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Note: This document is from the archive of the Africa Policy E-Journal, published
by the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC) from 1995 to 2001 and by Africa Action
from 2001 to 2003. APIC was merged into Africa Action in 2001. Please note that many outdated links in this archived
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APIC: Letter to Members
APIC: Letter to Members
Date distributed (ymd): 001016
APIC Document
This posting contains a letter to APIC members and friends from
APIC director Salih Booker.
If you are already an APIC member please consider renewing your
financial support for us before the end of the year. If you receive
these postings but have not made a financial contribution this year
to support our work, please consider doing so. A contribution form
for renewal or new membership contributions appears at the end of
this posting.
[Special note to subscribers outside the U.S.: As of our last
survey, 68% of those who receive these postings are in the U.S.,
another 4% in Canada, 12% in Africa and 16% elsewhere. Both our
mandate and our location mean that many of our postings have a
particular focus on decision-making institutions in Washington. In
past surveys some of our overseas subscribers say this is one of
the features that makes us distinctively useful to them; others say
they want less of a U.S. focus. We try to strike a balance and we
are always looking for more repostable documents originating
directly from Africa.
We are convinced, however, that changing the adverse political
climate for Africa here with its multiple effects on the
continent is a task that requires all of us. Our experience,
whether of the decades-long anti-apartheid campaigns or of the more
recent campaigns for a landmine treaty and debt cancellation,
convinces us that impact depends on the combined efforts of people
working in different places.
Some of you may be able to support us with a financial
contribution. Whether or not you can do so personally, please urge
your contacts here to do so. Forward this e-mail message to your
U.S.-based colleagues who may not be aware of us. And continue to
share with us documents and perspectives which can help widen the
international debate.]
October 14, 2000
Dear APIC Members and Friends,
Please find (in a separate e-mail message) Questions on Africa
Policy for Candidates and Policymakers a joint APIC/Africa Fund
publication. It is intended not only for this election campaign
period but for afterwards as well. When forced to pay attention to
the realities of debt and AIDS, even some of the most unlikely
legislators have changed their positions.
There is a pattern, however, in the repeated failure of most
policymakers to listen. As this letter is written, Congress is
still considering appropriating precisely zero for U.S.
obligations towards UN peacekeeping in Africa. Proposals for cuts
like these - specifically targeting Africa - reflect the unashamed
racism that still permeates U.S. foreign policy. We must be
explicit in identifying and attacking this structural racism,
which is at the root of the failure to respond to specific issues
of concern to Africa.
IMF/World Bank meetings in Prague last month brought new promises
of a faster pace for debt relief, with 16 African countries and 4
others scheduled to receive some benefits before the end of the
year. An anonymous "senior administration official,." however,
admitted to the New York Times (September 17, 2000) that the new
steps were largely "window-dressing" designed to placate
protesters.
Even those countries qualifying for relief will be left with huge
debt payments still outpacing desperately needed expenditures on
health, education and other development priorities. To add insult
to injury, the U.S. Congress is balking at providing the $435
million the administration has requested to pay the U.S. share for
these limited measures.
What is required is outright cancellation of the illegitimate debts
of African countries. Debts that went to finance Cold War
dictators, apartheid destruction and damaging structural
adjustment policies should simply be cancelled.
Demonstrations from Seattle to Prague show that the dogmas of
free-market fundamentalism are under challenge as never before.
But the failure to develop alternatives that are more than
window-dressing is strongly linked to the fact that so many of the
victims of global apartheid are people of color whose suffering is
accepted as "natural."
The political climate on these and other Africa issues will not
change unless public pressure for real change continues to grow.
APIC is working closely with the Africa Fund and the American
Committee on Africa, as merger plans proceed, to get our common
messages out to ever wider constituencies.
Among our activities in the last few months:
- A joint APIC/Africa Fund press conference on President Clinton's
trip to Nigeria received wide coverage, including multiple
broadcasts by C-SPAN. Panelists raised questions about the failure
of the administration to offer debt cancellation to Nigeria, and
its focus on military cooperation while ignoring continued military
repression in the Niger Delta.
- APIC widely distributed (by e-mail, on the web, and to
Congressional offices) statements calling for debt cancellation
from the Africa Fund's networks of African-American religious
leaders and state and local officials.
- An APIC/Africa Fund op-ed published in The Boston Globe denounced
the Export-Import Bank plan to loan $1 billion at commercial rates
to African countries for AIDS, and instead called for allocation of
five percent of the budget surplus to a global emergency health
fund to deal comprehensively with health issues including AIDS.
- The Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA), for which APIC serves as
co-chair and communications facilitator, has grown to over 210
member groups. Beginning this month, an archive of action alerts,
updates and event notices shared among ADNA groups is available to
the public in a special section of the APIC web site.
- APIC's background paper Talking about 'Tribe' which attacks one
of the most pervasive and damaging stereotypes about African
conflicts is being adapted for publication by Teaching Tolerance,
which reaches some 600,000 teachers and millions of students.
Thank you for your partnership.
Sincerely,
Salih Booker
Director
To contribute through our secure web site or to print out a membership form go to:
http://www.africapolicy.org/join.htm
This material is produced and distributed by the Africa Policy
Information Center (APIC). APIC provides accessible information and
analysis in order to promote U.S. and international policies
toward Africa that advance economic, political and social justice
and the full spectrum of human rights.
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