Countenance @ http://countenance.wordpress.com/ wrote a very interesting post about the so-called United States of Africa.
"When the African Union website opens, a welcome message declares that “Africa must unite.” But while such sentiment may be growing, an initiative to move the continent towards a formal union has failed.
Good luck. East Africans in a little east African country couldn’t even get along to the point where one ethnicity slaughtered a million of the other in an attempt at genocide in 1994.
How East Africans, West Africans, South Africans, Arabs and North Africans are supposed to compete for singular control of a unitary continental state without butchering each other is beyond me.
If there can be such a thing as a semi-successful AU, it will have to: (1) Apply only to sub-Saharan (i.e. black) Africa, (2) Allow for three sub-AU semi-sovereign entities encompassing the three major types of black Africans, (3) erase the current political map of sub-Saharan Africa, a legacy of European colonialism, and redraw the boundaries around tribes and ethnicities, (4) restore Zimbabwe and South Africa to white rule. "
I don't agree with everything he said, but the African Union needs to know that Africa is going to unite (eventually) just give it a few decades. Uniting by 2012 is out of the question.
"Sudan is not really a country at all, but many. A composite layers, like a genetic fingerprint of memories that were once fluid, but have since crystallized out from the crucible of possibility" Jamal Mahjoub, a Sudanese novelist
Thursday, July 3, 2008
This is Zimbabwe- The Campbell's are alive but traumatized for life.
Mike Campbell (74), his wife Angela (70) and their son-in-law-Ben were abducted from their farm in Zimbabwe and badly beaten.
Hat tip- This is Zimbabwe @http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/1142
"Mike, Angela and Ben were taken by a “war vet” named Gilbert Moyo and approximately twenty thugs to Pixton Mine (Pixton Mine is currently being used as a youth militia torture camp). Implicated in the attack is a Zanu PF party member named ‘Mazambani’ and an army General.
Cold water was thrown over them before all were beaten.
Mike Campbell, who is 74 years old, was beaten with rifle butts. Mike has serious concussion and a broken collar bone and fingers.
Mike’s wife Angela (70) was thrown to the ground by the abductors resulting in a double fracture of her arm/shoulder, requiring surgery. One of the militia took burning twigs from the fire and put them on her lips."
The attack was of course "justified", after they were beaten to near death, they were forced to sign a formal withdrawal of their case from the SADC Tribunal.
All of this was to take their farm away.
God help them.
Cold water was thrown over them before all were beaten.
Mike Campbell, who is 74 years old, was beaten with rifle butts. Mike has serious concussion and a broken collar bone and fingers.
Mike’s wife Angela (70) was thrown to the ground by the abductors resulting in a double fracture of her arm/shoulder, requiring surgery. One of the militia took burning twigs from the fire and put them on her lips."
The attack was of course "justified", after they were beaten to near death, they were forced to sign a formal withdrawal of their case from the SADC Tribunal.
All of this was to take their farm away.
God help them.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Human Stain
Most of the movies nowadays are based on books. Personally, I prefer the books. You just have to read The Notebook and a Walk to Remember before watching them. When you read a book, you start painting pictures of charcters in your mind.
The Human Stain was a good movie based on a great book.
The book is loosely based on the life of Anatole Broyard, a Creole ( mixed race) literary critic. When he started his career after World War 2, he decided to "pass" as white. After his death, his race was questioned in many articles. This encouraged his daughter to trace her roots back to West Africa.
The book is about Coleman Silk, a professor of Classics at a fictitious university in Massachessets. At first, we knew nothing of his background , he was just your average Jewish-American man. Earlier in the movie, he is accussed of using a racial slur and because of that, he quits his job.
The movie is narratted by Nathan Zuckerman, his close friend who ends up writing his story. Then the flashbacks start, we are introduced to his family. His mother had an affair with a white men and he was the product, a green/blue-eyed very light-skinned Colored man.
Silk just chose the easy way out, all he had to do is check white on applications.
He chose to live a lie his whole life.
nterestingly, it was played by WentWorth Miller, an American of Syrian,Jamaican, African American, Lebanese, Somali, Russian and German heritage. He describes his father as black and his mother as white.
In 1994, Miller was a student at Princeton. He published a cartoon in the Daily Princetonian. The cartoon was misunderstood and he was accussed of being a racist. Interestingly, he didn't use the race card to explain this misunderstanding.
The Human Stain was a good movie based on a great book.
The book is loosely based on the life of Anatole Broyard, a Creole ( mixed race) literary critic. When he started his career after World War 2, he decided to "pass" as white. After his death, his race was questioned in many articles. This encouraged his daughter to trace her roots back to West Africa.
The book is about Coleman Silk, a professor of Classics at a fictitious university in Massachessets. At first, we knew nothing of his background , he was just your average Jewish-American man. Earlier in the movie, he is accussed of using a racial slur and because of that, he quits his job.
The movie is narratted by Nathan Zuckerman, his close friend who ends up writing his story. Then the flashbacks start, we are introduced to his family. His mother had an affair with a white men and he was the product, a green/blue-eyed very light-skinned Colored man.
Silk just chose the easy way out, all he had to do is check white on applications.
He chose to live a lie his whole life.
nterestingly, it was played by WentWorth Miller, an American of Syrian,Jamaican, African American, Lebanese, Somali, Russian and German heritage. He describes his father as black and his mother as white.
In 1994, Miller was a student at Princeton. He published a cartoon in the Daily Princetonian. The cartoon was misunderstood and he was accussed of being a racist. Interestingly, he didn't use the race card to explain this misunderstanding.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
South Africa- a note
South Africa's transition to democracy is often cited as a peaceful one, but South Africa's transition to democracy was not very peaceful.
One of the most pressing issues in post-apartheid SA is crime. The crime rates are numbing and it seems that more and more people are gun-holders. After the anti-immigrants protest a few
weeks ago, one thing was certain, South Africa is not at war, but it is also not at peace with itself.
After apartheid, there was alot of apologizing. Alot of "we are sorry for the atrocities committed during apartheid". I'm not South African and all I know about apartheid is what I read, but honestly, sorry is sometimes not good enough. Sorry doesn't put food on the table. We have the recognize that people suffered during apartheid, but we also need to remember that many people in post-apartheid South Africa are living in worse conditions. The slums keep expanding and crime and rape is rife there.
Isn't this most important than apologizing to each other?
Improving the living conditions of the majority of the citizens should be the number one priority. It would lead to racial harmony in the sense that many people feel that "white south africans" are still the richest of the rich. Many hold a grudge towards them and this is not going to go away if whites apologized.
The problem is many non-whites believed that apartheid is their only problem, after apartheid is gone, their living conditions still didn't improve. Yes, people had alot of expectations and aspirations, but the goverment should be blamed instead of blaming white south-africans for their economic power. The government has failed its people. Yes, apartheid ended only 14 years ago,but 14 years ago is not a short time. Alot of things could have been accompolished. Give your citizens the necessities before anything else. Running water, shelter ( not a shack) , free or affordable education and so on.
South Africa is not a poor country, it's one of the most visited countries in the world and they are well-endowed with natural resources.
The fact that SA is the largest economy in Africa should not make the govt of SA feel good . it should not be taken for granted. Regional powerhouses appear and disappear.
Ban Ki Mon said something interesting last month, hungry people are angry people.
A few weeks ago, the immigrants were attacked, it wasn't black on black violence, it was broke on broke violence.
Next time, another group is going to be attacked, you always need a scapegoat for your problems.
Is the SA government incompetent?
One of the most pressing issues in post-apartheid SA is crime. The crime rates are numbing and it seems that more and more people are gun-holders. After the anti-immigrants protest a few
weeks ago, one thing was certain, South Africa is not at war, but it is also not at peace with itself.
After apartheid, there was alot of apologizing. Alot of "we are sorry for the atrocities committed during apartheid". I'm not South African and all I know about apartheid is what I read, but honestly, sorry is sometimes not good enough. Sorry doesn't put food on the table. We have the recognize that people suffered during apartheid, but we also need to remember that many people in post-apartheid South Africa are living in worse conditions. The slums keep expanding and crime and rape is rife there.
Isn't this most important than apologizing to each other?
Improving the living conditions of the majority of the citizens should be the number one priority. It would lead to racial harmony in the sense that many people feel that "white south africans" are still the richest of the rich. Many hold a grudge towards them and this is not going to go away if whites apologized.
The problem is many non-whites believed that apartheid is their only problem, after apartheid is gone, their living conditions still didn't improve. Yes, people had alot of expectations and aspirations, but the goverment should be blamed instead of blaming white south-africans for their economic power. The government has failed its people. Yes, apartheid ended only 14 years ago,but 14 years ago is not a short time. Alot of things could have been accompolished. Give your citizens the necessities before anything else. Running water, shelter ( not a shack) , free or affordable education and so on.
South Africa is not a poor country, it's one of the most visited countries in the world and they are well-endowed with natural resources.
The fact that SA is the largest economy in Africa should not make the govt of SA feel good . it should not be taken for granted. Regional powerhouses appear and disappear.
Ban Ki Mon said something interesting last month, hungry people are angry people.
A few weeks ago, the immigrants were attacked, it wasn't black on black violence, it was broke on broke violence.
Next time, another group is going to be attacked, you always need a scapegoat for your problems.
Is the SA government incompetent?
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sudan:- What's next?
This is Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and the safest place in the country. In fact, it’s known to be one of Africa’s safest capitals.
Yesterday, it was nothing short of a battlefield.
Wake up call, this is a wake up call for the Sudanese government! The message was clear and simple:- solve the crises inDarfur or you will be overthrown.
Yesterday, rebels from Darfur entered the capital of Sudan to “seize power”. Although, the capital wasn’t damaged as much as its twin sister, Omdurman, the situation remains extremely fragile.Previously, the Sudanese army has stepped up security in an attempt to secure the capital from what they believe to be an “invasion” by darfur rebels supported by their ally, Chad.
After 5 years of endless conflict, there is no peace in sight. Peace talks are scheduled to take place in London this month, but the rebels outsmarted the government known to be one of Africa’s strongest governments.
Five years on, there is still no real progress in the peace process in Darfur and the government is reluctant to implement the Abuja peace agreement. They’ve failed to bring peace to Darfur, but how could they bring peace to Darfur if they’ve orchestered crimes against humanity there?This government is not going to bring peace to Sudan.
The government is looking for a quick fix-up right now, they are taking security measures and the streets are mostly covered with soldiers. However, if they are keen on “saving Sudan” and “stopping the senseless bloodshed”, they should step down with the little dignity they have left and hand over power to a transitional government. Next year, we can have elections and elect a new president for the first time in 23 years.
If the government keeps looking for quick fixes and doesn’t take this situation seriously, the country is going to collapse into civil war. The whole country, including the “peacful” north and east.
Is there a way out of this chaos?Yes, a transitional government to faciliate an easy transition to democracy.
Currently, the situation is extremtly fragile in the whole country, but there is a way out. There is a solution.
Catch 22
The rebels are in Khartoum.
Khartoum is going to be the site of the last battle.
Things might get better, we might be heading towards a democraty or we are on the brink of disaster.
What's going to happen?
40 million Sudanese are waiting for an answer.
Khartoum is going to be the site of the last battle.
Things might get better, we might be heading towards a democraty or we are on the brink of disaster.
What's going to happen?
40 million Sudanese are waiting for an answer.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The Break-up.
You see, they've been dating (on and off) for over 50 years, but they are still not used to each other.
You see, it's strictly dating, they are too reluctant to take it to the other level.
She is suspicious of him, he thinks she is fine, she has alot of wealth and goodies, that's his vocab.
Ofcourse
you see, she wants to break up, but he wants her to reconsider.
He is trying to appeal to her in every single way, he is polite to her, he makes promises and he keeps some of them, he respects her sometimes, but it still doesn't feel right to her.
You see, he is reluctant to let her go, but she sees it coming.
She is worried.
I mean some couples break up czechslovakia style, peaceful and smooth.
She wonders if it is going to be Yugoslavia-style.
Is he going to stalk her all the time? mabye wage a war, kidnapp her sister and hold her hostage, throw her mother in the sea, blackmail her with old pictures or mabye he is just going to be rude to her.
She wonders
I don't know. She still wants to leave. Her bags are packed, her ticket is booked and she can't wait to get out of this abusive relationship.
She wanted her indepedence and respect. Is it too much? Men!
But, he loves her passionately. He is crazy about her.
Mabye that's why he hurts her sometimes.
It is some kind of perverted admiration, right?
Finally, she decided that she needs some time off. She needs to think straight. He agreed to give her 6 years, all the time in the world.
Take your time, dear, I will sit back and wait for you to make up your mind.
Three years on, she is still thinking.
Mabye she just wants advice.
Sister,
I understand that the r.ship wasn't exactly milk and honey, but men can always change. Sister, why don't you resocialize him and talk to him. Invite him over, make some tea and talk your heart away.
Tell him to listen to you. Talk to him. If he loves you, he is going to take your views into consideration.
You are meant to be together, sister...right?
Praying for Unity.
You see, it's strictly dating, they are too reluctant to take it to the other level.
She is suspicious of him, he thinks she is fine, she has alot of wealth and goodies, that's his vocab.
Ofcourse
you see, she wants to break up, but he wants her to reconsider.
He is trying to appeal to her in every single way, he is polite to her, he makes promises and he keeps some of them, he respects her sometimes, but it still doesn't feel right to her.
You see, he is reluctant to let her go, but she sees it coming.
She is worried.
I mean some couples break up czechslovakia style, peaceful and smooth.
She wonders if it is going to be Yugoslavia-style.
Is he going to stalk her all the time? mabye wage a war, kidnapp her sister and hold her hostage, throw her mother in the sea, blackmail her with old pictures or mabye he is just going to be rude to her.
She wonders
I don't know. She still wants to leave. Her bags are packed, her ticket is booked and she can't wait to get out of this abusive relationship.
She wanted her indepedence and respect. Is it too much? Men!
But, he loves her passionately. He is crazy about her.
Mabye that's why he hurts her sometimes.
It is some kind of perverted admiration, right?
Finally, she decided that she needs some time off. She needs to think straight. He agreed to give her 6 years, all the time in the world.
Take your time, dear, I will sit back and wait for you to make up your mind.
Three years on, she is still thinking.
Mabye she just wants advice.
Sister,
I understand that the r.ship wasn't exactly milk and honey, but men can always change. Sister, why don't you resocialize him and talk to him. Invite him over, make some tea and talk your heart away.
Tell him to listen to you. Talk to him. If he loves you, he is going to take your views into consideration.
You are meant to be together, sister...right?
Praying for Unity.
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