CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 1

Editorial Africa and the Challenges of the Second Decade of the 21st Century: Constraints and Opportunities

The year 2011 is the year of the 13th General Assembly of in Africa’ – the umbrella theme of the 2007-2011 CODESRIA CODESRIA. The General Assembly is the highest governing Strategic Plan. The theme that the Executive Committee has organ of CODESRIA. It is the body that makes the most important chosen for the scientific conference of the 13th General Assem- policy decisions of the Council, elects the Executive Committee, bly, which is “Africa and the Challenges of the 21st Century”, and elects the President and the Vice President of CODESRIA. paying particular attention to the constraints facing, and op- In the 38 years of its existence, CODESRIA has had 12 Presidents portunities available to our continent, should enable us to har- and the succession from Executive Committee to the other, and ness and bring the precious insights and achievements of the from one president to the next have been very smooth. last five years and, indeed, the formidable progress made by The General Assembly is coupled with a scientific conference the social sciences over the years to address old and new chal- which provides the African social science research community lenges facing Africa and the world. with a great opportunity to reflect on the challenges facing our The holding of the 13th General Assembly coincides with the continent and on the ways in which the social sciences are 50th anniversary of the pan African conference held in Casa- addressing those challenges, paying particular attention to blanca in 1961 that was attended by Kwame Nkrumah, Gamal CODESRIA’s own role. CODESRIA General Assemblies are also Abdel Nasser, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Ferhat Abbas, Modibo extraordinary occasions for scholars coming from various parts Keita, Ahmed Sekou Toure and many other great leaders of of the world to meet and share discussion platforms, and as Africa. The conference was an important milestone in the his- well as moments of conviviality. tory of the Organisation of African Unity and the African Un- The 13th General Assembly of CODESRIA is being organised at ion. We therefore plan to take the opportunity of the convening th th a time when the world as a whole is facing formidable challenges of the 13 General Assembly of CODESRIA to celebrate the 50 that include global environmental change; a highly unstable anniversary of the Casablanca Conference. global financial system; extreme pressures on land, mineral, The year 2011 will also go down in history as the year when an water and other natural resources; the formidable development African country was split into two, following many decades of of new technologies that are impacting on almost everything, civil war, the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and from the way we communicate to the way we do research, trade, the holding of self-determination referendum. In this issue of grow crops, and organise and engage in civic, humanitarian or CODESRIA Bulletin, Mahmood Mamdani raises some questions political action; and the governance of the behaviour of in- regarding the independence of South Sudan. We consider the creasingly complex private entrepreneurs whose everyday ac- birth of this new state as one of the major events in Africa since tions often pose threats to the public good. Africa is faced with the end of apartheid in South Africa because it marks the end of additional challenges of being handicapped by centuries of a protracted struggle that started with the Anyanya rebellion in externally induced oppression and pillage whose effects on 1955 and also because of South Sudan’s geopolitical impor- the freedom and welfare of our people have been very nega- tance. Mamdani examines the process of self determination tive, extremely fragmented regional political, economic and sci- especially under the leadership of John Garang. He notes that entific spaces, and many flaws in the governance systems, and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was a result of a power in the economic and social policies framed at various levels. sharing deal between the political elite of the north and south, The 13th General Assembly will be held in a North African coun- in the context of post-Cold War global politics largely domi- try, after having been held in West Africa for many years, and nated by the United States of America. He concludes his reflec- then in East, Southern and Central Africa. When the Executive tions by highlighting possible sources of new conflict between Committee was making the decision during its 75th meeting in Sudan and its new southern neighbour, South Sudan. Harare, in December last year, to hold the 13th General Assem- In “Grappling with the Reality of a New State in southern Sudan” bly in North Africa, nobody could imagine that North Africa Peter Adwok Nyaba, then Minister of Higher Education and would be the site for some of new social and political revolu- Scientific Research in the National Government of Sudan, and tions, the birth place of an “Arab Spring”, twenty years after now Higher Education Minister in the Government of South Su- the “Africa Spring” of national conferences and other forms of dan, tackles the thorny issue as to why the south found the idea democratic transition. The CODESRIA community and its many secession very attractive. He attributes the success of the secession friends from Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and Europe movement largely to the failure of the political elite to construct a could not have come to North Africa at a better time. In this viable, united Sudan over the years, leading to a marginalized issue of the Bulletin, we publish articles by Samir Amin, Hakim south that had nothing to lose by leaving the union. He also Ben Hammouda, and Boaventura de Sousa Santos on the “Arab reflects on new challenges and advises on how the new state of Spring” that show the complexity of the process, and empha- South Sudan should establish itself in the comity of nations. sise the need for some caution in the appreciation of what We also publish a report by Tesfaye Tafesse and Christopher actually happened and the likely long term consequences. We Zambakari on an international conference South Sudan that will return to this issue later. was co-organised by CODESRIA, the UNECA, and the Africa CODESRIA spent the last five years designing and implement- Research and Resource Centre on the “Consequences of the ing research, training and policy dialogue programmes aimed Birth of Africa’s Newest State for East and Horn of Africa Re- at ‘rethinking development and reviving development thinking gions.” The conference was intended to encourage open dia- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 2 logue on the intricate political situation in Sudan and in the against that dominance through intellectual movements using region, and to underscore the value of learning from the expe- epistemological facts and arguments to discredit the forms used rience of the acquired by the rest of Africa during the last fifty to equate European knowledge to universal objective fact. He or so years of post-independence development, and in the draws from different works and experiences to demonstrate management of the various diversities on the continent. The that there is a need to consider alternative analyses, to under- speakers are reported to have been of the view that, although stand how different forms of knowledge have been ideologi- not always palatable, dismemberment may be an unavoidable cally configured to serve those who generated them. This form stage in the search for lasting peace, especially in situations of of knowledge can never serve the interests of Africa because extreme diversities, and regional integration. they were never created for that. Samir Amin reflects on Africa’s challenges in light of what has Issa Shivji in his “The struggle to convert nationalism to pan- been happening in North Africa since the end of 2010. His Africanism” opens by quoting Pannikar’s description of the article is characteristically entitled “An Arab Springtime?” He history of the West as the story of the “West and the Rest”. looks at various developments in the Arab world and wonders Western domination over Africa, has all been about taking away whether all these happenings are a sign of ‘re-awakening of the from the continent. Starting from accumulation by appropria- Arab world’. He examines Egypt’s struggle to extricate itself tion as it was in colonial times; it moved on to capitalism by from domination, oppression and imperialist control. He con- accumulation, and later it became accumulation by capitalism, cludes on an optimistic position, to the effect that the ‘Egyp- others call it accumulation by dispossesion … Plunder trans- tian revolution’ points to a possible end of neoliberalism. formed its face and inspired the SAP programmes character- In the same vein, Hakim Ben Hammouda, in his article “The ized by liberalization, marketisation, privatization, Political Economy of the Jasmine Revolution” is hopeful that the commodification and financialisation. These programmes de- Tunisian uprising is revolution in which the people have triumphed stroyed any progress made in the areas of basic social services over their tormentors. It is a new beginning that has ushered in a after Africa’s independence. He thus concludes that the study new era of freedom which will lead to a democratic dispensation. of pan-Africanism cannot be made outside the confines of im- In “Will the West ever Learn?” Boaventura de Sousa Santos, perialism. Neoliberal primitive accumulation is the latest mani- writing at the time the Eleventh World Social Forum (WSF) was festation of Western imperialistic tendencies over Africa in this held in Dakar, Senegal, observes that the symbolic significance case. It is therefore from this prism that African intellectuals of meeting in Africa was to do with the organisers’ interest to should revisit and reconstruct the pan-Africanist project to call attention to “Africa’s problems and the impact those prob- confront imperialism. Otherwise the story of the West and Af- lems will have on the world.” He observes that no one could rica: “… is a story of plunder, privation and destruction; it is a have predicted that “social protests against the economic crisis story of permanent war and passing peace.” and the Western backed dictatorships could be so vigorous, so In “Africa must make its own images”, Abdon Sofonnou, contagious and so assertive of one of the basic principles of the presents a report on the CODESRIA Workshop of 2011 FESPACO WSF: the radicalisation of democracy as an instrument for so- which examined new the creative visions and directions in con- cial transformation.” He submits that the struggle in North Af- temporary African film. The main goal of the workshop was to rica has roots in issues that have been ignored by Western media draw attention to the new creative visions and directions in or that have been reported in ways that reveal double difficulty contemporary African film. Africans must create their own logic in the West of learning from experiences of the world and giv- to bring about real change. Africa’s development will depend ing justice to the principles and values that it claims to guard. on the production of its own images; by taking the initiative to Santos gives a string of examples from which the West should tell our own story. We need to harness our social and cultural have learnt a thing or two but has chosen not to; so he concludes environment for this purpose. by asking: “Is the West going to learn only when it becomes Oloka-Onyango has some kind of confrontation with Uganda’s post-Western?” If the West had learnt its lessons, Africa and President Museveni. In “Speaking truth to power” we have a the rest of the world would have been a little happier. set of three articles that demonstrate some of the challenges that The article “The market colonization of Intellectuals” by Lewis some scholars have to endure in the struggle to uphold academic R. Gordon confronts a growing trend over the past decade freedom by confronting the authorities when things are not going which started when some academics became public figures and right. In this case Oloka is concerned about governance and de- public figures became academics. This fluidity led to a situa- mocracy in Uganda at a time when its president has been in power tion where some intellectuals started presenting their work as for twenty five years. He observes that Museveni is now suffer- the basis for rewards in the academy and the entertainment ing from a disease he characterises as “stayism” that seems to be industry suggestive of influences tantamount to the colonisa- leading him to want to stay in power for life. This temptation has tion of intellectuals by the ever-expanding market. He uses two led him to depend more on the coercive machinery of the state examples of Sartre and Fanon, he concludes: “For many, it’s rather than on the will of the people. He ends by cautioning that impossible to imagine intellectuals like Fanon and Sartre as going by what has happened in North Africa, there is no mili- anything short of holier than thou, even though neither of tary might that can prevent the people from overthrowing a them argued that academics should not have academic pur- dictator when they are angry enough. suits and seek academic rewards. They simply asked for the rest of us not to pretend that the world is somehow better off by our being rewarded…” Lansana Keita in “Reconfiguring Eurocentric Discourse and Ebrima Sall African Knowledge” examines the expansion of Western Euro- Executive Secretary pean cultural dominance over the world based on technologi- cal advancement and the psychology of human superiority. In Alex Bangirana Africa, there has been a trans-generational psychological response Head, Publications CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 3

13th Codesria General Assembly Announcement

Rabat, Morocco, 5-9 December 2011

Africa and The Challenges of The Twenty First Century

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in societies, the evolution of gender and intergenerational relations, Africa, CODESRIA, will hold its 13th General Assembly on 5-9 the evolution of spirituality and of the status and the role of December 2011, in Rabat, Morocco. The triennial General As- religion in modern societies, the emergence of a multi-polar world sembly is one of the most important scientific events of the and the phenomenon of emerging powers of the South are some African continent. It provides the African social science re- of the realities of our world that are widely and extensively dis- search community with a unique opportunity to reflect on some cussed by both academics and policy-makers. Some of these of the key issues facing the social sciences in particular, and challenges have been identified in the 2010 edition of the Inter- Africa and the world at large. The theme of the scientific con- national Social Sciences Council’s World Social Sciences Re- ference of the 13th CODESRIA General Assembly is: Africa port, as major challenges of the 21st century. and the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Discussions on climate change, like those on the so-called The 21st century, like the preceding one does not seem capable emerging powers, are much more important today than they of breaking from the paradigm of the complex and the uncer- were 30 to 40 years ago. If the Rio Summit on global environmental tain. Instead, it is confirming that hastily and carelessly pro- change was a key moment in the mobilisation of the international claiming ‘’the end of history’’, as Fukuyama did, was not enough community to face the challenges arising from global warming, to legitimately dispose of issues and challenges such as those such summits were rare. However, in less than two years, two of how to understand the presence of Africa in a world where summits – the Copenhagen Summit and the Cancun Summit on emerging powers (South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China) Climate Change – have been organised, and another summit will are increasingly upsetting traditional global geopolitics. The be held soon on the same issues in Durban (South Africa). Major financial crisis and its social implications in some countries of international programmes on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the North and the increasingly global nature of many problems such as REDD and REDD+, have also been launched. Further- have raised awareness about the vital and imperious need for more, the creation of the Euro Zone as well as the rise of coun- Africans to theoretically tackle the issue of Africa’s future in tries like China and India, have had repercussions worldwide. this new century. This underscores the legitimacy of an ap- The questions one must ask are: How does all this affect Africa? proach that is founded on a rupture: a clean break with Afro- And how prepared is the continent to face these challenges as pessimism from outside and from within to show that the new well as those that will arise in the future? It is nowadays rather global political and economic order is not a fatality but one that difficult to keep pace with advances in science and technology, calls for a breaking off with a theoretical construction of Africa including among others, in the areas of biotechnology and which led to the posing of questions like that asked by the nanotechnology, genetic engineering. The challenge that Af- World Bank in 2000: ‘‘Can Africa claim its place in the 21st rica is facing is not only that of understanding how new scien- century?” It is about understanding why and how Africa is still tific discoveries may have an impact on our societies, but also at the heart of the new global political and economic strategies, that of how to become a “continent of science” itself. and what opportunities there are for our continent to reposi- tion itself in the world, and reposition the world with regard to The rapidity of the pace of change in virtually all spheres of its own objectives, perhaps the most important of which still social life at the local, national, continental, and global levels remains that of bringing development (also to be understood make it difficult to identify the challenges that Africa will be facing as freedom, as Amartya Sen has argued) to its people. It is also in the coming century beyond a few decades. Science itself is a question of deconstructing what some have called “the con- changing as a result of changes occurring in nature and in soci- finement of Africa in a rent economy” in order to more critically ety. Moreover, science and technology, far from being neutral, understand the opportunities available to the continent but have become key players in the evolutions that occur in pro- also the constraints facing it, because the basic question is duction systems, trade, and intercultural relations, as well as in how, in the course of this 21st century, to oppose to the “inven- research and the formulation of responses to environmental tion of Africa” an “invention of the world” by Africa. change. The ability of science to anticipate, read and interpret the processes of change has increased over the years. The Global Issues, Global Challenges ability of humanity to follow developments taking place in na- Increasingly complex neoliberal globalisation, changes in ture, and to capture the major trends taking place within soci- intercultural relations at the global level, climate change, poverty, ety, is likely to increase as science itself develops. Therefore, rapid urbanisation, the ICTs revolution, the emergence of knowledge the list of questions that can be considered as major challenges for the 21st century is likely to change over time. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 4

Africa of the 21st Century Some of the “remedies” to the economic crisis and, more gener- Africa has entered the 21st century with huge unresolved is- ally, to the problems of underdevelopment and widespread pov- sues, such as poverty, rapid urbanisation, the national ques- erty that have been proposed or imposed on Africa have, in tion, regional integration, gender inequality, food insecurity, some cases contributed to the worsening of problems that they violent conflict, political fragmentation, and the fact that it oc- were supposed to solve. Others, like the use of genetically cupies a subaltern position in the global community, and in modified organisms (GMOs) as an antidote to food insecurity, global governance. The weight of the past is a major handicap or large scale land alienation in favour of multinational compa- for Africa. The effects of the slave trade, colonisation and neo- nies producing food crops or crops to obtain bio-fuels, raise colonialism that Africa has suffered from are still being felt, as significant political, ethical and health concerns, making the they have each and together resulted in the suppression of land question more complex. Commodification, and attempts to freedoms, the violation of human rights and dignity of the peo- subject almost all spheres of nature and society, including hu- ples of the continent, as well as the looting of human, natural man organs, forest resources, and the social sciences them- and intellectual resources and what the pan-Africanist histo- selves, to a market logic pose enormous challenges for science rian Walter Rodney called the “underdevelopment” of Africa. and for society, even if in some respects, the process has di- Among the major disadvantages of the continent at the dawn rected the flow of precious financial and human resources to of the twenty-first century are also the low level of education some key issues and led to major discoveries that could en- of many Africans, the lack of modern techniques of produc- hance social progress. However, by all indications, with the tion, transport, etc.., a fragmented political space and the extro- exception of a few, the countries of the South are still at the vert structure of the economies. The institutions of higher level of receivers / consumers in the overall relationship that is education and cultures of the elites are strongly marked, not by behind these processes, or at best in the role of “passengers” a philosophy and development strategies guided by the inter- rather than “drivers” of the process of globalisation. ests of African peoples, but by influences coming from the Reflections should also focus on issues such as the high mobility North, influences that are more alienating than liberating. of African people, both within and outside of the continent, and Nevertheless, the Africa of the end of the first decade of the 21st its consequences in terms of citizenship rights, and its impacts on century is not exactly the same as the Africa of the early sixties gender relations; the issues of climate change, natural resource which had just got freedom from colonial rule. The challenges management and food security; the recurrent problem of African the continent faces today are not exactly the same as those of integration with a focus on the issue of a common currency and the sixties. Although there still are issues dating back to the common borders; or yet again the governance of African cities, since early years of independence, these are of a different order, and a number of prospective studies have identified urbanization as a are today discussed with a particular focus and a sense of major trend in the evolution of the continent. These issues are urgency. This is particularly true of the issues of governance likely to continue to determine the evolution of the continent. and development, most of which are yet to be resolved. Special attention should be paid to higher education, given the Yet by all indications, these issues have gained particular rel- importance, and the uniqueness of the role that knowledge evance and magnitude. The celebration of the 50th anniver- plays in development, and its ability to influence the whole sary of the independence of many countries in 2010 has provided system. Isn’t the “vulnerability” of Africa the result of its mar- an opportunity for African researchers to review the continent’s ginal position in the world of knowledge? With the ongoing performance in 50 years of independence, a mixed record after changes in higher education around the world and the weaken- all. There have been many achievements in terms of social and ing of many African universities as a result of both deep crises economic development. Enormous progress has been made in and twenty years of structural adjustment, brain drain and sheer education and health, and some countries have managed to negligence on the part of the State, African research has en- establish democratic governance systems, especially after the countered considerable difficulties in its attempts to study and wave of national conferences (in West and Central Africa) at interpret these events and more. the end of the 1980s and early 1990s. The fall of authoritarian New technologies, especially ICTs play one of the most crucial regimes, the end of apartheid, the change of ruling parties in roles in social, economic and political developments of the con- countries like Senegal, and the recent profound changes in tinent. For instance, the mobile phone and FM radio stations Tunisia (the Jasmine Revolution), Egypt and elsewhere in North played an important role in the political and social movements Africa have made the promise of democratisation and develop- in Senegal at the turn of the Millennium. Faced with restric- ment of Africa much more real. Yet even with the recent political tions on political debates in many countries such as Tunisia, transformations, governance issues are still part of the great we saw the importance of the Internet, including social media challenges facing our continent. Africa is still beset by the and Internet-based sites such as Facebook and Twitter as paradox of poverty in plenty: most people of the continent are spaces for democratic struggles involving thousands of highly poor despite the fact that the countries they live in are rich in educated but unemployed urban youth. Meanwhile, the gov- human and natural resources. ernance of the Internet, a space managed mainly by private Poverty is still massive and deeply rooted, and the processes multinational companies of a new type (Facebook, Twitter, that lead to exclusion and marginalization of large segments of Google, YouTube, etc...), remains an unresolved issue. African societies are still ongoing. Exclusion and political Therefore the question is: Will this be Africa’s century, as it is marginalization of individuals, groups and entire social classes sometimes claimed? A better way to put more or less the same are, as we know, among the root causes of many of the violent question is to ask: How can Africa take charge of its future and conflicts that have ravaged several African countries, while make this century the one of its renaissance? But what does it aggravating underdevelopment and international dependence. mean to make the 21st century the century of Africa and what CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 5 does that imply? How could the social sciences and humani- brought together Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Mwalimu Julius ties address the challenges that we already know, and what types Nyerere (Tanzania), Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Ahmed Sekou of improvements are required in the African higher education Toure (Guinea), Modibo Keita (Mali), Ferhat Abbas (Algeria) and research systems in order for them to better prepare Africa and other leaders of newly independent African states and to face the challenges of the coming decades of this century? national liberation movements, to discuss the future of the Af- rica. The “Casablanca Group”, as they were known, formed the What is the role of intellectuals in general and CODESRIA in progressive camp. The Casablanca Conference which was particular in addressing these challenges? The theoretical is- hosted by King Mohammed V of Morocco, was a very impor- sues are very important. The production of knowledge informed tant milestone in the process that led to the creation of the by and is relevant to the social realities in Africa has always Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. The holding of been the ambition of CODESRIA and of all the great intellectu- the 13th CODESRIA General Assembly in Morocco provides an als of the continent. The intellectual struggles of Africa and the opportunity for the African social science community to cel- global South against the consequences of Western domina- ebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this conference, and to pay tion are far from having been won. The scientific division of tribute to the founding fathers and mothers of the OAU that labour in which Africa is still mainly seen as a purveyor of raw later became the African Union (AU) a few decades later, and materials of little use to the transformation of African societies ask the question as to how to reinvigorate the African integra- is still in force. The epistemological agenda of the continent tion process, as well as that of how to renew our collective must continue to include the transformation of the dominant commitment to realise the continental integration project. epistemological order which favours the West and penalizes the South, and Africa in particular. The valorization of the intel- The Organisation of the General Assembly lectual heritage and contributions of great thinkers from Africa and its Diaspora, such as Ibn Khaldoun, Ibn Battuta, El-Bakri, The General Assembly of CODESRIA will be organised in three Ali Idrissi, Ahmed Baba, Marcus Garvey, WEB Du Bois, Cheikh parts: the first part is a scientific conference on the theme Africa st Anta Diop, Frantz Fanon, Aime Cesaire, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Ruth and the Challenges of the 21 Century. This part will be organ- First, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Wole Soyinka, CLR ised in plenary and parallel sessions. A number of leading schol- James, Abdul Rahman Babu, Sembene Ousmane, Fela Kuti, ars from Africa, the Diaspora and other parts of the global South, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, Archie Mafeje, Bernard Magubane, as well as representatives of partner institutions in the North Samir Amin, Claude Ake, Ali El-Kenz, Fatima Mernisi, Mahmood will also be invited to participate in the conference. Provision Mamdani, Amina Mama, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Paulin will be made for autonomous initiatives of individuals and re- Hountondji, Jean-Marc Ela, Thandika Mkandawire, Fatou Sow, search institutions who are interested in organising panels to Issa Shivji, Ifi Amadiume, Oyeronke Oyewumi and Omafume do so if they are able to mobilise the resources required for that. th Onoge (the list is long), must continue to be a part of our priori- The second part is the celebration of the 50 anniversary of the ties. So must be the South-South and South-North dialogue. Casablanca Conference, and the third and last part is the busi- ness session devoted to discussions on the institutional life of The Casablanca Conference, 50 Years On CODESRIA: presentation and discussion of the reports of the President, the President of the Scientific Committee, and the The 13th CODESRIA General Assembly takes place shortly after Executive Secretary of CODESRIA; the new strategic plan and many African countries have celebrated the fiftieth anniver- research priorities for the coming years; amendments to the sary of their independence. It is also being organised, 50 years CODESRIA Charter; and election of a new Executive Commit- after the holding of the 1961 Casablanca Conference that tee as well as a new President and Vice President of CODESRIA.

Politics, Religion and Power in the Great Lakes Region Murindwa Rutanga Price/prix: Africa 7500 frs CFA / Afrique non CFA 16 USD 255 p. Politics, Religion and Power in the Great Lakes Region covers the political, religious and power relations in the contemporary Great Lakes States: Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Re- public of Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Kenya and the Sudan. The work is important because of the nexus between these countries’ shared present and past - their political, socio-economic, cultural and historical aspirations. In terms of regional cooperation, they are the countries, save for the DRC and the Sudan, which form the current East African Community (EAC). The book reflects on the complex dynamics and strategies of the ensuing power struggle, bringing forth a unique set of fascinating revelations of patterns of primitive capital accumulation, resistance, human rights violations and the political compromises between traditional enemies when confronted by a com- mon (foreign) enemy. A critical analysis of the political distortion the region suffered brings to light the relevance of these divisive tools on the current trends in the African countries, drawing inferences from the African Great Lakes Region (GLR). The study highlights how the conflicts were ISBN: 978-286978-492-5/ finally resolved to avert a serious war, thus bringing about new reforms. This history is instructive to 978997025-070-7 the contemporary reader because of the frequent skirmishes caused by ethnic and religious differ- ences, political and territorial conflicts as well as resource and leadership disputes in the GLR. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 6

Debates & Think Pieces

Some Questions Regarding the Independence of South Sudan*

hatever your point of view, it We often say that imperialism divided the would be difficult to deny that Mahmood Mamdani continent. I suggest we rethink this plati- Wthe referendum on South Su- Makerere Institute of Social Research tude. Historically, empires have united dan – unity or independence – was a his- Kampala, Uganda peoples, by force. France created two great toric moment. Self-determination marks political units in Africa: French Equato- the founding of a new political order. rial Africa and French West Africa. Brit- ain created two great federations – the Nationalists may try to convince us that Sudan in the days and months and years Central African Federation and the East the outcome of the referendum, inde- ahead. I will begin with four questions: African Federation – and it created Sudan. pendence, is the natural destiny of the people of South Sudan. But there is noth- One: How should those committed to These great political units split up, but ing natural about any political outcome. Pan-African unity understand the emer- that division was not at the moment of gence of a new state, an independent colonialism, rather it occurred at the mo- Let me ask one question to begin with: South Sudan? What does it teach us about ment of independence. This was for one who is the self in what we know as self- the political process of creating unity? reason: the people in question saw these determination? In 1956, when Sudan be- political arrangements as so many shack- came independent, that self was the Two: As we write the history of self-de- les, and struggled to break free of them. people of Sudan. Today, in 2011, when termination, how will we write the history South Sudan will become independent, of relations between the North and the Unity can be created by different, even that self is the people of South Sudan. South, as the history of one people colo- contradictory, means. It can be created nizing another or as a history with differ- by force, and it can be created by choice. That self, in both cases, is a political self. ent, even contradictory, possibilities? This is why we need to distinguish be- It is a historical self, not a metaphysical tween different kinds of unities: unity self as nationalists are prone to think. Three: How did the Sudan People’s Lib- through bondage and unity through free- When nationalists write a history, they eration Army (SPLA), historically a cham- dom. This is why a democratic position give the past a present. In doing so, they pion of the unity of Sudan, a New Sudan, on African unity is not necessarily incom- tend to make the present eternal. As the come to demand an independent state? patible with a democratic right to separa- present changes, so does the past. This Four: Now that the SPLA’s political tion, just as the democratic right to union is why we are always rewriting the past. project has changed, to create a new in marriage is not incompatible with a state, this raises a different question: will To return to the referendum: the referen- democratic right to divorce. dum is a moment of self-determination. the South establish a new political order, The OAU had two provisions in its Char- Not every people has this opportunity. or will it reproduce a version of the old ter: the sovereignty of all states, and the Not even every generation gets this op- political order? The old state we know right of all peoples to self-determination. portunity. If the opportunity comes, it is as Sudan? Will independence lead to Most observers saw these as contradic- once in several generations. It comes at peace or will peace be but an interlude tory. I suggest we revise this judgment a great price. That price is paid in blood, awaiting a more appropriate antidote to in retrospect. in political violence. It is fitting that we ongoing political violence in Sudan? begin by recalling that many have died We need to rethink the relation between African Unity to make possible this moment of self-de- sovereignty and self-determination. Sov- termination. Let us begin by acknowledg- Like the self, unity too does not develop ereignty is the relation of the state to other ing this sacrifice, which signifies this in linear fashion, in a straight line, from states, to external powers, whereas self- historical moment. lower to higher levels, as if it were un- determination is an internal relation of the folding according to a formula. This is state to the people. In a democratic con- I do not intend this talk to be a celebration. for one reason. Political unity is the out- text, self-determination should be seen My objective is more analytical. Rather come of political struggles, not of uto- as the pre-requisite to sovereignty. than tread on firm ground, I intend to pian blueprints. Anyone interested in pose a set of questions – not so that we creating unity must recognize the impor- There are, in the post-colonial history of may answer them here and now, but as tance of politics and persuasion, and thus Africa, two great examples of self-deter- guidelines to how we may think of South the inevitability of a non-linear process. mination, of the creation of a new state CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 7 from a previously independent African The Meaning of Independence when the Caribbean plantation economy state: Eritrea was the first; South Sudan Is independence the end of a colonial was transplanted to Indian Ocean islands. is the second. No state in history has relationship? This is indeed how one ten- The rise of a plantation slave economy agreed to secession of a part. Secession dency in South Sudan thinks of inde- has a number of consequences. Prior to is always forced on a state. This is why pendence, just as some who called for it, the demand for slaves came mainly from we need to ask a question in both cases: Eritrean independence spoke of Ethiopia the state; it was a demand for slave sol- how was secession possible? as a colonial master. The analogy is mis- diers. As slave plantations were devel- Eritrean self-determination was the out- leading for at least one reason. Whereas oped in the Indian Ocean islands, in come of two important developments, the colonial power left the region, North Reunion and Mauritius and other places, internal and external. Internally, it was the and South will always be neighbours. the demand shifted from the state to the outcome of a struggle lasting nearly four You can leave your marriage partner, but market. The scale of the demand also in- decades, culminating in a military victory you cannot leave your neighbour. Neigh- creased dramatically. over the Mengistu regime, the Derg. Ex- bours have a history, and that history Nonetheless, most of those enslaved in ternally, the relevant factor was the end overlaps geographical boundaries. the South stayed in Darfur and Sinnar as of the Cold War. Though North and South have distinct slave soldiers. Most of those in Darfur The referendum that followed was notable geographies, they have overlapping his- became Fur. Most of those in Sinnar be- for one reason. In spite of the close rela- tories. I would like to highlight key de- came Arab. They were culturally assimi- tion between Eritrean and Ethiopian armed velopments in that history. lated, mostly by consent but the kind of movements, the Eritrean People’s Libera- The first development was that of migra- consent that is manufactured through tion Front (EPLF) and the Ethiopian Peo- tions, both voluntary and forced. Let us relations of force. For a parallel, think of ples Revolutionary Democratic Front begin with voluntary migrations. how African slaves in North America be- (EPRDF), and their joint victory over the came English-speaking Westerners – Ethiopian empire state, the Eritrean peo- Here is one interesting example. In the thereby taking on the cultural identity of ple voted overwhelmingly to establish a period before western colonialism, even their masters. separate and independent state. before the regional slave trade, the Shilluk migrated from the South. From amongst This little bit of history should disturb In South Sudan, self-determination is the the Shilluk rose the royal house of the our simple moral world in a second way: result of a different combination of de- Funj, with a Sultanate that had its capital some of the Arabs in the North are de- velopments. Internally, there was no mili- at Sinnar. As it expanded, the Sultanate scendants of slaves from the South. tary victory; instead, there was a military raided the South for slaves, mainly for The second great historical development stalemate between the North and the slave soldiers. For reasons that need to that has shaped relations between North South. Thus the question: How did South be explored further, colonial historians and South in Sudan is that of anti-colo- Sudan win its political objective – inde- have termed these slave raids the Arab nial nationalism. The event that marks the pendence – in the absence of a military slave trade. rise of anti-colonial nationalism is the victory? Until now, this remains an unan- Mahdiyya, the great Sudanese revolt swered question. The Sultanate of the Fuj was the first Muslim state in the history of Sudan. It against British-Ottoman rule, known as My answer is provisional. In the case of brought to an end a thousand year his- the Turkiyya. Led by Mohamed Abdulla, South Sudan, the external factor was tory of Christian states in the North. the Mahdi, this late nineteenth century more decisive. That external factor was Sinnar demolished Christian states in the movement was, after the 1857 Indian Up- 9/11 and, following it, US invasions of North and inaugurated the political his- rising, the greatest revolt to shake the Afghanistan and Iraq. In my view, it is tory of Islam in Sudan. Given the con- British empire. With its firm social base only this factor, the real grip of post-9/11 ventional understanding that equates in Darfur and Kordofan, the Mahdiyya fear, the fear that it will be the next target Islam with the North and Christianity with spread first to the rest of northern Su- of US aggression that explains the agree- the South, I would like us to remember dan, and then to the Dinka of Abyei. The ment of the government in the North to that political power in the North, in Nubia Dinka said the Spirit of Deng had caught include a provision for a referendum in and Beja, was Christian – and that the the Mahdi. the South in the Comprehensive Peace royal family of the first Muslim state in Modern Sudanese nationalism began in Agreement (CPA). Sudan came from the South, not the North. the 1920s with what has come to be The result of the referendum could not have In contrast, Islam came to the North in known as the White Flag revolt. It was been in doubt. It would have been clear the form of refugees and merchants, not spearheaded by Southern officers in the to anyone with a historical understanding royals or soldiers. colonial army, and marks the turning point of the issues involved, and of the experi- in colonial policy in Sudan, when British ence of the process leading to Eritrean The migrations that we know of better power decided to quarantine the South independence, that the referendum would were forced migrations, slavery. The from the North. This is how North and lead to an overwhelming popular vote for South plundered for slaves from the sev- South came to be artificially separated in an independent state in the South. enteenth century onwards with the for- the colonial period, with permission re- mation of the Sultanate of the Funj along quired to cross boundaries. This kind of Why then did the power in the North the Nile and the Sultanate of Darfur in separation is, however, not unusual in the agree to a referendum? My answer is: the the west. But the slave trade became in- history of colonialism: Karamoja too was agreement to hold a referendum deferred tense only in late eighteenth century a quarantined district in colonial Uganda. a head-on confrontation with US power. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 8

The third point is key: an even worse fate movement with a strong leader, the weaker I have suggested that part of the answer met the people of South Sudan after in- the organization, the more difference does lies in the nature of political leadership. dependence. A state-enforced national the death of one individual make. Another part of the answer lies in ongoing project unfolded in Sudan, at first as en- political developments. The key develop- The history of liberation movements in forced Arabization, later as enforced ment was the experience of power-sharing. this region testifies to this fact. It should Islamization. also remind us that it has not been unu- The first power-sharing agreement in This – rather than the colonial period – is sual for strong leaders to be eliminated Sudan was forged in 1972, as a result of the real context of the armed liberation towards the close of an armed struggle. the Addis Ababa Agreement. It lasted struggle in the South. The fact is that it Remember the Zimbabwe African Na- ten years. It collapsed when no longer did not take long for both the political tional Union (ZANU) and the killing of convenient for the regime in the North. class and the popular classes in the Tongogara on the eve of victory; the Afri- But it also collapsed because the Agree- South to realize that the independence can National Congress (ANC) and the ment had little popular support in the of Sudan had worsened their political and assassination of Chris Hani, also on the North. Why? Because the 1972 Agree- social situation, rather than improved it. eve of victory; and SPLA and the death of ment reformed the state in the South but Garang soon after return to Khartoum. not in the North. SPLA: From New Sudan to It is worth comparing SPLA with ANC. The CPA was built on the lessons of 1972. Independence Both were successful in undermining the The key lesson was that power-sharing The SPLA’s political programme was not attempt of ruling regimes to turn the strug- had been too narrow. As a result, CPA an independent South; it was a liberated gle into a racial or religious contest. The called for a broader sharing: ranging from Sudan. SPLA did not call for the creation ANC succeeded in recruiting important political power to wealth, to arms. Still, it of a new state, but for the reform of the individuals from the white population, remained sharing of power, power-sharing, existing state. The demand for a New such as Joe Slovo and Ronnie Kasrils. between elites, between two ruling groups, Sudan was the basis of a political alli- Similarly, SPLA included key cadres from the National Congress Party (NCP) and ance between SPLA and the political op- the Arab population like Mansour Khaled SPLA. It left out the opposition in both position in Khartoum. It was the basis and Yassir Arman. The difference between the North and the South. It was power- on which SPLA expanded the struggle them is also important: whereas the line sharing without democratization! from the South to border areas. that called for unity, for a non-racial South When Garang signed the CPA and re- Africa, won in the ANC, the line that called Democratization and Violence turned to Khartoum, over a million turned for a New Sudan was defeated in the SPLA. What would democratization mean in the out to receive him. They represented the In both cases, the lines representing unity present context? Is there a link between entire diversity of Sudan – from North to and that representing separation were democratization and violence? If so, what South, and East to West. They included locked in an ongoing contest through- is that link? speakers of Arabic and of other Suda- out the history of the struggle. This was I want to begin with two observations, nese languages. Many drew comparisons indeed the difference between the ANC one on political order, and the other on with the return of Mugabe to Harare. and the PAC in South Africa. In the case political violence. The first has to do with Garang’s return was a shock across the of South Sudan, the two lines were repre- the link between organization of the state political spectrum, especially to the po- sented by SPLA and Anyanya II, the first and maintenance of civil peace in a post- litical class in the North. calling for a New Sudan, the latter for an civil war situation. The point of this historical survey of re- independent South Sudan. Think of Uganda, 1986. We had just come lations between North and South is to The first letter, S, in SPLA does not stand out of a civil war. The terrain was marked underline one single fact: this is not a for South Sudan, but for Sudan. The second by multiple armed militias, the best known one-dimensional history of Northern op- letter, P, is spelt in the singular, as People, being the Ugandan Freedom Movement pression of the South. True, Northern the people of Sudan and not peoples of (UFM) and Fedemo. The Ugandan solu- domination is the main story, especially Sudan, not in the plural, as many peoples tion to this problem was known as the broad after independence. But there was a sub- inside one Sudan. SPLA was founded as base. It was an invitation to rival militias sidiary story: the story of joint North- a nationalist project, an alternative to other to join the new political order, but on two South struggle against that domination. kinds of nationalisms, to Arabism, to conditions: first, whether monarchist or If the SPLA had participated in the Suda- Islamism, but also to a separate South Sudan militarist, you can keep your political ob- nese elections in 2010, it would most likely nationalism. The SPLA was a project to jectives provided you give up your arms; have won – whether led by Garang, Salva reform the state, not to create a new state. second, you can have a share in political Kir, or Yassir Arman. The irony is this: Garang’s speech at Koka Dam was the power – a governmental position – pro- precisely when the SPLA was on the most explicit statement of why the future vided you give up control over your militia. verge of realizing its historic goal, power of the South and the North lay together, South Sudan, too, is attempting to create in the whole of Sudan, it gave up the goal why political salvation lay not in the for- a broad base. But in South Sudan, different and called for an independent South. mation of a new state but in the reform of members of the broad base have kept not the existing state. only their arms but also command over their Why? respective militias. Every important political Part of the answer lies in the orientation Today, the line calling for independence has emerged triumphant. How did we get leader in the Sudan People’s Liberation of the political leadership, especially af- to this point? Movement (SPLM) has his own militia, ter the death of Garang. SPLA was a CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 9 so much so that one has to ask: What a fiction: that Africans have a herd men- official administration discriminated happens if a leader loses his position tality and that they tend to stay in one against ethnic minorities, especially when within the SPLM? Or loses an election? place, so Africans have always lived in it comes to access to land, and the ap- The obvious answer is: that commander tribal homelands. This was their justifi- pointment of chiefs, that is, participation leaves with his militia. cation for why every colony was adminis- in local governance. tered as a patchwork of tribal homelands. Take the example of General George Athor As the market system developed, more who went into rebellion after losing last In actual fact, colonial administrations and more people migrated, either in April’s election to be governor of Jonglei created homelands and Native Authorities. search of jobs or land, and every admin- state. He led his militia into rebellion, at- My research suggests that colonialism istrative area became more and more tacking Malakal in the oil-producing state began with a programme of ethnic cleans- multi-ethnic. In a situation where the of Upper Nile recently. It is a sign of the ing. Take the case of Buganda where all population was multi-ethnic and power times. General Athor had contested the the Catholics were moved from the cen- mono-ethnic, the result was that more election as an independent candidate. But tre to Masaka, and Mengo was consid- and more people were disenfranchised as one is tempted to ask: what is to prevent a ered a Protestant homeland. Administrative not being native to the area, even if they general who contests as SPLM and loses the counties were designated as Protestant were born there. Ethnic conflict was the election from withdrawing with his militia? or Catholic or, in a few cases, Muslim. inevitable outcome. The tribe or religion of the chief designated Most discussion on the question of vio- Africa is littered with examples of this the nature of the homeland he adminis- lence in South Sudan today focuses on the kind of conflict. It is the dynamic that tered. The ethnic cleansing in Buganda spectre of North-South violence. There is drives ongoing civil wars around the con- was religious, it was tribal elsewhere. hardly any discussion on violence within tinent: Darfur, Nigeria since the post-civil the South. Even when internal violence The Native Authority made an adminis- war constitution, eastern Congo, Ivory in the South is discussed, it is seen as a trative distinction between those who Coast, the Rift Valley in Kenya. consequence of North-South tensions. were born or lived in the administrative Will South Sudan be an exception? Will area and those who were descended from I suggest that we need to look at both South Sudan create a new kind of state or its so-called original inhabitants. The dis- internal and external violence, violence will it reproduce a reformed colonial state? tinction, in today’s political language, within state boundaries and violence be- was between natives and Bafuruki. The To have some idea, we can look at the tween states. Let us begin with some gen- distinction systematically privileged na- period before CPA was signed in 2005. eral observations. Political violence in tives over all others. At the time, there were liberated areas. African states is not between states, but Since CPA was signed in 2005, the whole within states. The exception is where one The colonial tribe not the same as a pre- of South Sudan became a liberated area. state was created from within the womb colonial ethnic group. The pre-colonial The fact is that South Sudan became in- of another – like Eritrea out of Ethiopia, ethnic group was not an administrative dependent six years ago, in 2005. or Pakistan out of India – or where one but a cultural group. You could become a political class was nurtured in the womb Muganda or a Munyankole or a Langi or Make a comparison between liberated of another, like the relationship between a Dinka in the pre-colonial period. But SPLA-held areas in Sudan with Sudan EPLF and Tigrayan People’s Liberation you could not change your tribe officially government-held areas, also in South Front (TPLF), the Eritrean and Ethiopian in the colonial administration. Colonial- Sudan before 2005. Early returns are not armed movements, or the Rwandan Patri- ism transformed a tribe from a cultural encouraging. Structures of power in both otic Army (RPA) in Rwanda and the Na- identity to an administrative identity that areas are the same. Both areas are ruled tional Resistant Army (NRA) in Uganda. claim to based on descent, not just cul- by administrative chiefs that implement ture. It became a blood identity. Tribe customary law as defined in the colonial The first kind of violence abounds in became a sub-set of race. period, as a law that systematically privi- post-colonial Africa: the Rift Valley in leges natives or bafuruki, men over Kenya, Darfur, Ivory Coast, Eastern Wherever the colonial notion of Native women and old over young. From this Congo. It is common to refer to all types Authority has remained, authorities de- point of view, there is no difference be- of internal violence as ‘ethnic violence’. fine the population on the basis of de- tween how local power is organized in What is the common factor? scent, not residence. the North and in the South. Because the All these cases have one thing in com- Colonialism was based on two sets of local power discriminates actively and mon. All have reformed the central state discriminations: one based on race, the other legally between different kinds of citizens by introducing elections and a multi-party on tribe. Race divided natives from non- of South Sudan, it is bound to generate system. But elections seem to lead to vio- natives in urban areas. Tribe divided na- tensions and conflict over time. lence rather than stability. Why? For a tives from Bafuruki in the rural areas, The second type of violence, that between clue, I suggest we look at another simi- inside each tribal homeland. The difference states, is specific to cases like Ethiopia larity between these cases of internal vio- was that whereas natives in urban areas were and Eritrea, and Uganda and Rwanda. Will lence. None have managed to reform the discriminated against racially, natives in South and North Sudan be an exception? local state, the local authority or the Dis- the tribal homelands were privileged. trict Authority that the British used to For a start, we need to identify the sources This administrative structure inevitably call a Native Authority. of North-South tensions. First, there are generated inter-tribal conflicts. To begin the border states which lie within the As a form of power, the Native Authority with, every administrative area was multi- North or the South but have populations is of colonial origin. Colonialism spread ethnic. Yet, in every multi-ethnic area, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 10 that historically came from both. This is no fixed borders; the borders were po- populations in the near future, which the case in Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains, rous, flexible and mobile. But the new could possibly lead to a confederation in and Southern Kordofan. The border borders are fixed and hard; you either the distant future. states were politically the most receptive belong or you do not. You cannot be- The solution for the second problem is to Garang’s call for a New Sudan. The border long to both sides of the border. Will the to reform the Native Authority. If South states also felt betrayed by the decision new political arrangement with fixed bor- Sudan is organized as a federation, how to create an independent South Sudan. ders pit the Misseriya and the Ngok Dinka will citizenship be defined in each state At the same time, the political class in the against one another? in the federation, as ethnic or territorial? border states is exposed to retaliation from The populations of border regions, A territorial federation gives equal rights the Northern political elite, one reason pastoralists who criss-cross the North- to all citizens who live within a state, why it may turn to SPLA for protection. South border annually in search of water whereas an ethnic federation distin- The second source of tension is the popu- in the dry season, the IDPs who have guishes legally and politically between lation of internally displaced persons settled in their new homes, should they different kinds of residents, depending (IDPs), the population of refugees from have dual citizenship? on their ethnic origin. the southern war who lived in the North. In sum, then, there are two major sources The basic question that faces South Su- How many still continue to live in the of political violence after independence. dan is not very different from the one that North? We do not know, but the count Possible violence between North and faces most African countries. Will South ranges from hundreds of thousands up- South has three likely sources: border Sudan learn from the African experience wards. Are they citizens of where they populations, IDPs, and peasants and – of ongoing civil war and ethnic conflict live, Sudan, or of the new state from which pastoralists with shared livelihoods. – and rethink political citizenship and the they have historically moved, South Su- political state in order to create a new dan? Like Eritreans in Ethiopia, they will The second possible source of violence political order? be the most likely victims of a failure to is within the South. It arises from the per- think through the citizenship question. sistence of the Native Authority as the The future of South Sudan and its peo- form of local power that turns cultural ple rides on the answer to this question. The third source of tension is in Abyei, difference into a source of political and where the Misseriya of Darfur and the legal discrimination. Ngok Dinka have shared livelihoods and * This article was first presented as a political struggles for over a thousand One solution for the first problem is dual public lecture at Makerere University, years. Historically, African societies had nationality for border and migrant Kampala, in March 2011.

Grappling with the Reality of a New State in Southern Sudan1

he sight of so many Sudanese cast Abel Alier (1990). This frustration was ing their votes in a peaceful and Peter Adwok Nyaba2 articulated as follows by Fr. Saturnino La- Torderly fashion was an inspiration Minister of Higher Education and hore in the Second Parliament (1958) to the world and a tribute to the determi- Scientific Research when the southern demand for federa- nation of the people and leaders of South Government of Sudan tion was defeated: Sudan to forge a better future. The South has no intention of sepa- President Barack Obama (2011) dan), which sends social and political rating from the North, for had that been shock waves into a society that lived the case, nothing on earth would have Historical Synopsis through conflicts and civil wars but ex- prevented the demand for self-deter- The political dust raised by the referen- hibits such civility, forgiveness, patience mination for it is the right of free peo- dum on self-determination in southern and social affinity to each other unknown ple. The South will at any moment Sudan has settled. The result of the ref- elsewhere. separate from the North if and when erendum, expectedly, is secession, and the North so decides, directly or indi- the emergence of an independent state The secession of southern Sudan epito- rectly, through political, social and in South Sudan is inevitable. The Suda- mizes a failure of the political class elite to economic subjugation of the South. nese people, northerners and southern- construct a viable united Sudanese state The contemporary history of the Sudan ers alike, are witnessing a political reality encompassing all its racial, ethnic, religious, is replete with missed opportunities for they could never have envisaged on the linguistic and cultural diversities. It may unity in diversity. Had the Arab-dominated independence of the country in 1956, a on the other hand represent the frustra- northern political elite accepted in 1956 reality that plays out as a political bound- tion of the southern political elite with to federate the country, the war in south- ary separating the successor state (South their northern counterparts over too many ern Sudan would not have escalated; and Sudan) from the predecessor state (Su- agreements dishonoured, to paraphrase CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 11 the subsequent wars – in Darfur and East- concept of ‘unity in diversity’, contrasts Ingaz regime. But its internal political and ern Sudan – which now engulfed the radically but resonates with the state- ideological squabbles and power strug- whole country, would have been avoided. ment of Fr. Saturnino in the Parliament gle reduced its political and military ef- The arrogant rejection of federation nearly four decades earlier. Garang must fectiveness. The ambivalence towards pushed the southern political elite into have realised from his direct negotiations the armed struggle as a political means demanding separation and the establish- with Ustaz Ali Osman Mohamed Tah that to bring down the Ingaz regime demon- ment of an independent state represent- it was impossible to attain the New Su- strated by the northern political opposi- ing their social, cultural, economic and dan and this explains its disappearance tion conditioned their contribution to the political interests. The rejection of fed- in the CPA literature. New Sudan Brigade. In fact, each politi- eration – ‘no federation for one nation’ cal party had its own separate contingent, I can vouch that lack of political will in was the slogan – may in part be attrib- which they did not want to subordinate the north pushed southerners to the po- uted to the negative attitude of the Arab- to the SPLA command. This generated sition of secession. For instance, in the dominated northern political elite (kayan bitterness and strong political undercur- Juba Conference (1947), the northern po- al shamal) towards their southern com- rents which eventually precipitated the litical elite with the assistance of British patriots, an attitude tinted with a sense Umma Party’s desertion of the NDA colonial officials managed to extract from of racial and cultural superiority, which (1999). It appeared as if the northern po- the southern representatives (tribal in part is informed by historical experi- litical opposition wanted to use the SPLA chiefs and low ranking officials not only ence of slavery and slave trade in the nine- only as political ‘hunting dog’. less familiar with the workings of a mod- teenth century. ern state but who were also promised The SPLM bent to mediators’ pressure This attitude invariably generated in equal salaries with those of their north- (2002) to exclude the NDA from its peace southern Sudanese syndromes of inferi- ern compatriots) an agreement for south negotiations with the National Congress ority, low self-esteem and a psychologi- and north Sudan to become independent Party. This widened the fissures and divi- cal attitude of being different, and hence as one united country.3 In spite of the sions within the NDA, with the result that created the basis for separation. The 1947 breakthrough, the exclusion of the NCP had to sign separate peace agree- Arab-dominated northern political elite’s southerners in the negotiations and ments6 with all the political and armed op- exclusion of their southern counterparts hence the Cairo Agreement (1953) that position, leaving intact its hold on the state. from equal participation in decision-mak- affirmed Sudan’s exercise of self-deter- The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ing that affected the destiny of the Suda- mination and independence, which forms (CPA) 2005 remains the only viable legal, nese state exacerbated their alienation. It the basis of the claim by the people of political and constitutional framework for will be recalled that the demand for se- Southern Sudan to exercise this right fifty resolving the country’s myriad social, cession was for the first time put forward five years later, was an act of political economic and cultural disparities and by the Sudan African National Union bad faith. The distrust cultivated in the concomitant problems manifested in con- (SANU) in March 1965 during the ‘Round independence process precipitated the flicts, wars and the emergence of centrifu- Table Conference on the Problem of the mutiny of the Southern Corps of the Su- gal regional political forces. The Southern Provinces’. dan Defence Forces in Torit on August wholehearted and full implementation of 18th, 1955 and the beginning of the sev- In the following lines, I want to demon- the CPA protocols would have rendered enteen years war. strate that southern Sudan secession was more attractive the unity of the country. not the original demand of southerners; it The Addis Ababa Agreement (1972) be- Many aspects of the CPA, for example appeared as a result of the northerners tween the Southern Sudan Liberation the Abyei area, the north-south borders not being sensitive to southern concerns Movement and the May Regime of Gaafar as they stood on January 1, 1956 and the and worries and their continued treatment Nimeri stopped the civil conflict and was question of the oil revenue, remain con- as second class citizens in their country another opportunity in the process of tentious, negatively affecting the rela- of birth. Mark the following words of late state and nation building in the Sudan. tionship between the CPA partners. Dr John Garang de Mabior, the SPLM While the southern political elite were Moreover the NCP-dominated govern- leader in Rumbek in May 2005: building a subset of the May regime – ment of national unity effectively froze practising elements of liberal democracy its social and economic development I and those who joined me in the bush in the Southern Region4 – nevertheless projects, leaving Southern Sudan to its and fought for more than twenty years, they were committed to the unity of the SPLM-dominated government. The op- have brought to you CPA in a golden country.5 It was Nimeri’s repeated interfer- portunity to make unity attractive plate. Our mission is accomplished. It ence in the democratic process in the South- through social and economic develop- is now your turn, especially those who ern Region that triggered the rebellion and ment was forfeited. did not have a chance to experience the emergence of the SPLM/A (1983) to bush life. When time comes to vote at Could Southern Sudan Secession referendum, it is your golden choice wage the revolutionary armed struggle. Have Been Avoided? to determine your fate. Would you like The formation of the National Democratic to be second class citizens in your own Alliance (1990) and the SPLM/A acqui- An analysis of the referendum results country? It is absolutely your choice. escence and joining (1995) was an impor- shows that the vote for secession was not uniform throughout the ten states in This speech of the SPLM leader who tant opportunity for the political southern Sudan. Northern Bahr el Ghazal struggled to realise the vision of the ‘New opposition to the Ingaz regime and build- state voted 40 per cent for unity while Sudan’ based on social justice, equality, ing a broad national front. The NDA Warrap state voted 36 per cent for unity. democracy and unity encapsulating the poised indeed as an alternative to the CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 12

This undoubtedly must have been in re- session with power. It is worth mention- exchange for electric power and access sponse to NCP investments and devel- ing that the NCP preferred to deal with to maritime ports; that the north-south opment projects in the two states, known separatists rather than with the borders are demarcated without a politi- suggesting that active participation of genuine unionists of the SPLM. Thus, cal hitch, and Abyei elects to return to the GONU in social and economic devel- after six years of flirting with the separa- the South; that both agree to a monetary opment of southern Sudan in the interim tists, the dice was already cast for seces- union in which the Sudanese Pound is period would have changed the tide in sion. It was therefore not surprising that legal tender in both states, then the only favour of unity. This in hindsight is the when he visited Juba on 4 January the remaining issue of importance will be the meaning of ‘making unity attractive’. The huge reception and huge crowds Presi- Nile Waters. By then they will assume an NCP bears the onus of responsibility of dent al-Bashir drew were simply in re- international character. Had the NCP/GOS letting slip the opportunity for making sponse to his positive remarks about and SPLM/GOSS teams agreed on the unity of the country attractive to southern recognising the results of the referendum. Nile Waters before the referendum, it secessionists through its intransigence. Its would have been in the context of split- The basis and foundation of Sudan’s attitude of ‘eating yet still having its ting the Sudan’s share (18.5 BM³, vide unity had been sufficiently eroded by the cake’ to maintain its political dominance the 1959 Nile Waters Treaty between short-sightedness of its political leader- and resistance to institute legal reforms Egypt and the Sudan). South Sudan will ship due to its apparent lack of a home in order to pave the way for democratic have the option of either joining the other grown inclusive national agenda. Every transformation meant that NCP must have riparian states (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, regime that came and went in Khartoum long ago decided to let southern Sudan Tanzania, Burundi and DR Congo) in their was either an extension of political and go. However, the SPLM may also, standoff with Egypt and Sudan over the ideological currents in the Middle East, through its acquiescence to an asym- reasonable and equitable usage of the or some out-dated archaic theocratic- metrical power relationship with NCP in trans-boundary water course – The River cum-feudal parties that tended to recre- the Khartoum, carry some responsibility. Nile Basin – or signing a Tripartite Agree- ate conditions of enslavement and ment with Egypt and North Sudan. Secession was not the only viable op- exploitation, taking advantage of people’s tion for the resolution of the Sudanese simplicity and spirituality. In its initial The NCP and other political forces in conflict. Indeed, the CPA gives priority days (1969-1971) the May regime could North Sudan8 and perhaps other states to the unity of the country; the Machakos have succeeded in its national pro- in Africa and the Middle East are giddy Protocol was crafted in such a manner as gramme7 but because this was externally and apprehensive with the prospect of to affirm that unity. But reality always driven, it quickly bankrupted and col- South Sudan establishing diplomatic re- doesn’t conform to wishes or expecta- lapsed in the face of the ossified tradi- lations with the State of Israel. This con- tions, and the NCP did not possess the tionalism and cultural reaction that cern is not justifiable on the ground that political will to implement it to the letter. dominate society in northern Sudan. South Sudan is not an Arab country and In view of this and the historical account therefore can freely choose with whom it above, the unity of the Sudan could have Post-Referendum Challenges and wants to establish relations on the basis been assured had the Sudanese political How to Manage Them of mutual interest. South Sudan cannot leadership been strong enough to make It is obvious that a host of challenges be more Arab than Egypt and other Arab concrete political decisions. will immediately face the new state, par- countries on whose soil the ‘Star of David’ flies high. When the former Soviet leader Mikhael ticularly in its relations with North Su- Gorbachev introduced his political pro- dan. These include security issues such It will be in the social, economic and dip- gramme of Perestroika and Glasnost, lit- as the borders, citizenship, international lomatic interest of the new state in South tle did he envisage that this would sweep agreements and conventions, currency, Sudan to build a foreign policy that pro- him from power, lead to the collapse of banking, debts and loans, natural re- motes regional and world peace, fair trade the Soviet Union, and the radical trans- sources (notably oil), the Nile waters and and respect for the sovereignty of oth- formation of the international balance of the status of Abyei. Negotiations be- ers. In this respect, one does not see any power. In 1990, the former South African tween the CPA partners have been immediate problems between South Su- President de Klerk released Nelson underway since July 2010 and dan and North Sudan or the Arab coun- Mandela from prison. This magnanimous agreement(s) in respect of the two sce- tries. While South Sudan may not join act was necessary to break South Afri- narios of ‘unity’ and ‘secession’ should the League of Arab States, it is possible ca’s international isolation although it have been reached before the conduct of that she may use its status as a former marked the end of white rule and trans- the referendum. However, the referendum part of the Arab World to promote good formed the power relations in the country. was conducted without a single step hav- relations between the Arabs and the Af- ing been made. The parties have yet to rican countries. South Sudan will defi- President al-Bashir had the mandate to agree on the ‘guiding principles’ for the nitely apply to join the East African implement the CPA protocols and perhaps negotiations and the agreement. Community, for economic and cultural walk an extra mile, even at the risk of alienating reasons. It will automatically become a some of his strong supporters in the NCP, However, assuming that the two parties, member of IGAD and the African Union. and to make unity an attractive option for the Government of Sudan and the Gov- The only hitches one perceives in South the Southern separatists. But he chose ernment of South Sudan, amicably reach Sudan’s external diplomatic relations will to follow, instead of leading, the hawkish an agreement; that South Sudan will cede be in the context of relations it may want mob in the National Congress Party, who some of its oil to North Sudan to pro- to develop with Somaliland and the Arab could not see beyond their fanatical ob- mote cooperation and good neighbourli- ness, or in the context of trade and Saharawi Republic, whose people have CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 13 been denied the right to exercise self-de- federal or confederal arrangement. The coming explosive political commodities termination in a referendum over whether Government of South Sudan should in this globalized world. to become independent or become part therefore engage the Government of of the Kingdom of Morocco. North Sudan in order to resolve the con- flict in Darfur,9 and conflicts that may The challenge that will face the new state Notes sprout in Southern Kordofan and Blue is how South Sudan will balance its rela- Nile due to the poor conduct of the Popu- 1. Paper presented at the international conference tions with the People’s Republic of China lar Consultation. As confidence building on the ‘Consequences of the Referendum on on the one hand, in view of its huge in- measures, the two states should encour- Sudan, the East and Horn of Africa Regions’, vestment in the development of the oil age and promote the building of the rail- organized by the Council for the Development fields in southern Sudan which at the way lines and highways which may have of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), same time has been the main driver of the been halted by the referendum. the United Nations Economic Commission Sudan’s war efforts against the SPLA, for Africa (UNECA) and the Africa Research and the United States of America, which Sudan is heavily indebted to the tune of and Resource Forum (ARRF), with support on the other hand was the principal sup- thirty six billion US dollars. South Sudan from the International Development Research port to the Southern Sudan referendum may argue that none of these debts has Centre (IDRC) and Trust Africa, held in Nairobi, and its secession from the north. It is been used for its social and economic from 28 February through 1 March 2011. clear, from the messages emanating from development. On the contrary, most of Washington, that the US Administration these debts were used to prosecute the 2. The author is a member of the SPLM, will exert pressure for diplomatic recog- war. However justifiable this argument formerly representative of Upper Nile State nition and South Sudan’s membership of may be, the secession of South Sudan in the Council of States in the National Legislature (2005-2008) and Minister for the United Nations. could be used as a reason to cancel Su- Higher Education and Scientific Research dan’s debts in the context of relieving a ‘No use crying over spilt milk’ – so goes in the Government of National Unity in highly indebted poor country (HIPC). an old adage – and indeed the dismem- Khartoum (2008-2011). This will assist in the evolution of cordial berment of the Sudan has now become and friendly relationship between the two 3. Conscious of South Sudan’s underdevelopment inevitable. In fact North Sudan should new states, which could facilitate a fu- compared to northern Sudan, southerners be the first to recognise the new state as ture reunion on new bases. had argued that they wanted southern Sudan an expression of goodwill. The peaceful to remain under British colonial and civilised manner with which south- Concluding Remarks administration or linked to British East erners conducted themselves in the ref- Africa in order to allow northern Sudan to erendum process has already shattered Separation is hard to swallow. It is bound become independent. This argument was of the premonitions that the state in South to reverberate throughout the social fab- course defeated, leading to the British reversal Sudan will be a failed one. These premo- ric and networks which were built over of its 1932 policy of separate development. nitions of course did not appear out of the five or more decades of developing the blue skies but from reality obtaining together. However, if secession can con- 4. For the first time, the southern political in South Sudan. solidate peace and harmony between the elite managed their own affairs in a manner two states, then so much the better. The more democratic than in the centre. The The new states of South Sudan and Su- EPRDF’s10 slogan on shooting itself into Southern Region People’s Assembly was a dan will have to evolve friendly relations power in Addis Ababa in 1991 was that beacon of liberal democracy in which legislators based on mutual respect for each other’s ‘peace is better than unity’. The Sudanese grilled the members of the government. They sovereignty to facilitate cooperation in people, both in the south and north, can even impeached the President of the High the social, economic and cultural spheres benefit from this wisdom and consider the Executive Council, Mr Joseph Lagu (1980), and to maintain peaceful relations, particu- secession of southern Sudan a way of forcing Nimeri to replace him. larly with regard to the transition areas and building peace and harmony between the 5. The Southern Regional Government and Abyei. In fact the two states should pre- two parts in order to compensate for the Radio Juba were the only two forces that came vent Abyei from becoming another Kash- opportunities for social and economic de- out openly and courageously in support of mir. This means that the two should velopment lost in wars and conflicts over Nimeri and the May regime in the three eschew the legacy and bitterness of war the last fifty five years. In this respect, days that followed the invasion of the country by promoting easy movement of people secession will be a blessing in disguise. and goods. In fact the nomads (Messiriya by the National Front on 6 July 1976. and Rezeighat) spend more than seven The secession of South Sudan is likely 6. The agreement with the Umma Party months in South Sudan in search of wa- to cause ripples in other parts of Africa (1999); Cairo Agreement with NDA (2005); ter and pastures. This transhumance can where the Organisation of African Unity the CPA with the SPLM/A (2005), DPA endure only if there is peace and harmony instituted the principle of the inviolabil- with Mini Arkoi Menawi (2006) and the in the transition zone between north and ity of colonial borders. This will have to ESPA with Eastern Sudan Front (2006). south, which means that the two states be revised to conform to the present re- ality of increased social and political 7. The revolutionary regime first recognised should promote good neighbourliness if the historical, racial, religious and linguistic only in the interests of these people. awareness. Therefore it should constitute an opportunity for those states in Africa differences between north and south and The two states will have to manage the and the Arab World with problems of na- proceeded to define the problem of southern post-referendum challenges in a manner tional and religious minorities to review Sudan as that of underdevelopment. It that will bring mutual benefits which in their policies to prevent them from be- embarked on building a social stratum that future could translate into some form of understood and could spearhead the CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 14

democratic transformation of society in 8. A group of Ulama and Islamic intellectuals 9. The Government of South Sudan should not Southern Sudan. The emergence of recently issued a fatwa against the conduct encourage the Darfur rebels by giving them democratic and progressive forces in the of the referendum of self-determination, in any part of South Sudan. south and their dovetailing with similar fearing that it would result in separation 10. The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary forces in north was the only possibility for and establishment of an independent state Democratic Front. preserving the unity of the Sudan. This could in south Sudan which could block the way of also be said of Yemen on independence, but expansion of Islam and Arab culture to the not of the union between Egypt and Syria countries of Southern Africa. in the United Arab Republic.

An Arab Springtime?1

he year 2011 began with a series reinforce all the reactionary and of shattering, wrathful explosions Samir Amin medievalistical cultural and ideological from the Arab peoples. Is this T Third World Forum conceptions that were useful for keeping springtime the inception of a second Dakar, Senegal the country in its subordinate position. ‘awakening of the Arab world?’, asks Samir Amin. The Egyptian nation – its people, its elites – never accepted that position. This stub- The year 2011 began with a series of shat- two-thirds of the 19th century and only born refusal in turn gave rise to a second tering, wrathful explosions from the Arab belatedly ran out of breath in the 1870s, wave of rising movements which unfolded peoples. Is this springtime the inception during the second half of the reign of the during the next half-century (1919-1967). of a second ‘awakening of the Arab Khedive Ismail. The analysis of its fail- Indeed, I see that period as a continuous world?’ Or will these revolts bog down ure cannot ignore the violence of the for- series of struggles and major forward and finally prove abortive – as was the eign aggression by Great Britain, the movements. It had a triple objective: de- case with the first episode of that awak- foremost power of industrial capitalism mocracy, national independence, social ening, which was evoked in my book during that period. Twice, in [the naval progress. Three objectives – however L’Eveil du Sud (Paris: Le temps des campaign of] 1840 and then by taking limited and sometimes confused – were 2 cerises, 2008). If the first hypothesis is control of the Khedive’s finances during their formulations, inseparable one from confirmed, the forward movement of the the 1870s, and then finally by military the other. An inseparability identical to Arab world will necessarily become part occupation in 1882, England fiercely pur- the expression of the effects of modern of the movement to go beyond imperial- sued its objective: to make sure that a Egypt’s integration into the globalized ist capitalism on the world scale. Failure modern Egypt would fail to emerge. Cer- capitalist/imperialist system of that pe- would keep the Arab world in its current tainly the Egyptian project was subject riod. In this reading, the chapter (1955- status as a submissive periphery, prohib- to the limitations of its time, since it mani- 1967) of Nasserist systematization is iting its elevation to the rank of an active festly envisaged emergence within and nothing but the final chapter of that long participant in shaping the world. through capitalism, unlike Egypt’s second series of advancing struggles, which be- It is always dangerous to generalize attempt at emergence – which we will dis- gan with the revolution of 1919-1920. cuss further on. That project’s own social about the ‘Arab world,’ thus ignoring the The first moment of that half-century of contradictions, like its underlying politi- diversity of objective conditions charac- rising emancipation struggles in Egypt cal, cultural and ideological presupposi- terizing each country of that world. So I had put its emphasis – with the forma- tions, undoubtedly had their share of will concentrate the following reflections tion of the Wafd in 1919 – on political responsibility for its failure. The fact re- on Egypt, which is easily recognized as modernization through adoption (in 1923) mains that, without imperialist aggres- playing and having always played a major of a bourgeois form of constitutional de- sion, those contradictions would probably role in the general evolution of its region. mocracy (limited monarchy) and on the have been overcome, as they were in Japan. Egypt was the first country in the periph- reconquest of independence. The form ery of globalized capitalism that tried to Beaten, emergent Egypt was forced to of democracy envisaged allowed progres- ‘emerge.’ Even at the start of the 19th undergo nearly forty years (1880-1920) sive secularization – if not secularism in century, well before Japan and China, the as a servile periphery, whose institutions the radical sense of that term – whose Viceroy Mohammed Ali had conceived were refashioned in service to that peri- symbol was the flag linking cross and and undertaken a program of renovation od’s model of capitalist/imperialist accu- crescent (a flag that reappeared in the for Egypt and its near neighbours in the mulation. That imposed retrogression demonstrations of January and February Arab Mashreq [Mashreq means ‘East,’ struck, over and beyond its productive 2011). ‘Normal’ elections then allowed, i.e., eastern North Africa and the Levant, system, the country’s political and social without the least problem, not merely for etc.]. That vigorous experiment took up institutions. It operated systematically to Copts to be elected by Muslim majorities CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 15 but for those very Copts to hold high push the start of the ‘Egyptian Revolu- ent. Nasser wagered on industrialization positions in the state. tion’ to July 1952. At that time, many as the way out of the colonial interna- among the communists had denounced tional specialization which was confin- The British put their full power, supported this discourse and analyzed the coups ing the country in the role of cotton actively by the reactionary bloc compris- d’état of 1952 and 1954 as aimed at exporter. His system maintained a divi- ing the monarchy, the great landlords, and putting an end to the radicalization of sion of incomes that favoured the expand- the rich peasants, into undoing the demo- the democratic movement. They were not ing middle classes without impoverishing cratic progress made by Egypt under wrong, since Nasserism only took the the popular masses. Sadat and Mubarak Wafdist leadership. In the 1930s the dic- shape of an anti-imperialist project after dismantled the Egyptian productive sys- tatorship of Sedki Pasha, abolishing the the Bandung Conference of April 1955. tem, putting in its place a completely in- democratic 1923 constitution, clashed Nasserism then contributed all it had to coherent system based exclusively on with the student movement then spear- give: a resolutely anti-imperialist inter- the profitability of firms most of which heading the democratic anti-imperialist national posture (in association with the were mere subcontractors for the imperi- struggles. It was not by chance that, to pan-Arab and pan-African movements) alist monopolies. Supposed high rates of counter this threat, the British Embassy and some progressive (but not ‘social- economic growth, much praised for thirty and the Royal Palace actively supported ist’) social reforms. The whole thing done years by the World Bank, were completely the formation in 1927 of the Muslim Broth- from above, not only ‘without democ- meaningless. Egyptian growth was ex- erhood, inspired by ‘Islamist’ thought in racy’ (the popular masses being denied tremely vulnerable. Moreover, such its most backward ‘Salafist’ version of any right to organize by and for them- growth was accompanied by an incred- Wahhabism as formulated by Rachid selves) but even by ‘abolishing’ any ible rise in inequality and by unemploy- Reda – the most reactionary version, form of political life. This was an invita- ment afflicting the majority of the antidemocratic and against social tion to political Islam to fill the vacuum country’s youth. This was an explosive progress, of the newborn ‘political Islam’.3 thus created. situation. It exploded. The conquest of Ethiopia undertaken by In only ten short years (1955-1965) the The apparent ‘stability of the regime’, Mussolini, with world war looming, forced Nasserist project used up its progressive boasted of by successive US officials like London to make some concessions to the potential. Its exhaustion offered imperi- Hillary Clinton, was based on a mon- democratic forces. In 1936 the Wafd, hav- alism, henceforward led by the United strous police apparatus counting ing learned its lesson, was allowed to re- States, the chance to break the move- 1,200,000 men (the army numbering a turn to power and a new Anglo-Egyptian ment by mobilizing to that end its regional mere 500,000) free to carry out daily acts treaty was signed. The Second World War military instrument: Israel. The 1967 de- of criminal abuse. The imperialist powers necessarily constituted a sort of paren- feat marked the end of the tide that had claimed that this regime was ‘protecting’ thesis. But a rising tide of struggles re- flowed for a half-century. Its reflux was Egypt from the threat of Islamism. This sumed already on February 21, 1946 with initiated by Nasser himself who chose was nothing but a clumsy lie. In reality, the formation of the ‘worker-student the path of concessions to the Right (the the regime had perfectly integrated reac- bloc’, reinforced in its radicalization by infitah or ‘opening’, an opening to capi- tionary political Islam (on the Wahhabite the entry on stage of the communists and talist globalization of course) rather than model of the Gulf) into its power struc- of the working-class movement. Once the radicalization called for by, among ture by giving it control of education, of again the Egyptian reactionaries, sup- others, the student movement (which the courts, and of the major media (espe- ported by London, responded with vio- held the stage briefly in 1970, shortly cially television). The sole permitted pub- lence and to this end mobilized the before and then after the death of lic speech was that of the Salafist Muslim Brotherhood behind a second Nasser). His successor, Sadat, intensi- mosques, allowing the Islamists, to boot, dictatorship by Sedki Pasha – without, fied and extended the rightward turn and to pretend to make up ‘the opposition.’ however, being able to silence the pro- integrated the Muslim Brotherhood into The cynical duplicity of the US estab- test movement. Elections had to be held his new autocratic system. Mubarak con- lishment’s speeches (Obama no less than in 1950 and the Wafd returned to power. tinued along the same path. Bush) was perfectly adapted to its aims. Its repudiation of the 1936 Treaty and the The de facto support for political Islam inception of guerrilla actions in the Suez The following period of retreat lasted, in destroyed the capacity of Egyptian soci- Canal Zone were defeated only by set- its turn, almost another half-century. ety to confront the challenges of the mod- ting fire on Cairo (January 1952), an op- Egypt, submissive to the demands of glo- ern world (bringing about a catastrophic eration in which the Muslim Brotherhood balized liberalism and to US strategy, sim- decline in education and research), while was deeply involved. ply ceased to exist as an active factor in by occasionally denouncing its ‘abuses’ regional or global politics. In its region, A first coup d’etat in 1952 by the ‘Free (like assassinations of Copts) Washing- the major US allies – Saudi Arabia and Officers’, and above all a second coup in ton could legitimize its military interven- Israel – occupied the foreground. Israel 1954 by which Nasser took control, was tions as actions in its self-styled ‘war was then able to pursue the course of taken by some to ‘crown’ the continual against terrorism’. The regime could still expanding its colonization of occupied flow of struggles and by others to put it appear ‘tolerable’ as long as it had the Palestine with the tacit complicity of to an end. Rejecting the view of the Egyp- safety valve provided by mass emigra- Egypt and the Gulf countries. tian awakening advanced above, tion of poor and middle-class workers to Nasserism put forth an ideological dis- Under Nasser, Egypt had set up an eco- the oil-producing countries. The exhaus- course that wiped out the whole history nomic and social system that, though tion of that system (Asian immigrants of the years from 1919 to 1952 in order to subject to criticism, was at least coher- replacing those from Arabic countries) CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 16 brought with it the rebirth of opposition places itself as a whole ‘on the left’. Its Obama and Hillary Clinton discovered movements. The workers’ strikes in 2007 strong and spontaneous expressions of that they had to dump Mubarak, whom (the strongest strikes on the African con- sympathy with the radical left testify to they had hitherto supported, while the tinent in the past fifty years), the stub- that. army leaders ended their silence and re- born resistance of small farmers fused to take over the task of repression The middle classes as a whole rally threatened with expropriation by agrar- – thus protecting their image – and around only the democratic objective, ian capital, and the formation of demo- wound up deposing Mubarak and sev- without necessarily objecting thoroughly cratic protest groups among the middle eral of his more important henchmen. to the ‘market’ (such as it is) or to Egypt’s classes (like the ‘Kefaya’ and ‘April 63 international alignment. Not to be ne- The generalization of the movement movements) foretold the inevitable explo- glected is the role of a group of bloggers among the whole Egyptian people repre- sion – expected by Egyptians but star- who take part, consciously or not, in a sents in itself a positive challenge, for tling to ‘foreign observers’. And thus veritable conspiracy organized by the this people, like any other, are far from began a new phase in the tide of emanci- CIA. Its animators are usually young peo- making up a ‘homogeneous bloc’. Some pation struggles, whose directions and ple from the wealthy classes, extremely of its major components are without any opportunities for development we are ‘Americanized’, who nevertheless doubt a source of strength for the per- now called on to analyze. present themselves as opponents of the spective of radicalization. The 5-million- The Components of the Democratic established dictatorships. The theme of strong working class’s entry into the battle Movement democracy, in the version required for its could be decisive. The combative workers, manipulation by Washington, is upper- through numerous strikes, have ad- The ‘Egyptian Revolution’ now most in their discourse on the ‘net.’ That vanced further in constructing the organi- underway shows that it is possible to fore- fact makes them active participants in the zations they began in 2007. There are see an end to the neoliberal system, chain of counter-revolutions, orches- already more than fifty independent unions. shaken in all its political, economic, and trated by Washington, disguised as The stubborn resistance of small farmers social dimensions. This gigantic move- ‘democratic revolutions’ on the model of against the expropriations permitted by ment of the Egyptian people links three the East European ‘color revolutions’. the abolition of the agrarian reform laws active components: youth ‘repoliticized’ But it would be wrong to think that this (the Muslim Brotherhood cast its votes by their own will in ‘modern’ forms that conspiracy is behind the popular revolts. in parliament in favour of that vicious leg- they themselves have invented; the What the CIA is seeking is to reverse the islation on the pretext that private prop- forces of the radical left; and the forces direction of the movement, to distance erty was ‘sacred’ to Islam and that the of the democratic middle classes. its activists from their aim of progressive agrarian reform had been inspired by the Youth (about one million activists) spear- social transformation and to shunt them Devil, a communist!) is another radicalizing headed the movement. They were imme- onto different tracks. The scheme will factor for the movement. What is more, a diately joined by the radical left and the have a good chance to succeed if the vast mass of ‘the poor’ took active part democratic middle classes. The Muslim movement fails in bringing together its in the demonstrations of February 2011 Brotherhood, whose leaders had called diverse components, identifying common and often are participating in neighbour- for a boycott of the demonstrations dur- strategic objectives, and inventing effec- hood popular committees ‘in defence of ing their first four days (sure, as they tive forms of organization and action. the revolution.’ The beards, the veils, the were, that the demonstrators would be Examples of such failure are well known dress-styles of these ‘poor folk’ might routed by the repressive apparatus) only – look at Indonesia and the Philippines. give the impression that in its depths accepted the movement belatedly once It is worthy of note that those bloggers – Egyptian society is ‘Islamic,’ even that it its appeal, heard by the entire Egyptian writing in English rather than Arabic(!) – is mobilized by the Muslim Brotherhood. people, was producing gigantic setting out to defend ‘American-style In reality, they erupted onto the stage and mobilizations of 15 million demonstrators. democracy’, in Egypt often present ar- the leaders of that organization had no guments serving to legitimize the Mus- choice but to go along. A race is thus The youth and the radical left sought in lim Brotherhood. underway: who – the Brotherhood and common three objectives: restoration of its (Salafist) Islamist associates or the The call for demonstrations enunciated democracy (ending the police/military democratic alliance – will succeed in form- by the three active components of the regime), the undertaking of a new eco- ing effective alliances with the still-con- movement was quickly heeded by the nomic and social policy favourable to the fused masses and even to (a term I reject) whole Egyptian people. Repression, ex- popular masses (breaking with the sub- ‘get them under discipline’? mission to demands of globalized liberal- tremely violent during the first days (more ism), and an independent foreign policy than a thousand deaths), did not discour- Conspicuous progress in constructing (breaking with the submission to the re- age those youths and their allies (who at the united front of workers and quirements of US hegemony and the ex- no time, unlike in some other places, democratic forces is happening in Egypt. tension of US military control over the called on the Western Powers for any In April 2011, five socialist-oriented whole planet). The democratic revolution help). Their courage was decisive in draw- parties (the Egyptian Socialist Party, the for which they call is a democratic social ing 15 million Egyptians from all the dis- Popular Democratic Alliance – made up and anti-imperialist revolution. tricts of big and small cities, and even of a majority of the membership of the villages, into demonstrations of protest former ‘loyal-left’ Tagammu party, the Although the youth movement is diver- lasting days (and sometimes nights) on Democratic Labour Party, the trotskyist sified in its social composition and in its end. Their overwhelming political victory Socialist Revolutionary Party, and the political and ideological expressions, it had as its effect that fear switched sides. Egyptian Communist Party – which had been CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 17 a component of Tagammu) established active small-and-medium entrepreneurs. ‘aid’ allowed the highest ranks to take an Alliance of Socialist Forces through But they are the victims of the racketeer- over for themselves some important parts which they committed themselves to carry ing system put in place by the comprador of the Egyptian comprador economy, to out their struggles in common. In parallel, bourgeoisie, usually reduced to the sta- the point that ‘Army Incorporated’ a National Council (Maglis Watany) was tus of subordinate subcontractors for the (Sharika al geish) became a commonplace established by all the active political and local monopolists, themselves mere trans- term. The High Command, who made social forces of the movement (the mission belts for the foreign monopolies. themselves responsible for directing the socialist-oriented parties, the diverse In the construction industry, this system Transition, is thus not at all ‘neutral’ de- democratic parties, the independent is the general rule: the ‘greats’ snap up spite its effort to appear so by distanc- unions, the peasant organizations, the the state contracts and then subcontract ing itself from the acts of repression. The networks of young people, numerous the work to the ‘smalls’. That authenti- ‘civilian’ government chosen by and obe- social associations). The Council has about cally entrepreneurial bourgeoisie is in dient to it, made up largely of the less- 150 members, the Muslim Brotherhood sympathy with the democratic movement. conspicuous men from the former regime, and the right-wing parties refusing to has taken a series of completely reaction- The rural side of the reactionary bloc has participate and thus reaffirming their well- ary measures aimed at blocking any no less importance. It is made up of rich known opposition to continuation of the radicalization of the movement. Among peasants who were the main beneficiar- revolutionary movement. those measures are a vicious anti-strike ies of Nasser’s agrarian reform, replacing law (on the pretext of economic revival), the former class of wealthy landlords. Confronting the Democratic and a law placing severe restrictions on The agricultural cooperatives set up by Movement: The Reactionary Bloc the formation of political parties, aimed the Nasser regime included both rich and at confining the electoral game to the ten- Just as in past periods of rising struggle, poor peasants and so they mainly worked dencies of political Islam (especially the the democratic social and anti-imperial- for the benefit of the rich. But the regime Muslim Brotherhood), which are already ist movement in Egypt is up against a also had measures to limit possible abuse well organized, thanks to their system- powerful reactionary bloc. This bloc can of the poor peasants. Once those meas- atic support by the former regime. Nev- perhaps be identified in terms of its so- ures had been abandoned, on the advice ertheless, despite all that, the attitude of cial composition (its component classes, of the World Bank, by Sadat and the army remains, at bottom, unforesee- of course) but it is just as important to Mubarak, the rural rich went to work to able. In spite of the corruption of its cad- define it in terms of its means of political hasten the elimination of the poor peas- res (the rank and file are conscripts, the intervention and the ideological dis- ants. In modern Egypt the rural rich have officers professionals) nationalist senti- course serving its politics. always constituted a reactionary class, ment has still not disappeared entirely. now more so than ever. They are likewise In social terms, the reactionary bloc is Moreover, the army resents having in the main sponsors of conservative Islam led by the Egyptian bourgeoisie taken as practice lost most of its power to the po- in the countryside and, through their a whole. The forms of dependent accu- lice. In these circumstances, and because close (often family) relationships with the mulation operative over the past forty the movement has forcefully expressed officials of the state and religious appa- years brought about the rise of a rich its will to exclude the army from political ratuses (in Egypt the Al Azhar university bourgeoisie, the sole beneficiary of the leadership of the country, it is very likely has a status equivalent to an organized scandalous inequality accompanying that that the High Command will seek in the Muslim Church) they dominate rural so- ‘globalized liberal’ model. They are some future to remain behind the scenes rather cial life. What is more, a large part of the tens of thousands – not of ‘innovating than to present its own candidates in the urban middle classes (especially the army entrepreneurs’ as the World Bank likes coming elections. to call them but of millionaires and bil- and police officers but likewise the tech- lionaires, all owing their fortunes to col- nocrats and medical/legal professionals) Though it is clear that the police appara- lusion with the political apparatus stem directly from the rural rich. tus has remained intact (their prosecu- tion is not contemplated) like the state (corruption being an organic part of their This reactionary bloc has strong politi- apparatus in general (the new rulers all system). This is a comprador bourgeoi- cal instruments in its service: the military being veteran regime figures), the Na- sie (in the political language current in and police forces, the state institutions, tional Democratic Party vanished in the Egypt, the people term them ‘corrupt para- the privileged National Democratic po- tempest and its legal dissolution has been sites’). They make up the active support litical party (a de facto single party) that ordered. But we can be certain that the for Egypt’s placement in contemporary was created by Sadat, the religious ap- Egyptian bourgeoisie will make sure that imperialist globalization as an uncondi- paratus (Al Azhar), and the factions of its party is reborn under a different label tional ally of the United States. Within political Islam (the Muslim Brotherhood or labels. its ranks, this bourgeoisie counts numer- and the Salafists). The military assistance ous military and police generals, ‘civil- (amounting to some $1.5 billion annually) Political Islam ians’ with connections to the state and extended by the US to the Egyptian Army to the dominant National Democratic never went toward the country’s defen- The Muslim Brotherhood makes up the Party created by Sadat and Mubarak, and sive capacity. On the contrary, its effect only political force whose existence was of religious personalities – the whole lead- was dangerously destructive through the not merely tolerated but actively pro- ership of the Muslim Brotherhood and systematic corruption that, with the great- moted by the former regime. Sadat and the leading sheikhs of the Al Azhar Uni- est cynicism, was not merely known and Mubarak turned over to them control versity are all of them ‘billionaires’. Cer- tolerated but actively promoted. That over three basic institutions: education, tainly, there still exists a bourgeoisie of CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 18 the courts, and television. The Muslim has quite effectively manipulated its de- be expected. That is on account of the Brotherhood have never been and can ceived public’s opinions. The United fact that Egyptian Islam has historically never be ‘moderate,’ let alone ‘demo- States (with Europe going along) fears mainly been Sufist, the Sufi brotherhoods cratic.’ Their leader – the murchid (Ara- more than anything a really democratic even now grouping 15 million Egyptian bic word for ‘guide’ – Führer) is Egypt that would certainly turn its back Muslims. Sufism represents an open, tol- self-appointed and its organization is to its alignments with economic liberal- erant, Islam – insisting on the importance based on the principle of disciplined ex- ism and with the aggressive strategy of of individual beliefs rather than on ritual ecution of the leaders’ orders without any NATO and the United States. They will practices (they say ‘there are as many sort of discussion. Its top leadership is do all they can to prevent a democratic paths to God as there are individuals’). made up entirely of extremely wealthy Egypt, and to that end will give full sup- The state powers have always been men (thanks, in part, to financing by Saudi port (hypocritically disguised) to the false deeply suspicious of Sufism although, Arabia – which is to say, by Washing- Muslim Brotherhood alternative which using both the carrot and the stick, they ton), its secondary leadership of men from has been shown to be only a minority have been careful not to declare open war the obscurantist layers of the middle within the movement of the Egyptian peo- against it. The Wahhabi Islam of the Gulf classes, its rank-and-file by lower-class ple for real change. States is at the opposite pole from Sufism: people recruited through the charitable it is archaic, ritualist, conformist, declared The collusion between the imperialist services run by the Brotherhood (likewise enemy of any interpretation other than powers and political Islam is, of course, financed by the Saudis), while its enforce- repetition of its own chosen texts, enemy neither new nor particular to Egypt. The ment arm is made up of militias (the of any critical spirit – which is, for it, noth- Muslim Brotherhood, from its foundation baltaguis) recruited among the criminal ing but the Devil at work. Wahhabite Islam in 1927 up to the present, has always been element. considers itself at war with, and seeks to a useful ally for imperialism and for the obliterate, Sufism, counting on support The Muslim Brotherhood are committed local reactionary bloc. It has always been for this from the authorities in power. In to a market-based economic system of a fierce enemy of the Egyptian democratic response, contemporary Sufis are secu- complete external dependence. They are movements. And the multibillionaires laristic, even secular; they call for the in reality a component of the comprador currently leading the Brotherhood are not separation of religion and politics (the bourgeoisie. They have taken their stand destined to go over to the democratic state power and the religious authorities against large strikes by the working class cause! Political Islam throughout the of Al Azhar recognized by it). The Sufis and against the struggles of poor peas- Muslim world is quite assuredly a strate- are allies of the democratic movement. ants to hold on to their lands. So the gic ally of the United States and its NATO The introduction of Wahhabite Islam Muslim Brotherhood are ‘moderate’ only minority partners. Washington armed and into Egypt was begun by Rachid Reda in in the double sense that they refuse to financed the Taliban, who they called the 1920s and carried on by the Muslim present any sort of economic and social ‘Freedom Fighters,’ in their war against Brotherhood after 1927. But it only gained program, thus in fact accepting without the national/popular regime (termed ‘com- real vigour after the Second World War, question reactionary neoliberal policies, munist’) in Afghanistan before, during, when the oil rents of the Gulf States, sup- and that they are submissive de facto to and after the Soviet intervention. When ported by the United States as allies in the enforcement of US control over the the Taliban shut the girls’ schools cre- its conflict with the wave of popular na- region and the world. They thus are use- ated by the ‘communists’, there were tional liberation struggles in the ’60s, al- ful allies for Washington (and does the ‘democrats’ and even ‘feminists’ at hand lowed a multiplication of their financial US have a better ally than their patron, to claim that it was necessary to ‘respect wherewithal. the Saudis?) which now vouches for their traditions’! ‘democratic credentials’. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood are US Strategy: The Pakistan Model Nevertheless, the United States cannot now supported by the ‘traditionalist’ The three powers that dominated the admit that its strategic aim is to establish Salafist tendency, who also are gener- Middle East stage during the period of ‘Islamic’ regimes in the region. It needs ously financed by the Gulf States. The ebb tide (1967-2011) were the United to maintain the pretence that ‘we are afraid Salafists (fanatical Wahhabites, intoler- States, boss of the system, Saudi Arabia, of this’. In this way, it legitimizes its ‘per- ant of any other interpretation of Islam) and Israel. Three very close allies, all shar- manent war against terrorism’ which in make no bones about their extremism, and ing the same dread that a democratic reality has quite different objectives: mili- they are behind a systematic murder cam- Egypt would emerge. Such an Egypt tary control over the whole planet in order paign against Copts. It is scarcely con- could only be anti-imperialist and to guarantee that the US-Europe-Japan ceivable that such operations could be welfarist. It would depart from globalized triad retains exclusive access to its re- carried out without the tacit support (and liberalism, would render insignificant the sources. Another benefit of that duplic- sometimes even greater complicity) of the Gulf States and the Saudis, would re- ity is that it allows it to mobilize the state apparatus, especially of the courts awaken popular Arab solidarity and force ‘Islamophobic’ aspects of public opinion. which had mainly been turned over to Israel to recognize a Palestinian state. Europe, as is well known, has no strat- the Muslim Brotherhood. This strange egy of its own in the region and is con- division of labour allows the Muslim Egypt is a cornerstone in the US strat- tent from day to day to go along with the Brotherhood to appear moderate: which egy for worldwide control. The single aim decisions of Washington. More than is what Washington pretends to believe. of Washington and its allies, Israel and ever, it is necessary to point out clearly Nevertheless, violent clashes among the Saudi Arabia, is to abort the Egyptian this true duplicity in US strategy, which Islamist religious groups in Egypt are to democratic movement, and to that end they want to impose an ‘Islamic regime’ CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 19 under the direction of the Muslim Broth- The project of the Muslim Brotherhood leaving religion (always present in erhood – the only way for them to per- remains the establishment of a theocratic society) in the background. It was that petuate the submission of Egypt. The state, as is shown by its attachment to way during the first two-thirds of the 19th ‘democratic speeches’ of Obama are there Article 2 of the Sadat/Mubarak Consti- century (from Mohamed Ali to Khedive only to deceive a naïve public opinion, tution. What is more, the organization’s Ismail). Modernization themes (in the primarily that of the United States and most recent program further reinforces form of enlightened despotism rather Europe. that medievalistical outlook by propos- than democracy) held the stage. It was ing to set up a ‘Council of Ulemas’ em- the same from 1920 through 1970: open There is much talk of the Turkish exam- powered to assure that any proposed confrontation of views among ‘bourgeois ple in order to legitimize a government legislation be in conformity with the re- democrats’ and ‘communists’ staying in by the Muslim Brotherhood (‘converted to quirements of sharia. Such a Religious the foreground until the rise of democracy!’). But that is just a smokescreen; Constitutional Council would be analo- Nasserism. Nasser shut down the debate, for the Turkish Army is always there be- gous to the one that, in Iran, is supreme replacing it with a populist pan-Arab, hind the scene, and though scarcely over the ‘elected’ government. It is the though also ‘modernizing’, discourse. democratic and certainly a faithful ally of regime of a religious single super-party, The contradictions of this system NATO, it remains the guarantor of ‘secu- all parties standing for secularism becom- opened the way for a return of political larism’ in Turkey. Washington’s project, ing ‘illegal.’ Their members, like non- Islam. It is to be recognized, contrariwise, openly expressed by Hillary Clinton, Muslims (Copts), would thus be excluded that in the ebb-tide phases such diversity Obama, and the think tanks at their serv- from political life. Despite all that, the of opinion vanished, leaving the space ice, is inspired by the Pakistan model: an authorities in Washington and Europe free for medievalism, presented as Islamic ‘Islamic’ army behind the scene, a ‘civil- talk as though the recent opportunist and thought, that arrogates to itself a ian’ government run by one or more disingenuous declaration by the Broth- monopoly over government-authorized ‘elected’ Islamic parties. Plainly, under erhood that it was giving up its theocratic speech. From 1880 to 1920, the British built that hypothesis, the ‘Islamic’ Egyptian project (its program staying unchanged) that diversion channel in various ways, government would be recompensed for should be taken seriously. Are the CIA notably by exiling (mainly to Nubia) all its submission on the essential points experts, then, unable to read Arabic? The modernist Egyptian thinkers and actors (perpetuation of economic liberalism and conclusion is inescapable: Washington who had been educated since the time of of the self-styled ‘peace treaties’ permit- would see the Brotherhood in power, Mohamed Ali. But it is also to be noted ting Israel to get on with its policy of guaranteeing that Egypt remain in its grip that the ‘opposition’ to British occupation territorial expansion) and enabled, as and that of liberal globalization, rather also placed itself within that demagogic compensation, to pursue its than that power be held by democrats medievalistical consensus. The Nadha projects of ‘Islamization of the state and who would be very likely to challenge (begun by Afghani and continued by of politics’ and of assassinating Copts! the subaltern status of Egypt. The re- Mohamed Abdou) was part of that Such a beautiful democracy has Wash- cently created Party of Freedom and Jus- deviation, linked to the Ottomanist ington designed for Egypt! Obviously, tice, explicitly on the Turkish model, is delusion advocated by the new Saudi Arabia supports the accomplish- nothing but an instrument of the Broth- Nationalist Party of Moustapha Kamil ment of that project with all its (financial) erhood. It offers to admit Copts (!) which and Mohammad Farid. There should be resources. Riyadh knows perfectly well signifies that they have to accept the no surprise that, toward the end of that that its regional hegemony (in the Arab theocratic Muslim state enshrined in the epoch, this deviation led to the ultra- and Muslim worlds) requires that Egypt Brotherhood’s program if they want the reactionary writings of Rachid Reda, be reduced to insignificance. Which is to right to ‘participate’ in their country’s which were then taken up by Hassan el be done through ‘Islamization of the state political life. Going on the offensive, the Banna, the founder of the Muslim and of politics’; in reality, a Wahhabite Brotherhood is setting up ‘unions’ and Brotherhood. Islamization with all its effects, including ‘peasant organizations’ and a rigmarole anti-Copt pogroms and the denial of It was the same again in the ebb-tide years of diversely named ‘political parties,’ equal rights to women. 1970-2010. The official discourse (of whose sole objective is to foment divi- Sadat and Mubarak), perfectly Islamist Is such a form of Islamization possible? sion in the now-forming united fronts of (as proven by their insertion of sharia into Perhaps, but at the price of extreme vio- workers, peasants and democrats – to the the constitution and their yielding essential lence. The battlefield is Article 2 of the advantage, of course, of the counter-revo- powers to the Muslim Brotherhood), was overthrown regime’s constitution. This lutionary bloc. equally that of the false opposition, alone article stipulating that ‘sharia is the ori- Will the Egyptian democratic movement tolerated, which was sermonizing in the gin of law’ was a novelty in the political be able to strike that Article from the forth- Mosque. Because of this, that Article 2 history of Egypt. Neither the 1923 con- coming new constitution? The question might seem solidly anchored in ‘general stitution nor that of Nasser contained can be answered only through going opinion’ (the ‘street’ as American pundits anything of the sort. It was Sadat who back to an examination of the political, like to call it). The devastating effects of put it into his new constitution with the ideological, and cultural debates that the depolarization systematically enforced triple support of Washington (‘traditions have unfolded during the history of mod- during the ebb-tide periods is not to be are to be respected’!), of Riyadh (‘the ern Egypt. underestimated. The slope can never easily Koran is all the constitution needed’), be re-ascended. But it is not impossible. and of Tel Aviv (‘Israel is a Jewish State’). In fact, we can see that the periods of The current debates in Egypt are centred, rising tide were characterized by a explicitly or implicitly, on the supposed diversity of openly expressed opinions, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 20

‘cultural’ (actually, Islamic) dimensions received, especially by the major part of nents of the movement differ from one of this challenge. And there are signposts naive public opinion. But they take care country to the other, just like the forms pointing in a positive direction: the not to analyze its deeper causes and to of their integration into imperialist glo- movement making free debate teach that ‘corruption’ (presented in the balization and the structures of their es- unavoidable – only a few weeks sufficed moralizing style of American speech as tablished regimes. for the Brotherhood’s slogan ‘Islam is the individual immorality) is an organic and The Tunisian revolt sounded the start- Solution’ to disappear from all the necessary component in the formation of ing gun, and surely it strongly encour- demonstrations, leaving only specific the bourgeoisie. And not merely in the aged the Egyptians. Moreover, the demands about concretely transforming case of Egypt and of the southern coun- Tunisian movement has one definite ad- society (freedom to express opinions and tries in general, where if a comprador vantage: the semi-secularism introduced to form unions, political parties, and other bourgeoisie is to be formed, the sole way by Bourguiba can certainly not be called social organizations; improved wages for that to take place is in association into question by Islamists returning from and workplace rights; access to with the state apparatus. I maintain that their exile in England. But at the same time, landownership, to schools, to health at the stage of generalized monopoly, capi- the Tunisian movement seems unable to services; rejection of privatizations and talism corruption has become a basic or- challenge the extraverted development calls for nationalizations, etc.). A signal ganic component in the reproduction of model inherent in liberal capitalist glo- that does not mislead: in April elections its accumulation model: rent-seeking balization. to the student organization, where five monopolies require the active complicity years ago (when its discourse was the of the state. Its ideological discourse (the Libya is neither Tunisia nor Egypt. The only permitted form of supposed ‘liberal virus’) proclaims ‘state hands off ruling group (Khaddafi) and the forces opposition) the Brotherhood’s the economy’ while its practice is ‘state fighting it are in no way analogous to candidates had obtained a crushing 80 in service to the monopolies’. their Tunisian and Egyptian counter- per cent majority, their share of the vote parts. Khaddafi has never been anything fell to 20 per cent! Yet the other side The Storm Zone but a buffoon, the emptiness of whose likewise sees ways to parry the Mao was not wrong when he affirmed thought was reflected in his notorious ‘democracy danger.’ Insignificant that really existing (which is to say, natu- ‘Green Book.’ Operating in a still-archaic changes to the Mubarak constitution rally imperialist) capitalism had nothing society, Khaddafi could indulge himself (continuing in force), proposed by a to offer to the peoples of the three conti- in successive ‘nationalist and socialist’ committee made up exclusively of nents (the periphery made up of Asia, speeches with little bearing on reality, and Islamists chosen by the army high Africa, and Latin America – a ‘minority’ the next day proclaim himself a ‘liberal’. command and approved in a hurried April counting 85 per cent of world popula- He did so to ‘please the West!’ as though referendum (an official 23% negative vote tion!) and that the South was a ‘storm the choice for liberalism would have no but a big affirmative vote imposed zone’, a zone of repeated revolts poten- social effects. But it had and, as is com- through electoral fraud and heavy tially (but only potentially) pregnant with monplace, it worsened living conditions blackmail by the mosques) obviously left revolutionary advances toward socialist for the majority of Libyans. Those con- Article 2 in place. Presidential and transcendence of capitalism.4 ditions then gave rise to the well-known legislative elections under that explosion, of which the country’s region- constitution are scheduled for The ‘Arab spring’ is enlisted in that real- alists and political Islamists took imme- September/October 2011. The democratic ity. The case is one of social revolts po- diate advantage. For Libya has never movement contends for a longer tentially pregnant with concrete truly existed as a nation. It is a geographi- ‘democratic transition,’ which would alternatives that in the long run can reg- cal region separating the Arab West from allow its discourse actually to reach those ister within a socialist perspective. Which the Arab East (the Maghreb from the big layers of the Muslim lower classes is why the capitalist system, monopoly Mashreq). The boundary between the still at a loss to understand the events. capital dominant at the world level, can- two goes right through the middle of But as soon as the uprising began, not tolerate the development of these Libya. Cyrenaica was historically Greek Obama made his choice: a short, orderly movements. It will mobilize all possible and Hellenistic, then it became (that is to say without any threat to the means of destabilization, from economic Mashreqian. Tripolitania, for its part, was governing apparatus) transition, and and financial pressures to military threats. Roman and became Maghrebian. Be- elections that would result in victory for It will support, according to circum- cause of this, regionalism has always the Islamists. As is well known, ‘elections’ stances, either fascist and fascistic false been strong in the country. Nobody in Egypt, as elsewhere in the world, are alternatives or the imposition of military knows who the members of the National not the best way to establish democracy dictatorships. Not a word from Obama’s Transition Council in Benghazi really are. but often are the best way to set a limit to mouth is to be believed. Obama is Bush There may be democrats among them, but democratic progress. with a different style of speech. Duplic- there are certainly Islamists, some among ity is built into the speech of all the lead- the worst of the breed, as well as region- Finally, some words about ‘corruption’: ers of the imperialist triad (United States, alists. From its outset ‘the movement’ Most speech from the ‘transition regime’ Western Europe, Japan). took in Libya the form of an armed revolt concentrates on denouncing it and fighting the army rather than a wave of threatening prosecution (Mubarak, his I do not intend in this article to examine civilian demonstrations. And right away, wife, and some others arrested, but what in as much detail each of the ongoing that armed revolt called NATO to its aid. will actually happen remaining to be movements in the Arab world (Tunisia, Thus, a chance for military intervention seen). This discourse is certainly well Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc.). The compo- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 21 was offered to the imperialist powers. A first wave of revolutions, if that is what ment, arrive at positive convergence of Their aim is surely neither ‘protecting ci- they are to be called, had swept away its components, formulate and implement vilians’ nor ‘democracy’ but control over some dictatorships in Asia (the Philip- effective strategies. On the other hand, oilfields and acquisition of a major mili- pines, Indonesia) and Africa (Mali) which they will have to turn back the interven- tary base in the country. Of course, ever had been installed by imperialism and the tions (including military interventions) of since Khaddafi embraced liberalism, the local reactionary blocs. But there the the imperialist triad. Any military inter- Western oil companies had control over United States and Europe succeeded in vention of the United States and NATO Libyan oil. But with Khaddafi, nobody aborting the potential of those popular in the affairs of the southern countries could be sure of anything. Suppose he movements, which had sometimes must be prohibited, no matter its pretext, were to switch sides tomorrow and start aroused gigantic mobilizations. The even seemingly benign ‘humanitarian’ in- to play ball with the Indians and the Chi- United States and Europe seek in the tervention. Imperialism seeks to permit nese? But there is something else more Arab world a repetition of what happened neither democracy nor social progress to important. In 1969, Khaddafi had de- in Mali, Indonesia, and the Philippines: those countries. Once it has won the bat- manded that the British and Americans ‘to change everything in order that noth- tle, the lackeys whom it sets up to rule leave the bases they had kept in the coun- ing changes!’ There, after the popular will still be enemies of democracy. One try since World War II. Currently, the movements had gotten rid of their dicta- can only regret profoundly that the Eu- United States needs to find a place in tors, the imperialist powers undertook to ropean ‘left,’ even when its claims to be Africa for its Africom (the US military preserve their essential interests by set- radical has lost all understanding of what command for Africa, an important part of ting up governments aligned with their imperialism really is. its alignment for military control over the foreign-policy interests and with The discourse currently prevailing calls world but which still has to be based in neoliberalism. It is noteworthy that in the for the implementation of ‘international Stuttgart!). The African Union refusing Muslim countries (Mali, Indonesia) they law’ authorizing, in principle, intervention to accept it, until now no African coun- mobilized political Islam to that end. whenever the fundamental rights of a try has dared to do so. A lackey emplaced In contrast, the wave of emancipation people are being trampled. But the nec- at Tripoli (or Benghazi) would surely com- movements that swept over South essary conditions allowing for movement ply with all the demands of Washington America allowed real advances in three in that direction are just not there. The and its NATO lieutenants. directions: democratization of state and ‘international community’ does not exist. The components of the Syrian revolt society; adoption of consistent anti-im- It amounts to the US embassy, followed have yet to make their programs known. perialist positions; and entry onto the automatically by those of Europe. No Undoubtedly, the rightward drift of the path of progressive social reform. need to enumerate the long list of such Baathist regime, gone over to neo-liber- worse-than-unfortunate interventions The prevailing media discourse compares alism and singularly passive with regard (Iraq, for example) with criminal outcomes. the ‘democratic revolts’ of the third world to the Israeli occupation of the Golan, is Nor to cite the ‘double standard’ com- to those that put an end to East-Euro- behind the popular explosion. But CIA mon to them all (obviously one thinks of pean ‘socialism’ following the fall of the intervention cannot be excluded: there is the trampled rights of the Palestinians ‘Berlin Wall.’ This is nothing but a fraud, talk of groups penetrating into Diraa and the unconditional support of Israel, pure and simple. Whatever the reasons across the neighbouring Jordanian fron- of the innumerable dictatorships still be- (and they were understandable) for those tier. The mobilization of the Muslim ing supported in Africa). revolts, they signed on to the perspec- Brotherhood, which had been behind tive of an annexation of the region by the earlier revolts in Hama and Homs, is per- Springtime for the People of the imperialist powers of Western Europe haps part of Washington’s scheme seek- South and Autumn for Capitalism (primarily to the profit of Germany). In ing an eventual end to the Syria/Iran The ‘springtime’ of the Arab peoples, like fact, reduced thenceforward to a status alliance that gives essential support to that which the peoples of Latin America as one of developed capitalist Europe’s Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. are experiencing for two decades now, peripheries, the countries of Eastern Eu- and which I refer to as the second wave In Yemen, the country was united rope are still on the eve of experiencing of awakening of the Southern peoples – through the defeat of progressive forces their own authentic revolts. There are al- the first having unfolded in the 20th cen- that had governed independent South ready signs foretelling this, especially in tury until the counter-offensive un- Yemen. Will the movement mark a return the former Yugoslavia. leashed by neoliberal capitalism/ to life of those forces? That uncertainty Revolts, potentially pregnant with revo- imperialism – takes on various forms, run- explains the hesitant stance of Washing- lutionary advances, are foreseeable ning from explosions aimed against pre- ton and the Gulf States. nearly everywhere on those three conti- cisely those autocracies participating in In Bahrain, the revolt was crushed at birth nents which more than ever remain the the neoliberal ranks to challenges by by massacres and intervention by the storm zone, by that fact refuting all the ‘emerging countries’ to the international Saudi army, without the dominant media cloying discourse on ‘eternal capitalism’ order. These springtimes thus coincide (including Al Jazeera) having much to say and the stability, the peace, the demo- with the ‘autumn of capitalism’, the de- about it; as always, the double standard. cratic progress attributed to it. But those cline of the capitalism of globalized, revolts, to become revolutionary ad- financialized, generalized, monopolies. The ‘Arab revolt,’ though its most recent vances, will have to overcome many ob- These movements begin, like those of the expression, is not the only example showing stacles. On the one hand, they will have preceding century, with peoples and the inherent instability of the ‘storm zone’. to overcome the weaknesses of the move- states of the system’s periphery regain- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 22 ing their independence, retaking the ini- the struggle for secularist democratiza- Bibliography tiative in transforming the world. They tion is crucial for the perspective of popu- Gilbert, Achcar, 2011, Le choc des barbaries, are thus above all anti-imperialist move- lar emancipation, crucial for opposition to Bruxelles, Cairo and Paris: Complexe. ments and so are only potentially anti- the perspective of generalized barbarism. capitalist. Should these movements Gilbert, Achcar, 2009a, Les Arabes et la Shoah, succeed in converging with the other nec- Notes Arles: Actes Sud. essary reawakening, that of the workers 1. This article was translated by Shane Henry Hassan, Riad, 1964, L’Egypte nassérienne, Paris: in the imperialist core, a truly socialist Mage and first appeared in Monthly Review. Editions de Minuit. perspective could be opened for the Samir, Amin, 1976, La nation arabe, Paris: whole human race. But that is in no way 2. The reader will find there my interpretations of the achievements of the viceroy Editions de Minuit. a predestined ‘historical necessity’. The Muhammad Ali (1805-1848) and of the decline of capitalism might open the way Samir, Amin, 2006, A life looking forward, Khedives who succeeded him, especially for a long transition toward socialism, but Memories of an Independent Marxist, Ismail (1867-1879); of the Wafd (1920- it might equally well put humanity on the London: Zed Books. 1952); of the positions taken by Egyptian road to generalized barbarism. The on- Samir, Amin, 2008a, L’Eveil du Sud, Paris: Le communists in regard to nasserism; and of going US project of military control over temps des cerises. the planet by its armed forces, supported the deviation represented by the Nahda Samir, Amin, 2008b, The world we wish to see, by their NATO lieutenants, the erosion from Afghani to Rachid Reda. New York: Monthly Review Press. of democracy in the imperialist core coun- 3. The best analysis of the components of tries, and the medievalistical rejection of political Islam (Rachid Reda, the Muslim Samir, Amin, 2009b, La crise, sortir de la crise du democracy within southern countries in Brotherhood, the modern Salafists). capitalisme ou sortir du capitalisme en crise ? Paris: Le Temps des Cerises. revolt (taking the form of ‘fundamental- 4. Concerning the relationship between the ist’ semi-religious delusions disseminated North/South conflict and the opposition Samr Amin, 2011a, The law of worldwide value, by political Islam, political Hinduism, po- between the beginning of a socialist transition New York: Monthly Review Press. litical Buddhism) all work together toward and the strategic organization of capitalism. Samir, Amin, 2011b, ‘The Trajectory of Historical that dreadful outcome. At the current time Capitalism and Marxism’s Tricontinental Vocation’, Monthly Review 62, no. 9.

Global Exchanges and Gender Perspectives in Africa Edited by Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo with Roseline Achieng

Dakar/Kampala, CODESRIA/Fountain Publishers 2011, 200 p.

The global perspectives adopted in this volume by the authors, from different academic disciplines and social experiences, ought not to be locked in sterile linearity which within process of globalisation would fail to perceive, the irreversible opening up of the worlds of the south. There is the need within the framework of the analyses presented here, to quite cogently define the sense of the notion of the market. The market here does not refer to saving or the localised exchange of goods, a perspective which is imposed by normative perceptions. In fact, a strictly materialistic reading of exchange would be included, since every social practice and interaction implies a communitarian transaction ; meanwhile the exchange system under study here broadens to root out the obligation of the maximisation of mercantile profit from the cycle of exchange. Trade here would have a meaning closer to those of old, one of human interaction, in a way that one could also refer to “bon commerce” between humans. In one way, trade places itself at the heart of social exchanges, included the power of money, and is carried along by a multitude of social interactions. The reader is called upon to take into account the major mercantile formations of the social trade system, the market society, without forgetting the diversity of exchange routes as well as the varying modalities of social construction, at the margins and within market logics – those of implicit value in trade between humans – which the texts herein also seek to review. ISBN: 978-2-86978-488-8 (CODESRIA) The age-old project of restructuring the domestic economy, the market society as it has developed in the West, and – whence it has set out to conquer the whole wide world – places at the very centre of the current capitalist ISBN: 978-9970-25-109-4 expansion the challenge of imperatively reshaping gender identity, inter alia, in market relations. (Fountain) CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 23

The Political Economy of the Jasmine Revolution: On the Collapse of a Model and the Challenges of the Revolution

n recent days, Tunisia has experienced of millions of citizens who had been a major change in its contemporary Hakim Ben Hammouda discouraged by the Ben Ali regime. political history, a change that has al- I Africa Development Bank lowed it to end a hated dictatorship and This revolution is an important date in Tunisia has paved the way for the establishment the history, not only of Tunisia, but of of a truly democratic regime that could the whole Arab world, where most coun- promote the emergence of a new histori- tries managed to avoid the democratic cal experience and the building of a new, ‘Tunisian Spring’ and a new Arab era revolutions experienced around the world open and inclusive government, placing without knowing that by the end of the in the 1990s. After the fall of the Berlin the interests of its citizens at the heart of day people would be talking about the Wall, the post-colonial world also under- its concerns. The Jasmine Revolution Jasmine Revolution. Men and women of went a democratic transition, and free- and the hasty departure of the former all generations united around two slo- dom became the foundation of tropical President were the culmination of a gans: ‘Ben Ali, out’, and ‘Trial for figures political regimes. From Africa to Asia and sweeping popular movement that started of corruption’. from South to Central American countries, with the self-immolation of young authoritarianism retreated in the face of A power struggle then took place Mohamed Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid on 17 democratic revolts, thereby allowing citi- between the demonstrators, who occupied December 2010, in protest against har- zens to overcome their ‘national disen- the main street, Avenue Habib Bourguiba, assment by administrative officials. This chantment’ (to quote the title of one of and the forces of law and order, which desperate and symbolic act aroused Hélé Béji’s prescient essays) and write a defended the besieged Ministry of the strong popular mobilization which con- new page in post-national history. Only Interior. The struggle went on all morning tinued to grow despite repression, back- the Arab world was left untouched by and part of the afternoon. In mid- pedalling and manoeuvres by the old the winds of freedom that swept across afternoon, law enforcement officers regime and its promise to foster greater the South and which our old autocratic decided to clear the main street of Tunis democratic openness and a new era of regimes disdained. These regimes also with tear gas and beat back the last freedom. It was too little, too late. resisted democracy ‘at gunpoint, when resisters with batons. The forces of law American neo-conservatives decided to The demonstration held on Friday 14 and order thereby put an end to the impose freedom on our countries in the January 2011 in downtown Tunis had many unique gathering and the police early 2000s. Of those years of imperialis- points in common with the great popular announced a state of siege. And yet it tic adventurism promoting a democracy revolts of recent history, such as the was a Pyrrhic victory, for the television from the outside, nothing is left but the events of May 1968 or the demonstrations announced what many had already desolation of civil wars, the rise of intol- in the former ‘homelands of the workers’ begun to whisper: the President was gone erance in Iraq and the smiles on the lips movement’: Prague, Budapest, and and the popular revolution had of our old autocrats as they contemplate Gdansk which culminated in the fall of the triumphed. A movement of jubilation and the ‘butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-the-mouth’ Berlin Wall. The demonstration swept euphoria swept through all of Tunisia, a attitudes of the American administration! away all hope for the former President to movement that was expressed remain in power. It will go down as one of enthusiastically and uninterruptedly on These repeated failures of democracy in the major events in the history of Tunisia. radio and television stations suddenly the Arab world confirmed what neo-ori- freed from the fear and worry that had entalists had always written about the Thousands of demonstrators took part: silenced them for years. But this joy was hermetic nature of our societies when young people who had probably known darkened by hours of anxiety caused by faced with modernity and the winds of no other government than Ben Ali’s; the reign of murderous insanity and freedom. The failure of transplanted de- former activists who had become resigned terror perpetrated by armed groups mocracy to ‘take’ in our societies con- due to the ferocity of the repressive ma- hoping to restore the old regime by firmed their hypotheses on the essential chinery but now found a new taste for creating chaos: a sorry wager on the part separation between the eternal East sub- struggle; and union members and civil of the security services of a people that ject to myths and unable to look beyond society activists who carried on resist- had been demonstrating a desire for the allegory of the golden age, and the ance through thick and thin, so that, even freedom and a thirst for dignity for nearly West with its universal freedoms and now, one can only wonder how they found a month. Not only did this Machiavellian human rights. These views have been the strength to stand up to such a cruel scheme fail, but it actually reinforced the shared by different ends of the spectrum, and repressive regime. On the morning revolutionary process by making the ranging from certain Westerners, who of 14 January 2011, the demonstrators citizens the true guardians of the new era. used them to justify their lack of interest were joyous and festive, but also deter- Neighbourhood defence committees in the region, to Islamists who used them mined and committed. They spoke of a multiplied, sparking the return to politics to legitimize their rejection of modernity CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 24 and prove the relevancy of the Islamic to the government of Ben Ali. Others did movement, some of whom turned to vio- revolution or autocratic regimes that could not hesitate to point to unemployment lent action. Islamist activists placed a openly criticize the imposition of West- and particularly unemployment among bomb in a hotel in the tourist area of ern standards on our lands. graduates which, for the past several Monastir, killing one. The aim was to years, had constituted a serious limitation weaken the regime by attacking its eco- However, the Jasmine Revolution contra- with considerable impact on the nomic foundations and thereby retaliate dicted all these views and all the right- prevailing development model. against repression of the Islamist move- minded people who had speculated for ment. Parallel to this attack, which received years on the confinement of our socie- Thus, the economy and the development considerable international attention, there ties in an absolute relationship with the model were at the heart of a major con- was a spate of attacks by Islamist activ- divine and submission to an external troversy. From being a factor of stability ists against local militant supporters of the Other. The revolution and its echoes in and considerable success, the develop- party in power or judges. other Arab countries showed that we are ment model became a target of criticism no strangers to the horizons of freedom from the outset of the revolution, and Times were tense in the late 1980s and and reason, and that active citizenship is many do not hesitate to point out that the atmosphere was heavy and grave. a goal that is also shared by Arabs. the major limitations of the model, par- The change that took place on 7 Novem- ticularly in terms of transparency, re- ber 1987 appeared to be a deliverance for Today, the euphoria and enthusiasm of gional imbalance and unemployment, are a country on the verge of a breakdown. the people’s mobilization and victory are at the root of the crisis. And so the de- The resignation of the ‘father of the na- giving way to reflection and analysis. No velopment model, which had acted as a tion’ for ‘health reasons’ and the arrival doubt in the days to come, this revolu- supporting force for the political regime, of a new president were welcomed as the tion will be the subject of research, analy- ended up digging its grave. removal of a heavy weight from the coun- sis and studies. This article is intended try. However, it should be noted that the as a contribution to these thoughtful ef- The question that is raised today is what change of leadership did not give rise to forts to better understand and study the was the weight and impact of the overwhelming joy or euphoria on the part revolution, its underlying causes and its economy on the Tunisian revolution? Our of the population. Instead, an attitude of future. With this in mind, we will focus aim is to determine whether economic is- reserve and circumspection prevailed for on a specific question, which is the role sues were the real cause of the revolu- several months. Initially, there were no of the economy and its place among the tion, or whether the true motivation for major popular demonstrations in favour causes of the revolution. This question the upheaval was political in nature, no- of the new government. Even the single is particularly important in the light of the tably due to authoritarianism. How much party, caught short by the ousting of its fact that the stability of the political re- did symbolic issues and corruption con- historical leader, was slow to put its full gime in Tunisia has always been attrib- tribute to the fall of the Ben Ali regime? support behind the new Head of State, uted to the success of its economic model. The goal of this article is to reflect on the to the point where, for a time, Ben Ali In the view of many, the liberal economic origins of the revolution and the chal- envisaged founding a new presidential model, open to globalization, was the rea- lenges that lie on the road ahead. party that would be unwaveringly de- son for Tunisia’s strong economic voted to him. growth, which promoted the development Years of High-tech Dictatorship of a large middle class that formed the There were several reasons for the tepid social foundation for its political regime The change of government and the ar- welcome of the new government, nota- and a rampart against Islamists. For many rival of Ben Ali at the head of the state bly the personality of the new strongman. years, the discourse on Tunisia high- on 7 November 1987 were causes of great Ben Ali was not an unknown and he lighted the successes of a model of de- hope for several reasons. First of all, the brought back memories of the dark days velopment that was central to the political atmosphere at the end of the Bourguiba of repression by the authoritarian regime. legitimation of the regime and which ex- regime and the struggles for power in the In fact, he had been in charge of the po- plained the silences on such issues as topmost ranks had caused great uncer- lice forces and had supervised the repres- freedom and democracy. tainty and anxiety as to the future in all sion of demonstrators in the riots of 28 segments of society. Furthermore, the January 1978. Then, during the brief The discourse changed radically at the end of the regime had been marked by democratic spring in the early 1980s, he time of the revolt. Rather than a model of heightened repression and arbitrariness, was exiled to the Embassy of Tunisia in economic development, people spoke of and an explosion of political arrests and Poland. He was later called back, in the a mirage undermined by corruption and trials. The biggest trial was that of the mid-1980s, when the authorities reneged racketeering by a Mafioso clique. There leadership and high-ranking officials of on their promise of democratic openness was also a new focus on the poverty of the Islamic Tendency Movement, with and felt the need to stifle the growing the inland regions and the growing heavy punishments that were apparently Islamist protest movement. Thus, the im- imbalances between the coastal areas and far from satisfying an increasingly ab- age of Ben Ali was associated a time of the inland areas, indicating that the model sent ‘father of the nation’, who would repression and his arrival in power was was on its last legs. Furthermore, the have preferred for the court to hand perceived with considerable restraint, or crises in the mining regions of Gafsa in down capital sentences against certain even fear. However, an effort was made 2008, the border region of Béni Guerden, leaders, notably Rached Ghannouchi, to improve his image by associating him, and in Sidi Bouzid as of autumn 2010, the head of the movement. The trials led during the change of government, with a served as points of departure for the to the radicalization of major factions, and handful of civilian officials from the party revolution that would ultimately put paid particularly the youth of the Islamist CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 25 in power, and particularly with the liberal cits and inflation. This was achieved cafes proliferated and the new technol- and social wing, notably including the through an orthodox economic policy that ogy craze took off in the various regions. former Minister of Social Affairs, Hédi sought to wipe out major deficits by Like other countries around the world, Baccouche, who would be Ben Ali’s first spending cuts and higher interest rates. Tunisia saw strong falls in the cost of Prime Minister. From this standpoint, the policy made it equipment, and Internet connections al- possible to meet its objectives in terms of lowed a growing number of cyberspace The new authorities rapidly sought to quell reducing disequilibria, and the govern- users to escape the constraints and re- the people’s apprehensions by undertak- ment officials at that time did not hesitate pression that prevailed in the real world. ing to reform the authoritarian regime and to say how proud they were of meeting the In the second half of the decade, Tunisia engage Tunisian nationalism on the road Maastricht criteria, which even certain de- entered the Web 2.0 era and participated to democracy and pluralism. These com- veloped countries and members of the in the social network revolution with the mitments were included in the statement European Union were unable to achieve. development of Facebook, YouTube, read by the new President during a blogs and other new forms of communi- speech broadcast on radio and television, The second thrust of the reforms con- cation and networking. Note should also which became the hallmark and founda- sisted of liberalizing and opening up the be taken of the spread of mobile tel- tion of the new regime, although the com- economy to international markets. In this ephones with the liberalization of the sec- mitments would be buried a few years regard, the new government strength- tor and the emergence of three operators. afterwards. Furthermore, the President and ened the reform programme undertaken Internet and mobile telephones soon con- his new Prime Minister held numerous in the early 1980s by negotiating several verged to offer new communication op- talks and dialogues with opposition lead- free-trade agreements, the most important portunities, including the ability to send ers, union officials and civil society asso- of which was signed with the EU. The photos and video images instantly. Pro- ciations. These meetings and dialogues agreement was accompanied by an up- gressively, the development of new tech- culminated in the preparation of a national grading programme to help businesses nologies led to the formation of a new agreement document (‘Mithak al-Watani’) increase their competitiveness and meet community and a cyber-society which that would be signed by the different po- the challenge of foreign business. Other escaped the mechanisms of state control litical and social forces and which an- free-trade agreements are worthy of men- and the headaches of nit-picking bu- nounced a commitment in favour of the tion, such as the Agadir agreement with reaucracy. This new society played a con- liberalization of the political regime. certain Arab countries, the agreement siderable role in cyber-dissidence and the signed with Turkey and those negotiated These commitments were followed by revolution of 14 January 2011. with sub-Saharan African countries. This concrete reforms in the political area liberalization led to increased foreign in- New technologies were more than an aimed at opening up the political system. vestments and rapid growth in exports economic choice; they became an ideol- The most important reform was probably of manufactured products, which became ogy for a regime in search of a benchmark the constitutional reform, which put an the main source of foreign-origin income and a link to the modern world. New tech- end to the lifetime presidency inherited in the Tunisian economy. nologies offered a source of legitimation from the ‘father of the nation’. The pe- and fulfilled a need for contemporariness riod also marked a thaw in Tunisian poli- The third thrust of the reforms con- and belonging to the times and the world. tics, which experienced a new spring cerned the degree of priority given to new The image of a President keen on new until the end of the decade, with the lib- technologies. This issue was at the heart technologies and the Internet was pro- eralization of the media and the return of of the crisis affecting the old develop- jected by the official media to reinforce newspapers that had been forbidden or ment model based on cheap labour, and the image of a Tunisia firmly anchored in seized in the past. New opposition news- the transition towards an economy technological modernity. Several initia- papers were also allowed, the most im- founded on sectors making more inten- tives were launched by the government portant of which were the weekly El-fajr sive use of new technologies. The tran- to demonstrate its commitment to new published by the Islamist movement, sition to a knowledge economy was the technologies. The most important of which had taken on the name Ennahda, key to the different economic develop- these was the hosting of the World Sum- and La voix du peuple, the organ of the ment plans beginning in the 1990s. Seven mit on the Information Society in 2005. far-leftist party led by Hamma Hammami technology poles, the most famous of The event, which was supposed to con- (the POCT). Opposition parties were able which was El Ghazala, were set in place firm Tunisia’s commitment to modernism to resume their activities with increased and managed to attract considerable in- and the emerging world, rapidly turned energy. It was also a time of new impetus vestment from new local start-ups or ma- however into a disaster. In his opening for civil society, particularly the Human jor international firms including Alcatel, speech, the President of the Swiss Con- Rights League. Ericsson and STMicroelectronics. There federation did not hesitate to remind the was also a rise in investment in telecom- Alongside the political reforms, the new audience that new technologies and the munications with the development of in- government also undertook to address world of Internet and the future did not frastructure, increased telephone the obstacles in the system of accumula- mix well with repression and denial of free- network coverage and quality and im- tion and the limitations of the structural dom. A serious disavowal for an authori- proved access to Internet. adjustment programmes. Economic reform tarian regime that had always believed it focused on three main orientations. The These choices led to the rapid develop- was possible to modernize without em- first involved the stability of the major ment of new technologies – particularly bracing modernity and be rational with- economic accounts, where the State the Internet – in Tunisia. Publinets (sub- out reason and freedoms. sought to significantly reduce major defi- sidized public Internet centres) and cyber CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 26

As of 1987, the new government at- and blogs, and even the sites of certain among graduates. Official figures esti- tempted to reform the floundering authori- newspapers such as Le Monde and mated the unemployment rate at 14.2 per- tarian regime and open up new Libération. Control even extended as far cent in 2008. However, among young perspectives for the aging nationalism as manipulation of the email boxes and people aged 20 to 24, it reached 30 per- that had been unable to bring about a social network accounts of opposition cent, and 19 per cent among degree hold- democratic revolution. However, this at- leaders. Thus, a tool for individual free- ers. In addition to unemployment, there tempt at reform by the authoritarian re- dom and autonomy and for escaping the was rising inequality between the regions gime was cut short by the start of the constraints of the modern world became and considerable despair in the inland next decade. At the political level, the a new locus of control and repression for areas with the decline of farming and min- flowers of the new Tunisian spring were the authoritarian regime. An Orwellian Big ing activities. These inequalities and the quick to wilt and authoritarianism reap- Brother was watching the Net. It imposed increased unemployment in these regions peared. The regime reverted to its origi- a high-tech dictatorship to overcome caused the initial revolts in 2008, with the nal nature, beginning with the first free ‘cyber-dissidence’ the same way it had uprisings in the mining basin. Later, the legislative and presidential elections, subjected and silenced the opposition border areas with Libya were inflamed by which were marked by a major fraud and and independent voices in the world of the proliferation of red tape hindering helped the party in power to strengthen classical modernity. population movements between the two its hegemony over the political land- countries. These inequalities and the At the economic level, the new develop- scape. Then, the Islamist movement was demoralization and despair that reigned ment model experienced a few weeks of subjected to fierce and indiscriminate re- in those regions were the underlying glory in the 1990s and managed to fur- pression in the 1990s, and its leaders were causes of the desperate act committed ther boost the relatively strong growth condemned to long prison sentences or by the man viewed as the first martyr and that had always been above global and exile. This repression was later extended the initiator of the Jasmine Revolution. regional averages. However, the growth to the whole of the opposition and civil dynamics could have been much stronger The obstacles inherent in the model were society institutions, and notably the as indicated by several international in- heightened as of 2008 due to the global Human Rights League and professional stitutions, including the IMF. Instead, crisis, whose shock waves hit Tunisia associations such as the association of they were undermined by serious con- hard. Economic growth dropped strongly journalists and the association of judges. straints. The first of those was obviously in 2009 and even more sharply in 2010. The closing of the public space also af- the corruption and poor governance that Exports also dropped considerably, es- fected the press. Several independent developed in the early 1990s and which pecially exports to the EU, which contin- newspapers were either shut down or benefited the circles closest to the gov- ued to be Tunisia’s main trade partner. subjected to strong censorship. Further- ernment and various Mafioso clans. The year 2010 dawned in a Tunisia in the more, the centralization of advertising These practices led to the accumulation midst of crisis. The political authorities spending through the ATCE (Tunisian of large fortunes in a very short time and were increasingly cut off from society and External Communication Agency) rein- above all control over large sectors of answered its demands with growing re- forced political control by subjecting in- the economy, particularly in the areas of pression. At the same time, the wildest dependent newspapers to a financial banking, tourism, and housing construc- innuendo and rumours were spread re- diktat. While independent newspapers tion. The fortunes amassed, but above garding the power struggles between the were caught in a vice-like grip, govern- all their obscene display, which many different clans surrounding the President. ment-backed newspapers proliferated. Tunisians discussed in secret and which There was a rise in corruption and dis- These papers distinguished themselves was exposed by the American ambassa- plays of Mafioso fortunes, which only by their campaigns against the opposi- dor’s cables published by Wikileaks, con- reinforced the rejection and feelings of tion and the leaders of civil society insti- tributed to the loss of legitimacy and the indignation among the people. The sti- tutions. Furthermore, the liberalization of popular rejection of the Mafioso clans. fling of the media and the even more ag- communications benefited those close to Above all, the rising corruption affected gressive and repressive control of the government, who were on the receiv- and hindered economic growth. The pri- cyber-society were unprecedented and ing end of agreements for the launching vate sector, subject to growing uncer- contributed to a heavy and uncomfort- of new radio and television stations. tainty caused by corrupt practices and a able atmosphere throughout 2010. The Repression and authoritarianism had re- lack of transparency, curtailed its invest- climate was explosive and steeped in un- turned to the fore. Their return was not ments and risks taken on the future. It precedented violence, which broke out restricted to modern phenomena, such as adopted a wait-and-see attitude that pre- inexplicably and uncontrollably at every political parties or newspapers; it also vailed for years and was the focus of a major popular gathering, notably during extended to the virtual world. Indeed, the great number of restricted ministerial football matches. This detrimental atmos- regime was quick to realize that councils that were unable to change the phere was heightened by the economic cyberspace was home to a libertarian and situation. Thus, the contribution of the crisis that weighed heavily on Tunisia’s subversive culture. The world of the Web private sector to growth dynamics was economy and was the cause of increased had escaped the aging mechanisms of smaller than expected. unemployment and inequalities. The control and repression typical of the times were dismal in late 2010 and the at- The limitations of the development model modern world and created a new universe mosphere was sullen. The zeitgeist was and the obstacles to the transition to- of contestation and dissidence. But re- strangely reminiscent of the latter days wards capital-intensive growth led to pression extended its grasp to cyberspace of the regime of the ‘father of the nation’, deepening unemployment, especially through a ban on opposition websites prior to the advent of the Ben Ali regime CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 27 in 1987. With one notable difference: this in the fight for democracy and reject au- were subjected to merciless repression time, the failure of the second attempt at thoritarianism, nepotism and corruption. and saw the space available to them for reforming the authoritarian regime did not This new opposition was very different political action shrink alarmingly. lead to a new beginning, but rather a genu- from the traditional modern oppositions, The convergence of these different forms ine popular revolution. It was the point in that it diverged from the Leninist image of mobilization was the source of a revo- of departure of the Jasmine Revolution. of a headquarters preparing for political lution without precedent in the contem- revolution. It was a more diffuse, secret porary history of Tunisia. The revolution The Challenges of the Tunisian opposition that proved impossible to si- tolled the death knell for an authoritarian Revolution lence. It had also broken away from the regime whose growing isolation was ac- old patterns of democratic centralism typi- In this context of great anger and tremen- companied by rising despotism. The re- cal of the communist parties and advo- dous disenchantment, Mohamed Bouazizi gime had reduced political space cated a new political culture marked by committed an act of desperation which considerably and made its despot the the absence of a charismatic leader and would become the founding act of the only actor allowed to play a political role. considerable decentralization and dissemi- popular revolution in Tunisia. His act The system also established corruption nation of its forms of political organization. would serve as a catalyst for a broad so- and nepotism as foundations for the ex- cial movement that would topple an au- It should also be noted that this Web 2.0 ercise of power. In recent years, authori- thoritarian regime that had made civil society advocated a new political tarianism, despotism and nepotism had repression its only response to the so- culture marked by pluralism and diver- become the essential characteristics of cial movement and political opposition. sity, distancing itself from the major ideo- the regime, and they were the crux of the Initially, it was a movement of the disad- logical schemas and tales of a better world ever-growing divisions between the re- vantaged, the unemployed and the hope- inherited from modernity. The new, liber- gime and society. The revolts in the min- less. These outcasts, many of whom had tarian political culture subverted the clas- ing basin and other mobilizations in the been jobless degree-holders for some sical patterns and above all the models inland regions, such as the mobilization time, were at the heart of the revolts, both of closed societies and closed projects. of civil society, including the Human in the inland regions and the major social The new cyber-dissidence, where democ- Rights League and independent associa- protests in various regions, from Gafsa racy and freedom became essential val- tions, such as associations of lawyers, to Kasserine, and from Kef to Jendouba. ues, marked the advent of a new political journalists and judges, were unable to These social movements escaped the culture. This new political culture was halt the regime’s downward spiral into grasp of the traditional political parties probably why the Islamist parties and the authoritarian abuse. It took the desper- and made rioting and insurrection their far-leftist parties calling for total revolu- ate act of Mohamed Bouazizi to convince chief means of political action. These tion experienced difficulties in taking on the social movements, cyber-dissidence, choices were sparked by the closing off a major role, hence their marginalization political opposition and society as a of the legal political space and reduced since the beginning of the events and in whole to go beyond the point of no re- opportunities for expression and nego- all the social movements that began since turn and begin the revolution that would tiation. The authoritarian regime re- the revolts in the mining basin in 2008. ultimately topple the authoritarian regime sponded to social movements with The Web 2.0 opposition played an im- and become the point of departure for a repression. Retribution, punishment and portant role in strong mobilization by genuine democratic spring in the Arab occasionally grotesque propaganda, as denouncing repression and by produc- world which, in turn, would bring the during the festivities of the year of youth, ing new discourses contradicting the Egyptian government to its knees. formed most of its interaction with the hegemonic one, thereby successfully The importance of this revolution lies in social movements. And yet the move- breaking the monopoly on narratives and the fact that it managed to overcome the ments did not weaken and their impact discourse heretofore held by the authori- reign of fear that had been imposed by only grew, notably with the establishment tarian regimes. From this standpoint, the an authoritarian regime over the whole of support committees in the various re- Tunisian revolution and its Egyptian of society. The police and information gions during revolts in the mining basin. counterpart became the first post-mod- services had been developed until they ern revolutions. Another major force that was strongly were able to permeate the whole social mobilized and played an essential role in The role of the radical opposition forces fabric. Above all, they managed to con- the Tunisian revolution was cyber-dissi- in the revolution should also be men- vince the public that they were every- dence. The development of new tech- tioned. Despite repression, they never where and that ‘big brother’ was nologies and the Internet in Tunisia led lost hope for a major political change that watching them at all times. And beware to the rapid emergence of a community would spell the end of authoritarianism. to those who sought to challenge the of bloggers and cyber-dissidents who They included opposition parties, civil established order collectively or individu- escaped repression by the authorities and society institutions and especially the ally! Such people were subjected to fierce their totalitarian methods that no longer main labour congress which, it should be repression, as in the case of the Islamist fit with the new political production recalled, was the initiator of the demonstra- movement and certain personalities such modes. A Web 2.0 civil society was tions of 13 and 14 January. However, as we as the lawyer Mohamed Abbou, Moncef formed and its mobilization capacity far have already pointed out, the parties’ con- Marzouki, or the journalist Taoufik Ben exceeded that of the political parties and tribution did not attain the same scope Brik, and many other personalities. traditional civil society organizations. as that of the social movements. It should Henceforth, people only spoke in whis- These new forms of mobilization took be noted that the parties, particularly pers. Rather than speak out, they mum- advantage of the digital revolution to join those that refused to join the government, bled. Rather than voicing their opinions CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 28 clearly, they suggested them half- ian and closed the doors to the winds of difficulties are due in part to resistance heartedly. But these attitudes and fears freedom. Their deafness to the siren calls by the former party in power and in part were the sources of an unprecedented of democracy was the cause of the ex- to ‘casting errors’ in the appointment of feeling of shame throughout the social pansions and theses on the Arab excep- certain officials. From this standpoint, it body. People were ashamed of submit- tion and the lack of democrats in a region is necessary to ensure that all appoint- ting to despotism. In the face of this de- still steeped in mythology and submis- ments are the subject of a broad consen- feat at the hands of the authoritarian sion to divinities, and its resulting inca- sus and that they are entrusted to respected system, shamefulness prevailed. The feel- pacity to free the individual. But these personalities who can succeed in re-estab- ing of dishonour dominated an elite that revolutions showed that the Arab excep- lishing the legitimacy of the institutions. had deserted civic life and the political tion did not exist and that the region, like The medium-term and long-term chal- sphere and sought refuge in the private others, only sought to join the universal lenges are also considerable. On this level, sphere, thereby escaping the wrath of the movement of liberty and reason. three major issues should be highlighted. regime. Thus, the public sphere was given Since victory and the departure of the The first involves political reforms and up to despotism, incivility, vulgarity and former President on 14 January, Tunisia the establishment of a new democratic sometimes gratuitous violence, which al- has been confronted with the challenges regime. A committee of high-level experts lowed the social body to escape from the of building a new and open democratic and jurists presided over by Professor leaden weight of repression. The revolu- regime. These are of two types: short- Yadh Ben Achour has undertaken reflec- tion was an important moment in recent term challenges, and medium- and long- tion to increase Tunisia’s grounding in history to the extent that it enabled the term challenges. Over the short term, it freedom and economic modernity. The social body to overcome its fear and re- seems to us that the Tunisian revolution second challenge is economic in nature cover its dignity. is faced with three major concerns. The and concerns the definition of a new The Tunisian revolution and the fall of first is linked to the explosion of sectoral model for development that will ensure a the Egyptian dictatorship were also cru- demands that the authoritarian regime real transition to an economy based on cial moments to the extent that they made had managed to contain and which are knowledge and new technologies. This it possible to overcome the Orientalist now mushrooming and require solutions. model will require a break with the eco- prophecies that tut-tutted on the theme However, while addressing these de- nomic policies of the past, which, con- of the ‘Arab exception’ and the supposed mands is important, it is obvious that trary to those set in place in the emerging incapacity of the Arab world to cast off they could threaten already delicate eco- countries, lacked ambition and scope. its myths and the dream of a return to the nomic equilibriums. The second type of Finally, the last major issue is the emer- glory days of Medina. Of course, it should challenge involves security. It is linked gence of a new political elite and a lead- be noted that the events of the second to the dismantling of the former security ership capable of making way for social half of the last century had backed up apparatus that relied on the old Mafioso change and democratic revolution. their claims. The Arab world remained si- clans and the difficulties of reconstruc- The popular revolution in Tunisia has lent during the three great democratic tion. The security issue should be been an important moment of euphoria, revolutions since the fall of the southern counted among the priorities of the new freedom and liberation from the authori- European dictatorships in the 1970s, in government to ensure a return to normal tarianism that was at the heart of the na- Latin America in the 1980s and in the living conditions and forestall those nos- tionalist project. It is crucial for this new 1990s in the former ‘peoples’ democra- talgic for the old regime from glorifying era of freedom to be embodied in new cies’ and in Africa. Throughout those it as a defender of law and order. The democratic institutions and a new, in- times of democratic joy and euphoria, third type of challenge is linked to the clusive, development project that will al- Arabs remained faithful to their national- difficulties of running the country’s in- low Tunisia to join the ranks of the new isms, which grew increasingly authoritar- stitutions. It should be noted that these emerging countries.

Mémoires d’un étudiant africain – Volume I De l’École régionale de Diourbel à l’Université de Paris (1945-1960) Amady Aly Dieng Dakar, CODESRIA, 194 p. Price/prix: Africa 5000 frs CFA/ Afrique non CFA 12 USD Ces mémoires d’un étudiant africain sont essentiellement destinés aux jeunes Africains qui veulent continuer le combat en faveur d’une indépendance et d’un développement véritables. Il ne s’agit pas d’égrener un chapelet de souvenirs d’anciens combattants, mais de transmettre par écrit aux jeunes Africains les expériences politiques, syndicales et sociales de l’ancienne génération. L’auteur, né durant les années consécutives à la Grande Crise de 1929, a pu obtenir son Certificat d’études primaires élémentaires (CEPE) en 1945. Comme tous les élèves de sa génération, il a connu les affres de la Seconde guerre mondiale et les pénuries qui en ont résulté. La période allant de 1945 à 1960 est une période exaltante de lutte en faveur de l’indépendance et de l’unité des pays africains. La défaite de l’armée française à Dien Bien Phu en Indochine a considérablement contribué à affaiblir le système colonial français. Elle sera suivie par le déclenchement de l’insurrection de 1954 en Algérie, l’indépendance du Maroc, de la Tunisie, du Ghana et l’accession de beaucoup d’autres pays africains subissant la domination française à la souveraineté internationale. L’année 1960 qualifiée d’année africaine va clore le chapitre de la lutte ISBN: 978-86978-481-9 contre le colonialisme classique, et ouvrir une ère nouvelle caractérisée par le combat contre le néocolonialisme. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 29

Will the West Ever Learn?

he XI World Social Forum was Solidarity in the WSF with North Africa about to take place in Dakar. This Boaventura de Sousa Santos has another root: the unconditional re- Twas the second time that it was University of Coimbra spect for democratic aspirations. In this being held in Africa (the first was in 2007, Portugal respect, Western hypocrisy has no lim- in Nairobi), revealing the interest of or- its. Its objectives are to guarantee the ganizers in calling attention to African peaceful transition from a pro-American, problems and the impact those problems pro-Israel dictatorship, pro-colonial oc- will have on the world. The organizers did not catch the attention of the West- cupation of Palestine by Israel, anti-Ira- could not have imagined that, at the Fo- ern press. Ten years after the WSF alerted nian, pro-free circulation of petrol, rum, North Africa would be the primary the world to the situation, the World Eco- pro-blocking of the Gaza Strip, anti- focus of reports by news agencies from nomic Forum (WEF), in a meeting early Hamas, pro-Fatah/Hamas division, into a all over the world, nor that the social pro- this year in Davos, declared that deep- democracy with the same characteristics. tests against the economic crisis and the ening social disparity is the most urgent That is the only way to explain the ob- Western-backed dictatorships could be problem (even worse than environmen- session in naming the fundamentalists so vigorous, so contagious and so as- tal degradation) the world needs to face participating in protests and in falsifying sertive of one of the basic principles of in the coming decades. What the WEF the political and social nature of the Is- the WSF: the radicalization of democracy did not say is that the problem exists pre- lamic Brotherhood. The interests of Is- as an instrument of social transformation. cisely because of the economic policies rael and of petrol do not allow the West defended by that Forum over the last dec- to act coherently in this part of the world The solidarity of the WSF with the social ade. Like a rich man’s club, they are ca- with the principles it proclaims. The West struggle in North Africa has roots and pable of pangs of guilt, but cannot admit did not learn from the 100,000 dead as a reasons that are either ignored by West- that the cause is their own scandalous result of cancelling the democratic vic- ern media or reported in a way that re- accumulation of wealth. tory of the enthusiastically-supported veals the double difficulty in the West of Islamic Salvation Front in the elections learning from the experiences of the world Seen from the WSF, the North African of Algeria in 1991. Nor did it learn from and giving justice to the principles and crisis is a collapse on the second frontier the conversion of the Gaza Strip into one values which it proclaims to be guarding. of Europe. The first is constituted by of the most repugnant concentration Since the beginning, the WSF has warned Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland. With camps as a result of the non-recognition about the economic, social, political, en- two borders in crisis, the centre becomes of the electoral victory of Hamas in 2006. ergy and environmental unsustainability fragile and the German-French axis can of the current neoliberal economic model, soon turn from steel to plastic. More Is the West going to learn only when it dominated as it is by unregulated finan- deeply, history shows us that stability becomes post-Western? cial capital, and about the fact that the and prosperity in Europe starts and ends global costs of their decisions are not at the Mediterranean. Why is it that the restricted to the less developed countries. West (Europe and North America) can- NB The social movement in North Africa has not learn from history and the facts? For This article was translated into English by one of its roots in the deep economic cri- the WSF, the West will only learn when Christopher Reid and Luciano Dalcol-Viana. sis that the region is suffering from. The whatever happens in the periphery is social protests in Egypt cannot be un- similar to what happens in the centre. If it derstood without the series of strikes in takes too long, the problem will be that it the clothing sector over the last three is already too late to learn the lesson. years that, although violently repressed, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 30

The Market Colonization of Intellectuals1

n many fora over the past decade, with the sociology and norms of the public intellectuals seem unable to talk market. This alignment brings along an Iabout pressing social issues without Lewis R. Gordon accompanying rationality with market- performing the equivalent of an academic Temple University driven social practices. The hegemony literature review. Although reasons range Philadelphia, USA of those practices, which also assert from trying to inform their audiences of themselves as the bases of intellectual relevant debates to efforts to demonstrate and professional legitimacy, is a form of erudition, that many public intellectuals colonizing rationality. Since it has an present their work as the basis for rewards academic institutions for employment. So, impact on how academics behave and in academe and the entertainment indus- the right hit them where it hurts. aims to determine what and how try suggests influences tantamount to Increased pressures in the academic job academics think and what they produce, the colonization of intellectuals by the market began to affect every aspect of I call it the market colonization of the ever-expanding market. academic life, while the shift to neoliberal academy. Its correlate is the market colonization of knowledge. There was a time when the divide be- and neoconservative policies dried up tween academic intellectuals and those government support once enjoyed dur- The managerial academic class works whose primary vocation was the common ing the cold war, where the public image with a logic governed by quantitative weal was marked by location. The former of capitalist countries mattered as much models of assessment and consumption. worked in universities, colleges, profes- as the demand for technical mastery over Thus, knowledge is constantly measured sional schools and seminaries. The latter implements of war. Privatization became and so, too, are its modes of assessment: worked in public organizations, advo- the mantra against humanistic projects the ranking of journals and the number cacy groups, civic and religious associa- and the shift, familiar to all, is to a corpo- of publications a scholar achieves in tions, political parties and given the rate and consumer model of higher edu- those of the highest rank. The result is consequences of dissent, a good number cation. This change affected the the prevalence of more conservative of them produced their work from pris- sociology of academic institutions. One models of assessment, where prestige of ons and the trenches in times of war. outcome is the emergence of an academic publishing houses and establishment managerial class. In many universities, a auspices prevail over ideas. These two spheres offered communities consequence is administrators outnum- for intellectual development and, cru- bering faculty, a development rarely dis- Content falls sway to form and abrogated cially, they offered, albeit in the past, cussed as a factor in the rising costs of reasoning emerges, where judgment is modest employment. To think, everyone higher education. Administrators are supposedly reserved while only access needs also to eat. more expensive than faculty. to certain markers dominates. A weird cir- cular logic results, in which work is Along the way, some academics became Not all administrators fit this portrait. But praised by its appearance in distin- public figures and some public figures the exception to a rule does not eliminate guished places. In other words, a scholar became academics. But the political le- the explanatory force of the rule. It only or a public intellectual is important if her gitimation of either depended on the im- shows that the rule has limits. In the past, work appears in distinguished places de- pact of their work on public institutions an administrator was a scholar motivated termined by distinguished people appear- and social movements. Then came a wave by civic commitment to her or his institu- ing in them. of reactionary policies in the 1980s into tion. Today, there are administrators who the past decade in an effort to push back skip over scholarship beyond achieve- These developments have an impact on the achievements of the 1960s. Accom- ment of the Ph.D. or comparable degree. knowledge at the level of content in the panying these efforts was a war against Their relationship to academic manage- following ways. As institutions become left-oriented intellectuals. ment becomes, then, instrumental, the more consumer driven, interest in research declines as consumers seek degrees and In an ironic development, the anti-left way managers with M.B.A. degrees learn predictable markers of appearing edu- quickly took advantage of at least one the techniques of business without nec- cated instead of the critical and difficult Marxian insight, well exemplified in Ayn essarily grasping its larger social achievements of an actual education. As Rand’s 1957 novel “Atlas Shrugged”: problematics. more scholars apply for fewer jobs, risk Attack the material conditions of the This academic managerial class consists aversion develops and creativity declines. opposition. Right-wing think tanks, of a mixture of academics, accountants, bloated with funding, waged war on lawyers and business people (often In the humanities, for instance, social policies and institutions that offer serving on boards of trustees and on employment safety means a return to safety nets for dissenting and creative different levels of administrating scholastic forms of knowledge with the left-wing and even centrist intellectuals. universities). They are generally without replacement of science instead of the god As public intellectuals became more goals short of imitation. Thus, their or gods around which past institutions academic, they increasingly relied on avowed purpose is to align the university were built. What this means today is that CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 31 a demonstration of two kinds of expertise avowed social critical project write and so to speak, makes the presence of that become marketable in a consumer-driven present their work. Although it is impor- author indispensable for the experience academy – namely, mastery of technical tant to engage valuable research in pre- of the product. Even more effective is the knowledge (sometimes scientific, but senting matters for the public good, the transformation of the author’s name into more often science-like) and textual reality is that some scholars function a product itself or at least an isomorphic mastery, which is a correlate of the first. more like the knowledge equivalent of relationship between the two. There are brand names than ideas. The result is, as many examples. In recent times, can one Mastery of technical knowledge offers I initially protested, much cultural criti- think of deconstruction without Jacques opportunities of securing precious cism looking more like academic literature Derrida or Jacques Derrida without grants from private foundations, for-profit reviews (textual marketability) in disser- deconstruction? corporations, and neoliberal or tations and professional journals. As the neoconservative government projects. This is not to say there must be some- market gets more conservative, this be- As well, for the consumers who also seek thing nefarious about these associations. comes increasingly so in relation to ca- employment with their degree, technical After all, the same could be said about nonical texts. The big boys of ages past scientific or professional knowledge of- relativity and Einstein, psychoanalysis and offer marketable support. fers skills for those markets. Freud, hegemony and Gramsci, justice as The effect is that many well-meaning peo- fairness and John Rawls or Orientalism and Textual mastery imitates, in the humani- ple no longer have the capacity to think, Edward Said. The list can go on, but I think ties and some areas of the social sciences, or at least formulate thought, outside of the reader gets the point. scientific technical knowledge. The job the rehearsal of the academic job talk. of teaching texts promises consumers the Becoming an eponym for an intellectual They present their marketability and this appearance of education through textual achievement works, however, if the de- mode of presentation affects even those familiarity. Thus, research that challenges mand grows in the market place. Intellec- who are at first not academic. The texts, produces new kinds, and may even tuals thus face selling their knowledge nonacademic intellectual has “arrived,” transcend textual virtuosity is less mar- goods in ways that many did not have to so to speak, when the academic post is ketable. The academic, in this sense, of- in the past. Prior intellectuals were sub- offered in recognition of the supposedly fers technique, which is marketable. ject to different criteria of assessment in nonacademic intellectual achievement. a world with a very different relationship Should a budding young scholar object Now, this concern about the market colo- between the university and the market to this portrait, her or his peers, in addi- nization of the academy and its impact and the academic and the nonacademic tion to advisers and friends, offer a pow- on public intellectual life is not a criti- intellectual. To illustrate this changed erful corrective: “You want a job, don’t cism of individuals whose goals are pri- relationship, the discussion thus far can you?” marily academic. It is not my wish to join be made salient through consideration of Securing a job is the rhetorical trump that the neurotic call of condemning academ- the role of capital itself in modern times. legitimizes the entire process. In the acad- ics for being part of a profession our civi- Capital refers to ownership over the emy, it leads to a strange logic: The best lization values, or at least used to value, means of production. This was the des- way to get a job is to have one. Thus, greatly. What is crucial here is whether ignation of the class known as the bour- many academics and by extension many the underlying practices of academic as- geoisie. Correlated with the bourgeoisie public academic intellectuals are perpetu- sessment are, at the end of the day, aca- was the production of mystifying modes ally on the job market. Market potential- demic at all. This consideration emerges of argumentation, knowledge practices ity governs everything they produce. not only from intrusive boards of trus- whose purpose it was to create a laby- tees, who increasingly seem to want aca- In the academy, nothing is more market- rinth of rationalizations of the alienation demics to lose spiritual remnants of their able than the reputation of being smart. of flesh and blood human beings. As Pe- vocation and become the equivalent of This makes sense: No one wants dumb ter Caws, the famed English philosopher automatons, but also from academics and intellectuals. of science and culture, explained: public intellectuals who have learned how The problem, of course, is how “smart” to play the market, as it were. Those aca- One convenient way of escaping re- is defined. In a market-oriented society, demics and public intellectuals, having sponsibility for unfortunate social that means knowing how to play the game achieved the coveted judgment “smart”, facts (private property and wage labor, of making oneself marketable. The problem understand that there is nothing more for example) is to regard them as rela- here is evident if we make a comparison marketable than becoming a “brand”, and tions between people and things: The with ethics. I once asked an environmen- this is usually done at the level of phrases capitalist is related to his property, so tal activist, who argued that a more ethi- that become isomorphic with their au- the expropriated worker vanishes cal ecological position is the key against thors. from the equation; the worker is re- looming disaster, which would bother her lated to his work, so the factory owner more: to be considered unethical or stu- To produce an idea that contributes to similarly vanishes. Marx insists that pid? She admitted the latter. In a society the advancement of human knowledge is both are disguised relations between that makes it stupid to be ethical, what a wonderful achievement. Yet, it could people and other people: The owner should public intellectuals do? also leave its author out in the proverbial of private property deprives and the cold. To produce an idea wedded to the wage slave is enslaved to, human be- The impact of this development of mar- author in such a way as to make her or ings in flesh and blood, not economic ket-driven knowledge is evident in how him the exemplar of the idea, the brand, abstractions.2 many professional intellectuals with an CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 32

The bourgeois academy maintains itself, Yet, this dismal picture has many lacunae. of alternatives. Their critics often offer in similar kind, through legitimating the The list I offered of individuals associated celebrity academics as politically supe- practices of bourgeois society. Some- with great intellectual achievements in rior alternatives to intellectuals of the past times, this takes ironic forms, as we find the past and recent times is, for instance, who were, suspiciously, known as revo- in elite anti-elitism (witnessed on a nearly a highly imperfect one. I simply included lutionaries. An example among the more daily basis by many of us who have them because of their familiarity and also mainstream intellectuals is the presenta- taught in first-tier institutions across the to encourage the reader to think through tion of Martin Heidegger (a celebrity phi- globe), where bourgeois society es- alternatives without taking a reactionary losophy professor who was formerly a pouses also commitments to equality and stand against the notion of an academic member of the Nazi Party) over Jean-Paul freedom while demanding that the jus- project. Many of the intellectuals on that Sartre (a celebrity philosophical writer tice of inequalities should at least receive list were and their proper heirs continue and anti-imperialist who rejected being demonstration. to be, correctly located in academic insti- an academic and who aligned himself with tutions, even with their clear impact on nearly every left-wing revolutionary move- Although they may be critical of bour- larger cultural knowledge. ment from his middle age to the end of his geois society, many public academic in- life) on supposedly political grounds. tellectuals have bourgeois aspirations. But, yes, there are intellectuals who of- What do those intellectuals do when they fered alternatives. For instance, W.E.B. This is not to say that there isn’t much in lack ownership of the means of material Du Bois, the greatest of African-Ameri- Sartre’s biography that would not be production – when the only type of capi- can scholars in the social sciences, had a embarrassing instead of inspiring to a tal they seem to have is the cultural one tenuous relationship with the academy. market-colonized academy. Sartre was of their degree? Our brief discussion of He offered some of the most offered all the prestigious academic prizes branding suggests that they seek its epis- groundbreaking concepts through which in French and the wider European soci- temological equivalent: ownership over to study racism, colonialism and modern ety, including a post at France’s premier the means of knowledge production. political life. When fired from teaching institution, the Collège de France, and the because of his politics, he made a living most prestigious one for a writer, the This ownership, governed by the social, through employment in alternative insti- Nobel Prize for Literature. He rejected cultural and legal institutions in contem- tutions and, of course, his writing. Anna them all. porary, market-dominated society, brings Julia Cooper worked as the principal of along with it the correlative problems of Although Sartre himself became a the M Street High School, although she colonization faced by material production. signifier for existentialism (a major brand- spent several years in alternative employ- For example, the more mystifying knowl- ing if there ever was one), his decisions ment. She, too, had to seek alternative edge capital becomes, the more linked is consistently suggested that he held him- employment for a time after being fired the relationship between the author and self to a standard beyond ordinary mod- because of her politics. Her work in black the product, making them one and the els of assessment. He knew he was a feminist thought continues to make an same and, since no one else is identical bourgeois writer, but he prized writing and impact and she, along with Du Bois, was with the author and the brand, the refer- the question of public commitment, with among the founders of the Pan-African ence point of the flow of profit becomes his notion of the politically engaged movement. Aimé Césaire, who coined the restricted. What this means is that the writer, to the point of living more mod- term Négritude, was not mired in a per- demand for the product becomes the de- estly than he could have and dying much manent rationalization of the French acad- mand for the author who has also become less wealthy. His godson John “Tito” emy. He will also be remembered in terms the product and, thus, an affirmation of Gerassi summarized him well when he of his work as a political figure in market forces. eulogized: Martinique, as the former Mayor of Fort In recent times, what is even weirder is de France, and a critical intellectual pres- Sartre was an enormously generous man that the political identity of intellectual ence in the black Diaspora and concerns and very modest. Though he earned a product has also become marketable. of postcolonial thought. The same can great deal of money with his plays, nov- Thus, consumers seeking right-wing, be said for Leopold Senghor, one of the els essays, philosophic al works and bi- centrist or left-wing intellectual products other fathers of Négritude, in Senegal. ographies of Baudelaire, Genet and have an array of public intellectuals and And, of course, there is the work of Frantz Flaubert, he died in debt, having given academics offering also their politics as Fanon, whose writings and biography, in away most of his fortune to political move- grounds of their marketability. Under the spite of his formal role of training interns ments and activists and to an untold right circumstances, one’s politics sells. in psychiatry in Blida-Joinville Hospital number of struggling intellectuals. To this day, five young writers are receiving Together, these streams of market colo- in Algeria, remains an abiding testament monthly checks from Sartre’s publisher nization – over academic institutions, to the struggle for freedom in the colo- not knowing their true source.3 academics and the squeezing of public nial and postcolonial worlds. intellectuals into the contemporary mar- Reflections on the market colonization of Gerassi added: ket logic of neoliberal and public intellectuals and academics and neoconservative academic life – inaugu- the mystifying practices they occasion Sartre’s philosophy is difficult to live. Perhaps because of that, most Anglo- rate a claustrophobic environment for are perhaps nowhere more apparent than Saxon commentators and teachers, critical thinking and the production of in the critical literature on some of the raised on an escape-crammed philo- new and revolutionary ideas. intellectuals I have offered as exemplars sophical tradition of pragmatism, pre- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 33

ferred to praise the moral message City University of New York and public and especially so in the most prestigious propagated by Sartre’s existential ri- intellectual. His admiration for Sartre is representations of establishment. val, Albert Camus. Since all organized not that Sartre was somehow better than There are intellectuals out there who are actions lead to doctrinaire authoritari- the rest of us with the choices he made, struggling for alternatives. And even anism, said Camus, all we can do is but that he truly reflected his commit- within the academy, there are those who shout, No! ments in those choices. Being critical of labor, work and act according to commit- being an academic, Sartre gave up being Bad faith, replied Sartre. What we must ments through which they hope to tran- one and found a way to live as a writer do instead, he said, is commit our- scend the powerful gravitational pull of without academic affiliation. selves over and over again. No act is market forces. They offer inspiration for pure. All acts are choices, which al- Critical of being a bourgeois, Sartre at- many who echo that powerful, historical ienate some. No one can live without tempted to live, as best he could, a life search for what is to be done. Forgive dirty hands. To be simply opposed is that exemplified his commitment to free- me, then, as I here end by resisting the also to be responsible for not being in dom. Sartre’s life, as was Fanon’s, places marketing seduction of offering their favor, for not advocating change. To upon all of us the question of the kinds names. fall back on the proposition that hu- of decisions we would make if we were in man actions are predetermined is to his situation. What are we willing to reject Notes renounce mankind. No writer can ac- or embrace for our avowed commitments? cept the totalitarianism implied by “hu- 1. This article was first published in Truthout, man nature.” If he writes, he wants to For many, it’s impossible to imagine in- April 2010. change the world – and himself. Writ- tellectuals like Fanon and Sartre as any- 2. Peter Caws, “Sartrean Structuralism?” in The ing is an act. It is commitment (Gerassi thing short of holier than thou, even Cambridge Companion to Sartre, ed. 2009:275). though neither of them argued that aca- Christina Howells (Cambridge, UK: These are certainly admissions that demics should not have academic pur- Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 296. suits and seek academic rewards. They would make many contemporary academ- 3. John Gerassi, “Talking with Sartre: simply asked for the rest of us not to pre- ics and public intellectuals (most of whom Conversations and Debates” (New Haven, tend that the world is somehow better off are academics) squirm. Gerassi himself is CT: Yale University Press, 2009), p. 274. an academic at Queens University of the by our being rewarded for such pursuits

Reconfiguring Eurocentric Discourse and African Knowledge

Introduction the irruption of the nations of Western Europe into Africa in particular. In its ini- From archaeological times to the present Lansana Keita tial stages, the compass, the printing the world has had a long history in which University of the Gambia a kind of telos of humankind has made press, the cannon, and long-haul galle- itself evident. Humankind, as a species ons afforded maximal technological ad- of the animal kingdom, has been vari- vantage over the extant technologies of ously described as ‘the rational animal’, the Americas, Africa, and parts of Asia. or according to Aristotle as ‘a political I argue that it is technological knowledge This differential was crucial for the Euro- animal’. But, given the empirical history that serves as the main explanatory vari- pean success in the settlements of the of humankind, one can also argue that able for the vagaries and paths of human Americas and parts of Africa (Angola, this species can just as easily be de- history in time. It is this variable that ex- Mozambique and the southern African scribed generically as ‘the technological plains the migratory movements of peo- Cape area). In its latter stages, it was the animal’. After all, given the evolutionary ples over time, the wars and conflicts that Gatling gun, weaponry such as artillery, stasis – according to standard evolution- arise, and the various aspects of cultural and a more structured and complete ary biology – that humankind has arrived diffusion that accompany all such. It is world-view that facilitated an European at over the last approximately one hun- in this regard that one could seek rational technological dominance that was used dred and eighty thousand years, the great explanations for the expansion of West- to effect and justify cultural dominance differences that are observable between ern Europe into the four corners of the with its embedded modes of knowing. human social arrangements, beliefs, and globe over the last 500 years. This ex- The technological knowledge that even- practices are to be attributed essentially pansion would also include European tually facilitated the European conquest to advances in human inquiry into the expansion into the vast landmass now or control of most of Africa was seen by structures of the natural world, and its known as Africa. those who employed it as a kind of tem- practical representations as forms of tool- It is the evident qualitative distinctions plate for an overall claim to a general su- making commonly known as technologi- between forms of technologies and their periority in all spheres. Thus, European cal knowledge. accompanying cultures that best explain CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 34 technological advantage – promoted as the populations involved. Consider, too, cultures. One must also note in this re- a technological superiority – was extrapo- the languages imposed on the colonised gard the Negritude movement of which lated not only as a cultural advantage but territories that were increasingly struc- its major exponents were Césaire, also, crucially, as a qualitatively human tured to include terms and meanings that Senghor and Damas. This reactive move- superiority. The simple logic behind this were normatively devaluing of the life- ment began in the last decades (1930-1960) extrapolation was that superior humans worlds of the peoples involved. In brief, before the formal independence of Afri- produce superior (more advanced) tech- the colonial languages were structured can nations and sought to enhance the nologies and, by further inference, supe- and employed to establish as fact both African past in racial, cultural and moral rior cultures with their embedded modes the biological and cultural superiority of terms. Césaire’s Discourse on Colonial- of knowing. The result of all this was that the coloniser. It is this assumption of ism (1955, 2000) is a well known text in hierarchies of humankind were established general superiority that was used to jus- this regard. Senghor (1991) was also according to which the various world tify the idea that indigenous technologi- noted for his poetry in which he extolled populations were graded, not only in cal practices and metaphysical beliefs be the aesthetic allure of Africa’s peoples terms of the evolutionary worth of their replaced by those of European origin. and cultures. cultures but also in terms of the evolu- In this Europe-Africa encounter, a dia- In the social sciences, noteworthy re- tionary status of their bearers. It is in this lectic was established in which the the- sponses were those of Samir Amin connection that the modern idea of ‘race’ sis of European irruption produced an (Eurocentrism), C. A. Diop (Nations was developed to grade human groups antithesis of opposition from Africa. The negres et culture, L’Unité Culturelle de along evolutionary lines and thereby to result was a variegated synthesis. For ex- l’Afrique noire, and Civilization or Bar- explain technological and cultural differ- ample, take the case of Ghana which, at barism), and the various works of Frantz entials. independence, rejected the imposed co- Fanon (The Wretched of the Earth; Black One of the by-products of the European lonial name of Gold Coast, thereby re- Skins, White Masks, etc.). But even so, irruption into Africa was greater cultural vivifying the medieval African empire Euro-centred forms of control still strug- diffusion. Thus, the traditional modes of bearing the name. The same held for the gle to manifest themselves in the area of knowing and acting among the various Southern African nation of Zimbabwe the human imagination, thereby reflect- cultures of Africa were much affected by that similarly rejected the name Rhodesia ing a continuing psychological need for the diffused technologies and modes of to replace it with a name that reflected the old Eurocentric colonial images. I re- knowing emanating from Europe. The the indigenous archaeological history of fer here to the images portrayed in cer- most pervasive examples of these were that region. This was a significant devel- tain popular films with African themes European forms of religion and the modes opment in that Eurocentric ideology in produced for Western consumption. It is of knowledge transmission extant in Eu- the area of archaeology made the claim evident that the basis for the Eurocentric rope at the time. Thus, the traditional that the old stone structures of the Zim- structuring of knowledge about Africa is metaphysical lives of Africans, as much babwe ruins could not have been devel- a complex one, but a major consideration as their traditional technological prac- oped by the indigenous peoples of the area. is that its foundations rely heavily on is- tices, were thrown into conflict with those They were variously attributed to Per- sues of economics. The point is that a of European origin. In this connection, sians or Arabs. The same applied to the art diminished African status in terms of the various versions of Christianity made works of the pre-modern Benin culture agency implicitly accords increased agen- much headway into Africa, disseminated of Nigeria. The various bronze and terra cies to others in terms of access to and as they were by European missionaries. cotta works were deemed too sophisticated utilisation of African resources. The various languages of Western Eu- and realistic to be products of indigenous In this connection, the purpose of this rope also made their headway in the ap- efforts. It is the African reactive antithesis paper is to examine epistemologically the propriate areas where economic interests to the prevailing Euro-centred thesis that various forms according to which ortho- and the need for financial accounting eventually led to the problematising of dox Eurocentric knowledge is presented were necessary. This was the basis for the Eurocentric project itself. speciously as objective fact. It should be the dissemination of Western modes of One of the most significant forms of Afri- recognised in this regard that Eurocentric knowing in Africa – whether religious can reaction to the one-sided impositions knowledge does not limit itself to just one (metaphysical) or technological (empiri- from Europe was realised in the world of area of knowledge, but as a paradigm or cal). But cultural dissemination just did literature. The expansive nature and writ- Weltanschauung according to which the not stop at that level. It impacted on most ten form of the languages of Europe were world of the past and the present is aspects of African life thereby creating used from the twilight of the colonial era viewed and understood. Thus there is a diverse forms of psychological and in- to the dawn of formal independence to Eurocentric approach to structuring the tellectual conflict. express the cultural and psychological facts of the empirical world whether in The general impact of Europe’s one-sided ambiguities engendered by the Europe- the natural or social sciences. In the natu- cultural diffusion – the diffusion was not Africa encounter. Novels such as Things ral sciences consider how the various reciprocated, except later in areas such Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Am- universal theories are copyrighted with as art and music – into Africa was to im- biguous Adventure (L’Aventure ambigüe) the names of their theorists, thereby con- pose forms of knowledge that were de- by Cheikh Hamidou Kane are internation- ferring ownership. A proper critique of cidedly Euro-centred in material and ally recognised for their portrayal espe- Eurocentric knowledge in its universalising normative terms. Consider for example cially of the African psychological mode with regard to Africa would pro- the exogenous creation of the nation states response to the European presence in Af- vide us therefore with corrective mecha- of Africa without any evident input from rica engendered by the initial clash of nisms as to the proper nature of things. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 35

First, there will be a condensed discus- idly became the preferred paradigm for under the colour of objectivity, presents sion of what constitutes knowledge in the social (human) sciences. Despite ideo- itself pervasively in universalist terms the empirical sciences. I will argue for a logical differences, both Comte and Marx across all disciplinary forms of knowledge. weak unity of science model – that is that argued on behalf of a positive social sci- it is possible to obtain genuine knowl- ence. But Mannheim (1936), in his Ideol- Eurocentric Human Biology and edge in both the natural and social ogy and Utopia, argued that if social Anthropology spheres – but with the caveat that in the scientific knowledge reflected class and The rise of modern science was accom- cases of the social sciences such is not sectional interests then any critically ar- panied by the classification of the con- easily forthcoming; given that human in- rived-at form of such knowledge would stituents of the animal kingdom, terests at all levels are involved. Thus, automatically be relativistic, that is, not including humans. The works of Linnaeus the epistemological goal would be to un- objectively valid. This epistemological and Cuvier come to mind. In the case of pack Eurocentric knowledge in all its di- scenario would eventually be extended humans, classifications were based mensions for its ideological content as a to cover not only the social but also the purely on phenotype to which were as- prelude to replacing it, where possible, natural sciences. This was the thesis im- signed particular temperaments. With the with certifiably more objectivist knowl- plicitly argued by Thomas Kuhn (1962) advent of Darwinian theory the idea de- edge. The counter-argument in favour of in The Structure of Scientific Revolu- veloped that humans could be classified epistemological relativism cannot be sup- tions to which Karl Popper attempted a not only according to phenotype and ported, first, on the basis of its question- counter (1963) in Conjectures and Refu- temperament but also to evolutionary begging implications, and second, that tations. This general critique of episte- status. The idea of ‘race’ as representing to accept such a thesis would lead to an mological foundationalism certainly different human categories assumed a experiential world of epistemological an- duelled strongly with the traditional posi- centrality in this instance. On account of archy. Although all empirical claims are tivism of scientific research. Consider the the technological advantages of West subject to revision, there are those such extreme relativism argued for by Paul European society, the Eurocentric thesis as Newton’s second law and Boyle’s law Feyerabend (Against Method, 1975), developed that ranked non-Europeans as that have been impervious to all Barry Barnes (Interests and the Growth biologically less evolved than Europeans. falsificationist contravention. Or con- of Knowledge, 1974), and David Bloor Hume, Kant and others argued in this di- sider the anthropological claim that hu- (Knowledge and Social Imagery, 1976) rection. But the crucial implication of this mankind began in what is now known as in their various works known collectively thesis was that those human groups that Africa. as the Strong Programme in the Sociol- were deemed biologically less evolved ogy of Knowledge. It should be noted in this context that in were subject to the Darwinian principle the case of Africa, the Eurocentric para- The key point made by the theorists of of evolution by ‘natural selection’. The digm as an interpretive framework extends the Strong Programme is that all scien- populations of Africa described by the itself over three areas to offer a holistic tific knowledge in its objectivist claims is patently non-scientific and Eurocentric view of the peoples of the continent. The compromised by the epistemological rela- term ‘negro’ were assumed not only to foundational template to the three areas tivism embedded in its constituent theo- be biologically less evolved but also is that concerning the human evolution- ries. I argue otherwise that despite the slated for extinction. Under this prevail- ary status of the peoples of Africa. It is fact that all knowledge exists in a social ing ideology, the Tasmanians and Aus- the thesis propounded in this regard that context, it is indeed possible to establish tralian indigenes were themselves serves as the basis for African archaeol- empirically certifiable knowledge. It is just subjected to much human rights abuse ogy and history, and ultimately the basis that this requires much epistemological on the assumption that they were lesser for the idea that Eurocentric agency in analysis. Thus an Africa-centred knowl- human beings. The inhabitants of Africa the areas of politics and economics is edge paradigm need not repeat the same were themselves subjected to similar stric- optimal for Africa. errors and misrepresentations that have tures of Eurocentric evolutionary biology, marred the constructions of knowledge particularly in the case of those trans- Epistemology and the Foundations about Africa by European theorists, of- ported to the Americas for forced slave of Knowledge ten epistemologically compromised by labour and those later colonised and vir- tually enslaved on the African continent, Intellectual inquiry over the ages has had the orthodox Eurocentric paradigm which especially in those areas marked out for no other goal but to make claims about arbitrarily ascribed a universal superior- European settlement such as Southern the world and to justify such claims im- ity to all European modes of knowing, Africa. plicitly by appeal to epistemological cri- simply on the basis of technological pri- teria. The problem with this though was macy. What follows, therefore, are criti- To offer justificatory support for the ex- that there were no uniform epistemologi- cal analyses of structures of knowledge isting theory of evolutionary gradation, cal criteria. With the rise of empirical sci- developed in the social sciences that are Eurocentric ideology, under the guise of ence, on account of its evident material assumed to be conventionally factual but empirical science, resorted to the physi- payoffs in the diverse areas of techno- which when probed epistemologically are cal measurements of the crania and other logical application, it followed that its seen to be heavily compromised in terms physical aspects of the African pheno- methodological rules of practice would of Eurocentric content and orientation. type. It was on this basis that the Tutsis be seen to be applicable to empirically The decision to examine the social sci- of Rwanda and Burundi were rated higher observable human behaviour in the ar- ences in general rather than just a single up the evolutionary scale than their Hutu eas of the social sciences. This was the one is based on the fact that the kinsmen. A popular approach was the understood goal of positivism which rap- Eurocentric ideological paradigm, often appeal to the pseudoscience of phrenol- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 36 ogy to make the dubious claim that major human populations designated as the antipodal idea of a natural superior- prognathism and nasal indices afforded African, European, and Asian evolved ity of the European over the African – proof of African evolutionary retardation. separately, not at the sapiens level but at and other non-Europeans – the sub-dis- that of Homo Erectus (Wolpoff, Race and cipline of physical anthropology was But this argument was easily belied by Human Evolution, 1997). The other the- developed. Thus based on phenotypical the fact that the facial structures of East sis forwarded by Klein (1989) is that observation, most often founded on Asians approximated those of Africa, yet homo sapiens, though anatomically mod- frivolous considerations of a dubious the thesis of evolutionary retardation was ern since approximately 165KYA, scientific nature, Africans were variously not applied in this instance. The biolo- evolved further at the cognitive level to described as ‘negroes’, ‘true negroes’, gist Stephen Gould in his text The become ‘behaviourally modern’ only ‘negroid but not negro’, ‘Hamitic’, Mismeasure of Man effectively pointed some 40-50KYA, but not in Africa. This ‘Bantu’ (often mistakenly used as a ra- out that the data of a significant number time period is seen to coincide with the cial term), ‘Semitic’ (a linguistic term but of these supposed scientific studies on already concluded migration of homo often used erroneously as a racial term), race and biology were manipulated sapiens into other parts of the globe. The ‘bushmen’, etc. The point here is that the (Gould 1981). One effective proof, how- response to Klein proposed by racial categories employed to categorise ever, to counter the Eurocentric claim of McBrearty and Brooks (2000) was that Africans anthropologically were for the the evolutionary retardation of African the human transition to the cognitive sta- most part founded on criteria that were populations was that colonised Africans tus of ‘behaviourally modern’ already unscientific. First of all, the term ‘negro’ easily learned to communicate in the lan- took place in Africa and was, therefore, was the term casually used by Portu- guages of Europe coupled with the fact social rather than biological. The purpose guese seamen to describe the people they that there were noted instances of impres- of both theories (Klein and Wolpoff) is met on the West African coast during the sive intellectual abilities. Cases in point to offer continuing support to the ortho- fifteenth century. The term itself was de- are the academic achievements of indi- dox, but challenged Eurocentric model fined only in very broad terms referring viduals such as philosopher Anthony about the evolutionary stages of the principally to pigmentation. It was also Amo, who lectured at the German univer- world’s geographically different later imported into the other languages sities of Halle and Jena during the first populations. Yet, the OOA hypothesis of Europe, as in the case of English, and half of the eighteenth century. The bio- still stands firm on the basis of continu- was used interchangeably with ‘black’. graphical account (1789) of Gustavus ing research (Stringer 1997). Here we We note parenthetically that in the six- Vassa, once a victim of the Trans-Atlan- have an instance of an Africa-centred teenth century the preferred terms for tic trade, is another noteworthy instance. knowledge being empirically confirmed. Africans in England, for example, were Another proof of the problematic nature ‘blackamoor’ and ‘tawnymoor’ (see,for of the thesis of African evolutionary re- The biological theories of human evolu- example, Shakespeare’s Othello). tardation is the fact that subjugated Afri- tion first established in Eurocentric dis- can populations refused to accept their course to chart the course of human The scientifically dubious classification status as biologically inferior beings. Fre- development were eventually used as the of Africa’s populations into pseudo-ra- quent revolts both individually and in template on which modern physical and cial types eventually became standard- groups were the order of the day. The cultural anthropology was structured. ized in the anthropological literature. And successful revolts in the Americas, such The discipline of anthropology began, in order to explain away what were seen as those of Brazil and Haiti together with therefore, as the cultural and biological as instances of ‘civilisation’ the term the colonial revolts in Africa, militated study of the non-European ‘other’. This ‘caucasoid’ was also coined. This con- against this prevailing thesis. What is enterprise required above all a special- ceptual move was also coupled with a significant here is that African opposi- ised vocabulary with its specific refer- physical anthropology by gradation. Af- tion to differential treatment according ences. Non-European humans from Africa rican groups that did not fit the arbitrar- to some presumed evolutionary thesis and pre-Columbian America were seen as ily selected ideal-type criteria of the actually advanced the argument of the inhabitants of the woods and forests, ‘negro’ and in the direction of the unity of humankind in terms of human hence the coining of the terms ‘savage’ Eurocentric phenotypical ideal, and were rights. (from the Latin ‘silva’), ‘primitive’ (sig- deemed to have developed cultures of nifying ‘early stages of humanity’), ‘tribe’ some note, were explained as having been A further erosion of the conventional (as opposed to ‘people’ or ‘ethnic group’, influenced positively by ‘caucasoid ge- thesis occurred when scientific evidence both terms reserved for the ‘civilised’ peo- netics’. This was the basis for the ‘Hamitic demonstrated that humankind has its ori- ple of Europe). Thus, for example, warfare hypothesis’ expounded by G. Seligman gins in East and Southern Africa some between different non-European groups in his classic Eurocentric text on African 160KYA to 200KYA and that migration was inevitably described as ‘tribal war- anthropology, The Races of Africa (1930). from the continent took place only some fare’ between groups implicitly under- This was the age of the linguistic trunca- 50KYA to 60KYA. Thus the time for evo- stood as ‘uncivilized’. tion of Africa into ‘negro’ and ‘Hamito- lutionary differentials, especially in the Semitic’ language families. General cognitive areas, was just too short to In the case of Africa, anthropology as a critiques of such classifications have led establish any meaningful differences. research enterprise met with no opposi- to the more objective classification of This theory has met with opposition on tion as its peoples were classified into ‘African languages’ with the replacement two levels. The OOA (Out of Africa) hy- ‘tribes’ with peculiar cultures that were of ‘Hamito-Semitic’ by the euphemistic pothesis is opposed by the Multiregional doomed to be replaced by the superior term ‘Afro-Asiatic’. Hypothesis which claims that the three ones of Europe. But in order to reinforce CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 37

Scientific advances in the area of genet- scription to orthodox Eurocentric ideol- man freedom at each temporal juncture. ics have demonstrated that the indig- ogy on Africa – does not include these But for Hegel this rational dialectical enous populations of Africa are more research areas in the matrix of African movement completely bypasses Africa, inter-related than was claimed by the more archaeology. The standard thesis of early except for Ancient Egypt which he de- simplistic theories of orthodox Egyptologists such as Breasted (1905) scribed as a puzzling paradox. Hegel’s Eurocentric anthropology (Tishkoff was that the archaeological structures view of an ahistorical Africa was sup- 2009). Genetic studies of the populations and relatively advanced level of the civi- ported by European historians through- of Africa demonstrate that two major lization of Ancient Egypt was due to out the colonial era. The basic haplogroups dominate the African conti- some ‘dynastic race’ that invaded Egypt assumption was that the history of Af- nent: E1b1a and E1b1b. E1b1a is found from West Asia and brought with it the rica did not really begin until the encoun- mainly in West Africa and parts of South- ingredients of civilisation. But objectively ter between Africa and Europe. The dates ern Africa, while E1b1b, with its origins derived scientific knowledge has shown in question were from the fifteenth cen- in East Africa (Tanzania and the Horn of that the archaeology of Ancient Egypt, tury onwards. The argument advanced Africa) is dominant in East and North Nubia, Axum, and so on are all properly in support of this was that a necessary Africa. Thus, the current anthropologi- designated as sites for African anthro- condition for historical movement and cal, archaeological, cultural, and political pological research (Diop, Civilization or explanation is that events be understood truncation of the African continent into Barbarism, 1981). One recalls in this re- as resulting from rational and purposive ‘black Africa’ – now euphemistically re- gard similar considerations applied in the behaviour. And that they be recorded by ferred to as ‘sub-Saharan Africa’ – and appraisals of the Benin, Ife, and Nok the written word and stored for poster- North Africa, described in Eurocentric archaeologies of West Africa, and the ity. British historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper discourse as part of ‘the Middle East’, is Zimbabwe stone structures of Southern (1969), for example, advanced just this easily exposed as being founded on du- Africa. More generally, the same princi- thesis with respect to African history. bious cultural and anthropological as- ple applies to other aspects of Africa’s One post-colonial counter-argument has sumptions. archaeology such as its architecture and been that history as oral literature should urban structures. The empirical fact is that be recognised. Regardless of the merits African Archaeology and History the pre-colonial architecture of Africa is of this argument, it is a fact that there Reconfigured much more varied than is normally was written history in parts of Africa and claimed. In the urban areas of the coastal The research area of African archaeol- there was historical movement in terms regions – East Africa especially – and the ogy has been a major area in which of cause and effect. Reference is made savannah regions of West Africa the pre- Eurocentric ideology exercised much aca- here to the histories of the medieval Afri- colonial architecture is quite varied as in demic influence over the years, but which can nations of Ghana, Mali and Songhay. towns such as Kano, Mopti, Timbuktoo, has witnessed a number of challenges in One recognises here historical works Ibadan, etc. Of course, the underlying a recent times. Popular ideology had it that such as Tariq es-Soudan by Mahmoud priori assumption at work here is the African tool technology had not pro- Kati and Tariq al-Fettach by notion that the cognitive resources of gressed beyond the level of the Neolithic Abderrahman Sadi. In fact, it was Kati Africa’s populations were not sufficiently until more advanced metal technologies who described so movingly the fall of adequate to create the basic elements of such as copper and iron were introduced Songhay at the Battle of Tondibi in 1591 ‘civilisation’. from outside the continent. The most at the hands of Moroccan mercenaries. egregious example of such assertions All this leads up to the issue of African It is also a fact that written historical concerns iron smelting and its usages. history which has been wrestled over records concerning Ghana, Mali and Research data now confirm the counter- contentiously in some quarters. The his- Songhay exist in old family libraries in thesis that not only was iron smelting in tory of Africa has been a central research Mali. There are also extensive written almost universal usage in Africa from area where Eurocentric thought held sway records of the history of Northern Nigeria 1000 BCE to 500CE, but also that its ori- for many years. The standard Eurocentric concerning the Hausa peoples. Thus, it gins were mainly indigenous (Miller thesis was that human rationality was not was the force of strict empirical fact that 1997). at play in past events on the African con- led to the falsification of the old But more important in the ongoing re- tinent. There were certainly historical Eurocentric model of African history. This search debates is the assumption that the events that took place on the continent is the explanation for the revisions that archaeology of Africa includes only the but they were seen as unstructured and well known joint historians of Africa such so-called ‘sub-Saharan’ areas. This is purely not susceptible to explanation in terms as Oliver and Fage (1963) had to under- an instance of Eurocentric ideology. of behavioural cause and effect. An early take in more recent editions of their long- prototypical statement in this regard is standing histories of Africa. In sum, on What this arbitrary truncation of the con- that of Hegel’s. In his Philosophy of His- the definitive refutation of the old tinent in terms of its archaeological his- tory (1826, 1858) Hegel maximally dis- Eurocentric model of African history we tory does is to reinforce pseudo-racial counts the idea of rational history as also note Cheikh Anta Diop’s L’Afrique Eurocentric notions concerning the con- applicable to that of Africa. Hegel’s con- noire precoloniale and L’unité culturelle cepts of race and ‘civilisation’. The ar- ception of world history is one accord- de l’Afrique noire. UNESCO and Cam- chaeological history of Ancient Egypt ing to which ‘universal spirit’ (Geist) bridge University Press many-volume and Kush (Nubia) has been deemed to moves from the East to the West imbuing publications also demonstrate that the be so impressive that Eurocentric archae- civilisations with a rational historical des- argument that African history was un- ology – given its unquestioning sub- tiny, the telos of which is increasing hu- structured and that it suffered from not CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 38 being written can be easily refuted. We On this basis, the fact is that the Sahara ity and regionalism – and the risk also of have also had some well structured his- desert has never been a barrier to trade, voting irregularities in nations where tech- tories of West Africa by Jacob Ajayi and communication and travel for the peoples nological levels and literacy rates are low. Michael Crowder (1972) and Joseph Ki- of Africa. Eurocentric orthodoxy argues There is certainly room for novel ways of Zerbo (1972). Further developments too for just the opposite. The point made here establishing principles according to have been the linking of the post-fifteenth is amply supported by the genetic analy- which Africa’s populations could exercise century history of West Africa with that sis of the peoples of North Africa and their democratic prerogatives. The point of the trans-Atlantic truck in humans and neighbouring parts of the continent. The being made here is that there are all kinds the peopling of Southern Africa in post- haplogroup E1b1b is found extensively of electoral permutations that could be archaeological times. not only in North Africa but also in East explored for optimality and efficiency and Saharan Africa. On the other hand according to particular contexts. One The Eurocentric Paradigm: the dominant haplogroup for West Asia might consider in this regard variants of Contemporary Politics and is J which, when found in Africa, derives the parliamentary system. And more im- Economics from settlers arriving during the period portantly, government could be struc- The Eurocentric intellectual paradigm re- of Islamic expansion. Yet again, the po- tured in such a way that state power be garding Africa is not just limited to areas litical analysis of populations based on reduced to a minimum with most power such as archaeology, history and anthro- the dubious concept of race is hardly il- accruing to the populace by way of pre- pology, it extends to other important re- luminating for scientific discourse. It is set welfare considerations. For example, search areas such as political science and on the basis of objective analysis, there- education and human welfare portions political economy. This is so because the fore, that the Pan-African concept of a could be set constitutionally at 30 per- idea of Africa as expounded by single geographical unit known as Africa cent and 60 percent respectively. These Eurocentrism extends to all areas of is more rational than the arbitrary impo- are issues that Eurocentric political dis- knowledge. In this final section, I pro- sitions of Eurocentric geopolitical theory. course, so dominant in the African aca- pose to examine the structures of certain Institutions such as the now defunct Or- demic arena, hardly ever countenances. aspects of political science and econom- ganisation of African Unity (OAU) and In this connection, it should be noted ics to determine how they have its successor the African Union (AU), that the vast literature on African politi- configured discourse on contemporary both created by African initiative, bear cal structures, though developed in the Africa. Again, the influence of this out. West, exercises a pervasive influence on African political discourse. Similar con- Eurocentrism is such that its impositions One other important area in which siderations apply to African economic life on the African world in terms of political Eurocentric thought has been dominant which is normally conjoined in real terms and economic theory have been thor- yet needs to be challenged is that con- with African political discourse. A dis- oughly reified and usually taken for fact cerning the post-colonial political insti- cussion on this issue follows. in orthodox discourse. tutions of Africa. In the aftermath of the One evident example of the political struc- disintegration of the Soviet Union, one In pre-colonial times the economic sys- turing of the African world is that con- key argument in Western political dis- tems in Africa were of a very varied na- cerning the geopolitical compart- course was that democratic institutions ture, but they were mainly of two or three mentalisation of the physically continu- were a necessary requirement for African interlocking types. African economic life ous African continent into sub-Saharan development. But there are form and con- was of the pastoral, agricultural or feudal Africa (SSA) and the Middle East-North tent issues involved here. It is assumed type – with much overlap within the same Africa (MENA). The basis for this dis- in orthodox Western political discourse linguistic communities. These three tinction is explained by this paper’s analy- that ‘free and fair elections’ are to be seen forms were often complemented with dif- sis of Eurocentric anthropology in terms as sufficient to confer democratic creden- ferent levels of market trading often re- of its racial classification of the peoples tials on some particular nation. But the stricted to meeting places in towns and of Africa into diverse racial groups such fact is that mere elections are not adequate cities (for example, Kano in Northern Ni- as ‘negroes’, ‘Hamites’, ‘Semites’, for genuine democracy. The ‘rule of the geria, Ibadan, Timbuktu, Khartoum, etc.). ‘Bantus’, and the like. Thus the idea of people’ as the term democracy signifies These economic systems were of purely ‘negro Africa’ was concocted with its in- is not at all to be inferred from the hold- sociological origins and owed nothing to terchangeable cognate ‘black Africa’. The ing of ‘free and fair’ elections. This, of essentialist considerations. There is noth- Northern part of Africa was thus excised course, is not to imply that less than trans- ing natural about the traditional political from the rest of Africa and linked with parent voting exercises afford a prefer- economy of Africa as is implicitly inti- West Asia under the rubric of the so- able option. What is required is that mated in some orthodox circles. Thus, the called ‘Middle East’. African political theoretical consideration be granted to economic solution for Africa would not theorists, of course, had no say in these possible new forms of political arrange- be a return to such pre-colonial forms. ments. The presidential system of gov- configurations. The result is that over The disintegration of the Soviet Union ernment adopted by most African time such configurations became embed- and China’s dilution of Maoist econom- governments has shown itself to be ded in linguistic and official discourse. ics in favour of market capitalism has lent unviable just on practical grounds. There much ideological support to a triumphant Yet the facts are that the indigenous peo- is always the risk of violence – provoked economic liberalism, at least until the re- ples of Africa have always lived in all parts by the politicians themselves who oper- cent world economic recession. But even of Africa and, as a result, all peoples liv- ate on principles of sheer opportunism so, the dominant economic paradigm of ing north of the equator share certain as they appeal to the concepts of ethnic- cultural and linguistic characteristics. neoclassical economics, although chal- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 39 lenged, is not seriously being threatened basis that Eurocentric economic theory ontological content. At the cognitive level because alternative theories of econom- in the guise of neoclassical economics such Eurocentric impositions have be- ics are not being vigorously promoted. imposes itself by way of institutions such come the normal discourse of the diverse In fact, the only economic theory that as the IMF and the World Bank. forms of knowledge found in all research offered any real challenge to the market areas, especially those of the social sci- The generic term used to describe this capitalism of the West was Marxist so- ences. It is in this regard that I have ex- kind of economic practice is ‘market capi- cialism. The socialist argument was that amined the different modes of knowledge talism’ which was initially challenged by the there was nothing intrinsic in human as they have been ideologically Marxist theory, then by Leninism and nature that suggested that human behav- configured to satisfy the dictates of Maoism. The general basis for the cri- iour was motivated only by individual Eurocentric discourse on Africa. But more tique of market capitalism was that it was gain. This was the argument promoted than that, I have offered alternative analy- a pernicious economic system that trans- first by early socialists such as Saint- ses, statements and correctives. This formed humans into the wage slaves of Simon and Robert Owen, then later by should constitute the basis for the de- capital and robotic consumers of com- theorists such as Marx. But the velopment of models of Africa-centred modities. It was also seen as a relentless foundational principle of modern market knowledge. exploiter of African labour and resources economics was provided by none other from the days of the trans-Atlantic truck than Adam Smith (1776, 1991) who argued References in humans to the charnel house of King in The Wealth of Nations that the source Leopold’s Congo. It was for these rea- Amin, S., 1989, Eurocentrism, New York: of economic activity and progress was a sons that the idea of African socialism Monthly Review Press. ‘certain propensity in human nature ... to was developed as advocated by African Barnes, B., 1977, Interests and the Growth of truck, barter and exchange one thing for intellectuals and political leaders such as Knowledge, London: Routledge. another’ (1991:19). According to Smith, Senghor of Senegal and Nyerere of Tan- this behavioural trait was unique to hu- Bloor, D., 1976, Knowledge and Social zania. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana also mans and was prompted not by benevo- Imagery, London: Routledge and Kegan embraced socialism but the more ortho- lence but by self-interest. This human Paul. dox variety. The point of all this is to make trait was certainly quite different from the argument that African economists Breasted, H., 1905, 1964, A History of Egypt, what prevailed in pre-capitalist times. The would be remiss to passively embrace the New York: Bantam Books. pre-capitalist subsistence economy was ideas of neoclassical economics and its not based on the maximisation of self- Césaire, A., 1955, 2000, Discourse on practice of economic neoliberalism as interest but rather on communal reciproc- Colonialism, New York: Monthly Review they seek solutions for Africa’s economic ity and redistribution (Polanyi 1944, 2001). Press. problems. Polanyi writes that in cases where there Diop, C. A., 1973, Nations nègres et culture, is some catastrophe, ‘interests are again One point of departure would be to rec- Paris: Présence Africaine. threatened collectively, not individually’ ognize that economics as the proper Diop, C. A., 1978, The Cultural Unity of Black (Polanyi 2001:48). The key point here is husbanding of scarce resources should Africa, Chicago: Third World Press. that in non-market societies individual be pursued with the general goal of col- economic interests are hardly counte- lective human welfare, as was the case Diop, C. A., 1987, Pre-colonial Black Africa, nanced; it is the group’s economic inter- with pre-capitalist economies, as amply New York: Lawrence Hill. ests as a single unit that determine demonstrated by Karl Polanyi (1944). In Diop, C. A., 1991, Civilization or Barbarism, economic life (Polanyi 2001:48). this regard a critical approach to the dis- New York: Lawrence Hill. cipline of economics would be to view This model of economic behaviour is Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretched of the Earth, the presently dominant neoclassical eco- quite clearly the opposite of what mod- New York: Grove Press. nomics and its anti-humanist prescrip- ern-day neoclassical economics argues. tions and practices as a form of Fanon, F., 1967, Black Skins, White Masks, New The central thesis of neoclassical eco- Eurocentric social science. Thus, it is York: Grove Press. nomics is that rational economic behav- obvious that the key social scientific ar- iour requires that humans as economic Feyerabend, P., 1988, Against Method, London: eas of political science and economics agents always seek to maximise their ex- Verso. with regard to Africa largely reflect ideas, pected utility according to the rules of Friedman, M., 1953, ‘The Methodology of concepts and orientations developed and pure self-interest. The telos of human Positive Economics’, in Friedman, ed., propagated in the West according to the economic decision-making is pure effi- Essays in Positive Economics. dictates of Eurocentric ideology. ciency with minimal considerations af- Gould, S. J., 1981, The Mismeasure of Man, New forded to issues of equity. This is the Conclusion York: W.W. Norton. basis for the construction of ‘rational economic man’ – that homunculus of In the above, I have attempted to show Hegel, G. W., 1902, The Philosophy of History, human decision-making. It is this kind of that there are valid epistemological George Bell and Sons. grounds for the critique of the cognitive decision-making that serves as the basis Kati, M., 1913, Tariq al-Fettach (trans. O impositions that a technologically domi- for what neoclassical economists call Houdas), Paris: Le Roux. positive or scientific economics. Issues nant Europe imposed on the world, in- Klein, R., 1989, The Human Career: Human of equity are relegated to what is called cluding Africa from the sixteenth century Biological and Cultural Origins, Chicago: normative economics, the evaluative onwards. But a critique of such imposi- University of Chicago Press. branch of neoclassical theory. It is on this tions showed that they were of dubious CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 40

Kuhn, T., 1962, The Structure of Scientific Polanyi, K., 2001, The Great Transformation, Simon, H., 1957, Models of Man, New York: Revolutions, Chicago: The University of Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Wiley and Sons. Chicago Press. Popper, K., 1963, Conjectures and Refutations, Smith, A., 1991 [1776], An Inquiry into the McBrearty, S. and Brooks, A., 2000, ‘The London: Routledge. Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Revolution that wasn’t: A New Amherst NY: Prometheus Books. Sadi, A., 1900, Tariq es-Soudan (trans. O. Interpretation of the Origin of Modern Houdas), Paris: Le Roux. Stringer, C., and McKie, R., 1997, African Human Behavior’, Journal of Human Exodus: The Origins of Modern Humanity, Evolution, 39: 453-563. Seligman, C. G., 1930, The Races of Africa, New York: Henry Holt. London: Thorton Butterworth, Ltd. Miller, D., 1997, ‘Iron Working Technology’, Tishkoff, S., 2009, ‘The Genetic Structure and in J. Vogel, ed., Encyclopedia of Precolonial Sen, A. K., 1987, Ethics and Economics, Oxford: History of Africans and African Americans’, Africa, Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press. Basil Blackwell. Science 324(5930): 1035-1044. Oliver, R. and Fage, J., eds., 1986, The Senghor, L. S., 1991, Leopold Sedar Senghor: Wolpoff, M. and Caspari, R., 1997, Race and Cambridge History of Africa (8 vols.), The Collected Poetry, Charlottesville, VA: Human Evolution, New York: Simon and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. University of Virginian Press. Schuster.

The Struggle to Convert Nationalism to Pan-Africanism: Taking Stock of 50 years of African Independence1

he post-Vasco da Gama epoch of before it is recognised as such, while the some five centuries, as Pannikar Issa Shivji old persists beyond its usefulness. Keep- calls it, is a story of the ‘West and University of Dar es Salaam ing that in mind, I would categorize the T 2 the Rest’. The West constructed its own Tanzania first four centuries (roughly from the last story and the story of the Rest. It is a quarter of the 15th century to the first story of plunder, privation, invasion and quarter of the 19th century) of the Afri- destruction; it is a story of permanent can encounter with Europe as the period wars and passing peace. It is a story of processes of economics. I am suggest- of primitive accumulation, or to use the the annihilation of pre-European civiliza- ing none of these. Yet in this complexity more recent and generic term, accumula- tions from the Incas of the Americas, so and variability, in these major shifts and tion by appropriation (it should become called after the European explorer changing continuities – all of which we clear later why this term is preferable). Amerigo Vespucci, to the Swahili civili- as scholars must study and have been Within this period, we have two sub-pe- sation of the Eastern coast of Africa. The studying – there is a pattern. There is a riods – the period of looting of treasures, title of a book describing the Spanish red thread running through it. That red sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, conquest of Mexico, the near-extermina- thread is the process of capitalist accu- under the name of trade, based on un- tion of the Tasmanian Aborigines by the mulation seen in a longue durée. While equal, rather than mutual exchange. This British, the white American disposses- we must, by all means, resist linear tra- is the period of European powers pursu- sion of the Apache, and the German sub- jectories essentializing the march of ing their singular mission of destroying jugation of the Herero and Nama of progress of the so-called Western civili- the pre-European long distance trade – Namibia sums it all: Rivers of Blood, Riv- zation, including the stagiest periodisation the trans-Sahara trade on the West Coast ers of Gold (Cocker 1999). of vulgar Marxists, we cannot surrender and the Indian Ocean trade on the East to agnosticism or eclecticism – that the Coast of Africa – in order to establish The tale of treasures at one end and trag- world is not knowable and explainable, their mercantile and maritime hegemony. edies at the other cannot be understood, however approximately. The pre-European trade systems, both I suggest, without locating it in the tra- on the West and the East Coasts, were jectory of worldwide capitalist accumu- It is in the context of the trajectory of governed by Islamic precepts. The gold lation. No doubt it is a complex story of capitalist accumulation that I want to lo- trade passed through Timbuktu on the construction and destruction of cultures cate the genesis of the grand narrative of West and through Kilwa on the East, both and customs; a story of the exercise of nationalism and Pan-Africanism. To fa- of which became centers of great Islamic brutal power and subtle politics; a story cilitate my presentation, I would resort civilization and learning. Timbuktu and of spinning of epic mythologies and to some periodisation of the process of Kilwa were brutally destroyed by Portu- grand ideologies. No doubt it cannot be accumulation. As we all know, all guese privateers. The expeditions had reduced mechanically to the capitalist periodisation has its hazards – processes specific instructions to Christianize the mode of production nor be explained in a overlap and intermingle; the new is born “natives” and eliminate Muslim traders. vulgar way by theories of conspiracy or in the garbs of the old and takes time CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 41

As the Portuguese privateers were dev- ised nation states. Whatever the merit to work in factories. Marx called it the astating the African coast in the last quar- of this thesis, for our purposes two ‘pre-historic stage of capital’ (1887:668). ter of the 15th century, so Spanish points can be made – one, that the capi- He theorized the capitalist system as if it conquerors were discovering the “New talist container was never self-contained. was self-contained. ‘Accumulate, accu- World”. Vasco da Gama laid the founda- Arteries penetrating deep into the wealth mulate! That is the Moses and the proph- tion of the European invasion of Africa. and treasures of other continents fed the ets!’ (ibid. 558), he argued, was the driving Christopher Columbus inaugurated the process of capital accumulation in the force of capitalism. By dissecting the extermination of the indigenous heart of Europe. Africa was the theatre appearances of the commodity society, populations of the Americas and the Car- of the most devastating kinds of appro- Marx showed how surplus is appropri- ibbean – the first genocide and holocaust priation. ated from the working class and accumu- in the history of humankind. One led to lated to make more surplus even when Second, the ideologies, religions, cul- the white hegemony, the other to white on the face of it, the exchange appears to tures and customs constructed to ration- settlement. From then on, the fate of the be mutual and equivalent in which no one alize, legitimize and explain the processes three continents was inextricably linked is cheated or short changed. (And if of accumulation were centrally premised and found its immediate expression in the cheating does happen in practice it is on the construction of race, in which ‘the triangular slave trade. only a deviation from the norm.) Accu- Self’ was White and ‘the Other’ Black, mulation based on equal exchange is The second sub-period of some three cen- the two also being the referents for the what we call accumulation by capitali- turies (from 16th to 19th centuries) wit- in-betweens. Geography itself was con- zation. The notion of equivalent ex- nesses the gruesome Atlantic slave trade, structed as such – Europe being the land change forms the bedrock of bourgeois the so-called triangular trade. Half of the of the White and Africa being the land legal ideology and philosophical outlook. slaves were transported to the “new of the Black. The racist construct found The edifice of the Western legal system world” in the 18th century. Millions – 50 its typical expression in the Other, Slave is constructed on atomized individuals million one estimate says (Zinn 2001:29) – a soulless, depersonalized and dehu- bearing equal rights (Pashukanis 1924, – of men, women and children torn from manized object. For planters and slav- 1978). Atomist individuals of bourgeois their continent worked the sugar planta- ers, ‘The Negroes are unjust, cruel society as carriers of commodity relations tions of the Caribbean and cotton planta- barbarous, half-human, treacherous, de- are all equal. This is also the basis of citi- tions of the southern states of America to ceitful, thieves, drunkards, proud, lazy, zenship where to be a citizen means to provide the raw material for Lancashire unclean, shameless, jealous to fury, and have equal claims and entitlements, as mills, the pioneer of the industrial revolu- cowards.’ (James 1938, 1989:) The Su- against each other and in relation to the tion. The African continent was looted of preme Court of the civilised United state. its treasures in the first sub-period, which States decided in 1857 that ‘Dred Scott also ruined its established mercantile could not sue for his freedom because Later day Marxists, beginning with Rosa routes; in the second sub-period the con- he was not a person, but property’ (Zinn Luxembourg, questioned the theorization tinent was looted of its people, devastat- op.cit. 187). Fathers, bishops, learned of capitalist accumulation based on the ing its social fabric and robbing it of its priests and men of conscience found no assumption of a self-contained system. most important resource. This was accu- fault in trading in and owning of slaves. They argued that the so-called primitive mulation by appropriation par excellence ‘ ... we ... buy these slaves for our serv- accumulation was not simply the pre-his- – accumulating by appropriating wealth ice without a scruple ...’ , declared men tory of capital, but an inherent part of its in the first instance and accumulating by of religion with conscience (ibid. 29-30). history. The capitalist centre always re- appropriating people in the second. The bottom line was the enormous prof- quires a non-capitalist periphery to ap- its made from the slave trade and colos- propriate from, which translates into Meanwhile, on the European stage, capi- sal surplus extracted from slave labour. invasions of non-capitalist spaces. Capi- talism is bursting its containers (to use James Madison, one of the ‘fathers’ of tal not only comes into the world ‘drip- Prem Shaker Jha’s term, Jha 2006:17) and the American constitution, could boast ping from head to foot, from every pore, re-constructing them. Jha argues that in to a British visitor that he could make with blood and dirt’ (Marx op.cit. 712), its 700 years of development, capitalism 2000 per cent profit from a single slave but also throughout its life continues to has gone through three cycles of accu- in a year (ibid. 33). Thus were con- drain the blood of the ‘Other’ interspersed mulation. At the beginning of each cycle structed the universal ideologies, the by auguries of bloodshed called wars. it has expanded the size of its container – grand narratives and the totalizing out- Capitalism by nature is predatory and mili- from the maritime city-states of Venice, looks of the Western civilisation, which tarist. Lenin from a different point of de- Genoa, Florence, Milan, and Amsterdam, we are living to this day. parture argued that in the last quarter of to nation states of England, Holland, and the 19th century, capitalism had become France. The quintessential of the second Towards the end of the 18th and the first imperialist as monopoly finance capital cycle was from the nation state to the half of the 19th centuries, capitalism en- sought new spaces of profitable invest- colonising state3 as European powers tered the throes of the industrial revolu- ment (Lenin 1917). With the Berlin con- colonized much of the rest of the world. tion (1780-1840 by Hobsbawm’s ference of 1885, rapacious capitalist The third was from the Island territory of reckoning, Hobsbawm 1968). It was also powers carved up the African continent the small nation state, Britain, to the con- the period of primitive accumulation and appropriated them as their exclusive tinental nation state of North America. within the container. Indeed, the origi- possessions, hence heralding another 75 Now, in the era of globalization, on the nal meaning of primitive accumulation or so years of colonialism. The racist ide- eve of the fourth cycle, it is poised to burst was confined to the process of appro- ology of the White Self (master) and the the very system of hierarchically organ- priation of serfs and peasants from land CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 42

Black Other (slave) came in handy in the cumulation. New forms of primitive ac- socialism. His twentieth century follow- creation of colonies. It was reinforced in cumulation were devised. Minerals were ers even postulated imperialism as the religion and anthropology and literature mined with migrant labour; plantations pioneer of capitalism and, therefore, as droves of missionaries preceded and cultivated by bachelor labour. Women progress (Warren 1980). anthropologists followed armed soldiers, were turned into peasant cultivators. To be sure, colonial capital by the very to pacify the soulless, indolent ‘native’. Children’s hands were deployed to weed nature of capital did introduce commod- The Self was now the White colonist and and harvest. None was paid the equiva- ity relations, thus planting the seeds of the Other was the ‘native’. The ‘colour lent of his or her subsistence as the laws accumulation by capitalization. The post- line’ thus constructed had its own inter- of commodity exchange prescribe. Bach- independence development theorists, nal logic and drive – it determined the elor wages were paid in cash and kind. again of course of the West, considered very life-conditions of the colonist/set- The cash was just enough to pay the poll these pockets of capitalist relations the tler and the ‘native’. The settler’s town, tax, buy cigarettes and the local brew. The driver of modernization. It required a few as Fanon said, is a ‘strongly-built’, other component was food ration. The and minority scholars of the Rest to theo- ‘brightly-lit’ ‘well-fed’ town. It is a town colonial capitalist rationed every ounce rize on the development of underdevel- of ‘White people, the foreigners’. The of mealy meal and every grain of bean opment, the relationship between two native town is ‘a place of ill fame, peo- just to keep the body of the migrant la- tendencies of capitalist accumulation and pled by men of evil repute.’ bourer alive, but not his family. (that was its contradictions. The modern was nei- the woman’s responsibility.) Rations They are born there, it matters little where ther modern, they said, nor the traditional were meticulously calculated on the ba- or how; they die there, it matters not backward; rather both were part of the sis of expert opinion on the needs of the where, nor how. It is a world without spa- capitalist whole in a symbiotic relation native’s morphology. Prison and forced ciousness; men live there on top of each which ensured the drainage of wealth and labour, with no wages, constructed the other, and their huts are built one on top surplus from the continent to be capital- arteries of colonial infrastructure to trans- of the other. The native town is a hungry ized in the West. In short then, accumu- port raw materials and food – cotton, town, starved of bread, of meat, of shoes, lation by appropriation dominated coffee, rubber, tea – to the coast and of coal, of light. ... It is a town of niggers, colonial capitalism under the hegemony thence to the metropole to satisfy the and dirty arabs.’ (Fanon 1963, 1967: 30) of imperialism. If it produced indigenous voracious appetite of the master’s indus- capitalists, they were compradorial or The racist construct of the slave period, tries and the luxurious tastes of its aris- semi-feudal in alliance with, and under assisted by colonial intellectuals, was tocracy and the middle classes. More the shadow of imperial bourgeoisies. extended and reconstructed. Differences often than not, prisoners were those who of custom and cultures among the ‘na- had failed to pay poll tax or wife tax. Flat We don’t have to be told that wherever tives’ became immutable divisions called rate tax was levied on every adult native there is oppression, there is bound to be ‘tribes’ (Magubane). Tribes were conven- above the apparent age of 18. He had to resistance (Mao). As CLR James says, iently divided and separated in their ghet- pay tax on each of his “apparent” wives.4 ‘one does not need education or encour- toes, lest, as the colonial paternalism In addition to flushing out the self-suffi- agement to cherish a dream of freedom.’ averred, they kill each other given their cient producer from land to work on plan- (James op. cit. 18). As happens so often violent propensity. The separation was tations and mines to get cash for tax, in history, ideologies of resistance are thus in the interest of the natives to main- taxation raised the revenue to run the constructed from the elements borrowed tain law and order, meaning to rule. (‘Di- colonial machinery of administration and from the ideologies of domination. vide et impera’ – divide and rule.) repression. Pan-Africanism was such an ideology of Institutions of indirect political rule and Political economists of the West, who are resistance born in the throes of imperial- colonially constructed regimes of custom- wont to theorize for the Rest, argued in- ism. Just as the dominant racist construct ary law were created. Colonial identities terminably on theories of unequal ex- went back centuries to the slave trade, of race and tribe were formed, and to the change and uncaptured peasantry to so did the resistance. For two hundred extent that they were internalised, self- explain colonially created poverty and years the slaves in Haiti, originally named identification and perception followed suit. underdevelopment. Few would see that Hispaniola by Columbus, sang their free- The dual tendency of accumulation con- cutting into the necessary consumption dom song (James op. cit. 18): tinued to operate – accumulation by of the ‘native’ crippled the conditions of Eh! Eh! Heu! Heu! capitalization being dominant in the human existence and its reproduction, Canga, bafio té! metropole and accumulation by appro- resulting in chronic undernourishment, Canga, mouné de lé! priation being dominant and pervasive high infant mortality, deprivation and dis- Canga, do ki la! in the colony. To be sure, it manifested in ease. It was nothing short of primitive Canga, li! new forms, through new political, eco- accumulation of the most primitive kind, nomic, cultural and social institutions. which even Marx did not foresee. Instead, We swear to destroy the whites, Politics and cultures were reconstructed, he thought that the march of capitalism And all that they possess; so were customs and ideologies. A lot would bring the backward and tradition Let us die changed. Capitalism of 1942 was not the bound natives into the fold of civilisa- Rather than fail to keep our vow”. same as the capitalism of 1492 nor is that tion by integrating them into capitalism. This was the pre-history of one strand of of 2000s the same as that of 1900s. Yet in Thence, they would benefit from the pro- pan-Africanism, racial nationalism. The these sea changes the heart of the sys- letarian revolution, which would usher pre-history of the other strand, territorial tem lay where it had always lain – in ac- humanity to the next stage of civilisation, nationalism, found expression in the Hai- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 43 tian revolution of 1791. None of it at the colonialism and imperialist oppression Independence of Ghana in 1957 was an time, of course, was called by that name. itself was ideologised in terms of White earthshaking event. CLR James de- If I may jump the gun, the Haitian revolu- supremacy, the anti-racist, racial con- scribed Ghana’s independence as a revo- tion was in advance of its times. It was structs and demands of pan-Africanists lution. For a people who had been the forerunner of both the logical con- were anti-imperialist. It is important to humiliated for five centuries, independ- clusion of territorial nationalism and citi- keep this dimension of Pan-Africanism ence was indeed a revolution. For zenship, and their crisis under in mind – that in its genesis and evolu- Nkrumah, though, independence of imperialism, all of which we see in post- tion the ideology and movement was pri- Ghana was incomplete without the lib- independence African states. marily political and essentially eration of the whole continent and the anti-imperialist. No doubt, it drew upon liberation was incomplete without the The racial construct in the Haitian free- the victim’s cultural resources as the unity of the continent. These two became dom song is palpable. It could not be oth- Negritude construct originally developed his passion. With the advice and help of erwise. On the launching of his 1903 book by the West Indian Aimé Césaire clearly George Padmore, Nkrumah set in motion The Souls of the Black Folk Du Bois said demonstrates. two sets of conferences – the conference that the ‘problem of the Twentieth Cen- of African independent states – eight in tury is the problem of the color line’. Pan- The turning point was the 1945 Fifth Con- all at the time, and All Africa People’s Africanism was born at the turn of the gress at Manchester. The moving spirits Conferences, a meeting of national lib- century as a racial, anti-racist ideology. behind that Congress were George eration movements, trade unions and Its founders came from the West Indies, Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah. The de- other leaders. The resolutions of these the confluence of the slave trade, from mand was unambiguous – Africa for Af- two conferences are a forerunner of the where slaves were transported to the ricans, liberation from colonialism. It “new” bifurcation of the Pan-Africanist Americas. It is in the so-called ‘New ushered in the national liberation move- ideology – the statist Pan-Africanism and World’ of North America that the White ment. Pan-Africanism thus gave birth to its concomitant state-based nationalism supremacist ideology found expression nationalism. The main question was: and people’s pan-Africanism based on in its most brutal and dehumanizing would this be territorial nationalism prem- solidarity and African identity. Statist forms. It is also here that the roots of ised on separate colonially created bor- pan-Africanism culminated in the forma- Pan-Africanism are to be traced. Two ders or Pan-Africanist nationalism; which tion of the Organisation of African Unity names stand out, Du Bois and Marcus in turn gave rise to two sets of sub-ques- (O.A.U.) underpinned by the discourse Garvey. Du Bois’ father and grandfather tions. If territorial, what would be the on the unity of African States while ‘All- came from the West Indies. Garvey came boundaries of inclusion/exclusion, race Africa-People’s’ pan-Africanism was in- from Jamaica. The two men stood in con- or citizenship? And if Pan-Africanist: creasingly eclipsed by territorial trast, in their conception and methods. would it be global including the African nationalism. Each one of these, in its own They represented – between them and Diaspora or continental excluding the way, reproduced the triangular tension within them – the two poles of national- Diaspora? Even if continental, would it between racialism, nationalism and citi- ism within Pan-Africanism; one defined be racial/cultural including only Black zenship. The tension between the two by race and culture, the other by geogra- Africans while excluding Arabs? These was well described by a leading pan- phy. Garvey opposed accommodation became hot issues of debates and con- Africanist, Julius Nyerere, as the dilemma within the White structures and spear- tentions a few years before and a few years of the pan-Africanist (Nyerere 1966, headed ‘back-to-Africa movement’. He after the independence of African coun- 1968). When Nyerere was writing in 1966, thus stood for a territorial home. Du Bois tries. In one sense, the bifurcation be- there were 36 independent African states. demanded equal racial treatment within tween racial and territorial nationalism Each of these was involved in the con- the US. He thus stood for equal treat- symbolized by Du Bois and Marcus Garvey solidation and development of its nation ment or citizenship. Needless to say, both between the wars seemed to re-appear. state. ‘Can the vision of Pan-Africanism positions were a political construct, even But the context had changed. There were survive these realities? Can African unity if they did not present themselves as two new factors, independence on the be built on this foundation of existing and such. Paradoxically, but understandably, African continent and the Caribbean, and growing nationalism?’ Nyerere agonized. the boundaries of both were set by the the civil rights movement in the US. One His answer was unambiguous. dominant political and social constructs introduced state sovereignty in the terri- – White supremacy in one case, coloni- torial equation, the other citizenship in I do not believe the answer is easy. In- ally carved borders in the other. the global equation, both setting appar- deed, I believe that a real dilemma faces ently “new” boundaries of exclusion/in- the Pan-Africanist. On the one hand is In his 93 years, Du Bois lived through clusion, identity and belonging. In a the fact that Pan-Africanism demands an and embodied the 60 odd years of the nutshell, the triangular contestation be- African consciousness and an African evolution of Pan-Africanist ideology and tween citizenship, racialism and territo- loyalty; on the other hand is the fact that movement. Between the wars, Du Bois’ rial nationalism defined the parameters of each Pan-Africanist must also concern Pan-Africanist congresses were essen- the pan-Africanist discourse. But at this himself with the freedom and develop- tially small gatherings of African-Ameri- stage we must return to the trajectory of ment of one of the nations of Africa. cans and African-Caribbean with a capitalist accumulation and explore it in These things can conflict. Let us be hon- sprinkling of Africans from French colo- the post-independence period in Africa, est and admit that they have already con- nies. Demands centered on racial equal- for that matter even globally. flicted. (ibid. 208) ity, equal treatment and accommodation in existing structures. To the extent that *** They have more than conflicted. The vi- sion of Pan-Africanism was buried in the CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 44 statist discourse of African unity and re- cally on the defensive. Educated in the on the eve of the transfer of power. Steve gional integration/disintegration. More theories of the master and borrowing Biko who redefined Black as a positive astute nationalists like Nyerere defined from the cultures and history of the identity of the oppressed beyond the the two-fold task of the independent gov- colonizer, African nationalists attempted colour line, was tortured to death by the ernment as nation-building and develop- to reconstruct their identities and poli- henchmen of apartheid. John Garang who ment. In absence of a local bourgeois ties in the idiom of nationalism, sover- postulated a united New Sudan beyond class worth the name, the agency to build eignty, self-determination and citizenship, colour, cultural and linguistic lines infuri- the nation and bring about development the philosophical underpinning of which, ated racial and secessionist elements both would be the state. Meanwhile, imperial- as we have seen, is the notion of the in the North and the South and their im- ism continued to cast its long shadow atomist individual with equal rights. It perialist backers. We are told he was killed and at times more than a shadow. Assas- was a valiant struggle, but it was ulti- in a helicopter crash. The truth lies bur- sinations and coups engineered by one mately defeated, as the onslaught of neo- ied somewhere in the debris. or other imperialist power became the liberalism amply proved. The nationalist, The nationalist project was thus defeated order of the day. Patrice Lumumba was labelled ‘ethnic’ by the West, either failed and its building blocks shattered. The brutally murdered and Kwame Nkrumah or lacked the means and the historical neo-liberal attack was foremost an ideo- was overthrown by the machinations of time and opportunity to master the driv- logical attack on radical nationalism. Im- the CIA. Survival became Nyerere’s pre- ing force of the construction of the ‘Self’ perialism went on the offensive – occupation. of the West – accumulation. Accumula- economically, culturally, politically and tion by capitalization required a relatively *** intellectually. Within a period of two dec- autonomous economic space to operate ades, Africa has undergone three genera- Half a century of independent Africa and political self-determination to mas- tions of structural adjustment programmes neatly divides into two halves, the first ter. In other words, paraphrasing Cabral, in an orgy of liberalization, marketisation, twenty-five years of nationalism and the national liberation meant people reclaim- privatisation, commodification and second of neo-liberalism. Underlying the ing their right to make their own history financialisation. Pockets of capitalist de- ideologies of development and nation whose objective was ‘to reclaim the right, velopment based on accumulation by building, of identities and politics, from usurped by imperialist domination’ of lib- capitalization have been destroyed as Nyerere’s Socialism and Self-reliance to erating ‘the process of development of country after country in Africa has been Senghor’s Negritude, lay the contention national productive forces’. This called deindustrialized. The few achievements between accumulation by capitalization for nothing less than a structural recon- of social services in education, health, and accumulation by appropriation. Pro- struction of the economy and reorgani- water, old age pensions and other public grams and policies undertaken in the na- sation of the state. None could be services are commodified under such tionalist period, whether under the successfully done under the Western policies as cost sharing and outsourcing. ideology of modernization or socialism capitalist domination of the economy and Fiscal instruments and institutions of (essentially a variant of state capitalism), the political hegemony of imperialist ide- policy making, like central banks, have were meant to bolster the tendency for ologies and policies transmitted by local been made autonomous and commercial accumulation by capitalization. But un- proto-bourgeoisies, so well caricatured banks privatised away from the public der the hegemony of imperialism, accu- by Fanon. The few who attempted were scrutiny of elected bodies. They make mulation by appropriation continued to assassinated, overthrown or forcibly re- policies on the basis of prescriptions assert and reassert itself. Using local state moved. The rest had to accommodate and handed down by International Financial or private merchant capital as the inter- compromise to survive. The problem was Institutions and donors. Policies are mediary, and trade, aid and debt as the that the ideology of resistance and anti- thrust down the throats of politicians and means, natural resources were rapa- hegemony – and their institutions of parliamentarians using the carrot of ciously exploited and working people operationalisation – was constructed loans, aid and budget support whose cajoled or coerced into yielding surpluses drawing on the intellectual and cultural withdrawal acts as the veritable stick. that inevitably found their way into the resources of the dominant and dominat- Meanwhile, voracious imperialist capitals capital circuits of imperialist centers. Just ing West. African nationalists failed to backed by their states and the so-called as looting, plundering, and the triangu- construct alternative ideologies and in- “donor-community” is grabbing land, lar slave trade of the previous centuries, stitutions. In the course of the struggle, minerals, water, flora and fauna. I need called primitive accumulation, had primed again, a few tried, but they were nipped not go into details because a few African the wheels of the industrial revolution, in the bud in the nick of time. Amilcar scholars have amply documented these so the appropriation of resources and Cabral postulated that ‘there are only two facts – I say few, because many have surpluses of the working people of Af- possible paths for an independent nation: succumbed to consultancies in the serv- rica fuelled the Golden Age of Capitalism to return to imperialist domination (neo- ice of “development partners”. (1945-1971). Nationalist attempts to con- colonialism, capitalism, state capitalism), struct a self-reliant economy and inau- or to take the way of socialism’ (Cabral Let me sum up by saying that the ten- gurate what Samir Amin calls autocentric 1966, 1969: 87). He did not live to see ei- sion of the nationalist period between ac- development were sternly opposed or ther the independence of his country or cumulation by capitalization and accommodated and absorbed in the im- practice his position. Agents of Portu- accumulation by appropriation has been perialist system. guese colonialism assassinated him as his resolved in favour of the neo-liberal primi- tive accumulation. To be sure, there are Nonetheless, imperialism during the na- country was approaching independence. new forms in which the process of expro- tionalist period was morally and ideologi- Chris Hani who envisaged a new demo- cratic and socialist South Africa was killed priation is constituted and manifested, CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 45 but the essence remains. The projected therefore, who constitutes the nation for revolutionary. Humanity stands at a identity of the ‘Self’ in the West is that of purposes of national liberation? For cross-roads. It is crying out for funda- a benefactor, humanitarian, investor, ad- Kwesi Prah, Bankie Bankie, Chiweizu and mental change. We need an alternative visor, entrepreneur and donor while the others, ‘African’ is defined by colour, utopia to live by and fight for if we are ‘Other’ is the poor and helpless victim of culture and custom. For Archie Mafeje, not to be consumed by the death and the corrupt, unaccountable ethnic ruler. Steve Biko, Walter Rodney, Tajudeen destruction wrought by the barbaric sys- No doubt, capitalism at the centre is not Abdel Rahman and others, African or tem of the last five centuries. The worst the same either. Prem Shankar Jha argues Black is not a function of colour, race, of that barbarism has been felt and con- that capitalism is on the verge of burst- biology or morphology but a social and tinues to be endured in Africa. In a re- ing its nation-state container and is go- political construct, which ought to be constructed Pan-Africanism, Africa is ing global in the process wreaking havoc historicized. Mafeje affirms, ‘...Africanity calling all ‘at the rendez vous of victory and destruction on a global scale. One could not possibly mean the same thing ...’ . With Aimé Césaire, we can all sing: does not have to accept Jha’s thesis to to succeeding generations of African in- (and) no race possesses the monopoly agree with him that the destruction is real tellectuals’. And the fact that the first and of beauty, of intelligence, of force, and and palpable, whose implications are felt second generation of Pan-Africanists there is a place for all at the rendez vous not only in Africa, but also in the West. may have borrowed from racial and cul- of victory .... Yet Africa suffers the most. There have tural categories to deal with the been more wars after the end of the so- problematique of white racism in a colo- called Cold War than during its existence. nial setting ‘does not commit later gen- Most of these have been fought on the erations of Pan-Africanists to the same Notes African continent. Within a period of two conflation between race/colour and cul- 1. This article was first presented as key- decades, four countries have been de- ture.’ In the view of many African schol- note address to the 4th European con- stroyed and the fifth about to be devas- ars, intellectuals and activists, we need ference on African Studies, Uppsala, tated. Two of these are on the African to revisit and re-construct the Pan-Afri- Sweden, 15 June 2011. continent. The continent is being milita- can project to address the unfinished task 2. The sub-title of Niall Ferguson’s rized as American imperialism spreads its of national liberation from imperialism and book, Civilization (2011). The book tentacles through the AFRICOM and take us beyond to the emancipation of itself is an excellent example of how a seeks more and more naval bases on the the working people of Africa from the right-wing Western historian tells the Indian Ocean rim. hegemony of capitalism. In doing so, we story of the “west and the rest’. would of course borrow from the intel- *** lectual and cultural resources of human- 3. Here, I am slightly modifying Jha’s thesis. The continent is in crisis as is the capi- kind as well as the experiences of the 4. “Apparent” because in different cir- talist-imperialist system constructed by struggles of the people of the continent. cumstances (for example, when apply- the West over the last five centuries. In constructing a “new pan-Africanism” ing the rule that a spouse is not a Some have argued that the fall of Lehman which would go beyond colour and na- compellable witness against a fellow Brothers and the financial crisis follow- tional lines, we need fundamental para- spouse) “native” wives wedded un- ing it, marks the beginning of the end of digmatic shifts. The African intellectual der “native” law were not recognised capitalism as we know it. Others are tak- community is deeply involved in these by colonial courts as wives while for ing the position that the centre of gravity debates and I need not go into details. the purposes of tax any one who ap- and hegemony is shifting from the West Suffice it to say that the insurrection of peared to be a ‘wife’ was so recognised. to the East; that capitalism is poised to pan-Africanist ideas has begun, hesitat- reconstitute itself in new centers. The de- ingly, but definitely. bate rages on. Most, at least most Afri- Selected references Conclusion can scholars, agree that the national Amin, Samir, 1990, Maldevelopment: Anatomy project in Africa has failed and national I have given the story of pan-Africanism of a Global Failure, London: Zed. liberation has been aborted. Some locate as a grand narrative of nationalism and Badat, Saleem, 2009, Black Man: You are on the failure of the national project in the national liberation. I have shown its in- your own, Braamfontein: Steve Biko crisis of citizenship; others in the failure ternal contradictions and movements. I Foundation. to liberate the continent from the clutches have tried to locate my narrative in the of imperialism. In my view, the two are trajectory of capitalist accumulation and Bankie, B. F. & K. Mchombu, eds., 2008, Pan- connected. Underlying the crisis of citi- imperialist domination, without, hope- Africanism African Nationalism: zenship is the failure to master the proc- fully, making it mechanist and deductive. Strengthening the Unity of Africa and its ess of accumulation by capitalization, And I have called for a reconstruction of Diaspora, Trenton, New Jersey: The Red which in turn is due to imperialist domi- a new pan-Africanist grand narrative to sea Press. nation in alliance with local comprador face the unfinished tasks of national lib- Bernal, Martin, 1987, Black Athena: The classes. Whatever the case, African eration and move forward to the tasks of Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, scholars, intellectuals and activists have social emancipation. Throughout the his- London: Free Association Books. been compelled to re-visit the Pan- tory of humankind, masses have been Cabral, Amilcar, 1966, 1969, ‘The Weapon of Africanist project. Some of the old de- moved by the grand narrative of liberty, Theory’, in Cabral, Revolution in Guinea: bates on racial and territorial nationalisms freedom, justice and emancipation to An African People’s Struggle, London: Stage are re-appearing. Who is an African for bring about change – sometimes revolu- I, pp. 73-90. the purposes of Pan-Africanism? And, tionary changes, at other times not so CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 46

Cocker, Mark, 1999, Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Lewis, David Levering, 2000, W. E. B. Du Bois: Nyerere, J. K., 1966, 1968, ‘The Dilemma of Gold: Europe’s Conflict with Tribal Peoples, The Fight for Equality and the American the Pan-Africanist’, in J. K. Nyerere, London: Pimlico. Century, 1919-1963, New York: Henry Freedom and Socialism, Oxford: Oxford Holt. University Press, pp. 207-217. Davidson, Basil, 1961, The Black Mother: The Years of the African Slave Trade, little Brown. Mabior, John Garang, 2008, ‘Pan-Africanism Pashukanis, E., 1924, 1978, Law & Marxism: A and African Nationalism: Putting the General Theory, London: Ink Links. Fanon, Frantz, 1967, The Wretched of the Earth, African Nation in Context – The Case of London: Penguin. Said, Edward, 1994, Culture and Imperialism, the Sudan’, in Bankie & Mchmbu, op.cit, Vintage. Geiss, Immanuel, 1974, The Pan-African pp. 211-221. Movement, London: Methuen. Sheriff, Abdul, 2010, Dhow Cultures of the Mafeje, Archie, 2000, ‘Africanity: A Combative Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, Grimshaw, Anna, ed., 1992, The C. L. R. James Ontology’, in CODESRIA Bulletin, Number Commerce and Islam, London: C. Hurst. Reader, Oxford: Blackwell. 1, 2000, pp.66-71. Shivji, I. G., 1986, Law, State and the Working Harvey, David, 2003, The New Imperialism, Mafeje, Archie, 2001, ‘Africanity: A Commentary Class in Tanzania, London: Heinemann & Oxford: Oxford University Press. by way of Conclusion’, CODESRIA Bulletin, James Curry, Dar es Salaam: Tanzania No. 3 & 4, 2001, pp.14-16. Harvey, David, 2005, A Brief History of Neo- Publishing House. liberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mamdani, Mahmood, 1996, Citizen and Subject: Shivji, I. G., 2009, Where is Uhuru? Reflections Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Hobsbawm, E. J., 1969, Industry and Empire, on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa, Colonialism, Princeton: Princeton London: Pelican. Nairobi & Oxford: fahamu books. University Press. Hyden, Goran, 1980, Beyond Ujamaa in Shivji, I. G., 20009, Accumulation in an African Mandel, Ernest, 1962, 1968, Marxist Economic Tanzania: Underdevelopment and The Periphery: A Theoretical Framework, Dar Theory, London: The Merlin Press. Uncaptured Peasantry, University of es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota. California Press. Marx, K., 1887, Capital, Vol. I, Moscow: Toussaint, Eric, 1999, Your Money or Your Life: Progress Publishers. James, C. L. R., 191963, 1989, The Black The tyranny of global finance, London & Dar Jacobins: Toussaint L’Overture and the San Mkandawire, Thandika & Charles C. Soludo, Our es Salaam: Pluto Press & Mkuki na Nyota. Domingo Revolution, London: Vintage Books. Continent, Our Future: African Perspectives Warren, Bill, 1980, Imperialism: Pioneer of on Structural Adjustment, Dakar: Jha, Prem Shankar, 2006, The Twilight of the Capitalism, London: Verso Books. Nation State: Globalisation, Chaos and War, CODESRIA. Williams, Eric, 1944, Capitalism and Slavery, New Delhi: Vistar Publications. Moore, Jason W., 2011, ‘Transcending the Richmond, Virginia: University of North metabolic rift: a theory of crises in the Patnaik, Utsa & Sam Moyo, 2011, The Agrarian Carolina Press. Question in the Neo-liberal Era: Peasantry capitalist world-ecology’, The Journal of Zinn, Howard, 1999, A People’s History of the and Primitive Accumulation, Oxford & Peasant Studies, Vol.38:1, pp. 1-46. United States: 1492 - Present, Harper Nairobi: fahamu. Nkrumah, Kwame, 1963, 1998, Africa Must Perennial. Unite, London: PANAF.

Mémoires d’un étudiant africain – Volume II De l’Université de Paris à mon retour au Sénégal (1960-1967) Amady Aly Dieng

Dakar, CODESRIA, pages 208 price/prix: Africa 5000 frs CFA / Afrique non CFA 12 USD

Avec les indépendances formelles des anciennes colonies françaises d’Afrique noire, s’ouvre l’ère de la lutte contre le néocolonialisme. Les étudiants africains, mobilisés autour de cette lutte, étaient désormais devenus des étrangers qu’on pouvait facilement expulser de la France. Le gouvernement français d’alors n’hésitait pas à procéder à des expulsions massives pour réprimer leurs organisations syndicales ou politiques. La liquidation des deux grandes fédérations d’AOF et d’AEF et la suppression des commissions fédérales des bourses – consécutives à la mise en application de la Loi-cadre Gaston Defferre de 1956 destinée à balkaniser l’Afrique noire sous domination française – vont considérablement affaiblir la Fédération des étudiants d’Afrique noire en France (FEANF) au profit de ses sections territoriales. Les gouvernements africains, par le biais de leurs ambassades et de leurs commissions territoriales de bourses, vont eux-mêmes prendre en charge leurs étudiants et se donner à leur tour les moyens de réprimer les organisations d’étudiants hostiles à leur politique de collaboration avec les autorités françaises. Parmi les divers procédés utilisés, il y avait la suppression des bourses et des subventions aux hôtels et résidences habités par les ressortissants de leurs territoires (La Maison de la Côte d’Ivoire, du Gabon, de la Haute Volta, du Congo, d’AOF), la création d’associations progouvernementales telles que celle des étudiants de ISBN: 978-86978-494-9 l’Union progressiste sénégalaise (UPS), le Mouvement des étudiants de l’organisation commune africaine et malgache (MEOCAM), l’Union nationale des étudiants de la Côte d’Ivoire (UNECI). La Fédération des étudiants d’Afrique noire en France entre alors dans une phase de déclin, le ver est dans le fruit de l’Unité avec l’application de la Loi-Cadre. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 47

Speaking Truth to Power Academic Freedom in Uganda

Uganda - What Needs Undoing: No Democracy Relies so Much on the Military1

oday my first message to you is: Pray Gaddafi. You will recall that on one of Tfor Uganda! Joe Oloka-Onyango2 many trips to Kampala, the eccentric But as you pray, I urge you not only to Makerere University leader of the Great Socialist People’s think of matters spiritual. Rather, I ask Uganda Libyan Arab Jamahiriya urged Museveni you to think of religion today as a means to stay in office for life, arguing that revo- through which we can correct the many lutionaries are not like company Manag- ailments that afflict us, and for you to go ing Directors. It is not for me to sing the praises of the back to the manner in which the founders government, but even the most ardent The former do not retire from office! It is of the world’s great religions used their critic must admit that Uganda is no longer a lesson Museveni took to heart, remov- power: not as a means to guarantee that “the Sick Man of Africa” that it used to ing presidential term limits from the con- their flock grow in number, but as a mecha- be in the 1980s. Twenty five years later, stitution in 2005, and setting himself well nism for enlightenment and caution. Museveni remains at the helm of Ugan- on the way to a de facto life presidency. Today, I want to urge you to face the main dan politics, and on February 18, 2011, But before we look to the future, we need challenges of governance confronting he received yet another endorsement in to return to the past, especially to under- the country and to step out from your an election that extends his term in power stand the recent election. What explains mosques, churches and temples and con- until 2016. Museveni’s February victory, especially front the evils we are facing head on. In He has already entered the record books given that while largely predicted, the other words, as you pray, please keep one as East Africa’s longest-serving leader, margin by which he won (68% of the eye open! outstripping both the late Julius Kambarage presidential vote and 75% for his National I have been asked to examine the key Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenyan ex-Presi- Resistance Movement in the parliamen- governance challenges we face in Uganda dent Daniel arap Moi. By the end of this tary poll) stunned many! today. I want to focus on what needs to 6th term, Museveni will be 72 years old, We need to compare this margin with the be undone. In other words, what things and at 30 years in power will join the ranks three previous elections in 1996 (when do we need to rid ourselves of in order to of Africa’s longest, among them, Paul he won with 75%), in 2001 (69%) and in improve the state of governance as we Biya of Cameroon, Angolan president 2006 (59%). According to the pundits who approach the swearing-in ceremony of a Eduardo dos Santos and the beleaguered filled the radio airwaves before the poll, new/old government and move into the Muammar el Gaddafi. while still popular and dominant and thus next five years of NRM rule? In order to But it will also be the time to ask whether likely to win, the downward trend would answer that question, it is necessary for Museveni’s legacy will be that of the continue. Some even predicted that there us to take a small step back in history. former Tanzanian president, who left of- would be a run-off because the 50.1% When 42-year-old guerilla leader Yoweri fice still loved and revered, or a figure of margin would not be scaled in the first Kaguta Museveni emerged from the five- tragedy and hatred like Moi? Indeed, as round. The other issue of surprise was year bush war to claim the presidency of North Africa witnesses the nine-pin like the relative calm and lack of violence that Uganda in 1986, he was proclaimed as a collapse of long-term dictatorships start- attended the election. great redeemer. Although there were many ing with Tunisia and spreading like wild- Most foreign observers, from the Euro- questions as to whether he had the cre- fire, it is necessary to inquire how it is pean Union to the US government, de- dentials to lead such a decimated and that Museveni won the February 18 elec- scribed the vote as generally peaceful, demoralized population out of the dol- tion, and what lessons this has for politi- free of bloodshed and largely a “free and drums, there can be little doubt that cal struggle and freedom in Uganda. genuine” expression of the wishes of the Uganda has done fairly well under his Drawing on Libya for comparison is par- Ugandan people. It was only the African steerage. ticularly apt since Museveni has long Union (AU) that declined outright to de- been an ally of Muammar Abu Minyar al scribe the poll as “free and fair”. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 48

The local media described it as the “most In Uganda, the fact of incumbency guar- the election at 59% was much lower than boring” poll in recent history, lacking as anteed President Museveni unfettered any of the previous three polls, where it did much of the drama, intrigue and access to state coffers, such that the figures were closer to 70%. Many people confrontation that Ugandans had become NRM reportedly spent $350 million in the simply stayed at home, partly out of apa- accustomed to. It is thus not surprising campaign. Whether or not this is true, thy, but more on account of the fact that that Museveni’s rap ditty, ’Give Me My we have not yet received a proper ac- the streets of Kampala and other parts of Stick/You Want Another Rap?’ garnered counting of how much the NRM [or in- the country were swamped with military more attention than the substantive is- deed any other party] spent and from personnel. sues at stake. where they received this money; already, Any visitor to Uganda over the election this means that we are being held hos- period would not be wrong to question Not Yet Multi-party tage to the lack of transparency and the whether the country was not a military underhand nature of politics that we To fully comprehend the outcome of dictatorship. Moreover, and unfortu- thought we had long left behind. Uganda’s recent poll, it is necessary to nately, the Uganda Peoples Defence understand a number of basic facts. The Indeed, the enduring image of the past Forces (UPDF) is more akin to the army first is that Uganda is yet to become a several months has been that of the Presi- in Libya than the one in Egypt. functioning multiparty democracy. For dent handing out brown envelopes UPDF is not well known for exercising the first nineteen years of Museveni rule, stashed with cash for various women, restraint when dealing with civilian insur- we operated under a “no-party” or “move- youth and other types of civic groupings. rection or politically-motivated opposi- ment” system of government, which was I don’t know if religious leaders were also tion. Indeed, when the red berets and the little better than a single-party state. beneficiaries of this largesse. If you were, green uniforms come out on the streets then you must acknowledge that you Under that system, government and party you know that there will be correspond- have become part of the problem. For in institutions overlapped right from the ingly higher casualties. That is why we those envelopes lies a key aspect of the lowest level (resistance or local councils) should condemn the increased problem: the phenomenon of institution- through to Parliament. Indeed, in many militarisation of the political context. respects Museveni took a leaf from alized corruption that has become the Gaddafi’s popular councils, creating hallmark of this regime. It is why we should demand that instead these LCs as supposedly representative of spending on jets, tear gas and APCs, of grassroots democracy, but essentially Militarised Context we need more [money] to be spent on a cover for single-party dominance. The other reason for Museveni’s victory roads, hospitals and our UPE schools. lies in the highly-militarised context within Today, many of the no-party structures which politics and governance in Uganda No Opposition Parties remain intact and operative. They func- is executed. We know that after five years Museveni’s performance in the north re- tion as the main conduits of political of civil war (1981 to 1986), and twenty- flects the other side to the story, and that mobilisation and for the channeling of plus years of insurgency in the north of is the fact that Museveni is only as good state resources, buttressed by a massive the country, Uganda has virtually never as the opposition he faces. The dismal local bureaucracy of government agents been free from conflict. Unsurprisingly, performance of the opposition is attrib- and spies. the idea of peace and security occupy a utable to a host of factors, not least of These include the Local Councils (espe- very significant position within the na- which is the fact that there are really no cially 1 and 2), and although they may tional psyche. opposition parties in Uganda. appear insignificant, they in fact play a For older Ugandans, there is some fear Rather, there are only opposition person- crucial role in governance in the country. of a reversion to earlier more chaotic times, alities epitomized by three-time presiden- Indeed, that system remains intact, and while for the younger generation who tial contender, Col. (rtd) Kizza Besigye of only this week we were advised by the have only experienced Museveni, the the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Electoral Commission that elections for claim that he has restored peace has a who have constructed around them- the lower levels of local government particular resonance. Ironically, both selves weak or non-existent party struc- would be postponed, yet again. groups also fear that if Museveni lost an tures that only come to life in the run up It is clear that not only is the postpone- election, he would never accept the re- to the election. ment illegal, it also reflects a reluctance sult, and instead would either return to During the election, Uganda’s opposition on the part of the ruling party to make the bush or cause such great instability seemed to lack a firm ideological posi- the final necessary transition from the that it is not worth it to even think about tion, and while the death of ideology is movement to a multi-party political sys- an alternative candidate. an ailment affecting the ruling NRM too, tem of governance. This explains what to many is the most its absence among the opposition has proven particularly harmful as there is a Power of Incumbency surprising outcome of the election: Museveni’s victory in northern Uganda lack of a central organizing message We also need to recall that in most coun- despite facing two sons-of-the-soil in ex- around which the opposition can trans- tries it is very difficult to remove incum- diplomat Olara Otunnu and the youthful late obvious disgust and support against bent governments through an electoral Norbert Mao. Museveni into electoral victory. process. In the history of African elec- toral democracy, only a handful of ruling I believe that the looming presence of the Thus, at the start of the election season, parties have lost a poll. military also explains why the turnout for the opposition wavered between a united front against Museveni or a boycott, cit- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 49 ing the bias of the Electoral Commission comparison to Gaddafi’s seven), Muhoozi We need to undo the detention-with- and the non-level playing field. Kainerugaba is clearly being groomed for out-trial of political opponents like greater things. Thus, he has taken charge Besigye and Mao and of all the other As we are all aware, neither option was of the Presidential Guard Brigade, the elite political activists who have been de- adopted, and at the end of the day all force designed to guarantee his father’s tained as a result of the W2W strikes, major opposition parties decided to field personal security, and he recently wrote and of earlier events such as the Sep- candidates in both the presidential and a book about the bush war, to burnish tember 2009 (pro-Kabaka) uprising. parliamentary elections, while decrying his credentials as an intellectual-cum- the inequality in the contest. 3. We need to undo the links between soldier able to fit into his father’s rather the state and the ruling (NRM) party, It is important and ironic to note that the large shoes. first by undertaking a full audit of opposition may have found a more united This is clearly the same path that Ben where and how the NRM raised the voice after the election. This is in the Ali, Mubarak and Gaddafi pursued, only resources to finance the last election Walk-to-Work (W2W) protests. The fact to find themselves thwarted by the move- and secondly through establishing a that the government has failed to find a ment of the people. While it may be true permanent Political Party Oversight suitable response to this opposition unity that revolutionaries don’t retire, if there Commission made up of civil society speaks volumes of the foundations on actors, academicians, peasants, reli- is no other lesson of the recent northern which the February 18 victory rest. gious leaders, and other individuals African upheavals, it is that revolution- and groups from all walks of life, with Most importantly, the W2W protests aries can be forced to resign. It is all sim- the goal of ensuring that all political demonstrate that Ugandans can be mo- ply a matter of time. parties adhere to the constitution and bilized around issues as opposed to the It is important for us to underscore a work towards the expansion of demo- mobilization of fear (“we brought you number of lessons [from North Africa] cratic space, rather than its contrac- peace”), the mobilization of money that cannot be ignored: tion. (brown envelopes), or the mobilization of elite benefits (the promise of new minis- 1. Regardless of the size of the military 4. We need to undo the legal manipula- tries and the creation of more unviable apparatus one constructs, even the tion and the misuse and abuse of law districts). most powerful of regimes can be and of the constitution in order to brought down; achieve sectarian political objectives. At the end of the day, while President In particular, we need to condemn and Museveni’s victory is not much of a sur- 2. Resistance and reaction to poor gov- combat the constant shifting of the prise, and in the short run ensures the ernance can come from anywhere, goalposts when the existing ones do continued charade of economic and po- even from those who are the weakest not suit the achievement of a particu- litical stability that has characterized the or the most marginalized; it is not nec- lar political objective. We also need last two decades, I would like to suggest essarily the elite or opposition politi- to undo the infrastructure of intoler- that it portends considerable apprehen- cal forces who lead movements for ance and exclusion that is manifest in sion for the future of the country. change, and the following laws: (a) The Institution of Cultural and Tra Museveni character 3. The terrorism of hunger is much more dangerous than the terrorism of the ditional Leaders Bill; While the President has dismissed com- so-called terrorists. (b) The NGO Act, HIV/AIDS Act, The parisons with the fallen dictators of north Equal Opportunities Commission Africa, there are indeed many parallels. Finally, given all that we have seen Act, The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, First of all, the state in Uganda has as- above, how do we go about undoing the etc. sumed what can only be described as a political damage and rebuilding Uganda’s ‘Musevenist’ character, such that an elec- democracy? 5. We need to undo the use of coercive tion such as the recent one can only be (particularly militaristic) methods to 1. We need to begin by undoing the ten- an exercise in endorsement of the incum- achieve political objectives, of which dency towards political monopoly, bent, complete with his iconized symbolic we have seen numerous examples, cul- and to tackle the desire to absolutely hat. minating with the W2W shootings last dominate the political arena to the ex- week. This is because the leadership of the state clusion of any contending force, and There is no other country in the world was afflicted with the disease I have de- particularly the burning desire to try that lays claim to being a democracy scribed as ‘stayism’ for which the anti- to eliminate all forms of opposition to which so extensively relies on the mili- dote has never been an election. the existing system of governance. In tary. We are fed up of the notoriety of Secondly, the Ugandan state has also this regard we need to undo unlimited the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), the devolved to a situation in which there is presidential terms and end the phe- Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence little to distinguish between the personal nomenon of longevity in office; (CMI) and of para-military shadow mi- and the political, and where it is increas- 2. We need to force the ruling party to litias like the Black Mamba; the PGB ingly being marked by the growth of what accept that opposition in a multiparty and the many Generals who have in- can only be described as family or per- system is a fact of life; the sooner the vaded political life. We need to remove sonal rule. NRM learns to live with it the better; the UPDF from directly involving it- it thus needs to adapt its methods of self in politics as is normally the case Thirdly, we are in very real danger of be- in a functioning multiparty system. ginning an era of dynastic politics. While response from coercion and abuse, to President Museveni has only one son (in dialogue and compromise. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 50

6. We need to undo the hypocrisy that President’s call for talks with the op- Notes claims the high moral ground when position is welcome, it cannot be a 1. This is a slightly edited version of a we are mired in CORRUPTION, a cor- discussion only between the NRM paper that Prof. Oloka Onyango pre- ruption which has become institution- and opposition parties; we also want sented at the Inter-religious Council alized and ‘normal’, and which begins to be heard and to make sure that no of Uganda (IRCU) Post-election Con- and ends in state house. deals are made behind our backs. ference’ in Kampala, 27 April 2011. 7. We need to stop ignoring the youth Hence, there is a need for a national con- 2. Makerere University law professor, and treating them like they are the vention of all civil and social groupings Joe Oloka-Onyango, made a presen- ‘leaders of tomorrow’ or else they will to decide on the future course of the tation at the Inter-Religious Council take up arms against us today. country. of Uganda (IRCU) post-election 2011 Ladies and gentlemen, we need to stop conference in Kampala on April 27, 8. We need to undo the monopoly of po- 2011. litical power that is exercised only by being complacent about our country. We political actors. All of us have to be- will wake up and find it gone! come politicians; hence while the

President Museveni, who closed the conference, was very critical of Prof Oloka’s presentation, accusing him of poisoning the minds of “our children”. Below is his reaction as captured by a Kampala newspaper, The Observer.

Angry Museveni Tells Off His Critics*

On the day Dr Kizza Besigye was arrested, The President was irked by what he de- President Museveni officiated at the clos- scribed as lies spread by some academi- Observer Media Limited ing of the two-day post-election confer- cians. Kampala, Uganda ence of the Inter-Religious Council of “I hear you had a professor here called Uganda at Hotel Africana. Oloka Onyango. This is a gentleman who The President was in a combative mood, has been feeding poison to our children telling off his critics on several issues. The President was chief guest at the clo- at the university – lies, lies, lies. He is The slightly abridged article below, sent sure of the two-day post – election 2011 teaching in a public university, paid for to us by the President’s press unit, cap- conference organised by the Inter-Reli- by the government, he is always telling tures his take on various subjects. gious Council of Uganda (IRCU) at Hotel lies. President Museveni has said the real Africana held under the theme, ‘Working Yet he calls this a dictatorship. As if he problem of Africa is lack of basic infra- together for a sustainable peace, national has never heard of dictatorships. If this structure such as electricity which is a building and national reconciliation.’ government was a dictatorship, that pro- major cure for poverty, saying no coun- The conference brought together key fessor would not be in that university, try can modernise and create jobs with- stakeholders, including senior religious not even for one day. But the lies con- out energy. and political leaders, academicians, me- tinue and we continue telling the truth,” he said. “One of the things Africans should have dia experts, heads of security agencies, done, including yourselves, is to think development partners, civil society or- about electricity. You cannot modernise ganisations and cultural leaders from unless you have electricity,” he said. around the country. * This article was first published in Observer, a Kampala newspaper, 30 April 2011. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 51

Mr President, Here is Why Brown Envelopes are Dirty*

I am reliably informed that on news broad- - whether it is to an association of boda casts aired on the night of April 28, Presi- boda riders, or to a religious leader - is J. Oloka-Onyango dent Museveni verbally assaulted the public money. Makerere University Inter-Religious Council of Uganda for Kampala, Uganda It is not personal. Secondly, when, where, adopting a resolution calling for an end why and how this money is given is very to the giving out of brown cash-filled significant. Usually, it is at a public func- envelopes and other gifts by the Presi- tion, after a mass or service, or at a dent to religious leaders at public func- The benefit to the ‘givee’ or recipient is mauledi, or following the handing over tions. I am also told that the President much less than the gains for the person of cycles or other physical gifts. It is also attacked me personally, asserting that I giving the bribe, the ‘giver.’ Secondly, it important to note that the number of en- was a liar and should (or could), “Go to is not unusual for such inducements to velope-giving events multiplied in the Hell!” I am not exactly sure why. be described as something different from run-up to the election. Was this just a the bribes they really are. Kasiimo in our I did not see the newscast, but I received coincidence? Bantu languages, while in Luo it is called dozens of calls and sms messages ex- mich, which is exactly how the President All the above leave the impression that pressing concern for my safety. Perhaps describes the envelopes he gives out. the gift has strings attached to it: Why? it is because I gave the keynote address Because were it to be simply a gift, there at the conference and told the participants By whichever name called, such gestures would be no need to make it public. In- that the culture of ‘envelope-giving’ must are simply euphemisms for what can only deed, it has now become commonplace end. Or maybe it is because I also called be described as a means to a sinister goal. for religious leaders and others who host for the reinstatement of presidential term Either it is given to secure favour, to sti- the President to make the demand for a limits. Whatever it is that raised the Presi- fle dissent or to silence and seal one’s ‘gift’ the main part of their welcoming dent’s anger towards me, if the IRCU did lips. My short point at the IRCU confer- speech. And the President always indeed adopt a resolution supporting the ence was that those envelopes represent obliges. eradication of the culture of envelope- what I called ‘institutionalised corrup- giving, then I can only add my voice in tion,’ a fact borne out by the President’s But the most disturbing thing about endorsement of such a measure. I also insistence that there is nothing wrong these ‘gifts’ is the criteria used to deter- hope they adopted a resolution on term with the practice. What about the law? mine who gets them and why. Since this is public money, there should be a more limits because I believe that the two are Under Article 98 of the 1995 Constitution intricately connected. public manner in which the process for of Uganda, the President is the “Foun- determining who gets them, when they Corruption has many different faces, but tain of Honour.” Thirty years ago, a get them and what the gift consists of. a single goal. It can take the form of a young Minister of Defence condemned This is because public money is a matter commission given to somebody to influ- then-President Godfrey Lukongwa of public concern. In sum, it cannot be ence the award of a contract. Or it can be Binaisa, QC for allegedly turning State regarded as a personal presidential gift. a small chai to the policeman who you House into a “market” for all kinds of want to ‘persuade’ to ignore the fact that shady dealers seeking favours from the Hence, the IRCU is fully entitled to ques- your driving license has expired. President. The name of that minister was tion its motive and to call for an end to Yoweri K. Museveni. them. As was the case with the Binaisa It can also be in the inducements given State House, the issue is as much about to an opposition leader to cross to the Whether or not the Binaisa State House perception as it is about fact: the actions ruling party, or to religious leaders to turn had in fact been turned into a market- of the Fountain of Honour must be seen a blind eye to the mismanagement of pub- place, I do not know since I was not there. to be above all suspicion of impropriety. lic funds. Whatever form it takes, the goal But the point being made by a younger of any of these kinds of transactions is President Museveni relates directly to the brown envelopes issues. In the first to gain favour or to confer advantage by * This article was first published in Daily the giver from the ‘givee’. instance, the money the President gives Monitor, a Kampala newspaper, 4 May 2011. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 52

Report on an International Conference on South Sudan: Consequences of the Birth of Africa’s Newest State for the East and Horn of Africa Regions

An international conference on the ‘Con- Dr Ebrima Sall, CODESRIA’s Executive sequences of the Referendum on Sudan, Tesfaye Tafesse Secretary, after acknowledging IDRC and the East and Horn of Africa Regions’, CODESRIA Trust Africa’s financial support for the con- organized by the Council for the Devel- and ference, pointed out that the right to self- opment of Social Science Research in determination is a sacred right and its Christopher Zambakari Africa (CODESRIA), the United Nations exercise in South Sudan had led to one of Northeastern University Economic Commission for Africa the most important political developments Boston, Massachusetts, USA (UNECA) and the Africa Research and in Africa since the end of apartheid. He Resource Forum (ARRF), with support commended Sudan for conducting the ref- from the International Development Re- erendum peacefully and noted that it has search Centre (IDRC) and Trust Africa, presented a possibility for both countries and ARRF for jointly organizing this was held in Nairobi, from 28 February to live together as neighbours, and broth- conference. He pointed out that the con- through 1 March 2011. The conference ers and sisters. He observed that lessons ference was very important mainly be- was an outcome of a series of discus- learned from the experience of fifty years cause it demonstrated the importance sions which started with a CODESRIA of independence across Africa should be that the organisers have attached to executive level mission to Sudan in Au- shared and applied in southern Sudan. He knowledge in the management of soci- gust 2009. The mission was followed by emphasized that African intellectuals have ety. He explained that research is the cen- a CODESRIA workshop organized in a unique role to play as researchers by tre piece of knowledge production and partnership with the University of Juba, engaging themselves with real world situ- therefore in finding solutions to prob- University of Khartoum and Ahfad Uni- ations. He called on South Sudan to en- lems that plague Africa. It was in this versity from 17 to 18 May 2010 in Juba, courage academic freedom and respect the context that he pointed out that the re- South Sudan. rights of researchers. According to Dr Sall, search community in Africa always val- CODESRIA did not take side with any of CODESRIA’s executive leadership or- ues CODESRIA’s work. ganised the conferences and work- the parties; it rather raised relevant and shops to encourage open dialogue on Professor Chege’s speech was followed pertinent issues for discussion and under- the intricate political situation in Sudan. by opening remarks by members of the standing. He concluded by noting that Consistent with the dispositions of the organising committee who, after under- there is a great need to create space for Comprehensive Peace Agreement lining the timeliness of the conference southern Sudanese intellectuals to under- (CPA), a referendum was conducted in for the region in general and the Sudan take research without any inhibitions. January 2011 and South Sudan effec- in particular, stated that the ideas and tively voted to secede from Sudan. The views generated during the conference When Unity Contradicted Peace new nation in the south was inaugurated and the conclusions and recommenda- The Guest Keynote Speaker, H. E. Dr Peter on 9 July 2011. The conference in Nai- tions arrived at would be of great impor- Adwok Nyaba, Minister of Higher Educa- robi was organized to discuss the con- tance in shaping institution building and tion and Scientific Research, Government sequences of the post- referendum political orientation in the new state of of Sudan, began his speech by narrating situation in South Sudan. The meeting South Sudan. the long and complicated history of the brought together leading scholars from Professor Al Tayeb Alabadin, Advisor Sudan since it came into existence as a north and south Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, to the Vice Chancellor, Khartoum Uni- colonial construct in 1821, a case of unity Ethiopia, Senegal, Zambia, South Africa, versity, stated that the outcome of the without peace. When Sudan gained its inde- Chad, and the United States. It also in- conference would demonstrate how Af- pendence in 1956, no attempt was made to volved researchers, government officials, rican countries should manage their di- understand the implications of pursuing members of the international community, versity, while Ms Njeri Karuru from IDRC goals of a unified state without due con- and legal practitioners whose combined explained that her organisation had sideration of the country’s diversity. Put views generated a successful, stimulat- partnered with research institutions in in another way, the political elites failed to ing and productive discussion. Africa for the purpose of strengthening build a nation, with the central governments their research capacities. She stated that in Khartoum behaving as if territorial unity Value of Research since events in Sudan can have an im- was an end in itself and thus had to be im- Professor Michael Chege, Chairman of pact on the region as a whole, it was posed by force. The post-referendum real- the Board of Africa Research and Re- important to engage the research com- ity testified to the failure of successive source Forum (ARRF), in his welcome munity to think through the pressing Sudanese governments. The case for sepa- address thanked CODESRIA, UNECA, issues. ration became imperative after all doors for accommodation had been closed. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 53

Dr Nyaba underlined the crucial impor- In terms of the way forward, Dr Nyaba Professor Mamdani argued that inde- tance of democratic governance in devel- proposed the following: (i) the war rag- pendence in itself would not necessar- opment because it guarantees proper ing in Darfur needs a comprehensive po- ily lead to peace. The new state carried management of diversity. If the leaders in litical solution similar to what had been within itself seeds of its own disintegra- the Sudan continue as in the past, there achieved in South Sudan; (ii) grievances tion. In Africa, the unification of smaller is a likelihood that the problem will exac- in the disputed regions of Abyei, the entities into larger bodies came with co- erbate and some regions may degenerate Nuba Mountains and Southern Kordofan lonialism during the creation of states. into ungovernabililty. He also scrutinized must be heeded, analysed and resolved Hence, Africa’s independence of the the Sudan People Liberation Movement/ before secession becomes the only al- 1950s and 60s had to be understood as a Army (SPLM/A) and observed that it had ternative; (iii) the African Union should particular kind of unity which was im- failed to promote liberation ideology over take a proactive role in resolving con- posed by force. Since union and separa- the past six years. As a result of the para- flicts; (iv) peace and conflict resolution tion were self-sustaining, the AU should digm shift from liberation movement to should take centre stage in dealings be- change its provisions to allow for di- power politics by SPLA, corruption had tween Sudan and South Sudan; and (v) vorce. That is, ‘in order to safeguard become rife and ethnic conflict surfaced peace studies should be prioritized in marriage, one has to protect the right to in many places. The elites in South Su- South Sudan as well as in Sudan in order divorce’. dan should learn from the past and change to create a proper understanding of the He cited two cases (types) of disinte- their modus operandi if they want to save history of the two countries. Currently, gration – Eritrea was born out of old their country from becoming a failed state. centres offering peace studies exist at the Ethiopia and South Sudan out of Sudan. The success of the referendum should be Universities of Khartoum, Juba and In the former case, it was the end of the reflected in the establishment of a good Ahfad. Lastly, Dr Nyaba called upon Cold War and military victory by the system of government. The vote for inde- CODESRIA to establish an annual forum Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) pendence should also serve as a tool for at which scholars would analyze and re- that led to the birth of a new nation, while some soul searching by the National Con- flect on Sudanese issues and its neigh- in the latter it was the stalemate in the gress Party (NCP) in Khartoum and re- bours. conflict and the post 9/11 situation that flect on the reasons why the southerners led to the signing of the Comprehensive voted overwhelmingly for separation. SPLA: A Shift from Unity to Secession Peace Agreement (CPA) by the Khar- Borders and boundaries in Africa are arti- The second keynote address was deliv- toum Government. Lastly, Professor ficial; they were created by colonialists ered by Mahmood Mamdani, Professor Mamdani advised African governments who disregarded the ethnic and cultural and Director of Makerere Institute of So- to address issues of multi-ethnicity and diversity of the peoples. As a result, one cial Research and Herbert Lehman Pro- tribal questions if they desire to avoid finds different ethnic groups in different fessor of Government at Columbia conflicts with those who are disenfran- countries. For instance, the Annuak and University. He spoke on the theme ‘Self- chised. the Nuer are in Sudan and Ethiopia. There determination and State Making in the Some of the participants challenged Pro- is however an opportunity to use the com- Twenty-first Century’. He began with a fessor Mamdani’s statement that SPLM/ munities found in different countries as reflection on self-determination, consid- A is a champion of unity. They said that bridges for social, economic and political ering it as a sacred cow, such as democ- Sudan had never been united and chal- transformation. South Sudan should racy, and posed a fundamental question: lenged those who made such an asser- therefore build good relations with all its who is the ‘self’ in self-determination? tion to show evidence, if any. They neighbours. He noted that since the Afri- According to him, the ‘self’ is a political further argued that since South Sudan can Union (AU) does not promote dis- self that was constituted and re-consti- had lived with repression since 1820, memberment in its charter, it needs to take tuted over time. It is not permanent – in their fight all along had been for inde- a leadership role in resolving conflicts that 1956 the self was Sudan and now, after pendence. Submission to a unity thesis, are likely to lead to dismemberment, which the result of the referendum, the self has according to some of the participants, is is always the natural route when unity become South Sudan. He proceeded to tantamount to discrediting the southern- contradicts peace. ask several questions, which he said have no clear straight forward answers: ers’ struggle for self-determination; the Dr Nyaba further observed that higher CPA was a by-product of that struggle. education has a special role to play in (i) How have pan-Africanists perceived They concluded by stating that the real shaping policy through national debates. and understood this self-determina- culprits in the dismemberment of Sudan Higher education in Sudan has always tion of South Sudan? What could it were the northern elites, who tried to operated under one integrated system teach us? Arabize and Islamize the South. One of which he hoped would continue as the (ii) How and when did the SPLA (cham- the participants was of the view that South had not developed the necessary pion of unity) change its mind from since the South is at the beginning of a academic and technical capacity. Currently, calls for the unity of Sudan to seces- new chapter, it is important to get the the University for Women and the Uni- sion and independence for the South? record straight, otherwise the new coun- versities of Nyala and Darfur offer the ear- (iii) What will it take for the South to try risks repeating mistakes made in the liest opportunities for joint scientific establish a new political order instead past. research with the older universities in the of reproducing a version of the old one? In response, Professor Mamdani said Sudan. In total, there are five functioning (iv) Would independence lead to peace? that the analysis of the SPLA was un- and three declared universities in South Or would peace merely be an inter- satisfactory and the importance of Dr Sudan. lude? What other things could lead to peace? CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 54

John Garang’s vision of a new Sudan Politics and Governance in a new that went through a similar process, in- was not adequately appreciated. Ac- State cluding, among others, Eritrea, Zimbabwe cording to him, there had been an inter- Professor Aggrey Abate and Dr Alfred and Uganda. South Sudan should also nal struggle within the SPLA over the Lokuji – both from the University of Juba, draw lessons from the South African ex- issues of unity and independence, al- Professor Gassim Badri, President, Ahfad perience in the area of reconciliation and beit the minority view triumphed in the University for Women, and Ms Sara peace building. end. All these issues require close scru- Hassan, Human Rights Activist, Khar- In order to avoid the reproduction of past tiny and historically sensitive explana- toum, spoke on politics and governance African experiences, SPLM should not al- tions. Unlike some of the participants, in South Sudan. Professor Abate made low itself to turn into a single party and Professor Mamdani did not believe in reference to the developments that have should avoid centralization of power. the existence of SPLM but rather in taken place in South Sudan, in the past South Sudan offers a new hope and op- SPLA. To him, the former has been in six years, in terms of infrastructure, edu- portunity. It is time for the people of South the making. To explain this point, he cation and power supply. These, accord- Sudan to enjoy the dividends of the inde- drew an analogy with his own country, ing to him, were made possible because pendence struggle. The new state should Uganda, where the National Resistance of the devolution of power to the south also undertake a national debate to define Army (NRA) that was led by Yoweri in terms of decision making, prioritization, the type of government it wishes to have. Museveni had been replaced by the Na- and implementation of programmes. He The participants recommended that the tional Resistance Movement (NRM) af- noted that a lot more remains to be done new nation needs a system of government ter it had seized power. to engage the general population in mean- with a leadership that listens; in which After the keynote addresses, presenta- ingful participation in the economy and everybody counts. Both South Sudan and tions were made on post-referendum pri- in the development of a free press. Sudan need to go through a healing proc- orities; politics and governance in South Ms Hassan emphasized the importance ess to be able to recover from dictatorial Sudan; development policies, priority of the respect that must be accorded to tendencies that have plagued them for a programmes and projects; North-South diversity if the unity of the state is to be long time. relations and regional issues; making in- preserved. She noted that language as a dependence attractive through good national issue should be carefully exam- Development Policies, Priority neighbourliness, and challenges and ined in a multi-lingual society such as Programmes and Projects priorities for Sudan, South Sudan and South Sudan. She also observed that the Professors Yongo Bure from Kettering the region. state must be restructured in such a way University, Flint, Michigan, USA and that a new constitution underlining the Isaak Riak, Senior Development Consult- Post-referendum Priorities role of multi-partyism should be put in ant, Juba, and Mr Christopher Zambakari, Professors Taban lo Liyong and George place. The new constitution should con- Northeastern University, Boston, Massa- Nyombe from the University of Juba, tain clauses on the respect and protec- chusetts, USA addressed themselves to and Al-Tayeb Alabdin from Khartoum tion of human rights; not forgetting that the kind of development policies, priority University, and Dr Melha Biel from Juba, rights for women and children are human programmes and projects that South Su- South Sudan, reflected on post-referen- rights too. dan should focus on immediately. Profes- dum priorities for South Sudan. The fol- sor Bure reminded the meeting that there Dr Lokuji noted that the major failure of lowing is a list that summarizes the was a need to manage high expectations African states has been the failure to learn priorities that were identified by the four arising out of independence. In the short from the past. The African past was rooted speakers: term, the government should focus on ag- in imperial precedence, it promoted self- riculture; the country has ample fertile land interest, sycophancy and a tendency to- (i) peace and security; that can be utilised for extensive agricul- wards centralization, which stripped (ii) institution building; tural production. This could be managed people and states of political integrity and (iii) nationalization of the economy; to develop agro-processing industries. In values in the process. Dr Lokuji proposed a addition, since about two-thirds of the (iv) the creation of new conditions for way out through constitutionalism that South Sudanese populations are socio-political transformation in Su- would support checks and balances in pastoralists; the new government should dan and the South; institutions of governance and provide a build and maintain watering points and (v) management of the transition into power sharing mechanism. a new state; reservoirs for the animals. There is also Prof Badri, on his part, observed that an immediate need to focus attention on (vi) transforming the ideology of resist- South Sudan would develop the ‘African the provision of adequate education and ance and liberation to an ideology diseases’ of dictatorship, coup d’états health services. of socio-political transformation and violence unless it prioritizes democ- and the reality of government; Professor Riak noted that South Sudan’s racy, the rule of law and transparency. He natural resources should be harnessed to (vi) managing diversity and social co- added that the new nation should assign hesion; build a foundation and catalyse develop- a larger share of its budget to education. (vii) attracting investment and job crea- ment. Of the many natural resources, he tion; and The participants agreed that since the singled out oil, which should be managed new state has come about as a result of to spur development by creating transpar- (viii) the nationalization of education. the action of a liberation struggle, it ency and accountability mechanisms. This should learn from other African countries CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 55 is the only sure way to avoid a ‘resource restricted to Abyei; and security con- Abyei question, interaction between the curse’ or the so called ‘Dutch Disease’. cerns, including the proliferation of north and south, citizenship, cross-bor- armed groups, some of which are not der communities and oil would remain Mr Zambakari, spoke about the dangers attached to the known parties or groups thorny issues because the CPA has no clear inherent in following ethnicity in the crea- in the country. He then put the follow- answers to them. The NCP might even be tion of state administrative divisions, as ing three challenges on the table for ex- forced to have other CPAs in Darfur and these might lead to fragmentation. He cau- amination: other contested regions, a sign that there tioned against the claim that cultural is nothing comprehensive in the CPA boundaries need to reflect political ones. (i) Citizenship and nationality: South signed with the SPLM/A. The kind of re- He also looked at the 2009 South Sudan Sudan authorities should ensure that lationship that the newly independent Local Government Act, which created a there is no room for politically excluded South Sudan establishes and maintains hybrid system that incorporated custom- groups or individuals, especially those with Sudan and all its neighbours, and ary laws into local government structures. who live in the border regions. This chal- the policies it will adopt, will determine its He reminded participants that this mode lenge could be taken care of by consid- prospect and that of its neighbours. of mass organization was reminiscent of ering dual nationality. British indirect rule, which had a dual Dr Berhanu on his part, talked about the (ii) Water resources: It is not yet clear as system, one specifically meant to man- implications of South Sudan’s independ- to how South Sudan is to be classified age the urban dwellers, and the other for ence for the Horn of Africa Region and as a Nile Riparian State. Will it be cat- the rural people living in the countryside. beyond. He observed that the CPA was egorised as an upstream or downstream exclusive and is characterized by major One of the key issues that affected Su- state? While that is yet to be known, flaws. It focused more on power and dan has been ethnic violence. It currently the River Nile is crucial for South Sudan wealth sharing than on other pertinent manifests itself in the form of a disputed in terms of hydro-power generation and national issues. Some of the issues that border region pending consultation and irrigation agriculture. It is also an impor- had either been deferred or are still pend- resolution, with the attendant millions of tant resource for water transport. ing include: internally displaced people scattered (iii) The border with Sudan: It could be- throughout the country and over half a come dangerous if it is militarized and (i) the north-south border; million refugees stranded in search of a there is no political goodwill from Su- (ii) the boundaries of Abiyei, South permanent home. He concluded his argu- dan. It needs special attention and con- Kordofan and the Blue Nile regions; ments by underpinning the urgency of sideration. This border area should also (iii) security; problematizing democracy and decentrali- be considered in the context of its zation in South Sudan and drawing rel- (iv) negotiations between Sudan and pastoralist inhabitants who move from evant lessons from especially the South South Sudan for the movement of place to place in search of water and pas- African transition model from apartheid goods and services; ture as though there are no borders. to a democratic country. (v) integration of militias with the regu- Professor Wassara concluded his con- lar armed forces; and During the discussion that followed these tributions by calling on the AU and the (vi) Nile water allocation. presentations, some participants ob- Inter-Governmental Authority for Devel- served that an economy that depends on Dr Ratebaye talked about the implications opment (IGAD) to ensure that there is a oil for 98 per cent of all its revenue re- of South Sudan’s independence for Chad. peaceful Sudan for the benefit of the re- mains in danger of the resource curse. He cautioned that if Darfurians follow the gion in particular and Africa in general. On top of a transparent management of self-determination path taken by South the oil revenues, South Sudan needs to North-South Relations and Sudan, Chad would face major instability diversify its income into agriculture and Regional Issues and security problems. other areas. Short presentations were made at a Dr Tafesse focused on the possible sce- narios in relation to the River Nile water Regional Issues roundtable discussion on the north- south relationships and regional issues utilization. In his opinion, these scenarios Professor Samson Wassara, the Vice by Dr Hamad Hawi, a lecturer at the Uni- have to be understood in the context of Chancellor of Western Equatoria Univer- versity of Juba, Dr Kassahun Berhanu, the 1959 Agreement between Egypt and sity, in a keynote on regional issues re- lecturer at Addis Ababa University, Dr Sudan, the suspended Jonglei Canal, and flected on two major questions brought Alex Ratebaye, Chadian Diplomat and the Cooperative Framework Agreement about by the independence of South Su- Researcher, and Dr Tesfaye Tafesse from (CFA). There is a strong possibility that dan. These are: (i) how is South Sudan to CODESRIA Secretariat. the new state will question or even reject co-exist with Sudan; and (ii) how is the AU the 1959 Agreement, claiming half of the going to ensure the stability of the region. Dr Hawi started with a critical assess- share of the quota that was allotted to ment of the CPA. He observed that the Physically, South Sudan is a land-locked Sudan. When it comes to the CFA, for CPA, in spite of its name, lacked com- country with poor internal and external various reasons, South Sudan might align prehensiveness, excluded the majority transport infrastructure that will inhibit with upstream states in terms of its ratifi- of the Sudanese people and political movement of goods and services. Pro- cation. Lastly, he said that due to envi- parties, created more problems than it had fessor Wassara also observed that the ronmental, political and historical reasons, attempted to solve and was a creation by country has a number of unresolved is- it is unlikely that South Sudan will resur- elites from the two contending sides. He sues to contend with, including but not rect the suspended Jonglei Canal project. noted that human rights, democracy, the CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 56

In the discussion that followed these pres- temptation to relapse into conflict independent state. Higher education, entations, most of the participants ob- should be avoided. The impact and spill- social science research, governance and served that internal factors, most over effects of any instability in any one regional economic integration attracted particularly the events in Abyei, pushed of the two countries would have far- most attention in the discussion that fol- both parties (SPLM and NCP) to sign the reaching consequences in the region and lowed after the presentations. A consen- CPA. The general position was that the beyond. The role of higher education as sus was built around the necessity of CPA, imperfect as it is, was both time-and a bridge to future relations between the re-focusing and re-directing higher edu- face-saving tool for the two negotiating two countries was emphasized. It was cation in both Sudans by injecting in a parties that seemed to have reached the recommended that the countries should dose of innovation and ingenuity. The end of the rope. consider building joint institutions of participants called for inter-university higher learning in the two countries. exchange of scholars and students in the Making Independence Attractive region. It was observed that since re- and Good Neighbourliness Challenges and Priorities search budgets are too small, there is a Dr Nureldin Satti, Secretary General, Na- Ms Sara Hassan, Prof Isaak Riak, Dr Al- need to work together with decision mak- tional Library of Sudan, Khartoum; Dr Kimo fred Lokuji and Dr Nureldin Satti made ers to increase funding. Lastly, it was Adiebo and Dr Sirisio Oromo both from brief presentations on the theme. Mrs noted that African intellectuals have a the University of Juba, as well as Mrs Hassan underlined the need to establish lot more to do, with regard to South Su- Entisar Hamadein, Institute of African and democratic constitutions both in Sudan dan. They should interrogate issues re- Asian Studies, University of Khartoum and South Sudan. She also said that lated to borders that divide communities, made brief introductory presentations on both countries should ratify interna- higher education and development, and the theme. Dr Satti underlined the urgency tional conventions, work on issue of the regional economic integration. required to examine mistakes made in the youth and resolve inherent mistrusts. attempt to make unity of Sudan less at- Lessons Learnt Professor Riak presented a list of meas- tractive and the independence of South Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, Convener ures which he said need to be addressed Sudan more appealing. He advised that of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa by both countries if any meaningful more work should be put into improving (CODA), gave some concluding remarks progress is to be realized. They included: relations between the two countries. He and important observation at the end of also noted that there is a need to build and (i) building unity of purpose and people; the conference. He congratulated reinforce the shared social, human, eco- (ii) resolving the Darfur, South CODESRIA for taking the initiative to nomic and political resources. Similarly, he Kordofan, Eastern Kassala and the organize the Post-Referendum Confer- suggested identification of the sources of Blue Nile issues; ence on Sudan and observed that the fifty mistrust between the two with a view to years of independence of most African (iii) focusing on issues that can unite addressing or dispelling them. Lastly, Dr both countries, including wealth- countries had been reflected in the two- Satti recommended the strengthening of sharing, human rights, development day conference. The emergence of South civil society organizations that can rein- etc; Sudan as a new state did not represent a force inter-dependency between the two. new phenomenon in Africa. The new (iv) using oil as a means to development; He further identified some of the key ele- state has to learn relevant lessons, not ments that would make good neighbourli- (v) fighting corruption; only from Africa, but also from other ness attractive between the two countries, (vi) reducing youth unemployment; and countries around the world that have including but not restricted to, mainte- (vii) creating democratic space for peo- lived under occupation and domination. nance of security, resolution of Abyei , ple to express their ideas. By so doing, it will take its proper place halting the proliferation of small arms, and on the continent. Dr Lokuji on his part reiterated the im- regulation of free movement of people, portance of cooperation that leads to The post-independence generation of goods and services. win-win situations. He went on to say Africans thought that scientific social- Mrs Hamadein observed that there is a that both countries should refocus on ism constituted an alternative to capital- need to revitalize the people-to-people re- measures that will ensure the well-being ism. This approach did not work. The lations that were ignored by the CPA. Such of the people, such as the Millennium neo-liberal system imposed on Africa a move would ensure the free movement Development Goals (MDGs). They since the 1990s, exemplified by structural of people in the region, including should also jointly combat human traf- adjustment programmes (SAPs), had also pastoralists who never seem to get re- ficking in the border areas and resettle collapsed, this time starting from the cen- stricted by borders. IDPs and refugees. tre. The system has created few very rich people and a majority of poor populations. Dr Oromo underlined the importance of Dr Satti called for a common vision by The recent and on-going waves of re- peace and security in the region. He said both countries. He observed that South volt in the Maghreb region and Middle that the new state should respect the terri- Sudan should move nearer to East Af- East countries could be seen as further torial integrity of all its neighbours, fight rica to benefit from the advantages of a testimony to the rejection of neo-liberal- corruption and promote human rights and larger economic unit. He also called ism. There is therefore a need for a new the rule of law. upon the new state to learn from the mis- people-centred alternative economic takes made by Sudan and other African The participants, while in a discussion af- model that suits African realities. ter the presentations, advised that any countries in the process of building an CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 57

Professor Bathily noted that nobody Conclusions and Recommendations dan by establishing local institutions should expect a blueprint or a one-size- By way of conclusion, some of the par- such as a National Planning Commission. fits-all model; it will take hard work. He ticipants observed that countries in the Participants called on the government in concluded his observations by making region should work towards maintaining South Sudan to manage carefully the eu- the following recommendations: (i) South peace and cohesion; the Sudanese do phoria and high expectations of inde- Sudan should learn from Africa’s empires not have too many choices other than pendence; noting that the resources and of old, such as the Songhai, Bornu and learning how to co-exist as good neigh- means required in the struggle for inde- Mali, to solve problems related to diver- bours in the same region. Interdepend- pendence are very different from those sity; (ii) the new state should move cau- ence should be the guiding principle in required to run a country. Attempts tiously and learn from other African the dealings between Sudan and South should be made to organize and develop countries in the context of what had tran- Sudan. This could be galvanized if the the economy to ensure that it will create spired in the course of the past fifty two countries establish a common mar- jobs for the people. In addition, there is a years; (iii) the liberation of the people of ket; cooperate in the maintenance of re- need to foster civil society organisations South Sudan should be followed by the gional security, human security and (business associations, trade unions, liberation of the people in Sudan; (iv) people-to-people relationships; broaden student unions, faith based organiza- conditions must be created to enable Af- the definition of citizenship; foster de- tions, traditional associations, etc.) to rican leaders to listen to possible alter- velopment of local businesses and indus- exert pressure upon the new government natives on Africa’s future as proposed tries, promote trade, and develop to engage in reforms and transformative by scholars and intellectuals; and (v) infrastructure (roads, railways, ports, activities. In sum, South Sudan has to South Sudan needs to assert itself as a etc.). The participants noted that there is build its own image to become part of the country, both regionally and globally. need to replace the too many NGOs and club of nations. multi-lateral organizations in South Su-

Africa must Make its own Images The Third CODESRIA-FESPACO Workshop on African Cinema

he CODESRIA-FESPACO Work part invisible due to the monolithic and shop has become one of the major politically correct definition of African Tscientific rendez vous of the Pan- Abdon Kouassivi Sofonnou cinema laid down by artistic firms and African Film and Television Festival in CODESRIA Western festivals. The focus was on dis- Ouagadougou. This CODESRIA event is cussing and analysing the economic, aes- now included in FESPACO’s official thetic and social impacts of the video film agenda. During the 22nd meeting of phenomenon in Africa, then examining the relationship between new technolo- FESPACO, African researchers and aca- the Council for the Development of So- gies, contemporary African literature and demics in the area of film studies joined cial Science Research in Africa. This Af- film in order to determine what video- in a workshop under the aegis of rican campaign was also attended by the makers could learn from their predeces- CODESRIA on the theme of ‘African Cin- community of researchers from the sors in literature and film, and vice versa. ema, and Markets’. The Festival offered Diaspora. The initiative was born of a will Result of a study were on the reception a wide range of activities, including trav- to contribute to capacity building and of video films by African audiences as elling exhibits on various years of produce scientific research findings able constituting new spaces for democracy, FESPACO and African cinema, film show- to promote African film and the advance- new subjective formations and social ings, conferences, and so on. The re- ment of African societies. searchers of the CODESRIA community, and economic desires that had thus far under the moderation of Professor At the latest edition of FESPACO, the goal been absent from film and literature. of the workshop was to draw attention Manthia Diawara, a US-based African Several questions linked to the theme to the new creative visions and directions film-maker, and Kofi Anyidoho from the were addressed during the workshop, in contemporary African film. CODESRIA University of Legon, Accra, chose to fo- through various sub-themes, such as: (i) believes that in Africa today, critical po- cus for two days on ‘African film, video Video and film production and distribu- sitions and new cinematographic lan- & the social impact of new technologies’. tion in Africa including the issue of the guages that oppose and often contradict Initiated for the first time in 2007, it was formation of a new generation of video- each other have remained for the most the third meeting of its kind organized by makers, (ii) Aesthetic considerations in CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 58

African literature, film and video, present- man Samuel Eto’o, who plays in Europe, tional standards. According to Prof ing Teshome Gabriel and critical para- or Senegalese artist Akon in the USA, Kanyinda, African film could be defined digms in African film and video as well as along with many others, demonstrate the as a genre (like westerns, pornography, new theories of production, distribution influence and the image of these celebri- etc). It showed poverty because it wanted and reception, and (iii) The story and ties for our youth. to show it. Whereas Africa had a beauti- popular culture: representations of reli- ful history, the struggle for independence Several other issues also dominated the gion, mythology and the star system in alone was a very rich story. It was self- discussion, including the image of women African film and video. In all, some evident that no one could tell our story in film, video as an alternative to film, twenty papers were presented over five better than we Africans ourselves. women’s exploitation, sex, the merchan- working sessions. Certain questions re- dizing of stars, sponsoring, ways of meet- Africa needs to create its own logic to lating to the image of women were the ing the challenges of film and the huge take ownership of its own reality. Pro- subject of a far-ranging debate that came gap between French-speaking and Eng- grammes need institutional coverage, but up repeatedly in different sessions. lish-speaking countries where film is con- they should also be anchored in tradi- Africa faces many challenges, two of cerned. According to Idrissa Ouedraogo, tion. According to Fatoumata Kandé which are essential: the market issue, par- an eminent film-maker from Burkina Faso, Senghor of Senegal, Africans are strongly ticularly in countries with low levels of French-speaking and English-speaking rooted in their continent, their country, literacy, and the problem of training. It is Africans experienced two different types their family. However, even if our youth impossible to discuss film without refer- of colonization. English-speakers were does not go out into the world, the world ring to images and video. Making beau- fortunate in that the language of coloni- comes to it through information and com- tiful images requires expensive cameras, zation undoubtedly promoted the devel- munication technologies. The question not to mention production equipment and opment of their film industries. The is how to train that youth in technology the impressive number of technicians in- refusal of French-speakers to go to Hol- while keeping it solidly grounded in its volved. Film, according to the experts, is lywood was due to the way French-speak- culture. a screenplay plus images. It is an art that ers had been shaped and formatted since To return to the problem of colonial her- touches people, that translates human colonization by their heritage and the itage and imperialism, Jihan El Tahri of feelings. The advent of digital technol- education they received. Egypt viewed the issue of training as ogy was supposed to help reduce finan- The issue of means was brought up in a another way of regulating unemployment cial constraints, but this technology still presentation by Judy Kibinge, a Kenyan through European funding. The usual poses enormous problems due to the film-maker, who took the opposite tack training through workshops was not pro- specificities that characterize Africa. De- from the earlier presentations, stating that ductive; young people needed practical spite its many successes, digital technol- quality was not determined by budget and complete support to help them pro- ogy does not yet handle contrasts well alone, but also by the originality of the duce films. In her view, colonization was enough, whereas Africa is a continent of ideas, and the authenticity and original- not merely a matter of content; it was also contrasts. However, it remains obvious ity of the approach and the screenplay. a matter of mentalities. She preferred that the technology is a necessity, so She added that it was also important to documentary films and wondered why thought needs to be given to its limita- portray one’s own vision, and to change that type of film did not attract many film- tions. what people thought about artists. Even makers. We missed a lot by failing to com- Due to the poverty affecting African au- though it was not yet possible to talk mit ourselves, she added. diences, the market remains limited given about a ‘Kenyawood’, numerous initia- A panel focused on the work of a great the demands of production. Film, there- tives were being undertaken in Kenya, promoter of African culture: Gabriel fore, appears as a luxury in the light of which showed that there was room for Teshome (1939-2010), founder of the the problems of education, health, and national training. Third Cinema aesthetic, theoretician, au- poverty in general. In Nigeria, for exam- It is impossible to have a holistic under- thor, educator, Ethiopian but a citizen of ple, 180,000 people lack access to water standing of African film without examin- the world, and a great humanist. The pan- and electricity, whilst others have access ing the problems of training. According ellists had the opportunity to review his to the Internet and films on their laptop to Prof Balufu B. Kanyinda, a Congolese theories regarding Nollywood, or Third computers. A revolution in African cin- film-maker, the issue of training was both World cinema. Prof Onookome Okome of ema is imminent. The question that re- ideological and pedagogical. Africans Nigeria tried to conceptualize Third Cin- mains is how to reconcile the challenge were not trained to be Africans. How, ema by presenting it as film, imperfect and new technologies when we know that then, could African film-makers be cinema, African cinema. He perceived people are living in extreme poverty. How trained? What tools could be used in that form of cinema as a popular project can we enter into competition with the their training? They could not be trained rather than a political one. South African West to meet these challenges? Africa in technology alone. The new generation researcher Lindiwe Dovey also stressed needs to find a way to produce its own needed to be trained in cinephilia. This that African cinema and Hollywood were images, and the need to educate its youth generation needed to learn how to read two different things. Hollywood focused through film is so obvious that its impor- films. Many film-makers were trained by on aesthetics and not on the audience, tance no longer needs to be demon- cinematic illiterates, and the audience like African cinema. Based on an excerpt strated. Film and sports stars are models liked them because it did not understand, from a film, she showed how a small for African youth. The examples of Afri- was not cinematically literate, and be- neighbourhood movie theatre could be- can stars such as Cameroonian sports- cause African film did not follow interna- come the lifeblood of a whole neighbour- CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos 1 & 2, 2011 Page 59 hood and, using other excerpts as exam- ‘intimist’ approach, i.e. from the inside, in Africa. The research programme on Af- ples, she showed that Hollywood, de- and analysis from an outside viewpoint. rican film developed by CODESRIA is an spite its aesthetics, could remain distant Whatever the approach, criticism of interesting initiative that ought to be en- from its audience, with empty theatres. Nollywood cinema obliges us to review couraged by governments and African film production with a greater dis- stakeholders. The idea of owning our Discussions of the image of women in tance and clarity. As for the image of own history also remains fundamental. Hollywood came up several times as a women in films, the responsibility lay in Despite their beauty, their colours and paradigm to be changed. According to the hands of training institutions. It was their splendour, images are highly com- Prof Manthia Diawara, this image could well known that many people enjoyed plex. Europeans have their own ideolo- affect everyone, and it was wrong to films on sex in private but spoke out gies and their own ways of perceiving leave the status quo in place because against them in public. The challenge was things and seizing things which are some- producers had the means. Contrary to the even greater in the light of the fact that, times surprising. Africans must also cre- analysis presented by Okome, Prof Salem like music, film was an art form that knew ate their own logic to bring about real Mekuria said she could not imagine no borders. What should be done in re- change. Africa’s development will de- Nollywood without ideology or politics lation to the issue of the debate on im- pend on the production of its own im- and that, in her view, such projects al- ages, of which we did not know all of the ages. But this, in turn, implies that Africa ways existed one way or another. In the parameters, and what film model should has its own means. How can we tell our end, based on the different presentations Africa promote? What were the alterna- own story through cinema – taking account, and discussions, how could African cin- tives to Nollywood? The issue of audi- of course, of the evolution of technol- ema be defined and described today? The ence reception of films remained equally ogy and the socioeconomic and cultural question remained open. important. For the time being, the impor- environment? In addition to the format, The final panel of the meeting focused tant thing was not to adopt a pessimistic the authenticity and originality of Afri- on the impact of film on society. Various attitude. Nollywood’s transnationality can cinema, research should also con- approaches to the analysis of films were was undoubtedly due to the linearity of sider the audience. The question of what presented by the participants in their the language. sort of cinema we hope to achieve remains presentations. These included reviews important: national or Pan-African? Today, FESPACO incontestably remains from the standpoint of producers, the one of the most important cultural events

Readings in Methodology: African Perspectives Edited by Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo & Carlos Cardoso

Dakar, CODESRIA, 2011, 272 p.

One of the weaknesses of research in Africa is the little consideration that is given to questions of epistemology and methodology. What we see is the trivialization of research protocols which, consequently, are reduced to fantasy prescriptions that detach social studies from universal debates over the validity of science rather than an interrogation of research procedures induced by the complexity of social dynamics. As a result, social sciences have become an imitative discourse and a recital of exotic anecdotes without perspectives. Knowledge production therefore loses any heuristic bearing. It is on the basis of this reality that attempts to correct this tendency have been made in this book by discussing the methodological foundation of social science knowledge. This volume is a collection of papers presented during methodological workshops organized by CODESRIA. Its objective is to revitalize theory and methodology in field work in Africa while contributing to the creation of a critical space hinged upon the mastery of epistemological bases which are indispensable to any scientific imagination. Far from being a collection of technical certainties and certified methods, this book interrogates the ISBN: 978-2-86978-483-3 uncertain itinerary of the process of social logics discovery. In that sense, it is a decisive step towards a critical systemization of ongoing theories and practices within the African scientific community. The reader can, therefore, identify the philosophical, historical, sociological and anthropological foundations of object construction, field data exploitation and research results delivery. This book explains the importance of the philosophical and social modalities of scientific practice, the influence of local historical contexts, the different usages of new investigative tools, including the audiovisual tools. Finally, the book, backed by classical theories, serves as an invitation toward considering scientific commitment to African field research from a reflective perspective. Free Full Text Online Resources for Social Science Research

1. African e-Journal Project 16. Google books http://africa.msu.edu/AEJP/ http://scholar.google.com/ Google livres 2. African Studies Journals @ Wikipedia http://books.google.fr/books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 17. Google Scholars African_studies_journals http://scholar.google.fr/ 3. African Studies Repository Beta. Building an Online http://scholar.google.com/ Library for African Studies 18. Hyper articles en ligne (HAL) http://www.africanstudiesrepository.org/ http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ 4. African Studies Internet Resources, Columbia 19. Hyper articles en ligne Sciences de l’Homme et University de la Société (HAL-SHS) http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/africa/ http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/ cuvl/index.html 20. The International Reporter Resource Network (IRN) 5. AtoZ. Selected electronic journals focused on Africa http://www.reporter.no/IRN/index.html http://atoz.ebsco.com/home.asp?Id=2749 21. Persée : Portail de revues en sciences humaines et 6. Cairn.info sociales : http://www.cairn.info/accueil.php www.persee.fr/web/guest/home/ 7. Les Classiques des sciences sociales 22. Project Gutenberg http://classiques.uqac.ca/ http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page 8. Connecting Africa 23. Répertoire des ressources électroniques. http://www.connecting-africa.net/ Groupe Transversal Ressources Documentaires 9. Directory of Development organisations http://www.bib.fsagx.ac.be/cud/resource/subject/ http://www.devdir.org/ sciences-exactes-et-naturelles.html 10. Directory of Open Access Journals 24. Revues.org : Portail de revues en sciences http://www.doaj.org/ humaines et sociales : www.revues.org/ 11. DISA. Southern African Freedom Struggles, c. 1950 – 1994 25. Revues électroniques en accès libre http://www.disa.ukzn.ac.za/ http://www.inist.fr/spip.php?article69 12. Eldis - Gateway to Development Information 26. Les signets de la Bibliothèque nationale de http://www.eldis.org/ France (BNF) http://signets.bnf.fr/ 13. Encyclopédie Diderot et D’alembert http://portail.atilf.fr/encyclopedie/ 27. UNBISNET, United Nations Bibliographic Informa- tion System 14. Erudit.org http://unbisnet.un.org/ http://www.erudit.org/ 28. World Bank / Banque Mondiale 15. Gallica http://www.worldbank.org/ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ http://donnees.banquemondiale.org/frontpage Contents

Editorial: Development and Power of the People ...... 1 CODESRIA General Assembly: Africa and the Challenges of the Twenty First Century...... 3 Some Questions Regarding the Independence of South Sudan ...... 6 Mahmood Mamdani Grappling with the Reality of a New State in Southern Sudan ...... 10 Peter Adwok Nyaba An Arab Springtime? ...... 14 Samir Amin The Political Economy of the Jasmine Revolution: On the Collapse of a Model and the Challenges of the Revolution ...... 23 Hakim Ben Hammouda Will the West ever Learn? ...... 29 Boaventura de Sousa Santos The Market Colonization of Intellectuals ...... 30 Lewis R. Gordon Reconfiguring Eurocentric Discourse and African Knowledge ...... 33 Lansana Keita The Struggle to Convert Nationalism to Pan-Africanism: Taking Stock of 50 years of African Independence ... 40 Issa Shivji Speaking Truth to Power: Academic Freedom in Uganda Uganda - What needs Undoing: No Democracy Relies so Much on the Military ...... 47 Joe Oloka-Onyango Angry Museveni tells off his Critics, Religious Leaders ...... 50 Observer Media Team Mr President, here is why Brown Envelopes are Dirty ...... 51 Joe Oloka-Onyango Report on an International Conference on South Sudan: Consequences of the Birth of Africa’s Newest State for the East and Horn of Africa Regions ...... 52 Tesfaye Tafesse & Christopher Zambakari Africa Must Make its own Images: The Third CODESRIA-FESPACO Workshop on African Cinema ...... 57 Kouassivi Abdon Sofonnou