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BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights uses mock tribunals to influence public policy. The tactic was needed not only because of recurring abuses against women, including physical abuse, rape, sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation, but also because of the widespread belief that human rights violations against women are not serious or are simply normal or even justifiable.

BAOBAB organized the first National Tribunal on Violence against Women on March 14th 2002 in the capital city of Abuja. The tribunal was unofficial and not legally binding but the testimony was real – 33 women were selected to testify.

Lilongwe — Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, has come under severe pressure from civil society groups who are demanding he scrap a newly-passed bill allowing 16 year olds to marry with the consent of their parents.Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which the country is a party defines a child as "every human being below the age of 18".

It could be just another ordinary week day in Bulawayo. Folk scurrying around doing their daily business, vendors plying the wares, battered old cars weaving their way between the potholes. But to the experienced eye, there is something afoot !Is it the abundance of red articles of clothing or is that just a coincidence?Is it the the presence of so many women thronging the streets, nipping in and out of shops, loitering on the sidewalks?

A continuation of ROHR Zimbabwe demonstration held at the courts on 25 February 2009 to put pressure on the inclusive government to release journalists, human rights and political detainees who were victims of enforced disappearances in October - December 2008. ROHR Zimbabwe stands for restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe, a human rights pressure group whose vision is to see a 'peaceful, just and free Zimbabwe that is conscious of and respects human' ROHR was founded in March 2007 and registered under the Zimbabwean law as a trust in August 2007. ROHR is known for its action oriented approach to redressing human rights abuses in Zimbabwe through workshops, capacity buliding workshops and active engagement of the citizenry in human rights and governance issues.

HARARE – Zimbabwe army soldiers stepped up attacks on civilians in the month of June as the country’s power-sharing government showed little desire to act to stop rising political violence and human rights abuses, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said this week. In its latest report on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Human Right NGO Forum said cases of political violence and rights abuses surged to 125 in June compared to 99 incidents recorded the previous May.

Tens of thousands of people in Mali's capital, Bamako, have been protesting against a new law which gives women equal rights in marriage.The law, passed earlier this month, also strengthens inheritance rights for women and children born out of wedlock. The head of a Muslim women's association says only a minority of Malian women - "the intellectuals" as she put it - supports the law.

Doctors at Zimbabwe's state hospitals on Wednesday called off a crippling two-week strike, broken by the reality that the government had no money to meet their wage demands, their union said.The strike was called off after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai reassured doctors that the government was listening to them, and urged them to return to work after five children caught swine flu and new cholera cases broke out."We have called off the strike and we are now going back to work," Brighton Chizhande, president of the Hospital Doctors Association told AFP.

Thousands of striking South African workers brought mines and businesses to a halt yesterday across four provinces to protest against a jump in electricity, food and fuel prices."We are definitely saying we are tired of all this price fixing, price increases. All we want is stabilization in the pricing of all forms of commodities." The one-day walkout is part of a series of rolling strikes to protest against rising inflation, high interest rates and job cuts after a power crisis engulfed the country this year.

Madagascar's opposition will stage more protests against President Marc Ravalomanana despite the killing of at least 28 anti-government demonstrators, its leader said yesterday.Security forces patrolled the streets around the presidential palace where thousands of demonstrators clashed with riot police on Saturday.The main hospital in Antananarivo, capital of the Indian Ocean island, was crowded with hundreds of wounded supporters of opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, who was sacked as the capital's mayor five days ago.

Security forces in Madagascar fired on a crowd of protesters outside one of the country’s presidential palaces in the capital city on Saturday, with several reports saying that more than 20 people were killed.The violence was yet another deadly episode in a struggle for power between President Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina, the elected mayor of Antananarivo, the capital. A week ago, Mr. Rajoelina declared that he was taking over the government of Madagascar, an island nation of 20 million.

Madagascar security forces regained control of four government ministry offices early Friday from supporters of opposition leader  Andry Rajoelina.Police officials say 50 people were arrested during the operation. Madagascar's internal security minister, Desire Rasolofomanana, said civil servants can now return to work. Supporters of Andry Rajoelina cordoned off by security forces near block of ministerial offices in Antananarivo, 19 Feb 2009Opposition supporters took over the offices Thursday in their push to remove President Marc Ravalomanana from power.

Authorities in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar must bring to justice members of the presidential guard responsible for the killing on Saturday of a journalist covering an antigovernment demonstration in the capital, Antananarivo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ando Ratovonirina, 26, a reporter and cameraman for the private broadcaster Radio Télévision Analamanga (RTA), was struck in the head after soldiers opened fire on unarmed opposition demonstrators marching toward the presidential palace, according to witnesses. He was carrying a notebook and sound equipment, according to reporter Mirindra Raparivelo, who was filming the scene for the station. Raparivelo recalled the hiss of bullets and the smell of gunfire as he crawled to safety uninjured.

President Mamadou Tandja of Niger has joined the club of leaders who have overturned constitutions to overstay their welcome in recent years. Following victory in a referendum held on August 4, he is the twelfth African leader in a decade to engineer a third term of office. Has the tide turned against the “third wave” of democratization in Africa?Term limits were introduced by more than half of the continent’s states between 1990 and 1994. They came as part of a “democracy package” that included multi-party competitive elections, freedom of the press and constitutionalism. They were meant to end the practice of presidency for life, when dictators were ousted only by a coup d’etat or death, or both.

Security forces in Niger have used batons and tear gas to disperse a group of women protesting at the president's attempts to hold on to power. About 100 women from the main opposition coalition tried to hold a sit-in outside the constitutional court in the capital, Niamey. President Mamadou Tandja wants to hold a referendum to decide if he should be allowed to seek a third time in office.

This video shows how the black activists and leaders misled their people during the anti-apartheid struggle, promising them liberation from poverty. The truth is that they merely manipulated the masses, mobilizing them to provide their leaders with an easy ticket to power and riches. The numerical supremacy of black people meant easy victory through mere "head counting" rather than the true spirit of democracy, that relies on effective opposition to provide successful government.

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) reaches much further than the affirmative action programmes in other countries. It sets quotas for black ownership of companies across all economic sectors in South Africa. Since the ANC assumed government in 1994, a loss of skills and experience on a massive scale in the public sectors (electricity supply, health care, water & sewage management etc.) combined with huge salaries and bonuses awarded to managers who were appointed based on race, rather than qualifications and experience, has resulted in extreme inefficiency and disruption. So far, the large influx of foreign investment capital since 1994 has allowed the country to absorb this squandering of resources while still maintaining economic growth.

However, this video shows the growing resentment against the ANC government for their inability to translate South Africa's economic growth to job creation on a large enough scale, to combat widespread poverty effectively. The ANC has made the mistake of empowering from the top down. They demonstrate a monumental lack of ability to prioritise, spending millions on celebrations, fighter jets, change of street and city names - failing to address the issues closest to people's hearts: unemployment, violent crime and AIDS. Few feel safe in their own homes, and those who can afford it, transform their homes to virtual prisons to try and protect their families. This is not real freedom.

The new, "Black Apartheid" is a far cry from the "non-racial" South Africa promised by the ANC in the lead-up to the 1994 democratic elections. The government's reckless implementation of the affirmative-action policy is forcing many white people to leave the country, creating a skills shortage crisis, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Thursday. "We need to grant white South Africans a meaningful stake in the existing order ... not only does this make economic sense, it is also in line with our vision of a non-racial South Africa of the struggle days," he said.

The reason a majority of white people supported the then-National Party's referendum calling for an end to apartheid rule was because they believed they would have a place in the new South Africa, said Buthelezi. "If the majority of white South Africans had envisaged in the early 1990s the way affirmative action and racial classification would come to dominate the post-apartheid labour market, few would have voted 'Yes' in Mr [FW] de Klerk's watershed referendum on constitutional reform," he said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHamAKmTNIM

 

Supporters of former president Marc Ravalomanana demonstrate in the streets of Antananarivo.

 

 

On Monday November 14th, 162 workers (including 81 women) from the British clothing manufacturer Dewhirst in Morocco were sacked. As a subcontractor, Dewhirst produces mainly clothes for the Marks and Spencer (M&S) company. M&S and Dewhirst have a close and long running relationship. The workers had been waging action against the bad working conditions in the factory that employs 4000 workers in Tanger in the north of the country. The reaction of the boss was to sack these workers with the aim of terrorising the rest of the workforce.The sacked workers have now started an around the clock sit-in in front of the company. The CDT (Confédération Démocratique du Travail) union has taken up their case. Working conditions are really scandalous. They earn a poor 1800 Dirham or approximately 180 euros a month. Wage differentials are very big going from 1800 Dirham to 130,000 Dirham. Some workers spend almost half of their wage (700 Dirham) to buy medicines to treat the illnesses contracted in the factory. As they work with chemical products they suffer from asthma, other respiratory disorders and skin problems. Others suffer from depression and heavy stress. Many women workers in the factory complain also of sexual harassment and abuse.Three years ago Dewhirst moved from Wales to Morocco destroying more than 1000 jobs.Economic development minister Andrew Davies declared in 2002 “Dewhirst has made a strategic decision to withdraw from manufacturing in Wales in a move to increase profits “Dewhirst previously had 5 factories in Morocco. It has already closed two of these and plans to close another and move production to Asia where wages are even lower than in North Africa.Duncan Green, the author of the book Fashion victims wrote that “Dewhirst's profit margins make it the envy of the garment industry”. Those profits are the result of the brutal exploitation of the workforce.Urgent protest and solidarity is needed with the sacked workers from Dewhirst in Tanger.In Defense of Marxism,http://www.marxist.com/sacked-moroccan-workers171105.htm

 

Reggae Dancehall legend Shabba Ranks leads a rally of supporters for Nelson Mandela’s presidential campaign in South Africa in 1993 or 1994.