Posted on

THEY CAME: The North African Uprising and Foreign Interference, A Lesson for African Leaders and Citizens

RAZIAH MWAWANGA

There has been a lot of drama and turmoil in the recent days as the African continent, especially the northern part, is torn into pieces as people cry out for blood and change. What initially started as one man’s protest against unjust treatment by law enforcement officers has thrown North Africa into full-blown chaos. The fire has moved from Tunisia to Egypt, Jordon, Bahrain, Yemen and the dust seemed to have settled in Libya.

Everybody wants to see old leaders and governments step out of office, give them democracy, more jobs and better lifestyles, but,  as one wise man said, whether this is good or bad, no one knows.

What puzzles me and I find most interesting is the countries in which the trend has taken momentum. All the affected countries seem to have one thing in common; either they have been ruled by the monarchy or self-proclaimed life leadership.

Another fascinating thing is that some of these countries have strategic economies, are powers to reckon with and are superpowers in their own rights. They command respect, fear and envy among their neighbours and the world in general because of their strategic positions, economies and principles.

Take Egypt for example: it is the home of the ancient civilization, excellent tourist attraction, vibrant economy and a leader in the Arab states politics. It stands out between the old and new civilization in North Africa and has commanded international respect and authority as a link between the Arab states and the West. It is also the only Arab state that can see eye to eye with Israel and used to mediate and bumper in Israeli Arab politics.

Apart from the social, economic, and strategic position of Egypt, it has a beauty that cannot be compared with, commonly known as the ancient civilization, land of the Nile and home of Pharaohs. Its civilization surpasses human knowledge through ancient ruins in Alexandria and the Pyramids the world is yet to find a way to construct. Egypt has  world-class Engineers demonstrated by its majestic architecture and magnificent bridges.

Libya is also a great country in its own rights. I have not had the privilege to visit but from what I have seen on television from journalists who have visited its well planned and organised, great infrastructure and roads through the desert and a great economy. Unlike Egypt, Libya is known for its no-nonsense principles and Mohamed Gaddafi’s fearlessness and outspokenness. He is a man of his own principles; does not run in packs like other African leaders; speaks out his mind and does not fear anyone.

He is accredited to be the first African leader to distort United Nations protocol through his long speech when he was the President of the African Union. He is credible despite what people might think of him. He is one of those leaders who has always advocated for a united Africa, through creating a strong African Union which could command respect in the world and a voice to reckon with. Apart from being a world leader, he has tried to create a better life for his citizens unlike other leaders who just horde wealth and save it in Swiss banks and embark in selfish unrealistic ventures and investments that create misery and misfortune for their citizens.

Gaddafi has guts other leaders do not have, like his refusal to the surrender the Locabie bombing suspects to be prosecuted; he eventually gave them up and paid compensation with Libyan money to victims and even negotiated the release of the sick jailed perpetrator and gave him a hero’s welcome when he was released. Proving his love and dedication to protect his citizens despite all odds, a trait other African leaders’ lack, our brothers and sisters are languishing in foreign prisons for crimes they have committed and not committed without representation because our foreign embassies are white elephants and toothless dogs, only there to protect our government interests and not citizens’ interests and wellbeing. Why is Gadaffi killing the same people he had the passion to protect before? What has changed? Are  they not the same Libyans he would move heaven and earth to save and protect?

What I see in all this chaos is the destabilization of strong African economies, silencing the mouth pieces that speak out against foreign aggression by attacking Egypt and Libya, because weakening these countries will destabilise and diminish not only North African power but the whole region.  You start with the strongest because the weak can do nothing.

Why can’t the Egyptians and Libyans see this outside interference? Is burning infrastructure and destroying economies our ancestors took centuries to build and our taxpayers’ money going to solve the problem. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know, if they don’t believe me they should look at, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. In Iraq the Americans went to find weapons of mass destruction, in Afghanistan Osama Bin Laden, to date none has been found and these countries have become a nightmare. Is this the democracy they want; where homes are no longer safe to bring up children and people become prisoners in their own homes and decisions?

I urge my brothers and sisters to be careful of what they wish for and the hidden danger they cannot see  as a watchman as Prophet Isaiahs’ said and echoed in Martin Niemöller  (14 January 1892 – 6 March 1984) words;

THEY CAME….

First the Nazis came…
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me —
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Why can’t the Egyptians, Libyans and other people of Africans nations perceive this outside interference? People should vent their anger at the injustice, dictatorship and greed of our self-elected leaders who always rig their way to power and abrogate term of office.

Let’s not burn and destroy the infrastructure and economies our ancestors and our taxes have build for centuries just to quench our anger and frustrations. Presidents come and go but what is destroyed may never be rebuilt.

What Gadaffi and Mubarak and other African leaders should read are the signs of  time and know when to leave, as former British Prime Minister, John Major stated in his farewell speech ‘’When the curtain falls it’s time to leave the stage’’. Why is it so hard for African leaders to understand that absolute power corrupts? Despite the good things some of these great African leaders have done, it is good leave and be remembered for the good things they did and not the bad they are doing now, killing their own people who elected them and believed in them and whom they swore to protect.

Share
Posted on

How Digital Technology Has Become Integral in The Quest for Freedom Across Africa

John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana
John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana

Watching the the Egyptian crowds as they listened to a speech by their now former president, Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, who had been in power since the assassination of Anwar El Sadat in 1981, only confirmed what is becoming more and more obvious: that for Africa there is no going back to the way things were; the only way we can move is forward. But Egypt is only the latest evidence of this trend. Any astute observer is aware that the desire for democracy is spreading through the African world like a contagion.

In 2010 there were at least a dozen presidential democratic elections in African nations, places like Guinea that hadn’t had an election since 1958. In 2011 there are scheduled to be nearly two dozen presidential elections in various nations — including Egypt, which is currently in the midst of what could most certainly be called a people’s revolution.

Though the methods being employed by protesters can be alarming at times in their ferocity, the demand for freedom itself is not altogether surprising. Just as there were signs, over a half century ago, foreshadowing the collapse of colonialism on the continent, there have been signs recently pointing toward the end of an era of dictatorship. What is, however, most fascinating about this inevitable death is the pivotal as well as provocative role that digital technology is playing to bring it about.

For the most part in recent times, we Africans have taken our requests for democracy to the polls, not the streets. Unfortunately, in some nations, that has not resulted in any real change. And ultimately, that is what sparks all revolutions: the urgent, non-negotiable need for sustainable change.

When Tunisian authorities in the city of Sidi Bouzid seized Mohamed Bouazizi’s unlicensed produce cart and the unemployed computer-science graduate set himself aflame, it took no time at all for that act of protest to turn into a trending topic. After Bouazizi’s self-immolation, the youth in Sidi Bouzid took to the streets. Because of the broadcasts of a single satellite channel, the world watched as those young men displayed their rage and frustration — and a hashtag was created.

The final condition to create this perfect storm was, of course, the WikiLeaks release of classified U.S. State Department communications, revealing that even the ambassador of one of the nation’s strongest allies shared the beliefs of most Tunisians about their leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali: out of touch, surrounded by corruption, determined to stay in power. It’s no wonder that when protests began in Egypt, one of the first measures authorities took to quell the burgeoning insurrection was cutting off all access to the Internet. No Facebook; no Google; no YouTube; no Twitter; no WikiLeaks. Also cut off were SMS and BlackBerry Messenger services. And satellite television as well — no Al-Jazeera.

In December I made my first official visit to Egypt as vice president of Ghana. I met with the prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, and toured the Smart Villages high-tech park in Cairo, where more than a hundred technological companies like Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard are housed. I was impressed with how fully Egypt had embraced IT and thought that they might even serve as a model for other African countries. In many ways I was right to assume that; of course I had no idea that the example they would set with technology would be the attainment of social justice.

Repressive regimes thrive on ignorance — the ignorance of their people, and the ignorance of the outside world. For too long, the image of Africa has festered under the haze of the Western world’s ignorance and its resulting apathy. A relevant example of this is the unofficial annexation of Tunisia, Algeria and the continent’s other northern nations, for reasons of race alone, to the Middle East. (Though the majority of Egypt’s land mass is in Africa, a portion of that nation, the Sinai Peninsula, is in the Middle East, making it transcontinental.)

Africa is, and has been for the past several centuries, a continent of artificial boundaries and of divisions constructed along the lines of race, class, tribal and ethnic grouping — divisions cleverly constructed for the purposes of conquering. It is an infrastructure that, by design, lends itself to dictatorship, to the powerlessness of the masses.

It wasn’t so long ago that if you wanted to post a letter from Ghana, a former British colony, to any of the countries that border us — Côte d’Ivoire, Togo or Burkina Faso, all former French colonies — it would be routed through Europe first before finally arriving at its destination. The same was true of telephone calls, and it was virtually impossible to travel by air from one African country directly to another. Now all you need to be connected via computer or mobile phone to anyone anywhere in the world is a signal.

A little over a decade ago, as minister of communications, I was privileged to be part of the process of deregulating and liberalizing the previous monolithic state-owned telesector in Ghana. Initially, people did not understand the new technology and were hesitant to embrace the monumental changes that seemed to be required. Mobile telephony as a communication tool was, for all intents and purposes, in its infancy, and only a privileged few had access. Looking back now, I can feel only a sense of satisfaction in seeing how telecoms and ICT have exploded not only in Ghana but across the continent.

Every year since 2000 the Internet population in most African countries has doubled. Over the past decade, the spread of telecommunications and ICT in Africa went from below an average of 3 percent teledensity to a whopping almost 50 percent.

“Knowledge is power, and information is liberation,” Kofi Annan, former United Nations secretary-general, has been quoted as saying. Mobile phones and the Internet are liberating Africa in a way that even independence from colonialism could not. Digital technology is redefining our political landscape and will continue to do so in ways that we have yet to even imagine.

What makes digital technology such an ideal tool for social and political empowerment in the formation of new democracies is the fact that it is ever changing; new media and applications are constantly being produced to meet the shifting needs of users. When President Mubarak shut down the Internet in Egypt, Google and Twitter joined forces to create “Speak to Tweet” to help people circumvent the block and post their tweets.

History has shown that when it comes to the fight for freedom in Africa, as one nation goes, so goes the entire continent. I am hopeful that now democracy will ultimately prevail in Egypt. The people of Africa deserve to live with dignity and in peace, to have their voices heard, to be free. Perhaps then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said it best when, in his presidential-campaign speeches, he noted, “Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.” Especially when they are armed with the unifying force of digital technology.

(Article first published by the Root)

Share
Posted on

Egypt/Zimbabwe: Zimbabweans Cannot Outsource Their Revolution (opinion)

Jacob Dlamini

 Johannesburg (South Africa) – The year is only 34 days old and already it has seen the absolute demise of one dictatorship (Tunisia), the near collapse of another (Egypt), the rattling of a third (Jordan), the likely ruin of a fourth (Yemen) and the possible failure of a fifth (Algeria). That, by any measure, is a good start to what may be the most fundamental political change in the Middle East since 1948, when the state of Israel was founded.

The drama of the past 34 days was enhanced by the fact that two of the dictatorships either to fall (Tunisia) or flirt with downfall (Egypt) were, until recently, considered, especially by the US government, the most stable and least likely to fall.

In fact, US strategy in the Middle East has rested largely on an expensive peace between Egypt and Israel bankrolled by the US. It is largely because of this peace, brokered by former US president Jimmy Carter back when he occupied the White House, that Egypt is one of the top three recipients of military and other aid from the US, after Israel. The peace rested on a firm understanding between the Americans, Israelis and Egyptians, whose state is the largest and most politically significant in the Middle East, that the other Arab-led dictatorships in the Middle East posed little existential threat to Israel so long as Egypt honoured its side of the Camp David agreement.

But Egypt now looks likely to fall, meaning Egypt as we know it could change dramatically as Egyptians, fed up with corruption, neglected by a statistically impressive but empirically hopeless economy, and fed up with a leader, Hosni Mubarak, who seemed to think he was fated by history to rule, take to the streets to demand his ousting.

But it is not only Mubarak’s Egypt that is likely to go into the proverbial dustbin of history. The US policy of making nice with Mubarak while ignoring his brutality against his political opponents and, occasionally, using Mubarak’s apparatus of repression for the “rendition” and torture of enemy combatants, will also have to change.

The last thing the US wants is to, again, find itself backing the wrong side in the wave of protests sweeping the Middle East. The US made that mistake by backing a coup against a democratically elected government in Iran in the 1950s, supporting Saddam Hussein and even plying him with arms in the 1980s while he fought against the hated ayatollahs of Iran, and abandoning, in Afghanistan, the mujahedeen, who had helped the US give the hapless Soviets a taste of Vietnam. That is why the US has been treading gingerly on this. That is why US President Barack Obama has been frantically trying to sound allied to both prodemocracy protesters and Mubarak at the same time. Obama wants to be able to claim some credit should Egypt be delivered finally from dictatorship.

But what is the lesson of the recent events for southern Africa? In particular, what lessons does the wave of protests sweeping the Middle East have for Zimbabweans?

The most important lesson to come out of Egypt and Tunisia, it seems to me, is that revolutions cannot be outsourced. There has been something rather obscene about the ways in which some human rights activists, Zimbabwean and non-Zimbabwean, have presented the problems in Zimbabwe as if they are entirely SA’s or, to be exact, Thabo Mbeki ’s. One got the impression sometimes that these activists wanted Mbeki and South Africans in general to march on Harare. Some even suggested SA invade Zimbabwe.

What these hysterical calls did was absolve the prodemocracy movement in Zimbabwe of the responsibility to take the lead in the fight against Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship. Why is it, for example, that none of us who want to see Mugabe out of office and on trial for all sorts of crimes have bothered to ask why the Movement for Democratic Change, whose roots are supposedly in Zimbabwe’s labour movement, has yet to organise a successful strike, stayaway or other form of popular protest?

None of this is to ignore the brave men and women, journalists, lawyers, farmers and ordinary citizens who have protested against Mugabe’s rule and paid with everything from their lives to their limbs and property. The actions of these people must be recognised and honoured. But they cannot and should not be the exception.

Zimbabweans cannot outsource their revolution. They cannot leave the fight for their freedom to others. Sure, they need support, solidarity and the knowledge that the rest of the world is on their side. But they cannot expect the fight to be led by outsiders. That, for me, is what the Egyptians and the Tunisians have taught us.

Mubarak has one of the most formidable repressive machineries in the world but that has proved worthless in the face of popular protest. Voting with their feet, as the millions of Zimbabweans have done by moving to SA, Zambia, Botswana, Canada, Australia, the US and the UK, must have been a difficult thing to do. But it is by no means courageous. Courage is staring down a dictator, telling him to go and standing your ground. That is what the North Africans have done. Let us hope Zimbabweans learn from them.

*Jacob Dlamini is a South African writer.

Share
Posted on

Egypt Calls for Freedom, Day 6: Update Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 9.00 am

Jan 30, 2011, 9.00 am
Today is Day 6, and as expected, protesters have taken over the center of the Egyptian capital Cairo in demonstrations against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

The police have largely disappeared from the streets but there is a heavy military presence in the city, even though soldiers are not intervening in the situation.

The Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera which was covering the event has been halted. The Egyptian government had earlier ordered the Arabic TV channel, which has been showing blanket coverage of the protests, to shut down its operations in the country.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said
A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

What are we witnessing?


Jan 29, 2011, 11.30 am

The Egyptian President for nearly 30 years, Mr. Hosni Mubarak, 83, has started appointing a new cabinet for his new government after Egyptian government resigned this morning. So far, appointments made do not show any hope for a change. My. Mubarak is picking and choosing from his comfort zone. He is not in a hurry to reach to read out to the other side. The 83 year-old 3-decades president himself has not shown any indication he will step down.

He has been president for almost 30 years. For most of the protesters, Mubarak is the only leader they have known their entire life.

Any system which promotes the dictatorship of the few privileged instead of the initiative of the millions can never produce a happier and fulfilled people. Mr. Mubarak, as well as others like Mugabe, should know that their systems in essence imprison their people.

There will be freedom.


Jan 29, 2011, 10.15 am

The ancient Greek historian Thucydides once said “The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.”

This is exactly what is happening in North Africa right now. I’m watching CNN as I write this and I can hear protesters chant ‘Change, Freedom, Mubarak Go” and other anti-government slogans. My heart is in Egypt. I would be on the street if I lived in Egypt.

Happiness in life is an inner desire of the soul. As Thucydides said you cannot acquire this essential ingredient in life in the absence of freedom, and freedom won’t come before courage.

From the Sahara to the West Coast, and to the Southern belt, the African people need to demand for freedom. Let the ordinary people pioneer this movement. I’m glad that this time it is people like me, and not the military, who are calling for change.

There will be freedom on Our Land, in Uganda and in Zimbabwe

Jan 29, 2011, 7.30 am

The Egyptian protests continue today. In fact I would be disappointed if it wasn’t so. For the past three decades, Egypt has been about one person, Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, 83, just as Zimbabwe has all been about the 87 year old Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

Mubarak’s cabinet resigned this morning but this does not make any difference; Mubarak stays on. Mubarak is the face of Egypt and he should just respect the will of the people. If Mubarak stays on, it will continue to make the situation worse. There is hope on the streets of Cairo that perhaps this could bring about the freedom people have dreamed of for decades.

The book of Proverbs says that ‘Hope deferred makes the heart sick’. It’s for this reason that I believe Mubarak must respect the cry in the hearts of the Egyptian youth.

This revolution was overdue. The combustible material was in stock, it just needed someone to trigger the spark.

There will be freedom at last. In Tunisia, in Egypt and in Zimbabwe


Jan 28, 2011, 9.30 pm

The Egyptian protest continued today. The police were shut up and were replaced by the army to help bring order into the streets of Cairo. President Mubarak eventually came out to address the country.

If my ears were not deceiving me, as I watched the revolution, what the protesters were calling for was for Mubarak to step down. The 30 year old dictatorial regime leader rather promised he was going to dissolve the government on Saturday and form a new government. And who will be the president of the new government? President Mubarak. Nothing could be more annoying, more frustrating, and more depressing.

I wish the Egyptian protesters the best I can think of.

We shall be free, one day. May be very soon


Jan 28, 2011 10.30 am

Islamic States in North Africa are on fire. It started with the uprising in Tunisia which was successful in toppling the Tunisian dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Is this the beginning of the new African revolution? It’s exciting time in the North. Perhaps this is the only way we can get rid of tyrants in Africa. I personally prefer the youth fighting for their country than a military regime taking over governance through a coup d’état. Unfortunately there will be casualties: about 78 are reported killed in Tunisia already. But in human history, freedom has never been won without blood. I wish it wasn’t so.

There is a deep seated desire in the human spirit for freedom and sense of dignity, which most African states have not yet experiences. Egypt, Tunisia and Zimbabwe have been held hostage by dictators for decades. “Enough is enough. We have had enough”, this is what the North African protesters are telling their governments.

These countries have one thing in common: They face a lot of challenges, such as high unemployment. Young people who have gone to college in recent years expect a lifestyle that the current political regime is incapable of providing and doesn’t seem to care enough about.

We must hail and pay tribute to the Tunisian youth their successful uprising which sowed the seed for the new African revolution. They showed a way for other African countries to take similar action and tell their long-reigned tyrants that enough is enough.

All eyes are on Egypt now. And as Egypt goes, so……………….

Share
Posted on

The African Uprising

FERNY NARH

The African is always left in the dark whiles decisions pertaining to his or her well being are taken by unknown forces. We are then forced to accept because the interest of our leaders has already been secured. I feel no less for my fellow Africans because I am also a victim of the unjustifiable rule or governance we are experiencing these days. Many at times I think and ask why this transpires in this era and I am not made better by this because less and less will my efforts be when I strive for the best.

Recent developments, I think, are a must because the ordinary citizen must realize the politician in whose arms he has devoted his well being. African leaders have for a long time taken Africans for granted and have rather improved their well being and assets. This has been the situation for a long time and it took the courage of just one individual to tell the masses that their lives were being toiled with by these politicians.

I stand to salute this great hero because I do believe in equality and justice for all and this is exactly what the young man proved. I foresee a day when Africa will rise and demand for her fair share of the national cake and the Tunisian uprising has turned the clock towards that direction, and when that day comes, I believe nothing will stop the masses.

This is an opportunity for the governments of African states to be responsive to the aspirations of the African, yet I see no sign of that. They rather put in forces to halt the voices of the masses. Egyptians have spelt out their plight but the best Mr. Mubarak can do is to put bans on protests and gatherings. This can’t stop them from crying out; it won’t keep them from shouting. The dawn of African revolution is about to begin and I advice African leaders to pay heed to the cries of the citizens because we are the voice of God.

Share