Political Action Group

The Political Action Group of HASAN was created in response to the illegal arrest of one of our members in Malawi, Danga Mughogho (AB ’94) in September 2002 for exercising his freedom of speech to protest against the efforts by the ruling party in Malawi to amend the constitution to allow the incumbent President could run for a third term in office in the 2004 elections. 

HASAN launched the PAG in order to coordinate Harvard alumni efforts in support of liberty and human rights in Africa.  Our first initiative was to build support for Danga at Harvard, and our efforts in conjunction with those of other Harvard alumni and friends of Danga around the world, contributed to his eventual acquittal in November 2002.  Furthermore, as of April 1, 2003 we understand that that the Malawian ruling party appears to have given up on amending the constitution and has announced a new candidate to run for the 2004 election.
 
In the future, the PAG hopes to collaborate with other organizations to develop a pan-African monthly journal that will reflect the voices of Africans throughout the Diaspora. In keeping with “open-source” development and distribution principles, the journal will seek to empower contributors to be intimate participants in the dissemination of Diasporan thought in their home communities. Our goal is not only to raise awareness of political challenges facing African nations, but to give an added voice to African youth, and to situate our interests in the context of those of the global community.

Due to insufficient human resources, the PAG is currently on hold. Any HASA or HASAN members who are interested in joining this committee, or African journalists who are interested in contributing to the journal, should please fill out the form below.