Agriculture: Rooted in Racism

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Climate Change, Crime & Justice, Economy & Trade, Food & Agriculture, Gender, Global, Headlines, Health, Human Rights, Inequity, Poverty & SDGs

Opinion

Systemic racism in agriculture is painfully obvious. Why has it taken a new Civil Rights movement to clearly expose the sordid roots and present-day inequalities in food and farming?

Credit: Heifer International

Jun 22 2020 (IPS) – There has been far less social progress in the United States in the last 155 years than many people would like to believe. In 2020, racism still seeps its way into every aspect of life; from unconscious bias and micro-aggressions in everyday interactions to domestic and international policy and enforcement.

As an organization with 76 years of history supporting smallholder producers, we have a responsibility to use our experience to name and break the barriers that have plagued Black, Indigenous and People of Color farmers. Fighting injustice in all its forms – hunger, malnutrition, poverty, income inequality, climate change and gender inequity – has long been a tenet of our work.

A farmer who participated in the Heifer International and Prentiss Institute 30-year partnership in Mississippi. Credit: Heifer International

We have worked to break down barriers that prevent the inclusion and success of marginalized groups in agriculture. Heifer International has assisted with land rights, helped farmers organize, provided technical assistance to increase their production and productivity, and improved access to capital and to markets. But good intentions do not equal positive impact. It is not enough to mean well. We have to do well.

Our mission cannot be fulfilled without recognizing how deeply agriculture is rooted in racism. It’s imperative to address how synonymous the origins of our food system are with the battle currently being fought – how the success of global agriculture has been sown with the blood and sweat of people of color.

In the United States, modern agriculture was built on the backs of enslaved people who were used as property and valued only as production units. They produced cotton, tobacco, sugar, indigo, rice, sweet potato, peanuts, watermelon and okra. This unrelenting free labor, coupled with simultaneous extraction of farming knowledge, directly led to America’s economic domination of the 18th century and pervasive industrialized agricultural ascendancy that remains today — facilitating an empire of production, processing and trade. When slavery finally became illegal, the tradition of Black exploitation for food-flow gain continued in the form of tenant farming, sharecropping and land grabbing.

In the 1930s, as minimum wage and other legislation was enacted to protect labor rights, the agricultural industry remained exempt and farmworkers (at the time, predominately African American) were excluded; this loophole was not modified until the 1980s. Simply put, our country’s designation as the ‘crop basket of the world’ would not have been possible without the unwilling sacrifice of Africans and African Americans.

But today, the Black community is disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, malnutrition, diet-related disease, lack of land ownership and largely exclusion from agriculture as a whole.

Farmer works in her peanut field in Zambia. Credit: Heifer International

The U.S.’s agricultural foundation follows a tradition of forced labor spanning huge expanses of time and place. Most of our favorite grocery items are a product of colonialism, widely available thanks to the almost standardized practice of one powerful predominantly white nation dropping anchor onto a foreign land, conquering and brutally subjugating its indigenous people, ravaging the soil with the compulsory workforce of human ‘property,’ and sending resulting agricultural goods back to its own and other wealthy countries at an enormous profit.

Farmer works in her familys sweet potato field in Malawi. Credit: Heifer International

The Dutch East Indies brought Arabica and sugar, British India produced tea and spices, German East Africa ushered in sesame and Robusta, French West Africa brought chocolate and peanuts and the Belgian Congo palm oil and sugar. When slavery was no longer condoned, oppressive conditions on stolen land remained. While each wave of colonialism has its own nuanced narrative, they all propagated from the same seed – racism.

This subjugation continues to play out, under new names but similar practices, all over the world. In many countries, racial, indigenous, ethnic or caste groups are deemed ‘less than’ – less worthy of basic safety and human rights, of fair pay and equal opportunity and of dignity. Considering 70% of the world’s hungry are or used as food producers, it’s a statistical certainty that what is on our plates stems from one of these groups.

Poverty is not an accident. When entire groups of people experience similar forms of socio-economic marginalization, that is by design. It is intergenerational. It is systemic, born of racially and ethnically driven oppression. It is intolerable.

Farmer and farm worker Sevia Matinanga (right) harvest sugar cane in Zambia. Credit: Heifer International

We cannot change the past, but we can actively acknowledge it. We must begin the more critical work of changing the course of the future, which means actively supporting communities of color in our local and global food system. There’s much to be done. Governments must enact policies to ensure full, inclusive and healthy participation in agricultural livelihoods and access. Organizations like Heifer International need even deeper commitment to social, economic and environmental justice on every level of our work, saying “no” to complicit systems and “absolutely” to accelerating the visions marginalized smallholder farmers have for their futures. Consumers can seek out black-owned agri-businesses and take a stand against corporations that source ingredients for unethical prices and in many cases, via actual forced and/or child labor. The world is ripe for real change, and we are ready for it.   Source

The Great Lockdown Through a Global Lens

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Civil Society, Development & Aid, Editors’ Choice, Featured, Global, Global Governance, Headlines, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Poverty & SDGs, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

The empty corridors of a locked down UN Secretariat in New York. Credit: United Nations

WASHINGTON DC, Jun 17 2020 (IPS) – The Great Lockdown is expected to play out in three phases, first as countries enter the lockdown, then as they exit, and finally as they escape the lockdown when there is a medical solution to the pandemic.

Many countries are now in the second phase, as they reopen, with early signs of recovery, but risks of second waves of infections and re-imposition of lockdowns. Surveying the economic landscape, the sheer scale and severity of the Global Lockdown are striking.

Most tragically, this pandemic has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. The resulting economic crisis is unlike anything the world has seen before.

This is a truly global crisis. Past crises, as deep and severe as they were, remained confined to smaller segments of the world, from Latin America during the 1980s to Asia in the 1990s. Even the global financial crisis 10 years ago had more modest effects on global output.

For the first time since the Great Depression, both advanced and emerging market economies will be in recession in 2020. The forthcoming June World Economic Outlook Update is likely to show negative growth rates even worse than previously estimated. This crisis will have devastating consequences for the world’s poor.

Aside from its unprecedented scale, the Global Lockdown is playing out in ways that are very different from past crises. These unusual characteristics are emerging all over the world, irrespective of the size, geographic region, or production structure of economies.

First, this crisis has dealt a uniquely large blow to the services sector. In typical crises, the brunt is borne by manufacturing, reflecting a decline in investment, while the effect on services is generally muted as consumption demand is less affected.

This time is different. In the peak months of the lockdown the contraction in services has been even larger than in manufacturing, and it is seen in advanced and emerging market economies alike.

There are exceptions—like Sweden and Taiwan Province of China, which adopted a different approach to the health crisis, with limited government containment measures and a consequently proportionately smaller hit to services vis-à-vis manufacturing.

It is possible that with pent-up consumer demand there will be a quicker rebound, unlike after previous crises. However, this is not guaranteed in a health crisis as consumers may change spending behavior to minimize social interaction, and uncertainty can lead households to save more. In the case of China, one of the early exiters from lockdown, the recovery of the services sector lags manufacturing as such services as hospitality and travel struggle to regain demand.

Of particular concern is the long-term impact on economies that rely significantly on such services—for example, tourism-dependent economies.

Second, despite the large supply shocks unique to this crisis, except for food inflation, we have thus far seen, if anything, a decline in inflation and inflation expectations pretty much across the board in both advanced and emerging market economies.

Scene in New York City Subway during COVID-19 Outbreak. Credit: United Nations

Despite the considerable conventional and unconventional monetary and fiscal support across the globe, aggregate demand remains subdued and is weighing on inflation, alongside lower commodity prices. With high unemployment projected to stay for a while, countries with monetary policy credibility will likely see small risks of spiraling inflation.

Third, we see striking divergence of financial markets from the real economy, with financial indicators pointing to stronger prospects of a recovery than real activity suggests. Despite the recent correction, the S&P 500 has recouped most of its losses since the start of the crisis; the FTSE emerging market index and Africa index are substantially improved; the Bovespa rose significantly despite the recent surge in infection rates in Brazil; portfolio flows to emerging and developing economies have stabilized.

With few exceptions, the rise in sovereign spreads and the depreciation of emerging market currencies are smaller than what we saw during the global financial crisis. This is notable considering the larger scale of the shock to emerging markets during the Great Lockdown.

This divergence may portend greater volatility in financial markets. Worse health and economic news can lead to sharp corrections. We will have more to say about this divergence in our forthcoming Global Financial Stability Report.

One likely factor behind this divergence is the stronger policy response during this crisis. Monetary policy has become accommodative across the board, with unprecedented support from major central banks, and monetary easing in emerging markets including through first time use of unconventional policies.

Discretionary fiscal policy has been sizable in advanced economies. Emerging markets have deployed smaller fiscal support, constrained to some extent by limited fiscal space. Furthermore, a unique challenge confronting emerging markets this time around is that the informal sector, typically a shock absorber, has not been able to play that role under containment policies and has instead required support.

We are now in the early stages of the second phase as many countries begin to ease containment policies and gradually permit the resumption of economic activity. But there remains profound uncertainty about the path of the recovery.

A key challenge in escaping the Great Lockdown will be to ensure adequate production and distribution of vaccines and treatments when they become available—and this will require a global effort. For individual countries, minimizing the health uncertainty by using the least economically disruptive approaches such as testing, tracing, and isolation, tailored to country-specific circumstances with clear communication about the path of policies, should remain a priority to strengthen confidence in the recovery.

As the recovery progresses, policies should support the reallocation of workers from shrinking sectors to sectors with stronger prospects.

The IMF, in coordination with other international organizations, will continue to do all it can to ensure adequate international liquidity, provide emergency financing, support the G20 debt service suspension initiative, and help countries maintain a manageable debt burden.

The IMF will also provide advice and support through surveillance and capacity development, to help disseminate best practices, as countries learn from each other during this unprecedented crisis.

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Predicting COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rates Around the World

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Civil Society, Development & Aid, Editors’ Choice, Featured, Global, Global Governance, Headlines, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Poverty & SDGs, TerraViva United Nations

Opinion

WASHINGTON DC, Jun 16 2020 (IPS) – The world saw more new confirmed COVID-19 cases last week than any week to date. And as the pandemic grows, its epicenter is moving from advanced economies to more developing countries, including Brazil, India, and South Africa.

How is the pandemic likely to evolve as it spreads to poorer countries?

In a new working paper, we attempt to answer one piece of that question, predicting the infection fatality rate, or IFR, for COVID-19 for 187 countries based on demography, comorbidities, and the strength of health systems.

The IFR numbers we report are somewhat higher—sometimes dramatically so—than the figures given for many developing countries in earlier influential studies, including the Imperial College team’s scenarios for the global pandemic and a recent report by the WHO Africa bureau.

That difference can be chalked up to how we incorporate two factors: pre-existing health conditions, and the relative strength of health systems.

For many developing countries, comorbidities partially offset the advantages of youth

A recent study in Science by Salje et al., for instance, finds that with French-level healthcare, the probability of dying with COVID-19 rises roughly eight-fold when moving from the 60-69 age group to the 70 and above range. This is good news for developing countries, which generally have a much younger population than France.

Most previous forecasts of the COVID-19 infection fatality rate have incorporated this demographic advantage. However, they have generally not included the offsetting effect of cross-country differences in comorbidities.

Those comorbidities—such as diabetes, hypertension, and ischemic cardiovascular diseases— matter a lot. Data from Italy show that roughly 96 percent of COVID-19 fatalities report one or more relevant comorbidities.

Inverting that probability using Bayes’ rule and data on France’s IFR and comorbidity distribution, we find that the probability of dying from a COVID-19 infection for patients under 40 is roughly 134-times higher with a relevant comorbidity than without.

Developing countries generally have lower rates of relevant comorbidities compared to high-income countries (where the best measures of infection fatality rates come from). But whereas comorbidities are concentrated among the elderly in rich countries, some developing countries—such as South Africa—report a considerably higher share of these conditions among middle-aged people.

Future work would benefit from more careful treatment of comorbidities like HIV/AIDS that have higher prevalence in lower-income countries. But even a simple adjustment for comorbidities partially undermines many developing countries’ demographic advantages.

Evidence from other viral respiratory infections suggests a much bleaker scenario for COVID-19 in the developing world

So far, our estimates assume that an individual infected with COVID-19 in, say, Uganda has the same probability of dying as someone with the same sex, age, and number of comorbidities in France. Clearly that’s optimistic, given the overall capacity of Uganda’s health system relative to France’s. But exactly how optimistic?

To gauge how much fatality rates might vary with health system capacity, we draw on estimates of the infection fatality rate for another viral respiratory infection, namely influenza. We focus on children under five years old, to purge variation in age and comorbidities that typically begin later in life, and scale the odds ratio of dying from COVID-19 by the ratio of child influenza death rates across countries by income group.

Adjusting for health-system capacity in this way yields COVID-19 infection fatality rates that are considerably higher than previous estimates for the developing world. For the five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the largest confirmed COVID-19 epidemics to date, our results are roughly twice as high as those from Imperial College, which does not factor in comorbidities or health system strength beyond a simple capacity constraint on hospital beds.

And they are roughly eight times higher than forecasts from the WHO Africa, which do not adjust for health system capacity and only scale the IFR downward (never upward) due to comorbidities.

Comparing predicted COVID-19 infection fatality rates across studies

Our results are more in line with the Imperial College predictions for Europe, as shown in the bottom panel above. For the five European countries shown, we can also compare to a more “gold standard” benchmark, i.e., infection fatality rates calculated on the basis of seroprevalence studies of a random sample of the population (blue bars).

Both our results and the Imperial college results match these seroprevalence studies fairly well on average, but fail to explain much of the intra-European variance (some of which may be due to variance in how deaths are counted, e.g., Belgium’s fairly liberal definition of a COVID-19 death to include all unexplained nursing home deaths).

In short, our IFR estimates seem fairly plausible for Europe, where we have an independent reference point, and our results suggest that earlier predictions for developing countries that ignore health system capacity may be far too optimistic.

In line with recent news reports, it’s likely young people will make up a larger share of COVID-19 deaths in the developing world

In the United States to date, patients over 75 years old represent over 60 percent of COVID-19 deaths. In Italy, the number of fatalities above 70 is 85 percent.

Both demography and weak health systems explain why COVID-19 deaths are more concentrated among younger people in the developing world

Although predicted IFRs display a steep age gradient in all contexts, due to demographic differences the bulk of deaths in low- and lower-middle income countries is predicted to come from middle-aged patients (40-70).

Less obviously, differences in health system capacity are also likely to flatten the age gradient of COVID-19 deaths in developing countries. In Europe, data is consistent with the hypothesis that intensive care saves the lives of a higher proportion of young than elderly COVID-19 patients. Thus, when high-quality intensive care is lacking, the advantages of youth are more muted.

These estimates are far from the final word on this question. But we hope that our calculations provide an important cautionary note about developing countries’ demographic advantages in facing down COVID-19.

Planning for the ongoing pandemic response and calibration of containment policies should factor in the wide variation in predicted IFRs across contexts. Specifically, policymakers in low-income countries should be cognizant that any demographic advantages with respect to COVID-19 fatality rates are likely to be partially offset by disadvantages in terms of the age-distribution of comorbidities, and even more so by gaps in health system capacity.

*Justin Sandefur is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) ; Selene Ghisolfi is an economics post-doc at the Laboratory for Effective Anti-poverty Policies Bocconi, and a PhD student at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University; Ingvild Almås is a professor of economics at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University; Tillmann von Carnap is a PhD student at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University; Jesse Heitner is a health economist at Aceso Global; and Tessa Bold is an associate professor at the Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University.

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The church must make reparation for its role in slavery, segregation

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The Juneteenth Memorial Monument commemorates African Americans' emancipation from slavery at the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center in Austin, Texas. (Wikimedia Commons/Jennifer Rangubphai)

Statues are part of the Juneteenth Memorial Monument, which commemorates African Americans’ emancipation from slavery, at the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center in Austin, Texas. (Wikimedia Commons/Jennifer Rangubphai)

The ever-expanding protests over the epidemic of police violence and systemic racism in the United States, manifested most recently in the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, have brought our society to another monumental crossroad.

At the intersection of these enduring crimes against humanity and protesters of varying hues and creeds screaming, “Enough is enough,” is a global system of anti-Blackness and violence that has strangled Black communities in the United States and across the African Diaspora since the rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. That these murders and protests have erupted amid a global pandemic that is disproportionately killing Black and Brown people only underscores the unchecked ferocity of institutionalized systems of white supremacy in our society.

In recent days, Catholic statements condemning the sin of racism alongside some clergy and sisters at #BlackLivesMatter protests across the country and world offers hope to those who have long struggled against the plague of white supremacy within and outside church boundaries. This is especially true for many Black Catholics who initiated the fight against racism in the Catholic Church in the modern era and Black Catholic women and youth who have been shouting Black Lives Matter since the hashtag emerged from three Black women activists in 2013 following George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the murder of Trayvon Martin.

That it has taken so long for the institutional church and many non-Black Catholics to embrace the rally cry of #BlackLivesMatter, however, cannot be ignored. It must be said, too, that the recent Catholic statements on racism and rising protests fall way short when it comes to acknowledging the church’s role in the contemporary crisis and direct complicity in the sins of anti-Black racism, slavery and segregation in the modern era.

Carvings depict a caravan of people being taken into slavery at Lake Malawi Museum in Mangochi, Malawi. (Wikimedia Commons/Tim Cowley)

Carvings depict a caravan of people being taken into slavery at Lake Malawi Museum in Mangochi, Malawi. (Wikimedia Commons/Tim Cowley)

While Catholic social teaching affirms “the right to life and dignity” of every person, the fact remains that the church egregiously violated these teachings through its participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and imperial practices of African slavery and segregation in the Americas, Europe and Africa.

In the 15th century, the Catholic Church became the first global institution to declare that Black lives did not matter. In a series of papal bulls beginning with Pope Nicholas V’s Dum Diversas (1452) and including Pope Alexander VI’s Inter Caetera (1493), the church not only authorized the perpetual enslavement of Africans and the seizure of “non-Christian” lands, but morally sanctioned the development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. This trade forcibly transported at least 12.5 million enslaved African men, women and children to the Americas and Europe to enrich European and often Catholic coffers. It also caused the deaths of tens of millions of Africans and Native Americans over nearly four centuries.

In the land area that became the United States, the Catholic Church introduced African slavery in the 16th century long before 1619. In fact, at various moments in American history from the colonial era to the U.S. Civil War, the church was the largest corporate slaveholder in Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri. We must also never forget Roger B. Taney, the nation’s first Catholic Supreme Court Justice and a descendant of prominent Catholic slavers from Maryland, infamously declared that Black people “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect,” while denying the freedom petitions of Dred and Harriet Scott and their two daughters in 1857.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Catholics, including religious orders of men and women, were also the largest owners of enslaved people during the colonial era. In Brazil, which received the largest number of enslaved Africans imported to the Americas, the Jesuits were at the center of the brutal sugar economy. Like their counterparts in the United States, Black Brazilians today, who are mostly Catholic, are fighting systemic racism and one of the highest rates of police murder against Black and Brown people in the Americas.

Following the abolition of slavery, the Catholic Church stood as the largest Christian practitioner of segregation. In the United States, where the history of many Black Catholics predates that of white and ethnic white Catholics by over three centuries, the vast majority of Catholic institutions and religious orders of men and women systematically excluded African-descended people, especially U.S.-born Blacks, from admission solely on the basis of race well into the 20th century.

The historical record is inundated with gut-wrenching examples of Black Catholic faithfulness in the face of unholy discrimination and segregation in white Catholic parishes, schools, hospitals, convents, seminaries and neighborhoods. Yet, this history is rarely incorporated into dominant narratives of the American Catholic experience.

Sunday Mass at Corpus Christi Church, a predominantly black parish, in Chicago in 1942 (Library of Congress)

Sunday Mass at Corpus Christi Church, a predominantly black parish, in Chicago in 1942 (Library of Congress)

The systematic denial and erasure of Black Catholic history denies the fundamental truth that Black history is Catholic history. It also a part of the system of white supremacy that continues to inflict harm on the descendants of the enslaved people who literally built this country and the American church and those who continue to benefit from the brutal history of colonialism, slavery and segregation.

In New Year 2020, I outlined a plan of action for Catholic reparation for slavery and segregation in Catholic News Service. This included:

  • Making formal apologies for the church’s own histories of slavery and segregation;
  • Stopping the closings of active African American parishes;
  • Reinvesting in and expanding the Black Catholic educational system;
  • Requiring the teaching of Black and Brown Catholic history in every Catholic school and seminary;
  • Endowing scholarships, fellowships and professorships for Black and Brown scholars at Catholic colleges and universities;
  • Broadening formal church leadership to include anti-racist women and members of the laity.

I also called upon Catholics to take leading roles in campaigns working to protect Black lives, eliminate racism in the health care system, end mass incarceration and bail, and secure police reform and accountability.

Kenya Turner, a member of St. Martin de Porres Church in Louisville, Kentucky, joins the "Black Catholics Unite: Stand For Justice March" on June 6. (CNS/Courtesy of The Record)

Kenya Turner, a member of St. Martin de Porres Church in Louisville, Kentucky, joins the “Black Catholics Unite: Stand For Justice March” on June 6. (CNS/Courtesy of The Record)

In the wake of uprisings sweeping the world, the obscenely high unemployment rates in the Black community as a result of the pandemic, and the growing use of militarized police forces against protesters, additional actions are warranted. I now wonder if Catholic reparation must also include creating institutions to help establish more formal connections and foster long-term engagement between African American Catholics and African Catholics in Africa. Over the past few years, significant numbers of African Americans and other members of the African Diaspora living in the West have begun to repatriate to Africa in response to the rise of white supremacist and state violence threatening Black communities.

The earliest documented roots of the Catholic Church are in Africa. Considering the fact that the church is also currently experiencing its greatest rates of growth on the continent, it would be a substantial development for major U.S. Catholic universities to follow the lead of Webster University in Missouri and begin establishing African American and African-led campuses in Catholic Africa with exchange, enrichment and study abroad programs at every level from K-12 to the university and the adult laity.

While I do not yet foresee a mass Black exodus from the United States, assisting in efforts to reconnect Black people to the land of their ancestors and growth in Africa is essential. Moreover, if there ever came a time when Black Americans did need to flee for their safety, the church could play a leading role.

The denial of the dignity and sanctity of Black life is a part of the DNA of this country. It is also a foundational sin of the American Catholic Church. Black Catholic history reveals that the church has never been an innocent bystander in the history of white supremacy. If there will ever be a chance for true peace and reconciliation, the Catholic Church must finally declare with all of its might and resources that Black lives do matter. The goal for Black people has never been charity; it is full justice, human rights, freedom and the complete dismantling of white supremacy, beginning with the church.

[Shannen Dee Williams is the Albert Lepage Assistant Professor of History at Villanova University. She is completing her first book, Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle with Duke University Press. In 2018, she received the inaugural Sr. Christine Schenk Award for Young Catholic Leadership from FutureChurch for using history to foster racial justice and reconciliation in religious congregations of women.]

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Points of Progress: Australian wildlife begins recovery, and more

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1. United States 

The nation’s oldest law school has appointed its first black dean. On July 1, civil procedure and federal courts scholar A. Benjamin Spencer will take over as dean of William & Mary Law School. The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has never hired an African American dean to lead any school in its 327-year history.

Ian Bradshaw/Courtesy of UVA Law School

A. Benjamin Spencer

For Mr. Spencer, breaking barriers has been a family tradition. In 1986, his father became the first African American federal judge in Virginia, and his grandfather was Notre Dame’s first African American professor in Indiana. President Katherine Rowe, who became the college’s first female president in 2018, said Mr. Spencer “brings that broad view of legal practice, together with a deep appreciation of the ethos of the citizen lawyer.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

2. Chile 

Chile has published a new climate action plan, committing to cut fossil fuels around a “social pillar” framework that protects vulnerable groups. As climate advocates around the world demand a “green recovery” from COVID-19, many welcome Chile’s pledge to focus on easing inequality and tying economic recovery with environmental reform. Chile is the second South American country to update its nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement. The country aims to become carbon neutral by 2050 – no small challenge for an economy based on emission-heavy industries such as mining and agriculture – and to cut emissions from deforestation 25% by 2030. Once Chile overcomes the coronavirus crisis, Environment Minister Carolina Schmidt said the country “will enter a rehabilitation phase which must be sustainable.” (Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Guardian)

3. Germany

In a unanimous vote, the German parliament has approved legislation to allow rabbis to act as military chaplains for the first time since 1933. Before Adolf Hitler came to power, military rabbis were relatively common, but for nearly a century only Protestant or Roman Catholic chaplains have been allowed in the service. The change is welcomed by lawmakers from all parties and Jewish groups. “Military rabbis will make their advice available to the Bundeswehr [Germany’s armed forces] as a whole,” said Josef Schuster, president of the German Jewish Central Council. The measure was introduced in December by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who said she plans to introduce similar laws allowing imams and Christian Orthodox priests to also serve as religious leaders in the armed forces. (Deutsche Welle)

4. Malawi 

The United Nations is working with communities in Malawi to help about 53,000 children with albinism safely attend school. Since the program has been running, several participating districts report dropout rates have fallen to around 5%. Albino children often are kept at home by their parents out of fear they will be kidnapped, attacked, or killed because of misconceptions that albinos hold magical powers. 

Thoko Chikondi/AP

Catherine Amidu (right) laughs with her friend Aishain in Machinga, Malawi, Feb. 9, 2020. Catherine faces risks because of her albinism.

The Joint Program on Girls Education is working with schools, local leaders, and police to create more supportive learning environments and teach students how to protect themselves. “For any child, anywhere, education is not a luxury. It’s a necessity and fundamental right regardless of their status,” said Maria Jose Torres, the United Nations resident coordinator. (UN News)

5. Australia

A koala has been born at the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales for the first time since the 2019-20 bushfires killed more than 1 billion animals nationwide. Over 240 days, more than 13 million acres burned across New South Wales destroying thousands of homes and wildlife habitat. The koala population was especially devastated, and wildlife parks are continuing to rehabilitate injured animals and work to fortify the next generation. The new joey poked her head out of her mother’s pouch in a May 26 Facebook video posted by the Australian Reptile Park. The post called the joey “a sign of hope for the future of Australia’s native wildlife” and announced her name: Ash. (ABC, CNN)

Worldwide

The International Olympic Committee reports record high representation for women across its 30 commissions, continuing its trend toward parity. Women now fill 47.7% of its positions, up from 20% in 2013 when the IOC began its commitment to advance gender equality. 

Denis Balibouse/Reuters

The International Olympic Committee, headquartered in Switzerland, is close to reaching gender parity.

The IOC also appointed two new female commission chairs: Eleven are now led by women. Thailand’s Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul will chair the Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission, while former Chinese speedskating champion Zhang Hong will coordinate the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games in South Korea. “There is always more that can be done,” said IOC President Thomas Bach, “and we can make progress only if we work on this together.” (Reuters, International Olympic Committee)

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Concerned Malawian advocates for Government to recognize Indians as Malawi’s 11th ethnic tribe

Posted on by emandowa
June 12, 2020

By Duncan Mlanjira

After conducting an intensive research and investigation of Malawi’s historical records, concerned citizen, Yamikani Nicholas Kachingwe is advocating that the Government should initiate a Bill in Parliament to officially recognize and accept Indians as Malawi’s 11th ethnic tribe.

The 35-year-old Kachingwe, who has great interest in current affairs, news and storytelling, is running the campaign through the website www.currentaffairsmalawi, appealing and suggesting to all relevant authorities in Malawi to seriously consider the request.

Yamikani Nicholas Kachingwe

He says according to his research, Malawi has 8 main ethnic groups and 1 minority groups that comprises Indians and mixed races.

These ethnic tribal groups are the Chewa; Lhomwe; Yao; Ngoni; Tumbuka; Nyanja; Ngonde Hamba; Sena; Mang’anja and the minority ethnic groups comprises Indians, mixed race and Europeans, who constitute 2% of the population.

Chewa culture

He chronicles the tribes and ethnic groups as follows:

Chewa Tribe are remnants of Maravi people, originally from Malabo, Zaire (now called Democratic Republic of Congo) and came to Malawi in the 16th Century. Their well-known clans are Banda and Phiri and they constitute 36% of the Malawi population.

The Lhomwes originally came from Mozambique between 16th-17th Century and constitutes 18% of the population.

The Lhomwes

The Yao tribe is originally from Mozambique and Tanzania. By 14th-15th century, they were arleady in Malawi and they constitute 14% of the population.

The Ngonis are originally from South Africa, from the clans of Zulu and Nguni and constitute 12% of the population.

Ngoni culture

The Tumbukas are originally from southern Tanzania and eastern Zambia and constitute 9% of the population.

The Nyanja, popularly known as Tonga and commonly found in Northern Region of Malawi, constitute 2% of the population.

Then there is the Ngonde Hamba, which — according to Kachingwe’s research — are the least populated ethnic groups with 1% constituting of the population.

Sena culture

The Sena tribe is an ethnic group, with origins in northwestern region of Mozambique in Tete Province, Manica Province, Sofala Province and Zambezi Province. They are also found in Malawi and Zimbabwe near their respective borders with Mozambique.

The Mang’anja are a Bantu people of central and southern Africa, particularly around Chikwawa in the Shire River valley of southern Malawi. They speak a dialect of the Nyanja language and are a branch of the Amaravi people.

“With this information, we can all agree that Malawi is a great nation made up of different tribes, most of which came from other countries and made Malawi their home,” opines Kachingwe.

Malcolm X

He goes on to quote African-American civil rights activist, Malcolm X who said: “I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.”

Kachingwe goes on to say: “According to historical facts about Malawians of Indian origin, the first Indian settler was Adam Osman who emigrated to Malawi in 1885.

“He first settled in Nsanje. After him many other Indian immigrants followed suit.

“In 1963, for the first time before our independence on 6th July 1964, Abdul Sattar Sacranie was appointed as the first Indian Mayor of Blantyre and served till 1967.

“He was a personal legal advisor to the first Malawian Prime Minister and President, late Ngwazi Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda. His legal firm is still in existence — the Sacranie & Gow.”

Kachingwe also dug out that the country have had many other popular politicians such as late Honourable Ishmael Kassin Surtee, who was

the first Indian and 4th Speaker of Malawi Parliament after Independence — served from October 1964 to 1971.

“We have had Indian traditional chiefs, politicians, ward councilors, bishops, teachers and many other professionals.

Sacranie on second row, third from right

“The Nyasaland Indian Association was registered and established on 14th September 1922. On 19th August, 1938 they held their reunion meeting with approval and authority from many Indian organizations such as Indian chamber of commerce, Nyasaland Indian Traders association, Indian Sports Club, Goan Social Club and the Oriental Club.”

Nyasaland Indian Association commitee
members

The meeting of 94 members most of whom were wholesale traders, included Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims was chaired by late M.G. Dharap chaired the meeting and the elected members to run its affairs were M.G Dharap, C.K. Raman, A.M. Ravel, N.M. Suvama, Hussein Ahmed, S.O. Sacranie, M.G. Menon, H.S. Dias, Haridas Amarsi, P. Dayaram and Dr Hazuh Singh — according to the records.

“The first Indian primary school was opened in 1940 at Songani, 10 miles from Zomba and in 1943 a second was opened in Limbe, financed by Suliman Sacranie, Omar Hassam Janmehammed and some funds from South African Indians.

“There was no secondary school for Indians until 1959,” Kachingwe says.

Fast forwarding to current day, as of December 2016, over 8,000 persons of Indian origin reside in Malawi with most of them of Gujarati origin. By 2020, the population number has tripled or even beyond.

“With such humbling relationship between India and Malawi plus the history of Indian immigrants in Malawi, who have 3rd and 4th generations still living in Malawi, I am proposing to the Government of Malawi to consider to initiate a Bill in Parliament to approve and allow Indians to be recognized as a tribe of Malawi,” Kachingwe says in conclusion.

“Their selfless efforts and patriotism helped to built and develop Malawi; Indians fought for the freedom of Malawians before and after Independence and they continue to stand tall for the dignity of Malawi and Malawians till now.

“Come to think of it; Central High School, Mount View Primary School were founded by Hassam Khamboo and Mrs Sacranie with great help from Indian community.

“Dharap Primary School in Blantyre [now called Namiwawa along the Presidential Drive to Sanjika Palace] and Livimbo Primary School in Lilongwe were built by Indians.

“Our neighboring countries have arleady started to recognize and embracing them as a tribe.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Kenyan government announced on July 22, 2017, that the Asian community would be officially recognised as the 44th tribe in Kenya — recognising the community’s contribution to Kenya from the dawn of the nation.

The case in Kenya

“Then what can fail us? We are the Warm Heart of Africa and our history cannot start or be told without mentioning the Indian forefathers.

“Imagine the young Indian children who were born in 60’s till now, who were raised and educated in Malawi; got married and are now working towards contributing to the nation through taxes and in many other ways.

Coronavirus alert

“Most of them are now holders of Malawi National Identity Cards as well Malawi Passport holders and they have only known Malawi as their home country and yet today they are deemed as foreigners.

“It is now time and proper that they be constitutionally recognized as a tribe of Malawi,” says Kachingwe in the appeal.

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