20 Facts About U.S. Inequality that Everyone Should Know
New Study: Black Women Have Highest Rate
of Children with Different Fathers
A new study shows that the rate of American women who have children with multiple fathers, also called "multiple-father family structure," is "pervasive."
According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1 in 5 American Moms has kids with different birth fathers.
And you probably already know what's next.
Black Mothers lead the list: 59 percent of us have children with more than one father, while Hispanics come in second place at 35 percent and whites come in last at 22 percent.
According to the study's author Cassandra Dorius, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, "[Mothers with multiple fathers for their children] are more likely to be underemployed, to have lower incomes and to be less educated."
According to the study, families with multiple fathers are stressed out, with issues often arising about how to consistently raise a child in different households:
"Everyday decisions are more complex and family rules are more ambiguous," Dorius says. "Families need to figure out who lives with whom and when, who pays for things like clothing, who is responsible for child support."
The most unsettling theory about the high rate of children with different fathers is when the study considers what the outcome will be for the children involved:
"It's possible that some of these kids will be multiply disadvantaged."
Esteemed psychologist of the "Today Show" and resident psychologist of VH-1's "Daddy Day Camp" Dr. Jeff Gardere, talked with BlackVoices.com about this issue:
"In the past, multiple fathers was more of a product of poverty and the ravages of racism in the black community. And we do know that it caused more conflict and confusion for the kids and a harder time for mom's to manage."
Unlike study author Dorius' assessment, Dr. Gardere doesn't see a bleak picture for the majority of children who are brought up in households with multiple fathers:
"Kids can still thrive psychologically when there has been more than one father in the lives of their families."
To Dr. Gardere, this latest study actually exposes a positive development in society:
"I believe that instead of just seeing this as a deficit issue, I want to look at it from a strength base view point. It now seems this phenomenon may be based not just on poverty and racism, but more on the issues of lower marriage rates, higher divorce rates, less available men who are willing to totally commit and women who can either go it alone or manage the situation with multiple fathers."
Honestly, I think we do ourselves -- and our children -- a disservice by trying to put a positive spin on these findings. It is no secret that many of our children are not only growing up with multiple fathers but without fathers.
And we see how far that has gotten us.
I think I can speak for most black women that no one plans to have children by different men. For many of these women, the children produced with different men occur in unplanned pregnancies.
Now sure, many will argue that black women definitely need to be more discerning about the men that they sleep with and use birth control -- and they are right.
But it isn't as though some black women haven't been able to come up with this on their own. There are, albeit not as many, a number of black women, who I know personally, who refuse to have a child out of wedlock. Some of these women are still waiting to conceive deep in to their 40s with no suitor in sight.
So there is a problem.
And the other side of that problem is indeed some black men.
For some of those hardworking Mothers with different baby daddys, there is a major discrepancy between what they and their significant other want. I don't know how many black men I've seen who will date the Mother of their children for years.
These men love their children and more often than not take care of their responsibilities, but when it comes to making the relationships they have with their women official, there's a lot of backpedaling.
When I have asked jokingly (no pressure) when they are going to put a ring on their lady's finger, they are quick to say that they aren't the marrying type -- too bad they didn't realize that they also aren't the father type.
And when said woman gets tired of waiting, she often breaks it off with her child's father and starts the next relationship anew, hoping that this relationship will be the one that finally elevates her from "girlfriend" and "baby's mama" to "wife."
And for many, their day hasn't come yet: the last wasted relationship is followed by yet another and another, and children are unfortunately created in between.
Black women need to shoulder their share of the responsibility about using birth control until a man has proven that he wants to be in a committed relationship (read: married). But there is an equally troubling issue with some black men: why are they comfortable "dating" their baby mama for 10 years and never making it official, causing many of these kids to be born out of wedlock?
This question -- and so many others -- needs answering.
We owe it to our children.
via bvblackspin.com
Meet Ethiopian music prodigy Samuel Yirga
Would you believe it, this Ethiojazz and Classical prodigy only started playing the piano a little over five years ago?! 10,000 hours of deliberate practice? Perhaps, but that’ll only get you so far without that elusive thing called talent.
Samuel Yirga (25), who gave his solo debut a couple of weeks at the Queen Elizabeth Hall London, plays one night a week in Addis’s only jazz club/coffee bar, where the way he mixes Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock with Ethiojazz has won him a cult following.
“I take traditional music and turn it around, and people in Ethiopia are starting to listen to the way it swings now. Our musical culture is under attack from inside and out, it’s all rock bands, hip-hop groups and pop singers, and nobody can afford to run a big band.”
Samuel is also a member of Dub Colossus, the 12-piece band that mixes traditional Ethiopian sounds with reggae rhythms and a twist on modern dub. Actually, it was through his involvement with the band that he was introduced to Real World Records, the label on which his debut solo album will be released in 2011. You're going to be hearing a lot more from this guy in the years to come.
Samuel Yirga at Real World
via thisisafrica.me
Watch Now – “Black Gold”
(A Film About Coffee And Trade,
Rooted In Ethiopia)
Was glad to find this entire documentary on DailyMotion.
The story goes… Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.
But while we continue to pay for our lattes and cappuccinos, the price paid to coffee farmers remains so low that many have been forced to abandon their coffee fields.
Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to save his 74,000 struggling coffee farmers from bankruptcy. As his farmers strive to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans on the international market, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price.
Against the backdrop of Tadesse’s journey to London and Seattle, the enormous power of the multinational players that dominate the world’s coffee trade becomes apparent. New York commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the double dealings of trade ministers at the World Trade Organization reveal the many challenges Tadesse faces in his quest for a long term solution for his farmers.
Watch below in 8 parts:
Black Gold part 1 of 8 by DevelopmentMan
Black Gold part 2 of 8 by DevelopmentMan
Black Gold part 3 of 8 by DevelopmentMan
Black Gold part 4 of 8 by DevelopmentMan
Black Gold part 5 of 8 by DevelopmentMan
Black Gold part 6 of 8 by DevelopmentMan
via shadowandact.com
Room Magazine's Annual
Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Non-fiction Contest – 2011
Calling all woman writers: sharpen your pencils or fire up your laptop and send us your fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction contest entries.
Deadline: Entries must be postmarked or e-mailed no later than July 15, 2011.
Entry Fee: $30 per entry (includes a complimentary one-year subscription to Room). Non-Canadian entries: $42 Canadian dollars.
Prizes: 1st prize in each category – $500, 2nd prize – $250. Winners will be published in a 2012 issue of Room. Other manuscripts may be published.Judges:
Fiction: Amber Dawn
Poetry: Elizabeth Bachinsky
Creative Non-Fiction: Susan JubyRules & Details:
Poetry: max. 3 poems or 150 lines | Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction: max. 3,500 wordsMore than one entry will be accepted as long as fee is paid for each entry. No manuscripts will be returned. Only winners will be notified.
There will be blind judging, so please don't put your name or address on your entry submission. On a cover sheet (for mail entries) or in the body of your e-mail (for electronic entries), include your name, address and phone number, as well as the title(s), category and word count of your submission. Entries must be typed on 8.5 x 11 white paper, and prose must be double-spaced. Each entry must be original, unpublished, not submitted or accepted elsewhere for publication and not entered simultaneously in any other contest or competition.
Electronic Entries:
Mail Entries:
Simply e-mail your submission as an attachment to contests@roommagazine.com, pay online using the button below, and we'll take care of the rest. Remember to include your complete contact information in the body of your e-mail. And please make sure that the contact information you give through PayPal is the same as in your entry; use the "note to merchant" field, if necessary.
Send your entry, cover sheet and payment by cheque or money order made out to Room to:
Room Contest 2011
P.O. Box 46160, Station D
Vancouver, BC V6J 5G5
Canada
via roommagazine.com
Submission Guidelines
Saltwater Quarterly is now accepting submissions for Issue # 3.
Deadline: June 15th..
Saltwater Quarterly is a literary journal devoted to publishing work that represents or echoes minority experience. We are looking for work that:
- Shines a light on underrepresented communities;
- Exemplifies craft and technique and uses both successfully;
- Subverts or revises traditional forms to illustrate the experience of underrepresented communities;
- Surprises and moves the reader.
We believe that developing the confidence to write is critical and that every act of writing that combats the oppressive messaging of mainstream media is a revolutionary act. Please submit only your best work.
- Fiction should be no longer than 1,000 words*.
- Creative nonfiction should be no longer than 1,000 words.
- Poetry of any form and style is welcomed. We are especially open to poetry that experiments with traditional form in new and exciting ways. Please send no more than three poems at a time.
*We want to publish fiction that shows the potential of acceptance in the world. Work that includes minority characters as victims of violence or sexual assault—especially gender variant characters—will be rejected unless it offers hope or justice to the reader, regardless of the quality of writing.
We are also interested in submissions of artwork for future covers and issues. Please send us no more than three images of jellyfish, created by you in any medium you’ve chosen, that exemplify the minority experience. We leave it up to you to decide what that looks like.
How to Submit:Send all submissions to editor@saltwaterquarterly.org. Your subject line should read: “Submission: [Type of Submission], [Last Name].” For example, “Submission: Fiction, Smith.” Submissions should be included in the body of an email. Please do not include attachments, unless you are submitting artwork for consideration..We will read work and review art year round, but individual deadlines will apply for each issue. Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. Please do not send us work that has been published anywhere else, including on personal blogs (unless they are password protected)..Please allow four to six weeks before inquiring about the status of your submission. Any questions, comments or concerns may be directed to Katie McClendon, Editor of Saltwater Quarterly. We are unfortunately unable to pay our contributors at this time, but we hope that this will change in the near future. In the meantime, we provide complimentary contributor copies of the journal..Thank you so much for your interest in Saltwater Quarterly. We look forward to considering your work.
Chapbook Contest Guidelines
Each year Gertrude Press publishes two chapbooks; one fiction and one poetry. These attractive collections will include a unique cover in a limited press run. Submit your work for consideration!
Writer Compensation:
$100 cash award
50 complimentary copies of the chapbookYou can purchase past chapbooks online here. Chapbooks will be distributed to subscribers, libraries, and bookstores carrying Gertrude, the Press’ annual literary journal.
Poetry Chapbook Guidelines:
- Submit 16-20 pages of poetry, either online or via surface mail.
- Indicate which poems have been previously published and by whom. Unpublished poems are welcome.
- Poetry may be of any subject matter and writers from all backgrounds are encouraged to submit.
- Include a cover letter and SASE for notification. For manuscript returns, please include exact postage.
- Indicate how you learned of the contest in your cover letter.
- Include a $15 submission fee payable to Gertrude Press; online submissions are $17 to cover printing, ink, etc.
- Submissions accepted beginning August 1, 2010 until May 15, 2011 (postmark deadline).
Fiction Chapbook Guidelines:
- Submit 16-20 pages of short fiction or a self-contained novel excerpt, either online or via surface mail.
- Indicate which selections have been previously published and by whom. Unpublished pieces are welcome.
- Fiction may be of any subject matter and writers from all backgrounds are encouraged to submit.
- Include a cover letter and SASE for notification. For manuscript returns, please include exact postage.
- Indicate how you learned of the contest in your cover letter.
- Include a $15 submission fee payable to Gertrude Press; online submissions are $17 to cover printing, ink, etc.
- Submissions accepted beginning August 1, 2010 until May 15, 2011 (postmark deadline).
Submit Online:
To submit your work online, please select your genre below and click the Buy Now PayPal button:
Upon payment, we will redirect you to submission instructions and PayPal will send payment confirmation by email. Please send submissions to contest [at] gertrudepress.org with either Fiction or Poetry in the subject line. We accept Word (.doc or .docx) or RichText (.rtf) files only. The online submission fee is $17 to cover the PayPal fees as well as the paper, ink and time to print out the manuscript.
Mail submissions to:
Gertrude Press
PO Box 83948
Portland OR 97283Winners will be announced by September 1, 2011.
News from Africa:
Ethiopia, Coffee is King!
6Apr2011 Filed under: African History, African Politics, Agriculture and Farming, Black in America, Food, Global Capitalism, News from Africa, Pan-Africanism Author: drjelks
The sort of coffee-tree Coffea arabica came from Ethiopia (Abyssinia), namely from the south-west part of Ethiopian Highlands, which is called Kafa. People used leaves and fruit of coffee-tree since ancient times, long before the Semite tribe on the Arabian Peninsula had known about this plant.
The discoverers of coffee weren’t the Arabs, but Ethiopians – the group of some nationalities (Amhara, Tigray-Tigrinya, Gurage…). The group has appeared in the first thousand B.C., when inhabitants from the Arabian Peninsula moved to present Ethiopia and mixed with Negroids – Cushitic and Nilotes.
Ethiopians pounded coffee-tree fruits, mix them with adipose and made from them dumplings as large as plums. Fats, which were mixed with nourishing coffee fruits and seeds protein, empowered people. Coffee was a marvelous pepper-upper. From the fruits juice the nomads made beverage, looked like wine, and from the leaves – drink, like tea.
With time people started to make hot beverage from the seeds of the coffee-tree. At the beginning they used it during religious ceremonies. Later it became a national drink of the Ethiopians. Afterwards seeds and leaves harvesting became a separate trade which were spread from Africa to Yemen.
Source: coffeeterritory.com
__________________________
The sort of coffee-tree Coffea arabica came from Ethiopia (Abyssinia), namely from the south-west part of Ethiopian Highlands, which is called Kafa. People used leaves and fruit of coffee-tree since ancient times, long before the Semite tribe on the Arabian Peninsula had known about this plant.
The discoverers of coffee weren’t the Arabs, but Ethiopians – the group of some nationalities (Amhara, Tigray-Tigrinya, Gurage…). The group has appeared in the first thousand B.C., when inhabitants from the Arabian Peninsula moved to present Ethiopia and mixed with Negroids – Cushitic and Nilotes.
Ethiopians pounded coffee-tree fruits, mix them with adipose and made from them dumplings as large as plums. Fats, which were mixed with nourishing coffee fruits and seeds protein, empowered people. Coffee was a marvelous pepper-upper. From the fruits juice the nomads made beverage, looked like wine, and from the leaves – drink, like tea.
With time people started to make hot beverage from the seeds of the coffee-tree. At the beginning they used it during religious ceremonies. Later it became a national drink of the Ethiopians. Afterwards seeds and leaves harvesting became a separate trade which were spread from Africa to Yemen.
Coffee history in Yemen
Statue of Behzad in Tabriz
One of the earliest records of coffee contains in Arabian manuscript № 944, which is saved in the French National Library. Shehabeddin Ben, Arabian author of XV century, told about his contemporary Kamaleddin, a mufti of Yemenite town Aden, who was traveling to Persia. During his stay, he paid attention to his fellows, who were making and drinking coffee. Earlier he made little of it.
Retuning to Aden Kamaleddin felt weak and remembered about coffee. He decided to taste this beverage, which helped him not only be cured, but returned the strength of mind. Kamaleddin appreciated last advantage because it helped in night religious watches. The mufti’s authority and recommendations promoted the beverage’s distribution. A short time later not only dervishes but also crafts- and tradespeople, as well as other townsmen would drink this beverage.
Speaking about Asia countries, which supply coffee, most often we start with Yemen. In spite of the fact that country produces not much coffee, here it’s the most delicious and fragrant. Its state can be paralleled with famous Chinese yellow and red sorts of tea. Experts confirm that nothing can be compared with Yemen coffee. That is why long since Yemen is called forefather of coffee. His beloved and great son – Mocha (the name arose from the Mocha port) is known for its uncertainty. Its manufacture is so insignificant, that it enigmatic and very expensive rarity does not get any markets.
Describing the fast coffee distribution, Arabian author stressed that despite the fact that people liked this beverage so much, they even refused from Khat chewing.
Thus, became popular in Aden, the population’s habit of drinking coffee was spread to the neighboring cities and reached Mecca. Here, from the beginning, coffee was also used by dervishes in religious ceremonies, but then it came in life of all citizens. The coffee has reached the holy capital of Moslem world in 1470.
Legendary Mocha
We can surely assert that there aren’t any famous geographic names in the history of coffee thanMocha. A sort of coffee was called after this small Yemenite harbor on the Red Sea.
The city is deserved to be told about.
Mocha is a small Yemenite port city on the Red Sea
About 700 years B.C. the tradespeople from South Arabia first appeared on the East African coast. Long before the early caliphate Mocha city was a station of merchant navy and a shipyard. It was called Al-Mocha.
In 1512 the Portuguese squadron under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque occupied Mocha. Two years later the city was in Egyptian hands. In 1532 Yemenite was conquered by Turks. The State, which was integrated into the Ottoman Empire, during the century had been experiencing the pressure of Turkey.
The legends, which were written in 1763, connect the prosperity of Moch with the name of one sheikh called Shaddi. They told that he has arrived at an idea to extend planting of coffee-trees. Soon people successfully sold here a new product. A small settlement has grown to prosperous market town. In Europe its name has turned into the Mocha coffee and became the name of the sort. Even mountains around Mocha, which were covered with coffee plantations, were called «coffee mountains».
Mountains around Mocha
When sheikh Shaddi died, people have raised a mosque above his grave. His name was remembered in morning prayers like a name of city’s patron, the protector of Arabian coffee housesand a person who convinced humanity to drink coffee and buy coffee beans.
The Yemenite independent state (Imamat) was founded in 1633, after the antiottoman uprising. It was a time of comparative peace and more active economic advancement. Yemen has established communication with some European countries and supplied there his Mocha coffee. Just that period was a time of port’s prosperity like one of the main coffee trade centre. This prosperity coincided with a general economical upturn in the country, which already had a name «The happiest».
It is essential to stress following moments.
- It does not give rise to doubts, that to the end of XVII century the whole world got coffee only from Yemen. It was real and famous Mocha coffee (or Mokka). To the middle of XVII century Turkish and Egyptian merchants came to Yemen and got the best coffee beans. They bought a crop just from the tree, provided its harvest and seed treatment. Coffee was prepared with a help of dry method, i.e. it was dried out on the sun.
- The prosperity of Yemenite coffee trade was in many respects determined with monopolistic goods production, which popularity in Europe has become a rapid growth. Coffee has repeated the fate of many tropical spices, which are first of all famous for gustatory qualities.
The Arabs were very proud of new beverage and kept a lid on its preparation. They have forbidden to export coffee beans, if they are not dried. These measures were taken in order that no one grain, which may be sprout, doesn’t come to foreigners` hands, who were forbidden to visit coffee plantations.
About 1650 one Moslem pilgrim called Baba Budan could get seven green coffee beans and brought them secretly to south India. Some beautiful coffee trees have been grown from these grains and they laid the foundation of coffee growing in this country.
Beit el Fakih. The Caravan Way
By 1690 the Dutch got seeds in India and to the end of the century they founded coffee plantations on the Java and Sumatra islands. In some years they became the main coffee supplier to Europe, first of all owing to the Dutch East Indies company. The Amsterdam port was one of the most important centers in the world coffee trade.
From this moment begins the fast decline in Yemenite coffee trade, which supplies has always been carried in two ways – the first one was north caravan-sea and the second was south sea. In first case coffee was delivered from the market to the coast of Red Sea on camels and then to Suez, and then again on camels to Egypt. The sea route passed south direction to the Mocha port and from here – around Africa to Europe.
How to make Ethiopian coffee at home.
Coffee ceremony in Lalibela, Ethiopia
>via: http://coffeeterritory.com/the-coffee-history-in-ethiopia/
__________________________
Ethiopia: Changes in the Coffee Equation
This CNN (April 4) report looks at Ethiopia's coffee habit. With global coffee prices at their highest levels in years, and with major coffee exporters in Colombia, Brazil, and Central American countries hit hard by climate change, Ethiopian growers feel it's an opportuned time to re-introduce Ethiopian coffee to the world and move for a larger share of the global market. Addis Fortune reports on the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters Association (ECEA) 5-year coffee plan aimed at quality.Here is a NYTimes Room 4 Debate on growing coffee prices plus, below, Elizabeth Rosenthal's NYTimes report from March 9th, looking at ...... the effects of climate change on Colombia's coffee growers:To get an idea just how lucrative coffee is at the moment, in Kenya there has been such an increase in the last eight months of night shipments of coffee getting hijacked by armed thugs that authorities felt forced to do this.
Hiding Africa’s looted funds:
Silence of Western media
March 26, 2011Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Belarusian Bulgarian Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician German Greek Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Vietnamese Welsh YiddishPowered byTranslate
by Lord Aikins Adusei
Quite often when you read newspapers, listen to radio and watch television in the West you learn how poor Africans are and how corrupt African leaders are. But you will never watch, read or hear anything in these media outlets about the role being played by Western banking institutions, property development and estate companies, the big corporations, and the Western political and business elite in promoting corruption in Africa. When it comes to Africa and the developing world, the Western media pretend to be doing a good job only when there is an embarrassing story or a scandal that undermines their credibility as watchdog of the state.
A little known news aggregation site called Newser used this photo showing how oil pipelines have taken over and destroyed the economy and environment of the Niger Delta to illustrate a Jan. 27, 2009, story headlined “Halliburton Will Pay $559M in Nigerian Bribery Fines.” The story got very little play elsewhere in the Western mainstream media. – Photo: APIt is not uncommon to see poverty stricken Africans in poor living conditions being shown in documentaries and movies and on television screens in the West but the same documentaries and movies are always silent on the role played by the institutions in the West. Bribery as we all know involves a giver and a taker, but it is always the taker who is reported in media.
In many instances, as we shall soon see, bribes are offered in order to secure contracts or official favor or to induce officials to influence the outcome of a government decision. In other instances people become corrupt because of the existence of favoring conditions, as can be seen in most Western countries with their banking secrecy laws.
The media in the West tend to ignore the role of Western institutions for many reasons. One main reason they like to show the poverty level in Africa but refuse to show the role played by the Western banking, property and multinational corporations is the fear of losing revenue through advertising. Many of the media outlets survive through advertisements from the property, banking and multinational corporations so why would they want to incur their wrath?
Another reason is that the editors, program directors and the other big shots in the media are themselves shareholders of these banks and property companies, so why would they want to jeopardize the source of their own wealth? The enthusiasm with which CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, ITN, SKYNEWS and other television producers portray Africa as poor and least developed is nothing like the way they report on the role played by the Western banking and other institutions.
They fail to tell the world that the looted funds that make Africans poor are indeed sitting in Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and the offshore islands controlled by the West. They fail to tell the world that Africa would be a different place if all the stolen monies are returned, but would they ever raise a voice in support of such a laudable idea? Why would the media change the way they report when for centuries they have been the source of all the misinformation and misrepresentation of anything un-Western?
Corruption is rife in Africa because there are banking institutions in Europe – especially Switzerland, France, Jersey Island, Britain, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, U.S. and many others – who accept money from African leaders without questioning the source of the money. According to the U.N., around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by the political leaders, the business elite and civil servants every year with collusion and connivance of banking industries in Europe and North America.
Corruption is rife in Africa because there are banking institutions in Europe who accept money from African leaders without questioning the source of the money.
Even though it is a common knowledge Western banks are acting as safe havens for looted funds from Africa, very little attention is received from the Western media to expose them. The media tend to focus their energies on the corrupt leaders with little or no mention at all as to where the monies they have stolen are being kept.
There has not been any concrete effort to expose the banks that collude and connive with these corrupt leaders who are impoverishing the people. No effort has been made by the political elite in Europe and America to force the banks to return these stolen monies to the poorest of the poor because they are often the shareholders and beneficiaries of profits made by these banks. They talk about corruption because it is embarrassing to them, but they have no agenda to fight it, as that would mean no fat dividends for them and no cheap credits for their citizens.
Within five years of his reign (1993-98), Sani Abacha of Nigeria, according to official figures, was able to stash $4 billion – or $12-$16 billion in unofficial terms. After his death in 1998, investigators in Nigeria, Europe and America stumbled on over 130 bank accounts abroad where some of the stolen money was kept.
The banks that received Abacha’s stolen funds are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, ANZ, London Branch; Bank Len, Zurich; Bankers Trust Co., London; Bankers Trust Co., Frankfurt; Bankers Trust Co., New York; Banque Barring Brothers, Geneva; Bank in Liechtenstein A.G. Vaduz; Barclays Bank, New York; Barclays Bank, London; Banque Edouard Constant, Geneva; Banque Nationale De Paris, Geneva; Banque Nationale De Paris, London; Banque Nationale De Paris, Basle; Citibank N.A. London; Citibank N.A. New York; Citibank N.A. Luxembourg; Citibank Zurich; Credit Lyonnais, New York; Credit Suisse, New York; Credit Suisse, Geneva; Credit Suisse, Zurich; Deutche Morgan Grenfell, Jersey; FIBI Bank (Schweiz) A.G. Zurich; First Bank of Boston, London; Goldman Sachs and Co., Zurich; Gothard Bank, Geneva; LGT Liechtenstein Bank, Vaduz; Liechtenstein Landesbank, Vaduz; M.M. Warburg and Co., Luxembourg; M.M. Warburg and Co., Zurich; M.M. Warburg and Co., Hamburg; Merrill Lynch Bank, New York; Merrill Lynch Bank, Geneva; Midland Bank, London; National Westminster Bank, London; Paribus, London; Paribus, Geneva; Royal Bank of Scotland, Leeds; Standard Bank London Ltd., London; UBS AG, Zurich; UBS AG, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, Geneva; Union Bancaire Privee, London; Verwaltungs Und Private Bank A.G., Vaduz; ANZ, New York; and ANZ, Frankfurt. (Source: Tell Magazine, Oct. 7, 2002)
In February 2009, a French court had Omar Bongo’s nine bank accounts containing several millions of euros frozen. In confirming the court’s decision, lawyer Jean-Philippe Le Bail said, “This concerns Crédit Lyonnais, in which the president of Gabon has two current accounts, two savings accounts and a share account, and BNP, in which he has two checking accounts, a savings account and a share account.”
These are the banks whose shady dealings with the political and business elite in Africa continue to impoverish African countries but which for profit’s sake the media refuse to tell the world about. The banks know these corrupt leaders have stolen the money yet they pretend not to know until there is a scandal; then they begin to act as if they are responsible institutions.
Most of the above named banks have also been implicated for receiving billions of dollars of looted funds from the late Mobutu of Zaire, Lansana Conte of Guinea, Eyadema of Togo and a number of dictators and tyrants such as Omar Bongo of Gabon, Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Dos Santos of Angola, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Arap Moi of Kenya, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Ibrahim Babadjinda of Nigeria and a number of sitting and ex-presidents in Africa. Yet Western media are silent about where the funds are being kept.
The banks know these corrupt leaders have stolen the money yet they pretend not to know until there is a scandal; then they begin to act as if they are responsible institutions.
According to a 110-page report prepared by international risk consultancy firm Kroll, Arap Moi and his family have banked £1 billion in 28 countries, including Britain, but the media in the West will not expose the banks involved.
Apart from the banking sector, the property sector in Europe, America and Australia has also colluded and connived with the political and business elite in Africa to impoverish the people. It has been revealed that several African leaders have bought properties in Europe and America using the monies stolen from their poor countries.
It is on record that Mobutu of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) bought villas in France, Switzerland, Belgium and many other European countries. Yet again the companies selling the villas have been kept secret. They will not be exposed by the media. Why would they?
According to Agence France Press, a French police investigation has established that Bongo and his family own at least 33 luxury properties in France, including a villa located at Rue de la Baume near the Elysée Palace in Paris, bought in 2007 for 18.8 million euros. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been spotted greeting Bongo in this villa bought with funds looted from Gabon. However, other investigations have uncovered that Gabon’s Bongo and his family have at least 59 properties plus several stocks and bonds in France alone. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was embarrassed when it was revealed that Bongo’s government paid his consultancy firm a staggering 2.64 million euros for advice on health policy drawn up by Kouchner before he took office.
It has recently come to light that Arap Moi of Kenya and his family bought several multimillion-pound properties in London, New York, South Africa and a 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and has bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds. While the majority of Kenyans live in slums and in rural areas with barely a roof over their heads and lack water and other basic necessities of life, Moi’s family live in a £4 million home in Surrey and £2 million flat in Knightsbridge. Yet the media will not expose the real estate companies involved.
Another area often ignored by the Western media is the role played by Western companies and corporations in encouraging corruption, bribery and thievery in Africa. It is very common for Western companies looking for lucrative contracts to pay bribes and kickbacks to induce officials into awarding them contracts.
For example, on Sept. 17, 2002, a Canadian firm called Acres International was convicted by the High Court in Lesotho for paying a $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract. In 2002 Halliburton, a company once controlled by former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of establishing a $180 million slush fund with the intent of using it to bribe Nigerian officials in order to secure a $10 billion liquefied gas plant contract in Nigeria.
Achair Partners, a Swiss company, and Progresso, an Italian company, have been accused of bribing Somalia transition government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the waters of Somalia. Such corrupt practices by Western companies seeking contracts in Africa are one of the reasons why poverty and diseases are rife in the continent.
The catastrophic environmental damage being caused by oil, mining and timber companies such as Shell, BP, Total, Elf, Texaco, Mittal and Anglo-America Corp. in Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, DR Congo, South Africa, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal do not make the news in the West. How often do we hear about the huge environmental price Africans are paying to satisfy the West’s insatiable appetite for energy and technology? Apart from the huge profits being made by these conglomerates, which we often hear in the news, do we also hear about their complete disregard for environmental rules and for the pollution of rivers, lakes, streams, wells and the entire environment?
How often do we hear about the huge environmental price Africans are paying to satisfy the West’s insatiable appetite for energy and technology?
In October 2002, after a three-year investigation, a U.N. panel of experts implicated Cabot Corp. of Boston, Eagle Wings Resources International and George Forrest’s OM Group of Ohio for arming rebel groups and collaborating with them to traffic from DR Congo its gold, diamond, timber and most importantly coltan (columbo-tantalite), a precious ore essential to Sony Playstations, laptop computers and cell phones. Coltan is often spirited out of DRC to U.S., Swiss, Belgian and German clients by Uganda and Rwanda army officers, rebel groups and through a network of criminal syndicates. In all, 85 companies were implicated by the report.
Except for the wars and the faces of stranded, hungry refugees, do these illegal activities by the corporations make the news in the Western media? Definitely not. Even when local journalists and writers document these for broadcast in the Western media, they refuse because it does not serve their interest in the wider scheme of things.
This is the hypocrisy and the double standard of the Western media. They want the world to know how poor Africans are but fail to tell the world that Africans are poor because Western banking institutions, property development companies, defense companies and defense contractors, oil, mining and technology corporations are major stakeholders in promoting Africa’s poverty and underdevelopment.
Corruption and bribery in Africa and indeed the developing world could be reduced tremendously if the media for once put aside its pick-and-choose journalism and attach the same importance to showing the degree of involvement by Western capitalist institutions in Europe, America and Japan and their role in keeping Africans poor.
Lord Aikins Adusei is a columnist for ModernGhana.com, where this story first appeared. He can be reached there or through his website, http://www.lordadusei.blogspot.com/.
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