“ Recent research from ResearchICTAfrica reveals that Kenyans are spending incredible amounts on mobile communication as a proportion of income. Here’s how it breaks down. The average Kenyan spends over 50% of their disposable income on mobile communication. For the bottom 75% of the population, that figure goes up to 63.6%. In terms of total individual income, the average Kenyan spends 16.7% of their income on mobile communication. That figure rises to 26.6% when looking at the bottom 75% of the population. These figures are astounding. It highlights the fact that Africans are paying for mobile communication in spite of how expensive it is, not because of how affordable it is.”
From Nathan and the Mobile Operators by Steve Song of the Shuttleworth Foundation
AfricaFeed
I am the CEO of Chembe Ventures. We provide seed capital to mobile application developers and web start-ups in East and Southern Africa.
sean | at | chembe | dot | com
"Old pirates, yes, they rob I, sold I to the merchant ships..."
Even before last week’s capture and subsequent rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips, reports of pirate activity off the Horn of Africa had been in the news for years. The International Maritime Bureau of the ICC maintains a real-time Live Piracy Map, which provides locations and information on attacks throughout the world.
While Somali seafarers are relatively new to the plundering scene, the Berbers, their Maghreb counterparts west of the Nile Valley, had a long history of menacing European vessels, and not only vessels but coastal towns too.
I was born in Co. Cork in Ireland, not far from the scenic seaside town of Baltimore, which, on June 20th, 1631 was the scene of:
“…one of the biggest single captures of innocents by pirates anywhere in Europe. The night-time raid was also seen as an audacious incursion on what was the King’s territory.”
In what became known as the Sack of Baltimore, 108 English and Irish villagers were taken away by Algerian pirates led by a “Dutch captain turned pirate, Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, also known as Murat Reis the Younger.” This was just one instance of European Christian slaves being captured by Muslim pirates and slave traders.
In his book Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 Robert C. Davis, Professor of History at Ohio State University, claims that,
“between 1 million and 1.25 million European Christians were captured and forced to work in North Africa from the 16th to 18th centuries.”
Fast forward to the beginning of the 19th century. With increased maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea, the Barbary pirates (as they were known then) didn’t need to travel far in search of loot and hostages. Britain and France had agreements in place with the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli to pay “tribute” to ensure safe passage for their vessels.
“However, by 1783 America became solely responsible for the safety of its own commerce and citizens with the end of the Revolution. Without the means or the authority to field a naval force necessary to protect their ships in the Mediterranean, the nascent U.S. government took a pragmatic, but ultimately self-destructive route. In 1784, the United States Congress also allocated money for payment of tribute to the Barbery pirates, and instructed her British and French ambassadors (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively) to look for opportunities to negotiate peace treaties with the Barbery nations.” - The First Barbary War
Negotiations failed, and with the United States deep in debt after a long and costly war at home, Adams and Jefferson decided they would have to pay up until such time they could rebuild the strength of their navy.
The first Barbary War started in 1801 when the pirates wanted a pay raise from the new Jefferson administration. The President balked, the pirates plundered and we had a bloody naval battle on our hands. In fact the Tripolitan War, as it was also known, was the United States’ first foreign war. After 4 years it ended in a draw, a prisoner exchange and a treaty. Here’s the part of the text:
“The Bashaw of Tripoli shall deliver up to the American Squadron now off Tripoli, all the Americans in his possession; and all the Subjects of the Bashaw of Tripoli now in the power of the United States of America shall be delivered up to him; and as the number of Americans in possession of the Bashaw of Tripoli amounts to Three Hundred Persons, more or less; and the number of Tripolino Subjects in the power of the Americans to about, One Hundred more or less; The Bashaw of Tripoli shall receive from the United States of America, the sum of Sixty Thousand Dollars, as a payment for the difference between the Prisoners herein mentioned.” - Treaty Of Peace and Amity between the United States of America and the Bashaw, Bey and Subjects of Tripoli in Barbary.
There were 10 war-free years during which occasional ransoms were paid as opposed to regular “tributes”. Then in 1815 the Second Barbary War started and ended the same year. This time victory for the US was emphatic, with a little help from the British navy.
In the following decade and a half there were sporadic attacks against European and American vessels. However, a side effect of France’s brutal invasion of Algeria in 1830, was that piracy stopped completely. Somehow, I don’t suppose there’s much chance of Barack Obama ordering US troops into Somalia to weed out the pirates there any time soon.
“The Zimbabwean was started in 2005 by exiled Zimbabwean journalists and friends from around the world who came together to publish an independent weekly tabloid free from government interference and censorship to let Zimbabweans know what was really going on in their country.”
“By publishing outside the country they managed to escape the draconian anti-press freedom laws. Today The Zimbabwean is widely distributed inside Zimbabwe as well as throughout South Africa, Botswana and Namibia and in the UK, and is available in 52 countries as a download via Newspaper Direct. Most importantly, they continue to provide ordinary Zimbabweans with accurate news, a vital voice in the midst of the misinformation and hate speech disseminated by ZANU PF’s State-controlled propaganda machine.”
“And herein lies the problem. Not content with having hounded these brave journalists out of the country and forcing them to produce their paper elsewhere, the Mugabe regime slapped an import ‘luxury’ duty of over 55% on the paper. Last year Mugabe’s thugs hijacked and destroyed The Zimbabwean’s cross-border delivery vehicle, beating up their South African driver and torching the vehicle and its load. ” - The World’s First Trillion Dollar Advertising Campaign
Poster for the new book by Kenyan political cartoonist Patrick Gathara.
A follow-up post on raï. The book above is available in its entirety at Google Books. It can also be bought at Amazon:
Raï music is often called the voice of the voiceless in Algeria, a society currently swept by tragic conflict. Raï is the voice of Algerian men, young men caught between generations and classes, in political strife, and in economic inequality.
The musicians do use Western instruments, but the music itself mixes Algerian popular songs and rhythms with the beat of American disco, Egyptian modalities, Moroccan wedding tunes, and the songs of Julio Iglesias. The study, in its innovative approach to music as a template of society, helps the reader understand the two major movements among today’s Algerian youth: one toward the mosque and the other toward the West.
More from the Wikipedia page on raï in the 1980s:
In the 1980s, raï began its period of greatest popularity. Previously the Algerian government had opposed raï because of its sexually and culturally risqué topics, such as alcohol and consumerism, two subjects that were contrary to the traditional Islamic culture. The fundamentalist leaning government also disliked the freedom afforded to women in raï, both in performing raï and in participating in the raï scene by dancing publicly, especially with men, at concerts or in clubs.
In 1985, Algerian Colonel Snoussi joined with French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, to convince the Algerian state to accept raï. He succeeded in getting the government to return passports to raï musicians and allow raï to be recorded and performed in Algeria, with government sponsorship, claiming it as a part of Algerian cultural heritage. In 1986, the first state-sanctioned raï festival was held in Algeria, and a festival was also held in Bobigny, France.
Dead pixel in Google Earth is a creation by Dutch conceptual artist Helmut Smits. The 82 x 82 cm burned square corresponds to the size of one pixel on Google Earth from an altitude of 1 km.
Brought to my attention by @chiefmoamba. First seen on Today and Tomorrow
An African Cartoonist. Gado.co.ke
Yes, it is tough to be a cartoonist in many countries, but some hilarious cartoons come out of Africa every year. Adversity breeds humor, “gallows humor” that is. Right Barry?
The photo above shows the now abandoned record store and then headquarters of the Disco Maghreb music label in Oran. In 1980s Algeria, Disco Maghreb was to Raï, what Motown Records was to African-American soul in the 1970s.
Although Raï is popular throughout Northern Africa, especially in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, the Algerian port city of Oran has always been considered its home. With both Arab and French influences Raï is folk music played on traditional instruments mixed in with synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines.
It became popular among young people who sought to modernize the traditional Islamic values and attitudes. Regional, secular, and religious drum patterns, melodies, and instruments were blended with Western electric instrumentation. Raï music mixes with hip hop, reggae, funk, blues and with North African beats and rhythms. - Wikipedia
Raï singers usually place the word “Cheb” or “Chab” before their names (Cheba for female artists). Cheb is derived from Shabb or young. Famous Raï singers include (Cheb) Khaled, Cheb Mami, Fella and Cheba Djenet.
Photo courtesy of tomichill.
This is the cover of La chinafrique, the new book by French journalists Michel Beuret and Serge Michel. It features the photographs of Paolo Woods, whose work I mentioned yesterday. Of his subject matter Woods says:
Mr. Wood (pictured above) arrived in Nigeria from Shanghai in the 1970s. Today he owns over a dozen factories as well as restaurants, hotels and catering companies. He employs over 1600 workers.
In the above image the Nigerian gentleman holding the umbrella is actually a policeman. They are standing in front of “544 villas built at record speed on the Lekki peninsula near the headquarters of the Chevron oil company.”“For the 500,000 Chinese who have emigrated there is the promise of a 21st century Wild West. Some have struck gold and run large conglomerates that span whole regions of Africa, others are still selling their cheap goods on the burning hot roadsides of the poorest countries in the world.”
“He is an adviser to the President and has obtained the title of chief and the authorization to use police cars as his own.”
no, srsly, try it yourself. thx ted.
Well, at least Google is being honest about it, right? :)
“ In Ethiopia, where aid constitutes more than 90% of the government budget, a mere 2% of the country’s population has access to mobile phones. (The African country average is around 30%.) Might it not be preferable for the government to earn money by selling its mobile phone license, thereby generating much-needed development income and also providing its citizens with telephone service that could, in turn, spur economic activity?
Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa, Wall Street Journal, by Dambisa Moyo, author of Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa.
The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, “has also stipulated that at least 20% of all new recruits to the national police force are female. Women are thirsty for the opportunity to protect their communities, although reaching desired numbers is proving difficult: education standards suffered massively during the war and few women have the minimum qualifications needed. Still, many believe that the skills and understanding women have as mothers and household managers make for more effective police officers than their sometimes gung-ho male counterparts.” - Merlin.
Nathan Eagle gave an excellent 35-minute talk entitled Crowd-Sourcing on Mobile Phones in the Developing World, at the O’Reily Etech Emerging Technology Conference in San Jose, California earlier this month.
If you’re reading these words I presume you have at least a passing interest in modern Africa and the technology shaping it. If you’re not familiar with Nathan Eagle and his work I can highly recommend the above video. Just in case you’ve been put off by its “length”, to whet your appetite here’s a list of some of the things he talks about:
- why in 2006 an MIT research scientist moved to East Africa because he wanted to be where mobile applications are having the greatest effect on people’s lives
- why Kenya is “many years ahead” of Silicon Valley when it comes to developing cutting edge mobile phone applications
- how Africa is the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world
- why the majority of mobile phone users live in developing countries
- why competition amongst mobile telephone operators in some African countries is so great that it is not unusual to see operators giving away free SIM cards
- how you can pay for your cab ride in several East African cities with mobile phones using real time digital bearer settlements (electronic currencies), such as M-PESA
- how Nathan Eagle set up a company to enable mobile phone users to perform simple tasks for corporations in return for small cash payments or free airtime
- which African capital city has tripled in size over the last 4 years
- how examining call data records is helping urban planners design better cities
- which Sub-Saharan mobile phone operator is forecasting revenue of $1 billion in 2009
- how in “Cellphone Alley” you can get a mobile phone assembled before your eyes for 15 dollars
- how and why innovative prepaid models to provide water and electricity are becoming more widespread in Africa
- how 30 % of Rwandans buy their electricity using their mobile phones
Congolese laborers and a civil engineer from the China National Mechanical and Equipment Corporation (CMEC) on the site of the Imboulou Dam project, 200 km north of the capital Brazzaville. CMEC site rules require the Chinese workers to wear yellow hardhats and the Congolese to wear blue ones. The photo appears in a new book, La Chinafrique, by Michel Beuret and Serge Michel. All the photos in the book were taken in 2007 by Paolo Woods, a former World Press Photo award recipient.
“ St Patrick’s Day will see the launch of a daily shortwave radio broadcast from RTÉ (Ireland’s state broadcaster) to the Irish in Africa. The link with home is in response to requests from Irish people scattered throughout the continent, and working in fields such as aid, peace-keeping, construction projects, and missionary work. According to the Irish government there are many thousands of Irish working in Africa. Although RTÉ has long been available on satellite and via the internet, those in remote regions of Africa have asked for old fashioned short-wave transmissions which will reach portable radio sets in areas that do not even have electricity supplies let alone easy access to satellites and the web. The main coverage area will be West, Central and East Africa.
Radio Today with United Radio: RTÉ expands radio in Africa
