 |
| The Streets of Harare, Zimbabwe |
Monday, 21 October 2013
Thursday, 25 July 2013
THE VIBE CULTURE: ECHOES FROM THE STEEL AND WHEEL INSTRUMENT - A Tribute to Chiwoniso Maraire
 |
| Gone too soon - Chiwoniso Maraire |
On Wednesday the
24th of July 2013, Zimbabwe woke up to the sad news of the passing
of a much loved woman in the country’s music circles. It was the shocking death
of Chiwoniso Maraire. Those who knew her quite well called her Chichi.
Only last year,
I did a collection of Chiwoniso Maraire’s music. I did not appreciate Chiwoniso
that much until in early 2010 when I listened to her song on the album Famba Zvakanaka: Safe Journey by the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM), a collaboration project of prominent local
artists that sought to address the issues of illegal migration and the risks of
HIV/AIDS at the height of Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis. Since then,
I have been a follower of Chiwoniso. I have appreciated her talented voice and
the richness she brought to the platform each time she took to the stage. It
was easy for Chiwoniso to become one of my top favourite artists. Her death is
devastating. No more new stuff from Chiwoniso! It is true that sometimes we do
not realise just how much important someone is, and the beauty of what they
give us until they are gone. I have known of this, but I have certainly been
reminded. A tribute to her is in order.
There is
something about Chichi’s music, something about her love affair with mbira that
stood out. Her music was filled with spirituality and spoke to the African
soul, more so to the Zimbabwean soul. She was just as spiritual in her
performance as the mbira instrument is to the African. With her group, The Vibe
Culture, Chiwoniso changed the face of mbira music trotted on untraveled routes
leaving a remarkable trail of excellence and progression.
 |
| She had a spiritual connection with mbira that was soul-searching |
Whilst the mbira
or thump piano instrument is found in many places across Africa, with some of
its names being mbila, likimbe, zanzu and karimbao, the mbira culture is strongest
in Zimbabwe. Chiwoniso and the Vibe Culture sustained that culture and ushered
its breakthrough in contemporary modern stage and studio performance. According
to Chiwoniso, she played a type of mbira called the mbira nyunga nyunga. Traditionally
only men were allowed to play mbira in Zimbabwe. Chichi turned the tables
around and challenged that patriarchal system, and made a name for herself for
playing mbira, the wheel and steel instrument. That was a solid role on its own
that Chichi played in the feminist movement. But that was only as far as
challenging this traditional system was concerned. Substantively, her music
took this role further. She sang of liberation, child protection, women
emancipation and raised her voice to bring awareness about the suffering that
people went through at home.
On her
remarkable discography, Chiwoniso left us with the masterpiece albums Ancient Voices, Timeless, Rebel Woman,
and Hupenyu Kumusha, Life at Home, Impilo
Ekhaya: The Collaboration Volume 1,
which she did with her colleagues. She also had her song Rebel Woman featured on the international compilation Listen to the Banned, which features the
music of banned, censored and imprisoned artists from the Middle East, Africa
and Asia. To date, Ancient Voices is
perhaps Zimbabwe’s best known album internationally, and the album made her a
star on the world music scene. No doubt, those who will take time to open their
ears and listen to her voice and words will easily see why she became a world
star. My personal favourites from her are Nhemamusasa,
Wandirasa and Listen to the Breeze.
Very few of us
will forget her role in some of the first local films to hit our screens. “Mudiwa Tamari, eh my darling Tamari!”
That was in the movie Everyone’s Child,
directed by the talented Tsitsi Dangarembga and produced by Jonny Persey. Everyone’s Child also emerged in the
same film as a soundtrack from Chichi. Her involvement in this and many other
films speaks of the role she was constantly playing in fighting societal ills,
which almost always was the focus of all the film projects she has been
involved in.
I was in Harare
recently and had planned to watch Chiwoniso perform. I could not have known
that by not fulfilling my plans I had forfeited my last opportunity to see
Chiwoniso live on stage. The stages at the Harare International Festival of
Arts (HIFA), Book Café, Jazz 105 and many other platforms and joints where
music and art lovers conglomerated, local and abroad, will never be the same
again. The void shall be felt.
Among her many
exploits, Chichi will be remembered for her role in exporting Zimbabwe’s music
to the far lands of the West and East.
As one
commentator noted on twitter, Chiwoniso Maraire brought glitz and glamour to
the mbira genre. Through her playing of the mbira instrument, many young people
were inspired to play the mbira in modern and contemporary fashion. Her use of
both the Shona language and English made the mbira genre all the more
interesting, adapting it to modern times and making mbira music go
international. With Chiwoniso, we saw mbira being fused the modern instruments,
producing a blend of sound that made her unique in her own way. She started a
trend and laid a foundation for upcoming musicians to follow her and develop
the genre.
 |
| The Vibe Culture on stage |
Many had thought
that the departure of Stella Chiweshe from active performance on the local
scene was a death to the kind of sound she had created with mbira, but
Chiwoniso emerged and took it further, adding flair to it. So we had
contemporary mbira grooves led by Chiwoniso on the one hand, and the
traditional all-male mbira outfits led by Mbira dzeNharira, Mbira
dzeChirorodziva and Maungira Enharira on the other. May the likes of Dudu
Manhenga and Hope Masike carry Chiwoniso’s work forward. May they take
contemporary mbira music to another level. That will be a befitting tribute to
Chichi, the queen of mbira music.
I cannot help
but agree with Selmor Mtukudzi; “Hameno Mwari band rakapenga ravarikugadzira
kudenga uko, because it seems he is only picking the most gifted artists”. (God
must be assembling a great band up there in heaven because it seems he is only
picking the most gifted artists). It is celebrations in the heavens I guess,
but to us left behind, it pains. “….So if I cry it’s only because I don’t know
what to do.” I am reminded of Jah Prayzah’s lines in his 2012 collaboration
with Chiwoniso, Mhiriyo; “Baba
vatonga zvapera. Izwi radana zvakwana.” (The Lord has ruled, it is over).
Zvachioniso zvapera! Chiwoniso will be greatly missed.
Musa Kika
Durban, July
2013
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
A sterling contribution to youth development
From his days as a head boy at primary school to
overseeing the launch of the Dr Timothy Stamps Trust on Chronic Conditions last
month, the 23-year-old has shown immense leadership skills and a passion to
emancipate youth.
,+University+of+KwaZulu-Natal,+2012.jpg) |
| Musa Kika is currently recognised as one of South Africa's brightest young minds. |
rust on Chronic Conditions where he serves Programmes Coordinator, become a member of the Young People’s Network on HIV/AIDS & Sexual Reproductive Health for Harare Province, co-founded the UKZN Student Law Review and recently represented his country at the Commonwealth Legal Education Association’s Law Students Conference seventh Session of the Conference of Youth on Climate Change held at the sidelines of the COP17 meeting in Durban.
In a recent interview with The Zimbabwean, Kika said his passion for empowering youth came after he realised Zimbabwe was in need of development-oriented, innovative and forward looking leaders.
“Young people are the greatest hope the continent has to combat the vices we face today. Investing in young people is building a firm foundation for Africa, especially so in the areas that haunt Africa the most – governance and development,” he said.
“As a young person, I realised that the few talents and abilities I have are better used in the service of the community that I come from, in this case being Zimbabwe and my continent at large. I am inspired by individuals who, in the face of adversity and skepticism, have remained principled.”
The number of hurdles he has encountered over the years have not quenched his passion and drive.
“The challenges I have faced are the very same vices I am fighting: lack of resources, general complacence and lack of motivation to change circumstances for the better.” Kika’s efforts have not gone unnoticed internationally. In 2011, non-governmental organisation, Brightest Young Minds, rated him among the 100 brightest young minds of South Africa. He is currently affiliated to the Brightest Young Minds as an alumnus and is recognized as a Vice Chancellor’s Scholar at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the highest academic honour he has received yet.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co/news/zimbabwe/66618/a-sterling-contribution-to-youth.html
Thursday, 20 June 2013
NEW JOURNAL TO ASSIST LAW STUDENTS HONE WRITING SKILLS
UKZN Online Volume: 7 Issue: 31
http://enewsletter.ukzn.ac.za/Story.aspx?id=149&storyid=2014 |
| The Law Review Team: Pic 1 Howard College Team from left - right, top: Londiwe Goba, Tafadzwa Chiposi, Musa Kika; bottom, Ntokozo Qwabe, Aidean Ross, Lavanya Pillay Pic 2 Pietermaritzburg Team (left - right); Tafadzwa Dhlakama, Carol Maseka, Ntokozo Mamela, Phumla Tom, Amin Matola. |
Law students have created a vehicle to sharpen their academic writing skills
following the recent launch of a journal titled: The UKZN Student Law
Review.
The journal will feature articles, case notes and book reviews written by
undergraduate and postgraduate law students from both the Pietermaritzburg and
Howard College campuses.
The articles will focus on various aspects of the law including developments
in law and analyses of landmark decisions which substantially impact on the
implementation and enforcement of the Constitution, adherence to the rule of law
and the promotion of social change through amendments to the law.
The team of students driving this innovative idea are Mr Ntokozo Qwabe, Mr
Musa Kika, Ms Tafadzwa Chiposi, Ms Londiwe Goba, Ms Aideen Ross, Mr Tafadzwa
Dhlakama, Ms Carole Maseka, Ms Phumla Tom, Mr Amin Matola, Ms Ntokozo Memela and
Ms Lavanya Pillay.
Kika, a third year LLB student, said the development of the journal was
motivated by the need for students to have an outlet for their contribution to
legal debates which shape their constitutional democracy and South Africa’s
legal system.
‘We have noted the absence in our Law School of a platform which allows our
students exposure to academic writing outside the classroom, yet law itself is a
writing profession and sound writing skills are vital. We aim to develop
independent research and writing skills among students - essential aspects which
have been criticised for being inadequate in the LLB programme in its current
structure,’ said Kika.
Mr Qwabe reiterated the call for students to submit papers saying: ‘Not only
will this enrich their research and writing skills, it will also make them
marketable for employment and other exciting opportunities available to law
students.’
Law academic, Ms Lee Stone, said the journal would be a useful tool to
develop and groom the students as legal professionals, scholars and
academics.
‘The journal articles that are received from students will be published on
the School of Law website. We envisage that we will eventually move towards
publishing print copies of the Law Review once we have secured funding for
this. Students are invited and encouraged to submit contributions to the Law
Review through the Call for Papers which has been distributed by e-mail to each
student and is also contained on the Law Review webpage,’ she said.
To view the call for papers and articles follow this link: http://law.ukzn.ac.za/Student-Law-Review.aspx
Saturday, 23 March 2013
THERE WAS A MAN. HIS NAME WAS CHINUA ACHEBE
“While
we do our good works, let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world
in which charity will have become unnecessary” Chinua Achebe (Anthills of the
Savannah, 1987)
I
was doing my A’ levels in Harare when I first came into contact with Albert
Chinualumogu Achebe. His 1987 novel, Anthills
of the Savannah, was a set book in the African list, along with Tsitsi
Dangarembga’s She No Longer Weeps,
Paul Freeman’s Rumours of Ophir, and We killed Mangy Dog and other Mozambican
Stories. I enjoyed English literature so much, it was my favourite subject,
and of these works, Anthills of the Savannah stood out. I cannot help but move back in time at the
thought of this, and be filled with the nostalgic reminiscence of those
literature classes and seminars back at St Johns High School in Emerald Hill. I
especially remember the academic debates with my talented friends, that were
almost always about politics and literature, and the latter almost always
centred on Anthills of the Savannah and the many intellectually stimulating
themes it brought; gender, African governance, African tradition, Western
education, myths, among many others. Very few of my time would forget how
studying Anthills of the Savannah made the study of literature a pleasure. It
made the study of literature go beyond an intellectual appreciation of words
craftsmanship. This African piece spoke to the heart and soul, more so being an
African myself.
Since then, I have grown to like Chinua
Achebe. I have read his other works. I quote them many a times. Since then, I
have not regarded Professor Achebe as a mere writer. He became an icon to me,
an icon for the very themes his work brought up, and the agenda he pursued
through them. I had already listed Achebe to be amongst the top men I looked up
to from the African continent, because of their wisdom, integrity and
consistency. Then last night, I learnt of the death of this man. My heart was
broken.
In 2011 Achebe was ranked by Forbes as the most influential celebrity in Africa. Professor Achebe was a writer par excellence, an activist of good governance and an academic who did not hesitate to use his talent for the greater good of his people. His novel Things Fall Apart is to date the most widely read book in modern Africa literature. His masterpieces; Arrow of God, A Man of the People, and No Longer at Ease, amongst other works, remain at the heart of many.
Many would remember where and when his
struggle against the misrepresentation of Africa by non-Africans started, in
which period he did lectures such as ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s
“Heart of Darkness”’. Achebe is the man who told the true story of Africa as an
African son, gracefully celebrating its virtues, unapologetically attacking the
structural wrongs of Africa, and viciously fighting against its
misrepresentation by those who know little of it, from across the oceans.
Achebe
had an intellectual Afro-centrism, one that took pride of who he was yet in no
denial of the challenges that surround our beloved continent. This manifestly
resonated in his works. One could see traditional African wisdom, packaged for
modern day consumption. In no other works have I seen African oral tradition,
folk stories, proverbs and oratory so succinctly infused with modern academic
intellectualism to produce fine art of the highest octane value for Africa and
beyond. I totally loved this in his novels.
He realised his role was not merely to highlight the challenges of
Africa, but suggest solutions in remedial thereof. His works are pregnant with
patently African solutions to African problems. As a writer, Achebe was not
writing from a detached position. He had seen and experienced the things he
wrote. He wrote about a people he was a part of. The credibility of his works
is therefore not questionable.
For me, Achebe was an icon as he captured the sense
of pride in his identity, the desire for growth and development, and the
principles of accountability and just governance. He was an epitome of how we
all ought to use our talents and play our part in our struggle for social
justice, peace and development. During the 1970s, Achebe did involve himself in
political parties but soon resigned out of frustration over the rampant
corruption and elitism he witnessed in those few years. To this day, as a man
of principle, Achebe refused to be corrupted by those in power as evidenced by
his legendary rejection of the National Honour by the
Nigerian government, twice; at first in 2004 because of the rampant corruption,
intolerance and poor governance in Nigeria, and for the second time in 2011 because
nothing had changed from the time he rejected the first offer to the time he
was offered for the second time. The National Honour is Nigeria’s highest
honour. True to his own word; “One of the truest tests of integrity is
its blunt refusal to be compromised”. |
| "The Mandela of Literature" - The Daily Telegraph |
I
still have Achebe’s works on my reading list, and I will read them. As I read,
I will remember that this is a legacy left to us by one of the greatest minds
to ever grace the African continent. I will remind myself of a life well lived.
I will reflect on what has changed from the time he put down his concerns to
paper, in an artistic way, to the present. For this and other sons and
daughters of Africa who spent their lives fighting for social justice and the
just governance of men through their works, we who have been left behind have a
duty. Ours is a task, just like in any other struggle waged, to ensure that the
work of the pioneers is carried forward, and that the achievement of the ideals
that these people stood for, become the greatest tribute we can ever give to
them. Achebe was a hero, I will call him a freedom fighter. He called himself a
storyteller, and he waged battle at his own level through his chosen career,
where his talent lay. He continued to do this in academic exile, in Boston, where
he finally made his death.
“Storytellers
are a threat. They threaten all champions of control, they frighten usurpers of
the right-to-freedom of the human spirit – in state, in church or mosque, in
party congress, in the university or wherever” - Chinua Achebe.
Indeed
even at the time of his death, at the time of our loss, this will strengthen us;
we are but like the anthills of the savannah that survive to tell the new grass
of the savannah about last year’s bush fires. We will not be broken in spirit,
but will survive with those bruises, for the generations to follow to see that
here a great battle was fought, and for them to take over and fight against
injustice and for the African renaissance.
Chinua
Achebe illuminated the path for Africa writers; rightly described as one of the
continent’s towering men of letters. The great Igbo man from Nigeria has left
us. African has borne the loss. Rest in eternal peace the father of African
literature. Our children will live to read your works in generations to come.
It is a legacy left to us, one that we will cherish.
Musa Kika
Durban, South Africa
23 March 2013
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Obituary to the late Minister Stan Mudenge
It was sad when I heard of the death of Hon. Isaak Stanislaus Gorerazvo Mudenge this morning. Hon. Mudenge was the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education in Zimbabwe.
I first met Minister Mudenge in 2009 when I was the Junior Minister of Transport and Communications at an African Ambassadors to Zimbabwe function at Harare's Rainbow Towers Hotel. I remember it was on Africa Day and we had a brief discussion together with the Dean of the African Ambassadors to Zimbabwe, His Excellency Mwana Nanga Mawampanga.
I then laughed my lungs out at Parliament later on, from the Speaker's Gallery, when his fellow MPs made fun of him for his pronunciation of the word "Sir" in 'Mr Speaker Sir'. The Minister was accused of speaking like a 'cheese boy' (hanzi nemaHonourable MP vainoza!!!).
These are my memories of the late Honourable Minister.
Like most of the early guys who were in governemnt soon after independence, Minister Mudenge was highly educated, having passed through the University of Rhodesia in
Salisbury, the
University of York, England, and the
University of London. He has lectured at Sierra Leone University, Freetown and at the University of Lesotho. Academically, he was indeed an inspiration. He held several ministerial, ambassadorial and permanent secretarial posts in governemnt upto the time of his death.
He will be greatly missed. May his soul rest in peace.
10 October 2012
Musa Kika
Sunday, 29 July 2012
ZIMBABWE'S NEW CONSTITUTION?
So finally there is news from Harare. The Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) management committee finally submitted the 2nd draft of the new Constitution to Parliament and to the three principals in the not-so-united Government of National Unity on the 17th of July 2012. The nation was beginning to lose faith in them and I was among those who were slowly beginning to be pessimistic.
The need for a new constitution is Zimbabwe has ceased to be a point of discussion. Only those who are obsessed with being on the wrong side of history will hold otherwise. For over a decade we have tried to come up with a new constitution that reflects the people’s will and get over with the 1979 Lancaster House Constitution, a ceasefire document whose key utility was to end the liberation war, and have survived this far by infamous amendments. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity. This is the rationale: constitutional development is a process and not an event. It has taken decades and centuries for the democracies we admire to be where they are today and that is why South Africa’s almost overnight transition in 1994 enabled by the 1993 Constitution is referred to by many as a miracle. But even then, the country had to do another Constitution in 1996 to fully entrench what the national democratic revolution sought to achieve. Now South Africa has probably the most progressive Constitution in the world. In Zimbabwe we want a miracle, and that is a problem. We cannot achieve a clean break from the past so easily. This Constitution should be accepted with its few flaws (whatever those are) and be used as a bridge to a new era. Who said the constitution cannot be changed afterwards?
From what I have read I have noted many provisions that bring about positive reform to our beloved nation. A few examples will illustrate this;
Establishment of a Constitutional Court: It is important that the nation have an independent Constitutional Court for the development of constitutionalism in the country. This will develop our constitutionalism and will foster expediency in the judiciary.
Human Rights: It is commendable that we have gone beyond civil and political rights and entrenched socio-economic rights. I would obviously not know how it will go with the implementation part, but it is one thing to fight for the recognition of socio-economic rights when they are not in the constitution and one thing to fight for them when they are constitutionally entrenched.
Social cohesion: Zimbabwe will have 16 official languages! That is a lot, but yes these languages are spoken in Zimbabwe. And sign language is one of these. I am particularly touched at how we have included languages originally not Zimbabwean but some of them spoken by people who came to Zimbabwe mostly as migrant workers and have now made home in the country. Chewa is a classic example. What this speaks of us is that whilst in some parts of our region Afrophobia is the order of the day, we have chosen to be embracive.
Electoral reforms: Perhaps the most important reason constitutional reform was set during the tenure of the GNU was to bring about electoral reforms, to be followed by elections in a well-regulated environment. The draft does carry these reforms. They might not be as tightly-knit but we must not forget that the whole process was led by three rival political camps and we should therefore accept that, like the GPA itself, the outcome is a compromise. Products of compromise have their limitations.
As a law student I would not want to enter the profession and start practicing law under the current constitutional dispensation. As Thomas Kennedy, I am not an advocate of constant change for the sake of change but laws must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind, as new truths are discovered and manners and opinions change.Those who stand in the way of progress will find themselves on the wrong side of history.
We have seen a lot of stagnation in the inclusive government and we seem to be failing to agree on issues of national importance. Many people would hold a different view but I think it is time we now have a solid government. The Unity Government played its part to save us from the brink of catastrophe but I cannot envisage a situation where we would go to elections using the current Constitution and electoral system without first regulating the environment under which the elections will be held to avoid a repeat of June 2008.
I would not know what the three parties will conclude on the draft but in the event that they do agree to take it to a referendum, my opinion is that people should go for the YES vote. It is healthy that civil society is there to also guide voters on the merits and flaws of the Constitution and will sensitize voters to vote in a certain way, but civil society also needs to understand that progress comes gradually and opportunities to change the status quo for the better should not be missed. Already the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) has voiced that it will campaign for a no vote, not based on its analysis of the content of the draft, but for the sole reason that the process was led by politicians. Indeed no right-thinking Zimbabwean ever wanted politicians to lead the process but in all this the voter should have progress in mind in the voting booth. It has cost us a lot of resources to put together this draft and we have also willingly participated in the two-year long process. Will it then not be irresponsible for us to throw the document away?
*Published in ThoughtLeader (Mail & Guardian), July 2012 http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/readerblog/2012/08/02/zims-new-constitution/
Friday, 8 June 2012
ICTs and the Global Politico-Economic Agenda: Locating Africa in Cyberspace
Until recently I had never really given a thought to the role of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the development of the developing world, especially Africa. Each time I was faced with the question of ICTs I would resort to “parroting the half-digested rhetoric” that Africa is in the fast-lane of technology and it is all gains for the region. Half-digested rhetoric I say because this is really only what the mainstream media using the same ICTs has conditioned us to believe, and we never have a second thought to evaluate the role of ICTs on the global agenda politically and economically, and the location of Africa within that context. Recently at the 2nd International Conference on Human Rights Education in Durban I was asked a question by a student participant on my thoughts on social media with regard to human rights education and social media and young people generally. I responded that social media is useful in reaching out to young people especially on the view that this is perhaps one of the few best ways to reach out to this “facebook generation” and educate them on human rights, mobilising them for a human rights culture. As I responded, it made me to reflect on the way we as young people see social media and its utility, and subsequently on the role of ICTs in the larger development agenda, especially with regard to what it has brought for Africa thus far. This essay seeks to broaden our perceptions as we tackle the issue of ICTs, and to help us as a continent in mapping a way forward in putting Africa on the development path through ICTs. The essay draws from the work of Y. Z. Ya’u “The New Imperialism and Africa in the Global Electronic Village”[1] and the insights of Emmanuel Sairosi at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.[2]
In the globalised world
ICT is the fulcrum of globalisation. This is now an unquestionable fact. Through ICTs distance and space, though still relevant, have collapsed as stumbling blocks to communication and interaction. With the increasingly faster and widening use of the internet, contemporary communication goes faster, farther, wider, cheaper and clearer. This is unprecedented. This generation has witnessed telemedicine saving lives, robots teaching children, e-commerce making trade easier, e-governance and the development of disaster mitigation strategies. It is true that ICTs have transformed lives. For what we are used to learning on ICTs, or at least what we are supposed to know, it ends here. Yet this is where the real story begins. This essay will take it further from here and explore virtual colonialism and the truths beyond this hyper-optimism that blurs people’s vision on ICTs, the social re-orientation being fostered, and the emergence of a single-market economy through ICTs, all driven by power-politics.
In 2009 a revolution occurred in Iran. It was never televised but was publicised on Twitter, earning itself the tile “the Twitter Revolution”. In 2010 a revolution occurred in Egypt and a dictator fell. The masses were brought together through Facebook and it was termed the “Facebook Revolution”. In most countries ranked as the most media repressive nations of the world,[3] citizen journalism has filled the gap, and hand-held gadgets and social media is used to circumvent repressive media laws. All these events attest to the mobilising power of modern ICTs. It is this same power that has facilitated virtual colonisation through ICTs, a vehicle for the proliferation of structural power “to secure the virgin markets of developing countries and also to configure the world in the interests of the new imperial powers”.[4] This is a new platform for the “masters” of ICT to strengthen hegemonic hold over the world.
High-tech terrorism?
Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder and director, received, among others, the 2009 Amnesty International UK Media Award for his publications and in 2010 the Reader’s Choice Award by TIME Magazine as well as the Sam Adams Award. In the same year US Vice President Joe Biden, US Senator Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich labelled Assange a “high tech terrorist”. How then is it that one man receives such awards by reputable organisations whilst being labelled a terrorist, all for the same acts? The answer is there is information, according to his accusers, that is classified and is not meant for public consumption, never mind that it is about that same public! Julian’s crime is to have revealed this ‘exclusive’ information. His is “exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights."[5] It is because he is a journalist "whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda, or 'official drivel'".[6] When he was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism the judges said, "WikiLeaks has been portrayed as a phenomenon of the hi-tech age, which it is. But it's much more. Its goal of justice through transparency is in the oldest and finest tradition of journalism."[7] This highlights the first tool of control furthered by hegemonic powers through ICTs, information rationing and the control of what knowledge is to be known as the “right knowledge”, and what information gets to who. With the control of what information reaches to who comes agenda setting.
Our knowledge economy
We live in an information economy; a knowledge-based society where the man with the most knowledge wields the most power and chances of survival. Africa’s integration in the global information economy circuit is one of being at the receiving end, a position condemned to information poverty. Africa is configured with the information and knowledge passed on to it, and this is aided by the next portal of control; that Africa is a net consumer of information communication technology and has almost zero production. What this means is that as a region we lack control of access to ICTs, and where we have access we find ourselves without any real option on content. It is monopoly over information by the global north, who happen to be the producers and subsequently the controllers of the content. Never mind the fact that Africa is the world’s largest producer of coltan, and of course may other raw materials in the ICT manufacturing industry. This monopoly of information and information poverty and dependence has been institutionalised through the most powerful organisations of the world, economically and otherwise, among them, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is evident the World Bank and the IMF manipulated their monopoly over “expert knowledge” and prescribed destructive structural adjustment programmes in the developing world at the height of the neo-liberal creed. Today no one country that was involved in those programmes can stand up and show positive results thereof. Not even those who got A+ ratings for perfection in the implementation of the programmes. Only the ignorant do not know that participant countries emerged poorer than before. In fact the World Bank has now transformed itself into the “knowledge bank”. Together with the WTO, the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and all its constituent agreements in the form of TRIPS, GATS and the Agreement on Telecommunications, among others, have also assumed the role of spreading capitalism and laissez faire economics where they do not work. As has already been noted, Africa is in a different stage of development, one that the global north passed through decades ago, and Africa is in need of the developmental state, the Mercantilist approach. Through ICT’s Africa is being forced off-track from its course of development and whatever benefit is to be derived therefrom is at best unsustainable and at worst self-destructive in the medium to long-term. In all this the state has been relegated to the creator of a conducive environment for private sector-led development, with the giant ICT multinational co-orporations emerging the biggest winners.
Still on access, ICTs are more expensive in the developing regions than the developed world, yet Africa is said to be in the fast lane of technology. It has been established that there are more internet uses in the United States alone than the entire African Continent, in spite of the huge population differences.[8] This “marginality of Africa in cyberspace” is responsible for the digital divide between the global north and the global south, a structural relationship wherein the developed world stands to benefit more and Africa the least. As it stands, the region has poor ICT infrastructure to develop ICT usage for mutual benefit and has found comfort in being dumping ground for obsolete technology.
The great trek: ICTs and wealth transfer
On the economic front, Africa has experienced a multiplicity of phases in its history wherein massive transfer of wealth occurred from this peripheral region to the imperial core in the global north. The trans-Atlantic slave trade saw huge and crippling human capital transfers. Then came the trade of chartered companies that was neither symmetrical in outcome nor “legitimate” as it is sometimes referred to. Afterwards came colonialism, wherein arbitrary expropriation of resources occurred. Natural resources and minerals were looted. Post-colonialism came the period of structural adjustment programmes following the Washington Consensus, wherein large amounts of money were paid to the developed nations and the global financial institutions as balance-of-payments for debts that are, apparently, never fully paid up even to this day. At present we are I a new phase of wealth transfer, this time through ICTs. Ya’u identifies areas through which ICTs are leading to the movement of wealth to the developed world as electronic transfers, repatriation of profits by ICT firms, cost of connection to the internet backbone and the costs of importing the equipment and building ICT infrastructure.
The current and trendy way to do business is now e-transactions. Electronic transactions being invisible are difficult to tax. The implication is lost state revenue and higher profit margins for the transitional corporations who do business across national borders. With e-transactions, capital is highly mobile and can be transferred to foreign lands easily.
As Africa is not engaged in production of ICT equipment and infrastructure, it is heavily dependent on imports, and the cost of is very high. Added to the cost of connecting to the internet backbone and to various enabling networks, all based and controlled in the global north, Africa parts with large amounts of capital funds.
The use of ICTs itself opens up trading opportunities and access to wide markets. From all perspectives the global north has cashed-in with this as Africa’s markets are opened up without protective barriers. Prima facie there is nothing wrong with opening up to wide markets of the world. The problem with this is that while developed countries get unlimited access to the virgin markets of Africa and the developing world, aided by the free-trade prescriptions of the WTO and the conditionalities of the Bretton Woods Institutions’ development assistance, developing countries are in no position to undertake reciprocal trade in developed countries. Inevitably this regime results in surplus value for the developed countries, entrenching all the propositions of the neo-liberal Marxists’ dependency theory. In essence, ICTs erase boarders and unites the world into a single, but brutally competitive market in which Africa stands no chance (Ya’u, 13).
On shaping perceptions: “Africa the darkest continent”
Through the internet and other media outlets, people have written and proliferated the most negative of things about a continent they have never set foot on. And they have turned away the mind of the world from Africa, painting everything associated with Africa black. The media has painted a picture of Africa as the continent that will and can never be industrialised, as a continent in ongoing conflict emanating from almost primitive savagery resident in Africa.
It has not ended there, the perception of Africans themselves have been conditioned, alienated from their true selves. Indeed brainwashing and psychological conditioning has never been easier. It is rather unfortunate that the internet has been used for wholesale consumerism of Western cultures. Inevitably Africa has lost a significant part of its distinct civilisation, culture, pride and identity, and the little that is left is continually being lost. Once again the West has found another tool to spread Western civilisation across the globe as the universal civilisation that all ought to adopt.
Moving forward
This essay should never be misconstrued as implying that ICTs are undesired, but that the current institutional arrangements allow for manipulation and encourages a widening of the digital divide and for the use of ICTs as a vehicle for control and agendas setting by the powerful nations over the weaker. The solution is certainly not for Africa to isolate itself. It can neither be disconnecting Africa from the world. Rather it is to channel ICTs for development where there is access to it, and not using it for wholesale consumerism of foreign cultures and filtered information systematically designed to perpetuate dependence. Indeed hope never dries, and there are remedies.
Africa must seek to be a producer. Without production, Africa will continue to provide a market for developing nations at its detriment, and capital flight will continue to occur at unprecedented levels, unabated. Production will certainly not be achieved over night, but existing efforts have been minimal, and all that is needed is to widen and speed up such existing efforts.
ICT themselves move along with literacy. Production and channelling ICT for development is impossible without basic literacy ad ICT education, and this draws attention to the need for an educated continent if the lucrative benefits brought by the ICT revolution are to be harvested. For ICT development projectisation specifically, the status quo calls for an integration of ICT education at all levels of the education system.
In all these endeavours, Africa ought to keep in mind the goal of first bridging the digital divide so that the asymmetrical outcome of ICTs at a global scale is done away with. Also to note is that the digital divide is not in isolation, but an extension of a wider divide featuring imperial domination by the core, in itself also a tool to deepen and widen the divide. Efforts to eliminate or narrow the digital divide specifically will thus be hardly successful should other areas be ignored, politically and economically. What is required is a holistic approach where there is concurrent initiative to catch-up in economic development and technological sophistication, and in resisting hegemonic dominance furthered though economic and technological tools.
It is never too late for Africa to Act and indeed hope never dries up.
[1] Y. Z. Ya’u “The New Imperialism and Africa in the Global Electronic Village” (2004) Review of African Political Economy No.99:11-29, ROAPE Publications Ltd.
[2] Emmanuel Sairosi is a Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Politics.
[3] Rankings are made annually be Freedom House and the 2012 rankings are available at http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/inline_images/FIW%202012%20Booklet--Final.pdf
[4] Ya’u “The New Imperialism and Africa in the Global Electronic Village” (2004), 11.
[5] Hayes, Isabel (2 February 2011) "Julian Assange awarded Sydney peace medal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. Available at http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/julian-assange-awarded-sydney-peace-medal-20110202-1ad7y.html. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
[6] “Julian Assange wins Martha Gellhorn journalism prize” 2 June 2011 The Guardian Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/02/julian-assange-martha-gelhorn-prize. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
[7] “Julian Assange wins Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism” 2 June 2011 Available at http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/julian-assange-wins-martha-gellhorn-prize-for-journalism/s2/a544492/. Accessed 21 May 2012.
[8] With a population of over 1 billion people, Africa has only 139,875,242 users (6.2 % of the world’s internet users): http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. The Unites States alone with a population of 313,232,044 (as at 2011) has 245,203,319 users: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm#north.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)