Discussion Group of Democracy and Development in Africa

The group is coordinated by myself, from Canada. The exchange of ideas takes place over the internet, thereby including people from all over the world. I am the recipient of each of the correspondences and upon reviewing the information sent to me, information is relayed to other participants.

Essentially there are two objectives of this exercise. First of all, we aim to collect different, rich and textured analyses concerning these issues. We welcome opposing viewpoints as well. Secondly, through this analyses we are able to better percieve the reality of the issues involved and thereby both the risks and the advantages of democracy in terms of the local dimensions to contributing to development. This is our global village.

It is possible that this work will eventually become the basis of a book, other publication or colloquium. The result remains to be seen. Such an exercise depends on the commitment and work of many people and many avenues of research.

Please also refer to the notice attached below.

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Creation of the Research and Discussion Group of Democracy and Development in Africa.

I have the pleasure of announcing the creation of a research and discussion group on the problems concerning the development and democratization in Africa. This field of interest is relatively large and embraces a large number of multidisciplinary studies. Notably law, social sciences, communications. Here are a number of questions that we will be focussing upon:

How can the West promote democracy (civil societies and African populations themselves) in Africa and establish and reinforce the rights of the state? Most importantly to guarantee fair voting practices?

What new solutions can we propose for resolving the problem of the debt and inequality of economic exchange? How can a developing nation sell their primary resources at normal prices for exportation? In default, what can we do to limit the consequences of these inequitable practices?

How can we understand the contradictions between what is said by westerners(democracy, human rights, etc.)and what is done (tolerating dictatorships) in Africa? How can we realise a stronger collaboration between social organisations and inter-city partnerships in Africa and the West?

The group will be addressing everyone who wants to exchange experiences, analyses, and propositions. The people will need access to the internet and will need to have the ability to converse in English or in French. We would like to have participants worldwide.

If you are interested please e-mail a summary of your interests and how you would like to get involved to:

Alphonse Cilumba (President of Quebec-Canada-Africa Axis)
aqca@hotmail.com
tel: 1-514-525-7481
fax: 1-514-387-4244

Quebec-Canada-Africa Axis is a research group that seeks to establish a link between the North and South and increase the ability of the African continent to become economically independent.

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Message-ID: <19991010185439.3333.qmail@hotmail.com> From: "Alphonse Cilumba" <aqca@hotmail.com> Subject: Discussion group about Africa Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 11:54:38 PDT