Nigeria's Religious War

Temie Giwa writing in NigeriansTalk:

Image of Temi Giwa

...it is not religious in a way that suggests that Boko Haram targets Christians and other religions and excludes Muslims from their terrorism. This war is meant to determine the future of Islam in the Nigerian context. All religions must go through this phase of reformation and self-determination, and Islam, while young, is no different. This struggle traditionally kills more faithfuls of the particular religion than outsiders. While Boko Haram and their terror campaign are irrevocably religious, we cannot ignore the fact that the group has killed more Muslim than Christians so far.

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Michael Sata’s unusual populist presidency

In Africa Works:

Image courtesy of Bongoweekend

African presidents continue to display a preference for pomp and ceremony over practical action. Sata (president of Zambia) suggests an alternative approach — and is backing up his rhetoric with action. On a recent trip to the historic Zambian city of Livingstone, near the border with neighboring Zimbabwe, Sata traveled by public bus to a meeting with president Robert Mugabe — and then afterwards, even more improbably, settled his own hotel bill.

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Further reading Zambia’s President Sata: A Populist ‘Clown’ With Interesting Off-the-Wall Ideas

And so, the Looting Goes On | Nigeria's Local Governments

Salisu Suleiman writes:

Nigeria’s Constitution recognizes local government areas as the third tier of government after the federal and state governments. Their functions are clearly defined. They are entitled allocation of funds from the federation account for use in carrying out their functions. All of Nigeria’s 776 local councils each receive billions of naira in allocations, but nobody knows where these monies end up. Where are the local roads, dispensaries, schools and markets? Where are the projects to speed up development? Where are the trillions? No wonder it is now vogue for chairmen to own houses in London, Dubai and South Africa. And because there are little checks, accountability is weak and audit systems compromised. The public is generally disinterested.

And so, the looting goes on.

That is why today, there are places in Nigeria that cannot be reached by any form of motorized vehicle; reaching those places entails abandoning vehicles and trudging on foot. That is why in some areas today, medical emergencies are transported to clinics on motorcycles or donkeys. That is why in many places pupils still study under trees in lieu of classrooms. That is why we must ask: Where are the boreholes that are supposed to provide potable water? Why do so many people die from preventable diseases like malaria, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and meningitis? Why do we have mountains of refuse and clogged drainages all over the country?

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Toussaint L' ouverture | A movie

Shadow and Act profiles the upcoming production, 'Toussaint Louverture':

Jimmy Jean-Louis stars as the title character in what will be a 2-part TV-movie, and he's joined by French actresses Aïssa Maïga (Paris, Je T'Aime, Bamako) as Toussaint's wife, Suzanne, and Sonia Rolland (Moloch Tropical, Midnight In Paris) as Marie-Eugénie Sonthonax, wife of abolitionist L.F. Sonthonax

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The Real Mohamed Bouazizi and 'System D'

Hernando de Soto writing in Foreign Policy:

To eke out a living, poor entrepreneurs like Bouazizi -- not just in Tunisia, but across the world -- have little alternative but to join the local extralegal economy with its own rules for making transactions and protecting assets. Bouazizi, for example, paid 3 dinars a day for the regular use of a location on the street -- what the ILD calls an "extralegal property right." According to our research, he had worked his entire life to establish a small place in the local market economy -- and lost it in a matter of minutes.

During our research we found hundreds of small enterprises like Bouazizi's, run by Tunisians with no legal identity, no legal address, and no legal right to their shack or market stall. Without legal documents, their ability to make the most of their assets is limited, and they live in constant fear of being evicted or harassed by local officials. According to our research, around half of the entire Tunisian workforce is employed by extralegal businesses of this kind. Around the region, the number is far larger -- over 100 million Arabs.

If committing suicide over the loss of $225 worth of goods and a regular location on the street for a fruit stand seems inconceivable to most people in the United States and Europe, Bouazizi's counterparts throughout Tunisia and in the extralegal economies in the rest of the Arab world understood immediately his desperation. In their eyes, Bouazizi had not been just the victim of corruption or even public humiliation, as horrible as they are; he had been deprived of the only thing that stood between him and starvation -- the loss of his place in the only economy available to poor Arabs.

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The Arterial Network

The creative network highlights the Arterial Network whose goals include:

To build and/or further develop effective, sustainable national, regional and continental networks within and across arts disciplines to play advocacy and lobbying roles within countries, regions, on the continent and internationally as appropriate, and in support of the African creative sector...[continue reading]

The role of women in informal trade in Africa

From UNECA's Assessing Regional Integration in Africa publication on “Informal Trade in Africa”:

Image courtesy of parallelozero

Women play a prominent role in informal trade, and in informal business activities in particular. These few figures are proof enough: four to five million women in West Africa are involved in collecting, processing and marketing shea nuts and butter, bringing in an estimated 80 per cent of their income (Plunked and Stryker, 2002). In Benin, women are 80 per cent of those involved in informal trade, and the figure rises to 95 per cent for informal marketing of unprocessed goods.
Madam Tinubu’s fame has no doubt been surpassed by the rich merchant women of contemporary Togo, known as the “Nana-Benz.” While these women have followed varying routes to success, they share several characteristics. Then, as now, these women conduct their businesses on the regional, and even international, stage, drawing on a long history of trading experience as informal actors. This results in their economic success, rather than initiating it. The volume of trade that passes through their hands enables them to regularly increase their economic and social capital (Humarau, 1999) even if their absence from or minimal institutional representation in formal political decision-making tends to minimize the crucial role that they could play in the development of intra-African trade. The factors that bring them together also separate them from most of the small-scale West African traders operating daily, who barely succeed in breaking even with their investments. All these groups constitute the major trading agents of both the formal and informal sectors.

via The Prepaid Economy Blog

Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram?

From Al Jazeera:

Nigeria has experienced one of its worst days of violence in two years. Churches, mosques, banks and police stations were attacked as multiple bomb blasts rocked the city of Damaturu, killing at least 69 people, with some reports putting the number as high as 150. There were also separate bombings in the town of Maiduguri, where at least four people were killed.

And Nigeria's Islamist Boko Haram group, which claimed responsibility for the attacks, has warned that more are planned.

These attacks have fuelled an already steep sectarian divide in Africa's most populous country, but who are Boko Haram and what motivates their violence? How big a threat do they pose to the country's stability and why have they decided to escalate their violence now?...[continue reading]

Terror in Northern Nigeria

Jack Hamilton writing in Inpec:

Image courtesy of Inpec

The state of Nigeria is facing its largest crisis in over a decade. As the ferocity and popularity of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram rises, the very unity of the state is being challenged. This collection of photos assesses the reasons why the group is becoming increasingly attractive to the disaffected population in the north despite their gruesome tactics.

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Critical Thinking and the African Identity

Leo Igwe writes:

Whenever I try to apply logic, critical reasoning and scientific temper to issues during public debates, I am often accused of not thinking like an African. I am always told that I think like a white man or that I have a western mentality. As if critical thinking or the scientific outlook is for westerners alone or that critical thinking can only be exercised by people from a particular race or region. No, this is not the case. Surprisingly, nobody has ever stepped forward to tell me how an ‘African’ thinks. For me it is either this ‘African mode of thought’ is one which nobody knows about or is one that does not exist or qualify to be called a thinking pattern. Nobody has tried to let me know if Africans think at all. Because this misguided view that one is unAfrican or western in outlook is often employed to block or suppress critical reasoning or inquiry particularly when it is used to challenge traditions, positions and opinions informed by blind faith or dogma.

While holding on to beliefs and outlooks informed by superstition and primordial thinking is often glorified as African. Even in this 21st century, reason and science are still perceived as western, and not African values. I have yet to understand how we came about this mistaken idea. Hence, it is often portrayed as if the African does not reason and dare not reason or that the African does not think or cannot think critically. It seems thinking like an African means suspension of thought, logic or common sense. Thinking like an African means not thinking at all- thoughtlessness or thinking in spiritual, occult or magical ways. For instance, whenever I try to challenge or question the irrational and absurd claims of witchcraft, juju and charms, and other ritualistic and religious nonsense that dominate the mental space of Africans, I am often reminded that my mentality is western. And you know what, whenever in the course of a public debate, somebody alleges that a position is western, it means that it is unacceptable though it may be reasonable or may have a superior argument. Is that not unfortunate?

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The Enterprising 'Nana Benz' Women of 'System D'

In Parallelozero a piece about unsung women entrepreneurs:

Image courtesy of Parallel Zero

They started off from nothing in the Fifties and became amongst the richest in their homeland, Togo. They're the Nana Benz, the women who sell traditional African fabrics. Particularly the sought-after “wax” which is printed in Holland. They've made a fortune, they've travelled the world over, becoming a reference point for the fabric trade in Western and Central Africa. They were the first to purchase what, at the time, was a real status symbol: the Mercedes Benz. Hence their name. Today their fame has waned a little. And the economic crisis has affected them too. Turnover has dropped, but they're still here, together with their daughters – the Nanette, - to whom they've entrusted their work. You can find them in the Grand Marché in Lomé or in the boutiques around the city. Keeping always an eye on their businesses.

The Delusion of Positive Thinking

Barbara Ehrenreich debunks 'Positive Thinking' a belief not dissimilar to 'Prosperity Gospel': via Saving Africa

Art from Nairobi's 'Shadow Cities'

Craig Halliday writing in Think Africa:

Nairobi’s slums run on a functioning informal economy and have their own bars, restaurants, pharmacies, cinemas and street traders like any other neighbourhood. At the centre of these communities is a vibrant creativity and a visually evident wealth of artistic talent. This can be found in the huge mural in the Mathare slum created by graffiti artist Bankslave (Kevin Esendi), or in the performing arts programmes run by Sarakasi trust and the studio photography sessions held by Peter Olendo

Image courtesy of Think Africa

..."Ghetto" Art from Kibera With an increase of wasani (artists) operating within Nairobi’s slums, many have come together to form collectives and establish art centres. One such group is Kibera’s "Maasai Mbili", whose name in Swahili means “the two Maasai”. The Maasai Mbili Art Centre was started in 2001 by Otieno Gomba and Otieno Kota, neither of whom are actually Maasai. The name refers to a time when the two artists would dress as Maasai to attract customers to their sign-writing business. Saving their earnings, these two artists rented a small two-storey building in Kibera and created a new art space, which became the "Maasia Mbili Art Centre". The studio attracted many other artists from Kibera who came to learn from one another. Today around ten artists use the studio as a space for their painting and sculpting.

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Welcome: The new Nigerian refugees

Sylvia Ofili writes in the Guardian (Nigeria):

Oh yes, the Nigerian Senate who have so much time on their hands, decided to pass a bill stating that gays shall not be allowed to get married and if they dare do, they shall get fourteen years in jail. Let us face the truth. There are no gay couples applying for marriage certificates in that country. How would they do that? There are no provisions for such a marriage in our system, therefore, this bill is totally redundant. It is like telling me that I am banned from eating eba in my kitchen when I had none in the first place. If eba was available and waiting for me in my kitchen, then that’s another story. But I don’t even have garri or hot water. In fact, I don’t even have a bowl to make the eba in, so what exactly would be the point of such a ban? It’s as simple as that. I can’t be the only one that sees how unnecessary this bill is. A total waste of time and resources. But hey, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

I am surprised about the excitement this bill has caused in our people. People are almost foaming at the mouths because of this useless bill. I wish our Senate could be equally engaged in other serious matters. For example, Boko Haram. Every month, a new bomb and yet, our senators are laughing over homosexual jokes on TV. I would have expected some kind of crack down by now. Or is it only in the Niger Delta that the military enjoys operating? And what do they plan to do about the religious violence in the north? Or is this show of solidarity against homosexuals going to stop the burning of churches over there? Will this be the very act that will unite Christianity and Islam in the north? And if that is so, will it not be strange that it is only in our hatred we can unite and not in love?

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For further context read Nigeria’s ‘anti-gay bill’ is another backward step
and Leo Igwe's Gay Marriage and African Politics

Mashup Maghrebi

From Africa is a Country:

L’Avion, one of the many fruits from the Beyond Digital mega project in Morocco this past summer, is a breathtaking collaboration between Nettle and Imanaren’s Hassan Wargui...[continue reading]

The Congo and Apathy

Howard W. French writing in the Atlantic:

The Democratic Republic of Congo's President, Joseph Kabila, has just perpetrated a massive hoax in order to retain power. Bowing in principle to the Western-driven demands the our famous but nebulous "international community," Kabila has held just held elections, which he would like the world to believe he has won.
The overall tally, 49 percent for the "winner," and 32 percent for the first runner up, had a ring to it that at first glance, at least for the uninitiated, sounded both plausible and competitive, which in such matters usually go hand in hand. The results proclaimed the Congo to be the latest African country to have traveled far away from the bad old past of continental elections, which authoritarian rulers once routinely "won" with upwards of 95 percent of the vote.

More here
Related video:
'Congo elections: Why is our revolution not being televised?'

'The Protester'

Time magazine celebrates the 'The Protester':

Mannoubia Bouazizi holds photo of Mohamed Bouazizi photo by Peter Hapak

It began in Tunisia, where the dictator's power grabbing and high living crossed a line of shamelessness, and a commonplace bit of government callousness against an ordinary citizen — a 26-year-old street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi — became the final straw. Bouazizi lived in the charmless Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, 125 miles south of Tunis. On a Friday morning almost exactly a year ago, he set out for work, selling produce from a cart. Police had hassled Bouazizi routinely for years, his family says, fining him, making him jump through bureaucratic hoops. On Dec. 17, 2010, a cop started giving him grief yet again. She confiscated his scale and allegedly slapped him. He walked straight to the provincial-capital building to complain and got no response. At the gate, he drenched himself in paint thinner and lit a match.

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African Abortion Wars

Alexis Okeowo writing in the NYTimes:

Every sub-Saharan African state already allows pregnant women to abort when their lives are in danger, and in recent years Benin, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Swaziland and Togo have been working at expanding their laws to allow abortions in more circumstances.

Still, in all of sub-Saharan Africa, abortion is legal only in Cape Verde and South Africa. And the number of unsafe abortions on the continent is staggeringly high: every year, there are over six million unsafe abortions conducted in Africa, and about 30,000 women die from the procedure. Unsafe abortions are among the leading causes of death for women admitted to hospitals around much of the continent.

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Joi Ito on Silo Breaking Education

From Big Think:

Most academics work alongside other academics in the same field to arrive at the deepest possible understanding of a particular subject. At the MIT Media Lab, researchers focus on breadth, not depth, of knowledge. “The world is full of expertise,” says Joi Ito, Executive Director. “What it lacks is agility and context.” Watch here: The mission of the Media Lab - symbolized by its glass walls - is to mitigate the isolating effects of specialization by creating a common space where brilliant people in every field can share ideas, English major to mathematician.

Malick Noël Seck | Pro Democracy Activist

The brother of the groundbreaking designer Bibi Seck:

Malick Noël Seck, a Senegalese political activist, was arrested on October 10th, 2011, for delivering an open letter to the President of the Constitutional Council stating that the third term candidacy of President Abdoulaye Wade is unconstitutional. He was charged with making death threats against the members of the Constitutional Council and "contempt of the court". The letter contains no death threats. Furthermore, the letter cannot be seen as "contempt of the court," as members of the Constitutional Council are not magistrates of the Senegalese legal or administrative system.

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Celebrating African women filmmakers

Basia Lewadowska Cummings writes in Africa is a Country:

Two recent high profile public events in London this year focused on female filmmakers working in African cinema. We can’t repeat the significance of this enough: This is high exposure for a demographic of the African film industry that is generally low on the radar.

Still from Zina Saro Wiwa's "Phyllis"

Late last month a group of academics, filmmakers and critics from around the world converged at a conference in London to celebrate the work of African women in film. The event was held at the University of Westminster. Those attending heard from important female filmmakers such as Jihan El-Tahri, director of “Behind the Rainbow” (2008) and Yaba Badoe, director of “The Witches of Gambaga” (2010) who discussed their experiences as independent filmmakers. Writing at subtitled,Katy Stewart records that both women passionately broached controversial issues, denying labels that are often imposed upon them for the benefit of funders and commissioners...[continue reading]

The Future Of Capitalism Is Homegrown, Small Scale, And Independent

Bruce Nussbaum writing in Fast Company:

You won’t learn about it in business school, hear about it from Wall Street, or see it in Palo Alto. But if you spend time in Bushwick, Brooklyn, or on Rivington Street in Manhattan, you just might detect the outlines of an emerging “indie” capitalism. This new form of capitalism is not just about conventional startups and technology and venture capitalists. If you add up all the trends under way today, I believe we are beginning to see the start of something original, and perhaps wonderful. It may prove to be the economic and social antidote to the failed financial capitalism and crony capitalism that no longer delivers economic value in terms of jobs, income, and taxes to the people of this country...[continue reading]

Brooklyn Artists Gym

In Brooklyn, a model for everywhere - Brooklyn Artists Gym:

Brooklyn Artists Gym is an artist studio and gallery facility in the Park Slope/Gowanus area of Brooklyn, New York. BAG’s mission is to help make it possible for artists to further their work and careers at a reasonable cost.

Parkour Egypt

In Cairo:

Photo by David Degner

...I ran into one of the folks behind Parkour Egypt. He's also a co-founder of Cairo Hackerspace...connect the dots.

Is Social Entrepreneurship a Ponzi Scheme?

Over at Little Devices that Could:

"Most investment funds that have been set up in the social/impact spaces (i.e. Impact50) are focused on mezzanine and growth stage investments (in other words: if you are already making money, we may invest our money; if you are not, then you are too early)"- Laurie Lane-Zucker

If you combine that fact with the undeniable requirements for investments in risky endeavors, especially when challenges require invention and innovation, you can see not just the Ponzi scheme but a nearsighted lens on executing the hard stuff. Hard stuff is not just collecting information on a mobile phone about health, it's about creating that diagnostic or treatment device for you to do something about it in the first place. Hard stuff is not just creating a super mashed up version of a business model that assumes social entrepreneurs actually enjoy a strange lifestyle that combines exotic conference locations with a struggle-pay-their-student-loan lifestyle. Hard stuff is investing in the SE startup facing the reality that the co-founders have 10 different options in the non-SE space that will be meaningless, yet investible. The hard stuff makes an impact and it's a road worth travelling. We're just going to have to find better vehicles than Cinderella pumpkins.

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Industrialization As a Tool for Job Creation in Nigeria

From Africa Industrialization Day where Thomas Mattig of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in conjunction with the Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria stated:

Nigeria is experiencing solid economic growth for several years now. However, employment remains low and can hardly catch up with population growth. The sectors of the economy that are booming such as the banking, telecommunications and insurance industries, do not create many jobs.

 continuing:

...even a large bank branch will only employ a handful of people, while a factory can give employment to a whole town.

regarding the oil industry:

The prosperous petroleum sector is built virtually on extraction and not value addition as Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries remain comatose.

and the critical informal sector:

It is also widely acknowledged that the informal sector provides over 70 percent of employment in the country, yet many workers daily face harassment and intimidation from Government officials at all level whilethere is no systematic programme of training and re-training in the face ofchanging technologies and market dynamics, credible programmes ofaccess to credits as well as decent workspaces.. This must change, workersin the informal economy need state support in capacity building, finance and patronage and social protection.

More here
via All Africa

Africans themselves must instigate reforms from within...

George Ayittey on the Cheetah Generation and self sustenance: via Independent Global Citizen

Africa’s Knowledge Centers

In the IMF publication Finance and Development, Calestous Juma writes:

The new African middle class will flourish in knowledge centers that are connected to the global economy. The seeds of such growth can be found in places like Ikeja, the nascent computer-based industrial district of Lagos, and emerging knowledge-based industries such as Nigeria’s movie production network (“Nollywood”) will produce a new crop of entrepreneurs ready to shape the character of the next generation of middle-class Africans.

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Nigeria's Fake Pastors

Religion as an opiate of the masses can be viewed live in Nigeria's 'churches':
Nigerian Fake Pastors and Church Business Exposed from Maku Zikya on Vimeo.

The Peul Women of Mali

In Kilele:

Portrait of a Peul woman wearing amber necklaces from Northern Mali. Photo by Luca Gargano

Free Markets vs. Flea Markets

At Poptech Rob Neuwirth author of Stealth of Nations:

...tells us about life in the informal economy, what French culture classifies as System D. 1.8 billion people on the planet subsist through economic transactions that happen outside legal spheres and, by 2020, two thirds of our planet will be doing business in this domain. The future is the free market vs. the flea market.

Quick Hits

The persistence of colonial institutions via Chris Blattman
South-South ties reshape aid paradigm
Mimi Ito on 'Otaku culture' and cultural soft power
Yenesew Gebre of Ethiopia "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!"

Africa Rising

The Economist on increasing productive growth across the continent:

The shops are stacked six feet high with goods, the streets outside are jammed with customers and salespeople are sweating profusely under the onslaught. But this is not a high street during the Christmas-shopping season in the rich world. It is the Onitsha market in southern Nigeria, every day of the year. Many call it the world’s biggest. Up to 3m people go there daily to buy rice and soap, computers and construction equipment. It is a hub for traders from the Gulf of Guinea, a region blighted by corruption, piracy, poverty and disease but also home to millions of highly motivated entrepreneurs and increasingly prosperous consumers.
Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan. Even allowing for the knock-on effect of the northern hemisphere’s slowdown, the IMF expects Africa to grow by 6% this year and nearly 6% in 2012, about the same as Asia...[continue reading]

Africans "want to be entrepreneurs" not Aid recipients - Dambisa Moyo

CNBC interviews Dambisa Moyo:

The Stripping of Sierra Leone's Timber

Al Jazeera on commodity corruption in Sierra Leone: