10/10/10 - Kapikua!

10/10/10; Sunday, October 10, 2010: Mathematics

101010 (base two (binary)) equals 42 (base ten). Oddly enough, this is evenly divisible by the number of days in a week (7 (lucky)); and equally oddly, is also evenly divisible by the number 6 (which is generally designated as being unlucky). Both a Ying and Yang situation seem to be incorporated into this date.

10 (base ten) = 1010 (base two)
(base ten): 10 x 10 = 100
(base two): 10 x 10 = 100

The binary attributes of 101010 lends itself to use by the sciences of fractals (recursive geometric shapes) and chaos theory (the butterfly effect).


10/10/10; Sunday, October 10, 2010: Historical

Even when taking into account the differences between the Gregorian and Julian calendars:
Nothing significant appears to have happened a thousand years ago during the year 1010.
Nothing significant appears to have happened two thousand years ago during the year 10.
The Dark Ages spanned the 5th to 15th centuries (approximately 450 -1450).


10/10/10; Sunday, October 10, 2010: Psychology

The number ten seems to give people that warm, fuzzy feeling:
“I won TEN thousand dollars!”
“I got TEN things done today.”
Then of course, there are the ever ubiquitous Top Ten lists. The top Top-Ten lists are (in no particular order):
Top Ten To Do, Top Ten Reasons, Top Ten Links/Websites, Top Ten Music/Songs, Top Ten Movies, Top Ten Headlines, Top Ten Jokes, Top Ten Mistakes, Late Show Top Ten, Top Ten Reviews/Lists.





{sourced from here}

10/10/10; Sunday, October 10, 2010: Mathematics

101010 (base two (binary)) equals 42 (base ten). Oddly enough, this is evenly divisible by the number of days in a week (7 (lucky)); and equally oddly, is also evenly divisible by the number 6 (which is generally designated as being unlucky). Both a Ying and Yang situation seem to be incorporated into this date.

10 (base ten) = 1010 (base two)
(base ten): 10 x 10 = 100
(base two): 10 x 10 = 100

The binary attributes of 101010 lends itself to use by the sciences of fractals (recursive geometric shapes) and chaos theory (the butterfly effect).


10/10/10; Sunday, October 10, 2010: Historical

Even when taking into account the differences between the Gregorian and Julian calendars:
Nothing significant appears to have happened a thousand years ago during the year 1010.
Nothing significant appears to have happened two thousand years ago during the year 10.
The Dark Ages spanned the 5th to 15th centuries (approximately 450 -1450).


10/10/10; Sunday, October 10, 2010: Psychology

The number ten seems to give people that warm, fuzzy feeling:
“I won TEN thousand dollars!”
“I got TEN things done today.”
Then of course, there are the ever ubiquitous Top Ten lists. The top Top-Ten lists are (in no particular order):
Top Ten To Do, Top Ten Reasons, Top Ten Links/Websites, Top Ten Music/Songs, Top Ten Movies, Top Ten Headlines, Top Ten Jokes, Top Ten Mistakes, Late Show Top Ten, Top Ten Reviews/Lists.





{sourced from here}

Pegando na "deixa"...

O Presidente da República, José Eduardo dos Santos, num dos seus discursos recentes, pôs o dedo na ferida e disse que não podemos aceitar que bens de consumo importados, sejam mais caros do que aqueles que produzimos em Angola. Na altura, ninguém pegou na “deixa”. Mas o Chefe de Estado estava a alertar a sociedade para o gravíssimo problema da falta de produtividade nacional. Porque é isso que torna mais caro o feijão ou o milho nacional do que o importado, apesar do frete marítimo e dos dias a mais que os navios estão nos portos à espera de descarregar.

[aqui]

Pegando na "deixa":

"(...) não podemos aceitar que bens de consumo importados, sejam mais caros do que aqueles que produzimos em Angola"?

A menos que tenha havido um lamentavel lapso (… e o que se segue parece confirma-lo: “Mas o Chefe de Estado estava a alertar a sociedade para o gravíssimo problema da falta de produtividade nacional. Porque é isso que torna mais caro o feijão ou o milho nacional do que o importado”…) e onde se disse “mais caros” se pretendia dizer “mais baratos”, se quisermos realmente proteger a nossa competitividade atraves da promocao da produtividade nacional, e’ precisamente isso que temos que, nao so’ aceitar, como almejar e promover: que os bens de consumo importados sejam mais caros do que os produzidos nacionalmente…

(Sorry about that, Man Ribas)

O Presidente da República, José Eduardo dos Santos, num dos seus discursos recentes, pôs o dedo na ferida e disse que não podemos aceitar que bens de consumo importados, sejam mais caros do que aqueles que produzimos em Angola. Na altura, ninguém pegou na “deixa”. Mas o Chefe de Estado estava a alertar a sociedade para o gravíssimo problema da falta de produtividade nacional. Porque é isso que torna mais caro o feijão ou o milho nacional do que o importado, apesar do frete marítimo e dos dias a mais que os navios estão nos portos à espera de descarregar.

[aqui]

Pegando na "deixa":

"(...) não podemos aceitar que bens de consumo importados, sejam mais caros do que aqueles que produzimos em Angola"?

A menos que tenha havido um lamentavel lapso (… e o que se segue parece confirma-lo: “Mas o Chefe de Estado estava a alertar a sociedade para o gravíssimo problema da falta de produtividade nacional. Porque é isso que torna mais caro o feijão ou o milho nacional do que o importado”…) e onde se disse “mais caros” se pretendia dizer “mais baratos”, se quisermos realmente proteger a nossa competitividade atraves da promocao da produtividade nacional, e’ precisamente isso que temos que, nao so’ aceitar, como almejar e promover: que os bens de consumo importados sejam mais caros do que os produzidos nacionalmente…

(Sorry about that, Man Ribas)

Miliband vs. Miliband

A semana passada no UK foi marcada pelo culminar de uma renhida disputa pela lideranca do Partido Trabalhista, visando dar resposta a uma das questoes que aqui colocava em Maio ultimo, aquando da derrota deste partido nas historicas eleicoes gerais que o viram ser preterido em favor dos Conservativos (em alianca, de ultima hora e em cima do joelho, com os Liberais Democratas) depois de mais de uma decada com o controle das redeas do poder: "que futuro politico reserva(va)m os Trabalhistas a Gordon Brown"?

A resposta foi o eclipse total de Brown e a vitoria de Ed Miliband numa campanha que o opos, ao longo dos ultimos meses, a outros quatro candidatos, um dos quais, e aquele com quem acabaria por disputar a decisao final dos eleitores do seu partido, o seu irmao mais velho David, Secretario de Estado (Ministro) para os Negocios Estrangeiros no ultimo Gabinete Trabalhista, no que ficou registado como um duelo historico reminiscente de Cain e Abel...

Pure sibling rivalry ao mais alto nivel!



A disputa ficou tambem marcada pela participacao, pela primeira vez, de uma mulher negra, a Cambridge offspring Diane Abbott, notoria por ter sido igualmente a primeira mulher negra (e, acrescente-se, mae solteira) a ser eleita para o Parlamento de Westminster em 1987.

A victoria de Ed acabou por ditar a saida, por sua decisao propria, do seu irmao David da vida politica activa (ou pelo menos em posicoes de alta visibilidade).

Mas os detalhes tecnicos da campanha sao-nos, mais uma vez, trazidos (en espanol) pelo analista politico Isaac Bigio (aqui).

A semana passada no UK foi marcada pelo culminar de uma renhida disputa pela lideranca do Partido Trabalhista, visando dar resposta a uma das questoes que aqui colocava em Maio ultimo, aquando da derrota deste partido nas historicas eleicoes gerais que o viram ser preterido em favor dos Conservativos (em alianca, de ultima hora e em cima do joelho, com os Liberais Democratas) depois de mais de uma decada com o controle das redeas do poder: "que futuro politico reserva(va)m os Trabalhistas a Gordon Brown"?

A resposta foi o eclipse total de Brown e a vitoria de Ed Miliband numa campanha que o opos, ao longo dos ultimos meses, a outros quatro candidatos, um dos quais, e aquele com quem acabaria por disputar a decisao final dos eleitores do seu partido, o seu irmao mais velho David, Secretario de Estado (Ministro) para os Negocios Estrangeiros no ultimo Gabinete Trabalhista, no que ficou registado como um duelo historico reminiscente de Cain e Abel...

Pure sibling rivalry ao mais alto nivel!



A disputa ficou tambem marcada pela participacao, pela primeira vez, de uma mulher negra, a Cambridge offspring Diane Abbott, notoria por ter sido igualmente a primeira mulher negra (e, acrescente-se, mae solteira) a ser eleita para o Parlamento de Westminster em 1987.

A victoria de Ed acabou por ditar a saida, por sua decisao propria, do seu irmao David da vida politica activa (ou pelo menos em posicoes de alta visibilidade).

Mas os detalhes tecnicos da campanha sao-nos, mais uma vez, trazidos (en espanol) pelo analista politico Isaac Bigio (aqui).

ON RACE & RACISM IN CUBA [R]*

(...)

Spain's growing inability and unwillingness to deliver on promised economic reforms to Creole planters had devastating economic effects for the eastern region of Cuba. While the Creole elite of the monoculture sugar-producing western region may have been disappointed with Spain's reform failures, their economic standing remained strong. Moreover, they depended on the protection they believed Spain offered them from their dense slave populations. Conversely, the eastern region was characterised by a multi-crop economy that depended far less on slave labour. As a result, the region's demographic make-up was far more racially balanced. The growing frustrations of the eastern region's Creole elite with their declining position vis-à-vis the sugar-rich western region spawned the first phase of the Cuban war for independence, called "The Ten Years' War".

It was evident to this group of Creoles that the only way they would be able to successfully launch a revolution was by enlisting the participation of the eastern region's free(d) and enslaved populations. As a result, they offered the latter manumission in exchange for their participation in the insurgency movement against Spanish colonial rule. This seemingly radical move on the part of the insurgent Creoles was, as the historian Rebecca Scott notes, symbolically important, but nonetheless "legally represented nothing more radical than the exercise of the right of a master to manumit his slaves". Moreover, their actions were tempered by over-riding concerns about alienating the region's more conservative planters by demanding immediate abolition. A compromise was reached in 1869 when the insurgency forces declared all inhabitants of their self-pronounced republic free, but enacted the Reglamento de Libertos, which established a tutelage system that allowed former slave owners to retain control over their former slaves.

This arrangement allowed the insurgency leadership to continue reaping the benefits of slave labour, but to do so outside the paradigm of slavery. It increased the manpower of the military, while provisioning the labour of former female slaves to attend to the domestic needs of the insurgency forces. Ferrer points out that this system was also designed to encourage the subservience, indebtedness and gratitude of former slaves to the rebel leaders. While it certainly had this effect, libertos also seized the revolutionary language of freedom, liberty, and justice to demand a more inclusive role in the anti-colonial struggle. As a result, former slaves and free blacks and mestizos rose in the ranks of the military and to a limited extent the latter were also placed into public office at the local level.

(...)

In 1892, José Martí founded the multi-racial Cuban Revolutionary Party (CRP), which unified the various groups who favoured complete independence. Unlike earlier insurgents who had hoped to enlist the support of the US, Martí was alarmed by the increasingly imperialist tendencies of the US. His deep concern that a protracted war would not only lead to US intervention, but also to the destruction of the economy, propelled him to plan an island-wide mass rebellion in 1895 designed to ensure a quick victory. The war, however, lasted three years and witnessed the death of Martí and ended in US occupation of Cuba. Moreover, the way in which race played itself out during the final phase of the war foreshadowed the gap that would emerge between the revolution's anti-racist ideology and the reality of race-relations in the nation it produced.

In order to neutralise the potent rhetoric that had characterised Spain's earlier attempts at discrediting the Cuban independence movement as a race-war designed to institute a black republic, the island's intellectuals disassociated the issue of race from the revolution by constructing Cuba as a race-less nation. They argued that national unity would be forged through interracial cooperation, which in transcending race would transform blacks and whites into race-less Cubans.

Proponents of this nation-building myth pointed to the two most prominent leaders of the 1895 rebellion, José Martí and Antonio Maceo, who were white and mixed race respectively, as the embodiment of this principle. Yet, this cosy rhetoric ignored that the two men had serious ideological differences. In her pioneering study, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912, the historian Aline Helg points out that Maceo was conveniently "made ... the true incarnation of colour-blind revolutionary Cuba." Indeed, the myth latched on to "...the fact that he had managed to become the most famous general of Cuba Libre [Free Cuba, a.k.a. the anti-colonial forces]despite his partial African descent and limited formal education as proof that racism had disappeared".

Black and mixed race men attempted with some success to use this colour-blind ideology in pursuit of military, political and social advancement. The strides they made did not go unnoticed by the insurgency's white leaders, who were increasingly concerned about how alterations made to the racial hierarchy as a result of wartime exigencies were affecting the racial status quo. A wholesale retraction of the racial egalitarianism that underpinned the revolution was out of the question. Rather, white insurgency leaders continued to point to the few men of colour who were in leadership positions, while neglecting the fact that Afro-Cubans were over-represented in the rank and file and intentionally discriminated against.

Their marginalisation was even starker in the civil arm of the insurgency movement. According to Helg, "the civil branch of Cuba Libre continued to show its attachment to colonial hierarchies. The new assembly of representatives in 1897 had not a single Afro-Cuban member; instead it comprised men of refinement" while the "new provisional government was all white as well". The ability of Afro-Cubans to combat the increasing discrimination they faced was effectively curtailed when the US declared war on Spain in 1898.

(...)

The fact that the few Afro-Cubans who had any power within the state were unwilling to risk the security of their positions to lobby for equal rights for the larger Afro-Cuban populace, made reform all the more difficult. In this environment, Afro-Cubans came under assault, as did their African-based cultural practices, like drumming and dancing. Nonetheless, Afro-Cubans continued to harness revolutionary ideologies in an attempt to carve out their place in the nation. Indeed, not surprisingly, the first collective Afro-Cuban organisations emerged among the war veterans.

It was not until 1908 that a national party representing wider Afro-Cuban interests emerged, when the Partido Independiente de Color (PIC) was formed. Yet, in the following year, the conservative Afro-Cuban leader, Martín Morúa Delgado, introduced the Morúa Law, banning the formation of political parties based on race or religion. Besides revealing the continued divide between the elite Afro-Cubans and the popular masses, the law exemplifies the way in which the myth of Cuba as a race-less nation continued to be employed to militate against the inclusion of Afro-Cubans in mainstream politics and society under the guise of racial egalitarianism.

The PIC, however, did not go away quietly. In 1912 when it launched an armed struggle in the eastern provinces, it was summarily denounced as a race war and immediately and violently repressed. Between three and four thousand Afro-Cubans were killed during the rebellion, including Evaristo Estenoz, the founder of the PIC. The events of 1912 effectively snuffed out Afro-Cuban activism. In 1918, the Afro-Cuban journalist, José Armando Pla, proposed the formation of another party to represent the interests of black Cubans, but his proposal fell on deaf ears. In short, 1912 marked a turning point for Afro-Cubans as they became painfully aware that the myth of Cuba as a race-less nation was just that - a myth.

Thus, when we assess the question of racial inequality today in Cuba, we must remember that Fidel Castro inherited an extraordinarily racially divided nation. While Castro has arguably done far more to address racial inequality than his counterparts in other parts of the Caribbean and the Americas, Cuba still has a long way to go. The most revolutionary thing Castro could do is to ensure that Afro-Cubans, who make up the majority of the island's population, are proportionally represented in the island's social, economic, and political institutions.

In Cuba and the Myth of the 'Race-less' Nation, by Carina Ray

[Full article here ]

Old Havana

(...)

Criticism of the persistence of racism and discrimination started being construed as part of the propaganda of the enemies of Cuba. It was argued that there were indeed some vestiges of subjective forms of racism that were survivals from the habits and attitudes of the past and that these would disappear in the course of time.

“By adopting this position, the Revolutionary government in fact endorsed the traditional dominant interpretation of the nationalist ideology that claimed that race was a divisive issue which endangered national unity.” (p. 32). Until 1959, the issue of racism had been kept alive by the Afro-Cuban activists and intellectuals with the support of the Communist Party. But under the difficult conditions that Cuba faced, silence once again became part of the official line.

The “silence” was ruptured in the 1990s as a result of the structural crisis that engulfed Cuba. Social programs experienced a dramatic decline while class polarization began to grow. Competition for jobs increased and characteristically people used whatever they could leverage to attain an edge in competition—this of course included race.

Social problems accompanying the crisis reappeared: prostitution and criminal activities. These problems affected particularly the Afro-Cubans as the historically most vulnerable on account of their structural location.

Official responses to mounting social problems compounded the problems as the police began profiling and targeting the Afro-Cuban prostitutes and criminals. That was not all. The disproportionate number of Afro-Cubans caught in the myriad of these social problems served to further reinforce and crystallize the racist attitudes and stereotypes directed at the Afro-Cubans.

There has been a disproportionate incarceration of Afro-Cubans that is end product of the complex web of social forces-some historical some contemporary. The faces of these Afro-Cubans was dramatically displayed in the Mariel fiasco of the 1980s.

(...)

The structural crisis of the 1990s brought into play other forces of racism and discrimination that have been quite evident in the tourism sector.

In the early 1980s blacks and mulattos were slightly over-represented in the service sector, when these jobs were poorlv remunerated and offered little social prestige. If anything, Afro-Cubans should have had a "structural advantage" to fully participate in the new, service-oriented tourist economy of the 1990s-they had both experience and seniority. Yet domestic and international observers agree that most tourist-related jobs are performed by individuals deemed to be white in Cuba. Particularly in those jobs that imply direct personal contact with the visitors-and in which the opportunities for complementary income via tips and gifts are greater-the proportion of blacks is abysmally low.

“Cubans explain blacks' low presence in tourist jobs using various arguments, all of which more or less openly imply that Afro-Cubans are unattractive, dirty, prone to criminal activities, inefficient or lack proper manners and education. The most frequent argument revolves around the concept of "pleasant aspect" (buena presencia), a racialized construct that claims that blacks cannot be hired for these jobs due to aesthetic considerations and to the alleged preferences of the tourists.”

(…)

In response, there has been a renewed interest in studying racism in Cuba by scholars within as well as outside Cuba. Artists, intellectuals as well as scholars have joined in this campaign. Images of blackness in visual arts have been criticized for their stereotypic portrayal of blackness. Cuban anthropologists have done important ethnographic studies of prostitution. There has also been the social activism of Afro-Cubans that served to shatter the official silence. Among the dramatic events are spontaneous outbursts in the working class neighborhoods in Havana which launched attacks of tourist stores-throwing stores and breaking windows etc.

The Cuban experience shows that one can indeed dismantle the structures that under gird racism. But that may not necessarily eliminate racism once and for all. In Cuba in particular, the subjective vestiges of racist modes of thought and ideologies can reconstitute racist practices, given new conditions. This was the case, given the structural crisis of the 1990s, in conditions in which racial attitudes and ideologies were still festering among white Cubans below the surface appearances and official denials of racism.

“By institutionalizing the silence on race, the Cuban government precluded a consistent confrontation of racial ideologies and attitudes. Material changes surely began to erode some of the ideological pillars of racism, but the pillars themselves were not directly attacked. Changes in power relations can gradually undermine the material and even cultural foundations of racism, but the process, as comparative historian George Fredrickson has noted, is unfortunately reversible.”

In review of The Resurgence of Racism in Cuba, by Alejandro de la Fuente

[Full article here]

See also

ON RACISM, CUBA IS NO ISLAND

and

THE CARLOS MOORE TESTIMONIES

*[First posted 12/04/09]

(...)

Spain's growing inability and unwillingness to deliver on promised economic reforms to Creole planters had devastating economic effects for the eastern region of Cuba. While the Creole elite of the monoculture sugar-producing western region may have been disappointed with Spain's reform failures, their economic standing remained strong. Moreover, they depended on the protection they believed Spain offered them from their dense slave populations. Conversely, the eastern region was characterised by a multi-crop economy that depended far less on slave labour. As a result, the region's demographic make-up was far more racially balanced. The growing frustrations of the eastern region's Creole elite with their declining position vis-à-vis the sugar-rich western region spawned the first phase of the Cuban war for independence, called "The Ten Years' War".

It was evident to this group of Creoles that the only way they would be able to successfully launch a revolution was by enlisting the participation of the eastern region's free(d) and enslaved populations. As a result, they offered the latter manumission in exchange for their participation in the insurgency movement against Spanish colonial rule. This seemingly radical move on the part of the insurgent Creoles was, as the historian Rebecca Scott notes, symbolically important, but nonetheless "legally represented nothing more radical than the exercise of the right of a master to manumit his slaves". Moreover, their actions were tempered by over-riding concerns about alienating the region's more conservative planters by demanding immediate abolition. A compromise was reached in 1869 when the insurgency forces declared all inhabitants of their self-pronounced republic free, but enacted the Reglamento de Libertos, which established a tutelage system that allowed former slave owners to retain control over their former slaves.

This arrangement allowed the insurgency leadership to continue reaping the benefits of slave labour, but to do so outside the paradigm of slavery. It increased the manpower of the military, while provisioning the labour of former female slaves to attend to the domestic needs of the insurgency forces. Ferrer points out that this system was also designed to encourage the subservience, indebtedness and gratitude of former slaves to the rebel leaders. While it certainly had this effect, libertos also seized the revolutionary language of freedom, liberty, and justice to demand a more inclusive role in the anti-colonial struggle. As a result, former slaves and free blacks and mestizos rose in the ranks of the military and to a limited extent the latter were also placed into public office at the local level.

(...)

In 1892, José Martí founded the multi-racial Cuban Revolutionary Party (CRP), which unified the various groups who favoured complete independence. Unlike earlier insurgents who had hoped to enlist the support of the US, Martí was alarmed by the increasingly imperialist tendencies of the US. His deep concern that a protracted war would not only lead to US intervention, but also to the destruction of the economy, propelled him to plan an island-wide mass rebellion in 1895 designed to ensure a quick victory. The war, however, lasted three years and witnessed the death of Martí and ended in US occupation of Cuba. Moreover, the way in which race played itself out during the final phase of the war foreshadowed the gap that would emerge between the revolution's anti-racist ideology and the reality of race-relations in the nation it produced.

In order to neutralise the potent rhetoric that had characterised Spain's earlier attempts at discrediting the Cuban independence movement as a race-war designed to institute a black republic, the island's intellectuals disassociated the issue of race from the revolution by constructing Cuba as a race-less nation. They argued that national unity would be forged through interracial cooperation, which in transcending race would transform blacks and whites into race-less Cubans.

Proponents of this nation-building myth pointed to the two most prominent leaders of the 1895 rebellion, José Martí and Antonio Maceo, who were white and mixed race respectively, as the embodiment of this principle. Yet, this cosy rhetoric ignored that the two men had serious ideological differences. In her pioneering study, Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912, the historian Aline Helg points out that Maceo was conveniently "made ... the true incarnation of colour-blind revolutionary Cuba." Indeed, the myth latched on to "...the fact that he had managed to become the most famous general of Cuba Libre [Free Cuba, a.k.a. the anti-colonial forces]despite his partial African descent and limited formal education as proof that racism had disappeared".

Black and mixed race men attempted with some success to use this colour-blind ideology in pursuit of military, political and social advancement. The strides they made did not go unnoticed by the insurgency's white leaders, who were increasingly concerned about how alterations made to the racial hierarchy as a result of wartime exigencies were affecting the racial status quo. A wholesale retraction of the racial egalitarianism that underpinned the revolution was out of the question. Rather, white insurgency leaders continued to point to the few men of colour who were in leadership positions, while neglecting the fact that Afro-Cubans were over-represented in the rank and file and intentionally discriminated against.

Their marginalisation was even starker in the civil arm of the insurgency movement. According to Helg, "the civil branch of Cuba Libre continued to show its attachment to colonial hierarchies. The new assembly of representatives in 1897 had not a single Afro-Cuban member; instead it comprised men of refinement" while the "new provisional government was all white as well". The ability of Afro-Cubans to combat the increasing discrimination they faced was effectively curtailed when the US declared war on Spain in 1898.

(...)

The fact that the few Afro-Cubans who had any power within the state were unwilling to risk the security of their positions to lobby for equal rights for the larger Afro-Cuban populace, made reform all the more difficult. In this environment, Afro-Cubans came under assault, as did their African-based cultural practices, like drumming and dancing. Nonetheless, Afro-Cubans continued to harness revolutionary ideologies in an attempt to carve out their place in the nation. Indeed, not surprisingly, the first collective Afro-Cuban organisations emerged among the war veterans.

It was not until 1908 that a national party representing wider Afro-Cuban interests emerged, when the Partido Independiente de Color (PIC) was formed. Yet, in the following year, the conservative Afro-Cuban leader, Martín Morúa Delgado, introduced the Morúa Law, banning the formation of political parties based on race or religion. Besides revealing the continued divide between the elite Afro-Cubans and the popular masses, the law exemplifies the way in which the myth of Cuba as a race-less nation continued to be employed to militate against the inclusion of Afro-Cubans in mainstream politics and society under the guise of racial egalitarianism.

The PIC, however, did not go away quietly. In 1912 when it launched an armed struggle in the eastern provinces, it was summarily denounced as a race war and immediately and violently repressed. Between three and four thousand Afro-Cubans were killed during the rebellion, including Evaristo Estenoz, the founder of the PIC. The events of 1912 effectively snuffed out Afro-Cuban activism. In 1918, the Afro-Cuban journalist, José Armando Pla, proposed the formation of another party to represent the interests of black Cubans, but his proposal fell on deaf ears. In short, 1912 marked a turning point for Afro-Cubans as they became painfully aware that the myth of Cuba as a race-less nation was just that - a myth.

Thus, when we assess the question of racial inequality today in Cuba, we must remember that Fidel Castro inherited an extraordinarily racially divided nation. While Castro has arguably done far more to address racial inequality than his counterparts in other parts of the Caribbean and the Americas, Cuba still has a long way to go. The most revolutionary thing Castro could do is to ensure that Afro-Cubans, who make up the majority of the island's population, are proportionally represented in the island's social, economic, and political institutions.

In Cuba and the Myth of the 'Race-less' Nation, by Carina Ray

[Full article here ]

Old Havana

(...)

Criticism of the persistence of racism and discrimination started being construed as part of the propaganda of the enemies of Cuba. It was argued that there were indeed some vestiges of subjective forms of racism that were survivals from the habits and attitudes of the past and that these would disappear in the course of time.

“By adopting this position, the Revolutionary government in fact endorsed the traditional dominant interpretation of the nationalist ideology that claimed that race was a divisive issue which endangered national unity.” (p. 32). Until 1959, the issue of racism had been kept alive by the Afro-Cuban activists and intellectuals with the support of the Communist Party. But under the difficult conditions that Cuba faced, silence once again became part of the official line.

The “silence” was ruptured in the 1990s as a result of the structural crisis that engulfed Cuba. Social programs experienced a dramatic decline while class polarization began to grow. Competition for jobs increased and characteristically people used whatever they could leverage to attain an edge in competition—this of course included race.

Social problems accompanying the crisis reappeared: prostitution and criminal activities. These problems affected particularly the Afro-Cubans as the historically most vulnerable on account of their structural location.

Official responses to mounting social problems compounded the problems as the police began profiling and targeting the Afro-Cuban prostitutes and criminals. That was not all. The disproportionate number of Afro-Cubans caught in the myriad of these social problems served to further reinforce and crystallize the racist attitudes and stereotypes directed at the Afro-Cubans.

There has been a disproportionate incarceration of Afro-Cubans that is end product of the complex web of social forces-some historical some contemporary. The faces of these Afro-Cubans was dramatically displayed in the Mariel fiasco of the 1980s.

(...)

The structural crisis of the 1990s brought into play other forces of racism and discrimination that have been quite evident in the tourism sector.

In the early 1980s blacks and mulattos were slightly over-represented in the service sector, when these jobs were poorlv remunerated and offered little social prestige. If anything, Afro-Cubans should have had a "structural advantage" to fully participate in the new, service-oriented tourist economy of the 1990s-they had both experience and seniority. Yet domestic and international observers agree that most tourist-related jobs are performed by individuals deemed to be white in Cuba. Particularly in those jobs that imply direct personal contact with the visitors-and in which the opportunities for complementary income via tips and gifts are greater-the proportion of blacks is abysmally low.

“Cubans explain blacks' low presence in tourist jobs using various arguments, all of which more or less openly imply that Afro-Cubans are unattractive, dirty, prone to criminal activities, inefficient or lack proper manners and education. The most frequent argument revolves around the concept of "pleasant aspect" (buena presencia), a racialized construct that claims that blacks cannot be hired for these jobs due to aesthetic considerations and to the alleged preferences of the tourists.”

(…)

In response, there has been a renewed interest in studying racism in Cuba by scholars within as well as outside Cuba. Artists, intellectuals as well as scholars have joined in this campaign. Images of blackness in visual arts have been criticized for their stereotypic portrayal of blackness. Cuban anthropologists have done important ethnographic studies of prostitution. There has also been the social activism of Afro-Cubans that served to shatter the official silence. Among the dramatic events are spontaneous outbursts in the working class neighborhoods in Havana which launched attacks of tourist stores-throwing stores and breaking windows etc.

The Cuban experience shows that one can indeed dismantle the structures that under gird racism. But that may not necessarily eliminate racism once and for all. In Cuba in particular, the subjective vestiges of racist modes of thought and ideologies can reconstitute racist practices, given new conditions. This was the case, given the structural crisis of the 1990s, in conditions in which racial attitudes and ideologies were still festering among white Cubans below the surface appearances and official denials of racism.

“By institutionalizing the silence on race, the Cuban government precluded a consistent confrontation of racial ideologies and attitudes. Material changes surely began to erode some of the ideological pillars of racism, but the pillars themselves were not directly attacked. Changes in power relations can gradually undermine the material and even cultural foundations of racism, but the process, as comparative historian George Fredrickson has noted, is unfortunately reversible.”

In review of The Resurgence of Racism in Cuba, by Alejandro de la Fuente

[Full article here]

See also

ON RACISM, CUBA IS NO ISLAND

and

THE CARLOS MOORE TESTIMONIES

*[First posted 12/04/09]

Surprise, surprise?

Cabo Verde é o país africano de expressão portuguesa melhor classificado, ocupando o quarto lugar, no Índice Mo Ibrahim, em que São Tomé e Príncipe está em 11.º, Moçambique em 20.º, Guiné-Bissau em 41.º e Angola em 43.º.

No índice de 53 países, divulgado segunda feira, Cabo Verde desceu, porém, dois lugares em relação a 2009, ficando agora atrás das Maurícias, que mantém o primeiro posto, Seicheles e Botsuana, com a África do Sul a fechar o "top 5". Os últimos da lista são a Eritreia, Zimbabué, RD Congo, Chade e Somália.

A tabela avalia quatro critérios de governação - Desenvolvimento Humano, Participação e Direitos Humanos, Segurança e Estado de Direito, Oportunidades de Sustentabilidade Económica.

[Noticia daqui]


Posts relacionados:

Revisitando Questoes de Genero... Ou a Economia do Bolso Vazio

A Comment on Issa Shivji's critique of Mo Ibrahim's Prize

Cabo Verde é o país africano de expressão portuguesa melhor classificado, ocupando o quarto lugar, no Índice Mo Ibrahim, em que São Tomé e Príncipe está em 11.º, Moçambique em 20.º, Guiné-Bissau em 41.º e Angola em 43.º.

No índice de 53 países, divulgado segunda feira, Cabo Verde desceu, porém, dois lugares em relação a 2009, ficando agora atrás das Maurícias, que mantém o primeiro posto, Seicheles e Botsuana, com a África do Sul a fechar o "top 5". Os últimos da lista são a Eritreia, Zimbabué, RD Congo, Chade e Somália.

A tabela avalia quatro critérios de governação - Desenvolvimento Humano, Participação e Direitos Humanos, Segurança e Estado de Direito, Oportunidades de Sustentabilidade Económica.

[Noticia daqui]


Posts relacionados:

Revisitando Questoes de Genero... Ou a Economia do Bolso Vazio

A Comment on Issa Shivji's critique of Mo Ibrahim's Prize

E' barriga o' ke'!?! [R]*

Bom, lamento ter que admitir que a minha anda a modos que um tanto fora da linha - resultado, em boa medida, do inevitavel trade-off entre blogar seria e continuamente durante mais de 3 anos (e, tal como as "escravas" da Policia Angolana, sem qualquer pagamento... mas la' diz o ditado que "quem corre por gosto nao se cansa"!) e uma vida saudavelmente menos sedentaria...

Mas... assim tambem... e' DEMAIS!!!

Mas nao e' apenas uma questao de barrigas que me faz trazer, com a devida venia, essa foto daqui para aqui. E' muito mais do que isso e, a julgar por esta celebre tirada de Mamphela Ramphele sobre os agentes da (des)ordem Sul-Africanos, e' tambem, e sobretudo, uma questao institucional:

"How have we come to the current disturbing trend of overweight police officers with their uniforms literally bursting at the seams? How can they catch criminals when they look so unfit?"

Indeed, how?!... E se esse ralhete nao for suficiente para inspirar os nossos kaingas a "entrarem na linha" em todos os sentidos, entao que reflictam sobre o caso do seu ex-chefe, agora feito PM, que ainda muito recentemente... E' que, o exemplo vem sempre de cima, em mais do que um sentido!


[Quanto a mim... prometo a mim propria que melhores dias virao!]

*[First posted 17/03/10 - Repostado a proposito desta materia]

Bom, lamento ter que admitir que a minha anda a modos que um tanto fora da linha - resultado, em boa medida, do inevitavel trade-off entre blogar seria e continuamente durante mais de 3 anos (e, tal como as "escravas" da Policia Angolana, sem qualquer pagamento... mas la' diz o ditado que "quem corre por gosto nao se cansa"!) e uma vida saudavelmente menos sedentaria...

Mas... assim tambem... e' DEMAIS!!!

Mas nao e' apenas uma questao de barrigas que me faz trazer, com a devida venia, essa foto daqui para aqui. E' muito mais do que isso e, a julgar por esta celebre tirada de Mamphela Ramphele sobre os agentes da (des)ordem Sul-Africanos, e' tambem, e sobretudo, uma questao institucional:

"How have we come to the current disturbing trend of overweight police officers with their uniforms literally bursting at the seams? How can they catch criminals when they look so unfit?"

Indeed, how?!... E se esse ralhete nao for suficiente para inspirar os nossos kaingas a "entrarem na linha" em todos os sentidos, entao que reflictam sobre o caso do seu ex-chefe, agora feito PM, que ainda muito recentemente... E' que, o exemplo vem sempre de cima, em mais do que um sentido!


[Quanto a mim... prometo a mim propria que melhores dias virao!]

*[First posted 17/03/10 - Repostado a proposito desta materia]

Este dia ha' 100 anos

Lo que vosotros por alla’ estan perdiendo… (II)

WHY I BLOG ABOUT AFRICA? [R]*

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

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

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

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

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


Jewels in The Jungle

Nigerian Curiosity

Desenvolver Mocambique

*[First posted 22/12/08]

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

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

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

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

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


Jewels in The Jungle

Nigerian Curiosity

Desenvolver Mocambique

*[First posted 22/12/08]

Nao se pode tapar o sol com a peneira…

1960 - 2010

"The Year Of Africa"

50 Years On

Pores (e nasceres) do sol em Africa.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



*****


Mas...

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

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

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


P.S.:

Odile & Odette

A CONFISSAO!...

J'Accuse!

1960 - 2010

"The Year Of Africa"

50 Years On

Pores (e nasceres) do sol em Africa.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



*****


Mas...

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

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

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


P.S.:

Odile & Odette

A CONFISSAO!...

J'Accuse!

Outros Preconceitos...

Mas afinale os boers nao sao todos “declaradamente neo-nazis”?!
Como e’ que agora aparecem por ai imagens e mensagens destas?

Como os "peritos em Historia" e "PhDs em estudos inter-culturais" deve(ria)m saber, os boers (que convem aqui esclarecer, e' um termo que significa campones ou fazendeiro - farmer, em Ingles - pelo que nao abrange a totalidade dos Afrikaners) sempre estiveram longe de ser "os brancos mais ricos da Africa do Sul" (tal como os seus coloured sempre estiveram longe de ser os mulatos mais previligiados naquele pais"): alguem que conheca bem a genese da guerra Anglo-Boer e as intrincancias do Great Trek, sabera' identificar as causas estruturais da pobreza entre os Afrikaners e encontrara' imagens ainda piores do que essas ao longo da historia da ocupacao europeia da Africa do Sul, bem como de instancias de auto-segregacionismo na era pos-Apartheid (tenho em mente umas em particular que aqui trarei assim que as encontrar) que conduzem a situacoes de exclusao socio-economica e de falta de apoio institucional a luta contra a pobreza nessas comunidades por parte do estado...

Mas essa ideia de que "a pobreza entre alguns segmentos de brancos na Africa pos-colonial so' pode ser resultado da 'perseguicao' que lhes e' movida pelos governos de maioria negra" e', no fundo, reveladora, para alem da santa ignorancia, do substracto racista (ou realista?) da mentalidade dos seus autores e propagadores - e' que, claramente, para eles nem todos os homens nascem iguais; ou talvez sim, mas uns nascem mais iguais do que outros... : "shock, shock, horror, horror, onde e' que ja' se viu um branco pobre em Africa? Onde e' que ja' se viu um branco, ou mulato, varrer ruas em Angola?!"

Pessoalmente, confesso que nunca vi brancos, nem mulatos, a varrer ruas em Angola, mas ja' vi, na Angola colonial, quitandeiras brancas com cestas a cabeca gritando "fartura fresquinha!", tal como as kitandeiras negras de balaios a cabeca gritavam "e' maboke, mabokinha docinha minha senhora!"... A questao neste caso e' saber-se se a quitandeira branca era-o apenas ocasional e temporariamente (em geral, quando recem-chegada da sua igualmente pobre vida na metropole e antes de o marido fazer dinheiro suficiente na loja de fuba e vinho 'baptizado' no muceke para poder "tira-la das ruas"), ou permanente e estruturalmente, como em geral o era a kitandeira negra...

Questao semelhante se revelara' se se colocarem lado a lado essas imagens de boers pobres (e devo dizer que - como aqui referi - ja' vi muitos boers de pes descalcos - e sujos! - mas esse e' um 'habito cultural' que atravessa transversalmente as comunidades Afrikaners, entre ricos e pobres) com as da pobreza entre a maioria negra: hao-de encontrar, como ja' vi, familias e comunidades inteiras de negros a comerem directamente das lixeiras nos arredores das cidades brancas (entre outros, de boers ricos...).

Mas talvez a comparacao mais pertinente seja entre os numeros absolutos e relativos da pobreza entre brancos e negros na Africa do Sul. Revelem-nos quando os encontrarem, porque eu ai ja' dei!

Mas afinale os boers nao sao todos “declaradamente neo-nazis”?!
Como e’ que agora aparecem por ai imagens e mensagens destas?

Como os "peritos em Historia" e "PhDs em estudos inter-culturais" deve(ria)m saber, os boers (que convem aqui esclarecer, e' um termo que significa campones ou fazendeiro - farmer, em Ingles - pelo que nao abrange a totalidade dos Afrikaners) sempre estiveram longe de ser "os brancos mais ricos da Africa do Sul" (tal como os seus coloured sempre estiveram longe de ser os mulatos mais previligiados naquele pais"): alguem que conheca bem a genese da guerra Anglo-Boer e as intrincancias do Great Trek, sabera' identificar as causas estruturais da pobreza entre os Afrikaners e encontrara' imagens ainda piores do que essas ao longo da historia da ocupacao europeia da Africa do Sul, bem como de instancias de auto-segregacionismo na era pos-Apartheid (tenho em mente umas em particular que aqui trarei assim que as encontrar) que conduzem a situacoes de exclusao socio-economica e de falta de apoio institucional a luta contra a pobreza nessas comunidades por parte do estado...

Mas essa ideia de que "a pobreza entre alguns segmentos de brancos na Africa pos-colonial so' pode ser resultado da 'perseguicao' que lhes e' movida pelos governos de maioria negra" e', no fundo, reveladora, para alem da santa ignorancia, do substracto racista (ou realista?) da mentalidade dos seus autores e propagadores - e' que, claramente, para eles nem todos os homens nascem iguais; ou talvez sim, mas uns nascem mais iguais do que outros... : "shock, shock, horror, horror, onde e' que ja' se viu um branco pobre em Africa? Onde e' que ja' se viu um branco, ou mulato, varrer ruas em Angola?!"

Pessoalmente, confesso que nunca vi brancos, nem mulatos, a varrer ruas em Angola, mas ja' vi, na Angola colonial, quitandeiras brancas com cestas a cabeca gritando "fartura fresquinha!", tal como as kitandeiras negras de balaios a cabeca gritavam "e' maboke, mabokinha docinha minha senhora!"... A questao neste caso e' saber-se se a quitandeira branca era-o apenas ocasional e temporariamente (em geral, quando recem-chegada da sua igualmente pobre vida na metropole e antes de o marido fazer dinheiro suficiente na loja de fuba e vinho 'baptizado' no muceke para poder "tira-la das ruas"), ou permanente e estruturalmente, como em geral o era a kitandeira negra...

Questao semelhante se revelara' se se colocarem lado a lado essas imagens de boers pobres (e devo dizer que - como aqui referi - ja' vi muitos boers de pes descalcos - e sujos! - mas esse e' um 'habito cultural' que atravessa transversalmente as comunidades Afrikaners, entre ricos e pobres) com as da pobreza entre a maioria negra: hao-de encontrar, como ja' vi, familias e comunidades inteiras de negros a comerem directamente das lixeiras nos arredores das cidades brancas (entre outros, de boers ricos...).

Mas talvez a comparacao mais pertinente seja entre os numeros absolutos e relativos da pobreza entre brancos e negros na Africa do Sul. Revelem-nos quando os encontrarem, porque eu ai ja' dei!

1960-2010: "The Year of Afrika" 50 Years on (XXI)

This Day in 1960:

The evolution of Nigeria from about 1849 until it attained independence in 1960 is largely the story of the transformational impact of the British on the peoples and cultures of the Niger-Benue area. The colonial authorities sought to define, protect and realise their imperial interest in this portion of West Africa in the hundred or so years between 1862 and 1960. The British were in the Niger-Benue area to pursue their interests, which were largely economic and strategic. In the process of seeking to realise those interests, there were many unplanned-for by-products, one of which was the socio-political aggregation which is known today in international law as the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The first critical step in this uncertain path was taken in 1849 when, as part of an effort to 'sanitise' the Bights of Benin and Biafra, which were notorious for the slave trade, the British created a consulate for the two Bights. From here, one thing led to another for the British, especially to deeper involvement in the political and economic life of the city states of the Bights and to rivalry with the French who also began showing imperial ambitions in the area.

The result, in time, was that the British converted the coastal consulate and its immediate hinterland into the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1885, which, in 1893, transformed into the Niger Coast Protectorate. The apparently irreversible logic of this development led to deeper and closer involvement in the administration of the peoples and societies of this segment of Nigeria which, by the middle of the twentieth century, came to be known as Eastern Nigeria.

The second step, along the same path, was taken about 1862 when the British annexed the Lagos Lagoon area and its immediate environs and converted same into a crown colony. According to the British, they did this in order to be better able to abolish the slave trade which used that area as export point. According to Nigerian historians, on the other hand, they did so to be better able to protect their interest in the vital trade route that ran from Lagos, through Ikorodu, lbadan and similar communities, to the Niger waterway in the north and beyond into Hausaland. Be that as it may, by 1897, British influence and power had overflowed the frontiers of Lagos and affected all of Yorubaland which was subsequently attached to Lagos as a Protectorate. The political and administrative unit which came to be known as Western Nigeria in the 1950s came as the end of this second step.

The third and final step in this uncharted path came in 1888. The British administered political 'baptism' on Grenye Goldie's National African Company which had successfully squeezed out rivals, British and non-British, from the trade in the lower Niger, following a trade war of almost unprecedented ferocity. As a result of the 'baptism', Goldie's company became the Royal Niger Company, chartered and limited. It also acquired political and administrative powers over a narrow belt of territory on both sides of the river from the sea to Lokoj'a, as well as over the vast area which, in the 20th century, came to be known as Northern Nigeria.

Between 1951 and 1954, two important constitutional conferences were held in London and Lagos between Nigerian political leaders and the British government. These resulted in a new 1954 Federal Constitution whose main features were: the separation of Lagos, the nation's capital, from the Western Region; the establishment of a Federal Government for Nigeria comprising three regions, namely, North, West and East with a Governor- General at the centre and three Regional Governors; the introduction of an exclusive Federal Legislative List as well as a Concurrent List of responsibilities for both the Federal and Regional Governments, thus resulting in a strong central government and weak regions; regionalisation of the Judiciary and of the public service through the establishment of Regional Public Service Commissions, in addition to the Federal one.

From the point of view of the evolution of the Nigerian state, the most significant thing about the 1954 Constitution, which remained in force until Independence in 1960, was that the Lugardian principle of centralisation was replaced by the formula of decentralisation as a matter of policy in the administration of the Nigerian state. Another significant aspect of that Constitution, which was to cast a long shadow on the development of independent Nigeria, was that the federation it established was unique since one region, the North, was larger than the other two regions, East and West, combined. Thus, at Independence in 1960, the main features of the Nigerian state that had evolved since 1900 were: weak constitutional and institutional basis for development politics; an unbalanced federation; regionalism which engendered mutual jealously and fear; and regionally-based political constituencies.

Indeed, the Nigerian colonial state was perceived by Nigerians, especially the emerging political elite, as an illegitimate foreign system operated according to unfamiliar rules and norms which could not function to promote a sense of common national identity among the diverse ethnic groups or even the three Regions that then made up the country. These legacies of colonialism have remained the bedrock of the many problems of nation building in Nigeria since 1960.

[Partly sourced from here]

This Day in 2010:

At least eight people have been killed in explosions in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, marring celebrations to mark 50 years since independence from the UK. Police have confirmed that two blasts outside the justice ministry were caused by car bombs.
Earlier, the militant group Mend (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) had threatened to target the festivities.

Nigeria is a major oil producer, yet most of the population live in poverty.
The bombs went off not far from Eagle Square, where the Nigerian elite had gathered for the official celebrations, but no-one was hurt. President Goodluck Jonathan, who was inspecting a guard of honour at the time, called it a "wicked act of desperation by criminals and murderers". Mend, a militant group in the oil-rich south, issued a threat on Friday morning saying it intended to bomb the event. In the message, the group which is demanding a fairer distribution of the country's oil revenues, said there was "nothing worth celebrating after 50 years of failure".

[here]

Nigeria at 50: what is there to celebrate?

Nigerian blogger Adeola Aderounmu says the country’s democracy is in a shambles and the N17bn for the independence celebrations is money ill-spent.

Nigeria is 50 years old on 1 October 2010. This time in our history does not call for any celebrations. Nigeria used to be the giant and pride of Africa, but that was back in the day. Today, Nigeria’s economy and politics portray sad pictures. The educational system is so bad that Nigerian students are now trooping to Ghana for tutorship. Those who have looted, stole and destroyed the country have sent their children and family members abroad for education and comfort. Nigerians who have genuinely attained economic self-sufficiency also tend to prefer to obtain an education abroad.

It is not only the educational system in Nigeria that has suffered. Almost every aspect of our lives in Nigeria has suffered tremendous setback in such a way that the overall quality of life for the ordinary Nigerian is below an acceptable level for a human. In the Niger Delta, where most of Nigeria's revenues are generated, life is far from being a beauty to behold. National and international conspiracies have transformed the rich oil fields into killing fields and a valley of death and despair.

[here]

This Day in 1960:

The evolution of Nigeria from about 1849 until it attained independence in 1960 is largely the story of the transformational impact of the British on the peoples and cultures of the Niger-Benue area. The colonial authorities sought to define, protect and realise their imperial interest in this portion of West Africa in the hundred or so years between 1862 and 1960. The British were in the Niger-Benue area to pursue their interests, which were largely economic and strategic. In the process of seeking to realise those interests, there were many unplanned-for by-products, one of which was the socio-political aggregation which is known today in international law as the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The first critical step in this uncertain path was taken in 1849 when, as part of an effort to 'sanitise' the Bights of Benin and Biafra, which were notorious for the slave trade, the British created a consulate for the two Bights. From here, one thing led to another for the British, especially to deeper involvement in the political and economic life of the city states of the Bights and to rivalry with the French who also began showing imperial ambitions in the area.

The result, in time, was that the British converted the coastal consulate and its immediate hinterland into the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1885, which, in 1893, transformed into the Niger Coast Protectorate. The apparently irreversible logic of this development led to deeper and closer involvement in the administration of the peoples and societies of this segment of Nigeria which, by the middle of the twentieth century, came to be known as Eastern Nigeria.

The second step, along the same path, was taken about 1862 when the British annexed the Lagos Lagoon area and its immediate environs and converted same into a crown colony. According to the British, they did this in order to be better able to abolish the slave trade which used that area as export point. According to Nigerian historians, on the other hand, they did so to be better able to protect their interest in the vital trade route that ran from Lagos, through Ikorodu, lbadan and similar communities, to the Niger waterway in the north and beyond into Hausaland. Be that as it may, by 1897, British influence and power had overflowed the frontiers of Lagos and affected all of Yorubaland which was subsequently attached to Lagos as a Protectorate. The political and administrative unit which came to be known as Western Nigeria in the 1950s came as the end of this second step.

The third and final step in this uncharted path came in 1888. The British administered political 'baptism' on Grenye Goldie's National African Company which had successfully squeezed out rivals, British and non-British, from the trade in the lower Niger, following a trade war of almost unprecedented ferocity. As a result of the 'baptism', Goldie's company became the Royal Niger Company, chartered and limited. It also acquired political and administrative powers over a narrow belt of territory on both sides of the river from the sea to Lokoj'a, as well as over the vast area which, in the 20th century, came to be known as Northern Nigeria.

Between 1951 and 1954, two important constitutional conferences were held in London and Lagos between Nigerian political leaders and the British government. These resulted in a new 1954 Federal Constitution whose main features were: the separation of Lagos, the nation's capital, from the Western Region; the establishment of a Federal Government for Nigeria comprising three regions, namely, North, West and East with a Governor- General at the centre and three Regional Governors; the introduction of an exclusive Federal Legislative List as well as a Concurrent List of responsibilities for both the Federal and Regional Governments, thus resulting in a strong central government and weak regions; regionalisation of the Judiciary and of the public service through the establishment of Regional Public Service Commissions, in addition to the Federal one.

From the point of view of the evolution of the Nigerian state, the most significant thing about the 1954 Constitution, which remained in force until Independence in 1960, was that the Lugardian principle of centralisation was replaced by the formula of decentralisation as a matter of policy in the administration of the Nigerian state. Another significant aspect of that Constitution, which was to cast a long shadow on the development of independent Nigeria, was that the federation it established was unique since one region, the North, was larger than the other two regions, East and West, combined. Thus, at Independence in 1960, the main features of the Nigerian state that had evolved since 1900 were: weak constitutional and institutional basis for development politics; an unbalanced federation; regionalism which engendered mutual jealously and fear; and regionally-based political constituencies.

Indeed, the Nigerian colonial state was perceived by Nigerians, especially the emerging political elite, as an illegitimate foreign system operated according to unfamiliar rules and norms which could not function to promote a sense of common national identity among the diverse ethnic groups or even the three Regions that then made up the country. These legacies of colonialism have remained the bedrock of the many problems of nation building in Nigeria since 1960.

[Partly sourced from here]

This Day in 2010:

At least eight people have been killed in explosions in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, marring celebrations to mark 50 years since independence from the UK. Police have confirmed that two blasts outside the justice ministry were caused by car bombs.
Earlier, the militant group Mend (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) had threatened to target the festivities.

Nigeria is a major oil producer, yet most of the population live in poverty.
The bombs went off not far from Eagle Square, where the Nigerian elite had gathered for the official celebrations, but no-one was hurt. President Goodluck Jonathan, who was inspecting a guard of honour at the time, called it a "wicked act of desperation by criminals and murderers". Mend, a militant group in the oil-rich south, issued a threat on Friday morning saying it intended to bomb the event. In the message, the group which is demanding a fairer distribution of the country's oil revenues, said there was "nothing worth celebrating after 50 years of failure".

[here]

Nigeria at 50: what is there to celebrate?

Nigerian blogger Adeola Aderounmu says the country’s democracy is in a shambles and the N17bn for the independence celebrations is money ill-spent.

Nigeria is 50 years old on 1 October 2010. This time in our history does not call for any celebrations. Nigeria used to be the giant and pride of Africa, but that was back in the day. Today, Nigeria’s economy and politics portray sad pictures. The educational system is so bad that Nigerian students are now trooping to Ghana for tutorship. Those who have looted, stole and destroyed the country have sent their children and family members abroad for education and comfort. Nigerians who have genuinely attained economic self-sufficiency also tend to prefer to obtain an education abroad.

It is not only the educational system in Nigeria that has suffered. Almost every aspect of our lives in Nigeria has suffered tremendous setback in such a way that the overall quality of life for the ordinary Nigerian is below an acceptable level for a human. In the Niger Delta, where most of Nigeria's revenues are generated, life is far from being a beauty to behold. National and international conspiracies have transformed the rich oil fields into killing fields and a valley of death and despair.

[here]

1960-2010: "The Year of Afrika" 50 Years On (XX)

This Day in 1960:

The recorded history of the area now called Mali begins with the empire of Ghana, which is said to date from the 4th century AD . At its height in the 10th century, it occupied eastern Senegal, southwest Mali, and southern Mauritania and carried on a steady trade across the Sahara with Arab states. The Ghana Empire disintegrated by the 13th century and was succeeded by the Mali Empire, from which the independent republic takes its name.

The Mali Empire reached its peak in the 14th century under Mansa Musa (r.1312–37), who captured Tombouctou and made Mali a center of Muslim scholarship. Tombouctou and Djenné became key centers for trans-Sahara trade. By the 17th century, however, the empire had ceased to exist, and the Tuareg took much of the northern area. Meanwhile, to the east, the Songhai Empire was founded around AD 700 on the middle Niger. Later centered at Gao, the empire was at its zenith after the capture of Tombouctou in 1468. The chief rulers in this period were Sonni 'Ali Ber (r.1464–92) and Askia Muhammad I (r.1492–1528).

In 1591, the Songhai fell to an invading Moroccan army, which established secure bases at Gao, Tombouctou, and Djenné. Under Moroccan rule, a military caste known as the Arma developed, which controlled the countryside, but by 1780, the area had become fragmented into petty states. In the 19th century, al-Hajj 'Umar, a member of the Tukulor tribe, waged a Muslim holy war against the pagans of the area. In 1862, he conquered Ségou and Macina, and the next year he plundered Tombouctou. He was killed in 1864 trying to put down a rebellion. Around 1880, the French began their advance into what was to become the Republic of Mali. They were opposed from 1882 to 1898 by Samory Touré, a Malinké (Mandingo) leader who was ultimately captured and exiled. The capture of Sikasso in 1898 completed the French conquest.

Under French administration, the area became known as French Sudan (Soudan Français) and was a part of French West Africa. Achievements of French rule included the building of the Dakar-Bamako railway and a Niger Delta development scheme. In 1946, the Sudanese became French citizens, with representation in the French parliament. Under the constitution of 1946, the franchise was enlarged and a territorial assembly was established. Universal suffrage was established in 1957, when enlarged powers were conferred on the territorial assembly, which was also given the right to elect a council of ministers responsible for the administration of internal affairs. In 1958, under the constitution of the Fifth French Republic, French Sudan became an autonomous republic, called the Sudanese Republic, within the French Community.

In January 1959, in Dakar, representatives of the Sudanese Republic, Senegal, Dahomey (now Benin), and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) drafted a constitution of the Federation of Mali (named after the medieval African empire), but only the assemblies of the Sudanese Republic and Senegal ratified it and became members of the federation. Later that year the new Mali Federation asked the French Community to grant it complete sovereignty while permitting it to remaining a member of the Community. The Mali Federation became a sovereign state in June 1960.Discord soon arose over external and internal policy, and on 20 August 1960, the federation was dissolved.

On 22 September 1960, the Sudan declared itself independent as the Republic of Mali. Modibo Keita, a cofounder of the African Democratic Assembly and political secretary of the Mali Federation's African Federation Party, took control of the government. The break with Senegal was followed by the decision to leave the French Community. All ties between Senegal and Mali were severed, and Mali embargoed trade with or through Senegal until 1963, when an accord was reached.

The one-party dictatorship led by President Keita evolved into a socialist regime modeled on that of the People's Republic of China. However, by 1968, economic problems and discontent became severe. On 19 November, Keita was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Lt. (later Gen.) Moussa Traoré. The 1960 constitution was abolished, and a 14-member Military Committee for National Liberation took command. The junta brought Mali back into the franc zone in 1968 and opened its doors to investment from nonsocialist as well as socialist countries.

This Day in 2010:


Mali celebrated 50 years of independence from France Wednesday amid a hostage crisis, with Al-Qaeda militants holding seven foreigners captive, five of them French, in the north of the country. French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was in Bamako for the independence celebrations and was to meet his Malian counterpart President Amadou Toumani Toure.

Hortefeux was also likely to meet other African heads of state in Bamako, including Mauritania's Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, sources said. Discussions would focus on a military offensive by the Mauritania army against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) units in Mali from September 17 to 19. The outfit has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

The five French, one Togolese and one Madagascan hostages were kidnapped in Niger last Thursday and transferred to Mali, which borders Mauritania. Heads of state from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Guinea, Libya, Mauritania and Togo were attending the independence celebration and many were expected to hold talks. "The festival comes at a time when there are many security problems in the region. It's normal that the heads of state shall consult," a Malian official said.

Malian musical duo Amadou et Mariam are known internationally for their music combining Malian and international influences.
They were the ones I was talking about, some three years ago (here): Beaux Dimanches: it's the title of a nice, simple song by an African duo (sorry I didn't get their names, but apparently they're from Bamako) I heard in the wrap-up of this year's Glastonbury Festival. It was also what it was today in London, after days of continuous rain!

[Sourced from here and here]

This Day in 1960:

The recorded history of the area now called Mali begins with the empire of Ghana, which is said to date from the 4th century AD . At its height in the 10th century, it occupied eastern Senegal, southwest Mali, and southern Mauritania and carried on a steady trade across the Sahara with Arab states. The Ghana Empire disintegrated by the 13th century and was succeeded by the Mali Empire, from which the independent republic takes its name.

The Mali Empire reached its peak in the 14th century under Mansa Musa (r.1312–37), who captured Tombouctou and made Mali a center of Muslim scholarship. Tombouctou and Djenné became key centers for trans-Sahara trade. By the 17th century, however, the empire had ceased to exist, and the Tuareg took much of the northern area. Meanwhile, to the east, the Songhai Empire was founded around AD 700 on the middle Niger. Later centered at Gao, the empire was at its zenith after the capture of Tombouctou in 1468. The chief rulers in this period were Sonni 'Ali Ber (r.1464–92) and Askia Muhammad I (r.1492–1528).

In 1591, the Songhai fell to an invading Moroccan army, which established secure bases at Gao, Tombouctou, and Djenné. Under Moroccan rule, a military caste known as the Arma developed, which controlled the countryside, but by 1780, the area had become fragmented into petty states. In the 19th century, al-Hajj 'Umar, a member of the Tukulor tribe, waged a Muslim holy war against the pagans of the area. In 1862, he conquered Ségou and Macina, and the next year he plundered Tombouctou. He was killed in 1864 trying to put down a rebellion. Around 1880, the French began their advance into what was to become the Republic of Mali. They were opposed from 1882 to 1898 by Samory Touré, a Malinké (Mandingo) leader who was ultimately captured and exiled. The capture of Sikasso in 1898 completed the French conquest.

Under French administration, the area became known as French Sudan (Soudan Français) and was a part of French West Africa. Achievements of French rule included the building of the Dakar-Bamako railway and a Niger Delta development scheme. In 1946, the Sudanese became French citizens, with representation in the French parliament. Under the constitution of 1946, the franchise was enlarged and a territorial assembly was established. Universal suffrage was established in 1957, when enlarged powers were conferred on the territorial assembly, which was also given the right to elect a council of ministers responsible for the administration of internal affairs. In 1958, under the constitution of the Fifth French Republic, French Sudan became an autonomous republic, called the Sudanese Republic, within the French Community.

In January 1959, in Dakar, representatives of the Sudanese Republic, Senegal, Dahomey (now Benin), and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) drafted a constitution of the Federation of Mali (named after the medieval African empire), but only the assemblies of the Sudanese Republic and Senegal ratified it and became members of the federation. Later that year the new Mali Federation asked the French Community to grant it complete sovereignty while permitting it to remaining a member of the Community. The Mali Federation became a sovereign state in June 1960.Discord soon arose over external and internal policy, and on 20 August 1960, the federation was dissolved.

On 22 September 1960, the Sudan declared itself independent as the Republic of Mali. Modibo Keita, a cofounder of the African Democratic Assembly and political secretary of the Mali Federation's African Federation Party, took control of the government. The break with Senegal was followed by the decision to leave the French Community. All ties between Senegal and Mali were severed, and Mali embargoed trade with or through Senegal until 1963, when an accord was reached.

The one-party dictatorship led by President Keita evolved into a socialist regime modeled on that of the People's Republic of China. However, by 1968, economic problems and discontent became severe. On 19 November, Keita was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Lt. (later Gen.) Moussa Traoré. The 1960 constitution was abolished, and a 14-member Military Committee for National Liberation took command. The junta brought Mali back into the franc zone in 1968 and opened its doors to investment from nonsocialist as well as socialist countries.

This Day in 2010:


Mali celebrated 50 years of independence from France Wednesday amid a hostage crisis, with Al-Qaeda militants holding seven foreigners captive, five of them French, in the north of the country. French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was in Bamako for the independence celebrations and was to meet his Malian counterpart President Amadou Toumani Toure.

Hortefeux was also likely to meet other African heads of state in Bamako, including Mauritania's Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, sources said. Discussions would focus on a military offensive by the Mauritania army against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) units in Mali from September 17 to 19. The outfit has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

The five French, one Togolese and one Madagascan hostages were kidnapped in Niger last Thursday and transferred to Mali, which borders Mauritania. Heads of state from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Guinea, Libya, Mauritania and Togo were attending the independence celebration and many were expected to hold talks. "The festival comes at a time when there are many security problems in the region. It's normal that the heads of state shall consult," a Malian official said.

Malian musical duo Amadou et Mariam are known internationally for their music combining Malian and international influences.
They were the ones I was talking about, some three years ago (here): Beaux Dimanches: it's the title of a nice, simple song by an African duo (sorry I didn't get their names, but apparently they're from Bamako) I heard in the wrap-up of this year's Glastonbury Festival. It was also what it was today in London, after days of continuous rain!

[Sourced from here and here]

No 'Dia do Heroi Nacional'

A Renúncia Impossível

Negação


Não creio em mim
Não existo
Não quero eu não quero ser

Quero destruir-me
- Atirar-me de pontes elevadas
e deixar-me despedaçar
sobre as pedras duras das calçadas

Pulverizar o meu ser
desaparecer
não deixar sequer traço de passagem
pelo mundo.

Quero matar-me
e deixar que o não-eu
se aposse de mim.

Mais do que um simples suicídio
quero que esta minha morte
Seja uma verdadeira novidade histórica
um desaparecimento total
até mesmo nos cérebros
daqueles que me odeiam
até mesmo no tempo
e se processe a História
e o mundo continue
como se eu nunca tivesse existido
como se nenhuma obra tivesse produzido
como se nada tivesse influenciado na vida
como se em vez de valor negativo
eu fosse Zero.

Quero ascender, subir
elevar-me até atingir o Zero
e desaparecer.
Deixai-me desaparecer!

Mas antes vou gritar
com toda a força dos meus pulmões
para que o mundo oiça:

- Fui eu quem renunciou à Vida!
Podeis continuar a ocupar o meu lugar
vós os que mo roubastes

Aí tendes o mundo todo para vós
para mim nada quero
nem riqueza nem pobreza
nem alegria nem tristeza
nem vida nem morte
nada.

Não sou. Não existo. Nunca fui.
Renuncio-me
Atingi o Zero

E agora,
Vivei, cantai, chorai
casai-vos, matai-vos, embriagai-vos
dai sêmolas aos pobres.
Nada me pode interessar
que eu não sou
Atingi o Zero!

Não contem comigo
para vos servir às refeições
nem para cavar os diamantes
que vossas mulheres irão ostentar em salões
nem para cuidar das vossas plantações
de café e algodão
não contem com operários
para amamentar os vossos filhos sifilíticos
não contem com operários
de segunda categoria
para fazer o trabalho de que vos orgulhais
nem com soldados inconscientes
para gritar com o estômago vazio
vivas ao nosso trabalho de civilização
nem com lacaios
para vos tirarem os sapatos
de madrugada
quando regressardes de orgias nocturnas
nem com pretos medrosos
para vos oferecer vacas
e vender molho a tostão
nem com corpos de mulheres
para vos alimentar de prazeres
nos ócios da vossa abundância imoral.

Não contem comigo
Renuncio-me.
Eu atingi o Zero
Não existo. Nunca existi.
Não quero vida nem morte
Nada!
Podeis agora queimar
os letreiros medrosos
que às portas dos bars, hotéis e recintos públicos
gritam o vosso egoísmo
nas frases: “SÓ PARA BRANCOS” ou “ONLY TO COLOURED MEN”
Negros aqui. Brancos acolá.

Podeis acabar
com os miseráveis bairros de negros
que vos atrapalham a vaidade
Vivei satisfeitos sem “colour lines”
sem terdes que dizer aos fregueses negros
que os hotéis estão abarrotados
que não há mais mesas nos restaurantes.
Banhai-vos descansados
nas vossas praias e piscinas
que nunca houve negros no mundo
que sujassem as águas
ou os vossos nojentos preconceitos
com a sua escura presença.

Podeis transformar em toureiros
ou em magarefes
os membros da Ku-klux-klan
para que matem a sua fome sanguinária
nas feridas dos touros que descem à arena.
Não há negros para linchar!

Porque hesitais agora!
Ao menos tendes oportunidade
para proclamardes democracias
com sinceridade

Podeis inventar uma nova História.
Inclusivamente podeis atribuir-vos a criação do mundo.
Tudo foi feito por vós
Ah!
que satisfação eu sinto
por ver-vos alegres no vosso orgulho
e loucos na vossa mania de superioridade.

Nunca houve negros!
A África foi construída só por vós
A América foi colonizada só por vós
A Europa não conhece civilizações africanas
Nunca um negro beijou uma branca
nem um negro foi linchado
nunca mataram pretos a golpes de cavalomarinho
para lhes possuírem as mulheres
nunca extorquiram propriedades a pretos
não tendes, nunca tivestes filhos com sangue negro
ó racistas de desbragada lubricidade
Fartai-vos agora dentro da moral.

Que satisfação eu sinto
por não terdes que falsear os padrões morais
para salvaguardar
o prestigio, a superioridade e o estômago
dos vossos filhos.

Ah!
O meu suicídio é uma novidade histórica
é um sádico prazer
de ver-vos bem instalados no vosso mundo
sem necessidade de jogos falsos.

Eu elevado até o Zero
eu transformado no Nada-historico
Eu no inicio dos Tempos
eu-Nada a confundir-me com vós-Tudo
sou o verdadeiro Cristo da Humanidade!

Não há nas ruas de Luanda
Negros descalços e sujos
a pôr nódoas nas vossas falsidades de colonização
em Lourenço Marques
em Nova York, em Leopoldville
em Cape-Town
gritam pelas ruas
a foguetear alegria nos ares:
-Não há negros nas ruas!
Nunca houve.
Não há negros preguiçosos
a deixar os campos por cultivar
e renitentes à escravização
já não há negros para roubar.
Toda a riqueza representa agora o suor do rosto
e o suor do rosto é a poesia da vida.

Não existe música negra
Nunca houve batuques nas florestas do Congo
Quem falou em spirituals?

Vá de encher os salões
de Debussy Strauss Korsakoff.
Já não há selvagens na terra.
Viva a civilização dos homens superiores
sem manchas negróides
a perturbar-lhe a estética!

Nunca houve descobrimentos
a África foi criada com o mundo.

O que é a colonização?
O que são massacres de negros?
O que são os esbulhos de propriedade?
Coisas que ninguém conhece.

A história está errada
Nunca houve escravatura
nunca houve domínio de minorias
orgulhosas da sua força

Acabai com as cruzadas religiosas
A fé está espalhada por todo mundo
sobre a terra só há cristãos
vós sois todos cristãos.

Não há infiéis por converter
Escusai de imaginar mais infidelidades religiosas
para justificar
Repugnantes actos de barbarismo.

Não necessitais enviar mais missionários
a África
nem aos bairros de negros
Nunca houve feitiços
nem concepções religiosas diferentes
nunca houve religiosos a auxiliar a ocupação militar.

Acabai tudo, tudo
e vós sois todos irmãos.
Podeis continuar com os vossos sistemas
socialistas ou capitalista
que isso não me interessa.
Explorai o proletariado
ou dai-lhe de comer
isso é convosco.

Continuai com os vossos sistemas políticos
ditaduras democracias.
Matai-vos uns aos outros
lutai pela glória
lutai pelo poder
criai minorias fortes
que protejam os seus comp…
apadrinhai os afilhados dos vossos amigos
criai mais castas
aburguesai as ideias
e tudo sem a complicação
de verdes intrusos
imiscuir-se na vossa querida
e defendida civilização
dos homens privilegiados.

Homens irmãos
dai-vos as mãos
gritai a vossa alegria de serdes sós
SÓS!
únicos habitantes da Terra.

Eu atingi o Zero!

Isto simplifica extraordinariamente
a vossa ética.
Ao menos não percais agora
a ocasião de serdes honestos.
Se houver terramotos
Calamidades, cheias ou epidemias
ou terras a defender da invasão das águas
ou motores parados nas lamas de selvas africanas
raios partam!
já não tereis de chamar-me
para acudir ás vossas desgraças
para reparar os vossos desastres
ou para carregar com a culpa das vossas incúrias.
Ide para o diabo!

Eu não existo
Palavra de honra que nunca existi.
Atingi o Zero
o Nada.
Abençoada a Hora
do meu super-suicidio
para vós
homens que construís sistemas morais
para enquadrar imoralidades
O sol brilha só para vós
a lua reflecte luz só para vós
nunca houve esclavagistas
nem massacres
Nem ocupações da África.
Como até a história
se transforma num Tratado Moral
sem necessidade de arranjos apressados!

Não existem os pretos dos cais e do caminho de
ferro.
Nos locais de trabalho nunca se ouviram cantos
dolentes
só há chiadeira dos guindastes.
Nunca pisaram os caminhos do mato
carregados com quilos às costas
são os motores que se queimam sob as cargas
Ó pretos submissos humildes ou tímidos
Sem lugar nas cidades
ou nos escaninhos da honestidade
ou nos recantos da força
com a alma poisada no sinal menos,
polígamos declarados
dançarinos de batuques sensuais
sabei que subistes todos de valor
Atingistes o Zero
sois Nada
e salvastes o Homem.

Acabou-se o ódio de raças
e o trabalho de civilização
e a náusea de ver meninos negros
sentados na escola
ao lado dos meninos de olhos azuis
e as extorsões e compulsões
e as palmatoadas e torturas
para obrigar inocentes a confessar crimes
e os medos de revolta
e as complicadas demarches politicas
para iludir as almas simples.

Acabaram-se as complicações sociais!
Atingi o zero
Cheguei à hora do inicio do mundo
E resolvi não existir.

Cheguei ao Zero-Espaço
ao nada-tempo
ao Eu coincidente com vós-Tudo.

E o que é mais importante
Salvei o mundo.

Afirmação

Ah!

Faça-se luz no meu espírito
LUZ!

Calem–se as frases loucas
Desta renúncia impossível.


Eu–todos nunca me enganei
nunca coincidirei com o nada
não me deitarei nunca debaixo dos comboios


Não fui eu quem falou
da salvação do mundo
à custa da minha existência
da transformação do valor negativo em Zero
por meio do castigo ao inocente
em super – suicídio novidade histórica


Quem falou não fui eu
foi a minha loucura.


O meu lugar está marcado
no campo da luta
para conquista da vida perdida


Eu sou. Existo
As minhas mãos colocaram pedras
nos alicerces do mundo
Tenho direito ao meu pedaço de pão


Sou um valor positivo
da humanidade
e não abdico,
nunca abdicarei!


Seguirei com os homens livres
O meu caminho
para a liberdade e para a Vida.
Perdoem–me os cinco minutos de loucura
que vivi.

A Renúncia Impossível

Negação


Não creio em mim
Não existo
Não quero eu não quero ser

Quero destruir-me
- Atirar-me de pontes elevadas
e deixar-me despedaçar
sobre as pedras duras das calçadas

Pulverizar o meu ser
desaparecer
não deixar sequer traço de passagem
pelo mundo.

Quero matar-me
e deixar que o não-eu
se aposse de mim.

Mais do que um simples suicídio
quero que esta minha morte
Seja uma verdadeira novidade histórica
um desaparecimento total
até mesmo nos cérebros
daqueles que me odeiam
até mesmo no tempo
e se processe a História
e o mundo continue
como se eu nunca tivesse existido
como se nenhuma obra tivesse produzido
como se nada tivesse influenciado na vida
como se em vez de valor negativo
eu fosse Zero.

Quero ascender, subir
elevar-me até atingir o Zero
e desaparecer.
Deixai-me desaparecer!

Mas antes vou gritar
com toda a força dos meus pulmões
para que o mundo oiça:

- Fui eu quem renunciou à Vida!
Podeis continuar a ocupar o meu lugar
vós os que mo roubastes

Aí tendes o mundo todo para vós
para mim nada quero
nem riqueza nem pobreza
nem alegria nem tristeza
nem vida nem morte
nada.

Não sou. Não existo. Nunca fui.
Renuncio-me
Atingi o Zero

E agora,
Vivei, cantai, chorai
casai-vos, matai-vos, embriagai-vos
dai sêmolas aos pobres.
Nada me pode interessar
que eu não sou
Atingi o Zero!

Não contem comigo
para vos servir às refeições
nem para cavar os diamantes
que vossas mulheres irão ostentar em salões
nem para cuidar das vossas plantações
de café e algodão
não contem com operários
para amamentar os vossos filhos sifilíticos
não contem com operários
de segunda categoria
para fazer o trabalho de que vos orgulhais
nem com soldados inconscientes
para gritar com o estômago vazio
vivas ao nosso trabalho de civilização
nem com lacaios
para vos tirarem os sapatos
de madrugada
quando regressardes de orgias nocturnas
nem com pretos medrosos
para vos oferecer vacas
e vender molho a tostão
nem com corpos de mulheres
para vos alimentar de prazeres
nos ócios da vossa abundância imoral.

Não contem comigo
Renuncio-me.
Eu atingi o Zero
Não existo. Nunca existi.
Não quero vida nem morte
Nada!
Podeis agora queimar
os letreiros medrosos
que às portas dos bars, hotéis e recintos públicos
gritam o vosso egoísmo
nas frases: “SÓ PARA BRANCOS” ou “ONLY TO COLOURED MEN”
Negros aqui. Brancos acolá.

Podeis acabar
com os miseráveis bairros de negros
que vos atrapalham a vaidade
Vivei satisfeitos sem “colour lines”
sem terdes que dizer aos fregueses negros
que os hotéis estão abarrotados
que não há mais mesas nos restaurantes.
Banhai-vos descansados
nas vossas praias e piscinas
que nunca houve negros no mundo
que sujassem as águas
ou os vossos nojentos preconceitos
com a sua escura presença.

Podeis transformar em toureiros
ou em magarefes
os membros da Ku-klux-klan
para que matem a sua fome sanguinária
nas feridas dos touros que descem à arena.
Não há negros para linchar!

Porque hesitais agora!
Ao menos tendes oportunidade
para proclamardes democracias
com sinceridade

Podeis inventar uma nova História.
Inclusivamente podeis atribuir-vos a criação do mundo.
Tudo foi feito por vós
Ah!
que satisfação eu sinto
por ver-vos alegres no vosso orgulho
e loucos na vossa mania de superioridade.

Nunca houve negros!
A África foi construída só por vós
A América foi colonizada só por vós
A Europa não conhece civilizações africanas
Nunca um negro beijou uma branca
nem um negro foi linchado
nunca mataram pretos a golpes de cavalomarinho
para lhes possuírem as mulheres
nunca extorquiram propriedades a pretos
não tendes, nunca tivestes filhos com sangue negro
ó racistas de desbragada lubricidade
Fartai-vos agora dentro da moral.

Que satisfação eu sinto
por não terdes que falsear os padrões morais
para salvaguardar
o prestigio, a superioridade e o estômago
dos vossos filhos.

Ah!
O meu suicídio é uma novidade histórica
é um sádico prazer
de ver-vos bem instalados no vosso mundo
sem necessidade de jogos falsos.

Eu elevado até o Zero
eu transformado no Nada-historico
Eu no inicio dos Tempos
eu-Nada a confundir-me com vós-Tudo
sou o verdadeiro Cristo da Humanidade!

Não há nas ruas de Luanda
Negros descalços e sujos
a pôr nódoas nas vossas falsidades de colonização
em Lourenço Marques
em Nova York, em Leopoldville
em Cape-Town
gritam pelas ruas
a foguetear alegria nos ares:
-Não há negros nas ruas!
Nunca houve.
Não há negros preguiçosos
a deixar os campos por cultivar
e renitentes à escravização
já não há negros para roubar.
Toda a riqueza representa agora o suor do rosto
e o suor do rosto é a poesia da vida.

Não existe música negra
Nunca houve batuques nas florestas do Congo
Quem falou em spirituals?

Vá de encher os salões
de Debussy Strauss Korsakoff.
Já não há selvagens na terra.
Viva a civilização dos homens superiores
sem manchas negróides
a perturbar-lhe a estética!

Nunca houve descobrimentos
a África foi criada com o mundo.

O que é a colonização?
O que são massacres de negros?
O que são os esbulhos de propriedade?
Coisas que ninguém conhece.

A história está errada
Nunca houve escravatura
nunca houve domínio de minorias
orgulhosas da sua força

Acabai com as cruzadas religiosas
A fé está espalhada por todo mundo
sobre a terra só há cristãos
vós sois todos cristãos.

Não há infiéis por converter
Escusai de imaginar mais infidelidades religiosas
para justificar
Repugnantes actos de barbarismo.

Não necessitais enviar mais missionários
a África
nem aos bairros de negros
Nunca houve feitiços
nem concepções religiosas diferentes
nunca houve religiosos a auxiliar a ocupação militar.

Acabai tudo, tudo
e vós sois todos irmãos.
Podeis continuar com os vossos sistemas
socialistas ou capitalista
que isso não me interessa.
Explorai o proletariado
ou dai-lhe de comer
isso é convosco.

Continuai com os vossos sistemas políticos
ditaduras democracias.
Matai-vos uns aos outros
lutai pela glória
lutai pelo poder
criai minorias fortes
que protejam os seus comp…
apadrinhai os afilhados dos vossos amigos
criai mais castas
aburguesai as ideias
e tudo sem a complicação
de verdes intrusos
imiscuir-se na vossa querida
e defendida civilização
dos homens privilegiados.

Homens irmãos
dai-vos as mãos
gritai a vossa alegria de serdes sós
SÓS!
únicos habitantes da Terra.

Eu atingi o Zero!

Isto simplifica extraordinariamente
a vossa ética.
Ao menos não percais agora
a ocasião de serdes honestos.
Se houver terramotos
Calamidades, cheias ou epidemias
ou terras a defender da invasão das águas
ou motores parados nas lamas de selvas africanas
raios partam!
já não tereis de chamar-me
para acudir ás vossas desgraças
para reparar os vossos desastres
ou para carregar com a culpa das vossas incúrias.
Ide para o diabo!

Eu não existo
Palavra de honra que nunca existi.
Atingi o Zero
o Nada.
Abençoada a Hora
do meu super-suicidio
para vós
homens que construís sistemas morais
para enquadrar imoralidades
O sol brilha só para vós
a lua reflecte luz só para vós
nunca houve esclavagistas
nem massacres
Nem ocupações da África.
Como até a história
se transforma num Tratado Moral
sem necessidade de arranjos apressados!

Não existem os pretos dos cais e do caminho de
ferro.
Nos locais de trabalho nunca se ouviram cantos
dolentes
só há chiadeira dos guindastes.
Nunca pisaram os caminhos do mato
carregados com quilos às costas
são os motores que se queimam sob as cargas
Ó pretos submissos humildes ou tímidos
Sem lugar nas cidades
ou nos escaninhos da honestidade
ou nos recantos da força
com a alma poisada no sinal menos,
polígamos declarados
dançarinos de batuques sensuais
sabei que subistes todos de valor
Atingistes o Zero
sois Nada
e salvastes o Homem.

Acabou-se o ódio de raças
e o trabalho de civilização
e a náusea de ver meninos negros
sentados na escola
ao lado dos meninos de olhos azuis
e as extorsões e compulsões
e as palmatoadas e torturas
para obrigar inocentes a confessar crimes
e os medos de revolta
e as complicadas demarches politicas
para iludir as almas simples.

Acabaram-se as complicações sociais!
Atingi o zero
Cheguei à hora do inicio do mundo
E resolvi não existir.

Cheguei ao Zero-Espaço
ao nada-tempo
ao Eu coincidente com vós-Tudo.

E o que é mais importante
Salvei o mundo.

Afirmação

Ah!

Faça-se luz no meu espírito
LUZ!

Calem–se as frases loucas
Desta renúncia impossível.


Eu–todos nunca me enganei
nunca coincidirei com o nada
não me deitarei nunca debaixo dos comboios


Não fui eu quem falou
da salvação do mundo
à custa da minha existência
da transformação do valor negativo em Zero
por meio do castigo ao inocente
em super – suicídio novidade histórica


Quem falou não fui eu
foi a minha loucura.


O meu lugar está marcado
no campo da luta
para conquista da vida perdida


Eu sou. Existo
As minhas mãos colocaram pedras
nos alicerces do mundo
Tenho direito ao meu pedaço de pão


Sou um valor positivo
da humanidade
e não abdico,
nunca abdicarei!


Seguirei com os homens livres
O meu caminho
para a liberdade e para a Vida.
Perdoem–me os cinco minutos de loucura
que vivi.