Control Room, directed by Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, provides unique insights into the media dynamics on the eve of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. It primarily portrays the interactions between Al Jazeera journalists on the one hand and US military spokespersons and Western journalists on the other hand. Al Jazeera is a TV station largely funded by the Arab Emirate of Qatar, which has the politically most open system in the Emirates. It was initially hailed by Western commentators and the US government as exceptionally critical of Arab governments and the region’s most prominent outlet for free speech. When it reported on atrocities by the Algerian military, for example, the Algerian government decided to disconnect the electricity in the capital city of Algier to avert that ordinary Algerians would observe the grim accounts. Al Jazeera fell into disfavor with many rulers, as a consequence of which its licenses to broadcast and report have been canceled or otherwise thwarted in dozen countries. Contrary to popular perception, Al Jazeera was not chiefly at odds with Western government before the Iraq invasion. (more…)

It could be called one of Africa’s tragic historic ironies. Centuries after the last slave had been put into bondage and sold to Latin and North America as well as the Caribbean on Africa’s infamous slave coast, which are nowadays the shores of Togo and Ghana; what has been called the twenty century equivalents of slavery victimize too many of the youngest and most vulnerable citizens of these countries: human trafficking, which often results in forced and monetarily uncompensated out-of-household labor.

Meet Karine Assilatanon, 15 years old, from the village of Davié outside of Lomé, located in a region in which malnourishment among children is widespread and poverty hinders most children from pursuing the three years of pre-school education, which the Togolese government officially provides. Countrywide, 39 percent of all girls are not enrolled in school, a condition that serves as a breeding ground for child exploitation, particularly of girls. Approximately 11 years ago, Karine’s mother, who is widowed, was informed about the possibility that her daughter could work in neighboring Ghana. Knowing that Ghanaian wages, although still beneath international standards, were higher than in Togo, her mother decided that she should work there. However, promises of a salary turned out to be empty, and Karine had to press fruits for juices without receiving any payment. According to estimates of CARE caseworker Rose Adjowoa Kpogli, working shifts for girls like Karine can last up to 22 hours, with as few as 2 hours off for sleeping in extreme cases. All too often, these girls become victims of rape or sexual harassment. (more…)

Arguably, the strong aid pessimism that persisted during the 1980s and 1990s had faded a little at the turn of this century. In 2000, at the Millennium Summit at the UN Headquarters (the only UN gathering in which all heads of state were present) all governments agreed upon the Millennium Development Goals as a grand strategy to markedly reduce extreme, deadly poverty. Its first goal was the reduction of the percentage of people living in extreme poverty by half until the year 2015. The other goals set targets for school enrollment, universal primary education, maternal health and a “global partnership for development”. The foundational thinking for this approach is to be found in what has been termed the “unofficial” book behind the goals, articulating the views of their architect – The End of Poverty by Professor Jeffrey Sachs. Professor Sachs is a fervent advocate of the view that a drastic increase in development aid could achieve these goals, and the public largely bought these arguments.

It seemed like the days in which perceptions that aid would largely become embezzled, spent by gullible do-gooders or used by big powers to further their geo-political and economic interests dominated debates about development were numbered – a shift in perceptions that is has in recent years been incessantly challenged by New York University Professor William Easterly. His book The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (New York: Penguin Books, 2006) left its imprint on the academic and public debate on development aid. (more…)

Electronic Intifada just published an article I wrote here – the article was previously posted on harmonicminor.com as Disengagement Two Years On and was taken from research I conducted with my good friend Jonas Ecke.

I was also interested to notice that as soon as my name was published on EI, the University College of Cork Ireland created a profile for me on their Palestine: Information with Provenance database. The database seems to include authorship information for various people writing about Palestine – blogs are excluded.