TONIGHT ON THE TERRORDOME: Relaunch of Arusha Declaration + Police Torture in Nigeria

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Madaraka Nyerere, son of former Tanzanian president Julius Gadarabe Nyerere, discusses parallels between socialist development in Tanzania andVenezuela. And in the second half of the show, Damien Ugwu reveals the shocking extent of police torture in Nigeria.

In the mid-20^th century during decolonisation and prior to the ascendancy of neo-colonialism, a number of leaders were at the forefront of classical Pan-Afrikanism. This group included Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Sekou Toure of Guinea, and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, among others. In Tanzania’s case, the leader was Julius Kambarage Nyerere, known as Mwalimu, Ki-Swahili for “teacher.”

A committed Pan-Afrikanist, Nyerere helped launch the international Anti-Apartheid movement in 1960. Nyerere co-founded the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), becoming prime minister when Tanganyika became independent in 1961.

Having forged the union of Tanganyika and the island of Zanzibar, Nyerere became president of the new nation of Tanzania, a position he kept until 1985. As eulogized on the website of South Africa’s African National Congress, Nyerere “offered sanctuary in Tanzania to members of African liberation movements from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, and Uganda, and in 1978 ... sent Tanzanian troops to depose Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Tanzania hosted the African Liberation Committee from its inception in 1963. Tanzania gave land and other assistance to the African National Congress of South Africa for its headquarters in Morogoro, and for the Solomon Mahlangu school and other projects.”

Tonight, we’ll hear an interview conducted by Adam Ma’anit of Pambazuka News and New Internationalist magazine with Madaraka Nyerere, the son of the former Tanzanian president. “Madaraka Nyerere was in London [with the Global Women's Strike] to re-launch the Arusha Declaration, the document which is the foundation of socialist principles practiced by Nyerere's government.... Madaraka explores the reasons why Nyerere's policies have been demolished by [neoliberalism], and the relevance of his father's work for modern Africa and the women's rights movement.”

We'll also hear a disturbing story on the prevalence of police torture of detainees in Nigerian jails. Police routinely torture prisoners held for as little as one night, according to Damien Ugwu of the Nigerian Civil Liberties Organisation. In the following segment, Ugwu speaks with Sokari Ekine about “endemic police torture in the Nigerian justice system. [The Nigerian Civil Liberties Org

anisation] estimates that five people a day are being extra-judicially killed by the police. Most vulnerable are unemployed youths accused of armed robbery. Damien Ugwu explores the reasons why torture and murder are commonplace and the cultural and political roots of the problem.”

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE TERRORDOME

This Friday, CJSR kicks off its annual FUNDRIVE. Show your support for CJSR’s excellent range of music and news you won’t find anywhere else on the dial. Every week, every year, CJSR covers ethno-cultural, gender, sexual orientation, pro-democracy, environmental and other public affairs that corporate radio doesn’t understand or refuses to address.

Your support of community radio is vital to its development and growth, and your support of The Terrordome, broadcast since 1991 on CJSR, is absolutely necessary. Please donate any time during the ten day of FunDrive, but to show your support of The Terrordome and Asiko Phantom Pyramid, please call 492-CJSR during next week’s broadcasts on Wednesday’s The Terrordome from 6-7 pm and Thursday’s Asiko Phantom Pyramid from 8-10 pm. You can also pledge online DURING THE SHOWS (please) by clicking here.

UPCOMING PUBLIC READING BY MINISTER FAUST

Next Tuesday on the University of Alberta campus, I’ll be at a special presentation in the Humanities Centre reading from my new novel, From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain.

Cloaked as a self-help book for superheroes, the novel is actually a satire on self-help books, psychoanalysis, the cult of celebrity, the threat of corporate media, and the imperial destructiveness of the Bush White House.

The Humanities Centre is connected to the north-east end of Hub Mall, and I’ll be reading Tuesday, October 16 at 3:30 pm in room 4-29. The event is sponsored by the University of Alberta Department of English and Film Studies and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.