ACAS member Carl LeVan has posted on his blog, “Momentum Builds Against Drones in Africa,” which provides valuable reporting on the broad debate about the use of drones. LeVan also highlights a January 17 letter to President Obama from 33 organizations, including the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars, that opposes the use of drone strikes in targeting militants in Africa, arguing that “current and future military operations will harm U.S. and African interests and communities.”
Tag Archives: militarization
ACAS organizes petition to President Obama on Democratic Republic of the Congo
Today, 221 academics and scholars of Africa in the United States sent a petition to President Obama to take action to protect civilians in the conflict zone of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The petition was released by the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS), since 1977 a national organization of professors and other specialists on Africa.
The press release quoted Noah Zerbe, political scientist at Humboldt State University and co-chairperson of ACAS: “According to the International Rescue Committee, with more than 5 million killed in this disordered nation in the last 14 years, the conflicts there are the world’s deadliest documented conflict since WW II, yet it has not had the attention it needs.”
The scholars are calling on President Obama to take bilateral actions and actions through the United Nations to protect civilians in the conflict zone of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Specifically, the petition calls on the President to use U.S. influence at the UN to provide the MONUC forces with the mandate and resources to protect civilians, to sanction Rwanda and Uganda for any support to militias there, to use the SEC to enforce the Dodd-Frank Act on conflict minerals, and to fully implement the “Obama Act” of 2006 on the Congolese Army for their contributions to the disorder.
Scholars who would like to join ACAS in policy-oriented research and action on this issue and other issues concerning the U.S. military role in Africa may contact David Wiley (wiley@msu.edu), chair of the ACAS Demilitarization Task Force.
New teachers’ resource on Kony 2012 campaign
A resource for teachers, React and Respond: The Phenomenon of Kony 2012, is now available on the ACAS webpage Resources on Uganda, the LRA, and Central Africa. The teachers’ packet is written by Barbara Brown (Boston University Africa Studies Center), John Metzler (Michigan State University Africa Studies Center), Patrick Vinck (Program for Vulnerable Populations at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative), and Christine Root (ACAS). Please share it with social studies teachers in your community. We also have been adding other materials to this ACAS Resources page.
New ACAS resources on Uganda and the LRA
ACAS has created What Can We Do about Uganda and the LRA? for use with high school and college students who are the main audience of the Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign. See our new webpage, Resources on Uganda, the LRA, and Central Africa.
ACAS releases statement on the LRA and Central Africa
ACAS has released a statement and accompanying press release expressing its deep concern that the recent campaign in the United States to pursue and arrest Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), could have dangerous unintended consequences. Expanding U.S. military operations with the Ugandan army to capture Kony could increase the militarization of the region and lead to deaths of civilians who are caught in the crossfire or become targets of retaliatory attacks by the LRA, as has occurred in the past.
ACAS also is producing materials that scholars can use to engage with students on their campuses and with teachers and middle and high school students in their communities, who are a major audience of the Kony2012 video produced by Invisible Children.
Two critical essays on the Invisible Children’s Kony2012 campaign
Two useful essays on African Arguments Online with a critical perspective on the “Kony2012” video by Invisible Children:
“#StopKony2012: For most Ugandans Kony’s crimes are from a bygone era” by Angelo Izama. a Ugandan journalist and writer who founded the human security Think Tank, Fanaka Kwawote based in Kampala, and “The Problem with Invisible Children’s ‘Kony 2012′” by Michael Deibert, a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University and author of the forthcoming Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair (Zed Books)
Critique of “KONY2012” Video by Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire
This short video from Rosebell Kagumire, a Ugandan journalist, is an eloquent, coherent, and well-informed critique of the Invisible Children video, “Kony2012″. Read more from Kagumire at her blog.
The explosion of interest in this video this week has reignited the controversy about the Obama administration decision in October 2011 to send 100 US Africa Command (AFRICOM) soldiers, armed and with permission to kill, as “advisors” to support the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Africom Awareness Event in Berkeley
Association of Concerned, Africa Scholars (ACAS) & Priority Africa Network Present:
STOP AFRICOM
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
6:00 – 8:00 pm
At La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley
The new U.S. Military Command for Africa threatens to escalate the militarization of all aspects of U.S. policy towards Africa. Come learn what the Africa Command is all about, what’s at stake, and how we can stop it.
Multimedia presentations and speakers:
Daniel Volman, Director African Security Research Project (Washington D.C.)
&
Dr. Amina Mama, Nigerian Distinguished Professor of Ethnic Studies Mills College
Light snacks and refreshments available. This is a free event, open to the public.
Sponsoring organizations: Africa Action, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), Black Women Stirring the Waters, Global Exchange, Justice In Nigeria Now (JINN), KPFA Radio’s Africa Today, War Times, Women of Color Resource Center (WCRC), United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) Bay Area, Vukani Mawethu Choir
*For tabling opportunities, contact Priority Africa Network at Tel: (510) 238 8080 ext. 309 or email us at PriorityAfrica@yahoo.com www.PriorityAfrica.org
Resistance to AFRICOM
Africa Action
March 12, 2008
Dear Friend,
Take Action! Call or Write to Oppose Increasing Militarization of Aid to Africa
Tomorrow, AFRICOM will be featured during a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee, giving us an opening to resist the new U.S. military command in Africa. Please take a moment to pick up the phone and call your Senator or send an email registering your opposition to AFRICOM.
Africa Action has been working with a coalition of organizations including our long-time allies TransAfrica Forum, Foreign Policy in Focus, the Hip Hop Caucus, Africa Faith and Justice Network and others to challenge the Pentagon’s new military command for Africa, AFRICOM.
In our recent Africa Policy Outlook and AFRICOM statement we describe how this development manifests the increasing militarization of U.S. aid to Africa, going even so far as to place U.S. diplomacy and development initiatives under the auspices of the Department of Defense. You can read African voices on AFRICOM on our website. Africa Action has joined allies to launch the website ResistAFRICOM to enhance our campaigning efforts on this important issue and to serve as a central location for advocacy against AFRICOM. Today we invite you to take action – in concert with our allies – and call your Senator to register your opposition to AFRICOM.
President Bush created AFRICOM in 2007, but Congress still needs to fund it. We encourage you to get involved and to tell your member of Congress that you do not agree with the direction of U.S. foreign policy in Africa and that you would rather see taxpayer dollars go toward just security initiatives like ending HIV/AIDS, canceling Africa’s debt, or stopping genocide in Darfur.
You can call now at 202-224-3121 to get the Capitol Switchboard or you can click here and put in your zip code to find the direct number for your Senators, and then feel free to use the script below. Or you can email your representative below. A call will have more impact than an email – so if you can take the time, please make the call. If you are rushing today, and won’t have time to pick up the phone, please take this one-click action.
Thank you, for your commitment to justice and peace in Africa and for taking action on this critical issue.
Peace,
The Staff @ Africa Action
Script for AFRICOM Calls:
Hi, my name is __________ and I am calling to express my concerns regarding the new U.S. military command for Africa – AFRICOM. It is poorly structured and gives unprecedented power to the military. I want to ask ________(name of member of Congress)___________ to make every effort to create more Congressional oversight of the new command and to ensure that diplomatic and development efforts do not fall under the jurisdiction of the military. Thank you!