Swazi students denounce solidarity network foul-mouth

“The Swaziland National Union of Students is amazed and angry at the bile spewed by one self-imposed exile called Lucky Lukhele. … The article was a constructive criticism of the broad, mass democratic movement in Swaziland. … Lucky Lukhele and the chairperson of the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), Solly [Mapaila], have actually destabilized the mass democratic movement,” the Swazi student organisation SNUS said in a statement issued by Secretary General Samkeliso Ginindza today [April 28].

The reason for the strongly worded statement from SNUS was the nature of the wording made by the SSN’s Lucky Lukhele and the Swazi April 12 Uprising Facebook campaign in replies to an article I wrote.

Enevældig konge over forarmet folk køber privat jetfly

Kong Mswati III af det lille enevældige kongedømme Swaziland er kendt for sit luksusforbrug og unødvendige prestigeprojekter.

Blandt andet startede han i 2003 opførelsen af landets anden internationale lufthavn, Sikhuphe-lufthavnen, der indtil nu har kostet op imod en milliard kroner at bygge. Og i 2009 sendte han sine tretten koner på luksusshopping til Europa og Mellemøsten, hvilket anslås at have kostet statskassen 30 millioner kroner.

Nu har han gjort det igen. Han har købt sig et McDonnell Douglas DC-9 luksus-jetfly til sin 44-års fødselsdag

New strategy for Swazi democratic movement?

“I would say there is a strong feeling that we need to revisit our strategy.” Swaziland National Union of Students activist Ace Lushaba is speaking of the clamp down on recent protests against king Mswati III’s undemocratic, brutal, cleptocratic regime.

There have historically been two main strategies used by the democratic movement in Swaziland. The first has been the use of protest action, mass mobilisation and pushing for a complete removal of the tinkundla system that bans political parties

The democratic movement that cried wolf

Messages proclaiming the final days of king Mswati’s absolute monarchy in Swaziland, or the revolutionary uprising of thousands of Swazis, have been conveyed many times by individuals and organisations within Swaziland’s democratic movement.

Here are a few examples from the past year:

“The people of Swaziland are convinced that no muti or ritual will ever stop the tide of the revolution. The year 2012 will be the year that king Mswati’s dictatorship finally ends and a new democratic dispensation takes its place.” (Swaziland Solidarity Network statement, December 2011).

Multinationale firmaer snyder u-landene i skat

Det virker til at være en temmelig generel holdning både i Danmark og i andre lande til, at u-landene og især Afrikanske lande i høj grad selv er skyld i deres økonomiske problemer, eller i hvert fald selv bør redde sig ud af dem.

Men selvom især eliterne i Afrika selvfølgeligt har et ansvar for deres landes økonomiske problemer, har vi i vores del af verden et mindst lige så stort ansvar.

Ikke mindst når man ser på den både historiske og nuværende tendens til at støtte diktatorer

‘Stop development aid to Swazi monarch,’ says democratic front

It is time for the international community to act in response to the Swazi government’s repeated human rights violations, says Wandile Dludlu, Project Coordinator of the Swaziland United Democratic Front, an umbrella organisation of all progressive democratic forces in Swaziland.

A month ago the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland, where Swaziland amongst other things accepted to guarantee freedom of assembly, association and freedom of expression. The Universal Periodic Reviews examine the human rights performance of all UN member states.

Swazis vow to continue pro-democracy demonstrations after police crackdown

“As we wind down the day, it would be folly for the government to think we’ve retreated. We’re going to reenergize ourselves, to regroup and to mobilise more so that we come back stronger,” Mary Pais Da Silva of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign said in a press statement about today’s protests and strikes for democratic reform in Swaziland. “These waves that are coming at them shall gather into the tsunami that shall push us into the democratic Swaziland that we fight for. We have been arrested, detained, assaulted, but we are not beaten.”

April 12 is an important day in the history of Swaziland. On that day in 1973, the king banned all political parties and declared a state of emergency.

Regimet i Swaziland afregistrerer faglig hovedorganisation for at stoppe protester

Fagforeningerne i Swaziland er en meget væsentlig del af kampen for demokrati i Swaziland, et feudalt enevældigt monarki i det sydlige Afrika. Ikke mindst fordi de er de eneste instanser der lovligt må demonstrere.

Netop derfor var sidste måneds fusion af Swazilands vigtigste faglige organisationer i en faglig hovedorganisation, Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), så vigtig, ligesom fusionen var et vigtigt symbol på en enhed i Swazilands demokratibevægelse som førhen på ingen måde kunne tages for givet.

Når regimet i Swaziland således søger at neutralisere TUCOSWA ved at afregistrere organisationen, er det et helt bevidst forsøg på at stoppe den markant tiltagende bølge af protester

Swazis call for democracy on state of emergency anniversary

Last years April 12 protests that called for democratisation of Swaziland’s absolute monarchy, amongst other things by removing the state of emergency that has been in place since April 12 1973, were thwarted by countless road blockades, detainments and police violence.

Swaziland’s democratic movement insists that this year’s protests will be different, however. “From the 11th of April till the 13th we shall be occupying all the streets of our country as freedom fighters in defence of what belongs to us, the people,” banned political party the People’s United Democratic Movement says in a press statement.

Polisario rejects Siemens’ claim to be developing Western Sahara

Siemens have been accused by Western Saharan liberation front Polisario and several organisations – including Western Sahara Resource Watch, Danwatch and Africa Contact – of breaking international law by securing a deal with a Moroccan company, Nareva Holding, to build 22 windmills in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.

According to international law, it is illegal to trade with or use resources from non-self-governing states such as Western Sahara without the indigenous population benefiting from and agreeing to the deal.