Dialogue Forum with Firoze Manji: „African Awakenings: The Courage to Invent the Future“

On Tuesday the 27th of September 2011 at 7pm., AfricAvenir International e.V. invites to a dialogue forum with Firoze Manji, founder and editor of the panafrican journal Pambazuka News (www.pambazuka.org). Under the title “African Awakenings: The courage to invent the future” he will be talking about the socio-economic context of social movements in Africa. Not only in Northern Africa, but on the whole continent people and protest movements are on the streets asking their governments to take responsibility for their people, all the while proclaiming their disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the current politics. But what are the goals of these movements and on what developments are they reacting?

Having experience in the struggle for human rights and social justice Manji is drawing attention to the big social development structures: The upturn after the independences 50 years ago, followed by a change of politics as a result of which states abandoned social care for the benefit of economic liberalization. The demand for a new and just social order is therefore the main reference point for social protest movements. The power of the economy and state is increasingly accompanied by a political mobilization of citizens.

Firoze Manji, Kenyan, is founder and editor of the panafrican journal Pambazuka News, an open-access online magazine, offering a vital forum for a broad audience on the whole continent and the diasporas interested in social justice and politics. He has been working for many years for the Canadian research centre for international development (IDRC) in Nairobi as a regional representative for medical sciences in eastern and southern Africa; as managing director of the Aga Khan Foundation (UK) and as the head of programming for Africa in the international bureau of Amnesty International.nHaving studied at the University of London, where he also earned his PHD, he was a fellow at the Kellog College and a lecturer at the University of Oxford. He has been publishing on many different topics, among others health, social justice and human rights. Furthermore he has been writing schoolbooks for NGOs and organizations involved in the human rights sector.

Dialogue Forum : „African Awakenings: The Courage to Invent the Future“
With Firoze Manji, Pambazuka.org
Tuesday, 27 September, 19 h
Galerie Listros, Kurfürstenstraße 33, 10785 Berlin
U1, M48, M85 Kurfürstenstraße

Entrance Fee: Donation.

This event is supported by Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit des Landes Berlin, Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation and by GIZ from Funds allocated by the Ministry of Cooperation and Development.