Senegal: Towards a parliamentary election

Senegal's president dissolves parliament,
calls snap November election

Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has dissolved the opposition-led National Assembly just six months after taking office, clearing the way for early legislative elections on 17 November.

 

Senegal: Parliamentary elections looming?

 

Senegal

Parliament shake-up looms as Senegal’s government faces showdown with opposition

Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is expected to dissolve the opposition-led parliament and initiate a sweeping anti-corruption campaign that could implicate dozens of officials.

Issued on: 12/09/2024 - 15:41Modified: 12/09/2024 - 16:39

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Parliament shake-up looms as Senegal’s government faces showdown with opposition

A rare French film about the slave trade

 

Ni Chaînes Ni Maîtres is the director Simon Moutaïrou's first feature film, and deals with slavery and maroonage in Mauritius in the 18th century...

NI CHAÎNES NI MAÎTRES 

Bande Annonce (2024)

Returning colonial looted art to its countries of origin | DW Documentary

 

Returning colonial looted art to its 

countries of origin | DW Documentary

Colonial looted art is finally being returned to its countries of origin. But new problems lie ahead, as former colonies now fear the return of looted art may take the place of a comprehensive reparation for colonial crimes. The documentary shows how the return of looted art leads to new disputes. One example is Nigeria. In move that would’ve been considered unthinkable just a few years ago, Germany is returning a large part of the disputed Benin bronzes to Nigeria. For years, legal arguments had been made as to why the bronzes were "rightfully" in Germany despite colonial crimes. Now, however, a heightened awareness of post-colonialism moral obligations is increasingly determining action.

But descendants of Nigerian slaves have criticized the terms of the return of the Benin bronzes. These cultural goods are being returned to Benin City - a center of the criminal slave trade. So is restitution being made to former perpetrators? Were too few descendants of those affected included in the restitution considerations?

To whom exactly should the looted cultural treasures be returned? To nation states whose arbitrary borders are often themselves the result of colonialism? Or to the descendants of traditional cultures of origin within these states, who were once the victims of colonial encroachment? Debates about this have only just begun. What are the arguments in favor of art historian Bénédicte Savoy's "give it all back" demands? And is there merit to the warnings of ethnologist Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin, who says: "You are gambling away world heritage"?

The shift in position on looted art also affects Europe. Poland and Germany, for example, are fighting over the precious manuscripts of the "Berlinka" collection in Krakow. The indigenous Samí people in the far north of Scandinavia also have justified claims for restitution - and not just to Berlin.

Emilia Pérez - from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 

This film, and its music, is beyond belief.

I went to see it a second time. Probably my favourite moment:

El Mal

El Mal · Zoe Saldaña · Karla Sofia Gascón · Camille Emilia Pérez (Selections from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) ℗ 2024 Why Not Productions / Page 114 under exclusive license to Masterworks, a label of Sony Music Entertainment Released on: 2024-09-04 Arranger, Composer, Producer: Clément Ducol Composer, Lyricist, Producer: Camille Dalmais Lyricist: Jacques Audiard

'Les Statues Meurent Aussi' - Chris Marker, Alain Resnais

 

Les Statues Meurent Aussi - Chris Marker, Alain Resnais - 1953

Art restitution: the film 'Dahomey' is released in France today

 

DAHOMEY de Mati Diop 

- Bande-annonce officielle

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My article is coming soon.

Climate activism in danger

 

Almost 200 people killed worldwide last year trying to defend the environment, report finds

The number of murdered environmental activists, 196, was the highest Global Witness has ever recorded for a single country in any given year since it started monitoring such killings in 2012, it said in its annual report published on Monday.

"The figure is really chilling," Laura Furones, senior adviser to Global Witness' land and environmental defenders campaign, said, adding that the report's findings were conservative and figures likely incomplete.

Globally, 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed in 2023, Global Witness said, with Latin America overwhelmingly leading the way, accounting for 85% of the slayings.

Deadliest practices in Latin America

The annual report from the UK advocacy group Global Witness found Latin America remains the most dangerous part of the world for environmental and land defenders, accounting for 85 percent of the 196 murders documented last year.

The majority were concentrated in just four countries: Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico.

Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, with a record 79 killed, according to Global Witness.

The findings on Colombia are a sharp contrast to promises from the government of President Gustavo Petro, who took office in 2022 and has pledged to end the country's 60-year conflict and pursue environmental justice for communities.

The country was also the host nation for this year's United Nations COP16 biodiversity conference.

Peace processes with various armed groups - which are sometimes implicated in environmentalists' killings - have faltered, and though deforestation fell to a 23-year low last year, the environment ministry has warned of an increase in 2024.

It is "dishonourable" to top the Global Witness list, Colombia's government said in a statement late on Monday.

Colombia was also the deadliest country for environmentalists in 2022, according to Global Witness, when at least 60 were killed.

"The figure is very embarrassing for us in the country," said Astrid Torres, coordinator for Somos Defensores, a Colombian human rights group.

Torres said the issue was not just the responsibility of the sitting government but also of state institutions, such as prosecutors and local authorities.

A 'crackdown on environmental activists'

The report also sounds the alarm on a "crackdown on environmental activists across the UK, Europe and the US", warning "laws are increasingly being weaponised against defenders".

It pointed to legislation in Britain and the United States allowing harsher penalties for protesters and activists facing "draconian levels of surveillance" in the European Union.

In Britain it highlighted the case of activist David Nixon, who served four weeks in jail after defying a judge's order barring him from using climate change as a defence.

"We should be allowed to mention the climate crisis wherever we go, especially in front of a jury," he told news agencies.

Global Witness urged "decisive action" from governments to protect defenders.

Increased dangers in Asia

In Asia, the Philippines continued to be the most dangerous place for environmental and land protection, with 17 murders, and Global Witness highlighted a growing trend of abductions across the region.

This "has emerged as a critical issue, reflecting broader systemic efforts by power holders to suppress dissent and maintain control over land and resources", it said.

Among those affected were Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, two young activists opposed to land reclamation projects in Manila Bay in the Philippines.

They have accused the military of abducting them, though authorities claim the women belonged to a communist insurgency and had sought help after leaving the movement.

"Since our release, the threats have continued," the pair said in the report.

Underestimated figures

In Africa, Global Witness recorded just four deaths, but warned the figure was likely a "gross underestimate" given the challenge of collecting information.

Across the world, Indigenous Peoples, who have accumulated wisdom, knowledge, and practices for millennia, are also targeted.

Global Witness warns that, all over the globe, governments and corporations are increasingly wielding the law to suppress environmental activism.

"Activists and their communities are essential in efforts to prevent and remedy harms caused by climate damaging industries," said the report's lead author Laura Furones.

"We cannot afford to, nor should we tolerate, losing any more lives," she added.

 

Algeria: Tebboune wins with 95 percent...

 

Algeria's president Tebboune wins second term with 95% of vote

By Lamine Chikhi - Reuters 

September 8, 2024 - 7:09 PM GMT+2

• Summary

• Electoral commission says Tebboune wins 95% of vote
• Rival candidate alleges irregularities
• Tebboune pledged to raise social benefits in second term

ALGIERS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Algerian authorities declared President Abdulmadjid Tebboune the overwhelming winner of Saturday's election on Sunday, but a rival candidate alleged irregularities in the count and fewer than half of registered voters cast ballots.

Official preliminary results gave Tebboune 95% of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off, with Abdelaali Hassani Cherif getting 3% and Youcef Aouchiche 2%. Turnout was 48%.

Tebboune, backed by the military, was facing only nominal opposition from Hassani Cherif, a moderate Islamist, and Aouchiche, a moderate secularist, both running with the blessing of Algeria's powerful establishment.

Hassani Cherif's campaign said polling station officials had been pressured to inflate results and alleged failures to deliver vote-sorting records to candidates' representatives, as well as instances of proxy group voting.

It did not say whether it believed the violations had affected the result and Reuters could not immediately reach Tebboune's or Aouchiche's campaign for comment.

However, electoral commission head Mohammed Charfi said when announcing the results that the body had worked to ensure transparency and fair competition among all candidates.

Tebboune's re-election means Algeria will likely keep on with a governing programme that has resumed lavish social spending based on increased energy revenues after he came into office in 2019 following a period of lower oil prices.

He has promised to raise unemployment benefits, pensions and public housing programmes, all of which he increased during his first term as president.

"As long as Tebboune continues to raise wages and pensions and maintain subsidies he will be the best in my eyes," said Ali, a customer in the Ouled Fayet district of Algiers, asking not to write his family name.

First elected during the mass "hirak" (movement) protests that forced his veteran predecessor Abdulaziz Bouteflika from power after 20 years, Tebboune has backed a tough approach from the security forces, which have jailed prominent dissidents.

His election in 2019 reflected the anti-establishment mood in Algeria that year, with turnout of 40%, far below the levels of previous national votes.

The protests, which brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets every week for more than a year demanding an end to corruption and the ousting of the ruling elite, were finally curtailed by the COVID pandemic.

"Turnout is very low. It shows that the vast majority is like me," said another Ouled Fayet resident, Slimane, 24, who also asked not to give his family name. He did not vote because he does not trust politicians, he said.

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France: Demo against Barnier and for our democratic rights

Paris, 7 September 2024

Bastille

 

Nation