Green light for Maine Maritime tidal energy venture

The Tidal Energy Demonstration and Evaluation Center (TEDEC) based at Maine Maritime Academy (MMA), Castine, Maine, has effectively been established as the only in-stream tidal energy device testing facility in the United States.
It has received a special order of clarification from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), that will enable it to further the research and testing of field-scale models of tidal energy devices at two sites located near the academy.
The declaration was granted on the basis that TEDEC is hosted by Maine Maritime Academy with the intent of providing applied educational opportunities for its students while serving the furtherance of alternative energy development. Any electrical power realized through the testing process must not displace or replace power commercially available through the electricity infrastructure grid. The Center must remain non-commercial in nature with the purpose of providing scientifically-based, objective assessments and results.
Rick Armstrong, executive director of TEDEC, says the declaration clears the path for the start of immediate testing activity which has been delayed by a permitting process originally developed for application to hydropotential energy sources, rather than those of hydrokinetic energy.
The FERC regulatory process primarily focuses on managing the environmental implications of necessary infrastructure and processes related to the generation of hydroelectricity, through the use of dams and other gravitational flowing water systems.
“Tidal energy works with the environment and the natural flow of tidal waters, so many of the well-intentioned restrictions and precautions of the Federal Power Act are not necessarily applicable to this situation, especially in light of the fact that TEDEC at Maine Maritime Academy will focus on non-permanent, field test models that are relatively small and easy to remove,” said Armstrong.
According to Armstrong, FERC’s declaration considered impediments to the growth and success of the emerging tidal energy industry. He stated that there is a growing need for objective, scientific field tests and assessments of prototypes with little or no domestic proving grounds. Also, there is an industry need for trained personnel for the development of installations, maintenance, deployment, and monitoring of tidal energy devices. Armstrong said, “TEDEC, through its solid academic base at MMA, was able to assure FERC of its ability to provide support to advancements in the technology, while offering an educational platform for the expansion of related career paths for its students. Through TEDEC, MMA has seized the opportunity to involve its students from across the core disciplines of the college in a number of applied learning environments, from engineering performance review and operation, to baseline environmental studies, to aspects of entrepreneurship and business. This movement forward is a tremendous gain for the industry and our students.”
Through TEDEC, the college will provide a tidal energy demonstration and evaluation center to economically and efficiently test and evaluate a variety of tidal energy devices currently under development around the world. The Center, the second of only two in the world and the first one in the United States, will also seek to create a model for tidal energy device testing in which educational and industry interests work cooperatively to advance technology while improving understanding of local natural resources and incorporating those features in design development. To minimize environmental disturbances and improve the overall viability of proposed renewable energy devices, the proposed center will enable academic research to influence not only testing procedures, but industry-wide engineering standards for tidal energy devices.
In addition, TEDEC is committed to assisting the regulatory community in developing protocols and permitting regimes that are appropriate to the emerging tidal energy industry and are specifically directed at environmentally friendly in-stream hydrokinetic technology and energy production.
As a non-profit, mission-based resource for alternative energy exploration, the proposed center will provide device developers with access to environmental research and interpretation, academic expertise regarding environmental influencers and impact reduction, and professional engineering suggestions and solutions.

Concerns Over Global Warming Slipping

Posted by Robert Rapier on Sunday, March 28, 2010

Some readers strongly disagreed with me when I placed Climategate as one of the Top 10 Energy Related Stories of 2009. However, I have not changed my mind about what I think will be significant and lingering impacts from this event.
I am acquainted with a number of Global Warming skeptics, and I know many more who are on the fence. Many in the U.S. Congress fall into those categories. A story indicating possible data suppression/manipulation of climate data was going to get a lot of mileage. Skeptics are going to use it to full advantage, and many fence-sitters are going to be swayed. So my reasoning was that it would ultimately have significant long-term implications. In fact, I think if there was ever much chance the U.S. would pass major legislation to stem carbon emissions, Climategate squashed that possibility.
Polls have already shown that concern over Global Warming is falling in the U.S. This weekend I saw a story in one of the major New Zealand newspapers that shows concern is slipping here as well. One of the cited reasons? Climategate.
Recession eclipses planet’s problems
Public concern about global warming appears to have eased in the past year, following economic uncertainty and widespread media coverage of climate science slip-ups.
An online survey of 1066 people in February and March found the majority believed climate change was an immediate problem – but the proportion of believers had fallen from 76 per cent in 2008 to 65 per cent this year.
The latest poll follows a Nielsen survey of the Herald Readers’ Panel in December, which found one in five of 2296 respondents thought global warming was a giant con, and a further 28 per cent thought it had not been conclusively proved.
Almost all governments accept the findings of a UN report based on the work of hundreds of scientists which concluded in 2007 that warming of the climate was “unequivocal”.
But public confidence was dented when, shortly before world climate talks in Copenhagen, emails were released showing a few leading scientists tried to avoid releasing data to their doubters, in breach of British freedom of information laws.
Relative to the U.S., those in New Zealand who believe Global Warming is an immediate problem is still pretty strong at 65%. (The latest poll in the U.S. showed 35% thought the problem is very serious, and another 30% somewhat serious). But the New Zealand poll also showed a sizeable fraction who either think Global Warming is a scam, or that it hasn’t been conclusively proven.
One other thing this indicates is something that I have long maintained: Our environmental concerns have been facilitated by cheap energy. We can all afford the luxury of being environmentally concerned as long as it doesn’t inconvenience us. Once we start paying higher prices to protect the environment, people are no longer as enthusiastic. That’s why I believe that we will end up burning all the fossil fuels that we have, and the only realistic solution to rising carbon emissions is that we run out of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Of the 30% in the U.S. who believe Global Warming is “somewhat serious”, how many do you suppose would support 10% higher gas prices – or anything else that hits them in the wallet – to help mitigate Global Warming?

Sugar-hungry yeast to boost biofuel production


Engineering yeast to transform sugars more efficiently into alcohols could be an economically and environmentally sound way to replace fossil fuels, say scientists presenting at the Society for General Microbiology’s spring meeting in Edinburgh today.
Dr Christian Weber and Professor Eckhard Boles from Frankfurt University, Germany, have worked out how to modify yeast cells so that they successfully convert a wider range of sugars from plant waste such as wheat and rice straw into alcohol that can be used as biofuel.
Bioalcohols produced by microbial fermentations are an example of second generation biofuels that use raw materials not used in food production. Plant waste is available in large amounts and contains a mixture of complex sugars including hexoses and pentoses that can be fermented to alcohol. “As these feedstocks represent the biggest portion of processing costs, we need rapid and efficient conversion of all sugars present. At the moment there is a lack of microbes that will efficiently convert both hexoses and pentoses into ethanol,” explained Dr Weber.
Bakers’ yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is already used in the beverage industry to efficiently convert hexose sugars, such as glucose, into ethanol. By transferring genes from bacteria that naturally break down pentose, Dr Weber’s team have engineered S. cerevisiae to successfully ferment pentose and hexose sugars. “As pentoses represent a substantial part of the feedstock, the engineered yeast gives a much higher yield of ethanol for the same amount of feedstock,” he said.
To enhance their biofuel potential even more, the yeast is being further modified to produce another bioalcohol - butanol instead of ethanol. “Compared to ethanol, butanol shows superior properties as a potential biofuel.” It has a lower vapour pressure, ignites at a higher temperature and is less corrosive. Butanol could replace fossil fuels up to 100% without modifying existing engines,” said Professor Boles.
BUTALCO is a company started by Professor Boles together with chemist Dr Gunter Festel that is developing a special technology to modify the yeast for pentose utilization and butanol production. The company is currently finalising the technology to use both pentoses and hexoses for bioethanol manufacture. Eventually a whole process chain will be developed covering all the steps of bioalcohol production from engineering through to downstream processing.

Why don’t we use urinals in the home?

The use of urinals has never taken off in the home – would you ever consider installing one?
Urinals seems sensible when you’re in a public loo so why haven’t they caught on in UK bathrooms? They don’t take up much space or plumbing. Ben Miller, Edinburgh
Using up to a dozen litres of fresh drinking water to flush away your “business” does seem somewhat excessive and there have been various attempts over the years to get us to use “hippos”, bricks and the like to decrease the amount of water we waste when pulling the chain.
But, as far as I’m aware, the use of urinals has never taken off in the home. There are some good reasons: they’re not exactly unisex devices, despite the best efforts of some women, and I can imagine the wandering hand of a child coming to grief on the porcelain lip.
Do they use less water, though? There are some “waterless” urinals around, plus ones that are motion activated. But would you really ever consider installing one at home?

Large dams can help cement peace

The Guardian, Monday 29 March 2010
Your informative report on the remarkable Gibe hydro-electric power project on the Omo river in Ethiopia (Report, 26 March) is of particular importance for a number of reasons. In a country which usually hits the headlines with news of droughts and famine disasters, the development of this massive potential source of energy is a great feat with enormous benefit for the surrounding region. Xan Rice’s balanced report is commendable for its restraint from unsubstantiated comment, while recording the need for further careful investigation and planning. Many aspects are of special interest, including the tremendous scale of engineering within the Great Rift Valley and the complexities of management and financing.
The benefits of power for the neighbouring countries are especially far-reaching in terms of stability and social conditions. There are many examples of power supplies which have delivered under active hostilities against all odds: for example in Mozambique where power from the Cahora Bassa station on the Zambezi continued to deliver power to South Africa across 1,500km of vulnerable land during years of hostility, and in Iraq in the 1960s to 1980s, where power generated within Kurdistan at Dokan dam continued to enter the national grid despite major hostilities. Being part of an energy grid or linked to an external supply can help to bring peace and stability – a benefit which deserves the widest support in the hostile and volatile conditions of the countries surrounding Ethiopia – possibly extending to Yemen in the east and African countries further west. This benefit justifies the widest international support.
John Robson
Cambridge

Illegal Capital Outflows Undermine Africa, Study Says

Illegal capital outflows undermine Africa -study

2010-03-29 05:30:00

About $854 billion flowed out of Africa illegally in the 39 years to 2008, and such continued capital flight will undermine gains from faster economic growth, perpetuating poverty, a study published on Sunday showed.

The study by Global Financial Integrity (GFI) showed illicit capital outflows, including proceeds from bribery, theft, human trafficking, drugs and tax evasion, grew at an average 11.9 percent between 1970 and 2008.

“Africa lost an astonishing $854 billion in cumulative capital flight, enough to not only wipe out the region’s total external debt outstanding … but potentially to leave $600 billion for poverty alleviation,” the study presented at an African Union conference of economic and finance ministers in Malawi showed.

It said economic growth without credible reform could lead to more capital flight.

“Policy measures must be taken to address the factors underlying illicit outflows and also to impress upon the G20 the need for better transparency and tighter oversight of international banks and offshore financial centres that absorb these flows,” the report said.

The study showed fuel exporters such as Nigeria lost capital at the rate of nearly $10 billion a year, far outstripping the $2.5 billion lost by non-fuel primary commodity exporters.

GROWTH OUTPACES DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Economic growth in many African countries has outpaced that in developed countries, partly due to firm commodity prices, but a majority of people on the continent live below the poverty line.

The GFI said the high rate of illicit capital outflow had undermined donor-driven efforts to end poverty and boost economic growth and was the main stumbling block to development.

“So long as illicit capital continues to haemorrhage out of poor African countries over the long term at a rapid pace, efforts to reduce poverty and boost economic growth will be thwarted,” the research found.

Prudent macroeconomic policies such as lower fiscal deficits, more conservative monetary policy, positive real interest rates and appropriately valued exchange rates would help improve the attractiveness of domestic investments, especially if complemented by strong institutions and the rule of law.

“If the problem of illicit flows is not addressed as a matter of high priority, the poor will likely experience a further decline in access to basic services in the face of grinding poverty,” the GFI said.

(Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa and Will Waterman)

Answers Are Sought in Killing of Muslim Cleric in Detroit

Answers are sought in killing of Muslim cleric

Supporters say it was police brutality

BY L.L. BRASIER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

African-American community called for answers at a rally Saturday afternoon to the killing of a Muslim cleric during an FBI raid in Dearborn in October.

More than 200 people gathered at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit to protest the controversial shooting of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53. Abdullah was the target of a two-year investigation by federal agents who said he was a radical Sunni leader preaching the overthrow of the government from his small mosque.

Abdullah was shot 21 times during the raid. FBI agents, in their official account of the event, said they chased Abdullah, then caught up with him and demanded that he show his hands. Instead, they say, he pulled a gun and fired it, prompting agents to fire back.

Abdullah’s supporters contend it was an act of police brutality aimed at a black Muslim. Agents in the raid were searching the warehouse for stolen items they say Abdullah was using to raise money for the mosque.

Saturday’s event, co-sponsored by the Detroit branch of the NAACP, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality and others, was held in one of Detroit’s most famous Baptist churches, a sign, organizers said, that Abdullah’s death was of concern beyond the Muslim community.

The Rev. Robert Smith of New Bethel said he welcomed the rally — and likened the killing to those committed by police during the civil rights movement and Detroit riots.

“Something is happening here that is an awful and dangerous thing,” Smith said.

Dearborn police are investigating the shooting and are expected to release their findings soon. The FBI did not return phone calls Saturday afternoon.

“This is a human concern, not a Muslim concern,” said Imam Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, one of the sponsors of the event. “The African-American community has had a long history of this kind of experience in Detroit.”

Those sitting in the church Saturday recalled Abdullah as a peaceful man and disputed the government’s contention that he was a radical.

“He was a very humble man of meager means,” said Sheara Ibraaheem, 56, of Dearborn Heights, who said she knew him for many years and was married in his mosque. “I want to know what happened here. We can’t let this fade away.”

Contact L.L. BRASIER: 248-858-2262 or lbrasier@freep.com

Alabama Representative Wants to Become Governor

Rep. Artur Davis seeks to become Alabama’s first African American governor

By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 24, 2010; 2:17 PM

Rep. Artur Davis, long regarded as one of the most promising of a younger generation of black politicians that has emerged over the past decade, took a bold stance this week as he seeks to become the first African American governor of Alabama: distancing himself from the biggest legislative achievement of the first black president.

The four-term lawmaker joined 33 other Democrats, most of whom hail from the South, in opposing the health-care legislation that President Obama signed into law Tuesday. Davis originally voted against the House version of the legislation in November, and Democratic leaders did not spend much time trying to get him to change his vote, perhaps in a nod to the political dynamics of his state, where Obama won only 38 percent of the vote in 2008.

But in opposing the health-care bill, Davis, a longtime Obama ally who was one of the first lawmakers to back his White House run, split from the other 41 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. They not only all voted for the legislation, but cast it in historic terms as an extension of the policies of the civil rights era.

Davis drew criticism for his vote from some on the left, as well, who accused him of abandoning the interests of his majority-black district in Birmingham. In Davis’s congressional district, 19 percent of people are uninsured — a figure higher than the national average — and Obama won 72 percent of the vote, his biggest margin of victory in any district where a House member opposed the health-care legislation.

The congressman’s opponent in the June Democratic primary in Alabama, Ron Sparks, said Davis’s vote was an example a politician willing to “blatantly ignore the will of the people in his district,” although Davis’s campaign says Sparks has given conflicting statements on whether he would have backed the overhaul.

Roland Martin, a influential black commentator who hosts a show on TV One devoted to African American issues, also criticized the vote. “He was elected to represent the people in his district in Congress, not a future position that he may or may not get,” Martin said. Davis, who declined an interview request for this article through a spokesman, said in a statement, “A comprehensive, 2,000 page, near $1 trillion dollar overhaul of the health-care system is just too cumbersome and too costly in a time of trillion-dollar deficits.”

“I believe the no vote I cast tonight was the right one, and a significant number of other Democrats joined me in casting that no vote,” Davis said Sunday. “Going forward, I hope for the good of our country that this legislation ends up working and that my reservations are proved wrong.”

Davis, in an interview with the Birmingham News on the eve of the vote, said “I just don’t see this as a racial vote or a racial issue,” and he noted that he supported the principle of health-care reform — just not this bill.

“I vigorously reject the insinuation that there is a uniquely ‘black’ way of understanding an issue, and I strongly suspect that most Alabamians will as well,” Davis said late last year when he was first criticized for his health-care stance.

His aides dismiss the view that his health-care vote was cast simply because of politics, noting he has opposed other Democratic initiatives, such as a climate-change bill the House pushed through last year.

And in his years in Congress, Davis has stood apart from his black colleagues at times, most recently when he called for Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y). to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee this month. He has not been a prominent figure in the CBC, instead playing a major role in recruiting and advising candidates for House seats in 2006, working closely with then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head Rahm Emanuel, who is now the White House chief of staff.

It’s not clear that his vote will affect his bid for governor in Alabama. All seven of the state’s House members voted against the bill, including Democratic Rep. Bobby N. Bright. And when Rep. Parker Griffith switched to the GOP in December, he cited the health-care bill as one of the reasons.

The seven GOP candidates for governor — including former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore, who famously refused to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse seven years ago — are not supportive of the legislation. And political observers in the state say Democrats are unlikely to move toward Sparks, the congressman’s only Democratic opponent, simply because of Davis’s vote on this one issue.

“Davis is the most progressive member of the Alabama delegation. It’s just very a conservative group of folks, and he’s been with us on a lot of things. He voted for SCHIP (a children’s health care bill), the stimulus bill, the jobs bill. Folks give a lot of weight to that,” said Sherry Walker, publisher of liberal blog Left in Alabama.And she added, “we are all just glad the bill passed,” referring to health care.

Davis is favored in the Democratic primary, in part because of his support among African Americans, who are expected to constitute more than half of the voters in the June contest. A rift remains between Davis and some of the older establishment black leaders in the state, who have criticized his health stance. But polls Alabama have shown Davis winning upward of 80 percent of the black vote in the primary over Sparks, who is white.

At the same time, political analysts in the state say that even with his opposition to the health-care bill, Davis faces an uphill climb in the general election. The state is traditionally Republican and has never elected an African American as governor or senator. (Nationwide, only three blacks, including Obama, have been elected to the U.S. Senate in the past century, and only two have won governor’s races.) Davis has played down the impact of race in his run but acknowledged that being a Democrat is a challenge in Alabama.

“Artur Davis is running to the right because he believes that’s the only way he can get elected,” said Natalie Davis, a political science professor at Birmingham-Southern College. “But it’s a tough to row to hoe [for a Democrat] in this climate. Add to it the person is African American.”

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Western Democracy Fails Africa

Western democracy fails Africa

Courtesy of the Zimbabwe Herald

Zimbabwean writers, especially the young and upcoming have found it very difficult to get published, with some publishers demanding a particular type of story. Our columnist EDMORE ZVINONZWA (EZ) spoke to publisher SARUDZAYI CHIFAMBA-BARNES (SCB) about this, her works and Zimbabwean writing in general.

EZ: Hello, Sarudzayi. It is good to talk to you after such a long time. In fact, this is the first time I am hearing of the name Sarudzayi. I have always thought you were Elizabeth since the days I used to meet you in the Special Collections section of the UZ library where, I recall, you were a regular visitor.

SCB: Hello, Eddie. First and foremost I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity for an interview. You are right; many people do not know me or remember me with the name Sarudzayi. Elizabeth is more popular in Zimbabwe even with my own family. Sarudzayi is my beautiful African name, my officially registered first name. Chifamba is my father’s surname, whereas Barnes is my husband’s name. Sarudzayi gives me a sense of identity; otherwise I would become very foreign even to myself if I were to be called Elizabeth Barnes.

EZ: Would you like to tell readers briefly about yourself then?

SCB: I am an African woman, a Rastafarian, an author, a publisher, a wife and a mother. I was born in Zimbabwe, but currently live in the UK. I did my BA studies at the University of Zimbabwe (1992-1994) after which I worked at the National Archives of Zimbabwe as an archivist for four years before coming here. I am currently doing an MA in Social Work. It is my dream to one day set up community-based orphan-care centres in one rural area in Zimbabwe to give orphans a place where they can have meals everyday; where those who are on any medication can go and have their medication administered by trained people rather than relying on elderly grandmothers to do so.

EZ: When exactly would we say you started writing? Any inspiration or motivation? I am looking here at the fact that you were more of a potential history person at university and even worked for the National Archives of Zimbabwe at some point.

SCB: I can say I started writing in 1990 because that’s when I entered my first short story in a Curriculum Development Unit competition and won a prize. It wasn’t the main prize though. I was advised to develop my story further, but I never bothered. In 1995, I wrote a play I called Sarudzayi (not named after me), but it was about students’ expectations after graduating from UZ. The play was set on the UZ campus and I focused on some of the issues that affected students then, especially female students. The story was mainly influenced by the realisation that as UZ students, we lived in an ideal world far removed from reality. In the play, my main character dumped her childhood sweetheart simply because he did not pass A-Level with enough points/grades to get him a place at the university. Nonetheless, he went on to do an apprenticeship and ended up with a financially rewarding job compared to my protagonist (the girl who dumped him). She had left university with a degree, which was deemed theoretical and irrelevant to employers. However, my play was never published because no one was interested in it.

In 2002, I became very homesick and began to write folktales that I had heard from my elders when I was young. I was writing them for my daughter, but when I thought of publishing them, it was like looking for a needle in a pile of rubbish. The only publisher who gave me feedback felt the stories were violent and she did not hide her feeling that Africa was a violent and unstable continent because we told our children such violent stories, which always ended with the wrongdoer being punished. I said to myself; hold on, what about all those Western films which children in the Americas and Europe watch, the guns and the shooting? Aren’t they violent enough? I gave up writing. In 2007, touched by the plight of women who left their husbands and children for very long periods to come and work in the UK, I felt I needed to write something that highlighted the risk of HIV/Aids in absentee relationships, the risk of child abuse for those child-headed families where parents migrated to work elsewhere. I also wanted to highlight some Diaspora issues of how some educated people end up doing menial jobs they had never dreamt of in Zimbabwe, issues like Gatwick — maenzanise, you know. So I wrote The Endless Trail.

EZ: Again, you are about 40 years old now and should obviously have got some first-hand experiences with colonial Zimbabwe — the segregation, disenfranchisement, unequal opportunities in educational institutions, among a number of other injustices of the supremacist white minority regime.

SCB: Yes, I am 40 years now, having been born during the days of Rhodesia. My birth certificate was issued at Charter District and my birthplace was entered as Mfushwa Kraal in Sabi North Tribal Trust Land. I remember clearly the war, the soldiers (Rhodesian Front Forces) bombing entire villages and beating parents in front of their children. The race relations were tough. There were very limited opportunities for black people. There was a bottleneck system of education. As black people, our rights and opportunities were limited. I was 11 years old when the war ended. I never thought that the thing called Rhodesia would come to an end one day. Chisingaperi chinoshura. I hear many people saying Rhodesia was better. Better, for whom?

I am working on a serial, Generations, in which, I write about colonialism as it affected one particular family from generation to generation. It’s a massive project, which requires a lot of research, but I am almost done with Book One. It’s a project I initially wanted to do as a supervised MA writing project with the University of Warwick two years ago, but I decided to withdraw from the course.

EZ: Any comment on contemporary Zimbabwean writing in general and Zimbabwean women’s writing in particular? You could also refer to earlier generations of Zimbabwean writers.

SCB: Zimbabwean writing is growing rapidly. Zimbabwean writers are claiming their rightful place in African literature which has been dominated by Nigerian and Kenyan writers. With Petina Gappah’s collection of short stories, An Elegy for Easterly winning the Guardian Fiction Prize, Ignatius Mabasa being appointed Writer-in-Residence and Storyteller at a university in Canada and Chris Mlalazi going to California for nine months as a Writer-in-Residence, I think Zimbabwean literature is doing very well.

Of course, there are earlier authors whose names deserve to be mentioned; who I also believe had a great influence on most of the contemporary authors. I was personally influenced by Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1989) and The Book of Not. I also read a lot of Dambudzo Marechera’s work and at one time I was so obsessed with his writings that I spent a lot of time reading his unpublished works at the National Archives of Zimbabwe.

There are now many more women writers from Zimbabwe, which is a very good thing, because writing was usually perceived as a man’s field. Women were not comfortable with writing as they feared they would be judged because of what they wrote. If you write about commercial sex workers for example, it will be assumed that muzivi wenzira yeparuware ndiye mufambi wayo, which is not the case. There are now young writers like Sarudzai Mubvakure, whose book Amelia’s Inheritance I published in January. I like Sarudzai’s writing in particular because she ventures into those subjects that many people are not comfortable with; or which we are conveniently forgetting. Sarudzai writes about the injustices of race relations in Rhodesia.

Yvonne Vera was also a great writer. Joyce Jenje Makwenda (Gupuro/Divorce Token) and Valerie Tagwira (The Uncertainty of Hope) write about gender issues. They are very impressive. Petina Gappah’s book is a must-read. She is leading the way. Her success is also a success for Africans, Zimbabweans and women.

EZ: As a female writer, what challenges have you faced?

SCB: I don’t think I have faced any setbacks that can be attributed solely to my gender. I have faced challenges that affect most upcoming authors. You write your manuscript, you are unknown and no publisher is interested in you, you hide your manuscript in your wardrobe or in a suitcase somewhere. FULL STOP.

EZ: How would you characterise your style of writing and major concerns and what were the influences.

SCB: I just write ordinary simple English. There is no major style. As I have already said, I was greatly impressed and influenced by Tsitsi Dangarembga. However, my main influence came from writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jamaican authors like Kei Miller and Andrea Levy (British-born but with Jamaican parents). I only go for a specific type of literature.

EZ: How have your works been received and are they available in Zimbabwe?

SCB: There is a poor reading culture among Africans in general and Zimbabweans in particular. The Village Story-Teller: Zimbabwean Folktales does well with people from other cultures. The same applies to The Endless Trail. I have not made my books available locally in Zimbabwe. I am still in the process of registering Lion Press in Zimbabwe and once that is concluded, I will explore the Zimbabwean and Southern African market.

EZ: And now, how did you get into publishing?

SCB: After publishing The Endless Trail with a Vanity Press, which you pay handsomely to self-publish, I realised that the quality of the book wasn’t good. What Vanity Press does is to just “publish” what you send them and there is no quality control, no editing! You spend a lot of money “publishing” the book only to realise that you are the main customer of your book. That’s when I realised I had to do something if I was to have my writings published properly. I registered the Lion Press in July 2008. The motive was to help other Zimbabwean authors to have their writings published. I have published 15 books since 2008. Three of the books, Many Rivers, The Fading Sun and The Man, Shaggy Leopard and Jackal were shortlisted for the 2010 Nama awards. Two of them, The Man, Shaggy Leopard and Jackal by Ignatius Mabasa and The Fading Sun by David Mungoshi won the Nama 2010 awards. Many Rivers and The Fading Sun were in the same contest.

EZ: You are in the Diaspora and you publish mostly Zimbabwean and other black writers. How is this and how are you managing?

SCB: I realised that there were many more upcoming writers among the Zimbabwean community in the Diaspora who were probably going through difficult times to have their writings published like myself. You realise you live in Britain, you are now a British citizen and yet your writing cannot penetrate the English market and publishers. Because you live in Britain, you cannot access the publishers in Africa. You realise you are in limbo. That is why I set up and registered the Lion Press mainly to work with Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. However, I work with authors from the Caribbean and other African countries. I am publishing Desise Hall (Jamaican British), I am publishing Paul Henry (a.k.a. Ras Ichy who is a Jamaican-born poet), and I am also publishing Cherry Williams who has written poems in tribute to Bob Marley. Cherry is also Jamaican. I have also published Moses Osekyere’s book and Bernard Antwi. They are both Ghanaians.

EZ: Any challenges associated with publishing that you would want to highlight?

SCB: Publishing is not a very easy thing. To begin with, the readership is very small. Books are costly to produce. You need at least £800 to come up with a good book and this fee does not include printing. Because I am a small publisher, I do all the administration and typesetting myself. I also do all the marketing on my own because I cannot afford to pay someone to do the marketing. I sub-contract editors and proofreaders to help with quality control. It’s not easy. I also use my own resources in most cases. I don’t get any funding. I tried to apply for the Arts Council grants here in England, but gave up because it’s too bureaucratic. Some of my authors fund their publishing projects, which is really good. But their books go through editing and proofreading and I also guide them on storyline development if there is any need for that. I get a lot of help from Wonder Guchu and David Mungoshi in that respect.

EZ: ZIBF is one of the biggest book fairs in the world, are you attending this year?

SCB: I am not planning to exhibit at the ZIBF this year because I will be exhibiting at the Goteborg Book Fair in Sweden. This year’s theme for the Goteborg Book Fair is Focus on Africa. I don’t want to miss that opportunity. Maybe next year, I will attend the ZIBF.

EZ: As a publisher, there have been complaints from readers who feel that most books by Zimbabwean writers, including those published in Zimbabwe, are priced way beyond the reach of many potential readers. Any comments on that?

SCB: I certainly agree with that. A paperback should cost in the region of £6 and a hardback usually costs £12. However, I think the problem is with the printing costs. There is not much competition for printers so they charge very high fees. My intention is to make Lion Press books affordable in Zimbabwe. I don’t pay much for printing in the UK. There are too many printers so there are always bargains.

EZ: What is your opinion of the future of Zimbabwean writing especially that we have a number of literary works from fairly younger writers like Memory Chirere, Ignatius Mabasa, Ruby Magosvongwe, Petina Gappah, among others.

SCB: I think it is quite promising. I have just published Memory Chirere’s book, Toriro and his Goats. It’s a great book.

EZ: What advice would you like to share with upcoming Zimbabwean writers?

SCB: Keep writing. Write what you like. Don’t allow a publisher to dictate what you should write. It’s not about the publisher’s interests. It’s about you. Write something you can defend 50 years from the day you write it, assuming we live long enough. If publishers refuse your work because they think it’s not marketable, try self-publishing although you will need a good editor, but that way you will stay in control of your books. I have one question to upcoming authors. Why are we abandoning our African languages?

EZ: Is there anything you find pertinent, like your pan Africanist stance, the current political and economic potential that our country has, given the inclusive dispensation?

SCB: Zimbabwe is a very beautiful country blessed with natural resources. We have a wonderful culture too. We need to be united and work together to improve our country and, above all, we need to give the inclusive Government a chance. There are some people who are good at criticising others. I think the European Union, the United States and other Western countries should support the inclusive Government. It’s the best thing to happen to Zimbabwe after a decade of political tension.

I beg to differ when it comes to Western democracy. Western democracy failed millions of Africans who were taken into slavery. It also failed our ancestors who died fighting to free our countries, our brothers and sisters too who died in the struggle for independence, at Nyadzonia and Soweto, among a host of other places. However, we need to forgive and move on, and not to kill each other because those who arm us want us to fight while they plunder our resources.

–Feedback: edmore.zvinonzwa@zimpapers.co.zw

South African President Zuma Urges Lifting of Sanctions Against Zimbabwe

Saturday, March 27, 2010
21:50 Mecca time, 18:50 GMT

Zuma urges lifting Zimbabwe curbs

Zuma was in Uganda as part of a business delegation from South Africa

Travel restrictions applied by the West to Zimbabwean officials from the Zanu-PF, should be lifted, Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, has said.

The South African leader made his comments, which echo earlier calls, at the tail-end of a visit to Uganda.

Zuma is mediating in a dispute between Zanu-PF, the political party of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, and its rival, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s prime minister.

“What’s happening is that one part of unity government, the MDC, can travel all they want, around the world and do what they want while the other part, the Zanu-PF, cannot,” Zuma said on Friday.

“That’s impeding the functioning of the unity government and so the international community that supported the power-sharing agreement must also lift the sanctions to allow the unity government to function to its full capacity.”

Slow progress

Both the European Union and the US maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe, his wife and inner circle in protest at disputed 2008 elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.

A power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and MDC has failed to make major headway since it was installed two years ago.

Zuma, who has urged Western powers to lift sanction in the past, said that should sanctions be lifted “we can make faster progress”.

Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, endorsed Zuma’s position in a joint statement.

Zimbabwe has been mired in a political and economic crisis for years, with much of its economic woes blamed on Mugabe’s policies.

Zuma was in Uganda as part of a delegation of cabinet ministers and business men.

While there he and his host also discussed the situation in Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a statement they said they had agreed that while security there was improving, the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission there, known as Monuc, was still needed to provide stability.

Source: Agencies