African-Americans rally around their man

From T-shirts to bake sales, MRG’s Intern Marissa Burik on the importance of this election to US’s African American community.

The polls may be clear, but so are the nerves. Even in a London flat filled with 11 American students (mostly of the Democratic persuasion) the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. We come from diverse backgrounds and an eclectic mix of geographies. The New Yorkers amongst us are incredibly sure of an Obama victory, while the lone Southern Republican is holding out hope for a McCain victory.

As for me….as a pessimist, I refuse to make predictions…but the election of Obama would be very important for the US’s minorities; he would not just be the first African American president but the first US president from any ethnic minority.

Of course, an Obama victory would mark a significant shift in how the US engages with the world. And that does not just include how Obama looks. The policy differences and approaches run deep. As American journalist Nicholas Kristof put it last week, Obama could represent a “rebranding” of the US throughout the world. Or to put it differently, we would switch from having a ‘shoot first, questions later’ mentality to ‘talk first, shoot later’. But looks also matter. If Obama is elected, it will show the progressive nature of US politics. ‘Old’ Europe might like to write the US off as a nation of hillbillies, but when will there be a black presidential candidate in Germany, France or even at the top leadership of my current country of residence, Britain?

But turning back to the home front, not since Martin Luther King Jr. has a single African-American individual had such a broad impact on the entire American populace. Martin Luther King Jr. was able to make us think beyond black and white, and focus on the basic humanity that each and every person deserves. This message had the effect of energizing an otherwise marginalized community, and starting the civil rights movement in 1960s America.

If elected president, Barack Obama could have a similar effect on the African American community. Minority voters (along with the youth) are usually considered by political anoraks to be unreliable. But they have already been turning out in record numbers – at primaries, at rallies, and, yes, queuing to vote early. Whatever the outcome on November 4th, Obama has rewritten the election rule book and one lesson is this: US elections are no longer about old, white middle class people.

I know that in a pre-dominantly African American church in Chicago attended by a co-worker of mine, every Sunday, there is bake sale, selling cookies and home-made treats as well as awesome T-shirts with pictures of Barak Obama, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, alongside the ‘change’ message. Proceeds go to the campaign. It’s just one example of the African American grassroots effort across the US. Although the Obama campaign has been good at pulling in the big donors, they have also capitalised on a new market, of individual donors putting in small sums of money to support the candidate. And unlike the McCain campaign, Obama hasn’t had to hire people to go out and campaign for him….

Yet Obama’s engagement with his own community has been interesting. He’s been unafraid to deliver the messages that people need to hear, as well as the ones that people want to hear. For example, on Father’s Day, he delivered a speech in a predominantly African American Chicago church – his message was that all fathers – and African-American ones in particular – had a responsibility to be there for their children. He was blunt about it. If he gets elected, we should be seeing this as a moment to re-launch the civil rights movement. This one would not necessarily be race based. Instead, it would see many different people working towards equal opportunity. Obama is a perfect example of an individual who has benefited from the public system, and then made himself a success. He is the right person and this is the right time.

And then there is our second alternative, a McCain victory. I have less to say to say about this. The potential triumph of a septuagenarian with a 26 year history of working in the Washington establishment won’t change much in the perception of those who view the US from abroad. Electing John McCain would reinforce stereotypes of Americans as distrustful of change and yes, a little bit racist.

For the African American community, a McCain win would undoubtedly be seen as a setback. The status quo would prevail. The message would be that you can work very hard and get very close and still go home disappointed. That’s been the experience of many African-Americans, as well as other minorities and women. It’s not a positive message to send to any person regardless of their race, gender or creed.

So no predictions…just hope.

Could the US election be stolen?

MRG intern, Marissa Burik, tells us how junk mail and the credit crunch could be used against new minority voters

One might assume that, in democratic countries, voting is a right not a privilege. This is what I have always assumed about the United States of America. But very recently, there have been major challenges to this inherent right. These challenges diminish the trust between the government and the electorate. And they are particularly relevant to this election, because of the massive numbers of newly registered voters.

This election season has seen over 660,000 new voters register to vote in Ohio alone. The majority of those new voters are from previously underrepresented groups, such as the economically disadvantaged, young people, and minorities. But what many of these new voters do not realise is that registration is just the starting point: many obstacles – political and legal – have to be overcome before they get to cast their vote on November 4th. The Obama campaign is certainly taking the issue seriously: it’s already been in touch with the justice department about cases of alleged voter intimidation.

The first major issue is voter suppression. Voter suppression is a method of legalized election fraud in which voters are intimidated or purged from voter rolls. In other words, if you can’t beat them, just get less of their supporters to vote. How does it work? Political organisers target new voters in a specific neighbourhood – often the poorer areas. They send a piece of junk mail. If it is returned, or goes unanswered, political operatives argue that the registration may be fraudulent, because voter may not live there. It sounds incredible – but I’ve seen the consequences of this on polling day. In the 2007 mayoral race in Canton, Ohio, while we were struggling to get out the democrat vote, the republican side was struggling to suppress it, by challenging the eligibility of ‘junk mail’ voters on the electoral register. In 2008, this political ‘technique’ will be even more relevant because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The tragedy is that as more and more people lose their homes, they could also lose their vote. A double-whammy, if ever there was one.

Another problem is the tighter identification rules in some states – often the key swing states. In 2002 Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. This new legislation was in response to the 2000 election, in which Florida was turned into a state of chads and butterfly ballots. The law made it possible for states to create legislation requiring identification. For example in my home state of Ohio in 2004, people were turned away from polling stations because they did not have proper identification. This – in itself – was illegal because even those without ID are allowed to vote provisionally. But even more worrying, it was a practise pursued by a Republican dominated legislature, executive and judiciary, and disproportionately affected those who were poor and from minority backgrounds. Or in other words, voters who were most likely to support the Democrats. How worried should we be about this in 2008? Well, Obama’s team is so concerned that it has amassed a formidable team of lawyers in Florida. Their job will be to challenge the challenges, and to ensure that any recount would be conducted without undue political influence. In other words, they are not going to be caught off-guard this time.

The biggest tragedy in all of this is the lack of respect for new voters. Instead of being pleased that millions of American citizens have decided to re-engage in the political process, we’re focusing on the downside. These seemingly endless conversations about the possibility of voter fraud and intimidation tell new voters that there is a potential for their vote to not count.

Talk about going negative.

Marissa Burik is blogging for MRG in the run-up to the US presidential elections.

More than skin deep in Ohio

Marissa Burik

MRG’s intern, Marissa Burik, takes a look at her home State of Ohio – a key battleground in the upcoming elections – on how minorities are mobilizing for change.

A popular American idiom tells us that “As goes Ohio, so goes the nation.”

As a resident of that great state, I am one to agree. And in this election, the numbers speak for themselves. Already Senator John McCain has visited 18 times, while Senator Barack Obama has been here 9. Ohio’s importance in this election hinges on three main factors. First, we are a toss-up state. Consider us a state of independently-minded folks who haven’t quite made up our minds as to what we are going to do with our 20 electoral votes. Second, we are a political bell-weather which has accurately predicted the outcome of every election since 1960. Thirdly, Ohio is considered a microcosm of the United States. The fabric of our community is very diverse, with one of the nation’s largest growing Somali populations, vibrant African American urban areas, and a developing Muslim community. This makes Ohio a very interesting place to be for any national election.

In this year where ‘Change’ has become the mantra of both campaigns – and Ohio is on the front lines of actual change. Minorities in my State are becoming more important than ever. The Obama campaign has been able to mobilize people in numbers I have never personally experienced. This is emphasized when looking at the people in attendance at an Obama rally. I attended one such rally in Columbus, Ohio in November 2007, before the Democratic nomination was inevitable and before John McCain had breathed new life into his campaign. At this rally I did not see just one kind of person. Instead I saw black, white, Asian, young, old, student, teacher, union leader, and several different religions represented. What I saw were people who were willing to take on a challenge and work with people who didn’t look exactly like them. They were not afraid to embrace change and they refused to be marginalized.

This election year has also highlighted some negative qualities of the state that I love. Within the past two weeks, it is not uncommon to hear shouts of ‘terrorist’ or ‘kill’em’ at Sen. McCain’s rallies – a perspective which McCain has recently tried to distance himself from. An Obama campaign representative in a south-eastern county has said that race has played a role in the decision process for some voters in his area. South-eastern Ohio has a much smaller number of minorities, and has been disproportionately affected by changes to the economy. These are people who are afraid of what they do not know. That is not to say that they are racist and won’t vote for a minority. Rather, they live in communities disproportionately affected by change, and are not sure if they can handle more, so it becomes easier to believe or fall prey to those attempting to influence your decision.

What has been the most impressive, from my stand point, are my peers. As a twenty year old college student, I have not heard prodigious debate as to whether we should vote for someone because of their skin colour. For us, that has nothing to do with our decision. In Ohio, Sen. Obama has been able to reach a generation untouched by the racial strife of the pre-1960s world. He has connected with people who have learned about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Robert F. Kennedy from textbooks. We are a generation that, generally, doesn’t understand why we shouldn’t vote for someone just because he or she looks different. Rhetoric emphasizing how ‘different’ Sen. Obama is from ‘normal’ Americans has backfired, and this gives me hope for the future.

Whatever the outcome of this election, that ‘change’ will surely remain. Unlike in civil rights era, our goal for the future is no longer to overcome, but to remember that our differences are only skin deep.

Marissa will be blogging for the next three weeks, in the run-up to US presidential elections on the November 4th

There’s rubies in them there hills

Apart from having lost their land to make way for a game reserve, the Endorois, like many other indigenous peoples throughout the world, have also been adversely affected by opencast mining. Emma Eastwood, MRG’s Trouble in Paradise Campaign Manager, investigates.

In 2003, without consultation with the community, a private company began ruby mining on the land the Endorois had been forced on to after their eviction from Lake Bogoria. After complaints from the community of diarrhoea and stomach cramps, the Endorois’ sole drinking water sources were tested in June 2006 and found to be contaminated by poisonous chemicals used in the mining process. The Kenyan government forced the mine to shut down a few months later.

Wilson Kipsang Kipkazi, Secretary of the Endorois Welfare Council and our guide whilst visiting the area, eagerly shows me a document he recently found on the internet (which was mysteriously withdrawn soon after) detailing the amount of rubies the company running the mining operation had extracted and the market value of the gems – 1grm of rubies sells for around 135, 000 Ksh (approx US$193). He suspects that the company may never have paid any taxes on the revenue it gained from the mine and that the rubies were extracted under a prospecting license rather than a full mining license.

And so we set out to visit the abandoned mine, a two-hour, dusty ride down a road that often resembled a dry riverbed, scattering baboons as we bumped our way further and further into the bush. How they had ever managed to get huge earthmovers and mining machinery into such an isolated area in the first place baffled me.

After various 4-wheel drive dilemmas we ditched the car and continued on foot down a steep track towards the abandoned mine. Although the whole operation was abandoned over 2 years ago, the landscape was still scarred – exposing the purple earth that indicated the presence of rubies beneath the soil.

We forded the river (the very same one that had poisoned the community…. I put thoughts of bilharzia and elephantitis out of mind as I felt my barefoot way across the slippery rocks) and climbed up to inspect the mining equipment. The whole area had an eerie feeling – what was left of the rusted, derelict machinery had been ransacked and vandalised in the post-election violence according to Kipkazi, a couple of donkeys (looking considerably fatter and well fed than the poor beasts I’d seen toiling away in Morocco a few years back) eyed us docilely from the top of the mine shaft, ubiquitous goats, dotted around the site, bleated mournfully.

Abandoned machinery at the mine site

A small group of Endorois men who’d been tending their goats nearby appeared from nowhere – the sense of remoteness I felt was misleading, the area is far more densely populated than it first appears. Kipkazi and Richard Yegon, an elder from an Endorois village called Kapkuikui who was also accompanying us, chatted with them about their experience of the mine.

Endorois men who live and tend their goats close to the mine

Apparently hardly any of the people from the surrounding area were employed here – and when they were it was only to shovel dirt into the cleaning and sorting machines, they were never allowed to see the rubies. They were also prevented from grazing their goats and cattle within the vicinity of the mine (bear in mind that we’re on Endorois land here and permission was never sought for the mining operations from the community) and were often harassed by security guards.

Whilst Kipkazi and Richard poked around in the dry, purple earth (hoping they might get lucky?) one of the men showed me a ruby the size of a sunflower seed, which would fetch around 1000 Ksh at a local dealers. When I asked him what he thought about the mine he said, “I wish it had never existed.”

A ruby found at the mine site

Kipkazi tells me that a 2006 Mining Bill, which contemplates payment to local communities for mining privileges, is stagnating at a draft stage. Same old story…

The road to Lake Bogoria is littered with…..goats, sheep and cows…

Emma Eastwood, Trouble in Paradise Campaign manager is in Kenya to visit the Endorois community. After travelling through the mighty Rift Valley, she ends up in the Lake Bogoria National Reserve – the Endorois ancestral land from which they have been expelled. Read Emma’s blog and sign up to our online petition.

Women in colourful headscarves, children without shoes, men pulling impossible loads taking the place of the donkey they can’t afford, alpine highland scenery and suddenly, on the road about 50km north of Nairobi, the Rift Valley falls away as far as the eye can see below us. Kipkazi, from the Endorois Welfare Council, who is acting as our guide for this trip, Neil, MRG Programmes Assistant, and I, marvel at the view of hazy, distant lakes, extinct volcanic craters and dry flat plains which stretch away to the horizon.

View of the Rift Valley

We see zebras grazing on the outskirts of Naivasha and baboons dodging traffic with tiny babies hanging off their backs. I can’t resist the temptation to text home ( O praise the African obsession with mobile phones) I seem to have a network in even the most remote spots. I receive a reply – London is grey and workmen are drilling concrete on the building site next door…

The Endorois are semi-nomadic pastoralists, people who earn their livelihood through the rearing of livestock. Some say that pastoralists occupy over 70% of the land in Kenya, and this is borne out by what we see on our road trip from Nairobi to Lake Bogoria. As we travel northwards we see hundreds of goats, sheep and cows grazing on sparse patches of grass by the roadside. On entering Endorois territory, just north of the Equator, the animals disregard traffic rules altogether and wander absent-mindedly all over the road, forcing our Kenyan driver John, who seems very used to this behaviour, to respectfully manoeuvre at a crawling pace around the distracted beasts.

Endorois man herding his cows

You wouldn’t want to injure one; these animals are of an almost sacred importance to pastoralist communities and according to Kipkazi a fully-grown cow can fetch around 35, 000 Ksh (about US$500). As Dr Wako, Chairman of the Regional Elders Council, an MRG-backed forum of pastoralist leaders from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, said to me last week at MRG’s African Commission seminar in Kampala, “For pastoralists, sheep and goats are like a current account, they provide us with ready cash, whilst cattle and camels are a savings account, they provide for our future and our children’s future.”

After five hours of driving we reach Lake Bogoria National Reserve, a game park created in 1973 by the Kenyan government, the object of the Endorois’ struggle. The Endorois were evicted from their ancestral lands to make way for the Reserve, depriving them not only of prime pasture for cattle and goats during the harsh dry season but also of sites important for cultural activities such as naming or initiation ceremonies and the only available salt licks for cows in the area. MRG’s Trouble in Paradise campaign is aimed at helping the Endorois get redress for the loss of their lands.

Entrance to Lake Bogoria National Reserve

As we drive around the lake as the sun begins to set behind the dark escarpment overlooking the Reserve, we see the pink blur of thousands of flamingos gathering by the water’s edge, zebras and warthogs, gazelles, impalas, ostriches and giant tortoises – a veritable wildlife haven and overwhelmingly beautiful. Yet somehow it all seems too empty – there are no humans. Unlike elsewhere, there are no small boys tending their flocks of sheep, or herds of cows here. My appreciation of the wildlife and scenery is tinged by sadness.

Flamingos on the shores of Lake Bogoria

Despite being originally promised 25% of revenue from the Reserve and 80% of the jobs in the park – today only a handful of Endorois work as wardens and the community only began to receive a paltry 4% of money raised at the gates in 2006 (33 years after the creation of the Reserve). Improved roads were also promised by the government when they gazetted the land for the park in 1973. Yet those roads have never materialised – even the road through the Reserve is a match for our 4 wheel drive.

Kipkazi is visibly excited by being back in his homeland – as he reminisces about the fertile grazing and plentiful fresh water supply in the area I picture how it must have been in those happier, more prosperous times.

He points out the hot springs and geysers representing sacred sites for the Endorois, which, together with the flamingos, are one of the main reasons tourists now visit the park. He says that legend has it that ghosts inhabit the geysers and call out your name, enticing you into the afterlife – community elders used to offer tobacco and milk in the old days to appease the spirits. When he was a boy it was forbidden to even mention someone’s name when you were near this place, in case that person was taken away by the ghosts.

We press on and visit other traditional sites. Many of the Endorois’ ancestors are buried around the park – the community would normally come and visit their graves for children’s naming ceremonies, but are now prevented from doing so by the authorities. At the southern, isolated end of the lake Kipkazi shows us the place where young boys (aged around 12) used to come for initiation ceremonies – they would stay for 1 month in the bush. The area is wooded to provide shade for those undergoing the hardships of the ritual and a small river flows nearby which would allow the boys to quench their thirst.

Ancient fig trees at Endorois initiation site, Lake Bogoria

As the light fades we decide to call it a day and head out of the Reserve. Miniature antelopes called dikdiks dodge our headlights along the way.

If you haven’t done already, I urge you to sign up to our online petition supporting the Endorois (and get as many of your friends, family and colleagues to do so too). We’ll be handing the petition over to the Kenyan government at the end of 2008. By adding your voice you can help right the wrongs of the past and allow this unique community to fully benefit from the lucrative tourism conducted upon their homeland.

European Roma Summit – an opportunity missed

Snjezana Bokulic, MRG’s Europe and Central Asia Programmes Coordinator, writes on the ‘missed opportunity’ at the recent historic EU Roma summit organised by the European Commission in Brussels

A historic event took place in Brussels on 16 September – the European Commission organized the European Roma Summit, a high-level meeting on Roma in the European Union, the first of its kind, as the organizers were pleased to stress.

In his opening speech, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso very vividly described the plight of Roma in Europe. He talked of the exclusion, discrimination and racism faced by Roma communities, their limited access to mainstream education, jobs and housing. He was, nevertheless, eager to qualify the role of Brussels. “Dramatic situation of the Roma,” he said, “cannot be solved from Brussels.” Then he raised the stakes as regards the expectations for the meeting. This summit, he said, was to be “much more than just another meeting.” It turned out it wasn’t.

In spite of some high-level speakers who, in addition to Barroso, included Vladimir Spidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social affairs and Equal Opportunities, Jan Fiegel, Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Jacques Barrot, Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, as well as George Soros, the American businessman and philanthropist, the conference offered little novelty and even fewer concrete points. It was a sort of déjà vu – we’ve heard it all many and many times over, the sombre criticism, praise, and when it was due, self-criticism, as well as the emotional and controversial views.

In short, the conference was a disappointment.

Girl in a Roma camp in Milan. Photo: Paolo Poce

One of the major human rights violations currently underway in one of the founding member states of the European Union – Italy’s intended practice to fingerprint Roma communities in camps and settlements – remained on the sidelines, in spite of the attempts of the European Roma Policy Coalition, a Brussels-based NGO initiative, to bring the issue to the attention of the audience. In the middle of Barroso’s speech, Coalition members stood up, one by one, holding or wearing T-shirts with a message condemning ethnic profiling. Barroso acknowledged them, expressed his support for their position, yet the conference failed to discuss in concrete terms and condemn this gross abuse of fundamental human rights, yet another indication of racism and discrimination which Roma communities face in every day life, not only in Italy. A range of speakers followed, from governments and civil society, including Roma civil society. Yet the course of the meeting allowed for little to no discussion, no dialogue between the ‘high-level’ and European Roma took place in reality. Even the agenda dodged the real issue – the urgently needed discussion of the obligations and responsibility of the European Union and its member states when it comes to the respect of the rights of European Roma.

So what difference is this conference likely to make in the lives of the Roma in Europe? Minimal to none in my modest opinion. It was more of the same, preaching to the converted yet again. What I would have liked to see is high-level decision makers attending the conference, actively participating and staying throughout and until the end. Commission officials and competent representatives of the national governments of the member states publicly committing themselves and the institutions they represent to specific actions they will undertake following the conference. Commissioners Spidla and Figel and, most importantly perhaps given the flagrant violations of human rights of the Roma in Italy, Vice-President Barrot who is in charge of justice and home affairs, spelling out publicly what the top bureaucrats in Brussels will do for the benefit of Roma. High-level representatives of national governments pledging specific actions aiming at ending discrimination, social inclusion and racism against the Roma in their countries. These pledges and actions would have been negotiated jointly with the Roma communities and Roma civil society in advance of the conference. A system for monitoring the implementation of the pledges would have been put in place following the conference to hold the Commission and the governments to account. As it was, the conference remained a talking shop, albeit a high level one. Another opportunity lost, what a shame. How many more opportunities to end discrimination and social exclusion of its Roma population can the EU afford to lose?