Session 1 - Debt, Aid, Trade - Make Poverty History -

Caledonian University - Glasgow - 23rd April 2005

In the wake of the Governments much hyped "Commission for Africa" came a reply - a conference not so much "for" Africa, as by Africans. There were excellent presentations and speeches by the usual suspects - Patrick Harvie, Tommy Sheridan, Aamer Anwar, representatives from Oxfam and G8 alternatives - but the most succesful aspect to the conference, what made it really striking, was the African speakers. Of the several hundred people who attended, perhaps half were African.

The conference was a series of large lectures and smaller workshops on issues that affect Africa - debt, trade, neo-liberalism, HIV and Aids - and the treatment of Africans in Scotland. The irony of this Government's rhetorical commitment to helping Africa, whilst it closes the door to African asylum seekers and tightens the screws on those who do get through seems to go unnoticed, but it was'nt in Glasgow.

The upcoming G8 meetings have also been rebranded as a great hope for the continent - a triumph of spin and double speak. Blair and Brown echo the hollow promise of "the white man's burden" that justified so much of colonialism. But anyone with any familiarity with that history cannot for a minute take seriously the idea that it is our place as a nation, or our leaders, to prescribe solutions. It simply isn't credible. Instead, we need to stop getting in the way, to help if and when asked, and to listen. It was a privalege to listen to so many African speakers, activists and academics, and I hope many others will now be able to due to these recordings.Please feel free to distribute and to use them widely.

Due to the size of the recordings, they will be published in sections - for a full list of the location of all recordings, please go to Indymedia Scotland. You can also find them by searching the Indymedia Radio Website for "Voices from Africa."