Showing posts with label Cote d'Ivoire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cote d'Ivoire. Show all posts

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Update V (2011)

(Apologies to anyone who has checked this blog recently and found nothing new. I’ve been very busy–bogged down is a better way to put it--working on posts about the mix of religious and ethnic identities in Syria. I hope to post these next week. Also, when I tried to post on Thursday night I couldn't get into BlogSpot--don't know why.  As the school year winds down, I’d like to hear from teachers who’ve visited this blog and used its resources. What worked or didn’t work? If you are a teacher ed student or practice teacher, I especially want to hear from you. Send your feedback to my e-mail account: historylynx@gmail.com.)


This post provides updated or additional resources for recent posts and covers these topics:

1) Ivory Coast’s New Chapter
2) Journalists on the Frontlines: Ivory Coast
3) Journalists on the Frontlines: Libya
4) From Birtherism to Otherism
5) Finland and the Crisis in the Euro Zone


IVORY COAST'S NEW CHAPTER

On May 21 Alassane Outtara was inaugurated as president of Cote d’Ivoire, opening a new chapter and a return to constitutionality (as legislative elections are expected before the end of this year). At the inauguration twenty heads of state and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon listened as President Outtara called for national reconciliation and reiterated a strong commitment to investigating human rights abuses.
  • For a quick rundown on Cote d'Ivoire since the overthrow of Laurent Gbagbo (April 11), see Paige McClanahan’s article in The Christian Science Monitor. The inauguration was widely covered in international media online (search your preferred sites) or check out the NYT article. (See Resources for both of these.)
Ouattara expects that the International Criminal Court will be involved in pursuing cases. He has stated that investigations, to be conducted internally and by the UN Human Rights Council, would probe allegation of mass killings (particularly in and around Duékoué) by forces taking his side in the civil war–as well as those by supporting Gbagbo. While he is determined to form a national unity government, he is worried that pro-Gbagbo fighters who have fled to Liberia might try to stir up trouble within the region (1).

A slow economic recovery is underway. Cocoa exports have resumed (May 8), a harbinger of better days to come, yet some cocoa farmers are too afraid to return to their plantations. Also fearful are many displaced farmers who grow foodstuffs are staying away others, also fearful, are fields and this means that food shortages. These fears are not irrational as attacks on returnees are documented in the Amnesty International report (see Resources).

For the country’s internally displaced and Ivorian refugees in Liberia, the immediate future still looks grim. That’s 335,000 unfortunate people (200,000 in Cote d’Ivoire, 135,000 in Liberia) in need of humanitarian assistance, especially food. UN and other programs only 35% funded, amounting to deficit of $200 million over the next few months. (2)

This week Amnesty International released a report, based on a two-months of research and more than 100 interviews conducted inside Cote d’Ivoire. Press coverage of this report has highlighted (unfairly I think) a statement by Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty’s chief investigator, that is alarmist. According to Mootoo, "Alassane Ouattara’s failure to condemn these acts could be seen as a green light by many of his security forces, and other armed elements fighting with them, to continue" (3). I’ve added the bold emphasis to make it clear that Mootoo, despite his reporting incidents of abuse and retribution occurring after Gbagbo’s ouster--was not accusing Ouattara of ordering or orchestrating such actions (though, perhaps, he meant to imply this).

Of course, the international community needs to hold Ouattara’s feet to the fire. How responsible is Ouattara? Now that he’s president, we can say that the "franc stops on his verandah" but that is quite different from alleging that he is the instigator. I have reservations about the extent to which Ouattara has firm control over the military–which is probably taking order from Guillaume Soro (4). In any case, we all need to read the report for ourselves, not rely on brief summaries in the media (see Resources).

The report gives a detailed account of abuses occurring during the civil war or immediately after former President Gbagbo was captured on April 11th, when tensions were running very high (when Ouattara had not yet had an opportunity to exert his authority over forces acting on his behalf). Those "loyal" forces were directly under the control of military men and warlords, whose self-interest was to leverage their own positions. The Duékoué massacre on March 29th was a horrible event and the Amnesty report is justified in pointing to the UN’s "fatal inertia" as a major enabling factor. Survivors told Amnesty that they asked the UN for help, repeatedly, but it never came. Also, very apparent in the report’s presentation is the ethnic dynamic at work. How ethnic identities and the legacy of Ivoirité play out in the coming months is what I’ll be watching out for.

Activities

READ/COMPARE the BBC, VOA and Guardian articles: ASK: Do you detect difference in POV? What exactly indicates these differences? Which article is a fairer, more balanced presentation of the Amnesty reports findings?

PLAN: The eye-witness testimonies embedded in the Amnesty report are primary sources (though, of course, the original recordings/transcripts from the field are "more" primary). Global studies and world history teachers may plan now (or make a note to follow-up over the summer) to incorporate a balanced selection in next year’s lessons. If you teach an elective course on genocide, this material is relevant.

FRENCH TEACHERS: Go to the French version of the Amnesty report and select eye witness testimony (short paragraphs, in quotation marks, in Chapters 3-4) to use as a translation exercise. Introduce the topic orally or use a news source. If time permits, discuss these accounts in French.

Resources
McClanahan, Paige. "West Africa Rising: Ivory Coast Recovering from Season of Violence." Christian Science Monitor (May 24, 2011): http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0524/West-Africa-Rising-Ivory-Coast-recovering-from-season-of-violence

Nossiter, Adam. "Ivory Coast’s New leader Takes Oath, Urging Unity." New York Times (May 21, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/world/africa/22ivory.html?scp=2&sq=nossiter%20ivory%20coast&st=cse

Amnesty International. "‘They Looked at His Identity Card and Shot Him Dead’: Six Months of Post-Electoral Violence in Cote d’Ivoire." Amnesty International (2011): http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR31/002/2011/en

  • Available as both a PDF and HTML, in English and in French(page numbers below are those of the document itself, not the PDF). English PDF: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR31/002/2011/en/bb769d9e-874f-442e-9454-993977a35f95/afr310022011en.pdf
  • Includes a concise summary of events since 2002, leading up to the election in November 2010 and Gbagbo’s unwillingness to cede power, the escalating violence, the conclusion of the civil war (Chapter 2).
  • Chapters 3-4 cover crimes/abuses by all sides, including those perpetrated after Gbagbo was ousted. Eye-witness testimony is presented throughout these pages. The ethnic animosity involved is clearly apparent--very obviously pointed out in the title). For the Duékoué massacre and abuses in this area see pp. 37-44.
  • See the ample footnotes (pp. 62-65) for more background sources, context, and detailed reports (for Ivoirité see notes 6, 20).
For an Amnesty International UK article about the report with a concise summaries of its findings and recommendations:
For early press coverage of the Amnesty International report:
Notes 

1) Adam Nossiter (see Resources). "Ivory Coast: Alassane Ouattara Warns of Mercenaries." BBC News (May 23, 2011): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13500677 

2) For details see "Ivory Coast Humanitarian Response Woefully Underfunded," Oxfam Ireland (May 23, 2011): http://www.oxfamireland.org/blog/2011/05/23/ivory-coast-humanitarian-response-woefully-underfunded/ 

3) Mootoo is quoted in The Guardian but the NOT in the Voice of America piece (despite its title); see articles in Resources.

JOURNALISTS ON THE FRONTLINES: IVORY COAST

(For Ivory Coast see posts listed above.)

During Cote d’Ivoire’s post-election stand-off and civil war the country’s journalists in working in both broadcast and print media–on both sides-- behaved badly, according to Reporters Without Borders. After Gbagbo was dislodged and arrested, Ouattara’s supporters have turned to harassing pro-Gbabgo journalists, looking for revenge. (1)

Recently, for Ivoirian journalists there have been a few positive signs--–but troubling news as well. One newspaper that had supported Gbagbo is now back in print and others expected to reappear within a week or so. But a warning by the new minister in charge of communications, Hamed Bakayoko, in which he stressed the desirability of limits on freedom of the press, is prompting organizations like Reporters Without Borders to voice their concerns. Speaking on World Press Freedom Day (May 3) Hamed Bakayoko (the new minister in charge of communications) spoke about freedom of the press in a manner worrisome to those who value it and advocate for the rights and protection of journalists. In addition, fears aroused by incidents, such as the torching of a radio station in a suburb of Abidjan, have been amplified by the news that a pro-Gbagbo radio journalist, Lago Sylvain Gagneto, who was arrested by pro-Ouattara forces earlier this month, was then summarily executed by them. On May 24 one of the directors of an opposition daily was arrested, perhaps to send a message before it resumes publication. (2)

I agree with CPJ spokesperson that Ouattara should act quickly "to rein in his forces and uphold the rule of law" (3).

Activities

These activities are recommended especially for journalism or global studies classes.

READ/DISCUSS: Distribute copies (or read online) the articles about the predicament of pro-Gbagbo journalists now that the former President has been arrested and his rival inaugurated (see Resources). ASK: What can/should President Ouattara to protect ALL journalists?

DISCUSS: Lift Minister Bakayoko’s remarks (as quoted in "Opposition Press Resumes Publishing") and put them into a hand-out. ASK students to respond: Does freedom of the press have limits? What limits might be appropriate or not, in a crisis situation? How might what he said apply--or not--to places in the news right now? (If you are an advocate of absolute freedom of the press, stop and think for a moment how radio messages were used to incite genocide in Rwanda.)

FRENCH CLASS: For a quick translation exercise (a good "bell-ringer") print-out the this page and/or listen to the audio (if you think it’s clear enough):

Resources
"Call to Avoid Media Vengeance by Civil War Victors," Reporters Without Borders (April 19, 2011): http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-call-to-avoid-media-vengeance-by-19-04-2011,40061.html
"Opposition Press Resumes Publishing," Reporters Without Borders: (May 23, 2011): http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-opposition-press-resumes-23-05-2011,40263.html

"In Ivory Coast, Pro-Ouattara forces Harass Journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists (May 24, 2011): http://cpj.org/2011/05/in-ivory-coast-pro-ouattara-forces-harass-journali.php

Notes

1) "Call to Avoid Media Vengeance by Civil War Victors," Reporters Without Borders (April 19, 2011); "In Ivory Coast, Pro-Ouattara forces Harass Journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists (May 24, 2011); see resources. For incidents after the disputed election see Nassirou Diallo with Mohamed Keita, "The Struggle Contines for Power, and Media, in Ivory Coast," Committee to Protect Journalists Blog (January 2011?): http://www.cjp.org/blog/2011/01/the-struggle-continues-for-power-and-media-in-ivor.php

2) "Opposition Press Resumes Publishing," Reporters Without Borders: (May 23, 2011): http://en.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-opposition-press-resumes-23-05-2011,40263.html; "Pro-Gbagbo Journalist Murdered, Newspaper Hounded as Reprisals Continue," Reporters Without Borders (May 25, 2011): http://www.rsf.org/cote-d-ivoire-pro-gbagbo-journalist-murdered-25-05-2011,40345.html

3) Mohamed Keita (CJP Africa Advocay Coordinator), as quoted in In Ivory Coast, Pro-Ouattara forces Harass Journalists," Committee to Protect Journalists (May 24, 2011)" (see note 1).


JOURNALISM ON THE FRONTLINE: LIBYA

Finally, on May 18th, after six weeks in detention, the Libyan government released four journalists: James Foley, Clare Gillis, Manuel Varela Brago, and Nigel Chandler. Foley, Gillis, and Brabo had been traveling near Brega when they were attacked by Libyan soldiers. They have now revealed that Anton Hammerl, a South African journalist who was with them, was o shot and left to die in the sand. The Libyan government had been claiming that it had no information about Hammerl. Perhaps as many as 15 international journalists are still being held in Libya.

This week those just released have begun to share their stories. I’m planning a post devoted to their stories, with background and links to their work. In the meantime, if you need an end-of-year video, consider showing the James Foley segment broadcast this week on PBS NewHour.

Resources

"Journalist Foley Details 6 Weeks of Captivity in Libya: 'I Could Make it.'" PBS NewHour (May 25, 2011): http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june11/libya_05-25.html

Jensen, Jon. "Reporters Release Tempered by news of Colleague’s Death." GlobalPost (May 19, 2011): http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/110519/libya-journalist-death-anton-hammerl-james-foley-clare-gillis


FROM BIRTHERISM TO OTHERISM

See this post: "Birther Bigotry–in America and Ivory Coast" (April 29, 2011).

In the US President Obama’s decision to release the long-form birth certificate has put a damper on Birtherism and, after a flurry of attention, sidelined Donald Trump, who won’t be running in the Republican primaries in 2012. But for diehard Obama skeptics (including a subgroup of Obama-haters) there are other ways "to other" Obama: he’s a socialist, he thinks too much like a European, he doesn’t believe in the American experiment.

My post emphasized that in both the US and Ivory Coast "Birtherism" was a strategy for putting the "not us" label on a political opponent. David Corn’s piece is a swell way to convey to students how birtherism and otherism (regardless of the subjects directed towards) are both "delegitimizing" strategies (see Resources). It also presents a critique of American exceptionalism that is guaranteed to spark discussion.

You will find the Meneimer piece a fascinating unmasking of the WorldNet Daily’s agenda (CAUTION: there is "not-for-the-classroom" language in its quotations). Here you will find a link to the short satire in Esquire that so infuriated WorldNet’s publisher Joseph Farah (see Resources). I wonder, what’s really in store for Jerome Corsi’s book, Where’s the Birth Certificate?

Labeling Obama "not -us" is not a phenomenon limited to white or right-wing critics, however. Cornel West, Princeton’s leading African-American public intellectual, has been stirring up the racial identity cauldron by calling Obama "a white man with black skin." And while West’s disappointment with the Obama presidency is fueled by West’s progressive-cum-populist outlook, he can’t resist framing it in racial terms. For West, Obama isn’t simply a mascot and puppet of the US oligarchy/plutocracy but "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats" (1). When West explains how Obama’s presidential decisions and policies have betrayed supporters on the left, he is expressing a genuine critique (making points that we should be talking about, whether or not we agree with them).

What is disturbing, however, is West’s resorting to an insidious race card style of "othering." Whether he intend it or not, the message he’s conveying is that Obama just isn’t black enough. While Newt Gingerich might think Obama’s too far out of the American mainstream, Cornel West is saying he’s too far out of the African American mainstream. Doesn’t West realize just how broad that mainstream is? And who is rising to Obama’s defense? None other than Al Sharpton, whose widely quoted statement I repeat here:
  • This is the first time in this country that we have an African American president. He is not the president of African Americans. The problem we’re seeing withtoo many odler-minded people is you don’t want the next generation. You want clones. And people don’t have to be your clone to validate your sacrifice (2).

Activities
READ/DISCUSS: Use the David Corn article to explore the various tactics that politicians (across the spectrum) use "to other" their opponents. Aslo, use this piece to raise issues about American exceptionalism. ASK: Is exceptionalism just plain arrogance? Is there a middle road, such as acknowledging what’s special but stopping short of taking exceptionalism all the way to one end of a continuum? In a World History or Comparative Government class, expand the topic by mvoing on to other cases where exceptionalism is/was a core element of a faction or party’s political ideology.

READ/DISCUSS: The Hedges’s article draws heavily on interview with Cornel West, so it presents a less filtered version of West’s views (see Resources)so it is a good place to start the discussion. The issues may be inflammatory in many classrooms. ASK: What is West’s POV? How does it reflect his identity as an African American? What do you think of West’s criticism of President Obama? Is West’s rhetoric of race justified? Does it draw attention away from his criticism of Obama’s failure to live up to the 2008 campaign’s progressive messages?

Resources

Corn, David. "Birtherism Is Dead. Long Live Otherism." Mother Jones (May 19, 2011): http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/birtherism-otherism-romney-gingrich-2012

Meneimer, Stephanie. "WorldNet Daily Can’t Take a Joke." Mother Jones (May 25, 2011): http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/worldnet-daily-cant-take-joke

Thompson, Krissah. "Cornel West’s Criticism of Obama Sparks Debate among African Americans." Washington Post (May 18, 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cornel-wests-criticism-of-obama-sparks-debate-among-african-americans/2011/05/18/AFlGTf6G_story.html

Hedges, Chris. "The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic." Truthdig (May 16, 2011): http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_obama_deception_why_cornel_west_went_ballistic_20110516
　

Notes

1) Bold emphasis added. As quoted in Chris Hedges (with more context); also quoted in Krissah Thompson; both in Resources. DISCLOSURE: As the mother of two biracial children (and a grandmother) I do react strongly to these issues of identity.

2) Sharpton, as quoted in Krissah Thompson (see Resources) and also widely repeated in the media.


FINLAND AND THE CRISIS IN THE EURO ZONE

See previous post: "Finland: The Mouse That Roared?" (May 4, 2011).
 
"Anybody who is hoping the two sides can come together and work out a plan to control health care costs should plan a lengthy visit to some other country. I hear that Finland is nice."

Gail Collins, New York Times (May 26, 2011)

　
 For a few years now my sister and I have been joking about how we’d like to move to Finland (or Norway or Sweden or Denmark) to escape from the craziness of US politics. So I read, with more than a few chuckles, Anu Partanen’s fine op-ed piece about her Finnish compatriots, desperate for visas to America (see Resources). After living in Brooklyn (New York City) for two years, she returned home to discover that her boring homeland had been transformed by the run-up to, and startling results of, Finland’s recent election. Guess her friends haven’t heard much about the Tea Party (or Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin)!

BREAKING NEWS: Yesterday (May 25) the Finnish Parliament, after a lively debate, voted 137-49 to approve the Portugal bailout. Four members of the True Finn Party broke ranks with their leader and abstained. Soini had argued that the bailout would benefit primarily German and French banks. Since Finland’s approval was required for the bailout to to go ahead, this news should make the G-8 meeting in Deauville, France, a little less gloomy. (For sources see note 1.)

The larger context of my post on the Finnish election was its possible impact on the viability of the euro as a common currency and thus the future of the euro zone (perhaps even the European Union)--with implications for economies of nations across European. Another part of the picture is the increasing popularity of right-wing parties, such as the True Finns, how worries over immigration are shaping politics and parliaments in several countries.
With the G-8 meeting this week (May,26-27), and the ongoing European economic crisis having a negative impact on the US stock markets, Americans need clear explanations about what’s at stake. Right now the debts and budget deficits of Europe’s PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) are a much more immediate threat to the global economy–and hence to the US economy--than our own short-term budgetary quandaries.

A good resource for teaching this topic is Paul Solman’s "Making Sen$e" (part of the PBS Newshour web site--see Resources). His overview of economies of eight countries--the PIIGS plus Germany, England, and Poland (with links to segments on France)–is an excellent place to send students (see "Obama’s European Trip" in Resources).

　
Activities

READ/DISCUSS: Anu Partanen’s "A True Finnish Spring" is a short, clearly presented POV on Finnish politics and Finland’s place in the world. ASK: Why do Anu’s friends want to escape to America? How do you think living in America has changed Anu’s POV?

LANGUAGE ARTS: Analyze "A True Finnish Spring" as a highly effective piece of writing. ASK: Why do the images in her intro (and elsewhere) draw the reader in? How has she woven otherwise blunt "facts" into her essay?

VIEW/REACT: Students watch the PBS NewsHour segment (May 23), take notes and/or review transcript. ASK: What do you think the Europeans can or should do to help other Europeans? What should the US do (or not do) about Europe’s economic crisis? DISCUSS: How are the Irish and Spanish perspectives and government responses different? What accounts for these differences?

RESEARCH: Post the first comment to the PBS segment and use it as a research prompt. Students search online to find out more: What are economists saying about Europe’s austerity budgets? Individual students may focus on the policies and consequences in particular countries.

READING/NOTE-TAKING: Students read "Euro Crisis Looms for Group fo 8" (online or printed copies) and list the issues on the agenda at the G-meeting in Deauville, France, on Thursday and Friday (May 26-27). EXPAND this lesson, if time permits, to a follow-up search of what actually happened at the meeting. What issues, among those reported as significant, did press coverage of the meeting pay most attention to? (Subsitute any similar preview article from your preferred national or international news source.)

Resources

Partanan, Anu. "A True Finnish Spring." New York Times (May 13, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/opinion/14Partanen.html?_r=1&ref=finland

Making Sen$e: PBS Newshour:  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/makingsense/
  • Paul Solman’s explanations of economist’s concepts and theories are "super-accessible" and thus constitute a great resource for social studies classes (not just high school or college Economics 101).
  • Scroll down left-side to access items specific to the world’s regions.

Solman, Paul. "Obama's European Trip: Comparing Countries' Debt Troubles." PBS NewsHour (May 25, 2011: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/05/obamas-european-trip-comparing-countries-debt-troubles.html

VIDEO: "As Obama Kicks Off Trip, How Far-Reaching Is Europe's Economic Crisis?". PBS NewsHour (May 23, 2011): http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june11/europe_05-23.html
  • Jeffrey Brown discusses Europe's continued financial struggles with the Financial Times' Gillian Tett and Harvard University's Kenneth Rogoff.
  • Transcript available just below the video box.
  • Use the comment by OLYCJ as a writing/research prompt.
Erlanger, Steven, and Liz Alderman. "Euro Crisis Looms for Group of 8." New York Times (May 26, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/world/europe/27g8.html?scp=1&sq=erlanger+euro+crisis&st=nyt

Note

1) "Finnish Parliament Backs Portugal Bailout," Financial Times (May 25, 2011):
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6855ade6-86db-11e0-9d41-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1NT7KcTtu. For more details about the debate see "Parliament Passes Portugal Bailout Package 137-49," Helsingin Sanomat (May 26, 2011): http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Parliament+passes+Portugal+bailout+package+137-49/1135266412585
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Friday, April 29, 2011

Birther Bigotry--in America and Ivory Coast

(This post is longer and more opinionated than usual. I couldn’t resist the temptation to expose Birtherism for what it is–a tactic born of bigotry rather than a genuine concern for authenticity. It surely appeals to xenophobic and racist residues in corners of the American psyche. Yet, it is insightful to examine similar forms of bigotry in other societies, where such bigotry also intrudes and taints politics.  I'm still working on the Resources and Notes sections.)

INTRODUCTION

Birtherism in American political discourse is not unlike debates about who is or is not a citizen in Ivory Coast or other countries where citizenship is contested. This discourse draws on deep-seated ideas about who really "belongs" and thus serves to label those who may--or may not--play the game of politics. Of course, defining the criteria of citizenship is an essential element of any political community, pre-dating formal, written constitutions.

Citizenship is always and everywhere a construct. People define and construct citizenship to meet their needs in a particular setting. They set out criteria that must be met and list the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Who are these people? It depends. It depends on wielding power (even in a democracy, for the wishes of the majority require the ability to enforce–no enforcement, mere words on paper). Citizenship may be constructed inclusively, by casting a wide net; or exclusively, by tossing some residents out of the net.

Both the US and Cote d’Ivoire have substantial immigrant and migrant communities. In America, legal immigrants may follow a well-defined road to citizenship, but the undocumented, even those brought here as minors, face deportation. The American electorate’s interest in immigration policy is often focused on access to jobs for citizens versus non-citizens. In Africa discussion often revolves around access to land–as well as jobs. In both the US and Ivory Coast the label "not a citizen" excludes those so labeled from voting and from holding political office. And in both countries the issue has impinged on those aspiring to the presidency.

Birthers in American Politics

The 2012 election cycle began in the US as soon as the polls closed on election day last November. In the field of dreams that Republicans are running in, it behooves a potential presidential candidate to stand out from the crowd. So along came real estate tycoon Donald Trump, tooting a tune he hoped would inspire a host of "birthers" to jump on his bandwagon. It’s a tune borrowed from the 2008 campaign–when anti-Obama activists claimed that Barack Obama was not born in the US–another way of saying he was not eligible to serve as president. This was the beginning of the Birther movement.

Trump’s strategy worked. A recent poll by Public Policy Polling Gallup puts him at the head of the parade of possible Republican candidates, with an especially strong showing of 37% among self-identified Birthers (1). On Wednesday, he was in New Hampshire testing the waters when President Obama announced the release of the long form of his birth certificate. Naturally, Trump kept tooting, taking all the credit for pushing the president into doing so: "I’m very proud of myself because I’ve accomplished something nobody else has been able to accomplish" (2).

What's this all about?

The US constitution states clearly that only a natural-born citizen may serve as president. Early in the 2008 campaign questions were raised about the eligibility of both candidates and certainly there was nothing improper about asking and verifying. For John McCain, born in the Panama Canal Zone, this was settled quite readily. For Obama, born in Hawaii, it became a cause cél bre among right-wing conspiracy theorists. The Obama campaign had posted his Certification of Live Birth (a copy certified by the State of Hawaii) on its web site, but the birthers questioned its authenticity. Even after meticulous investigations by reliable fact-checkers, the birthers kept repeating that it was a fraud (3). They demanded that Obama release the longer document, the one signed by his mother and the attending physician at the hospital. In Hawaii this document is retained by the Department of Health, which does not normally issue copies to anyone.

So, an issue settled for nearly everyone BEFORE election day in 2008 did not go away. But it did recede into the background--until Trump decided to revive it. Trump was planning to send his own sleuths to Hawaii since he preferred to ignore what sleuthing parties had discovered there in 2008. He also relied on the evidence of a telephone interview with Obama’s Kenyan grandmother (actually a co-wife of his deceased biological grandmother), an elderly woman who stated emphatically that "he was born in Hawaii, the state of Hawaii, where his father was also learning there" (4). Now he’s indicated he’ll go after Obama’s academic credentials and transcripts.

Will the release of the long form put an end to birtherism? According to a Fox News Poll conducted earlier this month, about one-quarter of all voters and one-third of Republicans believe that President Obama was not born in the US. A Washington/ABC poll obtained different results–with only 10% of respondents admitting to suspicions about Obama’s place of birth. It seems likely, however, that a cohort of die-hard birthers will remain unconvinced. (5)

Why Birtherism?

Where did this notion come from? As the Democratic primary season intensified in 2008, a faction of Hillary Clinton’s supporters began kicking around (in e-mail exchanges) doubts about Obama’s citizenship. When these got out, they were picked up by conspiracy theorists on the right, but Jim Geraghty, a conservative blogging at the National Review, refuted them and asked Obama to release his birth certificate. After the certificate was posted in June 2008, however, it failed to satisfy those who simply rejected it as a forgery (6).

During the 2008 campaign the anti-Obama crowd, searching for a way to undermine his candidacy, left no stone unturned. They alleged that Barack Hussein Obama was not a natural-born citizen and made other false allegations, such as insisting that he was a Muslim. For a certain portion of the electorate the possibility that Obama might become president was an anathema. If they could instill the notion that he was not a "real" American, perhaps they could prevent that from happening. More reecently, a major peddler of the birther doctrine has been Jerome Corsi, whose new book, Where’s the Birth Certificate?, is coming out in May (7).

Intensity of belief in the Birther doctrine varies–and so do the types of people who are drawn to it. That said, Trump was astute enough to see that Birtherism would attract Tea Partiers and hard-right Republicans–the kind of voters who turn out disproportionately during the caucus and primary season in certain key states (e.g. Iowa). Trump, speaking before Obama released the long form, claimed that "People love this issue especially in the Republican Party" (8). Moreover, several states were working on legislation requiring candidates to verify their citizenship–by providing a birth certificate or acceptable substitute document (9).

As President Obama pointed out on Wednesday, the "silliness" of Birtherism is a diversion, channeling attention away from America’s real problems. For a couple of weeks the Republican establishment has been making a similar argument–that birtherism draws interest away from core issues, like the budget and deficit. Mitt Romney, who believing that Obama had passed the citizenship test, clearly wanted to focus on the economy (10). However, for far-right ideologues getting angry voters riled up over an allegedly fraudulent birth certificate is a safe tactic, a welcome diversion. They don’t want the unemployed, for example, to think too much about why the economic recovery is so slow or why there are corporations that do not pay any taxes.

What the Birthers did was to create a proxy, a stand-in for the fears that some Americans have about people different from themselves. Obama, the son of a white woman and a African man (who was not a citizen, not even an immigrant), was an exotic individual. His full name was very strange and so his detractors repeated it constantly; his middle name was recognizably Muslim though he claimed to be a Christian. Opportunistically, Trump pandered to these xenophobic and racist undercurrents. Though Trump presents himself as a tolerant fellow, he has referred to African Americans as "the blacks"–as if they are a homogenous group (11).

It’s sad but true, the playing field of American politics is full of operatives without any code of ethics whatsoever. There are plenty of ideologues, ready and willing to make patently false claims--if doing so serves their interests. These operatives attract the "fact-free" crowd. (Ironically, so-called conservatives will blather on about the moral decrepitude of post-modernism, yet feel no obligation whatsoever to consider "facts" when the facts refute their argument.) This FACT-FREE-ism means that no one will ever convince the true-blue "Obama-haters" that Obama is indeed a natural-born American.  For them Corsi’s word is inerrant, infallible, as good-as-scripture. And they are open to the wildest of conspiracy theories when trying to explain away whatever doesn’t fit their entrenched views. A few might go as far as asserting that Obama’s grandparents, with clairvoyant foresight, must have planted his birth announcement in a Honolulu newspaper in 1961 so that when he ran for president he could say that he was born there!

What lies behind Birtherism is a crude form of bigotry. Labeling a politician "not a natural-born American" is code for "not sufficiently American" or even "unAmerican". Aside from that, racists can be found in the ranks of the Birthers. If you doubt that, take a look at the Orange County (California) Republican mailing in which Obama’s face was surimposed on a chimpanzee or signs that have appeared at Tea Party rallies (12). And remember, perceptions count in politics.  So, regardless of whether racism is a factor, if Latinos and African Americans view Birther allegations as racist, Trump’s trumpeting has surely alienated them. In Al Sharpton’s words: "A lot of people see it as racism. Even when you achieve what people felt was unachievable, you still have to prove you are qualified. That’s how a lot of us read it" (13). 

So, how many Americans consider Trump a serious candidate? Isn’t this just another Trump publicity stunt? According to a recent poll, 60% of Republicans don’t think he’s serious about running. Last week Karl Rove, not exactly an un-ideologue himself, called him "a joke candidate". And here’s the kicker, even Michele Bachman is convinced that Obama was born in Hawaii. Nevertheless, while Trump’s critics were worrying that his birther position was turning off swing voters and giving ammunition to the Democrats, Sarah decided to toot right along with him (14).

Birthers in Ivory Coast

Since 2002 the people of Ivory Coast have experienced intermittent political conflict and violence. Now, after weeks of political tension, followed by a short civil war, President Alassane Outtara must gain control over the six militias that, on his behalf, ousted former President Laurent Gbagbo (on April 11, 2011). Almost immediately an old feud between two politically ambitious warlords--Ibrahim Coulibaly and Guillaume Soro–re-emerged as a flashpoint. Although President Ouattara had ordered the militias back to their barracks, he had also decided that Soro’s troops would form the core of a new national army.

Coulibaly died in Abidjan on Wednesday night. Ouattara had been expecting him to come to his headquarters--to pledge his loyalty–but Coulibaly told reporters that Soro’s forces were preventing him moving safely within Abidjan. Now Soro is claiming that his rival committed suicide. The evidence, photographs of a badly beaten Coulibaly, suggests that he was beaten and then shot–an apparent assassination. On Wednesday UN peacekeepers had been sent to disarm Coulibaly, but when he refused they left. Later, Coulibaly’s stronghold was attacked by Soro’s forces. Given Coulibaly’s history of plotting coups (a successful one in 1999), it is not surprising that Soro would view him as a threat. Also, Soro may have perceived (correctly) that Ouattara was them off against each other. (15)

The situation remains extremely tense. How will Coulibaly’s passionate supporters in Abobo (a suburb of Abidjan, home to many civilian protesters against the Gbagbo regime) react to the loss of their hero? Will Ouattara cease to trust Soro? Will other feuds break out to test Ouattara’s presidency?

The news is somewhat better on the economic front. As soon as Gbagbo was gone, France and the European Union pledged $840 million in aid to restart the economy. With banks about to re-open, with sanctions lifted so that exports of cocoa may resume, the economy should start growing again in the second half of 2011, and possibly rise to a 6% growth rate by the end of 2012 (16). There are no guarantees, however.  High expectations, combined with instability if Ouattara is unable to manage the militias, could put the recovery at risk.

In the background is the lingering suspicion that President Ouattara is a political interloper--despite being the internationally recognized winner of last November election. In the past Ouattara’s political rivals, in addition to pointing the many years that he spent working outside the country, have alleged that his ancestry is insufficiently Ivorian. The extent to which this old allegation might complicate Ivorian politics going forward is uncertain. If people become disillusioned with Ouattara–especially if the economic recovery stalls–the ideology of Ivoirite might rear its ugly head once again. Dissidents or opportunists seeking to discredit Ouattara might try to resuscitate Ivoirian "Birtherism" (just as Trump has revived its American counterpart).

The Politics of Citizenship

Alassane Ouattara says that he was born in Dimbokro, Ivory Coast on January 1, 1942 (17). But his father, as a civil servant in the French colonial administration, was assigned to a post in Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and so Ouattara’s upbringing has cast a non-Ivorian shadow. As as a young man Ouattara participated in scholarship program in which he was classified as Burkinabe rather than Ivorian. He is also said to have had a Burkinabe passport (18). Yet, none of this personal history prevented President Houphouet-Boigny from appointing him prime minister in the early 1990s.

The matter of Ouattara’s citizenship became an issue in the aftermath of the first multi-party elections in 1990, followed by the death in 1993 of the President Houphouet-Boigny (the country’s first president). As politics became more and more contentious, three nodes of party-based power emerged. What had been Houphouet-Boigny’s party split into two factions: one led by President Bedie,, the other by leaders who asked Ouattara to be their candidate in the next election. The third party was that of Laurent Gbagbo.

As Abu Bakarr Bah points out, conflict in Cote d’Ivoire since the mid-1990s has swirled around "contested citizenship claims" (19). To understand how this came about it is necessary to explore the setting in which different ideas about citizenship evolved. In Cote d’Ivoire that setting includes the French colonial period, the nationalist movement, and the thirty-three year presidency of Houphouet-Boigny–as well as the politics of the recent past.

In most African societies, despite much mingling and mixing of populations across ethnic and linguistic lines in the past, "belonging" is not simply a matter of having been born at a particular place. When it comes to feet on the ground, certain families belong to a place more than others because accorded a special status as "owners of the land." In precolonial times families of high status may have had oral traditions recalling how their ancestors had travel from one place to another, where they settled among those already living there. Yet, even where the newcomers dominated politically, they often recognized the ritual authority of those claiming descent from the land’s earliest inhabitants. Lately, a growing sense of autochthony, translated into modern settings where immigrants and refugees are a significant proportion of the population, has been receiving scholarly attention (20).

French colonialism, with its emphasis on assimilation (for a few), divided the indigenous peoples of its colonies into citizens and subjects. Since most Ivorians were subjects, nationalism may be analyzed as a movement to claim (reclaim) citizenship (21). When nationalist leaders tried to assert overarching national identities, they were often frustrated by persistent local identities. In Cote d’Ivoire, where immigrants make up about a quarter of the total population, an Ivoirian resident may be an immigrant but share an ethnic identity with non-immigrants. The result is a politicization of citizenship, which becomes "a struggle to assert local roots in political and social matters, and exclude outsiders" (22).

Bah sees a very negative legacy in Houphouet-Boigny’s "fuzzy citizenship policies," which had allowed immigrants to pass for Ivorians and thus participate in politics. This made any attempt to exclude them a source of resentment and anxiety. The situation was further complicated by migration within the country and the flow of people from rural areas to the cities. These migrants were often only loosely tied to their ancestral villages. Of course, many elderly people had no proper documents at all.

President Bedie, who desperately wanted to retain power, regardless of the cost, began promoting Ivoirite, a highly divisive doctrine. Bedie and his party claimed that only those born in the country, whose parents were also born there, were real Ivoirians. This definition of citizenship favored southerners at the expense of northerners because the latter were susceptible to being identified as migrants, due to ethnic and religious ties (northerners, like many migrants, were Muslims). It became the basis of laws passed in 1994 and its criteria of citizenship were adopted in the 2000 Constitution, which was designed intentionally to exclude Ouattara from the office of president. Stubbornly, Ouattara maintained that he was Ivorian, born in the north, to parents who were also Ivoirian.

Like the Tea Party activists in the US, the propagators of Ivoirite saw themselves as genuine patriots. But northerners greatly resented Ivoirite’s "anti-foreign" rhetoric and, with some justification, viewed it as a code for what was obviously an anti-immigrant and anti-northern agenda. Many northerners found it difficult to obtain the necessary certificates of nationality because they could not back up their claims with "a statement of origin issued by a committee from their village of origin" (Bah). For Ivorians needing to prove citizenship it was more difficult to obtaining the required documents than it was for Obama (who did, however, need a waiver from the State of Hawaii to secure the release his long form birth certificate).

Northerners grievances, political rivalries, and the aftmath of the 1999 coup ushered in a period of conflict in Cote d’Ivoire. Guillaume Soro, explaining why he became a rebel, emphasized the xenophobic character of Ivoirite (23). International efforts to bring the warring factions to the negotiating table did lead to a series of agreements but did little to resolve the central issue, determining the criteria of citizenship.

Finally, in 2007 the Ouagadougou Agreement addressed the question of how those Ivorians who did not have proper documents could obtain certificates enabling them to receive national identity cards. It set up a system of mobile courts to issue substitute birth certificates to those whose births had not been registered. An individual could go to a hearing at his or her place of birth (when the mobile court was in session there) to seek confirmation from the community. Otherwise, the Agreement recognized an existing nationality law whereby a citizen was any person with at least one Ivorian parent; a person born in Cote d’Ivoire to unknown parents could also claim citizenship. There would be no special criteria pertaining only to presidential candidates. Since Ouattara met the general criteria, he could be a candidate in the forthcoming election (though President Gbagbo delayed the election until late in 2010).

Reconciliation and Democracy in Cote d’Ivoire

It is easy for pundits to say that reconciliation should be President Ouattara’s priority. That he thinks it is important is beyond doubt (one need only listen to his speeches). But national re-integration won’t be easy given the violence of the last few weeks and festering reports of abuses by militiamen. Astutely, Ouattara has pledged to investigate any atrocities, regardless of whose side the perpetrators were fighting on (24).

Alassane Ouattara, having acceded to the presidency to which he was duly elected, must now govern as the president of all the people, yet he will have to balance the interests of northerners with those of southerners. In addition he will have to contend with long-standing ethnic and religious differences–and with the ethnic and religious similarities that connect Ivoirians with the migrants who live among them. As a Muslim and a northerner, he will have to convince skeptical Christians and southerners that he is acting in the best interests of all Ivoirians.
Legally and constitutionally, Ouattara has a ready-made foundation for nurturing democratic institutions in the Ouagadougou Agreement. Its implentation set the stage for last November’s election. Ouattara will be inaugurated on May 21st and the political process will go forward. The prospects for a democratic outcome will depend largely on the ability of the people of Cote d’Ivoire to imagine themselves as belonging to an inclusive (albeit diverse) nation-state.

RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS

Social studies teachers in the US are too often intimidated into ignoring issues that, if they could only bring them up, would breathe life into lethargic classes. Devising ways of teaching how to think critically–about issues that matter, controversies that consume us–about lies that politicians may be tell us–is a risky part of the job.

One strategy is to put an issue into a much broader perspective (then narrowing that perspective as time and other factors permit). Begin by signaling that the more inclusive topic is citizenship. Affirm that deciding who is or is not a citizen is not only a legitimate task, but a necessary one in a democracy. Introduce the conflict in Ivory Coast over the last decade as an example of what can happen when citizenship criteria are unclear or discriminatory. Also acknowledge the OK-ness of "the need to verify" (after all, verification builds trust in the long run).

If you wish to continue with a deeper treatment of the Birther movement, I recommend starting with the resources available at the Politifact and FactCheck web sites. Another good place to begin is Jonathan Capehart’s Washington Post blog (go to the Blog section, click on "Post-Partisan," search "capehart trump") because his posts contain lots of links and embedded video. Talk about how investigators have examined the documents and found them authentic. Discuss the need to evaluate not only the evidence but the arguments based on it. Explain why it is prudent to consider the probability of any convoluted conspiracy theory. Point out that since no one can verify personally each and every relevant fact about every contentious issue, we all rely on experts. Therefore, it is important to vet and evaluate the people whose expertise we trust. And, in the Info Age it is very important to ascertain the reliability of sources available on the Web.

ACTIVITIES

DISCUSS: In CIVICS/GOVERNMENT class talk about why any nation’s constitution needs to state very clearly who may claim citizenship. What criteria are often used to define citizenship? How does the US constitution define it? ASK: Should citizens (in our country, in any country) be put into different categories (such as natural-born citizens, naturalized citizens, or dual citizens)?
ASK: In a democracy should any citizen be permitted to run for any political office?

RESEARCH: Why did framers of the US constitution decide to limit the presidency to only "natural-born" citizens?

READ news a article reporting on Republican politicians who have repudiated Birtherism. DISCUSS why they have taken this position. Then ASK why some Americans of voting-age do not believe that President Obama was born in the USA and is therefore a "natural-born American citizen."

WORLD HISTORY or COMPARATIVE GOVERNMENT class: Discuss how colonialism and the ideology of nationalist movements shaped constitutions in place at the time of independence in Africa (or India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Surinam).

GEOGRAPHY: Locate birthplaces of Obama (Honolulu) and Ouattara (Dimbokro, Ivory Coast). Younger students: find Hawaii and Ivory Coast on classroom globe.
　

US RESOURCES

"Born in the U.S.A." FactCheck.org (August 21, 2008; update November 1, 2008): http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

"Birthers Not Persuaded by Cetrificate of Live Birth." Politifact (April 29, 2011): http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/apr/27/birthers-obama-certificate-live-birth/
  • How die-hard birthers are questioning the long form certificate
  • Links to 7 previous discussions/ratings of birther claims
Serwer, Adam. Birther Lexicon: http://prospect.org/csnc/adam_serwer_archive

Wallsten, Peter and Krissah Thompson. "Top Republicans Try to Scotch Birther Theories." Washington Post (April 19, 2011):

Capehart, Jonathan. "Trump’s Disgusting, Dangerous Dance with Birthers." Post-Partisan [blog]. Washington Post (April 7, 2011):
  • Link to full audio tape of interview with Sarah Obama (the president’s Kenyan "grandmother"); links to Alex Koppleman’s two Salon posts, refuting birther claims derived from this interview
  • Includes image of the "Certification of Live Birth"
Capehart, Jonathan. "Going Ape Over Racist Depiction of Obama." Post-Partisan [blog]. Washington Post (April 19, 2011): http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/going-ape-over-racist-depiction-of-obama/2011/03/04/AFvrOs5D_blog.html

Remnick, David. "Trump, Birtherism, and Race-Baiting." New Yorker (April 27, 2011).

Shear, Michael D. "Obama Shows Birth Certificate, Citing Silliness," New York Times (April 27, 2011);

Vogel, Kenneth. "Wild Theories of ‘Obama Nation’ Author." Politico (August 13, 2008):


IVORY COAST RESOURCES


　
Bah, Abu Bakarr.  "Democracy and Civil War: Citizenship and Peacemaking in Cote D'Ivoire."  African Affairs 109/437 (2010): 597-615.

Geschiere, Peter, and Stephen Jackson.  "Authochthony and the Crisis of Citizenship: Democratization, Decentralization, and the Politics of Belongong."  African Studies Review 49 (2006): 1-7.  Abstract (only):

Marshall-Fratani, Ruth. "The War of "Who Is Who": Authochtony, Nationalism, and Citizenship in the Ivorian Crisis." ASR 49/2 (2006): 9-43.

"Ivorian Warlord’s Death: Suicide or Assassination? AP (April 29, 2011).

NOTES

1) Public Policy Polling: reported by Jonathan Capehart, "Going Ape Over Racist Depiction of Obama," Washington Post (April 19, 2011);

2) Jeff Zeleny, "On Trail Trump Basks in Spotlight" New York Times (April 27, 2011):

3) Obama’s birth in Honolulu was confirmed by the Department of Health, State of Hawaii, and verified by the Registrar of Vital Statistics. See Resources for "Born in the U.S.A." FactCheck.org (August 21, 2008; update November 1, 2008); "Birthers Not Persuaded by Cetrificate of Live Birth." Politifact (April 29, 2011). 

4) See Jonathan Capehart, "Trump’s Disgusting, Dangerous Dance with Birthers," Washington Post (in Resources); includes links to Koppelman’s Salon posts, revealing how the tape has been misused and manipulated by the birthers.

5) For earlier polls see Capehart, "Trump’s Disgusting, Dangerous Dance" (note 4).

6) Ben Smith and Byron Tau, "Birtherism: Where It All Began," Politico (April 22, 2011); a very concise overview of how the Birther movement evolved.

7) Corsi, notorious for spouting invective and inventing conspiracy theories, was a co-author of Unfit for Command, the 2004 Swift boat attack on John Kerry. In 2008 he wrote The Obama Nation, a much disputed battering of Obama, but did not mention the birther conspiracy. See "MMFA Investigates: Who Is Jerome Corsi, Co-Author of Swift Boat Vets Attack Book?" Media Matters for America (August 6, 2004): http://mediamatters.org/research/200408060010; and Kenneth Vogel, "Wild Theories of ‘Obama Nation’ Author." Politico (August 13, 2008): http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12526.html

8) As quoted ...
　
9) "Birther Bill Backers: Release Overdue." Politico (April 27, 2011):
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53812.html. Gov. Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) has stated that he would sign bill addressing both age and citizenship and applying to all federal candidates. Recently, Governor Jan Brewer (Arizona) vetoed a bill requiring presidential candidates to prove eligibility by submitting a birth certificate or specified substitutes.

10) Michael D. Shear, "Obama Shows Birth Certificate, Citing Silliness," New York Times (see Resources); Peter Wallsten and Krissah Thompson, "Top Republicans Try to Scotch Birther Theories," Washington Post (see Resources). Rommney, a former governor of Massachusetts, ran in the Repubican primaries in 2008; see Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53073.
11) Eugene Robinson, "Donald Trump as GOP Hopeful: Take Him Seriously." Washington Post (April 18, 2011):

12) Jonathan Capehart, "Going Ape Over Racist Depiction of Obama." Washington Post (April 19, 2011).  Includes a copy of the image.

13) As quoted ...

14) Jim Rutenberg, "Poll Finds Lack of Passion for ‘12 Republican Field," New York Times (April 22, 2011). Rove ... Bachman, on ABC’s "Good Morning America" program, reported in "The Caucus," New York Times (April 20, 2011). For Palin see video clip embedded in Jonathan Capehart, "Palin Joins Trump’s Birther Madness," Post-Partisan, Washington Post (April11, 2011):

15) "Ivorian Warlord ‘Beaten, the Shot,’" UKAP (April 29, 2011); "Ivorian Warlord’s Death: Suicide or Assassination? AP (April 29, 2011). See the second of these for background about the Coulibaly/Soro rivalry. In January Coulibaly began attacking Gbago’s forces–when Ouattara was still reluctant to use force. This suggests that Coulibaly saw himself as having leverage with Ouattara (but also explains the move by Soro against him).

16) Katrina Monson, "Ivory Coast: Prospects Amid Strife," Financial Times (April 28, 2011): http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/04/28/ivory-coast-prospects-amid-strife/
Ange Aboa and Loucoumane Coulibaly, "Ivory Coast Cocoa Trade, Banking Poised to Restart," Reuters (April 26, 2011):


18) Krieger/Crahan [Google], 180:

19) Abu Bakarr Bah, "Democracy and Civil War" (see Resources). An excellent academic resource that has enhanced my understanding of recent Ivoirian history and politics (and from which I have drawn material for this post).

20) See the African Studies Review 49 (2006), esp. Ruth Marshall-Fratani, "The War of "Who Is Who": Authochtony, Nationalism, and Citizenship in the Ivorian Crisis" (pp. 9-43).

21) Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary African and the Legacy of Colonialism (Princeton University Press, 1996).

22) Geschiere quote

23) As reported in Bah, "Democracy and Civil War," p. 604, footnote 34.
　
24) "Alassane Ouattarar’s Presidential Claims Overshadowed by Ivory Coast Mass Killings," Reuters. Access at http://huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/08 ...

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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Exodus: Ancient Story, New Settings

(This post discusses the relevance of the ancient Exodus story to current events, with special attention to the usage of the word exodus (in bold when being treated as a vocabulary term. Here is an opportunity to connect the Exodus of Passover with current events in Libya, Ivory Coast, and elsewhere.)

INTRODUCTION

Before settling down to write on April 19th, I went to Google News and did a a simple search, typing in the word "exodus." As expected, most of the stories were about Passover, the Jewish holiday that began Monday night and lasts for eight days. But the first item was a short blurb about the latest defector from Murdoch’s media empire. It had this headline: "EXODUS: Managing Editor of Rupert Murdoch’s ‘The Daily’ Jumps Ship for Reuters" (1). Beside the text was a photo of men in a lifeboat bailing water, as others were swimming toward it. Not only did the lifeboat clash with the more conventional imagery of the original Exodus–a multitude of people crossing the desert on foot–I also found it disconcerting since at breakfast I’d been reading in the New York Times print edition about another exodus (2). This flight to safety also involved a boat. It was a cruise ship hired to transport stranded migrants and other refugees from the Libyan port of Misurata, where the sitution is becoming more desperate by the hour.

Exodus is an iconic word, evoking a host of images that emerge from its original context and serve to intensify its meaning. It belongs to a whole set of historically-connected words (other examples are byzantine, griot, mandarin), whose connotations are much richer for anyone familiar with the setting, events, actors, or story lurking in the background. Whenever we encounter such a word, knowing the "back story" confers a deeper understanding of what the speaker or writer is trying to say. For students this is a matter of cultural literacy but also more than that–as it can greatly improve reading comprehension. Thus for teachers, especially world history teachers, infusing these back stories into our lesson plans is part of what we should be doing. In today’s world, of course, we should select vocabulary items from within the broad parameters of a global rather than Western perspective.

Without a doubt the word exodus has resonated across time and space because it is connected to a powerful story. In a generic retelling it is the story of a people in bondage, inspired by a reluctant leader, setting out on a journey towards freedom, saved by divine intervention, entering into a new covenant, and finally, after much wondering in the desert, reaching a promised land.

As told in the Book of Exodus, the story is part of the Jewish and the Christian scriptures, from where it has flowed into the Western cultural and literary tradition (3). Allusions to its specific elements (setting, characters, place-names, events) are fairly common: toiling on the banks of the Nile in Egypt, the contest of wills between Pharaoh and Moses, the parting and closing of the Red Sea, the Israelite multitude in the Sinai Desert, the Covenant and Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the Golden Calf, and the land of Canaan. These appear not only in literature and art, but also in music and popular culture. Of course, for many Americans (of a certain age) the vintage Hollywood movie The Ten Commandments has implanted a particular version of these elements (4).

In Jewish communities the Passover meal, the Seder, is first and foremost "a teachable moment" whereby an ancient tradition is transmitted from one generation to the next. The youngest child asks, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Then the family or congregation responds by telling of the Exodus story and eating of the foods that commemorate the journey out of Egypt, where the Israelites were slaves. Moses had asked Pharaoh to set them free but he did not want to let them go, for he had need of their labor. So G-d sent a series of plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind. When G-d sent the last plague, it killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians but passed over the homes of the Israelites. Pharaoh relented, Moses led the people out of Egypt, but Pharaoh sent his army after them. At the Red Sea G-d intervened, parting the waters so that the people might cross, then closing them so that the pursuing Egyptians would perish.

In the Exodus story, when the Israelites leave Egypt, they are on their way to a specific destination, the land of their forefathers (where Abraham had lived many generations earlier). For Africans and their descendants, enslaved in the Americas, this story of escape from bondage was a sustaining narrative--later an empowering narrative. Like the journey of the ancient Israelites, theirs was an intentional journey towards freedom. We can actually hear people making this connection in African American spirituals, such as "Let My People Go," and in the sermons and speeches of African American preachers (particularly before and during the Civil Rights era). The most well-known of these is Dr. Martin Luther King’s "Where Do We Go From Here?" (5). We can also hear it in "Exodus," Bob Marley’s reggae anthem, its inspiring beat resounding far beyond Jamaica and the Caribbean (6).

While the more general meaning of exodus is its literal meaning, "an exit or the act of making an exit," it is nearly always applied in situations where a large number of people decide to leave, defect, migrate, or flee. Thus any outward movement on a large scale may be referred to an exodus. Indeed the notion of "a multitude on the move" comes straight from the original story, where it is said that more than 600,000 left Egypt. So, if you want to imply a massive exit, exodus is the word for you.

The Exodus Story and Current Events

In today’s world an exodus may be a steady migration of adult men and women looking for economic opportunities in a new land. An exodus may result in a profound demographic shift–from one region to another within a country or from one continent to another. Labor migration, such as that of West Africans and Bangladeshis to Libya or South and Southeast Asians to Persian Gulf states, is often labeled "target migration" because workers intend to earn cash for a specific purpose (to get married, build a house, educate a sister) and expect to return home. But usually when the outward flow occurs on a large scale there are push factors operating, too. These include economic nepotism and corruption, political repression, political instability, ethnic discrimination, or a more general climate of uncertainty. Nevertheless, where economic survival tops the list of incentives, it is fair to say that what is happening is an exodus of people seeking an escape from poverty.

When we survey exodus stories in the news, however, we find far too many are about people fleeing from conflict, violence and war. These are the stories of refugees, on the move to find a safe haven--wherever they can find it, usually by heading for the nearest border.

Recent upheavals in North Africa (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya) and in West Africa (Ivory Coast, now Nigeria) have brought propelled many people from their homes. In Libya, conflict between the el-Qaddafi regime and the rebels has turned most migrant workers into refugees, many of them stranded near the border or in camps in Tunisia (though by now large numbers have been evacuated). Tragically, many were far from their homelands and without any means of returning. In this case an exodus of labor from West Africa and Bangladesh (and several other poor countries) to Libya turned into an exodus of refugees from Libya. In Tunisia (which received many refugees from Libya) and in Ivory Coast (many are still internally displaced) and its neighbors Liberia and Ghana, international agencies have hustled-- somewhat in a panic--to prevent the sort of humanitarian catastrophe that may result from an exodus of refugees. Here is list of refugee movements in North and West Africa, currently in the news:
  • young people, worried about the economic impact regime change, from Tunisia to Europe
  • tourists and other ex-patriates from Egypt
  • migrant workers and ex-patriates from Libya
  • Libyans fleeing from areas controlled by the el-Qaddafi regime to cities held by the rebels
  • Libyan refugees (including wounded evacuees) to Tunisia and Egypt
  • Ivorian refugees from both sides, displaced internally
  • Ivorians to camps and borders towns in Liberia and Ghana
  • Southerners (usually Christians) from northern cities in Nigeria to safer areas in the South
  • Northerners (usually Muslims) from southern cities in Nigeria to safer areas in the North
Use the headlines in the next section as a hand-out. See full citations in Resources.


Exodus in the the Headlines

1) GOOGLE NEWS (search for exodus, April 20, 2011):
  • Nigeria poll unrest sparks exodus. BBC News.  Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes because of post-election violence in Nigeria, the Red Cross says. Riots broke out in the north after Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner, emerged as the winner of the presidential poll...

2) CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (headline/sub-headline, January 31, 2011):
  • Egypt airport: More than 2,400 Americans trying to flee Egypt. Egypt exodus: The number of American's trying to get on US government-chartered evacuation flights has grown to more than 2,400, as anti-government protests continue in Egypt.

3) "Tourists Leave Egypt in Mass Exodus." AP/Associated Press ()

4) "Sharing Tales of an Exodus from Egypt." CNN (February 1, 2011).
　
5) "Tunisian ‘Exodus’ Exposes Europe’s Migrant Quandary." France24 (February 14, 2011).

6) "Deal Reached Over Tunisia Exodus." Al Jazeera English (February 15, 2011).

7) "Panic and Exodus Expected from Libya." Sidney Morning Herald (April 18, 2011).

8) "Tunisia’s Jews Ponder Modern-Day Exodus." MinnPost.com (April 20, 2011).


ACTIVITIES

LISTEN: To a recording of "Let My People Go" or Bob Marley’s "Exodus." Ask students to pick out elements borrowed from the ancient Exodus story.  The Lynx strongly recommends Robeson's "Let My People Go" as an introduction to any of the following activities.  (See note 5 and note 6.)

WORD SEARCH: Assign this activity to individuals or pairs of students, sending them to different sites. Using Google News or the web sites of major newspapers, students will search exodus to find headlines and/or stories where this word appears. Make sure students note the range of topics covered in these stories .

READ: Select an online text and ask students to take turns reading Exodus story from the Book of Exodus. Give students an opportunity to prepare for a dramatic in-class reading. DISCUSS the story’s literary qualities and its religious significance (as cultural information, not as doctrine).

DISCUSS: Write these countries on the board (or PowerPoint slide): Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Ivory Coast. ASK: What do these places have in common? DISCUSS recent events (briefly), noting that each country has had a change of government (in Libya, in only part of the country) involving upheaval, conflict, and violence. Students may not realize the extent to which events in each country triggered an exodus. SHOW headlines (use the collection below) to illustrate how journalists use exodus to stress the scale of what is/was happening.

READ/DISCUSS: Select a recent article about migrants or refugees for further discussion OR select two or more to compare the different kinds of exodus phenomena that have occurred recently (e.g. exodus of tourists from Egypt vs. migrant workers from Libya).

READ ALOUD: Martin Luther King’s "Where Do We Go From Here?" is well-suited to reading in class–either one paragraph per student or two students taking turns. See Resources (under "Exodus; Cargo of Hidden Stories").


RESOURCES

Scriptures

The Exodus story begins in Chapter 4 (or Chapter 7) of the Book of Exodus. References or partial accounts occur in other books of the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament).

"Exodus 20." From A Hebrew-English Bible. Mechon Mamre: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0220.htm
  • Text of the Ten Commandments but from here you can access the entire book of Exodus
  • Hebrew text on left (according to the Masoretic Text and the JPS 1917 Edition; HTML version, Mechon Mamre, 2005); audio of Hebrew text
  • English translation on right (English HTML text based on electronic text by Larry Nelson, Cathedral City, California, USA)
  • Access to Hebrew-French, Hebrew-Spanish, Hebrew-Portuguese Bibles
"The Exodus Story." King James Version. University of Houston (Clear Lake): http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/Exodus/exodus.htm
"Exodus 7-12." New International Version (2011). Bible Gateway:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+7-12&version=MSG
  • Christian site providing access to several other widely-recognized translations, including King James Version and English Standard Version
  • See for translations into other languages, including Arabic, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Chinese

A version of the Exodus story is also included in the Quran, Verses 47-59 ("The Cow"). Access from any of several online texts of the Quran. Muslims consider Moses (Musa) a prophet, whose name appears 125 times in the Quran.

Discussion/Commentary on the Exodus Story

"Moses and the Exodus." NOVA interview with Carol Meyers (archaeologist and professor of religion). PBS (November 18, 2008): http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/moses-exodus.html
　
"Exodus: Cargo of Hidden Stories." Krista Tippett with Avivah Zornberg. On Being. PBS: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2011/exodus/

  • "The biblical Exodus story has inspired believers and non-believers, Jews and Christians–and more than a few Hollywood movies. But this is no simple story of heroes and villains; it is a complex picture of the possibilities and ironies of human passion and human freedom. If you're not familiar with Exodus, you're in for a deeply sensual experience; and, even if you're well-versed in the text, you just might be surprised."
  • Resources at this site include the text of Martin Luther King’s "Where Do We Go From Here?" (URL: http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2011/exodus/speech_king-wheredowego.shtml

Migration and Refugees

United Nations High Commission for Refugees: www.unhcr.org

International Organization for Human Migration: www.rescue.org

International Rescue Committee: www.iom.int/jahia/jsp/index.jsp


Tunisia

"Tunisian ‘Exodus’ Exposes Europe’s Migrant Quandary." France24 (February 14, 2011):
http://www.france24.com/en/20110214-tunisia-migrants-lampedusa-italy-europe-struggle-cope-illegal-immigration

"Deal Reached Over Tunisia Exodus." Al Jazeera English (February 15, 2011):
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/02/201121513182181420.html

  • Includes video "Tunisians Flee to Lampedusa" (1:44); reporter uses exodus in voice-over
"Tunisia’s Jews Ponder Modern-Day Exodus." MinnPost.com (April 20, 2011): http://www.minnpost.com/globalpost/2011/04/20/27626/tunisias_jews_ponder_modern-day_exodus
　
　
Egypt

"Sharing Tales of an Exodus from Egypt." CNN (February 1, 2011):
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-01/world/egypt.turmoil.exodus_1_egyptian-people-riot-police-protests?_s=PM:WORLD

El-Tablawy, Tarek. "Tourists Leave Egypt in Mass Exodus." AP/Associated Press. MSNBC (January 31, 2011): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41371484/ns/travel-news/#
　

Libya

Cowell, Alan. "Refugee Agency Reports ‘Humanitarian Emergency" as Multitudes Flee Libya."
New York Times (February 28, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/world/europe/01refugee.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=cowell+refugee+agency&st=nyt

Pianigiani, Gaia and Rachel Donadio.  "250 Missing After Boat Sinks Off Italy."  New York Times (April 6, 2011): http://nytimes.com/2011/04/07

"Panic and Exodus Expected from Libya." Sidney Morning Herald (April 18, 2011): http://www.smh.com.au/world/panic-and-exodus-expected-from-libya-20110418-1dljj.html
　

Ivory Coast

For more resources see HistoryLynx posts on March 26, March 30, and April 5.

"Liberia: Refugee Crisis Needs World’s Attention Says Oxfam as UN High Commissioner," Oxfam (March 21, 2011):http://oxf.am/Zb7 http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2011-03-21/liberia-refugee-crisis-un-high-commissioner-refugees-Antonio-Guterres-Ivory-Coast; Permalink: http://oxf.am/Zb7

"Ivorian Refugee Crisis–in Pictures." Guardian (March 30, 2011):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/gallery/2011/mar/30/ivory-coast-refugees-liberia-in-pictures


Nigeria

"Nigeria Election: Red Cross Says Many Fleeing Violence." BBC News (April 20, 2011):
  • Google News link goes to this article–with sub-headline: "Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes because of post-election violence in Nigeria, the Red Cross says." BUT word exodus does not appear in the article–despite Google News headline.
Fick, Maggie. "Nigeria Election Riots: How Leaders Stoke Muslim-Christian Violence." Christian Science Monitor (April 20, 2011):


NOTES

1) Glynnis MacNicol, Business Insider (April 19, 2011): http://www.businessinsider.com/rupert-murdochs-daily-reuters-jim-gaines-2011-4. By April 20, 2011 this story had been demotes to 6th place.

2) C. J. Chivers, "Safely Out of War’s Way, Describing Fearful Limbo, New York Times (April 19, 2011).

3) See "Scriptures" in the Resource section (provided for use as primary sources, not to promote any particular religious beliefs). Note that the Exodus is included in a somewhat different (though very recognizable) form in the Quran.

4) For The Ten Commandments see Dave Kehr, "When DeMille Parted the Red Sea," New York Times (April 3, 2011).

5) VIDEO: "Let My People Go" (performed by Paul Robeson, 2:03 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtLcELU1brA. Text of King’s speech (see Resources).

6) VIDEO: "Exodus" (performed by Bob Marley, Santa Barbara, California, 1979; 6:13 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NHbOqmNVm8. For lyrics go to http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Exodus-lyrics-Bob-Marley/41A1A975451EE48948256945000D2A3F:
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