Lack of public interest?

The reason for this dearth of science blogging may be related to the uneven development of scientific research on the continent; the need for more research is well-known. B. Ruelle explains on his blog [fr]:

Le niveau de développement atteint par l’Asie du Sud-Est devrait pousser les Africains à investir dans la science et la technologie ; la science et la technologie représentent la seule voie d’évitement de la perpétuation de la faiblesse de l’Afrique dans le commerce international ; c’est aussi, dans un monde inégalitaire où racisme et xénophobie perdurent, la condition de l’affirmation de la part des Africains dans l’un des phares de la connaissance humaine.

University of Cheik Anta Diop in Dakar Senegal by Myriam Louviot (CC-License-BY).

The continent is not short on talented scientists. Bernard Kom lists a few of the mosts prominent African scientists [fr] right now, and some of them are also active on the web.

Jacques Bonjawo is a Cameroonian engineer who chairs the Board of Directors of the African Virtual University (AVU). He explains the objectives of the institution [fr]:

L’UVA a été conçue comme un système d’éducation à distance à travers Internet dont la mission est précisément de former une masse critique d’africains à des coûts faibles, grâce à des économies d’échelle ; une formation moderne et de qualité au terme de laquelle l’étudiant devient immédiatement opérationnel sur le marché de l’emploi.

Mzamose Gondwe from Malawi recognizes the need to promote more African engagement with science. That is the objective of her blog, African Science Heroes. She explains what she aims to accomplish:

 I documented in print, exhibition and film African Science Heroes, Afrrican scientists who have made considerable contributions to science. In this way I hope to generate a sense of pride in our African science accomplishments and promote public engagement with science.

African research pigeonholed? 

When scientific news from Africa makes it to mainstream media platforms, it is usually related to environmental programmes, public health or research on exotic animals. A typical story that was shared many times on various online media was the recent research publication of the mating habits of the female gray mouse lemur in Madagascar. The title itself, “Costly sex under female control in a promiscuous primate”, was bound to draw quite a bit of interest from the non-scientific community.

As it turned out, the study draws interesting conclusion about strategy for the survival of the species as Sara Reardon from Science NOW explains:

Either a polygamous lifestyle confers some unknown evolutionary advantage for females, the team concludes, or girls really do just want to have fun.

African science and engineering has much to offer in other areas as well. The blog Afrigadget highlights innovative engineering projects aiming at solving specific problems. One of these projects is biogas installations in Kenya.

Paula Kahumbu explains how piki piki (motor bikes in Kiswhahili) can help distribute dung more efficiently:

The problem I face is common to many folks around here, we rent houses but we don’t have livestock. But there are huge cattle farms around us. So Dominic came up with a solution that creates jobs and moves poop quickly and efficiently. So we went to the local juakali welder on the roadside to create a dungmobile ..a trailer designed specially for cow dung!

The Africamaat project aims to document the full history of African science and its inventors. More precisely, it adds [fr]:

Notre démarche vise donc essentiellement à démontrer qu’il est profondément arbitraire d’exclure systématiquement l’Afrique noire de l’historiographie universelle lorsqu’il est question des sciences

In this video, YouTube user White African showcases an invention by Killian Deku, a Ghanaian engineer that came up with a device to dose the amount of chlorine to add to water:

Open access to publications 

Madagascar is accustomed to have its lemur population draw more headlines that its people. However, it should not go unnoticed that the scientific blogging community there is starting to emerge. Several projects aim to collect and make available to the public all the scientific resources about the country.

Ange Rakotomalala describes the objectives of website Thèses Malgaches en ligne [mg]:

Ho hitanao eto ireo vokam-pikarohana tontosa teto amin'ny firenentsika nanomboka tamin'ny taona 2002.

The scientific community blog MyScienceWork aims to promote the culture of sharing among scientists [fr]:

Pour construire la culture scientifique de demain, la science doit devenir toujours plus multidisciplinaire. Elle doit s’adresser aux amateurs de science, au public, aux professionnels de la recherche [..] En 2011, nous avons publié les textes d’étudiants en informatique des pays d’Afrique du Nord, de chercheurs en communication d’université belge, de doctorants en neurosciences, en agronomie, d’exobiologistes de renom [..] Parce que nous croyons que la culture générale doit inclure les savoirs scientifiques, nous vous remercions chaleureusement. Faites passer le message : « partager c’est vivre ».

The final words on science in Africa belong to Cheikh Anta Diop, one of the most prominent scientists in Africa, as posted by Africamaat [fr]:

En attendant, les spécialistes africains doivent prendre des mesures conservatoires. Il s’agit d’être apte à découvrir une vérité scientifique par ses propres moyens en se passant de l’approbation d’autrui, de savoir conserver son autonomie intellectuelle

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Hello World!

Welcome to the Global Voices podcast. In this edition we’re going to school. From extreme teaching on the Niger River, to hearing truths from our younger friends, and thinking back to some of the fondest or most memorable educational moments of Global Voices contributors.

So, what were school days like for Global Voices people?

An explosive memory

Paula Goes from Brazil is our multilingual editor. Here is one of her funnier memories from journalism school, where a “glow in the dark” potato-mayonnaise salad served at a superhero costume party caused a frenetic rush of students to the hospital, to the great amusement of doctors and passersby.

Everyone survived to laugh at the story years later.

Teaching the internet from a boat

In this episode we also have an amazing tale of teaching, boats and the river.

Eddie Avila, director of Rising Voices talks with Boukary Konaté in Mali about the Segou Villages Project that brought Internet to villages along the Niger River by boat. Read more about the journey that brought internet to 800 villagers and see Boukary's photos shared on Flickr.

An unforgettable teacher

Memories of school days may be closely linked to friends or enemies but they may also be related to places and of course teachers. Some say that it is both the best and the worst teachers that stay in your mind years after you have left school. Veroniki Krikoni in Greece shares a beautiful tribute to a time, place and a teacher.

Playground politics

These times of learning in our childhood can help to make us who we are today. Cyrus Farivar is a journalist, producer and author. He describes an impulsive moment in the playground that landed him in the most trouble he's ever experienced in school… after biting his friend.

Also recalling a formative moment on the playground, Juliana Rincón Parra from Colombia describes how she was forced to negotiate a minefield of gender politics in order to play a simple game of “house” with her friends.

How Ethan learned to type so fast

School can be a time where you realise where you may want to go later in life. But getting there is not always easy.

A boy named Ethan Zuckerman, who grew up to be the co-founder of Global Voices, tells how his struggles with handwriting in the 4th grade almost caused him to lose hope… until he learned to type. Fast!

Standing up to bullies

Having a hard time at school with teachers can lead to smart solutions as Ethan’s story proves. Unfortunately, some of us grew up surrounded with few friends and more enemies. Bullying at school is an international problem and finding the right answer is not easy.

One person who has suffered at the hand of bullies is Vuk. He’s a 12-year old blogger and son of Danica Radisic in Serbia. Together they explained what happened and what school is like under this type of pressure. If you’re facing a bully, don’t go through it alone and find someone you can talk to, he says.

Studying abroad

Francois-Xavier Ada-Affana is a writer and translator and describes himself on his blog as “a nice Cameroonian finding his way in the world.”

He tells us how studying international relations in Cyprus, Greece has helped shape his views on history and education, opening his mind to new cultures and people.

The long walk to school

For our final story we have a journey. A trip into the past, and the 3 kilometre path that Victor Kaonga walked to school each day in Malawi as an 8-year old boy, often in rain with banana leaves as umbrellas. Today, Victor is a broadcast journalist. Driving past the place where he used to go to school, he says, “The distance remains the same, it's only that now it appears much shorter.”

Thanks for listening

That’s all we have for this edition. School and educational stories are a reminder of the things that make us so similar no matter where we are in the world. The thing that brings us together are those years when we were all inexperienced. Now we can look back and wonder at what we have become.

Huge thanks to all of our contributors who took us back in their lives as well as those who shared a picture of education today. I think we all learned something!

Music Credits

In the podcast you can hear lots of lovely Creative Commons music. Thanks to Mark Cotton for his fantastic creations and thanks also to all of the wonderful voice over performances and clips that help to glue the podcast together. The Global Voices Podcast, the world is talking, we hope you’re listening!

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Sean Jacobs writes about the origin of the idea:

At the end of 2011 we contemplated asking you, dear reader, who you think was the most influential African thinker alive. We abandoned the idea for a while because of our thing against lists (except our end of year lists, of course). I got the initial idea from the British blog, Left Foot Forward, which had run a contest to determine “the most influential leftwing thinker of the year 2010/11.”

He explains how they came up with the list of candidates:

So here we are. To start things of, we came up with a list of candidates we canvassed internally. Not everyone will be happy with the list, but we tried thinking of a range of intellectuals representing different parts of the continent, not just from one country. As South African writer Zakes Mda recently tweeted: “Zimbabwe compares only with Nigeria in the per capita production of African intellectuals (scholars, writers, scientists, economists etc.)” In fact, an earlier draft of the List was heavily South African and Egyptian. (That draft was not supposed to be up and one reader responded in kind. It’s been corrected.)

We confess this list is subjective and that is why we have a second round where your suggestions will make up the choices.

Others wanted to know why we’re not including people on twitter: Our response is that we are not sure 140 characters make you “an intellectual.” A lot of stuff on twitter, including our own tweets, is half-baked and amounts to what Americans call “carnival barking” (in the service of traffic or attracting followers), so it is better to leave that alone.

African thinkers. Image courtesy of http://africasacountry.com/.

The polls will be open until 5 March, 2012:

Once polls close, we will arrive at a shortlist of five. Then it gets interesting: We will have a second, separate round of voting based on your recommendations. That is while you vote in round one, we’ll compile a list of ten names from your suggestions in the comment section, on our facebook page and on Twitter. Candidates who are already on the first list, won’t be included on the second. A second vote/poll will proceed and we’ll announce the result. We will then combine the top five vote takers from the second list with the top five vote takers from the first list. There will then be a third and final round of voting based on the new combined list that will take one week. After that we will announce the overall winner.

The candidates are: Samir Amin, academic, activist (Senegal/Egypt), Jean and John Comaroff, academics (South Africa/United States), Chinua Achebe, writer (Nigeria), Mahmood Mamdani, academic (Uganda), Mamdouh Habashi, academic, politician (Egypt), Kwame Anthony Appiah, academic, philosopher (Ghana/United States), Achille Mbembe, academic (Cameroon/South Africa), J M Coetzee, writer (South Africa/Australia), Issa Shivji, academic (Tanzania), Nawal el Saadawi, writer and activist (Egypt), Wole Soyinka, writer, activist (Nigeria) and Virginie Toure, activist (Cote d'Ivoire).

Africa is a Country is a group blog:

The media blog that is not about famine, Bono, or Barack Obama. For that, go to Newsweek. Frequent contributors are media expert Brett Davidson; academics Sean Jacobs (he started AIAC), Neelika Jayawardane, Kathryn Mathers, Marissa Moorman, Lily Saint, Melissa Levin and Dan Moshenberg; writer and health advocate Caitlin L. Chandler; filmmaker Dylan Valley; writer and academic Abdourahman Waberi; and graduate students Boima Tucker, Anni Lyngskaer, Sophia Azeb, Tom Devriendt, Loren Lynch, curator and filmmaker Basia Lewandowska Cummings, writer and journalist Elliot Ross, writer Orlando Reade; Hinda Talhaoui; and Mikko Kapanen.

Go here to vote for the most influential African alive.

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For a few months now, two religious Islamic fundamentalist organisations, Boko Haram and AQIM (Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb), have intensified their war against the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the surrounding nations.

On December 25, 2011, Boko Haram coordinated explosions against Christians [en], including one at a church near Abuja that killed at least 37 people. On December 12, an AQIM offshoot calling itself Jamat Tawhid wal Jihad fi Garbi Afriqqiya (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa - MOJWA) released a video [en] of three abducted European aid workers in Algeria.

These religious groups are attempting to spread their activities into countries of the Sahel region. The regional blogosphere has quickly reacted to recent attacks showing concern and providing thorough analyses.

Boko Haram recruits arrested by police forces in Biafra. Photo posted to yfrog by @tianmine

Philippe Hugon's post, published on the Grotius website, provides one of the cause of the increasingly perilous tension threatening Nigeria's unity:

Dans la capitale de l’État des plateaux, à Jos, les conflits opposent ainsi les Fulani musulmans aux Berom chrétiens, deux populations qui disposent de droits différents. Quant aux mouvances islamiques du Nord, elles sont plurielles (soufisme des confréries traditionnelles, mouvements salafiste, maadhistes et chiites) avec 12 États (sur 36) qui ont instauré la charia.

According to the author, far from becoming weaker, the movement is growing and presents serious cause for concern:

La question la plus importante, en raison des bouleversements intervenus en Libye, est à présent la prolifération de la nébuleuse AQMI. Le mouvement anti occidental Boko Haram, apparu après le 11 septembre 2001, localisé dans l’État de Borno développe désormais le djihadisme ; il s’est scindé en plusieurs branches dont l’une est proche des Chebabs de Somalie et d’Aqmi. Or par sa radicalisation et ses actions violentes, il favorise un clivage religieux engendrant un engrenage des violences, des représailles et de la répression.

On January 26, 2012, the United Nations published a report by a team that travelled to many of the Sahel countries, in order to investigate the local impact of the civil war in Libya. According to this report, armed groups such as the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria and AQMI would have had access to a dangerous arms cache.

Antoine Barbizon, wrote a post on the subject, on the Geo Tribune blog saying the following:

Les gouvernements et responsables des États dans lesquels s’est rendue l’équipe d’évaluation de l’ONU ont communiqué les informations en leur possession selon lesquelles de grandes quantités d’armes en provenance de Libye seraient parvenues illégalement dans de nombreux pays du Sahel. Livré clandestinement par d’anciens combattants de Libye, des soldats et des mercenaires à la solde du Colonel Mouammar Kadhafi, cet arsenal comprendrait des lance-grenades, des mitrailleuses avec visée inti-aérienne, des fusils automatiques, des munitions, des grenades, des explosifs ainsi que de l’artillerie légère montée sur véhicules. Ces armes seraient cachées dans le désert et une partie d’entre elles vendues aux groupes terroristes. Le rapport de l’équipe de l’ONU évoque également l’inquiétante perspective d’un rapprochement entre Boko Haram et AQMI, les deux groupes ayant décidé d’étendre leurs actions au-delà de leurs périmètres actuels.

The people of neighbouring Sahel countries are expressing their fear about the situation and the risks of overflow. In Cameroon, many Internet surfers are reporting a dangerous evolution. Elizabeth Kendal writes in her blog [en]:

Garga Aoudou, a community activist with a Dutch development organization, told IPS that Garoua has been “literally inundated with fliers inciting Muslims towards a hatred of Christians”. Aoudou continues, “Religious fanatics exhort Muslims to increase the number of marriages between young Muslim men and Christian girls in order to convert them to Islam, to refuse to rent houses or sell land to Christians - or to get them to move by raising the rent”.

On the blog sanfinna.com, Jean Baptiste Naudet writes:

C’est l’un des pires cauchemars des services de renseignement. Et il est en train de se matérialiser. Au Nigeria, la secte islamiste Boko Haram (ce qui signifie « l’éducation occidentale est un péché » en haoussa) est en train non seulement de monter en puissance et de se radicaliser, mais surtout de devenir un centre puissant de l’arc du terrorisme qui va de la Mauritanie à la Somalie.

….Lors des attaques régulièrement lancées par la secte contre des commissariats, des églises ou des prisons dans le nord, les morts se comptent par centaines. Outre la montée de la violence, le développement de la nébuleuse terroriste d’Al-Qaida hors du Sahel inquiète car il correspond au retour des combattants subsahariens (pro-Kadhaf) de Libye, ainsi qu’à l’arrivée d’armes lourdes en provenance des arsenaux pillés de ce pays.

The Mautitanian site noorinfo.com writes:

La Mauritanie, l'Algérie, le Niger et le Mali sont confrontés à une insécurité croissante liée aux activités d'Aqmi et d'autres groupes criminels, ainsi qu'à l'afflux d'armes, dont de l'armement lourd, issues du conflit libyen.

Muslims understand that they too are hostages and that violence towards Christians, is also of concern to them and that they must be involved in preventing it. In an interview on the camer.be site, Ernest Djonga, regional president of the Islamic Youth of the North group, explained the measures taken thus far by his movement and by the Muslim religious authorities, in order to confront the challenge posed by the presence of Bako Haram in the North of Cameroon.

Voyant le danger venir, nous avons sollicité l’intervention du Lamido [la plus haute autorité traditionnelle] de l’époque, le regretté Ibrahim Abbo, qui avait pris des dispositions fortes en réglementant la fonction de prédicateur et au niveau de la Jeunesse islamique du Cameroun, nous nous sommes attelés à superviser les différents thèmes à développer dans les 19 mosquées … [de] la ville de Garoua. Cette méthode s’est pérennisée sous le règne de sa majesté Alim Garga Hayatou. Des garde-fous ainsi posés nous ont permis de sélectionner les prédicateurs certifiés et agréés.

It is in this context that old ancestral conflicts that had simmered are now re-awakening, such as in the North of Mali where thousands of people were obliged to flee their village to take refuge in neighbouring countries.

The temoust.org site, Tuareg Survie, published a communique on the conflict, indicating that:

Au moins 30 000 personnes sont déplacées au Mali et vivent dans des conditions extrêmement précaires, à la suite des combats opposant l’armée malienne à des groupes armés dans le nord du pays depuis la mi-janvier. Le CICR porte assistance à des milliers d’entre elles, ainsi qu’à 15 000 autres déplacés au Niger voisin. Il a également pu visiter des détenus et soigner des blessés au Mali.

Written by Abdoulaye Bah · Translated by Theodora Rowlands · View original post [fr] · comments (1)
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The Black Stars of Ghana finished the match with ten men following a red card for John Mensah in the 66th minute. They did all they could to win [fr], and were not phased, according to FourFourTwo, who tweeted:

#Ghana show no remorse over Mensah red bit.ly/xkpul2 #AFCON2012

Botswana fought bravely during their first ever appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations. A video summary of the Ghana-Botswana match is available here [fr], courtesy of Direct 8 Sport.

Mali met Guinea for the other opening day Group D game, which saw the Eagles off to a promising start in the tournament, beating Guinea 1-0. Boukary Konaté, a Global Voices author who tweets under the name @Fasokan [fr], posted reactions from the stadium in Macina, Mali:

@Fasokan: Grand bruit et applaudissement à Macina pour le but malien #can2012

and also [fr]:

@Fasokan: les supporters de Macina espèrent sur un deuxième but malien

On Wednesday 25, the first match on Day 2 of Group A, Zambia versus Libya, resulted in the first nil-nil draw of the competition. Torrential rain caused kick-off to be delayed by an hour and a quarter with the match finally starting at 6.15pm, after some doubt as to whether it would go ahead.

Zambia were anxious to secure their place in the quarter finals against a Libyan team who seemed re-energised following their defeat on the opening Saturday of the tournament. The match was played on a waterlogged pitch, as can be seen in this photo posted by Alexandre Nakbi (@Alex_Nak), showing its condition moments before kick off [fr]:

@Alex_Nak: Voila l'état du terrain actuellement. #CAN2012 #Libye #Zambie pic.twitter.com/MSHrD1ae

Rain also delayed the Day 2 Group A match between Senegal and Equatorial Guinea. Tournament favourites Senegal were eliminated in a surprise 2-1 win for Equatorial Guinea, assuring a place for the latter in the quarter finals. The defeat of the Lions of Teranga greatly disappointed [fr] their fans:

@observateurs: Le Sénégal sort de la CAN. “On aurait dit des jeunes de centre de formation” #can2012 fb.me/10kgX5eNf

@founseni_soro: Sénégal Grande nation de football, . mais aussi grande déception de la CAN2012. Allez les zelephants #civ2010

In Day 2 of Group B, Angola could not overcome Sudan, one of the weakest teams in the Cup, despite two goals from Manuchi on Thursday 26 January in Malabo Stadium, Equatorial Guinea. If they had won, Angola would have qualified for the quarter finals. The four goals from the match can be seen in the following video [fr]:

Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso met at Malabo later that day for the second match in Day 2 of Group B. The Elephants of Ivory Coast beat the Stallions 2-0, qualifying for the quarter finals while Burkina Faso were eliminated.

Fans of Ivory Coast watching the match against Sudan by @FlorianK_Sport

Day 2 of Group C on the Friday saw Gabon beat Morocco 3-2 and Tunisia beat Nigeria 2-1, securing quarter final places for the Panthers of Gabon and the Eagles of Carthage.

The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations can be followed on the BBC website and on Twitter using the hashtags #CAN2012 and #AFCON2012.

Written by Francois-Xavier Ada-Affana · Translated by Jane Ellis · View original post [fr] · comments (0)
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The Africa Cup of Nations began in Bata, Equatorial Guinea this Saturday January 21, 2012, kicking off three weeks of fierce competition. The Cup of Nations, the most important international football competition in Africa, is taking place in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea between January 21 and 12 February.

Supporters in Africa and around the world have been enjoying the build-up to the two opening matches; dancing, light and sound were all part of the spectacle:

GaGuie the Mascot! With GAGUIE : GA as in Gabon, GUI as in Guinea and E as in Equatorial! Image from fr.cafonline.com with permission

Here is a round up of the first three days of the tournament.

Matchday One

Libya took on Equatorial Guinea in the curtain raiser on 21 January, and it was co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, making their tournament debut, who took a surprise 1-0 win.

With just six minutes remaining, Balboa, the Equatorial Guinea number 11 finally opened the scoring after a one-on-one with the Libyan goalkeeper. The score stayed 1-0 until the final whistle, to the delight of the Equatorial Guinea fans who had packed the stadium.

The Senegalese fluffed their entry to the competition with a 2-1 defeat inflicted by Zambia on the same day. Senegal fans took to the web to place the blame on coach of the national team.

Touy wrote on Seneweb News [fr]:

le souci avec un entraîneur local c'est que même s'il se rend compte que le capitaine par exemple Niang n'est pas au niveau il aura la crainte la peur ou la pudeur de le faire sortir au détriment de la victoire bien sur!!

Amara Traoré [fr] on RFI sheds some light on the subject for us:

Tout le monde savait avant même le début de la CAN que les zambiens sont très vifs et utiliseraient cette vivacité pour gérer les sénégalais beaucoup plus costauds. Alors lui l’entraîneur et son staff devraient trouver un bon système pour les contenir avant de les attaquer.Donc je trouve kil n'a pas fais son boulot qui était de voir les choses venir et de jouer avec des joueurs rapides mais surtout de ne pas trop bourrer cette attaque ou personne ne se retrouve .

Matchday Two

The second matchday saw the entry of one of the competition favourites: the ‘Elephants' of Côte d'Ivoire. A magnificent strike by Didier Drogba in the 39th minute secured the victory for Côte d'Ivoire over Sudan. The win for the Elephants wasn't enough for every Ivorian fan on the net however. Many felt that they could have done better.

Phox Hermann [fr] said:

la vérité est bonne à dire heinnn. ELEPHANT ke moi jai vu là c N'IMPORTE KOI

Bi Tia Vincent Toh [fr] added:

la conservation d'un unique but nous a donné des sueurs froides.
Que Mr Gervino soit un peu plus réaliste devant les buts,
Que Mr Yaya Touré regagne sa place au milieu et joue effectivement comme à city
Que la defense cesse d etre trop permeable,

Angola also played their first game and overpowered Burkina Faso with a 2-1 victory.

Matchday Three

Gabon, the second co-host team of the 2012 Cup of Nations showed their strength with a 2-0 win over Niger, the opening Group C match of the tournament played in a fantastic atmosphere in the Stade de l'Amitié in Libreville.

Rodrigue Magaya [fr] commented on Aubameyang's goal on Facebook:

que dire?!!!merci aux gars, il fallait ça pour la beauté du spetacle et naturelement monter a tt nos adversaires que nous sommes la!!bien en place et on a pas peur!!!vive la can, et vive encore plus nos pantheres;que Dieu benisse le gabon!!!!!!

The 2012 Cup of Nations can be followed on TV5 Monde, Canal+ Afrique and on Twitter and Google+ via the hashtags #CAN2012 (in French) et #ACN2012 (in English).

Written by Francois-Xavier Ada-Affana · Translated by Dan Horlor · View original post [fr] · comments (1)
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Meyomesse's arrest has sparked many reactions among the Cameroonian online community.

Enoh Meyomesse and his alleged accomplices - Military Tribunal of Bertoua - From Patrica Nganang Public Facebook profile

Cameroon, which reelected Paul Biya for the sixth time as president in October 2011, after a highly criticized election, was ranked 40th out of 53 African countries in terms of governance and human rights, according to the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Foundation Report.

A political plot against Enoh Meyomesse?

This is what journalist Juliette Abandokwe argues in an article on her blog entitled “Cameroon: Political Plot against Enoh Meyomesse, dissident and inflexible thinker” [fr]. She writes:

L'illustre détracteur de la machine à terroriser du régime Biya, victime aujourd'hui d'un complot digne des années staliniennes les plus sombres, est accusé de “vol aggravé et de détention d'armes de combat”. C'est avec ce chef d'accusation inventé et orchestré de toutes pièces, que Meyomesse est présenté au public et à la presse en tant que “bandit de grand chemin”, en compagnie de ses soi-disant trois complices, dans un climat d'humiliation extrême.

Joël Didier Engo continues on his blog [fr]:

Ce serait le gag de noël au Cameroun de Paul BIYA: “Enoh MEYOMESSE à la tête d’un gang de braqueurs d’or dans l’Est du Cameroun…” De quoi perdre la raison, y compris dans ce pays coutumier des campagnes publiques de délation et de lynchage, orchestrées en haut lieu contre tous les empêcheurs de tyranniser en rond

On Facebook, writer Patrice Nganang regularly posts pictures and news of his imprisoned colleague. His personal profile is also becoming a forum of discussion for some Cameroonian netizens. Amougou Herman for instance commented [fr]:

Je pense que ce qui se passe au cameroun aujourdhui en politique, est le véritable problème qui mine les pays en voie de developpement de toujours penser que celui qui ne partage pas nos opinions est notre ennemi . le problème devient d'autant plus grave lorsqu'on a en face une machine judiciaire corrompue qui ne fait pas son travail.

Enoh Meyomesse's testimony

Meyomesse has been able to meet Jean-Bosco Talla, a journalist from Cameroonian newspaper Germinal, who visited him in Nkondengui prison on December 31, 2011. Meyomesse told the story of his arrest [fr]:

À mon retour le 22 novembre 2011, si mes souvenirs sont exacts, dans le hall de l’aéroport international de Nsimalen, j’aperçois deux personnes qui brandissent une de mes photos (…). Je me dirige vers ces personnes pour chercher à savoir ce qui se passe et tenter de comprendre d’où leur vient ma photo. Soudain, l’une des personnes me fait savoir que je suis en état d’arrestation. C’est plus tard que j’apprends qu’il s’agissait du colonel Oumarou Ngalibou, commandant de la légion de gendarmerie de l’Est-Cameroun. Je suis conduit manu militari au secrétariat d’État à la défense (Sed) à Yaoundé où on me livre à deux enquêteurs pour exploitation. C’est au moment de l’interrogatoire, quand les enquêteurs me demandent de leur indiquer notre cache d’armes que j’apprends que je serais à la tête d’un gang de braqueurs et qu’en complicité avec des forces étrangères, nous serions en train de fomenter un coup d’État. (…)

Meyomesse continues:

Le 21 décembre 2011, un gendarme vient nous demander de nous apprêter. Quand nous sortons de nos cellules, nous sommes surpris de nous retrouver au milieu d’un attroupement dans la cour de la légion de gendarmerie de l'Est à Bertoua. Une mise en scène destinée à nous présenter au public comme de vulgaires malfrats. Il se dit que presque toutes les autorités de la ville de Bertoua étaient présentes. Les populations, les journalistes, les photographes y étaient également. Menottés, ils ont donné à chacun de nous des papiers sur lesquels ils avaient pris soin d’écrire nos nom, âge et le soi-disant motif de notre arrestation (…) C’est après cette mise en scène que nous avons été transférés à Yaoundé. Le jeudi 22 décembre 2011, nous sommes passés brièvement devant le tribunal militaire qui a décidé de nous placer en garde-à-vue à la prison centrale de Kondengui.

The Cameroonian Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, commented [fr] on the affair during a press conference in December. According to the Cameroon Tribune, the minister claimed Enoh Meyomesse was named by alleged accomplices in an armed robbery at a mine in November:

… “vu qu'il s'agit d'un vol à main armée, Enoh Meyomesse est mis à la disposition du tribunal militaire”.

A fundraising campaign has been launched by Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders) to assemble a team of international lawyers who will ensure that Enoh Meyomesse receives the legal defense he is entitled to.

Written by Julie Owono · comments (2)
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While the year 2012 is already well on its way, the translators of Global Voices in Dutch look back on 2011. Which posts stood out and what makes Global Voices so special?

Marjolein Snippe writes:

A while ago I had been translating a short documentary on the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant and the arguments of indigenous people opposing it. Then I saw this report on Global Voices. I was glad the issue is still receiving attention and that the (mainly) indigenous people opposing it are getting their voices heard in Brazilian courtrooms, by the Brazilian government and by worldwide sympathisers and supporters.

I was very much touched by an article about Syria I translated back in March. All the personal stories and deep worries made the impact the struggles had on the people living there so much more visible and “tangible” than most official newspaper reports!

Mieke Tulp writes:

Being asked which GV posts from last year made an impression, it seems inevitable to come up with something about the Arabic Spring. One article that struck me was a report about day-to-day life on Tahrir Square. It focussed on the positive attitude and feelings among the protesters. Little Utopia amidst explosive surroundings

Another story from an Arab country that touched me was the arrest of Razan Ghazzawi. The article was translated into virtually every language Global Voices covers, and rightfully so. She was released on 18 December.

Something that had an absolutely negative impact on me: Troy Davis’ death. He was executed in September. I do not know what to say about it. It should not have happened.

And an interesting story about children who have to work. In Bolivia the working children formed unions to ensure better wages and working conditions. It is a story about strong children who work and go to school and are determined to create a better future for themselves.

Percy Balemans writes:

Last year I translated a lot of stories about the Arab Spring, a subject that was also covered extensively by regular media. But they mainly showed images of huge crowds. This is why I was touched by the story about Egyptian Nadia El Awady who took her 73-year old father to Tahrir Square. What a wonderful way to get a taste of the atmosphere and to read how a 73-year old experiences it all!

I also enjoyed translating the article “African Women Striving to be Heads of State“. A perfect example of the kind of subject you won't read about in regular media, but which is covered by Global Voices.

Saskia Bliemer writes:

I found “North Korea Threatens to Disclose Recordings of Talks with South“, written by Lee Yoo Eun, very interesting to translate. Though we have seen lots of images from North Korea on the news lately, the country remains a mystery to me. The good thing about Global Voices is that you can read the opinions of the local population, making it possible to get a more complete idea of the situation.

A huge thank you to all Global Voices in Dutch translators [nl] for their contributions in 2011! Would you like to contribute as well? Contact us.

This post is part of our special coverage Global Voices in 2011.

Written by Percy Balemans · Translated by Percy Balemans · View original post [nl] · comments (0)
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Elie Kopter explains the reason for the riots on Facebook [fr]:

un jeune homme de deido rentrait de boîte avec sa copine (05h du mat ) ; elle se fait arracher son sac à main par le passager d'une mototaxi et comme son copain tentait de s'interposer il reçoit un coup de couteau à la base du cou , et en décède . Les jeunes du quartier alertés décident de faire la peau aux conducteurs de moto qui arpentent le quartier . En réaction les conducteurs de moto saccagent les kiosques et autres commerces dans le quartier . Les forces de l'ordre s'interposent pour ramener le calme

The following video posted on YouTube by user on January 3, 2012, shows inhabitants destroying a taxi motorbike in Deido:

User Gefcasting shared a video recorded from Cameroonian private television channel Equinoxe TV which reported the event on January 3, 2012:

According to a government report, the riots have already caused the death of four people. The day after in Deido, confusion still seems to reign [fr]:

Les motos-taxis men qui ont donné hier l’impression de reculer sont revenus en nombre.
Massés par centaines aux portes du quartier, ils ont tenté de casser les barrières de police afin d’aller en découdre avec leurs vis-à-vis, eux aussi sur le pied de guerre.
Des commerces ont à nouveau été incendiés, des motos vandalisées, sous le regard des forces de l’ordre quelque peu débordées.

Written by Julie Owono · comments (1)
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Marwane Ben Yamed of Jeune Afrique sums up succinctly but accurately the year that was for Francophone Africa when he writes [fr]:

Quelle année !

Indeed, it would be an understatement to say that 2011 was an eventful year for the African continent. The usual year-end review would hardly do justice to the epic changes that have turned the continent upside down, driven by the collective courage of its citizens, who often faced violent repression while striving for emancipation from various dictatorships.

Through the eyes of local citizen media, here are some of  the highlights of what transpired in the year 2011, a year that has left many citizen media contributors breathless, hopeful and disillusioned all at once.

Tunisia

It all started in Sidi Bouzid where protesters decided against all odds and 40 years of the authoritarian police regime of Ben Ali that they “are not afraid anymore“.

Sidi Bouzid banner illustration from Nawaat.org

The prescient words of Mohamed Ali Chebâane took a whole new meaning when he wrote on December 29, 2010 [fr]:

Vos jeunes se sont soulevés et il sera difficile de les faire taire : Ils s’immolent, s’électrocutent, et je ne pense sérieusement pas que des coups de matraques ou des longues nuits dans les commissariats vont leur faire peur.

The uprising across Tunisia resulted in the fall of the Ben Ali regime, the initiation of the process towards a new constitution and the election of a new interim president.

The spirit of Sidi Bouzid was carried over in many other nations in Northern Africa and the whole continent in general.

Gabon

A few weeks after the fall of Ben Ali, the West African nation of Gabon also erupted in protests against the rule of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, son of long-time strongman Omar Bongo. Citing allegations of election fraud, opposition leaders formed a breakaway government on January 26, 2011, with former presidential candidate André Mba Obame as the self-declared president.

After weeks of protests that were repressed violently by the government, the uprising did not result in political change but the Tunisian revolution clearly inspired Gabonese citizens. This sign below held by protesters summarize in a few witty words the inspiration that Tunisia provided to other countries:

Meyo-Kye, North Gabon, 2 February, 2011. Banner reads: "In Tunisia, Ben Ali left. In Gabon, Ali Ben out." Image provided via Julie Owono

Algeria

Algerian citizens also followed up on holding the authorities accountable for the high levels of corruption, unemployment and the rise in basic goods prices. Inequalities are growing wider even though the country is the fourth largest exporter of crude oil in Africa and an important producer of natural gas.

Protests were initiated shortly after the ones in Tunisia and climaxed  on February 12, 2011 (#Feb12). Additional demonstrations followed for a week in several cities and all were violently repressed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika regime. Eventually, the protests fizzled, sapped by the violent repressive measures and national media blockade.

As the status quo remained, a few Algerian bloggers were left disillusioned about the idea of an “Arab revolution”. Khaled Satour wrote in February of 2011:

We have to free ourselves from this harmful siren call of the “Arab revolution” that deludes us into thinking the slate has been wiped clean and all alliances are possible. Sadly, we already know some of the apostles of “democracy” who are protesting once again

Morocco

Another democracy-driven movement grew from streets protests in  Morocco.  The demands of the February 20 movement centered around reforms that would promote a better democracy and reduce corruption. The youth-based movement has not resulted in fundemental structural change in the Moroccan Kingdom but some reforms were granted by the King.

In the following video, members of the movement provide the details of who they are and why they are protesting [ar]:

Cote d'Ivoire

Following a contentious presidential election in 2010 opposing incumbent Gbagbo against Ouattara, Côte d'Ivoire was rocked in 2011 by its second civil war in less than a decade that resulted in the arrest of then President Gbagbo at his residence on April 11.

Protests at the French embassy in Berlin, against French military intervention in Cote d'Ivoire. Image by Thorsten Strasas, copyright Demotix (09/04/2011).

Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook played an important role in sharing information in real-time from the ground during the crisis, but citizen media was also often used as vectors for hate.  To counter this ill-use of information technology, Ivorian social media contributors undertook multiple citizen media-driven actions to promote peace and humanitarian efforts during the crisis and in the post-crisis recovery period.

Edith Brou, a community manager in Abidjan, explains how curated social media can make a difference [fr]:

@edithbrou: Let's tweet usefully and tweet efficiently, to save lives, vi@ [via] the Ivorian Web. #civsocial… one tweet can make the difference -

A concrete example of such action was described by blogger Cartunelo who tweeted [fr] in April of 2011:

@cartunelo: #civsocial, We need a doctor at the Star 6 area, the sister of a friend has just been shot!! If you know one, we urgently need his/her contact details!!!#civ2010

@cartunelo: Thanks to your help, the bleeding has stopped. Now we need xylocaine. Contact 10003480/03784354

Cameroon

Despite a diverse showing of candidates for the presidential elections in Cameroon that took place on October 9, the status quo remained as incumbent Paul Biya remained in power. The campaign prior to the elections lacked intensity has many Cameroonians seemed resigned to the foregone re-elections of Paul Biya, in power since 1982.

Bloggers seemed to mostly blame the lack of alternative in Cameroonian politics on the inability of the opposition to present a credible united alternative to Biya:

18 individuals gather in total 5.01% ! What a joke! Give us back our dozen millions that you received for the so-called campaign! We don't know you! The whole opposition together doesn't even reach 25% of the ballots, what a shame!

Democratic Republic of Congo

The outcome of the presidential election in DR of Congo that took place on November 28, 2011, is still disputed by the opposition candidate Étienne Tshisekedi. The official results announced that the incumbent Joseph Kabila won the elections but the electoral process was marred with fraud allegations.

The official results prompted riots and violence in Kinshasa and other cities in DR of Congo. Outrage even spread in the Congolese diaspora abroad where unrest rocked several cities of Europe and North America. The Wikipedia page of the DR of Congo as of January 2, 2012, even lists Tshisekedi as the current president.

Congolese bloggers documented many irregularities during the pre-electoral campaign. Alex Egwete details one of the issues that was encoutered during the pre-elections period:

The electoral commission is in the midst of yet another controversy, this time over the discovery of phantom polling stations in the “cartography” of polling stations CENI recently published. Some opposition groups and journalists have given CENI Chair Rev Daniel Ngoy Mulunda 72 hours (commencing yesterday) to come up with a coherent explanation for those phantom polling stations.

Senegal

Senegal has also experienced its share of protests in 2011. The demands were spurred on by perceived nepotism by President Wade in favor of his son Karim and by frequent power outages throughout the year. Presidential elections are set for February 26, 2012, and many observers fear that additional unrest may follow.

Recent protests in December have focused on the legal case of Barthelemy Dias [fr], a member of the opposition who was arrested for an alleged homicide:

Une situation née des violentes manifestations produites à Dakar par des jeunes de l’opposition pour réclamer la libération de Barthélémy Dias.
Les forces de police comme celle de la gendarmerie sont aux aguets pour parer à toute éventualité.

This post is part of our special coverage:

Written by Lova Rakotomalala · comments (0)
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Another phenomenon is also strongly anchored in the fabric of many developed societies: the increase in frequency of humanitarian campaigns around the holiday season.

Indeed, at every year's end in the more developed countries, one can observe campaigns that encourage their citizens to make donations to fight poverty in distant, less fortunate countries.

In addition to the recurring images of extreme poverty around the holidays (also referred to as “poverty porn” in the development sector whenever pictures of poor people are excessively exploited by charities), there are some worrying statistics: 1.4 billion people live with less than $1.25 a day. Despite some undeniable economic progress in many African nations, social inequality is still even more striking on the African continent.

Economists also project that 1/3 of the poor in the world will reside on the African continent by 2015. In fact, economic hardship is one of the key factors mentioned by the 700 million people worldwide who are eager to leave their countries of origin.

Nomads in Morocco on Flickr by Antonioperezrio (CC-NC-2.0)

It often seems that the least developed countries just cannot escape the scourge of poverty, apparently powerless against the magnitude of the task at hand. Moreover, these countries are often reminded of their inability to meet the needs of the population without international support. Although international aid is a consequence of urgent crises, this situation is often felt as a recurring affront to national pride.

Various experts postulate, however, that extreme poverty isn't inevitable. The most radical solution to drastically reducing global poverty would be, for many economic experts, opening the borders between countries and allowing workers to migrate where labor is most needed.

Professors Marko Bagaric and Lant Pritchett are two of the first scholars to introduce the concept of “open borders” as a solution to reducing global poverty.

To this effect, Bagaric writes::

Sending resources to impoverished places has merit. But it is a slow and fickle way of enhancing well-being. Instead, we directly pursue this aim by freeing up the flow of people so they can travel to where the goods are. [..] The starvation crisis is simply one of food distribution, not shortage.  The best way to ameliorate Third World poverty is by massively increasing migration to the West. Left to their own devices many people would gravitate to life-sustaining resources, leading to a rough equilibrium between the world's resources and its population.

Lant Pritchett explains this notion in details in his book: Let Their People Come: Breaking the Policy Deadlock on International Labor Mobility. He quotes the results of a study claiming that:

Eliminating the planet’s remaining trade barriers would increase global GDP by around $US100 billion.
Eliminating immigration barriers, by comparison, would as much as double world income: that is, increase global GDP by $US60 trillion.
This added wealth would be shared, but the overwhelming beneficiaries would be people who now live in poor countries.

Demonstrations held in favor of the immigrants’ right to work in Paris by austinevan on Flickr (CC-NC-SA-2.0)

The World Bank published a study about immigrants' contribution to the economy of their native countries through remittances from abroad. The study also shows that remittances are expected to reach as high as 351 billion dollars to the developing countries, and 481 billion dollars globally including the high-income countries. The study also mentions that:

Remittance flows to four of the six World Bank-designated developing regions grew faster than expected — by 11 percent to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 10.1 percent to South Asia, 7.6 percent to East Asia and Pacific and 7.4 percent to Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the difficult economic conditions in Europe and other destinations of African migrants.

Needless to say, these non-orthodox theories are questioned by various experts and politicians. Frank Salter explains that the main concerns come from the inherent dysfunctions of every multicultural society:

Unrestricted migration would harm (Australia’s) national interests in ways documented by scholars in economics, sociology and related disciplines. Much of the harm is predictable from what is known about the dysfunctions of diversity. They include growing inequality in the especially invidious form of ethnic stratification [..] Diversity has also been associated with reduced democracy, slowed economic growth, falling social cohesion and foreign aid, as well as rising corruption and risk of civil conflict

From a political point of view, Europe is far from opening the borders, rather the contrary. In France, the Guéant Act restricts foreign graduates' possibility of recruitment, giving birth to various reactions. Julie Owono, Global Voices member, describes the implications of this law and the reactions of various African bloggers that see this law as an additional reason to contribute to the development of their countries. On the Rue89's blog, Owono adds that the Guéant Act also ostracizes financially limited foreign students [fr].

In Africa, only a few experts have studied the concept of open borders, an idea that is, without doubt, too distant from the continent realities to persist. McGill University philosophy professor, Arash Abizadeh, doesn't encourage the opening of borders, yet states that the current border system can't be justified by a liberal egalitarian logic. Abidazeh states that if we want to stick to the belief that “All men are born free and equal”, the constitution of borders is by itself a violation of such a principle.

Malagasy blogger Sly writes about the risks of opening the borders:

I'm African and while it seems that this would be a good idea there are some drawbacks
-child trafficiking
-drug trafficking
-spread of HIV and other diseases.
-refugees will form camps in more prosperous nations causing some problems.
Having said this some countries in Africa do have open borders with some neighbourig countries.

Sly refers to the fact that opening the borders between Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, in an attempt to increase regional economic integration, raised some major challenges in the region during the recent food crisis.

This concept of using open borders to reduce global social inequalities implies that reducing global poverty would be the highest priority in the world. It would come before other important considerations such as national security and the national interests of each country. This theory of Pritchett and Magric certainly has a contentious side that aims to provoke a debate.

However, despite the claims of the international community that wants to reduce poverty worldwide, the open borders solution is only to be considered in specific contexts and won't take precedence over other items on the international agenda.

Written by Lova · Translated by Andreea Ungureanu · View original post [fr] · comments (3)
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