What I Read last Week: Language Learning, Cobblers, South Sudan and Academics Fear of Actually Being Read

Prison Revolt A former law-and-order conservative takes a lead on criminal-justice reform.

An unlikely story about a sector that sorely needs reform.

A Labor Day look inside a Naval Academy tradition - the cobbler shop 

I've got mad respect for cobblers, much like the disappearing shoeshine stand, they are a dying breed. If you invest in nice dress shoes, a good cobbler is a godsend.  I've had several shoes resoled through the years and I personally preferred them in their repaired state to when I first bought them.  

Everyday Life in a Fragile State
Eye opening read on life in South Sudan.  

Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a scholar’s presence in popular media.
I like the disruption suggestion of making academic literature more relevant...and more widely read.

On Learning & Losing Language: A Reading List
Six fascinating articles on learning languages.

Nazis chasing butterflies, South Sudanese Insects, West African Coup Disease

What I'm reading today:

BBC News - Sudan's Omar al-Bashir vows to 'liberate' South Sudan 

The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) has ruled South Sudan since it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.

President Bashir described the SPLM as "insects" that needed to be eliminated.

Fighting between the two countries has now spread to another area, further adding to fears of all-out war.

South Sudan seized the Heglig oil field - generally recognised as Sudanese territory - eight days ago. On Tuesday fighting broke out north of Aweil in South Sudan, about 100 miles (160km) west of Heglig.

Generally recognized by whom?  What lazy reporting!  I know for a fact that SPLA leadership would dispute this "general recognition".

BBC News - British colonial files released following legal challenge 

Secret files from British colonial rule - once thought lost - have been released by the government, one year after they came to light in a High Court challenge to disclose them.

Some of the papers cover controversial episodes: the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, the evacuation of the Chagos Islands, and the Malayan Emergency.

In particular, the first batch of papers reveal:

Official fears that Nazis - pretending to catch butterflies - were plotting to invade East Africa in 1938

BBC News - African viewpoint: Coups, a West African disease? 

It took a while but we in West Africa learnt the very hard way that, given the opportunity, uniformed men are certainly more cruel and just as corrupt as their civilian compatriots.

The surprising thing was how easily the coups were accepted:

• A group of soldiers seizes the studios of the state (and only) broadcaster and make their announcement about having come to save us
• The entire population falls into line and members of parliament and ministers of state give themselves up to be locked up in police stations and prisons for months and even years
  

#Mauritania's Protest Movements

Mauritania is experiencing a vibrant protest movement touching many sectors of political and civil society. Each day seems to bring fresh reports of demonstrations or rallies, sit-ins or gatherings. A member of the 22 states that make up the Arab League, with a complex mix of issues stemming from political, social and financial inequality, Mauritania was naturally caught up in the wave of uprisings that have swept across the region since 2010.

AN ANALYSIS OF ISSUES SHAPING AFRICA’S ECONOMIC FUTURE: Africa's Pulse Vol. 5

Are We Helping or Hurting South Sudan?

Are We Helping or Hurting South Sudan?

Is foreign aid helping South Sudan as a nation or state?  Without foreign aid would they be able to turn off their oil?  Could the missed oil revenue be used for desperately needed infrastructure development (South Sudan has 40 MILES) of paved roads!

Part of the problem is the US.  An impotent and partially castrated (read: underfunded) USAID is unable to corral, direct or strategically implement foreign aid and NGOs.  In South Sudan that means you have dozens (?) of NGOs working at cross purposes (and sometime redundantly) in their own microcosms--instead of cooperatively and strategically.  

WILD IDEA:

How about we get (or give option) death row (or life sentence) prisoners from Texas (I only say Texas because it might be the only state crazy enough to consider it) and send them to South Sudan to build roads and highways.  It would be cheaper to house them in makeshift camps in South Sudan than in Texas . . . of course, now that they are at war . . . nevermind.

http://foodsecurity.ngoaidmap.org/location/247?force_site_id=2

Reports on Angola, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan and Kenya

I lifted these links from the excellent blog called Greta's Links.  She harvests foreign policy reports and when able I will repost the ones applicable to Africanists.

Angola’s External Relations in Africa (transcript) 

Chatham House record of proceedings (20 Feb 2012) with Angola Minister Georges Rebelo Chikoti on their foreign policy and standing in Africa.  

Senegal’s Elections—Towards Dictatorship or Consolidating Democracy? 

*Incidentally, if you want to know what it looks like on the ground in Senegal, check out this Olmsted Scholar's excellent blog: Megan's Third Junior Year Abroad.
http://uiscebatha.blogspot.com/

No Place for Children: Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia 

Institute for Security Studies (ISS)

International Law and the Self-Determination of South Sudan 

Kenya and the Pest of Piracy: A Prospective Partner for Peace 

  Somalia: An Opportunity that Should Not Be Missed 

Darfur redux? & TIA on responsible reporting

Early today I retweeted a link  to Kristof's (@NickKristof)   piece in the New York Times:

In Sudan, Echoes of Darfur

After just completing a midterm on Rwanda's '94 genocide, I think its important that the violence in Sudan is front and center in the news cycle.

Then I read Texas in Africa's take on Kristof's reporting:
Kristof in Sudan

and it gave me pause.

TIA makes very valid points that are worth considering before we automatically applaud certain reporters for their very public (ized) forays into dangerous regions.

TIA also emphasizes that this story DOES need to be reported.  I will continue to investigate and aggregate and developments on FUUO--I may even have an interview to repost on later this week.  If you don't already, you should follow TIA on twitter:

@texasinafrica

And if you're not on twitter already, you're behind the power curve.  

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/02/well-written-articles-on-libya-egypt.html

State Department Monthly-ish Africa Issue

Some good reading in here if you want to catch up on the last month in Africa. 

Africa: Issue 25 - July 26, 2011

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/plrmo/enews/2011/169136.htm

*          Crisis in the Horn of Africa

*       Meeting of Fourth Libya Contact Group in Turkey

*          South Sudan – A Beginning

Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa

US Response to Crisis in the Horn of Africa

 Date: 07/25/2011 Location: Mogadishu, Somalia Description: Mothers from southern Somalia hold their malnourished children at Banadir hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. Some thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu seeking aid, and The World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran said Saturday they can't reach the estimated 2.2 million Somalis in desperate need of aid who are in militant-controlled areas of Somalia. http://www.state.gov/img/11/44931/somalia_east_african_famine_250_1.jpg

 Across the eastern Horn of Africa, more than 11 million people are now in need of emergency assistance to survive. Secretary Clinton expressed her concern for the humanitarian emergency after the announcement by the United Nations stating a famine is underway in parts of Somalia. In a statement she said, “The United States -- in close coordination with the international community -- is working to assist more than 11 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, KeSouth Sudan – A B eginning Open Government Partnership Smart T raveler iTunes App Keeps Citizens Updated nya, and Somalia, who are in dire need of assistance. To anticipate growing needs, the United States government has worked with our partners over the last year to pre-position food in the region, increase funding for early warning systems, and strengthen nonfood assistance in the feeding, health, water and sanitation sectors. In addition to emergency assistance, this administration’s Feed the Future program is working to break the cycle of hunger once and for all by addressing the root causes of hunger and food insecurity through innovative agricultural advances.”

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson addressed the crisis situation during a special press briefing and explained, “We have seen the recent reports that Al-Shabaab claims that it will finally allow international humanitarian aid into areas under its control. We are consulting with international organizations that have worked in these areas to verify if there has been any real change in Al-Shabaab’s policies that would allow us and others to operate freely and without taxation imposed for humanitarian deliveries. Al-Shabaab’s current policies are wreaking havoc and are not helping Somalis living in the south central part of that country. ”  Information on the Crisis in the Horn of Africa» http://www.state.gov/p/af/rt/hornofafrica/index.htm

How You Can Help»

http://contact-us.state.gov/cgi-bin/state.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=272