THIS DAY 4 YEARS AGO...

PREPARING FOR TOMORROW...
[First posted 03/11/2008]




Barring an extraordinary shock, Barack Obama will win more than 270 electoral votes on Tuesday, giving him the White House. Hours before voting starts, John McCain has no clear path to reaching that goal. In fact, interviews with political strategists in both parties and election analysts and advisers to both presidential campaigns — including a detailed look at public and private polling data — indicate that an Obama victory with well over 300 electoral votes is a more likely outcome than a McCain victory.

[Keep reading here]

In the two years since Sen. Barack Obama announced his bid for the presidency, black Americans have been on an emotional roller coaster. Only recently have many of us allowed ourselves to envision what once seemed impossible: A U.S. president who is a person of color. With Obama leading in national pre-election polls, the suspense has become nearly unbearable.
Even deeper at the center of our current anxiety are at least two questions that carry all the complexity of black Americans' history in this country: What will it mean personally to us if he wins? And how will it affect the future of African Americans?
Win or lose, how will we cope?

[Keep reading here]

My thanks to BRE for calling my attention to these.

A Change Is Gonna Come - Otis Redding

PREPARING FOR TOMORROW...
[First posted 03/11/2008]




Barring an extraordinary shock, Barack Obama will win more than 270 electoral votes on Tuesday, giving him the White House. Hours before voting starts, John McCain has no clear path to reaching that goal. In fact, interviews with political strategists in both parties and election analysts and advisers to both presidential campaigns — including a detailed look at public and private polling data — indicate that an Obama victory with well over 300 electoral votes is a more likely outcome than a McCain victory.

[Keep reading here]

In the two years since Sen. Barack Obama announced his bid for the presidency, black Americans have been on an emotional roller coaster. Only recently have many of us allowed ourselves to envision what once seemed impossible: A U.S. president who is a person of color. With Obama leading in national pre-election polls, the suspense has become nearly unbearable.
Even deeper at the center of our current anxiety are at least two questions that carry all the complexity of black Americans' history in this country: What will it mean personally to us if he wins? And how will it affect the future of African Americans?
Win or lose, how will we cope?

[Keep reading here]

My thanks to BRE for calling my attention to these.

A Change Is Gonna Come - Otis Redding

MALCOLM X, “WHITE LIBERALS” e "TOKEN NEGROES"...

A dimensao da figura de Malcolm X como um icon que continua a inspirar varias geracoes pode ser medida pela frequencia com que a sua imagem e citacoes das suas frases circulam no Facebook.

Um icon, indeed! E nisso, em certa medida, chega a se-lo mais que o seu “rival” Martin Luther King….

Porem, nao sei se estarei muito enganada em supor que a forma como e as razoes pelas quais Malcolm X inspira os seus seguidores e admiradores tende a seguir a mesma trajectoria que a que me levou a admira-lo mais numa determinada fase da minha vida do que noutra. Essa trajectoria pode ser, grosso modo, caracterizada por duas fases distintas, que tambem coincidem com o percurso da propria vida de Malcolm X e do seu pensamento ideologico e posicionamentos politicos e religiosos: uma e’ a fase “pre - Nacao do Islao”, outra a fase “pos - Peregrinacao a Meca”. Pelo meio fica um periodo marcado pelos conflitos e contradicoes proprios desse tipo de transicoes e evolucoes.

E’ desse periodo que data o seu mais famoso e controverso discurso, conhecido como “The Chikens Come Home to Roost”, e tambem aquele que, a prazo, lhe iria, tragicamente, custar a propria vida….

Desse discurso, ha’ uma passagem em particular que, para mim, apesar da evolucao posterior do seu proprio pensamento ideologico, como acima aludi, e da minha discordancia com outras partes do mesmo discurso e, no fundo, com as suas motivacoes (algo que assinalei de passagem aqui), continua a ter um impacto que “still rings true” em varias situacoes actuais, mesmo se salvaguardadas as devidas distancias historicas, geograficas, temporais e contextuais.

De facto, reflectindo bem, o discurso continua tao "powerful", mesmo que eu e muitos outros discordem dele, em partes ou no todo, que esteve na base do mais dramatico evento da campanha presidencial de Obama em 2008: o episodio do Reverend Wright, que no seu "outburst" contra Obama recorreu precisamente ao "chickens come home to roost!...

Mas, "mais perto de casa", veja-se, por exemplo, um debate recente por ai que, pelo menos aparentemente e certamente nao para mim, acabou por ficar “reduzido” a uma disputa entre dois discursos: um dito “democratico-revolucionario e angolano-africano” e outro taxado de “colonial-fascista e racista-revanchista”. Ou, em termos mais simples, um de "esquerda" e outro de "direita".

Nao pude deixar de associar essas classificacoes “maniqueistas” ao que Malcolm X designava “white liberals” por um lado e “white conservatives” por outro, sendo que as similaridades nao terminam por ai…

“In this deceitful American game of power politics, the Negroes (i.e., the race problem, the integration and civil rights issues) are nothing but tools, used by one group of whites called Liberals against another group of whites called Conservatives, either to get into power or to remain in power. Among whites here in America, the political teams are no longer divided into Democrats and Republicans. The whites who are now struggling for control of the American political throne are divided into "liberal" and "conservative" camps. The white liberals from both parties cross party lines to work together toward the same goal, and white conservatives from both parties do likewise.

The white liberal differs from the white conservative only in one way: the liberal is more deceitful than the conservative. The liberal is more hypocritical than the conservative. Both want power, but the white liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Negro's friend and benefactor; and by winning the friendship, allegiance, and support of the Negro, the white liberal is able to use the Negro as a pawn or tool in this political "football game" that is constantly raging between the white liberals and white conservatives.

Politically the American Negro is nothing but a football and the white liberals control this mentally dead ball through tricks of tokenism: false promises of integration and civil rights. In this profitable game of deceiving and exploiting the political politician of the American Negro, those white liberals have the willing cooperation of the Negro civil rights leaders. These "leaders" sell out our people for just a few crumbs of token recognition and token gains. These "leaders" are satisfied with token victories and token progress because they themselves are nothing but token leaders.”

[Malcolm X]

E POR FALAR EM MALCOLM X...

POSTS RELACIONADOS:

Pan-Africanist Presidents & their Wives

Preconceitos

De Volta 'a Muxima

De Volta 'a Muxima

A dimensao da figura de Malcolm X como um icon que continua a inspirar varias geracoes pode ser medida pela frequencia com que a sua imagem e citacoes das suas frases circulam no Facebook.

Um icon, indeed! E nisso, em certa medida, chega a se-lo mais que o seu “rival” Martin Luther King….

Porem, nao sei se estarei muito enganada em supor que a forma como e as razoes pelas quais Malcolm X inspira os seus seguidores e admiradores tende a seguir a mesma trajectoria que a que me levou a admira-lo mais numa determinada fase da minha vida do que noutra. Essa trajectoria pode ser, grosso modo, caracterizada por duas fases distintas, que tambem coincidem com o percurso da propria vida de Malcolm X e do seu pensamento ideologico e posicionamentos politicos e religiosos: uma e’ a fase “pre - Nacao do Islao”, outra a fase “pos - Peregrinacao a Meca”. Pelo meio fica um periodo marcado pelos conflitos e contradicoes proprios desse tipo de transicoes e evolucoes.

E’ desse periodo que data o seu mais famoso e controverso discurso, conhecido como “The Chikens Come Home to Roost”, e tambem aquele que, a prazo, lhe iria, tragicamente, custar a propria vida….

Desse discurso, ha’ uma passagem em particular que, para mim, apesar da evolucao posterior do seu proprio pensamento ideologico, como acima aludi, e da minha discordancia com outras partes do mesmo discurso e, no fundo, com as suas motivacoes (algo que assinalei de passagem aqui), continua a ter um impacto que “still rings true” em varias situacoes actuais, mesmo se salvaguardadas as devidas distancias historicas, geograficas, temporais e contextuais.

De facto, reflectindo bem, o discurso continua tao "powerful", mesmo que eu e muitos outros discordem dele, em partes ou no todo, que esteve na base do mais dramatico evento da campanha presidencial de Obama em 2008: o episodio do Reverend Wright, que no seu "outburst" contra Obama recorreu precisamente ao "chickens come home to roost!...

Mas, "mais perto de casa", veja-se, por exemplo, um debate recente por ai que, pelo menos aparentemente e certamente nao para mim, acabou por ficar “reduzido” a uma disputa entre dois discursos: um dito “democratico-revolucionario e angolano-africano” e outro taxado de “colonial-fascista e racista-revanchista”. Ou, em termos mais simples, um de "esquerda" e outro de "direita".

Nao pude deixar de associar essas classificacoes “maniqueistas” ao que Malcolm X designava “white liberals” por um lado e “white conservatives” por outro, sendo que as similaridades nao terminam por ai…

“In this deceitful American game of power politics, the Negroes (i.e., the race problem, the integration and civil rights issues) are nothing but tools, used by one group of whites called Liberals against another group of whites called Conservatives, either to get into power or to remain in power. Among whites here in America, the political teams are no longer divided into Democrats and Republicans. The whites who are now struggling for control of the American political throne are divided into "liberal" and "conservative" camps. The white liberals from both parties cross party lines to work together toward the same goal, and white conservatives from both parties do likewise.

The white liberal differs from the white conservative only in one way: the liberal is more deceitful than the conservative. The liberal is more hypocritical than the conservative. Both want power, but the white liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Negro's friend and benefactor; and by winning the friendship, allegiance, and support of the Negro, the white liberal is able to use the Negro as a pawn or tool in this political "football game" that is constantly raging between the white liberals and white conservatives.

Politically the American Negro is nothing but a football and the white liberals control this mentally dead ball through tricks of tokenism: false promises of integration and civil rights. In this profitable game of deceiving and exploiting the political politician of the American Negro, those white liberals have the willing cooperation of the Negro civil rights leaders. These "leaders" sell out our people for just a few crumbs of token recognition and token gains. These "leaders" are satisfied with token victories and token progress because they themselves are nothing but token leaders.”

[Malcolm X]

E POR FALAR EM MALCOLM X...

POSTS RELACIONADOS:

Pan-Africanist Presidents & their Wives

Preconceitos

De Volta 'a Muxima

De Volta 'a Muxima

"MANIFESTO PELO DIREITO A VIDA" [R]* - CORRIGIDO

I had initially written this as a comment to this post but, on good advice, decided to post it separately. Because it is never enough to stress the importance, relevance and accuracy of messages like Malavoloneke’s here, I must do just that: stress it!
But, let’s not make any mistakes: I am also a good friend of Fernando’s.
With him I shared the anguishes that led many Angolan students in Portugal to bring about a “Manifesto for the Right to Live”, for which we went door to door to collect thousands of signatures from the Angolan community and friends of Angola in Portugal and held a well attended vigil in one of Lisbon’s main squares, which counted with such references of our national culture as Raul Indipwo, his own father, Jorge Macedo, and others, calling for a halt to the hostilities that followed the 1992 elections and for a lasting peace and true democracy in our country.
Supporting him I was, a few months later, in the hunger strike he and other Angolan students held in front of the Angolan Embassy in Lisbon to protest at the victimisation students were being subjected to as a result of the intolerance and political violence that marked those times in our national life. With him I traveled, some time later, to Brussels, to spread our message and express our desire for peace at the headquarters of the European Union. To him I suggested, a few years later in Luanda, when he asked my opinion about it, that it would be better for him to go to pursue his studies and leave the political/civic struggles aside for a while – this particular episode happened when he was working in the same office as Rafael Marques, under the auspices of the Open Society, and it would be particularly interesting to observe the evolution Marques’ relationship with that organisation had in more recent years...
For him I was happy when he let me know some time later that he was in Boston post-graduating in Law. To him go my praises for all the courage and strength he shows in fighting for Justice, Peace and Democracy in our country!
However… however, in this occasion, I subscribe to Malavoloneke’s message to him. And deep down in my heart I believe that Fernando also subscribes to it, at least for this once. For this peace we so longed for. For that right to live that we called for so earthly sixteen years ago! And that message was and is very simple:

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!



2. While I was living those moments with Fernando, I was also sharing (or had shared) momentous experiences with such ‘Mais Velhos’ from our country’s political history as Mario Pinto de Andrade, Manuel Lima and Daniel Chipenda (it was straight from this late Angolan nationalist's family home that I left, totally exhausted spiritually and psychologically, more than a decade ago, Lisbon to London, where I’ve been based ever since to rebuild, literally piece by piece, my then totally shattered life and from where I’ve been trying to give whatever contribution I can to our country and to our continent, until I can finally return home without fears of seeing my life shattered all over again for whatever reason – it is thus to protect my ‘right to live’ that I am forced, again, to stay abroad for a while longer. You see, unlike others, no matter what passport we may be using, we cannot disguise or conceal our identity: it is imprinted in our skin, our mind, our memory, our soul, our diction, our culture).

With them and others, I learned many of the lessons they had accumulated along about half a century of struggles for liberation, peace and development in Africa. Through them I’ve learned something essential about ourselves: for all the differences in their individual trajectories and standings in the nationalist movement, there was one commonality – our future can only be dictated by our own past, culture and history.
It was from them, among others, and from my own life experiences prior and after meeting them, that I got this sense of just how right Malavoloneke is in saying: “Therefore, I would like you to understand that we all need ways out. Ways out that have also to be ways of hope. Ways of hope that do not need to be necessarily perfect, they just need to be necessarily ours. Created by us with the limitations that we have, created in our own context with our own specificities and created for our land with the adaptations that they might require, but not imposed by a theoretical script from any western country.”
It was what I learned from them (and, to be perfectly accurate, before them, with my father and grandparents) that helped me make sense, particularly looking at my own life, not just of the letters from Unita and Mpla militants that I’ve reproduced here but, above all, of the passages from Douglass North’s Economics Nobel Prize Lecture, which I placed in the comment’s space to this post.




*[Postado inicialmente a 01/09/08 - repostado a proposito do "DIA DA PAZ EM ANGOLA"]


POST RELACIONADO:

Ecos de Uma Guerra que (ainda?!) nao Acabou...


CORRECCAO:

Eis uma correccao que (antes tarde do que nunca…) se me impoe:

No texto acima menciono o Fernando Macedo como tendo participado no movimento dos estudantes ‘a volta daquele manifesto – que obteve mais de 5 mil assinaturas de Angolanos e Amigos de Angola em Portugal e o apoio de muitos compatriotas nossos no interior do pais e na diaspora e culminou numa vigilia com musica cantada na Praca da Figueira em Lisboa.

Devo, no entanto, sem com isto pretender de modo nenhum menosprezar o activismo estudantil do Fernando Macedo naquela altura, corrigir esse lapso: o Fernando Macedo, tanto quanto me lembro, nao esteve envolvido, pelo menos directamente, naquele movimento. O “Manifesto” foi escrito em minha casa, por mim com a contribuicao de outros estudantes que la’ comigo se reuniam. Nao tenho memoria de o Fernando alguma vez ter estado em minha casa em Lisboa, nem de ter participado nas nossas reunioes – talvez apenas porque ele se encontrava a estudar em Braga, se bem me recordo.

O pai dele, o falecido Jorge Macedo, esse sim, numa fase posterior, quando nos os estudantes ja’ tinhamos praticamente tudo feito, juntou-se a algumas das nossas reunioes, tal como alguns outros mais-velhos, como o Raul Indipwo – que tambem cantou na Praca da Figueira no dia da vigilia.

As minhas desculpas ao Fernando, mas o meu lapso ficou a dever-se ao facto de a minha memoria sobre os meus ultimos anos em Portugal apenas agora se estar gradualmente a reconstruir.

APS

P.S.: Ja’ agora, agradeco a quem porventura tenha uma copia do “Manifesto” que me a envie por email. Agradecimentos antecipados.

I had initially written this as a comment to this post but, on good advice, decided to post it separately. Because it is never enough to stress the importance, relevance and accuracy of messages like Malavoloneke’s here, I must do just that: stress it!
But, let’s not make any mistakes: I am also a good friend of Fernando’s.
With him I shared the anguishes that led many Angolan students in Portugal to bring about a “Manifesto for the Right to Live”, for which we went door to door to collect thousands of signatures from the Angolan community and friends of Angola in Portugal and held a well attended vigil in one of Lisbon’s main squares, which counted with such references of our national culture as Raul Indipwo, his own father, Jorge Macedo, and others, calling for a halt to the hostilities that followed the 1992 elections and for a lasting peace and true democracy in our country.
Supporting him I was, a few months later, in the hunger strike he and other Angolan students held in front of the Angolan Embassy in Lisbon to protest at the victimisation students were being subjected to as a result of the intolerance and political violence that marked those times in our national life. With him I traveled, some time later, to Brussels, to spread our message and express our desire for peace at the headquarters of the European Union. To him I suggested, a few years later in Luanda, when he asked my opinion about it, that it would be better for him to go to pursue his studies and leave the political/civic struggles aside for a while – this particular episode happened when he was working in the same office as Rafael Marques, under the auspices of the Open Society, and it would be particularly interesting to observe the evolution Marques’ relationship with that organisation had in more recent years...
For him I was happy when he let me know some time later that he was in Boston post-graduating in Law. To him go my praises for all the courage and strength he shows in fighting for Justice, Peace and Democracy in our country!
However… however, in this occasion, I subscribe to Malavoloneke’s message to him. And deep down in my heart I believe that Fernando also subscribes to it, at least for this once. For this peace we so longed for. For that right to live that we called for so earthly sixteen years ago! And that message was and is very simple:

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!



2. While I was living those moments with Fernando, I was also sharing (or had shared) momentous experiences with such ‘Mais Velhos’ from our country’s political history as Mario Pinto de Andrade, Manuel Lima and Daniel Chipenda (it was straight from this late Angolan nationalist's family home that I left, totally exhausted spiritually and psychologically, more than a decade ago, Lisbon to London, where I’ve been based ever since to rebuild, literally piece by piece, my then totally shattered life and from where I’ve been trying to give whatever contribution I can to our country and to our continent, until I can finally return home without fears of seeing my life shattered all over again for whatever reason – it is thus to protect my ‘right to live’ that I am forced, again, to stay abroad for a while longer. You see, unlike others, no matter what passport we may be using, we cannot disguise or conceal our identity: it is imprinted in our skin, our mind, our memory, our soul, our diction, our culture).

With them and others, I learned many of the lessons they had accumulated along about half a century of struggles for liberation, peace and development in Africa. Through them I’ve learned something essential about ourselves: for all the differences in their individual trajectories and standings in the nationalist movement, there was one commonality – our future can only be dictated by our own past, culture and history.
It was from them, among others, and from my own life experiences prior and after meeting them, that I got this sense of just how right Malavoloneke is in saying: “Therefore, I would like you to understand that we all need ways out. Ways out that have also to be ways of hope. Ways of hope that do not need to be necessarily perfect, they just need to be necessarily ours. Created by us with the limitations that we have, created in our own context with our own specificities and created for our land with the adaptations that they might require, but not imposed by a theoretical script from any western country.”
It was what I learned from them (and, to be perfectly accurate, before them, with my father and grandparents) that helped me make sense, particularly looking at my own life, not just of the letters from Unita and Mpla militants that I’ve reproduced here but, above all, of the passages from Douglass North’s Economics Nobel Prize Lecture, which I placed in the comment’s space to this post.




*[Postado inicialmente a 01/09/08 - repostado a proposito do "DIA DA PAZ EM ANGOLA"]


POST RELACIONADO:

Ecos de Uma Guerra que (ainda?!) nao Acabou...


CORRECCAO:

Eis uma correccao que (antes tarde do que nunca…) se me impoe:

No texto acima menciono o Fernando Macedo como tendo participado no movimento dos estudantes ‘a volta daquele manifesto – que obteve mais de 5 mil assinaturas de Angolanos e Amigos de Angola em Portugal e o apoio de muitos compatriotas nossos no interior do pais e na diaspora e culminou numa vigilia com musica cantada na Praca da Figueira em Lisboa.

Devo, no entanto, sem com isto pretender de modo nenhum menosprezar o activismo estudantil do Fernando Macedo naquela altura, corrigir esse lapso: o Fernando Macedo, tanto quanto me lembro, nao esteve envolvido, pelo menos directamente, naquele movimento. O “Manifesto” foi escrito em minha casa, por mim com a contribuicao de outros estudantes que la’ comigo se reuniam. Nao tenho memoria de o Fernando alguma vez ter estado em minha casa em Lisboa, nem de ter participado nas nossas reunioes – talvez apenas porque ele se encontrava a estudar em Braga, se bem me recordo.

O pai dele, o falecido Jorge Macedo, esse sim, numa fase posterior, quando nos os estudantes ja’ tinhamos praticamente tudo feito, juntou-se a algumas das nossas reunioes, tal como alguns outros mais-velhos, como o Raul Indipwo – que tambem cantou na Praca da Figueira no dia da vigilia.

As minhas desculpas ao Fernando, mas o meu lapso ficou a dever-se ao facto de a minha memoria sobre os meus ultimos anos em Portugal apenas agora se estar gradualmente a reconstruir.

APS

P.S.: Ja’ agora, agradeco a quem porventura tenha uma copia do “Manifesto” que me a envie por email. Agradecimentos antecipados.

On Black History Month: The Black Panthers 45 years on…

To mark this year’s Black History Month, I invite you for a journey inside this book:




While at it, let us bear in mind that this is essentially what can rightly be called a 'time capsule': there is no before or after, just that moment in History that came to define the Black Panthers Party (BPP), founded two years earlier, in 1966, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale – what was it all about, what made it thick.


Except for brief references in the biographical notes at the end of the book, there is no account, for instance, of Eldridge Cleaver’s prior imprisonment for rape, in 1957 –- even when his acclaimed book written in prison Soul on Ice is mentioned, nothing is said about his own account on it of his experience as a rapist: “starting with black girls for ‘practice’ and then going on the serial rape of white women, as he put it, as an ‘insurrectionary act’” (before settling for an 'almost white' lady, I should add..).


Nor is there any account of his later time in Argelia – having got there with his wife Kathleen via Cuba –, where he was reported to, at some point, have organised a stolen car ring from Europe to Africa, allegedly to garner financial support for his followers from America who had hijacked planes there to join him in Argelia, before moving on to Paris.


Or of how, back in America a few years later, he renounced his radical views, became a born-again Christian and then, among other things religious, a Mormon, before eventually running for office as a member of the Republican Party.



Actually, for some reason, looking at Eldridge’s life trajectory brings to mind this poem by that other Black Knight of the time, Gil Scott-Heron, and associated with it, interestingly enough, the fact that both ultimately had their lives shortened by drug addiction…


There are no images of a more aged Kathleen Cleaver when, except for the dreadlocks, she looks 'whiter than white' and, without her ‘60s almost ever-wearing black sunglasses, 'clearer-eyed' than any average white woman, or of her later divorce from Eldridge amid stories of him discovering that she had a lover who he made sure was killed, or of her subsequent notable academic career either…


... just the absolutely striking images of a stunning 23 year-old beauty sporting a mighty afro and a demeanour fit for a princess, except that instead of a bunch of flowers in her hands she held, if not a cigarette, a gun, even if not showing...


... by the way, these, the guns, the very raison d’être of all the BPP self-defense posture (its original full name was Black Panthers Party for Self-Defense), although referred to in great detail in one paragraph, never appear in the pictures in this book, except in the hands of the “pigs”, i.e. the police.


And that’s just to mention that most charismatic couple around whom, at least for Bingham's cameras, everything seemed to gravitate during those months in 1968, with the “Free Huey” campaign serving as a galvanizing, yet somewhat backgroundish, motif.


But, perhaps it is all these abstractions that make this book so remarkable: it enables us to live that defining moment as if we were there and then; it shows us the very essence of the BPP and the Movement around it during the year when it captured the imaginations of men and women, old and young, black and white and grabbed all attentions in American society and beyond.


And all that while managing not to be obfuscated by other momentous social movements of the time, such as the May 1968 in Paris or the anti-Vietnam war protests, or even the Civil Rights Movement in America.


In fact, it brings us something that was perhaps unique to the BPP at that particular moment in time: alongside the engagement of the 'hippies', 'xicanos' and anti-war protestors, the ideological allegiance (albeit tactical and circumstantial) by such America's foes as Mao’s China and Guevara’s Cuba, as well as anti-colonialist, anti-Apartheid and pan-Africanist movements and governments in Africa.


It is thus a moment in History encapsulated in its time, but so powerfully so that it still resonates in our minds and consciousness (almost) 45 years later...


{to be continued}




Related Posts:

Rape: A Radical Analysis From an African-American Perspective

Breves Notas Sobre o "Significado Racial da Victoria de Obama"

To mark this year’s Black History Month, I invite you for a journey inside this book:




While at it, let us bear in mind that this is essentially what can rightly be called a 'time capsule': there is no before or after, just that moment in History that came to define the Black Panthers Party (BPP), founded two years earlier, in 1966, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale – what was it all about, what made it thick.


Except for brief references in the biographical notes at the end of the book, there is no account, for instance, of Eldridge Cleaver’s prior imprisonment for rape, in 1957 –- even when his acclaimed book written in prison Soul on Ice is mentioned, nothing is said about his own account on it of his experience as a rapist: “starting with black girls for ‘practice’ and then going on the serial rape of white women, as he put it, as an ‘insurrectionary act’” (before settling for an 'almost white' lady, I should add..).


Nor is there any account of his later time in Argelia – having got there with his wife Kathleen via Cuba –, where he was reported to, at some point, have organised a stolen car ring from Europe to Africa, allegedly to garner financial support for his followers from America who had hijacked planes there to join him in Argelia, before moving on to Paris.


Or of how, back in America a few years later, he renounced his radical views, became a born-again Christian and then, among other things religious, a Mormon, before eventually running for office as a member of the Republican Party.



Actually, for some reason, looking at Eldridge’s life trajectory brings to mind this poem by that other Black Knight of the time, Gil Scott-Heron, and associated with it, interestingly enough, the fact that both ultimately had their lives shortened by drug addiction…


There are no images of a more aged Kathleen Cleaver when, except for the dreadlocks, she looks 'whiter than white' and, without her ‘60s almost ever-wearing black sunglasses, 'clearer-eyed' than any average white woman, or of her later divorce from Eldridge amid stories of him discovering that she had a lover who he made sure was killed, or of her subsequent notable academic career either…


... just the absolutely striking images of a stunning 23 year-old beauty sporting a mighty afro and a demeanour fit for a princess, except that instead of a bunch of flowers in her hands she held, if not a cigarette, a gun, even if not showing...


... by the way, these, the guns, the very raison d’être of all the BPP self-defense posture (its original full name was Black Panthers Party for Self-Defense), although referred to in great detail in one paragraph, never appear in the pictures in this book, except in the hands of the “pigs”, i.e. the police.


And that’s just to mention that most charismatic couple around whom, at least for Bingham's cameras, everything seemed to gravitate during those months in 1968, with the “Free Huey” campaign serving as a galvanizing, yet somewhat backgroundish, motif.


But, perhaps it is all these abstractions that make this book so remarkable: it enables us to live that defining moment as if we were there and then; it shows us the very essence of the BPP and the Movement around it during the year when it captured the imaginations of men and women, old and young, black and white and grabbed all attentions in American society and beyond.


And all that while managing not to be obfuscated by other momentous social movements of the time, such as the May 1968 in Paris or the anti-Vietnam war protests, or even the Civil Rights Movement in America.


In fact, it brings us something that was perhaps unique to the BPP at that particular moment in time: alongside the engagement of the 'hippies', 'xicanos' and anti-war protestors, the ideological allegiance (albeit tactical and circumstantial) by such America's foes as Mao’s China and Guevara’s Cuba, as well as anti-colonialist, anti-Apartheid and pan-Africanist movements and governments in Africa.


It is thus a moment in History encapsulated in its time, but so powerfully so that it still resonates in our minds and consciousness (almost) 45 years later...


{to be continued}




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International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and of its Abolition

The day intends to remind people of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade. It gives people a chance to think about the historic causes and the consequences of slave trade. This year the day has special meaning as 2011 is the International Year for People of African Descent.

In 1998 at its 29th session, the UNESCO Executive Board proclaimed 23 august the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and of its Abolition. The observance was first celebrated in a number of countries, in particular in Haiti, paying tribute to the night of 22-23 August 1791 when the uprising of slaves took place in Santo Domingo island (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic), an uprising began which set forth events which were a major factor in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

The day is not to be confused with the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, observed annually on 2 December.




In Angola the day is marked by a conference organized by the Eduardo dos Santos Foundation at the Agostinho Neto University in Luanda, on the theme "Escravos angolanos povoaram tambem as Antilhas Neerlandesas" (“Angolan slaves also populated the Netherlands Antilles), by Angolan historian Simao Souindoula, member of UNESCO's Scientific Committee.


[More details here, here, here and here]


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Vias de Exaustao e Expansao

Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade 200 Years On

The day intends to remind people of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade. It gives people a chance to think about the historic causes and the consequences of slave trade. This year the day has special meaning as 2011 is the International Year for People of African Descent.

In 1998 at its 29th session, the UNESCO Executive Board proclaimed 23 august the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and of its Abolition. The observance was first celebrated in a number of countries, in particular in Haiti, paying tribute to the night of 22-23 August 1791 when the uprising of slaves took place in Santo Domingo island (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic), an uprising began which set forth events which were a major factor in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

The day is not to be confused with the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, observed annually on 2 December.




In Angola the day is marked by a conference organized by the Eduardo dos Santos Foundation at the Agostinho Neto University in Luanda, on the theme "Escravos angolanos povoaram tambem as Antilhas Neerlandesas" (“Angolan slaves also populated the Netherlands Antilles), by Angolan historian Simao Souindoula, member of UNESCO's Scientific Committee.


[More details here, here, here and here]


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Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade 200 Years On

US - Southern Africa Historical Political Relations

The Department of State released on July 26 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-­1976, Volume XXVIII, Southern Africa

OVERVIEW

The volume contains four chapters (entitled Regional Issues, Portuguese Africa, Angola, and Independence Negotiations), each documenting a segment of U.S. policy toward Southern Africa during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. The documentation reveals that both presidents pursued policies designed to maintain stability in the region and to avoid domestic and international criticism of U.S. ties to the white minority regimes in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia.

The chapter on Regional Issues covers South Africa, which both administrations viewed as a bulwark against Communist expansion in the region. The documents illustrate the tensions between the Nixon administration and the Congressional Black Caucus and between the administration and the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs in dealing with South Africa’s apartheid regime. They also show a preference by Nixon and Henry Kissinger to avoid direct involvement in the growing unrest.

The chapter on Portuguese Africa reflects the evolution of U.S. involvement in Angola and Mozambique. Anxious to avoid alienating a key NATO partner, the Nixon administration sought to persuade the Portuguese Government to address the grievances of the black nationalist movements, while quietly granting limited assistance to the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) and National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) leader Holden Roberto. U.S. involvement increased dramatically in January 1975, when Portugal granted independence to its African colonies. Concerns about Soviet expansion and Cuban involvement led the United States to provide covert support to anti-Communist forces in Angola.

The chapter on Angola chronicles the continuation of U.S. support to anti-Communist forces after the Portuguese departed in November 1975. Despite substantial assistance and support from South Africa, Zaire, Zambia, and others, the U.S. was unable to turn the tide in Angola. Congressional passage of the Tunney Amendment in December 1975 cut off aid to Angola and effectively ended U.S. support.
The chapter on independence negotiations chronicles Kissinger’s effort to broker a negotiated settlement to the conflicts in Namibia and Southern Rhodesia.


[Here]

The Department of State released on July 26 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-­1976, Volume XXVIII, Southern Africa

OVERVIEW

The volume contains four chapters (entitled Regional Issues, Portuguese Africa, Angola, and Independence Negotiations), each documenting a segment of U.S. policy toward Southern Africa during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. The documentation reveals that both presidents pursued policies designed to maintain stability in the region and to avoid domestic and international criticism of U.S. ties to the white minority regimes in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia.

The chapter on Regional Issues covers South Africa, which both administrations viewed as a bulwark against Communist expansion in the region. The documents illustrate the tensions between the Nixon administration and the Congressional Black Caucus and between the administration and the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs in dealing with South Africa’s apartheid regime. They also show a preference by Nixon and Henry Kissinger to avoid direct involvement in the growing unrest.

The chapter on Portuguese Africa reflects the evolution of U.S. involvement in Angola and Mozambique. Anxious to avoid alienating a key NATO partner, the Nixon administration sought to persuade the Portuguese Government to address the grievances of the black nationalist movements, while quietly granting limited assistance to the Revolutionary Government of Angola in Exile (GRAE) and National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) leader Holden Roberto. U.S. involvement increased dramatically in January 1975, when Portugal granted independence to its African colonies. Concerns about Soviet expansion and Cuban involvement led the United States to provide covert support to anti-Communist forces in Angola.

The chapter on Angola chronicles the continuation of U.S. support to anti-Communist forces after the Portuguese departed in November 1975. Despite substantial assistance and support from South Africa, Zaire, Zambia, and others, the U.S. was unable to turn the tide in Angola. Congressional passage of the Tunney Amendment in December 1975 cut off aid to Angola and effectively ended U.S. support.
The chapter on independence negotiations chronicles Kissinger’s effort to broker a negotiated settlement to the conflicts in Namibia and Southern Rhodesia.


[Here]

Black Women, Wigs, Race, Identity, Brandy & Pan-Africanism

(...)

There was Okeoma (*), who came most often and stayed the longest. He looked younger than the other guests, always wore a pair of shorts, and had bushy hair with a parting at the side that stood higher than Master’s. It looked rough and tangled, unlike Master’s, as if Okeoma did not like to comb it. Okeoma drank Fanta. He read his poetry loud on some evenings, holding a sheaf of papers, and Ugwu would look through the kitchen door to see all the guests watching him, their faces half frozen, as if they did not dare breathe. Afterwards, Master would clap and say, in his loud voice, ‘The voice of our generation!’ and the clapping would go on until Okeoma said sharply, ‘That’s enough!’

And there was Miss Adebayo, who drank brandy like Master and was nothing like Ugwu had expected a university woman to be. His aunty had told him a little about university women. She would know because she worked as a cleaner at the Faculty of Sciences during the day and as a waitress at the staff club in the evenings; sometimes, too, the lecturers paid her to come in and clean their homes. She said university women kept framed photos of their student days in Ibadan and Britain and America on their shelves. For breakfast, they had eggs that were not cooked well, so that the yolk danced around, and they wore bouncy, straight-hair wigs and maxi-dresses that grazed their ankles. She told a story once about a couple at a cocktail party in the staff club who climbed out of a nice Peugeot 404, the man in an elegant cream suit, the woman in a green dress. Everybody turned to watch them, walking hand in hand, and then the wind blew the woman’s wig off her head. She was bald. They used hot combs to straighten their hair, his aunty had said, because they wanted to look like white people, although the combs ended up burning their hair off.

(…)

One Saturday night, Okeoma dropped a glass and Ugwu came in to clean up the shards that lay on the floor. He took his time cleaning. The conversation was clearer from here and it was easier to make out what Professor Ezeka said. It was almost impossible to hear the man from the kitchen.
‘We should have a bigger pan-African response to what is happening in the American South really –‘ Professor Ezeka said.
Master cut him short. ‘You know, pan-Africanism is fundamentally a European notion.’
‘You are digressing,’ Professor Ezeka said, and shook his head in his usual superior manner.
‘Maybe it is a European notion,’ Miss Adebayo said, ‘but in the bigger picture, we are all one race.’
‘What bigger picture?’ Master asked. ‘The bigger picture of the white man! Can’t you see that we are not all alike except to white eyes?’ Master’s voice rose easily, Ugwu had noticed, and by his third glass of brandy, he would start to gesture with his glass, leaning forwards until he was seated on the very edge of his armchair. Late at night, after Master was in bed, Ugwu would sit on the same chair and imagine himself speaking swift English, talking to rapt imaginary guests, using words like decolonize and pan-African, moulding his voice after Master’s, and he would shift and shift until he too was on the edge of the chair.
‘Of course we are all alike, we all have white oppression in common,’ Miss Adebayo said dryly. ‘Pan-Africanism is simply the most sensible response.’
‘Of course, of course, but my point is that the only authentic identity for the African is the tribe,’ Master said. ‘I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came.’
Professor Ezeka snorted and shook his head, thin legs crossed. ‘But you became aware that you were Igbo because of the white man. The pan-Igbo idea itself came only in the face of white domination. You must see that tribe as it is today is as colonial a product as nation and race.’ Professor Ezeka recrossed his legs.
‘The pan-Igbo idea existed long before the white man!’ Master shouted. ‘Go and ask the elders in your village about your history.’


(*) The character Okeoma is based on the life and poetry of acclaimed Igbo poet Christopher Okigbo.


[Excerpts from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun]


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"Other References":

"Os Falsaportes"

(...)

There was Okeoma (*), who came most often and stayed the longest. He looked younger than the other guests, always wore a pair of shorts, and had bushy hair with a parting at the side that stood higher than Master’s. It looked rough and tangled, unlike Master’s, as if Okeoma did not like to comb it. Okeoma drank Fanta. He read his poetry loud on some evenings, holding a sheaf of papers, and Ugwu would look through the kitchen door to see all the guests watching him, their faces half frozen, as if they did not dare breathe. Afterwards, Master would clap and say, in his loud voice, ‘The voice of our generation!’ and the clapping would go on until Okeoma said sharply, ‘That’s enough!’

And there was Miss Adebayo, who drank brandy like Master and was nothing like Ugwu had expected a university woman to be. His aunty had told him a little about university women. She would know because she worked as a cleaner at the Faculty of Sciences during the day and as a waitress at the staff club in the evenings; sometimes, too, the lecturers paid her to come in and clean their homes. She said university women kept framed photos of their student days in Ibadan and Britain and America on their shelves. For breakfast, they had eggs that were not cooked well, so that the yolk danced around, and they wore bouncy, straight-hair wigs and maxi-dresses that grazed their ankles. She told a story once about a couple at a cocktail party in the staff club who climbed out of a nice Peugeot 404, the man in an elegant cream suit, the woman in a green dress. Everybody turned to watch them, walking hand in hand, and then the wind blew the woman’s wig off her head. She was bald. They used hot combs to straighten their hair, his aunty had said, because they wanted to look like white people, although the combs ended up burning their hair off.

(…)

One Saturday night, Okeoma dropped a glass and Ugwu came in to clean up the shards that lay on the floor. He took his time cleaning. The conversation was clearer from here and it was easier to make out what Professor Ezeka said. It was almost impossible to hear the man from the kitchen.
‘We should have a bigger pan-African response to what is happening in the American South really –‘ Professor Ezeka said.
Master cut him short. ‘You know, pan-Africanism is fundamentally a European notion.’
‘You are digressing,’ Professor Ezeka said, and shook his head in his usual superior manner.
‘Maybe it is a European notion,’ Miss Adebayo said, ‘but in the bigger picture, we are all one race.’
‘What bigger picture?’ Master asked. ‘The bigger picture of the white man! Can’t you see that we are not all alike except to white eyes?’ Master’s voice rose easily, Ugwu had noticed, and by his third glass of brandy, he would start to gesture with his glass, leaning forwards until he was seated on the very edge of his armchair. Late at night, after Master was in bed, Ugwu would sit on the same chair and imagine himself speaking swift English, talking to rapt imaginary guests, using words like decolonize and pan-African, moulding his voice after Master’s, and he would shift and shift until he too was on the edge of the chair.
‘Of course we are all alike, we all have white oppression in common,’ Miss Adebayo said dryly. ‘Pan-Africanism is simply the most sensible response.’
‘Of course, of course, but my point is that the only authentic identity for the African is the tribe,’ Master said. ‘I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came.’
Professor Ezeka snorted and shook his head, thin legs crossed. ‘But you became aware that you were Igbo because of the white man. The pan-Igbo idea itself came only in the face of white domination. You must see that tribe as it is today is as colonial a product as nation and race.’ Professor Ezeka recrossed his legs.
‘The pan-Igbo idea existed long before the white man!’ Master shouted. ‘Go and ask the elders in your village about your history.’


(*) The character Okeoma is based on the life and poetry of acclaimed Igbo poet Christopher Okigbo.


[Excerpts from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun]


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International Women's Day: 1911 - 2011

Lundas: Quando a Historia, a Politica, a Economia, a Cultura e os Direitos Humanos Colidem

O CASO DO PROTECTORADO DOS LUNDA-TCHOKWES. Os Lundas-Tchokwe desde 2007, vêm reivindicando a autodeterminação do seu território que abrange Lunda-Norte, Lunda-Sul, Moxico e Kuando-Kubango. Neste vai vem o Governo do MPLA prendeu cerca de 37 membros que fazem parte da Comissão do Manifesto Jurídico Sociológico do Protectorado da Lunda Tchokwe (CMJSPLT), tendo os mesmos acusados de crime contra segurança do Estado, por ter apresentado no dia 3 de Agosto de 2007, um Manifesto de Reivindicação da Autonomia Administrativa e Financeira efectiva da Lunda pelo facto de serem Independentes desde 24 de Março de 1894 e por força jurídica dos tratados de Protectorado de 1885-1887 celebrados entre Portugal e os Soberanos Lunda Tchokwes e Portugal ter produzido a Lei nº 8904/1955. Angola Independente, não justificou a razão da presença dele na Lunda desde 1975. Por falta da vontade politica do Governo Angolano, a única saida foi acusar a CMJSPL de estar a cometer crimes que lesa com a segurança do Estado ou de criação de algum exercito paralelo, depois de terem passado mais de 24 meses da vigência do Manifesto Reivindicativo e a sua publicação. Na realidade não existe nenhum crime contra a segurança do Estado Angolano, o que existe é a falta do cumprimento do documento do Protectorado Lunda-Tchokwes por parte do Governo do MPLA, o que tem levado os povos do Leste de Angola a se manifestarem pacificamente contra a atitude anti-democrática e autoritária do Governo JES. Todo mundo sabe da existência deste documento, (o Protectorado Lunda-Tchokwe). Portanto, a permanência até agora dos membros da CMJSPLT na cadeia viola a Nova Constituição da República. Segundo o Artigo 47º, ponto 1 desta Constituição “É garantida a todos os cidadãos a liberdade de reunião e de manifestação pacífica e sem armas, sem necessidade de qualquer autorização e nos termos da lei”. E no Artigo 40º, ponto 1 desta mesma Constituição expressa que “Todos têm o direito de exprimir, divulgar e compartilhar livremente os seus pensamentos, as suas ideias e opiniões, pela palavra, imagem ou qualquer outro meio, bem como o direito e a liberdade de informar, de se informar e de ser informado, sem impedimentos nem discriminações”. Infelizmente, é desta forma que o nosso país vem sendo governado com autoritarismo e ditadura, falta liberdade de expressão e de manifestação. Antes de finalizar, a minha pergunta é: quem está a violar as leis do país é o CMJSPLT que luta por uma causa justa, respeitando a Constituição de Angola ou o Governo do MPLA que sempre nunca cumpriu com os seus deveres e obrigações, e vive violando as leis do país? Devido a esta atitude que violam os princípios democráticos, o povo angolano e a Comunidade Internacional exorta o Regime do MPLA a fim de libertar os 37 Ativistas Políticos da CMJSPLT que se encontram presos desde 2007, nas cadeias de Angola. Pois, esta acção do Governo Angolano, só vai é perpetuar este povo a coragem de lutar pacificamente até o alcance do seu objectivo, atráves de instrumentos internacionalmente aceites. Por isso, apelo a todos os povos do Leste de Angola a se juntarem a fim de manifestar contra o governo do MPLA e JES em prol da vossa independência administrativa e financeira. A luta continua, a independência é certa.

Publicado aqui

Texto anexo a este post, 'respigado' hoje a proposito desta materia.

O CASO DO PROTECTORADO DOS LUNDA-TCHOKWES. Os Lundas-Tchokwe desde 2007, vêm reivindicando a autodeterminação do seu território que abrange Lunda-Norte, Lunda-Sul, Moxico e Kuando-Kubango. Neste vai vem o Governo do MPLA prendeu cerca de 37 membros que fazem parte da Comissão do Manifesto Jurídico Sociológico do Protectorado da Lunda Tchokwe (CMJSPLT), tendo os mesmos acusados de crime contra segurança do Estado, por ter apresentado no dia 3 de Agosto de 2007, um Manifesto de Reivindicação da Autonomia Administrativa e Financeira efectiva da Lunda pelo facto de serem Independentes desde 24 de Março de 1894 e por força jurídica dos tratados de Protectorado de 1885-1887 celebrados entre Portugal e os Soberanos Lunda Tchokwes e Portugal ter produzido a Lei nº 8904/1955. Angola Independente, não justificou a razão da presença dele na Lunda desde 1975. Por falta da vontade politica do Governo Angolano, a única saida foi acusar a CMJSPL de estar a cometer crimes que lesa com a segurança do Estado ou de criação de algum exercito paralelo, depois de terem passado mais de 24 meses da vigência do Manifesto Reivindicativo e a sua publicação. Na realidade não existe nenhum crime contra a segurança do Estado Angolano, o que existe é a falta do cumprimento do documento do Protectorado Lunda-Tchokwes por parte do Governo do MPLA, o que tem levado os povos do Leste de Angola a se manifestarem pacificamente contra a atitude anti-democrática e autoritária do Governo JES. Todo mundo sabe da existência deste documento, (o Protectorado Lunda-Tchokwe). Portanto, a permanência até agora dos membros da CMJSPLT na cadeia viola a Nova Constituição da República. Segundo o Artigo 47º, ponto 1 desta Constituição “É garantida a todos os cidadãos a liberdade de reunião e de manifestação pacífica e sem armas, sem necessidade de qualquer autorização e nos termos da lei”. E no Artigo 40º, ponto 1 desta mesma Constituição expressa que “Todos têm o direito de exprimir, divulgar e compartilhar livremente os seus pensamentos, as suas ideias e opiniões, pela palavra, imagem ou qualquer outro meio, bem como o direito e a liberdade de informar, de se informar e de ser informado, sem impedimentos nem discriminações”. Infelizmente, é desta forma que o nosso país vem sendo governado com autoritarismo e ditadura, falta liberdade de expressão e de manifestação. Antes de finalizar, a minha pergunta é: quem está a violar as leis do país é o CMJSPLT que luta por uma causa justa, respeitando a Constituição de Angola ou o Governo do MPLA que sempre nunca cumpriu com os seus deveres e obrigações, e vive violando as leis do país? Devido a esta atitude que violam os princípios democráticos, o povo angolano e a Comunidade Internacional exorta o Regime do MPLA a fim de libertar os 37 Ativistas Políticos da CMJSPLT que se encontram presos desde 2007, nas cadeias de Angola. Pois, esta acção do Governo Angolano, só vai é perpetuar este povo a coragem de lutar pacificamente até o alcance do seu objectivo, atráves de instrumentos internacionalmente aceites. Por isso, apelo a todos os povos do Leste de Angola a se juntarem a fim de manifestar contra o governo do MPLA e JES em prol da vossa independência administrativa e financeira. A luta continua, a independência é certa.

Publicado aqui

Texto anexo a este post, 'respigado' hoje a proposito desta materia.

General History of Africa Collection in Portuguese

História Geral da África em Português

Publicada em oito volumes, a coleção História Geral da África está agora também disponível em português. A edição completa da coleção já foi publicada em árabe, inglês e francês; e sua versão condensada está editada em inglês, francês e em várias outras línguas, incluindo hausa, peul e swahili. Um dos projetos editoriais mais importantes da UNESCO nos últimos trinta anos, a coleção História Geral da África é um grande marco no processo de reconhecimento do patrimônio cultural da África, pois ela permite compreender o desenvolvimento histórico dos povos africanos e sua relação com outras civilizações a partir de uma visão panorâmica, diacrônica e objetiva, obtida de dentro do continente. A coleção foi produzida por mais de 350 especialistas das mais variadas áreas do conhecimento, sob a direção de um Comitê Científico Internacional formado por 39 intelectuais, dos quais dois terços eram africanos.


[Detalhes Aqui]

General History of Africa Collection in Portuguese

Published in eight volumes, the General History of Africa is now issued in Portuguese. Its complete edition is also available in Arabic, English and French, and its abridged edition is available in English, French and in several other languages including Hausa, Peul and Swahili. One of UNESCO's most important publishing projects in the last thirty years, the General History of Africa marks a major breakthrough in the recognition of Africa's cultural heritage for it allows the understanding of a historical development of the African people and its relationship with other civilizations from a broad, diachronic, and objective perspective obtained from the inside of theof the continent. The collection has been produced by more than 350 specialists of various areas under the coordination of the International Scientific Committee composed by 39 intellectuals, of which two thirds were African.

[Details Here]


Post relacionado:

A Quand L'Afrique: Joseph Ki-Zerbo

História Geral da África em Português

Publicada em oito volumes, a coleção História Geral da África está agora também disponível em português. A edição completa da coleção já foi publicada em árabe, inglês e francês; e sua versão condensada está editada em inglês, francês e em várias outras línguas, incluindo hausa, peul e swahili. Um dos projetos editoriais mais importantes da UNESCO nos últimos trinta anos, a coleção História Geral da África é um grande marco no processo de reconhecimento do patrimônio cultural da África, pois ela permite compreender o desenvolvimento histórico dos povos africanos e sua relação com outras civilizações a partir de uma visão panorâmica, diacrônica e objetiva, obtida de dentro do continente. A coleção foi produzida por mais de 350 especialistas das mais variadas áreas do conhecimento, sob a direção de um Comitê Científico Internacional formado por 39 intelectuais, dos quais dois terços eram africanos.


[Detalhes Aqui]

General History of Africa Collection in Portuguese

Published in eight volumes, the General History of Africa is now issued in Portuguese. Its complete edition is also available in Arabic, English and French, and its abridged edition is available in English, French and in several other languages including Hausa, Peul and Swahili. One of UNESCO's most important publishing projects in the last thirty years, the General History of Africa marks a major breakthrough in the recognition of Africa's cultural heritage for it allows the understanding of a historical development of the African people and its relationship with other civilizations from a broad, diachronic, and objective perspective obtained from the inside of theof the continent. The collection has been produced by more than 350 specialists of various areas under the coordination of the International Scientific Committee composed by 39 intellectuals, of which two thirds were African.

[Details Here]


Post relacionado:

A Quand L'Afrique: Joseph Ki-Zerbo

O "nosso Pravda" (e) a(s) contas com (d)a Justica...

O presidente russo, Dimitri Medvedev, vai lançar uma campanha de
“desestalinização” da Rússia, lembrando a população dos crimes cometidos pelo
ditador soviético Josef Estaline.
O papel de Estaline na história russa é o tema de uma reunião, em Janeiro, entre Medvedev e membros do Conselho de Direitos Humanos do Kremlin, indicaram alguns convidados da reunião, citados pelo jornal económico “Vedomosti”.
O Conselho elaborou um projecto de programa federal que tem como objectivo homenagear as milhões de vítimas da repressão estalinista.
O projecto inclui a abertura completa dos arquivos soviéticos, operações de procura de pessoas mortas nos campos e a instalação de novos monumentos para lembrar as vítimas.
O Conselho de Direitos Humanos também pede a Medvedev que “faça uma abordagem política e jurídica dos crimes do totalitarismo”.
A era Estaline caracterizou-se na Rússia por um regime de terror e pela execução ou o envio de milhões de pessoas para os gulags. A Câmara Baixa do Parlamento russo (Duma) aprovou, na sexta-feira, uma declaração que reconhece como “uma tragédia” ordenada por Staline o massacre de milhares de oficiais polacos, em 1940, em Katyn.
A atitude em relação ao ex-ditador é ambígua na Rússia, onde ele é percebido cada vez mais como um tirano. Alguns, no entanto, ainda o vêem como herói da vitória sobre os nazis na Segunda Guerra Mundial.


[Aqui]

... Nao sera' altura de a "nossa Duma" seguir o exemplo e comecar a abrir totalmente o "processo do 27 de Maio"?

E, ja' agora, de alguns grupos dos famigerados tempos de "todos os PRECs", em particular os que se designavam "Comites Jose' Estaline", comecarem a "explicar-se melhor"? ...

Parece!

O presidente russo, Dimitri Medvedev, vai lançar uma campanha de
“desestalinização” da Rússia, lembrando a população dos crimes cometidos pelo
ditador soviético Josef Estaline.
O papel de Estaline na história russa é o tema de uma reunião, em Janeiro, entre Medvedev e membros do Conselho de Direitos Humanos do Kremlin, indicaram alguns convidados da reunião, citados pelo jornal económico “Vedomosti”.
O Conselho elaborou um projecto de programa federal que tem como objectivo homenagear as milhões de vítimas da repressão estalinista.
O projecto inclui a abertura completa dos arquivos soviéticos, operações de procura de pessoas mortas nos campos e a instalação de novos monumentos para lembrar as vítimas.
O Conselho de Direitos Humanos também pede a Medvedev que “faça uma abordagem política e jurídica dos crimes do totalitarismo”.
A era Estaline caracterizou-se na Rússia por um regime de terror e pela execução ou o envio de milhões de pessoas para os gulags. A Câmara Baixa do Parlamento russo (Duma) aprovou, na sexta-feira, uma declaração que reconhece como “uma tragédia” ordenada por Staline o massacre de milhares de oficiais polacos, em 1940, em Katyn.
A atitude em relação ao ex-ditador é ambígua na Rússia, onde ele é percebido cada vez mais como um tirano. Alguns, no entanto, ainda o vêem como herói da vitória sobre os nazis na Segunda Guerra Mundial.


[Aqui]

... Nao sera' altura de a "nossa Duma" seguir o exemplo e comecar a abrir totalmente o "processo do 27 de Maio"?

E, ja' agora, de alguns grupos dos famigerados tempos de "todos os PRECs", em particular os que se designavam "Comites Jose' Estaline", comecarem a "explicar-se melhor"? ...

Parece!

Angola - Nos Trilhos da Independencia

De Paulo Lara, coordenador deste novo e promissor projecto, recebi ontem esta mensagem introdutoria:

Caros amigos

Depois de cerca de um ano de trabalho e no quadro do 35º aniversário da nossa Dipanda, decidimos dar a conhecer aos amigos o Projecto “Angola - Nos Trilhos da Independência” que podem ver em http://www.projectotrilhos.com/

Os anexos fílmicos (dois trailers e um making off), em função da capacidade e velocidade existente no local em que se encontrem, poderão demorar algum tempo até serem descarregados. É uma questão de terem paciência.

As questões, criticas ou sugestões são sempre bem vindas.
Abraço.
Paulo

Angola segue, independente, a caminho dos 40 anos e esse facto torna urgente a necessidade de preservar os testemunhos dos que contribuíram para que aqui chegássemos.
Na luta pela independência participaram indivíduos, que nos podem ainda narrar as suas experiências vividas. Testemunhos que é preciso recolher, registar e preservar.
A tarefa é urgente e a colaboração de todos é necessária. Só assim poderemos assegurar que através do trabalho de estudiosos e investigadores, as gerações mais novas e vindouras venham a enriquecer o seu conhecimento sobre a nossa História.
Com o objectivo de contribuir com a sua parte nesta tarefa de todos, a Associação Tchiweka de Documentação (ATD) decidiu, para além das suas actividades correntes, levar a cabo o Projecto “Angola nos Trilhos da Independência” que tem por objectivo proceder à recolha de testemunhos orais de nacionais ou estrangeiros, directa ou indirectamente envolvidos na luta anticolonial.
“Angola nos Trilhos da Independência”, pretende contribuir para uma pesquisa abrangente, que permita o registo de testemunhos no mosaico do movimento nacionalista.
Este Projecto tem uma duração de 5 anos. Em 2015, com base no material recolhido e com execução Geração-80, a ATD pretende promover um documentário sobre o trabalho realizado.


[Mais detalhes aqui]





Angola is independent for almost 40 years and this fact makes it urgent the need to preserve testimonies of those who contributed to this achievement.
Some people that participated in the struggle for independence can still share recounts of their experiences. Testimonials that – we must collect, record and preserve.
The task is urgent and everyone’s cooperation is needed. This way, we can ensure that, through the work of scholars and researchers, the younger generations and the ones to come will enrich their knowledge about our History.
The “Associação Tchiweka de Documentação” (ATD) association decided, in addition to its regular activities, to carry out the project “Angola – Nos Trilhos da Independência” with the goal of contributing with its share in this common task. This project aims to collect oral testimonies of domestic or foreign, directly or indirectly involved in the anti-colonial struggle.
“Angola – Nos Trilhos da Independência”, intends to contribute for a comprehensive research, which allows the registration of testimony in the nationalist movement medley.
This project will span over 5 years.
In 2015, based on gathered material and with “Geração-80” production, ATD will promote a documentary about the work done.


[More details here]

De Paulo Lara, coordenador deste novo e promissor projecto, recebi ontem esta mensagem introdutoria:

Caros amigos

Depois de cerca de um ano de trabalho e no quadro do 35º aniversário da nossa Dipanda, decidimos dar a conhecer aos amigos o Projecto “Angola - Nos Trilhos da Independência” que podem ver em http://www.projectotrilhos.com/

Os anexos fílmicos (dois trailers e um making off), em função da capacidade e velocidade existente no local em que se encontrem, poderão demorar algum tempo até serem descarregados. É uma questão de terem paciência.

As questões, criticas ou sugestões são sempre bem vindas.
Abraço.
Paulo

Angola segue, independente, a caminho dos 40 anos e esse facto torna urgente a necessidade de preservar os testemunhos dos que contribuíram para que aqui chegássemos.
Na luta pela independência participaram indivíduos, que nos podem ainda narrar as suas experiências vividas. Testemunhos que é preciso recolher, registar e preservar.
A tarefa é urgente e a colaboração de todos é necessária. Só assim poderemos assegurar que através do trabalho de estudiosos e investigadores, as gerações mais novas e vindouras venham a enriquecer o seu conhecimento sobre a nossa História.
Com o objectivo de contribuir com a sua parte nesta tarefa de todos, a Associação Tchiweka de Documentação (ATD) decidiu, para além das suas actividades correntes, levar a cabo o Projecto “Angola nos Trilhos da Independência” que tem por objectivo proceder à recolha de testemunhos orais de nacionais ou estrangeiros, directa ou indirectamente envolvidos na luta anticolonial.
“Angola nos Trilhos da Independência”, pretende contribuir para uma pesquisa abrangente, que permita o registo de testemunhos no mosaico do movimento nacionalista.
Este Projecto tem uma duração de 5 anos. Em 2015, com base no material recolhido e com execução Geração-80, a ATD pretende promover um documentário sobre o trabalho realizado.


[Mais detalhes aqui]





Angola is independent for almost 40 years and this fact makes it urgent the need to preserve testimonies of those who contributed to this achievement.
Some people that participated in the struggle for independence can still share recounts of their experiences. Testimonials that – we must collect, record and preserve.
The task is urgent and everyone’s cooperation is needed. This way, we can ensure that, through the work of scholars and researchers, the younger generations and the ones to come will enrich their knowledge about our History.
The “Associação Tchiweka de Documentação” (ATD) association decided, in addition to its regular activities, to carry out the project “Angola – Nos Trilhos da Independência” with the goal of contributing with its share in this common task. This project aims to collect oral testimonies of domestic or foreign, directly or indirectly involved in the anti-colonial struggle.
“Angola – Nos Trilhos da Independência”, intends to contribute for a comprehensive research, which allows the registration of testimony in the nationalist movement medley.
This project will span over 5 years.
In 2015, based on gathered material and with “Geração-80” production, ATD will promote a documentary about the work done.


[More details here]

"Conferencia Internacional sobre Cultura Cokwe" ... [R]*

E, fundamentalmente, tenta compreender que uma coisa é o domínio técnico das formas de expressão cultural de um particular grupo etno-linguístico, que fazes bem em tentar incorporar na tua dança, outra coisa é tentares apropriar-te da identidade do teu objecto de estudo… porque é isso que, consciente ou inconscientemente andas a tentar fazer. Será isso éticamente aceitável? Culturalmente legítimo? Intelectualmente honesto?[K. - aqui]

[imagem daqui]

Ninguém pode tudo na vida. E também ninguém sabe tudo, mas podemos fazer muito quando há solidariedade, interacção e entreajuda e, sobretudo, quando a pessoa em questão se sente entre os seus.
[JES - aqui]

... Ou "o estado angolano tentando justificar (defender?) o seu 'mais alto galardao'"? ...

AQUI


E, ja' agora, outro take sobre a "Historia, Kultura (e Identidade) Tchokwe'"...

AKI

OU AINDA...


COMO FABRICAR UM MONSTRO 'POS-COLONIAL'...


{Ou, provavelmente, "O Charme (in)Discreto da ex-Burguesia Colonial" - lembram-se do filme do Bunuel?...}


1. Pegue-se numa lourinha da media-alta burguesia colonial. Coloque-se-a, aos oito anos de idade, na academia local de ballet classico, como e' de 'bom gosto e bom tom' fazer-se com as 'meninas bem' das sociedades coloniais, para que elas "nao fiquem atras" das suas congeneres da metropole.

2. Aproveite-se a debandada dos colonos por altura da independencia e coloque-se a lourinha, aos quinze anos de idade, como directora da mesma academia, onde ela, por falta de competicao, challenges, e muito menos criticas, de colegas ou professore/as mais velho/as e mais experientes, nao so' nao aprimora a sua formacao basica, tanto tecnica como conceptual, cultural, espiritual e etica, moral ou humanistica, nem sedimenta quaisquer valores ou principios e menos ainda qualquer sensibilidade ou maturidade socio-politica, como comeca a desenvolver todos os tiques ditatorias de "prima doninha" e "vaquinha sagrada", ate' que... um grupo de "ingratos" emite um abaixo-assinado acusando-a de "praticas social e racialmente discriminatorias".

3. Nao tardara' muito e a loura, guiada pelos "mais elevados espiritas pos-coloniais", decide trocar as sapatilhas de ballet classico pela mascara da Mwana P(h)wo... e o resto... e' 'historia'!

4. Ou seja, a blonde bombshell decide criar uma privada 'companhia de danca contemporanea' a partir das cinzas da publica academia em que fez das suas a seu bel prazer, companhia essa que, va-se la' saber como e/ou porque, viria a ficar "falecida" durante cerca de 10 anos, ate' que... a loura e' confrontada com o primeiro challenge da sua dolce vitta sob a forma de alguns serios questionamentos por parte de uma "pobre e insignificante criatura", contra a qual por isso move uma sordida campanha em alianca com outros tantos sordidos personagens, mas gracas a qual e ao blog dessa mesma criatura consegue "reunir forcas" - nao sem usar, mais uma vez, a muleta dos seus paternus guias - para sair do seu letargico longo dolce fare niente e la' consegue fazer renascer das cinzas, qual Fenix, a tal companhia que apenas 'inclui' black men e para a qual obtem de mao beijada um volume de patrocinios inaudito no pais...

5. Depois e' so' ve-la tornar-se, do dia para a noite, "monstro sagrado da danca patrimonial nacional" (palmas por favor !), portadora do "mais alto galardao do estado pos-colonial" e (calem-se todos porra!!!), "mae da danca contemporanea em Africa", "coreografa-em-chefe do CAN", "unico verdadeiro icone da danca em Angola, unico membro do Conselho Mundial da Danca e unico item que nao merece ser abortado e muito menos suicidado em grande estilo ou esquartejado a catanada" e "mais angolana do que a angolanidade"!!!

6. Mas nao e' tudo: a loura, tendo sido sempre uma estudante mediocre e sem nunca ter completado o ensino medio formal, entra por portas travessas para a universidade local onde desconsegue de fazer o curso atraves do qual pretendia obter creditos de "ser pensante" (e' que isto de ser bailarina classica europeia, apenas porque os pais assim o quizeram e puderam e ainda por cima loura, tem as suas coisas...).

7. Vai dai, abala para uma qualquer universidade na ex-metropole onde se torna "mestre" e "doutoranda" em qualquer coisa ligada a motricidade humana, mas que tambem lhe permite vir a reclamar (desastradamente, diga-se de passagem...) creditos como "coreografa", "antropologa" "historiadora", "economista" e "critica literaria"!

8. E o monstro fica pronto quando, depois de ter dito e feito todas as patetices, ordinarices, ignorancias e mentiras descaradas aqui registadas, comeca arrogantemente a auto-designar-se "Dra." sem o ser, a auto-proclamar-se "grande especialista da cultura cokwe" e a mandar bocas destas: "(...) a dança não é instintiva, não é apenas recreativa, mas é uma área do saber tão académica e tão rigorosa como qualquer outra..."! [O facto e' que, mesmo que tal statement possa ser de algum modo "substanciado" numa qualquer versao talvez do dominio do "fantastico" (... e, ainda assim, quanto muito, apenas no 'circulo restrito' da "danca classica europeia"... e com "muitas aspas" e reticencias...), ela sera' a ultima pessoa a poder demonstra-lo convincentemente, dado o seu background e a sua prestacao nos registos acima mencionados e linkados...]


E MAIS!!! PERMITE-SE PUBLICAR "TESTAMENTOS" COMO ESTE:


TESTAMENTO


… quero dançar, dançar sempre até me evaporar, até os meus pés e a minha alma se rasgarem em fragmentos que se espalharão pela terra de todas as vidas que vivi, de todas as vidas que pisei, de todas as vidas que construí e destruí. De todas as vidas que sonhei e nem conheci.

Que o céu me arranque os olhos castanhos e os faça azuis de mar e cinzentos de tempestade. Que os ogros me levem o coração inscrito de sinuosas cicatrizes. E que tu me guardes a pele transparente e inofensiva e dela faças uma janela para coar o sol. O meu sol.

E que a raiva do meu corpo, te deite brutalmente sobre a areia de uma praia qualquer, onde te arrancarei a roupa e os complexos, onde te amputarei o génio e a identidade, onde te extirparei a serenidade e o sorriso, para te possuir, selvagem, extinguindo-me na vontade de te engolir para sempre.

Na intensidade de um orgasmo lúgubre, conseguirei então o que desejo, afinal, e que há de mais belo em ti:

a tua alma pura e frágil!..


[AQUI]


E PRONTO, COM SEXO, VENALIDADE E DECADENCIA q.b. A MISTURA - mais o "apoio incondicional" do regime e estruturas governamentais (nomeadamente o Ministerio da Cultura para o qual diz trabalhar ha' 33 anos...) "contra" os quais de vez em quando "manda umas bocas" para ingles ver e ouvir e para "conquistar a oposicao e, em particular, os intelectuais activistas do social" - AI' TEEM O PERFEITO MONSTRO 'POS-COLONIAL'... ABSOLUTAMENTE IRRESISTIVEL... ENJOY!

P.S.: Apenas algumas breves 'observacoes empiricas' (atrevidas) a esta materia:

i) A "interessante conversa sobre cultura e etnologia" com Mesquitela Lima a que me referia nesta memoria de morabezza, comecou num momento em que ele me atirou (morabezzamente) com este statement: "nos conhecemos melhor as vossas culturas do que voces proprios"!...

ii) Num pais como Angola, composto por um mosaico cultural que conta com pelo menos 10 grupos etnicos e respectivos sistemas e sub-sistemas etno-linguisticos e culturais, como explicar (compreender) o "lugar central" e ate' "matricial" que, aparentemente, nele e' atribuido a cultura Cokwe (Tchokwe)? Para o leigo, porem atento observador de cultural trends, como eu, ele tem pelo menos duas vertentes (hipoteses) explicativas fundamentais:

1. [Infrastrutura] - Os recursos financeiros e materiais que a toda poderosa Diamang (um verdadeiro "estado dentro do estado" no periodo colonial/ pre-economia petrolifera) pode dispender na investigacao, inventariacao, recolha, documentacao e arquivo daquela cultura nas suas varias vertentes - foi o que tornou possivel o estabelecimento, sob a direccao de Mesquitela Lima, do dedicado Museu do Dundo, que nao encontra replica na atencao (nao) dispensada as culturas de outros grupos etnicos do pais e a obra de Marie Louise Bastin ;

2. [Superstrutura] - A "gesta da Nacao Crioula", como fulcro cultural e intelectual do (ideologico) "projecto de engenharia social" para a criacao do "homem novo" que o MPLA vem (utopicamente) implementando, com maior ou menor sucesso, desde a independencia (replicando, em grande medida, a gesta cultural do "Portugal Imperial do Minho a Timor", com sede no eixo Sagres-Lisboa/Porto, na "Angola Pos-Colonial de Cabinda ao Cunene", com sede no eixo Dundo (Kabebe?) -Loanda/Benguela...). Projecto esse em que, ademais, no plano politico, os conceitos de Angolanidade, Cidadania e Patriotismo continuam a ser ideologicamente confundidos com a filiacao, adesao, ou comunhao de ideais, principios, programas e praticas ao/com o ate' recentemente unico e ate' agora partido maioritario - processo esse facilitado pela "acoplacao" e "acantonamento" dos outros dois maiores partidos tradicionais a forcas estrangeiras, nomeadamente aos "carcamanos sul-africanos" a Sul e aos "neo-authenticites apostolos de Mobutu" a Norte (... como se cubanos e sovieticos, entre outros, incluindo portugueses e chineses, nao fossem estrangeiros...):

- Essa gesta (utopica) tem a sua genese em Mwanapwo, os seus caboucos em Yaka , o seu apogeu em Lueji, o Nascimento de um Imperio e o seu extase na Gloriosa Familia, de Pepetela - 'o mais elevado dos espiritas', passando, embora um tanto ao largo e com outros referentes socio-culturais e geograficos (e.g. Luanda 'Ilha' Crioula de Mario Antonio), pela Nacao Crioula de Agualusa. Trata-se aqui de ficcao literaria, bem entendido, mas uma ficcao literaria que, neste contexto, "faz (pretende fazer?) as vezes" (ideologicamente) da Historia, da Sociologia, da Demografia, da Etnologia e da Antropologia - em suma, das Ciencias Sociais e Humanas...

- E esses vultos literarios, sao seguidos por um circulo restrito de poetas como Ana Paula Tavares [que, interessantemente, no seu A Cabeca de Salome', dedica uma cronica a Marie Louise Bastin, com um curioso "sincero pedido de perdao" (assumidamente por ter chegado tarde a taca do vinho lunda), que, pelo menos a mim, teve o condao de evocar a um certo nivel o statement de Mesquitela Lima acima referido... sendo que no mesmo livro, a autora (re?) cria uma fantastica carta de Dona Ana Joaquina - a escravocrata mestica - ao Muatianvua Noeji - senhor de todas as Lundas - em que estabelece uma ponte povoada de sonhos e pesadelos de escravos e pombeiros entre o palacio da primeira em Loanda - a cidade branca - e a mussumba do segundo em Kabebe - a cidade ideia...], bailarinas classicas europeias como Ana Clara Guerra Marques (a.k.a. P(h)wo, de Mwanapwo... "mera coincidencia"?!) e, entre outros, alguns artistas plasticos e musicos (embora estes apenas pontualmente e a titulo de curiosidade, ou apenas na intencao declarada) como Paulo Flores ou Tirso Amaral (e, certamente nao por acaso, excepto no caso deste, ja' falecido, os ultimos todos galardoados nos ultimos anos com o Premio Nacional de Cultura e Artes)...

E' a "Nacao Crioula" (Krioula? - ou, nas suas versoes mais hodiernas, a "(neofita) ideologia dos (pretensos) afectos" ou a "cultura africana contemporanea", ou pelo menos parte dela - onde o termo bantu passou a ser o insulto preferido de alguns e em que todos os caminhos parecem inevitavelmente ir dar a recolonizacao...) urdindo, fundindo, forjando, brandindo e esgrimindo, sob o olhar silencioso de Neto, em bom Portugues de Camoes (Kamoes?), ao sabor de bom vinho do Porto e ao som de Wagner, assepticamente, as suas "raizes mais profundas"! SARAVA'!!!

Is there more to it than just that, really?!
I wonder...

[Se Mesquitela Lima estivesse vivo, talvez me pudesse esclarecer melhor essas questoes e, muito especialmente, porque que o meu Kongo Blues e' considerado "tara tribal" e esse tipo de conferencias e respectivos produtos e sub-produtos culturais nao o e'... ]



*[First posted 02/10/10]

E, fundamentalmente, tenta compreender que uma coisa é o domínio técnico das formas de expressão cultural de um particular grupo etno-linguístico, que fazes bem em tentar incorporar na tua dança, outra coisa é tentares apropriar-te da identidade do teu objecto de estudo… porque é isso que, consciente ou inconscientemente andas a tentar fazer. Será isso éticamente aceitável? Culturalmente legítimo? Intelectualmente honesto?[K. - aqui]

[imagem daqui]

Ninguém pode tudo na vida. E também ninguém sabe tudo, mas podemos fazer muito quando há solidariedade, interacção e entreajuda e, sobretudo, quando a pessoa em questão se sente entre os seus.
[JES - aqui]

... Ou "o estado angolano tentando justificar (defender?) o seu 'mais alto galardao'"? ...

AQUI


E, ja' agora, outro take sobre a "Historia, Kultura (e Identidade) Tchokwe'"...

AKI

OU AINDA...


COMO FABRICAR UM MONSTRO 'POS-COLONIAL'...


{Ou, provavelmente, "O Charme (in)Discreto da ex-Burguesia Colonial" - lembram-se do filme do Bunuel?...}


1. Pegue-se numa lourinha da media-alta burguesia colonial. Coloque-se-a, aos oito anos de idade, na academia local de ballet classico, como e' de 'bom gosto e bom tom' fazer-se com as 'meninas bem' das sociedades coloniais, para que elas "nao fiquem atras" das suas congeneres da metropole.

2. Aproveite-se a debandada dos colonos por altura da independencia e coloque-se a lourinha, aos quinze anos de idade, como directora da mesma academia, onde ela, por falta de competicao, challenges, e muito menos criticas, de colegas ou professore/as mais velho/as e mais experientes, nao so' nao aprimora a sua formacao basica, tanto tecnica como conceptual, cultural, espiritual e etica, moral ou humanistica, nem sedimenta quaisquer valores ou principios e menos ainda qualquer sensibilidade ou maturidade socio-politica, como comeca a desenvolver todos os tiques ditatorias de "prima doninha" e "vaquinha sagrada", ate' que... um grupo de "ingratos" emite um abaixo-assinado acusando-a de "praticas social e racialmente discriminatorias".

3. Nao tardara' muito e a loura, guiada pelos "mais elevados espiritas pos-coloniais", decide trocar as sapatilhas de ballet classico pela mascara da Mwana P(h)wo... e o resto... e' 'historia'!

4. Ou seja, a blonde bombshell decide criar uma privada 'companhia de danca contemporanea' a partir das cinzas da publica academia em que fez das suas a seu bel prazer, companhia essa que, va-se la' saber como e/ou porque, viria a ficar "falecida" durante cerca de 10 anos, ate' que... a loura e' confrontada com o primeiro challenge da sua dolce vitta sob a forma de alguns serios questionamentos por parte de uma "pobre e insignificante criatura", contra a qual por isso move uma sordida campanha em alianca com outros tantos sordidos personagens, mas gracas a qual e ao blog dessa mesma criatura consegue "reunir forcas" - nao sem usar, mais uma vez, a muleta dos seus paternus guias - para sair do seu letargico longo dolce fare niente e la' consegue fazer renascer das cinzas, qual Fenix, a tal companhia que apenas 'inclui' black men e para a qual obtem de mao beijada um volume de patrocinios inaudito no pais...

5. Depois e' so' ve-la tornar-se, do dia para a noite, "monstro sagrado da danca patrimonial nacional" (palmas por favor !), portadora do "mais alto galardao do estado pos-colonial" e (calem-se todos porra!!!), "mae da danca contemporanea em Africa", "coreografa-em-chefe do CAN", "unico verdadeiro icone da danca em Angola, unico membro do Conselho Mundial da Danca e unico item que nao merece ser abortado e muito menos suicidado em grande estilo ou esquartejado a catanada" e "mais angolana do que a angolanidade"!!!

6. Mas nao e' tudo: a loura, tendo sido sempre uma estudante mediocre e sem nunca ter completado o ensino medio formal, entra por portas travessas para a universidade local onde desconsegue de fazer o curso atraves do qual pretendia obter creditos de "ser pensante" (e' que isto de ser bailarina classica europeia, apenas porque os pais assim o quizeram e puderam e ainda por cima loura, tem as suas coisas...).

7. Vai dai, abala para uma qualquer universidade na ex-metropole onde se torna "mestre" e "doutoranda" em qualquer coisa ligada a motricidade humana, mas que tambem lhe permite vir a reclamar (desastradamente, diga-se de passagem...) creditos como "coreografa", "antropologa" "historiadora", "economista" e "critica literaria"!

8. E o monstro fica pronto quando, depois de ter dito e feito todas as patetices, ordinarices, ignorancias e mentiras descaradas aqui registadas, comeca arrogantemente a auto-designar-se "Dra." sem o ser, a auto-proclamar-se "grande especialista da cultura cokwe" e a mandar bocas destas: "(...) a dança não é instintiva, não é apenas recreativa, mas é uma área do saber tão académica e tão rigorosa como qualquer outra..."! [O facto e' que, mesmo que tal statement possa ser de algum modo "substanciado" numa qualquer versao talvez do dominio do "fantastico" (... e, ainda assim, quanto muito, apenas no 'circulo restrito' da "danca classica europeia"... e com "muitas aspas" e reticencias...), ela sera' a ultima pessoa a poder demonstra-lo convincentemente, dado o seu background e a sua prestacao nos registos acima mencionados e linkados...]


E MAIS!!! PERMITE-SE PUBLICAR "TESTAMENTOS" COMO ESTE:


TESTAMENTO


… quero dançar, dançar sempre até me evaporar, até os meus pés e a minha alma se rasgarem em fragmentos que se espalharão pela terra de todas as vidas que vivi, de todas as vidas que pisei, de todas as vidas que construí e destruí. De todas as vidas que sonhei e nem conheci.

Que o céu me arranque os olhos castanhos e os faça azuis de mar e cinzentos de tempestade. Que os ogros me levem o coração inscrito de sinuosas cicatrizes. E que tu me guardes a pele transparente e inofensiva e dela faças uma janela para coar o sol. O meu sol.

E que a raiva do meu corpo, te deite brutalmente sobre a areia de uma praia qualquer, onde te arrancarei a roupa e os complexos, onde te amputarei o génio e a identidade, onde te extirparei a serenidade e o sorriso, para te possuir, selvagem, extinguindo-me na vontade de te engolir para sempre.

Na intensidade de um orgasmo lúgubre, conseguirei então o que desejo, afinal, e que há de mais belo em ti:

a tua alma pura e frágil!..


[AQUI]


E PRONTO, COM SEXO, VENALIDADE E DECADENCIA q.b. A MISTURA - mais o "apoio incondicional" do regime e estruturas governamentais (nomeadamente o Ministerio da Cultura para o qual diz trabalhar ha' 33 anos...) "contra" os quais de vez em quando "manda umas bocas" para ingles ver e ouvir e para "conquistar a oposicao e, em particular, os intelectuais activistas do social" - AI' TEEM O PERFEITO MONSTRO 'POS-COLONIAL'... ABSOLUTAMENTE IRRESISTIVEL... ENJOY!

P.S.: Apenas algumas breves 'observacoes empiricas' (atrevidas) a esta materia:

i) A "interessante conversa sobre cultura e etnologia" com Mesquitela Lima a que me referia nesta memoria de morabezza, comecou num momento em que ele me atirou (morabezzamente) com este statement: "nos conhecemos melhor as vossas culturas do que voces proprios"!...

ii) Num pais como Angola, composto por um mosaico cultural que conta com pelo menos 10 grupos etnicos e respectivos sistemas e sub-sistemas etno-linguisticos e culturais, como explicar (compreender) o "lugar central" e ate' "matricial" que, aparentemente, nele e' atribuido a cultura Cokwe (Tchokwe)? Para o leigo, porem atento observador de cultural trends, como eu, ele tem pelo menos duas vertentes (hipoteses) explicativas fundamentais:

1. [Infrastrutura] - Os recursos financeiros e materiais que a toda poderosa Diamang (um verdadeiro "estado dentro do estado" no periodo colonial/ pre-economia petrolifera) pode dispender na investigacao, inventariacao, recolha, documentacao e arquivo daquela cultura nas suas varias vertentes - foi o que tornou possivel o estabelecimento, sob a direccao de Mesquitela Lima, do dedicado Museu do Dundo, que nao encontra replica na atencao (nao) dispensada as culturas de outros grupos etnicos do pais e a obra de Marie Louise Bastin ;

2. [Superstrutura] - A "gesta da Nacao Crioula", como fulcro cultural e intelectual do (ideologico) "projecto de engenharia social" para a criacao do "homem novo" que o MPLA vem (utopicamente) implementando, com maior ou menor sucesso, desde a independencia (replicando, em grande medida, a gesta cultural do "Portugal Imperial do Minho a Timor", com sede no eixo Sagres-Lisboa/Porto, na "Angola Pos-Colonial de Cabinda ao Cunene", com sede no eixo Dundo (Kabebe?) -Loanda/Benguela...). Projecto esse em que, ademais, no plano politico, os conceitos de Angolanidade, Cidadania e Patriotismo continuam a ser ideologicamente confundidos com a filiacao, adesao, ou comunhao de ideais, principios, programas e praticas ao/com o ate' recentemente unico e ate' agora partido maioritario - processo esse facilitado pela "acoplacao" e "acantonamento" dos outros dois maiores partidos tradicionais a forcas estrangeiras, nomeadamente aos "carcamanos sul-africanos" a Sul e aos "neo-authenticites apostolos de Mobutu" a Norte (... como se cubanos e sovieticos, entre outros, incluindo portugueses e chineses, nao fossem estrangeiros...):

- Essa gesta (utopica) tem a sua genese em Mwanapwo, os seus caboucos em Yaka , o seu apogeu em Lueji, o Nascimento de um Imperio e o seu extase na Gloriosa Familia, de Pepetela - 'o mais elevado dos espiritas', passando, embora um tanto ao largo e com outros referentes socio-culturais e geograficos (e.g. Luanda 'Ilha' Crioula de Mario Antonio), pela Nacao Crioula de Agualusa. Trata-se aqui de ficcao literaria, bem entendido, mas uma ficcao literaria que, neste contexto, "faz (pretende fazer?) as vezes" (ideologicamente) da Historia, da Sociologia, da Demografia, da Etnologia e da Antropologia - em suma, das Ciencias Sociais e Humanas...

- E esses vultos literarios, sao seguidos por um circulo restrito de poetas como Ana Paula Tavares [que, interessantemente, no seu A Cabeca de Salome', dedica uma cronica a Marie Louise Bastin, com um curioso "sincero pedido de perdao" (assumidamente por ter chegado tarde a taca do vinho lunda), que, pelo menos a mim, teve o condao de evocar a um certo nivel o statement de Mesquitela Lima acima referido... sendo que no mesmo livro, a autora (re?) cria uma fantastica carta de Dona Ana Joaquina - a escravocrata mestica - ao Muatianvua Noeji - senhor de todas as Lundas - em que estabelece uma ponte povoada de sonhos e pesadelos de escravos e pombeiros entre o palacio da primeira em Loanda - a cidade branca - e a mussumba do segundo em Kabebe - a cidade ideia...], bailarinas classicas europeias como Ana Clara Guerra Marques (a.k.a. P(h)wo, de Mwanapwo... "mera coincidencia"?!) e, entre outros, alguns artistas plasticos e musicos (embora estes apenas pontualmente e a titulo de curiosidade, ou apenas na intencao declarada) como Paulo Flores ou Tirso Amaral (e, certamente nao por acaso, excepto no caso deste, ja' falecido, os ultimos todos galardoados nos ultimos anos com o Premio Nacional de Cultura e Artes)...

E' a "Nacao Crioula" (Krioula? - ou, nas suas versoes mais hodiernas, a "(neofita) ideologia dos (pretensos) afectos" ou a "cultura africana contemporanea", ou pelo menos parte dela - onde o termo bantu passou a ser o insulto preferido de alguns e em que todos os caminhos parecem inevitavelmente ir dar a recolonizacao...) urdindo, fundindo, forjando, brandindo e esgrimindo, sob o olhar silencioso de Neto, em bom Portugues de Camoes (Kamoes?), ao sabor de bom vinho do Porto e ao som de Wagner, assepticamente, as suas "raizes mais profundas"! SARAVA'!!!

Is there more to it than just that, really?!
I wonder...

[Se Mesquitela Lima estivesse vivo, talvez me pudesse esclarecer melhor essas questoes e, muito especialmente, porque que o meu Kongo Blues e' considerado "tara tribal" e esse tipo de conferencias e respectivos produtos e sub-produtos culturais nao o e'... ]



*[First posted 02/10/10]

Black History Month

October has just passed and with it Black History Month in Britain. Numerous events took place in London and other places where Black and African history and heritage throughout the world are celebrated during the month. I have attended three of such events at one of my local libraries:

- A talk by Daniel Kaluuya, a British born Ugandan who is an up and coming actor and writer best known for playing Posh Kenneth in the E4 teen-drama Skins. Daniel also had huge success earlier this year as Leon in Roy Williams’ Sucker Punch at the Royal Court Theatre.

I regret arriving late to Daniel's talk and having to leave early but got the impression that he is a promising talent whose career is worth following.



- A lecture by Sly Quarcoopome, a Ghanaian, poet and lecturer in Criminal Law/Psychology and Criminology, who read his poetry on the trials and tribulations of African consciousness.

Sly dedicated a special reflection on the experience of his home country, Ghana, Africa's first independent nation and the fate of its first leader, the Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, the author of Consciencism, with his democratic election and then overthrow by a CIA-sponsored coup d'etat. An experience replicated elsewhere on the continent throughout the 60's, which Sly, who presented himself as "an aspiring poet", put into these verses:

African Holocaust

From centuries of Slavery to Colonialism
From Stealing of
Gold to Diamonds
From Massacres to Genocides
From Imperialism to Modern Day Slavery
From Single Party to Multi-party Systems
From Divide & Rule to CIA & MI5 Coup-de-tats
From Dictatorships to Tribalism
From Corruption to Nepotism
From Religious Strives to North & South Divide
From Democracy to Dem-All-Crazy!!!

He also talked extensively about Africa's plight - from the continent's 'discovery' to what he termed 'modern day slavery' of Africans, both at home and in the diaspora, as well as the downtrodden of all nations and origins, with an emphasis on the differential impacts of the current economic crisis in society, especially in Britain. All this he conveyed in this poem inspired on Bob Marley's song of the same title, which was in turn inspired on a speech by Haile Selassie:

WAR!!!

Until the philosophy
This labels some
First World
And others, Third World
There's gonna be WAR!

Until the political tendencies
To name some nations
Under-developing
And others
Developed
There's gonna be WAR!

Until the shenanigans
That some are civilised
Due to richness
And others
Uncivilised n Barbaric
Due to poverty
There's gonna be WAR!

Until all legitimate
Freedom Fighters
Dis-labelled as Terrirists
There's gonna be WAR!

War in the North
War down South
War left side - East
War right side - West
War all over the bleeding place!

War down Wall Street
War up Capitol Hill
War down Parliament Square
War around the White House
War even in the shooters alley
War all over the bloody place.

Sly also had a word on women's discrimination throughout Africa. One particular statement he made that comes to mind was that "if a man is a wife abuser and keeps a lodger, sooner or later that lodger will also start abusing that woman and when a woman is abused in all likelihood she will also become an abuser, particularly towards her children, spawning a vicious cycle of crime and violence in society."

That is something one can observe in societies like the Angolan where, even recently, at least eight women were reported as victims of rape every day in the capital city, Luanda, while child abuse, including sexual, is rampant throughout the country and specially in provinces like Huila. And this sort of violence against women and children is then aped by foreigners in the country – something that my own recent experience in the lusosphere and with some Angolan media circles, even if not direct or physical, can serve as an example…

At the end of his well structured and presented lecture, I intervened just to add some cases to those Sly had mentioned, namely the equally CIA-sponsored overthrow of Lumumba in the Congo Zaire (now DRC) and the recent death (killing!) of Jimmy Mubenga. I also called attention to the need, especially in this year of celebration of the 'African Jubilee', to widen the scope of our reflections and discussions from what others have inflicted upon Africa and Africans throughout History to what we Africans have been inflicting upon ourselves and on the land of our ancestors. In this regard, I gave the specific exemple of the May 27th 1977 'holocaust' in Angola which left thousands of people dead, disappeared, emprisoned, mentally handicapped or psychologically disturbed...
Another example that can be given in that vein is the pogrom known as the Sexta Feira Sangrenta against the Bakongo in Luanda, on January 22nd 1993.

- A presentation by Chinwe Azubuike, a female contemporary voice from Africa, born in Lagos, Nigeria, who describes herself as a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s deprived class.

This last one was that which touched me the most, not least because it was protagonised by a woman. Throughout the presentation of her campaign denouncing violence against women, specifically against widows in Nigeria, and the performance of some of her poems, I was moved almost to tears at times.

There I was sitting in front of this short, slim, yet strong young lady who, with her short-cut hair - which reminded me of exactly how I used to wear mine (... for that I would either go to a barber's shop or cut it myself, and sometimes my late partner, who also liked it very much that way, would cut it for me...) when I was about her age and had also just published my humble first, and so far only, book of poems - holding all my attention and emotions, between the gravity and tension of the subjects she is dealing with and the distension and pleasure of a frank smile conveying to her audience the idea that suffering and healing are facts of life: the first being inflicted upon us by others (and sometimes by ourselves), the second being brought about by our conscious decision to stop both the causes and the consequences of that suffering.

Fears Of A Celibate Woman


The selfish lust of man
Has
earned him my doubt and distrust.

With this vast body of desires,
I
feel forsaken

Who is fit to uncross my twisted legs
And throw them
wide apart?
For my core is burning

Oh! You knight in shining Armour,
Come and prove me wrong.

She followed the paused, pulsating, reflexive (and reflective) reading of each poem (just as I would read my own) by a short explanation - something that I never did with mine, either verbally or in writing (except of late with some I've published on this blog), because it is my belief that poetry either succeeds at being self-explanatory or is ineffective. She also somehow concurred to this assertion by saying after the first reading that it "probably wasn't fair to do that as the author should just leave it to the audience to make sense of the poem." However, in doing so, she was also implicitly acknowledging something that I have experienced myself: the risk of our poems' intended message being lost in "the senses" (translation ... transliteration... prejudgements... prejudices... meaning... projection ... association... appropriation...) the audience, or the reader (not to mention the, often reckless, critics...), may discretionarily attach to them - but then, that's the gamble inherent to poetry writing, especially that of the symbolic kind, isn't it?

To The Memories Of Homage


I still remember the duty your
lips pay
left and right as you walk
down the aisle of people back in
motherland

The responses of women
with wrappers wrapped high above
their breasts
busy, bustling with wares to be assembled for an early sale
in the glowing warmth of the morning sun
They never forget to respond~
with the chewing sticks stuck in their mouths
They never forget to call
out your name
even before a salute leaps out of your lips

I still
remember the sequential interference
of greetings that stops you in your
track
to enquire the fate of your house-hold
and livestock if you
possess any
At times irritating, but all in good faith
by well meaning
hearts and acts of brotherliness

I remember the rebukes your
unintentional mind attracts
from those who surpass your age when morals
evade you
The slogan says ‘it is not love’
yet we engaged in it without
ceasing
it gave and earned us respect

So whenever I see familiar
faces here
who avert their eyes,
I wonder what they think salutation
depicts.

Well, at the end I took the opportunity to thank Chinwe for her beautifully crafted poems and to briefly say how much the underlying themes of both her poetry (e.g. the loss of her father, celibacy, or the sense of solitude and isolation in the diaspora with that permanent longing for echoes of the motherland in each of our smiles lost in those on the streets or at bus stops we momentarily think might be one of our own but really don't want to know us - yet, I've also experienced this is my own homecountry!) and her campaign (the ritual - both symbolic and physical - humiliation, moral degradation, prosecution and stigmatisation of widows in Nigeria) were so close, directly or indirectly, to some of my own life experiences.

I also shared with her and the rest of the audience the trials of widows in Southern Africa (particularly those in countries most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the region) which are very similar to those she described as happening in Nigeria, albeit for seemingly different reasons and in differing cultural settings, and how, for example, the passing of the 2005 Family Law in Mozambique (see details here and here) was a significant landmark in addressing some of these issues and their root causes.

But throughout, perhaps the only thing I really wanted to tell her but didn't muster to was something along the lines "do you know that there are women who are deprived even of the right to widowhood?"

- While looking up on the net for some more information about Chinwe, who also forms part of Exiled Writers Ink, a collective of artists and writers, I found out that she was featured earlier this year at my good friend and fellow blogger Sokari's Black Looks;

- I also visited the website of one of the organisations to which her campaign is linked, which also works with partners and associations of widows in countries where widowhood is a problem in terms of human rights abuses, discrimination, marginalisation, poverty and violence, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Angola, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, Widows For Peace Through Democracy - where I came across an organisation which might be worth exploring just for its name: The Organisation of Strong Women who Live Alone .

October has just passed and with it Black History Month in Britain. Numerous events took place in London and other places where Black and African history and heritage throughout the world are celebrated during the month. I have attended three of such events at one of my local libraries:

- A talk by Daniel Kaluuya, a British born Ugandan who is an up and coming actor and writer best known for playing Posh Kenneth in the E4 teen-drama Skins. Daniel also had huge success earlier this year as Leon in Roy Williams’ Sucker Punch at the Royal Court Theatre.

I regret arriving late to Daniel's talk and having to leave early but got the impression that he is a promising talent whose career is worth following.



- A lecture by Sly Quarcoopome, a Ghanaian, poet and lecturer in Criminal Law/Psychology and Criminology, who read his poetry on the trials and tribulations of African consciousness.

Sly dedicated a special reflection on the experience of his home country, Ghana, Africa's first independent nation and the fate of its first leader, the Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, the author of Consciencism, with his democratic election and then overthrow by a CIA-sponsored coup d'etat. An experience replicated elsewhere on the continent throughout the 60's, which Sly, who presented himself as "an aspiring poet", put into these verses:

African Holocaust

From centuries of Slavery to Colonialism
From Stealing of
Gold to Diamonds
From Massacres to Genocides
From Imperialism to Modern Day Slavery
From Single Party to Multi-party Systems
From Divide & Rule to CIA & MI5 Coup-de-tats
From Dictatorships to Tribalism
From Corruption to Nepotism
From Religious Strives to North & South Divide
From Democracy to Dem-All-Crazy!!!

He also talked extensively about Africa's plight - from the continent's 'discovery' to what he termed 'modern day slavery' of Africans, both at home and in the diaspora, as well as the downtrodden of all nations and origins, with an emphasis on the differential impacts of the current economic crisis in society, especially in Britain. All this he conveyed in this poem inspired on Bob Marley's song of the same title, which was in turn inspired on a speech by Haile Selassie:

WAR!!!

Until the philosophy
This labels some
First World
And others, Third World
There's gonna be WAR!

Until the political tendencies
To name some nations
Under-developing
And others
Developed
There's gonna be WAR!

Until the shenanigans
That some are civilised
Due to richness
And others
Uncivilised n Barbaric
Due to poverty
There's gonna be WAR!

Until all legitimate
Freedom Fighters
Dis-labelled as Terrirists
There's gonna be WAR!

War in the North
War down South
War left side - East
War right side - West
War all over the bleeding place!

War down Wall Street
War up Capitol Hill
War down Parliament Square
War around the White House
War even in the shooters alley
War all over the bloody place.

Sly also had a word on women's discrimination throughout Africa. One particular statement he made that comes to mind was that "if a man is a wife abuser and keeps a lodger, sooner or later that lodger will also start abusing that woman and when a woman is abused in all likelihood she will also become an abuser, particularly towards her children, spawning a vicious cycle of crime and violence in society."

That is something one can observe in societies like the Angolan where, even recently, at least eight women were reported as victims of rape every day in the capital city, Luanda, while child abuse, including sexual, is rampant throughout the country and specially in provinces like Huila. And this sort of violence against women and children is then aped by foreigners in the country – something that my own recent experience in the lusosphere and with some Angolan media circles, even if not direct or physical, can serve as an example…

At the end of his well structured and presented lecture, I intervened just to add some cases to those Sly had mentioned, namely the equally CIA-sponsored overthrow of Lumumba in the Congo Zaire (now DRC) and the recent death (killing!) of Jimmy Mubenga. I also called attention to the need, especially in this year of celebration of the 'African Jubilee', to widen the scope of our reflections and discussions from what others have inflicted upon Africa and Africans throughout History to what we Africans have been inflicting upon ourselves and on the land of our ancestors. In this regard, I gave the specific exemple of the May 27th 1977 'holocaust' in Angola which left thousands of people dead, disappeared, emprisoned, mentally handicapped or psychologically disturbed...
Another example that can be given in that vein is the pogrom known as the Sexta Feira Sangrenta against the Bakongo in Luanda, on January 22nd 1993.

- A presentation by Chinwe Azubuike, a female contemporary voice from Africa, born in Lagos, Nigeria, who describes herself as a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s deprived class.

This last one was that which touched me the most, not least because it was protagonised by a woman. Throughout the presentation of her campaign denouncing violence against women, specifically against widows in Nigeria, and the performance of some of her poems, I was moved almost to tears at times.

There I was sitting in front of this short, slim, yet strong young lady who, with her short-cut hair - which reminded me of exactly how I used to wear mine (... for that I would either go to a barber's shop or cut it myself, and sometimes my late partner, who also liked it very much that way, would cut it for me...) when I was about her age and had also just published my humble first, and so far only, book of poems - holding all my attention and emotions, between the gravity and tension of the subjects she is dealing with and the distension and pleasure of a frank smile conveying to her audience the idea that suffering and healing are facts of life: the first being inflicted upon us by others (and sometimes by ourselves), the second being brought about by our conscious decision to stop both the causes and the consequences of that suffering.

Fears Of A Celibate Woman


The selfish lust of man
Has
earned him my doubt and distrust.

With this vast body of desires,
I
feel forsaken

Who is fit to uncross my twisted legs
And throw them
wide apart?
For my core is burning

Oh! You knight in shining Armour,
Come and prove me wrong.

She followed the paused, pulsating, reflexive (and reflective) reading of each poem (just as I would read my own) by a short explanation - something that I never did with mine, either verbally or in writing (except of late with some I've published on this blog), because it is my belief that poetry either succeeds at being self-explanatory or is ineffective. She also somehow concurred to this assertion by saying after the first reading that it "probably wasn't fair to do that as the author should just leave it to the audience to make sense of the poem." However, in doing so, she was also implicitly acknowledging something that I have experienced myself: the risk of our poems' intended message being lost in "the senses" (translation ... transliteration... prejudgements... prejudices... meaning... projection ... association... appropriation...) the audience, or the reader (not to mention the, often reckless, critics...), may discretionarily attach to them - but then, that's the gamble inherent to poetry writing, especially that of the symbolic kind, isn't it?

To The Memories Of Homage


I still remember the duty your
lips pay
left and right as you walk
down the aisle of people back in
motherland

The responses of women
with wrappers wrapped high above
their breasts
busy, bustling with wares to be assembled for an early sale
in the glowing warmth of the morning sun
They never forget to respond~
with the chewing sticks stuck in their mouths
They never forget to call
out your name
even before a salute leaps out of your lips

I still
remember the sequential interference
of greetings that stops you in your
track
to enquire the fate of your house-hold
and livestock if you
possess any
At times irritating, but all in good faith
by well meaning
hearts and acts of brotherliness

I remember the rebukes your
unintentional mind attracts
from those who surpass your age when morals
evade you
The slogan says ‘it is not love’
yet we engaged in it without
ceasing
it gave and earned us respect

So whenever I see familiar
faces here
who avert their eyes,
I wonder what they think salutation
depicts.

Well, at the end I took the opportunity to thank Chinwe for her beautifully crafted poems and to briefly say how much the underlying themes of both her poetry (e.g. the loss of her father, celibacy, or the sense of solitude and isolation in the diaspora with that permanent longing for echoes of the motherland in each of our smiles lost in those on the streets or at bus stops we momentarily think might be one of our own but really don't want to know us - yet, I've also experienced this is my own homecountry!) and her campaign (the ritual - both symbolic and physical - humiliation, moral degradation, prosecution and stigmatisation of widows in Nigeria) were so close, directly or indirectly, to some of my own life experiences.

I also shared with her and the rest of the audience the trials of widows in Southern Africa (particularly those in countries most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the region) which are very similar to those she described as happening in Nigeria, albeit for seemingly different reasons and in differing cultural settings, and how, for example, the passing of the 2005 Family Law in Mozambique (see details here and here) was a significant landmark in addressing some of these issues and their root causes.

But throughout, perhaps the only thing I really wanted to tell her but didn't muster to was something along the lines "do you know that there are women who are deprived even of the right to widowhood?"

- While looking up on the net for some more information about Chinwe, who also forms part of Exiled Writers Ink, a collective of artists and writers, I found out that she was featured earlier this year at my good friend and fellow blogger Sokari's Black Looks;

- I also visited the website of one of the organisations to which her campaign is linked, which also works with partners and associations of widows in countries where widowhood is a problem in terms of human rights abuses, discrimination, marginalisation, poverty and violence, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Angola, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, Widows For Peace Through Democracy - where I came across an organisation which might be worth exploring just for its name: The Organisation of Strong Women who Live Alone .