Empowerment of African Structures

An African fable says....

Every morning when the sun rises over Africa, a lion wakes up and thinks to himself:

"If I want to eat something today and not go to bed hungry, I don't have to run faster than the fastest impala. I just have to be faster than the slowest."

And every morning, as the sun rises, an impala thinks to itself:

"I don't have to run faster than the fastest impala in the herd, I just have to be faster than the slowest to see out the night."

The moral of this little story:

No matter whether lion or impala, human or animal - the important thing is to get up and run!

With our projects, events and cooperations, we seek to critically engage with global events in order to create a progressive culture of understanding in relation to African discourses and its diaspora.

The organisation follows and encourages self-determination and capacity building initiatives. The aim is to support and promote social, ecological and economically productive development sustainably.

Especially within and after the COVID-19-pandemic, we want to contribute to narrowing the great gap between the rich countries of the global North and the weaker ones of the global South. We are committed to end to the progress of rich countries at the expense of poorer countries and have seen the extraordinary events of 2020 coming.

By means of events such as seminars, workshops, panel discussions and exhibitions, we want to draw attention to Africa's historical and cultural wealth. In this context, the opportunities for economic and cultural cooperation with Africans and their diaspora, which have hardly been recognized and utilized in Germany, are to be brought to the fore front. The indispensable role of Africa in global development must be emphasized.

With the opening of the PluralismCentre in Dresden Klotzsche in September 2020, we would like to create a space where citizens, regardless of origin or religion, can develop as they wish and come together to share their interests.

To this end, we are committed to promoting intercultural spaces and events, combating hate crime on the internet and conflict research.

To achieve our goals, we work closely with a wide variety of local, but also international associations and foundations. In this way, we would like to provide an impetus for think tanks in relation to global events.

It is our concern to assess gloabl developments within their complex context to overcome eurocentric perspectives in order to open doors to Africa and the world on an exe level. Only in this way will it be possible to conduct a dialogue from equal standpoints in which to subsequently be able to continue to make sustainable forecasts.

We are glad and grateful about every supporter of our campaigns. You can easily inform your friends and family about our ongoing projects through following us on our social media channels and share our contributions. Last but not least, we also appreciate financial support. We know that a small budget can make things difficult, but even a small contribution is valuable and brings us a lot closer to our goal! If you would like to donate to a specific project, you can simply contact us or mention the campaign in the subject line.

In all cases, we will make sure that your donations go directly to the right place!

Donation account

Recipient:                 Power4africa e.V.

IBAN:                         DE32 8505 0300 3200 0459 21

BIC                            OSDDDE81XXX

Name of the bank:  Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden

Power4africa e.V. is authorised by the tax office Dresden III, tax no. 203 / 142 / 04566 K04, to assess the deductibility of donations in the sense of § 10 b EStG, § 9 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 KStG and § 9 Nr. 5 GewStG for the donor.

We would like to thank all our partner organisations and supporters!

Biden for patent suspension of Covid 19 vaccines

07.05.2021

"The pandemic is a global crisis that requires extraordinary steps." - With this statement, US President Joe Biden announced the consideration of suspending patent protection on the Covid 19 vaccines. For even if the situation in the global North, i.e. the Western states, is gradually easing, the situation in other parts of the world, such as India, seems to be coming to a head. In some cases, catastrophic conditions prevail, which cry out for a rapid response from the international community. Exponentially growing numbers of infections, as we are currently seeing from India, can pose a threat to the entire globe.

One step to combat this would be to remove patent protection on the Covid19 vaccines. This would then also allow vaccines to be produced independently of the pharmaceutical companies, for example in developing countries. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) had already received a proposal from India and South Africa in October last year to waive intellectual property rights for vaccines. The two countries were pushing for a complete repeal of the Trips Agreement. This is an agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. However, this has so far been rejected by the community of states, as such a decision would mean the expropriation, albeit short-term, of pharmaceutical companies. At the WTO, even a temporary repeal of the Trips Agreement would have to go through a consensus procedure. This would mean that a single state could block this decision.

However, since the USA, which has enormous foreign policy influence and power, is now considering such a suspension, it is quite conceivable that other states will join the USA. The Federal Republic of Germany is currently considering such a decision.

With the appointment of former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to the post of Secretary-General of the WTO, the interests of African states could be taken into account more strongly in the future. It is thus certain that the temporary lifting of patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines will soon become a reality.

 Guilty as charged

21.04.2021

Finally, the verdict in the police murder of George Floyd was announced on 20th April 2021, policeman Derek Chauvin was found guilty as charged on all three counts of 2nd degree murder.

First time in the United States history the police did break ranks with one of their own and laid down the facts as the whole world has watched on the video on how George Floyd was pinned down to the ground by the full force of the officer Derek Chauvin’s knee for over nine minutes. The world watched as George Floyd died an agonizing, slow death. The verdict will serve as a model for future cases because justice is far from being achieved with this one verdict. Furthermore, racism is deeply rooted in everyday life. But 20th April 2021 will give hope that the BLM movement, protests and the struggle for justice can change society for a better future for all.

The 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, Derek Chauvin, faces a maximum of 40 years in prison for second degree murder, which is the most serious of three charges he faced.

This is the first time that a white officer has been convicted for killing a black man in Minnesota. This is monumental, George’s death was not in vain.” The BLM movement supported the trial to the hilt and remarked a new dawn in the fight for racial justice.

Can we now breath a collective sigh of relief that the right judicial decision was made and that justice has been served this time? Today’s outcome is a somber victory for George and his family and for the legacy of  Dr. Julius Nyerere’s who before becoming the first president of the then Tanganyika, now the United Republic of Tanzania, remarked that he would not rest till the last bastion of white supremacy is made history.

16.10.2020

Pegida attack on Pakistani national at Pirnaischer Platz, Dresden

Ending institutionalised racism within the judicial structures of Saxony

On 29 July 2019, a 30-year-old Pakistani was first insulted by Pegida supporters and then given a bloody nose by a 75-year-old Pegida marshal. At the end of September this year, the three defendants had to stand trial at the district court of Dresden for facial injury to the foreigner. The judge already wanted to discontinue the proceedings due to lack of evidence, as he said. However, in an unusual show of support by the police, the officer in charge presented a video of the incident, which incriminated the Pegida marshal hitting the foreigner on the face. The 75-year-old was the only one of the three accused who had no previous criminal record. Thus, the magistrate sentenced him to a fine of 500 Euros for negligent physical injury.His two young previously convicted supporters, however, were acquitted. This case is a perfect example of institutional racism within the judiciary at lower court level in Saxony. It is imperative that this kind of behaviour by judges and even lawyers, some of whom may not even shy away from taking part in Pegida demonstrations, be addressed by the President of the Court. In a lower court in Dresden a tough German can get away telling an African “I will hit you on your mouth”. Turning a blind eye to such malicious racial behaviour throws a bad light on the judicial system, especially in the year when Germany holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Awareness raising should therefore not be restricted to a social civic level but should seriously investigate the deep-rooted racism anchored within the structures of the institutions.

Lara Bieske

16.10.2020

Flames on Mt. Kilimanjaro

On 22 October 1959, the visionary young African leader Julius Nyerere made a commitment on behalf of his people, wo still had to reclaim their country from the yoke of British Colonialism.  This is what he had to say:

“We the people of Tanganyika, would like to light a candle and put it on top of Mount Kilimanjaro. It would shine beyond our borders giving hope where there was despair, love where there was hate, and dignity, where there before was only humiliation. “

Since the independence of the then Tanganyika, Africa and the globe have seen a lot of transformations and progress. One of the most important ones that they may be about to witness is when Tanzanian citizens go to the polls on 28th October this year, the outcome may be much more peaceful and civilised as when the American citizens vote for the opposing incumbents on 3rd November.  Can the world learn from Africa on democracy!!

06.10.2020

Institutional racism in the administration and judiciary

As more and more cases of right-wing extremism come to light, power4africa e.V. has set out to expose such cases in Saxony. It should not be a general suspicion. But one thing must be clear for organs of the administration of justice: "nip in the bud".

08.08.2020

A conflict between the association and the judiciary seems to be looming in the Dresden district court. It all began when a German craftsman threatened the African treasurer of the association in the courtroom with "hitting him in the face". The president of the court neither intervened nor did she even make an attempt to invalidate the facts.

16.07.2020

During our panel discussion on the Nile water conflict surrounding the construction of the "GERD" dam between Egypt and Ethiopia, exciting presentations were given and, thanks to the great interest of the audience*, lively discussions took place. You can read and see a summary of the evening here in the events.

06.06.2020

More than 4000 people in Dresden joined forces on Saturday to fight racism and the police violence. We thank everyone who made this possible, participated and organised it! Thank you! You can find a detailed article about the demonstration here under events or in the African Courier!

21.01.2020

UK-Africa Investment Summit in London where Kenya´s Green Bond lists on London stock Exchange: