3rd Annual Baraza
“From Myths to Mobilization: Reframing U.S. Africa Relations”
October 28 & 29, 2005
In his weekly /Thursday Postcard/, Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem offers insightful
analysis of current issues facing the African continent. It is one of
the most widely read commentary pieces throughout the continent. He wrote
this commentary below immediately following our Baraza tour.
Tajudeen's Postcard (Thursday, November 3, 2005)
I have not been in the USA since 9/11 2001. I was one of those people
who had decided that the sight of the statute of Liberty was not worth
the humiliation, invasive questioning and searches that many visitors
to the US were subjected to whether they had been in the country several
times before or were new visitors or potential immigrants. Even if my
critical views about US governments especially the Bush administration
before 9/11 and even more so since then, had escaped the radar of both
human and technological watchdogs for Washington, my name alone and my
assumed religion and hence loyalties were too obvious to think that I
could escape being victim of profiling.
If a prominent internationally renowned academic like Professor Ali Mazrui,
who had lived and settled in the US for such a long time could be stopped
at the airport, interrogated and detained for hours how can I assume I
will experience anything better. Even outside of the US, three times from
Nigeria and Ghana I had been prevented from boarding British Airways flights
on security suspicions. All these factors made me to decide against travelling
to the US in all these years. I politely declined several invitations
hoping that Bush, like his Daddy before him would be a one-term president
and the succeeding president would be a decent member of the human race.
Well, American voters thought otherwise and ‘re-elected’
Dubya for a second term. My personal sanction was becoming more of a punishment
for me than for Mr. Bush who did not even know that I have refused to
visit his ‘paradise’ of a country!
I had to decide whether to continue to punish myself in anger at Bush
and also cut off from friends and colleagues in the US until Bush leaves
in 2009 or find other reasons to make being in America bearable. My considered
judgment is that neither Bush nor his homeland security should prevent
me from grounding with brothers and sisters in Babylon. In any case Bush
affects my life wherever I may be therefore I might as well try and see
if I could affect his, however miniscule, in his own country. Off I went
to renew my US visa that I had allowed to lapse.
For three years I had been invited and I had given one excuse or the
other not to honour the invitation of the Africa Action group to be a
participant in their annual Baraza. This year I ran out of all excuses.
If I had said No again I think even I would have understood if Salih Booker,
the indefatigable Director of the group and his team of dedicated colleagues,
crossed out my name from their contact list permanently!
The Baraza is a borrowed phrase from the Kiswahili language, meaning
festival. Africa Action organizes this Baraza as a means of promoting
dialogue, cooperation, building of consensus and engagement between its
Africa and US partners and different sectors of the US society who are
desirous of working towards better relations between the US and Africa.
Africa Action is the oldest Independent US organization built for solidarity
between Americans and Africans. One of its parent organizations, the American
Committee on Africa (ACOA) was formed in 1953 to provide concrete support
for the Defiance Campaign in South Africa. Another of the parent organizations
is the The Africa Fund, which was founded in 1966. Both organizations
together with a third one, Africa Policy Information Centre (APIC) founded
in 1978 merged together in 2001 to form Africa Action.
In keeping with this tradition of solidarity towards African struggles
and advocacy for better US policies towards Africa, Africa Action under
the dynamic leadership of its Director, Salih Booker, has continued to
focus on building solidarity with Africa’s civil Society and mobilizing
a large constituency, by no means limited to African Americans, across
the US to support a more robust and progressive US policy towards Africa.
With its offices only a stone throw from the White House it occupies a
unique place in terms of advocacy on Africa.
This year’s Baraza was attended by CSO activists from Africa including
Ezra Mbogori of Mwengo, an African regional NGO based in Harare with presence
in East and Southern Africa; Brian Kagoro, Zimbabwean lawyer and Regional
Policy and Advocacy Manager of the Africa region for Action Aid International;
Wahu Kaara, a former Director of Kenya Debt Relief Network and now ecumenical;
Coordinator for the MDGs at the All African Conference of Churches and
Morolake Odetoyinbo from Nigeria who is President of the Positive Action
for Treatment Action.
The focus for this year’s Baraza was: "From Myths to mobilization:
reframing US Africa Relations". Participants shared and exchanged
ideas and debunked a lot of the myths surrounding US-Africa relations
on both sides and also the illusions generated that this so called Year
of Africa (2005) will lead to any fundamental change in the historic imbalance
in US–Africa relations. Africa Action also shared with us three
of its main focus for now: debt cancellation, eradication of HIV/Aids
and Ending Genocide in Darfur.
After the Washington Baraza the Africa guests of the AA were then divided
into different tour groups across various cities in the US. Wahu and myself
have been in New York and Boston while Ezra and Rolake went to Georgia
and other cities. The groups we were to interact with included Community
based pan Africanist groups either of African immigrants or African American
associations, Churches of different denominations and Synagogues, universities
and other think tanks.
The kind of engaging and frank even if sometimes difficult discussions
we have had so far have been both educating and informative. They provide
hope that in spite of Bush and his gung ho neo-imperialist adventures,
progressive people in America are beginning to ask themselves if they
love the world enough to engage with all its peoples meaningfully instead
of wallowing in convenient monopoly of victimhood and naively asking why
the rest of the world hates America.
Difficult as it may sound especially given his victory at the last presidential
elections Bush and his neo-con reactionaries are not the only face of
America. It has taken a long time since 9/11 for progressive voices in
America but they are now gaining in confidence and are beginning to talk
louder than the whispers that they hitherto reduced to. Bush's current
troubles may not just be temporary but the beginning of the end for a
presidency that has lied for so long that its credibility gap is such
that even when it is telling the truth no one believes it.
"Forward ever, backward never".....Kwame Nkrumah (1909 - 1972)
..................DON'T AGONISE! ORGANISE!!.......
Dr. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
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Tajudeen's Postcard
