Daniel Thobejane, an activist who was part of the South African liberation struggle and who suffered at the hands of the Nationalist Party regime. It is a book that is interesting because it examines the struggle through the eyes of the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO), a much smaller liberation organisation compared to the African National Congress (ANC) that supported the philosophy of black consciousness. This is of value because “struggle discourse” post 1994 has been dominated by the view of the African National Congress (ANC). Thobejane’s book does make a small contribution to the realisation that there were others who opposed the full force of apartheid.

Thobejane takes the reader back in time to a world of hooded informers, traitorous policeman, consumer boycotts, vicious beatings, lives spent in and out of jail, detention without trial and police shootings – the kind of horror that characterised the struggle against apartheid.

Personal memories contain some interesting insights and stories about the struggle against apartheid. For example, Thobejane recounts how activists would cross-dress to escape detection by the police. In the case of one particularly astute cross-dresser, Thobejane recounts that it would take some time before even his own mother would recognise him and allow him into her house.

Sometimes it does feel that Thobejane falls into the trap of rhetorical political speech and the language used to describe the apartheid regime such as ‘beasts of the illegitimate regime’ becomes repetitive, while also obscuring the nuances of allegiances and loyalties that might have existed. Somehow though, the use of this language is excusable, given that the example quoted preceded his description of a vicious police beating and that in the turmoil of the 1980’s “beasts of the illegitimate regime” was probably exactly how a vast majority of people saw the security apparatus of the state.

The book is interspersed with discussions and suggestions about how the lives of ordinary South Africans can be improved, with a particular emphasis on education. While these are interesting and necessary, there is a sense in the latter stages of the book that it risks becoming a political manual rather than a personal insight into the struggle.

Perhaps this is merely a personal observation, but I felt that the strength of the book lay in Thobejane’s personal engagement with his experiences and that the book needed to separate this from the political reflections that he engages in. However, given his strong political background, it is understandable why this was not the case.

That criticism aside, this is an interesting book that highlights the unsung heroes of the struggle and strongly conveys how ordinary people gave so much for the cause of freedom.

* Reviewed by Patrick Burnett, Fahamu

* Published by: Dorrance Publishing Co., Pittsburgh
To place an order email: [email][email protected]

Each year, hundreds of African students and professionals leave the continent to study or to seek greener pastures abroad, especially in countries like the UK, US, Canada and Australia. This has been attributed to the many conflicts and the economic collapse that parts of the continent have been experiencing over the years. The African Union (AU) has recognised the negative effect the steady migration of professionals is having on the continent. Some initiatives have been developed to engage with groups in the diaspora to develop the continent.

Hundreds of Africans and their organisations will gather on Saturday 3rd July 2004 at London's City Hall for African Diaspora and Development Day. The day has become the biggest gathering of Africans in the UK involved in supporting Africa's development. Featuring seminars, workshops, exhibitions, an African development market, and a keynote address by renowned West African gender activist, Yassine Fall, the day will also provide an opportunity for African diaspora organisations to meet with other development agencies - donors, policy-makers, pan-African development institutions and international NGOs - to share information and chart a way forward for the UK diaspora's role in Africa's development.

On Tuesday the first formal session of the embattled British Prime Ministers Commission for Africa took place. The commission of 14 including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, South Africa’s Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel and Dr K. Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa and Live Aid hero and former Rock star turned global campaigner against poverty, Bob Geldof, was appointed earlier this year by Blair to study the causes of poverty in Africa.

The commission is also required to recommend concrete actions that can be taken globally to arrest the deteriorating condition of Africa in relation to other continents of the world in terms of growth and development.

The commission faces a lot of cynicism. This is understandable given the fact that the causes of poverty in Africa are not unknown. There have been too many reports on the condition of Africa. Therefore to many critics what has been lacking is the global political will to help Africa and Africans to develop the political will to help themselves.

The Blair Commission also invites parallels to a previous commission, the Willy Brandt Commission, of the 1980s. It made the right noises but its not-so-radical recommendations were not acted upon by the forces that matter internationally who had the power to reverse the image of Africa as the poor cousins of the rest of humanity.

Enthusiasts for the Blair initiative have three main arguments. One, Willy Brandt’s Commission was composed of ex-heads of government, principally former German Chancellor Willy Brandt himself and former British Prime minister, Edward Heath. It could only recommend but had no power or authority to put its pocket where its mouth was. Inevitably, the commission’s report became yet another document of pious hopes that governments could pay lip service to but not act upon without any political repercussions domestically or internationally. But this one has the backing of a sitting head of a major government and the representation of other powerful countries including the USA and Europe.

Two, the Blair Commission will benefit from two unprecedented historic coincidences. Tony Blair and Britain will be heading both the Vultures Club of the worlds dominant economic powers, the G8 and its first cousin, the European Union. And the British Premier would like to put Africa on top of the agenda. Finally, Blair’s people insist that he is very committed to Africa and would like to use all his powers to convince other global leaders to do something for the continent.

Now let us look at the other side of the argument. On Brandt’s Commission I will agree that an assembly of ex-this or ex-that could not have had any power of enforcement but only be hopeful of influence. However, the Brandt Commission failed not because of that but because it sought to realign Africa within the same global unequal economic relationship that has continued to disadvantage our peoples and other developing countries. It did not challenge the assumptions, it merely called for a pious change of heart from the beneficiaries of this systematic exploitation without asking for a fundamental change of the system.

It relied too much on the goodwill of the west without any faith in the ability of the poor and exploited peoples of the world to change their condition for the better, even though history teaches us that the goodness of oppressors is not enough and that reforms do not happen unless those who are oppressed are organised and able to resist to the point of threatening the whole system.

So a strategy that concentrates on mere change of heart at the top is doomed to become just preaching. Is the Blair Commission different in any way? It is dominated by Westerners! Even at the governmental level, Blair chose his African partners instead of going through Africa’s own multilateral organisations be they regional or continental (AU). If there is no African consensus during the process, why should there be one after the report?

The voice of civil society in Africa is absent and even that of Europe has to rely on the maverick Geldof. One has to surrender disbelief to believe that the historic coincidence of Blair holding the G8 and EU Presidency in 2005 will make any difference to Africa. First, the G8 has had Africa on its agenda since but especially from its Genoa to Canada meetings.

The African pushers of the NEPAD agenda had false hope encouraged by Blair that a window of opportunity existed for the G8 to make a difference but where has that left them and their ‘kneepad’ now? As for Europe, the reputation of Blair and the influence of Britain are in grave doubt. He will be heading the EU at a time when his country may be in the middle of an election campaign to be followed by a rancorous referendum on Europe. Is this the prime minister that would influence his European counterparts to renew any commitment to Africa? A prime minister that has shown that his commitment to being poodle to Bush against Europe, the UN and the rest of the world, has lost any authority or influence to play a missionary for Africa.

And as for Blairs alleged commitment to Africa, I ask myself: how many British people will buy a used car from their prime minister now? But more importantly there is no shortage of reports, conferences, and workshops on Africa: Millennium Development Goals (MDG), UN Action Plan for Africa, G8 Action Plan and others. In Africa itself we have a whole raft of home grown initiatives from the African Alternative to Structural Adjustment Programmes. It is not words that Africa needs but concrete action from its peoples and the international community.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General Secretary of the Global Pan African Movement, based in Kampala, Uganda and also Director of Justice Africa, based in London.

* Send your comments to

On Tuesday, President Thabo Mbeki was sworn in for his second and final term as President of South Africa. The inauguration attracted so many African and world leaders and the occasion was as grand as can be expected of a country that continues to enjoy the respect and goodwill of different peoples across the world.

This is because South Africa's liberation from the clutches of racist oppression and humiliation of African peoples has become an inspiration to many people across the world. Many still wonder that just over 10 years ago, the re-elected president, along with the majority black population of South Africa’s could not even vote, let alone be voted for.

So many Western countries and leaders that have been falling over themselves to proclaim their friendship with South Africa, take pictures with the venerable and universally venerated Nelson Mandela, were the same people who kept their racist cousins in power through active collaboration or deliberate inaction or both.

Margaret Thatcher regarded the ANC as a typical terrorist organisation like the IRA in Britain and opposed both sanctions against South Africa and the release of Mandela and other freedom fighters from apartheid jails. Ronald Reagan, like successive American administrations before and after him, opposed the liberation of South Africa and touted constructive engagement with the apartheid regime that was destructive for both South Africa and the whole of Southern Africa. Tanzania, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and other frontline states paid too heavy a price for their support for liberation. Effectively, the socio-economic progress and development of these countries were postponed until after South Africa's liberation.

It is necessary to recollect these sacrifices and historical facts because in the last 10 years of liberation, there seems to be accelerated forgetfulness or selective amnesia about the collective burden, sacrifice and triumph that South Africa represented for most Africans, especially and the freedom loving peoples of the world in general.

There was tremendous international solidarity for the struggle in the former Soviet Union and Cuba, among left-wing and liberal elements in the West, the churches, allied forces and across a large part of Third World countries in the Caribbean, Asia, Latin America, etc. In the Arab and Muslim world, too, there was diplomatic and political support that linked the South African struggle with the quest for freedom by the Palestinian people. Israel, of course, actively supported and collaborated on intelligence and security and defence with apartheid South Africa, despite the fact that many of the Boers were sympathetic to Hitler during the Second World War: racists were united by racism.

While it is the effort, determination, sacrifice and dedication of the people of South Africa and the clear leadership of the main liberation movements, principally the ANC, which finally led to the liberation of South Africa it is equally true that the solidarity movement in and out of Africa helped most significantly.

Both at the official and popular level there is a tendency to greater appreciation of the non-African support while taking the African solidarity either for granted or minimising it. Yet on South Africa, most of our countries, regardless of ideology at home and abroad, were united and stayed the course to the end.

Reading some accounts, it will seem that the anti-apartheid movement alone liberated South Africa. Other accounts validate only the reconciliation phase of the struggle and the change of heart by the racists and willingness of the ANC leadership to negotiate. It is indeed true that victory has many fathers while failure is an orphan!

There are too many negative views about other Africans. It is not just the Whites who look down on Black Africans from the rest of Africa. Many black South Africans have also bought into the racist propaganda that the rest of us have been sleeping and it is South Africa that can wake us up.

The last 10 years have been both challenging and triumphalist for both the people and the Government of South Africa. Many have been willing to show understanding even while expressing some disappointment. But as President Mbeki starts his second and final term, I don't think that many will show generous understanding anymore. They will expect some fast movement both internally and in foreign policy.

For me, I make only one demand of the President: Remove the humiliating demands and requirements on Africans visiting South Africa. It is not enough to say other African countries do the same. President Mbeki can lead on this issue from the front.

Three years ago, Prime Minister Meles of Ethiopia liberalised visa regulation for Africans. I have not seen a notable rise in African presence in Addis. Nigeria signed the protocol on freedom of movement within the ECOWAS region at the height of its oil boom economy. Yet all West Africans did not move to Nigeria.

I know South Africa is a beautiful country with a lot of opportunities, but I can assure you that the whole of Africa is not queuing up to enter the rainbow nation. On the other hand, since the end of apartheid, the South African invasion of the rest of Africa through MTN, Vodacom, South African Airways, M-Net, DSTV, Shoprite, a new 'Boer Trek' buying up fertile agricultural land across Africa and other serious business ventures, are unmistakable.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General Secretary of the Global Pan African Movement, based in Kampala, Uganda and also Director of Justice Africa, based in London.

* Send your comments to

The organisation’s website (http://www.diastode.org/index.html) features harrowing pictures of what it describes as the ongoing human rights abuses in Togo.

An appeal by Bali Urban Council (BUC), Cameroon, headed by Chairman Ba Gwangatua Forkusam to Bali Nyonga elites at home and abroad to help alleviate acute water shortage problems led Dr. Richard Fosam (Ba Tutuwan), a senior engineer resident in Luxembourg to respond with a fresh water pump.

In order to explain the specific nature of diasporic politics and to develop a theoretical framework to guide our analysis, a new research project will identify the transnational parameters that distinguish diasporic engagements from domestic politics and international relations. It will establish that diasporic politics partakes in both hostland and homeland politics, which provides it with a spatial basis of operation and mechanisms of political intervention.

Organised by the African Liberation Support Campaign Network (ALISC Network), the weekend includes presentations on Pan-Africanism and Neocolonialism and leafleting about wars in Africa.

Legendary singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone, who died last year, lived and sang all over the world. But her connection to New Jersey and Ghana may help preserve her legacy of educating children of African and African-American descent. A royal delegation from Ghana has visited Essex County to promote the Nina Simone Foundation, a nonprofit organisation created by her daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly. The foundation has been given 50 acres in Jukwa near Cape Coast to create the Nina Simone Cultural Village, said Kelly. The village will have a hospital and a school and also will be a showcase for "artisans and craftsmen," Kelly said. "We want to have African-Americans from all over the world to visit."

Ethiopiandiaspora.info is a website dedicated to provide timely, relevant and accurate information, to the Ethiopian community abroad. This website has been created with funding from the Italian Government. The information on the website, which will regularly be updated, can be used as an information centre, a traveller’s guide and a directory for Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia.

Thousands of skilled Ethiopians living in various parts of the world are being wooed to contribute skills and remittances towards helping to develop their homeland, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said.

Africans living outside the continent could be offered dual citizenship and other benefits in return for helping finance the cash-strapped African Union, an AU official said on Tuesday. The idea aims to tap into the enormous wealth and power of millions of people of African origin, and in return, offer them economic and social benefits on the continent.

My tolerance for the back-to-Africa fantasies of African Americans broke on the back of several things. First, the conservative, distorted and unabashedly patriarchal version of Islam followed by African American groups such as the Nation of Islam. Second, the reverence accorded to the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie by followers of Marcus Garvey. Yes, the Ethiopians kicked the Italians out, thus achieving for Ethiopia the status of being the only African state never to have been colonised. But the Emperor represented a feudal system in which power relations were arguably as damaging as those of colonial systems elsewhere in Africa.

pulseAFRICAtv, a subsidiary of Global Africa Media Inc., is a one-hour magazine program on the African world that includes news, culture, conversation, profiles and commentary. The show aims to inform, educate and entertain, as it provides a window to Africa and its peoples, thus serving as the pulse of the community. The program premiers in the summer of 2004, and is tape-broadcast from Washington DC.