AfricaNow! October 12, 2022 Dissecting AFRICOM, and Environment, Oil, and the UN in the DRC

Topics and Guests: The show begins with a discussion with Aziz Fall, Member of Group for Research, and Initiatives for the Liberation of Africa (GRILA) and Netfa Freeman of Black Alliance for Peace on the U.S. militarization of Africa through U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo provides an update on critical environmental issues and the role of the UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
     
MUSIC ON THE SHOW: At beginning and end is--“ARMY ARRANGEMENT” BY FELA KUTI commemorating Fela Kuti’s birthday which is October 15.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

AfricaNow! Oct. 12, 2022 Dissecting AFRICOM, And Environment, Oil, And The UN In The DRC

AfricaNow! July 5, 2023 Black Studies in Cuba--The Case of Malcolm X and the Universal Negro Improvement Association 

Topic and Guests: Today we feature a discussion which recently took place in Havana Cuba that focused on the Black Studies in the country.  The seminar highlighted the impact of and exchange of ideas with Malcolm X and Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Cuba.  Featured in the discussion are: Dr. Joshua M. Myers is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Howard University and is a member of AfricaNow!’s and Africa World Now Project’s collective and author of the book Of Black Study; Dr. Justin Dunnavant, archaeologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UCLA; Jewell Humphrey, PhD Student at UCLA, Digital Storyteller, Africana Archaeologist; and Professor Kenia Serrano Puig of the University of Havana, organizer of the seminar.  The interpreter is Javier Huerta de la Presilla.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“EXUBERANTE” BY DIZZY GILLESPIE & MACHITO; break--“TANGA SUITE” BY MARIO BAUZÁ; sign-off--“LEKELA MUADI” BY TSHALA MUANA; closing--“QUILOMBO, O ELDORADO NEGRO” BY GILBERTO GIL commemorating Gilberto Gil’s birthday on June 26.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photo: UN Cuba map from https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/cuba-0

AfricaNow! Jul. 5, 2023 Black Studies in Cuba--The Case of Malcolm X & the UNIA

AfricaNow! July 19, 2023 The Life of Madie Hall Xuma with Professor Wanda A. Hendricks 

Topic and Guest: Today we feature a conversation with Professor Wanda A. Hendricks about Madie Beatrice Hall Xuma who was called “Mother of the Nation” in South Africa. As noted in the synopsis of the recent book by Professor Wanda A. Hendricks entitled The Life of Madie Hall Xuma: Black Women's Global Activism During Jim Crow and Apartheid “Madie Beatrice Hall Xuma spent her extraordinary life immersed in global women's activism. Dr. Wanda A. Hendricks's biography follows Hall Xuma from her upbringing in the Jim Crow South to her leadership role in the African National Congress (ANC) and beyond.  Hall Xuma was already known for her social welfare work when she married South African physician and ANC activist [and later president of the ANC] Alfred Bitini Xuma. Becoming president of the ANC Women’s League put Hall Xuma at the forefront of fighting racial discrimination as South Africa moved toward apartheid….” https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=25ehx6xh9780252044564

Professor Wanda A. Hendricks, Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of South Carolina, and author of The Life of Madie Hall Xuma: Black Women’s Global Activism During Jim Crow and Apartheid (University of Illinois Press (UIP) in October 2022). Dr. Hendricks has served as the National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians, and senior editor of the three-volume Black Women In America: Second Edition, published by Oxford University Press. She currently is an editor for the UIP’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality in American History series, and her other books include Gender, Race, and Politics in the Midwest: Black Club Women in Illinois and the first biography of Black activist and intellectual Fannie Barrier Williams. 
  

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“ABYSSINIA” BY THANDI NTULI; break--“AFRICA” BY ALICE COLTRANE; sign-off--“THE AWAKENING” BY AHMAD JAMAL commemorating the ancestor’s birthday on July 3 (July 3, 1942-September 28, 2021); closing--"HARAMBE" BY RITA MARLEY commemorating her birthday on July 25.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Jul. 19, 2023 The Life of Madie Hall Xuma with Professor Wanda A. Hendricks

AfricaNow! November 8, 2023 Remembering Maurice Bishop and the U.S. Invasion of Grenada

Topics and Guests: As we reflect on the U.S. invasion of Grenada 40 years ago on October 25, 1983 and the assassination of Maurice Bishop then prime minister of Grenada on October 19, 1983 AfricaNow! goes into its archives with a discussion with Von Martin, President of Caribbeana, and Host and Producer of Caribbeana on WPFW and a recent conversation featured on Caribbeana between Von Martin and Ambassador Dessima Williams, President of the Senate in Grenada and former Grenada ambassador to the UN.  

After 400 years of colonial-rule, Grenada won its independence in 1974 with Eric Gairy being its first prime minister.  Under Gairy’s leadership there was substantial corruption, widespread poverty and social unrest which led to a revolution by the New Jewel Movement with a young lawyer Maurice Bishop on March 13, 1979.  In that year Maurice Bishop became the new prime minister with the People’s Revolutionary Government.  Under Bishop’s leadership the citizens joined the new participatory-styled democracy, and the island was transforming from poverty and dependency upon the U.S. and the British toward one of self-reliance.  Both the Carter and Reagan administrations viewed the independence and socialist-styled government of Bishop’s Grenada with suspicion and contempt and actively worked to undermine it.  While Bishop brought unemployment down from 49% in 1979 to 14.2% in 1982, internal conflicts still persisted exacerbated by powerful outside forces.  On October 19, 1983, Maurice Bishop was assassinated allegedly by members of his own party.  The assassination of Maurice Bishop provided the Reagan administration a pretext to invade the island country of then less than 100,000 people on October 25, 1983.  Over 7,000 U.S. troops invaded Grenada.

The show begins with Von Martin, President of Caribbeana, and Host and Producer of Caribbeana on WPFW.  The conversation dissects Maurice Bishop's and the New Jewel Movement's philosophy and work in Grenada, U.S. negative impact in the Caribbean and invasion of Grenada and more.  Also included is a recent conversation featured on Caribbeana on October 28, 2023 between Von Martin and Ambassador Dessima Williams, President of the Senate in Grenada and former Grenada ambassador to the UN.  The conversation focuses on the legacy of Maurice Bishop and the New Jewel Movement on the island of Grenada, in the Caribbean and beyond.  The show also features the voice and words of Maurice Bishop from the film GRENADA: NOBODY'S BACKYARD by John Douglas, Kavery Dutta, Ellen Ray.   Caribbeana airs Saturdays 6-9PM (U.S. Eastern) on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC or at www.wpfwfm.org.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“TRUTH DON DIE” BY FEMI KUTI; break--“GET UP STAND UP” BY BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS commemorating 50th anniversary of its release on the BURNIN’ album October 19, 1973; sign-off--“KURIMA” BY CHIWONISO MARAIRE; closing song--“FREEDOM SOUNDS” BY THE SKATALITES.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photo: https://www.pathfinderpress.com/products/maurice-bishop-speaks-the-grenada-revolution-and-its-overthrow_1979-83#tab-2

AfricaNow! Nov. 8, 2023 Remembering Maurice Bishop and the U.S. Invasion of Grenada

AfricaNow! December 13, 2023 Dissecting The Liberia General Elections

Topic and Guest: Joseph Boakai of the Unity Party (UP) defeated incumbent Liberia President George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC the largest party in the Coalition for Democratic Change also CDC and he ran leading that coalition) in the presidential run-off election on November 14, 2023.  The results were 50.64% for Joseph Boakai to 49.36% for George Weah, representing the closet presidential run-off election result in Liberia’s history.  The presidential run-off election was part of the October 10, 2023, Liberia general elections process in which citizens voted for the positions of President, positions in the House of Representatives and half of the officials in the Senate.  According to the figures of the Liberia National Elections Commission 46 political parties were registered to take part in the general elections and nearly 2.5 (2,471,617) million people were registered to vote (From https://results.necliberia.org/president.php?&4df8f4a95b9ccaeffba51d2193fe766d30fe57c666ac68e0b618687f8a71b989=MTEw).  In the crowded presidential field on October 10, the top two vote getters were the incumbent George Weah and Joseph Boakai but neither achieved majority (50+1) of the votes. Thus, under the process a presidential run-off election was required between the two on November 14, 2023. 

During the first round of the of the October 10, 2023, Liberia general elections there were concerns raised about irregularities.  As a matter of fact, 9 people were arrested for election fraud.  In spite of this occurrence voters replaced a number of incumbents in the national assembly including the incumbent in the presidency. Yesterday I had a conversation with Liberian scholar-activist Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey who dissected the Liberia general elections.  The discussion focuses on the social, economic and political environment surrounding the legislative and executive elections of October 10, 2023, in Liberia, and the presidential run-off election of November 14.

Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey is Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).  Liberian academic, activist and author Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey has more than 20 years of combined personal and professional experiences in Africa, Europe and North America.  Her most recent book Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia (Cambridge University Press, 2021), won both the 2022 African Politics Conference Group (APCG) Best Book Award and the 2023 African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) Pius Adesanmi Memorial Award for Excellence in African Writing as well as contributed to the passage of Liberia’s dual citizenship law.  Dr. Pailey’s work has also been published in numerous academic journals and renowned global newspapers. 

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“LIBERIA” BY JOHN COLTRANE QUARTET; break--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; sign-off--“PARADISE” BY GROVER WASHINGTON, JR. remembering/commemorating his 80th birthday December 12 (Dec. 12, 1943—Dec. 17, 1999); closing song--“OBAA (WOMAN)” BY MIATTA FAHNBULLEH Liberian singer and social activist.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Dec. 13, 2023 Dissecting The Liberia General Elections

AfricaNow! January 3, 2024 DRC Controversial Elections Dissected

Topic and Guest: Two weeks ago on December 20, 2023, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) held general elections.  The process consisted of presidential, National Assembly, provincial assemblies, and municipal elections.  There were many logistical, transparency challenges in the exercise which civic society organizations and opposition parties documented and made them question whether this was indeed a free and fair general election.  Thus, when the DRC Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) announced preliminary results on December 31, 2023, that the incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi won the election with more than 70% of the votes, there were calls that the exercise was fraudulent.  There have even been calls for annulling the results and rerunning the election.  The presidential election featured 26 candidates including President Felix Tshisekedi.  Notable main contenders were—Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege; Moïse Katumbi a former Governor of Katanga Province; and Martin Fayulu (who respected independent observers believed actually won the 2018 election).

Featured is a recent conversation with Kambale Musavuli, in which he analyzes the recent disputed presidential, National Assembly, provincial assemblies, and municipal elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The conversation explores the failures of the electoral commission; the continued neo-colonial policy of countries such as the U.S.; the role of multinational extractive industry corporations; the interest of the elite class in the DRC and more.  Kambale Musavuli is Analyst, at the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa and is former National Spokesperson for the Friends of the Congo.  He is a human rights advocate and is one of the leading political and cultural Congolese voices.
 
MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“MBONGO” BY FRANCO & T.P.O.K. JAZZ; break--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; sign-off--“THE PURPLE CONDOR” BY DANILO PÉREZ commemorating his birthday which was December 29 (December 29, 1966—); closing song--“LIZOBUYA” BY MBONGENI NGEMA remembering the renowned playwright, musician, producer, actor, and composer Mbongeni Ngema best known for co-writing the musical Sarafina! and the play Woza Albert! Mbongeni Ngema died in car accident last week on December 27 in Eastern Cape province, South Africa.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos: Map of DRC provinces from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

AfricaNow! Jan. 3, 2024 DRC Controversial Elections Dissected

AfricaNow! January 17, 2024 Dr. King's Internationalism—Historical & Contemporary Impact

Topic and Guest: As we commemorate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this week—he would have turned 95 on January 15—AfricaNow! goes into its archives with a program in which we explored Dr. King's internationalism—its historical and contemporary impact.  That program featured Dr. Clayborne Carson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor of History and Ronnie Lott Founding Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Currently Dr. Clayborne Carson is Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor Emeritus of History at Stanford University.  Dr. Carson has devoted his professional life to the study of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the human rights movements inspired by King.  His numerous publications include his award-winning book, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s. Full bio is available at https://fsi.stanford.edu/people/clayborne-carson.  

The show begins with a portion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech of April 7, 1957, entitled Birth of a New Nation presented soon after attending Ghana’s Independence Day celebration on March 6, 1957.  Towards the end of the show there is ending of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech of April 7, 1957, entitled Birth of a New Nation theatrical reading by Stephanie Pope. 
 
MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“FREEDOM SOUNDS” BY THE SKATALITES; break--“DEVOTION” BY EARTH, WIND & FIRE and “THE MESSAGE CONTINUES” BY NUBYA GARICIA; Ending of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech of April 7, 1957, entitled Birth of a New Nation theatrical reading by Stephanie Pope--“AIN’T NO STOPPING US NOW” BY MCFADDEN & WHITEHEAD; sign-off--“HYMN TO FREEDOM” BY OSCAR PETERSON; closing song--“TRUTH DON DIE” BY FEMI KUTI.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos: Kwame Nkrumah and Martin Luther King, Jr. in Accra, Ghana March 1957
By Government of Ghana https://www.phillytrib.com/birth-of-a-new-nation-martin-luther-king-on-ghana/article_01d6a859-1b2b-56e3-b619-b899f3ccdafb.html

AfricaNow! Jan. 17, 2024 Dr. King's Internationalism—Historical & Contemporary Impact

AfricaNow! January 24, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. II—Black Workers & El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

Topic and Guests: Today AfricaNow! continues a series which highlights some of the discussion which took place during the Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle conference held in New York City in November 1990.  More than 3,000 people from 25 countries attended conference which featured more than 100 speakers that led 24 sessions that deeply explored, contextualized, and situated El Hajj Malik El Shabazz in the genealogy of Black radical internationalism as a Pan Africanist.  In today’s program we feature Part II—Black Workers & El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, part of the series on this conference.  In Part II— Black Workers & El Hajj Malik El Shabazz you first hear Ashaki Binta of the Black Workers for Justice, General Baker of Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and Saladin Muhammad of Black Workers for Justice. 

More on this--we encourage you to visit Abdul Alkalimat’s website at  www.alkalimat.org/brothermalcolm/1…onf_contents.htm to explore, read, and hear more of the conference.  
 
MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“YOU’RE PLAYING US TOO CLOSE” BY THIRD WORLD WITH STEVIE WONDER; break--“HAW RIGHT NOW” BY PATRICE RUSHEN; sign-off--“KURIMA” BY CHIWONISO MARAIRE; closing song--“YOU’VE GOT HAVE FREEDOM” BY PHAROAH SANDERS.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Jan. 24, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. II—Black Workers & El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

AfricaNow! January 31, 2024 Upcoming Election in Senegal Contextualized 

Topic and Guest: On February 25, 2024, Senegalese go to the polls to elect a new president.  The incumbent, President Macky Sall, cannot run due to term limits.  Although last year he seemed to attempt to seek a third term—massive demonstrations by the youth in particular forced him to declare that he would not run.  The presidential election in Senegal will take place in an atmosphere where an important opposition leader—by many accounts the leading opposition leader—Ousmane Sonko has been barred by the Senegalese Constitutional Council from running.

Featured is a recent conversation with an activist in Dakar Marie Helene Ndiaye about the upcoming election in Senegal which contextualized the process. The points covered included the key political participants; the regional dynamics; unemployment among the youth; the President Macky Sall; France’s continuous involvement; the atmosphere surrounding the February 2024 presidential election; arrests of activists and journalists; harassment of the opposition; youth movement's demands and more.  Marie Helene Ndiaye, Consultant on Artistic Activism and Coordinator of the Invisible Giants Program.
 
MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; break--“WALKIN’” BY SONNY STITT commemorating Sonny Stitt’s birthday, the renowned ancestor saxophonist Sonny Stitt would have turned 100 on February 2 (February 2, 1924—July 22, 1982); sign-off--“KURIMA” BY CHIWONISO MARAIRE; closing song--“#FREESENEGAL” BY DIP DOUNDOU GUISS.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos: Senegal Map by the UN available at https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/senegal-0

AfricaNow! Jan. 31, 2024 Upcoming Election in Senegal Contextualized

AfricaNow! February 7, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. III—Applying Malcolm

Topic and Guests: Today AfricaNow! continues a series which highlights some of the discussion which took place during the Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle conference held in New York City in November 1990.  More than 3,000 people from 25 countries attended conference which featured more than 100 speakers led 24 sessions that deeply explored, contextualized, and situated El Hajj Malik El Shabazz in the genealogy of Black radical internationalism as a Pan Africanist.  In today’s program we feature Pt. III—Applying Malcolm, part of the series on this conference.  In the final installment Pt. III—Applying Malcolm on AfricaNow! features Barbara Ransby and Fran Beal. 

In this series, Africa World Now Project is sharing some of the sessions from this conference in an effort to engender serious engagement, in this very moment, a moment where it is essential to be intentional with one’s political practice with Malcolm. Not in the narrow confines of him as an individual or pigeonhole him to moments and soundbites, but to identify the tradition that produced Malcolm as a nexus, a point of entry for many into the seriously trying to figure out: what is to be done?

More on this--we encourage you to visit Abdul Alkalimat’s website at www.alkalimat.org/brothermalcolm/1…onf_contents.htm to explore, read, and hear more of the conference.
 
MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“GET UP, STAND UP” BY BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS commemorating Bob Marley’s birthday which is February 6 (February 6, 1945—May 11, 1981); closing song--“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED” BY GIL SCOTT HERON.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Feb. 7, 2024 Reflections on Malcolm X…Pt. III—Applying Malcolm

AfricaNow! February 14, 2024 The Postponed Senegal Presidential Election Dissected

Topic and Guest: On February 2 President Macky Sall of Senegal announced that the scheduled presidential election of February 25, 2024, would be postponed.  The incumbent, President Macky Sall, cannot run due to term limits and some observers think the postponement is another attempt for the incumbent to hang on to power or at least to ensure that his desired candidate wins the election.  On February 5 the Senegalese National Assembly voted to postpone the election to December.  During the proceedings of vote security forces harassed members of the opposition who were raising objections to the postponement of the election.  This is the first time in Senegal’s history that elections have been postponed.  There have been nationwide protests against the postponement of the election in which security forces have clashed with demonstrators and at least 3 people have been killed.   In an interview with the Associated Press Senegalese President Macky Sall said that “the country needed more time to resolve controversies over the disqualification of some candidates and a conflict between the legislative and judicial branches of government.” (Senegal’s president defends delaying elections in exclusive interview as protests erupt nationwide, by Sam Mednick, AP, February 9, 2024 https://apnews.com/article/senegal-president-macky-sall-elections-11adac8e3b926db260e9dee0cdb293e7) 

Today the show features a conservation I had yesterday with activist Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan. The conversation contextualizes Senegalese President Macky Sall's decision to postpone the February 25 presidential election. The discussion highlights protests by citizens against the postponement; arrests of activists and journalists; harassment of the opposition; West Africa's political dynamics; the growing movement against France’s continuous involvement in the country and region; and more.  Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan, Head of Building Power Department at the Climate Action Network (CAN) International and is former Coordinator of Africans Rising.  

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; closing song--“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED” BY GIL SCOTT HERON.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos: Senegal Map by the UN available at https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/senegal-0

AfricaNow! Feb. 14, 2024 The Postponed Senegal Presidential Election Dissected

AfricaNow! February 21, 2024 Attack on Eastern DRC Unpacked

Topic and Guests: Today AfricaNow! focuses on the recent escalating attacks by armed groups particularly the M23 on eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Joining the show from Goma in the eastern DRC is Congolese journalist Akilimali Chomachoma, who dissects the M23—Rwanda’s involvement; the continued neo-colonial role of multinational corporations and western nation to use the conflict to exploit the DRC’s vast resources journalist in Goma, DRC; the massive loss of life and the plight of internally displaced people and more.  The show also features insights from Nils Kinuani, Board Director, and Immigration Coordinator for the Congolese Community of Washington Metropolitan (CCWM), and Maurice Carney, co-founder and Executive Director of the Friends of the Congo.   

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“MBONGO” BY FRANCO & T.P O.K. JAZZ; closing song--“I WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO BE FREE” BY NINA SIMONE, commemorating her birthday she would have turned 91 today February 21 (February 21, 1933—April 21, 2003).

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos: Map of DRC provinces from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

AfricaNow! Feb. 21, 2024 Attack on Eastern DRC Unpacked

AfricaNow! March 6, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest

Topic and Guest: In an article for Insurgent Notes, Matthew Quest asks, What Type of Historian Was CLR James? CLR James, native of Trinidad, was a historian with a speculative philosophy of history. He brought these methods to his narrative of Haiti in The Black Jacobins (1938), and later in his Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution (1977). James was influenced by historians of the French Revolution, while his approach was shaped by Leon Trotsky’s A History of the Russian Revolution, Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West, and the Edwardian radicals GK Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, both literary men who wrote polemical histories sympathetic to the social motion of commoners. 

...For James, the working classes, be their wages high or low, and the unemployed possessed a hidden depth, a latent understanding, and a creative genius. Ordinary people, not professional leaders of official society, were the chief actors of history....Highlighting another important contribution of CLR James to Black radicalism, Matthew Quest unpacks his political economic analysis. Quest writes that CLR James is recalled as a Pan-African and independent socialist...

Quest goes on to argue that the Black radical tradition, after experimenting with European radicalism and socialism, never developed its own independent political economy. ...For James, there is a connection between state planning and repression of toilers, and he in no way subscribes to classical liberal market economics. We must remember that James’s mature political economy was worked out not just in response to Russia but Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal welfare state, and its repression of self-directed action during the CIO labor movement....

Today, we will explore CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest. 

This conversation will be presented as a three-part series where we specifically explore CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’ conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today. 

To understand the depth and range of impact of CLR James’s work, I would describe him as your ‘rappers’ favorite rapper’. Your favorite theorist, revolutionary, radical, Pan Africanist had to or at some point must come to terms with CLR James’s work. His influences are both undeniable and misunderstood. 

Matthew Quest has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities including Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is known as a scholar of the legacies of CLR James.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“BABA AFRIKA” BY CHRISTINE KAMAU; break--“KURIMA” CHIWONISO MARAIRE; sign-off--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; closing song--“ALUTA CONTINUA” BY MIRIAM MAKEBA commemorating her birthday on March 4 (March 4, 1932—November 10, 2008) International Women’s Day March 8 and Women’s History Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos:

AfricaNow! Mar. 6, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest

AfricaNow! March 13, 2024 Celebrating Women’s History Month & African Filmmaking 

Topics and Guests: As we continue commemorate Women’s History Month, today we focus on African women filmmakers.  In recent years there has been tremendous growth in the African filmmaking industry on the continent and the diaspora—with a wider range of countries producing movies.  What does this growth mean for African women filmmakers?

The show features a recent conversation with two filmmakers from Nigeria Tosin Otudeko and Segilola Ogidan.  The conversation dissected the impact of women filmmakers on the African film industry.  Filmmaker Tosin Otudeko is a writer and producer of various songs, poems and ongoing projects in theatre and film.  She is the Screenwriter and Producer of recent Nigerian film Over The Bridge.  Segilola Ogidan is a multi-award-winning Producer, Writer, Actress and Director.  She is the Lead Actress in Over The Bridge.   In   Over The Bridge Folarin (Ozzy Agu) is a Lagos-based investment banker with something to hide. Plagued by an alcohol problem and intermittent panic attacks, he finds his life turned upside down when a controversial rail construction project compromises his ethics. The U.S. premiere of Over The Bridge will be held at the 20th edition of the New African Film Festival on March 16 followed by a discussion with Tosin Otudeko.   The festival is presented by AFI and Africa World Now Project with Kishere Mbuya CEO of afrikafé co-founder of the festival. The festival takes place March 15-28 at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.  WPFW is the media sponsor. For more information visit www.AFI.com/Silver.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“ABYSSINIA” BY THANDI NTULI; break--“BISSA” BY FATOUMATA DIAWARA; sign-off--“JARABI” BY SONA JOBARTEH; closing song--“FROM AFRICA 2 U” BY NNEKA.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Mar. 13, 2024 Celebrating Women’s History Month & African Filmmaking

AfricaNow! March 20, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt.II

Topic and Guest: According to Renault in Toward a Counter-Genealogy of Race: On CLR James, it is argued that James always stressed the fundamental importance of the notion of class struggle, and closely followed developments in revolutionary working-class struggles in Europe and the United States. 

“This did not prevent him, however, from analyzing and taking part in movements for decolonization: In 1938, he authored the famous history of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins; in the 1940s, he was seen as a specialist on the “Negro Question” within North American Trotskyist movements; he also had ties to African independence leaders – Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, and later, Julius Nyerere in Tanzania – and he became involved in “party politics” himself during the time leading up to Trinidadian independence. James strove to reposition Pan-Africanist struggles within a global revolutionary history, by interpreting them in light of Marxist theory and historiography; the latter, in turn, was reshaped through the lens of the experience of (de)colonization. He foregrounded and thematized the relations between class oppression and racial oppression as well as the connections between struggles for emancipation waged by subaltern groups with their own autonomous demands.”

But does this necessarily mean that as a Marxist, James thinks of race in the same way he thinks class? Does a concept of race exist in his writings, one invested with a specific theoretical and/or political function, beyond the attention he pays to actual instances of racial domination? 

...In short, this debate is captured in the question still echoing in freedom struggles, specifically in the African world, what is the primary contradiction that must be centered in movement work, race or class?...

...Today, we present Pt. II of the three-part series where we are unpacking CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation/management, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest. 

We are intentionally exploring CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities, and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’ conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today. 

To understand the depth and range of impact of CLR James’s work, I would categorize him as your ‘rappers’ favorite rapper’. Your favorite theorist, revolutionary, radical, Pan Africanist had to or at some point must come to terms with CLR James’s work. His influences are both undeniable and misunderstood. 

Matthew Quest has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities including Georgia State University in Atlanta, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  He is known as a scholar of the legacies of CLR James.
 

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro-- “BLUE NILE” BY ALICE COLTRANE; break--“KURIMA” CHIWONISO MARAIRE; sign-off--“NABU CORFA” BY DOROTHY ASHBY; closing song--“SISTERS’ CHANT” BY JUDY MOWATT commemorating Women’s History Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Mar. 20, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt. II

AfricaNow! March 27, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt.III

Topic and Guest: Summary--Today, we present part three, the final installment of the three-part series where we are unpacking CLR James’s thought, paying specific attention to his articulation of notions of direct democracy, worker’s self-emancipation/management, and meditations on autonomy with Matthew Quest.  We are intentionally exploring CLR James as a frame of reference in the context of current labor struggles, the opportunities, and potential limitations of demands within labor movements [where we think through the limitations of labor demands being divorced from direct critique of imperialism and colonialisms]; and how does CLR James’s conceptualization of autonomy and direct democracy have an important part to play in conceptualization of labor movements today. 

Matthew Quest is an editor of Clash! a collective of writers who advocate for Caribbean unity from below. He has taught African, African American and Caribbean History at universities in the United States.

Part of Full Intro--Matthew Quest in CLR James and George Padmore: Hidden Disputes in The Black Radical Tradition, examines the collaboration between James and George Padmore since their partnership within the International African Service Bureau in the 1930s. Despite their joint activism in Pan-African affairs, political rifts emerged on democracy, socialism, and revolutionary strategy. 

Quest specifically explores James’ portrayal of Padmore to highlight the political tensions underlying their friendship. James’ and Padmore’s different perspectives on anti-imperialism reveal hidden disputes in the Black radical tradition, disputes that promoted evolution in thought and practice that must be taken up today.

In  London during the 1930s, the era of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, CLR James (1901–1989) and George Padmore (1903–1959) worked together as activists in the International African Service Bureau. 

Quest goes on to highlight that “in 1957 a plan was hatched in Britain for Padmore to become chief of staff of Pan African affairs in Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana, and James to become the editor of The Nation, the organ of Eric Williams’s People’s National Movement (PNM), but also the secretary of the effort to federate the West Indies from 1958–1962. When Padmore passed away CLR James began to write him into history.”...

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“WATER” BY INNA MODJA commemorating World Water Day March 22; intro with CLR James's interview--SPACE BY HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE FEAT. YASIIN BEY; break--“MAI” CHIWONISO MARAIRE commemorating her birthday March 5 (March 5, 1976–July 24, 2013) and Women’s History Month; sign-off--“FORTIFY” BY NUBYA GARCIA; closing song--“THINK” BY ARETHA FRANKLIN commemorating her birthday which is March 25 (March 25, 1942–August 16, 2018) and Women’s History Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Mar. 27, 2024 Thinking Through CLR James with Matthew Quest Pt. III

AfricaNow! April 3, 2024 Post-Election Senegal Contextualized

Topic and Guests: At the inauguration ceremony in Dakar Senegal yesterday April 2, 2024, Bassirou Diomaye Faye of the young party African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity or Patriots of Senegal (PASTEF) became the country’s fifth president.  On  March 24 Bassirou Diomaye Faye won the first round of the presidential election after receiving 54.28% of the votes.  Since Faye achieved over 50% of the votes a run-off was not needed.  The vote was originally scheduled to take place on February 25, 2024, but then-President Macky Sall—who could not run due to term limits—postponed the exercise initially indefinitely then the Senegalese National Assembly voted to postpone the election to December.  This was followed by the ruling by the Senegal Constitutional Council which stated that it was unlawful to postpone the scheduled presidential election.  This ruling and pressure from Senegalese forced then-President Macky Sall to announce on March 6 that the presidential election would be held on March 24.  

Today the show features conservations I had the day before the inauguration in Senegal with activist Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan, Head of Building Power Department at the Climate Action Network (CAN) International, and former Coordinator of Africans Rising; and youth activist Maurice Samba.   The show dissects the recent monumental presidential election of Bassirou Diomaye Faye of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (PASTEF) in Senegal.  The conversations highlight the role of the youth in the process; the changes in Senegal's political scene; sovereignty and the movement of removing France's economic control in Senegal and West Africa; Pan-Africanism and more.


MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro & intro of Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan--“THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED” BY GIL SCOTT-HERON remembering his birthday April 1 (April 1, 1949—May 27, 2011; break--The Senegalese ensemble JALIKUNDA AFRICAN DRUMS; sign-off--“MAYIBUYE” HUGH MASEKELA commemorating his birthday April 4 (April 4, 1939–January 23, 2018) and Jazz Appreciation Month; closing song--“DIOMAYE MOOY SONKO” BY MAYA song was used in the presidential election.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFW write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photo: People voting during Senegal's presidential election on March 24, 2024 courtesy of Maurice Samba.

AfricaNow! Apr. 3, 2024 Post-Election Senegal Contextualized

AfricaNow! April 10, 2024 War in Sudan One Year On

Topic and Guests: April 15 marks one year since war broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo a.k.a. Hemedti.   Recent figures indicate over 9 million people have been displaced—internally and externally as refugees abroad; and the United Nations World Food Programme notes roughly 18 million face acute food insecurity (“What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises” The Guardian March 22, 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/22/what-caused-the-civil-war-in-sudan-and-how-has-it-become-one-of-the-worlds-worst-humanitarian-crises). The war has impacted children heavily—it has been noted as many as 19 million children are out of school due to the war. 

Recently I had conversations unpacking the war situation in Sudan and solidarity efforts with Sudanese in deal with the war’s impact.  The conversations dissected internal and external players; the role multinational corporations; historic neoliberal policies which have undermined the country’s food production; the tremendous role of the Resistance Committees in addressing the needs of the people; the solidarity efforts with Sudanese from abroad and more.  The conversations featured Dr. Nisrin Elamin and Diana Konate.  Scholar/Activist Dr. Nisrin Elamin, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Department of African Studies, University of Toronto, and a member of the Sudan Solidarity Collective in Canada.  Diana Konate, Deputy Executive Director of Policy, and Advocacy, African Communities Together (ACT).

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“UHURU KWANZA” BY RANDY WESTON remembering his birthday April 6 (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) and Jazz Appreciation Month; break--“AL AMAL” BY NOORI & HIS DORPA BAND; intro of Diana Konate--“JABANA” BY NOORI & HIS DORPA BAND; sign-off--“JARABI” SONA JOBARTEH; closing song--“GOD BLESS THE CHILD” BY BILLIE HOLIDAY commemorating her birthday April 7 (April 7, 1915—July 17, 1959) and Jazz Appreciation Month.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photo: Sudanese Dr. Dimah Mahmoud with signs at Embassy of Sudan by and Drawing of Statement on Sidewalk in front of Embassy of Sudan by Dimah Mahmoud in front Sudan Embassy in Washington, DC in June 2023. Photos courtesy of Mwiza Munthali.

AfricaNow! Apr. 10, 2024 War in Sudan One Year On

AfricaNow! April 17, 2024 Black Working-Class Contributions to the Cuban Revolution with Pedro Sarduy

Topic and Guest: Black working-class contributions to the most recent iteration of the Cuban revolution are immense, yet somehow missing in discourse around revolutionary Cuba.  The long history of African resistance and cultural contributions to Cuban society, which has been intricately connected to global Black freedom movements has been in rhythmic continuity till present day. An illustration of this is Carlota Lucumi and Firmina are remembered for their parts planning and leading a 1843 revolt of enslaved Africans in colonial Cuba. Then there is Rosa Castellanos was a freed slave, medic and soldier in the Ten Years’ War. At the onset of the war in 1868, Castellanos used her knowledge of indigenous medicinal herbs to treat injured soldiers. ...we come to understand the role that Juan Almeida, born into a black working-class family in Havana who also worked as a bricklayer from age 11, played in the Cuban revolution. ....

In Cuba’s support of liberation struggles against colonial forces on the African continent—from Algeria to Angola to Cape Verde to Guinea Bissau to Mozambique—individuals such Victor Dreke who epitomized Cuba in Africa, Africa in Cuba.  He served as second in command under Ernesto Che Guevara in the Congo. 

The continuities are clear and important on many levels – that is on the level of internal, as confronting internal contradictions specifically the necessity to fight the colonially structured vestiges of racism in Cuban society is an added terrain of struggle. ... The struggle to heighten the internal contradictions, which is a struggle, in its totality, a struggle against the coloniality of being. Where the vestiges of old forms of oppression are presented in new ways. In the case of Cuba, where the colonial structures of race/racism are used to try to undo the revolutionary process of creating a liberated territory. 

Today, we present a conversation from a few weeks ago with Pedro Sarduy where we engage in a discussion that is in its essence, a mapping of the anticolonial process. Pedro Pérez-Sarduy is a poet, writer, journalist, and broadcaster living in Puerto Rico, London and Havana. He is the author of Surrealidad (Havana 1967), Cumbite and Other Poems (Havana 1987 and New York 1990).  He is also co-editor with Jean Stubbs of Afro-Cuba: An Anthology of Cuban Writing on Race, Politics and Culture (1993) and co-author for the anthology No Longer Invisible/Afro-Latin Americans Today (1995). His Journal in Babylon is a series of chronicles on Britain. His first novel, Las Criadas de la Habana (The Maids of Havana), is based on his mother's life stories about pre-and post-revolutionary Havana.  This is the first novel by a contemporary Afro Cuban writer on family life in Cuba. He has written numerous articles. Together with Jean Stubbs, he wrote Afro-Cuban Voices on Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba (2000). Sarduy has read his work internationally and lectured regularly on race, politics, and culture at academic institutions, globally. 
Awards he has received a number of awards for his poetry.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW all songs for Jazz Appreciation Month: intro--“DARY” BY OMAR SOSA AND SECKOU KEITA commemorating Omar Sosa’s birthday April 10; break--“JAZZ BATÁ” BY CHUCHO VALDÉS; sign-off--“MAIDEN VOYAGE” BY HERBIE HANCOCK commemorating Herbie Hancock’s birthday April 12; closing song--“TANGA SUITE” BY MARIO BAUZA.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Apr. 17, 2024 Black Working-Class Contributions to the Cuban Revolution with Pedro Sarduy

AfricaNow! April 24, 2024 Dealing with the Challenges of Climate Change & El Niño

Topic and Guests: In recent years the impact on the African continent of climate change has been demonstrated by the increased frequency of devastating cyclones in Southeast Africa such as Cyclone Freddy in 2023 or the Sahel and West Africa’s heatwave of late March and early April 2024.  Parts of the continent are also being adversely affected by El Niño—which is associated with a rise in temperatures.  In a report released on April 18, 2024 the World Weather Attribution notes that El Niño is “a key driver” of the current drought in southern Africa (El Niño key driver of drought in highly vulnerable Southern African countries, World Weather Attribution, April 18, 2024   https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/el-nino-key-driver-of-drought-in-highly-vulnerable-southern-african-countries/).  According to news reports the United Nations recently noted that southern Africa has an estimated 20 million people who face “acute hunger” (Drought Pushes Millions Into ‘Acute Hunger’ in Southern Africa, The New York Times, by Somini Sengupta and Manuela Andreoni  April 18, 2024 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/climate/drought-southern-africa.html) 

As we commemorate Earth Day, which was on April 22, today the show focuses on the impact of climate change on the African continent, the negative role of multinational corporations, grassroots solutions to adapt to and to mitigate climate change and more.  Also highlighted is the drought in southern Africa escalated by El Niño.  Joining the show are  Anne Maina, National Coordinator of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association of Kenya, and Estacio Valoi, an investigative journalist based in Mozambique and is with the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ).

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“IN A MELLOW TONE” BY DUKE ELLINGTON AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG commemorating Duke Ellington’s birthday April 29 (April 29, 1899–May 24, 1974) and Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day April 30; break--“NAKURU SUNSHINE” BY CHRISTINE KAMAU commemorating Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day April 30; sign-off--“WINDS OF CHANGE” BY JIMMY DLUDLU commemorating Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day April 30; closing song--“THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS” BY STEVIE WONDER commemorating Earth Day April 22.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW.  Donate online visit https://pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

Photos: UNEP/Nayim Ahmed Yussuf of Communities in Maalimin, in northern Kenya are experiencing drought conditions (2023) from  https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143352; Video Shot Effects of Cyclone Freddy by Kandani Ngwira.

AfricaNow! Apr. 24, 2024 Dealing with the Challenges of Climate Change & El Niño

AfricaNow! May 1, 2024 We Have The Right to Education

Topic and Guests: The show features a portion of a discussion with Christine Melendez, member Virginia Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators and President of the Chesterfield Education Association (in Chesterfield Virginia); Hannah Clayman, member Virginia Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators; Bryan Proffitt, Vice President of the North Carolina Association of Educators and is a history teacher and southern organizer; Adreonna Simmons Bennett, Archivist at University of North Carolina; Abdul Alkalimat, Member of the Advisory Board of Communiversity, an education partner of Black Workers for Justice; and D. Noble, Cultural Activist. The moderator of the session is Tony Menelik van Der Meer, PhD member of Communiversity, an education partner of Black Workers for Justice, and is professor of Africana Studies at UMass Boston. The discussion is from a nine-part series that explores and discusses the role and demands of workers. The series was presented by the Communiversity in collaboration with Black Workers for Justice and the Southern Workers Assembly focusing on the nine points of the Southern Workers Power Program. The session which the show focuses on is the sixth point of the Southern Workers Power Program which is: WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION; THEREFORE, WE DEMAND: A] Free quality education through college under public control and ownership that creates an educated community; B] Widespread support for the efforts of teachers and librarians in teaching the complete and accurate people’s history; C] Cancel all student debt. There is a brief introduction by Tasneem Siddiqui member of Communiversity, an education partner of Black Workers for Justice, and of course she part of AfricaNow!’s and Africa World Now Project’s Collectives.

The nine-part program took place in September and October 2022 presented by the Communiversity in collaboration with Black Workers for Justice and the Southern Workers Assembly is available on Africa World Project YouTube page (www.youtube.com/channel/UCbc3Vw36…jJzsvg-PwA/videos). The program (Southern Workers Power Program) can be found here: southernworker.org/campaigns/... or Communiversity [South]: www.thecommuniversitysouth.org/.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“WORK SONG” BY CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET commemorating International Workers’ Day or May Day (May 1); break--“KURIMA” BY CHIWONISO MARAIRE commemorating International Workers’ Day or May Day (May 1); sign-off--“GET UP STAND UP” BY BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS commemorating International Workers’ Day or May Day (May 1); closing song--“STIMELA” BY HUGH MASEKELA commemorating International Workers’ Day or May Day (May 1) and remembering 30 years ago on April 27, 1994 the first non-racial election in South Africa ending apartheid, workers were instrumental in the struggle in South Africa.

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW. Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! May 1, 2024 We Have the Right to Education

AfricaNow! August 23, 2017 Elections in Angola and Remembering Dick Gregory

Summary—Topics and Guests: Elections in Angola and Remembering Dick Gregory with Mr. Florindo Chivucute is the founder and Executive Director of Friends of Angola (FoA) and Radio Angola, and Co-founder of the United Network Transition (UTN); and recordings of Comedian-Activist Dick Gregory.   
  
Topics and Guests: Today, August 23, in Angola, general elections were held.  For the first time since multiparty process commenced in Angola in 1992 the name José Eduardo dos Santos does not appear on the ballots.  Dos Santos has been president of the country since 1979 following the death of first leader of the country Agostinho Neto.  There were six parties contesting for the elections; the main contenders are: the governing MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola) led by João Lourenço; the main opposition party UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) led by Isaías Samakuva; and CASA-CE (Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola – Electoral Coalition) led by Abel Chivukuvuku.  The other parties are FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola), PRS (Social Renewal Party), and APN (National Patriotic Alliance).  Joining the show to discuss matters surrounding the election process and other issues in Angola is Mr. Florindo Chivucute.  Mr. Florindo Chivucute is the founder and Executive Director of Friends of Angola (FoA) and Radio Angola, and Co-founder of the United Network Transition (UTN).   Since founding Friends of Angola in April 2014, he has led the design and implementation of four projects in Angola: Radio Angola (an online radio station hosted by Florindo); Strengthening Nonviolent Civic Engagement Among the Youth; Strengthening Democracy in Angola Through Community Journalism; Zuela Application – a pro-democracy and social networking smartphone app focused on fostering good governance, eradicating corruption, monitoring elections and human right violations and more. Mr. Chivucute is currently working at Pennsylvania State University as an International Student Adviser. 

Comedian-activist Dick Gregory joined the ancestors on Saturday, August 19th, 2017 in Washington, DC; he was 84 years old.  Today AfricaNow! features a couple of recordings of Baba Gregory. First the show presents Dick Gregory discussing the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1970; the source of the recording is Pacifica Archives.  Then AfricaNow! plays Dick Gregory at Amandla Festival in Boston on July 21, 1979.  Mr. Gregory was on stage before he introduced Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Amandla Festival in Boston on July 21, 1979.  The Amandla Festival of Unity was held to support and celebrate the liberation of Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.  The festival also highlighted the on-going efforts of people in Boston to end racism in their families, schools, workplaces and communities. AfricaNow! also features “Ballad for My Father” Ayanna Gregory’s tribute to her father Dick Gregory. 
  
Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

AfricaNow! Aug. 23, 2017 Elections in Angola & Remembering Dick Gregory

AfricaNow! December 6, 2017 The Plight of African Migrants in Libya; and Update on Liberia's Presidential Election Run-Off  

Summary—Topics and Guests: The Plight of African Migrants in Libya; and Update on Liberia's Presidential Election Run-Off.  Featuring: Ms. Nunu Kidane, Director of Priority Africa Network and a member of Pan African Network in Defense of Migrants’ Rights; and Dr. Robtel Pailey, Liberian academic, activist, political analyst and author.  Also included is an extract of a commentary by Mr. Gerald A. Perreira entitled “Deceptive Intelligence” which appeared in Pambazuka News on November 30, 2017.  The commentary is read by Mr. Funa Ngonda, Research Fellow Volunteer for AfricaNow! 

Topics and Guests: By now we have all seen the horrifying video showing African migrants being auctioned off by human traffickers to the highest binder: much like the plight of enslaved Africans centuries ago.  Joining AfricaNow! to dissect the plight of African migrants in Libya in proper context is Ms. Nunu Kidane, Director of Priority Africa Network and a member of Pan African Network in Defense of Migrants’ Rights.   First the show features an extract of a commentary by Mr. Gerald A. Perreira entitled “Deceptive Intelligence” which appeared in Pambazuka News on November 30, 2017 read by Mr. Funa Ngonda, Research Fellow Volunteer for AfricaNow!  Ms. Nunu Kidane is the Director of Priority Africa Network and editor of AfricaMoves: a Pan African Migration Platform which hosts regular consultations on migration policy around Africa and the diaspora. Ms. Kidane is founder and current steering committee member of the Pan African Network in Defense of Migrants’ Rights (PANiDMR) and the Black Immigration Network (BIN). In 2012, Nunu Kidane received award from the White House as "Champion of Change" for work with African diaspora communities.  Mr. Gerald A. Perreira is chairperson of the Guyanese organizations Black Consciousness Movement Guyana (BCMG) and Organization for the Victory of the People (OVP), International Secretary for ARM (African Revolutionary Movement) and executive member of the Caribbean Chapter of the Network for Defense of Humanity. He lived in Libya for many years, served in the Green March, an international battalion for the defense of the Al Fatah Revolution, and was an executive member of the World Mathaba based in Libya.

AfricaNow! also focuses its attention on the postponed Liberia Presidential Election Run-Off with Dr. Robtel Pailey, Liberian academic, activist, political analyst and author.  Dr. Robtel Pailey, is a Liberian academic, activist and author with 15 years of combined professional experiences in Africa, Europe and North America. She has worked across a broad range of fields supporting universities, governments, NGOs, media institutions, regional and multilateral organizations.  Robtel Pailey has practitioner-based proficiencies in qualitative research, capacity development, policy design and analysis, program management, report and grant writing, journalism and strategic communications. She has consulted for ActionAid; the African Development Bank Group (AfDB); the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid)/Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; the Ford Foundation; Search for Common Ground; the Social Science Research Council (SSRC); the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI); and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), amongst others.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

AfricaNow! Dec. 6, 2017 Afr. Migrants in Libya & Update on Liberia's Pres. Election Run-Off

AfricaNow! February 13, 2019 Theorizing Fanon: Latin America and the Pitfalls of National Consciousness  

Summary—Topic and Guest: Theorizing Fanon: Latin America and the Pitfalls of National Consciousness--The pitfalls of national consciousness is one of the many important theoretical contributions from Frantz Fanon.  With the current discourse around limited notions of nationalism and the so-called rise of an global ultra-nationalist right, the show is designed to offer streams of thought that invoke critique and inform paths of study toward solutions.  The conversation with James Early attempts to offer perspective by focusing specifically on the sociopolitical and cultural conditions in Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba.  Mr. Early is former Director of Cultural Studies and Communication at the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC; and he currently serves on the Board of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and is a consultant on various issues related to human rights, labor, land, state craft.

Topic and Guest: “History teaches us clearly that the battle against colonialism does not run straight away along the lines of nationalism. For a very long time the native devotes his energies to ending certain definite abuses: forced labour, corporal punishment, inequality of salaries, limitation of political rights, etc. This fight for democracy against the oppression of mankind will slowly leave the confusion of neo-liberal universalism to emerge, sometimes laboriously, as a claim to nationhood. It so happens that the unpreparedness of the educated classes, the lack of practical links between them and the mass of the people, their laziness, and, let it be said, their cowardice at the decisive moment of the struggle will give rise to tragic mishaps.

“National consciousness, instead of being the all-embracing crystallization of the innermost hopes of the whole people, instead of being the immediate and most obvious result of the mobilization of the people, will be in any case only an empty shell, a crude and fragile travesty of what it might have been.”) Frantz Fanon’s, The Pitfalls of National Consciousness in The Wretched of Earth.)

The pitfalls of national consciousness is one of the many important theoretical contributions from Frantz Fanon. 

With the current discourse around limited notions of nationalism and the so-called rise of an global ultra-nationalist right…Today’s program is an intentional disruption in this milieu.  Today’s conversation attempts to offer perspective by focusing specifically on the sociopolitical and cultural conditions in Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba.

James Early is former Director of Cultural Studies and Communication at the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC.  Mr. Early has served in various positions at the Smithsonian Institution, including Assistant Provost for Educational and Cultural Programs, Assistant Secretary for Education and Public Service, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Service, and Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Public Service.

Prior to his work with the Smithsonian, Mr. Early was a humanist administrator at the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C., a producer, writer, and host of "Ten Minutes Left," a weekly radio segment of cultural, educational and political interviews and commentary at WHUR-FM radio at Howard University, and a research associate for programs and documentation.  He currently serves on the Board of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and is a consultant on various issues related to human rights, labor, land, state craft.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into Africa Now! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

AfricaNow! Feb. 13, 2019 Theorizing Fanon Latin America And The Pitfalls Of National Consciousness

JOIN US — AUGUST 9TH TO 11TH — AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY’S MARVIN CENTER AS WE CELEBRATE BLACK LIFE ON THE BIG SCREEN WITH THE AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. 

DISCOVER 16 AWARD WINNING FILMS — INCLUDING FICTION AND DOCUMENTARIES – WITH THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL INCLUDING 12 US AND DC PREMIERES.

ENJOY REVIVAL SCREENINGS OF QUILOMBO and FALLEN ANGELS PARADISE…DISCOVER HISTORICAL DOCS ABOUT MOHAMMED ALI, DANNY GLOVER and THE BLACK MOZART IN CUBA! –

WITH TALK BACKS AND VIP RECEPTIONS…THE AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL  AUGUST 9 TO 11 AT THE GWU MARVIN CENTER, - 800 21ST STREET NW.

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE AVAILABLE @  NYADIFF.ORG OR CALL (212) 864-1760.

AFRICAN DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL…WHERE BLACK LIFE MATTERS!

For tickets, schedule and more information visit: https://nyadiff.org/dc-2019/

DC African Diaspora International Film Festival Aug 9-11 2019

AfricaNow! February 26, 2020 The Life & Legacy of Carter G. Woodson 

Summary—Topic and Guest: The Life & Legacy of Carter G. Woodson with with Dr. Greg Carr, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University.  Dr. Carr contextualizes the philosophy, methodology, dedication of Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson. 

Topic and Guest: When thinking of history, one tends to categorize or disassociate the contextual conditions that create and propel phenomena and phenomenon that move across time and space.  Events and thought are relegated to a disassociated moment, mapped on categories of time that have been redefined to fit a particular worldview---Western European historiography and historicity and its notion of modernity.  The concept is strip of its promise of futurity.  John Henrik Clarke writes: “History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be.”
It is precisely because of this, I argue that those who are interested in black history should also be concerned with an Africana future.  Of the many places we can start to understand the nexus of time and space, and given what this month has come to mean for many, it is appropriate and necessary to think about the: Life and Legacy of Carter G Woodson.  
Today, we will explore the very ideas I just presented, with Dr. Greg Carr through a lecture he conducted a few years ago that deeply explored, in depth, the life, impact, legacy & intellectual genealogy of Carter G Woodson. 
Greg Carr is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University as well as Adjunct Faculty at the Howard School of Law. He holds a Ph.D. in African American Studies from Temple University and a JD from the Ohio State University College of Law.  From 1999-2000, as Philadelphia’s first resident scholar on race and culture, Dr. Carr led a team in the design of the curriculum framework for Philadelphia’s mandatory high school African American History course. He is a co-founder of the Philadelphia Freedom Schools Movement and has presented his curriculum work to the Board of Public Education in Salvador, Bahia. Having lectured across the U.S., Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, France, and England, his work has appeared in, The African American Studies Reader, Socialism and Democracy, Publications of the Modern Language Association of America and Malcolm X: A Historical Reader to name a few. 
Dr. Carr is the first Vice President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations and a former member of the board of the National Council for Black Studies. Having been named Professor of the Year three times by the Howard University Student Association, the College of Arts and Sciences Student Council and the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Association, he has led or co-led student research and study programs to South Africa and Egypt. Dr. Carr is coordinator of the COAS Mellon Interdisciplinary Research Course Initiative at Howard, co-editor of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations’ multi-volume African World History Project and has appeared and/or been featured in Ebony Magazine, The New York Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, USA Today, MSNBC, National Public Radio, BBC America, C-SPAN, MTVu, Voice of America, the Tavis Smiley Show, the Dianne Rheim Show, Diverse Magazine and CNN, as well as a range of other multimedia outlets.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

AfricaNow! Feb. 26, 2020 The Life & Legacy Of Carter G. Woodson

AfricaNow! July 1, 2020 Reflections on The Malawi Rerun Election  

Topic and Guests: On June 23 citizens in Malawi went to the polls to elect a president for the country.  This process was a rerun of last year’s election.  A five-judge Constitutional Court panel on February 3 unanimously nullified the country’s May 21, 2019 Presidential Election and ordered new presidential election within 150 days from the ruling date.  Apart from Malawi only Austria, Kenya, the Maldives, and Ukraine have had their presidential elections nullified by the courts.  The judgement was delivered after months of deliberations which took place in Malawi’s Constitutional Court.   The case petitioned by then opposition leaders Dr. Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Dr. Saluos Chilima of United Transformation Movement (UTM), requested to have the Constitutional Court nullify the presidential election.  In the conclusion of its 500-page judgement the five-judge Constitutional Court panel in Malawi stated that “….in the present matter, it has been our finding that the irregularities and anomalies are so widespread, systematic and grave such that the integrity of the results have been seriously compromised….”  For several months there had been a political impasse in Malawi following the nation’s Tripartite Elections on May 21, 2019.  For months Malawi has also witnessed demonstrations organized by the civic group Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) demanding the resignation of the Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Justice Jane Ansah (Supreme Court Judge) for mismanaging the elections.   Chairperson of the MEC Justice Jane Ansah resigned prior to the presidential election rerun.    

In the June 23 rerun Dr. Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) heading the nine-party political coalition of Tonse Alliance received 58.57% of the votes defeating Professor Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).  With this result, Malawi became the first country in Africa where the opposition defeated the incumbent in a rerun.  Tonse Alliance is headed by MCP and UTM thus Dr. Saulos Chilima head of the UTM is now again the Vice President.  The other major party in the nine-party coalition is former President Joyce Banda’s People’s Party (PP).   DPP in this rerun went into an alliance with United democratic Front (UDF) headed by Atupele Muluzi. (FULL RESULTS: Lazarus Chakwera (MCP) 2,604,043 votes; Peter Kuwani (Mbakuwaku Movement for Development [MMD]) 32,456 votes; and Peter Mutharika (DPP) 1,751,877 votes. Source MEC https://fpe2020.com/)

A recent conversation with two of the Malawi’s noted political, social commentators Ernest Thindwa and Rafiq Hajat explored and dissected the election and the various elements which made the process succeed.  The conversation also focuses on the impact on the political scene locally and beyond, and challenges for the new administration.  

Mr. Ernest Thindwa is General Secretary of the Political Science Association of Malawi and Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi.  Social, economic, prominent human rights activist and political commentator Mr. Rafiq Hajat is Executive Director of Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), and Chairman of International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa and a prominent human rights activist in Malawi.  

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

(Photo courtesy of Mibawa TV, Malawi)

AfricaNow! Jul. 1, 2020 Reflections On The Malawi Rerun Election

AfricaNow! July 22, 2020 Contextualizing the Crisis in Ethiopia

Summary--Topic and Guest: Contextualizing the Crisis in Ethiopia following the killing of popular Oromo musician and activist Hachalu Hundessa on June 29.  Ms. Ayantu Ayana, doctoral student and a member of the Oromo Advocacy Alliance contextualizes the current crisis in Ethiopia—addressing the underlying historical issues that manifest themselves today in the country.

Topic and Guest: The killing of popular Oromo musician and activist Hachalu Hundessa on June 29 has led to protests in Ethiopia.  According to some reports ensuing clashes which followed the protests led to over 170 deaths.  Hachalu Hundessa was seen by many as articulating in song the aspirations, the marginalization circumstance of the Oromo people of Ethiopia—particularly the youth.  Observers have noted that the government has compounded the crisis with the arrests of over 2,000 people including journalists and key political figures, and the clampdown of the internet.   Recently UN experts of the Special Rapporteurs of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council called “on Ethiopian authorities to respect the right to peaceful assembly, and to refrain from using force during future protests.”  They also welcomed the partial restoration of the internet.  (UN experts call on Ethiopia to allow peaceful protests, welcome partial restoration of Internet, United Nations Human Rights Office of the Commissioner News, July 21, 2020 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26115&LangID=E#:~:text=UN%20experts%20call%20on%20Ethiopia,welcome%20partial%20restoration%20of%20Internet&text=GENEVA%20(21%20July%202020)%20%E2%80%93,of%20people%20to%20demonstrate%20peacefully.)

A July 18 Amnesty International Statement says that “The killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular outspoken Oromo singer, sparked protests, some of which degenerated into inter-communal violence, which together with a police crackdown left at least 177 dead and hundreds wounded.  In Addis Ababa and Oromia region, the police arrested at least 5,000 people, many of whom are in incommunicado detention with their whereabouts unknown. …” (Ethiopia: Account for all people arrested after Hachalu Hundessa’s killing, Amnesty International, July 18, 2020   https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/ethiopia-account-for-all-people-arrested-after-hachalu-hundesa-killing/)

Ms. Ayantu Ayana, doctoral student and a member of the Oromo Advocacy Alliance contextualizes the current crisis in Ethiopia—addressing historical issues that manifest themselves today in the country.  

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

(Photo by Tiksa Negeri)

AfricaNow! Jul. 22, 2020 Contextualizing The Crisis In Ethiopia

AfricaNow! August 5, 2020 Somalia—Politics, International Relations and More at 60

Topic and Guests: Today the show reflects on the politics, international relations in Somalia as it recently marked 60 years of independence.  The show also focuses on the human and economic costs of COVID-19.  Also featured is how the locust invasion which has ravaged crops in East Africa has affected Somalia.  

July 1, 2020 marked 60 years since Somalia attained its independence—one part from the U.K. the other from Italy, merging to form Somalia.  Often what is portrayed about Somalia is the turbulent nearly last 30 years the has faced since the fall of the dictatorship of Siad Barre without the proper background information.  Today the show puts in context the roles that internal forces and external forces have played and continue to play in the Somali political scenario.  Such as the support of the United States in propping up the Siad Barre regime with arms during the Cold War.  

For over 10 years under the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), U.S. military involvement in the country has continued with air strikes using drones which it says are intended for Al-Shabab fighters but human rights organizations have reported in a number of cases civilians being the victims of the bombing.  The July 28, 2020 Amnesty International Press Release entitled AFRICOM Yet to Compensate Somali Families, Despite Casualty Admissions states that “AFRICOM has carried out at least 189 airstrikes in Somalia since 2017 including 42 so far in 2020. In just nine of those airstrikes, Amnesty International found 21 civilians were killed and 11 others were injured. …” (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/somalia-africom-yet-to-compensate-families-despite-casualty-admissions/)   

Analyst Mr. Abukar Arman joins the show to tackle these issues today. Mr. Abukar Arman is a former diplomat, serving as Somalia's Special Envoy to the US.  As a widely published analyst, he focuses on foreign policy, Islam, the Horn of Africa, extremism, and other topics

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC.  Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (Eastern).

(Somalia Map from https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/somalia.pdf)

Popular tracks by AfricaNow!