From Obama to O'bama

Barack Obama takes a seat for an expanded bilateral meeting with David Cameron and other delegates in the cabinet room

fotocredit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty

jacked from the Graun

Yesterday Barack Obama addressed both the Houses of Parliament (not this pic) as part of his tour to Europe. David Miliband, former Foreign Secretary, now MP of South Shields tweeted:

"Obama speech came alive talking about diverse societies. But not one non-white person on British establishment side of stage."

Though Miliband is part of the very political establishment he derides, this tweet hit home. It's been really weird, surreal even, watching Britain's political elites and media fawn over the Obamas. On Monday Obama was in Ireland visiting the village where his great great great maternal grandfather is said to have come from. And so Obama, or rather O'bama is now an Irishman. To prove it, the Guardian printed an opinion piece with a headline declaring 'Obama finds his inner Irishman.' And the Irish Times ran an interesting commentary by Gavin O'Malley on the political history of the Irish and Black American communities:

"the African American community responded by providing the votes needed to elect the first Irish Catholic president [John F. Kennedy]. The course of history changed. Black merged green and green merged black. Irish-Americans and African-Americans dropped their hyphens... and once again became one."

For those who don't know much, it's informative, but it tends to recall only the good bits about Ireland's past and seems to leave out the bad bits. Seemingly, its o'kay to leave those bits out, as the most of the UK media has done, because on this occasion it's about celebrating the visit of O'bama the 'Irish' President of America. Balance and a more critical approach, would have been a little embarrassing because as there's been plenty of solidarity, there's also been plenty of oppression too. And though present-day Ireland and America certainly paints a better picture of oneness and a people bound by a common identity, it feels strange, but positive, but also weird to watch O'bama being welcomed with a pint of Guinness and a name change. 


Even more awkward was Wednesday. Obama gave a speech in Westminster during which he mentioned his paternal grandfather: 

"It is possible for the sons and daughters of former colonies to sit here as members of this great parliament and for the grandson of a Kenyan who served as a cook in the British army to stand before you as president of the United States,"

Indeed Obama has proved it is possible for the grandson of a Kenyan cook to become President of USA, but the rapturous applause he got shows the bi-polar nature of parliament - which as David Miliband's tweet above notes, is quite unrepresentative. This is the same institution trying to wriggle out of compensating the Kenyans tortured under British colonial rule because the government is not responsible for what happened in its colonies. Obama ever the diplomat, didn't mention how cruelly the British treated his grandfather, a subject he oddly never mentions much. It's odd that, apart from Libya, the highlights of Obama's speech and general tone has been one of acknowledging migrant histories and the benefits of multiculturalism and yet this government believes in 'muscular multiculturalism' and ridiculously proposes no right of appeal on visa rejections. And now that immigration figures have just been released showing an increase in migrants coming on, one can expect to see the right hit the panic button and call for tougher immigration controls. So what was parliament clapping for or was it just the lily-livered lefties?

Together We Can Build?

This was the ANC's local elections campaign song by kwaito artist, Chomee (video complete with guest appearance from the King of Kwaito, Arthur Mofokate). It's an ironic considering that the ANC failing in public service delivery from decent housing to toilets to electricity and water services.  Here's an extract from a very powerful piece Bastards of a Dream Deferred by Lindokuhle Nkosi (recommended reading). Although it was published a few days before the election - it's still relevant and it provides a sobering contrast to the happy clappy, shuckin' n jivin' video above. 
(sidenote: Compare and contrast Beyonce's dance routine for 'Who runs the world' with this, clearly Bey's moves come from South Africa.)

“We have no water, we have no electricity. The ANC is killing us man. They killed my father. They took my legs.” I want to tell him that alcohol took his father. I want to tell him he lost his legs when the Military truck that he and his drunk soldier friends were in hit a pothole and flipped. Instead, I focus my energies on funneling the boiling water into three small teacups, whilst watching that he doesn’t steal anything to trade for alcohol, like he did last time. I’m cold and hungry. I’m thinking about the slow puncture I got trying to avoid a mound of cement the community had placed in the road when they realised the government would never get around to building speed humps outside the school. The pot slips, water spills on the coals putting out the fire that had been burning for three days now. No worries, the gas stove has arrived, and I managed not to burn myself.

I place the tray on the table next to a few lit candles. The same table my frightened cousins and I huddled under a long time ago, hiding from the police and red-clad Inkatha impis who marched down the street armed with pangas and hatred. “It would get better,” the older ones would say. The country would be free, my uncle would come back from exile. One day, we’d share in the freedoms that were currently only a privilege of the paler skinned South Africans. But there’s no electricity, and the water has been on and off since December, and I still need to change my tire. They say the sub-station burnt. The broken dreams made love to the empty promises and ignited a baptism of fire. The decaying bodies of the poor and the black blocked the pipes and the water can not flow. The desolate tears choke the voice of the oppressed and their cries will not be heard.

Jacob Zuma’s face smiles audaciously off a streetlamp that has never, in my memory, been operational. “Vote ANC!” He grins. “Together we can do more…” A tall vandal has scribbled something in black marker over the ellipses. The campaign poster now reads: “Together, we can do more crime.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

This the Economist's scale of protest probability in 'The Arab World'; who's in and who's out? Why?

...And note that this index is based on political factors, but hungry people are also angry people. It'd be interesting to see what the probabilities of Qatar and U.A.E's low-paid laborers catching protest fever and staging a mass strike.

All Africa: Egypt, Tunisia & Gabon

All of this is Africa, and all the people born here are from Africa

By the time I'm done with this blog post I hope it doesn't read as a jumbled rant but I'm raging about so many issues all at the same time. First off I just want to say the media's full of sh!t. I don't swear often but this time I feel like it and I meant it. They're all full of sh!t. Even my beloved Al Jazeera and The Guardian. Why? Because they suck. There have been protests going on in Gabon since the 29th of January and up till now they've not picked up on the story, they've been busy with Middle East and North Africa coverage that the demonstrations in a small West Central African nation aren't worthy of media attention.


Julie Owono of Global Voices reports that this is the result of a long running dispute over the 2009 elections that Ali Bongo (son of Omar Bongo) is said to have won. Gabon's opposition leaders along with former presidential hopeful Andre Mba Obame then formed a breakaway government on January 26 and Mba Obame swore himself in as President of Gabon. Ministers were appointed to Mba Obame's cabinet, even though its unclear how the Minister of Foreign Affairs would take up the position as he is currently resident in France. Supporters of Mba Obame in the capital, Libreville marched to the UN offices and demanded that the UN recognize him as President. It has since emerged that the base of the unofficial government is in the the UNDP offices. On January 29, thousands of supporters marched in the streets of Libreville, but were violently crushed by the army. Fast forward to 10 February, students at the University of Omar Bongo added their voices to the dissent but for different reasons. Owono writes that:
"According to website La Voix du Peuple Gabonais (Voice of the Gabonese People - LVDPG) [fr], an online newspaper managed by Gabonese living abroad, students were demonstrating [fr] because they have not received their 100 Euros (66,000 Central African Francs) monthly scholarship money since July 2010." 
The student grievances are also about the poor conditions at the university, police brutality against student demonstrators and they demand the 'reinstatement of three professors' who are aligned with the opposition. There's a protest scheduled for the 21st of February calling for Ali Bongo's departure (Ali Bongo Degage) and although SMS-es have been sent out to people, the authorities have in the past done a good job of ensuring the message does not spread across the country so there is a possibility that this march could be crushed too (as were those on 5 & 8 February). 


But all this political drama in less than a month and not one headline from a major news outlet? Would it help if it was known that during all this unrest, on 9 February, Nicolas Sarkozy sent birthday wishes to Ali Bongo? Or that one of the chants is 'Ben Ali Gone, Ali Ben Degage' making the clear connection to Tunisia? Isn't this also one of those social media uprisings and domino-effect revolutions that are oh-so trendy right now? The Gabonese have used Facebook, SMS, YouTube and Twitter just like the Egyptians, Algerians, Libyans and Bahrainis. So why have they been ignored? An unofficial government housing itself in a UNDP building is pretty significant one would think. Does Ban Ki Moon not give a hoot that the UN's premises are being occupied by potential revolutionaries? Even his standard 'we strongly condemn violence blah blah respect human rights blah blah blah' is needed, just say something! African Union, same ting! Maybe Gabon needs self-immolating martyrs so they can go mainstream and Anderson Cooper can be sent in to do coverage in the 'heart of Africa.' Or maybe Sarkozy should explain that when he says France supports Gabon in his birthday message to Bongo he actually means he'll send teargas and live ammunition, in the tradition of what Chirac and Mitterand used to do for daddy Bongo - that would get tongues wagging, wouldn't it? Or even better, a few people can burn themselves and the Muslim minority in Gabon can invent ties with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt then Al Jazeera will come running. Good, no?


Sadly this lack of attention isn't only from leading Western or Arab media, but leading African newspapers as well like South Africa's Mail and Guardian. Their coverage on South Africa is pretty good, but being the frustrated critical reader that I am living in this digital era of information-obesity where stories break by the minute, I find the Africa coverage very disappointing and even moreso when compared to other mainstream global media. If it's not a story on Kenya, the Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire or Zimbabwe it doesn't get coverage until AP (Associated Press), Reuters or the Guardian UK does a story on it. And if they don't copy n paste from AP and Reuters it probably won't get covered. I'm not surprised they've not covered it, but I'm irritated that they've missed out on an important story. Yet again. (Yes, their coverage of Wikileaks Africa cables hasn't been great. Its slanted towards Assange, the moral ethics of Wikileaks and the big stories, but very little analysis (!!!) or reportage on the Africa cables outside of the big gossip and corruption stories from the usual countries, yet Morocco, Djibouti, Mauritius, Madagascar and Diego Garcia were pretty important cables that got missed.)

But back to the subject of the role of new social media in protest. Yesterday at the New Statesman Laurie Penny wrote this: 

"The instant dissemination of camera and video footage and reportage from citizen journalists means that the truth can travel around the world before government propaganda gets its boots on."

To which I responded:
"But what happens when that truth gets ignored by mainstream media? Oppressive regimes will continue to oppress people so inasmuch as it's great that social media helps communicate a message if the influential people aren't listening then what? Can we really speak of 'social media revolutions' and even speedy dissemination of truth when it took over a month before mainstream media picked up on Tunisia? There have been anti-government protests in Gabon since 26 January, influenced in part by events in Tunisia, but there's been NO Anglophone media coverage, apart from Global Voices and the Daily Maverick (S.A). As with Tunisia, it's alternative outlets that have been leading on this story esp Global Voices, while the rest of mainstream media are still looking for different angles to reproduce the headline stories. If anything, the more popular something is the more coverage it gets and calling things 'social media revolution' is much nicer and more palatable for the masses than things like brutality, poverty and unemployment, so the truth of oppression spread through social media becomes masked again."

I don't know if Laurie Penny saw my post and even if she did, then what? Will she actually write about Gabon or more likely pass it onto on of her colleagues at the New Statesman more knowledgeable in African affairs? Yea, keep hope alive. Maybe the Guardian will keep their promise to follow up on my comment today about lack of Gabon coverage, but if they did it won't make them any less sh!t. They were late.

And despite the brilliance of my beloved Guardian and Al Jazeera, they've also been a bit disappointing because their analysts have had little to say about the very real impact of Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia and Algeria on Africa. The Arab uprisings have been looked at mainly from a pan-Arab and Arab-West perspective and yet these events have had a global impact. Citizen-State power relations aren't just shifting in these two spheres but on the Afrian Continent as a whole and in many other parts of the world too. Alongside the Graun & Al J, I've also watched and read the BBC, The Atlantic and NY Times and they all do the same thing. I'm not sure why this recent series of events has only been seen from a Arab-Middle East lens and not through a Arab-Africa lens as well. Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and Algeria are all Arab nations in Africa. But expert upon expert writing or talking to the media has looked at this from a Middle Eastern/North Africa/Arab perspective as though these protests would have no effect on the land below the Sahara. Or as though North African / Arab Africa, doesn't mean African or Africa (see map above). Pity the poor writers across the Continent who've enthusiastically written about this from an African perspective and pity the Gabonese who've found inspiration from 'the Arab World' but whose voices aren't being heard. Even more frightening though, is the five men who've been abducted in Zimbabwe for celebrating Mubarak's downfall, Zimbabwean state tv censorship of Egypt news and in Malawi, protesters against the recent fuel price hike were detained for several hours by the police because their demonstration was illegal and Bingu Mutharika warned Malawians not to copy Cairo. (But they're not listening) Mutharika, Mugabe, Mubarak, Gadaffi, Bongo were/are all strong men in Africa. Too bad everyone's busy reporting this as 'the Arab revolution' to also notice its many faces. The ripple effect of a rock thrown in a pool of fury doesn't flow one way, but in concentric patterns so that even those on the southern most tip of the continent will feel what is happening on its most northern tip. 

#rantover

much thanks to Julie Owono, Ethan Zuckerman and many other silent bloggers for caring enough to write about this.

UPDATE: GABON: A 38 year old woman, mother of two and anti-Bongo protestor, Marie Mendome has died as a result of injuries from a police beating. She died on Sunday but the story's only started circulating in my spheres, today. Read about it here. How many more deaths will it take before this story gets a headline?

Farewell Mutambara, Hello Welshman Ncube.

all pics jacked from the net, y'know how we do.

It is with great sadness that I announce, Deputy Prime Minister, sometimes-Comrade, ever-esteemed Professor of Robotics Arthur 'Agostino,' 'Ago' Guseni Oliver Mutambara, is no longer head of the opposition faction, MDC-M (Movement fo Democratic Change under Mutambara as opposed to MDC-T under Morgan Tsvangirai). Professor Mutambara will also no longer bear the title Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe as this now belongs to Welshman Ncube, the newly elected leader of MDC-M. Mutambara's bombastic words that used to dazzle us in (informal) addresses to the nation, shall be sorely missed. His long winded, rhetoric-laden answers in interviews shall no longer be televised. Or transcribed. Or recorded. 
The man has been shafted. But no one dare questions, for this is how 'democracy' works in Zimbabwe.Like a never-ending Animal Farm, jobs change hands in the middle of the night so that by morning a new Snowball is in charge managing and manipulating the slogans of 'democracy' and 'change' for their own ends.
Two weeks ago Welshman Mabhena said, “Professor Mutambara will continue to be the Deputy Prime Minister. We have agreed that we are not going to redeploy him, as we want to continue tapping from his skills,”
But in recent days has said, “The feeling of the committee was that the office of the DPM should be occupied by the party’s most senior official...This should not be viewed as a demotion. It’s only that we are new to democracy. It happens in a democracy. If at one time you lead, the next you follow.”
But now is not the time to ponder why and how the party affairs crossed into the realm of national politics or inquiring whether the Unity Agreement permits a change of leadership or whether's Ncube's self-appointment is legitimate and procedural (See S.20(1.3)(3 k, p), S.20 (1.5)(7) of Unity Agreement). No, mourning Ago's loss is a far worthier emotional cause than the travesties of democracy that by every Zimbabwean should be used to by now. Words cannot describe the heaviness in the hearts of many who bid adieu to the sometimes-Comrade, backstabber/opportunist (delete as appropriate), oft-power-hungry ever-pompous Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Mutambara.

We wish him well in his new, modest backroom post as Minister of Regional Integration and International Co-operation. We also hope that his intelligence will shine through the bottom ranks of the party where he now sits 'ordinary card-carrying member'...It was only just a dream. 

Shem!

Best Wishes to Welshman Ncube (Wikileaks hysterics, acid tests and all), the new Deputy Prime Minister and head of the MDC opposition faction led by sometimes-Comrade, Prof. Arthur Mutambara. Shall the first order of business be to re-name MDC-M (MDC Mutambara) to MDC-N (MDC Ncube)? And when the urgent business of re-naming is over and done with, could the honourable leader do something about the ZANU youth who've started on their trigger-happy shooting sprees again alongside the war veterans' who've chosen holiday resorts as their invasion target? It's an election year and we all know what that means. Let's hope (self-announced) Deputy Prime Minister (in-waiting!) Ncube will be more pro-active in preventing the needless deaths of Zimbabweans, unlike in previous years when the MDC has basically buried its head in western tissues and wept, as ZANU militia butchered innocents. And when peace was to be negotiated, it was dictated and the opposition accepted. And when the truth was sought for justice to victims of the violent past, amnesty was granted and the opposition accepted. Strong words, I know. Hyperbolic/Flippant (delete as appropriate) in places, but nonetheless true...

Ho-hum.

 In this final, already-turbulent year of the unity government is it wishful thinking to ask whether it's possible that the leaders of the nation can actually steer Zimbabweans, despite the impending violence of the elections, towards greater political and economic stability? We simply cannot have another 2000 (farm invasions), 2005 (operation cleanup), 2007(destructive price controls) or 2008 (election violence & tanked economy) again.

Falling Out of Love with Tweeting Politicos

iLove twitter. iReally Do. it's been a great way for me to connect with people from all over the planet and access the news before it makes the papers or have the news-stories and opinion delivered to you in 140 characters or less. but lately it's beginning to feel like one big orgy fest or en masse ego tripping in real time. for some well known people (and i use the term well known quite loosely here to mean anyone with over 1000 non-spambot followers and has appeared in the media counts as well known, in their respective circles), it's a rat race: some are on a mission to get the highest number of followers, while others are consistently tweeting about the highest number of retweets because they've dropped the most profound bit of knowledge of the moment. once is fine, but twice, thrice, boasting much? ...otoh, lesser known mortals tweet to trending topics to have their voice heard and up their followers. i do this too and it's fun when there's a programme everyone's watching on tv or a game is trending like #politicalfilms or #celebperfumes. i'm not sure if everyone reads the links i post or pays attention to what i say, but i'm thankful to those that do and those that engage me in conversation. for those that don't see my tweet, 10 minutes or 10 hours later someone else will post the same link and perhaps express a similar observation. so that's not so bad. depending on who you follow, there's a constant flow of information and/or opinion, empty feel-good & 'i just fed my cat' tweets, notwithstanding. however, as i use twitter more frequently, having grown tired of mark zuckerberg's orwellian tracking of one's every move on facebook, i've come to realise there is also a bad side to twitter. it's very cliquey. most people i follow are journalists, bloggers, activists, writers or politically informed people, others are friends, some celebrities, and some witty people and spoofs who are just the funniest! you'd think it would be the celebs that bug me, but it's the established politicos who have this 'i tweet you, you tweet me', among themselves. some of them are nice and respond to you, some even follow back, but there are those who don't often respond to anyone outside their circle. ironically these people tout themselves as lefties, neutrals, radicals, revolutionaries or progressives, but they maintain their exclusivity. it might be none of my business who people choose and choose not to follow, but when the ratio of followers: followed is disproportionate i.e 10 000 followers, 100 following - such glaring contradictions should be criticised. as if that wasn't enough some even make the public appeal for more followers (e.g. i have 5600 followers i need 400 more, help me twitter) WTF??? do these people ever stop to check who follows them, do they know what their followers have to say, do they even care? i'm friggin tired of some of these self-confessed lefties, radicals and progressives:
1. begging for followers. 
2. hosting in-crowd convos among themselves. as valid as their insights maybe in these back n forths, it's the ignoring of other people that irks me - ask, how i know? the new version of twitter shows who's responded on a particular tweet and how the conversation plays out. 
3. recommending each other as is the tradition of #followfriday. that's normally the biggest orgy fest of the week unless something big has happened then they'll endlessly tweet amongst themselves. 
if these people are progressives and radicals, genuinely trying to dissolve power hierarchies then surely they know that dissolution of power begins with conversation and engagement with everyone at every level. if the same names keep being hashed up in retweets or recommended follows then that sustains hierarchy rather than dismantling it. in this way twitter becomes a simultaneously segregated and joined up space of digital interaction. i may know what politico X is thinking but politico X does not necessarily know my thoughts, but we are featured together in the same hashtags and trendlists. so that's the dilemma how do people become more interactive so tweeting isn't just a futile exercise of typing letters into the ether? answer: #followback. i know of at least three well-known politically minded people who explicitly state that they operate on the principle of engaging everyone and they do it. why don't others? what's the point of having followers if you don't talk to them and you continue to regurgitate the same opinions but with new hashtags and links? funny thing is some of the celebs i follow do more talking to their followers than these progressives n radicals. the good celebs (like @noelclarke & @questlove, @lupefiasco even hosts a mini bookclub!) and even spoofs (like @katieweasel) try to have some daily discussion with their followers and although i don't often participate, it's nice to see the interaction going on. 90% of the time these people are not promoting their stuff but do it just to talk to people, so why don't others do it? even the dalai lama follows no one but he tweets about the essence of dialogue. 
on 26 december @dalailama tweeted: 'in order to create a happy century, a peaceful century we must promote the concept of dialogue.'
yea, His Holiness's great dialogue skills amount to 1 192 144 followers: following 0. numerically he's on par with @kanyewest and @chipmunk who follow no one, but the big difference is they actually TALK to people!
...if i've been sounding like some bitter, unrequited lover, i accept that might be 100% true BUT that doesn't change my point that there is presently something wrong with the concept of twitter as a forum for open, multiple conversations when only selected names continue to dominate timelines because certain people only want to talk amongst themselves and retweet each other. granted, people don't necessarily realise that this is what ends up happening and perhaps if they did, things would change. imo, it'd be nice if twitter's #followfriday was actually #followbackfriday and some of these people followed back and recommended different followers who have something interesting to say rather than just keeping it in the family. maybe an #openthreadfriday could be a possibility. #openthreadfriday would allow for anyone to tweet in the timelines of people they follow although i'm not sure how this would work for those with over 5 000 followers, it might be chaotic, but i'm sure a technological remedy out there. something has to be done for twitter or tweeters to develop a more interactive system than the one currently in place - less local orgy fest, more open conversation. #2011rules.


*i used political categorisations to encompass the different groups of people on my feed. analysing people's behaviour  by global location wouldn't really work as these people share more or less the same views and behave in similar ways.

Coming Soon to a Cinema Near You, The Christmas Tree Bomber

...And this time the leading star is a Huey Freeman (Boondocks) look-alike and he's a cutie! That was my first thought when I saw Mohamed Osman Mohamud's face headlining as the latest casualty of the West's war against terrorist bombers. While this latest production may not be not quite as funny as the Underpants bomber but it does stink.

 The U.S Feds followed this Somali hottie for months and they put him in jail??? They were undecided whether he fit the profile of a would-be terrorist so they baited him by selling him fake explosives. Is that fair, why didn't they just call me? I'd've been happy to stalk him for a year and suss out his terrorist street cred. 

But really tho' is it legitimate to provoke someone into action then arrest them when they act? Isn't this what the Feds used to do to the Black Panthers way back when? And COINTELPRO still does today? Mohamed was charged with attempted use of a 'weapon of mass destruction.' (notice the way Saddam/Iraq war type language slips into domestic security lexicon to create a threat-of-terrorism-is-very-real effect) Surely that bogus bogus bogus charge should read: attempted use of a dummy 'weapon of mass destruction'?

Having been successful in their mission the Feds were close at hand to drum the reality of the fake threat into the public's head as Special FBI agent Arthur Balizan told the press yesterday: 

"The threat was very real. Our investigation shows that Mohamed Osman Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale. I want to reassure the people of this community that, at every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack"

While the Feds pat themselves on the back and the public gets all shook up about this latest Al Qaeda threat and bay for Mohamed's execution on live t.v, I'm still confused as to what opportunity exactly, the Feds were denying this man. Selling ineffective explosives to a wannabe jihadi rapper and fitness guru is a very, very cruel joke, especially when that state-managed joke carries a possible life imprisonment conviction. Do The Feds really get their kicks from playing tircks on youngsters in uneventful Oregon and Dallas, are the ones in Washington or NYC too street-wise to fall for this? 

At least the Times Square and Underpants bombers had intent to carry out workable plans, but they failed - but this dude was possibly unstable and he was tricked. I'm not so sure where trickery rates on the jihadist scale but sending Mohamed to prison may actually radicalise him and turn him against the state even more than he is now as a African immigrant and a Muslim - not exactly the most liked group in American society. But that's a just a small issue right? The important thing is this year the Feds have done a cracking job and arrested almost twenty would-be terrorists in the U.S, now TSA can happily roll out naked scanners at airports, malls, schools and office buildings to catch even more would-be terrorists - real or imagined, catch them in the terror, boys! As with all American cop movies, the Feds win in The Christmas Tree Bomber, and nobody, least of all the lapdog media, seem to mind that federal attempts at terrorist' honeytrapping mean the further curtailment of civil liberties, more mass disruption of public travel, encourages richter-scale levels of Islamophobia and justifies sending more troops to kill or be killed.

....one small step in Oregon, one giant step closer to war on Yemen.

p.s All bets are on for Obama issuing an amended waiver on the use of child soldiers in Somalia to fight terrorism by January.

What Would Jesus Say?

Banksy Mural in Islington, London (2008) Children Saluting the Tesco Supermarkets Empire.

As if imitating art, a former Methodist Church is now a Tesco Express in Westbourne, Dorset.

Get your Prayers, Ciggies and Lottery Tickets all in one go.

 Banksy fotocred: Paul Flannery 

I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young.

 I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.

With Love, Gideon Osborne xxx

plagiarised from Neill Kinnock

pic by Chris Ridell (copyright) jacked from The Guardian

Failed Asylum Seekers: Dzokai Muyemwe

"We have today announced the resumption of enforced returns to Zimbabwe for failed asylum seekers judged by the independent courts to have no right to remain in the UK. This decision reflects the improved stability in Zimbabwe since 2009 and the UK court's view that not all Zimbabweans are in need of international protection. Those facing return will join the hundreds who have returned voluntarily, responding to calls by Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to return home and help rebuild their country. The British Government takes its international responsibilities seriously and will always grant protection to those in genuine need, and continue to monitor events in Zimbabwe."

- Immigration Minister, Damian Green's statement on Thursday on UKBA's on return from a fact finding mission in Zimbabwe to determine whether or not it is safe to resume deportations for failed asylum seekers.

Apparently the UKBA (UK Border Agency) thinks its safe enough to resume it's racially-biased deportations of Black Zimbabweans, but some of my friends say that's BS because if it's not safe enough for the England cricket team not to go on tour Zimbabwe, it's not safe enough to return people. Frankly, I couldn't care less if England doesn't want to play with us. Bangladesh, India, Ireland, the West Indies and Kenya have come and will all come back again to play cricket,  so David and Nick, 'keep your Britain and [we] will keep [our] Zimbabwe.' But  some of my friends are mad at the UK for this, but I fail to see what they're so angry about; that England and Scotland don't want to come and play, yet Zimbabwe is safe for Zimbabweans or that deportation is an inhumane practice by a country that believes it is a defender of human rights? If it's the former, are they saying that England and Scotland's tours to Zimbabwe are the benchmark of all things Zimbabwean? Are Zimbabweans not safe to go back to Zimbabwe because England and Scotland won't come ...to play cricket? C'mon people Mother Empire's long friggin' dead, for goodness sake! 

My friends know that the evidence on the ground concurs with the findings of UKBA (shock horror!) so why is it that 'Zimbabwe is hell' becomes the default position when we talk about mass deportations but when we talk about the economy it's 'Zimbabwe's coming back to life'? We all acknowledge that persecutions continue, but for the majority of the populace things are significantly better, so why this opposition? We also all acknowledge that next year's elections could tip the balance of peace in favour of violence as this has become the ZANU way of elections, but, honestly what number of these failed asylum claimants were political activists?Are people suddenly doped up on 'Zimbabwe is hell' rhetoric that they instantly forget there are no firing squads waiting for them? 

iCan't understand it.

If it is the latter reasoning that they're upset with UKBA - fine, I geddit, but who hasn't always known the UK to be two-faced in these matters, it's nothing new. I think it's blindingly obvious there will never be such a thing as fair immigration in this country, there will always be disproportionate treatment of migrants from developing nations and deportation is one of those biased, inhumane forms of treatment. As I've iterated several times on this blog and elsewhere, I believe in open borders; there's nowhere on God's green earth that no human being should be prevented from going in order to make a better life for themselves and, in principle I think it's nonsense that poor people should be deported from rich countries and it's ridiculous that visa requirements for people from poor countries are set at an impossibly high level and visa rejections are the standard response, even for those who meet the requirements. If a mass influx of migrants is payback for this attitude in policy as well as colonialism, unfair loan/debt policies and unfair loan/debt policies between nation-states, the extreme wealth of corporate nations and disparities between mega-wealthy individuals mainly in the West and the poor of the planet, then payback's a B!^£#. 

Having said that and acknowledging how deeply messed up the UK asylum and deportation system is (RiP Jimmy Mubenga) , of the +10000 Zimbabweans facing deportation I see two groups of people I sympathise with differently: genuine and fake failed asylum seekers. If failed asylum seekers from Zimbabwe are genuinely in fear for their lives and made their claims before 5 March 2007, then they must go the Further Submissions Unit route (Google) to plead against deportation and I pray things work out for them. For those who know deep down in their hearts there is no real threat on their lives and they've invented stories of violence, take the £3000 package and return home. Go start up a small business, help rebuild your country.  Zimbabweans should not create a national culture of gaming the system at the expense of the country and personal dignity. Being locked up in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre or living off of State benefits and charity handouts because you're prohibited from gainful employment and with promises to cut back on everything, poor non-EU migrants will get hit the hardest first. The UK isn't paved with streets of gold, it may have it's pluses, but the UK really isn't that amazing a place to be. For all the births, baptisms, graduations, dowry proceedings, weddings, funerals and endless days of sunshine people have missed out on whilst pleading for asylum on this muggy island, 
Blighty really ain't worth all that, trust!

Harare International Airport
all pics jacked from Google Images

Zef Side

Evil Boy is the latest track from Die Antwoord, a South African band of three friends (Yo-landi, Ninja and Waddy Jones (aka Max Normal)) creating their own brand of zef beats. iLike this group, questions of authenticity aside (see www.africasacountry.com for a good, long discussion on this) but this video just sucks to the nth degree. Evil Boy sounds so much better when heard rather than seen, the excessive freakishness takes away from the valuable criticism the song had of circumcision, bling culture and sexual prudishness. Too much masculine penis envy and obsession with racial undertones agwan there, it's not even artistically gaudy, it doesn't work for me. 


As a general comment about Die Antwoord's music and videos, there is something to be said of their excesses as performances of race, gender, class, power and identity in post-Mandela, post-apartheid South Africa and they seem to be aware of what they are doing if you watch the second short video and the beginning of Enter the Ninja when Ninja says all identities are mixed up in him. But just how much are things mixed up in him that Die Antwoord's gangster attitude, imitation prison number tattoos and alleged gang connections can pass off as 'authentic' or is Ninja the mash-up the trajectory of whitesploitation consuming and producing itself in more radical and satirical ways over and over? Radical yes, but satirical - of what exactly? Die Antwoord are the edgy pop hip-hip embodiment of White working class angst fused with a 'discovered 'inner' Coloured' to use Rustum Kozain's phrase. Given this interesting fusion of working class identities, to what extent are they performing critique in their music and to what extent are they themselves the joke when they're speaking... BS?....Life is zef, china.


Their album drops 12 October and is available on iTunes.



STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S PIEL from Die Antwoord on Vimeo.

Wanna Start A Riot? Bread's The Thing, Bread Always Does It

Scenes from the recent two-day bread riots in Maputo, Mozambique which ended this morning. Following a 30% hike in bread prices people took the streets in protest, blocked the roads and looted shops. At present it is unknown who organised the riots, through mass texts and emails encouraging people to riot. Above are some scenes from the riots:

1.  A young demonstrator helps to setup a fire barricade to block out the police.

2. A demonstrator throwing a tyre onto the fire barricade.

3. Calm restored in Maputo, today and people are queueing for food, however, there are still reports of violence in the outlying areas of Benfica and Hulene.

4. Police patrolling the city.

New Bread Price: US $0.20

Average Lowest Salary / Month: US $37

Body Count: 10

Injured: 288

Acts of Unjust Violence by the State: Countless

(police ran out of rubber bullets and started using live rounds,

thus killed 10 people, among them a 12 year old boy...SMH)

All pictures from BBC Africa, Reuters.

Personal Mandelas

Jacked from the kif, Mahala, a piece by Phumlani Pikoli on Bra Juju, (Julius Malema) the New South Africa and the Nelson Mandela myth.

Smuts Ngonyama once infamously, symptomatically said: “I didn’t join the struggle to be poor”. We know all about that now! Shit Julius wasn’t even a part of the Struggle – and he’s definitely not struggling being poor. As erroneous and conceited as that statement is though – I get it. Smuts and many others like him heroically “faced the evils of an oppressive system” put in place long before their parents even made eye contact. They deserve acknowledgement, fuck they deserve way more than that, they should be revered. They suffered their entire lives growing up poor categorized like chattel – then channeled their anger into collective political consciousness – taking on a universally reviled system that threatened death and torture (and way more than you and I can ever imagine). These guys are heroes. They ought to be rich, right? They ought to be rewarded. The real question is how does a liberation movement – full of heroes – become a functioning government – full of selflessly efficient servers of the people? Given the sad historical litany of ones that have tried (and mostly failed) throughout the African continent – it apparently doesn’t.

The ANC and corruption seem to walk hand in hand. No escaping it. Look at our President. Schabir Shaik’s get-out-of-jail-free-card. Thabo and his government at least tried to cover up their shit (that labyrinthine arms deal). uMsholozi's [Zuma] just don’t care anymore. It looks like Bheki Cele, National Commissioner of the SAP [SA Police], just had a reporter arrested for what we still don’t really know. Something to do with Mpumalanga and a forged document. But in the week of his arrest he reported that the Commish acquired a R500 million estate at the expense of tax payers. Money surely better spent on actually training the police. Why are you entitled to such lavish splendour, Herr Commissioner, when you are barely doing your job? Why should you get to go on not doing it in such comfort? Does it make it easier to shoot to kill?

The ANC and “entitlement” make love like two varsity first years. Often, badly and with messy technique. Julius Malema. The genius. Secreting entitlement-sickness into the mind of the already entitled – the new elite. He’s the guy who uses apartheid speech like “eliminate the opposition”. Calling rival parties cockroaches, as of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. He’s also a guy who didn’t play a role in the Liberation Movement. Who isn’t an entitled hero of the Struggle – coasting on past glories he had no hand in. His piddly Youth League presidency is in a Gucci cloud of controversy. Malema’s predecessor handpicked him for the job, the results of the poll were contested so they adjourned the conference and it only resumed once his leadership was “officially accepted”. The integrity of that election, like so many in Africa, is still contested. So much for the democratic process. That’s right. South Africa’s most dangerous village idiot is a plant. He has no formal legitimacy. He was never voted in.


But Black entitlement has a kissing cousin – white guilt. They need each other. They feed on each other like cannibals. White Guilt plays truth or dare, like late blooming teenagers. Truth is admitting guilt (if any – and there ought to be for most white South Africans). Dare is actually doing something about it (actively redressing the wrong in your community and working to alleviate it).

Good DA [Democratic Alliance] supporting, Mandela loving liberals don’t even mind being led by a woman – as long as she’s surrounded by a “harem” of male advisors! Sexist? Who cares as long as she gets people out of the Khayelitsha [township] toilet system. As long as real change happens in people’s everyday lives. Liberals need to act for change now (conditions are just as bad if not worse) and get over feeling frozen about what happened back then. It’s a karma thing. They feel bad, but not bad enough to share their assets. Whatever that would mean. They’re guilty not stupid! White liberals (and really most white people here, now, are in effect “liberals”, purely by accepting the progressive constitutional framework of the country) know what’s going on – but do nothing except feel bad – which makes them feel good.

Lucky for them they’ve been given a sort of get out of jail free card – BEE [Black Economic Empowerment]. It’s a nice way of saying “Well although most of the country’s fucked up we can fix it by giving the already educated a high position in business. That way it looks like we’re rectifying a broken system!” Even Helen [Zille] – voted best mayor in the world – is hot for black leadership.

But BEE isn’t working. Firstly it only caters to a few. “Few” being those already expensively educated. The few – with good contacts – good family backgrounds – with money – who got past Bantu Education, a system designed to educate them into being gardeners and maids. Secondly black executives often do little more than dance metaphorical jigs for their white bosses. While they get paid well – bosses and shareholders reap the real profits. Does the coordinated exploitation of black labour ever stop? Like Chester Williams playing for the Springboks all over again. It’s tokenism without real mass ownership and control.

Guilt is a way of justifying inaction – it excuses the more pressing need to change what is happening right now. Press restrictions, police brutality, rampant corruption. Guilt is useless to the country, it keeps you frozen in place looking back. It’s also one of the “indulgent pleasures” of being a member of the Lucky Sperm Club. The privilege of guilt. White guilt. You better believe poor black communities aren’t guilty. They’re fucking angry.


Not for them regular international travel and holiday homes. They can’t flee. Australia is a notorious refuge for disgruntled whites who’ve swallowed the hype of a failed South Africa.
It doesn’t have to be Australia either. Troops of Afrikaaners are being granted passage back to The Netherlands!

“Okay manne – now that we’ve gotten what we needed there’s nothing left here for us. The natives grow restless – let’s give it back to them. We’ve taken all the good shit anyway.”
Imagine that said in a dik Afrikaans accent to a huge gathering of armed men (armed with Castle beers) in khakis (by Country Road) while women in doeks [headscarves] (by Gavin Rajah) clear out beautiful Cape Dutch homes and load ox-drawn carts (gas-chomping 4X4’s) – making ready for the great trek (a flight to Antwerp) that is to follow. Full circle. History repeated as farce.

Remember Madam and Eve – when it was still funny? Around the first democratic elections. Now that was the new South Africa in action. The dream of a nation tired of slaving for less than minimum wage being given the opportunity to stick it to the Man. Or Madam. Running up a massive telephone bill, sleeping on the ironing board and pissing off the old and alcoholic racist crone. Black people loved spurring Eve on. Whites resented the depiction coming to pass. It’s all funny until somebody has to pay the maid. Or worse, fire her.


White Guilt and Black Entitlement is a dynamic – a double helix at the heart of new South African identity – which lets the truly culpable hide from responsibility. Look at how we go on letting Zuma cover over his mistakes.

Are there things that we really should care about? That we really shouldn’t go on letting anyone get away with? What about: Health care, education, housing – you know, “service delivery”? There is supposed to be a delivery of service right? What gets whole communities out on the streets and in the faces of the police? Legitimate, genuine wants and needs not being met by the State. That’s the root of the problem. The truth behind it all.

 Did the rot set in centuries ago? Was it the Verwoerdian annus mirabilis of 1948? Whatever the roots, that stinging legacy of deprivation is very real for black people. Very much alive and well in this country. It explains a hell of a lot. Both black entitlement and white guilt.
 It’s why our current leadership are so gluttonous – attempting to eat a country’s wealth, a country that, until very recently, systematically treated them like shit. A Charter with a snappy name – Freedom something – was once drafted in a place called Kliptown. “All shall share in the country’s wealth” was one of its abidingly powerful fever dreams. Yet to come to pass. Yet to be fulfilled. In fact we’re drifting further and further from it. The Freedom Charter has never been more urgent.

How do you tell someone they’re not entitled to the things they need – just to have a normal life? The things we take for granted. Shelter, opportunity, enlightenment, a full belly. The basic middle class niceties. Someone who doesn’t know whether or not they’re going to eat that day is not entitled to the food you can afford to buy. Why not? Who’s responsibility is that?

The Ruling Party has gone from “A better life for all” to “creating connections for a few.”
We need to stop waiting on another Mandela. They only manufacture those – world historical spirits – every 92 years or so. Wouldn’t it be nice if each household in the country had one? A Personal Mandela to make everything alright. If we did have one – he might whisper in our ears: Stop feeling entitled to what you haven’t worked for. Stop feeling guilty for what you haven’t done. Get involved. Fight the power. Inspirational shit like that.

If Diego Rivera – the great Revolutionary painter of the 1930s – was painting a picture of Black Entitlement and White Guilt – he might have depicted an embarrassed Zebra being served crisp green grass on a platter by a mule. Would we get the allegory though?

Banksy in Mali

all pics jacked & arranged by konwomyn,

compliments of banksy, googleimages &  madam & eve, subject to copyright.