There is only a human race!NewAfrican-November 1998!

Martin Bernal writes in Winston A. van Horne´s book, Global convulsions, that:

"The population of Ancient Egypt was extremely mixed. Nubia and Upper Egypt where pharonic civilisation was formed, had a basic population very similar to that of the modern Nubians, that is to say East African with central African admixture. Lower Egypt had a basic population of North Africa 'Caucasoids'. However, after the Fifth Millennium BCE this was differentiated from that of northwest Africa or the Maghreb, because the latter was separated from the rest of Africa by the growing sahara, the Nile continued to link Lower Egypt to the rest of the continent. The mixture of populations between Upper and Lower Egypt accelerated with the establishment of a single Egyptian state."

So it is quite difficult to to discuss issues in terms of race and I, therefore, find it hard who to regard as black or not because in the eyes of Europeans we are all "coloured" - from the Chinese,Indians to indigenous Africans. Whites are the only "colourless" people in this world, but as we all know they are more pink than white.

Anyway, it is my conviction that race shouldn't be used as an explanation for failure or succcess of anyone. The very fact that my black ancestors built the Egyptian pyramids and many other obelisks doesn't help me today in my endeavours to make life worth living. So our past glories and civilisations are not so much significant when it comes to changing our situation today. As the present is here, we have to make the best of it and seek the causes for our failure in Africa.

We need to see the whole issue in historical perspective and holistically. Africa has never been free and its people haven't been given the opportunity to decide their own destiny since the arrival of the Europeans. It isn't my intention to blame the white man for the evils of Africa, but the Europeans, truth be said, have a lot to answer for in the underdevelopment of Africa. Their rule of divide and share has left us ethnicised and rootless.

To me, it is not African "shorttermism" as Baffour calls it, or lack of education and organisation that are the root causes of Africa's failure, but rather it is Europeans and their everlasting meddling in our affairs that undermine the internal African capacity to develop.

We shouldn't forget that there are at least seven million Europeans who live in luxury in Africa and have economic and political power. I would like to see many Africans doing the same in Europe and America. Every development and democratisation process in Africa should be based on the sentiments of the African people and on their own terms.

Lastly, the pre-colonial African heritage of decentralised and participatory rule should be considered for inclusion in the present endeavour of reforming the African state.

Clinton: charity starts at home!NewAfrican- May 1998!

President Clinton has been in six countries in Africa in a bid to improve the relations between Africa and the US. But it is a well known fact that the US is just interested in having new markets in Africa in the aftermath of the cold war and Asian crisis.

So his visit was just another attempt to recolonise the continent in the name of globalisation and internalisation.

Globalisation is just another name of imperialism and does not make any difference to the life of the ordinary African.

The fact that people watch US-made movies in Burkina Faso does not make them global citizens. What we see is the Macdonaldisation and cocacolonisation of the world which is run by the West.

Africa has been part and parcel of this planet for more than 500 years in the form of slavery and colonialism by which the Western world enriched itself.

Clinton talked about the people of Africa demanding change from Cape Town to Kampala, from Dar es Salaam to Dakar, but I wonder if he has ever been to Harlem and Brooklyn? What has he done to alleviate the human tragedy among African-Americans?

Charity starts at home Mr Clinton. Leave Africa alone please! We have had enough of both the East and the West and we need time to be on our own for the first time since 1500.

We will work out our problems ourselves without your so-called aid and trade. African problems deserve African solutions.

Issayas Afeworki, may not be champion of democracy!NewAfrican-December 1997!

THE WESTERN media has been portraying the Eritrean president Issayas Afeworki as some sort of saint, sent from heaven to bring salvation to Africa, as a so-called new generation leader. The last six years since Eritrea got its independence after 30 years of war against Ethiopia tell also a different story compare to the rest of Africa.


One may as Where the democratic institutions, the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press are in Eritrea but all that is missing because of the devastating war with Ethiopia for 30 long years.It takes generations to bring about radical changes in conservative societies as the eritrean one. No one is in any illusion about that.

Afeworki may not be champion of democracy but it is important that the world community know the very fact that the country is progressing in terms of soicio-economc and health sector relatively well in comparison to the countries in the region.The horn of Africa is not probably the most stable and prosporous region, Eritrea seems though to be the exception at this moment.

The Mis-Education of the African elite!

Every child should have the right to think and dream in his/her native language. The colonial languages English, French, Portugese are the official languages in many African countries. I feel that the failure in terms of education, development and democracy in many countries can not be undestood holistically unless the aspect of language is embodied in the whole picture.

Carter Godwin Woodson explains in his famous book: "The Mis-Education of the Negro" the fact that the "educated negroes" have the attitude of contempt toward their own people because in their own as well as in their mixed schools, "Negroes" are taught to admire the Hebrew, the Greek, the Latin and the Teuton and to despise the African......

Those who speak one of the colonial languages fluently and have obtained western education are regarded as "the best ones" and given special treatements. This stems from the way Europeans have dealt with black people for many centuries.

"When you control a man´s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to tha back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His questions of education makes it necessary."

Leah Taylor asserts that although published more than six decades ago, the impact of these poignant words by Dr. Carter G. woodson in The Miseducation of the Negro has continued to resonate throughout the minds and hearts of Black people around the globe. With an equal if not greater level of pertinence than it held in 1933, it enlights each reader on controversial issues such as revers dicsrimination, reparation and affirmative action....

Education in vernacular languages is the key for emanicipation from mental slavery and for total human freedom. Vernacular refers to the native language of a country or locality. In general lingustics, it is used to describe local languages as opposed to linguae francae, official standards or global languages. The panafricanist professor Kwesi Prah is working hard to make all education in Africa in vernaculars. We have to help him to this end.

The revolution is not gonna be televised! It is your thoughts that matters, brothers and sisters!!!

Eritrea is not a failed state in terms of democracy, respect for human rights and socio-economic prosperity. The revolution in fighting poverty and diseases is not being sent on TV. Eritrea is actually one of the few countries in the African continent to be able to reach the united nations millenium goal!!! It has been almost 17 years since liberation and independence but so much has already been achieved in such a short time.

Eritrea was described as "the new hope of Africa" in 1991 and its Leader Issayas Afeworki belonged to "the new generation of African leaders" with an anti-corruption policy as his trademark. The guy has not changed that much but the west´s perception of  him and Eritrea has changed a lot since then.
This audacity of hope and dream has not been crushed in Eritrea as yet. Eritreans are of course feeling frustrated and dissenchanted by the so called international community as never before. The country is in a constant state of war after the latest conflict with Ethiopia which erupted once again in 1998.

The Eritrean population is estimated to be around 3.5 million and 10 % (350 000!)of it is recruited in the Eritrean army through a compulsary military conscription. All men between 18-44 years old either are in a military or national service for an unlimited time. You can imagine how devastating the human and material cost is for every Eritrean and the country as whole but the question is,  does Eritrea have any other option? The threat from Ethiopia and USA remains  real and this fear should be taken seriously if any earnest dialogue is going to be possible with the west which has sided with Ethiopia.

The No War and No Peace situation in the current stalemate is having a tremendous negative impact on the population of both countries. Young people are doing everything possible to survive the situation. Eritrea and its population has been taken  as a hostage due to the border tension with Ethiopia.

The state  of war and conflict has engulfed the country for over a decade now. People are sick and tired of the situation where  territorial integrity and sovereignity has demanded a lot of sacrifices so far. Ethiopia has manuplated the whole situation to its own regional and continental interest.The population in Ethiopia is  more oppressed and saphocated  than in Eritrea but the western media is not interested in portraying that reality. Ethiopians are generally  showing an indifferent reaction and signs of resignation.

It is now about time for all Eritreans and peace loving people to take a stand against the status quo.The descion of the border commision should be implemented immediately. Eritrea had taken a courageous initiative to diffuse any immediate confrontation by allowing the united nation to create a  25 kilometer buffer zone inside the country but it was to no avail.

The UN has failed entirely and is not doing enough to solve the conflict. International law has been sidelined and double standard is being applied. The establishment of the buffer zone has literally been in vain and Eritrea rightly  questions the relevance of UN and other organizations/individuals associated with it. The Eritrean people who  have struggled for freedom and justice for all citizens, feel betrayed once again.

I have been an outspoken and a critical citizen against the injustice for some time  but I feel now that it is high time that I joined forces who have the same vision, values of humanity, democracy and freedom and application of international law.

I have not seen any international response to the current stalemate between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The indifference is very much concerning. The border commission has finished its job and has  given the assignment of demarcating the border to the concerned bodies. This actually happened in april 2002 when a virtual cyberbased border was delineated on a map and sent to both countries.Period!

Working out some policies on issues of reconciliation and conflict-resolution is something grassroot organizations should be invoved about. Compensation to the victims of the war and the deportees is another burning issue.

The general situation in the horn of Africa is highly impacted by the outcome of the conflict.The detailed policies and programmes of a post-war relationship need to be hammerd-out. I am not sure if these issues were being outlined by the border commission members but an African managed conflict resolution that involves the whole of the horn of Africa  is a must. Proposals and ideas to get out of the stalemate has got to be presented and debated across the region.

An African  revolutionary movement as HUMANIA and pan-Africanism  could  not be other than a party for the people whose human dignity and rights have been violated by colonialists and imperialists for centuries. Ethiopia has become a puppet state dictated by the CIA which makes it look like a pawn in a chase game being played by a giant.

You are therefore  urged to join us and share your contribution to this noble cause. The evolution needs to be revolutionized by non-violent resistance. Enough is enough. Do not forget the fact that the revolution is not gonna be televised and you can make a difference as long as you have the will.Whereever there is a will, there is always a way.........Robert Nestan Marley Ohem, Berhane Meskel, alias, Bob Marley has said that!Do not forget it!

Nyamko Sabuni och Birgitta Ohlsson skrämmer mig!

Folkpartiet fiskar i grumligt vatten och använder Nyamko Sabuni som täckmantel för att dölja sin främlingsfientliga politik. Nyamko Sabunis föräldrar kommer från Kongo-kinshasa och hon kom till Sverige som 12 åring 1981. Hon är en sekulariserad muslim och pratar om integration utifrån överklassens perspektiv. Hennes uppfattningar om muslimer är negativa.

Hon har gjort sig känd för sina ogenomtänkta utspel och uttalanden. Av hennes mest uppmärksammad utspel kan nämnas: obligatorisk gynekolog-kontroller på alla flickor för att komma åt problemet med könsstympning samt slöjförbud. Hon tillhör också de mest kritiska inom folkpartiet till religösa friskolor vilket i och för sig kan jag sympatisera med.

Hon säger sig ha bestämt sig för att bli politiker efter det rasistiska mordet på flyktingen från Elfenbenskusten Partic Gbeyo i Klippan 1995. Hon har självklart sina svaga och starka sidor som alla andra men att alliera sig med makten och sparka på den som redan ligger är dock inget jag förstår mig på.

Birgitta Ohlsson är en annan ung kvinna inom folkpartiet som profilerat sig på utrikespolitik. Hon förespråkar bl.a. införandet av republik i Sverige vilket gillas även av Humania. Hon har också rätt i sina feministiska antagande i jämställdighetsfrågor.

Hon går dock för långt i sin kritik av "diktaturer" ibland. Hennes senaste och mest flagranta övertramp är att svartmåla Mugabe och Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe har stora ekonomiska och politiska problem men att skylla allting på en gubbe och välja att inte se de övergreppen som folket i landet utsatts av Engelsmännen är att göra det lätt för sig. Maktskifte kan bara äga rum när folket vill det och tar kommandot själva.

Birgitta Ohlsson själv var i Zimbabwe nyligen och uppviglade folk till att demonstrera mot Mugabe. Hon filmade när valaffischer revs sönder och intervjuade människor som misshandlats. Hon berättade detta på SVT i söndags och beskrev Mugabe som en av historiens värste dikatatorer.

Vem har gett henne rätten att åka ner till Zimbabwe och ställa till det för folket? Tänk hur absurd det skulle vara om en poltiker från Zimbabwe skulle komma hit och förhålla sig som hon på en svensk valkampanj..?

Jag har nu polisanmält henne för uppvigling och subversiv verksamhet i Zimbabwe och hoppas att hon lämnas ut till polisen i Zimbabwe för att ställas inför rätta där.

För övrigt hoppas jag att Mugabe åtminstone vinner i presidentvalet när det nu är klart att oppositionen vunnit i parlamentsvalet!!!

God bless Jeremiah Wright and God damn USA!

Jeremiah Wright is the only pastor who speaks his mind. What goes around ,comes around...We were many who thought that the issue of race would not be a big deal in the USA election at this stage but those hopes have been dashed. The pastor is definately right when he describes USA as the land ruled by the Ku Klux Klan.The chicken has indeed come home to roost in a country which has turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the sufferings of AfricanAmericans for over 500 years.

Senator Barack Obama is doing his utmost to distance himself from the pastor without disowning him entirely and frustrating AfricanAmericans which is a very delicate balance. The audacity of hope Obama spoke about is loosing momentum and white America seems not to be ready to listen to its history of racial dicrimination and murder past. Obama can not be held guilty by association because of his friendship with the pastor who has just spoken the truth.

AfricanAmericans are still the most oppressed and impoverished group. 44 % of all prisinors(2.3 million) in USA are black even if they only account for 12 % the US total population of 300 million.

Wright had officiated at Obama's marriage, baptized his children, and Obama was a member of the congregation of the Trinity United Church of Christ for over 20 years.

Critics have accused Wright of using Black liberation theology to promote black separatism.^[14] Wright has rejected this notion by saying that "The African-centered point of view does not assume superiority, nor does it assume separatism. It assumes Africans speaking for themselves as subjects in history, not objects in history." ^[15]In one sermon Wright is quoted as saying "All of God's children white, black, red, yellow, male, female, all together".^[16][17]

Wright once stated that Zionism has an element of "white racism", but the Anti-Defamation League says it has no evidence of any anti-Semitism by Wright.^[14]

In March 2008, ABC News caused a public uproar by broadcasting spliced sound bites from a sermon that Wright gave shortly after September 11, 2001,^[18][19] in which Wright paraphrased Edward Peck,^[20] former U.S. Chief of Mission in Iraq, former deputy director of the White House Task Force on Terrorism under the Reagan Administration and former U.S. Ambassador to a number of countries, who was appearing on Fox News, as allegedly having said:

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye...and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

Wright went on to state: "Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y’all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people that we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that."^[21]

In another sermon from which sound bites were taken out of context and widely aired in March 2008^[19], Wright first makes the distinction between God and the government, and points out that many governments in the past have failed:

"Where governments lie, God does not lie. Where governments change, God does not change."^[22] Wright then states: "And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps.

When it came to treating her citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains, the government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton field, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into positions of hopelessness and helplessness."^[22]

Wright concludes by stating:" The government gives them drugs, built bigger prisons, passes a three strike law, and then wants us to sing God bless America. No, no, no, not God bless America, God damn America, that's in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America, for treating her citizens as less than human. God damn America, as long as she pretends to act like she is God, and she is supreme. The United States government has failed the vast majority of her citizens of African descent."^[22]

^{I appreciate jeremiah Wright and hope that Obama will still manage to become the president of US.}