ACAS Action 2024
ACAS participation in the Advocacy Network for Africa (AdNA)
Advocacy Coordinator
Contact: David Wiley (wiley@msu.edu)
David Wiley serves as ACAS representative on AdNA and participates in their discussions, statements, and campaigns.
ACAS Task Force on “Green Energy” and the Impact of Cobalt Minining in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Contact: Tim Scarnecchi (tscarn@kent.edu)
Campaign on mining in Africa, human rights, and corporate responsibility.
ACAS Task Force on Demilitarizing Africa and African Studies
Contact: David Wiley (wiley@msu.edu)
ACAS members are concerned by the increasing militarization of US relations with Africa, including the focus on and funding of academic work about Africa in the US and abroad. We are cooperating to do research on the planning and engagement in Africa of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM), on the African socio-political and security situations on the ground, on African perspectives on US military presence and plans, and on funding of studies of Africa by military and intelligence agencies.
Specifically, we are concerned about the enlarging Department of Defense and intelligence infrastructure focused on Africa in the US, UK, Germany, and Djibouti and in military and security institutions across the US; the increasing US training and equipping of African militaries; the emerging focus on African dissident movements as “terrorists” as the Global War on Terror is brought to the continent; and the increasing US military missions and infrastructure in Africa including a fleet of warplanes and drones.
We plan to stay in close collaboration with other organizations in the US and Africa who share our concern. We plan to:
- conduct research on US military spending and activities on Africa and their impact on African countries
- develop both analytical papers and op-ed commentary on the US military and Africa and on US Government and private policy toward Africa
- provide alerts and calls for action for ACAS members
- encourage articles for the African Studies Review and other publications
- monitor the continuing policy of abstention from funding from military and intelligence agencies for African studies by the African Studies Association, Association of African Studies Programs, and the US Title VI African Centers
- build communications with African scholars on these issues.
Archive of ACAS Activism
A collection of issues of the Bulletin of the Association of Africa Scholars and ACAS political organizing materials is available on the African Activist Archive Project website. See the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars collection.