US President Barack Obama is set to announce a $3bn (£1.9bn) plan to boost food security and farm productivity in Africa, US officials say.

They say the initiative is aimed at alleviating shortages as world food supplies are being stretched by rising demand in Asia’s emerging markets.

Food security is expected to be on the agenda of this weekend’s G-8 meeting.

The summit near Washington is being dominated by Europe’s debt crisis and a possible Greek exit from the eurozone.

President Obama is expected to announce investments in African agriculture by private US companies, for a total of more than $3bn.

The head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Rajiv Shah, said the move shows the administration’s commitment to boosting world food production as rising wealth in Asia drives consumption.

“By taking this new approach, we believe that it’s possible to move 50 million people out of the condition of poverty and hunger,” he told reporters.

“You cannot have stability and security as long as regions and countries and communities are deeply food-insecure.”

The UK and other G8 nations as well as African countries, aid agencies and multinational companies will also take part in what will be known as the New Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security.

The UK’s department for international development said 45 leading firms, including Diageo, Unilever and Vodafone, will invest $4bn (£2.5bn) in developing African agriculture and sign up to a new code of responsible investment.

“Governments cannot tackle this challenge alone. The skills, resources and financial expertise of leading private businesses will help transform African agriculture, giving poor farmers the chance to pull themselves out of poverty, hunger and malnutrition,” said the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell.

Bank fearsIn recent years, food shortages have led to price rises and unrest in many import-dependent countries, including many in Africa.

In the 2009 G-8 summit in Italy, major industrial countries promised more than $20bn over three years to improve food access to Africans and others hit by high prices.

This latest summit, which begins later on Friday, is due to discuss the issue.

However its main focus will be continuing concerns that the eurozone debt crisis could trigger a global slump.

On Thursday, confidence in European banks was undermined by ratings agency Moody’s, which cut the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks.

Mr Obama has urged European leaders to do more to stimulate growth, fearing the euro crisis could spread to the US.

Correspondents say he will seek to cement a bond with France’s new president, Francois Hollande, at the White House before heading to Camp David for the summit.

Mr Hollande, who took office on Thursday, has also said a German-led plan to enforce fiscal discipline across the eurozone should be complemented by moves aimed at boosting growth. via BBC News

SFA exclusive footage! Wednesday May 9 2012- West Coast First Nations ‘Yinka Dene Alliance Freedom Riders’ and community supporters gathered in front of the Enbridge’s annual general meeting of shareholders at the King Edward Hotel here in downtown Toronto,to send a clear message of disapproval for Enbridge’s plan to build pipelines and oil sands through out Sacred First Nations territory. Led by 11 year old activist/ singer from vancouver Ta’Kaiya Blaney. Check out our photo gallery! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.352833811443585.82135.1285944838675…

The Yinka Dene Alliance is one of the leading groups of First Nations in opposing the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipeline and super-tanker project. We are six Dakelh (Carrier) and Tse Kay Nay (Sekani) Nations in the interior of what is known as British Columbia, and we are where the unbroken wall of opposition to Enbridge’s dangerous tar sands pipeline begins.
 

Background:

We are taking an historic journey — the Freedom Train — from our territories to Toronto. We will make stops for rallies and ceremony in Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg along the way, and will gain strength as we travel across Turtle Island. Remembering the Constitution Train of 1980, we will be travelling from our lands to the Canadian centre of financial power – Bay Street – to send the pipeline companies, oil companies, banks, financial media and the government an unforgettable message: tar sands pipelines and supertankers will not be permitted in our lands and waters. For more info about the Freedom Riders Train and the Yinka Dene Alliance see: http://freedomtrain2012.com/ For more info on the Indigenous and allied movement Against Enbridge’s Tar Sands Pipelines and Tankers, and the Tar Sands themselves, see: http://yinkadene.ca/ http://pipeupagainstenbridge.ca/ http://www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html

Tools fashioned from stone and bone thousands of years ago, clay pipes crafted hundreds of years ago – these are some of the artifacts in a new exhibition opening at the University of Toronto.

Uncovering Our Early Past: First Nations in Toronto opens May 11, 2012 in the Anthropology Building at 19 Russell Street.

“For thousands of years, long before European newcomers arrived, the area we now call Toronto was home to the ancestors of First Nations peoples,” said Professor Susan Pfeiffer of the Department of Anthropology.

The exhibition includes artifacts from the predecessors of the Huron-Wendat people, who lived throughout the region at the time of European settlement, as well as objects such as fluted points from Illinois, New York and Southwestern Ontario that were used by Paleo-Indians between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

“Primarily during the middle part of the last century, faculty, staff and students of the university participated in archaeological excavations of many sites in southern Ontario, sites that were the homes of Huron-Wendat ancestors,” said Pfeiffer. “As a result, today the university holds in trust materials, including human remains and burial artifacts, gathered from those locations.”

While the approaches followed in those excavations conformed to attitudes of academia and society at the time, those attitudes have changed, Pfeiffer said. Last November, a Memorandum of Understanding allowing for the reburial  of the human remains and burial artifacts to the Huron-Wendat Nation was signed by Grand Chief Konrad Sioui, on behalf of the Huron Wendat Nation and by Professor Cheryl Regehr, vice-provost (academic programs) on behalf of U of T.

The memorandum allows for the reburial  of human remains and artifacts from sites linked to Huron-Wendat heritage in a culturally and spiritually appropriate way as determined by the Huron-Wendat people.  The actual transfer of the remains will occur when the Huron-Wendat Nation has secured a final resting place for the remains and artifacts.

“The Memorandum of Understanding established a process of cooperation between the University of Toronto and the Huron-Wendat Nation for the continued development of knowledge about Native people, including their past achievements” said Regehr. “The university lauds the Huron-Wendat Nation for its commitment to preservation of knowledge and further research.”

While not directly related to the MOU, the Anthropology exhibit arises in part from those discussions. The objects featured in the permanent exhibit comprise evidence from archaeological research – “fragments of cultures” that provide information about the lives of First Nations ancestors and reveal how their knowledge and beliefs shaped Toronto, Pfeiffer said.

“In this space overlooking Huron Street, we hope to illustrate the impressive native heritage of this region,” said Pfeiffer. “The objects displayed convey some basic aspects of how First Nations made their living, as well as their aesthetic values and engagement with the order and meaning of the world.”

A focal exhibit is the wampum belt created in 2011 and presented to the university by Grand Chief Sioui upon the signing of the memorandum. Depicting people holding hands, it symbolizes the agreement between U of T and the Huron-Wendat people. SOURCE

Racism and a legacy of colonialism are preventing the West from recognizing the potential of African innovation.

Affordable technology is helping people all over Africa propel an economic revolution. Investment is pouring in from India, China, and other emerging markets. But the West, in my eyes, is ignoring one of the 21st century’s most important stories.

There are reasons the West has historically overlooked African innovation. Racism plays a big part, owing to the West’s past of colonialism and slavery on the continent. Much of the West’s acquisition of wealth was a direct result of the colonial era, which, for all intents and purposes, is not something that has been relayed to western populations accurately. Too many people in the West are under the assumption that it is their aid or assistance that sustains Africa, without understanding the underlying structures that have been put in place, and are held in place, by institutions that serve the West.

This culture of misinformation is propagated by politicians, businesses, and media agencies that paint Africans as helpless, dim recipients of western aid. That mindset carries over into the business world, leaving the impression that African companies are incapable of operating on par with their Asian or western counterparts. To anyone who has lived in Africa, this is simply nonsense.

If Africans had access to the same government structures and resources that exist in the West, this gap would quickly close. In fact, the recent spread of mobile phones and Internet access has started a nascent wave of African entrepreneurialism. Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana are at the front of the pack, with their gross domestic products growing by as much as 10 percent a year. The trends they have benefitted from in recent years could soon help citizens of many other countries catch up.

Technology has become much more affordable over the past two decades, and, because internet dongles work everywhere that mobile phones work, Internet access can be had in even some of the most remote corners of the continent.

Unprecedented access to mobile phones has created other efficiencies: An artisan who previously could only cater to one client a day sitting in her shop can now run a sophisticated and complex operation, as she can be reached through her mobile phone any time, anywhere. It is my belief that the recent surge in economic growth in Africa is attributable, to a large extent, to this latent and invisible game changer.

It is in this realm of start-ups and entrepreneurs that foreign governments and businesses ought to provide their assistance and expertise. Foreign aid, in my experience, typically undermines the development of local industries and facilitates corrupt practices. The way it is currently configured, aid is a distraction that gives our governments the ability to avoid doing what the population requires.

In Ghana, the government undertakes 60-70 percent of purchases. In most cases, it does not purchase local technology from local companies. Local businesses are therefore left to compete and operate in the remaining 30-40 percent of the available market. Multinationals broadly import their technology from their head offices, which are normally headquartered in the West, further disenfranchising local companies. Unfortunately, our governments have not done anything to provide protection or encouragement for local industries as most western governments have.

To make a difference, we need to treat African enterprises as equals, building and fostering trade and business ties within Africa and internationally. We need deliberate public-policy initiatives and directives that support digital entrepreneurs and the IT sector, as exist for the mining, telecommunications, oil and gas, cash crops, and foreign direct investment sectors.

Practically, this means governments should be encouraged to give contracts to local companies, enabling them to gain experience and become more competitive locally and internationally. More platforms like my website, www.shopafrica53.com, and mobile-based payment systems would oil the wheels of e-commerce for the average person.

Part and parcel to all this is literacy. Millions of illiterate Africans will have challenges using the smartphones and computers needed to take part in the digital marketplace. This needs to be addressed before any major uptake of smartphones will be possible. African IT innovations based on SMS are working very well as they can be made illiterate friendly, and are cheaper and more reliable. I therefore anticipate a more incremental shift in usage of smartphones, broadly mirroring increases in literacy rates.

In the two decades since I started SOFTtribe, Ghana’s leading software developer, I’ve witnessed the proliferation of mobile phone and Internet communications, the spread of democracies, and the uptake of the rule of law. There are also recent indications of brain gain. What a pity it would be for the West to ignore the second chapter of this indigenous digital revolution.

Herman Chinery-Hesse is the founder and CEO of SOFTtribe, the largest software company in Ghana and one of the largest in all of Africa. He is widely considered the “Bill Gates of Africa”, and has recently launched www.shopafrica53.com, a website that allows African entrepreneurs and artists to sale their products to a worldwide market.

The Magazine

Warscapes is an independent online magazine that provides a lens into current conflicts across the world.

Warscapes publishes fiction, non-fiction, poetry, interviews, book and film reviews, photo-essays and retrospectives of war literature from the past fifty years.

Warscapes is motivated by a need to move past a void within mainstream culture in the depiction of people and places experiencing staggering violence, and the literature they produce.

Apart from showcasing great writing from war-torn areas, the magazine is a tool for understanding complex political crises in various regions and serves as an alternative to compromised representations of those issues.

Asimba Bathy, who led the creation of Congo 50 along with Alain Brezault spoke to Warscapes about the process and reception of the graphic novel. The interview and excerpted chapter are translated from the French by Sara Hanaburgh.

Warscapes: How did this project come about?

Asimba Bathy: The Democratic Republic of Congo was getting ready to commemorate 50 years of independence on June 30, 2010. It was the perfect moment for the Congelese graphic novel to assert itself and we wanted it to be present in every conversation and debates in different social milieus and also in schools and universities.

Warscapes: Can you describe the process?

Asimba Bathy: We started by building contacts on-site in Kinshasa to help us to research funding opportunities for the making and production of a graphic novel that would be a collective work with a less suggestive title than “Congo 50”. Unfortunately, that approach proved unsuccessful.

Once we were in Brussels, the idea came up again in a discussion we were having with the directors of Africalia, and we contacted the Tervuren Museum who wanted to do something in conjunction with this celebration. At one point it was suggested that I alone create the graphic novel. But, I made it known right away that I wanted to have the participation of the team of artists I direct at BD Kin Label.

We also contacted storyboard writer, Alain Brezault, who knew Congo well and had formerly done remarkable work with the artists of this country. And they really liked him and followed his lead to get the storyboard workshop in motion.

Warscapes: How did you all collaborate and how did you arrive at a unified vision of the project?

Asimba Bathy: At the outset, we held a long briefing in order to understand the history of Congo, which we divided into chapters that corresponded to the number of participating artists – eight in total. As creator and coordinator of the project, I sent the artists out to the field to conduct their research with elders, historians, journalists, and people of all ages. We even organized a visit to the national archives, where we obtained more extensive information on different events in the history of Congo.

And Alain Brezault arrived a little later to close the deal and fill in the necessary gaps in order to make the text readable and coherent. Once again, as in 2007, with his work on the project Là-bas…na Poto, we are very grateful to him.

Warscapes: What is the story of Congo 50? What happens in La Longue Marche (The Long Journey) excerpted here?

Asimba Bathy: Actually, Congo 50 is a very small part of a novel that I am currently writing which is based on a real testimonies, a lot of which I used to write three out of the eight storyboards that make up this wonderful graphic novel. The graphic novel is meant to address a wide popular audience, especially the youth, through a dynamic narrative divided into eight parts, each with six storyboards that takes us through the 50 years of independence in Congo. This half-century is presented through the lives of twin boy and girl siblings, Dipanda and Lipanda, whose names mean ‘independence.’ They are baptized on June 30th, 1960, the day of the birth of the Democratic Republic of Congo

La Longue Marche by Cara Bulaya depicts the ordeal of the populations that find themselves in war situations and shows how, at times, families are separated and are often unable to reunite.

Warscapes: Why did you choose the medium of the graphic novel?

Asimba Bathy: I feel that the Congolese graphic novel is in the process of making its mark again, after a period of slack activity for more than thirty years. Any possible occasion where the medium can make its presence known is an opportunity. We ourselves, as authors of graphic novels, could not have turned to any other medium to express ourselves in a meaningful way.

Warscapes: Many people are focused on 50 years after independence in various African countries. What did you want to say specifically about Congo through this book?

Asimba Bathy: Congo’s history, fifty years after independence is obviously impossible to recount in a forty-eight page graphic novel. That is why we allude to a few noteworthy moments in the country’s history and the debates regarding what really happened in the hopes that it will help the Congolese, at least a little, to re-appropriate their own history.

Warscapes: What was the response to your work in Europe? Did you also distribute it in Congo? If yes, how was it received?

Asimba Bathy: The least one can say about this graphic novel is that it has had a welcome reception—I’d even say too well received—whether in Europe, in Congo, and in certain African countries as well, where it has been in high demand and we were able to distribute it.

Warscapes: The violence in Congo has been very brutal. How did you depict this?

Asimba Bathy: Every country in the world, especially those in the Third World, is shaken today by violence in one form or another. Opening up the can of worms that is the history of violence is just one way to say that violence is a bad thing. But, we were more focused on incorporating elements that the graphic novel genre is known for such as a great story, humor and intrigue. And at the same time, we wanted it to replicate an authentic reality. That is the reason it has been successful but it has not offended anyone.

Warscapes: Were there decisions about what was to be excluded and included from the history of the region in your book?

Asimba Bathy: There was no question that we would write a macabre history with sharp cynicism in order to present the history of our country in a very sobering way, even though, of course, many good things did happen.

Asimba Bathy was born in 1956 in Watsha and left for Kinshasa with his parents in 1966. He studied advertising at the Academy of Fine Arts and worked for various magazines and newspapers in Kinshasa. He created OAR (United Artists Organization) and BED’ART studios. In 2007, he participated in the making of a collaborative graphic novel, ‘Là-bas..Na Poto’ about immigration, which was published by the Belgian Red Cross and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the support of the European Union. Soon after, he launched the Kin-Label which has published 21 graphic novels so far. He also collaborated on a graphic novel, ‘La bande dessinée conte l’Afrique’ published in Algiers by Ed Dalimen in 2009.

Cara Bulaya Samy, known as Cara was born in Kisangani in 1973. He graduated with a degree in Graphic Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa. He has worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for newspapers and for graphic novel projects supervised by Thembo Kash and Asimba Bathy. He is an active member of the Kin-Label where he continues to publish his work. He is the creator of ‘La Longue Marche’ excerpted on Warscapes.

Born in France, Alain Brezault spent his childhood in Congo and Tahiti. Apart from being a writer, he is also a consultant for several European organizations regarding multimedia communication and socio-cultural cooperation with countries of the South. He has conducted workshops in writing scripts for comics in Bamako, Lomé and Kinshasa for the creation of ‘Là Bas…Na Poto.’ He has collaborated with Africultures to create an internet portal focused on promoting the francophone graphic novel. He is the founder and host of the site, AfriBD.com produced in partnership with three African cartoonists organizations located respectively in Bamako, Kinshasa and Mauritius to cover West Africa, Central Africa and Indian Ocean.

Sara Hanaburgh is a scholar of African literatures and cinemas. She received her PhD from the City University of New York where she focused on the contemporary African novel and film (1980s to present) from the sub-Saharan Francophone region. Her work argued that as artistic responses to the human effects of economic globalization on the continent, the most extreme effects of the current “global” order reinforce notions of a sexualized, racialized or ethnicized “Other.” In addition to ongoing research, she is presently translating a novel by the late Gabonese author, Angèle Rawiri, into English. She teaches French at Fordham University.

A special thanks to Marina Brant for the translation graphics. www.warscapes.com/

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Swedish minister of culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth’s participation in a “racist spectacle” in which she carved up a cake depicting a naked black woman has sparked outrage and prompted calls for the minister’s dismissal.
This was a racist spectacle.”

Sabuni’s comments come following Adelsohn Liljeroth’s participation in an art installation that took place at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet in connection with World Art Day on April 15th.

As part of the installation, which was reportedly meant to highlight the issue of female circumcision, the culture minister began cutting a large cake shaped like a black woman, symbolically starting at the clitoris.

Makode Aj Linde, the artist who created the installation and whose head is part of the cake cut by the minister, wrote about the “genital mutilation cake” on his Facebook page.

“Before cutting me up she whispered, ‘Your life will be better after this’ in my ear,” he wrote in a caption next to the partially eaten cake.

“In our view, this simply adds to the mockery of racism in Sweden,” Kitimbwa Sabuni, spokesperson for the National Afro-Swedish Association (Afrosvenskarnas riksförbund) told The Local.

“This was a racist spectacle.”

Sabuni’s comments come following Adelsohn Liljeroth’s participation in an art installation that took place at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet in connection with World Art Day on April 15th.

As part of the installation, which was reportedly meant to highlight the issue of female circumcision, the culture minister began cutting a large cake shaped like a black woman, symbolically starting at the clitoris.

Makode Aj Linde, the artist who created the installation and whose head is part of the cake cut by the minister, wrote about the “genital mutilation cake” on his Facebook page.

“Before cutting me up she whispered, ‘Your life will be better after this’ in my ear,” he wrote in a caption next to the partially eaten cake.

Article continues below

But images of the event, which show a smiling and laughing Adelsohn Liljeroth slicing up the cake, have caused the National Afro-Swedish Association and its members to see red and issue calls for her resignation.

“According to the Moderna Museet, the ‘cake party’ was meant to problematize female circumcision but how that is accomplished through a cake representing a racist caricature of a black woman complete with ‘black face’ is unclear,” Sabuni said in a statement.

According to Sabuni, the mere fact that the minister particiapted in the event, which he argued was also marked by “cannibalistic” overtones, betrays her “incompetence and lack of judgement”.

“Her participation, as she laughs, drinks, and eats cake, merely adds to the insult against people who suffer from racist taunts and against women affected by circumcision,” he said.

“We have no confidence in her any longer.”

Speaking with the TT news agency, Adelsohn Liljeroth was sympathetic to the association’s reaction, but nevertheless defended her actions.

“I understand quite well that this is provocative and that it was a rather bizarre situation,” she said.

“I was invited to speak at World Art Day about art’s freedom and the right to provoke. And then they wanted me to cut the cake.”

However, Adelsohn Liljeroth said the National Afro-Swedish Association’s anger should be directed at the artist, not at her, claiming the situation was “misinterpreted”.

“He claims that it challenges a romanticized and exoticized view from the west about something that is really about violence and racism,” she said.

“Art needs to be provocative.”

But the minster’s defence of her actions rang hollow for Sabuni.

“It’s extremely insulting for the minister to claim that we’ve somehow ‘misunderstood’ racism,” he said.

According to Sabuni, the incident is “strange” but “not unexpected” in the Swedish context.

“Sweden thinks of itself as a place where racism is not a problem,” he said.

“That just provides cover for not discussing the issue which leads to incidents like this.”

While a museum is certainly allowed to do what it wants as long as the laws are followed, Sabuni argued that a minister needs to be held to “higher standards”.

“To participate in a racist manifestation masquerading as art is totally over the line and can only be interpreted as the culture minister supporting the Moderna Museet’s racist prank,” he said.

SOURCE

Starting in 2012 T-Dot Renaissance in partnership with Accents Bookstore is presenting a new series called Poetry is Not a Luxury.

For many of us in T-Dot Renaissance, art is not a hobby or a casual past-time. It is an urgent and necessary practice for us to maintain our sanity, to regain perspective and to imagine greater possibilities. This series will explore art as a “vital necessity of our existence.” (Audre Lorde)

Featuring original works by members of the T-Dot Renaissance Collective and special guests, the series will explore the urgency of poetry in a multitude of forms; from the written word to the visual image.

Where: Accents Bookstore – 1790 Eglinton Avenue West (Dufferin and Eglinton), Toronto, Canada
Cover: $10 6pm

When: April 15th featuring Amanda Parris, Ania Soul and Afrakaren (special guest)

This video was shot by Nayani Thiyagarajah and edited by Keisha-Monique Simpson

The video features a passage from Audre Lorde’s seminal essay “Poetry is Not a Luxury” which can be found in her book ‘Sister Outsider.’

For more information, please visit: http://tdotrenaissance.squarespace.com/installations/