Did Canada lead the international charge against apartheid and white rule in South Africa or criticize a country that, in fact, did?
Recent commentary about Canada’s policy towards southern Africa’s liberation struggles distorts history that should inform debate over Canada’s planned military deployment to the continent today.
Fidel Castro was a staunch ally of nationalist, anti-colonialist and pro-independence African leaders like Nelson Mandela [Xinhua]
The 20th Century’s last great revolutionary, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, died on November 25.
And the age of revolution died with him.
Loved and respected by many, hated by some, there is no questioning that Fidel played a pivotal role in shaping the world in which we currently live.
François Hollande, president of France, called him a “towering figure of the 20th Century”. And so he was.
A yellow fever epidemic has been declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 67 confirmed cases and 1000 suspected. There have been 5 deaths so far.
Yellow fever has been spotted in three provinces, including the capitol city of Kinshasa. Seven of the cases have been indigenous to the region, where 58 were brought in from Angola where it is suspected that the disease originated from.
An outbreak of yellow fever in Angola has infected thousands of people and claimed 238 lives since December. The first cases of the outbreak were reported in the capital of Luanda, and has since spread to 16 of 18 of the country’s 18 provinces.
When asked by Wolf Blitzer in January if she was “the establishment,” Hillary Clinton replied: “I just don’t understand what that means. He’s been in Congress, he’s been elected to office a lot longer than I have.” Several weeks later, her Democratic primary opponent Sen.
The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the peoples of Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom and justice, unparalleled for its principled and selfless character…Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts, but never as colonizers. They have shared the same trenches with us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment, and apartheid.
After 40 years, Republic of Guinea native Alpha Diallo still remembers the emotion he felt as a 20-year-old college student in Cuba when he made a decision that would change his life. The Cuban government had just decided to send troops to Angola to fight the invading South African army, which had crossed the border into Angola several weeks earlier on October 23, 1975.
For all of the celebration of him as a “grand strategist,” as someone who constantly advises presidents to think of the future, to base their actions today on where they want the country to be in five or 10 years’ time, Kissinger was absolutely blind to the fundamental feebleness and inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union. None of it was necessary; none of the lives Kissinger sacrificed in Cambodia, Laos, Angola, Mozambique, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, East Timor, and Bangladesh made one bit of difference in the outcome of the Cold War.
A few days ago former President Jimmy Carter announced that he has cancer and it is spreading. While it would be premature to assume this spells the end for the 90-year-old, it does present an opportunity to take stock of the tenure of a President who, like the current occupant of the White House, entered office with a promise to respect human rights, but failed miserably when given the opportunity to do so.
