Yeezey Moment on #Sidibouzid

Jacked from Reuters

FotoCredit: Gulf News

Yo, Tunisia I'm really happy for you that you've kicked out Ben Ali n all and the world's started paying attention to you. I'm even a li'l jealous that we couldn't do the same thing with our Robert Mugabe, minus the 65 and rising deaths (condolences to those who perished in Tunisia)...But uhmmm I'd've preferred it if the expulsion of Ben Ali had happened without all this attention and only the forward thinking bloggers, Al Jazeera, SBZ News, Global Voices readers, connected tweeters, North Africans and Arabs in my timeline were tweeting about Ben Ali. Even though most of the non-journalists and non-bloggers who retweeted the violence, hardship and frustration experienced by Tunisians were basically ignored and the story didn't make it into mainstream Anglo Western media till the 11th hour, it was way better that way. Better when there were no self-congratulatory tweets and armchair disciples cloaked as liberal columnists writing the gospel of St Julian of Assange who released the cables that sparked a revolution. The revolution was not ignited in Sidi Bou Zid where a frustrated graduate set himself aflame in protest to the hardship and humiliation he'd suffered as a vegetable seller, no it all began because of a US embassy cable released by a suave, international man of mystery and his secret organisation. Apparently Tunisians were completely oblivious to their own government's corruption and weren't frustrated enough by the economic situation to do something about it that it took St Julian of Assange's leaks to rile up the masses. Why didn't Elizabeth Dickinson et al, jump to the broadsheets when the self-immolation of Mohammed Bou Azizi happened? What about on Day 10 when the government cut off most forms of digital communication in Sidi Bou Zid? Surely these were the moments to start tweeting and writing the New Testament of the Great Wikileaks Revolution, the Fall of the Emperor of Carthage. 


Day10 might have read: Verse 1 - The twitterwhale wept. Verse 2 - The wicked Emperor of Carthage hath declared there shall be no internet for the townspeople of Sidi Bou Zid. Yea the hand of the ruler hath been chief in this threat upon thy sons and daughters. Verse 3 - We fall upon our knees in despair and mourn with thee twitterwhale, Lord why hast thou forsaken us, our social media revolution shall surely fail! Verse 4 - Hath the Lord forsaken the scribes and journalists in bondage? The terrible Emperor hath declared not another word 'gainst him shall they write. St Julian of Assange's revelations hath made the people revolt, but the world shalt not know of this.
Verse 5 - HTTP Error 403 Access Forbidden.


 ...But that isn't what happened, St Julian of Assange's revelations weren't the main catalyst of what happened Sidi Bou Zid, so there was no interest. As Max Fisher of the Atlantic tweeted at the time, the spat between Glenn Greenwald and Wired.com over the contents Bradley Manning files was far, far, far more compelling than reporting on some unknown Arab journalists in a small North African town that had been under siege for ten days. When Anonymous Ops attacked the website of the Tunisian government, it raised a few eyebrows, but that was all, nothing to sustain long-term interest in those now falling over themselves to congratulate social media and Wikileaks on 'leading a revolution.' 

Obviously they can't explain why in this Twitter-led 'revolution', the tweeters on my followers list didn't care much for the few tweets I posted on Tunisia or RT'd, but now the #Tunisia tweets are coming thick and fast because the anglophone media corporates finally decided on Day27 that Tunisia's turmoil was worthy of serious attention as Ben Ali was on the brink of demise. If the revolution is going to be tweeted, it will only be tweeted because there is a big enough political machine behind it to make it happen. If the revolution is going to be tweeted and retweeted it is going to happen because the politically minded do it, as was the case with (forgotten) Iran, not to wait +20days until The Guardian, CNN or BBC give the go-ahead. 

During the post-Ben Ali power vacuum things seem so unpredictable. In less that 24 hours there have been 3 leader changes and the militia, looters and police are having their way harassing citizens and foreign reporters while witchunts for the most supportive members of Ben Ali's regime are being carried out in haste. It feels like an Animal Farm/Night of the Long Knives situation where Mr Jones of Manor Farm is replaced by Snowball. It happened before in 1987. President Habib Bourguiba ceded his presidency to Ben Ali after a coup supported by the military. Twenty-five odd years later, same thing different scenario. The expulsion of Ben Ali is led by the people but the army and Presidential guard now have control over Tunis, Tabarak is on the verge of food riots and according to one tweeter, @rafik from Tunis: 'trust me people of kasserine,thala ou sidibouzid (semi-arid areas) are unlikely to see jasmine [revolution], and they paid the price.' 
This is why I feel it's inaccurate to call this a 'revolution' as though things have changed and to speak of it in the past tense. Tunisia's story is still unfolding. The army wields power against defenceless citizens. Fouad Mebazza a member of the Old Guard has been interim President for less than a day, but some in the ivory towers of Foreign Policy, NY Times and elsewhere had already declared this a revolution past by Friday evening. It's also impossible for them to think that decades of poverty, unemployment, activism, state corruption and censorship could  have driven people into protes because it's too hard to give credit to the ordinary people who rose up in solidarity and to commemorate Bou Azizi's death...Wikileaks and St Julian of Assange in Tunisia make a better gospel. It does, doth it not?  


For the record, I'm team Julian Assange & Wikileaks, and I'm not mocking him, but those who are desperately trying to spin this as a Wikileaks story. And yes I do acknowledge the role all forms of social media played in this, but I think it's impact is over-emphasized and dismisses the events that took place on the ground and it also fails to understand the process of events on the ground. And there's also an over-emphasis on Twitter, it wasn't just Twitter that people used to send out messages. I've concentrated on the level of public response to critique the notion that this is a social media revolution because often when people speak of social media revolutions the scale of impact is always key determining factor and the fact that no amount of tweets, Facebook postings and You Tube videos got massive global attention yet in comparison to the Iran Green Movement of summer '09 recieved worldwide attention and Neda Soltani became the face of the cause.

The Chidamoyo Story

Fotocredit: Robin Hammond

The New York Times has this story on rural Zimbabweans from the Makonde valley having to barter peanuts and other agricultural produce for medical treatment from Chidamoyo Hospital. Parts of it are quite good and informative but other parts of the report are laden with all the typical cliches of abject poverty and desperation with saviour America on a mission and it's irked me. Take this gem for example: 

'The hospital’s cavernous chapel is now filled with what looks like a giant sand dune of unshelled nuts.'

or this:

'“It’s very difficult to get this famous dollar that people are talking about,” said Esther Chirasasa, 30, who hiked eight miles through the bush to the hospital for treatment of debilitating arthritis. Her son, Cain, 13, walked at her side carrying a sack of peanuts to pay for her care.'

The descriptions of the 'cavernous chapel' and arthritic Esther hiking through the bush leave quite an impression on one's mind: of the primitive and dreadful circumstances these people live in. Without taking anything away from the severity of Esther's suffering or the image of the chapel turned hospital as a place of refuge in a remote area, I think it's quite possible to write about that without casting Esther in the poor villager/victim role and the American hospital as the 'star-spangled saviour' stuck in the middle of nowhere in Zimbabwe. I find it annoying that the Heart of Darkness narrative continues to seep into stories in so many ways despite that it's 2010 and reportage and postcolonial* travel writing  has long moved on from this way of writing about places.

Admittedly my response to the problematic sections of this article is not impartial but I offer no apology for that. I'm tired of the aid discourse of victims and saviours. I always have a glass half-full perspective when it comes to all things Zimbabwe so I don't think the way this story is written gives much emphasis on the fact that the villages are actually able to produce crops and trade them for health care. Considering the myths about Zimbabwe's failed land project and collapsed agricultural sector, how is it that this story of agri-resourcefulness can be written in the same 'Zimbabwe is on the brink of disaster' tone? 


Barter trade has long been a part of Zimbabwean history (after all, that is how we met the Portuguese, the Arabs and the British) and has continued through the colonial and post-independence periods of modernity. Rather than go the long route of having to sell one's goods at the market (that must be travelled to!) for days or weeks to raise enough money for hospital care or school fees in some cases, this is an alternative and a short cut. In the mid-1990s when primary education for rural schools was no longer free, it was no surprise to hear stories of villagers bartering livestock for a term or a year's fees - depending on the beast. In more recent times, barter has become commonplace in the cities too, at my niece's school when fuel was in short supply in '08-'09 this well-equipped private school accepted fuel or fuel vouchers as payment of fees to keep it's fleet of cars on the road. Parents in the fuel business or with access to large amounts of fuel happily complied. Even businesses do it - trade offs of fuel or sugar happen all the time, why run around looking for US $, Botswana Pulas or South African Rands when commodities of value can be used? 

On the cultural and economic/technological front, the Chidamoyo story lacks context - I'm not in denial of the dire situation of these villagers, but context helps put into perspective the extent to which the situation is dire and how such stories of direness may be written. Peanuts are commonly used in Zimbabwean dishes so they're not 'melted into vegetables' as though that was a desperate move to shift the peanut butter to feed starving patients as the article suggests, but peanut butter is often used in Zimbabwean (mainly Shona, Chewa and Tonga) cuisine so it's the norm - a luxury in some cases to have peanut butter stew with vegetables or meat. On the economic/technological front, there have been a number of trial and error inventions of devices that can use peanut butter as a bio-fuel. If you look online, most stories suggest it can't be done, but offline there are stories that suggest it can. I remember some years ago somebody coming to my father's office to pitch his invention to him but my dad wasn't interested in buying it because we don't produce peanuts on a mass scale for the device to have been useful. As part of his pitch, the man had said that the Ministry of Education had expressed interest in the invention and they were looking it over and I don't know what's happened to it now, but if that man's idea hasn't taken off it might be worthwhile for this hospital to investigate the possibility of using peanut butter as bio-fuel for an eco-generator or using the sun as solar power. The hospital will need diesel to power the generator they're appealing for and if patients pay in peanuts and livestock, how will they raise funds to buy diesel?

So this story is not one of tragedy, but reality - were it not for the plea for funds for the hospital, there are parts of this story deserving of a so-what-that's-what-people-do-to-get-by response. I'm not dismissing this case, I'm dismissing the way the parts of the story is written. I just would like for stories to be placed in context and to move beyond the 'basket case' narrative. I'm kinda tired of always having that label stuck on me, my fellow people or my country. On the upside though, I do think the pictures of the villagers and what the hospital is doing are pretty cool. : )

(* i.e assuming the post-colonial moment began after the moment of encounter and not after political independence)

Zuma's Bastard: Encounters With a Desktop Terrorist

Azad Essa is a journalist, columnist and aspiring filmmaker and Zuma's Bastard is his debut novel. Originally from Durban, he is currently based in Doha, Qatar where he works for Al Jazeera as a journalist. Zuma's Bastard is based on the politics of South Africa and the World in the post-Mandela era. 

With chapters like  ‘Was Eugene Terre Blanche a Muslim?’, ‘Blue Julius (and Pink Floyd), ‘Let’s jerk off to Climate Change’ and ‘Nobel Obama Trumps Superman’, no political figure is safe from his satire, even if they dip in their walk. Part of his writing is from the Thought Leader blog run by the Mail and Guardian and his column provides a platform upon which he unrelentingly questions populist rhetoric and asks, at times provocatively, South Africans how bad does it get before we sit up and take notice? As Ferial Haffajee puts it, Essa is of a “generation of South Africans who reached political maturity in the era of Polokwane – the quintessential voice of the Born Frees”

Describing the book, Professor Ari Sitas Head of Sociology at UCT writes:

‘Zuma's Bastard is the new generation's arrogant and self-critical voice about Durban, South Africa and Africa in the world. Azad Essa, a Bollywood-soaked, Indian-battered, black South African-tinged, accidental academic and incidental journalist - who has seen India and Kashmir, India better, in Kashmir, Pakistan, the so-called Middle East and Europe - leaves no holy cows untaunted – nay he even imagines them as beefburgers…His popularity is catching but the moral questions he asks of us cannot be sidestepped. Read this book, buy the T-shirt, be with it and get angry because the author takes his jokes (often us) seriously.’

In an interview with the Daily Maverick he explains his choice of title as thus:

The title is not completely legitimate, but there’s good justification for it. Without giving too much away, the book is made up of two headers: “Zuma’s Bastard” and “Encounters with a desktop terrorist”. They are equally important because they collectively introduce readers to the central theme of the book: a rabid Indian bastard on the loose under Zuma’s watch.

I don’t know what it means to fight for freedom. And in many ways, the title locates me as a child of the Zuma presidency. I was too young during the honeymoon Mandela period to engage in the new democracy and so it doesn’t count. Zuma, touted as the man to lead us away from tendered one-night stands and deliver on promises to the people, capital and who-ever-else he conned, has created a nation of bastards, trying to make sense of it all.

At the same time, I have straight hair, “Indian” skin and go to mosque; I am a desktop terrorist with views of the world that are politically incorrect, sometimes blasphemous and incongruent with the good Indian muslim boy who must open a shop, play the system, marry a virgin and look forward to more in heaven.

If anything, the book is about the coming-of-age of a generation of South Africans who want to finally fight for their freedom.

The book is definitely not anti-Zuma, despite the flattering title. That would be far too easy. The book, like the blog, addresses a variety of themes relevant to South Africans, the usual suspects included, but written from a fresh and humorous perspective. It’s a bludgeoning view of the world from an Indian perspective. And my cousins aren’t going to be thrilled.

Of course the title is meant to create a stir, but we also think it’s the character of the writing (rather than a shocking title for kicks). And about the press material; they probably sent you the polite version.

This book is available in South Africa and will shortly be released in other parts of the world.

From Our Kenyan Brother in The White House

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

October 25, 2010

Presidential Memorandum--Child Soldiers Prevention Act

Presidential Determination
No.       2011-4

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT:    Presidential Determination with Respect to Section 404(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, pursuant to section 404(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA), title IV of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110 457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA.

You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying memorandum of justification, and to publish it in the Federal Register.

                        BARACK OBAMA

The above is waiver issued by President Obama casting a blind eye to four countries that use child soldiers in conflict because it is in America's 'national interest'. Chad, Yemen, Sudan and the Congo will continue to receive military assistance and aid from the U.S because these are allegedly terrorist hotspots where child soldiers might benefit America as snitches and such. LOL. Seriously, my Kenyan brother Barack WTF is this? Because America is fighting some imaginary war against terrorism and has taken it upon itself to 'reform' the armies of these troubled nations, it's now okay to encourage the military conscription of children. Really??? Where is the evidence showing that child soldiers are a neccessary force in fighting 'terrorism' directly linked to the U.S?  If people in the UK are unneccessarily shrieking over children being involved in student protests what makes it okay for children in the Congo to be forcefully drafted as soldiers? Would it be okay if kids from Texas or Ohio or California were drafted into an anti-terrorist army to snuff out Osama bin Laden from his cave - that is if bin Laden actually exists? Would that be alright Mr President?

Whilst I stand firmly against U.S sanctions against any nation and am highly critical of U.S 'military dictatorship assistance' to other nations, the logic for issuing this waiver on child soldiers is downright ridiculous. It is never okay for young boys to be conscripted to fight or for young girls  to be drafted in as fighters, bait or sex pleasures for the older soldiers. Barack Hussein Obama (insert all totemic titles, family lineages and praise names here), adults start wars, not children and it is governments like yours and the dysfunctional, power hungry leaders in conflict countries that create situations like this. Sod national interest, this is a selfish, heartless move that reflects yet again the U.S's two-faced attitude on children's rights. While there are U.S-inititated global policies to help combat child poverty, the U.S has not ratified human rights protocols like the Convention on the Rights of the Child - only Somalia and the U.S have not ratified this treaty. While it can legitimately be said that Somalia has no functioning government, the U.S does have a government and as a state, boldly proclaims itself as 'the home of the free and the brave', so what gives? 

Somalia is one of the countries not on the US waiver list, but both the U.S and Somalia refuse to ratify the same international law. Under the Child Soldier Prevention law Somalia which currently receives help, will no longer get assistance, while the U.S continues to support and fund Ethiopian invasions into Somalia that have left over 300 000 homeless refugees in the past.  Cue Crickets at their loudest. (KMT) OTOH Burma, receives no military aid from the U.S so the law does not make iota of difference, so the Child Soldier Prevention law is ineffective.  A very roundabout laughable way of doing things, isn't it? Obama would rather have just scrapped the whole thing instead of indulging in more lily livered bureaucracy and waste of tax payer funds. It might not be obvious to Obama, but its plain as day clear to me that stopping U.S aid will not stop child soldiers, neither is issuing waivers in the name of national interest effective in fighting 'terrorism', it's just more of the same ol' faffing from the U.S and this latest faff has our Nobel Peace Prize winning, Kenyan Brother in the White House's signature all over it. Change WE can believe in, yeh?

We hit the jackpot with Durban, what more is there to celebrate?

by Pravasin Pillay

It's been 150 years since indentured Indian labourers arrived on the shores of South Africa.

In honour of this occasion, celebrations are being planned, commemorative books are being published, ads pontificating poetically about the essence of South African-Indianness are being placed in newspapers and on radio and, one presumes, huge vats of breyani are being prepared.

I fail to see what all the fuss is about. Black people, if my timeline is correct, have been in the country for at least as long and you don't see them ululating about it. White people have also been here for ages, but do you ever hear them going on about their history in South Africa? They just want to be left alone in their modest gated communities. Now that's class. We would do well to take a leaf out of their book. But I guess the party's already been planned.

The marquee has been hired, the sitars are tuned, the bribes are paid, the samoosas are triangulated and the stereotypes are dusted off, so it's too late to cancel now. Still -- and I don't want to be a stick in the mud -- may I offer just one piece of advice to my peeps?

I know you're excited about the occasion because, let's be honest, we could have ended up indentured in some godforsaken place like Canada, but we hit the jackpot and got Durban, which has, like, the Moses Mabhida Stadium and uShaka Marine World.

'Turn down the cliché'
It's perfectly acceptable to be grateful for this good fortune but, when presented with a platform to express this gratitude, let's try to turn down the cliché dial. For instance, don't say things like, "My heart beats to an African drum and my soul to the rhythm of the tabla" on SAfm. Because that's kind of lame, see.

I don't want to get into a metaphysical discussion, but since when did souls acquire the ability to keep time with an Eastern percussion instrument? It's a metaphor, you say? For me, it's more like Oprah swallowed Deepak Chopra and Hallmark's multicultural division and became a slam poet.

Look, if you have to say something and if you want to be real about it, try emulating the sheer coolness of my favourite South African Indian, Manu Padayachee. A journalist and television presenter, he made history when he became the first black presenter on M-Net. On his presenting debut, he greeted the pay channel viewers with this piece of drollery: "Please do not adjust the colour on your sets, I look this way." That's how you do it.

One thing I find fascinating about the 150th anniversary is the conflict between various Indian lobby groups and organisations over who should spearhead the celebrations. This is what I love about living in a democracy: the freedom. All these unelected groups are free to claim to represent me, my story and my history without any sort of censure. And they're so considerate as well. Not once did I receive a pesky phone call asking me if I wanted to be represented by them.

I also love that they all seem to be run by rich and middle-class Indians, because, to me, nothing says indenture like rich and middle-class Indians. I would be seriously pissed off if some working-class charous from Chatsworth or Phoenix were put in charge of the celebrations. What would they know about it?

The only aspect of the anniversary that grates me is the news that a publication called The Vintage Book of South African Indian Writing will be launched to coincide with it. Looking through the contents it appears that every Indian writer in the country will be represented -- except me. I gotta say, that cuts deep. Is it a caste thing? I thought we'd moved beyond that.

Anyway, magnanimous person that I am, had I been asked this would have been my contribution of Indian punk rock anthems:

• Gods Save The Queen;
• Live Fast Reincarnate Young;
• (White Naan) In Hammersmith Palais;
• Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Weren't Arranged to Fall In Love With); and
• Srimadaddankithirumalavaraahavenkatathaa is a Punk Rocker.

What's useful about my contribution is that it can double as a playlist during the anniversary party. It's a two-for-one. See, I'm Indian, I make a good deal for you.

jacked from Mail & Guardian Online

pics jacked from starafrica.com and david krut publishing

Tumi From The Volume

   Tumi - POWA by Ophiona 

To every girl I cheated on

Disrespected, beat on, called a whore,

Peed on, had sex with illegal, put hands on

Raped, slapped, love you, didn’t say it back,

Ladies I disappointed lied to and misinformed,

If you cry, I’ll listen for you

Now I am living for you

To every sister annoyed, pissed with these ignorant boys

That took what you build, destroyed

I’ll dream what my son draws, a pencil stick happy home

And sing what you’ve come for

No one man should have all that power

We put our seeds into school they get deflowered

From sweet sixteen to 20 something sour

When Mandela dies, who gone really care about us

I shine my Thomas Edison on this heart-wrenching incident

Butt naked telling it, like surely there’s some better men

Looking at my reflection, cracking on better inspection

What all these headlines mention, is a judgment not just a sentence

Don’t examine the evidence

That is just irrelevant

Cuz Akona’s testament implicates my better sense

I wanna kill that specimen, hang him from a leather belt

But then again, it’s probably best to raise a gentleman

So when he turns fourteen he’d be the one protecting her

And when they talk orgies it wouldn’t make sense to him

But that’s later, this is now, the part to play is big and proud

Brave heart, love the scars away speak it out aloud

No one man should have all that power

You put your hands on a woman, are you a coward?

Lady that’s not your shame, that there is ours

When Mandela dies, who gone really care about us

Can we march, picket, shout, scream,

Pass a law; wipe clean all her bloody bad dreams

Call Miss Patricia De lille, fix the ill, Helen Zille

J. Malema, help us heal

If JZ’s not with us he cannot get elected still

DJ Fresh, play a tune, make me forget it’s painful

Can we affect a change too, so sex doesn’t scare you?

I wanna kiss your earlobe, whisper you my hero

Take you out to party people where the music isn’t lethal

I am T from the V

That means my speech isn’t speech bro

You don’t have be Jules High

To have to sink to these lows,

That act is old De Niro

Apartheid Ghost, Lesilo

Adapted to the evil, we are drawn to it Zapiro

No one man should have all that power

We put our seeds into school they get deflowered

From sweet sixteen to 20 something sour

When Mandela dies, who gone really care about us

To every girl I cheated on

Disrespected, beat on, called a whore,

Peed on, had sex with illegal, put hands on

Raped, slapped, love you, didn’t say it back,

Ladies I disappointed lied to and misinformed,

If you cry, I’ll listen for you

Now I am living for you

To every sister annoyed, pissed with these ignorant boys

That took what you build, destroyed

I’ll dream what my son draws, a pencil stick happy home

And sing what you’ve come for

So if you fed up with it

Everybody do the power clap

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Help your sister bare witness

Everybody do the power clap

Clap! Clap! Clap!

You’d better be standing aint no sitting down

When we do the power clap

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Hate the act, love the child

Everybody do the power clap

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

Boom!

Back story: This track is by Tumi, frontman for Tumi and the Volume, one of South Africa's best and most relevant bands - if you're South African and have never heard of them, hang your head in shame and go sit on the naughty step, everyone else head over to You Choob and check 'em out. Anyway this remix of Ye's Power is largely inspired by the case of a 15 year old girl who claimed to have been raped by two of her male schoolmates aged 14 and 16. The authorities ruled initially that the boys wouldn’t be arrested as they were busy with exams, and the charges against the boys were dropped for lack of evidence and the girl later recanted her claims, saying she gave full consent and as a result she has been charged with statutory rape along with the boys. However she was drugged at the time, so an argument could be made that she was not in the right mental state to give consent and given that there are testimonies from the girl's friend verifying that she was drugged and shaken up after the incident, means the prosecutor's claim that there's lack of evidence to go ahead with the case is a complete myth, it's actually a sad reflection of how the SA justice system is unjust for rape victims. Tumi also makes a reference to Akhona, another young girl who was inspired by this case to tweet and blog about her own rape ordeal to spread awareness: I Said No.
Tell 'em why you mad Tumi!


In DOPE Music WE Trust.


p.s if you can't hear the song on the blog, click the link otherwise step into 2010 and switch to Google Chrome, Explorer's too much drama.

From Rush to 'Ye

'When you spoke about President Bush during the Katrina telethon, it was not the particulars of your words that mattered, it was the essence of a feeling of the insensitivity towards our communities that many of us have felt for far too long. It was the image of the President, our President, the President of the United States Of America, peering out the window of an airplane, as the people on the ground were drowning, that hurt us the most. For centuries, our people have relentlessly tread water as hard as they could to stay afloat, and here we were, literally drowning, and it felt like the President was insensitive. 

There is no need to apologize, Kanye.'

Extract from Russell Simmons' open letter to Kanye West.
There is really no need for Kanye to be apologize ad infinitum 
every single time he appears to offend someone.
Calling George Bush an uncaring President is one of the better descriptions
on a long list of names for him 
some of which include: terrorist, idiot and warmonger 

Who Put the Crack in Angela's Pipe?

Angela Merkel, Potsdam, Germany

"At the start of the 60s we invited the guest-workers to Germany. We kidded ourselves for a while that they wouldn't stay, that one day they'd go home. That isn't what happened. And of course the tendency was to say: let's be 'multikulti' and live next to each other and enjoy being together, [but] this concept has failed, failed utterly....For several years more people have been leaving our country than entering it...wherever it is possible, we must lower the entry hurdles for those who bring the country forward....Germany should … get tougher on those who refuse to integrate before opening itself up to further immigration."
- Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel

Response: They who, Angela? The Arabs, Turks, Asians, Africans? Who? The Jews, the Muslims, the Sikhs, the Scientologists? Who?


Multiculturalism is a failed project but not for the reasons Merkel points out, she's playing to the gallery because there's a lot of discontent within the party and conservative Germans over immigration. Multiculturalism's like this trendy thing Europe thought they'd name integration as a way of appearing progressive so the EU pressed full steam ahead with policy, but multiculturalism is impossible without first exorcising history's demons and poverty - Merkel needs a reality check. Multiculturalism failed because Germany didn't make it work. Granted it's not an overnight job as the Germans themselves took long enough to get along, but Merkel's not exactly been pro-multikulti or pro-immigration in her policy and strategically distanced herself on these issues so whose collective failure is she talking about? The Financial Times estimates say there's a skills shortage of about 400000 jobs in Germany and but they suggest that this gap can be filled by employed skilled migrants but visa restrictions prevent non-Germans from having certain jobs - so how do people work? Declaring multikulti has failed when you haven't even tried is a bad political tactic, it's evident that resorting to populist rhetoric is def-o a sign of desperate times, I guess the Baden-Wuttemberg 2011election is not looking too great then, Angie?

IMO multiculturalism's more of a Eurocentric cultural project that legitimises the consumption of 'the exotic other' by celebrating diverse cuisines, music and languages, but it doesn't engage people. Governments purposely build ghettos by ethnicity then in a schizophrenic twist embark on projects to de-radicalise 'the other' and pour money into fostering social cohesion to keep things calm...some work, some fail, but at the heart of it: it's the economy, stupid. 
Integration supposed to be the aim of multiculturalism but it's really just mainstreaming everyone into the dominant way of life, a kind of inclusive exclusion - thou shalt not wear a hijab or burkha, but thou shalt speak one standard French and remain in your poor, segregated ghettos. When the ship goes down, blame it on the poor and the migrants, same ol' same ol' and there's much more of this kind of populist talk to come the tougher things get.

pics jacked from The Guardian, Langerhall.com and Zazzle.com.

Of Firing Squads, Morons and Patriots

The above title partly comes from a phrase in a comment someone made on a friend's Facebook post about Gamuchirai Nhengu, the X Factor contestant everyone in the UK is buzzing about since she failed to make the final 12 or 16 as it were, last Saturday. The public mood has gone from sympathy to outrage when it was discovered that her family visa had been judged out of time by UKBA (UK Border Agency) and her mother was found to have wrongly claimed working tax and child credits and so because their application had been denied they are now subject to an administrative removal (not deportation) and will have to go back to Zimbabwe for a year before re-applying. Within a heartbeat the tabloid press had labelled the mother a 'benefits cheat' and 'thief' while a trail of xenophobic and racist comments were left on newspaper comment boards, Twitter and Facebook - there's even a Deport the Gamu Family page to rival the Gamu Should Have Got Through fan page that has now become the playground of xenophobes and vile racists. 

If anyone needed to know just how racist and moronic some members of the British public can be, this case is a perfect example but at the same if anyone needed to know just how generous and sympathetic the British public can be then this case is also a perfect example as the pictures of crowds bearing gifts pictured outside the Nhengu's family home show. The response of Zimbabweans has been nothing but sympathy and support, lobbyist groups and (disappointingly) a few the online press are doing their best to protest UKBA's decision. Zimbabweans in the diaspora and at home have stood in solidarity with the family, all until this morning that is. 

The News of the World published an exclusive interview with Gamu in which she pleaded for a chance to stay in the UK, claiming that if she was sent back she'd face Mugabe's 'firing squad.' Her words were: “It’s like I’m being sent home to a firing squad and they’re putting me in front of it, They will punish us if we go back. Our lives are in danger.” 

Firing squad? Punish? Danger? *Rolling eyes double time* Her lawyers may have advised this rather colourful response, the News of the World may have gotten a little creative with her words or Gamu may be so desperate she will say whatever she can to prevent her family's impending removal. Whatever it is, it's untrue. Zimbabwe may be a lot of things, but a hell hole of punishment it is not, neither do we have firing squads for people, least of all wannabe pop stars. There are people out there who genuinely face persecution if they return to the country, but Gamu is not one of them and if in reaction to this story one or two sick n depraved alleged  agents of the regime threaten her, it's to scare her but I honestly don't know how real that threat would be. So many Zimbabweans have milked the political unrest in the country to acquire a right of stay all over the world and these people are no different to Gamu because they want the opportunity to make a better life for themselves. While I completely understand the desire for the right to pursue prosperity and happiness, that desire does not mean pursuit by any means necessary and does not justify falsely maligning the already battered image of your country.

Right now Zimbabwe is undergoing transition, life is so much better there than it was three years ago when price controls wrecked the economy or ten years ago when war vets took over the farms. True, some political activists, writers, artists and singers are in prison or have been incarcerated, but others live in the country and carry out their political works without fear of persecution so where does a rising pop star all the way in Scotland get off making claims like that? The myth that 'Mugabe is the bogeyman and his henchmen are coming to get ya' shows just how low people's sense of patriotism that they'll sell out their country for South African, British, Canadian or American citizenship. Worst of it all is that it's to the detriment of genuine asylum seekers who face greater risk of deportation when stories like these get called out. Instead of going the sensationalist route, Gamu might have used this as a chance to highlight the claims of those who face real danger on the basis of their political or religious (Rastafarians) beliefs. 

She is young, but she is not stupid, neither are her lawyers and one hopes they start giving her the right advice before this gets any more sensational. She's already made a mistake of speaking to News of the World and has been a little too creative with her story. Why the heck did she sell her story to News of The World when it belongs to the same tabloid group that branded her mother a cheat and a thief when the benefits story broke on Tuesday. For the whole week, The Sun has been fanning the flames of xenophobic and racist angst against this family and the she goes and tells The freaking News of the World! She'd rather have kept her mouth shut and waited till better newspapers or TV channels came along and made sure not to divide the support of Zimbabweans - judging by the Facebook, Twitter and Zim news comments I've read the majority of people express their sympathy with her situation but are very pissed off with her for making such exaggerated claims, and rightly so. There are those who claim she's just a kid and she doesn't know any better, but with lawyers on your side, the folly of youth can never be the disguise for stupidity. This group argues that no one really knows how this story transpired and who said what exactly - fair enough, I hear you. However, there is a minority who seem to think it's okay because 'everybody does it.' That's just daft, you cannot legitimize lying just because others are doing it, especially now when things in Zimbabwe are so much better, very far from perfect, but a lot better both politically and economically. Maybe Gamu should go back home for a year to face the imaginary 'firing squad' so she can re-discover her roots and find just how much people are willing to help her, as one hip hop producer based in Harare suggested.

As for the judicial review, I really believe the family has a strong case, firing squads and bogey men nothwithstanding and taking into account: Inland Revenue's screwup in granting the mother credits, supporting case law concerning tax credits, EU Human Rights, Article 8 provisions on the right to a family life and supporting case law. Also, UKBA and X Factor screwed up by playing this out in public and if I was Gamu's mother I'd be hunting down Courtenay Griffiths to get him to take my case pro bono. Never mind that he's a criminal lawyer, I'm sure he, like many immigration lawyers, would relish the opportunity to stick it to UKBA and the Cowell pantomime.