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Feb 24 '22, 6:00 PM - 7:15 PM
Toward a Healthier Future for the People of Africa: Neo-Colonialism, Public Health, and the Alcohol Industry
Multinational alcohol corporations based in Europe and North America are eagerly fighting for control of Africa’s beer industry, according to published reports.
- What are the health, development and human rights implications of this scramble for Africa by powerful Western alcohol producers?
- How do their plans fit the historical pattern of neo-colonial corporate activity on the continent?
- And how can advocates for health and justice respond effectively?
Date and place
Join us on Thursday, February 24, 12pm EST (5pm GMT / 6pm WAT, CET / 7pm CAT / 8pm EAT) on Zoom as we discuss these questions and more.
Platform: Zoom (Movendi International hosting)
Registration
Please register via Eventbrite, here.
Please download the event flyer, here.
Speakers and moderator
The webinar will feature investigative journalist Olivier van Beemen, author of the award-winning book Heineken in Africa, along with human rights attorney Allie Brudney of Corporate Accountability Lab, and civil society activist Tungamirai Zimonte, the founder of the alcohol prevention youth initiative YADD, in Zimbabwe.
Moderating the conversation will be AjiFanta Marenah.
Organizers and co-sponsors
This webinar is hosted by Movendi NY, in partnership with Movendi International, the largest independent global movement for development through alcohol prevention.
Co-sponsors include the Noko-Boku Foundation (NY/Senegal); Bridging Africans & Black Americans (BABA); and the Interfaith Public Health Network.
Audiences
- African nationals and (primarily) NY-based African ex-pats
- Advocates and activists in human rights, development, and public health
- Professionals in global health, global development, CDoH, alcohol policy
Purposes
- To spur awareness and action around the neo-colonial, health-harming activities of Western multinational corporations (MNCs)
- To draw particular attention to alcohol MNCs as “birds of a feather” with other health-harming industries
- To function as a debut for Movendi NY
Agenda
| Time | Segment | Speaker |
| 12:00 – 12:05 | Welcome/Introduction | Moderator:
AjiFanta Marenah |
| 12:05 –
12:10 |
Opening Remarks | Cedric McClester, Movendi NY
Kristina Sperkova, Movendi International |
| 12:10 – 12:20 | The Increasing Relevance of ‘Heineken in Africa’ | Olivier van Beemen
Author: Heineken in Africa |
| 12:20 – 12:30 | On-the-Ground Public Health Perspective
The alcohol industry’s exploitation of the African people: then and now. |
Tungamirai Zimonte
YADD, Zimbabwe |
| 12:30 – 12:40 | Human Rights Perspective | Allie Brudney |
| 12:40 – 1:05 | Panel discussion / Q&A | All speakers and Nana Asare Nova Felder, Co-Director of Education BABA Inc. |
| 1:05 – 1:15 | Closing and Next Steps
What are we going to do about it? |
AjiFanta Marenah & all |
Our speakers
About the moderator:
AjiFanta Marenah was born in The Gambia and migrated to the U.S. when she was twelve years old. She completed her Bachelor’s in Government and Politics and Master’s in International Relations at St. John’s University. Currently, she is working as the Civic Education & Advocacy Program Coordinator at Muslim Community Network, where her role includes organizing the Muslim community around policy issues important to them and leading MCN’s agenda against Islamophobia, racism and hate crime prevention.
Prior to joining MCN, she worked as a Graduate Research Assistant with the Government Department at St. John’s, as well as a Research Assistant with The Rose Lokissim Foundation, where she assisted a coalition of organizations with designing a mechanism to justice for victims of human rights violations, under the Jammeh regime, in The Gambia. While attending St. John’s, AjiFanta served as President of the UNICEF chapter and held internships at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, Human Rights Watch and the Bronx Civil and Criminal Courts.
AjiFanta is also a volunteer with the Gambian Youth Organization as the secretary and advocacy chair.
Nana Asare Nova Felder, Co-Director of Education BABA Inc., Leader of Development and Education, Nkushahenne of The Kingdom of Akwamu, Ghana
About the presenters & panelists:
Olivier van Beemen is an investigative journalist from Amsterdam and the author of the book Heineken in Africa: A Multinational Unleashed (2019) and two other books. For his Heineken investigation, he won the Tegel, the most prestigious award in Dutch journalism, and got nominated for several other prizes. The book was translated in English, French, Italian and Slovenian. Earlier in his career, Van Beemen was foreign correspondent in France. His work has been published in international news media such as The Guardian, Le Monde and Mail and Guardian.
More information: www.heinekeninafrica.com
Twitter: @oli4vb
Copyright photo:Dingena Mol
Tunga Zimonte
Tunga is the founder and director for Youth against Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (YADD), a youth organization committed to promoting healthy lifestyle skills and choices among young people in Zimbabwe. Tunga is a board member of the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA) and coordinates its activities in Zimbabwe.
Apart from public health advocacy, Tunga is a media professional passionate about communication, art and life. In 2012 he had some of his graphic design work exhibited at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe as part of a group exhibition titled “Unevenness: Interrogating dominating and dominated relationships based on different cultures, religions and histories.”
Tunga holds a Bsc (Hons) Media and Society Degree from the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe.
He is member of the Movendi International board since 2018 and is our expert for alcohol and other drug prevention solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, including protection and promotion of Child Rights and Women’s Rights, revealing the unethical practices of Big Alcohol, as well as advocacy.
Allie Brudney
Allie Brudney is a Staff Attorney at Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL), where she leads CAL’s program on combating forced labor. In her role at CAL, Allie helps to develop and test creative legal strategies for holding corporations accountable for labor and human rights violations. Her work focuses on human rights abuses in global supply chains, including child and forced labor in the West African cocoa industry. Before CAL, she worked on issues related to disarmament and spent time in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar. Allie earned a B.A. from Middlebury College, an M.A. from the Free University in Berlin, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Nana Asare Nova Felder
Nana Asare Nova Felder is Co-Director of Education & Interim Head of Operations for BABA Inc. (Bridging Africans and Black Americans Inc.) NYC Nkusahenne (Leader of Development and Education) of The Kingdom of Akwamu, Eastern Region, Ghana Nova Felder is a life long student, organizer and activist in the global Afrikan community.
He has worked as a teacher, organizer and social entrepreneur in his native NYC. With BABA Inc. He continues this mission as Co-director of Education with a hands on approach by delivering programming that educates his community about their history, culture and its importance in moving the Global Afrikan Family Forward.
Agostina Ntow
Agostina Ntow is a master’s degree holder in International Policy and Development from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and Italian from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Ms. Ntow recently completed a virtual internship with the United Nations Population Fund. For this position, she independently researched and created an internal strategy document on Gulf States funding trends. She spent much of her youth in Italy and Ghana, and she speaks Twi and Italian fluently. She is also the Managing Director for Zahara’s Dream Inc. and works on the operational and communication engagement for the organization. Ms. Ntow is passionate about young women’s leadership and empowerment. In her free time, she enjoys reading and listening to afro beats
Cedric McClester
Cedric McClester is the Board Secretary for Movendi NY. He also serves as the chairperson of the Forward South Bronx Coalition (FSBC), a diverse group of community partners working to prevent and reduce underage drinking and other substance use problems. Mr. McClester is an award-winning journalist and author, who has written for major national and international publications, including the New York Times and the New York Daily News. He is also a prolific lyricist/poet who has written two books: Kwanzaa, Everything You Always Wanted To Know, But Didn’t Know Where to Ask and the children’s book, The Legend of Nia Umoja, both on the Gumbs and Thomas imprint. Presently, he is a member of Bronx Community Board 2. He has a Master of Science in Education degree from Fordham University and resides in New York City.
Kristina Sperkova
Kristina Sperkova is the International President of Movendi International.
Kristina has a master degree in psychology from the Comenius University in Slovakia.
She has been active in the field of substance use prevention within civil society for 20 years starting in a peer program in her hometown community. Later on Kristina engaged in prevention work on European level and served as a Secretary-General of a European Youth Organization, Active – sobriety, friendship and peace. She worked both with capacity building of youth organizations active in the prevention field in Europe and with youth and alcohol policy advocacy on EU level.
From 2012 onwards, Kristina worked for a Swedish NGO, the IOGT-NTO movement that conducts development aid work with partner NGOs in Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Balkan countries, in the field of official development assistance. She worked as a Programme manager, Strategic coordinator and subsequently as Junior Advisor with questions relating to alcohol as obstacle to development.
Kristina has been in the board of Movendi International since 2006, first as International Vice President and since October 2014 as International President.
Preparatory reading (optional)
Big Beer Thirsting for Africa – and the Consequences
Africa: Is Heineken Brewing Better Future?
Africa: Big Alcohol Battle Brewing As Heineken Takes Over Competitor
Africa: Big Alcohol Battle Brewing As Heineken Takes Over Competitor
