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
Showing posts with label africans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label africans. Show all posts
Thursday, July 3, 2008
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.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Malawian Couple Ready to Adopt Britney Spears Children
Interesting news from African Loft at http://www.africanloft.com/malawian-couple-ready-to-adopt-britney-spears-children/
Why not?
I'm sure American children feel disadvantaged and left out because African children are in the spotlight when it comes to "adoption" :)
Why not?
I'm sure American children feel disadvantaged and left out because African children are in the spotlight when it comes to "adoption" :)
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Stay tuned- A24
ok, this was my idea but hey, I'm glad it was done for Africa by an African.
Next year, A24, a pan -african news channel will start broadcasting from Kenya, East Africa.
It's like Al-Jazeera, a pan-arab channel however, A 24 is for Africans, by Africans.
Finally, we Africans will start voicing out our thoughts about what's happening in our continent.
Here is a quote from the Kenyan journalist and founder, Salem Amin:
Salim Amin wrote in an article: "We are different in each corner of Africa; we have different histories, cultures and many different languages. But we need to talk to each other, we need to understand all these differences, we need to share our successes, and jointly fight our problems and failures - many of which are similar - HIV, malaria, corruption, poverty, human rights and education."
Next year, A24, a pan -african news channel will start broadcasting from Kenya, East Africa.
It's like Al-Jazeera, a pan-arab channel however, A 24 is for Africans, by Africans.
Finally, we Africans will start voicing out our thoughts about what's happening in our continent.
Here is a quote from the Kenyan journalist and founder, Salem Amin:
Salim Amin wrote in an article: "We are different in each corner of Africa; we have different histories, cultures and many different languages. But we need to talk to each other, we need to understand all these differences, we need to share our successes, and jointly fight our problems and failures - many of which are similar - HIV, malaria, corruption, poverty, human rights and education."
Monday, August 13, 2007
George Ayittey: Cheetahs vs. Hippos for Africa's future
Yes, I'm taking a break and I'm going to travel but I wanted to keep you guys entertained:)
George B.N. Ayyitey gave a great talk at the TED Global. Listen to him and let me know if you are a cheetah or a hippo african. For non-Africans who do you prefer? http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/151
George B.N. Ayyitey gave a great talk at the TED Global. Listen to him and let me know if you are a cheetah or a hippo african. For non-Africans who do you prefer? http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/151
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