February, 10 2009, 08:15am EDT
Africa Action to Host US - Africa Policy Forum
February 19th Event Under the Theme of: "Projecting Change and Continuity Under the Obama Administration"
WASHINGTON
*WHAT:*
Engaging Unheard Voices in Foreign Policy
*WHERE:
*Howard University
Blackburn Center
2400 6th St. NW
Washington, DC 20059*
WHEN:
*Thursday, February 19th
1:00pm-5:00pm
Informal Reception 5:00-7:00pm
*
WHO:
Official Opening:
Emira Woods*, Co-Director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, Chairperson of the Africa Action Board of Directors
*Keynote Address *
*Semhar Araia*, Africa analyst and lawyer, Member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. Semhar formerly served as an Africa Analyst for The Elders, a US House of Representatives foreign policy legislative assistant, and an international law attorney for the implementation of the Eritrea-Ethiopia peace agreement before the Eritrea- Ethiopia Claims Commission.
*Professor Shadrack Gutto*, Renowned African scholar, author and educator. Professor Gutto is the Director of the African Renaissance Studies at the University of South Africa. He teaches, writes and researches in the areas of jurisprudence, constitutional property and human rights law at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
*Experts Panel*
Conflict and Militarism
*Professor Mahmood Mamndani*, Renowned author and expert in African history, politics
and international relations. He has been named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the
world by the US magazine Foreign Policy in May 2008 in July 2008. Professor Mamdani
currently teaches at the Columbia University.
Economic Policy
*Neil Watkins,* Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network
Environment, Climate Change and Food Security
*Leslie Fields,* Program Director of the Environmental Justice program at the Sierra Club.
Global Health Policy
*Krista Johnson,* professor in the African Studies Department at Howard University.
To download the Flyer, Visit:
https://www.africaaction.org/docs/AA_HUPolicyForum2.pdf
**For Media Inquires, or to schedule interview prior to the forum,
E-mail or Call Michael Stulman
Africa Action is a national organization that works for political, economic and social justice in Africa. Through the provision of accessible information and analysis combined with the mobilization of public pressure we work to change the policies and policy-making processes of U.S. and multinational institutions toward Africa. The work of Africa Action is grounded in the history and purpose of its predecessor organizations, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), The Africa Fund, and the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), which have fought for freedom and justice in Africa since 1953. Continuing this tradition, Africa Action seeks to re-shape U.S. policy toward African countries.
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Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
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Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
"Requesting an in-service decision by May 23 leaves the company very little time to implement the safety measures required by its agreement with PHMSA," Sims added. "There is no rush, other than to satisfy MVP's capacity customers' contracts—a situation of the company's own making. We remain deeply concerned about the construction methods and the safety of communities along the route of MVP."
Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
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POWHR and activists representing frontline communities affected by the pipeline are set to take part in a May 8 demonstration outside project financier Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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David Sligh, conservation director at Wild Virginia, said: "Approving the Southgate project is irresponsible. This project will pose the same kinds of threats of damage to the environment and the people along its path as we have seen caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the last six years."
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Others renewed warnings about the dangers MVP poses to wildlife.
"The endangered bats, fish, mussels, and plants in this boondoggle's path of destruction deserve to be protected from killing and habitat destruction by a project that never received proper approvals in the first place," Center for Biological Diversity attorney Perrin de Jong said. "Our organization will continue fighting this terrible idea to the bitter end."
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U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
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As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
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Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
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North Carolina officials have not said whether they will appeal Biggs' ruling. The state Department of Justice said it was reviewing the decision.
According to Forward Justice—a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South, "Although Black people constitute 21% of the voting-age population in North Carolina, they represent 42% of the people disenfranchised while on probation, parole, or post-release supervision."
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