Washington, DC — On 1 December 2023, members of the Affiliation Involved Africa Students (ACAS) met in San Francisco on the African Research Affiliation annual assembly, with co-chairs Teresa Barnes and Tim Scarnecchia, to revive the group.
Assertion by African Research Students on Israel’s Assaults on Gaza
Based in 1977, the Affiliation of Involved Africa Students (www.associationofconcernedafricascholars.org) is a corporation of students and college students of Africa devoted to formulating different scholarly evaluation of U.S. authorities coverage, mobilizing help in the USA on crucial present points associated to Africa, growing communication and motion networks amongst students in the USA and Africa, and collaborating with different organizations that share its considerations.
ACAS is a coordinate group of the African Research Affiliation (United States). ACAS was based in 1977 by students who sought to prepare scholarly evaluation and motion to work towards “transferring U.S. coverage towards Africa in instructions extra sympathetic to African pursuits.,” in response to the group’s assertion within the first ACAS e-newsletter (https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-23414/ACASBulletin3-78opt.pdf)
ACAS has a wealthy historical past of political activism and coverage evaluation. ACAS members now work on a variety of points, together with working with the Advocacy Community for Africa (AdNA) looking for momentary suspension of US pharmaceutical patent rights on COVID vaccines in order that the greater than 100 pharmaceutical producers in Africa and the worldwide south can produce vaccines for native wants; the rising presence of the US Africom Combatant Command ( Africom) throughout the continent because the International Battle on Terror continues to escalate in Africa; the rise in Division of Protection and intelligence funding in U.S. larger schooling for African language, NSF, Boren Fellowships, and different instructional applications; meals sovereignty and land grabs; the politics of commerce, debt, and growth; the implications for Africa of US pursuits in African oil, strategic minerals, and genetic wealth; the necessity for better US help for HIV, malaria, and different well being applications in Africa; and the persevering with points of ladies’s rights throughout the continent: “inexperienced vitality” and the affect of cobalt mining within the DRC; UN and humanitarian aid funding; and illicit monetary flows from Africa.
Its interdisciplinary strategy helps rethinking standard interpretations of social and financial coverage, globalization, growth methods, media representations, and nation constructing.
Because the assembly, ACAS has up to date, improved, and expanded its web site (www.associationofconcernedafricascholars.org). On 19 December, ACAS posted a Assertion by African Research Students on Israel’s Assaults on Gaza, which was debated on the assembly and finalized on 15 December 2023. On 27 December, a brand new problem of the Bulletin of the Affiliation of Involved Africa Students , ACAS Bulletin no. 90, edited by Daniel Volman, was posted. It contains two articles by the editor on the Sahel, a evaluation of current books on cobalt mining within the Democratic Republic of Congo, and articles by Alex de Waal and Rahmane Idrissa on the civil battle in Sudan.
Daniel Volman is the Director of the African Safety Analysis Challenge in Washington, DC (www.africansecurity.org) and a specialist on US nationwide safety coverage towards Africa and African safety points.