Global Voices » Jennifer Brea

ONE petitions to cancel Haiti's debt

Jennifer Brea — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:22:27 +0000

The ONE campaign is trying to collect 100,000 signatures for a petition to cancel Haiti's debt.

Haiti: Mobile phones bring news of missing relatives

Jennifer Brea — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:05:22 +0000

In Port-au-Prince, @guyadams , the Independent's L.A. correspondent, tweets: “People finally able to get mobile signals. Sadly, that means they're only now finding out about dead relatives…Our host just found out that three of his cousins are dead. Don't know what I can say to console him.”

Senegal offers free land to Haitian earthquake survivors

Jennifer Brea — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:46:15 +0000

President Wade, pictured here at the 2002 World Economic Forum, wants to grant Haitian earthquake survivors free land in Senegal (image source: Wikipedia)

In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, politicians and citizens around the world have scrambled to join the global outpouring of solidarity for Haiti, and poor countries, including many in Africa, are no exception. Rwanda, Liberia, South Africa, Gabon, Nigeria and many others have already pleged financial aid. However, it is the 84 year-old Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, who has been making headlines. Wade is offering free land to any Haitian earthquake survivors who wish to “return to their origins,” according to a spokesperson. Online, the proposal has been received with almost universal ridicule.

Although Blog Politique au Senegal has yet to comment on either Wade's offer or the earthquake, it did post this commentary by Dr. EL Hadji Malick Ndiaye [Fr] on the importance of “South-South” solidarity, published before Wade's announcement:

Il arrive des moments dans l’histoire d’un pays où les citoyens ont l’occasion de donner une leçon d’éthique à leurs élites. Il arrive des moments qui sonnent comme des opportunités pour un peuple de montrer sa grandeur morale. Nous ne pouvons pas nous complaire dans le fatalisme et la position de l’eternel assisté. A nous seuls, le Sénégal, nous ne mettrons pas fin aux souffrances du peuple haïtien. Cela ne nous dispense pas d’agir, cela n’excuse pas notre indifférence en acte. En ce moment même en Haïti des gens sont en train de crever et c’est cela réalité profonde de ce tremblement de terre. Tous les discours de solidarité sont bien dérisoires à cet instant, si on ne fait pas notre possible pour nous rendre utiles. Donnons un peu au reste du monde, car nous avons déjà beaucoup reçu du monde et nous en aurons peut-être besoin un jour. Les citoyens des grandes puissances qui se tournent aujourd’hui vers Haïti, au-delà de la simple valeur éthique de leurs actions, nous donnent une leçon de plus sur le sens de l’intérêt collectif. C’est moralement indigne de prétendre être un peuple magnifique, avec des valeurs magnifiques, un peuple prompt à fustiger les tares de l’Occident, à brandir les valeurs de solidarité religieuse, et de ne jamais lever le moindre petit doigt pour diminuer arithmétiquement la souffrance du monde.

There are moments in the history of a country where its citizens have the chance to give their elites a lesson in ethics. There are moments that ring out as opportunities for a people to show its moral greatness. We cannot wallow in fatalism and forever be in the position of the recipient [of help]. Senegal alone cannot put an end to the suffering of the Haitian people. But that doesn't get us off the hook from acting, that doesn't excuse our indifferernce. At this very moment, in Haiti, there are people dying and that is the deep reality of this earthquake. All of our talk about solidarity means nothing at this moment unless we everything possible to be of help. Let´s give a little to the rest of the world, because we have already received much from the world and we may be in need one day. Citizens of powerful countries who turn toward Haiti, beyond the simple moral value of their actions, offer us a lesson on the meaning of the common good. It is morally outrageous to pretend to be a magnificant people, with magnificant values, a people quick to condemn the defects of the West, to flaunt the values of religious solidarity, and then not lift a finger to diminish, arithmetically, the suffering of the world.

However, offering to emigrate landless Haitians is not the kind of material solidarity many envisoned.

Serigne Diagne, who has been closely following Senegal's response to the earthquake, had this to say about the scheme (edited from the original English version):

…Dakar, which has trouble taking off and solving its many problems related to sanitation and urbanization, whose suburbs are wading in flood waters from years past, by what means can she accommodate a population or a whole country at the other end of the world?…[Without explaining where the funding will come from] Abdoulaye Wade, in a [gesture] of solidarity and pan-Africanism, proposes to depopulate Haiti, thereby forgetting that charity begins at home…

…[It must be assumed that] Abdoulaye Wade, very nostalgic [of] the 19th century, believes that Marcus Garvey is still alive, and that the “Back to Africa” movement is still valid. One day, he will eventually tell us is that[it was] the Ku Klux Klan who made the earth tremble in Haiti…each country has its own calamities. Haiti has its own, which generate a lot of compassion, and we have ours, which do as much damage as an earthquake, such as statements by a president who has trouble staying above the fray, and whose[record] is a source of controversy. The Haitian people, as was said and reiterated by the President ¨”Are entitled to the African soil”. The question remains, if they want it.

PascaleBoulerie, a reader at tak2.00221.info writes:

C'est une idée bien stupide, parce que le Sénégal souffre aussi de manque de terres cultivables, de surpopulation * et d'émigration.

It's a really stupid idea, because Senegal also suffers from a shortage of cultivatable land, overpopulation, and emigration

Phillipe Souaille, coming on a post at the Tribune de Geneve, writes:

Cher Gorgui, j'ai le sentiment que ton président a perdu une occasion (de plus) de se taire. Je ne crois pas que les Haïtiens crèvent d'envie de se réfugier en Afrique. La solution est forcément de trouver le moyen et les moyens de les aider à prospérer chez eux. Au moins pour parvenir au même niveau de vie que celui des îles voisines, tout de même supérieur à ce qu'il est en moyenne en Afrique, Sénégal inclus.

Une telle réflexion est même carrément effarante en ce qu'elle révèle des capacités d'analyse, de proposition et de réalisation pour le moins émoussées du bonhomme. La sénilité n'est-elle pas en train de faire son oeuvre? Il est temps qu'il laisse place à la relève, s'il n'a plus d'autres solution à proposer à un peuple qui souffre que l'abandon et l'exil !

Dear Gorgui, I have the feeling that your president has (once again) lost a chance to keep quiet. I don't believe Haitians are dying to seek refuge in Africa. The solution is to find a way to help the prosper in their own country. So that they can at least achieve the same standard of living as their neighboring islands, which is at any rate higher than the average in Africa, Senegal included…

…Is this not the work of senility? It is time that he makes way for a replacement, if he has no other solution to offer to a peole who suffer from abandonment and exile!

Haiti: “Culture, Crossroads, Color”

Jennifer Brea — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:52:36 +0000

Haitian-American writer and artist Lenelle Moise tries to: “balance the images of the devastation of my birthplace (injured bodies aching in wait, starving orphaned children, mass graves set amid rubble) with evidence of all the beautiful dynamic magic its descendants make.”

Dominicans aiding Haitians where no UN, Red Cross

Jennifer Brea — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:35:32 +0000

@thehaitian: “Just saw group of Dominicans in pickup. No UN. No Red Cross. crossed border with bread, water, & salami to give.”

Haiti: Time Running Out for Earthquake Survivors

Jennifer Brea — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:23:49 +0000

Keziah Furth is a 24-year old American nurse who works with kids in Haiti. She was able to call home today, and her parents posted this account of her experiences since the earthquake on her blog, Mwen renmen ti moun Ayiti yo!:

She immediately packed up some medical supplies and began to tend to the wounded in her immediate neighborhood. For the first two days people who had been hurt came in a steady stream. Eventually she had 300 people camped out in a nearby empty lot where she was able to go amongst them giving pain meds, bandaging, stitching up wounds without surgical tools or sterile equipment, distributing antibiotics, and giving food and water…

..She says there are less and less wounded to tend to and now the stench of the dead is overwhelming as you walk the streets. Every collapsed house exudes the smell. While many of her “patients” are stabilized and will live, several have died.

Keziah warns that unless food, water, and medical supplies come quickly, many will die needlessly. She has so far not seen any foreign aid or rescue teams in the part of the city where she has been treating the injured:

Keziah is receiving food and clean water from the St. Joe's Home. Most of the people are not so fortunate; food and water are becoming increasingly scarce. Kez believes that unless help comes soon, dogs will begin to be killed for food. No aid has reached this part of the city. They have seen no aid workers, no water trucks, no rescue teams. Helicopters have been seen overhead, but no contact has been made; there is no evidence that help has arrived. When I told Kez that the US Armed Forces were in P.auP. and that the Red Cross and rescue and medical teams from many countries were on the ground, she cried.

Kez's supplies are running low; she predicts that by Saturday she will have no bandages, no meds, and no water to give.
She has done all that she is capable of doing for her wounded. If help does not arrive soon, some will die needlessly.

Haiti: Rescuing Survivors, Searching for the Missing

Jennifer Brea — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:24:48 +0000

Here are just a few of the online networks and databases which have mobilized in the last few days to help relatives abroad locate family and direct urgently needed help to survivors, many of whom are still trapped beneath the wreckage of their own homes.

The International Committe of the Red Cross has an extensive online database of the missing where friends or family.

Major news organizations like the New York Times and CNN , as well as Google, have also set up databases for the missing. A site called Haiti Earthquake Support Center is working on a tool which would allow volunteers to help match faces in news photographs to faces of missing persons.

The Facebook Group EARTHQUAKE HAITI currently has over 150,000 members and more than 4,000 photographs posted by family looking for loved ones.

Ushahidi, used to great effect during the Kenyan election crisis, is also mapping crisis information, including missing persons reports, information about collapsed buildings, and road conditions.

On Twitter, the tag #relativesinhaiti is being used by Haitians abroad who are still trying to locate missing relatives. Meanwhile, #rescuemehaiti is being used to direct search & rescue efforts to specific addresses around Port-au-Prince where survivors are known to be still trapped under the rubble:

Christopher Frecynet still alive. They heard him screaming. 64 Rue Nord Alexis. Call cousin Daphney 509-39046983

63 people still alive Carribean Market. survivor sent txt so we can send help. PLEASE LET PPL KNOW

Heloise Boyer is trapped in her house #40 Rue O, Turgeau.

HELP IS NEEDED ! People still alive under College Canapé Vert are screaming for help to get them out …

Latitude: 18°31′25.74″N Longitude: 72°16′28.25″W #bresma #Haiti We need food and water to approx. 150 people there NOW

Haiti: Finding Trapped Survivors Using Twitter

Jennifer Brea — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:50:37 +0000

Twitter users are using the tag #rescuemehaiti to direct help to specific locations in Port-au-Prince and around Haiti where there are known survivors who are trapped or in need of urgent care.

Diaspora Mobilize to Help Haiti in Earthquake Aftermath

Jennifer Brea — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:19:07 +0000

carelpedre, a radio announcer based in Port-au-Prince, writes this morning:

1st After Shock Of The Day!!! IHaiti is sill shaking!! HELP!!

There have been at least 30 aftershocks following the 7.0 earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince yesterday, just before 5pm EST. Information is still hard to come by, but it is feared that many lives have been lost it what is the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years. The presidential palace, UN headquarters, not to mention an unknown number of shops and houses, have been seriously damaged or collapsed in the earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks.

As international media begin to arrive on the scene, several residents of Port-au-Prince continue to Tweet their eyewitness accounts. Dan Kennedy writes about the role of citizen media in keeping Haiti connected to the world.

Photomorel, a professional photographer based in Haiti, posts devastating images of the quake (warning: graphic content).

Photo of Port-au-Prince in aftermath of January 13th earthquake (David Morel @photomorel)

Diaspora mobilize

The Haitian Diaspora have been mobilizing to support Haiti with its financial support and its prayers, and by exchanging information about missing family members. On Twitter, rapper Wyclef Jean , currently en route to Haiti, is asking people to donate funds to his Yele organization. A network of Diaspora on Twitter and Facebook are spreading the word.

alumstatus

If all of @wyclef followers text YELE to 501501 to donate $5, that would be $6,535,190 for relief efforts

Many on Twitter have warned about donating to fraudulent organizations. reduceharm writes:

Pls give to orgs that'll actually do sustainable work in Haiti and have some credibility on the ground

and advocates giving to groups like Yele, Catholic Relief, and Partners in Health.

Looking for Loved Ones

Most of Port-au-Prince is still without power, phone lines are down, and many have still not been able to reach their friends and family.

RubyWorthy

I still can't find my daughter. pray with me twitter fam.

MaddyMoreBucks

My mom just left for work in tears..lord guide her there safely.. She said she gotta rack up $$ cuz she dk how many ppl she gotta burry :-(

JabariCMVP

Damn. Pray for Haiti, y'all. 7.0 earthquake came through..situation is dire out there right now. I just lost family.

The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog:

There are friends and co-workers that are missing. People whom no-one can account for. People we work with and love. There are more than I can name, but in particular we wait on one single friend who lived near the Hotel Montana – which has reportedly collapsed.

The horror has only just begun and I beg you to get on your knees – I truly mean ON YOUR KNEES and pray for the people of this country. The news might forget in a few days - but people will still be trapped alive and suffering. Pray. Pray. Pray. After that - PLEASE PRAY.

Juana4ev

New York, Florida, Conn, New Jersey, Massachusetts & Canada are up tonight..thats for sure #Haiti

Togo Disqualified from African Cup Following Deadly Attack

Jennifer Brea — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:12:09 +0000

Togo's national football team has been formally disqualified from the African Cup of Nations following Friday's deadly attack on the team's convoy in Cabinda, a region of Angola long troubled by separatist violence.

Members of the Togolese national football team before a warm-up match in Biberach/Riss a few days before the World Cup (Source: Wikipedia)

The team's assistant coach and media officer were killed and goalkeeper Kodjovi “Dodji” Obilale, seriously injured. Obilale is reported to be in stable condition after undergoing surgery in South Africa, although he is still breathing with the assistance of a respirator.

FLEC, the rebel group which has claimed responsibility for the attack, indicated in a statement that the police envoy, and not the Togolese players, were the target. The Angolan government, for its part, has called the attack an “isolated incident” and has guaranteed the security of the other teams. Matches continue as scheduled in Cabinda province.

Although according to news reports, many players had indicated they wanted to keep playing, the Togolese government recalled the team on Saturday. Togo, which was to play Ghana today, was officially disqualified when the team failed to appear.

Since the attack, many Togolese have been asking difficult questions about what was a preventable tragedy: Why was the team traveling by bus and not by air? Did the Angolan government choose to stage a matches in Cabinda just to prove the rebellion was over? Is football worth all the tragedy that seems to follow it? Should the Cup be canceled?

Play on?

Directly following the attack, there was a big debate online as to whether Togo should withdraw. Rêve d'Afrique, the blog of Togolese writer Gerry Taama, argued the game should go on:

A la seule condition que la CAN soit annulée (les autres équipes décidant de boycotter l’évènement), nous devons jouer ce match…Nous devons être à cette CAN, pour occuper notre place, pour honorer nos morts, leur dire combien nous les aimons, et combien nous leur montrons que refusons que leur mort soit vaine. Jouer pour ne pas laisser les terroristes nous vaincre, pour ne pas laisser la barbarie l’emporter sur le droit et nos valeurs. Refuser de jouer, c’est capituler…

Unless the CAN (African Cup of Nations) is canceled (the other teams decide to boycott the event), we should play this match…We must be at this CAN, to take our place, to honor our dead, to express our love for them, and to show that we refuse that their deaths be in vain. To play so as to not let the terrorists win, to not let savagery triumph over the law or our values. To refuse to play is to give in…

Yipka-Au Village disagreed:

Comment est-ce qu’ont espere qu’ils jouent au foot apres avoir echappe belle a la mort en essayant d’aller jouer au foot, et aussi avec deux joueurs et des entraineurs et medecins gravement blesses??

How can we hope that they'll play after narrowly escaping death while trying to do just that, and with two players and trainers and doctors seriously injured??

Kangi Alem agrees, and goes one step further, arguing that the 2010 Africa Cup should be canceled:

La CAF porte une responsabilité dans le fait d’avoir fait passer les joueurs togolais dans une enclave réputée dangereuse, elle doit maintenant prendre ses responsabilités en annulant la CAN 2010! C’est mon sentiment, antisportif peut-être, mais c’est mon sentiment.

CAF [Confederation of African Football] has a responsibility. It had players pass through an area known to be dangerous, and it should now do the responsible thing and cancel CAN 2010! That's my opinion, a bit anti-sport, perhaps, but that's my opinion.

CAF has claimed it was unaware of the team's travel itinerary and that it had been advising teams to travel by plane. Alem finds this “bizarre” since the team was accompanied by an armed convoy, courtesy of the Angolan government.

Why play in Cabinda?

Of course a big question is why matches were being held in Cabinda in the first place. Yikpa writes:

Je pense que c’etait une decision politique de l’Etat Angolais cautionne par la CAF d’organiser des matchs dans cette region de la Cabinda pour prouver qu’il y a securite dans cette region riche en petrole afin d’attirer les investisseurs etrangers dans cette region. Alors cette attaque viens de prouver le contraire.

I think that it was a political decision on the part of the Angolan government, supported by CAF, to organize matches in Cabinda to prove that this region, rich in oil, was secure so as to attract investors there. This attack proves the contrary.

Paul Archer, in a comment on Alem's post, writes:

Il faut jouer, c’est la vie! les rebelles sont chez eux,je ne les approuve pas mais un terrain de guerre est un terrain de guerre.

They were on the rebels' turf. I don't agree with it, but a war zone is a war zone.

Sports & Tragedy

David Kpelly, writing on Alem's blog, noted that this is not the first time sports, in particular football, have been associated with violence. In 2007, 13 members of the sport's officials and supporters, including the Minister of Sports, were killed in Sierra Leone in a helicopter crash. He also notes that after the Togo-Mali qualifying match for the 2006 African Cup, several Togolese were killed in Bamako. He also references an incident at the Kegue Stadium in Lome where several football fans died, not to mention a more recent tragedy in Cote d'Ivoire, where 19 spectators were killed in a stampede. He concludes:

Sur le plan africain, le foot, toujours lui, ne fait pas moins de victimes…Bon Dieu! le foot fait trop de victimes!

In Africa, football, yes football, …My God! Football makes too many victims!

In a similar vein another reader, Sami, wonders if, given the violence that sometimes surrounds them, “Popular sports that stir almost primitive nationalist feelings aren't battlefields in disguise” [Fr].

The Game Goes On

Felix Makayaba, in a comment on Reve d'Afrique, laments a feeling that as the African Cup continues, the world, and even spectators in Togo, have already forgotten the tragedy:

En effet, tant que la CAN continue, il y'aura une ambiance festive partout au Togo. Et ala douleur de la mort des nôtres rique d'être occulté pour laisser la place au football. J'ai pour preuve les cris qde joie qui fusent de tout de Lomé du seul fait de l'égalisation des 4 buts par l'équipe du Mali. Déjà les Loméens se mettent dans la peau de leurs frères Maliens…Déjà nos morts d'Angola, sans avoir encore été inhumés nous occupent de plus en plus moins.

As CAN continues, there will be a festive ambiance all around Togo. And the pain of the deaths of some of our own risks being overshadowed by football. I have as proof, the cries of joy that rang out all over Lome over just the 4 tie goals made by the Malian team. Already the people of Lome are putting themselves in the skins of their Malian brothers…Already we are less and less worried about our dead in Angola, before they are even buried.

Perhaps it's just human nature that in spite of a horrible loss, life goes on. Fasokan describes the festive feeling in Bamako yesterday just before the Mali-Angola match (which ended in a 4-4 tie).

Ce soir, le Mali joue contre l’Angola, C’est un grand évènement aujourd’hui au Mali et on le sent partout à travers le drapeau malien accroché aux motos, aux vélos, aux voitures, sur les hangars et les toits par les supporteurs. C’est le seul grand sujet à la Une partout à Bamako.

On voit des hommes habillés en vert, jaune, rouge et certaines femmes attacher le drapeau malien autour de la tête comme foulards pour dire aux Aigles du Mali que tout le monde est derrière eux.

Tonight, in Mali, we play against Angola. It's a great event here in Mali and you can feel it everywhere with the Malian flag hung on motorcycles, bikes, cars, on the sheds and the roofs by supporters.

You can see men dressed in green, yellow and red, and some woman wrapping the Malian flag around their heads, like veils, all to tell the Mali Eagles that everyone is behind them.

Cameroon: Video Shows Harsh Conditions of Rural Medicine

Jennifer Brea — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:19:45 +0000

In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked Cameroon's health care system 163rd in the world. That's somewhere below Mauritania and just above North Korea. As in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, doctors in Cameroon work without adequate training or equipment–a fact that in itself is not surprising, but is made disturbingly real by four young Americans who shot this amateur video (WARNING: contains nudity and graphic images) of surgery in a rural hospital in Cameroon. The video shows doctors who are seemingly indifferent to basic hygiene or their patients' dignity, let alone the desperate groans of one woman whose anesthesia begins wearing off in the middle of the operation.

Recently posted on 20mai.net, a Camerounian citizen media site, the video provoked a heated discussion. The filmmakers' ostensible goal was to portray the harsh reality of health care in Cameroon. Some applauded the makers of the clip for documenting the deplorable and dangerous conditions in which these doctors work. Others wondered if this video was little more than a piece of “voyeurism,” put online to entertain whites.

One reader calls GRISSOM, a medical doctor from Cameroon, describes his reaction:

Je suis médecin, alors ce genre d’images me choquent-elles ? Oui et non… oui parce qu’évidemment les conditions dans lesquelles se déroulent l’opération (hygienne, salubrité, aseptie déplorable « en plein air» , anesthésie déficiente, salle non sécurisée, la liste est longue) ne peuvent que heurter la conscience professionnelle qui sommeille en moi, mais de l’autre, non je ne suis plus choqué parce que cette réalité là dans nos campagnes il y a bien lurette que ça existe…

I'm a doctor, and do those images chock me? Yes and no…yes because evidently the condition in which this operation is taking place (hygiene, cleanliness, deplorable sterilization “in the open,” deficient anesthesia, unsecured room, the list is long) cannot help but shock the professional conscience in me. On the other hand, I'm not shocked because it's clear that this is the reality has existed in our countrysides for ages…

Pourquoi on en est arrivé là ? C’est la conséquence de nos maux, de nos tares collectives. Manque d’anesthésistes (pénurie criarde) comme dans bien d’autres spécialités médicales, c’est pas nouveau. Je connais plusieurs anesthésistes camerounais formés en Afrique de l’Ouest qui jamais ne rentreront au pays (comme bien d’autres médecins). Pourquoi ? C’est pas à moi d’y répondre, je ne décide de rien depuis les sphères de ceux qui ont pris le pays en main comme leur prorpiétés. Ces même personnes dont le sport favori est le détournement des fonds à échelle hierarchisée (mes collegues sortis du CUSS ayant fait leur stage intégré dans le Cameroun profond savent de quoi ej parle) et qui s’appuie sur un peuple insouciant pour qui consommer la bière chaque soir en voyant Eto’o marquer (ou rater) des buts avec une belle wolowoss à côté d’eux suffit pour être heureux et ne plus se soucier du reste.

Why have we arrived here? ….. Lack of anesthesiologists (shocking shortage), as in many other medical specialties, is nothing new. I know several Camerounian anesthesiologists trained in West Africa who never returned to their country (like many other doctors). Why? That's not for me to answer, I decide nothing in the circles of those who have taken over the country like it's their own property. These same people, whose favorite sport is the embezzlement of money all the way up the hierarchy (my colleagues who came out of the University Center For Health Sciences and did their residency in the heart of the country know what I'm talking about) and are supported by a happy-go-lucky people for whom drinking beer every night and watching Eto'o make (or miss) some goals with a beautiful prostitute at their side is enough to be happy and to make them not care about the rest.

Many placed the lion's share of the blame on the country's elites.

…je pense que tout etre humain a le droit de naitre et de mourir dans la dignite.chers gouvernants arretez de nous bourrer les oreilles avec le SIDA et autres inepties.regardez dans quelles conditions travaillent des personnes qui ont choisi de sauver des vies pendant que vous empilez milliards sur milliards sous vos lits et dans vos comptes en banque…
honte,honte,honte a vous…

…I think that every human being has the right to be born and to die with dignity. dear leaders, stop stuffing our ears with AIDS and other nonsense. look at the condition in which the people who have chosen to save lives work while you pile millions and millions under your beds and in your bank accounts.

shame, shame, shame on you…

charles nguingock writes:

je ne suis pas vraiment surpris puisque nos élites se font soigner en Europe et aux Etats-Unis il ya de quoi négliger le peuple CAMEROUNAIS.Que DIEU leur pardonne.

I'm not really surprised; since our elites are treated in Europe and the United States, what is it to neglect the Camerounian people? May God Forgive them.

Marie Damien writes:

Vous avez vu l’entrée de cette femme en salle d’op? On croirait assister à un spectacle de nudisme. Il n’est pas seulement question de matériel, mais aussi de notions d’hygiène et de conscience professionnelle… Il est temps que nos dirigeants prennent conscience de ce qui se passe autour d’eux. On ne peut fermer les yeux éternellement sur cet état de choses. Est-ce que l’auteur de cette vidéo pourrait nous dire si cette est sortie vivante de la salle d’op?

Did you see the entrance of this woman into the operating room? It was like a nudist show. It's not simply a question of equipment, but also the idea of hygiene and professional conscience…It is time that our leaders wake up to what's happening around them. We can't close our eyes forever to this state of affairs. Can the author of this video tell us if this woman left the operation room alive?

EVARISTE KPADE responds:

ouf!!!pour une fois on accuse pas la france.merci cher camarades pour votre lucidité!

wow!!! for once we aren't accusing France. Thank you dear comrades for your lucidness!

Portraying a false image of Africa?

Still many other readers criticized the video itself, in particular, the questionable choice on the part of the filmmakers to show footage of a naked patient, and the choice of the doctors to allow four men, none of whom wore sterile clothing, into the operating room.

eboa lembe:

pour moi cette video perd sa credibilite a partir du moment ou elle est filme par des blancs.il faudrai vraiment etre naif pour croir qu,ils font ce reportage par sympathie pour les pauvres Africains car si l,Afrique croupi dans la misere c,est bien grace a eux.Alors ce que moi je proposerai est qu,il est tant pour nous de nous auto informer sur toutes realites qui se vivent chez nous .Car d,aucuns diront qu,ils sont surpris de savoir que les choses se passe ainsi chez nous ,mais ceux qui les informe c,est des gens qui vienne de loin ,en plus c,est la bete(les blancs).Moi je ne dirai pas que je suis choque par ces images car je sais qu,il y a pire a voir ds notre chere terre mere..

for me this video loses its credibility the moment it was filmed by whites. we must really be naive to believe that they documented this out of sympathy for poor Africans since, if Africa is rotting in misery, it's thanks to them. So what I would propose is that it's up to us to inform ourselves about all the realities that exist in our country. Some will say that they are surprised by what happens here, but those which inform them are people who come from far away, and moreover, they are beasts (the whites). Me, I'm not surprised by these images since I know that there is worse to see in our dear motherland…

Silas:

Je suis en même temps stupéfait par l’absence de dignité imposée à cette martyre de nos folies par les médecins qui laissent qu’on la filme nue, et qui de surcroit laissent entrer des individus non protégés par des tenues adéquates en matière d’hygiène, lesquels de surcroit prennent des photos!!!!!…

…Je ne sais pas pour vous mais bien que n’étant pas médecin je n’ai pas attendu cette video pour connaitre les conditions inhumaines dans lesquelles certain(e)s font vivre leurs compatriotes. Je n’ai pas non plus attendu cette video pour diversifier mes sujets de conversation! Si ces médecins avaient voulu montrer leurs conditions de travail, il suffit de filmer cette salle même vide, la salle d’attente et dire devant la caméra les conditions dans lesquelles ils travaillent!

At the same time I'm amazed by the lack of dignity imposed on this martyr of our insanity by doctors who let them film her nude, and who, moreover, let in individuals who were not adequate in terms of hygiene, who moreover take photos!!!!!…

…I don't know about you but even though I'm not a doctor, I wasn't waiting for this video to come along to know the inhuman conditions in which some of our countrymen live. And I wasn't waiting for this video to add variety to my topics of conversation! If the doctors wanted to show their conditions of work, it would have been enough to film the room, empty even, the waiting room, and to explain in front of the camera the conditions in which they work!

On the original YouTube site, GrandHustle27 takes issue with the title: “African Surgeries”:

this is ridiculous i live in Kenya not far from AGAKHAN HOSPITAL. it has state of the art Equipment with highly skilled Doctors. WHY would you put up a video like this. what are you trying to prove or portray. and you put the heading as AFRICA.

this aynt right. CHANGE THE heading to a title that reference where this took place. dont generalize a whole CONTINENT IN ONE DINGY LOCATION. COME ON YOU KNOW THIS PORTRAYAL IS FOALS AND WRONG.

Nadine:

ESSAYONS DE PENSER PLUS LOIN QUE CES IMAGES! C’est pareil que les images des Somaliens qu’on passe le temps à montrer à la TV; Étant soi-disant la vraie image de l’AFrique

LET'S TRY TO THINK A LITTLE MORE DEEPLY ABOUT THESE IMAGES! They are like the images of Somalia they show on TV to pass the time, showing the so-called true image of Africa

A call for action

Heartening was the fact that many of the readers brainstormed possible responses to the video. One suggested locating the actual clinic where the surgery took place (”Assuming that the doctors (incapable of cleaning a room) wanted to make known their working conditions, can we at the very least provide them with anesthesia (with the hope that the doctors won't sell it)!?,” Silas writes.). Another, petitioning the government.

Jean asks if all the readers who are actually in Cameroon can't meet up and write a letter directly to the President or engage in some other kind of collective action He explains:

En Europe, Amerique, etc.., dans tous ces pays riches, c’est la société civile qui décide, c’est à dire quand il y’a un problème comme le notre, toutes les associations sortent dans les rues pour manifester et le gouvernement est obligé de trouver une solution rapide face à celui-ci…

In Europe, in America, etc., in all the rich countries, it's civil society that decides things, meaning, that when there is a problem like this, all the associations go out into the streets to demonstrate and the government, faced with that, is forced to find a quick solution…

World AIDS Day: Fighting Discrimination Around the World

Jennifer Brea — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:41:41 +0000

Millions around the world came together on Tuesday to show support for those living with HIV/AIDS. Online, in blogs and in forums, many assessed the progress made and the distance left to travel in the fight against discrimination and the spread of the disease. Here's a collection of text, images and video from those writing and speaking in French.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Arkangel88 on Congoforums.net:

C'est dommage de constater qu'aujourd'hui encore, pour bien des gens, le SIDA semblerait toujours être le Syndrome Imaginaire pour Décourage les Amoureux. Les gens ne prennent toujours pas assez des précautions vis-à-vis de ce fléau.

It's a shame to see that even today, for a lot of people, AIDS is still the Imaginary Syndrome to Discourage Lovers. People are not taking enough precautions against this epidemic.

Tunisia

Tunisian blogger zizou from Djerba, writing from South Africa, where the government has just announced a plan to expand treatment to all HIV-positive babies, talks about the discrimination the HIV-positive face back in his country:

Je suis encore en Afrique du sud. ici, une personne sur deux est infecte par le virus du sida. En Tunisie, l'infection est minime ( moins 0.01% de la population), le traitement gratuit est disponible et pourtant j'ai l'impression que nos seropositifs souffrent plus que ceux qui vivent en Afrique du Sud. Ils souffrent du rejet de leurs familles et de la societe. Ils se retrouvent souvent au chomage et sans aucun soutien… et pourtant! Le sida n'est pas la grippe. Il ne se propage que par la voie sexuelle (et encore! ce n'est pas a tous les coups). Donc chers compatriotes, en cette journee mondiale de lutte contre le sida. Ayez une pensee pour ces gens qui souffrent et surtout reflechissez a ce qu'il faut faire pour stopper l'isolement et la stigmatisation de ces malades.

I'm still in South Africa. Here, one in two people is infected with the AIDS virus. In Tunisia, the infection rate is minimal (less than 0.01% of the population), treatment is available for free, and even so I have the impression that our HIV-positive suffer more than those who live in South Africa. They suffer from rejection by their families and by society. They often find themselves unemployed and without any support…and for what! AIDS is not the flu. It spreads sexually (and again! not in all cases). So my dear fellow countrymen, in this World AIDS Day, think of those who suffer and above all think about what we must do to end the isolation and the stigmatization of those with the disease.

Tekiano.com writes about Silence, a documentary by Tunisian filmmakers Karim Souaki, which will compete in an upcoming film festival in Marseille, France:

Le film brise le «Silence» pesant sur la société tunisienne au sujet du sida, à travers le portrait de «Jimmy», un tunisien porteur du VIH. Ce documentaire évoque la perception du sida dans notre société. Le regard du réalisateur y croise celui de quelques personnes vivant avec le VIH.

The film breaks the “Silence” about AIDS which weighs on Tunisian society, thorugh the portrait of “Jimmy,” a Tunisian with HIV. The documentary evokes the perception of AIDS in our society. You look through the eyes of the director has he encounters several people living with HIV.

Haiti

The fight against discrimination was also evident in the Haitian town of Jacmel, where hundreds of gays and lesbians took to the streets. On PawallaPale.com:

Ils ont à leur tête un ancien pasteur américain…qui a mis sur pied une organisation dont le but est d’aider les homosexuels (hommes et femmes) à vivre positivement tout en étant séropositifs.

They were led by a former American pastor…who set up an organization whose mission is to help homosexuals (men and women) to live positively while being HIV-positive.

Ils demandent également aux milliers d’homosexuels haïtiens de cesser toute hypocrisie. En d’autres termes, qu’ils finissent par s’afficher en tant que tel.

They're also asking for thousands of Haitian homosexuals to stop the hypocrisy. In other words, that they come out and show who they really are.

Guadeloupe & Martinique

And finally, in the French Antilles, discrimination was similarly at the center of many of the discussions and public awareness efforts.

Bebel971 , a blog of the UNESCO middle school, Bébel, in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe writes:

Vingt ans de lutte… Mais guère d’amélioration. En cette Journée mondiale de lutte contre le sida, l’heure est au bilan. La Guadeloupe demeure, cette année encore, la deuxième région de France la plus touchée par l’épidémie, avec un taux de prévalence 4 fois supérieure à celle de la Métropole.

La stigmatisation est forte en Guadeloupe. Il y a des tabous et les gens ne se font pas dépister, même s’ils désirent le faire car les attitudes discriminatoires et le rejet par la famille sont fréquents.

En terme de dépistage, la haute autorité de santé, souhaite lancer une nouvelle stratégie : le proposer à toute personne de plus de 15 ans qui vient dans un centre de santé, qu’il y ait eu risque ou non. « Si 70% des personnes séropositives étaient dépistées, elles prendraient plus de précaution et moins de risque pour leur santé, souligne docteur Marie-Thérèse Georger-Sow, présidente du Corevih (coordination régionale de lutte contre l’infection due au virus de l’immunodéficience humaine).

Twenty years of fighting…But hardly any improvement. In this World AIDS Day, it's time to take stock. Guadeloupe remains again this year the second region of France most affected by the epidemic, with an infection rate four times higher than that of the metropole.

Discrimination is strong in Guadeloupe. There are taboos and people don't get tested, even if they want to, because discriminatory attitudes and the rejection by family are frequent.

In terms of testing, the health authorities want to launch a new strategy: they are proposing that everyone over 15 years of age come to a health center, whether or not they are at risk. “If 70% of those who are HIV-positive were tested, they would be able to take more precautions and less risk for their health,” explained Dr. Marie-Thérèse Georger-Sow, president of Corevih (regional coordiation of the fight against HIV).

In an effort to fight the attitudes that help support this high infection rate, a new TV spot airing in Guadeloupe and Martinique calls for solidarity with those infected with HIV (via la discrimination dans la publicité):

In Martinique, madinina972bis on DOMActu.com writes:

C'est a ne rien comprendre ,malgré tous ces appels et ces mises en garde il y ai autant de personne atteint de cette maladie.On parle et on parle et personne n'écoute…

It doesn't make any sense, despite all the calls and the warnings, there are so many people who have this disease. They talk and they talk and no one listens…

Morocco: Islamic Finance Banks

Jennifer Brea — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:56:00 +0000

we are watching you [Fr] explains why you won't see any Islamic finance banks in Morocco anytime soon.

Gabon: Opposition Continues to Fight Election Result

Jennifer Brea — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:07:22 +0000

The death of Omar Bongo, one of Africa's longest-serving dictators, in June inspired hope that Gabon might embark on a new kind of politics. Yet when Bongo's son, Ali Ben Bongo, the ruling party's candidate, was declared the victor of the August 31st election, few were surprised. As one francophone blogger, Le petit Quimonte illustre, explains:

Au Gabon, la Couronne est héréditaire, de mâle en mâle par ordre de primogéniture élue démocratiquement par succession directe au suffrage universel sous protection militaire.

In Gabon, the Crown is hereditary, passed from male to male by order of primogeniture, democratically elected by direct succession via universal suffrage, under the protection of the military.

And yet members of the opposition are refusing to go home quietly.

Last week, Gabon's opposition parties called for a 3-day national strike, in protest of last month's election, and to express solidarity with victims of the post-election violence in Port Gentil (although by most international news accounts, few if any in Libreville took up the call). Gabon Libre Expression (via Afrik.com) reports that some opposition candidates are offering their own, alternative vote count which places UPG candidate Pierre Mamboundou ahead of Bongo, with more than 68% of the vote.

On Thursday, opposition candidates issued a joint statement and least nine have filed claims in the Gabonese Constitutional Court calling for the nullification of the August 31st vote, which ex-candidate Bruno Ben Moubamba calls “an electoral coup d'etat,” on account of alleged voter fraud and other irregularities. The court has one month to rule on the allegations, but as a recent article on Afrik.com points out, with the court's close ties to the Bongo family, the opposition entertains little hope of a favorable outcome.

Long Live la Françafrique!

France, long cozy with the Bongo family, was deemed at least partly to blame. Protesters in Port-Gentil targeted facilities owned by Total, the French oil company, in post-election violence that left at least three dead.

A protest against the election in Paris is planned for this Wednesday and, at least on one Gabonese news website, there are calls to boycott French products.

Pour Un Gabon Meilleur! explains the history of French companies in Gabon, and their close connectino to the Bongo family:

Elf, rebaptisé aujourd’hui Total, est la plus connue des entreprises françaises qui exploite les richesses du Gabon du fait de l’affaire qui à partir de 1994 et jusqu’au procès de 2004 a donné un coup de projecteur sur les liens entre les dirigeants de la société pétrolière, la famille Bongo, la mafia et les sommets de l’appareil d’État français.

Mais en fait, c’est l’ensemble de l’économie du pays qui est sous la coupe de sociétés françaises et il est difficile de toutes les citer. Le clan Bongo est servi au passage, étalant un luxe provoquant au milieu du dénuement. Mais l’essentiel de la richesse produite par les travailleurs du pétrole, des mines, de l’extraction forestière, du transport et des activités portuaires, etc., profite à des patrons et des actionnaires d’entreprises dont le siège est par exemple à Odet dans le Finistère (Bolloré), à la Tour Montparnasse à Paris (Eramet), à La Défense (Areva) ou à Niort (Rougier, pour l’exploitation et le négoce des bois tropicaux).

Elf, today named Total, is the most well-known of all the French companies that exploit Gabon's riches because of the controversy that from 1994 until 2004 put a spotlight on the links between the leadership of the oil company, the Bongo family, the mafia, and the heights of France's state apparatus.

But in fact, the whole of the country's economy is under the thumb of French companies, and it is difficult to name them all. The Bongo clan has served as the , flaunting a provocative luxury in a place of extreme poverty. But most of the riches produced by the [Gabonese] oil, mining, timber, transport and port workers benefit the owners and shareholders of companies whose head offices are, for example, in places like Odet (Bolloré), the Tour Montparnasse in Paris (Eramet), La Defense (Areva) or Niort (Rougier, for the exploitation and trade of tropical wood).

Alliance Nationale de la Resistance du Tchad, presents a time line of France's supposed involvement in the election, which culminates in a now-infamous quote Robert Bourgi gave to Le Monde on the even of the election: “In Gabon, France is not a candidate, but the candidate of Robert Bourgit is Ali Bongo. Now, I am a friend Nicholas Sarkozy listens to. Subliminally, the voter will understand” [Fr].

Readers of La Voix Du Peuple Gabonais discuss the feasibility of a boycott of French products. Ondonza writes:

je suis entièrement d'accord avec le boycotte, c'est une mesure de pression efficace qui peut amener les francais à revoir leur position, dans la mesure où le chiffre d'affaires de leurs sociétés diminuera à long terme, ils seront obligés de fermer et rentrer chez eux. Pour cela aussi bien les hommes d'affaires, étudiants, touristes et autres ne devraient plus prendre Air france ou Gabon airlines, une alternative sera de prendre la Lufthansa, Ethiopia airlines et autres compagnies. Les automobilistes ne devraient plus consommer le carburant de Total, ni de la Lybian oil. Penser consommer Gabonais maintenant cela fera rehausser le pouvoir d'achat des petits commercants gabonais.
Que Dieu benisse le Gabon

I completely agree with this boycott: it's an effective pressure device that can make the French reconsider their position…businessmen, students, tourists and others should no longer fly Air France or Gabon Airlines, but take Lufthansa, Ethiopia or other company as an alternative. Drivers shouldn't consume Total oil, nor Lybian oil. Thinking of buying Gabonese now will raise the purchasing power of small Gabonese traders.
May God bless Gabon

Aligatoire wonders how a boycott could possibly work, given Gabon's extreme dependence on its former colonizer:

Boycotter les produits français, je me demande comment? notre économie ne produit rien. Cela suppose boycotter tout les groupes CFAO, CECADIS,TOTAL,SMAG,BNP(bicig) bgfi,crédit lyonnais (ugb), SEEG, LIBERTIS(les bongo). DRAGAGE……commençons donc par créer une banque gabonaise et des entreprises gabonaises. Il faut donc commencer à être décomplexé de l'homme blanc. car bcp d'africains souffrent d'un complexe d'inferiorité face l'homme occidental.Cette lutte doit être d'abord psychlogique et culturelle.Tous nos dirigeants sont à la merci des occidentaux au détriment de leur peuple. Nous sommes dans les mêmes configurations lors de la traite négrière, le chef coutumier et le négrier.

Boycott French products? How? Our economy produces nothing. That would mean boycotting CFAO, CECADIS,TOTAL,SMAG,BNP(bicig), bgfi,crédit lyonnais (ugb), SEEG, LIBERTIS(les bongo), all the companies……let's start by creating a Gabonese bank and Gabonese enterprises. We have to start by getting over our hang-ups, because Africans suffer from an inferiority complex vis-a-vis the Western man. This fight must be, in the first instance, psychological and cultural. Our leaders are at the mercy of the West, to the detriment of their people. We are in the same place as we were during the slave trade, the customary chief and the slave trader.

Alphonse Obiang, in a comment on Alliance Nationale de la Resistance du Tchad, turns the responsibility back on Gabonese politicians:

Cet article est du grand n'importe quoi!…je ne vois pas ce que paris vient faire là, sauf si vous prétendez que c'est paris qui a contraint les anti-bongo à diviser leurs voix par 22. le résultat est clair: prise en semble, l'opposition dépasse largement les 50%. divisée, ali bongo passe haut la maion. Tout le reste n'est qu'explications facile et foutage dd gueule.

This article is full of it…I can't see what Paris has done, unless you claim that it was Paris that forced those against Bongo to divide their voices by 22. The result is clear: taken together, the opposition got far more than 50%. Divided, Ali Bongo won easily. Everything else are simple explanations and BS.

Gabon: Presidential Candidate Uses Social Media in Historic Election

Jennifer Brea — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:20:41 +0000

Bruno Ben Moubamba, presidential candidate in Gabon, uses new media to spread his message.

As Gabon prepares for its first election since the death of Omar Bongo, one candidate is trying to make history with the aid of social media. Bruno Ben Moubamba, journalist and director of the Edith Stein Institute in France, has returned to Gabon to run as an independent candidate. His rivals who include the current prime minister, Jean Eyeghe Ndong, and Bongo's own son. Moubamba is trying to level the playing field.

Taking a page from Obama's playbook, his campaign is using the internet to mobilize a network of activists and supporters within Gabon and throughout the Diaspora. The Ben Moubamba campaign not only has a blog, but has made extensive use of other social media platforms, including Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and hi5. Of course, it is unclear how many Gabonese can be reach through these platforms; only an estimated ten percent of citizens have internet access, whether privately or via public cafes.

Before his death on June 8th at the age of 73, Bongo was Africa's longest-serving ruler, having spent 41 years in power. With Bongo's son as the ruling party's official candidate, Gabon's lack of a democratic tradition, and with the August 30th election fast approaching, Moubamba faces an uphill battle.

Born in 1967, the year that Bongo came to power, Moubamba represents a younger generation of African leaders. On his blog, Moubamba has harsh criticism for the powers that be, whom he has referred to as “specialists in repression,” and calls for intergenerational dialogue:

Je suis en ce moment en train de recomposer mon équipe pour passer de la pré-campagne à la campagne. Je travaille avec une centaine de volontaires. Je m’aperçois que les autorités de ce pays sont massivement rejetées par la population. Les participants des meetings des candidats gouvernementaux reçoivent entre 75 et 200 euros pour leur participation! On est en train d’acheter les Gabonais avec leur propre argent!

At this moment, I am reorganizing my team to transition from the pre-campaign to the campaign. I am working with 100 volunteers. I have found that the authorities of this country are massively rejected by the people. Those who participate in the meeting of the government's candidates receive between 75 and 200 euros for their participation! They are buying the Gabonese people with their own money!

Or, voilà plusieurs semaines que le Parti démocratique gabonais actuellement au pouvoir tergiverse sur la désignation de son candidat aux futures élections présidentielles. Les tensions semblent fortes. M. Eyéghé Ndong, l’actuel Premier ministre, a par exemple déclaré ses dernières heures qu’il se plierait à un rejet de sa candidature, si cela s’effectuait dans des conditions démocratiques.

Yet it has been several weeks that the Gabonese Democratic Party, currently in power, has been putting off the designation of its candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. The tensions seem high. Mr. Eyéghé Ndong, the current prime minister, for example, declared a few hours ago that he would submit to a rejection of his candidacy if it happened under democratic conditions.

Je me demande si ces tergiversations n’illustrent pas une querelle générationnelle naissante entre les quarantenaires et les soixantenaires, habitués du pouvoir.

J’ose espérer que la génération de nos aînés ne va pas opter pour la continuité sans transformation sous prétexte de défendre ses intérêts. Car il semble en fait que leurs intérêts, comme ceux de tous les Gabonais, se situent dans le changement et dans le dialogue intergénérationnel !

I wonder if these delays don't signal a fight between the generations born in the forties and the sixties, used to being in power. I dare to hope that the generation of our ancestors will not opt for continuity without transformation under the pretext of defending its interests. Because it seems in truth that their interests, like those of all the Gabonese, lay in change and intergenerational dialogue!

Bongo's son was eventually declared the official candidate, and Eyéghé Ndong, in protest, declared himself an independent candidate. Patrick Ageron, a supporter of Ben Moubamba, writes on the Facebook page of Bongo, Jr's nomination:

Une nouvelle preuve encore que le système de la royauté (où le fils devient le successeur du père) toujours en vigueur dans nos contrées a bien été exporté sur le continent Africain.

C'est particulièrement dommage.
Quand cela cessera-t-il?

More proof that the system of royalty (or of the son becoming the successor of the father) is still strong in our parts has spread all over the African continent.

It's really a shame.
When will this stop?

Lucien Ntole offers words of encouragement:

Bruno, vous êtes enfin sur la ligne de départ! Je vous souhaite bonne chance pour la suite de cette belle aventure. Pour beaucoup d'entre nous vous incarnez le rêve d'un nouveau Gabon, bâti sur la justice et le droit; un pays où ” les gens de peu” relèvent enfin la tête. Du courage et bon vent!

Bruno, you are at last at the starting line! I wish you good luck with the rest of this beautiful adventure. For many of us, you embody the dream of a new Gabon, built on justice and law; a country where the havenots rise at last to the top. Courage and may the wind be at your back!