African Perspectives

African Perspectives is a weekly news radio program that airs every Sunday from noon to 1pm on CHRY 105.5fm (or Channel 945 on Rogers or streaming at chry.fm), community radio. The show aims to bring an alternative, progressive and Pan-Africanist perspective on the African Continent.

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Saturday November 14th join us to view the film “Barefoot” about the Burkina Faso October mass uprising, followed by brainstorming and discussion.

3pm, Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St (Spadina and College)

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South African Film at HotDocs: The Shore Break

Two cousins, one proposed mining project on tribal land and a battle of epic proportions. In Amadiba, on South Africa’s stunning Wild Coast, the Pondo people have tended their traditional way of life for centuries. Nonhle, a young local eco-tour guide, is a staunch supporter of her people and the endangered environment on which their livelihood and culture depend. Her cousin Madiba, a local entrepreneur and self-proclaimed modernizer, is fully supportive of a titanium mining proposal and the government’s controversial plan to build a highway across their tribal ground. Using every backhanded method imaginable, including the ousting of the Pondo Royal Family, Madiba scurrilously courts private capital and questionable government officials. Nonhle—the clear David in this Goliath-sized fight—rallies inspiring support with little more than dogged determination. Featuring arresting cinematography, beautiful sand animation and original music from sensational Ntombethongo, The Shore Break delivers both a visually and emotionally riveting fight to the finish.

We speak with Ryley Grunenwald; director, director of photography and co-producer of The Shore Break.

The Shore Break will be featured at HotDocs on the following dates: Friday, 24 April at 21h45: Hart House Theatre Saturday, 25 April at 13h30: ROM Friday, 1 May at 18h30: Isabel Bader Theatre

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#cadaanstudies and the New Somali Studies

Last month, the Somaliland Journal of African Studies (SJAS) was launched with no Somali academics or researchers on the editorial and advisory boards. This raised a very necessary debate on the continued whiteness of academia, and more specifically on the production of knowledge on and about Africa.  It prompted Safia Aidid to start the hashtag #cadaanstudies as a way to engage Somali academics in a conversation on the historical representations of Somalis and Somalia, and create a space for postcolonial and critical academic work by and for Somalis.

Listen to our interview with Safia Aidid here Read Safia’s article in The New Inquiry

Check out the storify page

Join a discussion on #cadaanstudies in Toronto on May 2nd at 10:45am at York University.

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Al-Shabab hotel siege in Mogadishu

At the end of March, Al-Shabab attacked a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu killing 14 people.  We speak with Farid Omar for a contextualization of Al-Shabab.  We also spoke with him concerning the Nigerian elections and attacks by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria.

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Garissa

This past Thursday four gunmen attacked the Garissa University College campus in Kenya, killing 148 people.  Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack and is the armed group’s bloodiest attack to date.

We speak with Farid Omar about the attack; he historicizes Al-Shabab within the context of years of conflicting relationships between Kenya and Somalia, and the increasing militarization of the Kenyan state, especially the increased security and surveillance of Somali Kenyans and Muslim Kenyans.

For another historicization of the Garissa massacre, see Shailja Patel’s piece in The New Inquiry

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Nigerian Elections

March 28/29 marked an historic presidential election in Nigeria. Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan lost to former military leader Muhammadu Buhari, marking the first time an incumbent president has ever lost an election in Nigeria.  We speak with Tracy Thompson, a video journalist with alternative media site Sahara Reporters.  Tracy had just returned from Nigeria where she was covering the elections for Sahara Reports and as part of her series Africa in the City.

Photo Credit

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CUPE 3903 People of Colour Caucus Strike

Last month teaching assistants and contract faculty at York University were on strike.  While the union is a collective movement, racism within the union at York, and indeed the workers movement across the country, remains a very real issue to be addressed.  The People of Colour Caucus of CUPE 3903 at York University are committed to creating spaces on the picket lines and within the union which not only claim to be welcoming but are also spaces where members feel welcomed. We spoke about the strike and the people of colour caucus with Ciann Wilson, PhD Candidate at York University, Vice-Chair of the Caribbean, African Canadian Social Services, Board Co-Chair of ACE - Accessibility, Community, Equity, and Co-Editor of The Health Tomorrow Journal, York Institute of Health Research.

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Who Benefits from GM Crops: The Expansion of Agribusiness Interests in Africa

Friends of the Earth International released a new report about how US agencies; funders such as the Gates Foundation, and agribusiness giant Monsanto are trying to force unwilling African nations to accept expensive and insufficiently tested Genetically Modified (GM) foods and crops.  The report is entitled “Who Benefits from GM Crops: the Expansion of Agribusiness Interests in Africa though Biosafety Policy.  We spoke with co-author Haidee Swanby from The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) in Cape Town South Africa.

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Haiti Solidarity

We speak with Ajamu Nangwaya from the Campaign to End the Occupation of Haiti about the past and present legacies of the American Occupation of Haiti and the on-going struggle to rid the nation of all forms of oppression.

You can reach the Campaign to End the Occupation of Haiti on their facebook page or via email:

https://www.facebook.com/campaigntoendtheoccupationofhaiti [email protected]

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Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity - Royal Ontario Museum Black History Month Exhibit

As an emerging, living artist, Karin Jones has an interesting narrative of her own; a descendent of Nova Scotian Black Loyalists and a Vancouver based jewellery maker with a show opening at the ROM as part of the Museum's Of Africa/Black History Month programming. Her exhibit at the ROM called Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity is the first contemporary art installation presented as part of the Of Africa project. This site-specific installation was selected through a public call for artists, who were invited to reflect on the position and representations of African Canadians in the nation’s historical and contemporary narratives, in dialogue with the historical holdings of the ROM’s Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada. 

Listen to the interview with Karin here

Photo credit: Royal Ontario Museum (© Eydís Einarsdóttir)

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On the Anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba

Interview with Kambale Musavuli, spokesperson for the organization “Friends of Congo,” examining Congo’s cycles of violence since independence with the assassination of late president Patrice Lumumba, up to the current wave of unrest in the country. 

Listen to the interview here

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Continued Discussion on Cuba and US Normalization

Discussion with Norman Richmond; Panafricanist, internationalist, and long time supporter of the Cuban Revolution.  In light of the the recent announcement of normalization of state relations between Cuba and the US, Norman discusses the long time solidarity of Cuba in relation to Africa, and the state of the African-American struggle for social justice in America; especially the question of political prisoners such as Assata Shakur in the context of the recent US/Cuba development.

Listen to the interview here

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Cuban Five and Africa

Interview with Morteza Gorgzadeh from the "Toronto Forum on Cuba" following the recent liberation of the Cuban Five, who had been wrongfully jailed in the US for defending their country against extremists attacks of Cuban American exiles based in Miami.  Morteza analysed the Cuban Five's connection with Africa, where three of them fought alongside Angolans against Apartheid South Africa.  He also discussed the recent announcement of normalization between the US and Cuba following over 50 years of brutal embargo.

Listen to the interview here

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World War One in Africa

Senegalese tirailleurs in Saint-Ulrich (Haut-Rhin), France. 16 June 1917. Photo by Paul Castelnau. Source: Ministère de la Culture. Photo Credit

This year marks the centennial anniversary of the First World War, however the story of the Great War has always overlooked Africa. Tens of thousands of African lives were lost at home and abroad, defending the interests of foreign powers and the lives of complete strangers during the war.  The World War I in Africa Project aims to bring this to light.  With photos, cartoons, maps and caricatures, the project aims to challenge the normative narrative of WWI and also to change the usual narrators.

We interviewed Kathleen Bomani, the coordinator of the World War I Project.  Kathleen is a Tanzanian cultural activist and consultant. Her interests lie in creating space for nuanced in-depth African stories. She works at the intersection of art, governance and home grown innovation, with a special focus on the politics of identity.  She coordinates the World War I in Africa Project with Jacques Enaudeau, a French geographer and cartographer, who has been working in and doing research on West Africa for close to ten years.

Listen to our interview here

Check out WWI in Africa project through their various formats: http://wwiafrica.ghost.io/about/ http://facebook.com/WWIAFRICA http://twitter.com/wwiafrica

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Canadian Mining Company use Forced Labour in Eritrea

Image Credit

Interview with Binega Markos, a Vancouver based Eritrean, on Nevsun Resources mining operation in Eritrea.

Recently Canadian Business Magazine published an article about the use of forced labour by Canadian mining company Nevsun in Eritrea. The Eritrean situation is part of a wider trend in resource grabbing in Africa by multinational corporation, including Canadian ones.

Listen to our interview here

Another article on the topic was published here

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The Changing Face of South Africa’s Labour Movement

In this interview with Chris Webb, PhD student in the department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto, we discuss the changing face of South Africa’s Labour Movement and the emergence of new actors such as CSAAWU, in the Agricultural sector of the Western Cape region. They have recently been facing court challenges threatening to shut down their union.

Listen to the interview here

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Crossroads Resistance Movement Comic Book Series

Crossroads is a new comic book series that tells the history of women’s organized resistance to slum clearances in the Crossroads settlement in Cape Town, South Africa, from 1975 to 2014. We speak to author Koni Benson about the series. The series is illustrated by brothers Andre and Nathan Trantaal.

Check out the first volume in the series here

Or purchase the series from Blank Books in South Africa