Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Happy Valentines Day
Bye Bye Valentine: Message in a box of chocolates, coated in oil and washed up on Branscombe Beach, a World Heritage Site in southwest England this January. Photo: © Carlos Gurita, 2007
I GET BLOWN UP
Soldiers Hit by a IED (Roadside Bomb) in downtown Ramadi.
and they are the lucky ones.
and they are the lucky ones.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Colonialism and the "scramble for Africa"
Colonization of Africa
Map showing European territorial claims on the African continent in 1914
In the late nineteenth century, the European imperial powers engaged in a major territorial scramble and occupied most of the continent, creating many colonial nation states, and leaving only two independent nations: Liberia, an independent state partly settled by African Americans; and Orthodox Christian Ethiopia (known to Europeans as "Abyssinia"). Colonial rule by Europeans would continue until after the conclusion of World War II, when all colonial states gradually obtained formal independence.
Colonialism had a destabilising effect on a number of ethnic groups that is still being felt in African politics. Before European influence, national borders were not much of a concern, with Africans generally following the practice of other areas of the world, such as the Arabian Peninsula, where a group's territory was congruent with its military or trade influence. The European insistence of drawing borders around territories to isolate them from those of other colonial powers often had the effect of separating otherwise contiguous political groups, or forcing traditional enemies to live side by side with no buffer between them. For example, although the Congo River appears to be a natural geographic boundary, there were groups that otherwise shared a language, culture or other similarity living on both sides. The division of the land between Belgium and France along the river isolated these groups from each other. Those who lived in Saharan or Sub-Saharan Africa and traded across the continent for centuries often found themselves crossing borders that existed only on European maps.
In nations that had substantial European populations, for example Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, systems of second-class citizenship were often set up in order to give Europeans political power far in excess of their numbers. In the Congo Free State, personal property of King Leopold II of Belgium, the native population was submitted to inhumane treatments, and a near slavery status assorted with forced labor. However, the lines were not always drawn strictly across racial lines. In Liberia, citizens who were descendants of American slaves had a political system for over 100 years that gave ex-slaves and natives to the area roughly equal legislative power despite the fact the ex-slaves were outnumbered ten to one in the general population. The inspiration for this system was the United States Senate, which had balanced the power of free and slave states despite the much-larger population of the former.
Europeans often altered the local balance of power, created ethnic divides where they did not previously exist, and introduced a cultural dichotomy detrimental to the native inhabitants in the areas they controlled. For example, in what are now Rwanda and Burundi, two ethnic groups Hutus and Tutsis had merged into one culture by the time German colonists had taken control of the region in the nineteenth century. No longer divided by ethnicity as intermingling, intermarriage, and merging of cultural practices over the centuries had long since erased visible signs of a culture divide, Belgium instituted a policy of racial categorisation upon taking control of the region, as racial based categorisation and philosophies was a fixture of the European culture of that time. The term Hutu originally referred to the agricultural-based Bantu-speaking peoples that moved into present day Rwanda and Burundi from the West, and the term Tutsi referred to Northeastern cattle-based peoples that migrated into the region later. The terms described a person's economic class; individuals who owned roughly 10 or more cattle were considered Tutsi, and those with fewer were considered Hutu, regardless of ancestral history. This was not a strict line but a general rule of thumb, and one could move from Hutu to Tutsi and vice versa.
The Belgians introduced a racialized system; European-like features such as fairer skin, ample height, narrow noses were seen as more ideally Hamitic, and belonged to those people closest to Tutsi in ancestry, who were thus given power amongst the colonised peoples. Identity cards were issued based on this philosophy.
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
Monday, February 12, 2007
Crisis In Nigeria
Don't Let Shell Kill Again
Don't Let Shell Kill Again (1997) 13:39 TRT...this video was edited from two films (by CATMA) to support the City of Berkeley's boycott of Shell Oil Company because of its environmental impact on Nigeria and the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa with eight other environmental activists. This public policy video was developed as an information tool for Project Underground and was first seen at Berkeley's City Council meeting before they voted to Boycott Shell Oil. Narrator: Carol Denney. More at www.berkeleycitizen.org or www.sfbayvideo.com International Internet NEWS
Crisis in Nigeria
Don't Let Shell Kill Again (1997) 13:39 TRT...this video was edited from two films (by CATMA) to support the City of Berkeley's boycott of Shell Oil Company because of its environmental impact on Nigeria and the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa with eight other environmental activists. This public policy video was developed as an information tool for Project Underground and was first seen at Berkeley's City Council meeting before they voted to Boycott Shell Oil. Narrator: Carol Denney. More at www.berkeleycitizen.org or www.sfbayvideo.com International Internet NEWS
Crisis in Nigeria
CNN denies Nigerian allegations of staging report
ABUJA, Nigeria (CNN) -- A Nigerian government spokesman on Monday accused CNN of paying for and staging a report that showed 24 Filipino hostages being held by masked gunmen in the remote mangrove swamps of southern Nigeria.
"We have evidence that some of these people were actually paid to put up a show," Nigerian Minister of Information Frank Nweke Jr. told CNN International about last week's report by Jeff Koinange, CNN's Africa correspondent.
"It was a paid job, and that's exactly why we are very upset about it," he said, without offering evidence.
"He had actually approached other people before then to do the same thing and his offer was declined. And he shopped around for more people and found those criminals who were willing to play ball with him and they put on the kind of show that they put up and which was shown around the world."
CNN and Koinange flatly denied the charge. In a written statement, CNN said it did not pay for any part of the report, nor does the network pay for interviews.
The report showed the hostages, held captive since their cargo ship was seized January 20, seated on white plastic chairs, lined up in a row.
As dozens of militants, dressed in black and wearing black ski masks, danced and fired automatic weapons into the air, the hostages appeared immobilized by fear. (Watch Koinange's report, and a talk with CNN's Anderson Cooper about criticism of it))
"The government is trying to get them released," Nweke said. "But to make a show out of it in the way that your reporter did is unacceptable and, to our minds, undermines global efforts in the war on terror."
Nweke said he and his entourage had recently traveled through the Niger Delta and had seen projects intended to help the area's residents, such as health clinics and the construction of bridges, but witnessed none of the scenes shown in the report. (Watch as Nweke tells CNN's Jim Clancy why Nigeria believes the report was staged))
"You can imagine my surprise when I saw the kind of pictures that were put out on CNN portraying the situation of war and crisis in the Niger Delta," he said. "There was absolutely no correlation whatsoever with what we had on the ground and what CNN International put out there."
In denying the information minister's allegations, the network said that the only money that changed hands was the standard rental for a motorboat and captain -- about $700 -- and the standard fee to an area freelance journalist for his help in reporting and translation, about $150 per day for three days.
CNN said it will send a letter to Nweke asking him to provide any evidence to support his claims. If any credible evidence is forthcoming, CNN said it would report on that.
CNN crew goes to hideout in Niger Delta swamp
Members of the militant group, who said they were part of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, led CNN's crew to their hideout in a swamp in the Niger Delta. MEND has recently ratcheted up its battle to redress what it says is the unequal distribution of the nation's oil wealth.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer. In 2005, it was the world's sixth-largest exporter of oil, but the conflict there has cut distribution by an estimated 500,000 barrels per day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The militants are threatening to hurt the oil sector even more.
"We are going to descend on all foreign interests in the Nigerian economy, either in the river or in the land," Maj. Gen. Tamuno God's Will, the group's self-described leader, told CNN.
He said his group -- which claims 200,000 fighters -- will soon launch "Operation Black Locust," aimed at key installations across the country.
"We are telling all expatriates to leave Nigeria, not only the Niger Delta, but to leave Nigeria. We will take lives, we will destroy lives, we will crumble the economy," he said.
Since late 2005, MEND militants have carried out attacks on Nigeria's oil sector and abducted dozens of foreign workers, releasing nearly all of them unharmed.
But in recent months, the attacks have become more brazen and more frequent. Two car bombings were carried out at oil company compounds in southern Nigeria's largest port town of Port Harcourt on December 18, and in January alone, militants abducted more than 30 people.
"The security situation in the Niger Delta region has deteriorated significantly over the past year," the U.S. State Department said last month in a travel warning. "Travel to the region remains dangerous and should be avoided."
Militants want share of oil profits to go to locals
Gen. God's Will said his group is fighting because few of the billions of dollars being made off the oil-rich deposits of the Niger Delta make it back to the Nigerian people, especially those in the Delta, home to some of the world's poorest people.
More than 2 million barrels of crude oil is pumped out of Nigeria every day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. International oil giants including Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and oil service companies such as Schlumberger and Brazil's Petrobas have taken up residence in the Niger Delta.
The militant leader said his forces are in the middle of a "struggle for the liberation of the Niger Delta, the most devastated and the most threatened region in the world."
"Our fight is against everybody," he said.
Nigerian forces have struggled in the battle. The navy doesn't travel to the regions where CNN went because the waters are so dangerous, patrolled by armed militants in speed boats that quickly navigate through the shallow swamps, Koinange said.
But Nweke said the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has made progress in the delta over the past seven years, building hundreds of classrooms and health centers and undertaking myriad road projects.
"We still have a long way to go," Nweke acknowledged. "But the point I'm making this afternoon is that we've come a long way from where we were in 1999 under the military."
"We have evidence that some of these people were actually paid to put up a show," Nigerian Minister of Information Frank Nweke Jr. told CNN International about last week's report by Jeff Koinange, CNN's Africa correspondent.
"It was a paid job, and that's exactly why we are very upset about it," he said, without offering evidence.
"He had actually approached other people before then to do the same thing and his offer was declined. And he shopped around for more people and found those criminals who were willing to play ball with him and they put on the kind of show that they put up and which was shown around the world."
CNN and Koinange flatly denied the charge. In a written statement, CNN said it did not pay for any part of the report, nor does the network pay for interviews.
The report showed the hostages, held captive since their cargo ship was seized January 20, seated on white plastic chairs, lined up in a row.
As dozens of militants, dressed in black and wearing black ski masks, danced and fired automatic weapons into the air, the hostages appeared immobilized by fear. (Watch Koinange's report, and a talk with CNN's Anderson Cooper about criticism of it))
"The government is trying to get them released," Nweke said. "But to make a show out of it in the way that your reporter did is unacceptable and, to our minds, undermines global efforts in the war on terror."
Nweke said he and his entourage had recently traveled through the Niger Delta and had seen projects intended to help the area's residents, such as health clinics and the construction of bridges, but witnessed none of the scenes shown in the report. (Watch as Nweke tells CNN's Jim Clancy why Nigeria believes the report was staged))
"You can imagine my surprise when I saw the kind of pictures that were put out on CNN portraying the situation of war and crisis in the Niger Delta," he said. "There was absolutely no correlation whatsoever with what we had on the ground and what CNN International put out there."
In denying the information minister's allegations, the network said that the only money that changed hands was the standard rental for a motorboat and captain -- about $700 -- and the standard fee to an area freelance journalist for his help in reporting and translation, about $150 per day for three days.
CNN said it will send a letter to Nweke asking him to provide any evidence to support his claims. If any credible evidence is forthcoming, CNN said it would report on that.
CNN crew goes to hideout in Niger Delta swamp
Members of the militant group, who said they were part of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, led CNN's crew to their hideout in a swamp in the Niger Delta. MEND has recently ratcheted up its battle to redress what it says is the unequal distribution of the nation's oil wealth.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer. In 2005, it was the world's sixth-largest exporter of oil, but the conflict there has cut distribution by an estimated 500,000 barrels per day, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The militants are threatening to hurt the oil sector even more.
"We are going to descend on all foreign interests in the Nigerian economy, either in the river or in the land," Maj. Gen. Tamuno God's Will, the group's self-described leader, told CNN.
He said his group -- which claims 200,000 fighters -- will soon launch "Operation Black Locust," aimed at key installations across the country.
"We are telling all expatriates to leave Nigeria, not only the Niger Delta, but to leave Nigeria. We will take lives, we will destroy lives, we will crumble the economy," he said.
Since late 2005, MEND militants have carried out attacks on Nigeria's oil sector and abducted dozens of foreign workers, releasing nearly all of them unharmed.
But in recent months, the attacks have become more brazen and more frequent. Two car bombings were carried out at oil company compounds in southern Nigeria's largest port town of Port Harcourt on December 18, and in January alone, militants abducted more than 30 people.
"The security situation in the Niger Delta region has deteriorated significantly over the past year," the U.S. State Department said last month in a travel warning. "Travel to the region remains dangerous and should be avoided."
Militants want share of oil profits to go to locals
Gen. God's Will said his group is fighting because few of the billions of dollars being made off the oil-rich deposits of the Niger Delta make it back to the Nigerian people, especially those in the Delta, home to some of the world's poorest people.
More than 2 million barrels of crude oil is pumped out of Nigeria every day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. International oil giants including Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and oil service companies such as Schlumberger and Brazil's Petrobas have taken up residence in the Niger Delta.
The militant leader said his forces are in the middle of a "struggle for the liberation of the Niger Delta, the most devastated and the most threatened region in the world."
"Our fight is against everybody," he said.
Nigerian forces have struggled in the battle. The navy doesn't travel to the regions where CNN went because the waters are so dangerous, patrolled by armed militants in speed boats that quickly navigate through the shallow swamps, Koinange said.
But Nweke said the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has made progress in the delta over the past seven years, building hundreds of classrooms and health centers and undertaking myriad road projects.
"We still have a long way to go," Nweke acknowledged. "But the point I'm making this afternoon is that we've come a long way from where we were in 1999 under the military."
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