Aminata Dramane Traoré (born 1942) is a Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, and political activist. She served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Mali from 1997 to 2000 and is a former coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme

United Nations Development Programme

The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...

. She is the current Coordinator of Forum pour l'autre Mali and Associate Coordinator of the International Network for Cultural Diversity and was elected to the board of the International Press Service in July 2005.

She is a prominent critic of globalization

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

 and the economic policies of the most developed nations. Specifically, she has voiced opposition to the Western countries' subsidization of their own cotton farmers, which leaves West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

n countries at a disadvantage in competing for space in Western

Western culture

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

 markets. Traoré is one of the signatories, or members of the Group of Nineteen, of the Porto Alegre Manifesto

Porto Alegre Manifesto

The Porto Alegre Manifesto is a proposal for social change produced at the 2005 World Social Forum. It outlines "twelve... proposals, which [its authors] believe, together, give sense and direction to the construction of another, different world." The authors argue that "if they would be...

 drafted by the 2005 World Social Forum.

She defends Ahmed Sékou Touré

Ahmed Sékou Touré

Ahmed Sékou Touré was an African political leader and President of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984...

, the former president of neighbour country Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

, saying his bad reputation as a dictator

Dictator

A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...

 and his attempts at exterminating the Fulas

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

 from the Fouta Djalon in Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

 is due to propaganda and mis-information.

She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank.

External links

• Aminata Traoré Interview
• Prince Claus Award 2004
  Prince Claus Awards
  The Prince Claus Fund was inaugurated in 1996, named in honor of Prince Claus of The Netherlands. It receives an annual subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs....