3rd Annual Baraza
“From Myths to Mobilization: Reframing U.S. Africa Relations”
October 28 & 29, 2005
Report
Towards the end of a year that was touted as “Africa’s year”,
Africa Action held its third annual Baraza (Kiswahili for “assembly”)
at the 4-H Conference Center in Chevy Chase, MD on October 28 & 29,
2005. The theme for this year’s Baraza was “From Myths
to Mobilization: Reframing U.S. Africa Relations”.
About 40 analysts and activists representing leading civil society organizations
from the U.S. and Africa came together for two days to interrogate key
developments and issues in U.S.-Africa relations. The Baraza came on the
heels of major international conferences and pop culture events intended
to spotlight Africa’s poverty-related challenges. In light of the
Live 8 concerts, the G-8 Summit, and the UN Summit, the Baraza sought
to debunk the myths of the year and forge new strategies to reframe U.S.
Africa relations and redefine priorities to promote justice.
As part of our Baraza tradition, we invited five African guests from
leading civil society organizations, each representing key sectors of
civil society on the continent:
- Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the General Secretary
of the Global Pan African Movement, based in Kampala, Uganda. He is
also the Director of Justice
Africa based in London. Tajudeen is one of the most widely read
and respected analysts and commentators in Africa.
- Wahu Kaara is Ecumenical Coordinator for the Millennium
Development Goals at the All Africa Conference of Churches & the
Global Call to Action Against Poverty. Wahu also served as the Director
of the Kenya Debt Relief Network (KENDREN).
- Brian Kagoro is ActionAid’s
Regional Policy and Advocacy Manager of the Africa Region. Brian is
an expert on Human Rights in Southern Africa and a leading campaigner
in Zimbabwe.
- Ezra Mbogori is Executive Director of MWENGO,
a reflection and development center for NGOs in Eastern and Southern
Africa, based in Zimbabwe. MWENGO works to nurture a community of values
by strengthening and mobilizing African human resources in support of
organizations fighting for social justice.
- Morolake Nwagwu is the Project Director for Positive
Action for Treatment Access (PATA) Nigeria, a non-governmental organization
working to ensure that every individual has access to treatment education
and every person can access qualitative, affordable, ethical and humane
treatment.
Here is a summary of the 2005 Baraza:
Thursday evening, October 27, 2005
Africa Action staff and board hosted our African guests and out of town
guests for dinner at Zed’s Ethiopian Cuisine in Georgetown.
This provided an opportunity for hosts and guests to get to know each
other and to share what brought each person to the Baraza and to social
justice work more broadly.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action and Mark Toney, the
Africa Action Board Chair opened the Baraza with a Welcome Note. This
was followed by short presentations to frame the discussion.
Unlike previous years, this year’s Baraza resembled the traditional
African roundtable format (such as the kgotla and indaba),
which is predicated on the fact that everybody has wisdom and each voice
is valued. Our three roundtables focused on three themes: human development
in Africa, U.S-Africa economic relations, and peace and security in Africa.
To help frame the discussion, Africa Action staff had prepared three short
pieces of background reading, one for each of roundtable session (please
click here for the background readings: human
development, economic relations, peace
and security). Each roundtable was divided into two sections –
the first session focused on framing the issue and debunking myths, and
the goal of the second part was to engage participants in a mobilization
discussion on specific issues such as HIV/AIDS, debt cancellation, and
the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
The morning plenary commenced with brief presentations that helped mould
the rest of the Baraza. In his presentation, “The Big Picture:
Africa in 2005”, Ezra Mbogori of MWENGO gave an overview
of key developments and challenges facing the continent in 2005. Tajudeen
Abdul-Raheem of Justice Africa and the Global Pan African Movement followed
with “Snapshot: African States and the African Union (AU)”.
While noting the shortcomings of the AU, Tajudeen emphasized the positive
role of the AU in conflict resolution and improving economic relations
within Africa. He made a strong argument for the need of Africa to Africanize
before it globalizes and thus applauded increased regional cooperation
within the continent. Ann-Louise Colgan of Africa Action gave a presentation
on U.S. policy toward Africa (click
here for the presentation). She identified the subordination of human
rights concerns to the “war on terror” and U.S. geostrategic
priorities as the bedrock of Bush Administration policy toward Africa.
These presentations were followed by lively discussions of the impact
of the “war on terror” on U.S.-Africa relations and the gains
(or the absence thereof) made in 2005 in Africa.
The following session focused on the state of social movements in Africa
and in the U.S. Wahu Kaara of the All Africa Conference of Churches gave
a presentation entitled “Forward Ever: Social Movements
in Africa”. She said the spirit of the civil commons in
Africa is alive and social movements in Africa are energetically challenging
the international value system that places profit above all else. Marie
Clarke Brill of Africa Action gave her presentation, “Backward
Never: U.S. Social Movements” (click
here for the presentation). She said that despite the challenges of
the post-9/11 environment, the global justice movement in the U.S. has
regained momentum with the greatest gains made by sections of the movement
that have focused on specific issues like debt, HIV/AIDS, and trade.
After lunch, we gathered for the Human Development Roundtable called
MDGs, G-CAP, PEPFAR: From Acronyms to Action (click
here for background reading). The first segment of the discussion
focused on debunking myths about Africa’s development. Brian Kagoro
of Action Aid offered some points to ponder for discussion. He emphasized
that these acronyms betray analysis of Africa as a problem and fail to
address the fundamental structural questions of why Africa faces so many
development challenges. After a short break we reconvened for the second
session which focused on mobilizing to End AIDS in Africa. Morolake Nwagwu
of Positive Action for Treatment Access made initial remarks and said
that the impact and reality of HIV/AIDS in Africa differs by region and
lamented the lack of free access to treatment for AIDS and broader health
services.
We concluded the day with Africa Action staff distributing Baraza Thank
You gifts to all participants after which we took the bus into the city
to enjoy further informal conversation and West African cuisine at Bukom
Café in Adams Morgan.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
The second day of the Baraza commenced with powerful inspirational presentations
by Emira Woods (Africa Action Board Vice-Chair) and Jim Winkler (Africa
Action board member). This part of the morning session was entitled, “Wake
Up Everybody! Start to Build a New Day!” (click
here for the presentation). Jim reminded us that our efforts have
brought dramatic changes to the U.S. and the entire world over the past
50 years. We are the backbone of the civil rights movement, the movement
for women’s rights, and the struggle against apartheid - causes
that are moral and spiritual at their core. He then urged us to intensify
the struggle against the institutions that continue to colonize and pillage
the African continent today. Emira’s presentation was called Ma’
Africa (click
here for the presentation) and focused on the wondrous achievements
of women on the African continent. For example, two African countries
are among the highest in the world in percentage of women in Cabinet positions
– Rwanda has 9 women and 22 men, while South Africa has 13 women
and 15 men. (In comparison, President Bush’s cabinet has 4 women
and 17 men).
After Jim and Emira’s motivational presentations, we convened for
the U.S.-Africa Economic Relations Roundtable called: “Show
Me the Money: From Relief to Reparations”. Imani Countess of
American Friends Service Committee gave a brief presentation decrying
the deleterious effect of the neoliberal economic model on Africa. She
emphasized the need for African countries to protect their domestic industries.
The next section of this roundtable focused on mobilizing for debt cancellation.
The assessment of progress made in 2005 on debt cancellation elicited
a vigorous discussion and there was good discussion on how to support
African civil society calls for debt repudiation.
“Africa’s 911: Answering the Call to Peace”
was the third and final roundtable (click
here for background reading). In her short presentation, Pearl-Alice
Marsh of the House International Relations Committee in the U.S. Congress
emphasized that Africa supports many international peacekeeping missions
and yet the international community is reticent to support peacekeeping
in Africa. In the ensuing discussion, the very definition of peace provided
good debate. The credibility deficit of the U.S. was cited as another
impediment to calls for intervention in Africa and elsewhere. Salih Booker
facilitated the second segment of this roundtable focusing on the genocide
in Darfur. Salih dispelled the myth that genocide has ended in Darfur,
and cited the international legal definition of genocide which covers
both the mental element (the intent to destroy an ethnic group in whole
or in part) and physical violence. Suliman Giddo of Darfur Peace and Development
pointed to the invisible war in Africa fueled by notions of Arabization.
Tajudeen Abudul-Raheem and Morolake Nwagwu gave their “African
Oracles” presentations that concluded the Baraza. Morolake
emphasized the critical role played by women to make change in Africa
and praised the positive role played by Nigeria and South Africa in moving
the continent forward. Tajudeen lambasted the gloomy depictions of Africa
and repeated Wahu Kaara’s emphasis on Africa’s strong spirit
of survival. Tajudeen ended with a quote from the Caribbean intellectual
and activist C.L.R. James: "there is always something that can be
done".
In the Baraza tradition, Salih Booker requested concluding comments from
participants that had not yet spoken and the Baraza ended with a group
photo (please click here to see the photo gallery).
The thoughtful contributions of all the participants made this the most
successful Baraza yet.
Immediately after the Baraza, Africa Action staff went on a speaking
tour with our African guests to four major U.S. cities: Atlanta, Boston,
New York, and Washington D.C. (please click here
to see the speaking tour program). We made presentations at African
Diaspora community events, universities, and religious community events.
In New York, Wahu and Tajudeen were interviewed by Hugh Hamilton of WBAI
Radio on his show, Talk Back (please
click here to listen to the program). We focused our discussion on
analyzing the current state of U.S. policy toward Africa. Many participants
had a keen interest in changing the perception and image of Africa and
Africans in the U.S.; others were interested in the question of ownership
of Africa’s resources.
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Report
from the Third Annual Baraza
