No Dia Internacional Dos Direitos Humanos: 'DENUNCIA PUBLICA' contra Reginaldo Silva

The Internet must be free but handled with care

The internet should remain an open and free forum, accessible to all at any time. However, there is also a common view that the extraordinary freedom of expression offered by the internet carries with it additional responsibilities which has to be accepted by everybody – governments, individuals and by the companies providing the social media platforms.
Consensus reached at the special event on Social Media and Human Rights 2011
[here ]




Human rights belong to every one of us without exception. But unless we know them, unless we demand they be respected, and unless we defend our right -- and the right of others -- to exercise them, they will be just words in a decades-old document.
Ban Ki-moon - UN Secretary General

The observance of human rights and the requirement that they be given effect require us to conduct a thorough examination of our conscience. Whenever human rights are on the retreat, in our cities’ streets and in the corridors of administrative bodies, the decline is universal. Whatever the circumstances or complexity of the challenges that we face, the observance of human rights is not negotiable. It rests on quality education that disseminates the values of tolerance and understanding. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of this struggle.
Irina Bokova - UNESCO Director General

In 2011, the very idea of “power” shifted. During the course of this extraordinary year, it was wielded not just by mighty institutions in marble buildings, but increasingly by ordinary men, women, and even children, courageously standing up to demand their rights. In the Middle East and North Africa, many thousands have paid with their lives, and tens of thousands have been injured, besieged, tortured, detained, and threatened, but their newfound determination to demand their rights has meant they are no longer willing to accept injustice.
(...)
The message of this unexpected global awakening was carried in the first instance not by the satellites of major media conglomerates, or conferences, or other traditional means – although these all played a role -- but by the dynamic and irrepressible surge of social media. The results have been startling.
Navi Pillay - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights





= DENUNCIA PUBLICA =
Contra o "Jornalista" Reginaldo Silva


Afirmei aqui ha dias que tenho em preparacao uma QUEIXA CRIME formal contra o "jornalista" mencionado em epigrafe.
Desde entao tenho vindo a obter o necessario aconselhamento juridico para o efeito, do que, ate' ao momento, resultou essencialmente que algumas razoes de ordem burocratica tornam tal queixa praticamente inviavel de momento, nomeadamente:

- A circunstancia de me encontrar a residir actualmente fora de Angola;
- A falta de cabimentacao juridica para a criminalizacao dos actos do citado "jornalista", registados no seu blog "morrodamaianga.blogspot.com", devido a ainda pendente aprovacao, regulamentacao e implementacao das propostas de lei constantes, respectivamente, dos pacotes legislativos da Comunicacao Social e do Combate a Criminalidade no Dominio das Tecnologias de Informacao e de Comunicacao pelas instancias competentes de Angola.

Afinal, trata-se de um pais em que a propria Ministra da Comunicacao Social admite que: “A falta de uma entidade reguladora do sector que garanta a ética jornalística e o cumprimento da legislação aplicável ao sector será, também, um dos motivos facilitadores de alguns atropelos, que podemos associar à deficiente ou ausência de formação que grande parte dos quadros do sector padece”, como se pode ler aqui.

Todavia, perversamente, e' o "outro lado da moeda" das mesmas declaracoes da Ministra que concede aos "jornalistas" como RS o sentido de impunidade com que venhem atacando e destruindo ferozmente pessoas indefesas como eu: “(...) a resposta continua a ser a luta por uma imprensa plural, isenta, livre e responsável e a insistência no diálogo construtivo com todos os profissionais do sector, o reforço da iniciativa privada e a aposta crescente numa política de formação estruturada para todos os intervenientes”. Ou, dito de outro modo, "os 'jornalistas' podem continuar a cometer os crimes que bem quizerem e entenderem sem temerem qualquer punicao, porque mesmo que matem e esfolem como RS tem vindo a fazer "alegremente" a Paula Santana, a nossa resposta continua a ser o dialogo"! Nao foi, alias, por acaso, que esse foi apenas o unico extracto dessas declaracoes da Ministra que RS destacou nas "headlines" do seu blog...

Assim, vejo-me forcada a suspender temporariamente a submissao formal da minha intentada QUEIXA CRIME, ate' que tais impedimentos burocraticos sejam ultrapassados.

Enquanto isso - e em assinalacao do Dia Internacional dos Direitos Humanos que hoje se comemora e que este ano e' especialmente dedicado a luta pela DIGNIDADE E JUSTICA PARA TODOS, em particular atraves dos 'social media' - decidi-me a apresentar aqui em forma de DENUNCIA PUBLICA os fundamentos materiais da minha pendente queixa crime.

[Aqui]

The Internet must be free but handled with care

The internet should remain an open and free forum, accessible to all at any time. However, there is also a common view that the extraordinary freedom of expression offered by the internet carries with it additional responsibilities which has to be accepted by everybody – governments, individuals and by the companies providing the social media platforms.
Consensus reached at the special event on Social Media and Human Rights 2011
[here ]




Human rights belong to every one of us without exception. But unless we know them, unless we demand they be respected, and unless we defend our right -- and the right of others -- to exercise them, they will be just words in a decades-old document.
Ban Ki-moon - UN Secretary General

The observance of human rights and the requirement that they be given effect require us to conduct a thorough examination of our conscience. Whenever human rights are on the retreat, in our cities’ streets and in the corridors of administrative bodies, the decline is universal. Whatever the circumstances or complexity of the challenges that we face, the observance of human rights is not negotiable. It rests on quality education that disseminates the values of tolerance and understanding. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of this struggle.
Irina Bokova - UNESCO Director General

In 2011, the very idea of “power” shifted. During the course of this extraordinary year, it was wielded not just by mighty institutions in marble buildings, but increasingly by ordinary men, women, and even children, courageously standing up to demand their rights. In the Middle East and North Africa, many thousands have paid with their lives, and tens of thousands have been injured, besieged, tortured, detained, and threatened, but their newfound determination to demand their rights has meant they are no longer willing to accept injustice.
(...)
The message of this unexpected global awakening was carried in the first instance not by the satellites of major media conglomerates, or conferences, or other traditional means – although these all played a role -- but by the dynamic and irrepressible surge of social media. The results have been startling.
Navi Pillay - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights





= DENUNCIA PUBLICA =
Contra o "Jornalista" Reginaldo Silva


Afirmei aqui ha dias que tenho em preparacao uma QUEIXA CRIME formal contra o "jornalista" mencionado em epigrafe.
Desde entao tenho vindo a obter o necessario aconselhamento juridico para o efeito, do que, ate' ao momento, resultou essencialmente que algumas razoes de ordem burocratica tornam tal queixa praticamente inviavel de momento, nomeadamente:

- A circunstancia de me encontrar a residir actualmente fora de Angola;
- A falta de cabimentacao juridica para a criminalizacao dos actos do citado "jornalista", registados no seu blog "morrodamaianga.blogspot.com", devido a ainda pendente aprovacao, regulamentacao e implementacao das propostas de lei constantes, respectivamente, dos pacotes legislativos da Comunicacao Social e do Combate a Criminalidade no Dominio das Tecnologias de Informacao e de Comunicacao pelas instancias competentes de Angola.

Afinal, trata-se de um pais em que a propria Ministra da Comunicacao Social admite que: “A falta de uma entidade reguladora do sector que garanta a ética jornalística e o cumprimento da legislação aplicável ao sector será, também, um dos motivos facilitadores de alguns atropelos, que podemos associar à deficiente ou ausência de formação que grande parte dos quadros do sector padece”, como se pode ler aqui.

Todavia, perversamente, e' o "outro lado da moeda" das mesmas declaracoes da Ministra que concede aos "jornalistas" como RS o sentido de impunidade com que venhem atacando e destruindo ferozmente pessoas indefesas como eu: “(...) a resposta continua a ser a luta por uma imprensa plural, isenta, livre e responsável e a insistência no diálogo construtivo com todos os profissionais do sector, o reforço da iniciativa privada e a aposta crescente numa política de formação estruturada para todos os intervenientes”. Ou, dito de outro modo, "os 'jornalistas' podem continuar a cometer os crimes que bem quizerem e entenderem sem temerem qualquer punicao, porque mesmo que matem e esfolem como RS tem vindo a fazer "alegremente" a Paula Santana, a nossa resposta continua a ser o dialogo"! Nao foi, alias, por acaso, que esse foi apenas o unico extracto dessas declaracoes da Ministra que RS destacou nas "headlines" do seu blog...

Assim, vejo-me forcada a suspender temporariamente a submissao formal da minha intentada QUEIXA CRIME, ate' que tais impedimentos burocraticos sejam ultrapassados.

Enquanto isso - e em assinalacao do Dia Internacional dos Direitos Humanos que hoje se comemora e que este ano e' especialmente dedicado a luta pela DIGNIDADE E JUSTICA PARA TODOS, em particular atraves dos 'social media' - decidi-me a apresentar aqui em forma de DENUNCIA PUBLICA os fundamentos materiais da minha pendente queixa crime.

[Aqui]

On World Press Freedom Day

A Legal and Regulatory Perspective: Better Protection for Freedom of Expression in the Age of Digital Communications.



Historically, telecommunication, broadcasting, and other media were distinct industries; they used different technologies and were governed by different regulations. Convergence of communications is dissolving established barriers, not only between professional journalists and citizens using the new tools, but also in the legal and regulatory environment. The legal system has been slow, however, to adjust to the changes caused by the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting (including public service broadcasting) and the merger of broadband operators and Internet service providers.

There are various national policies and approaches on privacy and freedom of expression, including industrial policy and regulation such as copyright, user-centric approaches related to child protection policy, fraud, defamation and hate speech, net centric policies linking to domain names, and security policy on privacy and freedom of expression. How do we employ these existing mechanisms the better to protect freedom of expression in the age of digital communications? If existing mechanisms are inadequate, what should be done?

The human rights organization, Article 19, has pointed out that Internet intermediaries play a key role in facilitating the connections between the providers of information and users. Today, they are the new postal service, telephone network, local newspaper, and broadcast station. How they are addressed by civil society and governments is not yet clearly established. Consequently freedom of expression is often unduly limited.

This new relationship set by social networks can raise critical legal challenges: for governments to enforce laws, which can risk limiting freedom of speech; for Internet companies to protect privacy and develop standards in an online environment; for users, and especially for young people, to know how to protect their privacy and free speech.

Food for Thought:

• What are the legal and human rights implications of social networks for freedom of expression, privacy, and personal data protection?
• How to protect bloggers and users right to freedom of expression on the Internet and social networks?
• How to find applicable standards and legislation and share good practices on privacy protection?
• What is the role of Internet service providers/web hosting companies? Are they neutral bystanders? And how to treat conflicts of legal jurisdiction created by the trans-border nature of the web and social networks?
• What effect does the convergence of media have on the enabling environment for freedom of expression?


[Extract from a UNESCO Concept Paper]





[AQUI]




Related Posts:

E A Implementacao Dessa Lei?

Media Freedom(s) Quo Vadis?

Media Criticism

No Dia Mundial da Liberdade de Imprensa

A Legal and Regulatory Perspective: Better Protection for Freedom of Expression in the Age of Digital Communications.



Historically, telecommunication, broadcasting, and other media were distinct industries; they used different technologies and were governed by different regulations. Convergence of communications is dissolving established barriers, not only between professional journalists and citizens using the new tools, but also in the legal and regulatory environment. The legal system has been slow, however, to adjust to the changes caused by the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting (including public service broadcasting) and the merger of broadband operators and Internet service providers.

There are various national policies and approaches on privacy and freedom of expression, including industrial policy and regulation such as copyright, user-centric approaches related to child protection policy, fraud, defamation and hate speech, net centric policies linking to domain names, and security policy on privacy and freedom of expression. How do we employ these existing mechanisms the better to protect freedom of expression in the age of digital communications? If existing mechanisms are inadequate, what should be done?

The human rights organization, Article 19, has pointed out that Internet intermediaries play a key role in facilitating the connections between the providers of information and users. Today, they are the new postal service, telephone network, local newspaper, and broadcast station. How they are addressed by civil society and governments is not yet clearly established. Consequently freedom of expression is often unduly limited.

This new relationship set by social networks can raise critical legal challenges: for governments to enforce laws, which can risk limiting freedom of speech; for Internet companies to protect privacy and develop standards in an online environment; for users, and especially for young people, to know how to protect their privacy and free speech.

Food for Thought:

• What are the legal and human rights implications of social networks for freedom of expression, privacy, and personal data protection?
• How to protect bloggers and users right to freedom of expression on the Internet and social networks?
• How to find applicable standards and legislation and share good practices on privacy protection?
• What is the role of Internet service providers/web hosting companies? Are they neutral bystanders? And how to treat conflicts of legal jurisdiction created by the trans-border nature of the web and social networks?
• What effect does the convergence of media have on the enabling environment for freedom of expression?


[Extract from a UNESCO Concept Paper]





[AQUI]




Related Posts:

E A Implementacao Dessa Lei?

Media Freedom(s) Quo Vadis?

Media Criticism

No Dia Mundial da Liberdade de Imprensa

AO QUE (ALGUMAS) ‘BLOGGERS’ ESTAO SUJEITAS… [R]*

AMEACAS SEXUAIS ABAFAM ALGUMAS ‘BLOGGERS’*

Uma escritora freelancer que blogava sobre a industria pornografica foi ameacada com violacao sexual. Uma mae solteira que blogava sobre “os ins and outs de ser mama” foi atacada por um ciber-perseguidor furtivo com acusacoes difamatorias e ameacas de a manter sob vigilancia constante. Kathy Sierra, que obteve um grande sucesso blogando sobre o design de software capaz de tornar as pessoas felizes, tornou-se alvo de ataques anonimos online que incluiram fotos dela com uma corda ao pescoco e uma mordaca sobre a boca.


A medida que as mulheres ganham mais visibilidade na blogosfera, elas vao-se tornando alvos preferenciais de assedio sexual e ameacas. Homens tambem sao assediados e a falta de civilidade e’ uma constante na Web. Mas as mulheres, que constituem cerca de metade da comunidade online, sao particularmente visadas em termos sexualmente ameacadores de forma mais acentuada – uma tendencia que inicialmente se manifestou em chat rooms no inicio dos anos 90 e que se esta’ agora a arrastar para a blogosfera, afirmam peritos e bloggers. Um estudo de 2006 sobre chat rooms, pela Universidade de Maryland, revelou que participantes femininas recebiam 25 vezes mais mensagens sexualmente explicitas e maliciosas do que os masculinos. Um estudo de 2005, pelo Pew Internet & American Life Project, revelou que a proporcao de usuarios da Internet que participavam em grupos de conversa e discussao diminuiu de 28 porcento em 2000 para 17 porcento em 2005, exclusivamente devido ao exodo de mulheres. O estudo atribuiu essa tendencia a “sensibilidade a comportamentos intimidatorios nos chat rooms.”



Joan Walsh, editora em chefe da revista online Salon, afirma que desde que a seccao de cartas do seu site foi automatizada ha’ um ano atras, “tem sido muito dificil ignorar que as criticas a mulheres escritoras sao muito mais brutais e viciosas do que as feitas aos homens.” Arianna Huffington, cujo site Huffington Post esta’ entre os mais destacados blogs fundados por mulheres, afirma que o anonimato online permitiu que “muitos dos preconceitos escuros sobre as mulheres viessem a tona.”
Sierra, cujo recente caso atraiu atencao internacional, teve que suspender o blogging. Outras mulheres comecaram a auto-censurar-se, mudaram para foruns privados ou fecharam os comentarios nos seus blogs. Muitas usam pseudonimos genero-neutrais. Algumas simplesmente tentam aguentar-se. Mas, segundo bloggers e peritos entrevistados, o efeito de repetido assedio e’ tornar as mulheres relutantes em participar online – destruindo a promessa da Internet como um forum igualitario.
Dois factores contribuem particularmente para tal virulencia, segundo os peritos: bloggar num campo tradicionalmente dominado por homens, como a tecnologia, e atingir um certo grau de notoriedade. Ha’ um grande numero de mulheres a serem intimidadas, incluindo academicas, programadoras profissionais e outras mulheres normalmente sem receio de expressarem os seus pontos de vista.


*Extracto por mim traduzido de um relatorio publicado em Abril deste ano pelo Washington Post.

{N.B.: Se, por um lado, este artigo – de que apenas tive conhecimento nos ultimos dias, na sequencia do meu post sobre o racismo na blogosfera – me tras a “consolacao” de ficar a saber que “afinal ate’ nao estou assim tao sozinha” enquanto mulher vitima de assedio sexual e racial na blogosfera e que ha’, pelo menos no mundo civilizado, gente atenta e preocupada com essa questao, por outro lado, lamento que os estudiosos desse fenomeno ainda nao tenham “descoberto” que tambem ha’ “mulheres” envolvidas nesse tipo de ataques contra outras mulheres na blogosfera… E que um estudo que ainda esta’ por fazer e’ sobre em que medida esse nefasto fenomeno afecta particularmente as, ainda relativamente poucas, bloggers negras...}

*[First posted 07/08/07]


Posts relacionados:

Abrindo a Caixa de Pandora (I)

E a Implementacao dessa Lei?

AMEACAS SEXUAIS ABAFAM ALGUMAS ‘BLOGGERS’*

Uma escritora freelancer que blogava sobre a industria pornografica foi ameacada com violacao sexual. Uma mae solteira que blogava sobre “os ins and outs de ser mama” foi atacada por um ciber-perseguidor furtivo com acusacoes difamatorias e ameacas de a manter sob vigilancia constante. Kathy Sierra, que obteve um grande sucesso blogando sobre o design de software capaz de tornar as pessoas felizes, tornou-se alvo de ataques anonimos online que incluiram fotos dela com uma corda ao pescoco e uma mordaca sobre a boca.


A medida que as mulheres ganham mais visibilidade na blogosfera, elas vao-se tornando alvos preferenciais de assedio sexual e ameacas. Homens tambem sao assediados e a falta de civilidade e’ uma constante na Web. Mas as mulheres, que constituem cerca de metade da comunidade online, sao particularmente visadas em termos sexualmente ameacadores de forma mais acentuada – uma tendencia que inicialmente se manifestou em chat rooms no inicio dos anos 90 e que se esta’ agora a arrastar para a blogosfera, afirmam peritos e bloggers. Um estudo de 2006 sobre chat rooms, pela Universidade de Maryland, revelou que participantes femininas recebiam 25 vezes mais mensagens sexualmente explicitas e maliciosas do que os masculinos. Um estudo de 2005, pelo Pew Internet & American Life Project, revelou que a proporcao de usuarios da Internet que participavam em grupos de conversa e discussao diminuiu de 28 porcento em 2000 para 17 porcento em 2005, exclusivamente devido ao exodo de mulheres. O estudo atribuiu essa tendencia a “sensibilidade a comportamentos intimidatorios nos chat rooms.”



Joan Walsh, editora em chefe da revista online Salon, afirma que desde que a seccao de cartas do seu site foi automatizada ha’ um ano atras, “tem sido muito dificil ignorar que as criticas a mulheres escritoras sao muito mais brutais e viciosas do que as feitas aos homens.” Arianna Huffington, cujo site Huffington Post esta’ entre os mais destacados blogs fundados por mulheres, afirma que o anonimato online permitiu que “muitos dos preconceitos escuros sobre as mulheres viessem a tona.”
Sierra, cujo recente caso atraiu atencao internacional, teve que suspender o blogging. Outras mulheres comecaram a auto-censurar-se, mudaram para foruns privados ou fecharam os comentarios nos seus blogs. Muitas usam pseudonimos genero-neutrais. Algumas simplesmente tentam aguentar-se. Mas, segundo bloggers e peritos entrevistados, o efeito de repetido assedio e’ tornar as mulheres relutantes em participar online – destruindo a promessa da Internet como um forum igualitario.
Dois factores contribuem particularmente para tal virulencia, segundo os peritos: bloggar num campo tradicionalmente dominado por homens, como a tecnologia, e atingir um certo grau de notoriedade. Ha’ um grande numero de mulheres a serem intimidadas, incluindo academicas, programadoras profissionais e outras mulheres normalmente sem receio de expressarem os seus pontos de vista.


*Extracto por mim traduzido de um relatorio publicado em Abril deste ano pelo Washington Post.

{N.B.: Se, por um lado, este artigo – de que apenas tive conhecimento nos ultimos dias, na sequencia do meu post sobre o racismo na blogosfera – me tras a “consolacao” de ficar a saber que “afinal ate’ nao estou assim tao sozinha” enquanto mulher vitima de assedio sexual e racial na blogosfera e que ha’, pelo menos no mundo civilizado, gente atenta e preocupada com essa questao, por outro lado, lamento que os estudiosos desse fenomeno ainda nao tenham “descoberto” que tambem ha’ “mulheres” envolvidas nesse tipo de ataques contra outras mulheres na blogosfera… E que um estudo que ainda esta’ por fazer e’ sobre em que medida esse nefasto fenomeno afecta particularmente as, ainda relativamente poucas, bloggers negras...}

*[First posted 07/08/07]


Posts relacionados:

Abrindo a Caixa de Pandora (I)

E a Implementacao dessa Lei?

FACEBOOK: A 'April Fools Joke'?

Goodbye, Facebook

I have decided to deactivate my Facebook account.* For the past couple years, I have used the account for the sole purpose of accumulating "friends." Now, Facebook tells me that I have reached my upper limit! So there is little point in keeping the account. Going forward, if you want to be my friend, you will have to come to Harvard Square and meet me face to face.

--- *As soon as I can figure out how. Right now, Facebook gives me an error message every time I try to deactivate. There appears to be no escape.

[Greg Mankiw]

More on Facebook HERE and HERE

Goodbye, Facebook

I have decided to deactivate my Facebook account.* For the past couple years, I have used the account for the sole purpose of accumulating "friends." Now, Facebook tells me that I have reached my upper limit! So there is little point in keeping the account. Going forward, if you want to be my friend, you will have to come to Harvard Square and meet me face to face.

--- *As soon as I can figure out how. Right now, Facebook gives me an error message every time I try to deactivate. There appears to be no escape.

[Greg Mankiw]

More on Facebook HERE and HERE

'A Footprint for Inspiration'

To mark the end of this Women’s Month, I thought of bringing here something that, if nothing else, will always make me feel that this blog was somehow worthwhile. It is the first post on the blogosphere by a sista, Kentke, who credited me with having inspired her to start her own blog back on September 2007.

Regrettably, on the third birthday of her blog, she decided to stop it – I which she had meant “suspend” it for just a while… So, hoping that this may help her reverse that decision, here is what, using the metaphor of the picture illustrating this post which I’ve taken from this post of hers, I would call a footprint, at least as far as both of us are concerned, for friendship and mutual inspiration between black female bloggers:


My Goodness~

Thank you Koluki for such an honor to appear on your blog, as my introduction to the Blogging world. Your blog and our communication has been a fruitful inspiration, as yesterday (9/16/07), I launched my own blog (smile).
My first post includes the blog on your page, but it is preceeded by a call to celebrate today September 17th, the birth date of Agostinho Neto. It's entitled 'Celebrating the Life of one of Africa's greatest Leaders.'
I hope you and your readers will check the "Knewz from Meroe West", and share from the Heart. So many of Angola's children are now called (African-)Americans....it's only natural and perfect that we talk, ....get reacquainted...and ultimately, see what we come up with. Dr. Neto would be quite pleased.

[Comment posted here]


Back to something more interesting......the African Bloggers.
Here's a sister, from Angola that I recently discovered: Koluki
Great music, graphics and art, some of it is in Portugues, but alot in English. Check her out.
I wrote and shared a story of my ancestors, and she encouraged me to tell the story in her blog as a comment on reparations. Well friends....I've made an effort to do so. I'm going to add here what I shared so that you can comment on it too.

[Note posted here]


My Sister, WELCOME TO THE BLOGOSPHERE!
I'm so happy that you decided to create your own blog! I will definitely visit as if it were my 'kimbo' and will link it on my blogroll. To celebrate I leave here this poem: [Agostinho Neto by Chinua Achebe, recently remembered here]

[Comment posted here]

To mark the end of this Women’s Month, I thought of bringing here something that, if nothing else, will always make me feel that this blog was somehow worthwhile. It is the first post on the blogosphere by a sista, Kentke, who credited me with having inspired her to start her own blog back on September 2007.

Regrettably, on the third birthday of her blog, she decided to stop it – I which she had meant “suspend” it for just a while… So, hoping that this may help her reverse that decision, here is what, using the metaphor of the picture illustrating this post which I’ve taken from this post of hers, I would call a footprint, at least as far as both of us are concerned, for friendship and mutual inspiration between black female bloggers:


My Goodness~

Thank you Koluki for such an honor to appear on your blog, as my introduction to the Blogging world. Your blog and our communication has been a fruitful inspiration, as yesterday (9/16/07), I launched my own blog (smile).
My first post includes the blog on your page, but it is preceeded by a call to celebrate today September 17th, the birth date of Agostinho Neto. It's entitled 'Celebrating the Life of one of Africa's greatest Leaders.'
I hope you and your readers will check the "Knewz from Meroe West", and share from the Heart. So many of Angola's children are now called (African-)Americans....it's only natural and perfect that we talk, ....get reacquainted...and ultimately, see what we come up with. Dr. Neto would be quite pleased.

[Comment posted here]


Back to something more interesting......the African Bloggers.
Here's a sister, from Angola that I recently discovered: Koluki
Great music, graphics and art, some of it is in Portugues, but alot in English. Check her out.
I wrote and shared a story of my ancestors, and she encouraged me to tell the story in her blog as a comment on reparations. Well friends....I've made an effort to do so. I'm going to add here what I shared so that you can comment on it too.

[Note posted here]


My Sister, WELCOME TO THE BLOGOSPHERE!
I'm so happy that you decided to create your own blog! I will definitely visit as if it were my 'kimbo' and will link it on my blogroll. To celebrate I leave here this poem: [Agostinho Neto by Chinua Achebe, recently remembered here]

[Comment posted here]

WHY I BLOG ABOUT AFRICA? [R]*

I was tagged by Cho in this current going around about our reasons to blog about Africa.
Let me see:

• First and foremost, because I am African and there is nothing I can, want or will do about it.

• Second, because having lived, worked and traveled in and around Africa, I have come across a number of situations that made me aware of the importance of information, communication and understanding between Africans of different nationalities in conflict prevention and improvement of relations at all levels between African nations. The particular circumstance of coming from Angola, one of the few countries in Africa with Portuguese as official language, made that awareness even more acute in me. So, being able to communicate in the other two most prevalent official languages in Africa, English and French, I thought that I could use that ability to contribute somehow to bridge that divide by facilitating the dialogue between the African community in and around the blogosphere.

• Third, I am particularly sensitive to the way (mis)perceptions and (dis)beliefs about Africa and Africans are formed around the world and how important it is that each individual who has any experience or knowledge about the different African realities shares these with the rest of the world. I think that blogging is the ideal vehicle to do that.

That’s essentially why I blog about Africa. And with this I tag:


Jewels in The Jungle

Nigerian Curiosity

Desenvolver Mocambique

*[First posted 22/12/08]

I was tagged by Cho in this current going around about our reasons to blog about Africa.
Let me see:

• First and foremost, because I am African and there is nothing I can, want or will do about it.

• Second, because having lived, worked and traveled in and around Africa, I have come across a number of situations that made me aware of the importance of information, communication and understanding between Africans of different nationalities in conflict prevention and improvement of relations at all levels between African nations. The particular circumstance of coming from Angola, one of the few countries in Africa with Portuguese as official language, made that awareness even more acute in me. So, being able to communicate in the other two most prevalent official languages in Africa, English and French, I thought that I could use that ability to contribute somehow to bridge that divide by facilitating the dialogue between the African community in and around the blogosphere.

• Third, I am particularly sensitive to the way (mis)perceptions and (dis)beliefs about Africa and Africans are formed around the world and how important it is that each individual who has any experience or knowledge about the different African realities shares these with the rest of the world. I think that blogging is the ideal vehicle to do that.

That’s essentially why I blog about Africa. And with this I tag:


Jewels in The Jungle

Nigerian Curiosity

Desenvolver Mocambique

*[First posted 22/12/08]

Nao se pode tapar o sol com a peneira…

1960 - 2010

"The Year Of Africa"

50 Years On

Pores (e nasceres) do sol em Africa.

Sim, eles existem. Nas mais diversas configuracoes e declinacoes.
E sao infinitamente belos. E saborosamente degustaveis – que nem fruta de vontade.

Africa nao e’ a unica latitude do universo em que eles ocorrem. Mas e’, seguramente, aquela em que adquirem uma beleza e profundidade que outras latitudes dificilmente serao capazes de lhe conferir…

Porque e’ o unico momento que podemos fruir de costas para a “ugly Africa”… de costas para tudo e todos (de costas, para dar mais prazer) … sem termos que pagar gazoza, nem fazer kilapies.
E’ o unico momento que quem entende nao apenas da motricidade dos corpos sem alma e dos negocios privados de companhias monopolistas de danca dita contemporanea, mas tambem, e sobretudo, de poesia e da estetica da alma - e que aprendeu desde muito cedo, sem premios nem patrocinios, mais do que a ler ou escrever livros lentamente, a decifrar as suas mensagens, interpreta-las e questiona-las - e’ capaz de viver e valorizar na sua plenitude.

E’ tambem o momento que nos ensina o significado indizivel de paz, tranquilidade e liberdade e que melhor nos propicia o encontrar do valor e significado das incognitas das varias equacoes da luta contra a pobreza e o subdesenvolvimento em Africa… algo com que ninfas ociosas que chafurdam e se deleitam sadisticamente nas/com as imagens da “ugly Africa” just for the sex and the racism of it, jamais terao que se confrontar: e’ que a “ugly Africa” nao vive nos saloes de ballet classico europeu desde os oito anos de idade… e’ que os saloes de ballet classico europeu nao ensinam a analisar e a explicar, muito menos resolver, a “ugly Africa”… e’ que resolver a “ugly Africa” nao se resume a bacocas receitas de perfumes e emagrecimentos para conformar racistamente o seu corpo de gorda tosca, mas nao a de Puccini, a supremacia da evolucao anorexica e bulimica do das venus(es) brancas europeias…

E’ que a “ugly Africa” e’ negra!
[... e' uma pobre e insignificante criatura rejeitada... tem cicatrizes nos pes de andar a trabalhar patrioticamente a terra enquanto as ballerinas prima donnas andavam ociosamente nos cavalos... come funge kom todos com muito gosto... ocasionalmente ouve e danca kuduro kom xidi... e' mae solteira... tem bebe' em cima da arvore... frequentemente apenas tem x-10 para sobreviver sem dignidade... e' kitandeira e zungueira e, possivelmente, diva da zunga internacional... vai a Muxima confidenciar com a Sant'Ana, toma banho de chuva e de rio e por vezes, segundo alguns, pode "cheirar mal", cria blogs que ressuscitam do dia para a noite companhias de danca privadas de ninfas-ballerinas classicas europeias e alimentam colunas de jornais durante anos a fio, ajudando a encher bolsos de uma horda de parasitas cavilosos sem quaisquer escrupulos, imaginacao, ou outra ocupacao, e ... de tanto apanhar se habitua!]

E… nao se pode tapar o sol com a peneira!
[... suja da "ugly Africa"... mesmo se ostentada por "finas, perfumadas e elegantes" maos de ninfas brancas neo-nazis, monstruosas e put(r)ificadas ao teclado de um computador bem longe da "ugly Africa"...]

E’… os pores (e nasceres) do sol, tal como o cheiro da terra molhada depois da chuva em Africa, sao para se ver, sentir e viver… e quem nunca o fez… tem serios problemas do espirito ... por isso depende tao completamente de vulturar a "ugly Africa" e a "sua" mascara da (negra) Pwo!



*****


Mas...

Se quizerem mesmo ver a "ugly Afrika", eu tambem ja' dei!
Entre outros lugares, por exemplo, aki e, sobretudo, aki!...

E, ja' agora, se quizerem mesmo saber qual o "lugar do kuduro" neste blog, espreitem aki, aki, aki, aki, aki, aki...

E... a quem, apesar disto, disto, disto, disto e disto, continua a desconseguir de perceber a diferenca entre jornalismo e bloguismo, sugiro a leitura desta materia (nao precisa sequer de ler o artigo, basta olhar para o titulo - caso entenda Ingles)!


P.S.:

Odile & Odette

A CONFISSAO!...

J'Accuse!

1960 - 2010

"The Year Of Africa"

50 Years On

Pores (e nasceres) do sol em Africa.

Sim, eles existem. Nas mais diversas configuracoes e declinacoes.
E sao infinitamente belos. E saborosamente degustaveis – que nem fruta de vontade.

Africa nao e’ a unica latitude do universo em que eles ocorrem. Mas e’, seguramente, aquela em que adquirem uma beleza e profundidade que outras latitudes dificilmente serao capazes de lhe conferir…

Porque e’ o unico momento que podemos fruir de costas para a “ugly Africa”… de costas para tudo e todos (de costas, para dar mais prazer) … sem termos que pagar gazoza, nem fazer kilapies.
E’ o unico momento que quem entende nao apenas da motricidade dos corpos sem alma e dos negocios privados de companhias monopolistas de danca dita contemporanea, mas tambem, e sobretudo, de poesia e da estetica da alma - e que aprendeu desde muito cedo, sem premios nem patrocinios, mais do que a ler ou escrever livros lentamente, a decifrar as suas mensagens, interpreta-las e questiona-las - e’ capaz de viver e valorizar na sua plenitude.

E’ tambem o momento que nos ensina o significado indizivel de paz, tranquilidade e liberdade e que melhor nos propicia o encontrar do valor e significado das incognitas das varias equacoes da luta contra a pobreza e o subdesenvolvimento em Africa… algo com que ninfas ociosas que chafurdam e se deleitam sadisticamente nas/com as imagens da “ugly Africa” just for the sex and the racism of it, jamais terao que se confrontar: e’ que a “ugly Africa” nao vive nos saloes de ballet classico europeu desde os oito anos de idade… e’ que os saloes de ballet classico europeu nao ensinam a analisar e a explicar, muito menos resolver, a “ugly Africa”… e’ que resolver a “ugly Africa” nao se resume a bacocas receitas de perfumes e emagrecimentos para conformar racistamente o seu corpo de gorda tosca, mas nao a de Puccini, a supremacia da evolucao anorexica e bulimica do das venus(es) brancas europeias…

E’ que a “ugly Africa” e’ negra!
[... e' uma pobre e insignificante criatura rejeitada... tem cicatrizes nos pes de andar a trabalhar patrioticamente a terra enquanto as ballerinas prima donnas andavam ociosamente nos cavalos... come funge kom todos com muito gosto... ocasionalmente ouve e danca kuduro kom xidi... e' mae solteira... tem bebe' em cima da arvore... frequentemente apenas tem x-10 para sobreviver sem dignidade... e' kitandeira e zungueira e, possivelmente, diva da zunga internacional... vai a Muxima confidenciar com a Sant'Ana, toma banho de chuva e de rio e por vezes, segundo alguns, pode "cheirar mal", cria blogs que ressuscitam do dia para a noite companhias de danca privadas de ninfas-ballerinas classicas europeias e alimentam colunas de jornais durante anos a fio, ajudando a encher bolsos de uma horda de parasitas cavilosos sem quaisquer escrupulos, imaginacao, ou outra ocupacao, e ... de tanto apanhar se habitua!]

E… nao se pode tapar o sol com a peneira!
[... suja da "ugly Africa"... mesmo se ostentada por "finas, perfumadas e elegantes" maos de ninfas brancas neo-nazis, monstruosas e put(r)ificadas ao teclado de um computador bem longe da "ugly Africa"...]

E’… os pores (e nasceres) do sol, tal como o cheiro da terra molhada depois da chuva em Africa, sao para se ver, sentir e viver… e quem nunca o fez… tem serios problemas do espirito ... por isso depende tao completamente de vulturar a "ugly Africa" e a "sua" mascara da (negra) Pwo!



*****


Mas...

Se quizerem mesmo ver a "ugly Afrika", eu tambem ja' dei!
Entre outros lugares, por exemplo, aki e, sobretudo, aki!...

E, ja' agora, se quizerem mesmo saber qual o "lugar do kuduro" neste blog, espreitem aki, aki, aki, aki, aki, aki...

E... a quem, apesar disto, disto, disto, disto e disto, continua a desconseguir de perceber a diferenca entre jornalismo e bloguismo, sugiro a leitura desta materia (nao precisa sequer de ler o artigo, basta olhar para o titulo - caso entenda Ingles)!


P.S.:

Odile & Odette

A CONFISSAO!...

J'Accuse!

PREMIO LEMNISCATA

“O selo deste prémio foi criado a pensar nos blogues que demonstram talento, seja nas artes, nas letras, nas ciências, na poesia ou em qualquer outra área e que, com isso, enriquecem a blogosfera e a vida dos seus leitores.»
Sobre o significado de LEMNISCATA: «curva geométrica com a forma semelhante à de um 8; lugar geométrico dos pontos tais que o produto das distâncias a dois pontos fixos é constante». Lemniscato: ornado de fitas Do grego Lemniskos, do latim, Lemniscu: fita que pendia das coroas de louro destinadas aos vencedores. (In Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto Editora)

O símbolo do infinito é um 8 deitado, em tudo semelhante a esta fita, que não tem interior nem exterior, tal como no anel de Möbius, que se percorre infinitamente.”

Foi-me amavelmente atribuido pelo Navegador Solidario, a quem agradeco a generosidade.

Passo a corrente atribuindo-o a duas bloggers que muito estimo e admiro na lusosfera:

Atlantico Azul - Paixao pelo Mar

&

Com Todas As Letras

“O selo deste prémio foi criado a pensar nos blogues que demonstram talento, seja nas artes, nas letras, nas ciências, na poesia ou em qualquer outra área e que, com isso, enriquecem a blogosfera e a vida dos seus leitores.»
Sobre o significado de LEMNISCATA: «curva geométrica com a forma semelhante à de um 8; lugar geométrico dos pontos tais que o produto das distâncias a dois pontos fixos é constante». Lemniscato: ornado de fitas Do grego Lemniskos, do latim, Lemniscu: fita que pendia das coroas de louro destinadas aos vencedores. (In Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto Editora)

O símbolo do infinito é um 8 deitado, em tudo semelhante a esta fita, que não tem interior nem exterior, tal como no anel de Möbius, que se percorre infinitamente.”

Foi-me amavelmente atribuido pelo Navegador Solidario, a quem agradeco a generosidade.

Passo a corrente atribuindo-o a duas bloggers que muito estimo e admiro na lusosfera:

Atlantico Azul - Paixao pelo Mar

&

Com Todas As Letras

ECHOES FROM THE ANGOLAN PRESS (26 AND LAST)

Com um artigo meu que acaba de sair no ultimo numero do Semanario Angolense e ao qual dedicarei o proximo post, termino esta serie.

Deu-me muito prazer partilhar aqui as noticias da banda a medida que as ia lendo. Decidi faze-lo pelo prazer, mas tambem porque, vivendo como vivo ha' varios anos fora do pais, uma coisa que sempre me preocupa e' a forma como a informacao sobre Angola, e sobre Africa em geral, e' (mal)tratada em alguma (quase toda?) imprensa estrangeira (nao so' a ocidental).

Por isso tenho para mim que, apesar das insuficiencias de que a imprensa local possa sofrer neste ou naquele aspecto, ela deve ser, sempre que possivel, a primeira escolha para nos mantermos actualizados sobre o que realmente, mesmo que apenas atraves da leitura nas entrelinhas, se passa no terreno dos acontecimentos. Ela nao e', nem deve ser quanto a mim, a unica fonte de informacao sobre o pais, mas e' certamente uma fonte indispensavel.

Assim, espero ter contribuido com esta serie de alguma maneira para esse desiderato e tambem para demonstrar ao mundo (a dada altura pareceu-me que isso se tornara absolutamente necessario) que a imprensa Angolana, em particular a privada e/ou independente, is alive and kicking! O meu muito obrigada aos amigos que me facultaram essa possibilidade e espero que cada vez mais jornais e jornalistas Angolanos baseados em Angola passem a publicar online e a participar da blogosfera.

Blogosfera onde, by the way, ao contrario do que alguns parecem ter entendido, nunca me pretendi fazer passar por 'jornalista' - que de facto nao sou, nem pretendo ser, apesar da minha breve passagem pela profissao ha' ja' largos anos - e onde tambem ha' um debate muito interessante sobre as fronteiras entre o bloguismo e o jornalismo. Ja' agora gostaria de dizer que nao concordo inteiramente que se transporte completamente a pratica do jornalismo profissional dos jornais e de outros meios de informacao tradicionais para os blogs, a menos que tais meios de informacao tradicionais, como acontece com praticamente todos os jornais no ocidente, tenham os seus proprios sites online e a eles associem os seus blogs, continuando no entanto a pautar-se online pelos codigos e praticas do jornalismo tradicional e, sobretudo, mantendo-se sujeitos as normas deontologicas, eticas, morais e de responsabilizacao que devem reger a profissao, sob pena de incorrerem em penalizacao pelas igualmente tradicionais vias legais. Por isso julgo que a blogosfera, enquanto espaco de informacao e comunicacao atraves de um veiculo ainda quase completamente desregulado como e' a internet, se presta melhor a "fazer eco" do jornalismo do que propriamente a protagoniza-lo ou a emula-lo.

Continuarei, naturalmente, a ler a imprensa Angolana regularmente e disso darei aqui conta como sempre, mas penso que esta serie cumpriu o seu objectivo.

So, that's all folks, as far as the Echoes from the Angolan Press/Ecos da Imprensa Angolana are concerned. Hope you've enjoyed it!

Com um artigo meu que acaba de sair no ultimo numero do Semanario Angolense e ao qual dedicarei o proximo post, termino esta serie.

Deu-me muito prazer partilhar aqui as noticias da banda a medida que as ia lendo. Decidi faze-lo pelo prazer, mas tambem porque, vivendo como vivo ha' varios anos fora do pais, uma coisa que sempre me preocupa e' a forma como a informacao sobre Angola, e sobre Africa em geral, e' (mal)tratada em alguma (quase toda?) imprensa estrangeira (nao so' a ocidental).

Por isso tenho para mim que, apesar das insuficiencias de que a imprensa local possa sofrer neste ou naquele aspecto, ela deve ser, sempre que possivel, a primeira escolha para nos mantermos actualizados sobre o que realmente, mesmo que apenas atraves da leitura nas entrelinhas, se passa no terreno dos acontecimentos. Ela nao e', nem deve ser quanto a mim, a unica fonte de informacao sobre o pais, mas e' certamente uma fonte indispensavel.

Assim, espero ter contribuido com esta serie de alguma maneira para esse desiderato e tambem para demonstrar ao mundo (a dada altura pareceu-me que isso se tornara absolutamente necessario) que a imprensa Angolana, em particular a privada e/ou independente, is alive and kicking! O meu muito obrigada aos amigos que me facultaram essa possibilidade e espero que cada vez mais jornais e jornalistas Angolanos baseados em Angola passem a publicar online e a participar da blogosfera.

Blogosfera onde, by the way, ao contrario do que alguns parecem ter entendido, nunca me pretendi fazer passar por 'jornalista' - que de facto nao sou, nem pretendo ser, apesar da minha breve passagem pela profissao ha' ja' largos anos - e onde tambem ha' um debate muito interessante sobre as fronteiras entre o bloguismo e o jornalismo. Ja' agora gostaria de dizer que nao concordo inteiramente que se transporte completamente a pratica do jornalismo profissional dos jornais e de outros meios de informacao tradicionais para os blogs, a menos que tais meios de informacao tradicionais, como acontece com praticamente todos os jornais no ocidente, tenham os seus proprios sites online e a eles associem os seus blogs, continuando no entanto a pautar-se online pelos codigos e praticas do jornalismo tradicional e, sobretudo, mantendo-se sujeitos as normas deontologicas, eticas, morais e de responsabilizacao que devem reger a profissao, sob pena de incorrerem em penalizacao pelas igualmente tradicionais vias legais. Por isso julgo que a blogosfera, enquanto espaco de informacao e comunicacao atraves de um veiculo ainda quase completamente desregulado como e' a internet, se presta melhor a "fazer eco" do jornalismo do que propriamente a protagoniza-lo ou a emula-lo.

Continuarei, naturalmente, a ler a imprensa Angolana regularmente e disso darei aqui conta como sempre, mas penso que esta serie cumpriu o seu objectivo.

So, that's all folks, as far as the Echoes from the Angolan Press/Ecos da Imprensa Angolana are concerned. Hope you've enjoyed it!

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]

HERE'S SOME "COMPULSORY" READING FOR BLOGGERS...

My use of the word compulsory here is actually for me and me alone: I have recently read about this book, Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob, watched an interview with its author, Lee Siegel, but still have to read it – which I definitely will, sooner rather than later!
For everybody else it may just prove a silly provocation as, making faith on Siegel’s views and experiences, it will most probably be an open invitation for (most ?) bloggers not to read it. Why?
Because Siegel “was bullied when he wrote about his views online which challenged the beliefs held by many bloggers, YouTube performers, and social networkers. It was, for him, a case of publish and be damned.”
Why again?

Well, he said things like these:

On the internet in general: “The online world is not so much inhabited by us as by our egos, which are slowly destroying civilization. (...) It creates a culture of popularity. (…) People look to the crowd for approval without getting in touch with their own instincts, without heeding their own conscience. (…) Our egos are now running riot on the web. We have started to kick back at anyone who may try to lead us, or try to inform us. We will not be told.”

On the rise of the blogosphere and how strong opinions need little research or fact checking, yet the blog has quickly gained influence, a trend he fears will reduce what the truth is to whoever shouts the loudest: "I think that's very, very dangerous because there are experts. No-one would talk of citizen heart surgeons, for example. But on the internet they talk of citizen journalists, because it seems that anyone can take up a keyboard and write a story. If the only truth is the result of the strongest, most emphatic assertion, what happens to the patient, soft spoken, contemplative people? They'll get drowned out."

On the net's copycat culture: "Imitation is commonplace, a copycat culture where everything starts to look the same. It used to be called plagiarism, now it is celebrated and provides a quick-and-easy fix for our attention-seeking egos. (...) I don't think that you can have a natural, organic society when people are existing at that level of self-consciousness. They begin to perform for other people. (...) This dependence on approval is damaging originality. They begin to market themselves. Authenticity becomes more and more rare."

On the need for questioning the net’s show-offs and bullies: "Unlike earlier transformative technologies, like radio and television, the internet has not been subjected to critical examination. It has escaped that. I think it's time to look rationally and level headed at this thing and talk about its dark side as well as its virtues."

Does any of the above ring any bells to anyone? Nope? Then I would suggest a look at these.

[Quotes sourced from here]

My use of the word compulsory here is actually for me and me alone: I have recently read about this book, Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob, watched an interview with its author, Lee Siegel, but still have to read it – which I definitely will, sooner rather than later!
For everybody else it may just prove a silly provocation as, making faith on Siegel’s views and experiences, it will most probably be an open invitation for (most ?) bloggers not to read it. Why?
Because Siegel “was bullied when he wrote about his views online which challenged the beliefs held by many bloggers, YouTube performers, and social networkers. It was, for him, a case of publish and be damned.”
Why again?

Well, he said things like these:

On the internet in general: “The online world is not so much inhabited by us as by our egos, which are slowly destroying civilization. (...) It creates a culture of popularity. (…) People look to the crowd for approval without getting in touch with their own instincts, without heeding their own conscience. (…) Our egos are now running riot on the web. We have started to kick back at anyone who may try to lead us, or try to inform us. We will not be told.”

On the rise of the blogosphere and how strong opinions need little research or fact checking, yet the blog has quickly gained influence, a trend he fears will reduce what the truth is to whoever shouts the loudest: "I think that's very, very dangerous because there are experts. No-one would talk of citizen heart surgeons, for example. But on the internet they talk of citizen journalists, because it seems that anyone can take up a keyboard and write a story. If the only truth is the result of the strongest, most emphatic assertion, what happens to the patient, soft spoken, contemplative people? They'll get drowned out."

On the net's copycat culture: "Imitation is commonplace, a copycat culture where everything starts to look the same. It used to be called plagiarism, now it is celebrated and provides a quick-and-easy fix for our attention-seeking egos. (...) I don't think that you can have a natural, organic society when people are existing at that level of self-consciousness. They begin to perform for other people. (...) This dependence on approval is damaging originality. They begin to market themselves. Authenticity becomes more and more rare."

On the need for questioning the net’s show-offs and bullies: "Unlike earlier transformative technologies, like radio and television, the internet has not been subjected to critical examination. It has escaped that. I think it's time to look rationally and level headed at this thing and talk about its dark side as well as its virtues."

Does any of the above ring any bells to anyone? Nope? Then I would suggest a look at these.

[Quotes sourced from here]

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]

OS PRUBULEMA KE'STAMOS KU ELES...

Este post destina-se primordialmente a parabenizar o Salucombo Jr. pelo seu terceiro aniversario na blogosfera. Parabens Attelier dos Mangueirinhas!

E' tambem, para mim, uma oportunidade para zuelar um pouco sobre a questao da preservacao da arquitectura urbana em Luanda e em Angola em geral, que tantos debates tem gerado, na blogosfera e nao so'. As consideracoes que se seguem constituem uma versao editada de um comentario meu no Attelier dos Mangueirinhas, em resposta ao Salucombo Jr., no contexto deste post dele, de onde as fotografias aqui expostas tambem foram tomadas de emprestimo.

1. Todas as ex-potencias coloniais se envolvem, de uma forma ou de outra, na defesa dos seus patrimonios culturais no mundo e especialmente nas suas ex-colonias e isso passa normalmente pelo investimento em projectos de reconstrucao e manutencao, particularmente se essas ex-colonias tiverem passado por longos periodos de guerra. No caso de Angola, tal investimento (incluindo nao so’ financiamento, mas tambem ‘educacao cultural’ sobre esse patrimonio) seria ainda mais justificado pelo facto de a ex-potencia colonial nao ter sido alheia as razoes da guerra – bastaria, por exemplo, ter promovido e garantido um processo de descolonizacao mais atempado, responsavel e assumido e, consequentemente, menos catastrofico…

2. Nos casos em que tal se verifica, tais projectos de investimento sao, via de regra, feitos em parceria com o pais alvo e sob acordos inter-governamentais: nao teem, portanto, necessariamente a ver com “neocolonizacao”. E, afinal, o que e’ mais passivel de ser considerado “neocolonizacao”? A manutencao de um patrimonio cultural, ou o dominio de praticamente todo o sector bancario (e seus respectivos recursos humanos) e outros sectores importantes da economia de um pais? E, ja’ agora, quantas dessas novas torres de vidro nao se destinarao, porventura, directa ou indirectamente, a bancos ou outros interesses economicos portugueses? Mas, independementemente de quem tem ou nao o ‘dever e obrigacao’, ou de quem tem ‘mais ou menos dinheiro’ (ja’ agora dir-te-ei que alguns projectos desse tipo sao patrocinados e financiados por instituicoes supra-nacionais, como a UE ou a UNESCO - veja-se, por favor, o caso de Mbanza Kongo, sem duvida o mais flagrante exemplo de destruicao de um patrimonio historico-cultural, nao so' de Angola, como da humanidade!), eu falei em Portugal “assumir a lideranca” e isso pode resumir-se apenas a apresentar propostas/projectos concretos ao governo Angolano nesse sentido. Toma, por exemplo, o caso da escola portuguesa que foi instalada, por Portugal, ha’ varios anos em Luanda: qual foi o seu objectivo? Certamente nao outro que a manutencao da lingua e da cultura portuguesa – porque nao pensar-se no mesmo tipo de investimento em relacao ao patrimonio arquitectonico portugues?

3. Agora, passemos aquele que e’ talvez o aspecto mais importante dessa questao: em qualquer economia bem gerida (excepto em paises socialistas/comunistas, que Angola, malgre’ tout, nunca foi… quando muito, Angola foi ate’ ha’ 6 anos atras uma economia de guerra) ha’ uma clara delimitacao do papel do estado na economia, mediante a qual os investimentos publicos devem ser reservados aos bens publicos. E a definicao de bens publicos pode ser mais ou menos lata, mas e’ clara o suficiente: em termos gerais, e’considerado “bem publico” aquele que pode ser usufruido por qualquer membro do publico. Aqui poder-se-ha defender que a traca arquitetonica portuguesa (tal como outros bens do patrimonio historico de Angola) e’ um “bem publico” na medida em que qualquer membro do publico ao apenas poder olhar para ela estara’ a usufruir de um “bem cultural”. Ate’ ai muito bem. Mas poe-se entao a questao de saber, em termos mais estritos, se um determinado bem considerado “cultural” e’ propriedade publica ou privada? Isto e’, esta' nas maos do estado ou de um particular? E aqui as aguas do orcamento do estado teem que ser rigorosamente separadas: se e’ publica, cabe ao estado nele investir, se e’ privada, isso cabe ao particular que a possui. O papel do estado ai deve limitar-se a legislar e regulamentar os criterios da sua planificacao e manutencao;

4. Do ponto anterior segue-se que: em qualquer pais, mas mais fundamentalmente num pais com os niveis de pobreza que Angola apresenta, quais devem ser as prioridades dos gastos publicos? Nao me parece haver muito lugar para duvidas que elas devem ser direccionadas para os “bens indubitavelmente publicos”, isto e’, aqueles sem os quais nao havera membros do publico suficientes para usufruirem de “bens culturais”, sejam eles portugueses ou nao e por melhor mantidos que sejam. Falamos aqui de Saude, Alimentacao, Educacao, Sanidade e Saneamento, Transportes e Emprego, so’ para citar os mais vitais. E e’ para essas areas que as reivindicacoes do “publico em geral” sao geralmente e devem ser direccionadas, nao so’ em Angola e nao so’ em paises subdesenvolvidos, como em todo o mundo. E e’ tambem por essa razao fundamental que os governos interessados na manutencao do seu patrimonio cultural no mundo, com ou sem o apoio de instituicoes financeiras ou culturais internacionais, teem interesse em investir nesse patrimonio – porque esse investimento nao cabe estritamente ao governo do “pais herdeiro”. Ora, tais governos interessados poderao tambem ter consideraveis restricoes aos seus orcamentos publicos disponiveis para esse efeito e nesses casos recorrem as suas instituicoes privadas, sejam elas bancos ou fundacoes culturais especificamente criadas para tal. E aqui o papel dos bancos privados, por isso falei nos bancos portugueses em Angola, na aquisicao desses bens e/ou na concessao de financiamento para a sua manutencao.

Portanto, em resumo, a mensagem que te pretendia transmitir e’ que, como “nativos” que todos somos, nao nos ficaria nada mal um pouco de humildade em relacao as nossas proprias limitacoes de todo o tipo. E, tambem, que precisamos, principalmente voces da geracao mais jovem, de ter uma atitude mais proactiva/positiva, e menos reactiva/negativa, mais racional e menos emotiva, mas sobretudo mais pragmatica e menos dogmatica, em relacao a reconstrucao do nosso pais em todos os dominios – ate’ porque ja’ deviamos andar todos cansados de guerras por causa de ideologias que pouco ou nada teem a ver connosco...
Nao pretendo com isto dar uma de ‘patriota’, e muito menos ‘patrioteira’, ate’ porque tambem tenho as minhas criticas em relacao ao modelo de crescimento, incluindo a essas torres de vidro, que esta’ a ser seguido em Angola – criticas essas que fiz publicar nacional e internacionalmente.

***

P.S. - (28/04/09) - Acabo de encontrar esta noticia no Jornal Angolense:

O património histórico-cultural de Angola e a problemática da sua conservação e restauração foi o tema da comunicação apresentada quinta-feira, pelo Embaixador-delegado permanente de Angola junto da UNESCO, Almerindo Jaka Jamba, num debate organizado pela Fundação Luso-Africana para a Cultura (FLAC).

[Ler mais aqui]

Este post destina-se primordialmente a parabenizar o Salucombo Jr. pelo seu terceiro aniversario na blogosfera. Parabens Attelier dos Mangueirinhas!

E' tambem, para mim, uma oportunidade para zuelar um pouco sobre a questao da preservacao da arquitectura urbana em Luanda e em Angola em geral, que tantos debates tem gerado, na blogosfera e nao so'. As consideracoes que se seguem constituem uma versao editada de um comentario meu no Attelier dos Mangueirinhas, em resposta ao Salucombo Jr., no contexto deste post dele, de onde as fotografias aqui expostas tambem foram tomadas de emprestimo.

1. Todas as ex-potencias coloniais se envolvem, de uma forma ou de outra, na defesa dos seus patrimonios culturais no mundo e especialmente nas suas ex-colonias e isso passa normalmente pelo investimento em projectos de reconstrucao e manutencao, particularmente se essas ex-colonias tiverem passado por longos periodos de guerra. No caso de Angola, tal investimento (incluindo nao so’ financiamento, mas tambem ‘educacao cultural’ sobre esse patrimonio) seria ainda mais justificado pelo facto de a ex-potencia colonial nao ter sido alheia as razoes da guerra – bastaria, por exemplo, ter promovido e garantido um processo de descolonizacao mais atempado, responsavel e assumido e, consequentemente, menos catastrofico…

2. Nos casos em que tal se verifica, tais projectos de investimento sao, via de regra, feitos em parceria com o pais alvo e sob acordos inter-governamentais: nao teem, portanto, necessariamente a ver com “neocolonizacao”. E, afinal, o que e’ mais passivel de ser considerado “neocolonizacao”? A manutencao de um patrimonio cultural, ou o dominio de praticamente todo o sector bancario (e seus respectivos recursos humanos) e outros sectores importantes da economia de um pais? E, ja’ agora, quantas dessas novas torres de vidro nao se destinarao, porventura, directa ou indirectamente, a bancos ou outros interesses economicos portugueses? Mas, independementemente de quem tem ou nao o ‘dever e obrigacao’, ou de quem tem ‘mais ou menos dinheiro’ (ja’ agora dir-te-ei que alguns projectos desse tipo sao patrocinados e financiados por instituicoes supra-nacionais, como a UE ou a UNESCO - veja-se, por favor, o caso de Mbanza Kongo, sem duvida o mais flagrante exemplo de destruicao de um patrimonio historico-cultural, nao so' de Angola, como da humanidade!), eu falei em Portugal “assumir a lideranca” e isso pode resumir-se apenas a apresentar propostas/projectos concretos ao governo Angolano nesse sentido. Toma, por exemplo, o caso da escola portuguesa que foi instalada, por Portugal, ha’ varios anos em Luanda: qual foi o seu objectivo? Certamente nao outro que a manutencao da lingua e da cultura portuguesa – porque nao pensar-se no mesmo tipo de investimento em relacao ao patrimonio arquitectonico portugues?

3. Agora, passemos aquele que e’ talvez o aspecto mais importante dessa questao: em qualquer economia bem gerida (excepto em paises socialistas/comunistas, que Angola, malgre’ tout, nunca foi… quando muito, Angola foi ate’ ha’ 6 anos atras uma economia de guerra) ha’ uma clara delimitacao do papel do estado na economia, mediante a qual os investimentos publicos devem ser reservados aos bens publicos. E a definicao de bens publicos pode ser mais ou menos lata, mas e’ clara o suficiente: em termos gerais, e’considerado “bem publico” aquele que pode ser usufruido por qualquer membro do publico. Aqui poder-se-ha defender que a traca arquitetonica portuguesa (tal como outros bens do patrimonio historico de Angola) e’ um “bem publico” na medida em que qualquer membro do publico ao apenas poder olhar para ela estara’ a usufruir de um “bem cultural”. Ate’ ai muito bem. Mas poe-se entao a questao de saber, em termos mais estritos, se um determinado bem considerado “cultural” e’ propriedade publica ou privada? Isto e’, esta' nas maos do estado ou de um particular? E aqui as aguas do orcamento do estado teem que ser rigorosamente separadas: se e’ publica, cabe ao estado nele investir, se e’ privada, isso cabe ao particular que a possui. O papel do estado ai deve limitar-se a legislar e regulamentar os criterios da sua planificacao e manutencao;

4. Do ponto anterior segue-se que: em qualquer pais, mas mais fundamentalmente num pais com os niveis de pobreza que Angola apresenta, quais devem ser as prioridades dos gastos publicos? Nao me parece haver muito lugar para duvidas que elas devem ser direccionadas para os “bens indubitavelmente publicos”, isto e’, aqueles sem os quais nao havera membros do publico suficientes para usufruirem de “bens culturais”, sejam eles portugueses ou nao e por melhor mantidos que sejam. Falamos aqui de Saude, Alimentacao, Educacao, Sanidade e Saneamento, Transportes e Emprego, so’ para citar os mais vitais. E e’ para essas areas que as reivindicacoes do “publico em geral” sao geralmente e devem ser direccionadas, nao so’ em Angola e nao so’ em paises subdesenvolvidos, como em todo o mundo. E e’ tambem por essa razao fundamental que os governos interessados na manutencao do seu patrimonio cultural no mundo, com ou sem o apoio de instituicoes financeiras ou culturais internacionais, teem interesse em investir nesse patrimonio – porque esse investimento nao cabe estritamente ao governo do “pais herdeiro”. Ora, tais governos interessados poderao tambem ter consideraveis restricoes aos seus orcamentos publicos disponiveis para esse efeito e nesses casos recorrem as suas instituicoes privadas, sejam elas bancos ou fundacoes culturais especificamente criadas para tal. E aqui o papel dos bancos privados, por isso falei nos bancos portugueses em Angola, na aquisicao desses bens e/ou na concessao de financiamento para a sua manutencao.

Portanto, em resumo, a mensagem que te pretendia transmitir e’ que, como “nativos” que todos somos, nao nos ficaria nada mal um pouco de humildade em relacao as nossas proprias limitacoes de todo o tipo. E, tambem, que precisamos, principalmente voces da geracao mais jovem, de ter uma atitude mais proactiva/positiva, e menos reactiva/negativa, mais racional e menos emotiva, mas sobretudo mais pragmatica e menos dogmatica, em relacao a reconstrucao do nosso pais em todos os dominios – ate’ porque ja’ deviamos andar todos cansados de guerras por causa de ideologias que pouco ou nada teem a ver connosco...
Nao pretendo com isto dar uma de ‘patriota’, e muito menos ‘patrioteira’, ate’ porque tambem tenho as minhas criticas em relacao ao modelo de crescimento, incluindo a essas torres de vidro, que esta’ a ser seguido em Angola – criticas essas que fiz publicar nacional e internacionalmente.

***

P.S. - (28/04/09) - Acabo de encontrar esta noticia no Jornal Angolense:

O património histórico-cultural de Angola e a problemática da sua conservação e restauração foi o tema da comunicação apresentada quinta-feira, pelo Embaixador-delegado permanente de Angola junto da UNESCO, Almerindo Jaka Jamba, num debate organizado pela Fundação Luso-Africana para a Cultura (FLAC).

[Ler mais aqui]

REAL 'AFFIRMATIVE ACTION'...

RACISM...

AND CENSORSHIP...

AT WORK!

RACISM...

AND CENSORSHIP...

AT WORK!

INTERROGATING THE BLOGOSPHERE (III)

I swear to anyone remotely interested in this: there’s nothing I would like more at the moment than a quiet and relaxed weekend, or anything I could have wished more than a safe and trouble-free journey in the blogosphere, throughout the rest of this year, particularly taking into account what I went through all last year…

But, as I was waiting to see my reply to a comment I found on GVO (reproduced here) appear there, I just took a look at that site again and found this thing.

Now, as I was talking here about “objectivity/subjectivity”, with Sokari, there were always at least two words on the back of my mind I felt were missing in our conversation, and those were “bias” and “manipulation” (of opinion)!
Now, why would it be that the selected paragraph from that article would be the one appeared on GVO and not any of these:

“O Brasil é dos países mais ricos e diversos culturalmente que já vi, e ao mesmo tempo o pais mais racista que já vi. Angola é dos países mais ricos e diversificados que África possui e ainda assim sofre severamente de racismo. Os critérios de entrada na discoteca, são dos que mais gosto para exemplificar os estereótipos, mesmo porque já fui vitima deste exemplo varias vezes. Os estrangeiros(brancos/mulatos) têm dinheiro.”

“Motivos por ser um pais racista? São dos mais diversos, sendo a colonização para mim o "motivo base" do racismo em Angola, e em todos países do Mundo. Todos países do mundo? Sim, todos os países do mundo! A colonização não resultou só na exploração e ocupação de um povo, mas também resultou na "migração" desse povo durante anos e anos. Os que foram ocupados e explorados fora misturados como é o caso de Angola. Misturados coisa que não aconteceu muitos com os outros países colonizadores, sendo Portugal o mais "mente aberta" quando se tratava de "conhecer" melhor o povo ocupado. E os que colonizavam e que são muitos deles conhecidos como países do primeiro mundo hoje em dia, não estavam contentes por terem sobre sua guarda os povos explorados, portanto resolveram começar a "trazê-los" para os seus países "super-desenvolvidos" onde o ser humano não era um "selvagem",mas sim um "civilizado". Isto tudo mesmo com o fim da escravatura e da colonização deixou marcas e vestígios enormes na nossa sociedade.”

“Hum..e já me esquecia, a resposta que eu dei a senhora que tratava do bilhete foi : EU SOU ANGOLANO!! e ela deu-me um bom xoxo à moda da terra e escreveu RACA: MISTA. Paz,”

Of course, 'simple-minded' people would say: well, because the “editor” didn’t even had the time to read the full article, let alone “think about it”, so she just copied and pasted the first paragraph of ... well, the last part of the article, why should it be the first?

And why did she select that particular article and not, say, this one? Or this one, or the clip on this one? Or the comments on this one?
Well, my dear, the 'simpleton' would say, because she has far more interesting things to do, don't you think?”…

Sorry, English readers only, but if you want a translation of the excerpts I transcribed here, or of the full article in question, you may wish to ask the Portuguese-language team at GVO for it (I’m sorry, but I am not paid for that, never have been, and I’m not sure the same can be said about them…), or use the available online translation devices if you please.*

Enjoy your weekend anyway!

***

*P.S.: I might just add, for the benefit of a better understanding of this issue, that the claim that the mention of ‘races’ in Angolan identity cards (as in here, where mine is pictured) is "an act of racism against them” is a pet cause of the white and mixed-race minorities in the country (as is, by the way, their hatred for the figure of Queen Nzinga Mbandi – whose picture I’m currently using as this blog’s logo – and for her statue in one of the two main squares in the capital city, Luanda).

As with any rule, there are, of course, exceptions, as exemplified by a recent statement by the widow of the first Angolan President (here) who says that “some people get very offended by that, but I am not sure that it is an offense.”

I swear to anyone remotely interested in this: there’s nothing I would like more at the moment than a quiet and relaxed weekend, or anything I could have wished more than a safe and trouble-free journey in the blogosphere, throughout the rest of this year, particularly taking into account what I went through all last year…

But, as I was waiting to see my reply to a comment I found on GVO (reproduced here) appear there, I just took a look at that site again and found this thing.

Now, as I was talking here about “objectivity/subjectivity”, with Sokari, there were always at least two words on the back of my mind I felt were missing in our conversation, and those were “bias” and “manipulation” (of opinion)!
Now, why would it be that the selected paragraph from that article would be the one appeared on GVO and not any of these:

“O Brasil é dos países mais ricos e diversos culturalmente que já vi, e ao mesmo tempo o pais mais racista que já vi. Angola é dos países mais ricos e diversificados que África possui e ainda assim sofre severamente de racismo. Os critérios de entrada na discoteca, são dos que mais gosto para exemplificar os estereótipos, mesmo porque já fui vitima deste exemplo varias vezes. Os estrangeiros(brancos/mulatos) têm dinheiro.”

“Motivos por ser um pais racista? São dos mais diversos, sendo a colonização para mim o "motivo base" do racismo em Angola, e em todos países do Mundo. Todos países do mundo? Sim, todos os países do mundo! A colonização não resultou só na exploração e ocupação de um povo, mas também resultou na "migração" desse povo durante anos e anos. Os que foram ocupados e explorados fora misturados como é o caso de Angola. Misturados coisa que não aconteceu muitos com os outros países colonizadores, sendo Portugal o mais "mente aberta" quando se tratava de "conhecer" melhor o povo ocupado. E os que colonizavam e que são muitos deles conhecidos como países do primeiro mundo hoje em dia, não estavam contentes por terem sobre sua guarda os povos explorados, portanto resolveram começar a "trazê-los" para os seus países "super-desenvolvidos" onde o ser humano não era um "selvagem",mas sim um "civilizado". Isto tudo mesmo com o fim da escravatura e da colonização deixou marcas e vestígios enormes na nossa sociedade.”

“Hum..e já me esquecia, a resposta que eu dei a senhora que tratava do bilhete foi : EU SOU ANGOLANO!! e ela deu-me um bom xoxo à moda da terra e escreveu RACA: MISTA. Paz,”

Of course, 'simple-minded' people would say: well, because the “editor” didn’t even had the time to read the full article, let alone “think about it”, so she just copied and pasted the first paragraph of ... well, the last part of the article, why should it be the first?

And why did she select that particular article and not, say, this one? Or this one, or the clip on this one? Or the comments on this one?
Well, my dear, the 'simpleton' would say, because she has far more interesting things to do, don't you think?”…

Sorry, English readers only, but if you want a translation of the excerpts I transcribed here, or of the full article in question, you may wish to ask the Portuguese-language team at GVO for it (I’m sorry, but I am not paid for that, never have been, and I’m not sure the same can be said about them…), or use the available online translation devices if you please.*

Enjoy your weekend anyway!

***

*P.S.: I might just add, for the benefit of a better understanding of this issue, that the claim that the mention of ‘races’ in Angolan identity cards (as in here, where mine is pictured) is "an act of racism against them” is a pet cause of the white and mixed-race minorities in the country (as is, by the way, their hatred for the figure of Queen Nzinga Mbandi – whose picture I’m currently using as this blog’s logo – and for her statue in one of the two main squares in the capital city, Luanda).

As with any rule, there are, of course, exceptions, as exemplified by a recent statement by the widow of the first Angolan President (here) who says that “some people get very offended by that, but I am not sure that it is an offense.”

INTERROGATING THE BLOGOSPHERE (II)

In the previous post, I raised, among others, the following questions:

Firstly, what is exactly the “mainstream media”? Does it include the same type of outlets in New York, Lisbon, Luanda, Boston, Porto, Brazilia, Maputo, London, Praia, Vila Nova de Gaia, Rio, Lubango or Dili? Secondly, to what extent can a blogger based in Portugal, USA, UK or Cabo Verde accurately reflect the voices of communities and individual citizens in N’Dalatando, Quelimane or Principe, whose concerns might not be heard online? Can such a blogger in any case reflect them better than another one based closer to those communities, unless he visits them regularly or has close family, friendship, or professional ties with them? Thirdly, who gets to determine, and under whose criteria, which are “the most interesting conversations and perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world”, as per the GVO “Primary Goals”?

Trying to find some answers, I took a close look at the GVO coverage of “Portuguese-speaking African countries” in the last six months*:

The most striking observation from this graph is that OC appears not only, as we have seen before, as the “undisputed champion” of GVO reporting about the “Angolan blogosphere”, but also as the “champion” (only “disputed” by Carlos Serra, one of the bloggers I covered for GVO) of their “Lusophone” Sub-Saharan Africa reporting. A second interesting observation is that less than one third of the bloggers covered are actually based in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Another, not less interesting, observation is that we get, just to give an example, issues and events about Angola or Sao Tome & Principe covered by East-Timorese or Portuguese blogs – which perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that some of these blogs are, to put it mildly, “highly influenced” (at least judging from the prominence of his picture on them) by none other than OC, who also appears as the presumable overseer of a “blog production line” (Fabrica de Blogues) spreading from Portugal to Timor. It’s also interesting to observe how OC manages to appear in the coverage of an event in Mozambique, which was being thoroughly covered by Mozambican bloggers in situ.

At first sight, one might be tempted to conclude that these trends reflect a lack of diversity of African-based blogs written in Portuguese. However, as it can be gathered from this list (where, incidentally, my blog doesn’t figure and, by their own admission, is “manipulated” by… exactly, OC), or from this one (where my blog is also not listed) that is not the case.

It is abundantly clear that the GVO “Portuguese-speaking Africa” editorial line is inspired by the concept of “lusofonia”. However, this raises a number of issues, starting with this: just imagine that you are a South African blogger systematically seeing events happening at your doorstep, and that you also blogged about, reported at GVO by British, Nigerian or American bloggers simply because they too are English-speaking and read about it in the conventional mainstream media, or in your own blog? Or that you are a Maurician or Malgache Creole-speaking citizen who finds your local issues covered at GVO by Gabonese, Algerian or Haitian bloggers, in French, just because their countries are also former French colonies? And this kind of examples could go on and on.

But perhaps the most problematic implication of that approach is that the concept of “lusofonia” itself is a highly contentious one and is far from reuniting consensus in all countries involved – not least because, on the one end, the majority of the African populations in those countries are primarily speakers of their own national languages and, on the other, the concept is highly reminiscent of the Portuguese colonial state’s imperial ideology, according to which there was a single “cultural unit” from Minho (extreme North of Portugal) to Timor - as reflected by the spread of the "OC blogging empire"...

The controversy generated by that approach can be gathered, for instance, from this article by a Mozambican professor of African Literatures at a Portuguese University, or from an article by a Brazilian writer and senior government official, whose link can be found on this post, or from another article by the Mozambican author Joao Craveirinha, whose link can be found on this post. However, these ponderous critical perspectives are unceremoniously dismissed as “gritaria” by the Portuguese language editorial team at GVO, which happens to be exclusively integrated by Brazilian citizens.

Now, on the question of who gets to determine, and under whose criteria, which are “the most interesting conversations and perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world”, as per the GVO “Primary Goals”?, let’s just look at some examples taken at random:

- How is it decided that this criticism of the publication for the first time in the Portuguese market of a magazine directed at African women is “more interesting” than, say, the criticisms arising from this, or this?

- How is it decided that this treatment of the “Miss Landmine Angola Pageant” is “more interesting” than, say, this one?

- How is it decided that this presentation of an Angolan music/dance genre is “more interesting” than, say, this one (where the main message is that “Angola is good for everybody except for Angolans”), or any of these (where the rising voices and social consciousness of a new generation of Angolan musicians appear loud and clear)?

- How is it decided that this tribute to Ian Smith is “more interesting”, than, say, something like this?

- How is it decided that this anonymous email message is credible and "more interesting" than any other possible account of the reality on the ground, such as these, or any of these?

- How is it decided that this account of the EU-Africa Summit is "more interesting than, say, this one?

- How is it decided that an event like this “is not interesting”?

Finally, how can GVO’s “loud silence” about this event be explained? The same GVO whose mission includes things like, “shining light on places and people other media often ignore (…) to make sense of it all, and to highlight things that bloggers are saying which mainstream media may not be reporting (…) to help people speak out in places where powerful forces would prevent them from doing so (…) and to enable more people whose voices and views are not heard to speak out online.”

The same GVO where articles like this, for example, can be read?

*N.B.: To be accurate, in all 6 instances where my blog appears on GVO links during the period under analysis, it was not on the initiative of the Portuguese-language editorial team. So, they shouldn't be included in this graph because, for all intents and purposes, this blog was excluded from their reporting in the last six months.

In the previous post, I raised, among others, the following questions:

Firstly, what is exactly the “mainstream media”? Does it include the same type of outlets in New York, Lisbon, Luanda, Boston, Porto, Brazilia, Maputo, London, Praia, Vila Nova de Gaia, Rio, Lubango or Dili? Secondly, to what extent can a blogger based in Portugal, USA, UK or Cabo Verde accurately reflect the voices of communities and individual citizens in N’Dalatando, Quelimane or Principe, whose concerns might not be heard online? Can such a blogger in any case reflect them better than another one based closer to those communities, unless he visits them regularly or has close family, friendship, or professional ties with them? Thirdly, who gets to determine, and under whose criteria, which are “the most interesting conversations and perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world”, as per the GVO “Primary Goals”?

Trying to find some answers, I took a close look at the GVO coverage of “Portuguese-speaking African countries” in the last six months*:

The most striking observation from this graph is that OC appears not only, as we have seen before, as the “undisputed champion” of GVO reporting about the “Angolan blogosphere”, but also as the “champion” (only “disputed” by Carlos Serra, one of the bloggers I covered for GVO) of their “Lusophone” Sub-Saharan Africa reporting. A second interesting observation is that less than one third of the bloggers covered are actually based in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Another, not less interesting, observation is that we get, just to give an example, issues and events about Angola or Sao Tome & Principe covered by East-Timorese or Portuguese blogs – which perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that some of these blogs are, to put it mildly, “highly influenced” (at least judging from the prominence of his picture on them) by none other than OC, who also appears as the presumable overseer of a “blog production line” (Fabrica de Blogues) spreading from Portugal to Timor. It’s also interesting to observe how OC manages to appear in the coverage of an event in Mozambique, which was being thoroughly covered by Mozambican bloggers in situ.

At first sight, one might be tempted to conclude that these trends reflect a lack of diversity of African-based blogs written in Portuguese. However, as it can be gathered from this list (where, incidentally, my blog doesn’t figure and, by their own admission, is “manipulated” by… exactly, OC), or from this one (where my blog is also not listed) that is not the case.

It is abundantly clear that the GVO “Portuguese-speaking Africa” editorial line is inspired by the concept of “lusofonia”. However, this raises a number of issues, starting with this: just imagine that you are a South African blogger systematically seeing events happening at your doorstep, and that you also blogged about, reported at GVO by British, Nigerian or American bloggers simply because they too are English-speaking and read about it in the conventional mainstream media, or in your own blog? Or that you are a Maurician or Malgache Creole-speaking citizen who finds your local issues covered at GVO by Gabonese, Algerian or Haitian bloggers, in French, just because their countries are also former French colonies? And this kind of examples could go on and on.

But perhaps the most problematic implication of that approach is that the concept of “lusofonia” itself is a highly contentious one and is far from reuniting consensus in all countries involved – not least because, on the one end, the majority of the African populations in those countries are primarily speakers of their own national languages and, on the other, the concept is highly reminiscent of the Portuguese colonial state’s imperial ideology, according to which there was a single “cultural unit” from Minho (extreme North of Portugal) to Timor - as reflected by the spread of the "OC blogging empire"...

The controversy generated by that approach can be gathered, for instance, from this article by a Mozambican professor of African Literatures at a Portuguese University, or from an article by a Brazilian writer and senior government official, whose link can be found on this post, or from another article by the Mozambican author Joao Craveirinha, whose link can be found on this post. However, these ponderous critical perspectives are unceremoniously dismissed as “gritaria” by the Portuguese language editorial team at GVO, which happens to be exclusively integrated by Brazilian citizens.

Now, on the question of who gets to determine, and under whose criteria, which are “the most interesting conversations and perspectives emerging from citizens’ media around the world”, as per the GVO “Primary Goals”?, let’s just look at some examples taken at random:

- How is it decided that this criticism of the publication for the first time in the Portuguese market of a magazine directed at African women is “more interesting” than, say, the criticisms arising from this, or this?

- How is it decided that this treatment of the “Miss Landmine Angola Pageant” is “more interesting” than, say, this one?

- How is it decided that this presentation of an Angolan music/dance genre is “more interesting” than, say, this one (where the main message is that “Angola is good for everybody except for Angolans”), or any of these (where the rising voices and social consciousness of a new generation of Angolan musicians appear loud and clear)?

- How is it decided that this tribute to Ian Smith is “more interesting”, than, say, something like this?

- How is it decided that this anonymous email message is credible and "more interesting" than any other possible account of the reality on the ground, such as these, or any of these?

- How is it decided that this account of the EU-Africa Summit is "more interesting than, say, this one?

- How is it decided that an event like this “is not interesting”?

Finally, how can GVO’s “loud silence” about this event be explained? The same GVO whose mission includes things like, “shining light on places and people other media often ignore (…) to make sense of it all, and to highlight things that bloggers are saying which mainstream media may not be reporting (…) to help people speak out in places where powerful forces would prevent them from doing so (…) and to enable more people whose voices and views are not heard to speak out online.”

The same GVO where articles like this, for example, can be read?

*N.B.: To be accurate, in all 6 instances where my blog appears on GVO links during the period under analysis, it was not on the initiative of the Portuguese-language editorial team. So, they shouldn't be included in this graph because, for all intents and purposes, this blog was excluded from their reporting in the last six months.