Platform for Social Conversations

A Test for America. Discounting Xenophobia or Giving it Credence

2010-09-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Racism, Islamophobia and capitalist depression
Horace Campbell
2010-09-16, Issue 496

Following inflammatory remarks made by Florida pastor Terry Jones around burning the Qu'ran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, Horace Campbell considers the resurgence of Islamophobia and attempts by powerful sections of the US conservative ruling class to stoke up the flames of conflict. At a time of acute economic downturn, Campbell contends, the forces of peace and understanding must complement one another in a bid to prevent discrimation, prejudice and conflict from gaining traction and cementing the position of the US neo-conservative establishment.

When the news of the plans to burn more than 200 copies of the Qu’ran reached international headlines, any sane person wondered if US society had gone crazy. The incendiary plan came weeks after international debates about the plans by a group to build an Islamic community centre in New York City. Conservatives in the United States distorted the true story and there were wild claims that there were plans for the building of a mosque at Ground Zero in New York. Ground Zero is the name of the site of the fall of the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001. It is my view that the decision to burn the holy book during the period of the commemoration of the events of September 11 was a calculated effort to maximise the propaganda effort to heighten the scourges of racism and islamophopbia in the United States and in those societies in western Europe allied to conservative forces in the USA. As a propaganda tool, this announced plan to burn the Qu’ran achieved its most important goal, that is, to promote the ideas of war and hatred. It was for this reason that the timing of the Qu’ran burning was to coincide with the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Racism and anti-Islamic propaganda had been refined to serve the purposes of the US military–industrial complex. The divisions in the military over whether they were in a war against Islam or in a war against terrorists had been accentuated by the belief of some sections of the military that the commander in chief was in fact a Muslim, and therefore not an authentic citizen of the USA. For two decades US rulers had used the threat of Islamic fundamentalism as a justification for keeping a high military, economic and political profile in the Middle East while supporting the extremists in Israel. The troops and private contractors from the US military machine who had been pumped up by the association of Islam and fascism (so called Islamofascism) had to hear a credible voice from the neo-conservative establishment. Pastor Terry Jones was given wide publicity and the conservative sources of news were now caught in the contradiction of promoting racism and hatred of Islam in a way that made US forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan vulnerable to popular outrages. The most challenging aspect of this new period of hate was the spinelessness of liberals. In a period of the most serious capitalist depression since 1930, the scenario planners for the capitalist class had decided that a division between white and black workers was to be supplemented by divisions between Christians and the followers of Islam.

RACISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA

The extreme forms of racism that have been on the rise in the United States since the election of Barack Obama have shaken those who have been pontificating about a post-racial United States. Evidence of racial profiling, discrimination and the aggressive acts of exploitation of black and brown peoples in the United States have only been surpassed by the passionate statements of the racists who are turning up at the Tea Party rallies crying out that ‘we want our country back’. This chant by the conservative is an overt statement by the more racist section of US society that Barack Obama is an illegal president. Carl Paladino, who was running to become the gubernatorial candidate in the USA for the Republican Party in the state of New York, sent out emails with offensive racist and sexist images. My hometown newspaper reported that this candidate sent an email depicting a horse having sex with a woman and another that included a pornographic video and the headline ‘Miss France 2008 F[***]ing.’ He also reportedly sent out an email depicting President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as a pimp and prostitute. Paladino won the nomination with this message. Down in the South, the Obama presidency is dubbed as the ‘nigger show’.

Paladino come out of obscurity with this kind of message to become a frontline candidate in the race between Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate and Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate. After the primary elections on Tuesday 14 September 2010, the Tea Party emerged as a real force in US politics. In nine major races for the Senate the candidates backed by the Tea party won the right to contest in the November elections to be held on Tuesday 2 November. These victories gave the extreme racist and conservative forces front-line spaces to propagate falsehoods, lies, division and hatred of followers of the Islamic faith.

From the Tea Party followers we have been provided images of Obama as the Islamofascist when Obama was being compared to Hitler. These statements from the whipped-up crowds at political rallies have been supported by politicians who have called for the repeal of the 14th Amendment of the US constitution. This amendment was that instrument of the constitution that gave Africans the rights to be citizens of the United States after the Civil War of 1861–65. Prior to this constitutional change, Africans could not be citizens and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 had stated clearly that descendants of enslaved persons could not be citizens of the USA. The question had been posed before the Civil War in the US courts.

‘Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen?’

The answer as handed down by the US Supreme Court was: No.

This decision was overturned by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution after the Civil War. Since the US Civil War and the granting of citizenship to blacks there has been a debate among conservative jurists on whether it was a mistake to grant citizenship to blacks, who were considered inferior in any case.

After the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the conservatives were alarmed and started a campaign that Obama was not a real US citizen because he was not born in the United States. These citizens who carried this line were called ‘birthers’. As the conservative and right-wing forces gained confidence from millions of dollars being spent by billionaires to finance them and from the silence of the middle, the more extreme politicians went further to target not only blacks but citizens of Hispanic backgrounds. This double assault on black and Latinos was manifest in the posture of the Arizona state that adopted neo-fascist laws against immigrants and oppressed peoples. It was in this climate of heightened racial polarisation that Senator John Kyl (R-Ariz.) became the highest-ranking Republican to suggest support for the repeal of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. Appearing on a popular Sunday television show, Kyl said that he opposes allowing children of undocumented immigrants to be granted US citizenship and wants Congress to hold hearings on the matter. The subtext of this statement was to send a signal to the neo-conservatives that it was time to intensify the racist ideas that can leave blacks and Hispanics insecure in the USA. This insecurity would serve to divide the poor at a moment when all poor persons – black, white and brown – should be focusing on unemployment, loss of homes and the fighting of two wars at the same time.

Racism and capitalist exploitation have always gone hand in glove with strengthening the powers of the capitalist classes in the United States. This racism carries with it the ideas of white supremacy. Through the power of the Anglo-American media and propaganda, this racism became a worldwide phenomenon. Racism, sexism and homophobia became weapons in the toolbox of exploitation. Although the United Nations has retreated from linking racism to capitalism, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had been clear on the meaning of the terms of racial discrimination.

‘the term “racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.’

In my most recent book, ‘Barack Obama and Twenty-First Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA’, I linked racism and sexism and defined both in the following terms:

‘Racism emanates from a set of ideas, practices, attitudes, actions and institutional structures which systematically subordinate a person or group because of their color. Sexism refers similarly to attitudes, actions or institutional structures which systematically subordinate a person or group because of their sex. Sexism is usually buttressed by the belief in heterosexism that is the belief that normal sexual relations should be between humans of different sexes. Genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics raise new challenges for the 21st century as the repression and conservatism of the neo-liberal era placed US society in a league of its own on the questions of racism and sexism.’

In this book, I have raised the dangers of the kind of thinking that guides researchers in the fields of computer science who are working for the era of technological singularity. It was my argument that the techno-utopians who subscribe to a future era of a new and reinforced hierarchy of human beings are reproducing the old ideas of white supremacy. As one of our students recently remarked, ‘singularitarians’ represent the most evangelical and fundamentalist group of techno-utopianists’.

The point that is to be communicated is that the right-wing racism of politicians of the Tea Party and of the posturing of conservative senators is surmounted by an even greater danger, that of the racists in white lab coats who operate under the radar of public scrutiny. The fight against racism is not only a fight against the prison–industrial complex, racial profiling and all of the other sores of institutionalised racism, but against the new forms of bioengineering that propose a new definition of what is a ‘human’ being.

ISLAMOPHOBIA

The evangelical and fundamentalist groups of techno-utopia draw some of their inspiration from a new form of religious stridency that has served the interests of the US rulers since the end of the Cold War. This is the idea of Islamophobia, which is prejudice against, or an irrational fear of Islam or Muslims.

As the dominant military power on planet earth, the US leaders needed a new idea to motivate the citizens to support the massive military–industrial complex. The forward planners from among the neo-conservatives came up with the idea that the USA was a Christian country and that this heritage was threatened by Islam. Invoking the ideas and language of the period of the Crusades these ideas of hostility to Islam gained ground among the most conservative sections of the US society after the events of September 11, 2001. But the whipping up of the hysteria against Islam had preceded September 11, 2001. There are now books that have detailed how an army of evangelical Christian millenialists led by Jerry Falwell and Tim LaHaye found themselves in the service of the neocon crusade to remake the Middle East and, in the process, became the club shaped by Karl Rove and wielded by those two unabashed power-freaks and unreconstructed Nixonians, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. John Anderson in his review of the book, ‘The Fall of the House of Bush’, detailed the planning and propaganda by these conservative forces in what was described as a triangular relationship. Anderson quoted from one writer who described the ‘the GOP Triangular Trade, in which Southern evangelicals provide the votes for a party financed by and run on behalf of Wall Street and with policies devised by a gang of New York intellectuals and scribblers.’ In its essence, what this means is that, ‘Richard Scaife provides the money to help keep his taxes low. Bill Kristol comes up with the ideas. And Mike Huckabee provides the votes.’

What became clear after the war against the people of Iraq was that the idea of hatred of followers of Islam was needed to motivate the troops and the private contractors fighting against the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq. It was not by accident that the Air Force Academy in Colorado was dominated by neo-conservatives who were from a branch of Christian fundamentalists who were also rabid racists.

These observations on 2008 came before the maturation of the seeds of Islamic hatred in the USA. Now that the seeds of this Islamophobia are maturing it is necessary to state the linkages between the military planners and the hatred for Islam.

As far back as 1997, the Runnymede Trust of the United Kingdom defined Islamophobia as the ‘dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, to the fear and dislike of all Muslims,’ stating that it also refers to the practice of discriminating against Muslims by excluding them from the economic, social and public life of the nation. It includes the perception that Islam has no values in common with other cultures, is inferior to the West and is a violent political ideology rather than a religion.

One other definition represented Islamophobia as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history as extremist; denying the existence of a moderate Muslim majority; regarding Islam as a problem for the world; treating conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault; insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion; and inciting war against Islam as a whole. ‘

One scholar properly identified these ideas of Islamophobia as anti-Asian and anti-Arab racism. Mahmood Mamdani was more perceptive. His book ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror’ detailed how the intelligence operatives sought to use differences within the Islamic community to isolate Iran after the revolution in Iran in 1979. It is this mix of racism, militarism and religious hatred that was to later surface in the US press when sections of the liberal media coined the phrase ‘Islamofascism’. This is the term that equates some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early 20th century.

William Safire, one of the departed scions of the neo-conservatives, had lent his considerable reputation to the usage of this term when he used his platform at the New York Times to promote this formulation. Using his column on language to promote this concept he wrote that the term Islamofascism fulfils a need for a term to distinguish traditional Islam from terrorists: ‘Islamofascism may have legs: the compound defines those terrorists who profess a religious mission while embracing totalitarian methods and helps separate them from devout Muslims who want no part of terrorist means.’ Christopher Hitchens, who before the events of September 11th functioned as a member of the liberal intelligentsia, became one of the foremost supporters of the wars against the peoples of the Middle East and publicly defended the term Islamofascism in the so-called liberal magazine Slate.

THE INHERITANCE OF KORAN BURNING

After the tenure of the forces of the Carlyle Group in the executive branch of the US government during the presidency of George W. Bush, the language of ‘good and evil’ became standard in the rhetoric of the militarists. President Bush was mobilising the citizens in a war to combat the ‘Axis of Evil’. It was for this reason that it is correct to see the pastor in Florida within the tradition of the militarists. The pastor who threatened to mark the ninth anniversary of September 11th by burning more than 200 copies of Qu’ran, the sacred text of Islam, at his small church had been mobilised by the language of Islamophobia and had made his own contribution by writing on ‘Islam is of the Devil.’

Pastors such as those in this small church had a material basis for wanting the return of the Republicans to the executive branch of the government. Under the Faith Initiative of the Bush–Cheney–Rumsfeld period, billions were doled out to the conservatives to whip up racism and hatred. There were many blacks who had internalised this hatred by espousing the most homophobic and sexist aspects of the campaigns of the neo-conservatives.

Thus it is necessary to grasp the toxic environment that the US finds itself in at the period of the worst depression since 1930. What could be considered a fringe group before the depression is now taking centre-stage of US politics as the signs of the economic depression set in. The Tea Party then becomes the vehicle to move to the next stage to get the popular votes of poor whites to support rabid racism and Islamophobia. The recent victories of the Tea Party nation in the primaries show that the planned strategy of a right-wing assault on humans is gaining traction. The furore over the burning of the Qu’ran served the purpose of heightening passions all over the world to the point where there is no longer a question of if there will be an incident that will trigger major confrontations, but merely when such an incident will take place.

STANDING TO SHOULDER AND FOOT TO FOOT

The fact that it required the secretary of defense to cool out the passions that were mounting is one indication of the impact of this climate on the armed forces of the USA. Increasingly, the strength and power of the militarist is evident from the fact that in the midst of a depression when everything else is being slashed, the military budget of the USA is going up. The anti-Islamic fervour has gone beyond the USA, and is manifest in societies such as Denmark, France and other parts of Europe. The xenophobia in France is now manifesting itself in the expulsion of the Roma peoples and the legislation banning the wearing of the veil (the burka) by women in France.

The conservative forces have so far benefited from the timidity of liberals who have been silent. However, it is in the world of Islam where the heritages of racism and Islamophobia carry many contradictions. In many parts of the Islamic world, non-whites have internalised the racism of the US conservatives and racists. This is manifest in the treatment of Africans in some states of the Middle East and other states in Asia. This contradiction is compounded by the fact that some of the leaders of Islamic states who are flush with oil funds spend their resources to prop up the same neo-conservatives of the Carlyle Group and the Bush family. It is this alliance of some of the Sheiks with the neo-conservatives that can explain the fact that Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater, the private contracting firm, could decide to move to Abu Dhabi. Why would someone with a track record of linkages to the most conservative section of the religious fundamentalists in the USA find a home in the Middle East at a time when there were questions in the US media about the killings of innocent Iraqis by this firm?

One of my brothers has complained of the hierarchy of his mosque where citizens from Bosnia and North Africa treat citizens from Africa as second-class Muslims. This brother has pointed out that at a moment when all people should be praying shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot for peace, some of their brothers from parts of the Middle East do not want to stand shoulder to shoulder with Africans. Some Africans have also internalised this hierarchy and the Somali Bantu are treated as second-class humans by other Somali.

DECENT PEOPLE MUST STAND FIRM FOR PEACE

The proposition by Pastor Terry Jones for the burning of the Koran was one more calculated act to promote war. The very fact that the idea was floated and was given wide publicity was an indication of how conservative the US media had become. This act was intended to strike a note of discord with 1 billion Muslims following news of Islam. The president of Nigeria understood the meaning of this provocation. He said firmly that burning the Koran would ‘assault the sensibilities of our Muslim brothers and sisters’.

This was a clear statement from a president who had witnessed the fanning of the flames of religious wars in Jos. These same flames of religious war are being fanned in Sudan. The US media is trapped by its support for militarism and the Wall Street barons who benefit from war. Those who support peace and tolerance must oppose the idea of burning religious text and oppose the furore over the so-called mosque at Ground Zero. Those in the peace movement should see this for what it is: an attempt to divide working people in the midst of a depression. Islamophobia is more than an empty propaganda term. It is an incitement for war.

The continued debates on the so-called mosque at Ground Zero serve the purpose of diverting energies from the peace and justice forces in the world. The announced plans for the burning of the holy book on the day of the sad events of September 11th pointed to an aspect of US politics that had been hidden from the rest of the world. This is the way in which the neo-conservative forces had worked to manipulate the divisions within Islam to serve the most conservative sections of the US ruling forces. That it took the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to call this unknown pastor in Florida was revealing in one profound sense. Gates had to take care of massaging the new propaganda lines in the US military machine. This commentary is designed to alert all supporters of peace to stand up and be counted among those who are opposed to the virulent racism and Islamophobia which is being used as a weapon to bring the neo-conservatives back into the control of the executive branch of the United States. In this struggle to oppose a special type of militarism and conservatism, those sections of the Islamic world who are aligned to the conservatives in the United States must be condemned, exposed and if possible removed from political power. The struggles for peace and social justice, religious freedom and rights for all are interconnected in all parts of the world.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Horace Campbell is a teacher and writer. His latest book is 'Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA', published by Pluto Press.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at Pambazuka News.

This is sourced from here http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/67014

Does Not Awarding African Governance Prize Signal Downward Spiral?

2010-08-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

Written by Yarik Turianskyi
09 July 2010

Diplomatic Pouch

Amid the excitement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, an announcement by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in June 2010 that it has again decided not to award its lucrative annual governance prize this year went almost unnoticed, at least in South Africa. This is the second year running when no winner was selected. Is African governance on the decline if one of the continent’s highest-profile governance foundations cannot find worthy recipients?

According to Mo Ibrahim himself, the prize was established to recognise “African leaders who have governed well, respected their constitution and left office with their country in better shape than at their arrival.” Eligible candidates are therefore those democratically elected African leaders who have served their terms in office within the limits of the country’s constitution and left office in the preceding three years. So far, the only two winners were former Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique (2007) and Festus Mogae of Botswana (2008), in addition to an honorary award to former South African President Nelson Mandela in 2007. Apart from recognition and prestige, the prize has a significant financial incentive as well. The laureate receives $5 million over a period of 10 years and $200,000 annually thereafter, for the rest of his/her life. Another $200,000 per annum can go to supporting public interest in activities of the recipient’s choice. The Foundation seeks to reward leaders who did not abuse their power during office and engage in corrupt activities, by providing them, in effect, with a handsome retirement funding stream.

The Foundation’s seven-member Prize Committee that selects a winner is chaired by Nobel Laureate and former United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan and includes other notable personalities such as the former Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammed ElBaradei and the former Mozambican Minister of Education Dr Graça Machel. In 2009 the Prize Committee said that it considered a few credible candidates, but could not select a winner following an in-depth review. This year, it simply said that there were “no new candidates or new developments.”

Were there any worthy candidates? Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo, former Presidents of South Africa and Nigeria respectively, were both eligible, since they had left the office in the last three years. However, both were presumably already considered and rejected last year, perhaps because the former was recalled by his own party, due to alleged political interference in a judicial process, and the latter appeared to be manoeuvering to stand for an unconstitutional third term. Also, there are not many African leaders who would qualify for the award, given its criteria. Libya’s Muamar Qaddafi took power in a coup in 1969, and other long-standing rulers who’ve changed their constitutional term limits include Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni (in power since 1986), Paul Biya of Cameroon (since 1982) and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe (1980).

While democracy and its institutions are taking root in Africa and more leaders are being democratically elected than ever before, good governance and effective leadership are still lacking. The African political environment is dominated by issues of corruption, neo-patrimonialism (use of state resources to buy supporters’ loyalty), disregard for the rule of law and constitutionalism, and the dominance of the executive.

Many countries are making small yet effective steps to improve this situation, for example by signing up to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and undergoing a governance review. However, others are sliding backwards. These include enacting laws that severely restrict the ability of civil society to operate freely, as in Ethiopia under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and denying citizens universally accepted norms of human rights by persecuting them for their sexuality, as in Malawi under President Bingu wa Mutharika. Both are unlikely to be short-listed for the Mo Ibrahim award when they leave office.

But it is erroneous to suggest that the non-award means that African governance everywhere is on the decline. Rather, the criteria of the Mo Ibrahim award appear unrealistic, given the current political climate in Africa. Finding an honest leader who has recently departed office in a democratic fashion and left the country in a better state every year was always going to be a tough task, with lots of long-term rulers and profound governance and development challenges facing many African states.

Nevertheless, it is commendable that the Foundation has set high standards that it has refused to compromise. It would rather not give out the prize for two years in a row, than award it for the sake of it. Seeing such an attitude on a continent when leaders are often praised and rewarded for undemocratic practices, lack of accountability and corruption both internally and externally is refreshing. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is setting a precedent for only giving praise when it is truly deserved, which will hopefully take root in and around discussions of African governance, by activists, politicians and donors alike. If and when the next prize is awarded, we will hopefully have a worthy winner.

Yarik Turianskyi is a researcher on SAIIA’s Governance and APRM Programme

http://www.saiia.org.za/diplomatic-pouch/does-not-awarding-african-governance-prize-signal-downward-spiral.html

THE DAGBON REGICIDE AND MATTERS ARISING

2010-04-13T08:34:00.001-07:00

In March 2002 there were some uneasiness in the Dagbon Traditional area lasting some three days between March 25th and 27th. This uneasiness resulted in the death of the overlord of the Dagbon Traditional area Ya Na Yakubu Andani and some forty (40) other persons.

The incident has since heightened tension in Dagbon leading to the resignation of key government functionaries including the then Minister for the Interior who is also a Member of Parliament for Yendi, the area where the incident occurred which is also the place where the palace (Gbewa Palace) of Dagbon is situated and the then regional Minister for Northern Region Prince Imoro Andani. It is instructive to note that whilst the former is believed to be associated with one of the gates to the Dagbon differences, the latter is believed to be associated with the other gate. Others who resigned include Major Suleman and General Joshua Hamidu. I have brought this to light at his stage of our conversation so as to as much as possible help us draw the line to the colourisation of the dispute in political lights. This is important when we wish to reflect that the two Ministers are members of the same political tradition a la Prof. Wayo Seini known to be a royal of one of the gates and a politician who has had a taste of any of the two leading contemporary governance groupings in Ghana – NDC, NPP.

This having been said, the Dagbon differences is known to be an age-old issue of succession. There may be other attendant issues but that of succession has always been the highlight. Please refer to the Wuaku Commission Report.pdf. The Government of Ghana at the time considered the three-day incident as events that occurred within a state of war. Please refer to Gov't White Paper on Wuaku Commission.

Persuant to the recommendation of the Wuaku Commission that the Government of Ghana should take up steps to integrate the two gates to the Dagbon skin, the Government set-up a three (3) member Committee of Eminent Chiefs (CEC) comprising the Asantehene as chair and the Na Yiri (Paramount Chief of the Mamprusi Traditional Area) and Yagbonwura as members respectively, to facilitate a resolution of the dispute. The Yagbonwura, Paramount Chief of the Gonja Traditional Area has since passed away earlier this year (see Yagbonwura Bawa Doshie). It is not clear how the committee has since been conducting its business.

Again, it is worth mentioning that there has been some disquiet among some dagombas with the choice of mediators. The view is that differences between and among Dagombas has traditionally been settled by the Na Yiri, the Paramount Chief of the Mamprusi Traditional Area. Nontheless there has been general co-operation with the panel of mediators by the two gates, namely the Abudus and the Andanis, since the commencement of the mediation process in 2002.

As part of the process the Gbewa palace has been renovated, a Regent has been installed pending funeral(s) of the deceased among other monumental strides.

Understandably there has always been claims of involvement of politics or politicians in the regicide and its aftermath. And a section of the political population often use association with their party or lack of it as a trump card to justify or rationalize one deed or another.

In recent times there has been numerous anxieties in different parts of the country in relation to chieftaincy. In fact the Andani gate of the Dagbon royal family held a press conference to request of the current Government of Ghana to own up to its campaign in the last election of finding those who committed the regicide of the late Dagbon king and making them face justice. See Andani Press Conference on Prez Mills' pledge

Putting in motion the criminal justice system in itself is not out of place. Especially being aware that criminality has no expiry date. Also being aware that some persons were arrested, charged and arraigned before court is important except to say that they were discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence. The arrests followed shortly after the recommendation of the Wuaku Commission Report.pdf which was formed by Constitutional Instrument (C.I. 36)in April 2002 to investigate the disturbances in Dagbon.

So, having come this far, it is understandable when some stakeholders demand of government to fulfill its campaign promise of finding those who by law might have erred and making them face the law. It is also known that by law a criminal proceeding can be commenced at the same time a civil proceeding is commenced for an offence that has both a criminal aspect and a civil aspect.

But there has already been worrying signal with the recent arrests. Some of the arrested persons are being represented by a key member of the current Minority in Parliament The Party Politics of Dagbon Crisis and government apologists are already rationalizing and using not so pleasant language in condemning critics who suggest government is responding to the pressures of the Andani Press Conference on Prez Mills' pledge to find the killers.

While recognizing that the NPP lawyer representing the accussed persons may be doing his rightful job, it is also important to state it may actually fuel suspicion that the Abudus are indeed NPP and a lot of political capital ( or liability) could be made out of it. So it is no wonder that some civil society suggested that Ghana should Create a Platform to Engage Dagbon Politicians. This arrest if not well managed may be set-off on a bad start. The government apologists may want to reword their responses and the MP/Lwayer may want to reconsider his involvement.

In future it is important to give maening to the Constitutional Provision on National House of Chiefs, give the National House of Chiefs the necessary capacity to ajudicate on matters relating to chieftaincy from within its structures. Indeed the Chieftaincy Act of 1971 (Act 370) and its replacement, the Chieftaincy Act of 2008 (Act 759) are expected to be documents that help reduce governments participation in resolving chieftaincy matters. All governments have complexions that have always affected the pace, perception and procedure for resolving chieftaincy disputes. And as may be noted there are Debates about the place of Chieftaincy in contemporary times

Be it as it may what however is expected is the full integration of Dagbon with each being the brother's keeper as ever before. This may take a while and Ghanaians will be much pleased if nothing is done to unduly affect this transition. It is our expectation therefore that the recent arrest of some forty-one (41) persons in Yendi in relation to the 2002 incident does not unduly affect the true management and resolution of the differences in Dagbon.

Saeed Musah-Khaleepha

rafani@email.com

+233(0)208121764

http://samuleepha.blogspot.com/

http://raafani.blogspot.com/

http://i-mediate.blogspot.com/

Khaleepha Consult

Box AS 194, Asawasi, Kumasi

Box NB 889, NiiBoi Man, Accra

7 Things Never to Say to Your Boss

2010-03-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

I assumed many of us might find this useful.
It was sourced from

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-Things-Never-to-Say-to-Your-usnews-226352592.html?x=0

SMK
......
......

Karen Burns, On Wednesday March 17, 2010, 11:19 am EDT

Everyone has a boss. Even if you "work for yourself," you're still an employee to your client.

A big part of maintaining the boss-employee relationship is to never allow a boss to think you dislike your work, are incapable of doing it, or--worse--consider it beneath you.

[See the best careers for 2010.]

These sound like no-brainers, but many statements heard commonly around the workplace violate these basic rules. Looking for an example? Here are seven heard in workplaces all the time. They may seem ordinary, even harmless. But try reading these from your boss's point of view. You'll see right away why it's smart to never allow these seven sentences to pass your lips:

"That's not my job." You know what? A lot of bosses are simple souls who think your job is to do what's asked of you. So even if you're assigned a task that is, indeed, not your job, refrain from saying so. Instead, try to find out why your boss is assigning you this task--there may be a valid reason. If you believe that doing the task is a bad idea (as in, bad for the company) you can try explaining why and suggesting how it could be better done by someone else. This may work, depending on the boss. In any case, remember that doing what's asked of you, even tasks outside your job description, is good karma.

[See the 50 worst job interview mistakes.]

"It's not my problem." When people say something is not their problem it makes them look like they don't care. This does not endear them to anybody, especially the boss. If a problem is brewing and you have nothing constructive to say, it's better to say nothing at all. Even better is to pitch in and try to help. Because, ultimately, a problem in the workplace is everyone's problem. We're all in it together.

"It's not my fault." Yet another four words to be avoided. Human nature is weird. Claiming that something is not our fault often has the result of making people suspect it is. Besides, what's the real issue here? It's that something went wrong and needs to be fixed. That's what people should be thinking about--not who is to blame.

"I can only do one thing at a time." News flash: Complaining you are overworked will not make your boss feel sorry for you or go easier on you. Instead, a boss will think: (1) you resent your job, and/or (2) you aren't up to your job. Everybody, especially nowadays, feels pressured and overworked. If you're trying to be funny, please note that some sarcasm is funny and lightens the mood. Some just ticks people off.

[See how to answer 10 tricky interview questions.]

"I am way overqualified for this job." Hey, maybe you are. But the fact is, this is the job you have. You agreed to take it on and, while you may now regret that decision, it's still your job. Complaining that it's beneath you only makes you look bad. Plus, coworkers doing similar jobs may resent and dislike you. And guess what? Bosses will not think, "Oh, this is a superior person whom I need to promote." Nope, they'll think, "What a jerk."

"This job is easy! Anyone could do it!" Maybe what you're trying to convey here is that you're so brilliant your work is easy. Unfortunately, it comes off sounding more like, "This work is stupid." Bosses don't like hearing that any work is stupid. Nor do they really like hearing that a job is easy peasy. It belittles the whole enterprise. If a task is simple, be glad and do it as quickly as you can. Even "stupid" work needs to get done.

"It can't be done." Saying something can't be done is like waving a red flag in a boss's eyes. Even if the thing being suggested truly is impossible, saying it is can make you look ineffectual or incapable. Better to play detective. Why is the boss asking you to do whatever it is? What's the problem that needs to be solved? What's the goal? Search for doable ways of solving that problem or reaching that goal. That's what bosses really want. Most of them do not expect the impossible.

Last words: When in doubt, remember that silence really is golden.

Karen Burns is the author of the illustrated career advice book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use, recently released by Running Press. She blogs at www.karenburnsworkinggirl.com.

Bank of Ghana to introduce GH¢2 notes

2010-02-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

Perhaps somewhat anticipated.
SMK.

Accra, Feb. 25, 2010 Ghana News Agency
-
The Bank of Ghana has decided to introduce a GH¢2 denomination in response to the need for an intermediary banknote between the GH¢1 and GH¢5 banknotes.

A statement issued on Thursday by the Bank said this followed a review of the cash cycle conducted by the Bank in 2009, which indicated that there was a lot of pressure on the GH¢1, resulting in the notes circulating too fast and being over-used.

"The worn-out state of the GH¢1 defeats the Bank's Clean Note Policy, which seeks to ensure that only good quality banknotes remain in circulation," the statement said.

"The introduction of the new denomination will expand the series of banknotes in circulation, enhance exchangeability and facilitate transactions," the Central Bank added.

It said the general public would be informed and educated on the theme, colour, size, security and other features of the new denomination when the design is finalized.

GNA

http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_economics/r_12887/

New planet discovered. Code named 'Waterworld'

2009-12-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

A steamy ''waterworld'' planet six times bigger than the Earth has been discovered orbiting a small faint star 40 light years away.
The planet is believed to be too hot to sustain Earth-type life, but could consist of 75 per cent water.

Evidence suggests it has an atmosphere, and astronomers believe it to be more Earth-like than any ''exoplanet'' found outside the Solar System so far.
The planet is classified as a ''super-Earth'', half way in size between small rocky planets such the Earth and ice giants similar to Uranus and Neptune.

Although its parent star is a dim ''red dwarf'' 3,000 times less bright than the Sun, it hugs the star so closely that its surface temperature is an oven-hot 200C.

At a distance of just 1.3 million miles, the planet makes one year-long orbit of the star every 38 hours.

The planet was discovered circling the star GJ1214 with an array of small ground-based telescopes no larger than those used by many amateurs.

You may read more from this link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6826763/Waterworld-planet-six-times-the-size-of-Earth-discovered.html

Source: The Telegraph, UK.

Labour wants Ghanaians to control oil industry

2009-11-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

Between indiginisation and nationalisation, stakeholders in national development give pointers.
The National Executive Council of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) of the Ghana Trades Union Confress (GTUC) has passed a resolution to call on government to allow Ghanaian nationals to manage the emerging oil indusrty.
Please read more here http://www.ghananewsagency.org/s_social/r_9328/

Or continue to read below.

Let us have a conversation on this.

SMK.

Nov. 11, GNA - Trade unionists have appealed to the government to ensure that the country's oil and gas industry comes under the full control for Ghanaians to enable the people to benefit from it.

This is contained in a resolution by the National Executive Council of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) at an "Oil for Development" seminar organised by the Trades Unions Congress in collaboration with LO-Norway.

The resolution appealed to the government to ensure good management of the oil and gas revenue and invest some percentage of the returns to support other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, tourism, health and education.

It urged the government to study all agreements with the extractive companies including production sharing agreement and local content policy to ensure that the country's oil and gas are well protected from negative occurrences.

It stressed the need for all stakeholders including the TUC to participate in discussions of policies and agreements regarding the oil and gas industry to ensure total participation, transparency and good governance to make it a blessing instead of a curse.

The union called on the government to ensure a sustainable youth employment in the oil and gas production enclave to avoid conflicts and related issues.

The 15-point resolution also appealed to the government to ensure a local content policy with adequate provisions to protect procurement of local goods and services and materials for the industry as well as train human capital for the industry.

The National Executive Council of the GTPCWU urged the government to identify stakeholders in the industry and the relevant institutions to formulate an Action Plan, train and retrain workers to build their capacity to acquire knowledge in the technology.

It must also put in place adequate measures to address environmental degradation as a result of oil spillage, gas flaring and pollution.

According to the resolution, the government must ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Energy, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and a Regulatory Body for the upstream activities play their roles efficiently and effectively.

It appealed to the government to ensure that the security agencies that would be protecting the country's oil were given adequate training and equipment to enable them to perform their duties efficiently.

The resolution also called for the setting up of a body to formulate Action Plan on the development and management of the distribution of the oil revenue.

It further called on the government to ensure that oil revenue did not go to individuals.

GNA

Increasing School Hours

2009-09-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

A part of this seem to be familiar. Spending more time in school is one of the regular issues raised in educational management and educational psychology.
One of its basic premise was to minimise the incidents of juvenile delinquency.
Let's hear from you.
Happy reading!
SMK

WASHINGTON – Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.

"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."

The president, who has a sixth-grader and a third-grader, wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go.

"Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Fifth-grader Nakany Camara is of two minds. She likes the four-week summer program at her school, Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville, Md. Nakany enjoys seeing her friends there and thinks summer school helped boost her grades from two Cs to the honor roll.

But she doesn't want a longer school day. "I would walk straight out the door," she said.

Domonique Toombs felt the same way when she learned she would stay for an extra three hours each day in sixth grade at Boston's Clarence R. Edwards Middle School.

"I was like, `Wow, are you serious?'" she said. "That's three more hours I won't be able to chill with my friends after school."

Her school is part of a 3-year-old state initiative to add 300 hours of school time in nearly two dozen schools. Early results are positive. Even reluctant Domonique, who just started ninth grade, feels differently now. "I've learned a lot," she said.

Does Obama want every kid to do these things? School until dinnertime? Summer school? And what about the idea that kids today are overscheduled and need more time to play?

___

Obama and Duncan say kids in the United States need more school because kids in other nations have more school.

"Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here," Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing field."

While it is true that kids in many other countries have more school days, it's not true they all spend more time in school.

Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests — Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days).

___

Regardless, there is a strong case for adding time to the school day.

Researcher Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution looked at math scores in countries that added math instruction time. Scores rose significantly, especially in countries that added minutes to the day, rather than days to the year.

"Ten minutes sounds trivial to a school day, but don't forget, these math periods in the U.S. average 45 minutes," Loveless said. "Percentage-wise, that's a pretty healthy increase."

In the U.S., there are many examples of gains when time is added to the school day.

Charter schools are known for having longer school days or weeks or years. For example, kids in the KIPP network of 82 charter schools across the country go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than three hours longer than the typical day. They go to school every other Saturday and for three weeks in the summer. KIPP eighth-grade classes exceed their school district averages on state tests.

In Massachusetts' expanded learning time initiative, early results indicate that kids in some schools do better on state tests than do kids at regular public schools. The extra time, which schools can add as hours or days, is for three things: core academics — kids struggling in English, for example, get an extra English class; more time for teachers; and enrichment time for kids.

Regular public schools are adding time, too, though it is optional and not usually part of the regular school day. Their calendar is pretty much set in stone. Most states set the minimum number of school days at 180 days, though a few require 175 to 179 days.

Several schools are going year-round by shortening summer vacation and lengthening other breaks.

Many schools are going beyond the traditional summer school model, in which schools give remedial help to kids who flunked or fell behind.

Summer is a crucial time for kids, especially poorer kids, because poverty is linked to problems that interfere with learning, such as hunger and less involvement by their parents.

That makes poor children almost totally dependent on their learning experience at school, said Karl Alexander, a sociology professor at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, home of the National Center for Summer Learning.

Disadvantaged kids, on the whole, make no progress in the summer, Alexander said. Some studies suggest they actually fall back. Wealthier kids have parents who read to them, have strong language skills and go to great lengths to give them learning opportunities such as computers, summer camp, vacations, music lessons, or playing on sports teams.

"If your parents are high school dropouts with low literacy levels and reading for pleasure is not hard-wired, it's hard to be a good role model for your children, even if you really want to be," Alexander said.

Extra time is not cheap. The Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15 percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature last year.

The Montgomery County, Md., summer program, which includes Brookhaven, received $1.6 million in federal stimulus dollars to operate this year and next, but it runs for only 20 days.

Aside from improving academic performance, Education Secretary Duncan has a vision of schools as the heart of the community. Duncan, who was Chicago's schools chief, grew up studying alongside poor kids on the city's South Side as part of the tutoring program his mother still runs.

"Those hours from 3 o'clock to 7 o'clock are times of high anxiety for parents," Duncan said. "They want their children safe. Families are working one and two and three jobs now to make ends meet and to keep food on the table."

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By LIBBY QUAID, AP Education Writer Libby Quaid, Ap Education Writer – Sun Sep 27, 3:29 pm ET
Associated Press writer Russell Contreras in Boston contributed to this report.
This article is also availble at the following URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090927/ap_on_re_us/us_more_school