The TransAfrica Forum family is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death late yesterday of Miriam Makeba. Miriam Makeba was the embodiment of the phrase cultural-activist: from the beginning of life to the very end. Ms. Makeba’s heart attack and subsequent death will not take her away from the world—her spirit still lives with us in her music.

TransAfrica Forum expresses its sorrow at the news of a school collapse on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti that has killed at least 50 people and injured over 120. According to the BBC, an estimated 200 to 700 children were packed inside the three-story building at the time. Countless others are still trapped in the rubble.

Last month, TransAfrica Forum released an action alert about increasing threats against Afro-Colombian collective territorial rights in Colombia as well as against civil society actors on the ground working to defend those rights. On October 7th, 2008, forty-six year old Armenio Cortes was assassinated. Cortes was murdered upon arriving home from a community council meeting in the Nariño department of Colombia. Cortes was a dedicated leader and activist who opposed the cultivation of illicit crops and monoculture crops in Afro-Colombian, collective territories.

This week, NGOs from around the globe sent a resounding message to the Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it must reform its harmful practices. Last April, facing a budget shortfall, the IMF’s Executive Board approved the sale of a portion of its gold reserves in order to fund its administrative budget. NGOs worldwide have called on the Board to insure that meaningful reforms are enacted prior to the gold sale.