‘The Old Man is Being Crazy Now’: NED Democracy Fellow Thiat on Hip-Hop and Activism in Senegal

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Abdoulaye Wade, African conscious hip-hop, Angola, Cheikh Niang, DOs Santos, Gambia, Kaolack, Keur Gui, Mugabe, Senegal, Thiat, West Africa integration, Zimbabwe

Thiat (R)

I recently heard Charles Mangongera, NED Democracy Fellow, deliver remarks on Zimbabwe.  Yesterday, I heard his colleague, Thiat, speak on Y’en a Marre: Youth and Social Engagement in Senegal in the same room.  Thiat provided a brief history of the emergence of Y’en a Marre, its opposition to President Wade’s unconstitutional efforts to seek a third term, and his future aims and objectives.

A Conversation with Charles Mangongera, Visiting NED Democracy Fellow, on Governance and Activism in Zimbabwe

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Angola, Charles Mangongera, Equatorial Guinea, Mass Public Opinion Institute, MDC, military rule in Africa, Mutoko, National Endowment for Democracy, political science, Robert Mugabe, Tete, University of Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe elections

I recently had the pleasure to hear National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Reagan-Fascell Fellow Charles Mangongera, Director of Policy and Research for Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, speak masterfully at NED on the role of the military in the country’s political sphere.  Dedicated readers may know that I have a particular interest in Zimbabwe and recall an earlier Africa in DC interview of another Zimbabwean activist.

A Human Rights Activist on the ‘Militarized Regime’ in Angola

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Angola, Angola in Guinea-Bissau, Angolan armed forces, Cabinda, Chinese in Angola, General Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias Jr, Human RIghts Angola, Isabel Dos Santos, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, Lusophone Africa, Maka Angola, Military Angola, NED Fellow, Rafael Marques de Morais

Morais in white with Angolan embassy staff to the left

I wrote Monday of a NED Fellow who lamented the lack of a presence of grassroots human rights activists at policy events in DC.  Yesterday the Africa program of CSIS hosted one such individual, Rafael Marques de Morais, an British educated Angolan journalist/human rights activist who was also a NED Fellow in 2011.  Although I became quite interested in Angola as a student in Namibia and submitted a Boren Fellowship proposal to study Angolan migrants of Portuguese origin to Namibia in the 1970s, Lusophone Africa has not figured prominently in my Africa in DC posts to date.  Consequently, despite a busy work schedule I made a point to drop in on the conversation (disclaimer: I arrived slightly late and left a bit early).

Friday Night Africa in DC: Cuba and Congo Revisited

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African liberation, Amilcar Cabral, Angola, Che Guevara Africa, Che Guevara Congo, Communism in Africa, Cuba in Africa, Friends of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Victor Dreke

Post-screening Remarks. The Executive Director of Friends of the Congo is on the far right.

Friends of the Congo continues to earn accolades.  Tonight at Cafe Arte they screened the Cuba: An African Odyssey film, of which snippets were shown at their Cuba to Kuba event that I reviewed last week.  Due to a combination of a late start and the film’s length, the evening culminated with only a viewing of the first half of the film complete.

The documentary contains very interesting footage from the era as well as insightful interviews with prominent figures from various African countries, Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the US (European figures are significantly less prominent).  It is certainly worth viewing, though I would say that it’s scope is probably too ambitious (there was an attempt to introduce viewers to Amilcar Cabral in some depth, which I felt was superficial and a bit of a flop).  In particular, I would have liked to hear more about Che’s 8 country Africa tour in 1964 and his very warm reception in revolutionary Congo – Brazzaville.

The first part of the film recounts Che Guevara’s failed mission in the Congo and Cuba’s less explicit (but perhaps more successful) military assistance to Guinea-Bissau, which involved several of the same personnel who served with Che in the Congo (such as the ubiquitous Victor Dreke).  The second part, to be screened by Friends of the Congo at a later date, apparently explores Cuba’s lengthier and more substantial role in Angola. 

Anyone know what the Cuban – Angolan relationship is like these days?

Afterwords, I nodded my head to some African tunes for a few minutes at the nearby Bukom Cafe.  I have to say that given its location, it amazes me how heavily West African the clientele is there (although similar scenarios hold true for several nearby Ethiopian establishments).