tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21813893351266802352024-03-28T05:04:11.093-07:00ProudlyTunisianActivista AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-75355278726368590222023-02-22T12:27:00.006-08:002023-02-22T12:39:43.854-08:00Addressing Afrophobia in Tunisia - معالجة رهاب الأفارقة في تونس<p style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><h1 style="text-align: center;"><b>Addressing Afrophobia in Tunisia </b></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif" style="color: #050505;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><span style="text-align: left;">معالجة رهاب الأفارقة في تونس</span></h1><p style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: right;">English below</p><p style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: right;"> <span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">ما يحدث في تونس يسمى -رهاب الأفارقة-</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"> وهو شعور معاد للأفارقة ، خوف وكراهية لثقافات وشعوب إفريقيا ، وهي ليست ظاهرة جديدة</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"> موجودة في إثيوبيا وجنوب إفريقيا كأمثلة. لكن بالنسبة لتونس نضيف أيضًا إيديولوجية العنصرية لأن الخوف ليس فقط من "الأفارقة الآخرين" ولكن بالتحديد من "السود". لا يمكن معالجة ذلك من خلال إشراك قطاعي الأمن والدبلوماسية فقط ولكن يجب إشراك المجتمع المدني والمواطنين بشكل عام </span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xdj266r x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;">و نحتاج إلى معالجة ثلاث أولويات في وقت واحد - Afrophobie-والعنصرية والهجرة في تونس.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"> في 5 نقاط : </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;">1. العقلية: لا يمكنك انتقاد أوروبا ‘الحصينة’ حول كيفية تعاملها مع التونسيين والمغاربيين ثم تفعل الشيء نفسه. إلقاء اللوم على المهاجرين في الجرائم ودعوتهم إلى مغادرة البلاد يجب إدانته </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"> 2 . السياسة: يجب على تونس إطلاق خطة وطنية لمكافحة كراهية الأجانب والعنصرية , هذه فرصة أيضًا لمعالجة كراهية تجاه السوريين والليبيين وأي جنسيات أخرى قد تلتمس اللجوء في تونس في المستقبل </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;">3 .الوقاية/منع العنف: تطوير عملية استشارية بين الحكومة والمجتمع المدني (المواطنين عمومًا) لرفع مستوى الوعي العام حول تدابير مكافحة العنصرية والمساواة ، وتحسين الوصول إلى العدالة وحماية أفضل للجميع. هذا ضروري لمنع اندلاع العنف القائم على كره 'الأجانب' لأن الشعب التونسي يغذيه وسائل الإعلام المعادية للأجانب و وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي ويطور الكراهية التي يمكن أن تنتقل إلى العنف تجاه الأفارقة السود (بما في ذلك التونسيون السود بالمناسبة) العنف في عام 2015 في جنوب إفريقيا هو مثال على ذلك</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"> 4 .العدالة : تطبيق قانـون أساسي عدد 50 لسنة 2018 الذي يجرم التمييز العنصري ويسمح للضحايا بالتماس العدالة </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"> </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"> 5. الإصلاح: يجب أن تعمل تونس مع المنظمة الدولية للهجرة بشأن فجوات المعلومات ، فنحن نحصل على درجات منخفضة جدًا على مؤشر خطورة المعلومات- Inform Severity Index - بسبب نقص البيانات حول الظروف الإنسانية للمهاجرين في جميع أنحاء البلاد. علقت تونس إصلاح الهجرة الليبرالي حيث اصطدمت مطالب المهاجرين بمزيد من الحقوق مع المصالح الأمنية الأوروبية والأجندة السياسية الداخلية لتونس من 2011. حان الوقت الآن لإنشاء إطار هجرة داخلي يعالج واقعنا الحالي المتمثل في أن المهاجرين يعانون من مستويات عالية من الفقر والاستياء مما يؤدي إلى التصور الإجرامي الحالي </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><br /></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;">وأمان راهي اسمها الهجرة غير النظامية وليست غير شرعية</div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">What’s is happening in Tunisia is called ‘Afrophobia’ which is the Anti-African sentiment, a perceived fear and hatred of the cultures and peoples of Africa, and it’s not new phenomena it exists in Ethiopia and South Africa as examples. But for Tunisia it also adds the ideology of racism because the fear is not only from the « other Africans » but precisely « black ». This cannot be addressed through only engaging security and diplomacy sectors but civil society and citizens at large have to be involved.</span></div><div dir="auto" style="text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">We need to address three priorities at once; Afrophobia, racism and migration framework in Tunisia. My view in 5 points; </div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">1. Mindset: Be coherent as a nation, we can’t critique fortress Europe of how they treat Tunisians and Maghrebians and then do exactly the same. Blaming immigrants for crimes and calling on them to leave the country– should be strongly condemned</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">2. Policy: Tunisia should launch a National Plan to Combat Xenophobia and Racism (this is good chance to also address other xenophobia towards Syrians, Libyans and any other nationalities that may seek refuge in Tunisia in the future)</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">3. Violence Prevention: Start with developing a consultative process between the government and civil society (citizens at large) to raise public awareness about anti-racism and equality measures, improve access to justice and better protection everyone. This is needed to prevent the outbreaks of xenophobic violence because the Tunisian public is fed by xenophobic media and now developing hatred that can move into violence towards blackness (including Black Tunisians by the way) 2015 violence in South Africa is case in point.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">4. Justice: Apply law 50 (no. 2018-50) which criminalizes racial discrimination and allows victims to seek justice </div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">5. Reform: Tunisia should work with IOM on information gaps, we score very low on the Inform Severity Index because of the lack of data on the humanitarian conditions of migrants countrywide. Tunisia put liberal migration reform on hold as migrants’ demands for more rights clashed with European security interests and Tunisia’s domestic political agenda. It now time to establish a domestic migration framework that address our current reality which is of migrants experiencing high levels of poverty and discontent leading to the current criminal perception of blacks.</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)" face="-apple-system, system-ui, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", "Fira Sans", Ubuntu, Oxygen, "Oxygen Sans", Cantarell, "Droid Sans", "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Lucida Grande", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9); font-size: 14px; text-align: start; white-space: normal;"><div style="text-align: left;">And please in this debate use « irregular migrants » not « illegal migrants » there is no such thing as « illegal » human existence, that is a colonial construct.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqbfez2i76Y-10eXa5dcad3FqZPV137V7dyDR5zBPXFnabZRO8RWsY9s0AqprMcwqMjJUqWTdilzHCjwe8NlrpJSFlFiw8OkEd9JxOLTmYEP0uFUKY7seJysTKh4ub3YBNDxBa9AC6vHoHG4FaRbueAGCY5bun52eMLXnldrfSPDB62g5RfQERUWU-4g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="620" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjqbfez2i76Y-10eXa5dcad3FqZPV137V7dyDR5zBPXFnabZRO8RWsY9s0AqprMcwqMjJUqWTdilzHCjwe8NlrpJSFlFiw8OkEd9JxOLTmYEP0uFUKY7seJysTKh4ub3YBNDxBa9AC6vHoHG4FaRbueAGCY5bun52eMLXnldrfSPDB62g5RfQERUWU-4g" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></span></div></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-60620516429770374372022-04-17T09:55:00.006-07:002022-04-17T10:01:15.672-07:00 Interviews with Aya Chebbi <blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Interviews with Aya Chebbi </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Collection of interviews from Forbes, The Guardian, BBC and others </span></p></blockquote></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-af62ed3c-7fff-c32b-f03e-a2541fe9ca06" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">How do you practice self-love? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is still a work in progress to manage exhaustion and burnout. But I started exercising some healthy habits like; acknowledge failure, sometimes saying "no", to focus my energy instead of saying “yes” to support everyone, take breaks when needed, take longer showers with my favorite incense flavors, massage my head, watch no news before bed and when I wake up etc.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 24pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is the meaning of "</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Your Power is Your Radical Self. Find it " as you're known for saying it</b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 24pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">What I mean by<i> </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Your Power is Your Radical Self. </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>Find it</i> </b>is </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">knowing who you are, finding your voice and living your truth. Not someone else's. it means to f</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ind your identity, your true self, and live your mission. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being radical is owning your truth. It's authentic confidence, stepping into your power and saying yes to YOU </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 24pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are only two things you need to do in your journey: find your identity and live your mission. You need to know who you are and what you stand for. Once you know your identity, know why you wake up every day and why you do what you do, that’s your mission.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 24pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I run a mentorship program called YPHEM which gives me a lot of inspiration of why I should continue to do what I am doing and serve, the experience with my mentees reminds me of my younger self looking for my identity and my mission, and I practice with them the exercises I share on gratefulness, self-love, meditation and taking your strength from being your truthful self.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0g8A1nfAcc7SCkivGbjX9evtaJzOhFN_qVJ9u6kcsS_Qp9KKOAxW9-K8xFMbgRChs8YVxYk3dLvDnAnjSkV8OGWqtDgX3itWj2VCoE0ZIfwTDPFjJyil9wv_kNKlPqQYl89AYxM3e1U232wj2r-X2uV-HSTGDdR5ooAjspUQMkiDXORBZ-iqrQHwhcA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0g8A1nfAcc7SCkivGbjX9evtaJzOhFN_qVJ9u6kcsS_Qp9KKOAxW9-K8xFMbgRChs8YVxYk3dLvDnAnjSkV8OGWqtDgX3itWj2VCoE0ZIfwTDPFjJyil9wv_kNKlPqQYl89AYxM3e1U232wj2r-X2uV-HSTGDdR5ooAjspUQMkiDXORBZ-iqrQHwhcA=w640-h334" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">What is your purpose? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #232323; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I genuinely hope to make my small contribution to building the </span><a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Africa We Want</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #232323; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by uniting and rallying our youth in Africa and the diaspora around positive collective action and by creating pan-African spaces for young people to thrive and serve our continent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">What being Pan-African is? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being Pan-African means that I live everyday with the obsession that, with African solidarity we can solve all of Africa’s challenges, with the idea that my liberation is your liberation, my access to education, my access to power, my access to resources, my access to the internet is YOUR access.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is the ultimate act of solidarity. It means that everyday, I work towards an African unity of voice and action that transcends borders, ethnicity, skin color, language, political affiliation etc. My daily work is about organizing youth to turn their marginalization into a collective identity and building a movement of pan-Africanists.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Young people should aspire to be pan-Africanists. We have been talking a lot about the ’60s and the liberation movements that inspired us. Now we need to be the pan-Africanists of the 21st century, to lead this continent to where it deserves to be. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">What is being feminist and feminine? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Being Pan-African also means being feminist because there is no pan-Africanism without feminism. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Political solidarity manifested in the liberation movements in the face of colonial powers, now our solidarity needs to be in the face of patriarchy because patriarchy thrives in corruption, occupation, capitalism, exploitation and abuse.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where you sit when you’re old shows where you stood in your youth, if you don’t take risks when you’re young, then when would you? being young by definition means radical, curious, free, and adventurous, and being female means nurturing, empathetic, intuitive and radiant. So, to my aspiring young women, imagine how blessed you are to be young and female, every failure means you are going to the next level and every risk is an opportunity for you.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">What is activism for you? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Activism is standing for something. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I think any activism should be political. Every single one of us, should have a political voice and should be a political activist. Political activism doesn’t mean that you hold a political office but you have political </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">consciousness</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do you think of f</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">oreign aid to African countries?</span></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pan africanism refuses charity and foreign aid and advocates for self–determination, ownership of our destiny and democratic emancipation in post-colonial Africa. Besides, remittances from our diaspora are three times greater than aid. Surely, foreign aid with good intentions had impactful projects on the ground, especially when they’re citizen-driven and youth-led, but Africans are increasingly able agents of their own solutions. As we work into our self-centered development, and financially independent African Union from external funding, we need to move towards equal partnership especially that the global agenda 2030 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">recognizes that the north is not anymore “helping” the south but it’s a North-South agenda.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-25808826633527057572022-03-14T09:03:00.009-07:002022-03-14T09:13:39.391-07:00 Africa's Longest Ruling Political Parties <p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Africa's Longest Ruling Political Parties </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmlg8ZlbrbpeF7AteIX7Vi94qY3XKP3tWCSPe0Fp97ei6t-Qyf4bK9r7Jrgw0N7xcBaPHvKbzbPE3yECzTBTd--4qhgtWMi8eOkbu2iV16acf34_goScOxiCcsNgv5l8PSQdpVbpXzoU-jiwLD_oDxNuCoHl6wh0PFt2nsuLDcy6An1-dLl2SlRgeeDw" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><img alt="" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="599" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmlg8ZlbrbpeF7AteIX7Vi94qY3XKP3tWCSPe0Fp97ei6t-Qyf4bK9r7Jrgw0N7xcBaPHvKbzbPE3yECzTBTd--4qhgtWMi8eOkbu2iV16acf34_goScOxiCcsNgv5l8PSQdpVbpXzoU-jiwLD_oDxNuCoHl6wh0PFt2nsuLDcy6An1-dLl2SlRgeeDw=w200-h84" width="200" /></a></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;">1. True Whig Party TWP (Liberia 🇱🇷) - 1878-1980</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">2. Botswana Democratic Party (BDP 🇧🇼) - 1966 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">3. Parti Démocratique Gabonais PDG (Gabon 🇬🇦) 1968 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">4. Congolese Party of Labour (PCT 🇨🇬) - 1969-1992, 1997 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">5. Liberation Front of Mozambique 🇲🇿 (FRELIMO) - 1975 till date</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">6. Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola 🇦🇴 (MPLA) - 1975 till date</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">7. Democratic Constitutional Rally, RCD (formerly known as Socialist Destourian Party, SDP (Tunisia 🇹🇳) - 1964-2011</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">8. Chama Cha Mapinduzi, CCM (Tanzania 🇹🇿 ) - 1977 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">9. Democratic Party of Ivory Coast 🇨🇮 – African Democratic Rally, PDCI-RDA - 1960-2005</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">10. People's Rally for Progress, RPP (Djibouti 🇩🇯) - 1979 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">11. Rally of the Togolese People, RPT 🇹🇬 - 1969-2012</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">12. Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF 🇿🇼) - 1980 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">13. Socialist Party of Senegal (PSS 🇸🇳) - 1960-2000</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">14. Kenya African National Union (KANU 🇰🇪) - 1963-2002</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"> </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">15. Seychelles People's Progressive Front 🇸🇨 - 1977-2004, 2004-2016</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">16. Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM 🇨🇲) - 1985 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">17. National Resistance Movement (Uganda 🇺🇬) - 1986 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">18. African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, PAIGC 🇬🇼 - 1973-2000, 2009-2012, 2014-2020</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">19. Partido Democrático de Guinea Ecuatorial PDGE (Equatorial Guinea 🇬🇶) - 1987 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">20. Union for National Progress, UPRONA (Tanzania 🇹🇿) - 1966-1993, 1993-1994, 1996-2003</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">21. South West Africa People's Organisation SWAPO (Namibia 🇳🇦) - 1990 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;">22. Mouvement Patriotique du Salut, MPS (Chad 🇷🇴) - 1990 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">23. All People's Congress, APC (Sierra Leone 🇸🇱) - 1971-1992, 2007-2018</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">24. People’s Liberation Front for Democracy and Justice, PFDJ (Eritrea 🇪🇷) - 1991 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">25. Popular Movement of the Revolution, MPR (DR Congo 🇨🇩) - 1967-1997</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">26. Malawi Congress Party, MCP 🇲🇼 - 1966-1994, 2020 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">27. African National Congress, ANC (South Africa 🇿🇦) - 1994 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">29. Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF 🇷🇼) - 1994 till date</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">29. United National Independence Party (Zambia <span style="font-family: ".Apple Color Emoji UI"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">🇿🇲</span>) - 1964-1991</p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><br /></div><br /><br /><p></p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-69891546387559816192022-03-01T11:07:00.359-08:002022-05-04T14:11:24.685-07:00What I mean by Intergenerational Co-Leadership <p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">What I mean by Intergenerational Co-Leadership </span></b></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">On November 1st, 2018, I was tasked by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E Moussa Faki, with the assignment of being his first ever Special Envoy on Youth.</span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-84fda449-7fff-1ca9-92ec-30f8cbd876de"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was entrusted with this responsibility, I had already been in Pan-African activism for almost a decade. I come from a generation that started the first 21st century peaceful revolutions, a generation that changed the course of history, and the way we use technology, access information and demand reforms. When I was in the streets of Tunis, protesting during my country’s Revolution of Dignity, I thought after a decade the world will be better off because we, the millennials, will be in charge. Our generation is the most connected, innovative and better educated. However, we still live in an Africa where the average age of African leaders is 64 years old and the average age of the population is about 20. Between the ‘led’, that is young people despite making up the majority, and the ‘leaders’, there is a generational gap, which is the largest in the world. Such a gap is one crucial element in the pattern of ‘state - youth’ relationship in Africa, and the world at large. It has become even more visible during COVID-19 pandemic showing an increasing distrust between institutions and political discourse, and youth. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For many young people, being in Africa today becomes synonymous with being trapped in the state of </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331113984_The_time_of_Youth_Work_Social_Change_and_Politics_in_Africa" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>waithood</b></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as “the prolonged involuntary delay in reaching adulthood because of the struggle in the social and political life”. However, young Africans did not resign themselves to the hardships of their situation, but are using their agency and creativity to fashion “new</span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> youth escapes</span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”. African youth used </span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">waithood </span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as a driver to resort to peaceful trajectories of change as well as more violent choices. They took to the streets in Tunisia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, and South Africa among other cities which dramatically changed Africa's landscape. But thousands have also drown in the medietrrenean and joined violent extremists groups. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We must recognize this existing generational crisis. Youth are perceived as a political counterweight to existing power and as a threat and radical, dangerous class of masses. While the existing systems are perceived by youth as corrupt and not representative of the population needs, and people in power are perceived by youth as old men overstaying and not listening to their grievances. This distrust pushed youth out of leadership, governance, political parties and negotiating tables. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scholars talked of intergenerational theories, institutions talked of intergenerational <i>fairness</i> and <i>equity</i>, others talked of intergenerational <i>dialogues </i>and <i>mentorship</i>, but the gap among generations has not yet been addressed with a<b> theory of change</b> that can address the issue. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">When I came into the African Union with an activist spirit of "it's our time to lead", I found </span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">resistance because many feel threatened with a wave of youth demanding change and a seat at the table. I have listened to and observed older men (largely and mostly) and fewer older women in leadership which shaped my discourse because I realised that we can't change the system alone as millennials, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience to learn from if we are not repeat those mistakes and serve better, future generations. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">So I curated a concept which later became the discourse of many African and global leaders as well as young people, I called it "<b>Intergenerational Co-Leadership</b>". I emphasise that it's not "intergenerational <i>leadership</i>" which is an older concept of engaging in opportunities for partnerships and collaboration among generations. But what I mean is <b>political</b>. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">I usually explain <i>Intergenerational Co-Leadership</i> as a preventive approach to address current and emerging crises and conflicts. In fact, conflict on the continent is aggravated by the lack of communication between generations. The generation that fought for independence; the generation that built the African nation and the current youthful population that navigates a world of continued violence and inequality. If we don't address this gap now, it will widen by the end of this century. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do not mean by <i>Intergenerational Co-Leadership</i>a ‘transfer of legacy’ or ‘passing the torch or the baton’ to the current generation or future generations. These have become not only cliches but disempowering statements that only implies youth are of “tomorrow” not today. Current older leaders would have to step out sooner or later but what is the alternative? Inheriting systems we did not co-design is basically setting our generation to failure. Our generation has not navigated bureaucracy, diplomacy and governance spaces because most youth are in civil society, or the informal sector. The danger is that if we do not start <b>co-leading</b> now and reforming the failing systems, we cannot break this cycle, bridge this gap and allow for generational healing. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am simply saying; <b>don’t pass the torch to us</b>, pass <b>the truth</b>! <b>co-lead </b>with us, so we do not fail the next generation either. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Because we are a </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">generation in transition</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">, we need to also transition to a new theory of change which I think should be </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Intergenerational Co-Leadership</i>.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe co-creation of policies and solutions would allow young people to thrive their leadership potentials without the fear of reprisal. By helping to build a relationship of trust with institutions, it will strongly contribute to helping the latter avoid being rejected by the youth. This would have resulted in the long term upsurge of violence or continuous cycle of uprisings. Instead, with <i>Intergenerational Co-Leadership</i>, a network of concerned and passionate citizens is created which enables reforms to decision making processes by bringing all generations to the table to collaborate in the formation of policies and implementation of programs. Thus, stimulating solidarity between generations rather than tension, rivalry and dichotomy. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe <b>listening </b>is an exercise that both generations need to humbly practice. While we are often not listened to or taken seriously by people in power, we need to exchange with those who made change when they were also young. We need to realise that there are many older folks who have left the space for youth and they are now championing the youth agenda, they are our allies. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my role as African Union Youth Envoy, I curated, practiced and advocated for this approach to bridge the generation gap, it's been a process but it is working! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2019, I first held consultations with hundreds of young people and within the AU system and published an<b><u><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> </span><a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/37526-doc-oye_action_plan_2019_20_final_oct_2019.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Action Plan</span></a></u></b> introducing an <b>Intergenerational Model</b>. I started making noise around this concept and inviting leaders to embrace it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EY6W4sFIF0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="858" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkTUHBHuDJz2qdbfbnJprbt3uw1Qvz3epOViOsZn1lJCP-vmTB_u2k0xeyQAotjWLHaEDfzDIxmU1puufVVuyeQyV0Io_IPQ86Oz3ygw1FWCJTZSxn4RQYVUTQ_CI889ZVlRv6y9Xr7WrUfaa3Ju3F8o2neKHaF5H7vedZHeA0b8qse3wWIxL7PfmFog=w640-h352" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Video interview with AfriCAN</i></div><br /><br /></div></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I briefed and the<b><u><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> </span><a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20191115/statement-au-chairpersons-special-envoy-youth-ms-aya-chebbi-au-peace-and" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">AU Peace and Security Council</span></a></u></b><span><span style="color: red;"><b><u> </u></b> </span>and the</span> <a href="https://www.eclfz.org/mobilizing-youth-to-silence-guns-by-2020-in-africa-security-council-briefing/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">UN Security Council</span></b> </a>I presented the concept and advocated for the institutionalisation of <i style="text-align: justify;">Intergenerational Co-Leadership</i> </span></span><p></p><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syy-9WIX_BQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="857" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5TrdUmyCDPa3QcuSSTtcViZzrr1CkUfA4L0SgYPYU_mQFHQfoNpaYdE3TCpaIgVijVWq7WQaAeZNw9FYcjpgIukY63tYQSssp2YomC7ndIzCqeMegaNhqxL1_zhOhop0Tc6E8kSuKGqU5MqYup4W3n98Y2t74H7HGEH-ySe3eDh3c9zHsSCl2MLsedg=w640-h458" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Video Briefing of UNSC</i></span></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2020, I </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">released a <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ruxfMDdmhGuqjYI9woSwWdnjMWgBIdeO/view" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">Toolkit for Intergenerational Co-Leadership</span></b></a> </span>empowering young people across the world to organise and advocate and with that I launched a multi-stakhoder platform which led to organising together with young people and policymakers</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0f74uVC9vaYx9zVwRea8c3jNxNZiGuAO" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">100 Intergenerational Dialogues</span></b></a> where 150,000 youth participated with 800 elders with 38.3M impact online, mostly importantly these honest dialogues</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> addressed critical issues of Silencing the Guns (YPS) , gender equality, pandemic outbreak etc. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I have taken the conversation to the national discussion in </span><span style="color: red;"><b><a href="https://thetimesofafrica.com/the-au-special-envoy-on-youth-appeals-for-intergenerational-dialogues-and-youth-inclusion/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">South Sudan</span></a>, <a href="https://nirruption.com/2021/02/18/leading-together/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Nigeria</span></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWBYjNjid-4" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Kenya</span></a></b> </span>(and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqrIO7Z6Zv8" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">2019</span></b></a>), <b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12sOIk-BJG9RmcqoTFrYp1cfrHdeO0n9R/view" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Morocco</span>,</a><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span><span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiPNcadWDUc" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Norway</span></a>,</span><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7GwZ1TrO2Y" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Namibia</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee;">, </span><a href="https://akzente.giz.de/en/artikel/new-narrative" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Denmark</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee;">, </span><a href="https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/SIPRI_2020%20Stockholm%20Forum%20on%20Peace%20and%20Development_Report_compressed.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Sweden</span></a></b>, among other countries across Africa and the world. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I consistently called for this approach during second briefings to the <a href="https://au.int/en/speeches/20201112/briefing-ms-aya-chebbi-au-psc-session-youth-peace-and-security" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">AU Peace and Security Council</span></b></a> and<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZk-5-hPx4" target="_blank"> <b><span style="color: red;">UN Security Council</span></b></a><span style="color: #0000ee;"><b> </b></span>as well as the process of</span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/73032/intergenerational-co-leadership-for-global-governance-innovation/" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: red;">UN75</span></b></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: #0000ee;"> , </span><a href="https://addis.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/unfpa_lo_quarterly_newsletter.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">UNFPA</span></a></b><span style="color: red;"> </span>(ICPD Nairobi Summit) , <b><a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2021/3/news-at-csw65-youth-call-for-intergenerational-co-leadership-for-generation-equality-forum" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">UN Women</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></b>(Generation Equality forums) , <b><a href="https://twitter.com/UNAOC/status/1310985189057802240" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">UNAOC</span></a>, <a href="https://sdg.iisd.org/commentary/generation-2030/how-is-covid-19-affecting-progress-on-sdg-5-gender-equality/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">UNGA</span></a> , </b>among other other <b><a href="https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/transcript_of_interview_with_aya_chebbi.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">agencies</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I also advocated for this concept during the pandemic and collaborated with thinks tanks like </span></span><b><a href="https://www.iiea.com/blog/the-power-of-youth-in-communicating-and-delivering-on-the-sustainable-development-goals" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">IIEA</span></a> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sZ_42Lgaxs" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Video</span></a>) </b><span><b><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">, </span><a href="https://www.accord.org.za/analysis/the-fears-and-hopes-of-african-youth-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">ACCORD</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee;">,</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzEOJm3AZsg" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">ICLEI</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://globalperspectives.org/en/blog/2021/06/29/aya-chebbi-we-no-longer-want-youth-to-be-invited-to-closing-ceremonies-but-to-be-co-creators-of-the-policies-that-shape-their-lives/" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">GPI</span></a></b><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: #0000ee;"> , </span><a href="https://milkeninstitute.org/video/african-union-youth-special-envoy-aya-chebbi" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Milken Institute</span></a><span style="color: #0000ee;"> , </span><a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/tfp-pb.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">ISS Africa</span></a></b> among others t</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">o amplify the message and advance the advocacy. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mDl7VDmRnw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="880" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHtshfUDZSSwDnt_Vfx8Kmyp6ZOcT5qtabAcpx28-uxzgS6I0OepyK_oPXI43VxGvGHngjz8lcIwIswUhdSdmJAAaHjenODYAY1xKriFf5ZhN3uUNE2cAs89ORpuyusnx0fcCg2OiQ3949h28egxT9z9CDQQpol11nijOetljepDxiHUoB9Q2NUcvWng=w640-h314" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Recap video of the impact of <span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">Intergenerational Co-Leadership</span></i></div></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because many embraced our philosophy, I </span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">launched with the African Leadership Institute on international Youth Day 2020, a </span><a href="http://bit.ly/ayipsreport" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Report on Greater Youth Inclusion of African Youth in Public Service and Governance</b></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="color: #1155cc;"> </span></b>proposing eight practical recommendations for more youth to occupy the parliamentary seats, governments appointments, local councils and electoral lists. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Intergenerational</span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> means also not about having a “youth Rep” in “older spaces”, it’s rather about all spaces becoming intergenerational. Policymakers, boards, executives, and other spaces need to move from “let us get the young person to represent youth voices into this meeting” to “let us appoint a young person to co-chair the meeting” and ensure youth are co-leading the agenda. It worked, indeed appointments of youth in leadership increased, parliaments and ministerial portfolios as well as advisory roles were created for youth to the top leadership (Cabinet and Heads of States) in the spirit of co-leadership. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">As I conclude my mandate and reflect in retrospect while documenting these efforts in my <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fh1mMu7BgoCdxRfLBTLnxTe1Xmc66qg8/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: red;">Legacy Report</span></b></a>,</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I am proud that I </span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">fostered <i style="text-align: center; white-space: normal;"><span style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">Intergenerational Co-Leadership</span></i>, that governments have institutionalised it through youth quotas, that members states, have included youth within their delegations to the AU summits, and hopefully scholars would theorise it in the leadership literature.</span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All we are asking is for our generation to express itself, to be and become and pioneer a new leadership. It is in the interest of all of us to have young governments, young institutions, young mayors and young ministries. It is In the interest of all of us to speed the internet and democratize access for youth making lives for themselves online. It is in the interest of all of us to be bridges for trade and open borders. For youth to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silence the Guns</span><span style="background-color: white; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we have to enable for them a life with dignity. Only together with wisdom of elders and innovation and competence of young people, we can take this continent, this world to where we deserve to be.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Aya Chebbi</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Former African Union Special Envoy on Youth</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">March 2021</span></p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-46381423994565639932022-02-28T08:48:00.021-08:002022-02-28T11:14:25.235-08:00What does Russia - Ukraine Proxy War mean for Africa? <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">They say "</span>When <span style="caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);">America </span>sneezes<span style="caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);">, the </span>world catches a cold<span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">" but really, isn't that " When the world sneezes, Africa catches a cold"! </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has worldwide impact. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16); font-family: times;">Many of which would affect Africa , I think in three major ways so far: </span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b style="background-color: white;">1. Stranded African Students </b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">Ukraine is a host to <span style="color: red;"><a class="js-external-link" href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2022/02/347056/moroccan-students-in-ukraine-concerned-amid-evacuation-of-citizens" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 42, 42); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8,000</a><a class="js-external-link" href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2022/02/347056/moroccan-students-in-ukraine-concerned-amid-evacuation-of-citizens" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 42, 42); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Moroccans</a></span>, <a class="js-external-link" href="https://qz.com/africa/2131361/what-happens-to-the-4000-nigerians-studying-in-ukraine/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 42, 42); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">4,000 Nigerians</span></a> and <span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">3,500</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"> Egyptians which </span>are among the top 10 countries with foreign students in the country besides tens of thousands of other African nationalities. In fact, <span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">Africans make up more than 20% of Ukraine's international students, studying </span>medicine, engineering and military affairs. <span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">Immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, my friends who are seeking help for them and their friends stranded in Ukraine, shared on social media their panic over the way out! flights grounded with no transportation from Kyiv and other cities with long dangerous routes to the borders of neighbouring countries.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-_FD_0A7qNircghVv6epwe0hguyQsA8xQ8RL6-TXEK5l18z82MyP5NdqqJBBaG6OMKLDpWaVZctdbFpXMm1jIGVaH0iA1JlCck4qJMNC4CbrK_SoOCFj8H5kl7BqDBNIDoIwqq5Nek6jiNgJO3eZfElSV2-alHbvbrbWe8mKDQqtrskrpvKuKK9NW6Q" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="730" height="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-_FD_0A7qNircghVv6epwe0hguyQsA8xQ8RL6-TXEK5l18z82MyP5NdqqJBBaG6OMKLDpWaVZctdbFpXMm1jIGVaH0iA1JlCck4qJMNC4CbrK_SoOCFj8H5kl7BqDBNIDoIwqq5Nek6jiNgJO3eZfElSV2-alHbvbrbWe8mKDQqtrskrpvKuKK9NW6Q=w640-h469" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white;">Being "concerned" is not enough response from African governments, our young people need a safe route out to </span><span style="background-color: white;">their home countries. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">It is the responsibility of African governments to bring African students from Ukraine safely. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Immediate action is needed especially that reports show <a href="https://twitter.com/nzekiev/status/1497805019311218689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1497805019311218689%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpeople.com%2Fpolitics%2Fafrican-students-fleeing-ukraine-prevented-crossing-border%2F"><span style="color: red;">discrimination</span></a> against African youth trying to cross the Polish borders which are following a "Ukrainian first" type policy. I think this is not new for Poland which did not open its borders for Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees among others and left them in limbo and even <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/24/migrants-in-limbo-at-poland-belarus-border-as-polish-legalise-pushbacks">legalised pushbacks</a>. African Union also made a<a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20220228/statement-ill-treatment-africans-trying-leave-ukraine"> statement</a> urging </span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(83, 87, 90);">"</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(83, 87, 90);">all countries to respect international law and show the same empathy and support to all people fleeing war notwithstanding their racial identity".</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">2- F</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">ood InSecurity</span></b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">There are multiple economic implications out of this proxy war as Africa exports worth of </span><a class="js-external-link" href="https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/foreign-and-security-policy/ukraines-african-connection-5348/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 42, 42); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: times; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: red;">$4 billion</span></a> <span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: times;">of global grains and oilseed </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16); font-family: times;">from Ukraine and Russia including </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: times;">wheat, </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-family: times;">maize, sunflower oil, barley, and soybeans.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16); font-style: normal;">The impact on c</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">ommodity prices </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">in many African countries ( especially </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya and South Africa) </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16);">including </span>further increase on <span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">crude oil</span> prices (<span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">perhaps the most dramatic </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">since the </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">Gulf War</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"> in 1991) </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">, inflation as well as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/world/middleeast/in-north-africa-ukraine-war-strains-economies-weakened-by-pandemic.html"><span style="color: red;">food insecurity</span></a>. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">My country, Tunisia,</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> was </span><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/tunisia/2022/02/22/tunisias-public-sector-salary-crisis-could-threaten-saieds-rule/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">already struggling to <span style="color: red;">pay for grain shipments</span></a><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> before the conflict broke out. </span>B<span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">read does keep hundreds of millions of people from hunger. In fact we experienced in Tunisia, the <b>Bread Riots</b></span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86); text-align: left;"> </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86); text-align: left;">between</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86); text-align: left;"> December 1983 to January 1984, triggered by many reasons among which is the rise of the price of wheat. </span></span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: times;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">I just returned from Sharm el Sheikh last month and every taxi driver told me that </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-style: normal;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal;">the regions' </span></em><em style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-style: normal;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.madamasr.com/en/2022/02/24/news/u/as-russia-invades-ukraine-conflict-has-already-dealt-blow-to-egypts-tourism-sector/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: red;">tourism</span></a> </em></em><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal;">is dependent on</span><i style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-style: normal;"> Russia</i><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-style: normal;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">, </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">especially</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); font-style: normal;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> during </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-style: normal;">Covid-19 pandemic recovery besides </span></span>Egypt being the world’s <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://enterprise.press/hardhats/makes-nutrient-rich-food-hard-access-egypt/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-color: rgb(50, 104, 145); text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-style: solid; text-decoration-thickness: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="color: red;">top importer of wheat</span></a><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfWHvt1OAyGefCErFSAYrTgvWCM9Wd2romVewrR31nbiJNSdznucUvMicXso7-jEJ4hnGiFVfj4-NdApxn1IZ1h7Kp8AastZJxcErMPVz39tCXtkmKoRX296dCKIT2RDPEyQ4h418g6KPSJSCIcmTG1q75M-lWeQUzwZ4jLyVLDtFncrpvxTlYMVUFSQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="700" height="632" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfWHvt1OAyGefCErFSAYrTgvWCM9Wd2romVewrR31nbiJNSdznucUvMicXso7-jEJ4hnGiFVfj4-NdApxn1IZ1h7Kp8AastZJxcErMPVz39tCXtkmKoRX296dCKIT2RDPEyQ4h418g6KPSJSCIcmTG1q75M-lWeQUzwZ4jLyVLDtFncrpvxTlYMVUFSQ=w640-h632" width="640" /></a></span></div><p></p><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">Grain and oilseed farmers could see the surge in prices as an opportunity for financial gains, but the </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33);">rising commodity prices would also cripple the consumers who have already experienced food price rises over the past two years of the pandemic. The same way </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); text-align: left;">budgets of oil-producing countries like Nigeria and Angola might get a boost from the rising prices, but the cost of transport is likely to rise for people.</span></p></span></span></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 33, 33); margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">On the other hand, Russia and Ukraine’s agricultural imports from the continent are <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.trademap.org/Bilateral_TS.aspx?nvpm=1%7c643%7c%7c%7c7%7c%7c75088%7c%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c1%7c1%7c1" style="-webkit-backface-visibility: hidden; box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px);">averaging $1.6 billion</a> </span>in the past three years. The dominant products are fruits, tobacco, coffee, and beverages in both countries. In 2020, Russia accounted for 7% of South Africa’s citrus exports in value terms and 12% of South Africa’s apples and pears exports in the same year – the country’s second largest market.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;">Perhaps, there is potential for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to boost food security sustainability, food production and infrastructure to facilitate distribution. Perhaps, there is potential for intra trade as </span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); text-align: left;">Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa grow significant amounts of wheat</span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); text-align: left;"> and they are still net importers of the grain.</span></span></p></div></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(16, 16, 16);"><b>3- Escalating Conflicts in Africa </b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="text-align: left;">Trade and aid form Africa-Russia economic ties but also military training and paramilitary security. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-align: left;">Russia has increased its presence on the continent in recent years and is expected to host a Russia-Africa summit this November. Clearly </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-align: left;">we can expect the budgets of states around the world will be gearing towards more militarization and not the developmental goals!</span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.75rem; margin-bottom: 20px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">Most statements of African governments like South Africa have <span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); text-align: left;">called for "the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, for the dispute should be resolved peacefully". </span><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; text-align: left;">Kenya as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, has condemned Russia </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); text-align: left;">saying</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">"The territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine stands breached. The charter of the United Nations continues to wilt under the relentless assault of the powerful." Gabon and Ghana also condemned Russia while the majority of African governments remained silent. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66); text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the next couple weeks, African </span><span class="ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">governments might</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66);"> come under diplomatic pressure to take sides in the escalating dispute between Russia and Western powers. </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">Russia's invasion of Ukraine comes at a time when Mali has frosty relations with France concerning the presence of military advisors from the </span><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/mali-russian-military-advisers-arrive-amid-western-pullback/a-60363317" style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62); text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: red;">private Russian company Wagner</span></a><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"><span style="color: red;">.</span> </span>Mali and <span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66);">and Central African Republic, </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66);">where Russian forces are helping the governments fight insurgencies, </span>can get caught in this crisis. <span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66);">Sudan and </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(63, 63, 66);">Democratic Republic of Congo</span> are also among the countries strengthening ties with Russia. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">In 2018, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania all appealed to Moscow for help combating the so-called Daesh and al Qaeda. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">Moscow has also been </span><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/african-countries-mull-nuclear-energy-as-russia-extends-offers/a-50872702" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: red;">selling nuclear technology</span></a><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"> to Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Egypt and Nigeria are among those in the market for Russian-built nuclear power plants. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);">Sudan, Chad, Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau have experienced coups in the past year. One thing they all have in common: most of the soldiers behind the coups had received military training sponsored by Russia.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: times;"><div class="separator" style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62); clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg__LgMfv5dDTvEktp4ELWwFiMVc-hr-bZSLs1PS7MzNvHepEkB5YpMDUZBHEgBT0GD1Nsad9Us1wfcbaS9vhUVkL_-XDf6kv5eph_XgvTXQQyfCJPBUjlF9pLF6XCJ1-bwrx_UmzC_cPqhnEziU5HZASRgIW97veLY9gZjKNqdNXoFLbdct4KwfGMAMg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="701" height="617" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg__LgMfv5dDTvEktp4ELWwFiMVc-hr-bZSLs1PS7MzNvHepEkB5YpMDUZBHEgBT0GD1Nsad9Us1wfcbaS9vhUVkL_-XDf6kv5eph_XgvTXQQyfCJPBUjlF9pLF6XCJ1-bwrx_UmzC_cPqhnEziU5HZASRgIW97veLY9gZjKNqdNXoFLbdct4KwfGMAMg=w640-h617" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;">In addition to that, let's not forget we have ongoing conflicts in <span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">the Sahel, Mozambique and Ethiopia.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">I believe the most important course of action now, is that African countries claim unity in their position especially as the largest block in the United Nations. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">28/02/2022</span></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: times;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Aya Chebbi </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(62, 62, 62);"> </span></span></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com1Ukraine48.379433 31.16558-1.2464430229855452 -109.45942 90 171.79058tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-66065962830290590522022-02-14T02:55:00.031-08:002022-02-14T04:15:48.781-08:003 Priorities for African Youth at Upcoming AU-EU Summit 2022 <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 3 Priorities for African Youth </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">at the upcoming AU-EU Summit 2022 </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-f620cb84-7fff-8e02-0603-cdd81cbe8e16" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIda9rLz9Ako6Zw0-3_52Ga2TCtRlP77MEFyC7VsWofKYKHDGaLSDB2fFl8_xoBTnSsKL0GRtcOWyLkNtiGXU3McBjk9BZTCz0HgxZYkaJTUq1aAXdQBGUL6ITiNtOHUs_mquGicJlVCu_z3QfcLpWM38gL_86fPMhEtNlmdkqTLGst4xdzaK-e09UXA=s485" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiIda9rLz9Ako6Zw0-3_52Ga2TCtRlP77MEFyC7VsWofKYKHDGaLSDB2fFl8_xoBTnSsKL0GRtcOWyLkNtiGXU3McBjk9BZTCz0HgxZYkaJTUq1aAXdQBGUL6ITiNtOHUs_mquGicJlVCu_z3QfcLpWM38gL_86fPMhEtNlmdkqTLGst4xdzaK-e09UXA=s16000" /></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone's eyes are on the leaders of the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) and their respective member states meeting this week for the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 6th AU-EU Summit </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Brussels on 17 and 18 February 2022 to discuss the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AU-EU partnership</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> with the highest political involvement. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After over a decade of such convenings, I think there is fundamental change in the partnership that needs to take place. Before discussing "issues", there are relationship, process and engagement modalities that are very problematic and have not been addressed. We should not be expecting political solutions to political problems when Europe still treats Africa as its saver and colonial master in practice, despite the incoherence in speech that says otherwise. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact, the most important moment is not the summit itself, but the process towards the summit and the process afterwards. A testimonial to the failure of many of AU-EU summits is the critique of young people who table the same exact recommendations every summit because the leaders did not yet implement those presented before. Yes, it is a question of accountability but more so, it is a question of decolonisation of process to achieve tangible results. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are three priorities of the decolonisation process that I think Europe should consider. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><ol style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Decolonize EU Language and Practices </span></p><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Often times Europe continues to perpetuate colonial thinking in its language when engaging Africa. For instance, there has always been an emphasis on the concept of "mobility" for Europe while Africa has been emphasizing on "Free Movement of People '' and even adopted a </span><a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/36403-treaty-protocol_on_free_movement_of_persons_in_africa_e.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in Africa</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It is not enough to grant people </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mobility</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> , it is fundamental to recognise the right of people's freedom of movement. European policies still have not grasped this concept. Half of African migrants die in the mediterranean while the others get their rights violated as they arrive in fortress Europe. This language and practice reinforces Eurocentric approaches and hostile attitudes towards African refugees and migrants. I</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t’s also good to be reminded that over 53% of</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2020.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">African migration</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is actually intra-continental. African migrants make up only 12.9% of Europe’s migrant population.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On communication, it seems Europe is not sure whether to address us as "Africa" or "AU" or "sub-Saharan" or whether to place "AU" or "EU" first in its communication. In some documents it's EU-Africa relations,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or </span><a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/21520/142094.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">EU-Africa Roadmap</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In other communication it's</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships/topics/africa-eu-partnership_en" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Africa-EU partnership</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or Joint </span><a href="https://africa-eu-partnership.org/sites/default/files/documents/eas2007_joint_strategy_en.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Africa-EU Strategy</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Similarly, the European language is incoherent, alternating between 'Africa' and 'Sub-Saharan Africa' when it suits. Europe needs to engage Africa moving forward as one, as 55 member states and therefore its analysis, statistics and programmes should move away from colonial divide of "sub-Saharan". </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We cannot engage beyond the donor-recipient relationship that has shaped this relationship for long, if the language and practices in organizing this summit are sill neocolonial. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><ol start="2" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reconsider EU Priorities </span></p><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 2019, a European diplomat told me in order to move in an equal partnership Africa should have a "Strategy on Europe" because Europe has a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Strategy on Africa</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (which is only informed by very few prominent African personalities). If Africa needs to have a strategy only because Europe has one that again puts Europe as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>center</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and Africa as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>periphery</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which is problematic. The idea of Europe having only a strategy on Africa not on North America is very linked to colonial legacy. Europe doesn’t need strategy on Africa because everything Europe needs to know is in <a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview">Agenda 2063</a>. Africa knows what she wants, AfCFTA, Silencing the Guns, among 14 other flagship continental projects. In fact, Africa is the only continent that has a 50 years vision ahead outlined in one document. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>The question is what is Europe’s vision?</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 5th AU-EU Summit was held on 29-30 November 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. European and African leaders adopted a joint declaration outlining common priorities for the partnership in four strategic areas:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Economic opportunities for youth</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peace and security</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mobility and migration</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 9pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cooperation on governance</span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is clearly a gap between what the priorities of young people are and what the leaders are discussing at these summits. Do these actually represent Africa’s priorities? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>agriculture</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which employs 50% of Africa’s population? What about AU theme for 2022 - </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Nutrition</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">? issues of food production and food security. For instance, our African farmers are still systemically exploited by European manufactures and retailers</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who make billions of the industry while </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #141414;">cocoa farmers make less than $1/day. The legacy of colonial brutality in West Africa is still manifest today as unchecked European economic presence in </span><a href="https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2021/01/cadburycocoacolonialism/"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">cocoa industry</span></a><span style="color: #141414;">. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #141414; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Vaccine Equity</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as a priority? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">COVID-19 showed us the worst of this partnership. 75 % of COVID vaccines have gone to 10 countries. The EU promised 250m does by the end of last year - it has spent</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58640297">8% </a></span>of those.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In fact the pandemic would have been the great manifestation of this partnership as equal. However, it actually showed us that the EU still does not </span><span style="font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">recognise</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that living in a global world means "<i>if I am not safe, you are not safe"</i>. Whether it is a pandemic, migration, security, education or climate, whatever is the inequality, the approach is the same. If you’re not thinking globally and advancing the interests of Africa as equally advancing your interests, there will always be a gap and a global issue. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ironically there has been a narrative at the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak that Africa needs saving, questioning if </span><a href="https://wirkommen.akweb.de/2020/03/ploetzlich-apokalypse/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Africa’ can cope or handle </span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">COVID-19 pandemic which is also a neocolonial narrative of Africans as incapable, and in need of saving not a the narrative of Africa’s experience with the successful combatting of Ebola outbreak thanks to people's knowledge and resilience... not a narrative of young </span><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fatu from liberia who transformed rubbish bags into aprons, gloves and masks later replicated in Europe and North America , not a narrative of young Africans producing 1$ test kits in Senegal, not a narrative of Somalia sending 20 doctors to aid Italy etc... </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #fcfcfc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then young Africans in Europe find themselves more regularly exposed to violence, hate speech and racism, sometimes without any alternative worldview. When would</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b> racism</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> be a discussion at heads of state level? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><ol start="3" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Decolonize Youth Engagement </span></p><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The EU still has time to catch up and rectify its youth engagement approach with Africa before it's too late. I say late because African youth are not waiting for EU engagement, they are moving ahead with shifting power. I do not think that African youth care too much about these spaces anymore because they are busy making change in their communities. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">President Emannual Macron got it wrong when he organized </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><a href="https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/africa/the-new-africa-france-summit-reinventing-our-relationship-together/">Africa - France Summit</a><span> </span></i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">without Heads of States few months ago. If you really want a new decolonial format, host the summit in Africa, not France. Besides, not bringing decision makers to be challenged by young people is not "paradigm shift" ; what we need is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Intergenerational Co-Leadership</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In fact, hosting a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>club of youth </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is the same as hosting a </span><i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">club of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ol</span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">d men</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, we can convene ourselves as African youth, the point of such summits is commitment of African and European leaders. Europe needs to understand that the issue of leadership on the continent is generational and the issue of development is colonial. Unless you address these two, we are wasting each other's time. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Similarly this summit is </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hosted in Europe and that comes with problematic approaches such as Europe deciding who goes to Brussels. This is something we experienced as <a href="https://nalafem.org"><span style="color: red;">Nala Feminist Collective</span>,</a> as we are co-hosting today a session entitled <u>"<a href="https://app.swapcard.com/event/africa-eu-week-of-partnerships/planning/UGxhbm5pbmdfNzk4MDU0" style="color: red;">Young Women's Political Participation for Intergenerational Co-Leadership</a>"</u> with the participation of European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #004a6e; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> After the confirmation of <a href="https://nalafem.org/council/"><span style="color: red;">Nala Council</span></a> speakers to be joining the event physically in Brussels and the need for African participants to obtain a visa, their physical participation was few days ago cancelled due to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">event moving "100% virtual" (which is not the case as rapporteurs and organisers from our organisation, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">residents of Europe ,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are present at the event physically)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It is therefore a bit hypocrite to talk of “mobility” when you deny young Africans the platform to be in Brussels. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Besides, narratives</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">about Africa youth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">underpin the policy discussion and framework of our common future in the partnership. For the next few decades, the world will continue to be constructed around narratives. Who shapes the narratives ? And whose voice is heard? is key. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So far, the narrative of African youth in Europe is - of victims or perpetrators of violence, not as peacebuilders, a</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> narrative of African youth – as the subjects not as drivers of development, a</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> narrative of African youth - as the problem in Europe not the solution, the unemployed, the refugees, the migrants, always some negative number we need to deal with. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Europe needs to start asking itself, are you contributing to narratives of empowerment and agency or disempowerment of young Africans? and that should start in the political discourse before we go on to debate policies. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, I can't not talk about the priority outlined by the partnership on “economic opportunities for youth”. Does that include African youth in Europe? The leaders in 2017 committed to - in their own words - "creating sufficient quality jobs that enable youth to enjoy decent livelihoods". Since then, youth unemployment for young Africans has been increasing in both Africa and Europe. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Youth in Africa and in Europe share the common urgency of promoting a different narrative that sheds light on their innovation and agency. There is an opportunity now in the 6th AU-EU Summit , to change that narrative while we rethink our common future.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.656; margin-bottom: 9pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To conclude, it takes time to unlearn and learn again but it is urgent that Europe decolonizes its approach, strategy and policies to align the partnership priorities with the demands of the continent and 65% of its population - African youth. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" style="text-align: start;" /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;">Aya Chebbi </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;">Chair - Nala Feminist Collective </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;">14 February 2022</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /></span><p></p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-52381729937637104452021-06-08T04:05:00.002-07:002021-06-08T04:05:23.852-07:00Online and on the ground: connecting those most in need with the UN<p><span style="caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Published at <a href="https://una.org.uk/file/11621/download?token=agw75Vy5" target="_blank">UNA-UK</a></span></p><p><br /></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The distance between the UN Headquarters in New York and my hometown in Tunisia has shrunk over the past two decades. Today, in the age of laptops and mobile data, the United Nations feels more accessible, but many in the global South are still unable to participate.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When the United Nations was designing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the late 1990s, the public had little say in the process. Fifteen years later, thanks largely to the internet and online consultations, over nine million individuals were able to engage in setting priorities for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Before the SDGs, the UN all too often only heard from large, well-resourced organisations, which may not reflect the reality at a community level, while the voices of the citizens who are most in need are not heard. But this new agenda provides an opportunity to re-balance power relations between civil society in the global North and South.</p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><div><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To achieve these targets, the UN needs to embrace the digital age with an emphasis on “leaving no one behind”. The first aspect of this is to provide simplified information via the UN website, such as accessible versions of key UN documents that can be downloaded on a phone. Better use of infographics to help the public better understand UN policy programmes would also help.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But online support is only part of the solution. There remains a major digital divide globally, with 60 per cent of the world offline, the vast majority in Central Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. As a result, a considerable amount of indigenous and traditional knowledge from communities off the grid is not captured in intergovernmental processes.</p><figure class="quote" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; max-width: 54em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><blockquote style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: #6699cc; font-size: 1.4em; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 1.2em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2.4em; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit !important; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit !important; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The UN must provide better support to bring the voices of civil society directly from grassroots organisations.</p></blockquote></figure><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">To bridge this gap and connect rural communities to the World Wide Web, the SDGs aim to “provide universal and affordable internet access to the least developed countries by 2020”. In terms of infrastructure, the UN should encourage governments to scale up internet provision, improve internet literacy and prioritise mobile access for those who are in remote areas. We learned in 2011, during Tunisia’s historic political transition to democracy, that digital tools have become fundamental in mobilising the masses to take a stand on social, economic and environmental issues.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(86, 86, 86); color: #565656; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; margin: 1.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But it cannot stop there. To reach those most in need, with no imminent hope of entering the digital age, the UN must provide better support to bring the voices of civil society directly from grassroots organisations. On this front, the UN should ensure timely announcements of meetings and make more travel grants accessible to those who are ‘off-grid’ as well as working with host countries to ease the often-restrictive visa processes that attendees face. Only by enabling a platform for the hardest-to-reach voices can the UN ensure that it truly reflects the needs of the world’s seven billion people.</p></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-54399311848619090912021-06-08T03:58:00.007-07:002021-06-08T03:58:44.981-07:00Maximizing the benefits of the AfCFTA for young people<p> Published at <span style="font-family: MyriadPro; font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/39689-doc-ss_afcftafuturereport.pdf" target="_blank">The Futures Report AfCFTA Secretariat</a></span></p><p><br /></p><div class="page" title="Page 68"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What AfCFTA holds for African youth</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Demographically, Africa is the youngest continent in the world. However, despite making up this significant percentage, youth participation is limited in the decision-making in the socio- economic arenas, especially cross-border trade and governance matters. Young people are central to the achievement of the African Union Agenda 2063 and are major stakeholders of the cardinal framework in the domestication and stepping down process.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Young people in Africa are adversely impacted by high levels of unemployment,<span style="vertical-align: 3pt;"> </span>low quality jobs, and major obstacles to participation in cross-border trade.<span style="vertical-align: 3pt;"> </span>Young entrepreneurs face a wide set of bottlenecks that hinder their willingness to engage in and benefit from international trade, such as steep taxes while trading across borders. Another major challenge faced by young entrepreneurs in Africa </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">is financing; for instance, securing loans from banks and access to equities is particularly difficult for them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although the entry into force of the AfCFTA is a significant accomplishment, it must be followed up with practices to ensure that African businesses, citizens, young people and women truly benefit from it. The AfCFTA must be supported by appropriate national policies and programmes that allow youth to have access to the regional supply chains, trade opportunities in the public and private sectors. All of these will encourage them to play a pivotal role in the AfCFTA process.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the implementation phase of the AfCFTA, youth must be taken into consideration, and have key opportunities to meet the growing requirements of industrialization and cross-border commerce. This requires comprehensive dialogue at both the national and regional level in order to highlight their role in continental integration towards building an inclusive implementation process, as well as to explore the real challenges faced by young entrepreneurs.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 68"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">During the commemoration of Africa Integration Day on 8 July 2020, we organized with the African Union Department of Trade and Industry, a virtual Intergenerational Dialogue (IGD) under the theme, “The role of young people in accelerating Africa’s integration through the AfCFTA”. More than 600 youth participated, curious to find out about the AfCFTA and understand its current and potential benefits, and also contribute to the debate. The following recommendations were put forward by youth during the conversations.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Access to digital technology</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although it is agreed that digital transformation is an innovative force, it also a privilege in Africa; 70 percent of Africa’s population is offline, and the high cost of Internet data bundles and the digital divide remain a major challenge. People who are not connected can be invisible and miss out on the opportunities of the digital revolution and the power of information. Therefore, urgent action and political will are needed for investment in digital infrastructure. Young people should not be just consumers of content and digital products but should also be creators. In addition, there is a need to ensure that digital services reach those vulnerable groups who are left behind due to lower costs for data and access.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Since digital trade is largely inevitable, we need to be ready for this change. The question remains, ‘How exactly can it be handled so as to achieve development in Africa that empowers the most vulnerable, and with youth at the centre, rather than being limited to transactions’. Digital trade should not be an avenue for big companies to exploit our markets, making billions with little commitments or contribution to qualitative development, making youth more online consumers than digital traders. And in </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">this inequality, young women will suffer the most because they are underrepresented in the tech industry such as information technology, sciences and engineering. Rather, it should be a space where young Africans are benefiting from as much as they are contributing to its growth.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Access to finance</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A large number of small business owners are young people. This indicates the importance of giving them access to funding resources to help them grow and also to give them guidance in business planning. Not all young entrepreneurs are able to benefit from this. Providing them with financial support at lower interest rates would improve the capacity for these businesses owners to increase their trade activities. There is a need for more financial support and business development assistance for young entrepreneurs in growing their business and maintaining stability on the macro and micro level as well as a reduction in trade tariffs to promote productivity and enhance the growth of African companies.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Access to education and training</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although education alone is not enough, it remains a core component of influencing young people’s livelihoods. Strengthening public education will provide youth with applicable learning opportunities that they need not only to be employable in today's changing world and will also generate jobs for the future.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The technological advancements that propel e-commerce and the growth of the digital economy also require skills and expertise that can only be provided by accelerated educational programmes, training and support.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Conclusion</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In sum, it is essential that youth be provided with opportunities to participate in trade policymaking in order to highlight and propose recommendations on and best solutions for eliminating barriers they face in integrating their businesses into regional and global value chains.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The sustainability of the AfCFTA greatly depends on the capacity of African governments to harness the potential of their young population by guaranteeing that they are provided with </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the economic opportunities they deserve. Governments must protect youth’s intellectual property rights, ensuring that they benefit from their own innovations and ideas. The AfCFTA agenda will be expanded to allow professional and educational mobility and to improve the skills of Africa's youth workers. </span></p></div></div></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although the impact of COVID-19 is dominating the attention of decision makers, regional integration remains essential for Africa. This is an opportune time for policymakers to not only listen to young people as beneficiaries of AfCFTA, but also to realize and implement structures for quality youth engagement and intergenerational co-leadership as a way to share responsibility in delivering on the Africa that we want.</span></p><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 700;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 700;">-- </span></p><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: 700;">References</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 69"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt;">African Development Bank (2016). African Development Report 2015 - Chapter 5: Africa’s youth in the labour market. Available at www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/ Documents/Publications/ADR15_chapter_5.pdf</span></p><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt;">Global Africa Business Club (2020). The importance of Youth participation in trade and governance matters, September 2020. Available at www. globalafricabusinessclub.com/featured-article/ the-importance-of-youth-participation-in-trade-and- governance-matters</span></p><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt;">Internet World Stats. Usage and Population statistics (n.d.) The Digital Divide, ICT, and Broadband Internet: ICT - Information Communications Technologies, Internet World Status Usage and Population Status. Available at www. internetworldstats.com/links10.htm</span></p><p><span style="color: #414042; font-family: ProximaNova; font-size: 8pt;">World Bank (2016). Digital Dividends Overview, World Development Report 2016. Available at http://documents1. worldbank.org/curated/en/961621467994698644/ pdf/102724-WDR-WDR2016Overview-ENGLISH- WebResBox-394840B-OUO-9.pdf</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-44724835268413116992021-06-08T03:42:00.000-07:002021-06-08T03:42:10.151-07:00FEMINISTS CLAIMING CIVIC SPACE<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">In 2011, the world felt inspired by the power of the Tunisian people that toppled its decades-long authoritarian regime and sparked a wave of citizen action throughout the region and the world. The international community then noticed the presence of women at the forefront of these movements, challenging the widespread preconception of a region devoid of women’s activism.</span></p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">The reality was, indeed, much more complex. Women in Tunisia and the region had been fighting for social change, equality, and democracy for more than a century. This decade, however, sees the emergence of a generation of women who use new means to fight for their rights and face their various struggles.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Since the revolution, women have been occupying public spaces to organise and stand up for civic causes. In the words of Mike Douglass, however, the mere existence of “a public square, park or other spaces that appear to be civic spaces is not necessarily an indication of opportunities for civil society to engage in political discourse or action.” The dictatorships in the region, such as in Tunisia, Egypt, or Libya, have shown that civic spaces are colonised by the State or combinations of State-private enterprise control. For the civic space to be effective, it also has to be democratic.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">The civic space in Tunisia has overwhelmingly been men’s domain, often reducing women to objects of struggle in the face of growing emphasis on Islamic values and customs, such as veiling, on the pretext of safeguarding Tunisia’s culture and morals after decades of colonial rule. Nevertheless, Tunisian women have continued to challenge discriminatory practices, advocate their rights, and transition from “objects of struggle to speaking subjects.” Since the early 20th century, Tunisian women have played a key role in organising civil resistance. In the 1930s, they joined the independence movement, holding protests and signing petitions. In the 1950s, women were fully active in the struggle for liberation, demanding rights and providing logistics and support.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">However, the turning point for Tunisian women came about on 13 August 1956, which marked the promulgation of the Code of Personal Status (CPS) that included progressive laws aiming at the institutionalisation of gender equality, most notably through the abolition of polygamy and legalisation of abortion. It also granted women the rights to have their own passport, bank account, and even a business. Since then, Tunisian women have been portrayed and perceived in the region as independent and emancipated.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><p style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.555555555555556; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;">This image was exploited by both former presidents to design a democratic façade. Under Habib Bourguiba’s administration (1959–1987) Tunisia was promoted as a secular republic in a region otherwise dominated by Islamic monarchies and military dictatorships. However, even the CPS was in the end a symbol of repressive progressiveness: while it mirrored institutional steps to improve the status of women, the progress was on Bourguiba’s terms only. The emancipation of women was thus credited solely to the allegedly feminist State and Statesman Bourguiba, who oversaw the feminist struggle in order to claim its achievements for himself.<br /> <br />Ironically, the portrait of Tunisia as a country spearheading the promotion of women’s rights is contested by the very figures produced by the State itself. For instance, according to the National Office for Family and Population (ONFP), almost 50 per cent of Tunisian women have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. And in a study conducted by the Center for Research, Studies, Documentation and Information on Women (CREDIF) between 2011 and 2015, 53.5 per cent of interviewed women reported to have experienced physical or psychological violence in a public space at least once.<br /> <br />Despite these challenges, increasing efforts on the part of women reveal a growing awareness of their role in influencing the political system and conquering civic spaces. There are many means and methods that women’s rights activists and organisations are employing to this end. In the following, I will highlight four of them.<br /> </p><p style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.555555555555556; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;"><span style="color: #474d50; font-family: ClanWebPro-NarrMedium, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.375rem; text-transform: uppercase;">OCCUPATION OF PUBLIC SPACE</span></p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">First of all, women are reclaiming public spaces that are a symbol of gender segregation, for instance coffee houses, which are usually frequented by men only. They are also challenging religious and historical constructs of male-only spaces. Most notably, in 2013, a large number of women joined a ceremony reserved to men in the Islamic tradition, namely a gathering on the cemetery to pay their last respects to the assassinated prominent politician Chokri Belaïd.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Moreover, street art has emerged as a powerful form of expression and resistance. Feryel Charfeddine chose graffiti to claim civic space and became the first woman to leave a tag on the walls of Tunis under the authoritarian regime. In 2012, she co-founded the grassroots movement Zwewla (Tunisian dialect for “the poor”), which uses graffiti art, murals, and music to reflect on the reality of the working class (zwewla) and help them defend and claim their rights. “We express the reality of zwewla and raise awareness about marginalised classes through our graffiti on the streets and in public spaces where marginalised people live,” Charfeddine explains.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Many obstacles stand in the way of women creating and enjoying art, such as patriarchy, racism, elitism, and lack of education, which is why it is important to create inclusive movements and initiatives. Street art is such an inclusive type of initiative as anyone can engage with it, if only by reacting or adding lines to it. “My first act of tagging on the wall was a response to a lack of public space available for women’s expression in the streets, a problem that was linked to the dictatorship before and nowadays to the predominance of Islamic discourse,” says Feryel.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><h2 class="zwischenueberschrift" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #474d50; font-family: ClanWebPro-NarrMedium, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.375rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.272727272727273; margin: 56px 0px 0.25rem; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-transform: uppercase; zoom: 1;">AWARENESS-RAISING AND DIALOGUE</h2><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">The involvement of many feminists, as well as political, social, and civil society groups in the period of political transition resulted in one of the most progressive constitutions in the region that legally safeguards many rights of women. “Talk to the people you disagree with” is a mantra that feminists, in particular, referred to as their strategy when engaging in debates with Islamic Conservatives during the constitution-drafting process. For instance, while Conservative-Islamic politicians were initially against gender equality, they later voted in favour of it. Feminist groups organised advocacy events that gathered civil-society representatives, policy-makers, and parliamentary members to debate equality as fundamental principle of the constitution. Thanks to local women groups, ensuring the participation of civil society in the constitution-drafting process, the new constitution, approved on 27 January 2014, is considered one of the most advanced of all South and East Mediterranean countries in political transition, especially in terms of civil liberties.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><h2 class="zwischenueberschrift" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #474d50; font-family: ClanWebPro-NarrMedium, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.375rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.272727272727273; margin: 56px 0px 0.25rem; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-transform: uppercase; zoom: 1;">DIRECT ACTION</h2><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">On the same question of equality, another means used by the feminist movement has been direct action, or more precisely: demonstration. On 13 August 2013, the National Day of Women and anniversary of the promulgation of the CPS, when Islamic Conservatives refused to discuss and change the newest draft of the constitution, women’s rights activists decided it was not a day of celebration, but of civic action. They thus took to the streets for a major demonstration to demand women’s guaranteed right to equality. Posters and chants were calling for the revision of the draft, which even some of the 59 female MPs (42 from the Conservative Islamic party Ennahda) of the total 217 MPs had voted for. It stated that “the State shall preserve women’s rights and achievements under the principle of complementarity with men within the family and as partners of men in the development of the homeland.” It invoked notions of “complementary” gender roles that risked diluting the principle of equality between men and women.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Owing to the direct actions of feminists, who were able to mobilise the masses despite prior incidents of police violence and harassment of protesters, Article 46 of the Constitution now declares, “The State commits to protect women’s established rights and works to strengthen and develop those rights.” It further guarantees “equality of opportunities between women and men to have access to all levels of responsibility and in all domains” and “the elimination of all forms of violence against women.”</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Women’s rights activists and movements continue to march, protest, and disrupt when necessary, at times in the shape of scattered, organically growing events, and other times organised by the Association Tunisienne des Femmes Démocrates (ATFD) or the Association des Femmes Tunisiennes pour la Recherche sur le Développement (AFTURD). They refuse the dilution of our rights and shrinking of our civic space, and push the Government to turn its attention to the pressing issues, such as the economy, one of the key reasons that had sparked the revolution.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><h2 class="zwischenueberschrift" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #474d50; font-family: ClanWebPro-NarrMedium, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.375rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.272727272727273; margin: 56px 0px 0.25rem; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-transform: uppercase; zoom: 1;">SOLIDARITY AND ALLIANCE-BUILDING</h2><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">The promotion of solidarity and building of alliances define the most important contours of the Tunisian feminist movement. In fact, the Tunisian lesson is that feminist movements in predominantly Muslim countries are most effective in reclaiming civic space when banding together with other movements, such as those concerned with workers’ rights and trade unions, marginalised groups, or climate change. This way, women’s issues become interwoven with all aspects of society.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">The defeat of the Conservative-Islamic Ennahda Movement in the general elections of 2014, for example, came largely as a result of the public debate about women’s rights engaging large sections of the population. More than one million women decided to reclaim civic space and voted against Ennahda because of their belief in women’s rights. The gender advocacy battle is, therefore, strongly linked to the causes of social, political, and human rights in general.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><br style="caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107); color: #5f676b; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Tunisian women have achieved notable legislative and political accomplishments. Organised women’s groups in Tunisia were at the heart of drafting the constitution and reforming the electoral law to foster vertical and horizontal equality. Regardless of how Tunisian women chose to face the challenges of political transition, our movement was successful in reversing the decrease of civic space and challenging Conservative-Islamic opposition to progressive legislation. During elections and crises, the resilience of feminist organisations and activists ensured inclusive participation, solidarity in action, and intersectionality in reclaiming civic space.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="color: #5f676b; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107);">Published at <a href="https://www.goethe.de/prj/ruy/en/frauenbewegungen/21521819.html" target="_blank">Goethe Institut</a> </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #5f676b; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107);"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #5f676b; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd69eeYUfs07izPOwSPjQUe1k3indoyzSEnV8pubK1Dy-MmBZLoQFwzuEl35PUfr0Vl-R4G-R7X0fe8KC2YXlyBqOXU8wZQGWJpjqe0xoGgc-X9r1abaYXic3DwaP23GLBE9fPXE2Z9OWP/s988/Screenshot+2021-06-08+at+11.40.58.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="988" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd69eeYUfs07izPOwSPjQUe1k3indoyzSEnV8pubK1Dy-MmBZLoQFwzuEl35PUfr0Vl-R4G-R7X0fe8KC2YXlyBqOXU8wZQGWJpjqe0xoGgc-X9r1abaYXic3DwaP23GLBE9fPXE2Z9OWP/s16000/Screenshot+2021-06-08+at+11.40.58.png" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(95, 103, 107);"><br /></span></span></div>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-17896103552636697992020-04-08T04:08:00.001-07:002021-06-08T04:09:51.288-07:00Better education for African youth can help silence the guns<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">I come from a country that has a highly educated population, with literacy rates over</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span><a href="https://www.indexmundi.com/tunisia/literacy.html" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #092fa3; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank">80% for youth</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">. During the Tunisian Revolution in 2011, it was mostly educated but unemployed people who protested in the streets.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">After the revolution, education impacted the democratic transition. Young people who took part in the movement organized themselves into media collectives, advocacy groups, some went into the parliament. Education played a key role in citizen engagement and participation in governance.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.33rem; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1.75rem;">The demographic dividend is an opportunity for Africa</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The demography of Africa, with a youth population expected to increase by 42% by 2030, is an asset, not a threat.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">At the local level and with community leaders, we need to reframe the discourse on girls’ education. Leaders are afraid that educating a girl will threaten cultural and social values. Our role as youth is to help leaders understand it differently, so they can invest in education and develop the political will needed to sustain investments.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">In our current system, learners don’t have a voice. This makes it difficult for them to hold their leaders accountable. In most of the countries I visit, there are youth parliaments and student unions, but they don’t have the power to hold the government accountable.</p><section class="paragraph paragraph--type--basic-text-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 50px;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--basic-text-content paragraph--view-mode--default container paragraphs_basic_text width-560 aos-init aos-animate" data-aos-duration="600" data-aos="fade" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.3; margin: auto; max-width: 680px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px; pointer-events: auto; position: relative; transform: none; transition-duration: 0.6s; transition-property: opacity, transform, transform; transition-timing-function: ease; width: 680px; z-index: 1;"><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">We need an efficient accountability mechanism at the continental and national levels for spending on social sectors like education. We need to use continental and global frameworks to push our member states to deliver.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.33rem; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1.75rem;">Mismatch between policy and implementation</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">We have a gap between policy and implementation in the majority of our sectors across Africa. Africa has a lot of progressive policies at continental, regional, and national levels but implementation has always been a weakness. The role of government is to convert those great policies into impactful and concrete action.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">When it comes to budgeting, we hear from youth that they want more funding for education and less for militarization. They want sustained government attention and leadership for education.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Young people want to know why we put our money into other things instead of investing into what will really build a future for our generation and the future of Africa’s economies – which is education.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">I am a product of public education. I attended public school in Tunisia from primary through my undergraduate degree. If I wasn’t a product of that system then I wouldn’t be the Youth Envoy today.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">We shouldn’t underestimate our public education systems in Africa, but rather strengthen them and build their capacities to become the engines of growth and development, as they are in other regions of the world.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.33rem; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1.75rem;">How violence and conflict affect young people </h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Violent conflict has a huge impact on young people: It disrupts their education. When they are displaced, often their qualifications are unrecognized in a host country.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Because of conflict and displacement, young people have the security of their education taken away.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Children are also negatively affected because they can’t even complete their basic education before they’re thrown into a context of violence, which quickly becomes all they know.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">But I have seen many of these former child soldiers or the children profoundly affected by violence become peace builders and it’s very inspiring. It shows the resilience of young people.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.33rem; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1.75rem;">Education, particularly girls, can foster peace and stability</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Education is one of the most powerful instruments for peace. That’s why I always talk about Youth, Peace and Development instead of Youth, Peace and Security.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">If development is front and center of the security agenda at the AU and UN security councils, then maybe more countries will increase financing for education.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">I’m hoping we can refocus the conversation on empowerment, which comes through education and employment, particularly for girls.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">When we focus on development instead of security and put the needed funding and infrastructures in place, then we can invest in <a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20190422/1-million-2021-african-union-commission-chairperson-rallies-support-new-youth" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #092fa3; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out;" target="_blank">employment, education, engagement and entrepreneurship</a> - the key pillars of empowerment that young people are asking for.</p></div></div></section><section class="paragraph paragraph--type--quote width-560 paragraphs_quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Poppins, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 30px; margin: auto; max-width: 680px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 50px; text-align: center;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--quote width-560 paragraphs_quote paragraph--view-mode--default container" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1200px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 680px;"><div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-quote-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">“Silencing the guns”, which was the theme of the recent 33rd AU Summit, doesn’t just mean a conflict-free Africa; It’s silencing illiteracy, silencing youth unemployment, silencing gender-based violence, silencing all the challenges young people face.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: left;">Published at <a href="https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/better-education-african-youth-can-help-silence-guns" target="_blank">Global Partnership For Education </a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: left;">The root cause of many conflicts is illiteracy, marginalization and lack of equal opportunities. To address security, leaders need to deal with the soul issues. Militarization is only a response. It doesn’t deal with prevention or transformation.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 1.33rem; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1.75rem; text-align: left;">My message to African young people and leaders</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: left;">Don’t wait for an invitation. Be at the table and raise the issues you care about; we don’t need permission to serve our continent. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: left;">To African leaders: You have the responsibility to deliver for this generation, for the continent, it’s your mandate. Open up the space for young people to co-lead with you.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; text-align: left;">When you’re surrounded by young people who bring innovation and solutions, it will make you look cooler and smarter!</p></div></div></section>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-65679998470749103182019-08-26T03:48:00.000-07:002021-06-08T03:50:05.510-07:00The G7 should deliver progress, not promises, on gender equality<p> Published at <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/26/the-g7-should-deliver-progress-not-promises-on-gender-equality-view?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1566827913">EuroNews </a></p><p><br /></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Nearly 10 years have passed since the beginning of what we call the revolution of dignity, many of you refer to it as the ‘Arab spring’. I was a part of it. We were angry, we wanted a future where we could fulfil our potential. Our struggle was a struggle for voice as we did not see our views and hopes represented within our own governments. Even if the outcome and the progress of the protests vary from one country to another, there can be no doubt that the youth has changed the course of history.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">What is particularly interesting, is that young women were powerful drivers of this movement. Their involvement went beyond direct participation in the protests. Be it as organizers, journalists or political activists - young women became the leading force in cyber-activism. Before I became a youth envoy of the African Union - I was one of these women. We seized the momentum to make our voices heard and our actions seen.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Take a closer look at the current situation in Sudan. The country is just starting a long journey moving away from decades of dictatorship. Very often women who were leading the calls for peaceful uprising against the military government. This is not a coincidence. We are still miles away from having equal rights. According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of change, it is going to take not less than 108 years to achieve gender equality. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2018" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">We can not wait that long</a>.</p><div class="c-advertising-sticky-floor" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;"><div class="advertising advertising--no-label js-adzone" id="adzone-sticky-floor_0" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"></div></div><div class="advertising advertising--no-label js-adzone outstream advertising--outstream" id="adzone-outstream" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;"></div><div class="teads-adCall" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;"></div><h3 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 1rem 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Poverty is sexist</h3><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Just to give you an idea of how far away we are from gender equality: Most countries in the world limit the economic opportunities of women by law. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/104-countries-have-laws-that-prevent-women-from-working-in-some-jobs/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">More than 100 countries</a> even exclude women in particular from obtaining certain jobs. There are <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/18-countries-where-women-need-their-husbands-permission-to-get-a-job/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">18 countries, where it is legal for men to forbid their wives to work</a> at all. Can you believe it? The poorer a country, the harder girls and women are hit. Poverty is sexist.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">In sub-Saharan Africa alone, <a href="http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=edulit_ds" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">52 million girls have no access to education</a> - compared to 45 million boys. One out of three women do not have a bank account. Girls and women in Africa are at a significantly higher risk of contracting HIV than men. There are more child brides in the world than people living in the whole European Union - with unthinkable consequences for their psychological, social and economic development. So of course women take the streets.</p><h3 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 1rem 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Gender equality - everyone benefits!</h3><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Not that the legal argument wasn’t reason enough but this is not just about justice. You literally couldn’t come up with a more stupid idea than leaving half of the population behind if you wanted to strive forward as a society. To phrase it positively: <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Girls and women have the biggest potential to bring extreme poverty to an end - once and for all.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">If all women had full primary education, this would already lead to a massive drop of <a href="https://en.unesco.org/gem-report/sites/gem-report/files/girls-factsheet-en.pdf" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">maternal mortality (-70 percent!)</a>. With higher education, women will not only have fewer children at a later point in life but they will also make significantly more money. Equal access to education would generate <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/one.org/pdfs/ONE_Poverty_is_Sexist_Report_2017_EN.pdf" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">more than 112 billion US dollars worth of tax revenues</a> for developing countries. If women were given the same land rights as men, the harvest yields would improve so much that it could lift up to <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/52011/icode/" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">150 million people</a> out of chronic hunger. There are thousands of good reasons for gender equality and not a single one against it.</p><div class="advertising advertising--no-label advertising--sharethrough js-adzone advertising--called advertising--rendered" data-ad-key-value="1G96EdRgcHV6pyWWMGCR7SB7" data-ad-key="strnativekey" data-google-query-id="CPiJm8vuh_ECFYziGwodfxYOyw" id="adzone-sharethrough_01" style="background-image: none; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/6458/euronews_new/news/news/view_3__container__" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0pt none; box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; width: 861.656px;"><iframe allow="conversion-measurement 'src'" data-google-container-id="5" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="1" id="google_ads_iframe_/6458/euronews_new/news/news/view_3" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/6458/euronews_new/news/news/view_3" scrolling="no" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="3rd party ad content" width="2"></iframe></div></div><div class="widget widget--type-quotation
widget--size-fullwidth
widget--align-center" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0.3rem auto 1.2em; opacity: 1; orphans: 2; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration-thickness: initial; transform: translate(0px); transition: opacity 1.3s ease 0s, transform 1.3s ease 0s; widows: 2; width: 861.656px;"><div class="widget__wrapper" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="widget__content" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote class="widget__quote" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.6; margin: 20px 40px; padding: 0px; quotes: none;"><span class="widget__quoteText" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Historically, international cooperation, joint decisions and initiating global processes were what enhanced the legitimacy of the G7. Let’s hope we see progress not promises for women’s rights.</span></blockquote><cite class="widget__author" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2.5rem; padding: 0px;"><div class="widget__authorText" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Aya Chebbi </div><div class="widget__author_descriptionText" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">African Union’s youth envoy</div></cite></div></div></div><h3 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1rem; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 1rem 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">G7 summit: progress not promises</h3><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">So, what is keeping us from changing the situation for girls and women? Unfortunately, the wheels of politics turn slowly at times. Sometimes, it needs an igniting moment for things to start changing for the better. Today leaders have an opportunity, as the European Council President Donald Tusk meets with other world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz (France). French president and host Emmanuel Macron has put the fight against inequality front and center of the summit’s agenda - with a focus on gender equality. If you only look at the rhetoric the attending leaders used in the past, you could get the impression that equal rights for men and women are within reach. But these are merely words. Nothing changes only through speaking. <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It’s action that counts.</span> We should all demand progress not promises. And we should demand it right now.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">For the first time ever, the G7 have not invited African leaders only for the family picture and a bit of chit chat in the end, but they have actually involved them in the whole negotiation process leading up to the actual summit. If the attending world leaders are truly interested in moving gender equality forward, there are <span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">three things we can and should expect</span>:</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1) Legislative and policy change</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">Every participating country at the G7 summit should commit to implementing at least two legislative or policy changes on gender equality by 2022 - either by abolishing discriminatory laws or by putting in place progressive ones. This could for instance include for Senegal criminalizing rape or ensuring national policies such as on education are gender responsive. Equal pay for equal work is another example.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2) Financial commitments</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">The G7 should put money on the table to strengthen women and girls. They should ensure that the vast majority of their development aid contributes to gender equality and that at least 20 percent of their aid promotes this as a primary purpose. But also the African governments need to do their homework and invest their domestic resources in unleashing the potential of girls and women within their countries.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3) Accountability</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">In order to ensure that we don’t end up with empty promises but real progress, the G7 should put in place a new accountability and monitoring mechanism undertaken by an independent actor and in close cooperation with civil society.</p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; line-height: 1.55rem; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; widows: 2;">The <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/en/g7" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #017df4; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank">Biarritz summit</a> is an ultimate test to see what the G7 is made of. Historically, international cooperation, joint decisions and initiating global processes were what enhanced the legitimacy of the G7. Let’s hope we see progress not promises for women’s rights. We are not waiting 108 more years to receive what should be ours already.</p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-16643415694488635462019-08-23T03:45:00.001-07:002021-06-08T03:46:53.964-07:00G7 : il n’y aura pas de révolution durable sans féminisme<p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://www.jeuneafrique.com/818647/societe/tribune-g7-il-ny-aura-pas-de-revolution-durable-sans-feminisme/">Jeune Afrique</a> </span></p><p><br /></p><p class="lead" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">À la veille du sommet du G7 en France, la jeune activiste tunisienne Aya Chebbi souligne l’opportunité que ce rendez-vous représente pour s’attaquer aux inégalités femmes-hommes, notamment au niveau législatif, et grâce à l’implication inédite de chefs d’État africains. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Près de dix années se sont écoulées depuis le début de ce que nous appelons la révolution de la dignité, <a href="https://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/502443/politique/geopolitique-les-7-printemps-des-revolutions-arabes/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #005e79; text-decoration: none;">qualifiée par beaucoup de « Printemps arabe »</a>. J’en faisais partie. Nous étions en colère, nous demandions un avenir dans lequel nous pourrions réaliser nos rêves. Notre combat était aussi un combat pour nous faire entendre, car nos idées et nos espoirs n’étaient pas représentés au sein de nos gouvernements. Même si les protestations ont évolué d’un pays à l’autre et ont eu des résultats différents, ça ne fait aucun doute : la jeunesse a changé le cours de l’histoire.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">De nombreuses jeunes femmes ont été au premier rang de ce mouvement. Leur implication est allée au-delà de leur participation aux manifestations. Que ce soit en tant qu’organisatrices, journalistes ou militantes politiques, les jeunes femmes sont devenues des cheffes de file du cyber-activisme. Avant de devenir émissaire de l’Union africaine pour la jeunesse, j’étais l’une de ces femmes. Nous avons profité de cet élan pour faire entendre nos voix au reste du monde.</p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Une pauvreté sexiste</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Prenez la situation actuelle au Soudan : le pays commence tout juste à se défaire des décennies passées de dictature. <a href="https://www.jeuneafrique.com/760712/politique/au-soudan-les-femmes-au-coeur-de-lintifada/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #005e79; text-decoration: none;">Ce sont majoritairement les femmes qui ont appelé au soulèvement pacifique contre la junte militaire</a>. Ce n’est pas une coïncidence. Les femmes ont toutes les raisons de parler haut et fort et réclamer ce qui leur appartient. Nous n’avons toujours pas les mêmes droits, loin de là.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">La plupart des pays dans le monde limitent même les opportunités économiques des femmes jusque dans leurs lois. Plus de 100 pays vont même jusqu’à interdire l’accès des femmes à certains métiers, et il existe 18 pays où les hommes peuvent légalement empêcher leurs femmes de travailler. Les femmes et les filles sont plus durement touchées par les inégalités dans les pays les plus pauvres. En somme, la pauvreté est sexiste. Alors évidemment que les femmes descendent dans la rue. Il n’y aura pas de révolution durable sans féminisme.</p><blockquote style="background-image: url("https://www.jeuneafrique.com/wp-content/themes/ja-3.0.x/assets/img/mondial2018/quote-article.png"); background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-left-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c1ad76; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 35px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 35px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 10px 0px 10px 80px; text-transform: uppercase;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">AU RYTHME ACTUEL OÙ VONT LES CHOSES, IL FAUDRAIT ATTENDRE EN MOYENNE ENCORE 108 ANS AVANT D’ATTEINDRE L’ÉGALITÉ DE GENRE DANS LE MONDE</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Non pas que l’argument juridique ne soit pas une raison suffisante, mais ce n’est pas seulement une question de justice. Il est absurde de laisser la moitié de la population de côté si l’on souhaite voir une société égalitaire. Les filles et les femmes sont le meilleur levier pour mettre fin à l’extrême pauvreté, une bonne fois pour toutes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Au rythme actuel où vont les choses, il faudrait attendre en moyenne encore 108 ans avant d’atteindre l’égalité de genre dans le monde. Qu’est-ce qui nous empêche de changer la donne pour les femmes et les filles ? Malheureusement, les rouages de la politique évoluent lentement.</p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Des paroles et des actes</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Parfois, un élément déclencheur est nécessaire pour que les choses commencent à changer pour le mieux. Cela pourrait avoir lieu ce week-end quand <a href="https://www.jeuneafrique.com/dossiers/afrique-france-un-autre-regard/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #005e79; text-decoration: none;">Emmanuel Macron</a> accueillera ses homologues au sommet du G7 à Biarritz. Le président français a placé la lutte contre les inégalités au cœur de l’agenda du sommet – avec un accent porté sur l’égalité de genre.</p><div class="sc-lire-aussi" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; margin-bottom: 30px; max-width: 100%;"><div class="container-informations-a-lire-aussi" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 100%;"><span class="sc-label" style="background-color: #005e79; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; margin-right: 0.5rem; padding: 0.5rem 1rem; text-transform: uppercase;">À LIRE</span> <a href="https://www.jeuneafrique.com/816446/politique/afrique-france-diner-au-sommet-entre-emmanuel-macron-et-alassane-ouattara/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #005e79; text-decoration: none;">Afrique-France : dîner au sommet entre Emmanuel Macron et Alassane Ouattara </a></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Si l’on regarde la rhétorique employée par les dirigeantes et dirigeants par le passé, on pourrait avoir l’impression que l’égalité des droits entre les femmes et les hommes est à portée de main. Ceux-ci ne cessent de souligner l’importance d’améliorer la situation des femmes et des filles. Mais ce ne sont souvent que des belles paroles. Et les mots ne suffisent pas. Ce sont les actes qui comptent. Nous devons tous et toutes exiger des réels progrès, plus de simples promesses.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Cela va sans dire qu’un sommet ne changera pas la face du monde en un clin d’œil. Mais il peut être la première pierre du grand édifice sur lequel l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes reposera. Pour la toute première fois, le G7 n’a pas seulement invité des dirigeants africains pour la traditionnelle photo de famille et quelques poignées de main, mais les a réellement impliqués tout au long du processus de négociation. C’est un fait totalement inédit et une belle opportunité pour amorcer un dialogue ouvert et pour encourager les citoyens à demander des comptes à leur gouvernement.</p><h4 style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 28px; line-height: 1.42857143; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;">Un G7 décisif</h4><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Si les dirigeant.e.s ont la réelle volonté de faire progresser l’égalité de genre, ils doivent s’engager à mettre de l’argent sur la table, à abolir leurs lois sexistes et à adopter des politiques progressistes, mais aussi à mettre en place un nouveau mécanisme de suivi et de redevabilité pour tous les engagements pris en matière d’égalité femmes-hommes.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(29, 29, 27); color: #1d1d1b; font-family: taz, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px;">Le sommet de Biarritz sera décisif pour l’avenir du G7. Historiquement, sa légitimité reposait sur la coopération internationale, les décisions conjointes et l’initiation de processus internationaux. Cette année, les dirigeant.e.s devront répondre présents avec des progrès et non des promesses pour les droits des femmes. Nous n’attendrons pas 108 ans de plus.</p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-68216033857302338502019-08-14T04:06:00.001-07:002021-06-08T04:07:51.800-07:00Empowering the African Youth through Education<p> <span style="font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem;">According to the United Nations, one in ten children around the world currently live in war-torn areas, with close to 25 million currently out of school. The gigantic strides and landmarks in technology throughout the world (particularly in the area of artificial intelligence) also compound the challenges of the labor market that frustrate the youth – making the terrain very unfamiliar for the uneducated.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 1.5rem; max-width: 40rem; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">If our young people are unemployed and out of schools, they will be unable to contribute to decision-making processes, isolating the youth politically and civically even more. Because education virtually touches everything affecting our lives and societies, there is a global consensus to advance </span><a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4" style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-skip: objects;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">Goal 4</span></a><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"> of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly “ensure inclusive, equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. On the other hand, the African Union (AU) </span><a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063" style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-skip: objects;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">Agenda 2063</span></a><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"> aims to develop Africa’s human and social capital through education and a skills revolution reinforced by science, technology and innovation.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 1.5rem; max-width: 40rem; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">Africa is home to about 420 million young people aged 15 to 35 and by 2063, they are expected to comprise approximately 46% of Africa’s labor force. The AU has planned to offer opportunities to more than a million young people, including scholarships, onsite and virtual internships, apprenticeships, as well as developmental digital skill acquisition programs.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 1.5rem; max-width: 40rem; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">Joined by 500 youth from across Africa, the Chairperson of the AUC, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, launched the </span><a href="https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/1mby2021communicationstoolkit.pdf" style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-skip: objects;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">1 Million by 2021 initiative</span></a><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"> in April 2019 at the 2nd Pan-African Youth Forum. Participants, including the private sector and development partners, pledged support for this initiative, co-created solutions to the challenges facing Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Engagement. </span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 1.5rem; max-width: 40rem; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">We also advocate for the implementation of this initiative in AU member states with a gender lens because we cannot talk about education and employment for girls and young women without addressing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child marriage, gender-based violence, and menstruation, among other forms of violence and discrimination against women. Unfortunately girls go through a vicious cycle that hinders them from fulfilling their potential. When girls go through FGM, they are more likely to be forced into child marriage, drop out of school, and not become financially independent, preventing them from having a dignified life. Therefore, we have to center education and employment in Africa around dignity of our youth, especially young women and girl</span><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">s.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 1.5rem; max-width: 40rem; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">Africa is the most youthful continent in the world today, with </span><a href="https://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/peace/youth.shtml" style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-skip: objects;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">65% </span></a><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">of its entire population below the age of 35. The time has come for bold and accelerated efforts towards achieving the AU Agenda 2063. This is crucial to ensuring a stable Africa – one that will be free of conflict and home to proud and educated citizens who are healthy and fully engaged in their countries’ development and governance. The future of education and work needs to be about curiosity and passion to explore knowledge, learning and purpose from completely different experiences; to focus on building a world that is collaborative and emotionally intelligent; and to accelerate human development. Our generation is excited about changing systems, creating disruptions and being changemakers. Thus, we can set the right intention and goal to use new technologies to make Africa and the world a better place, our lives more efficient, and our impact on the environment lower.</span></p><p style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; font-family: proxima-nova, Helvetica, Arial, -apple-system, sans-serif; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 1.5rem; max-width: 40rem; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">It is only by working together and inspiring one another that we will build </span><a href="https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview" style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; color: black; text-decoration-skip: objects;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">“</span><i style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">the Africa we want</span></i><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">”</span></a><span style="border: 0px solid rgb(209, 210, 211); box-sizing: inherit; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.15s ease-in-out;">. Together, we can connect millions of youth with their dream opportunities by 2021.</span></p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-58427269895618672382018-11-15T14:06:00.012-08:002022-03-07T15:05:52.047-08:00THE AFRICAN IN ME TURNED PAN-AFRICAN—BY AYA CHEBBI<p> “Game Over! Game Over!”</p><p>The voice of freedom was rising from different corners in Tunis, mixed with pain and bravery. Thousands of people poured in from different directions, filling every stretch of Habib Bourguiba Avenue: the café-lined street turned scene of civil resistance. Young women. Unemployed graduates. Journalists. Doctors. Lawyers. Students. Some climbed the walls of the Interior Ministry, a site of torture reports for years. Thousands more waived Tunisia’s red and white flag or draped it on their backs. <span style="text-align: justify;">Hundreds of placards with different colours and the boldly inscribed message: “Ben </span><span style="text-align: justify;">Ali Dégage!” were held high. Thick clouds of tear gas and black smoke formed a </span><span style="text-align: justify;">foggy sky.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">“Leave! Leave!” we shouted. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Police. Teargas. Shooting. Citizens. Screaming. Running. Silence…And then, the voice of freedom slowly returned, louder and angry but peaceful.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">“No fear, No horror, The street belongs to the people!”</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Again, teargas. But this time, the collective steps were walking forward with harmonious and united voices.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">“The people demand the overthrow of the regime!”</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The world stood in anticipation as we chanted with tears and cried with smiles. These were moments of freedom, of dignity. I had long known that youth drive revolutions, but I did not know I would take part in one. I did not know that in these moments, my generation was showing the world new ways to create change. Protest turned celebration as news started filling our social media feeds and the streets that Friday night: President Ben Ali had resigned and fled. His twenty-three-year dictatorship—the only government I had known my entire life—was over.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I remember January 11, 2011, I remember the noise. I remember the silence. I remember the words of the Tunisian poet, Abu Al Kacem Chebbi, echoing in my head: “You were born unbound like the shadow of the breeze, and free like the light of the dawn in its sky.” </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">*** </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">I was born in a village on the Tunisian-Algerian borders to a fairly conservative Muslim family. In my community, certain traditions were common, including a ritual called Tasfih that is practised on girls before they get their periods.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I was nine years old, I was invited into a room with two of my cousins. An elder came in, scratched my knees seven times, and made me clean up the blood with seven dry grapes while repeating some words to seal the ritual. Tasfih is believed to lock the vagina and protect women’s virginity by preventing sexual intercourse. It is believed that even if the girl is forced into sexual intercourse, it will not be possible. Before marriage, the ritual is repeated to lift the spell, or in the elder’s words “unlock the vagina”. After crying that night, I started to question my body and my role in society as a female. That childhood trauma, amongst others, unlocked my resistance.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">From an early age, I began to stand up for my rights within my family, and to make choices that relatives and neighbours considered radical. I chose not to wear the Hijab, becoming the only “non-veiled” woman in my family. I was lucky to be supported by my father who does not identify as feminist, but in many ways nurtured me to become one. My father raised me to have a deep sense of self- confidence, and used his privilege and power—as a man, as the “head of the family,” and as an elder in our extended family—to support this decision, and many others. He provided protection for the consequences of my “radical” actions. Even when we fundamentally disagreed, I knew my right of choice was guaranteed. In daily acts of choosing for myself, the woman in me turned feminist.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I chose to attend university in Tunisia’s capital city, I became the only woman in my family to live alone. I was sitting for examinations during the first semester of my final year in university, when the Tunisian revolution began.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">January 14, 2011 was the culmination of twenty-eight days of resistance sparked by the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi, and fuelled by years of high unemployment, corruption, lack of political freedoms, and poor living conditions. As an International Relations student, I had been grappling with my repressive governments policies for some time. With graduation fast approaching, my classmates and I frequently discussed the very dim job prospects that awaited most of us. Tunisia had become like George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and outside the classroom some animals were more equal than others.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When the protests began in December 2010, I knew that that the dangers of protesting in the streets included being subjected to indiscriminate teargas and police violence. State news media warned repeatedly that police would shoot. But I knew the alternative to confronting the government was worse: the state of waithood. Without a change, my generation would have been condemned to perpetually waiting: waiting for employment, for political inclusion, for justice, equality and much more. So, I decided to go to the streets and join the non-violent resistance as a protestor, mobiliser, and anything I can do to strengthen our movement to remain non-violent and untied </p><p style="text-align: justify;">On the streets, I saw other young women like me unafraid to die for freedom. It was not the first time Tunisian women fought for freedom: our grandmothers and mothers had played a key role in securing Tunisia’s independence. In the 1950s, Tunisian women also played a key role in securing the Code of Personal Status (CPS) that included progressive laws for women like creating a judicial procedure for divorce, and giving women the ability to create businesses and own passports. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">My generation, however, was showing the world new ways to mobilise with our savvy use of social media. We organised under the slogan “Jobs, Freedom, Dignity,” using platforms like Twitter and Facebook to circulate photographs and videos of each demonstration, and issue calls for the next one. Western and mainstream media outlets started to call our revolution the “Arab Spring,” the “Arab Awakening” and the “Jasmine Revolution”, which I found very frustrating. Their single narratives did not articulate the fullness of my people’s identities, and the layers of our struggles. Our revolution was a "Revolution of Dignity".</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It was driven by the unemployed and the employed demanding their rights, artists and intellectuals demanding their freedom, journalists denouncing censorship, and lawyers and judges demanding an independent judiciary. It was driven by youth, and it was driven with women. We were a leaderless mass of informed citizens, led by unity of purpose across age, sex, religion, education, and class lines. We went to the streets to demand accountability, and those streets became a space for intersectional citizen engagement. I wanted to see these stories of agency become headlines. I wanted to see the stories of our humanity alongside the stories of our inequalities.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">So, I started a blog called Proudly Tunisian to offer counter narratives. The Revolution of Dignity was a big moment of growth for me, and I like to say I grew up with the revolution. The revolution helped me realise the power of the people is more powerful than the people in power. It also showed me Tunisia’s streets belong to the people and not the state— I left the walls of Facebook to tag the walls of the street, with graffiti, and with no fear. It was an empowering time, but also a time of political consciousness.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The civic engagement of youth had reduced our collective state of waithood—we had created new spaces to organise and new frameworks to influence decision making. But the revolution had not solved fundamental issues like unemployment and exclusion. We thought we had ousted a dictator and won the battle against oppressive individuals, but we had a longer battle to fight: a battle against the system to defend our human rights. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">While young people had played the leading role in toppling Ben Ali’s regime, “the elders”—the more established political forces—told us we were incompetent to lead and hijacked our participation. Western forces who came with the power of funding started building “youth political participation” programs, but they had the same mindset—they told us we were not ready to lead yet. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">We were excluded from senior positions in state institutions, and from participation and decision-making in political parties. The elders filled the vacuums the revolution created, and not only excluded us, but failed to engage us by listening to our grievances. Young people had come together during the political revolution, but following our exclusion from traditional institutions, we struggled to articulate a new common purpose and to define new political roles for ourselves, so we found ourselves divided.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">During this period of transition, I found power in my voice. On Proudly Tunisian, I blogged for hours, days and months during the most chaotic and exhilarating times. Western and mainstream outlets started to publish my blogs, which were read by thousands around the world. International media narrowed their headlines to two extreme narratives. According to some, the revolution was “dying,” “hijacked” and “extinguished in the mire of violence” by Islamists, by Liberals, by the Right, or by the Left. Others, however, spoke of “a new Tunisia” that was “the beacon of democracy in a region of sorrow” and a “role model.” There was barely middle ground. Everything digital became my tool to tell my version of the story. Post-revolution, the activist in me became a political voice.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The transition was not without its trauma. There were several times I had to choose between peace and violence, on and offline. I was repeatedly abused on social media because of my political positions. When I joined peaceful demonstrations on the street, I was subjected to harassment and assault. One of the most terrifying and humiliating experiences I had was during a protest on Tunisian Martyrs’ Day in 2012. This public holiday commemorates the lives of people who died fighting for Tunisia’s independence. During this protest, a huge body double my size, with a long sharp baton in hand, seized me by my hair. He beat me, confiscated my camera and insulted my mother. In moments of violence like that, I chose to close my eyes, meditate and remind myself that peace is within me. I reminded myself that if I fed my awareness with stillness and harnessed the power of my female intuitions, I could always cultivate conscious decisions.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Youth like me who had grown up with the revolution chose to channel their anger in different ways. Some chose to refrain from politics as a conscious political decision. They denounced partisan politics, and refused to be manipulated by corrupt and self- serving politicians. A subset of this group chose to vote blank in the elections in protest. Some of us exercised our lobbying power on the streets, and organised ourselves into civil society organisations and watchdog groups. Some sadly chose to migrate through dangerous means, dying in the Mediterranean. And unfortunately, thousands of youth channeled their anger into violent extremism. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In 2013, my twenty-two-year-old cousin became a part of this latter group. My cousin and I were very close, but suddenly, he stopped shaking my hand. He asked me to start wearing the veil, and even called me an unbeliever. My family found out he had been recruited by Daesh and was preparing to go to Syria. I had long conversations with him and knew that he felt more marginalised while others had taken advantage of the political vacuum left by the revolution. Daesh had given him a sense of belonging and identity. Eventually, with my strong family and community we were able to deradicalise him. He went back to school for his master’s degree, started a project in his village and even got engaged!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This tough experience with my cousin made me begin to think about why young people like my cousin join violent and extremist groups. I studied the concept of Hogra, an Arabic word used in North Africa, which captures the sentiments of many youth in post-revolution Tunisia. Hogra is the feeling of exclusion one experiences when it becomes evident that you are not being treated fairly in the provision of public services, or in the protection of your civil or human rights. It is the feeling that those who have power or money acquired it by crushing the most vulnerable. Many Tunisian youth had internalised the idea that they were Mahgours—victims of Hogra. They looked at groups like Daesh as legitimate fighters of Hogra, rather than as perpetrators of violence and terrorism. These youth saw joining such groups as heroic, and sought martyrdom as a reaction to Hogra. It became clear to me the solution wasn’t to fight back, but to create alternative spaces for youth.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">While I reflected on these issues, I began to draw inspiration from other parts of the African continent. My activism had led to opportunities to travel and support uprisings in other countries, speak up at conferences, and train African youth leaders on the things I had taught myself: blogging, mobilisation and peacebuilding. Little did I know: I had one more identity to embrace.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the summer of 2011, just a few months after the Tunisian revolution, young protesters filled Dakar’s streets. These young people were tired of power outages, government corruption, school shutdowns and the escalating prices of basic commodities amongst other injustices. When Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal’s President at the time, tried to introduce a constitutional amendment to allow for a third-term in office, citizens cried out “y’en marre”—“we’ve had enough” or “we are fed up.” They succeeded in blocking his re-election bid and Wade peacefully handed power over to President Macky Sall. When I visited Senegal, I was so overwhelmed with the energy of the young people as they proudly told me about how they organized theirmovement.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Not very far from Dakar, in 2014, thousands of youth organized a mass uprising in Ouagadougou to oppose a constitutional amendment that would have made it possible for President Blaise Compaore to extend his twenty-seven-year old rule. Braving teargas, youth marched with placards in the city’s square that said “Blaise Dégage!” As peers and friends from Burkina Faso messaged me (“Aya, it’s happening!” “One revolution, One solution!”), I remembered how Tunisian youth braved teargas and marched with placards that told Ben Ali to dégage— to get out. In Kenya, I analysed Al-Shabaab’s youth recruitment tactics and found similarities to the tactics Daesh used in Tunisia: both groups were tapping into young people’s experience of marginalisation, and their desire for agency and belonging. When Boko Haram abducted female students in Nigeria, I visited the country and stood in solidarity with citizens demanding that the Nigerian government #BringBackOurGirls. Across the continent, our victories and struggles were shared, and I felt deeply connected to these different movements. As I crossed borders, I felt at home in every region of Africa. In the languages, stories and music of other African countries, I saw aspects of the beautiful culture of the Sahara where I come from. I saw how the Sahara that is meant to bridge us, divides us. The northern part of Africa is often labelled “Arab” and the southern part “Sub-Saharan”, but I began to see how these labels fuel racism, xenophobia and Afrophobia.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">My father served in the Tunisian Armed forces for forty years, and I grew up like a nomad within Tunisia. As a child, my family moved almost every year to a new city or town in Tunisia, and I studied in eight different schools from the northernmost to the southernmost parts of the country. As a result, I grew up with multiple identities, the strongest of which was Arab. From primary school, my history studies focused on the Arab civilisation. In the third grade, I learned French, which cultivated my Mediterranean identity. My Maghrébine identity surfaced naturally, through contact with our neighbours: in the summers, Tunisian coastal cities filled up with Algerian tourists. Trade also flowed freely on our borders with Libya. In school, we were taught Tunisia’s geopolitical location was a crossroad of civilisations: we learned about Tunisia’s mixed history with Moors, Turks, Jews, Andulasians and Arabs. But the one identity I had never learned about those early years was my African identity. Even when my conversations with Senegalese and Malian students in Tunisia piqued my interest in my African identity, I was unable to find African literature in library bookshelves or African courses at our universities. But now, outside the boxes of Tunisia’s education and political institutions, I was gaining a new education. I was reclaiming my African identity.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As I studied African history, I was fascinated by the political solidarity African countries showed in the face of colonial powers in the 1950s and 60s, leading to the independence of these countries. Young Africans had organised across colonial borders without technology, and with very few tools. I learned North Africa was embraced as a part of these movements, and countries like Algeria actively participated in anti-colonial and anti-apartheid revolutions with other African countries. As I learned more about Pan-Africanism, I realised that even if we ousted all the dictators from all the African countries, this generation’s problems would not be solved, because alternative leadership solutions and institutions had not been developed. I also started to see that present-day struggles across the continent are still a fight against colonial institutions, and that the power of post-colonials lies in embracing our collective identity.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As the African in me turned Pan-African, I decided to develop a transnational space where African youth could develop a sense of common identity and a critical consciousness that would allow us to effectively lead in our countries. This began by creating a Facebook group to open an online discussion. I regularly added inspiring youth I met or trained until the group swelled to thousands. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">We began to have Google Hangouts, during which I radicalised the group with Pan- African ideology. We learned about the values that can bind our continent: non- violence, ubuntu, integrity and accountability. Radicalising also meant a commitment to unlearning patriarchy, which was particularly difficult: there were some men who left this collective because they could not accept the idea of “being led by a woman.” But for those who stayed, we accepted the idea that there is no Pan-Africanism without feminism, because objectification and oppression are at the root of colonialism and racism which Pan-Africanism emerged to fight.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As the collective continued to grow, we organised ourselves into committees with diverse themes like gender equality, good governance, environmental sustainability and more. There were some members who felt we should only focus on a few issues “worth our time” but I could not agree to that. I was determined for the movement we were building to be rooted in the ideology that: “your liberation is my liberation, and your access is my access.” This means if I have access to healthcare, education, and the internet in Tunisia, my work is not done until citizens in South Africa or Liberia have the same. Organisation led to mobilisation: this is how “Afrika Youth Movement,” was born and began to partner on development projects through our hubs across the continent. We also continued to recruit other youth to join our movement. As I write this, over 10,000 youth from 40 African countries have been recruited into the Afrika Youth Movement, making it one of Africa’s largest youth led movements.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Few weeks ago, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission appointed me as the first Special Envoy on Youth, with a mandate to engage young Africans across the continent, and advocate for their interests within the African Union. My diplomatic appointment was a full-circle moment—one of the reasons I joined the Tunisian revolution was to fight for institutional inclusion. But until my access becomes the access of other African youth, my work—and the work of the revolution—is not done. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The Pan-Africanism of the 1950s and 60s largely fulfilled its purpose: the realisation of independence and the creation of independent nation states. This generation, on the other hand, is faced with new challenges.I strongly believe Africa’s peace and prosperity lies in re-building our institutions at all levels, with this redefined Pan-Africanism.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This Pan-Africanism embraces what I call Intergenerational Co-leadership. It is my hope that that high-level appointments like mine become the norm in institutions at all levels across Africa. 70% of Africa’s population is under age 30. This generation is the most educated, skilled and interconnected of all times. We are already tweeting presidents, building campaigns, leading NGOs, driving movements and ousting dictators. We are not the leaders of tomorrow—we are the leaders of today. Bridging generational divides will create a powerful space for action on the United Nation’s2030 Agenda and the African Union’s 2063 Agenda.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This Pan-Africanism reclaims narratives. The struggle of this generation is a struggle for voice. Young people are calling attention to our being and our becoming. We are reminding the world of our right to define our struggles in our contexts. We are rebranding Africa by success, and not failure; by people power, and not submission; by collective identity, not division.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This Pan-Africanism adopts transnational solidarity. Youth are calling for an Africa with open borders. An Africa with e-governance, e-commerce and e-citizenship. An Africa where we trade freely with each other, study in each other's universities, and serve within each other institutions. An Africa where African citizenship is recognised.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This Pan-Africanism values the contributions of women. It is still challenging as a young woman to travel the world and occupy leadership positions in male-dominated institutions. There are many spaces where I am not taken seriously because of my gender. I have had men wait for the end of meetings to invite me to their hotel room “to finish the conversation.” But I am hopeful that in my lifetime the revolution of dignity, for dignity, for women, for young people and for all Africans will be fully realised.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">And while I continue to do the work for the Africa I want, I remain committed to my own being and my becoming. I am a Radical Pan-African Feminist, and in daily acts of choosing for myself, I am becoming unbounded like I was born to be.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p> </p>AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-63372549684528868752017-12-17T01:29:00.001-08:002017-12-17T01:37:18.357-08:00Let's Talk Narratives, Privilege and Power <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>My contribution to<span style="font-family: "lato" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.acevo.org.uk/" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: blue;">ACEVO</span></a><span style="font-family: "lato" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida" , sans-serif;">’s 30th birthday, </span><span style="font-family: "libre baskerville"; font-size: small;">30 things to think about</span><span style="font-family: "lato" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida" , sans-serif;"> at</span><span style="font-family: "lato" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/acevo30" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">#acevo30</a><span style="font-family: "libre baskerville";"> </span><span style="font-family: "lato" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida" , sans-serif;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "lato" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida" , sans-serif;">Published originally at </span><a href="http://30thingstothinkabout.org/voices/">http://30thingstothinkabout.org/voices/</a></i><br />
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Narratives</h2>
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For the next few decades, the world will continue to be constructed around narratives.</div>
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Who shapes the narratives? And whose voice is heard?</div>
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Take young people as an example. Last year I researched<span style="color: #666666;"> <a href="about:blank" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c51130; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">youth radicalisation</a>, </span>carrying out a comparative study between Al-Shabaab’s recruitment in Kenya and Daesh’s recruitment in Tunisia. My most important finding was that the victimhood narrative of marginalised youth is contributing to youth radicalisation. The victimisation narrative is used by extremist groups to recruit and sustain support. Many young people have internalised the idea that they are marginalised and are perceived to be heroic when they join these violent groups. We need to start asking ourselves, are we contributing to narratives of empowerment or disempowerment? Do we offer counter-narratives, or create new narratives about youth leadership, participation and agency?</div>
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There are currently two ways the development sector talks about young people – as the beneficiaries of “youth development” or as participants of “youth-led development”. It is often not clear whether as a group, young people are portrayed as the problem or the solution.</div>
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The number of young people will double in the next few decades. The first step to youth empowerment is to change the narrative, from young people being subjects of development to them being drivers of development.</div>
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More widely, we are regularly exposed to narratives of misogyny, violence and exploitation, sometimes without any alternative world view. Narratives become a place of belonging and identity to many. It is crucial to provide alternative narratives to the current challenges and the unknown future. For instance, how can we manifest dignity in the narratives that degrade human beings?</div>
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Privilege</h2>
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If you are reading this, it means you are one of the 52 per cent that is privileged to be online.</div>
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<span style="color: #666666;"><a href="http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm" style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c51130; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Forty-eight per cent</a> </span>of the world’s population is offline. We can talk<span style="color: #666666;"> </span>about digital transformation as an innovative force but digital is also a privileged, closed, elitist space. Information is power and that power is vastly unequal, depending on who can access information and control connectivity and who cannot.</div>
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Those who are disconnected can be invisible outside the radius of the digital revolution. Those of us online have a responsibility and opportunity to make a difference. Making our voices heard doesn’t mean speaking on behalf of people. Instead it means elevating and amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable. The online space can be a breath of freedom, especially in repressive societies and civic spaces. Therefore, we need to anticipate when the digital divide will grow or close. And what are we doing about it in relation to gender? Or development? What are the online and offline spaces we need, to ensure that privileges of accessibility become rights for everyone? It’s like making culture available to everyone and not just to those who can afford festivals.</div>
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Power</h2>
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To make a difference, we need to believe in people’s power. Their power not to watch and blame the system, but to change it. Their power to better humanity not destroy it. Their power that leads from a place of love to bring about healing and mend the broken spaces of our world.</div>
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The most powerful power of our time is transnational solidarity. There is political power, economic power and there is the power of working together to accelerate change with the tools and talents we have acquired. In the globalised world with shades of oppression, our voices will only be effective if they are unified and collaborative.</div>
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While the world is becoming a global village, border policing is increasing, painting an insecure future. The bond of solidarity can be forged or destroyed. Therefore, the more we build on the power of solidarity, the more we will be ready for the future. The struggles of the next decade will require transnational solidarity.</div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com222tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-53813160737161650102017-11-23T03:42:00.000-08:002017-12-17T03:42:31.721-08:00Ma réponse à son Excellence Monsieur Emmanuel Macron<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;">Rappelons<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AyaChebbii/videos/1517937371596352/"> le discours de </a></span><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AyaChebbii/videos/1517937371596352/">Thomas Sankara</a></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;"> à Addis Abéba le 29 juillet 1987</span><br style="color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;" /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;"><br />Ma réponse à son Excellence Monsieur <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=1535230416709539" href="https://www.facebook.com/EmmanuelMacron/" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;">Emmanuel Macron</a>, de la <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/tunisie?source=feed_text" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">Tunisie</span></span></a>;<br />Vous dites "Je suis aussi contre l'impérialisme" mais c'était encore un discours du colonisateur monsieur! encore de la francophonie impérialiste? de l’impérialisme français? un discours pour défendre la présence des bases françaises en Afrique? Applaudir les soldats français? ridiculiser des questions pertinentes des étudiants burkinabés? defender le CFA, monnaie d’essence coloniale? blâmer les Africains pour l'esclavage en Libye (blâme deja vu au 18e siècle) pendant que vous financez essentiellement des milices pour arrêter les flux de migrants en mer? la politique de "garder les migrants en Libye à tout prix"! vous êtes aussi criminel que les trafiquants monsieur !!! et parlons de la protection de Blaise COMPAORE? Parlons de soutien aux régimes corrompus? Parlons de la justice? de la dette? parlons des richesses concentrées entre les mains de quelques individus qui déposent dans vos banques à l’étranger; des sommes qui suffiraient à développer l’Afrique? parlons de l'exploitation de nos richesses (ce que vous appelez les «intérêts français» ) et l'exploitation de minerai d'uranium? Parlons de vos activités nucléaires sur le continent? et...et...et...<br /><br />Une dernière note, Monsieur Emmanuel Macron et le "club de Paris", arrêtons ce discours de "s'adresser à la jeunesse africaine au <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/burkina?source=feed_text" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">Burkina</span></span></a> Faso" on est plus de 50 pays!<br /><br />Arrêtez de nous prendre pour des cons! nous sommes les filles et les fils de Sankara <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/imp%C3%A9rialismefran%C3%A7aisout?source=feed_text" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">impérialismeFrançaisOut</span></span></a> #Tunisie <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/tunisienne?source=feed_text" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><span class="_5afx" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">Tunisienne</span></span></a> <span class="_5afx" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/panafricaine?source=feed_text" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl _5afz" style="color: #4267b2; font-family: inherit; unicode-bidi: isolate;">#</span><span class="_58cm" style="font-family: inherit;">PanAfricaine</span></a></span></span><br />
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com341tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-69850283033150087032017-10-20T12:12:00.000-07:002017-12-17T01:39:25.857-08:00Youth Radicalisation and Distrust<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-d2f55ae2-63d7-1737-4b81-52d4791c6102"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b><i><span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Published at Open Government Partnership “</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Youth Radicalisation and Distrust”</span><span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://www.opengovpartnership.org/trust/youth-radicalisation-and-distrust" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.opengovpartnership.org/trust/youth-radicalisation-and-distrust</span></a><span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></i></b></div>
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7,000 young Tunisians have joined Daesh<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11.25px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">1</strong></span> in Syria, constituting the largest foreign fighters’ group to date (The Soufan Group, 2015). My 22-year-old cousin could have been among them. He explained that while others have taken advantage of the political vacuum of the revolution, “I felt more marginalised”. Since 2012, Tunisia has projected into the public imagination a rhetoric of fear and surveillance to justify the treatment of youth as potential terror suspects. This perception of fear is gradually translating into policies that have further radicalised disaffected youth. An accurate understanding of the factors leading to radicalisation is essential in developing an effective policy response. We need to prevent radicalisation in the first place and address the need for youth to find nonviolent social and political identities. This can be achieved if governments focus on rebuilding trust with youth through their equal participation in shaping public policy and the future of their country.</div>
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Although young people played a leading role in toppling Ben Ali ‘s regime, the post-revolution climate did not allow them to be part of the decision-making process. Young Tunisians were not only excluded from senior positions within state institutions, but also from political parties, where their involvement did not exceed 2.7 percent (TNYO, 2013). While the political scene had become open to everyone, the second republic failed to engage the youth and listen to their grievances (World Bank, 2007). Defining youth as age cohort is particularly problematic here as it deliberately excludes them. It asserts that the youth are of tomorrow rather than of today, denying them participation in governance.<br />
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The notion of Hogra (the perception of injustice), expressed by the state towards the population<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11.25px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">2</strong></span> can help us better explain youth marginalization. In the popular culture of Maghreb<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11.25px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">3</strong></span> countries, Hagar is the one who abuses his power to crush others. Hogra is social injustice and unfairness from the perception of the Mahgour [the victim of Hogra]. In the social imagination, all those who have power or money have acquired these positions by crushing the most vulnerable. Hence, Tunisian youth have internalised the idea that they are Mahgours. Therefore, when injustice is perceived, young people look upon violent groups as legitimate fighters against the Hagar (the state) rather than perpetrators of violence. This can explain why the youth are perceived to be heroic when they join violent groups. Seeking martyrdom through individual violent activities might not be a manifestation of religion as much as of a reaction to Hogra.<br />
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Moreover, if individuals are deprived of their political rights, they are more likely to feel rewarded when they join violent groups (Gaxie, 1977). The ambition of Tunisian youth to change the status quo, and what it perceived as a corrupt and unjust political system shows that Daesh stands as policy preference for the youth where “religious fundamentalists are ideologues and political activists are primarily concerned with political power” (Tibi, 2002: 20). Youth experiences explain a “crisis of legitimacy and trust” in government. “Big man” illegitimacy, therefore, may legitimise violent extremism.<br />
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Some of the solutions in addressing radicalisation focus on employment. While unemployment is often emblematic of systemic sources of marginalization, it is not the status of unemployment itself that leads to marginalization, but the perception of injustice – Hogra, relegation and distrust.<br />
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The shift in Tunisia’s politics from a narrative of reform to a narrative of counterterrorism is counterproductive, especially because it targets young people. It contributes to the perceived “collective punishment” and deepens the feeling of Mahgour at the hands of state institutions. In addition, the state frames marginalization as a form of victimization, which overlooks youth agency. Ironically, the same victimhood narrative is used by violent groups to recruit youth and sustain support.<br />
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We need to address the political demands of the youth to address the crisis of legitimacy and trust. The “big man” has to give space to the younger generation to occupy leading positions and take part in the decision-making process. Therefore, a narrative of empowerment as well as national and social belonging should be promoted in the face of victimhood narratives.The government needs to develop a holistic socio-economic response where youth are at the heart of policymaking and reform, taking decisions that affect their lives.<br />
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In 2013, my cousin was de-radicalised not only by receiving the attention of our family and community, but also by the local government engaging him in municipal cultural centres and local council. The youth are calling attention to their being and becoming. To build their trust in institutions, we need to reframe the radicalisation debate so they can be perceived as part of the solution, not the problem. </div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px;">1. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS); the name emerged as a mockery of the self-proclaimed Caliphate </span></em></div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px;">2. The concept is of an Algerian origin, but very well rooted in the Maghreb in general. The “Hogra” was one of the main causes of the 1988 revolt in Algeria. As a concept, Hogra is absent in literature, but it is worth investigation as a theoretical framework, particularly to explain different fields of study of youth and the state in Africa. </span></em></div>
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<em style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 11px;">3. What I refer to as the Maghreb here is Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco</span></em><br />
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com343tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-24658203936358911522017-07-14T03:05:00.000-07:002017-12-17T03:43:51.920-08:00Letter to Mr. the Civilized…[including Donald Trump]<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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They promote democracy but not if it brings Islamic fundamentalists to power… They call our states rogue /undemocratic states but they tolerate human rights violations … They are watching when their intervention is needed but intervening when they need to watch… They preach non-proliferation in Iran but not in Israel… They massively repulsed aggression against oil owning Kuwaitis in the 90s but not against non-owning oil Bosnians… They consider Afghanistan the way is ruled by Taliban a threat but not Saudi Arabia the way is ruled by <span class="st"><span dir="ltr">monarchy</span></span>…</div>
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Besides,</div>
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They call us the south, the underdeveloped but who is exploiting, our resources and our countries -with the consent of our governments?… They call our culture a backward culture when women, in Tunisia, have voted while women in the US were still fighting for that right…We are Tunisia not Indonesia... we drive cars not camels... whatever backward means to you, try to find us on the map first.<br />
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They decide overnight to add a country to what they call <b>"the Middle East</b>". Then, they call this Middle East the "<b><span style="color: black;">conflict zone</span>"</b>. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.32px;">It's still very much the "the West and the rest", "our nations, your tribes " , "our arts , your artifacts " , our demonstrations , your riots" AND " our security , your terrrorism "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"> </span></span></div>
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And… they call us the uncivilized…</div>
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Mr. the civilized,</div>
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Let’s explore together what "the developed", "the North", "the democratic" and "the civilized" is about,</div>
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April 11<sup>th</sup>, 2011, Police in <b>Paris </b>detain at least two women wearing Islamic veils across their faces, after a law banning the garment in public comes into force and women found wearing either the Niqab or the burka in public will be subjected to a fine of 150 euros. What’s the difference between the undemocratic Tunisia banning headscarf under Ben Ali’s regime and the democratic France? </div>
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“In Chicago (which is obviously part of the <b>USA</b>), DEAD people vote. In Florida, they endorse”... In Tunisia, <span class="st"><span dir="ltr"><i></i>dead bodies also used to vote</span></span> under the previous regime, which is called "dictatorship".</div>
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The homeschoolers are persecuted in <b>Germany</b>. They are regularly fined thousands of dollars, threatened with imprisonment, or have the custody of their children taken away simply because they choose to home educate. The Konrad case in 2003 and Paul-Plett case in 2006 are tangible examples. </div>
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And the list is endless…</div>
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Mr. the civilized,</div>
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I come from this part of the world that you think is underdeveloped, uncivilized, undemocratic and I tell you;</div>
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You divided the world according to your norms … You divided my language into French, English, Italian and others languages but mine.</div>
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You divided the world into West and East, the west and the Arab “World”, the West and the Muslim “world” and now you’re trying to solve it by promoting interfaith dialogue, cultural exchange and mutual understanding forums. Then you mix Muslims with Arabs when only 5% of Arabs are Muslims.</div>
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I do not like the globalization that made the rich richer and the poor poorer but you celebrate globalization for what it brings to you; wealth, power and domination.<br />
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I do not interference in your or anyone’s affairs but you interfere in my and everyone’s affairs and assign yourself to teach me how I study, how I work, how I sleep and what I eat… I invite you Mr. the civilized to solve your own problems instead of interfering in mine.</div>
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If you, Mr. the civilized, cannot change the attitude of your government … If you, Mr. the civilized, in the government, cannot change your policies… do not lecture me about making the world a better place or about civilizational missions as I do not want for now to go into talking about slavery, colonialism, neocolonialism, postcolonialism, orientalism, eurocentism and so forth. </div>
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I’d just like to invite you to redefine your terms of terrorism and democracy, to reconsider you values of freedom, justice and equality, to decolonize your mind and to respect ME whoever I am, wherever I live, whatever is my background, religion, language or culture, till we’ll all be dead corpses.</div>
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Sincerely,</div>
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Proudly Tunisian </div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-54958186456675741382015-11-26T11:27:00.002-08:002015-11-26T15:42:19.497-08:00Dances With Spirits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="display: block; line-height: 32px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">Published at </span><a aria-describedby="js_7d" aria-haspopup="true" aria-owns="js_7c" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=123568580987335&extragetparams=%7B%22fref%22%3A%22nf%22%7D" href="http://brownbook.me/dances-with-spirits/" id="js_7e" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;">Brownbook Magazine</a></span></b></span></div>
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Though it’s not necessarily considered Tunisian, stambeli can only be found in Tunisia.<br />
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A ritual dance belonging to Tunisia’s Sub-Saharan community, stambeli can occasionally be seen performed on the streets of Tunis, when members of the community dress up in masks and costumes to wander the medina as they sing, dance and play the shqashiq.<br />
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Despite its gradual demise, there remains a few dedicated practitioners of the tradition, like at Dar Barnu – the last surviving house where those of Bornu origin continue to congregate in Tunis. Here, Belhassen Barnawi, the only son of Abdul Majid Barnawi – the late head of Dar Barnu – continues to perform stambeli as a musician and singer.</div>
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According to Barnawi, the word ‘stambeli’ is rooted in the Sub-Saharan term ‘sambeli’, and refers to the spirit possession ceremonies that continue to be performed in parts of Nigeria and Mali.</div>
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The ritual made its way to Tunis during the Ottoman Empire. Many Sub-Saharans arrived in Tunis in the 19th century, often for forced labour and against their will. A network of communal housing was established, consisting of numerous structures that served as a refuge where displaced individuals could find others who spoke their language and shared their customs. Many were of Hausa speaking groups from the areas surrounding Lake Chad.</div>
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It was within this community that the stambeli tradition was developed and spread, enabling both captive and free men and women to maintain their cultural and spiritual practices. Today, in Sidi Abdeslam, a bustling neighborhood on the periphery of Tunis, Dar Barnu continues the stambeli practice, seeing it simultaneously as a musical art form, an agent of healing, a form of communication, a performance of history and an implicit critique of society.</div>
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The term stambeli refers to the music as well as the ritual ceremony itself. ‘Music is the defining component and central agent in the ritual,’ Barnawi says, as he reflects on the different instruments. ‘The guembri, a sacred, bass-register plucke lute with three-strings, speaks to the spirits. Although similarly spiked lutes are found across West Africa, no instrument is identical to the guembri.’</div>
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Another instrument that’s integral to the stambeli performance, he says, is the shqashiq – iron clappers that look like concussion idiophones. The shqashiq is linked to the history of Islam, being firmly associated with Sidi Bilal, Islam’s first muezzin who was freed by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Bilal is an important figure among the Sub-Saharan community in North Africa, with many claiming spiritual descent from him. Some even refer to themselves as ‘awled Sidi Bilal’, or children of Saint Bilal.</div>
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Karim Touwayma, a Tunisian contemporary dancer, choreographer and researcher of stambeli, revisits the dance form through his choreography spectacle ‘L’Arifa’. For Touwayma, an essential component of stambeli – besides the guembri – is the arifa, the dancer who directly connects with the spirits, and through her trance, recognises evil and cures accordingly.</div>
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‘There is a magic that is heard, seen, sensed and felt between the yinna – the master of guembri – and the arifa,’ Touwayma says. ‘The yinna must know what to play and how to play it. The singing does not reach the sprits until the guembri has drawn the spirit into the ritual space of the performance.’</div>
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Two coloured banners or cloths typically cover the arifa, says Barnawi. One is draped over her shoulders and the other is tied around her waist, with the fabric’s colour depending on a saint’s preference. He adds that the rest of the troupe is typically dressed in traditional Tunisian fabrics.</div>
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Others who partake in the musical performances can be seen wearing a leather mask, which represents stambeli’s legendary figure Boussadia, a mythical character who’s largely seen as the tradition’s first musician. According to folklore, he lived in Sub-Saharan Africa until he heard that raiders on a Tunis-bound caravan had captured his daughter, Sadia. Boussadia followed the caravan routes to Tunis and upon his arrival, wandered the streets, playing the shqashiq and singing lyrics that begged onlookers to help him find his daughter.</div>
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The masks worn today cover the entire face and drape over the shoulders. It has cutouts for the eyes and mouth, which are lined with cowry shells. Atop the mask is a conical headdress adorned with a tuft of feathers and the head of a bird with a long beak. An accompanying costume covers the body and consists of a draping, bright red vest that’s decorated with cowries and dangling amulets. Tied across the waist, too, is a skirt fashioned from dozens of animal tails.</div>
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Stambeli is not only a physical performance, but also an embodiment of cultural memory, narrating unrecorded history and stories, believes Touwayma. ‘The lyrics are sung in a manner designed to be incomprehensible. The language of the song is a mixture of Tunisian Arabic and Ajami – a form of the Hausa and Kanuri languages of Sub-Saharan Africa,’ he says.</div>
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Containing diverse religious, geographical and historical traditions, stambeli can neither be reduced to a sole purpose, nor to a single regional or religious foundation. Its rich history is one that is greatly varied and steeped in Tunisia’s long term balancing of racial and social boundaries.</div>
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While there are only a few priests of the stambeli tradition left today, Touwayma strives to spread awareness of the ritual. Having performed and facilitated workshops in Brussels, Greece, Germany and elsewhere, Touwayma is currently working on a documentation of the tradition. His dreams, he says, are for ‘the whole world to dance stambeli.’</div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com252tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-23344419496464015372015-08-12T08:06:00.002-07:002015-08-12T08:07:00.239-07:00Hard times for Tunisia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Published at the German Magazine <a href="http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/terrorism-undermining-tunisia" target="_blank">D+C Development and Cooperation</a></div>
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If the nation looses too many of its marginalised youth to Islamist extremism, it cannot gain stability. Security measures alone will not do, because economic development and social equity matter just as much. </div>
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On 18 March, the international community was shocked by the terror attack at Bardo Museum in Tunis. 21 people, mostly European tourists, were killed. On 26 June, the international community stood shocked again with the tragedy of Sousse, where a fanatic murdered 38 tourists. This attack occurred in the holy month of Ramadan.</div>
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Sadly, terrorism has been haunting Tunisia since early 2013. Attacks occurred during Ramadan in 2014 and 2013 too. The Islamist hardliners want Tunisia’s young democracy to fail.</div>
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After the revolution toppled the Ben Ali dictatorship in 2011, I think terrorism started with the assassination of the opposition leader Chokri Belaid in February 2013. A few months later, Mohamed Brahmi, another leftist leader and member of the National Assembly, was also killed. Obviously, religious fanatics hated the secular politicians. In view of the assassins’ impunity, unrest grew.</div>
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Since early 2013, over 40 Tunisian soldiers have been killed in terror attacks. One of them was deadliest on the Tunisian Army since the country’s independence in 1956.</div>
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Recently, terrorists have been shifting from military and security targets to civilian and urban ones. Because the victims of the Sousse and Bardo massacres were mainly foreigners, travel warnings have been expressed, and fewer tourists are now spending the summer in our country.</div>
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Tourism is a vital sector of the national economy. Its revenues reduced the country’s trade deficit by 50 % last year. Sousse is one of the main tourism sites. It contributes about 14 % to gross domestic product and employs about 12 % of the work population.</div>
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Most people in Sousse directly or indirectly depend on tourism, and terrorism also affects related sectors, such as food and beverage, transportation, crafts, banks and archaeological sites. More generally speaking, the business climate is deteriorating. Foreign investors appear to be loosing interest. But investing in Tunisia at this crucial time is actually investing in strengthening our democracy.</div>
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No doubt, national security, the democratic process, macro-economic stability and efforts to improve socio-economic equality are at risk. Nonetheless, the country has witnessed poorly coordinated government strategy in response to the escalation of terrorist operations and propaganda. The root causes have not been tackled.</div>
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Instead of looking for long-term solutions, public debate is focused on who is responsible for the country’s vulnerability. This was a polarising issue in recent election campaigns. Yes, the security forces look overstretched, underequipped and unable to master the problems. Nonetheless, the security sector in itself cannot provide the solution.</div>
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Because of terrorism, government expenditure on education and infrastructure is being cut, so funds can be used for security purposes. Hyperactivity, however, does not help. In the three months after the Bardo Museum atrocity, the government claims to have carried out 7,000 security operations, arresting 1,000 people and stopping 15,000 people from travelling to fight jihad abroad. It is impossible to verify such information, and effectiveness is not guaranteed. The heroism, however, of the Sousse hotel staff has been the story of many survivals.</div>
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Tunisian attempts to improve security, however, did not stop the UK government from ranking Tunisia in the same danger category as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. After Sousse, it urged all British tourists to leave the country, and some 2000 did so.</div>
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The underlying problem is that economic recession is radicalising young people. Jobless youngsters in marginalised towns are attracted by Islamist rhetoric. They consider themselves victims and even martyrs of a secularist regime, rather than criminals threating the democratic progress. Young people do not get the needed support and leadership opportunities, so ISIS looks attractive. Police repressions is a problem too.</div>
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Rap star Emino traded his career to join the ISIS militia after being arrested for political lyrics and experiencing police brutality. An estimated 3,000 young men have joined ISIS. If Tunisia looses too many of its alienated youth, it cannot gain stability. European partners should take note. Failure to support the region’s first real democracy will come back to haunt Europeans.</div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-12110747804485145632015-06-02T15:27:00.000-07:002015-06-02T15:32:52.149-07:00 People Powered Accountability Discussion at the AfDB Annual Meetings #AfDB2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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idea few years ago. However, last week, during its 2015 Annual Meetings in
Abidjan, the African Development Bank hosted a full day of panels and
discussions dedicated to CSOs. The CSO Forum is aiming at promoting closer
cooperation and engagement among CSOs, the Bank, and regional member countries
in order to optimize development results and sustain development impact.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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attended the event. Different sessions have provided a platform for learning
and exchange on how best to cooperate with CSOs.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRrVwvGCoo1VxVtp2aReG5dbu77vCqL6RCYyEx_MyMjfiGBJBhD8aPZIFoE_eHSBU4ZFwwm6VKfRCCcqW6h3Ry6WrDNskb6wbGG4HvhQAEubWFVct537OBG-Q2XyskSCZP7l5puaIe1TKc/s1600/DSC_0913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRrVwvGCoo1VxVtp2aReG5dbu77vCqL6RCYyEx_MyMjfiGBJBhD8aPZIFoE_eHSBU4ZFwwm6VKfRCCcqW6h3Ry6WrDNskb6wbGG4HvhQAEubWFVct537OBG-Q2XyskSCZP7l5puaIe1TKc/s640/DSC_0913.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">"People-Powered Accountability" Panel ignited an
interesting discussion. Aloysius Ordu, the director of partnership for
Transparency, gave a presentation on People powered accountability. He showed
the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014" target="_blank">2014
Index on Corruption</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>highlighting
that “Information is power but more importantly is what you do with
information”.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He raised the
questions on how do we scale up as many of the CSOs operate on accountability
traps so they can’t scale it up nationally or continentally. Countries, indeed,
“look good” but they are trapped in low accountability. Ordu used an
interesting metaphor of voice and teeth to emphasize the tide connection; voice
being the citizen capacity for collective action and Teeth being the accessible
accountability institutions.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Corruption is a not a myth it’s a reality”, commented Neil Cole,
the Executive Secretary of Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“. He raised the question “what is
that still causes corruption in governance as if none of those laws is in
place?” He stressed that even within countries that have wonderful
constitutions, the question is about the systems that are not robust enough to
eliminate and detect corruption when there is a corrupt act.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was glad also to see the bloggers voice at the panel with the
Ghanian blogger,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://kinnareads.com/" target="_blank">Kinna
Likimani</a>. “It’s not just corruption or bad governance, it’s everything else
in the environment from disrespect, lack of human rights, lack of inclusion to
silencing voices”, she said. Kinna has given many tangible examples of
corruption in Ghana suggesting that everyday life is a negotiation of
an environment of corruption because “you will not be accorded your
rights”. So we eventually buy our respect as citizens, and the leadership takes
advantage of that. The solution for Kinna is to educate the people because she
is tired of “policy, policy, policy with no implementation”</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLvxuDP2ow5_orygMcXZKjKXFTSD3VvSYaKbhsCGOub_TwnlCJt51YBfGmp7Hp3z8KRfbF4dEe2hg8jTPUyeA8dkG-UOg5XvLMmJCczj45dHreEiep7UdfVn5_Nj6VJSZpEVR_fGswWpS/s1600/DSC_0931-1+%2528dragged%2529.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLvxuDP2ow5_orygMcXZKjKXFTSD3VvSYaKbhsCGOub_TwnlCJt51YBfGmp7Hp3z8KRfbF4dEe2hg8jTPUyeA8dkG-UOg5XvLMmJCczj45dHreEiep7UdfVn5_Nj6VJSZpEVR_fGswWpS/s640/DSC_0931-1+%2528dragged%2529.tiff" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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represented by Anna Bossman, the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Director
of Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department (IACD). Her intervention
started by stressing that “Corruption is real when you look at the map,
statistics and indicators, but at the end corruption is about people beyond
that jargon”. As the moderator directly asked her “What makes the bank a
non-corrupt institution?”, Ms.Bossman explained that “the ADB promotes
integrity and accountability by strengthening its rules and regulations,
investigates, gives trainings to the staff and has recently launched the
Citizen Charter”.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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collaboration between the bank and CSOs “We need you but you also need the
bank, you are the people on the ground who can tell us where corruption is
taking place and we have facilities, information and platforms through which
you can engage”.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdyQDalquiGL6PEyfjL_EPpHocKECX3M0sl3nUgiPpcYsNFn71djlc9ph_32WpXlZUM74aMc-FdjS7POKKvfn4RTexuzxqYfufBJDKy9OGxdGeLZo7c2H91RSfN82ql9a4jxOPmJrKmFQ/s1600/DSC_0979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGdyQDalquiGL6PEyfjL_EPpHocKECX3M0sl3nUgiPpcYsNFn71djlc9ph_32WpXlZUM74aMc-FdjS7POKKvfn4RTexuzxqYfufBJDKy9OGxdGeLZo7c2H91RSfN82ql9a4jxOPmJrKmFQ/s640/DSC_0979.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As the
moderator started getting questions from the audience, Ms. Graca Machel
entered the room. She has been then given the floor for a final word by
the end of the panel, where she stressed on regional collaboration. "We
are playing the game in a very unequal environment with government,
business, parliament and judiciary institutions that have resources
which CSOs don’t. CSOs have to be strong enough to face all these
institutions to be taken seriously". She raised the question on how to
strengthen the institutional capacity of CSOs as strong to play their
role on equal basis. She continues "African institutions, including
the bank, are not realizing that the citizen voice is fundamental to strengthen
democracy". She ended by calling on the CSOs present to
work regionally and unite to make "our voice heard". She
gave an example of her organization <a href="http://www.nfnv.org/"><span style="color: blue;">N</span></a><a href="http://www.nfnv.org/"><span style="color: blue;">ew Faces New Voices</span></a> which
operates in 15 countries.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
panel was interesting indeed but not much time has been given to the CSOs representatives
actually to talk and challenge the panelists and themselves. There has been a
long silence about the constriction of the civic space, before a shout out came
from the audience that the space of civil society is shrinking.“While we are
here, civil society activists are imprisoned in Egypt and Ethiopia and internet
has been shut down in Burundi, you might be afraid of governments
(towards the bank) but you need to call on them when they violate those
spaces”. There is a need to have more shout outs like this from the CSOs on the
Bank and other institutions to call on countries to give us back the civic
space because without that space, CSOs cannot thrive. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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act as intermediary at all stages and play key role. They should be the ones
that raise community awareness of their rights and empower citizen groups for
collective action. So, CSOs need to get organized to challenge and to
deliver.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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session ended with a clear message that the bank has to do its homework on
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com430tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-52095533960670829792015-05-04T09:08:00.000-07:002015-05-04T09:08:48.140-07:00Collective Struggle & Solidarity is Africa Unity #AfricaDay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Published at <a href="http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/ffd-blog/aya-chebbi/collective-struggle-and-solidarity-is-africa-unity" target="_blank">Foresight For Development -Africa</a></i></span></b></div>
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Over the past years, our African unity has been tested constantly to realize that unity is not a one-day celebration or a mere occasional response to threatening events happening across the continent. Unity, instead, shall be a continuous collective struggle and solidarity.<br />
<br />
For the past year, Africa has not healed from pain, bloodshed and diseases. From Ebola outbreak in West Africa to the recent crimes in South Africa, and the disaster of endless deaths of Africans sinking in the middle of the Mediterranean; from Al Shabab attacks in Kenya, to the Islamic State killings in Libya, and to Boko Haram massacres in West Africa - a similar pattern of extreme brutality spreading across.</div>
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I’m afraid that our sufferings will become normalized and our people will become just numbers and statistical tragedies on indices…<br />
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Early this year, over a million people flooded the streets of Paris with more than 40 world leaders participating, protesting the vicious murders of 17 people, including 12 journalists at Charlie Hebdo, a French magazine. While masses marched side by side in the rally at the Boulevard Voltaire, similar tragedies were unfolding on Africa. Just four days before the Paris attacks, Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria (and now in the neighboring countries of Chad, Cameroon, and the Republic of Niger) carried out its deadliest attack, where more than 2,000 people were slaughtered, including children and women.<br />
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These events, when reported in Western media, drew no attention for mass solidarity, but instead, all it could bring to us was travel alerts, tourism and investment threats, and foreign intervention to step into resolving our crises because of the absence of our leadership. Has anyone organized an international protest against the African massacre? Have any African leaders flown to Abuja, Nairobi or Tunis to stand in solidarity with each other?<br />
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Likewise, the global outrage over the Chibok abductions, where more than 200 girls still remain kidnapped, was intense but short-lived. The attention of international media soon faded and leadership reaction has been shortsighted. That’s why the kidnapping, killings and abuse by Boko Haram have continued unabated.<br />
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I don’t have answers to why these atrocities continue to intensify; I have even more questions. When are we increasing our vigilance and strengthening our collective stand against those who commit such atrocities? When are we starting to treat Africa as our borderless united motherland and not as small divided territories?<br />
<br />
The solution to face these atrocities on the continent is not only to ensure short-term security measures or aid, but mainly to work on social and economic development. When are we starting to have a serious talk about economic integration? When are we implementing serious intracontinental collaboration in the attainment of Africa’s development objectives? Africa’s prosperity, as a united continent, will depend essentially on tighter political, trade and economic integration.<br />
<br />
As we continue losing our natural and human resources, I am also afraid we are losing our confidence in our civilization, our pre-colonization history, our common identity and ourselves. Usually the unions play a major role in protecting the civilizational values, but our African Union (AU), previously known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU), has failed spectacularly. The AU is strongly based on important principles of unity and pan-Africanism. However, most of us either do not know them, or do not live our lives by them.<br />
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African Unity is not only about solidarity within the continent but also our collective response outside. AU member states have rarely voted together in international fora to safeguard common African interests. Regional institutions have had no uniformed mutually beneficial policy towards interacting with outside powers because most of the African countries are eventually bought off by former colonial powers. Sadly, the leaders unite only behind the AU, ECOWAS, CEMAC or SADC to protect each other when abusing and censuring their citizens.<br />
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Looking towards the future, we need:</div>
<ul style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 23.3999996185303px; list-style: none; margin: 2em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">A renewed focus on what unites us and in finding our common interest to build a peaceful and prosperous common homeland that allows its citizens and youth to flourish.</li>
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">A united political will to move forward together in solving our problems at continental level, and not turning our backs on our neighbors’ problems.</li>
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">A celebration of our differences as our diversity and our diversity as our unity - a shift in dealing with Africa’s cultural differences that led to the divide and rule by outsiders.</li>
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">To resolve our disputes always through peaceful means that would enable us not to be exploited or manipulated.</li>
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">To unite our youth movements in a common vision to lead the next generations on a solid foundation of values and unity.</li>
</ul>
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While many of our leaders may have forgotten the treasure of wisdom our ancestors handed down to us, the rest of us should not. So let’s remember the African proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9u77-emHOxiY8frPTFAhZFJUsZGju7uEV4oGfK4hD0fKNx7-EMJgRtNIHrtlb1Y0QRcLE4fLxD2Lztkcwbkt46MRPqvAHyobhnpXcJwZWLWPPXlH2lmIdTaNp3gDUA0nKQRAWprabYoa/s1600/Africaday_25_May.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9u77-emHOxiY8frPTFAhZFJUsZGju7uEV4oGfK4hD0fKNx7-EMJgRtNIHrtlb1Y0QRcLE4fLxD2Lztkcwbkt46MRPqvAHyobhnpXcJwZWLWPPXlH2lmIdTaNp3gDUA0nKQRAWprabYoa/s400/Africaday_25_May.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-90861890643088829672015-04-11T06:26:00.001-07:002015-04-16T08:22:17.803-07:00Tunisia after Bardo Attack - The Story unlike the News <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Published at <a href="http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/opinion/were-showing-a-story-about-tunisia-unlike-the-news-video_31353" target="_blank">Your Middle East</a> and <a href="http://www.weldd.org/our-voices/aya-chebbi-were-showing-story-about-tunisia-unlike-news" target="_blank">WELDD</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">On March 18, Tunisia witnessed an attack on the Bardo Museum in the heart of the capital city, Tunis, next door to the Parliament.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Suddenly, international media was disseminating misinformed news about the situation in Tunisia, promoting an image of “terrorism” and “Jihadism” taking over the country, “destroying its economy”, and “threating its democracy”. It is actually not the attack that will affect our economy and tourism but it's the narrative mainstream media propagates at all times.</span></div>
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</span><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">THE HEADLINES</strong><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> have been as dramatic as “</span><a href="mailto:http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/18/world/tunisia-terror-attacks/" style="color: #cd0000; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">In Tunisia, terror attack undercuts Arab Spring's best prospect</a><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">”, or “T</span><a href="mailto:http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/18/travel/tunisia-tourism/" style="color: #cd0000; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">ravelers warned of risks as Tunisia reels from attack</a><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">”, ignoring that we have had at least 20,000 foreign visitors entering the country after the Bardo attack, and as lame and wrongful as “</span><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/23/africa/tunisia-fallout/" style="color: #cd0000; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Tunisian town near 'Star Wars' backdrop now features in battle against ISIS</a><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">”, ignoring that Les Dunes Electroniques, one of Tunisia's biggest musical festivals have taken place on the set of Star Wars just a few weeks ago, on February 21 when over 10,000 people attended. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">There is another story that has to be told not only by us, Tunisians, who obviously would encourage people to visit our homeland, but also through the testimonies of foreign visitors who have themselves experienced the beauty, safety, and hospitality of Tunisia.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">I have interviewed visitors from Europe, Africa and America following the Bardo Attack. They have all stressed the difference of the narrative the media represents for Tunisia and what is actually on the ground: </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">From </span><b style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Belgium</b><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">, Hilario Palomeque said: “The news were putting over and over the videos of the attacks and I decided actually to avoid watching that because it creates an image of Tunisia which is not real.” He added, “I came in solidarity…as a response to violence it’s important to maintain this presence because it’s the best answer to violence.”</span></div>
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<strong style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">FROM BRAZIL</strong><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">, Janaina Plessmann, who arrived just a day before the attack happened, said: “It’s my first time in Tunisia. I felt very fortunate to have the opportunity of meeting all the amazing Tunisian people I was meeting on that day. I was not really feeling anything related to any danger…or any fear even on that day.” She continued: “I was trying to share with people that I was feeling very secure and safe here, the country and the people are amazing… and what happened has nothing to do with any kind of nationality or religion...”</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">At the end Janaina made a request: “Please come and visit this very beautiful country to enjoy, I’m sure you will be surprised!”</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Edna Bonhomme from </span><b style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">New York</b><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> has been in Tunisia for the past two months, she said: “Tunisia for me has been a very warm open, and compassionate space. People have been very willing to take me to their homes to visit small towns, places like le Kef and Kasserine.” As a black woman she said she would not have “that kind of hospitality in small towns in the United States where I’m from.” Edna admires Tunisia and she encourages everybody to visit: “I personally learnt a lot by being here.”</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">From </span><b style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">NIGERIA</b><span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">, Adebayo Waifi Gbenro came despite the attack to show African solidarity, he said: “to tell everyone in the world that we are not terrorists… we’re not bad people and all we need to do is for them to get a story from our own perspective, not a foreign perspective…”</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">These are a few testimonies among over 20,000 visitors who entered Tunisia after the Bardo Attack. That’s by itself a strong message of the world’s solidarity and Tunisia’s firm stand against all forms of violence.</span></div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-15537322373100470212015-04-04T11:19:00.002-07:002015-04-14T10:05:30.350-07:00Rethinking Regional Security through Africa's Economic Integration <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/ffd-blog/aya-chebbi/rethinking-regional-security-through-africa-s-economic-integration" target="_blank">Published at Foresight For Development</a></div>
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In 2013, I was shooting a documentary called “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keMcAYVosGs" target="_blank">Kenya’s Conscious Transformation</a>” under the Africa Inspire Project, when Kenya witnessed the Westgate attack. At least 67 people have died.<br />
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Following the peaceful 2013 general elections, I decided to explore and highlight the role of youth and women in the peace process that transformed its previous 2007/2008 volatile post-election violence. On my last day in Nairobi, a few hours before heading to the Westgate shopping mall, I heard about the Al Shabab attack. It was a tragic and sad day, waiting for the fate of the hostages and praying for the victims.</div>
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Two weeks ago, Tunisia has also witnessed an attack on the Bardo Museum in the heart of the capital city, Tunis, next door to the Parliament. I had then experienced the same saddening feeling.<br />
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International media, as usual, don’t help much in such events, especially when it happens in Africa but the headlines make it actually worse. The headlines have been as dramatic as “<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/videos/international/2013/11/04/spc-inside-africa-tunisia-c.cnn" target="_blank">Tunisia's tourism fights for survival</a>”, ignoring that we have had at least 20.000 foreign visiters entering Tunisia after Bardo attack, and as lame and wrongful as “<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/23/africa/tunisia-fallout/" target="_blank">Tunisian town near 'Star Wars' backdrop now features in battle against ISIS</a>” ignoring that Les Dunes Electroniques, one of Tunisia's biggest festivals have taken place on the set of star wars just few weeks ago on 21 February where over 10.000 people attended. I remembered then, during my interviews in Kenya, the youth telling me about their campaign on Twitter #SomoneTellCNN and #CNNApologise.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw2dBEy9KHjwm9i-EvqoicYnzrCahfM0d1FbvVC28G6FaI8EN2ZbXeQ50ELT-qGpVKy9P4WAPg59VlozCA_v8gGDd6QRmw0x6UT5tA1Y9b_jFrUKg3jS5GMuuzYS7531GccCztSGEpMAu9/s1600/IMAGE635161450893984492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw2dBEy9KHjwm9i-EvqoicYnzrCahfM0d1FbvVC28G6FaI8EN2ZbXeQ50ELT-qGpVKy9P4WAPg59VlozCA_v8gGDd6QRmw0x6UT5tA1Y9b_jFrUKg3jS5GMuuzYS7531GccCztSGEpMAu9/s1600/IMAGE635161450893984492.jpg" height="193" width="320" /></a>The Kenyan online community reacted with harsh criticism to CNN’s reports of the grenade blasts in Nairobi. The news network reported on the story with footage from 2007-08, giving the impression that violence had erupted all over the country.<br />
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Like Kenya, Tunisia had its fair share of CNN misinformed disseminated news. Though we are all witnessing equal tragedies of non-state actors’ crimes, the coverage is, for instance, different from the Charlie Hebdo attack with a Western perspective.<br />
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However, what we need to actually reflect on is the relationship between regional economic integration and regional security, which shall depend on the nature of the security threats that defines the region.<br />
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In Africa, we are yet to boost the economic integration, while we are witnessing the rise of armed attacks. Why can’t we yet secure the flow of goods but control the flow of arms? Following Libya’s war, the Mali conflict, the Amenas hostage crisis and other security threats, cross-border terrorism and arms smuggling are on the rise. Transitional politics and fragile stability are impeding policy-makers from drafting lasting and coordinated frameworks to combat this. The impact and leverage of armed attacks will continue to affect African countries transnationally.<br />
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However, the over-stated threat of terrorism is far from feeding exclusively on economic and social grievances or the democratization process. It is as much the creation of states’ quest for internal regime stability, as the result of their own incapacity to effectively collectively address the security vacuum in different countries (for example, northeastern Mauritania, southwestern Algeria, northern Mali, and Niger).<br />
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Some argue that regional economic cooperation will foster insecurity rather than security. Besides, building a viable intra or inter-regional cooperation is a challenging proposition because of post-colonial African states and governance. However, I think this situation ushers in a much more fluid context, affording fresh windows of opportunity for these extremist groups to exploit divisions, and further its agenda.<br />
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Building regional economic integration is still centered primarily on security considerations. As African states, we are increasingly concerned with security risks generated by our neighbors arising from poor governance that might cause cross-border instability. These problems highlight that regional economic integration ought to be primarily inter-governmental with a minimum of supra-national aspirations.<br />
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I think we need to:</div>
<ul style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 23.3999996185303px; list-style: none; margin: 2em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">Develop a strategic vision. A critical factor in developing an enabling environment for regional economic integration is whether governments have the necessary leadership to push economic integration. Despite Europe’s recession, the reflexive response in North Africa is to continue to look northward to Europe for economic relations. At the same time, the focus on regional neighbors is often limited to purely security-related concerns.</li>
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">Governments in the region need to think more strategically about the benefits of building closer economic ties with our neighbors. Investing in border regions could prompt greater economic growth and improve security conditions. Good governance and clear investment codes are essential components for that.</li>
<li style="background: url(http://www.foresightfordevelopment.org/templates/gk_music/images/style1/typography/bullet1.png) 0px 8px no-repeat !important; border: 0px; line-height: 1.8em !important; list-style-position: inside; margin: 0px !important; outline: 0px; overflow: inherit; padding: 2px 0px 2px 28px; vertical-align: top;">Promote a strong business environment is a necessary component of a broader enabling environment.</li>
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All in all, we need to identify potential growth points and then connect with each other beyond security dilemmas. </div>
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AChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14747294352529605188noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2181389335126680235.post-75319888714472675122015-03-09T12:51:00.000-07:002015-03-09T12:51:02.028-07:00Revolution Tourism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Published at <a href="http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/revival-tourism-will-stabilise-tunisias-democracy-model-arab-region" target="_blank">D+C German Magazine </a></div>
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Tourism is an important pillar of Tunisia’s economy, but it has been declining because of revolutionary turmoil in recent years. Unlike in other North African countries, the transition to democracy has been successful. Job creation must now underpin the new constitutional order. The new government should devise a strategy to attract visitors to the country.</div>
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The National Geographic recently put Tunisia on the list of the “top destinations of 2015”. It was also the “country of the year 2014”, according to The Economist. These are great achievements for a country that has gone through a revolution, a democratic transition and four parliamentary and presidential elections in four years.</div>
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One must bear in mind, moreover, that Tunisia is facing huge economic and security issues. Both affect tourism, which has long been a vital sector of the national economy. Positive coverage in international magazines can prove quite helpful in this context. </div>
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Tourism has long offered Tunisia opportunities. In the year 2010, the sector accounted for seven percent of GDP and more than 20 % of Tunisia’s revenues in foreign currencies. Tourists spent so much money in the country, that they plugged 56 % of its trade deficit. Moreover, the tourism industry employed about 85,000 people and indirectly kept another 315,000 in their jobs. Some 14 million visitors came to Tunisia in 2010, and the industry generated revenues worth $ 12.5 billion.</div>
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Among Tunisia’s tourist attractions are its cosmopolitan capital city of Tunis, the ancient ruins of Carthage, the Muslim and Jewish quarters of Djerba and many beach resorts. About 95 % of the hotel beds are near the eastern coast. Europeans appreciate the country as a sunny summer getaway. Tunisia benefits from its location on the Mediterranean Sea.</div>
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Tourism money matters to the hotel, airline, restaurant and retail-shopping industries. Tourists mean jobs for tour operators, drivers, porters, guides at cultural and nature sights, travel agents, market traders and others. The sector provides opportunities to entrepreneurs and allows other industries to grow.</div>
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Tunisia’s tourism has encountered numerous devastating obstacles in recent years however. Tourist numbers dropped because of the Gulf War of 1990, and again after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. The bombing of a synagogue in Djerba in 2002 was a problem, and so was the US-led Iraq war. Nonetheless, tourism always recovered.</div>
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The revolution in 2011, however, proved to be an even greater challenge. In view of the popular uprising and the fall of dicator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali regime, a number of foreign governments issued travel warnings. Tour operators rerouted their customers and cancelled pre-booked trips. Hotel-occupancy in major tourism areas dropped to very low levels, leaving small tourism entrepreneurs with little to no income.</div>
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After Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, 210,000 tourists left the country in the last week of January alone, causing revenues to drop by $ 178 million. All in all, Tunisia counted only 4.7 million tourists in 2011, a mere third of the comparative figure for 2010. </div>
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By April 2011, with some travel warnings lifted, tourists slowly began to return to Tunisia. But following the September 2012 attacks on the U.S. embassy in Tunis and the American Cooperative School, the sector declined again. Terrorism and Islamist agitation have had a tremendously negative impact.</div>
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Political instability added to the problems. The Ministry of Tourism did not even manage to respond to negative messages the media spread after terror events. The cabinet kept changing. Since January 2011, six different ministers have been in charge of tourism. In such circumstances, it was impossible to sustain any public-relations strategy. The Ministry only began to get a grip on things again last year.</div>
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All in all, the sector employs about 22,000 less people today than it did in early 2011. Seasonal employment has suffered in particular.</div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Brighter future</strong></div>
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However, things have begun to improve again. Unlike Egypt and Libya, Tunisia has embarked on a journey to democracy. The country now has a new constitution, on the basis of which the new parliament and the new president were elected. The successful transition to a new order can help to regain foreigners’ interest.</div>
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Tunisia can now market itself as a “start-up democracy”, a term first used by Amal Karboul, who was tourism minister from early 2014 to early 2015. Karboul devised a marketing strategy that stressed Tunisia’s progressive achievements. Her social-media approach was very popular, and her obsession with selfies resonated with the public. She insisted that using social media could be a very cost-effective alternative to conventional advertising.</div>
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She made other steps in the right direction too. In close cooperation, the Ministries of Tourism and Culture organised the Electronic Dunes Music Festival last year. The event took place in the landscape were a Star Wars movie was made. The Electronic Revolution Festival followed on the beach of Korbous. In Februray, the Second Electronic Dunes attracted an audience of 8.000 paying participants from Tunisia and Europe.</div>
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Of course, tourism is not only about the Sahara, the coastal areas and archaeological sites. Inland cities, where jobs are needed badly, can benefit too. So far, however, cultural tourism has not been developed properly. The attractions of many towns should be made better known, and the government would be well advised to draft a strategy accordingly.</div>
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There is untapped potential. For instance, the Capsian people were the first human civilisation in Tunisia. They settled 12,000 years ago in what is now the town of Gasfa. The town’s region has a great cultural heritage, but it remains, like other central and southern cities, marginalised in economic and social terms. Tourism could make a difference.</div>
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Moreover, Tunisia should develop something like a revolution tourism. Many people are angry because it has not been documented properly how they toppled the dictatorship. By tackling the country’s recent history, museums, exhibitions and high-level events could attract many visitors.</div>
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Tourism accounts for about 12 % of Tunisia’s total employment. The sector needs a strong strategy. Its success is vital for economic recovery, but is affected by travellers’ security concerns. Related issues must be addressed fast and effectively. Since the formation of the new government, there still have been delays in passing a new terrorism law. The law is urgently needed.</div>
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The entire Tunisian economy needs a complete overhaul and a comprehensive vision moreover. Attracting more tourists is part of the solution, but it is not the solution in itself. Tunisia must get solid government budgeting, good macroeconomic management and policies that promote investment. </div>
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It is the collective responsibility of the government, the media, the entrepreneurs and Tunisian citizens to draw the country’s tourism sector into a profitable direction. The image of the culturally diverse, geographically stunning and historically rich country needs to be promoted. It would be helpful, moreover, if Europeans understood that spending holiday money here is a contribution to stabilising Tunisia as the Arab region’s first constitutional democracy. </div>
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*All the figures in the essay are from Tunisia’s statistics bureau.</div>
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