Tutu Alicante

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2007

Tutu Alicante

EG Justice

http://www.egjustice.org/

Santa Fe, NM, United States

Civil and Human Rights

The Bold Idea:

Since gaining independence from Spain in 1968, the people of Equatorial Guinea have endured two of Africa’s most cruel dictatorships, characterized by systematic incarcerations, disappearances, torture, and assassination of citizens. Despite more than one billion dollars in annual oil production revenue, over 75 percent of Equatorial Guinea’s 500 million citizens live on less than two dollars a day, without access to health-care, education, and clean water.

EG Justice is the first human rights advocacy and capacity-building initiative devoted to Equatorial Guinea. Its mission is to work with citizens to end government impunity and advocate for lasting democratic reforms. Its diasporic network of concerned individuals and organizations will demand accountability for human rights violations, raise awareness about socio-economic and political conditions in Equatorial Guinea, and ensure that the natural resource revenues of the state benefit the majority of the people in the country.

Biography:

Tutu Alicante, a native of Equatorial Guinea, earned his JD from the University of Tennessee and his LLM degree from Columbia University Law School. Since 2004, he has worked on natural resource revenue transparency and human rights accountability in the Gulf of Guinea as a legal consultant for international human rights organizations.

Moment of Obligation: What experiences led to the desire to start your own organization?
I was born in and grew up in a dictatorship. My personal and family experiences in Equatorial Guinea are tainted with instances of government-sponsored abuse of power, corruption, and impunity. I came to the United States in 1994, in search for answers to the grave injustices I witnessed in my country. I felt compelled to launch the EG Justice when it became apparent that the Equatorial Guinean government, strengthened by oil and gas revenues and the support from some Western nations and financial institutions, showed few signs of instituting needed democratic reform or addressing a past marred by human rights violations.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to dream big and take on deeply entrenched problems in the world?
Through my work in the U.S.-Mexico border and in the Deep South, with low income migrant farm workers, I have seen what is possible when people are educated, empowered, and engaged in finding solutions to everyday problems. Similarly, my current work with individuals and groups in exile, in collaboration with Global Witness and the Open Society Institute, has convinced me that a just and democratic Equatorial Guinea is possible.

New and Untested: What's innovative about your new idea for social change?
The EG Justice is the first human rights and pro-democracy initiative led by citizens of Equatorial Guinea. It is the first initiative to combine grassroots and international advocacy efforts to educate, empower, and engage Equatoguineans in bringing about fundamental social change in our country.

Seeing Possibilities: What are the most important qualities to be a successful social entrepreneur?
Successful social entrepreneurs must believe that change is possible and within reach. They must have an unrelenting hunger for transformative social change, and the strength to persevere through adversity. They must understand that the power to bring about fundamental change lies with the people, and that they are a merely catalyst for that change.

Which musical artists/albums get you going and keep you inspired?
Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk keep me inspired. El Gran Combo, Sonora Caruseles, and Oscar de Leon keep me going.

What books do you recommend?
Tropical Gangsters: One Man’s Experience with Development and Decadence in Deepest Africa by Robert Klitgaard, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 by Taylor Branch, The Long Haul: An Autobiography by Miles Horton, Judith Kohl, and Herbert Kohl and Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and Myra Bergman Ramos.

Which websites do you visit often?

• guinea-ecuatorial.net
• asodegue.org

What advice or quote do you keep close to your heart as a social change leader?
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and “If a man [person] hasn’t discovered something he [she] will die for, he [she] isn’t fit to live.” - Martin Luther King.