TONI MORRISON: ON LIFE, WRITING & OBAMA

Here’s where I stand with Toni Morrison: she has my utmost respect and admiration as the first, and so far only, black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. However, I must confess that I have some difficulty in naming her as my ‘preferred writer’, for the simple (difficult) reason that her books, generally, don’t make easy reading for me. Her fictional writing is so complex that in the end I’m never quite sure that I really understood what she meant to convey to the reader. Of course I can always rely solely on my own presumed understanding of it, on my own take – and isn’t this all we can claim to get at the end of any reading, anyway? But I wish I could make more sense of it all.

I mean, I enjoyed reading Song of Solomon, Sula, Beloved and The Bluest Eye, but always came out of the last page of any of them with that sense of ‘unfulfilled promise’, of ‘unscathed bewilderment’... Then, a strange phenomenon, which only happened to me once before (that was with Memoires d’Hadrien by Marguerite Yourcenar – another writer with a special place in literary history, as the first woman to be elected to the French Academy), happened with Paradise: for the last 10 years I’ve been trying really hard to read this book, without ever managing to get too far into it; I close and set it aside for a while, then restart it again only to get stuck somewhere all over again… Needless to say, to this day I’m still ‘bewitched, bothered and bewildered’ by both Memoires d’Hadrien and Paradise…

But what really made me bring Toni Morrison here today was a recent interview she gave to Time readers, from which I’ve extracted the following passages:

(…)
Different books arrive in different ways and require different strategies. Most of the books that I have written have been questions that I can't answer. In order to actually put down the first word—I don't really have a plan—I sometimes have a character, but I can't do anything with it until the language arrives.
(…)
I thought about voting for Hillary at the beginning. I don’t care that she is a woman. I need more than that. Neither his race, his gender, her race or her gender was enough. I needed something else, and the something else was his (Obama’s) wisdom.
(…)
I have two (dreams yet to fulfill). Well, three, really. Two involve novels that I'm going to write and haven't written. The third is immortality. [Laughs.] I don't mean my work. I mean me.

[Read more here]

ON WOMEN'S MONTH, CELEBRATING WOMEN'S POETRY: II. NOEMIA DE SOUSA

Conheci Noemia de Sousa durante um qualquer evento literario em Lisboa nos anos 80. Desse breve, mas muito marcante encontro, lembro-me de ela me ter perguntado algo como “sera' que voces, da nova geracao de escritores, teem nocao de que os vossos livros no tempo colonial nunca seriam publicados?”. Nao me lembro exactamente da minha resposta, mas acho que lhe respondi que “sim, obviamente, temos nocao disso”.

O que sempre me impressionou e fascinou em Noemia, antes e depois de a conhecer, foi o impacto que a sua poesia teve na literatura Mocambicana e das ex-colonias Portuguesas, apesar de nunca ter publicado um unico livro ate’ quase ao fim da sua vida (isto numa era em que, cada vez mais, pelo menos em certos circulos, so' se considera poeta ou escritor a quem publique livros como quem fabrica e vende pao quente todos os dias). Ha’ quem diga que assim o foi porque ela assim o quiz. Nao sei se tera sido exactamente essa a razao, ou se ela tera tido a ver com a pergunta que me fez naquele encontro. Ou talvez Noemia se sentisse plenamente satisfeita apenas com a esparsa aparicao da sua poesia em publicacoes tais como Mensagem, Itinerário, Notícias do Bloqueio, O Brado Africano, Moçambique 58, Vértice, ou Sul.

Qualquer que tenha sido a razao, em 2001, Nelson Saute finalmente conseguiu a sua autorizacao para a edicao de uma colectanea dos seus poemas, escritos cerca de 50 anos antes, entitulada “Sangue Negro”. Sobre ela Francisco Noa, critico literario, escreveu: “Feita arma ou confissão, a poesia de Noémia de Sousa , reunida na obra “Sangue Negro”, exprime não só as inquietações de espírito de um sujeito, claramente localizado no tempo e no espaço, como também prefigura sentimentos, percepções e aspirações, onde converge toda uma nação por acontecer.”

De seu nome completo Carolina Noemia Abranches de Sousa Soares, nasceu em 1926 em Catembe (entao Lourenco Marques, hoje Maputo), Mocambique. Tambem usando o pseudonimo Vera Micaia, comecou a escrever poesia aos 22 anos de idade e nao deixou desde entao de impressionar o mundo literario Mocambicano e nao so’, sobretudo pela profunda afirmacao das suas raizes africanas. Noemia deixou Maputo com destino a Lisboa em 1951, tendo dali emigrado para Paris em 1964. Regressou a Lisboa em 1975, onde residiu e trabalhou como jornalista e tradutora ate’ ao seu falecimento em Dezembro de 2002. Com a devida venia perante a sua memoria, aqui ficam alguns dos seus poemas:

[Foto: Maputo by Ana Santana]

NEGRA

Gentes estranhas com seus olhos cheios doutros mundos
quiseram cantar teus encantos
para elas só de mistérios profundos,
de delírios e feitiçarias...
Teus encantos profundos de Africa.

Mas não puderam.
Em seus formais e rendilhados cantos,
ausentes de emoção e sinceridade,
quedas-te longínqua, inatingível,
virgem de contactos mais fundos.

E te mascararam de esfinge de ébano, amante sensual,
jarra etrusca, exotismo tropical,
demência, atracção, crueldade,
animalidade, magia...
e não sabemos quantas outras palavras vistosas e vazias.

Em seus formais cantos rendilhados
foste tudo, negra...
menos tu.

E ainda bem.

Ainda bem que nos deixaram a nós,
do mesmo sangue, mesmos nervos, carne, alma,
sofrimento,
a glória única e sentida de te cantar
com emoção verdadeira e radical,
a glória comovida de te cantar, toda amassada,
moldada, vazada nesta sílaba imensa e luminosa: MÃE


IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ME

If you want to know me
examine with careful eyes
this bit of black wood
which some unknown Makonde brother
cut and carved
with his inspired hands
in the distant lands of the North.

This is what I am
empty sockets despairing of possessing life
a mouth torn open in an anguished wound
huge hands outspread
and raised in imprecation and in threat
a body tattooed with wounds seen and unseen
from the harsh whip strokes of slavery
tortured and magnificent
proud and mysterious
Africa from head to foot
this is what I am.

If you want to understand me
come, bend over this soul of Africa
in the black dockworker's groans
the Chopez' frenzied dances
the Changanas' rebellion
in the strange sadness which flows
from an African song, through the night.

And ask no more
to know me
for I'm nothing but a shell of flesh
where Africa's revolt congealed
its cry pregnant with hope.


(Mais poesia de Noemia Aqui)



A Song To Heal - Jean 'Binta' Breeze

AINDA SOBRE O "DIA DA MULHER ANGOLANA"

Segundo o Semanário Angolense (edição de 10-17/03/07), «a deputada do MPLA Ruth Neto afirmou recentemente em declarações ao programa "Café da Manhã" da estação radiofónica luandense LAC que Deolinda Rodrigues, afinal, não morreu nada a 2 de Março de 1969, como sempre nos foi impingido pelo actual partido no poder. Ruth Neto disse ainda que o próprio MPLA não sabe sequer quando ela e as suas companheiras foram efectivamente mortas, devendo isso ser cobrado aos dirigentes da UPA/FNLA. Estas revelações da deputada, que pecam por tardias, podem levar ao questionamento de outras datas tidas como relevantes para a história daquele antigo movimento de libertação nacional e, por arrasto, dadas as circunstâncias, para a história do país. Mas, como esta não pode ser feita de mentiras, será necessário a coragem doutras "Ruth’s" para o questionamento em busca da verdade verdadeira, antes que ela seja escrita em definitivo.»

ON WOMEN'S MONTH, CELEBRATING WOMEN'S POETRY: I. MAYA ANGELOU

Maya Angelou: a poet, writer, actress, director, playwright, civil rights activist, composer, polyglot. So many different terms describing one person only. A true Renaissance woman. She went through the mill from a black little girl discriminated against in the white society to an artist respected in the whole world, from childhood marked by traumatic experiences to adulthood filled with wisdom and good. Maya Angelou impresses with her inner strength and self-awareness, and draws attention of bigger and bigger masses of readers and fans. She is author of ten best-selling books and laureate of many awards from different fields. She received fifty honorary degrees from various colleges.

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She is best known for her autobiographical books: All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), The Heart of a Woman (1981), Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), Gather Together in My Name (1974), and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), which was nominated for the National Book Award.

Among her volumes of poetry are A Brave and Startling Truth (Random House, 1995), The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994), Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993), Now Sheba Sings the Song (1987), I Shall Not Be Moved (1990), Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? (1983), Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975), and Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), which was nominated for the Pulitzer prize.

In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1961 to 1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt, the only English-language news weekly in the Middle East, and from 1964 to 1966 she was feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana. She returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year. She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1981 as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning," at the inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request.

The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou has written, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both author and executive producer of a five-part television miniseries "Three Way Choice." She has also written and produced several prize-winning documentaries, including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the Golden Eagle Award. Maya Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for acting: once for her Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance in Roots (1977).

(READ MAYA's POETRY HERE)

Sources: various

ANGOLA, PETROLEO E ECONOMIA POS-CONFLITO: QUE FAZER?

Prometi aqui ha tempos publicar aqui o artigo "Angola, Petroleo e Economia Pos-Conflito: Que Fazer", que escrevi em meados do ano passado e que foi inicialmente publicado no Semanario Angolense, tendo posteriormente sido reproduzido na revista Figuras e Negocios e re-publicado, numa nova versao, na Antologia de 2007 do Conselho Noruegues para Africa.
Um recente comentario, bastante bem elaborado devo dizer, de um visitante Anonimo deste blog sugeriu-me que talvez seja esta a altura mais oportuna para cumprir o prometido. O comentario, inicialmente feito aqui, e' o que se segue:


"Anonymous said...

Bato, Koluki: Obrigada pelos comentarios positivos.

E estimulante trocar este tipo de ideais, ver a vossa motivacao, os bonitos exemplos dados. No fundo quem sabe o desejo de mudanca esteja tambem a flor da pele de pessoas com que nao contamos. Os do poder?!

Como disse a mudanca para melhor e trabalho de todos e manter as coisas melhoradas sera tambem trabalho de todos, e sera um trabalho permanente.

Mudanca da Noite para o Dia. Como consegui-la?
Existe um individuo em Angola com o poder para fazer o seguinte:

1) Contractar um grupo de conselheiros e elaborar e executar um plano de desenvolvimento economico para a capital e as provincias. Incluindo construcao de hospitais, escolas, universidades, centros tecnicos e de investigacao, habitacoes, criar um sistema de financiamento e treino para pequenos investidores Angolanos, construcao e manutencao de museus, centros de recriacao, construcao de estradas e de auto-estradas, criar centros agro-pecuarios, construcao e manutencao de barragens para abastecimento electrico etc, etc.

2) Estabelecer tabelas salariais que permitam aos Angolanos viverem dos seus salarios com dignidade (incluindo todos desde o varredor de rua ao primeiro ministro).

3) Dar preferencia a profissionais e aos trabalhadores Angolanos e em areas em que nao tivermos peritos, procura-los no mercado internacional pagando apenas o necessario/o que o mercado oferece (ate certo ponto o pagamento de balurdios a certos co-operantes estrangeiros preferencialmente aos de raca branca e reflexo de um certo complexo de inferioridade que muitos lideres ainda possuem), treinarmos e incentivarmos Angolanos para obterem conhecimentos nas areas em que carecermos de peritos.

4) Criar e executar um plano para o regresso de Angolanos no exterior em condicoes de dignidade.

5) Promover progamas de educacao social com os objectivos de nos ajudar a superar o trauma do colonialismo, esclarecer a importancia da estabilidade familiar, combate ao alcolismo, prostituicao, sida, etc, etc.Acredito que Angola possua recursos naturais e humanos suficientes para terminar com o ciclo vicioso e comecar o ciclo virtuoso! E existe uma pessoa com poder de iniciar um processo desta natureza tudo o que necessitaria como caracteristicas pessoais seriam a. vontade, b. visao, c. lideranca. Se essa pessoa acordasse um dia com a vontade para o fazer (so precisa de contratar as pessoas certas e de as despedir se depois de lhes ter posto a disposicao os recursos necessarios e ter dado um periodo de tempo razoavel, os resultados nao fossem atingidos).

E claro que a reconstrucao de Angola ira levar anos, mas a beleza a qual eu chamo mudanca DA NOITE PARA O DIA esta exactamente no processo, em si. Koluki, imagine so se voce acordasse amanha e recebesse um convite para fazer parte da equipa de conselheiros economicos. E claro, o trabalho nao seria concluido num dia. Mas a mudanca ocurreria no momento em que comecasse a trabalhar com um objectivo de ajudar a criar uma Nacao digna!

Imaginem acordar pela manha e ouvir na radio em Luanda que o ministerio da construcao com a participacao ira implementar um plano de construcao de habitacoes na areas perifericas de Luanda em que cada familia que enlistasse como aprendizes de pedreiros por um ano cinco jovens por exemplo, tivesse o direito de comprar uma casa a precos acessiveis/com financiamento subsidiado se necessario. Nao so os jovens estariam ocupados a aprender algo de util mas tambem de forma pratica a ajudar a resolver problemas de habitacao.

Imagine comerciais televisivos feitos com as misses Angola de varias idades a anunciarem como e bom e saudavel ser bonita e como pode ser humilhante destruidor do amor proprio servir de objecto sexual(especialmente de homens velhos e feios!). Mostrar comerciais com varios homens com aparencias de elite a morrer de sida. Algo de bem chocante com a dor o estigma, sofrimento que o sida produz. E no final perguntar e isso que voce quer para si?Programas televisivos com estorias de preferencia reais de familias felizes demonstrando como os valores morais lhes ajudam a manter essa felicidade.

Por a Bato como membro do grupo de planeamento dos programas ocupacionais para os jovens.

Acredito, sim que Angola podera mudar Da NOITE PARA O DIA, mas infelizmente nao com o lider que temos a. nao tem a vontade, b. nao tem a visao, c. nao tem a capacidade de lideranca necessaria, para tal!

Tenham um bom dia."

Proponho entao aos meus queridos amigos e amigas que por aqui passam, todos os dias ou so' de vez em quando, que considerem estas propostas em conjunto com o artigo em anexo e digam de sua justica o que acham poderiam ser as melhores, ou apenas possiveis, solucoes para os prubulemas que estamos cum eles...

Os meus agradecimentos antecipados pelos vossos comentarios.

ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Poesia no Dia Internacional da Mulher

PRESENÇA AFRICANA (Alda Lara)

&

MEU AMOR DA RUA ONZE (Aires de Almeida Santos)

(Leia Aqui)

RESPECT (Aretha Franklin)

SABORES, ODORES & SONHO

«Por bem simples que seja a obra, faz,
Pois sempre é obra tua, e é mais uma...
Vale mais de alguma coisa ser capaz,
Que afinal não fazer coisa nenhuma.
E se alguém te disser que é imperfeita,
Diz-lhe que não se admire, porque é tua,
Não soubeste fazê-la mais perfeita.
Porém, que faça ele melhor a sua...»

Do poeta de Casal de Cinza

A. MONTEIRO DA FONSECA (1895-1986)

in «O Canto do Sol-Posto»

Ilustracao da capa: desenho de Luandino Vieira

Introito: "J'ai envie de parler de la rose et du rossignol, d'une belle journee et d'une belle vie... mais la vie me tient par le poignet et je tombe comme si j'avais une pierre au cou jusqu'au fond de la realite." (Elsa Triolet)

Texto da contracapa: "Este e' o caderno de uma estreia, o volume inicial de uma voz propria, uma oficina segura, uma inequivoca sensibilidade. O resumo de um poeta. Que esse resumo seja um inicio pode parecer paradoxal. Mas aqui estao pouco mais de vinte poemas que constituem a surpreendente revelacao de um poeta capaz de invencao no acto da escrita, de fidelidade ao real, ao nosso tempo e espaco, uma atmosfera recriada pela forca da palavra. Uma voz feminina com a coragem de penetrar areas defendidas ou minadas por palavreado e retorica anteriores. Que faz explodir e libertar para fonte de seu futuro trabalho poetico. Ou outros futuros." Compilaçao feita por Luandino Vieira (enquanto Secretario Geral da Uniao dos Escritores Angolanos) de opinioes escritas por um painel constituido pelos escritores Costa Andrade, Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, David Mestre e Manuel Rui Monteiro.

Data de publicaçao: Agosto de 1985, Luanda; Lançamento: Lubango, 1986 (Apresentacoes feitas por Henrique Abranches e Aires de Almeida Santos); Tiragem: 10.000 exemplares.

PELA CHUVA, AS RAÍZES

Apenas agora,
tantas já as gotas
batidas na chapa
estrelas espreitadas
pelos furinhos
por sobre as cabeças
o odor da terra molhada
tornado imenso no tempero
do coxilo, o luando,
os imbondeiros ausentes,
nos trópicos,
tão ténue o travo da múcua,
o zinco tornado o último andar

alinhavando o que falta nascer,
pelo vidro quebrando a chuva,
nos damos conta da vida,
sempre lá fora,
pelo meio da gota, transbordando
da lua, nunca apontada,
tantas as estórias de encantar
rebuscadas ainda a chuva
entrava pelo zinco esburacado.

E se quebrarmos o vidro,
saltarmos do último andar
e nos enterrarmos na terra molhada
até dela sairmos
pelas raízes do imbondeiro?
Porque não nascer
e provar a múcua sobre o luando,
nem zincos, nem garras para
arranhar os céus,
seguindo a estrela
bebendo a chuva,
nos dando conta?

AGUARDANDO LUZ VERDE

Se não me tivesses cortado a palavra, António,
satisfaria esse teu ardente desejo
e dir-te-ia do que se vê nos meus olhos
sob um olhar turvo

Só que quando o fazes, António,
está turvo o dia e nada se pode ver nos olhos
Mas, eu estou por aqui,
esperando a vida,
melhor, espero por mim
dormindo, o milagre no chão
sonhando

Não sonho já contigo
estou semeando plantas, António
espero as flores para te falar,
que com o seu desabrochar
venha a tua luz verde
para os meus olhos
venham os teus, límpidos
e atentos, António
tua boca escutando a minha voz.

TRIBUTES TO WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE: MAMPHELA RAMPHELE

Extracts from “The 6th Annual Biko Memorial Lecture” at UCT (SEP 05) and interview to The Guardian (MAR 05) by Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Co- Chair of the Global Commission on International Migration and former Managing Director of the World Bank and UCT Vice-Chancellor.

“(…) The question facing us today is the extent to which we can demonstrate that we have indeed gone beyond the symbols of our citizenship, be they the flag, the national anthem or the values enshrined in our Constitution. Have we gone beyond singing about our beloved country to defending its values by living them out in our daily lives in the classrooms, the board rooms, the office complex, factory floor, the hospital ward, the police station, or any other space where we are active as citizens?

(…) The idea of civil service as an opportunity to serve seems to have become overshadowed by the notion of civil service as a job opportunity for the individual involved. The wisdom embedded in the idea that “In serving each other, we become free” as William Nicholson put it, is lost on the many civil servants who fail to pass the test of common courtesy to citizens who are entitled to public services. Some of the officials behave no different from their apartheid predecessors in treating their fellow citizens with disrespect. Could it be that some of our civil servants have yet to take delivery of the freedom that would have made them recognize the sacred duty of serving their fellow citizens with dignity? Could it also be that the linkage of service with subservience for the majority of poor black people in the bad apartheid years has damaged the capacity for service in some people in the civil service of the new democracy? Whatever the reason, it is not acceptable for civil servants to expect taxpayers to continue to pay them for the privilege to be insulted.

The government for its part, needs to set and enforce the parameters for accountability. Party loyalty is not a sufficient basis for appointment to public service. The appalling skills gaps in the civil service as well as the unsustainable vacancy rates reflect not only lack of skills, but the corroding impact of politicization of appointments at many levels of our civil service. There are too many skilled professionals being denied job opportunities at the various levels of government because they are outside of the party political networks that have captured civil service jobs for patronage. Comparative analyses worldwide point to the importance of limiting political appointments based on loyalty only to the top layer. Strict professional competency criteria need to be applied for the rest of the system to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. We need to strengthen professional recruitment, promotion, training and retaining of public officials at all levels of government. Mediocrity has to be rooted out and meritocracy promoted. We run a serious risk of losing even more of our brightest skilled people for greener pastures where their value is more appreciated. We stand to lose the competition for skills in today’s global knowledge economy if we do not rise to the challenge of retaining those we train at great cost.

Ramphele, who was in London recently to deliver the annual lecture for the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (Compas), talks of how much more complex migration has become. Never before, she says, has the world seen such large numbers of people living outside their country of origin - up to 200 million - with every expectation the numbers will continue to grow. Almost all countries, she says, are now touched by the phenomenon. Even Albania, which used to refuse to let anyone out, or Japan, which refused to let anyone in, have significant movements. The old distinction between countries of origin, transit and destination has become redundant. Many countries now fall into all three categories, and even the basic distinction between citizen and foreigner can no longer be applied to those with dual nationality. Still more confusing are the motives for migration, with single families having complex mixtures of economic, social, political and personal reasons for moving that could be difficult to disentangle. Just as West Africans and the people of the Sahel states and North Africa headed towards Europe, a wide band of states south of the Sahara now head towards South Africa.

For educated and ambitious young people in these sub-Saharan states, South Africa has become the most attractive nation. But the country is finding it difficult, she says, to absorb the flows, which have increased faster than the South African economy. (Although official figures show only 120,000 people applying for asylum in South Africa in the last decade, at least another million Africans - and some estimates say two million - have moved there.) "We are like a little Europe, without her resources," she says. Ramphele expresses concern at the way western governments have allowed themselves to be pushed into hardline asylum and immigration policies by the media and opposition parties. She is opposed to European proposals to set up refugee vetting camps in North Africa "in countries that are not even democratic", but she praises former home secretary David Blunkett for recognising the benefits that migrants can bring and the needs they fill, expressing hopes that other politicians will follow suit.

"We must recognise that the world's poorest countries have little real incentive to obstruct the departure of their citizens, even if they are leaving in an illegal or irregular manner," she says. "From the perspective of developing countries, migration reduces the need to create jobs for large numbers of unemployed people, especially those young people who are entering the labour market for the first time." There are, however, two important caveats to this last statement: remittance payments and the brain drain. Remittances are now providing developing states with almost twice as much as international aid - more than £75bn a year. They have played an important role in supporting families, improving lifestyles and business opportunities. The brain drain has to be tackled, Ramphele says. She rules out a ban on skilled people leaving - not least because it would be "inconsistent with my belief that migration is motivated by the very noble desire to gain a better quality of life."

Biko (Peter Gabriel/Ladysmith Black Mambazo/Geoffrey Oryema/Alex Brown/Manu Dibango)

Steve Biko, the leader of the South African Black Consciousness Movement and life partner of Mamphela Rampele, died on September 12, 1977, aged 31, after security police in Port Elizabeth beat and tortured him to death. The inquest recorded the cause of death only as brain damage. Police at the time claimed he slipped on a piece of soap while in the shower and then justice minister Jimmy Kruger famously said the death left him “cold”. About his brutal murder, former president Nelson Mandela said: “His life was extinguished with more callousness and casualness than a person snuffing out a candle flame between callused thumb and forefinger.”

While a medical student at Fort Hare University in 1967, Biko broke away from the largely white National Union of SA Students, which he said was not representative of his culture. He then formed the SA Students Organisation to lobby for black causes. In 1969 he was banned for (peaceful) political activities, including founding the Black People’s Convention which brought together various black consciousness movements to uplift areas around Durban, and founding the Black Community Programme. He was arrested on August 21, 1977 and three weeks later was dead. Biko’s concern with issues of culture, identity and the human rights of black people are expressed in his book “I Write What I Like”.

Biko's son, Nkosinathi Biko, was involved in setting up the Steve Biko Foundation and has helped establish a library and archives that collect writings by and about his father. Biko’s killers were denied amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in February 1999.

"Nkosinathi Biko: False Medical Certificate, Dr. Benjamin Tucker" (Truth Game Series, by Sue Williamson)

(READ MORE HERE)

ADELAIDE TAMBO (R.I.P.)

Adelaide Frances (Tshukudu) Tambo, affectionately known as Ma- Tambo, wife of the late ANC leader Oliver Tambo, who passed away on the last day of January this year, aged 77, was laid to rest today in Johannesburg. In attendance to the funeral were Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, among other South African dignitaries, African leaders, diplomats, family members and thousands of ANC members.

Mr Mandela, who shared her birthday, said he mourned the "passing away of a close personal friend, a comrade and one of the great heroines of our nation. She was a mother to the liberation movement in exile, and a nationally revered figure in our new nation. We pay tribute to a life dedicated to freedom and service." President Mbeki affirmed that Ms Tambo's death "amounts to a loss to the entire country and the international community. We are mourning the early and untimely death of Ma-Tambo. She was a commanding general whose instinct told her to be nothing more than a foot soldier." Her son, one of her three surviving children, media personality Dali Tambo, said his mother was part of a generation of women who "endured so much, regretted so little. I am a fortunate son. I can take comfort on the shoulder of a nation in mourning."

BIOGRAPHY

Adelaide Tambo’s political life started at the age of 10 after a raid by the police, following a riot in Top Location, Vereeniging. A police officer had been killed, and Adelaide's ailing grandfather, aged 82, was among those who were arrested and taken to the town square. There the old man collapsed and Adelaide had to sit with him until he regained consciousness. The way the young policemen pushed him around and called him 'boy' made her swear to fight them till the end. This was in 1939 and at the time she was a primary school pupil at St Thomas Practicing School in Johannesburg. In 1944, she started working for the ANC as a courier, while studying at Orlando High. She had joined the school's debating society and it was during this time that Dr Malan was entrenching apartheid, which became a heated matter for most of the students.

At 18, Adelaide joined the ANC Youth League and was elected chairperson of the George Goch branch and one of her duties was to open branches of the Youth League in the Transvaal. Later, as a student nurse at Pretoria General Hospital, she met Oliver Tambo at a meeting of the Eastern township branch of the ANC and the two were married in December 1956. Their wedding was a true "struggle" event - three weeks before it took place, Oliver Tambo had been arrested and charged with high treason, along with 155 other ANC members, including the partner in his law firm, Nelson Mandela, in what became known as the ‘Treason Trial’. The wedding went ahead four days after the suspects were released on bail. But, on the way to the church, the bride, groom and best man were briefly arrested for violating the pass laws, and bundled into a police van. There was no honeymoon. After the wedding, it was back to court. The trial lasted for more than three years, ending in the acquittal of all the accused.

Following the massacre of Sharpeville in 1960, the anti-apartheid struggle led by the then banned ANC and SACP intensified, leading to the internationally known ‘Rivonia Trial’ of 1963-64, in which Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and others were sentenced to life imprisonment, having faced the possibility of the death sentence. Oliver and Adelaide Tambo were asked by the ANC to leave the country in 1960 and to carry on the work of the organisation outside South Africa once they were settled. Adelaide resumed her work as a courier - this time for her husband. Based in London until the unbanning of all political parties, Adelaide became a founder member of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Movement and the Pan-African Women's Organisation (PAWO). She also assisted in identifying and financially assisting some of the families whose children left South Africa after the 1976 uprisings. The couple returned to South Africa in 1990 but Oliver died of a stroke in 1993 - a year before the country's first all-race democratic elections. She represented the ANC in parliament. Besides her work as the national Treasurer of the ANC Women’s League, Adelaide also occupied herself with work for people in old age homes. She had recently launched the Adelaide Tambo Trust for the Elderly.

In 2002, Adelaide Tambo received South Africa's top decoration - the Order of the Baobab in Gold - and was present at a ceremony last October to rename Johannesburg airport the O.R. Tambo International Airport, in honour of her late husband. In the 1990s, the Anglican Church in South Africa appointed her to the Order of Simon of Cyrene, the highest honour it can bestow on a lay person.


(Sources: various)

ANNA NICOLE SMITH'S DEATH

Now… esta e’ uma daquelas noticias capazes de me fazerem reflectir por alguns momentos sobre os meus proprios criterios de seleccao de materias a incluir neste blog, mas que acabam por impor-se a qualquer tentativa de racionalizacao mais profunda…
Anna Nicole Smith (ANS), de seu nome de baptismo Vickie Lynn Hogan, natural do Texas, USA, acaba de falecer em circunstancias ainda nao esclarecidas, aos 39 anos de idade. ANS e’ (foi) uma daquelas figuras que se catapultaram para todo o tipo de headlines gracas ‘as suas imitacoes, mais ou menos bem conseguidas, da imagem de Marilyn Monroe, mas, sobretudo, ‘as sempre fascinantes estorias de “rags to riches”, isto e’, de “celebridades” que, vindo "do nada", por “acidentes de percurso”, acabam por juntar os seus nomes 'as listas das maiores fortunas do mundo. O “acidente de percurso” que mudou radicalmente a “fortuna” de ANS foi o seu casamento com um nonagenario bilionario da industria petrolifera, preso a uma cadeira de rodas, quando ela tinha 20 anos de idade. O nonagenario faleceu pouco tempo depois, como se esperava, e ANS saltou para as headlines por conta de um longo e turbulento processo judicial que lhe foi movido por um dos filhos do falecido pela heranca do seu pai… Ela ganha parcialmente o processo e, entretanto, volta a casar-se com o seu advogado, enquanto gravida de uma crianca, cuja paternidade esta’ ainda a ser disputada entre o novo marido e um dos seus namorados… Tres dias depois de essa crianca nascer, o filho de ANS, de 20 anos de idade, morre de uma suspeita overdose de anti-depressivos. Fui obtendo estas informacoes atraves de programas de televisao que ocasionalmente fui vendo ao longo dos anos, incluindo alguns episodios do “Anna Nicole Smith Show” (que vi, imagine-se, no Botswana), em que ela cronicava, entre outras coisas, a sua batalha contra a sua auto-induzida obesidade… Ha’ pouco mais de uma semana vi, no legendario “Larry King Live”, esse imparavel cronista das "altas esferas" americanas, uma longa sessao de acusacoes, contra-acusacoes, afirmacoes e contradicoes entre os dois pretendentes ‘a paternidade da filha recem-nascida de ANS… Sera’ interessante verificar que posicoes tomara’ cada um deles agora que ANS deixou o mundo dos vivos.
Enquanto escrevia isto nao parei de pensar em razoes que justifiquem o trazer deste assunto a este blog … A que se apresenta mais plausivel e’ que talvez valha a pena olharmos, nem que seja apenas de vez em quando, um pouco para mundos que parecem tao afastados do “mundo normal”, mas que na verdade sao povoados por protagonistas que acabam por ser tao vulneraveis como o comum dos mortais (… sorry excuse, I know… or... maybe not).

Adenda: Entretanto, um terceiro pretendente ao "trono" de pai da filha de ANS (...a ter em conta que quem "ganhe o titulo" habilita-se a herdar uma enorme fortuna, pelo menos ate' a crianca atingir a idade adulta...) saltou para a spotlight... Trata-se do "Principe Frederic Von Anhalf" (que e' na verdade filho de um policia alemao, que comprou o titulo 'a Princesa Marie Auguste von Anhalt da Alemanha, quando esta precisava de dinheiro, e que se dedica ao negocio de compra e venda de titulos nobiliarios europeus em Hollywood), marido da legendaria Zsa Zsa Gabor (que tambem tem passado os ultimos anos numa cadeira de rodas desde que sofreu um terrivel acidente de viacao), por sua vez tia-avo de uma outra "it girl" que tambem passa a vida nas headlines "just for the sex (... I mean, the sake) of it", a menina Paris Hilton. Larry King perguntou-lhe como e' que se sentia a Zsa Zsa perante a aparicao do marido no meio desta estoria, ao que o "principe" respondeu que "claro que ela esta' aborrecida porque ela e' loura e a ANS tambem era loura... mas eu gosto de louras, o que e' que eu posso fazer... eu sou homem, ninguem me pode culpar por isso." Larry perguntou-lhe se ele amava ANS. O "principe" respondeu: "Nao, eu nunca a amei, eu sempre amei a minha esposa. Ha' pessoas que vao para a cama com alguem e pensam que isso e' amor... amor e' uma coisa completamente diferente." (Pronto, prometo que nao volto a esta estoria!)

HERSTORY: TRIBUTE TO WANGARI MAATHAI

WANGARI MAATHAI

(First African Woman Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 2004)

"TOO EDUCATED, TOO STRONG,
TOO SUCCESSFUL, TOO STUBBORN
AND TOO HARD TO CONTROL !“

"I REALISED THAT I HAVE HUMAN BRAINS AND NOT WOMAN BRAINS SO I SET OUT TO MAKE USE OF THEM"

Wangari Maathai, ecologista, nascida a 1 de Abril de 1940 na aldeia de Ihithe, no interior do Quenia, ganhou o Premio Nobel da Paz de 2004, no que foi a primeira mulher Africana galardoada com tal distincao. Maathai estudou na Alemanha e nos Estados Unidos, tendo neste pais obtido, em 1964, o seu Bacharelato em Biologia pelo Colegio de St. Md. Scholastica (Colegio das Madres Benedictinas) e depois, em 1966, o Mestrado pela Universidade de Pittsburgh. Regressada ao Quenia, doutora-se pela Universidade de Nairobi em 1971 (tendo sido a primeira mulher da Africa Oriental a obter um Ph.D.) e comeca a trabalhar como Professora no Departamento de Medicina Veterinaria da mesma Universidade, tendo-se mais tarde tornado Decana da sua Faculdade.

"I AM NOT DRIVEN BY ISSUES ABOUT WOMEN BUT WHAT AFFECTS THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE. THE CHALLENGES THAT I FACE ARE NOT BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN BUT ARISE AS A RESULT OF THOSE WHO WANT TO GAIN MILEAGE AT THE EXPENSE OF THE COMMUNITY"

Em 1977, Maathai iniciou o “Green Belt Movement” (Movimento Cintura Verde), uma ONG com um programa de plantacao de arvores para estancar o processo de deforestacao e erosao do solo e fornecer lenha as mulheres Quenianas. Para a sua criacao, Maathai ter-se-a inspirado numa velha tradicao Africana que ve na arvore um simbolo de paz e segundo a qual, quando ha um conflito, a pessoa mais velha planta uma arvore entre os dois lados da disputa, simbolizando o inicio da reconciliacao. O programa levou a plantacao de mais de 30 milhoes de arvores e Maathai, que era tambem a dirigente maxima do Conselho Nacional das Mulheres do Quenia, tornou-se uma figura politica de peso no pais, tendo-lhe sido dado o apelido “Tree Woman” (Mulher Arvore, ou Mulher das Arvores).

"THEY ARE SO INCOMPETENT THAT EVERY TIME THEY FEEL THE HEAT BECAUSE WOMEN ARE CHALLENGING THEM THEY HAVE TO CHECK THEIR GENITALIA IF ONLY TO REASSURE THEMSELVES… I AM NOT INTERESTED IN THAT PART OF THE ANATOMY, THE ISSUES I AM DEALING WITH REQUIRE THE UTILISATION OF WHAT IS ABOVE THE NECK."

A dedicacao ao seu "Movimento Cintura Verde" levou-a a varios choques com as autoridades por por em causa desenvolvimentos imobiliarios e outros interesses economicos dos poderes instituidos. Numa das varias manifestacoes do seu movimento, perante a violenta agressao das autoridades contra as mulheres que o compunham, estas, lideradas por Maathai, ameacaram despir-se completamente em publico, o que na cultura Queniana constitui a maior manifestacao de ultraje perante actos humiliatorios contra as mulheres… Durante a presidencia de Arap Moi, Maathai, que e’ originaria do grupo etnico Kikuyu, foi varias vezes presa e violentamente atacada por exigir eleicoes multipartidarias e o fim da corrupcao politica e do tribalismo no pais. Em 1989, consegue praticamente sozinha salvar o Uhuru National Park de Nairobi ao parar a construcao no local, pelos associados financeiros de Moi, de um gigantesco complexo comercial.

"I THINK THAT AT A CERTAIN LEVEL WHEN WOMEN TOO ARE DEALING WITH REAL ISSUES AND WHEN THOSE ISSUES ARE RECOGNISED THERE IS NO LONGER THE GENDER BIAS AND BOTH MEN AND WOMEN CONVERGE IN THEIR APPRECIATION."

Em 1997, concorre, sem sucesso, para a Presidencia do pais e para um lugar no Parlamento, durante uma campanha eleitoral marcada por violencia etnica. Junta-se depois a “Rainbow Coalition” da qual e’ eleita representante no Parlamento, apos a victoria desta Coligacao em 2002 contra o partido de Arap Moi, a Uniao Nacional Africana do Quenia. Ainda em 2002, aceita um convite para exercer as funcoes de Professora Associada no Instituto Global para as Florestas Sustentaveis da Universidade de Yale (EUA). Em 2003 e’ nomeada pelo entao recem-eleito Presidente Mwai Kibaki para o cargo de Vice-Ministra do Ambiente e Recursos Naturais e funda o “Mazingiri Green Party do Quenia”.

"ALL THROUGH THE AGES THE AFRICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE EFFORTS TO DELIVER THEMSELVES FROM OPPRESSIVE FORCES."

Em 2004, depois de ter recebido varios premios nacionais e internacionais ao longo da sua vida, Maathai e’ galardoada com o Nobel da Paz pelo seu trabalho com e para as mulheres e as comunidades para reverter a deforestacao em Africa e pela sua contribuicao ao desenvolvimento sustentavel, a democracia e a paz, tendo o Comite Nobel da Noruega declarado na ocasiao que “os seus metodos unicos de accao chamaram atencao para a opressao politica - nacional e internacionalmente. Ela serviu de inspiracao para muitos na luta pelos direitos democraticos e encorajou especialmente as mulheres a melhorarem a sua situacao.”

"IT IS IMPORTANT THAT A CRITICAL MASS OF AFRICANS DO NOT ACCEPT THE VERDICT THAT THE WORLD TRIES TO PUSH DOWN THEIR THROAT SO AS TO GIVE UP AND SUCCUMB."

Pouco tempo depois de ter ganho o Nobel, Maathai provocou alguma controversia na imprensa internacional devido a sugestao que lhe foi atribuida de que o SIDA podera ter sido causado por um agente biologico criado em laboratorios ocidentais. De tais alegadas declaracoes ela distanciou-se mais tarde, dizendo: “Eu tenho alertado as pessoas contra falsas crencas e desinformacao como a atribuicao dessa doenca a Deus, ou a crenca de que dormir com uma virgem pode curar a infeccao. Essas crencas levaram a uma escalada de violacoes e violencia contra criancas. E’ neste contexto, ainda mais complicado por questoes culturais e religiosas, que eu falo frequentemente. Fiquei, portanto, chocada pelo debate que se gerou a volta do que eu alegadamente disse. Por isso, e’ critico que eu esclareca que eu nunca disse, ou acreditei, que o virus foi desenvolvido por brancos, ou pelos poderes ocidentais, para destruirem o povo Africano. Tais suposicoes sao maliciosas e destrutivas."

"THE STRUGGLE MUST CONTINUE... IT IS IMPORTANT TO NURTURE ANY NEW IDEAS AND INITIATIVES WHICH CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR AFRICA"

Em 2005, Maathai foi eleita a primeira presidente do Conselho Economico, Social e Cultural da Uniao Africana.


Ao longo da sua evolucao como Mulher, Academica, Ecologista e Politica, Wangari, Muta de seu nome de solteira, viu o seu casamento, contraido em 1969, terminar em divorcio poucos anos depois, porque, de acordo com declaracoes do seu ex-marido, Mwangi Mathai, durante o processo judicial de divorcio, “ela era demasiado educada, demasiado forte, demasiado bem sucedida, demasiado teimosa e demasiado dificil de controlar!”, no que obteve a concordancia do juiz… o qual mandou prender Wangari pelos seus protestos contra si e decretou que ela deixasse de usar o nome de casada… Desafiando a decisao do juiz, Wangari decidiu apenas acrescentar um ‘a’ a Mathai…

HERSTORY: TRIBUTO A NINA SIMONE

Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 - April 21, 2003) -- "Priestess of Soul"-- Composed over 500 songs, recorded almost 60 albums. First woman to win the Jazz Cultural Award "Woman of the Year" 1966, Jazz at Home ClubFemale Jazz Singer of the Year, 1967, National Association of Television and Radio Announcers.
In 1993, Don Shewey wrote of Nina Simone in the Village Voice, "She's not a pop singer, she's a diva, a hopeless eccentric ... who has so thoroughly co-mingled her odd talent and brooding temperament that she has turned herself into a force of nature, an exotic creature spied so infrequently that every appearance is legendary."

Nina Simone was born as Eunice Kathleen Waymon in 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, daughter of John D. Waylon and Mary Kate Waymon, an ordained Methodist minister. The house was filled with music, Nina Simone later recalled, and she learned to play piano early. When her mother took a job as a maid for extra money, the family saw that young Eunice had special musical talent and sponsored classical piano lessons for her. She studied with a Mrs. Miller and then with Muriel Massinovitch.
For her last year of high school, Nina Simone attended Juilliard School of Music, as part of her plan to prepare to attend the Curtis Institute of Music. She took the entrance exam for the Curtis Institute's classical piano program, but was not accepted. Nina Simone believed that she was good enough for the program, but that she was rejected because she was black. Her family by that time had moved to Philadelphia, and she began to give piano lessons. When she discovered that one of her students was playing in a bar in Atlantic City -- and being paid more than she was from her piano teaching -- she decided to try this route herself. Armed with music from many genres -- classical, jazz, popular -- she began playing piano in 1954 at the Midtown Bar and Grill in Atlantic City.
She adopted the name of Nina Simone to avoid her mother's religious disapproval of playing in a bar. The bar owner demanded soon that she add vocals to her piano playing, and Nina Simone began to draw large audiences of younger people who were fascinated by her eclectic musical repertoire and style. Soon she was playing in better nightclubs, and moved into the Greenwich Village scene.

Black is The Color of My True Love's Hair

By 1957, Nina Simone had found an agent, and the next year issued her first album, "Little Girl Blue." Her first single, "I Loves You Porgy," was a George Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess that had been a popular number for Billie Holiday. It sold well, and her recording career was launched. Unfortunately, the contract she signed gave away her rights, a mistake she came to bitterly regret. For her next album she signed with Colpix and released "The Amazing Nina Simone." With this album came more critical interest. Nina Simone briefly married Don Ross in 1958, and divorced him the next year. She married Andy Stroud in 1960 -- a former police detective who became her recording agent -- and they had a daughter, Lisa Celeste, in 1961. This daughter, separated from her mother for long periods in her childhood, eventually launched her own career with the stage name of, simply, Simone. Nina Simone and Andy Stroud drifted apart with her career and political interests, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1970.
In the 1960s, Nina Simone was part of the civil rights movement and later the black power movement. Her songs are considered by some as anthems of those movements, and their evolution shows the growing hopelessness that American racial problems would be solved. Nina Simone wrote "Mississippi Goddam" after the bombing of a Baptist church in Alabama killed four children and after Medgar Evers was assassinated in Mississipppi. This song, often sung in civil rights contexts, was not often played on radio. She introduced this song in performances as a show tune for a show that hadn't yet been written. Other Nina Simone songs adopted by the civil rights movement as anthems included "Backlash Blues,” "Old Jim Crow," "Four Women," and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." The latter was composed in honor of her friend Lorraine Hansberry and became an anthem for the growing black power movement with its line, "Say it clear, say it loud, I am black and I am proud!"

To Be Young, Gifted And Black

With the growing women's movement, "Four Women" and her cover of Sinatra's "My Way" became feminist anthems as well. But just a few years later, Nina Simone's friends Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes were dead. Black heroes Martin Luther King, jr., and Malcolm X, were assassinated. In the late 1970s, a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service found Nina Simone accused of tax evasion; she lost her home to the IRS. Nina Simone's growing bitterness over America's racism, her disputes with the record companies she called "pirates," her troubles with the IRS all led to her decision to leave the United States. She first moved to Barbados, and then, with the encouragement of Miriam Makeba and others, moved to Liberia. A later move to Switzerland for the sake of her daughter's education was followed by a comeback attempt in London which failed when she put her faith in a sponsor who turned out to be a con man who robbed and beat her and abandoned her. She tried to commit suicide, but when that failed, found her faith in the future renewed. She built her career slowly, moving to Paris in 1978, having small successes. In 1985, Nina Simone returned to the United States to record and perform, choosing to pursue fame in her native land. She focused on what would be popular, de-emphasizing her political views, and won growing acclaim. Her career soared when a British commercial used her 1958 recording of "My Baby Just Cares for Me," which then became a hit in Europe. Nina Simone moved back to Europe -- first to the Netherlands then to the South of France in 1991. She published her biography, I Put a Spell on You, and continued to record and perform. In 1995, she won ownership of 52 of her master recordings in a San Francisco court, and in 94-95 she had what she described as "a very intense love affair" -- "it was like a volcano." In her last years, Nina Simone was sometimes seen in a wheelchair between performances. She died April 21, 2003, in her adopted homeland, France.

Four Woman

In a 1969 interview with Phyl Garland, Nina Simone said: “There's no other purpose, so far as I'm concerned, for us except to reflect the times, the situations around us and the things we're able to say through our art, the things that millions of people can't say. I think that's the function of an artist and, of course, those of us who are lucky leave a legacy so that when we're dead, we also live on. That's people like Billie Holiday and I hope that I will be that lucky, but meanwhile, the function, so far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times, whatever that might be.” Nina Simone is often classified as a jazz singer, but this is what she had to say in 1997 (in an interview with Brantley Bardin): To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt and that's not what I play. I play black classical music. That's why I don't like the term "jazz," and Duke Ellington didn't like it either -- it's a term that's simply used to identify black people."

Source: Women’s History (Text)