Africa at Brave New Films

Afshin Rattansi questions media coverage of Zimbabwe

2008-07-25T19:11:49Z

Robert Mugabe loses in Zimbabwe

http://gowans.wordpress.com/2007/03/30/zimbabwe%E2%80%99s-lonely-fight-for-justice/

MDC on support from Washington in Zimbabwe

2008-07-25T19:04:07Z

MDC representative to the U.S. talks to Afshin Rattansi in Tehran about foreign support for the Movement for Democratic Change against Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

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Russia and China use their veto on Zimbabwe at the UN

2008-07-25T18:48:01Z

Afshin Rattansi interviews Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the UN, Boniface Chidyausiku, minutes after China and Russia veto sanctions against Zimbabwe at the UN Security Council.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia and China vetoed on Friday a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe for holding a violent presidential poll that was boycotted by the opposition candidate.

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Half the Holocaust to Die in Somalia Because of U.S. Policies?

2008-07-25T18:47:59Z

Afshin Rattansi in Tehran talks to Bettina Luescher of the World Food Program about the threat of famine to 3 million Somalis.

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African Union urges UN to help Somalia - 24 Jul 08

2008-07-25T18:45:38Z

The African Union (AU) says it is incapable of bringing stability to war-torn Somalia and is calling on the United Nations (UN) for help.

The AU mission says it lacks vital funding and logistical support, making it impossible to carry out its mandate on the ground.

Now it is urging the UN to take over peacekeeping operations and extend its engagement beyond diplomacy.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Awad reports.

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Louise Leakey: Digging for humanity's origins

2008-07-25T18:39:38Z

www.ted.com Louise Leakey asks, "Who are we?" The question takes her to the Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, where she digs for the evolutionary origins of humankind -- and suggests a stunning new vision of our competing ancestors.

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Chris Abani: Telling stories of our shared humanity

2008-07-25T18:39:38Z

www.ted.com Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.

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Democracy Now Headines, Fri. July 18, 2008

2008-07-25T18:41:19Z

Today's Headlines

* Court Rejects Delay to 1st Gitmo Military Trial
* Ashcroft Questioned on Approving Torture
* Probe Finds Widespread Abuse at Chicago Prison
* Shoddy Contractor Work Blamed for Spike of Electrocutions in Iraq
* Prosecutors Drop Probe of Iraq Reconstruction IG
* Group: US Aid to Africa Increasingly Militarized
* Gore Calls for Ending Carbon Reliance in Favor of Renewable Sources
* McCain Can't Recall Making Rape Joke
* Obama Leaves for Mideast, Europe Trip
* Judge Upholds Restrictions on Antiwar March at GOP Convention
* White House Threatens Veto on Banning Contractors from CIA Interrogations
* Nelson Mandela Celebrates 90th Birthday

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Sudan's 'luxury' education - 19 Jul 08

2008-07-25T18:45:41Z

For many parents in Sudan, sending their children to school is a luxury they simply cannot afford.

And for some, survival depends on sending their children to work from an early age.

However, this situation is now changing, with the government pledging to provide education for every child by the year 2015.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports.

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African Dictatorships and Double Standards-1/3

2008-07-22T18:45:27Z

African Dictatorships and Double Standards: Where is the International Criticism Over US-Allied Equatorial Guinean Leader Teodoro Obiang?

As world attention is fixed on Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, there has been hardly any outcry from the international community about the dire human rights situation in another African country—Equatorial Guinea—where Teodoro Obiang has ruthlessly ruled for nearly thirty years. Obiang has been called the worst dictator in Africa, but since vast oil and natural gas reserves were discovered in the mid-1990s, he has become a close US ally. We speak with Ken Silverstein of Harper's Magazine and Frank Ruddy, who served as US ambassador to Equatorial Guinea during the Reagan administration. [includes rush transcript]

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African Dictatorships and Double Standards-3/3

2008-07-23T20:42:24Z

African Dictatorships and Double Standards: Where is the International Criticism Over US-Allied Equatorial Guinean Leader Teodoro Obiang?

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African Dictatorships and Double Standards-2/3

2008-07-22T18:45:27Z

African Dictatorships and Double Standards: Where is the International Criticism Over US-Allied Equatorial Guinean Leader Teodoro Obiang?

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Endangered minds of Niger's future generation - 18 Jul 08

2008-07-25T08:48:39Z

Education is not only a fundamental human right for all children, but the gateway out of poverty, as education is empowerment and empowerment is the key to a better life and future.

However, in Tazerzait, a remote area in Niger, the only school that was providing an education for children, was seized by the army.

Children were forced out of the school and left without a place to learn.

Education is often taken for granted in developing nations; however impoverished families in Niger are forced to accept that their children will remain out of the classroom due to the civil unrest.

The civil war has damaged children, their potential, and Niger as a whole.

Al Jazeera's May Welsh reports from northern Niger, on the endangered minds of Sahara's future children.

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Riz Khan - Population Explosion - 17 July 08 - Part 2

2008-07-24T06:46:46Z

With so many people increasingly competing for the same resources is population growth the biggest threat to our planet rather than war?

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Riz Khan - Population Explosion - 17 July 08 - Part 1

2008-07-24T14:52:25Z

With so many people increasingly competing for the same resources is population growth the biggest threat to our planet rather than war?

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On Writing About Africa - Charlayne Hunter-Gault

2008-07-25T18:25:30Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Award-winning journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault criticizes racist and sensationalist reporting on Africa.

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On the 60th anniversary of Orwell's Politics and the English Language, George Orwell described political speech as consisting "largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness." Some six decades later, many symptoms of manipulation and propaganda diagnosed by Orwell persist on the American political landscape, along with new disinformation techniques enabled by modern technology.

Historians, scientists, philosophers, linguists, cognitive experts, journalists, image-makers, and public figures will debate in three separate sessions the current state of political discourse - and journalism's response to it - on the dawn of a bitterly contested presidential campaign - NYPL

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is a journalist, having worked with CNN, NPR, and PBS. She was the first African American woman admitted to or graduated from the University of Georgia. She is also the author of the autobiography In My Place, which reflects on African American life in the 1940s and 50s and the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. Charlayne Hunter-Gault recently left her post as CNN's Johannesburg bureau chief and correspondent, which she had held since 1999, to pursue independent projects. Before joining CNN, she worked from Johannesburg as the chief correspondent in Africa for NPR from 1997 to 1999.

Hunter-Gault was the chief national correspondent for the Newshour with Jim Lehrer on PBS from 1983 to 1997. She had joined the MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978 as a correspondent. In 1989, she was also the correspondent for MacNeil/Lehrer Productions' five-part series, "Learning in America." During her tenure at the NewsHour, she won two Emmys and a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism for her work on the series "Apartheid's People." She also received the 1986 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

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Human cost of war in Niger -17 Jul 08

2008-07-22T08:54:07Z

Life is a daily struggle for Tuareg villagers living in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, they are often left with nothing in their flight from conflict.

Civil war and drought routinely disrupt the largely subsistence economy of this African nation.

Al Jazeera's May Welsh reports from northern Niger, on the violent struggle between rebels and government troops, that make it increasingly difficult for many villagers to survive.

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Elizabeth Dole Tries to Name AIDS Bill After Jesse Helms

2008-07-25T18:47:54Z

Watch more at www.theyoungturks.com

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Desertification threatens Niger's nomads - 15 July 08

2008-07-18T02:41:56Z

The effects of global warming can be starkly seen in the Sahara desert, where Niger is one of the countries most vulnerable.

Al Jazeera's May Welsh reports from the country, where she found a bedouin tribe fighting possible extinction.

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African migrants linger in transit "ghettos" - 13 Jul 08

2008-07-17T20:41:40Z

For many migrants, their journeys end well before they are able to leave Africa.

They get caught and deported, ending up in transit countries like Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

Casey Kauffman reports from Mali, where many Africans prefer to live in the squalid conditions of so-called ghettos, rather than return home.

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African migrants risk all to get to Europe - 13 Jul 08

2008-07-16T04:45:13Z

Every year, thousands of migrants from Africa risk their lives to journey through the continent and then across the Mediterranean Sea.

The journey is long and treacherous and some estimate only half of those who depart actually make it to their destination.

Many head for Lampedusa - Italy's southern most island. Nick Clark reports.

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Migrants stay in squalor rather than return home - 13 Jul 08

2008-07-16T06:45:42Z

For many migrants trying to reach Europe, their journeys end well before they're able to leave Africa.

They get caught and deported, ending up in transit countries like Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

As Casey Kauffman reports from Mali, many prefer to live the in squalid conditions of the so-called ghettos, than return home in shame.

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Migrants crossing the Sahara - 12 Jul 08

2008-07-16T04:45:13Z

Heads of state and government from countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea will meet in Paris to launch the Mediterranean Union project.

On the top of the agenda is illegal immigration.

Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman travelled to the northeast of Mali and met a group of migrants on the first leg of their journey across the Sahara.

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Libya a de facto shelter for African migrants - 12 Jul 08

2008-07-16T04:45:14Z

While thousands of African risk their lives crossing to Europe every year, many from other parts of the continent stay on in North Africa because they've simply run out of money.

In Libya, undocumented migrants scratch out a living doing the jobs nobody else wants to do.

Amr El Kahky, in Tripoli, reports now on the migrants who got stuck on the road to a better life.

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Illegal migration from Africa to EU on the rise - 12 Jul 08

2008-07-16T04:45:14Z

Leaders from Europe, Africa and the Middle East will meet in Paris this weekend to launch the Mediterranean Union.

The new body aims to strengthen ties between Europe and its southern neighbours.

Many of those migrating to North Africa and Europe come from West and Central Africa.

Their pursuit of a better life takes them on a dangerous journey north across the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

They leave their home countries and travel to transit countries such as Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

There, they begin their journey across desert borders to North Africa and then on to Europe.

Al Jazeera's Casey Kauffman traveled to the northeast of Mali and met up with a group of migrants on the first leg of their journey across the Sahara.

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