Debating “Hafrica”

My good friend D. Stephen Goldman and I have been throwing down over the idea of pan-African unity and ethnic identity over at his blog. Go and see the rhetorical spittle fly or join in the melee yourself.

The Story of Angola

In 1975, the central African country of Angola cast-off the colonial regime of Portugal and declared independence. The country promptly descended into civil war. Because of the larger context of the Soviet-American struggle this civil war was rapidly transformed into a proxy war. As James Traub reports in a terrific piece from this past weekend’s [...]

A Cry for Who to Intervene?

Here in Washington, DC there was a march this past weekend on the White House. It was modest in scope, a few hundred at most, calling on the Bush administration to “Stop the genocide! Break the deadlock! Protect the people.” The gathering was organized by Africa Action, who planned the rally to coincide with [...]

Free Speech in Africa

“The conditions of press freedom and freedom of expression are deteriorating rapidly or systematically in all regions of Africa.”
So says the Network of African Freedom of Expression Organizations (NAFEO). At a June meeting in Lagos, Nigeria NAFEO took note of significant increase in the arrests, detention, repression and harassment of journalists and other media [...]

Shameless Nepotism Corner

Well, altruistic nepotism anyway. Educate! is an excellent charitable organization whose Montreal racketeering and extortion operations are run by my equally excellent cousin, AJ Hirsch Allen. The organization provides scholarships to refugees in Rwanda and Uganda covering the cost of tuition, food, safety and healthcare. All funds raised go directly to aiding refugees and [...]