AfricaFocus Bulletin
August 3, 2015 (150803)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor’s Note

Coal is the most damaging of fossil fuels, both for human health and
for the planet. Although it still dominates in some countries,
including South Africa, the case against coal is rapidly gaining
ground around the world. On business grounds as well, coal is losing
its competitive advantage. 2015, many are suggesting, may be the
beginning of the end for coal.

For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
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President Obama’s just released Clean Power Plan, if implemented,
will accelerate the rate of closure of coal plants in the United
States. Even the world’s largest producer of coal, China, is
reducing its coal imports and has started to curb its
overwhelming dependence on coal for industrial growth.

Yet these efforts, and the sum of commitments on reducing carbon
emissions made by countries before the Paris climate change summit
this December, still fall short of that needed to protect the planet
as well as the health of those affected by air pollution.

Just released on web: “Must-watch” 1/2 hour video from GroundWork
(South Africa) and Friends of the Earth. “The Bliss of Ignorance” –
on damage to health and environment from South Africa’s addiction to
coal. View at https://vimeo.com/111593436

This AfricaFocus contains a roundup of AfricaFocus Bulletins over
the the last year on climate change and the environment, covering a
range of topics related to this issue, including the divestment
movement, progress in renewable energy, the still enormous gap
between international rhetoric and action in both financing and
action to stem climate justice, and the disproportionate effects of
failure to act on Africa in particular.

For more on “The End of Coal?,” see the Storify compilation of links
by AfricaFocus Bulletin: https://storify.com/wminter/the-end-of-coal

Other recent articles of interest:

“Fact Sheet: President Obama to Announce Historic Carbon Pollution
Standards for Power Plants,” White House, August 3, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/nzjl5qh

Washington Post, August 2, 2015 – summary preview of Obama Clean
Power Plan, including limits on coal emissions
http://tinyurl.com/nmggmuw

Munyaradzi Makoni, “One Tune, Different Hymns – Tackling Climate
Change in South Africa,” Inter Press Service, August 2, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/o8oxt2a

“Can technology free developing countries from light poverty?,” The
Guardian, July 30, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/oj3ybw7

Kofi Annan on CNN: “Africa does little to pollute our world, but
will pay the highest price,” Augusst 3, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/ng3h8bj

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Announcement

AfricaFocus Bulletin publication break. Publication will resume in
early September. Website, Facebook page (
http://www.facebook.com/AfricaFocus), and other social media will
continue to be updated occasionally during the break.

++++++++++++++++++++++end editor’s note+++++++++++++++++

AfricaFocus Bulletin: Climate Change and the Environment

For updated page visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-env.php.

Talking Points

* Global warming and environmental damage from the fossil-fuel
industry already affect all of us, although responsibility lies
primarily with the rich industrialized countries and the newly
industrializing powers. Africa is the most vulnerable continent, but
extreme weather and sea-level rise have hit New Orleans and New
Jersey as well as Lagos.

* When industries make decisions based on short-term profits,
encouraged by government subsidies to established industries, they
systematically discount damages from “externalities.” Visible
results include the devastation of oil-producing areas in the Niger
Delta and of coal-producing areas, whether in South Africa or West
Virginia. The longer-term consequences in rising temperatures and
more extreme weather will be even more devastating.

* Action to combat climate change depends in part on decisions made
in international conferences, where the primary obstacles to action
are the rich countries and the newly industrializing powers. But
efforts at many other levels are also of decisive importance.
Fossil-fuel divestment campaigns, as they grow and multiply, can
affect investment choices. So can technological innovation. Notably,
clean energy can already be more cost-effective than large-scale
fossil fuel plants in supplying distributed energy access to Africa.

Bulletins on climate change and the environment

August 2014 – July 2015

July 6, 2015  Africa/Global: People’s Test on Climate
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/clim1507.php

With less than six months before this year’s UN Climate Change
conference in Paris, it is clear that commitments by governments to
action on climate change will fall short of that necessary to keep
global warming under the internationally agreed target of 2 degrees
Celsius, despite recent new pledges by the United States, Brazil,
and China (http://tinyurl.com/qhtfdk9; http://tinyurl.com/q8g3srl).
But, beyond national governments, there are signs of growing
momentum for more rapid “transformational” action. Particularly
notable is the recognition that such action must simultaneously
address economic inequality and development as well as the natural
environment.

May 18, 2015  Africa/Global: Decarbonizing Development?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/wb1505.php

Decarbonizing Development, a new report from the World Bank, lays
out a target of “zero carbon future” by the end of the century. The
target year goal is the most conservative of the options laid out
for negotiations in the climate summit in Paris in December. Such a
long transition can rightly be criticized by climate activists and
scientists as falling far short, as can the Bank’s own record of
continued support for fossil fuels implicitly faulted in this
report.

May 5, 2015  Africa/Global: Renewables Gaining Ground
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/ren1505.php

“A key feature of 2014 was the continuing spread of renewable energy
to new markets. Investment in developing countries, at $131.3
billion, was up 36% on the previous year and came the closest ever
to overhauling the total for developed economies, at $138.9 billion,
up just 3% on the year. Indonesia, Chile, Mexico, Kenya, South
Africa and Turkey were all in the billion-dollar-plus club in 2014
in terms of investment in renewables.” – UNEP / Bloomberg New Energy
Finance

March 30, 2015  South Africa: Energy Futures Contested
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/sa1503.php

The energy crisis in South Africa, with regular “load-shedding” due
to shortages of power from the monopoly utility Eskom, is now at the
top of the political agenda, featuring in President Jacob Zuma’s
State of the Nation Address in February and in ongoing disputes
about who is responsible and when the situation can be fixed. The
long-term strategy to exit the crisis and begin a transition to a
sustainable energy system is also marked by strong disagreements
between utility and government officials and their critics.

March 10, 2015  Africa/Global: Falling Short on Climate Finance
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/clim1503.php

Africa, the continent with warming deviating most rapidly from
“normal” conditions, could see climate change adaptation costs rise
to US$50 billion per year by 2050, even assuming international
efforts keep global warming below 2 degrees C this century,
according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
report.

March 3, 2015  East Africa: Water, Wind, and Lake Turkana
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/turk1503.php

Lake Turkana, in the far northwest of Kenya and extending over the
border into Ethiopia, is the world’s largest desert lake, in a
region that is central to archaeological investigation into the
origin of humanity. It is now also central to two different projects
for expanding renewable energy due to come on-line in the next three
years, one based on hydropower and the other on wind. While both
will significantly expand the input to the East African power grid,
critics charge that expansion of hydropower on Ethiopia’s Omo River
also poses serious threats to the livelihood of local people both
around Lake Turkana and upstream along the Omo River.

February 11, 2015  Africa/Global: Archbishop Tutu on Fossil-Fuel
Divestment http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/clim1502.php

“The destruction of the earth’s environment is the human rights
challenge of our time. … The most devastating effects are visited
on the poor, those with no involvement in creating the problem. A
deep injustice. Just as we argued in the 1980s that those who
conducted business with apartheid South Africa were aiding and
abetting an immoral system, today we say nobody should profit from
the rising temperatures, seas and human suffering caused by the
burning of fossil fuels.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu

December 15, 2014  Africa/Global: Postponing Climate Decisions
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/clim1412.php

“It was not hard for me to make the connection between the tragedy
in Ferguson, Missouri, and the catalyst for my work to stop the
climate crisis. … In the wake of the climate disaster that was
Hurricane Katrina almost ten years ago, I saw the same images of
police, pointing war-zone weapons at unarmed black people with their
hands in the air. … When crisis hits, the underlying racism in our
society comes to the surface in very clear ways.” – Deirdre Smith,
350.org, August 20, 2014

November 11, 2014  Africa/Global: Fossil-Fuel Divestment Growing
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/cc1411b.php

The latest international scientific statement on the disastrous and
potentially irreversible damage from climate change is unambiguous,
as is the imperative for drastic action to curb greenhouse gas
emissions. But political obstacles to moving from rhetoric to action
are virtually unchanged, despite massive demonstrations coinciding
with the UN climate summit in late September. The dispersed fossil-
fuel divestment movement, however, although still too small to curb
the industry, is growing rapidly.

November 11, 2014  Africa/Global: Climate Change Summary Report
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/cc1411a.php

“The world’s top scientists and governments have issued their
bluntest plea yet to the world: Slash carbon pollution now (at a
very low cost) or risk ‘severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts
for people and ecosystems.’ Scientists have ‘high confidence’ these
devastating impacts occur ‘even with adaptation’ — if we keep doing
little or nothing.” – Joe Romm, Editor, Climate Progress

September 22, 2014  Africa: Climate Action & Economic Growth
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/clim1409.php

It is still conventional wisdom to pit action to curb climate change
against economic growth. But the evidence is rapidly accumulating
that this is a false dilemma, buttressed by vested interests in the
fossil fuel industry and a simplistic concept of economic growth.
According to a report just released by the Global Commission on the
Economy and Climate, falling prices for renewable energy and careful
analysis of both costs and benefits of low-carbon vs. high-carbon
investment strategies point to a clear conclusion: saving the planet
and saving the economy go hand in hand.

August 18, 2014  Africa: From Kerosene to Solar
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/sol1408.php

The largest marketer of solar lamps in Africa, which recently passed
the one million mark in lamps sold, has set an ambitious target for
the industry. “Our mission is to eradicate the kerosene lamp from
Africa by the end of this decade,” proclaims Solar Aid. Although
achieving this goal would require the pico-solar market to emulate
mobile phone industry’s exponential growth path, it may not be as
utopian as it sounds. According to market research company Navigant
Research, “Off-grid solar lighting for base of the pyramid (BOP)
markets, the leading solar PV consumer product segment, is
transitioning from a humanitarian aspiration to big business.”

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AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a
particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.

AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
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http://www.africafocus.org

AfricaFocus Bulletin
July 21, 2015 (150721)
(Reposted from sources cited below)

Editor’s Note

With the exception of inclusion of a statement promising to address
“illicit financial flows,” the outcome document of the Financing for
Development conference in Addis Ababa (July 13-16) broke little new
ground. Significantly, rich countries vetoed action on a greater
role for the United Nations in setting international tax standards,
preserving that role for the club of the OECD countries dominated by
the United States and Europe. But civil society momentum for more
significant action is continuing to grow, as was marked by the
launch of the “Stop The Bleeding” campaign at a continent-wide
gathering in Nairobi in June.

For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
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As noted in previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on illicit financial
flows and tax justice (http://www.africafocus.org/intro-iff.php),
there is strong momentum for African countries to take action to
curb the $50 to $60 billion a year outflow of capital due to clearly
illegal trade fraud and other financial crime. Campaigners for tax
justice point out, however, that even legal economic measures such
as ill-advised tax incentives also bleed African economies of
resources. Depending on how it is defined, “illicit,” it should be
noted, can include not only “illegal” flows, but also “illegitimate”
flows which are even harder to track and combat.

The “Stop the Bleeding” campaign is intended to build public support
and pressure for action on these drains of resources from Africa. It
is a joint effort of the Tax Justice Network-Africa, Third World
Network-Africa, Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development
(AFRODAD), the African Women’s Development and Communication Network
(FEMNET), the African Regional Organisation of the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and Trust Africa, supported
and joined by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, including
international partners such as ActionAid, Oxfam, and Public Services
International. For more, see
http://stopthebleedingafrica.org/ and, for frequent updates,
https://twitter.com/stop_AfricaIFFs

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains (1) An article on the
#StopTheBleeding campaign by Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director of
Tax Justice Network-Africa, (2) a reflection by your editor on the
different meanings of “illicit financial flows,” (3) two reactions
by civil society organizations to the failure of the Addis
conference to endorse a global tax body with universal membership to
set standards to block tax evasion and tax avoidance, and (4) links
to specific examples of illicit financial flows from previous issues
of AfricaFocus Bulletin.

A few additional links on the Addis conference:

Official conference website
http://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd3/

IRIN, “Do #summits solve problems?”, July 16, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/qjv4pox

Quartz, “Rich countries rejected an international plan to let the UN
help fight tax evasion,” July 15, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/qzlpfuq

Global Financial Integrity and Jubilee USA, July 15, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/oobrons

Women’s Working Group, July 16, 2015
http://tinyurl.com/nbajbmy

++++++++++++++++++++++end editor’s note+++++++++++++++++

#StopTheBleeding?: Kenya, East Africa’s economic powerhouse is
bleeding

By Alvin Mosioma
Business Daily (Nairobi), June 24, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/o8ulcmc

Alvin Mosioma, is Executive Director of Tax Justice Network-Africa,
a Pan-African research and advocacy organization based in Nairobi,
Kenya.

Between 2002 and 2011 East Africa’s powerhouse lost at least KSh151
billion (US$1.51 billion) to trade misinvoicing, which is where
companies deliberately cheat how much they are selling abroad.
Companies do this to evade taxes, avoid customs duties, transfer a
kickback or launder money. That is three times the country’s
national health budget. The losses are equivalent to about 8.3 per
cent of government’s total revenue.

And Kenya is not alone, according to a newly published report from
the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa High Level
Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa, the continent loses at
least KSh 5,000 billion (US$50 billion) each year. This could build
151,000 modern schools in just one year.

Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) is bigger than just misinvoicing.
They are defined as money that is illegally earned, transferred or
utilized. These funds originate from three main sources, commercial
activities (tax evasion, trade misinvoicing and abusive transfer
pricing); criminal activities (including the drug trade, human
trafficking, illegal arms dealing, and smuggling of contraband); and
corruption by government officials. Of the three types, aggressive
tax practices by the commercial sector particularly multinational
companies operating in Africa’s mining, oil and gas sector
constitute the worst offenders.

Kenya is one of six countries which the High Level Panel conducted
in-depth case studies for its groundbreaking report. The others were
Algeria, DR Congo, Liberia, Mozambique and Nigeria. The Panel also
visited Mauritius as a representative of a small island economy and
South Africa to gain understanding of how institutions and processes
in Africa’s second largest economy are geared to addressing illicit
financial flows.

In addition to IFFs, Kenya loses over KSh100 billion (US$1.1
billion) each year from legitimate tax incentives and exemptions
granted to multinational companies. Of these, trade-related tax
incentives were at least KSh12 billion (US$120 million) in 2007 and
2008.

In 2010/11, the Kenyan government spent more than twice the
country’s health budget in tax incentives. Can we really afford this
when 46 per cent of Kenya’s 40 million people live in poverty (less
than US$1.25 a day)?

Many studies including from the African Department of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), focusing on East Africa, state
that “investment incentives – particularly tax incentives – are not
an important factor in attracting foreign investment”.

Another recent study found that the main reasons for companies
investing in Kenya are access to the local and regional markets,
political and economic stability and favourable bilateral trade
agreements, fiscal concessions offered by EPZs were mentioned by
only one (1%) per cent of the businesses sampled. They are an
expense Kenya can do without.

The multiplier effects of these losses are much larger. IFFs and
other outflows in real terms mean loss of jobs, income, decent
education and health facilities and other basic infrastructure
critical to structurally transform Kenya’s economy and the socio-
economic conditions of the average citizen.

It is against this backdrop that the Interim Working Group of the
“Stop The Bleeding” Africa IFF Platform comprising six large Pan-
African organisations namely Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A),
Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Af), the African Forum and Network
on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), the African Women’s Development
and Communications Network (FEMNET), the African Regional
Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-
Africa) and Trust Africa supported and joined by the Global Alliance
for Tax Justice (GATJ) launched a unified African campaign platform
on IFFs.

Dubbed “Stop The Bleeding” (Hash tag #StopTheBleeding) campaign, the
launch took place on June 25, 2015 at Uhuru Park, in Nairobi.
The main goal of the campaign is to stop IFFs from Africa through
first the implementation of the recommendations of the HLP report by
all African countries through enactment and enforcement of
appropriate laws to curtail IFFs from Africa. The aim of the launch
is to implement a unified Africa campaign on IFFs that is led and
driven by African civil society organisations with support from
other partners including international NGOs.

Today there is a consensus of the damaging impact of IFFs on
Africa’s economies and the continent’s future between our
governments and civil society. But ultimately ending illicit
financial flows is a political problem, not least because of the
issues, the nature of actors involved, the international character
of the phenomenon and ultimately the corrosive and crippling effects
of IFF on the state and society.

We therefore urge our leaders to adopt measures to curb the
haemorrhaging of Africa’s resources, harness these resources and
invest them in the productive sectors of their economies to improve
living conditions on the continent.

*****************************************************

Defining Illicit Financial Flows

AfricaFocus Bulletin, July 21, 2015

“Illicit financial flows” out of Africa are estimated to exceed $50
billion a year, the most commonly used estimate coming from Global
Financial Integrity and the African Union High Level Panel on
Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. This is roughly equivalent to
the annual total of official development assistance to Africa.

This is a minimum estimate for illicit financial flows, based on
indirect calculations from global statistics. It also relies on the
most restrictive definition of the term, namely funds transferred
across national boundaries that are “illegally earned, transferred,
or utilized,” that is, “illicit” in the sense of “illegal.”

The term “illicit” can actually have two meanings according to most
dictionaries:
(1) not allowed by the law or
(2) not approved of by the normal rules of society
(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/learner/illicit).

In practice the lack of transparency makes it difficult to
distinguish between the two in many if not most cases. Actions that
are clearly illegal, such as fraud in customs declarations to evade
taxes (trade misinvoicing), are among the easiest to track and to
combat, if national tax authorities are adequately equipped to do
so.

But for financial arrangements within a multinational corporation or
agreements between such corporations and governments on terms of an
investment, information needed to determine whether such
transactions are illegal, legal but illegitimate, or legitimate is
rarely available for public scrutiny or for adequate government
regulation.

So in practice financial flows between countries fall into four
categories:
(1) illicit because clearly illegal,
(2) clearly illegitimate because there is enough information is
available to show that they would be regarded as such according to
“normal rules of society,”
(3) clearly legitimate because there is enough information is
available to show that they would be regarded as such according to
“normal rules of society,” or, finally,
(4) hard to tell or debatable because there is not enough
information or there is disagreement on what the law is or what
“normal rules of society” should be.

The same difficulties apply within countries, in distinguishing
between (1) tax evasion, which is clearly illegal, and (2) tax
avoidance, which may be legal but would be regarded as illegitimate
if the facts were known. In addition, of course, laws or their
interpretations can be changed, often as a result of lobbying by
interested parties.

Such distinctions were highlighted by U.S. political cartoonist Tom
Toles in 1993. In the cartoon Russian President Yeltsin tells Uncle
Sam:  “We’re having problems switching to capitalism. The trouble is
that all our capitalists are criminals, breaking our laws.” And
Uncle Sam replies: “That’s just an early stage of capitalism.
Eventually they become powerful enough to rewrite the laws.”

*****************************************************

Global Alliance for Tax Justice, “Financing for Development outcome
rejects a key tax justice measure for ending poverty and
inequality,” July 16, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/njhew6z

On 15 July 2015, at a summit of world government representatives in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Third International Conference on
Financing for Development final outcome text was concluded. A key
proposal was rejected to set up an inclusive United Nations
intergovernmental global tax body, where every country would have a
seat at the table and equal say in reforming global tax policies.
This measure had been advocated by many G77 countries and strongly
backed by Global Alliance for Tax Justice members and allies.
Establishing such a political body on tax within the UN was seen as
an effective way to ensure developing countries could increase
domestic resource mobilization through fairer international tax
policies.

Instead, only a few minor tweaks have been made to the existing UN
expert committee. The United States and the United Kingdom were
among the developed countries pressuring to ensure that the “the
rich countries club” of the OECD remains the only intergovernmental
body that sets global tax standards for all.

No specific debt relief initiatives are contained in the FfD outcome
document, while privatization and private finance are heavily
promoted as ‘solutions’ to financing for development. The problem of
illicit financial flows was strongly debated, but final language
around the issue remains weak, with no clear measures for
implementation. Member states are simply urged to “redouble efforts
to substantially reduce illicit financial flows by 2030, with a view
to eventually eliminate them, including by combatting tax evasion
and corruption through strengthened national regulation and
increased international cooperation.”

Global Alliance for Tax Justice Chair Dereje Alemayehu said: “This
came down to a matter of power between rich and poor, developed
countries and the rest of the world, and private corporate interests
versus the common good. The most powerful countries have ensured the
status quo continues in their favour – but only for the moment. Tax
justice activists can take heart that our years of advocacy,
research and campaigning have ensured that mobilization for real
progressive change on these issues will only continue to grow at
national, regional and global levels.”

During various FfD events, Independent Commission for the Reform of
International Corporate Taxation members José Antonio Ocampo, Joseph
Stiglitz and Eva Joly, UN Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena, UN Economic
Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes, former South
African president Thabo Mbeki, and even the World Bank’s President
Jim Yong Kim commended civil society activists for pushing tax
justice demands – including the call for an inclusive global tax
body, to the top of the agenda in both formal and behind-the-scenes
Financing for Development discussions, and urged civil society to
continue efforts on this front.

********************************************************************

Failure in Addis Ababa: trouble ahead for development

Financial Transparency Coalition
July 15, 2015

http://tinyurl.com/oqbx6p5

Tonight, the Addis Ababa outcome was closed. The final outcome
rejects the proposal of establishing an intergovernmental UN body on
tax matters, and instead introduces some minor changes to the
existing UN expert committee. This means that the OECD will remain
the only intergovernmental body that adopts global standards on tax
matters.

“This is not only a tragic day for the world’s developing countries,
who will now have to accept that global tax standards will get
decided in a closed room where they are not welcome. It is a tragic
day for all of us, because a global tax system where half of the
world’s countries are excluded from decision-making will never be
effective. As long as our governments keep failing to cooperate on
tax matters, multinational corporations will be able to dodge taxes.
At the end of the day, the Addis Ababa failure will impact us all.”

“This came down to power,” said Alvin Mosioma. “The powerful simply
did not want to cede one ounce of their authority to the rest of the
world, and they succeeded in preserving their control.”

“Developing countries have fought hard for this body but today’s
agreement will do nothing but keep them in a patronizing system
where a group of 34 countries hold all of the power,” said Pooja
Rangaprasad of the Financial Transparency Coalition. “Rich countries
decided to maintain a system where money goes from south to north,
but the rules follow the opposite route.”

“This is a dangerous failure of multilateralism and a triumph for a
few, said Jorge Coranado,” President of the Latin American Network
on Debt, Development and Rights. “The agreement will simply continue
to allow the powerful to dictate rules for the entire globe.”

“Developing countries, including a number from Latin America, made
their voice heard on the need for a democratic process,” said Jorge
Coranado, President of Latin American Network on Debt Development
and Rights. “But rich countries and their multinationals decided
there would be no room for them.”

“It was a painful moment to see the developed countries celebrating
the fact that nothing will change and everything will remain the
same,” added Ryding. “This sets a terrible precedent for the
post-2015 and climate negotiations. This was never a negotiation in
good faith, and the developed countries have consistently refused to
even discuss the issues on the table.”

***************************************************************

A Few Examples of Illicit Financial Flows cited in  AfricaFocus
Bulletins, 2013-2015

Note: With the exception of trade misinvoicing, which is by
definition illegal, in most of these examples, it is not clear,
without both more information and detailed expertise on the laws in
different laws, what portion of the financial flows are “illegal”
and how much are “only illegitimate.”

Lonmin in South Africa

June 30, 2015  South Africa: Marikana Perspectives, 2
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/mar1506b.php

Philia (oil) in Congo (Brazzaville)

March 23, 2015  Africa/Global: Swiss Connections
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/iff1503.php

Mining companies in Sierra Leone

January 6, 2015  Sierra Leone: Losing Out
http://www.africafocus.org/docs15/sl1501.php

Swiss oil trading companies

September 16, 2014  Africa: Tracing the Oil Money
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/oil1409.php

Equatorial Guinea

August 11, 2014  Africa: Investment for Whom?
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/iff1408.php

South African diamonds

June 1, 2014  South Africa: Disappearing Diamond Revenue
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/dia1406.php

Trade Mis-Invoicing

May 26, 2014  Africa: Fraudulent Trade & Tax Evasion
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/iff1405.php

Fisheries & Forests

May 12, 2014  Africa: Report Highlights Resource Plunder
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/app1405.php

Nigeria Oil

March 25, 2014  Nigeria: Corruption & Its International Partners
http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/nig1403.php

Tax Havens

May 31, 2013  Africa/Global: Rich Without Borders
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/tax1305.php

Tax Havens

Apr 11, 2013  Nigeria: #Offshoreleaks
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/tax1304.php

Zambia Sugar

Feb 15 2013  Zambia/Global: The Price of Tax Avoidance
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/tax1302.php

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By James Thompson

The Houston Communist Party wholeheartedly commends the decision by the South Carolina legislature to take down the stars and bars from the state capital. This is only right given the tragedy that occurred in a Charleston church recently.

Although this is a great leap forward, it is only a beginning. So much more needs to be done throughout the country.

The previously posted article “Bring down all racist symbols!” opens a series on this website dealing with racist symbols throughout this country. People in the USA should remember that the people of Germany renounced all Nazi symbols after the conclusion of World War II (also called the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union).

While the propaganda machine in the USA lambastes other countries for human rights abuses, the USA has failed to formally renounce its own history of human rights abuse. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)

The people of the USA need to take a critical look at our history and begin the process of redemption and reconciliation.

Let us start at home in Houston. However, we won’t stop here.

There has been a recent effort to rename Dowling Street to Emancipation Avenue in Houston. It is clear that the time has come to do this and any effort to resist this progressive development can only be characterized as racist.  http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/neighborhood/2015/07/10/push-to-change-confederate-street-name-in-houston/29994145/

Much more needs to be done.

Houston’s most prestigious university, Rice University, was named after a vicious slaveholder, William Marsh Rice,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Marsh_Rice . Rice accumulated a fabulous fortune from the labor of his slaves. The history of his life was a series of scandals and struggles to steal the wealth produced by his slaves. More research into the history of William Marsh Rice is needed but it is clear that it is a travesty for a prestigious university to be named after a slaveholding scoundrel. Graduates of Rice should renounce the racist history of their university and demand that the University be renamed. Further, it should be demanded that any descendents of the slaves which contributed to the wealth of William Marsh Rice and the University receive full scholarships for study at the University.

The Houston Communist Party welcomes any contributions about the issue of taking down racist symbols. Please submit to PHill1917@comcast.net .

The historic leader of the Revolution congratulated the Hon. Mr. Alexis Tsipras for his political victory and courage regarding the current situation facing the country

Author: Fidel Castro Ruz

July 7, 2015 09:07:51

Hon. Mr. Alexis Tsipras

Prime Minister of Greece:

I warmly congratulate you for your brilliant political victory, details of which I followed closely through the channel TeleSur.

Greece is very familiar among Cubans. She taught us Philosophy, Art and Sciences of antiquity when we studied at school and, with them, the most complex of all human activities: the art and science of politics.

Your country, especially your courage in the current situation, arouses admiration among the Latin American and Caribbean peoples of this hemisphere on witnessing how Greece, against external aggression, defends its identity and culture. Nor do they forget that a year after Hitler’s attack on Poland, Mussolini ordered his troops to invade Greece, and that brave country repelled the attack and drove back the invaders, forcing the deployment of German armored units towards Greece, diverting them from the initial target.

Cuba knows of the bravery and the fighting capacity of the Russian troops, which, together with the forces of their powerful ally the People’s Republic of China, and other nations of the Middle East and Asia, always try to avoid war, but would never allow for any military aggression without an overwhelming and devastating response.

In the current political situation of the world, where peace and the survival of our species hangs by a thread, every decision, more than ever, must be carefully thought-out and applied, so that no one may doubt the honesty and seriousness with which many of the most responsible and serious leaders struggle today to confront the calamities that threaten the world.

We wish you, esteemed companero Alexis Tsipras, the greatest of success.

Fraternally,

Fidel Castro Ruz

5 July, 2015

8:12 p.m.