Balancing the World Cup 2010 (II): Guest Blog

As part of this mini-series on “balancing the World Cup 2010”, I am pleased to present the article below, by Gor - one of Myweku’s writers, as a guest post kindly contributed exclusively to this blog by Myweku’s editor Nii Thompson:


Just a Jamboree


Last year India shot a billion dollar rocket into space. Many were dismayed by the priorities of the Indian government. The billions spent on the space program could have been better spent on projects to ease poverty and other socio-economic problems on the sub-continent. This year, the irony of big budget event against a backdrop of urgent social discrepancies in Africa played out not once but twice.

Angola is only just emerging from the negative effects of a 3 decade civil war. 60% of her population lives on less than a dollar a day and she is in dire need of schools, electricity, sanitation, water and public health infrastructure. Despite these pressing socio-economic issues, the country forked out $1billion to host the 27th Africa cup of nations in January this year. Most of the money went towards building stadia and hotels.

In South Africa by the time the world cup kicked off, government and FIFA had spent an estimated $6 billion on ‘requirements’ to host the world’s biggest sporting event- $1 billion on new and upgrading old stadia, $8 million on public transport infrastructure, and $ 2billion on security, branding and marketing.

South Africa is classified by the UN as a middle income country; she has abundant supply of resources, a developed financial, communication, energy and transport infrastructure and a vibrant stock exchange market ranked among the world’s top 20. Nonetheless half of the 50 million South Africans live on less than $1.25 a day. She is globally ranked 129 out of 182 countries on the Human Poverty Index (HPI). South Africa also has one of the highest crime rates in the world earning Jo’burg the unenviable title of ‘murder capital of the world.

(…)

Psychologically, this year’s tournament may reverse stereotypes of the Dark Continent, and Africans get to brag that they delivered a world class event. Even so, this tournament has exposed Africa’s general inferiority complex; it is a colonial mentality to go to such great efforts to pull off a ‘party’ yet the same resources could have been deployed towards uplifting living standards of the average South African. Perhaps a Ghana win would have vindicated such wanton spending on a jamboree.


[Full article here]


Related post: O CAN da "nossa" Globalizacao...

As part of this mini-series on “balancing the World Cup 2010”, I am pleased to present the article below, by Gor - one of Myweku’s writers, as a guest post kindly contributed exclusively to this blog by Myweku’s editor Nii Thompson:


Just a Jamboree


Last year India shot a billion dollar rocket into space. Many were dismayed by the priorities of the Indian government. The billions spent on the space program could have been better spent on projects to ease poverty and other socio-economic problems on the sub-continent. This year, the irony of big budget event against a backdrop of urgent social discrepancies in Africa played out not once but twice.

Angola is only just emerging from the negative effects of a 3 decade civil war. 60% of her population lives on less than a dollar a day and she is in dire need of schools, electricity, sanitation, water and public health infrastructure. Despite these pressing socio-economic issues, the country forked out $1billion to host the 27th Africa cup of nations in January this year. Most of the money went towards building stadia and hotels.

In South Africa by the time the world cup kicked off, government and FIFA had spent an estimated $6 billion on ‘requirements’ to host the world’s biggest sporting event- $1 billion on new and upgrading old stadia, $8 million on public transport infrastructure, and $ 2billion on security, branding and marketing.

South Africa is classified by the UN as a middle income country; she has abundant supply of resources, a developed financial, communication, energy and transport infrastructure and a vibrant stock exchange market ranked among the world’s top 20. Nonetheless half of the 50 million South Africans live on less than $1.25 a day. She is globally ranked 129 out of 182 countries on the Human Poverty Index (HPI). South Africa also has one of the highest crime rates in the world earning Jo’burg the unenviable title of ‘murder capital of the world.

(…)

Psychologically, this year’s tournament may reverse stereotypes of the Dark Continent, and Africans get to brag that they delivered a world class event. Even so, this tournament has exposed Africa’s general inferiority complex; it is a colonial mentality to go to such great efforts to pull off a ‘party’ yet the same resources could have been deployed towards uplifting living standards of the average South African. Perhaps a Ghana win would have vindicated such wanton spending on a jamboree.


[Full article here]


Related post: O CAN da "nossa" Globalizacao...

BE MY GUEST! (VI. LUIS)

Luis is a regular contributor to this blog since the early days and has been a good friend of mine for a good decade now, since we met at the LSE where he was preparing his PhD and I my MSc.
Born in Mozambique of Portuguese and Chinese parentage, he lives in Portugal since his early childhood and is very much a citizen of the world.
The piece he presents here draws partly on his fieldwork in South Korea. He promised it here and now (finally!) delivered the goods.
Enjoy.

THE “REVENGE” OF THE STATE

For the best part of the past three decades, policymakers in the developed world followed Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in pursuing the idea of a “minimal state” as the best solution to economic growth. Privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation progressively became the all-mighty mantra of the market pundits to be exported to the developing world. Yet, as the current financial and subsequent economic crises have shown us all, the state is still a much needed actor.

This is even more relevant when we are talking about which policies should developing countries follow in their path to economic growth and development and as we begin to observe a shifting power from the West to East Asia. Why? Because most of us seem to be unaware of how in the first place did the East get into this position and the economic and financial lessons that maybe other developing countries can derive from it.

Several scholars sought to explain the successful economic performance of East Asia by looking at the interventionist and leading role played by the state. For example, analysing the Japanese case, Chalmers Johnson (1982) introduced the concept of the “developmental capitalist state” as one which seeks economic development through high rates of growth, productivity and competitiveness. Six main policy features are regarded as crucial to explain the performance of the East Asian developmental states: (1) redistributive land reform; (2) state-controlled financial system; (3) macroeconomic stability to nurture long-term investment; (4) industrial policy that favoured simultaneously import substitution and export-led production; (5) protection and investment in the agricultural sector as well as improvement of rural livelihoods; (6) and income policies that produced a more equitable income distribution and higher living standards. As a whole, all these policies are correlated with the East Asian successful economic performance. However, industrial policy and financial control, in particular, stand at the core of the East Asian developmental states’ peculiar way of organising the market.

According to developmental state literature, the economic performance of East Asia is strongly associated with a series of key mechanisms devised by the interventionist state to organise the financial system and define the blueprint for industrial development. These key features make up what is known as the system of “socialisation of private risk”: (1) in a closely regulated bank-based system as in Korea or Taiwan, enterprises were inclined to make better investment decisions, because they were offered the opportunity to develop long-term strategies. As this relationship strengthened over time, and as long as firms’ investments followed long-term plans, loans were rolled over even if the returns were not as immediate as thought; (2) the bank-based system allowed for a faster allocation of capital to strategic industrial sectors and granted the state the capacity to control the financial flows; (3) close relations between banks and firms improved collection and the processing of information, allowed the monitoring of management performance, and eased restructuring of firms undergoing difficulties and; (4) control over the financial system offered the state the political leverage to build up the coalitions necessary to implement the industrial and development strategies. In this sense, the public-private co-operation usually present in East Asia was far from being an outcome of voluntary compliance by the business groups as they were discouraged from opposing the state under threat of possible loss of access to credit (Wade 1990).

Additionally, this literature claims that this cooperative system between state, banks and firms succeeded because it obeyed certain “imperatives”: (1) the state sustained the risks involved in the investments. This socialised risk took the form of: deposit insurance, lender-of-last-resort, subsidies to banks dangerously exposed to loan losses and firms in financial difficulties, banks’ shareholding in firms, or state-owned banks; (2) the creditor was involved in the firm management, and did not pull out when the company was under distress showing instead commitment with the restructuring of its management; (3) the state and the banks were able to distinguish between ‘responsible’ and ‘irresponsible’ borrowings, and disciplined the latter. This capacity allowed the state to avoid bailing out firms and moral hazard. Simultaneously, the government was also careful to monitor the activities of the financial intermediaries to impede them, for example, from hiding non-performing loans (NPLs); (4) the existence of a ‘central guiding agency’ was crucial to complement market signals with its own signals as to which sectors would be most profitable; ((5) finally, the state regulated international capital flows which granted it the capacity to control money supply and the cost of capital to domestic firms as well as to set and manage the development of strategic industrial sectors.

Importantly, underneath the East Asian system of “socialisation of private risk” are “hard states”, i.e., states that are “able not only to resist private demands but actively shape the economy and society (Wade, 1990). A competent bureaucracy usually led by a pilot agency in charge of formulating and implementing economic policies is the leading actor in the process of economic change and development. It is this bureaucracy that in fact “guided” the market, and implemented the consistent, coherent, and rational system of “socialisation of private risk”. As Robert Wade puts it, “in this kind of political regime, the bureaucracy can more easily demonstrate competence and remain ‘clean’, because it is neither caught between and penetrated by struggling interest groups nor subverted from above by the politics of rulers’ survival”(Wade, 1990). In tandem, ongoing organisational and institutional linkages between the government and the private sector eased the stream of information exchange, facilitated co-operation, policy coordination, implementation and goal consensus (Okimoto, 1989).

Thus, the developmental state is basically one where the autonomy of the bureaucracy is complemented by an unusual degree of private-public co-operation. The difference between East Asia and other late industrialising economies did not rest in the invention of industrial policy and financial control mechanisms as “many other nations have at one time or another tried most of the policy tools used in East Asia” (Wade, 1990). For Alice Amsden (1992), what distinguished East Asia was the willingness of states to behave in relation to the private sector as “disciplinarian agents, imposing performance standards while allocating subsidies for industrial development.”

Of course this is not the whole story but is a big part of it……

[References]

Luis is a regular contributor to this blog since the early days and has been a good friend of mine for a good decade now, since we met at the LSE where he was preparing his PhD and I my MSc.
Born in Mozambique of Portuguese and Chinese parentage, he lives in Portugal since his early childhood and is very much a citizen of the world.
The piece he presents here draws partly on his fieldwork in South Korea. He promised it here and now (finally!) delivered the goods.
Enjoy.

THE “REVENGE” OF THE STATE

For the best part of the past three decades, policymakers in the developed world followed Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in pursuing the idea of a “minimal state” as the best solution to economic growth. Privatisation, deregulation and liberalisation progressively became the all-mighty mantra of the market pundits to be exported to the developing world. Yet, as the current financial and subsequent economic crises have shown us all, the state is still a much needed actor.

This is even more relevant when we are talking about which policies should developing countries follow in their path to economic growth and development and as we begin to observe a shifting power from the West to East Asia. Why? Because most of us seem to be unaware of how in the first place did the East get into this position and the economic and financial lessons that maybe other developing countries can derive from it.

Several scholars sought to explain the successful economic performance of East Asia by looking at the interventionist and leading role played by the state. For example, analysing the Japanese case, Chalmers Johnson (1982) introduced the concept of the “developmental capitalist state” as one which seeks economic development through high rates of growth, productivity and competitiveness. Six main policy features are regarded as crucial to explain the performance of the East Asian developmental states: (1) redistributive land reform; (2) state-controlled financial system; (3) macroeconomic stability to nurture long-term investment; (4) industrial policy that favoured simultaneously import substitution and export-led production; (5) protection and investment in the agricultural sector as well as improvement of rural livelihoods; (6) and income policies that produced a more equitable income distribution and higher living standards. As a whole, all these policies are correlated with the East Asian successful economic performance. However, industrial policy and financial control, in particular, stand at the core of the East Asian developmental states’ peculiar way of organising the market.

According to developmental state literature, the economic performance of East Asia is strongly associated with a series of key mechanisms devised by the interventionist state to organise the financial system and define the blueprint for industrial development. These key features make up what is known as the system of “socialisation of private risk”: (1) in a closely regulated bank-based system as in Korea or Taiwan, enterprises were inclined to make better investment decisions, because they were offered the opportunity to develop long-term strategies. As this relationship strengthened over time, and as long as firms’ investments followed long-term plans, loans were rolled over even if the returns were not as immediate as thought; (2) the bank-based system allowed for a faster allocation of capital to strategic industrial sectors and granted the state the capacity to control the financial flows; (3) close relations between banks and firms improved collection and the processing of information, allowed the monitoring of management performance, and eased restructuring of firms undergoing difficulties and; (4) control over the financial system offered the state the political leverage to build up the coalitions necessary to implement the industrial and development strategies. In this sense, the public-private co-operation usually present in East Asia was far from being an outcome of voluntary compliance by the business groups as they were discouraged from opposing the state under threat of possible loss of access to credit (Wade 1990).

Additionally, this literature claims that this cooperative system between state, banks and firms succeeded because it obeyed certain “imperatives”: (1) the state sustained the risks involved in the investments. This socialised risk took the form of: deposit insurance, lender-of-last-resort, subsidies to banks dangerously exposed to loan losses and firms in financial difficulties, banks’ shareholding in firms, or state-owned banks; (2) the creditor was involved in the firm management, and did not pull out when the company was under distress showing instead commitment with the restructuring of its management; (3) the state and the banks were able to distinguish between ‘responsible’ and ‘irresponsible’ borrowings, and disciplined the latter. This capacity allowed the state to avoid bailing out firms and moral hazard. Simultaneously, the government was also careful to monitor the activities of the financial intermediaries to impede them, for example, from hiding non-performing loans (NPLs); (4) the existence of a ‘central guiding agency’ was crucial to complement market signals with its own signals as to which sectors would be most profitable; ((5) finally, the state regulated international capital flows which granted it the capacity to control money supply and the cost of capital to domestic firms as well as to set and manage the development of strategic industrial sectors.

Importantly, underneath the East Asian system of “socialisation of private risk” are “hard states”, i.e., states that are “able not only to resist private demands but actively shape the economy and society (Wade, 1990). A competent bureaucracy usually led by a pilot agency in charge of formulating and implementing economic policies is the leading actor in the process of economic change and development. It is this bureaucracy that in fact “guided” the market, and implemented the consistent, coherent, and rational system of “socialisation of private risk”. As Robert Wade puts it, “in this kind of political regime, the bureaucracy can more easily demonstrate competence and remain ‘clean’, because it is neither caught between and penetrated by struggling interest groups nor subverted from above by the politics of rulers’ survival”(Wade, 1990). In tandem, ongoing organisational and institutional linkages between the government and the private sector eased the stream of information exchange, facilitated co-operation, policy coordination, implementation and goal consensus (Okimoto, 1989).

Thus, the developmental state is basically one where the autonomy of the bureaucracy is complemented by an unusual degree of private-public co-operation. The difference between East Asia and other late industrialising economies did not rest in the invention of industrial policy and financial control mechanisms as “many other nations have at one time or another tried most of the policy tools used in East Asia” (Wade, 1990). For Alice Amsden (1992), what distinguished East Asia was the willingness of states to behave in relation to the private sector as “disciplinarian agents, imposing performance standards while allocating subsidies for industrial development.”

Of course this is not the whole story but is a big part of it……

[References]

BE MY GUEST! (V. BILL - Part 3)

One African-American, 4 Acres and a Mule

6. How do you think each American Presidential candidate, Barack Obama and John McCain, would impact America's relationship with Africa if elected?

You know, when I first saw this question I thought it would be difficult to answer because I have heard precious little in this campaign from either John McCain or Barack Obama about how they view America’s foreign policy toward Africa. But after taking some time to do a bit of careful research on the subject I’ve come across some very interesting factual information on the subject.

One thing that should be noted is that this U.S. election campaign may be one of the most closely watched political events in human history. As I explained in a previous post about Senator Barack Obama’s July visit to Germany the overseas interest and excitement about this campaign is phenomenal. It is bigger than anything that has come out of American political life for decades and the outcome of this presidential election is important not only for U.S. voters but for citizens around the globe.

It’s hard for Americans living abroad to explain the dirty politics and negative personal attacks that have emerged in this campaign. The level of ‘political attack ads’ are shocking not only for Americans and veteran U.S. political journalists but also for many foreign observers following this election. Darrell M. West of the Brookings Institution describes this aggressive behavior as an all-time low in U.S. political campaign history. If patriotic Americans are truly sincere about improving the country’s standing and image abroad then the Republicans and Democrats need to rein in this toxic behavior at all levels of their respective campaigns. The presidential candidates need to get back to discussing real issues and offering solutions for the mounting problems that we all are facing. The upcoming presidential debate on September 26 would be a good place to start.

The global phenomenon surrounding the Obama campaign for President is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience and I shall not forget it as long as I live. This man’s candidacy has inspired people from all walks of life and has instilled a special feeling of pride and new hope for a better world in many people of every color, ethnicity, and nationality. It is a pity that the Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, an accomplished and distinguished U.S. politician, has not been able to arouse a similar level of excitement and interests in these elections outside of the United States.

I have been approached countless times by people in Germany who want to eagerly discuss the 2008 U.S. election campaign and the historic candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. They want to talk about everything from race relations in the U.S. to how national politics really works in America. This election campaign is especially exciting for my African friends and other people of color in Europe who seem to have adopted Obama’s run for President as if he were the leader of their own respective countries. Obama’s candidacy represents a powerful and symbolic break with these people’s own colonial past and collective dreams for the future. My experiences are something special and I think that we as Americans cannot afford to ignore this important message from so many people from every corner of the world. As reported in several newspapers and TV news networks Europe’s fascination with Senator Obama is unusually high. Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine conducted a reader poll that showed an overwhelming amount of support for Barack Obama over John McCain by a whopping margin of 83%. Newsweek’s new sister publication The Root.com has a related article on Obama’s global appeal titled ‘The World in His Hands’ that is also worth reading as it echoes what we already know here in Europe.

I try to caution people (especially young African men) not to be overly confident about Senator Obama easily winning this election in America but I get the feeling that many people are simply not listening. I enjoy explaining to them how U.S. politics works and the importance of this historical presidential election. Their interest has remained keen over the many months of campaigning and news coverage by CNN and BBC News and our conversations about politics in America and in Africa are lively and informative. My hope is that my young friends and acquaintances will take something from this experience with them back to their own home countries in Africa. That some of these young Africans will become active in the politics of their country and work hard to bring the benefits of a true democracy to their people. I expect to see their names in Africa’s good news headlines someday.

So as far as the presidential candidate Barack Obama impacting the U.S.A.’s relationship with Africa and Africans, he has already done it and he has done it in a very big way. Just the manner in which he has handled himself so far in this very challenging political campaign has inspired many African people for generations to come. If it were left up to the world to choose the next U.S. president, the 2008 race for the White House would already be over. The November polls in the United States would simply be a formality in keeping with our constitution.

I think that good people around the world are desperately trying to send a strong message to Americans, pleading with us to make informed and intelligent decisions about our leaders in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. They are trying to tell us that the person who sits in the Oval Office of the White House come January 21, 2009 is damn important for their lives and future too. These are voices that we must not ignore as American voters, no matter which political party we adhere to, we dare not ignore the pleas and hopes and dreams of our friends and allies around the world. So for the remaining few weeks leading up to the U.S. general election on November 4, 2008 I hope that my fellow Americans behave in a manner that is becoming of a great nation and a great people. It would go a long way in helping to restore the world’s confidence in America and it might help many of us to restore confidence in ourselves.

[Keep reading here]

[Part 2]

[Part 1]

One African-American, 4 Acres and a Mule

6. How do you think each American Presidential candidate, Barack Obama and John McCain, would impact America's relationship with Africa if elected?

You know, when I first saw this question I thought it would be difficult to answer because I have heard precious little in this campaign from either John McCain or Barack Obama about how they view America’s foreign policy toward Africa. But after taking some time to do a bit of careful research on the subject I’ve come across some very interesting factual information on the subject.

One thing that should be noted is that this U.S. election campaign may be one of the most closely watched political events in human history. As I explained in a previous post about Senator Barack Obama’s July visit to Germany the overseas interest and excitement about this campaign is phenomenal. It is bigger than anything that has come out of American political life for decades and the outcome of this presidential election is important not only for U.S. voters but for citizens around the globe.

It’s hard for Americans living abroad to explain the dirty politics and negative personal attacks that have emerged in this campaign. The level of ‘political attack ads’ are shocking not only for Americans and veteran U.S. political journalists but also for many foreign observers following this election. Darrell M. West of the Brookings Institution describes this aggressive behavior as an all-time low in U.S. political campaign history. If patriotic Americans are truly sincere about improving the country’s standing and image abroad then the Republicans and Democrats need to rein in this toxic behavior at all levels of their respective campaigns. The presidential candidates need to get back to discussing real issues and offering solutions for the mounting problems that we all are facing. The upcoming presidential debate on September 26 would be a good place to start.

The global phenomenon surrounding the Obama campaign for President is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience and I shall not forget it as long as I live. This man’s candidacy has inspired people from all walks of life and has instilled a special feeling of pride and new hope for a better world in many people of every color, ethnicity, and nationality. It is a pity that the Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, an accomplished and distinguished U.S. politician, has not been able to arouse a similar level of excitement and interests in these elections outside of the United States.

I have been approached countless times by people in Germany who want to eagerly discuss the 2008 U.S. election campaign and the historic candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. They want to talk about everything from race relations in the U.S. to how national politics really works in America. This election campaign is especially exciting for my African friends and other people of color in Europe who seem to have adopted Obama’s run for President as if he were the leader of their own respective countries. Obama’s candidacy represents a powerful and symbolic break with these people’s own colonial past and collective dreams for the future. My experiences are something special and I think that we as Americans cannot afford to ignore this important message from so many people from every corner of the world. As reported in several newspapers and TV news networks Europe’s fascination with Senator Obama is unusually high. Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine conducted a reader poll that showed an overwhelming amount of support for Barack Obama over John McCain by a whopping margin of 83%. Newsweek’s new sister publication The Root.com has a related article on Obama’s global appeal titled ‘The World in His Hands’ that is also worth reading as it echoes what we already know here in Europe.

I try to caution people (especially young African men) not to be overly confident about Senator Obama easily winning this election in America but I get the feeling that many people are simply not listening. I enjoy explaining to them how U.S. politics works and the importance of this historical presidential election. Their interest has remained keen over the many months of campaigning and news coverage by CNN and BBC News and our conversations about politics in America and in Africa are lively and informative. My hope is that my young friends and acquaintances will take something from this experience with them back to their own home countries in Africa. That some of these young Africans will become active in the politics of their country and work hard to bring the benefits of a true democracy to their people. I expect to see their names in Africa’s good news headlines someday.

So as far as the presidential candidate Barack Obama impacting the U.S.A.’s relationship with Africa and Africans, he has already done it and he has done it in a very big way. Just the manner in which he has handled himself so far in this very challenging political campaign has inspired many African people for generations to come. If it were left up to the world to choose the next U.S. president, the 2008 race for the White House would already be over. The November polls in the United States would simply be a formality in keeping with our constitution.

I think that good people around the world are desperately trying to send a strong message to Americans, pleading with us to make informed and intelligent decisions about our leaders in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. They are trying to tell us that the person who sits in the Oval Office of the White House come January 21, 2009 is damn important for their lives and future too. These are voices that we must not ignore as American voters, no matter which political party we adhere to, we dare not ignore the pleas and hopes and dreams of our friends and allies around the world. So for the remaining few weeks leading up to the U.S. general election on November 4, 2008 I hope that my fellow Americans behave in a manner that is becoming of a great nation and a great people. It would go a long way in helping to restore the world’s confidence in America and it might help many of us to restore confidence in ourselves.

[Keep reading here]

[Part 2]

[Part 1]

BE MY GUEST! (V. BILL - Part 2)

One African-American, 4 Acres and a Mule

4. What do you think about America's current relationship with Africa in general terms?

I think in general terms the American people have a good relationship with the people of Africa. Of course there is room for improvement on both sides. We are living in a period of history where we can learn a great deal more about each other thanks to rapid advances in communication and information technology and the ease of travel between countries. These advances help people to interact with one another in ways that were not possible before. I think that these new opportunities in communication and travel will have an even bigger impact on relations between the people of African countries and the people of America in the next few decades.

A perfect example of this happened just last week. The mother of my three sons from Togo arrived in Germany for a visit. These three young men are not my blood relatives but are three young people who I have built a close relationship with over the past 8-10 years. This was Mama’s first visit to Europe or anywhere else outside of her small West African country and after introductions the conversation between us started flowing like a river. We needed the help of a translator, a duty that was proudly carried out by her youngest son Sassou, because Mama speaks French and the Gbe languages of her homeland (Ewe and Mina). I speak only English and German so it was difficult to communicate with one another directly. I treated their mother with the care and respect that an older person deserves as I explained who I was and my relationship with her sons. I described for her the connection of my own family to West Africa via the transatlantic slave trade and how African Americans are bound through our hearts and minds to her own people’s history.

This brief meeting between an elderly African woman and an aging African American man is an experience that we both shall hold dear for the rest of our lives. It was absolutely precious. This is what I mean when I say that the relationship between Africans and Americans is generally good because I believe that millions of people in America and Africa are anxious to meet and learn more about each other.

{keep reading here}

5. More specifically, in which areas do you think America has or might have a significant contribution to Africa's development?

Hmmmmm___ that’s a tough question which is not easy to answer but I will give it my best shot. In answering your question I have had to go back and review quite a bit of material because “a significant contribution to Africa’s development” can be interpreted to mean many things. Development assistance to a country (or in this case to 53 countries) is not just financial aid and emergency humanitarian relief. Effective development strategies involve the wise use of foreign policy and diplomacy from a government supported by the work of private organizations and foundations and the public. US strategic foreign policy objectives for Africa are very much a work-in-progress. This work involves complicated negotiations and treaties between the U.S.A. and African governments in coordination with the African Union and other regional bodies on the continent. Despite having read many articles and reports about U.S. foreign policy and aid for Africa I remain doubtful about the impact of our foreign aid. It is difficult for the average person and taxpayer to fully comprehend the many arguments and debates about foreign aid to Africa and the rest of the developing world. It would seem that one needs a degree in economics, international development, or political science.
From what I understand the ways in which “donor nations” have delivered foreign aid to Africa is often in contradiction with the advice of the world’s leading economists and development experts, not to mention falling short of the needs of the people that this assistance is supposed to help. So please understand that my views expressed below are from a confused average citizen who like millions of other Americans is wondering “Is U.S. foreign aid and assistance to developing countries in Africa really working? And if not, how do we fix it?”Let’s start with the first part of your question (the past) by reviewing the history and background of U.S.-Africa foreign policy and U.S. official development assistance. I realize that you (the interviewer Ana) have an excellent education in economics and history and do not need a refresher on U.S.-Africa relations. But for the sake of those readers who may not be so well versed on background of this relationship I would like to start at the beginning before talking about the present and the future.

{keep reading here}

U.S.-Africa relations after the end of WWII

A good overview of the history of United States foreign policy toward Africa from 1945 onward is provided by Dane F. Smith, President of the National Peace Corps Association, in a lecture he presented to students at the University of California – Santa Barbara in June 2008. The 58-minute video, “The Making of US Foreign Policy toward Africa”, is available at YouTube.com.The U.S. State Department-sponsored website America.gov published a feature article in June 2007 titled “50 Years of U.S.-Africa Relations” written by Gregory Garland (Chief of Press and Public Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs). Following are excerpts from that article:50 Years of U.S. Africa Relations by Gregory Garland, 06/25/08President Richard Nixon and U.N. Under-Secretary Ralph Bunche Saw the Future of U.S.-Africa RelationsThe Eisenhower administration’s creation of the Bureau of African Affairs half a century ago signaled a bold step away from what had been a Eurocentric, quasi-colonial policy view of Africa.

Far from being a decision made in a bureaucratic vacuum, the birth of the State Department’s Africa Bureau resulted from the interplay of three of the great forces of the mid-20th century: the civil rights movement, the Cold War and decolonization. Ralph Johnson Bunche of the State Department and Richard Nixon, who served two terms as Eisenhower's vice president before becoming president, exemplified these forces and, in a very important sense, are the intellectual godfathers of the Africa Bureau.

These towering and very different men of the mid-20th century embodied the many, often contradictory threads of U.S. foreign policy toward Africa. Their paths rarely crossed, but the power of the ideas and interests they personified to a large extent determined and help explain the course of America’s relationship with the continent for decades to come.Interestingly, both men hailed from early 20th-century Southern California, a kind of post-frontier open society far from the racial castes of the segregated South and the class tensions of the industrial North. Both rose from humble backgrounds with the aid of academic scholarships to college.

{keep reading here}

Listing the various programs and projects and initiatives showing how the American people have attempted to help in the positive development of Africa would be a very long list indeed. But what is of utmost importance is that the assistance works and that Americans and others work in close partnerships with the African people (the stakeholders). It is also important that aid has a positive impact on the lives of people, that it is easily measurable and has transparent goals and objectives. I hope that someday the people of the U.S.A. working together with Africans and with our international partners can help African countries reach the goal of not needing foreign aid to survive, but for some countries that day still seems a very long way off.So for the past 50 years the U.S.A. along with some economically developed nations in Europe and Asia and the Middle East have contributed billions in financial aid and development assistance to African countries. And what did they get in return for their good deeds? Several donor nations received favorable trade relationships and slick business deals for strategic natural resources, political support at the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies and commissions, and for all of the humanitarian assistance and relief aid donated some people are able to sleep better at night.Recent studies carried out by leading economists and development experts on the effectiveness of aid has shown that some foreign aid is not working for the people of Africa. Foreign assistance in the form of grants, loans, and food has too often been squandered and stolen bringing little if any benefit to target groups. Aid effectiveness is a hotly debated topic among some of the world’s leading economists and policy makers and is the focus of the September 2008 meeting of international development ministers and organizations in Ghana (Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness).

{keep reading here}

The Aid vs. Trade Debates: some quick facts and figuresIncreases in trade between Africa and the U.S. have been primarily for the import of oil and natural gas, minerals for manufacturing, and forest products (wood, timber). U.S. trade with African countries today still represents only a very small fraction of our total trade with countries in Europe and developing countries in Asia and South America. U.S.-Africa trade needs to improve in ($$$) volume and in the diversity of products and services as was intended in the passing of the U.S. government act AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act). Here are a few facts and figures from the 2008 AGOA Report published to the website of the U.S. Trade Representative.

{keep reading here}

U.S. Foreign Assistance and AFRICOM: The militarization of U.S. foreign aid?AFRICOM, the new U.S. military command for Africa; this is one of my specialty topics in the blogosphere. “Semper Fi, Marine!” (Semper fidelis, Latin) is the USMC motto, “always faithful to the end”. The fine young men and women who serve in the U.S. military today work damn hard to live up to their proud service traditions. Yet service in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines is not just about fighting and combat readiness; it is also about providing assistance to people and helping them to rebuild their towns and villages and restore dignity to their lives. Being part of an overseas mission to support people working hard to help themselves is the most rewarding job a professional soldier can ever do.I think the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) could be one of the great success stories in U.S.-Africa relations history if given a chance. Intensive training of Africa’s professional armies and national police can improve security for millions of Africans who live in or near weak and failing states. This type of assistance by the U.S. military is already making a difference for people in African countries recovering from years of conflict and war; Liberia is one example that comes to mind and there are several more countries involved in U.S. military training assistance programs.

{keep reading here}

One African-American, 4 Acres and a Mule

4. What do you think about America's current relationship with Africa in general terms?

I think in general terms the American people have a good relationship with the people of Africa. Of course there is room for improvement on both sides. We are living in a period of history where we can learn a great deal more about each other thanks to rapid advances in communication and information technology and the ease of travel between countries. These advances help people to interact with one another in ways that were not possible before. I think that these new opportunities in communication and travel will have an even bigger impact on relations between the people of African countries and the people of America in the next few decades.

A perfect example of this happened just last week. The mother of my three sons from Togo arrived in Germany for a visit. These three young men are not my blood relatives but are three young people who I have built a close relationship with over the past 8-10 years. This was Mama’s first visit to Europe or anywhere else outside of her small West African country and after introductions the conversation between us started flowing like a river. We needed the help of a translator, a duty that was proudly carried out by her youngest son Sassou, because Mama speaks French and the Gbe languages of her homeland (Ewe and Mina). I speak only English and German so it was difficult to communicate with one another directly. I treated their mother with the care and respect that an older person deserves as I explained who I was and my relationship with her sons. I described for her the connection of my own family to West Africa via the transatlantic slave trade and how African Americans are bound through our hearts and minds to her own people’s history.

This brief meeting between an elderly African woman and an aging African American man is an experience that we both shall hold dear for the rest of our lives. It was absolutely precious. This is what I mean when I say that the relationship between Africans and Americans is generally good because I believe that millions of people in America and Africa are anxious to meet and learn more about each other.

{keep reading here}

5. More specifically, in which areas do you think America has or might have a significant contribution to Africa's development?

Hmmmmm___ that’s a tough question which is not easy to answer but I will give it my best shot. In answering your question I have had to go back and review quite a bit of material because “a significant contribution to Africa’s development” can be interpreted to mean many things. Development assistance to a country (or in this case to 53 countries) is not just financial aid and emergency humanitarian relief. Effective development strategies involve the wise use of foreign policy and diplomacy from a government supported by the work of private organizations and foundations and the public. US strategic foreign policy objectives for Africa are very much a work-in-progress. This work involves complicated negotiations and treaties between the U.S.A. and African governments in coordination with the African Union and other regional bodies on the continent. Despite having read many articles and reports about U.S. foreign policy and aid for Africa I remain doubtful about the impact of our foreign aid. It is difficult for the average person and taxpayer to fully comprehend the many arguments and debates about foreign aid to Africa and the rest of the developing world. It would seem that one needs a degree in economics, international development, or political science.
From what I understand the ways in which “donor nations” have delivered foreign aid to Africa is often in contradiction with the advice of the world’s leading economists and development experts, not to mention falling short of the needs of the people that this assistance is supposed to help. So please understand that my views expressed below are from a confused average citizen who like millions of other Americans is wondering “Is U.S. foreign aid and assistance to developing countries in Africa really working? And if not, how do we fix it?”Let’s start with the first part of your question (the past) by reviewing the history and background of U.S.-Africa foreign policy and U.S. official development assistance. I realize that you (the interviewer Ana) have an excellent education in economics and history and do not need a refresher on U.S.-Africa relations. But for the sake of those readers who may not be so well versed on background of this relationship I would like to start at the beginning before talking about the present and the future.

{keep reading here}

U.S.-Africa relations after the end of WWII

A good overview of the history of United States foreign policy toward Africa from 1945 onward is provided by Dane F. Smith, President of the National Peace Corps Association, in a lecture he presented to students at the University of California – Santa Barbara in June 2008. The 58-minute video, “The Making of US Foreign Policy toward Africa”, is available at YouTube.com.The U.S. State Department-sponsored website America.gov published a feature article in June 2007 titled “50 Years of U.S.-Africa Relations” written by Gregory Garland (Chief of Press and Public Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs). Following are excerpts from that article:50 Years of U.S. Africa Relations by Gregory Garland, 06/25/08President Richard Nixon and U.N. Under-Secretary Ralph Bunche Saw the Future of U.S.-Africa RelationsThe Eisenhower administration’s creation of the Bureau of African Affairs half a century ago signaled a bold step away from what had been a Eurocentric, quasi-colonial policy view of Africa.

Far from being a decision made in a bureaucratic vacuum, the birth of the State Department’s Africa Bureau resulted from the interplay of three of the great forces of the mid-20th century: the civil rights movement, the Cold War and decolonization. Ralph Johnson Bunche of the State Department and Richard Nixon, who served two terms as Eisenhower's vice president before becoming president, exemplified these forces and, in a very important sense, are the intellectual godfathers of the Africa Bureau.

These towering and very different men of the mid-20th century embodied the many, often contradictory threads of U.S. foreign policy toward Africa. Their paths rarely crossed, but the power of the ideas and interests they personified to a large extent determined and help explain the course of America’s relationship with the continent for decades to come.Interestingly, both men hailed from early 20th-century Southern California, a kind of post-frontier open society far from the racial castes of the segregated South and the class tensions of the industrial North. Both rose from humble backgrounds with the aid of academic scholarships to college.

{keep reading here}

Listing the various programs and projects and initiatives showing how the American people have attempted to help in the positive development of Africa would be a very long list indeed. But what is of utmost importance is that the assistance works and that Americans and others work in close partnerships with the African people (the stakeholders). It is also important that aid has a positive impact on the lives of people, that it is easily measurable and has transparent goals and objectives. I hope that someday the people of the U.S.A. working together with Africans and with our international partners can help African countries reach the goal of not needing foreign aid to survive, but for some countries that day still seems a very long way off.So for the past 50 years the U.S.A. along with some economically developed nations in Europe and Asia and the Middle East have contributed billions in financial aid and development assistance to African countries. And what did they get in return for their good deeds? Several donor nations received favorable trade relationships and slick business deals for strategic natural resources, political support at the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies and commissions, and for all of the humanitarian assistance and relief aid donated some people are able to sleep better at night.Recent studies carried out by leading economists and development experts on the effectiveness of aid has shown that some foreign aid is not working for the people of Africa. Foreign assistance in the form of grants, loans, and food has too often been squandered and stolen bringing little if any benefit to target groups. Aid effectiveness is a hotly debated topic among some of the world’s leading economists and policy makers and is the focus of the September 2008 meeting of international development ministers and organizations in Ghana (Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness).

{keep reading here}

The Aid vs. Trade Debates: some quick facts and figuresIncreases in trade between Africa and the U.S. have been primarily for the import of oil and natural gas, minerals for manufacturing, and forest products (wood, timber). U.S. trade with African countries today still represents only a very small fraction of our total trade with countries in Europe and developing countries in Asia and South America. U.S.-Africa trade needs to improve in ($$$) volume and in the diversity of products and services as was intended in the passing of the U.S. government act AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act). Here are a few facts and figures from the 2008 AGOA Report published to the website of the U.S. Trade Representative.

{keep reading here}

U.S. Foreign Assistance and AFRICOM: The militarization of U.S. foreign aid?AFRICOM, the new U.S. military command for Africa; this is one of my specialty topics in the blogosphere. “Semper Fi, Marine!” (Semper fidelis, Latin) is the USMC motto, “always faithful to the end”. The fine young men and women who serve in the U.S. military today work damn hard to live up to their proud service traditions. Yet service in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines is not just about fighting and combat readiness; it is also about providing assistance to people and helping them to rebuild their towns and villages and restore dignity to their lives. Being part of an overseas mission to support people working hard to help themselves is the most rewarding job a professional soldier can ever do.I think the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) could be one of the great success stories in U.S.-Africa relations history if given a chance. Intensive training of Africa’s professional armies and national police can improve security for millions of Africans who live in or near weak and failing states. This type of assistance by the U.S. military is already making a difference for people in African countries recovering from years of conflict and war; Liberia is one example that comes to mind and there are several more countries involved in U.S. military training assistance programs.

{keep reading here}

BE MY GUEST! (V. BILL - Part 1)

One African-American, 4 Acres and a Mule

My fifth guest in this series is truly a jewel I was lucky enough to find in the jungle that is the blogosphere. Bill, a.k.a. Black River Eagle (BRE), is someone I think I can safely consider a friend, in spite of our occasional disagreements here or there. He is a veteran blogger on whom I came to rely for information and advice on the so many things I still don’t know about the blogosphere and all that ‘brave new world’ the internet offers us. There is not much more I can really say before I let you read from him, except that I am deeply honoured to be his host today and next week when we release Part II of this exclusive 7-question interview.

1. How and why did you get started blogging about Africa and why the title 'Jewels in the Jungle'?

I have had a deep interest in the continent and people of Africa for much of my adult life since my own family heritage is so closely linked to the history of Africans in the New World (the Americas) starting around the beginning of the 18th Century. ‘Jewels in the Jungle’ was launched back in May of 2004 when the blogosphere was still relatively small (approximately 7 million blogs vs. the 100 million+ blogs worldwide today).
After watching the rapid development and growth of online publishing tools and blog authors from a technology point of view since 2001-2002, I felt that using a weblog to share information and news online about Africa with people around the globe was an idea worth pursuing. When I started ‘Jewels’ I didn’t have the slightest idea that it would gain popularity and a global readership of more than 90,000 visitors.
Re: the blog title ‘Jewels in the Jungle’
Sort of catchy, ain’t it? Love it myself___ I need to get the name trademarked or something. The title gets its name from a phrase that I used to describe a project organized by a photographer friend in Germany. My friend, Susanne Behnke, decided one autumn day in 2002 that she was going to do something to “help out the poor, helpless orphan children of Uganda”. When she broke the news to me about her project idea for Ugandan children I was filled with dread that this was going to turn out to be a nightmare. Susanne, a professional photographer and high school teacher, is a real go-getter with a big heart for young people. Susanne had never traveled to the African continent but she has visited several countries in Europe and North America. Somehow she was able to pull it off despite the many adventures encountered along the way both in Uganda and here in Germany.
Working together with her friends in Uganda and organizations and companies in Germany Susanne managed to plan, organize, and launch a project to build new schoolrooms for children of the Iganga District (near Lake Victoria and Jinja). The project team also awarded thirty scholarships to young schoolchildren to help them pay their school fees for one year. Jewelry design students from one of Germany’s best known art & design academies (the Pforzheim School of Design) donated their time and work in support of the project. Auctions for the sale of handmade designer jewelry created specifically for this project were held at three locations in Germany. Money collected from these auctions plus generous private donations was used to begin construction on new school classrooms in Iganga District, Uganda. Hence the story of the origin of my blog title ‘Jewels in the Jungle’.
Note: I’ve uploaded photos from the project to my Flickr.com portfolio. Sotheby’s Amsterdam used a similar concept in 2007 for the ‘Jewels for the Jungle’ auction to help raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.

2. To what extent do you think that blogs, social networks, and other online publishing and collaboration tools can contribute to Africa's development?

I feel that blog authors coming from the global pool of private citizens, citizen journalists, news and media professionals, educators and scholars, students and so forth have already contributed a great deal to Africa’s development, especially over the last 4 to 5 years. I haven’t spent much time investigating social networks and online forums so I cannot speak about their impact on Africa’s development.
There is more information about Africa, much of it written and produced by Africans, available to the global public today than at anytime in world history. The simple, easy-to-use technologies behind online publishing tools i.e. Blogger, Wordpress, and Typepad combined with the power of blog search engines and blog aggregators has helped to make it possible for millions of people to participate in the World Live Web, the live or near real-time global online communications and collaboration around a variety of news events and issues. Blogs in combination with the array of online communication and collaboration tools and platforms that make up what some refer to as Web 2.0 technologies has helped the world to understand that “Africa is in the House!” Africa and Africans are an integral part of the global community and the young people of Africa today refuse to be ignored and left behind.
Users of these new web-based applications are transforming how local, national, and international news is gathered, analyzed, and delivered. Leading international and national news media companies haves started using blogs and reader-generated content on their websites. It is standard practice for the best online news sites to offer reader feedback to editorials and feature articles in the form of comment tools. What is also interesting to watch is the growing impact that blog authors and citizen journalists (and their readers) are having on national politics and elections around the world. This is happening from the U.S.A. to Russia, from Egypt to Ecuador, South Africa to South Korea___ blog authors and their readers are making a significant contribution to news coverage worldwide as well as having an impact on politics and social issues. Jay Rosen, associate professor of journalism at New York University and author of PressThink, goes into more detail about this subject in his August 2007 editorial for the LA Times ‘The Journalism that Bloggers Actually Do’ .
Africa’s bloggers and people around the world who write and report on Africa via blogs and citizen-generated news sites are having an effect on how heads of state, political figures, business leaders, and public officials operate. It is especially difficult these days for many of Africa’s longstanding despots and dictators and thieves of the public wealth (corrupt officials) because they can no longer hide their dirty deeds and deplorable actions from an enquiring world. Some regimes continue to intimidate and persecute journalists, editors, and publishers by keeping a tight stranglehold on a free press and free speech___ but these leaders can no longer easily control the growing sources of reliable information or the delivery channels for news. News today can be delivered from anywhere___ the Internet, mobile phones, miniature storage devices, video cameras, you name it.
This is true not only for Africa but for leaders in regions and countries around the globe. Case in point: Look east, look east to China and the difficulties that the government in Beijing is having with outraged journalists over press freedoms and Internet access. Bloggers were the ones to break the story about The Great Firewall of China first, long before the world’s press and media professionals caught on.
Bloggers are everywhere and just about anyone with access to a computer and a reliable Internet connection, an ability to communicate well through the written word or voice (audio) or imagery (photos, video, graphics), combined with credibility and some authority on a given subject can become a blogger with a worldwide audience.
From the election turmoil in Nigeria and Kenya to the exposure of the despotic rule of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and murderous rule of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan to the headquarters of the African Union and the United Nations, bloggers are having an impact on the way we live and the choices of information that we consume daily.

3. As an American living abroad for many years (Europe), what has been your experience with Africans in the Diaspora?

One of the most vivid images of Europe that will remain in my mind forever will be the day in 1986 that I saw three young African men sitting on a dock in a small harbor town in northern Germany looking out across the North Sea. These were not the first black Africans that I had encountered in Europe or Germany but for me they defined the plight of so many African immigrants to Europe that I have met in the closing decade of the 20th Century and right up to this very day.
At the time I was working for an aerospace engineering firm that had defense contracts with the German government to assist the German Luftwaffe and Marine. My assignment was to support German scientists, naval officers and technical staff on a naval air station at the ass-end of the world. Here in the middle of nowhere, at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries whose armies were amassed on the East German border just a stone’s throw away were these African ‘asylum seekers’. I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
To make a long story short, I soon befriended these young men and shared in many great conversations about Africa and America and Europe until my departure from the area about 4 years later. I still have many fond memories of those days and I miss them dearly, I really do. Unfortunately I no longer have contact to any of those young Africans from that time but I have learned that one of them returned to Ghana and is today a successful Internet radio entrepreneur. I would like to think that our heated discussions and debates about all kinds of subjects combined with my encouragement to maintain a level of self-respect and demand respect from others, to always work hard to improve oneself through education and learning inside and outside of a classroom, that these shared experiences had a positive effect on their lives and their futures.
Of course not all Africans that I have met in Europe have been asylum seekers or economic refugees. Many of my African friends and acquaintances came to West or East Germany (GDR) on academic scholarships back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Over the years I have had the privilege to know a number of young African students, professionals, and just ordinary people from every corner of the African continent who live and work in Germany. These Africans are integrated into European society to the extent that their communities and co-workers will accept them. Based upon my own observations and personal experiences the better educated and skilled African Diaspora in Germany is building a solid foundation for themselves and their families. They are ‘paving the way’ and breaking the ice of racial discrimination, prejudice, and fear to open up new career opportunities for the educated and skilled African people who will follow.
It is evident that immigrants and economic refugees who are arriving in Europe today from Africa and around the globe without a good education and modern job skills are upsetting the apple cart, causing resentment and fear within traditional European society and even within some elite African-European circles. A report released by the German Economics Ministry in August 2007 showed that Germany was suffering from an acute skilled labor shortage costing the economy more than €20 billion Euro per year. A 2008 report by the Washington DC-based Center for Transatlantic Relations (John Hopkins University SAIS) showed that the “vast majority of foreign migrants settling in the EU are poorly qualified ( 85%)…” where skilled foreign workers make up about 55% of the U.S. foreign labor market compared to only 5% in Europe. When it comes to the education and skills needed to fill highly-skilled positions in the medical, technology, and services professions, foreign workers make up less than 1% of the entire labor market across the 27-member European Union. This acute skilled labor shortage is cause for some EU parliamentarians to consider instituting an EU Blue Card program to fill the growing labor gaps in EU member countries.
This acute skilled labor shortage combined with fears over terrorism from abroad, increased illegal immigration and other woes does not bode well for the 10’s of thousands of unskilled immigrants from African countries who have been fleeing poverty on the continent for a better life in Europe. It will be interesting to see what impact these challenges will have on a growing African Diaspora in Europe over the next decade or two.
The path to better job opportunities and acceptance and integration of Africans into European society will be a long and hard fought road, not unlike the problems faced by African-Americans and many other ethnic groups in the United States, Canada, and throughout the Americas over the past few hundred years. It has already taken nearly two millennia for Africans from Saharan and sub-Saharan counties to be accepted as an integral part of European history, culture and society. Let us hope that it doesn’t take much longer because time is running out.

[Bill blogs @ Jewels in the Jungle]

One African-American, 4 Acres and a Mule

My fifth guest in this series is truly a jewel I was lucky enough to find in the jungle that is the blogosphere. Bill, a.k.a. Black River Eagle (BRE), is someone I think I can safely consider a friend, in spite of our occasional disagreements here or there. He is a veteran blogger on whom I came to rely for information and advice on the so many things I still don’t know about the blogosphere and all that ‘brave new world’ the internet offers us. There is not much more I can really say before I let you read from him, except that I am deeply honoured to be his host today and next week when we release Part II of this exclusive 7-question interview.

1. How and why did you get started blogging about Africa and why the title 'Jewels in the Jungle'?

I have had a deep interest in the continent and people of Africa for much of my adult life since my own family heritage is so closely linked to the history of Africans in the New World (the Americas) starting around the beginning of the 18th Century. ‘Jewels in the Jungle’ was launched back in May of 2004 when the blogosphere was still relatively small (approximately 7 million blogs vs. the 100 million+ blogs worldwide today).
After watching the rapid development and growth of online publishing tools and blog authors from a technology point of view since 2001-2002, I felt that using a weblog to share information and news online about Africa with people around the globe was an idea worth pursuing. When I started ‘Jewels’ I didn’t have the slightest idea that it would gain popularity and a global readership of more than 90,000 visitors.
Re: the blog title ‘Jewels in the Jungle’
Sort of catchy, ain’t it? Love it myself___ I need to get the name trademarked or something. The title gets its name from a phrase that I used to describe a project organized by a photographer friend in Germany. My friend, Susanne Behnke, decided one autumn day in 2002 that she was going to do something to “help out the poor, helpless orphan children of Uganda”. When she broke the news to me about her project idea for Ugandan children I was filled with dread that this was going to turn out to be a nightmare. Susanne, a professional photographer and high school teacher, is a real go-getter with a big heart for young people. Susanne had never traveled to the African continent but she has visited several countries in Europe and North America. Somehow she was able to pull it off despite the many adventures encountered along the way both in Uganda and here in Germany.
Working together with her friends in Uganda and organizations and companies in Germany Susanne managed to plan, organize, and launch a project to build new schoolrooms for children of the Iganga District (near Lake Victoria and Jinja). The project team also awarded thirty scholarships to young schoolchildren to help them pay their school fees for one year. Jewelry design students from one of Germany’s best known art & design academies (the Pforzheim School of Design) donated their time and work in support of the project. Auctions for the sale of handmade designer jewelry created specifically for this project were held at three locations in Germany. Money collected from these auctions plus generous private donations was used to begin construction on new school classrooms in Iganga District, Uganda. Hence the story of the origin of my blog title ‘Jewels in the Jungle’.
Note: I’ve uploaded photos from the project to my Flickr.com portfolio. Sotheby’s Amsterdam used a similar concept in 2007 for the ‘Jewels for the Jungle’ auction to help raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.

2. To what extent do you think that blogs, social networks, and other online publishing and collaboration tools can contribute to Africa's development?

I feel that blog authors coming from the global pool of private citizens, citizen journalists, news and media professionals, educators and scholars, students and so forth have already contributed a great deal to Africa’s development, especially over the last 4 to 5 years. I haven’t spent much time investigating social networks and online forums so I cannot speak about their impact on Africa’s development.
There is more information about Africa, much of it written and produced by Africans, available to the global public today than at anytime in world history. The simple, easy-to-use technologies behind online publishing tools i.e. Blogger, Wordpress, and Typepad combined with the power of blog search engines and blog aggregators has helped to make it possible for millions of people to participate in the World Live Web, the live or near real-time global online communications and collaboration around a variety of news events and issues. Blogs in combination with the array of online communication and collaboration tools and platforms that make up what some refer to as Web 2.0 technologies has helped the world to understand that “Africa is in the House!” Africa and Africans are an integral part of the global community and the young people of Africa today refuse to be ignored and left behind.
Users of these new web-based applications are transforming how local, national, and international news is gathered, analyzed, and delivered. Leading international and national news media companies haves started using blogs and reader-generated content on their websites. It is standard practice for the best online news sites to offer reader feedback to editorials and feature articles in the form of comment tools. What is also interesting to watch is the growing impact that blog authors and citizen journalists (and their readers) are having on national politics and elections around the world. This is happening from the U.S.A. to Russia, from Egypt to Ecuador, South Africa to South Korea___ blog authors and their readers are making a significant contribution to news coverage worldwide as well as having an impact on politics and social issues. Jay Rosen, associate professor of journalism at New York University and author of PressThink, goes into more detail about this subject in his August 2007 editorial for the LA Times ‘The Journalism that Bloggers Actually Do’ .
Africa’s bloggers and people around the world who write and report on Africa via blogs and citizen-generated news sites are having an effect on how heads of state, political figures, business leaders, and public officials operate. It is especially difficult these days for many of Africa’s longstanding despots and dictators and thieves of the public wealth (corrupt officials) because they can no longer hide their dirty deeds and deplorable actions from an enquiring world. Some regimes continue to intimidate and persecute journalists, editors, and publishers by keeping a tight stranglehold on a free press and free speech___ but these leaders can no longer easily control the growing sources of reliable information or the delivery channels for news. News today can be delivered from anywhere___ the Internet, mobile phones, miniature storage devices, video cameras, you name it.
This is true not only for Africa but for leaders in regions and countries around the globe. Case in point: Look east, look east to China and the difficulties that the government in Beijing is having with outraged journalists over press freedoms and Internet access. Bloggers were the ones to break the story about The Great Firewall of China first, long before the world’s press and media professionals caught on.
Bloggers are everywhere and just about anyone with access to a computer and a reliable Internet connection, an ability to communicate well through the written word or voice (audio) or imagery (photos, video, graphics), combined with credibility and some authority on a given subject can become a blogger with a worldwide audience.
From the election turmoil in Nigeria and Kenya to the exposure of the despotic rule of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and murderous rule of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan to the headquarters of the African Union and the United Nations, bloggers are having an impact on the way we live and the choices of information that we consume daily.

3. As an American living abroad for many years (Europe), what has been your experience with Africans in the Diaspora?

One of the most vivid images of Europe that will remain in my mind forever will be the day in 1986 that I saw three young African men sitting on a dock in a small harbor town in northern Germany looking out across the North Sea. These were not the first black Africans that I had encountered in Europe or Germany but for me they defined the plight of so many African immigrants to Europe that I have met in the closing decade of the 20th Century and right up to this very day.
At the time I was working for an aerospace engineering firm that had defense contracts with the German government to assist the German Luftwaffe and Marine. My assignment was to support German scientists, naval officers and technical staff on a naval air station at the ass-end of the world. Here in the middle of nowhere, at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries whose armies were amassed on the East German border just a stone’s throw away were these African ‘asylum seekers’. I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
To make a long story short, I soon befriended these young men and shared in many great conversations about Africa and America and Europe until my departure from the area about 4 years later. I still have many fond memories of those days and I miss them dearly, I really do. Unfortunately I no longer have contact to any of those young Africans from that time but I have learned that one of them returned to Ghana and is today a successful Internet radio entrepreneur. I would like to think that our heated discussions and debates about all kinds of subjects combined with my encouragement to maintain a level of self-respect and demand respect from others, to always work hard to improve oneself through education and learning inside and outside of a classroom, that these shared experiences had a positive effect on their lives and their futures.
Of course not all Africans that I have met in Europe have been asylum seekers or economic refugees. Many of my African friends and acquaintances came to West or East Germany (GDR) on academic scholarships back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Over the years I have had the privilege to know a number of young African students, professionals, and just ordinary people from every corner of the African continent who live and work in Germany. These Africans are integrated into European society to the extent that their communities and co-workers will accept them. Based upon my own observations and personal experiences the better educated and skilled African Diaspora in Germany is building a solid foundation for themselves and their families. They are ‘paving the way’ and breaking the ice of racial discrimination, prejudice, and fear to open up new career opportunities for the educated and skilled African people who will follow.
It is evident that immigrants and economic refugees who are arriving in Europe today from Africa and around the globe without a good education and modern job skills are upsetting the apple cart, causing resentment and fear within traditional European society and even within some elite African-European circles. A report released by the German Economics Ministry in August 2007 showed that Germany was suffering from an acute skilled labor shortage costing the economy more than €20 billion Euro per year. A 2008 report by the Washington DC-based Center for Transatlantic Relations (John Hopkins University SAIS) showed that the “vast majority of foreign migrants settling in the EU are poorly qualified ( 85%)…” where skilled foreign workers make up about 55% of the U.S. foreign labor market compared to only 5% in Europe. When it comes to the education and skills needed to fill highly-skilled positions in the medical, technology, and services professions, foreign workers make up less than 1% of the entire labor market across the 27-member European Union. This acute skilled labor shortage is cause for some EU parliamentarians to consider instituting an EU Blue Card program to fill the growing labor gaps in EU member countries.
This acute skilled labor shortage combined with fears over terrorism from abroad, increased illegal immigration and other woes does not bode well for the 10’s of thousands of unskilled immigrants from African countries who have been fleeing poverty on the continent for a better life in Europe. It will be interesting to see what impact these challenges will have on a growing African Diaspora in Europe over the next decade or two.
The path to better job opportunities and acceptance and integration of Africans into European society will be a long and hard fought road, not unlike the problems faced by African-Americans and many other ethnic groups in the United States, Canada, and throughout the Americas over the past few hundred years. It has already taken nearly two millennia for Africans from Saharan and sub-Saharan counties to be accepted as an integral part of European history, culture and society. Let us hope that it doesn’t take much longer because time is running out.

[Bill blogs @ Jewels in the Jungle]

BE MY GUEST! (IV. VERONICA HENRY)

Women of The African Diaspora

Women. We are the nurturers, the supporters, the givers. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, friends and mates. We are the beginning.It is in recognition of these most basic facts that I ponder our role as women of the African Diaspora.

In discovering my own shared African Ancestry with the people of Sierra Leone, my partner and I started the ‘My African Diaspora’ project.

We started this project because we recognized the strength of a united Diaspora - the combined knowledge, skills, history */and/* the struggles that bind us together, no matter how far and wide our blood has scattered. We hope to start a movement - one that will see us once again a united people. A people that can and will flourish if given the proper platform to bridge some of the gaps that exist between us today. I firmly believe that the women of the African Diaspora are not only critical to the success of this movement, but may in fact be the primary initiators. For without us, as the backbones of our societies, and also the first teacher of our children, no change can occur. We should stand side by side with our men - not behind in ensuring the success and the re-connection of our current and future generations.

What will change look like? I'm not altogether sure, but I believe communication is key. As a descendant of slaves in America , I can speak firsthand to the damaging effects of slavery that so many of us still suffer today. The negative attitudes about Africa have been fed to us since the day we stepped off (or rather, were dragged off) the boat. Some of those attitudes linger. And they must be addressed and abolished.In that same respect, it isn't difficult to believe that some of my brothers and sisters in the African Diaspora may have been fed similarly negative and erroneous images and information about African Americans. They too, must be confronted and dispelled. The truth is, while we do have issues - probably issues that are more alike than we know, only */we/* have the power to address them.

How do we start the movement? Same answer - communication. Reach out and talk to someone outside of your comfort zone. Someone in another part of the world that nonetheless has the same skin and the same blood as you. Teach, destroy the myths and become involved. Barter, trade and support black business, educate our children, visit another part of the world and see things for yourself. By inviting guest bloggers into her domain, our host at Koluki has already begun to do her part.I call on my sisters of the African Diaspora to join me and start the movement that will see us again united, again strong and again powerful.

Veronica Henry aka Exquisitely Black


[Veronica bloggs @ My African Diaspora]

Women of The African Diaspora

Women. We are the nurturers, the supporters, the givers. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, friends and mates. We are the beginning.It is in recognition of these most basic facts that I ponder our role as women of the African Diaspora.

In discovering my own shared African Ancestry with the people of Sierra Leone, my partner and I started the ‘My African Diaspora’ project.

We started this project because we recognized the strength of a united Diaspora - the combined knowledge, skills, history */and/* the struggles that bind us together, no matter how far and wide our blood has scattered. We hope to start a movement - one that will see us once again a united people. A people that can and will flourish if given the proper platform to bridge some of the gaps that exist between us today. I firmly believe that the women of the African Diaspora are not only critical to the success of this movement, but may in fact be the primary initiators. For without us, as the backbones of our societies, and also the first teacher of our children, no change can occur. We should stand side by side with our men - not behind in ensuring the success and the re-connection of our current and future generations.

What will change look like? I'm not altogether sure, but I believe communication is key. As a descendant of slaves in America , I can speak firsthand to the damaging effects of slavery that so many of us still suffer today. The negative attitudes about Africa have been fed to us since the day we stepped off (or rather, were dragged off) the boat. Some of those attitudes linger. And they must be addressed and abolished.In that same respect, it isn't difficult to believe that some of my brothers and sisters in the African Diaspora may have been fed similarly negative and erroneous images and information about African Americans. They too, must be confronted and dispelled. The truth is, while we do have issues - probably issues that are more alike than we know, only */we/* have the power to address them.

How do we start the movement? Same answer - communication. Reach out and talk to someone outside of your comfort zone. Someone in another part of the world that nonetheless has the same skin and the same blood as you. Teach, destroy the myths and become involved. Barter, trade and support black business, educate our children, visit another part of the world and see things for yourself. By inviting guest bloggers into her domain, our host at Koluki has already begun to do her part.I call on my sisters of the African Diaspora to join me and start the movement that will see us again united, again strong and again powerful.

Veronica Henry aka Exquisitely Black


[Veronica bloggs @ My African Diaspora]

BE MY GUEST! (III - AUGUSTO NASCIMENTO)

Desta vez o meu convidado nao e’ um blogger, pelo menos por enquanto, mas um frequentador da blogosfera. O seu nome nao sera’ completamente estranho a alguns dos visitantes deste blog, uma vez que ja’ aqui publiquei um texto seu.

Trata-se de um autor, Augusto Nascimento, que graciosamente se prestou a fazer uma apresentacao do seu ultimo livro especialmente para este blog.

E’, portanto, uma honra inclui-lo nesta serie como meu convidado especial!

Vidas de S. Tomé segundo vozes de Soncente

Por Augusto Nascimento

1. Este livro reconstitui uma história de cabo-verdianos no arquipélago de São Tomé e Príncipe nos derradeiros decénios do colonialismo, uma das questões mais politizadas no processo de consciencialização de uma identidade cabo-verdiana.
Vidas de S. Tomé segundo vozes de Soncente baseia-se numa recolha de testemunhos daqueles que, mais ou menos forçados a passar pela experiência da pior migração, não se escusaram a partilhar as suas memórias sobre a sua parte na aventura do povo cabo-verdiano.

2. No capítulo I, tece-se uma visão da vida na cidade do Mindelo e das circunstâncias económicas, sociais e administrativas que empurraram muitos cabo-verdianos para a pior migração. Referem-se, concretamente, as memórias da partida dos primeiros grupos, o seu impacto na vida da cidade e, ainda, o processo de lenta consciencialização política favorecida por essa migração.
No capítulo II, focam-se as circunstâncias vividas pelos cabo-verdianos enquanto contratados – condição pela qual muitos pretextaram terem optado livremente ainda que para safar a vida – a começar pelos constrangimentos da viagem. Foca-se, em especial, a memória do impacto da chegada a São Tomé e à dura rotina das roças. A pior migração revelar-se-ia aviltante para a auto-imagem dos cabo-verdianos.
No capítulo III, aprofundam-se as condições de vida nas roças. De igual modo, presta-se atenção aos processos de inserção social de cabo-verdianos, alguns dos quais foram oscilando entre o ir ficando e o regresso. Alguns lograram sair da tutela das roças e procurar uma vida mais independente no exíguo mundo urbano de São Tomé. Uns chegaram a ensaiar a criação de núcleos de associativismo cabo-verdiano.
No capítulo IV, seguimos um percurso individual significativo da procura de pequenos ganhos e de saídas possíveis no mundo fechado das roças onde, supostamente, não havia espaço para escolhas pessoais. Este percurso é explicado em função quer de uma arrogada idiossincrasia cabo-verdiana, quer de um contexto político propício a alguma distensão social nas roças, logicamente mais favorável aos serviçais.
A migração para o arquipélago foi usada enquanto motivo de agravo contra o colonialismo. Sem embargo da politização deste trecho da história dos cabo-verdianos, essa pior migração tende a ser esquecida por quantos se viram nela envolvidos, tal o processo explanado no capítulo V.
O cotejo desta obra com outros estudos, designadamente os fundados nas memórias de cabo-verdianos que permaneceram por São Tomé e Príncipe, permitirá perceber o conteúdo situacional e relacional, não apenas das memórias, quanto também das avaliações políticas e históricas da trajectória de Cabo Verde e de São Tomé e Príncipe.

3. Nos anos recentes, a situação dos cabo-verdianos que se quedaram por São Tomé e Príncipe tem despertado atenção em Cabo Verde. A partir da noção de Cabo Verde como uma nação diaspórica, as autoridades cabo-verdianas vêm tentando envolver toda a comunidade cabo-verdiana num movimento de solidariedade para com os concidadãos – designadamente os mais idosos, com décadas de permanência em São Tomé e Príncipe – que vivem em circunstâncias difíceis neste arquipélago.
Neste livro, recuperam-se memórias que poderão ajudar ao estabelecimento de elos entre cabo-verdianos de diferentes partes do mundo, assim como entre cabo-verdianos, são-tomenses e, ainda, portugueses.

Nha Cancera Ka Tem Medida - Cesaria Evora

Desta vez o meu convidado nao e’ um blogger, pelo menos por enquanto, mas um frequentador da blogosfera. O seu nome nao sera’ completamente estranho a alguns dos visitantes deste blog, uma vez que ja’ aqui publiquei um texto seu.

Trata-se de um autor, Augusto Nascimento, que graciosamente se prestou a fazer uma apresentacao do seu ultimo livro especialmente para este blog.

E’, portanto, uma honra inclui-lo nesta serie como meu convidado especial!

Vidas de S. Tomé segundo vozes de Soncente

Por Augusto Nascimento

1. Este livro reconstitui uma história de cabo-verdianos no arquipélago de São Tomé e Príncipe nos derradeiros decénios do colonialismo, uma das questões mais politizadas no processo de consciencialização de uma identidade cabo-verdiana.
Vidas de S. Tomé segundo vozes de Soncente baseia-se numa recolha de testemunhos daqueles que, mais ou menos forçados a passar pela experiência da pior migração, não se escusaram a partilhar as suas memórias sobre a sua parte na aventura do povo cabo-verdiano.

2. No capítulo I, tece-se uma visão da vida na cidade do Mindelo e das circunstâncias económicas, sociais e administrativas que empurraram muitos cabo-verdianos para a pior migração. Referem-se, concretamente, as memórias da partida dos primeiros grupos, o seu impacto na vida da cidade e, ainda, o processo de lenta consciencialização política favorecida por essa migração.
No capítulo II, focam-se as circunstâncias vividas pelos cabo-verdianos enquanto contratados – condição pela qual muitos pretextaram terem optado livremente ainda que para safar a vida – a começar pelos constrangimentos da viagem. Foca-se, em especial, a memória do impacto da chegada a São Tomé e à dura rotina das roças. A pior migração revelar-se-ia aviltante para a auto-imagem dos cabo-verdianos.
No capítulo III, aprofundam-se as condições de vida nas roças. De igual modo, presta-se atenção aos processos de inserção social de cabo-verdianos, alguns dos quais foram oscilando entre o ir ficando e o regresso. Alguns lograram sair da tutela das roças e procurar uma vida mais independente no exíguo mundo urbano de São Tomé. Uns chegaram a ensaiar a criação de núcleos de associativismo cabo-verdiano.
No capítulo IV, seguimos um percurso individual significativo da procura de pequenos ganhos e de saídas possíveis no mundo fechado das roças onde, supostamente, não havia espaço para escolhas pessoais. Este percurso é explicado em função quer de uma arrogada idiossincrasia cabo-verdiana, quer de um contexto político propício a alguma distensão social nas roças, logicamente mais favorável aos serviçais.
A migração para o arquipélago foi usada enquanto motivo de agravo contra o colonialismo. Sem embargo da politização deste trecho da história dos cabo-verdianos, essa pior migração tende a ser esquecida por quantos se viram nela envolvidos, tal o processo explanado no capítulo V.
O cotejo desta obra com outros estudos, designadamente os fundados nas memórias de cabo-verdianos que permaneceram por São Tomé e Príncipe, permitirá perceber o conteúdo situacional e relacional, não apenas das memórias, quanto também das avaliações políticas e históricas da trajectória de Cabo Verde e de São Tomé e Príncipe.

3. Nos anos recentes, a situação dos cabo-verdianos que se quedaram por São Tomé e Príncipe tem despertado atenção em Cabo Verde. A partir da noção de Cabo Verde como uma nação diaspórica, as autoridades cabo-verdianas vêm tentando envolver toda a comunidade cabo-verdiana num movimento de solidariedade para com os concidadãos – designadamente os mais idosos, com décadas de permanência em São Tomé e Príncipe – que vivem em circunstâncias difíceis neste arquipélago.
Neste livro, recuperam-se memórias que poderão ajudar ao estabelecimento de elos entre cabo-verdianos de diferentes partes do mundo, assim como entre cabo-verdianos, são-tomenses e, ainda, portugueses.

Nha Cancera Ka Tem Medida - Cesaria Evora

BE MY GUEST! (II - DENUDADO)

Quem venha acompanhado este blog com alguma regularidade sabera’ certamente que o meu segundo convidado desta serie dispensa apresentacoes. Trata-se de alguem que tem dado um contributo inestimavel a este blog praticamente desde o inicio e que, apesar de actualmente se encontrar de licenca sabatica como blogger, todos com quem se tem cruzado na blogosfera nao poderao jamais deixar de considerar como um dos melhores bloggers e amigos da lusosfera.
E’, portanto, para mim uma honra recebe-lo aqui como my guest, sem mais palavras desnecessarias:

Denudado!

ALENTEJANOS DE PELE ESCURA

Ribeira do Sado,
Ó Sado, Sadeta.
Meus olhos não viram
Tanta gente preta.

Quem quiser ver moças
Da cor do carvão
Vá dar um passeio
Até São Romão.

(do cancioneiro popular de Alcácer do Sal, Alentejo, sul de Portugal)

Ribeira do Sado é o nome de uma região que se estende ao longo do vale do Rio Sado, no sul de Portugal, a partir de Alcácer do Sal e para montante, não longe de Grândola, a Vila Morena. São Romão do Sado é uma das aldeias existentes na referida região.

Quem agora for passear pela Ribeira do Sado, já não verá gente verdadeiramente preta diante dos seus olhos, nem encontrará moças da cor do carvão propriamente dito na aldeia de São Romão. A mestiçagem já se consumou por completo. Mas são por demais evidentes os traços fisionómicos observáveis em muitos dos habitantes da região, assim como a cor mais escura da sua pele, que nos remetem imediatamente para a África a Sul do Sahara.

Nem sequer é preciso percorrer a Ribeira do Sado. Se nos limitarmos a dar uma ou duas voltas pelas ruas de Alcácer do Sal, por certo nos cruzaremos com uma ou mais pessoas que apresentam as características físicas referidas. São os chamados mulatos de Alcácer, por vezes designados também carapinhas do Sado.


O seu aspecto é semelhante ao de muitos cabo-verdeanos, mas eles não têm quaisquer laços com as ilhas crioulas. São filhos de portugueses, netos de portugueses, bisnetos de portugueses e assim sucessivamente, ao longo de muitas gerações. Quando falam, fazem-no com a característica pronúncia local. São alentejanos.

É frequente atribuir-se ao Marquês de Pombal a iniciativa de promover a fixação de populações negras no vale do Rio Sado. Mas não é verdade. Existem registos paroquiais e do Santo Ofício que referem a existência de uma elevada percentagem de negros e de mestiços em épocas muito anteriores a Pombal. Segundo tais registos, já no séc. XVI havia pessoas de cor negra vivendo nas terras de Alcácer.

O vale do Rio Sado, no troço indicado, é um vale alagadiço onde hoje se cultiva arroz. Até há menos de cem anos, havia muitos casos de paludismo nesse troço. A mortalidade causada pelas febres palustres fazia com que as pessoas evitassem fixar-se naquela região. No séc. XVI, muitos portugueses embarcavam nas naus, o que agravava ainda mais o défice demográfico existente. Terá sido esta a razão por que, naquela época, os proprietários das férteis terras banhadas pelo Sado terão resolvido povoá-las com negros, comprados nos mercados de escravos. Os mulatos do Sado dos nossos dias são, portanto, descendentes desses antigos escravos negros.


A comprovar a antiguidade do povoamento negro no vale do Sado está o facto de que os actuais mulatos não possuem quaisquer manifestações culturais próprias, de raiz africana ou outra. Com a passagem dos anos e dos séculos, os costumes, crenças e tradições dos antigos escravos negros dissolveram-se por completo na cultura local de raiz euro-mourisca. Tal não teria acontecido se o povoamento negro fosse relativamente recente. Também do ponto de vista cultural, portanto, os mulatos de Alcácer são alentejanos legítimos, tão legítimos como os seus conterrâneos de pele branca.

Há uma outra região em Portugal onde ocorreu uma fixação de populações negras em número significativo. É o vale do Rio Sorraia, onde fica a vila de Coruche, já em terras do Ribatejo. Tal como no vale do Rio Sado, também no vale do Rio Sorraia havia muito paludismo. As razões para se ter feito com negros o povoamento desta outra região terão sido, por isso, as mesmas. Mas, ao contrário do que acontece em Alcácer do Sal, dificilmente vislumbraremos traços africanos entre os actuais habitantes de Coruche. Os genes "negros" estão presentes em muitos coruchenses, mas não são facilmente observáveis à vista desarmada.

Tal como no vale do Rio Sado, também no vale do Rio Sorraia se cultiva muito arroz. Por isso, quando comermos arroz português, lembremo-nos de que aquele arroz que temos no nosso prato pode muito bem ter sido cultivado por honrados descendentes de escravos negros.

[Blog do Denudado: A Materia do Tempo]

Quem venha acompanhado este blog com alguma regularidade sabera’ certamente que o meu segundo convidado desta serie dispensa apresentacoes. Trata-se de alguem que tem dado um contributo inestimavel a este blog praticamente desde o inicio e que, apesar de actualmente se encontrar de licenca sabatica como blogger, todos com quem se tem cruzado na blogosfera nao poderao jamais deixar de considerar como um dos melhores bloggers e amigos da lusosfera.
E’, portanto, para mim uma honra recebe-lo aqui como my guest, sem mais palavras desnecessarias:

Denudado!

ALENTEJANOS DE PELE ESCURA

Ribeira do Sado,
Ó Sado, Sadeta.
Meus olhos não viram
Tanta gente preta.

Quem quiser ver moças
Da cor do carvão
Vá dar um passeio
Até São Romão.

(do cancioneiro popular de Alcácer do Sal, Alentejo, sul de Portugal)

Ribeira do Sado é o nome de uma região que se estende ao longo do vale do Rio Sado, no sul de Portugal, a partir de Alcácer do Sal e para montante, não longe de Grândola, a Vila Morena. São Romão do Sado é uma das aldeias existentes na referida região.

Quem agora for passear pela Ribeira do Sado, já não verá gente verdadeiramente preta diante dos seus olhos, nem encontrará moças da cor do carvão propriamente dito na aldeia de São Romão. A mestiçagem já se consumou por completo. Mas são por demais evidentes os traços fisionómicos observáveis em muitos dos habitantes da região, assim como a cor mais escura da sua pele, que nos remetem imediatamente para a África a Sul do Sahara.

Nem sequer é preciso percorrer a Ribeira do Sado. Se nos limitarmos a dar uma ou duas voltas pelas ruas de Alcácer do Sal, por certo nos cruzaremos com uma ou mais pessoas que apresentam as características físicas referidas. São os chamados mulatos de Alcácer, por vezes designados também carapinhas do Sado.


O seu aspecto é semelhante ao de muitos cabo-verdeanos, mas eles não têm quaisquer laços com as ilhas crioulas. São filhos de portugueses, netos de portugueses, bisnetos de portugueses e assim sucessivamente, ao longo de muitas gerações. Quando falam, fazem-no com a característica pronúncia local. São alentejanos.

É frequente atribuir-se ao Marquês de Pombal a iniciativa de promover a fixação de populações negras no vale do Rio Sado. Mas não é verdade. Existem registos paroquiais e do Santo Ofício que referem a existência de uma elevada percentagem de negros e de mestiços em épocas muito anteriores a Pombal. Segundo tais registos, já no séc. XVI havia pessoas de cor negra vivendo nas terras de Alcácer.

O vale do Rio Sado, no troço indicado, é um vale alagadiço onde hoje se cultiva arroz. Até há menos de cem anos, havia muitos casos de paludismo nesse troço. A mortalidade causada pelas febres palustres fazia com que as pessoas evitassem fixar-se naquela região. No séc. XVI, muitos portugueses embarcavam nas naus, o que agravava ainda mais o défice demográfico existente. Terá sido esta a razão por que, naquela época, os proprietários das férteis terras banhadas pelo Sado terão resolvido povoá-las com negros, comprados nos mercados de escravos. Os mulatos do Sado dos nossos dias são, portanto, descendentes desses antigos escravos negros.


A comprovar a antiguidade do povoamento negro no vale do Sado está o facto de que os actuais mulatos não possuem quaisquer manifestações culturais próprias, de raiz africana ou outra. Com a passagem dos anos e dos séculos, os costumes, crenças e tradições dos antigos escravos negros dissolveram-se por completo na cultura local de raiz euro-mourisca. Tal não teria acontecido se o povoamento negro fosse relativamente recente. Também do ponto de vista cultural, portanto, os mulatos de Alcácer são alentejanos legítimos, tão legítimos como os seus conterrâneos de pele branca.

Há uma outra região em Portugal onde ocorreu uma fixação de populações negras em número significativo. É o vale do Rio Sorraia, onde fica a vila de Coruche, já em terras do Ribatejo. Tal como no vale do Rio Sado, também no vale do Rio Sorraia havia muito paludismo. As razões para se ter feito com negros o povoamento desta outra região terão sido, por isso, as mesmas. Mas, ao contrário do que acontece em Alcácer do Sal, dificilmente vislumbraremos traços africanos entre os actuais habitantes de Coruche. Os genes "negros" estão presentes em muitos coruchenses, mas não são facilmente observáveis à vista desarmada.

Tal como no vale do Rio Sado, também no vale do Rio Sorraia se cultiva muito arroz. Por isso, quando comermos arroz português, lembremo-nos de que aquele arroz que temos no nosso prato pode muito bem ter sido cultivado por honrados descendentes de escravos negros.

[Blog do Denudado: A Materia do Tempo]

BE MY GUEST! (I - VERONICA BENESI)

Nós, brasileiros, temos muito de África no nosso dia-a-dia. África está muito presente nos quatro cantos deste país, seja na dança, na música, nas artes-plásticas, na culinária e, muito fortemente, ligados pela História e pela Língua. Eu até poderia, facilmente, parar por aqui e dizer que tudo isso me levou a escrever o “África”. Mas não seria uma verdade completa.
Todos sabem que a base do povo brasileiro é composta por africano, português e índio. Se fosse somente pelo aspecto histórico-cultural eu poderia ter escrito um poema dedicado a “Portugal” ou mesmo aos “Índios”...
A verdade é que desde bem pequena eu já gostava de tudo que se relacionava à África: as músicas que se tocava nos terreiros de Umbanda e Candomblé, embora eu tenha nascido no seio de uma família católica; a Capoeira é fascinante! A religião, os Orixás, as artes, o jeito exótico com que as mulheres se vestem. O Samba!!! (ritmo bom demais), que é também de origem africana e tem seu significado ligado às danças típicas tribais daquele continente.
Ainda não pude pisar, infelizmente, o solo africano. Nunca estive em nenhum país da África. Mas já está nos meus planos uma visita aos “manos”. Gente admirável! tão forte, tão resistente às agruras sofridas no passado... E também no presente, com suas mazelas, que, guardadas as devidas proporções, são bem parecidas com as do Brasil.
Brasil e África estão “entrelaçados” por muitos pontos. E, embora geograficamente tão distantes, “entre” esses “laços” eu me posiciono: uma parte, sangue brasileiro; outra parte, africano.
Por todas essas razões (ou melhor, emoções) a motivação maior para escrever o poema “África” veio mesmo do coração.

Kandandos carinhosos da “mana” brasileira,

Veronica

Belo Horizonte, 10 de julho de 2008.

*****

ÁFRICA

(Aos manos Africanos)

África
O que fizeram de ti...
.
África Negra
De tantas riquezas
Quanto mal a ti
Fizeram
À tua gente
À tua beleza
.
África Incolor
- porque a alma
não tem cor -
O que fizeram a ti
Ao longo
Desse monstruoso
Holocausto
- que perdura! -
De opressão e de dor

África Mãe
O que fizeram a ti...
.
Alheios
Ao teu consentimento
Teus filhos
Foram arrancados
Do teu seio
E acorrentados
Passaram a viver
Suas Histórias de porão
Por mares
Nunca d’antes navegados
O mar da escuridão...

O mesmo mar
Que tuas lágrimas
Ajudaram a salgar
.
África Retinta
Teu tão extenso
Continente
Diz a toda a gente
Tu és Preta
Tu és Black
Tu és Negra
Tu és Branca
És Negra Assa[1]
Tu és Fula[2]
És Mama-África
.
Estás em todos
Os lares
Em todos os Cantos
E recantos
Desses Mares
.
Mas não apenas
Os de Lusitanos ares
.
Também, aqui,
Na América do Sul
Há uma gente
Que de irmã te chama
Que é parte de ti
E do teu drama
.
Uma gente
Que se orgulha
De ter teu sangue
Nas veias
Corrente
Teus descendentes
.
Somos nós
Da Terra das Palmeiras
Onde canta o sabiá
Teus manos
De cá
Das terras Brasileiras
.
Hoje um oceano nos separa
Mas aqui deixaste
Uma herança de base
A tua fala
Estás cotidianamente
Presente
No “pirão”, na “quitanda”,
No “samba”, no “fubá”...
- “Oxalá”!
.
África Diáspora
Agora mais do que nunca
Levanta-te
Toca teu tambor
Mostra ao mundo
A Cor
Desse teu imenso
Valor
.
(Veronica Benesi)

Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, 02 de junho de 2008.

[1] Assa (A) — o negro albino
[2] Fula (A) — de cor parda e brilhante (filha de pessoa mulata e negra)

*****

Veronica blogs @ COM TODAS AS LETRAS

Veronica - Virginia Rodrigues

[Read about the song Veronica, here]

Nós, brasileiros, temos muito de África no nosso dia-a-dia. África está muito presente nos quatro cantos deste país, seja na dança, na música, nas artes-plásticas, na culinária e, muito fortemente, ligados pela História e pela Língua. Eu até poderia, facilmente, parar por aqui e dizer que tudo isso me levou a escrever o “África”. Mas não seria uma verdade completa.
Todos sabem que a base do povo brasileiro é composta por africano, português e índio. Se fosse somente pelo aspecto histórico-cultural eu poderia ter escrito um poema dedicado a “Portugal” ou mesmo aos “Índios”...
A verdade é que desde bem pequena eu já gostava de tudo que se relacionava à África: as músicas que se tocava nos terreiros de Umbanda e Candomblé, embora eu tenha nascido no seio de uma família católica; a Capoeira é fascinante! A religião, os Orixás, as artes, o jeito exótico com que as mulheres se vestem. O Samba!!! (ritmo bom demais), que é também de origem africana e tem seu significado ligado às danças típicas tribais daquele continente.
Ainda não pude pisar, infelizmente, o solo africano. Nunca estive em nenhum país da África. Mas já está nos meus planos uma visita aos “manos”. Gente admirável! tão forte, tão resistente às agruras sofridas no passado... E também no presente, com suas mazelas, que, guardadas as devidas proporções, são bem parecidas com as do Brasil.
Brasil e África estão “entrelaçados” por muitos pontos. E, embora geograficamente tão distantes, “entre” esses “laços” eu me posiciono: uma parte, sangue brasileiro; outra parte, africano.
Por todas essas razões (ou melhor, emoções) a motivação maior para escrever o poema “África” veio mesmo do coração.

Kandandos carinhosos da “mana” brasileira,

Veronica

Belo Horizonte, 10 de julho de 2008.

*****

ÁFRICA

(Aos manos Africanos)

África
O que fizeram de ti...
.
África Negra
De tantas riquezas
Quanto mal a ti
Fizeram
À tua gente
À tua beleza
.
África Incolor
- porque a alma
não tem cor -
O que fizeram a ti
Ao longo
Desse monstruoso
Holocausto
- que perdura! -
De opressão e de dor

África Mãe
O que fizeram a ti...
.
Alheios
Ao teu consentimento
Teus filhos
Foram arrancados
Do teu seio
E acorrentados
Passaram a viver
Suas Histórias de porão
Por mares
Nunca d’antes navegados
O mar da escuridão...

O mesmo mar
Que tuas lágrimas
Ajudaram a salgar
.
África Retinta
Teu tão extenso
Continente
Diz a toda a gente
Tu és Preta
Tu és Black
Tu és Negra
Tu és Branca
És Negra Assa[1]
Tu és Fula[2]
És Mama-África
.
Estás em todos
Os lares
Em todos os Cantos
E recantos
Desses Mares
.
Mas não apenas
Os de Lusitanos ares
.
Também, aqui,
Na América do Sul
Há uma gente
Que de irmã te chama
Que é parte de ti
E do teu drama
.
Uma gente
Que se orgulha
De ter teu sangue
Nas veias
Corrente
Teus descendentes
.
Somos nós
Da Terra das Palmeiras
Onde canta o sabiá
Teus manos
De cá
Das terras Brasileiras
.
Hoje um oceano nos separa
Mas aqui deixaste
Uma herança de base
A tua fala
Estás cotidianamente
Presente
No “pirão”, na “quitanda”,
No “samba”, no “fubá”...
- “Oxalá”!
.
África Diáspora
Agora mais do que nunca
Levanta-te
Toca teu tambor
Mostra ao mundo
A Cor
Desse teu imenso
Valor
.
(Veronica Benesi)

Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil, 02 de junho de 2008.

[1] Assa (A) — o negro albino
[2] Fula (A) — de cor parda e brilhante (filha de pessoa mulata e negra)

*****

Veronica blogs @ COM TODAS AS LETRAS

Veronica - Virginia Rodrigues

[Read about the song Veronica, here]

INTRODUCING THE “BE MY GUEST!” SERIES

Today is a special day – for me, for this blog and, hopefully, for you!
Some of this blog’s good friends and I have come, over the last few days, to a meeting of minds to launch a “Guest Blogger Series @ Koluki”, where my guests will talk about ‘life, the universe and everything’, i.e. expound on their views about the most varied subjects, or just talk about themselves, their experiences in the blogosphere and/or their particular interests in life.
Those of you who have been ‘following events’ in this blog might have noticed that, from time to time, I decide to come up with a series of one sort or another – it’s just my way of changing tack on issues, of approaching subjects from different angles. But this one is, for all intents and purposes, different and… special!
It’s about giving space to and highlighting others’ tack on issues, others’ approaches to subjects – it’s about trying to fulfil one of my primary aims in the blogosphere: without nonsensical rivalries, to build bridges and establish links between people with the same, or disparate interests, but all moved by the common objective of materialising the potential, which the blogosphere so generously offers us, of dialogue, exchange, sharing, understanding, peace and that all common of human sentiments: friendship!
So, without further ado, I introduce you my first guest:
Veronica Benesi!
She is a Brazilian from Belo Horizonte, who is post-graduating in the Portuguese Language and has a keen interest in African Cultures, which she takes as a basic foundation of her own culture, despite never having had so far the opportunity to step on African soil – I sincerely hope that she can do so sooner rather than later!
On that basis, she offers us a beautiful poem about Africans' history and cultural legacy in Brazil, as well as her perceptions and hopes about Africa and her African brothers and sisters.
I trust that you will love it as much as I did!

Hoje e’ um dia especial – para mim, para este blog e, pelo menos assim o espero, para si!
Eu e alguns dos bons amigos deste blog decidimos, nos ultimos dias, inciar uma “Serie de ‘Bloggers’ Convidados @ Koluki” onde os meus convidados irao falar sobre ‘a vida, o universo e tudo o resto’, i.e. expor os seus pontos de vista sobre os assuntos mais variados, ou apenas falar sobre si proprios, as suas experiencias na blogosfera e/ou os seus interesses particulares na vida.
Aqueles dentre vos que venhem ‘seguindo os acontecimentos’ neste blog terao notado que, de vez em quando, decido fazer uma serie de um tipo ou de outro – e’ apenas a minha forma de variar como lido com questoes, de abordar assuntos a partir de diferentes angulos. Mas esta e’, para todos os efeitos, diferente e… especial!
E’ sobre dar espaco e destaque a forma como outros lidam com questoes, como abordam assuntos – e’ sobre tentar realizar um dos meus objectivos primarios na blogosfera: sem rivalidades desprovidas de qualquer sentido, construir pontes e estabelecer lacos entre pessoas com os mesmos, ou dispares, interesses mas todos movidos pelo objectivo comum de materializar o potencial, que a blogosfera tao generosamente nos oferece, do dialogo, da troca, da partilha, do entendimento, da paz e daquele mais comum de todos os sentimentos humanos: a amizade!
Portanto, sem mais delongas, aprensento-vos a minha primeira convidada:
Veronica Benesi!
Ela e’ uma Brasileira de Belo Horizonte, que esta’ e fazer uma pos-graduacao em Lingua Portuguesa e tem um grande interesse pelas Culturas Africanas, as quais ela toma como fundacoes da sua propria cultura, apesar de nunca ter ainda visitado Africa - espero que ela o possa fazer mais cedo do que tarde!
Nessa base, ela oferece-nos um belo poema sobre a historia e o legado cultural dos Africanos no Brasil, assim como as suas percepcoes e esperancas para Africa e os seus irmaos e irmas Africanos.
Espero que tenham tanto prazer em le-lo como eu tive!

*****
N.B.:

You can use the online automatic translators to read this series' posts in either English or Portuguese.
*
Podera’ usar os tradutores automaticos ‘online’ para ler os ‘posts’ desta serie em Portugues ou Ingles.

Today is a special day – for me, for this blog and, hopefully, for you!
Some of this blog’s good friends and I have come, over the last few days, to a meeting of minds to launch a “Guest Blogger Series @ Koluki”, where my guests will talk about ‘life, the universe and everything’, i.e. expound on their views about the most varied subjects, or just talk about themselves, their experiences in the blogosphere and/or their particular interests in life.
Those of you who have been ‘following events’ in this blog might have noticed that, from time to time, I decide to come up with a series of one sort or another – it’s just my way of changing tack on issues, of approaching subjects from different angles. But this one is, for all intents and purposes, different and… special!
It’s about giving space to and highlighting others’ tack on issues, others’ approaches to subjects – it’s about trying to fulfil one of my primary aims in the blogosphere: without nonsensical rivalries, to build bridges and establish links between people with the same, or disparate interests, but all moved by the common objective of materialising the potential, which the blogosphere so generously offers us, of dialogue, exchange, sharing, understanding, peace and that all common of human sentiments: friendship!
So, without further ado, I introduce you my first guest:
Veronica Benesi!
She is a Brazilian from Belo Horizonte, who is post-graduating in the Portuguese Language and has a keen interest in African Cultures, which she takes as a basic foundation of her own culture, despite never having had so far the opportunity to step on African soil – I sincerely hope that she can do so sooner rather than later!
On that basis, she offers us a beautiful poem about Africans' history and cultural legacy in Brazil, as well as her perceptions and hopes about Africa and her African brothers and sisters.
I trust that you will love it as much as I did!

Hoje e’ um dia especial – para mim, para este blog e, pelo menos assim o espero, para si!
Eu e alguns dos bons amigos deste blog decidimos, nos ultimos dias, inciar uma “Serie de ‘Bloggers’ Convidados @ Koluki” onde os meus convidados irao falar sobre ‘a vida, o universo e tudo o resto’, i.e. expor os seus pontos de vista sobre os assuntos mais variados, ou apenas falar sobre si proprios, as suas experiencias na blogosfera e/ou os seus interesses particulares na vida.
Aqueles dentre vos que venhem ‘seguindo os acontecimentos’ neste blog terao notado que, de vez em quando, decido fazer uma serie de um tipo ou de outro – e’ apenas a minha forma de variar como lido com questoes, de abordar assuntos a partir de diferentes angulos. Mas esta e’, para todos os efeitos, diferente e… especial!
E’ sobre dar espaco e destaque a forma como outros lidam com questoes, como abordam assuntos – e’ sobre tentar realizar um dos meus objectivos primarios na blogosfera: sem rivalidades desprovidas de qualquer sentido, construir pontes e estabelecer lacos entre pessoas com os mesmos, ou dispares, interesses mas todos movidos pelo objectivo comum de materializar o potencial, que a blogosfera tao generosamente nos oferece, do dialogo, da troca, da partilha, do entendimento, da paz e daquele mais comum de todos os sentimentos humanos: a amizade!
Portanto, sem mais delongas, aprensento-vos a minha primeira convidada:
Veronica Benesi!
Ela e’ uma Brasileira de Belo Horizonte, que esta’ e fazer uma pos-graduacao em Lingua Portuguesa e tem um grande interesse pelas Culturas Africanas, as quais ela toma como fundacoes da sua propria cultura, apesar de nunca ter ainda visitado Africa - espero que ela o possa fazer mais cedo do que tarde!
Nessa base, ela oferece-nos um belo poema sobre a historia e o legado cultural dos Africanos no Brasil, assim como as suas percepcoes e esperancas para Africa e os seus irmaos e irmas Africanos.
Espero que tenham tanto prazer em le-lo como eu tive!

*****
N.B.:

You can use the online automatic translators to read this series' posts in either English or Portuguese.
*
Podera’ usar os tradutores automaticos ‘online’ para ler os ‘posts’ desta serie em Portugues ou Ingles.