INTERROGATING THE BLOGOSPHERE (I)

Six months have passed since my last post in what turned out to be a very brief voluntary collaboration with GVO. So, I saw it fit to initiate this series of reflections on my life in the blogosphere so far with that experience.

When I started this journey in the blogosphere just over a year ago, I knew virtually nothing about it. I had accidentally come across one or two blogs before and that was it. So, when I was invited by the Sub-Saharan Africa editor of GVO to collaborate with them, covering the "Portuguese-speaking African countries", it took me a while to accept it but I eventually decided to take on the challenge – and how I knew from the beginning how much of a challenge it would be! I took it mainly as an opportunity to, as I gradually got to know the “lusosphere”, report about it, in English, to the global online community. So, to me it was all about “juntar o util ao agradavel”.

I set out without any particular agenda whatsoever, if not just because I didn’t know at all what I was about to find. But I had a very clear idea, guided by the GVO Manifesto and Mission Statement, that my work would be aimed at “shining light on places and people other media often ignore (…) to make sense of it all, and to highlight things that bloggers are saying which mainstream media may not be reporting (…) to help people speak out in places where powerful forces would prevent them from doing so (…) and to enable more people whose voices and views are not heard to speak out online.”

Well, I may have arrived at the blogosphere as naïve as a nun straight out of a convent, but I was (am) all but naïve about the real world. A real world where I have seen so many organisations, projects and people theoretically motivated by some of the most noble of principles, aims and objectives but, given the opportunities created by lack of transparency and accountability, the pursuit of individual agendas, or other factors such as ignorance, short-sightedness, personal insecurities and lack of professionalism, in practice easily turn into arrogant, megalomaniac, insensitive monsters practicing the exact opposite of what they claim to profess.

More to the point: even though, at the start of my “mission” with GVO, I had gone through a very rough path of conflicts with pornographic, racist and extreme-right sectors of the “lusosphere” who seemed not to have any other purpose in life than to attempt by all means necessary to harass me and tarnish my reputation in the blogosphere, both in mine and other blogs, I had no intention of, on my reporting for GVO, sidelining anyone who might have sided with them, by words, deeds or omissions, provided that their blog posts met the GVO principles and objectives – and this much I clearly stated in the introduction to my first post for GVO.

So, I started with a blog based in Portugal through which the global world, using its comprehensive blogroll, could access virtually the entire “lusosphere”. Thereafter, my main concern was to give utmost priority to bloggers based in the countries I was supposed to cover. This led me to follow up my reporting with the first blog I found in the Mozambican blogosphere, and then with one of the few blogs reporting from inside Angola. My reporting took the form of “bloggers profiles” mainly because of the relatively fewer number of blogs in those countries and their geographical and thematic dispersion. In my choices, there were no considerations of race, gender, politico-ideological orientation or any other subjective factors. There was, however, a clear concern with whether the issues they were blogging about were of the kind that may not be reported by the mainstream media, either in the respective countries or abroad.

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

Before attempting to answer any of these questions, let me talk about the reactions to my third, and eventually last, post for GVO. It was attacked, or rather, I was attacked because of it, on that blog by a group of lusophone bloggers led by one certain Orlando Castro (OC) and including the first blogger I had covered for GVO, on the absolutely groundless and personally insulting libel that “unlike the author of that blog, I had fled Angola without thinking!” Well, this is someone I don’t know and doesn’t know me personally apart from the blogosphere (the same applying to all the bloggers I’ve come across so far) and with whom, I must stress, I never had exchanged any comments or dialogues, directly or indirectly (in fact, I only got to properly know his blog after taking that blow on the stomach from him completely out of the blue) and I might even, as I went on with my work, if allowed to, at some point cover his and his group’s blogs.

The origin of that totally unprovoked and absurd libellous attack about my alleged “flight” from Angola, with or without thinking, is well determined in the “lusosphere”, as are the motivations of its author, and I had it thrown at my face before by the people who have been keeping me under siege in the blogosphere and have forced me to temporarily restrict access to my blog and implement comment moderation on it (costing me a considerable number of visitors, commentators, friends and contributors) and also forced me to get an interview I had given to the blog Szavanna about Angolan music withdrawn.

However, to this day I struggle to understand what led OC to come up with it at that particular blog I covered for GVO. “Is it because I is black?”, as Ali G would ask, or was it because, unlike the previous two bloggers I had covered, the owner of that blog happens to be black? Or was it because I am a woman? Was it because that was the first Angolan-based blog I covered? Or did he think that his blog should have been the first to be covered? Or was it something to do with the subject matter of the post covered itself? I honestly don’t know.

What I have no doubts about is that OC and his followers descended there like a tonne of bricks upon me mainly to personally profit in one way or another from the exposure that blog would gain as a result of its appearance on GVO – interestingly enough, even before I started volunteering for GVO, I had made a comment on that blog (although only to get back a cold shoulder from its author, which I totally failed to understand at the time) and had at some stage linked it on my blog; however I don’t remember ever seeing there before a comment by OC or his friends, or the blog in question figuring in their blogrolls, or vice-versa.

However, the most disturbing of it all for me was that, as if I were carelessly poking a cobra with a very short stick, the supposed potential beneficiary of my voluntary time, effort and attention in that particular instance, in a fit of irrational hatred that I can only understand as the result of the most explosive mixture of ignorance, bad manners, inferiority and subaltern complexes and inversed racism, sided with OC against me, thus effectively behaving like a “turkey voting for Christmas”. This surely caught the attention of someone, somewhere, at GVO, who found in my attackers “the courage of their convictions”! The result?*

Still had any doubts that crime (in this case, opportunism, racism, bullying, intrigue, slander, defamation and libel) actually does pay? So, who is this “suppa duppa dude”, who, clearly as a reward for acting as a deranged sniper bent on forcing me out of my work with GVO and ultimately drive me offline, for allegedly “having fled my country of origin”, all of a sudden started to appear on GVO (I don’t recall his blog ever being mentioned there before) as the “undisputed champion” of blogging about Angola, while continuing undeterred with his vicious, venomous attacks, open or veiled, against me in association with his allies?

For all I know, he is a “professional journalist” (or at least he displays his Portuguese Journalists’ Union card number on his blog profile) who, together with other two bloggers who form among themselves an “exclusive and closed mutual appreciation society” of sorts, works for the mainstream online media outlet “Noticias Lusofonas”, based in Portugal. So, how likely is it that whatever issues he blogs about might not be reported by mainstream media? He is based in an interior locality of Portugal, Vila Nova de Gaia, not even in the capital, Lisboa, or any of the other major cities in the country, such as Porto, Setubal, Faro or Coimbra, where he could have some exposure to and direct contact with the African communities whose majority is based in those centres. So, how reliable can his blog be to reflect the voices of those citizens and of their families in Africa to the global world?

I also happen to know that OC is part of a group of former Portuguese settlers (colonos) who, in 1974, joined UNITA, because its president, Jonas Savimbi, backed by apartheid South Africa, presented himself to them as “the real and only safeguard of white interests in Angola”, while allegedly saying the exact opposite in his speeches in his mother tongue, Umbundu, which most of the white population couldn’t understand (yes, so much for the ‘lusofonia’…). However, he was not among the few whites who stayed in the country after independence in 1975, either fighting Savimbi’s battles on the ground, or on the other side enduring the effects of the long fratricide war, directly or indirectly, as my family and I did, together with the vast majority of Angolans. He fled the country.

Exactly, with or without thinking, he fled Angola in 1975 and never went back! Along the last 30 years, most of Savimbi’s white supporters, inside or outside the country, abandoned his ranks and some are now amongst his main detractors, having become stern defenders of the idea (right or wrong, that’s not what I’m discussing here) that if white interests were ever safeguarded in Angola by any political force, it was by the ruling party, MPLA, and that only they themselves could have done better. However, through his writings, it becomes apparent that he might go back only when “they themselves are in a position of power to do it, because they do it better!” In the meantime, and unlike even some of the most deeply-rooted UNITA militants, he continues to this day to refer to Savimbi as “My President”! So, that’s OC for you.

Most of his and his closest allies’ blog posts about African issues reflect the mentality of those around the world who attribute all African problems exclusively to the “innate incapability” of Africans – to whom he often refers indiscriminately as “monkeys who keep falling from trees because they have to take off one of their shoes in order to be able to count to 12…” – and pretend to pass themselves as “the voices of the voiceless” with an unmistakable, if hidden, ideological agenda: that of advancing, by hook, by crook, or by fluke, the cause of “recolonisation”. His blogging about Angola is all mainly based on reports by the mainstream media in Angola or Portugal and, as a result of that, his opinions are at best secondary and derivative and at worst little more than fabrications of a “fertile imagination”.

He seldom, if ever, reveals “his sources” on the ground, either for the texts or the pictures, (in fact, at least once he used one of my exclusive pictures but, unlike his closest friend, didn't acknowledge it), he publishes about Angola, most of which are not real illustrations of the “facts” and locations he purports to talk about, but selectively chosen to depict the worst possible images of Africa, all invariably reminiscent of the great draught and famine in the Ethiopia of the ‘80s, widely published by the western mainstream media and continually disseminated throughout certain sectors in the blogosphere as the “trademark” image of all countries in Africa, all the time. So, is “citizen’s media” according to GVO based on facts lived and observed in loco, or on second or third-hand, recycled opinion, and clichés produced at a long and safe geographical, cultural and temporal distance?

Now, before I proceed to attempt to find answers to the questions I have been posing, let me say that I am not fighting my causes, whatever they may be, through this. I’ve been fighting my causes, some worthy, others less so, throughout my life by a variety of legitimate means, and achieving whatever goals I might have set to myself in the blogosphere is not dependent on the ‘good will’ of anyone – certainly not anyone at GVO. So, you might ask why am I then making such a fuss about all this, particularly having said at the time that I would rather not elaborate on the reasons for my decision to end my collaboration with GVO? Isn’t this going to generate even more gratuitous publicity and “popular support” for the villains in this story? Shouldn’t I know better, for my blog and my own’s sake, than “messing with the big guys”?

My answer is very simple: because, my dear friends, this is my blog! This is the space where I’m supposed to freely talk about the things that affect me, my life, my family and friends in Africa and the society(ies), real or virtual, geographically close or distant, that I happen to live in, whenever I feel it necessary and appropriate to do so, without fear of persecution, backlash, personal vendettas or any other kind of retaliation.

Ultimately, I believe that it is my right and my duty to interrogate, and hopefully unveil, some of the processes through which certain “powers that be” actually “come to be” to begin with… before some of us start issuing “calls for recolonisation”! Otherwise, what would the blogosphere be for, or is all about, after all?

And, actually, things have reached a point where I have nothing to lose…

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

Six months have passed since my last post in what turned out to be a very brief voluntary collaboration with GVO. So, I saw it fit to initiate this series of reflections on my life in the blogosphere so far with that experience.

When I started this journey in the blogosphere just over a year ago, I knew virtually nothing about it. I had accidentally come across one or two blogs before and that was it. So, when I was invited by the Sub-Saharan Africa editor of GVO to collaborate with them, covering the "Portuguese-speaking African countries", it took me a while to accept it but I eventually decided to take on the challenge – and how I knew from the beginning how much of a challenge it would be! I took it mainly as an opportunity to, as I gradually got to know the “lusosphere”, report about it, in English, to the global online community. So, to me it was all about “juntar o util ao agradavel”.

I set out without any particular agenda whatsoever, if not just because I didn’t know at all what I was about to find. But I had a very clear idea, guided by the GVO Manifesto and Mission Statement, that my work would be aimed at “shining light on places and people other media often ignore (…) to make sense of it all, and to highlight things that bloggers are saying which mainstream media may not be reporting (…) to help people speak out in places where powerful forces would prevent them from doing so (…) and to enable more people whose voices and views are not heard to speak out online.”

Well, I may have arrived at the blogosphere as naïve as a nun straight out of a convent, but I was (am) all but naïve about the real world. A real world where I have seen so many organisations, projects and people theoretically motivated by some of the most noble of principles, aims and objectives but, given the opportunities created by lack of transparency and accountability, the pursuit of individual agendas, or other factors such as ignorance, short-sightedness, personal insecurities and lack of professionalism, in practice easily turn into arrogant, megalomaniac, insensitive monsters practicing the exact opposite of what they claim to profess.

More to the point: even though, at the start of my “mission” with GVO, I had gone through a very rough path of conflicts with pornographic, racist and extreme-right sectors of the “lusosphere” who seemed not to have any other purpose in life than to attempt by all means necessary to harass me and tarnish my reputation in the blogosphere, both in mine and other blogs, I had no intention of, on my reporting for GVO, sidelining anyone who might have sided with them, by words, deeds or omissions, provided that their blog posts met the GVO principles and objectives – and this much I clearly stated in the introduction to my first post for GVO.

So, I started with a blog based in Portugal through which the global world, using its comprehensive blogroll, could access virtually the entire “lusosphere”. Thereafter, my main concern was to give utmost priority to bloggers based in the countries I was supposed to cover. This led me to follow up my reporting with the first blog I found in the Mozambican blogosphere, and then with one of the few blogs reporting from inside Angola. My reporting took the form of “bloggers profiles” mainly because of the relatively fewer number of blogs in those countries and their geographical and thematic dispersion. In my choices, there were no considerations of race, gender, politico-ideological orientation or any other subjective factors. There was, however, a clear concern with whether the issues they were blogging about were of the kind that may not be reported by the mainstream media, either in the respective countries or abroad.

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

Before attempting to answer any of these questions, let me talk about the reactions to my third, and eventually last, post for GVO. It was attacked, or rather, I was attacked because of it, on that blog by a group of lusophone bloggers led by one certain Orlando Castro (OC) and including the first blogger I had covered for GVO, on the absolutely groundless and personally insulting libel that “unlike the author of that blog, I had fled Angola without thinking!” Well, this is someone I don’t know and doesn’t know me personally apart from the blogosphere (the same applying to all the bloggers I’ve come across so far) and with whom, I must stress, I never had exchanged any comments or dialogues, directly or indirectly (in fact, I only got to properly know his blog after taking that blow on the stomach from him completely out of the blue) and I might even, as I went on with my work, if allowed to, at some point cover his and his group’s blogs.

The origin of that totally unprovoked and absurd libellous attack about my alleged “flight” from Angola, with or without thinking, is well determined in the “lusosphere”, as are the motivations of its author, and I had it thrown at my face before by the people who have been keeping me under siege in the blogosphere and have forced me to temporarily restrict access to my blog and implement comment moderation on it (costing me a considerable number of visitors, commentators, friends and contributors) and also forced me to get an interview I had given to the blog Szavanna about Angolan music withdrawn.

However, to this day I struggle to understand what led OC to come up with it at that particular blog I covered for GVO. “Is it because I is black?”, as Ali G would ask, or was it because, unlike the previous two bloggers I had covered, the owner of that blog happens to be black? Or was it because I am a woman? Was it because that was the first Angolan-based blog I covered? Or did he think that his blog should have been the first to be covered? Or was it something to do with the subject matter of the post covered itself? I honestly don’t know.

What I have no doubts about is that OC and his followers descended there like a tonne of bricks upon me mainly to personally profit in one way or another from the exposure that blog would gain as a result of its appearance on GVO – interestingly enough, even before I started volunteering for GVO, I had made a comment on that blog (although only to get back a cold shoulder from its author, which I totally failed to understand at the time) and had at some stage linked it on my blog; however I don’t remember ever seeing there before a comment by OC or his friends, or the blog in question figuring in their blogrolls, or vice-versa.

However, the most disturbing of it all for me was that, as if I were carelessly poking a cobra with a very short stick, the supposed potential beneficiary of my voluntary time, effort and attention in that particular instance, in a fit of irrational hatred that I can only understand as the result of the most explosive mixture of ignorance, bad manners, inferiority and subaltern complexes and inversed racism, sided with OC against me, thus effectively behaving like a “turkey voting for Christmas”. This surely caught the attention of someone, somewhere, at GVO, who found in my attackers “the courage of their convictions”! The result?*

Still had any doubts that crime (in this case, opportunism, racism, bullying, intrigue, slander, defamation and libel) actually does pay? So, who is this “suppa duppa dude”, who, clearly as a reward for acting as a deranged sniper bent on forcing me out of my work with GVO and ultimately drive me offline, for allegedly “having fled my country of origin”, all of a sudden started to appear on GVO (I don’t recall his blog ever being mentioned there before) as the “undisputed champion” of blogging about Angola, while continuing undeterred with his vicious, venomous attacks, open or veiled, against me in association with his allies?

For all I know, he is a “professional journalist” (or at least he displays his Portuguese Journalists’ Union card number on his blog profile) who, together with other two bloggers who form among themselves an “exclusive and closed mutual appreciation society” of sorts, works for the mainstream online media outlet “Noticias Lusofonas”, based in Portugal. So, how likely is it that whatever issues he blogs about might not be reported by mainstream media? He is based in an interior locality of Portugal, Vila Nova de Gaia, not even in the capital, Lisboa, or any of the other major cities in the country, such as Porto, Setubal, Faro or Coimbra, where he could have some exposure to and direct contact with the African communities whose majority is based in those centres. So, how reliable can his blog be to reflect the voices of those citizens and of their families in Africa to the global world?

I also happen to know that OC is part of a group of former Portuguese settlers (colonos) who, in 1974, joined UNITA, because its president, Jonas Savimbi, backed by apartheid South Africa, presented himself to them as “the real and only safeguard of white interests in Angola”, while allegedly saying the exact opposite in his speeches in his mother tongue, Umbundu, which most of the white population couldn’t understand (yes, so much for the ‘lusofonia’…). However, he was not among the few whites who stayed in the country after independence in 1975, either fighting Savimbi’s battles on the ground, or on the other side enduring the effects of the long fratricide war, directly or indirectly, as my family and I did, together with the vast majority of Angolans. He fled the country.

Exactly, with or without thinking, he fled Angola in 1975 and never went back! Along the last 30 years, most of Savimbi’s white supporters, inside or outside the country, abandoned his ranks and some are now amongst his main detractors, having become stern defenders of the idea (right or wrong, that’s not what I’m discussing here) that if white interests were ever safeguarded in Angola by any political force, it was by the ruling party, MPLA, and that only they themselves could have done better. However, through his writings, it becomes apparent that he might go back only when “they themselves are in a position of power to do it, because they do it better!” In the meantime, and unlike even some of the most deeply-rooted UNITA militants, he continues to this day to refer to Savimbi as “My President”! So, that’s OC for you.

Most of his and his closest allies’ blog posts about African issues reflect the mentality of those around the world who attribute all African problems exclusively to the “innate incapability” of Africans – to whom he often refers indiscriminately as “monkeys who keep falling from trees because they have to take off one of their shoes in order to be able to count to 12…” – and pretend to pass themselves as “the voices of the voiceless” with an unmistakable, if hidden, ideological agenda: that of advancing, by hook, by crook, or by fluke, the cause of “recolonisation”. His blogging about Angola is all mainly based on reports by the mainstream media in Angola or Portugal and, as a result of that, his opinions are at best secondary and derivative and at worst little more than fabrications of a “fertile imagination”.

He seldom, if ever, reveals “his sources” on the ground, either for the texts or the pictures, (in fact, at least once he used one of my exclusive pictures but, unlike his closest friend, didn't acknowledge it), he publishes about Angola, most of which are not real illustrations of the “facts” and locations he purports to talk about, but selectively chosen to depict the worst possible images of Africa, all invariably reminiscent of the great draught and famine in the Ethiopia of the ‘80s, widely published by the western mainstream media and continually disseminated throughout certain sectors in the blogosphere as the “trademark” image of all countries in Africa, all the time. So, is “citizen’s media” according to GVO based on facts lived and observed in loco, or on second or third-hand, recycled opinion, and clichés produced at a long and safe geographical, cultural and temporal distance?

Now, before I proceed to attempt to find answers to the questions I have been posing, let me say that I am not fighting my causes, whatever they may be, through this. I’ve been fighting my causes, some worthy, others less so, throughout my life by a variety of legitimate means, and achieving whatever goals I might have set to myself in the blogosphere is not dependent on the ‘good will’ of anyone – certainly not anyone at GVO. So, you might ask why am I then making such a fuss about all this, particularly having said at the time that I would rather not elaborate on the reasons for my decision to end my collaboration with GVO? Isn’t this going to generate even more gratuitous publicity and “popular support” for the villains in this story? Shouldn’t I know better, for my blog and my own’s sake, than “messing with the big guys”?

My answer is very simple: because, my dear friends, this is my blog! This is the space where I’m supposed to freely talk about the things that affect me, my life, my family and friends in Africa and the society(ies), real or virtual, geographically close or distant, that I happen to live in, whenever I feel it necessary and appropriate to do so, without fear of persecution, backlash, personal vendettas or any other kind of retaliation.

Ultimately, I believe that it is my right and my duty to interrogate, and hopefully unveil, some of the processes through which certain “powers that be” actually “come to be” to begin with… before some of us start issuing “calls for recolonisation”! Otherwise, what would the blogosphere be for, or is all about, after all?

And, actually, things have reached a point where I have nothing to lose…

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

CAMDEN MARKET UP IN FLAMES

Well, just parts of it, but sad and disturbing anyway. Trading continued as usual in not affected parts.
Perhaps an opportunity for planners and developers to start seriously rethinking the apparently uncontrollable mushrooming of shops and all sorts of vending outlets, particularly in the Stables' area.

Well, just parts of it, but sad and disturbing anyway. Trading continued as usual in not affected parts.
Perhaps an opportunity for planners and developers to start seriously rethinking the apparently uncontrollable mushrooming of shops and all sorts of vending outlets, particularly in the Stables' area.

THE UGGLY FACE OF RACISM

The thugs who racially abused Lewis Hamilton and his family, in Barcelona, Spain, last weekend.

[Read more here]

The thugs who racially abused Lewis Hamilton and his family, in Barcelona, Spain, last weekend.

[Read more here]

DISCURSOS POST-COLONIAIS: O VERSO & O REVERSO*

Uma nova geração de escritores tem emergido na narrativa contemporânea com um discurso que procura descolonizar as mágoas, as angústias, e dores que a geração anterior trouxe de África e de Timor. Será necessário, na nossa opinião, pensar e reflectir nestas novas trajectórias de vida e identidades, com um olhar completo. Este acto de olhar, é o projecto de escritores que procuram fazer uma leitura diferente da caminhada histórica, cultural e subjectiva do nosso passado colonial, de um modo criativo, lúcido, e equilibrado. É a língua das águas subterrâneas que enriquecem este mal-estar pós-colonial, por vezes, pejado de sentimentos de perda e de exílio. Acolher e escutar estes novos olhares, estas novas visões em interacção com África e Timor, permite-nos dirigir e mesurar o diálogo que
propomos, neste encontro, para além da mágoa.

(Apresentacao de um Coloquio entitulado “Para Além da Mágoa: Novos Diálogos Pós-Coloniais”, realizado recentemente na Casa Fernando Pessoa em Lisboa)

Agora sobre a língua, mana ela só “nos une” como dizem por aí quando nós damos uma de “calcinhas” e “pseudo-elites” pra dizer que tá tudo “nacional e portuguesmente mbora bom”, que o colonialismo foi “a melhor coisa que nos aconteceu”, que no Brasil “não tem nem nunca teve racismo”, que “a escravatura até teve o seu lado positivo”, que “somos todos portugueses do Minho a Timor” e por aí adiante. Mas se você não usa a língua pra dizer essas cueza e começa só a perguntar “mas afinal lusofonia é ideologia ou cultura?”, então aí os racistas pretos e brancos e seus respectivos lacaios viram já salalé e “ninguém que te arresponde e já não há rrespeto!”, pergunta só no man Murras! É só ódio e “gritaria” e você aí é melhor memo então começar a zuelar chinês, senão os kaínga da lusofonia cheios de “conceito com preconceito” vão memo te zungular e te bufocar que nem o chefe de posto Poeira, como cantou o man Bonga Kuenda, te esfregar gindungo no olho e te queimar pornográficamente na fogueira da inquisição juntamente com os teus escritos lusófonos e se não te matam memo de morte morrida e matada, então te fazem virar “local voice offline”!
Zukulo o meso mana!

(Extracto de comentario a este ‘post’)

*OU O CONTEXTO AINDA SEM TEXTO...

Uma nova geração de escritores tem emergido na narrativa contemporânea com um discurso que procura descolonizar as mágoas, as angústias, e dores que a geração anterior trouxe de África e de Timor. Será necessário, na nossa opinião, pensar e reflectir nestas novas trajectórias de vida e identidades, com um olhar completo. Este acto de olhar, é o projecto de escritores que procuram fazer uma leitura diferente da caminhada histórica, cultural e subjectiva do nosso passado colonial, de um modo criativo, lúcido, e equilibrado. É a língua das águas subterrâneas que enriquecem este mal-estar pós-colonial, por vezes, pejado de sentimentos de perda e de exílio. Acolher e escutar estes novos olhares, estas novas visões em interacção com África e Timor, permite-nos dirigir e mesurar o diálogo que
propomos, neste encontro, para além da mágoa.

(Apresentacao de um Coloquio entitulado “Para Além da Mágoa: Novos Diálogos Pós-Coloniais”, realizado recentemente na Casa Fernando Pessoa em Lisboa)

Agora sobre a língua, mana ela só “nos une” como dizem por aí quando nós damos uma de “calcinhas” e “pseudo-elites” pra dizer que tá tudo “nacional e portuguesmente mbora bom”, que o colonialismo foi “a melhor coisa que nos aconteceu”, que no Brasil “não tem nem nunca teve racismo”, que “a escravatura até teve o seu lado positivo”, que “somos todos portugueses do Minho a Timor” e por aí adiante. Mas se você não usa a língua pra dizer essas cueza e começa só a perguntar “mas afinal lusofonia é ideologia ou cultura?”, então aí os racistas pretos e brancos e seus respectivos lacaios viram já salalé e “ninguém que te arresponde e já não há rrespeto!”, pergunta só no man Murras! É só ódio e “gritaria” e você aí é melhor memo então começar a zuelar chinês, senão os kaínga da lusofonia cheios de “conceito com preconceito” vão memo te zungular e te bufocar que nem o chefe de posto Poeira, como cantou o man Bonga Kuenda, te esfregar gindungo no olho e te queimar pornográficamente na fogueira da inquisição juntamente com os teus escritos lusófonos e se não te matam memo de morte morrida e matada, então te fazem virar “local voice offline”!
Zukulo o meso mana!

(Extracto de comentario a este ‘post’)

*OU O CONTEXTO AINDA SEM TEXTO...

OBAMA VS. CLINTON: THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES! (Take 7)

That's right. No more quotation or question marks. The 'Suppa Duppa Tuesday' results just made it official: THIS IS THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES!
Here's how the Obama campaign is preparing for the next rounds:

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:07:09 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
Subject: A big night

Ana --
Thanks to you, Barack won all three of today's contests decisively.
Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC join a sweep of eight straight victories since Barack won the most states and the most delegates on Super Tuesday.
But the race for the Democratic nomination remains close. It's going to be a fight for every vote and every delegate in the remaining 18 contests.
Each of us needs to take responsibility for getting as many people involved in this campaign as possible.
More than 400,000 people have donated to this campaign in 2008, and we are on course to reach half-a-million donors before the crucial March 4th primaries and caucuses.
The upcoming contests in Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania will demand energy and resources on an unprecedented scale.
It's going to take all of us to keep these victories going. But if anyone is up to the task, it's this movement.
Thanks for your support,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

***

Date:
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 20:51:38 -0500
To:
"Ana Santana"
From:
"David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
Subject:
Startling news

Ana --

I was writing a note to you about the state of the race after Super Tuesday when we got some startling news.
The Clinton campaign just announced that Hillary and Bill Clinton injected $5 million of their personal fortune into her campaign a few days ago.
This is a dramatic move, and a clear acknowledgement that our campaign has the momentum. We saw undeniable evidence of that last night as the results came in.
Barack Obama won the most states and the most delegates on February 5th.
We have gotten to this point thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support from ordinary Americans.

To date, more than 650,000 people like you have taken ownership of this campaign, giving whatever they can afford.
The Clinton infusion of $5 million -- and there are reports it could end up being as much as $20 million -- will give them huge resources for the next set of primaries and caucuses.

Thanks to you, we have raised more than $3 million since the polls closed on February 5th. But we have no choice -- we must match their $5 million right now.
We're going to do it the right way, with small donations from people like you.

Just two weeks ago we were behind by double-digits in many of the states that voted yesterday, but Barack won 13 states to 8 states for Hillary Clinton, with one state (New Mexico) still counting votes.
This is an enormous victory, and it's all thanks to you.

Here are some details about yesterday's historic victory. According to official results and exit polls:
· Barack won 2-to-1 in traditionally conservative states where Democrats are hungry for a nominee who can change the map and help Democrats up and down the ticket win in November
· Our winning coalition included Americans of every race, background, and gender -- including 64% of women in Georgia
· We scored wins in every region of the country -- New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states, and the West
Americans had a clear choice to make yesterday, and they chose Barack Obama.
Now let's match this $5 million and take this campaign into the next stage.
Thank you,

David
David Plouffe

Campaign Manager

Obama for America

[Read full text here]

That's right. No more quotation or question marks. The 'Suppa Duppa Tuesday' results just made it official: THIS IS THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES!
Here's how the Obama campaign is preparing for the next rounds:

Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:07:09 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
Subject: A big night

Ana --
Thanks to you, Barack won all three of today's contests decisively.
Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC join a sweep of eight straight victories since Barack won the most states and the most delegates on Super Tuesday.
But the race for the Democratic nomination remains close. It's going to be a fight for every vote and every delegate in the remaining 18 contests.
Each of us needs to take responsibility for getting as many people involved in this campaign as possible.
More than 400,000 people have donated to this campaign in 2008, and we are on course to reach half-a-million donors before the crucial March 4th primaries and caucuses.
The upcoming contests in Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania will demand energy and resources on an unprecedented scale.
It's going to take all of us to keep these victories going. But if anyone is up to the task, it's this movement.
Thanks for your support,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

***

Date:
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 20:51:38 -0500
To:
"Ana Santana"
From:
"David Plouffe, BarackObama.com"
Subject:
Startling news

Ana --

I was writing a note to you about the state of the race after Super Tuesday when we got some startling news.
The Clinton campaign just announced that Hillary and Bill Clinton injected $5 million of their personal fortune into her campaign a few days ago.
This is a dramatic move, and a clear acknowledgement that our campaign has the momentum. We saw undeniable evidence of that last night as the results came in.
Barack Obama won the most states and the most delegates on February 5th.
We have gotten to this point thanks to an unprecedented outpouring of support from ordinary Americans.

To date, more than 650,000 people like you have taken ownership of this campaign, giving whatever they can afford.
The Clinton infusion of $5 million -- and there are reports it could end up being as much as $20 million -- will give them huge resources for the next set of primaries and caucuses.

Thanks to you, we have raised more than $3 million since the polls closed on February 5th. But we have no choice -- we must match their $5 million right now.
We're going to do it the right way, with small donations from people like you.

Just two weeks ago we were behind by double-digits in many of the states that voted yesterday, but Barack won 13 states to 8 states for Hillary Clinton, with one state (New Mexico) still counting votes.
This is an enormous victory, and it's all thanks to you.

Here are some details about yesterday's historic victory. According to official results and exit polls:
· Barack won 2-to-1 in traditionally conservative states where Democrats are hungry for a nominee who can change the map and help Democrats up and down the ticket win in November
· Our winning coalition included Americans of every race, background, and gender -- including 64% of women in Georgia
· We scored wins in every region of the country -- New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states, and the West
Americans had a clear choice to make yesterday, and they chose Barack Obama.
Now let's match this $5 million and take this campaign into the next stage.
Thank you,

David
David Plouffe

Campaign Manager

Obama for America

[Read full text here]

MY REPLY TO BARACK OBAMA*

Dear Senator Obama,

It was such an honour for me to receive your message yesterday!
Thank you so much for that kind gesture. Of course, I have an idea of how campaign machineries are supposed to work and that this sort of thing is not necessarily to be taken as a personal message. Nevertheless, it was meaningful to me.

Please be assured that I have been doing all I can to shore up support for your campaign and will continue to do so beyond today’s election, from which I strongly believe you will emerge as THE WINNER you naturally are!

Surely, my reach is very limited (not least because I am not American and live in London) but I hope that, through the series I’ve been posting on my blog and the phone calls and email messages I’ve been making to family, friends and acquaintances I have in the US, I can contribute somehow to your VICTORY!

I know that you certainly don’t have the time to read this, but I would like to take this opportunity to let you know how much I’ve been touched by your book “Dreams From My Father”. It was brought to me this Christmas as a gift by my younger sister who lives in Washington DC. I’ve been reading it by installments, as time permits and, as I read, posting small extracts from the chapters on Kenya in my blog (just hope you wont terribly mind this). I’ve been trying to highlight the passages that best help to understand the current situation in Kenya, although I often feel like posting everything because it’s so engaging! Of course, the need to not seriously infringe your copyrights helps me to resist that temptation.

Let me say that I had approached Kenya before through the writings of American scholars such as Robert Bates and Caroline Elkins (incidentally, both from your alma mater Harvard), but none of them gave me the personal insight on the soul of land and people you manage to express with such fine detail. I am African, and I am a woman, but I don’t remember ever reading before anything written by a male or female, of any race or cultural heritage, that reflects so well the realities of life in Africa (I lived most of my life in Angola, my country of origin, and visited 14 other African countries so far) and the particular challenges it poses to African women – no doubt your dear sister Auma played a special role in it, but only a human being as deeply sensitive as yourself could write about those experiences so touchingly. And not only that: the profound way in which you reflect about the human condition in America and anywhere else in the world!

A few weeks ago, an African-American blogger living in Germany referred to me as “a brilliant mind” in relation to an article I wrote for the “Atlantic Community” – a German-American think tank online. I was flattered, but didn’t take him too seriously, mainly because, although a highly reputed professional in his field (engineering), he is not really an ‘expert’ on the issues I wrote about (economic and trade-related issues). However, based on my gender, cultural and human experiences, I can say to you without hesitation: Mr. Obama you are a BRILLIANT MIND!

I’ll leave you now on your road to a victory that is certain anyway because, as you put it so well in your message, this is about more than just winning an election!

Please accept my BEST WISHES to your political and personal life, which I would like to extend to your beautiful and intelligent wife Michelle and your wonderful daughters Malia and Sasha.

A LUTA CONTINUA!
A VICTORIA E’ CERTA!!!

*(Please refer to previous post)

Dear Senator Obama,

It was such an honour for me to receive your message yesterday!
Thank you so much for that kind gesture. Of course, I have an idea of how campaign machineries are supposed to work and that this sort of thing is not necessarily to be taken as a personal message. Nevertheless, it was meaningful to me.

Please be assured that I have been doing all I can to shore up support for your campaign and will continue to do so beyond today’s election, from which I strongly believe you will emerge as THE WINNER you naturally are!

Surely, my reach is very limited (not least because I am not American and live in London) but I hope that, through the series I’ve been posting on my blog and the phone calls and email messages I’ve been making to family, friends and acquaintances I have in the US, I can contribute somehow to your VICTORY!

I know that you certainly don’t have the time to read this, but I would like to take this opportunity to let you know how much I’ve been touched by your book “Dreams From My Father”. It was brought to me this Christmas as a gift by my younger sister who lives in Washington DC. I’ve been reading it by installments, as time permits and, as I read, posting small extracts from the chapters on Kenya in my blog (just hope you wont terribly mind this). I’ve been trying to highlight the passages that best help to understand the current situation in Kenya, although I often feel like posting everything because it’s so engaging! Of course, the need to not seriously infringe your copyrights helps me to resist that temptation.

Let me say that I had approached Kenya before through the writings of American scholars such as Robert Bates and Caroline Elkins (incidentally, both from your alma mater Harvard), but none of them gave me the personal insight on the soul of land and people you manage to express with such fine detail. I am African, and I am a woman, but I don’t remember ever reading before anything written by a male or female, of any race or cultural heritage, that reflects so well the realities of life in Africa (I lived most of my life in Angola, my country of origin, and visited 14 other African countries so far) and the particular challenges it poses to African women – no doubt your dear sister Auma played a special role in it, but only a human being as deeply sensitive as yourself could write about those experiences so touchingly. And not only that: the profound way in which you reflect about the human condition in America and anywhere else in the world!

A few weeks ago, an African-American blogger living in Germany referred to me as “a brilliant mind” in relation to an article I wrote for the “Atlantic Community” – a German-American think tank online. I was flattered, but didn’t take him too seriously, mainly because, although a highly reputed professional in his field (engineering), he is not really an ‘expert’ on the issues I wrote about (economic and trade-related issues). However, based on my gender, cultural and human experiences, I can say to you without hesitation: Mr. Obama you are a BRILLIANT MIND!

I’ll leave you now on your road to a victory that is certain anyway because, as you put it so well in your message, this is about more than just winning an election!

Please accept my BEST WISHES to your political and personal life, which I would like to extend to your beautiful and intelligent wife Michelle and your wonderful daughters Malia and Sasha.

A LUTA CONTINUA!
A VICTORIA E’ CERTA!!!

*(Please refer to previous post)

MESSAGES FROM BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA!

YES WE CAN!!!

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:39:34 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Results

Ana --
We just learned that we won all three contests today -- in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington State.
We've now won 18 out of 28 states, with New Mexico still in the balance.
What's more, we also estimate that we at least doubled our delegate lead today.
Our momentum is strong, but another round of tough contests is about to begin.
Tomorrow, Democrats will caucus in Maine. And on Tuesday, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia will have their turn.
To win, we need to bring as many people into the process as possible. We're pushing towards 500,000 donors this year by March 4th, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont vote.
Now is the time to make your first online donation -- if you do, it will be matched by another supporter, doubling your impact:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
This race is still extremely close, and we need your support to remain competitive.
Thank you for making this possible.
Barack


Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:04:17 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: What we've been waiting for
Ana --
One of the things I'm most proud of about our campaign is not the amount of money we've raised, but the number of people giving it.
As of this afternoon, more than 300,000 people have given in 2008 alone, taking ownership of this campaign by making a donation of whatever they can afford.
This has never happened before. No one has ever built a campaign involving so many Americans as true stakeholders.
It speaks volumes not only about the kind of campaign we're running, but also about how we want politics to be.
So many of us have been waiting so long for the time when we could finally expect more from our politics, when we could give more of ourselves and feel truly invested in something bigger than a particular candidate or cause.
This is it. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
We won the most states and the most delegates on Tuesday because a movement of people decided to take back the political process and participate in unprecedented numbers.
Today we set a new goal: 500,000 people giving to our campaign this year by March 4th.
It's time to take the next step. Please make your first donation now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
When you do, one of the 300,000 people who have already given this year will match your donation. You'll see the name and town of the person matching your gift, and you'll even be able to send them a note about why you took the leap.
This has been a remarkable week already, but we are entering what could be a decisive phase of the campaign.
We face contests in Nebraska, Washington State, and Louisiana on Saturday. Maine will go on Sunday. And Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. will vote on Tuesday.
It's going to take every one of us reaching out, organizing, and giving our all to make it happen.
As we headed into the Iowa caucuses, it had taken us nearly a year to reach our first 500,000 donors.
Now, with your help, we will be able to repeat that feat in a little over 60 days as we head into Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont on March 4th.
So many people said we would never get here.
But we're proving every day that ordinary people can still accomplish extraordinary things.
Thank you,
Barack

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 02:42:28 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Results

Ana --

The votes will be counted into the night and into tomorrow, but today we won states and we won delegates in every part of the country.
As of right now, we have won more states and delegates than Senator Clinton. It's a remarkable achievement we can all be proud of.

Tonight, we know one thing for sure -- our time has come, our movement is real, and change is coming to America.
At this moment in history, the stakes are too high and the challenges too great to play the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result.

This time must be different.
There will be those who say it cannot be done. But we know what we have seen and what we believe -- that when ordinary people come together we can still do extraordinary things.

Yes, we can.

Thank you so much,

Barack
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:46:48 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: RE: Make a call

Ana --

Today, nearly half the nation will have the chance to join you in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again.

Twenty-two states across the country are holding their primaries and caucuses, and you can help Get Out The Vote in these crucial contests.
Use our online calling tool to reach out to fellow supporters. Encourage them to send a message that America is ready for a new kind of leadership and a new kind of politics.

Make calls using our online calling tool today:
http://my.barackobama.com/feb5calls

You can make a big impact -- the more calls you make, the more people will take part in their state's primary or caucus.

Thanks for everything you've done,

Barack


Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 20:28:34 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Michelle Obama"
Subject: You have to see this

Ana --

A friend sent me this video over the weekend.
After nearly a year on the campaign trail, I've seen a lot of things that have touched me deeply, but I had to share this with you:

http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan

Sharing this video, which was created by supporters, is one more way to help start a conversation with your friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else who will be voting soon about the issues important to them in this election.
Right now people like you are making phone calls, emailing friends, and doing everything they can to reach voters before the big vote tomorrow.

This is our moment -- please do what you can to help.

Thank you so much,

Michelle

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 14:21:05 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Make a call

Ana --

Tomorrow, 22 states across the country are holding Democratic caucuses and primaries.
You can help Get Out The Vote in these crucial contests by calling fellow supporters from your own home.
Use our online calling tool and make a difference today:
http://my.barackobama.com/feb5calls

When Michelle and I talked about my running for president, one of the core goals we both had for this campaign was to leave the political process better off than we found it.
You have challenged conventional thinking and built a grassroots movement for change that is sweeping this country.

I have no doubt that the election tomorrow will be close, but you can help ensure that as many people as possible participate.
Make calls using our online calling tool and help Get Out The Vote:
http://my.barackobama.com/feb5calls

I believe that this movement for change can do more than just win an election. Together, we can transform this country.

Thank you for being part of this,

Barack

YES WE CAN!!!

Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:39:34 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Results

Ana --
We just learned that we won all three contests today -- in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington State.
We've now won 18 out of 28 states, with New Mexico still in the balance.
What's more, we also estimate that we at least doubled our delegate lead today.
Our momentum is strong, but another round of tough contests is about to begin.
Tomorrow, Democrats will caucus in Maine. And on Tuesday, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia will have their turn.
To win, we need to bring as many people into the process as possible. We're pushing towards 500,000 donors this year by March 4th, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont vote.
Now is the time to make your first online donation -- if you do, it will be matched by another supporter, doubling your impact:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
This race is still extremely close, and we need your support to remain competitive.
Thank you for making this possible.
Barack


Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:04:17 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: What we've been waiting for
Ana --
One of the things I'm most proud of about our campaign is not the amount of money we've raised, but the number of people giving it.
As of this afternoon, more than 300,000 people have given in 2008 alone, taking ownership of this campaign by making a donation of whatever they can afford.
This has never happened before. No one has ever built a campaign involving so many Americans as true stakeholders.
It speaks volumes not only about the kind of campaign we're running, but also about how we want politics to be.
So many of us have been waiting so long for the time when we could finally expect more from our politics, when we could give more of ourselves and feel truly invested in something bigger than a particular candidate or cause.
This is it. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
We won the most states and the most delegates on Tuesday because a movement of people decided to take back the political process and participate in unprecedented numbers.
Today we set a new goal: 500,000 people giving to our campaign this year by March 4th.
It's time to take the next step. Please make your first donation now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
When you do, one of the 300,000 people who have already given this year will match your donation. You'll see the name and town of the person matching your gift, and you'll even be able to send them a note about why you took the leap.
This has been a remarkable week already, but we are entering what could be a decisive phase of the campaign.
We face contests in Nebraska, Washington State, and Louisiana on Saturday. Maine will go on Sunday. And Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. will vote on Tuesday.
It's going to take every one of us reaching out, organizing, and giving our all to make it happen.
As we headed into the Iowa caucuses, it had taken us nearly a year to reach our first 500,000 donors.
Now, with your help, we will be able to repeat that feat in a little over 60 days as we head into Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont on March 4th.
So many people said we would never get here.
But we're proving every day that ordinary people can still accomplish extraordinary things.
Thank you,
Barack

Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2008 02:42:28 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Results

Ana --

The votes will be counted into the night and into tomorrow, but today we won states and we won delegates in every part of the country.
As of right now, we have won more states and delegates than Senator Clinton. It's a remarkable achievement we can all be proud of.

Tonight, we know one thing for sure -- our time has come, our movement is real, and change is coming to America.
At this moment in history, the stakes are too high and the challenges too great to play the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result.

This time must be different.
There will be those who say it cannot be done. But we know what we have seen and what we believe -- that when ordinary people come together we can still do extraordinary things.

Yes, we can.

Thank you so much,

Barack
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:46:48 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: RE: Make a call

Ana --

Today, nearly half the nation will have the chance to join you in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again.

Twenty-two states across the country are holding their primaries and caucuses, and you can help Get Out The Vote in these crucial contests.
Use our online calling tool to reach out to fellow supporters. Encourage them to send a message that America is ready for a new kind of leadership and a new kind of politics.

Make calls using our online calling tool today:
http://my.barackobama.com/feb5calls

You can make a big impact -- the more calls you make, the more people will take part in their state's primary or caucus.

Thanks for everything you've done,

Barack


Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 20:28:34 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Michelle Obama"
Subject: You have to see this

Ana --

A friend sent me this video over the weekend.
After nearly a year on the campaign trail, I've seen a lot of things that have touched me deeply, but I had to share this with you:

http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan

Sharing this video, which was created by supporters, is one more way to help start a conversation with your friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else who will be voting soon about the issues important to them in this election.
Right now people like you are making phone calls, emailing friends, and doing everything they can to reach voters before the big vote tomorrow.

This is our moment -- please do what you can to help.

Thank you so much,

Michelle

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 14:21:05 -0500
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Make a call

Ana --

Tomorrow, 22 states across the country are holding Democratic caucuses and primaries.
You can help Get Out The Vote in these crucial contests by calling fellow supporters from your own home.
Use our online calling tool and make a difference today:
http://my.barackobama.com/feb5calls

When Michelle and I talked about my running for president, one of the core goals we both had for this campaign was to leave the political process better off than we found it.
You have challenged conventional thinking and built a grassroots movement for change that is sweeping this country.

I have no doubt that the election tomorrow will be close, but you can help ensure that as many people as possible participate.
Make calls using our online calling tool and help Get Out The Vote:
http://my.barackobama.com/feb5calls

I believe that this movement for change can do more than just win an election. Together, we can transform this country.

Thank you for being part of this,

Barack

BARACK OBAMA'S KENYA (III)*

(…)

Auma’s apartment, a small but comfortable space with French doors that let sunlight wash through the rooms, was on the first floor. There were stacks of books everywhere, and a collage of photographs hanging on one wall, studio portraits and Polaroid shots, a patchwork of family that Auma had stitched together for herself. Above Auma’s bed, I noticed a large poster of a black woman, her face tilted upward toward an unfolding blossom, the words “I Have a Dream” printed below.
“So what’s your dream, Auma?” I said, setting down my bags. Auma laughed. “That’s my biggest problem, Barack. Too many dreams. A woman with dreams always has problems.”

(…)

The city center was smaller than I’d expected, with much of the colonial architecture still intact: row after row of worn, whitewashed stucco from the days when Nairobi was little more than an outpost to service British railway construction. Alongside these buildings, another city emerged, a city of high-rise offices and elegant shops, hotels with lobbies that seemed barely distinguishable from their counterparts in Singapore or Atlanta. It was an intoxicating, elusive mixture, a contrast that seemed to repeat itself wherever we went: in front of the Mercedes-Benz dealership, where a train of Masai women passed by on the way to market, their heads shaven clean, their slender bodies wrapped in red shukas, their earlobes elongated and ringed with bright beads; or at the entrance to an open-air mosque, where we watched a group of bank officers carefully remove their wig-tipped shoes and bathe their feet before joining farmers and ditch diggers in afternoon prayer. It was as if Nairobi’s history refused to settle in orderly layers, as if what was then and what was now fell in constant, noisy collision.

(…)

We wandered into the old marketplace, a cavernous building that smelled of ripe fruit and a nearby butchery. A passage to the rear of the building led into a maze of open-air stalls where merchants hawked fabrics, baskets, brass jewelry, and other curios. I stopped in front of one of them, where a set of small wooden carvings was set out for display. I recognized the figures as my father’s long-ago gift to me: elephants, lions, drummers in tribal headdress. They are only small things, the Old Man had said…

“Come, mister,” the young man who was minding the stall said to me. “ beautiful necklace for your wife.”
“This is my sister.”
“She is a very beautiful sister. Come, this is nice for her.”
“How much?”
“Only five hundred shillings. Beautiful.”
Auma frowned and said something to the man in Swahili. “He’s giving you the wazungu price,” she explained. “The white man’s price.”
The young man smiled. “I’m very sorry, sister,” he said. “For a Kenyan, the price is three hundred only.”
Inside the stall, an old woman who was stringing glass beads together pointed at me and said something that made Auma smile.
“What’d she say?”
“She says that you look like an American to her.”
“Tell her I’m Luo,” I said, beating my chest.

(…)

We turned onto Kimathi Street, named after one of the leaders of the Mau-Mau rebellion. I had read a book about Kimathi before leaving Chicago and remembered a photograph of him: one in a group of dreadlocked men who lived in the forest and spread secret oaths among the native population – the prototype guerrilla fighter. It was a clever costume he had chosen for himself (Kimathi and the other Mau-Mau leaders had served in British regiments in their previous lives), an image that played on all the fears of the colonial West, the same sort of fear that Nat Turner had once evoked in the antebellum South and coke-crazed muggers now evoked in the minds of whites in Chicago.

Of course the Mau-Mau lay in Kenya’s past. Kimathi had been captured and executed. Kenyatta had been released from prison and inaugurated Kenya’s first president. He had immediately assured whites who were busy packing their bags that businesses would not be nationalized, that landholdings would be kept intact, so long as the black man controlled the apparatus of government. Kenya became the West’s most stalwart pupil of Africa, a model of stability, a useful contrast to the chaos of Uganda, the failed socialism of Tanzania. Former freedom fighters returned to their villages or joined the civil service or run for a seat in Parliament. Kimathi became a name on a street sign, thoroughly tamed for the tourists.

(…)

Just then I noticed an American family sit down a few tables away from us. Two of the African waiters immediately sprang into action, both of them smiling from one ear to the other. Since Auma and I hadn’t yet been served, I began to wave at the two waiters who remained standing by the kitchen, thinking they must have somehow failed to see us. For some time they managed to avoid my glance, but eventually an older man with sleepy eyes relented and brought us over two menus. His manner was resentful, though, and after several more minutes he showed no signs of ever coming back. Auma’s face began to pinch with anger, and again I waved to our waiter, who continued in his silence as he wrote down our orders. At this point, the Americans had already received their food and we still had no place settings. I overheard a young girl with a blond ponytail complain that there wasn’t any ketchup. Auma stood up.

“Let’s go.”
She started heading for the exit, then suddenly turned and walked back to the waiter, who was watching us with an impassive stare.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Auma said to him, her voice shaking. “You should be ashamed.”
The waiter replied brusquely in Swahili.
“I don’t care how many mouths you have to feed, you cannot treat your own people like dogs. Here…” Auma snapped open her purse and took out a crumpled hundred-shilling note. “You see!” she shouted. “I can pay for my own damn food.”
She threw the note to the ground, then marched out onto the street. For several minutes we wandered without apparent direction, until I finally suggested we sit down on a bench beside the central post office.

“You okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “That was stupid, throwing away money like that.” She set down her purse beside her and we watched the traffic pass. “You know, I can’t go to a club in any of these hotels if I’m with another African woman,” she said eventually. “The askaris will turn us away, thinking we are prostitutes. The same in any of these big office buildings. If you don’t work there, and you are African, they will stop you until you tell them your business. But if you’re with a German friend, then they’re all smiles. ‘Good evening, miss,’ they’ll say. ‘How are you tonight?’” Auma shook her head. “That’s why Kenya, no matter what its GNP, no matter how many things you can buy here, the rest of Africa laughs. It’s the whore of Africa, Barack. It opens its legs to anyone who can pay.”

I told Auma she was being too hard on the Kenyan, that the same sort of thing happened in Djakarta or Mexico City – just an unfortunate matter of economics. But as we started back toward the apartment, I knew my words had done nothing to soothe her bitterness. I suspected that she was right: not all the tourists in Nairobi had come for the wildlife. Some came because Kenya, without shame, offered to re-create an age when the lives of whites in foreign lands rested comfortably on the backs of the darker races; an age of innocence before Kimathi and other angry young men in Soweto or Detroit or the Mekong Delta started to lash out in street crime and revolution.

In Kenya, a white man could still walk through Isak Dinesen’s home and imagine romance with a mysterious young baroness, or sip gin under the ceiling fans of the Lord Delamare Hotel and admire portraits of Hemingway smiling after a successful hunt, surrounded by grim-faced coolies. He could be served by a black man without fear or guilt, marvel at the exchange rate, and leave a generous tip; and if he felt a touch of indigestion at the sight of leprous beggars outside the hotel, he could always administer a ready tonic. Black rule has come, after all. This is their country. We’re only visitors.

Did our waiter know that black rule had come? Did it mean anything to him? Maybe once, I thought to myself. He would be old enough to remember independence, the shouts of “Uhuru!” and the raising of new flags. But such memories may seem almost fantastic to him now, distant and naïve. He’s learned that the same people who controlled the land before independence still control the same land, that he still cannot eat in the restaurants or stay in the hotels that the white man has built. He sees the money of the city swirling above his head, and the technology that spits out goods from its robot mouth.

If he’s ambitious he will do his best to learn the white man’s language and use the white man’s machines, trying to make ends meet the same way the computer repairman in Newark or the bus driver back in Chicago does, with alternating spurts of enthusiasm or frustration but mostly with resignation. And if you say to him that he’s serving the interests of neocolonialism or some other such thing, he will reply that yes, he will serve if that is what’s required. It is the lucky ones who serve; the unlucky ones drift into the murky tide of hustles and odd jobs; many will drown.

Then again, maybe that’s not all that the waiter is feeling. Maybe a part of him still clings to the stories of Mau-Mau, the same part of him that remembers the hush of a village night or the sound of his mother grinding corn under a stone pallet. Something in him still says that the white man’s ways are not his ways, that the objects he may use every day are not of his making. He remembers a time, a way of imagining himself, that he leaves only at his peril. He can’t escape the grip of his memories. And so he straddles two worlds, uncertain in each, always off balance, playing whichever game staves off the bottomless poverty, careful to let his anger vent itself only on those in the same condition.

A voice says to him yes, changes have come, the old ways lie broken, and you must find a way as fast as you can to feed your belly and stop the white man from laughing at you.
A voice says no, you will sooner burn the earth to the ground.

[Read More Here]

*Extracts from "Dreams from My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance", Copyright © 1995, 2004 by Barack Obama.

(…)

Auma’s apartment, a small but comfortable space with French doors that let sunlight wash through the rooms, was on the first floor. There were stacks of books everywhere, and a collage of photographs hanging on one wall, studio portraits and Polaroid shots, a patchwork of family that Auma had stitched together for herself. Above Auma’s bed, I noticed a large poster of a black woman, her face tilted upward toward an unfolding blossom, the words “I Have a Dream” printed below.
“So what’s your dream, Auma?” I said, setting down my bags. Auma laughed. “That’s my biggest problem, Barack. Too many dreams. A woman with dreams always has problems.”

(…)

The city center was smaller than I’d expected, with much of the colonial architecture still intact: row after row of worn, whitewashed stucco from the days when Nairobi was little more than an outpost to service British railway construction. Alongside these buildings, another city emerged, a city of high-rise offices and elegant shops, hotels with lobbies that seemed barely distinguishable from their counterparts in Singapore or Atlanta. It was an intoxicating, elusive mixture, a contrast that seemed to repeat itself wherever we went: in front of the Mercedes-Benz dealership, where a train of Masai women passed by on the way to market, their heads shaven clean, their slender bodies wrapped in red shukas, their earlobes elongated and ringed with bright beads; or at the entrance to an open-air mosque, where we watched a group of bank officers carefully remove their wig-tipped shoes and bathe their feet before joining farmers and ditch diggers in afternoon prayer. It was as if Nairobi’s history refused to settle in orderly layers, as if what was then and what was now fell in constant, noisy collision.

(…)

We wandered into the old marketplace, a cavernous building that smelled of ripe fruit and a nearby butchery. A passage to the rear of the building led into a maze of open-air stalls where merchants hawked fabrics, baskets, brass jewelry, and other curios. I stopped in front of one of them, where a set of small wooden carvings was set out for display. I recognized the figures as my father’s long-ago gift to me: elephants, lions, drummers in tribal headdress. They are only small things, the Old Man had said…

“Come, mister,” the young man who was minding the stall said to me. “ beautiful necklace for your wife.”
“This is my sister.”
“She is a very beautiful sister. Come, this is nice for her.”
“How much?”
“Only five hundred shillings. Beautiful.”
Auma frowned and said something to the man in Swahili. “He’s giving you the wazungu price,” she explained. “The white man’s price.”
The young man smiled. “I’m very sorry, sister,” he said. “For a Kenyan, the price is three hundred only.”
Inside the stall, an old woman who was stringing glass beads together pointed at me and said something that made Auma smile.
“What’d she say?”
“She says that you look like an American to her.”
“Tell her I’m Luo,” I said, beating my chest.

(…)

We turned onto Kimathi Street, named after one of the leaders of the Mau-Mau rebellion. I had read a book about Kimathi before leaving Chicago and remembered a photograph of him: one in a group of dreadlocked men who lived in the forest and spread secret oaths among the native population – the prototype guerrilla fighter. It was a clever costume he had chosen for himself (Kimathi and the other Mau-Mau leaders had served in British regiments in their previous lives), an image that played on all the fears of the colonial West, the same sort of fear that Nat Turner had once evoked in the antebellum South and coke-crazed muggers now evoked in the minds of whites in Chicago.

Of course the Mau-Mau lay in Kenya’s past. Kimathi had been captured and executed. Kenyatta had been released from prison and inaugurated Kenya’s first president. He had immediately assured whites who were busy packing their bags that businesses would not be nationalized, that landholdings would be kept intact, so long as the black man controlled the apparatus of government. Kenya became the West’s most stalwart pupil of Africa, a model of stability, a useful contrast to the chaos of Uganda, the failed socialism of Tanzania. Former freedom fighters returned to their villages or joined the civil service or run for a seat in Parliament. Kimathi became a name on a street sign, thoroughly tamed for the tourists.

(…)

Just then I noticed an American family sit down a few tables away from us. Two of the African waiters immediately sprang into action, both of them smiling from one ear to the other. Since Auma and I hadn’t yet been served, I began to wave at the two waiters who remained standing by the kitchen, thinking they must have somehow failed to see us. For some time they managed to avoid my glance, but eventually an older man with sleepy eyes relented and brought us over two menus. His manner was resentful, though, and after several more minutes he showed no signs of ever coming back. Auma’s face began to pinch with anger, and again I waved to our waiter, who continued in his silence as he wrote down our orders. At this point, the Americans had already received their food and we still had no place settings. I overheard a young girl with a blond ponytail complain that there wasn’t any ketchup. Auma stood up.

“Let’s go.”
She started heading for the exit, then suddenly turned and walked back to the waiter, who was watching us with an impassive stare.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Auma said to him, her voice shaking. “You should be ashamed.”
The waiter replied brusquely in Swahili.
“I don’t care how many mouths you have to feed, you cannot treat your own people like dogs. Here…” Auma snapped open her purse and took out a crumpled hundred-shilling note. “You see!” she shouted. “I can pay for my own damn food.”
She threw the note to the ground, then marched out onto the street. For several minutes we wandered without apparent direction, until I finally suggested we sit down on a bench beside the central post office.

“You okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “That was stupid, throwing away money like that.” She set down her purse beside her and we watched the traffic pass. “You know, I can’t go to a club in any of these hotels if I’m with another African woman,” she said eventually. “The askaris will turn us away, thinking we are prostitutes. The same in any of these big office buildings. If you don’t work there, and you are African, they will stop you until you tell them your business. But if you’re with a German friend, then they’re all smiles. ‘Good evening, miss,’ they’ll say. ‘How are you tonight?’” Auma shook her head. “That’s why Kenya, no matter what its GNP, no matter how many things you can buy here, the rest of Africa laughs. It’s the whore of Africa, Barack. It opens its legs to anyone who can pay.”

I told Auma she was being too hard on the Kenyan, that the same sort of thing happened in Djakarta or Mexico City – just an unfortunate matter of economics. But as we started back toward the apartment, I knew my words had done nothing to soothe her bitterness. I suspected that she was right: not all the tourists in Nairobi had come for the wildlife. Some came because Kenya, without shame, offered to re-create an age when the lives of whites in foreign lands rested comfortably on the backs of the darker races; an age of innocence before Kimathi and other angry young men in Soweto or Detroit or the Mekong Delta started to lash out in street crime and revolution.

In Kenya, a white man could still walk through Isak Dinesen’s home and imagine romance with a mysterious young baroness, or sip gin under the ceiling fans of the Lord Delamare Hotel and admire portraits of Hemingway smiling after a successful hunt, surrounded by grim-faced coolies. He could be served by a black man without fear or guilt, marvel at the exchange rate, and leave a generous tip; and if he felt a touch of indigestion at the sight of leprous beggars outside the hotel, he could always administer a ready tonic. Black rule has come, after all. This is their country. We’re only visitors.

Did our waiter know that black rule had come? Did it mean anything to him? Maybe once, I thought to myself. He would be old enough to remember independence, the shouts of “Uhuru!” and the raising of new flags. But such memories may seem almost fantastic to him now, distant and naïve. He’s learned that the same people who controlled the land before independence still control the same land, that he still cannot eat in the restaurants or stay in the hotels that the white man has built. He sees the money of the city swirling above his head, and the technology that spits out goods from its robot mouth.

If he’s ambitious he will do his best to learn the white man’s language and use the white man’s machines, trying to make ends meet the same way the computer repairman in Newark or the bus driver back in Chicago does, with alternating spurts of enthusiasm or frustration but mostly with resignation. And if you say to him that he’s serving the interests of neocolonialism or some other such thing, he will reply that yes, he will serve if that is what’s required. It is the lucky ones who serve; the unlucky ones drift into the murky tide of hustles and odd jobs; many will drown.

Then again, maybe that’s not all that the waiter is feeling. Maybe a part of him still clings to the stories of Mau-Mau, the same part of him that remembers the hush of a village night or the sound of his mother grinding corn under a stone pallet. Something in him still says that the white man’s ways are not his ways, that the objects he may use every day are not of his making. He remembers a time, a way of imagining himself, that he leaves only at his peril. He can’t escape the grip of his memories. And so he straddles two worlds, uncertain in each, always off balance, playing whichever game staves off the bottomless poverty, careful to let his anger vent itself only on those in the same condition.

A voice says to him yes, changes have come, the old ways lie broken, and you must find a way as fast as you can to feed your belly and stop the white man from laughing at you.
A voice says no, you will sooner burn the earth to the ground.

[Read More Here]

*Extracts from "Dreams from My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance", Copyright © 1995, 2004 by Barack Obama.

LOCAL VOICES OFFLINE (6)

Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…

Habana Libre

Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…

Habana Libre

OBAMA VS. CLINTON: THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES? (Take 6)

ON THE RUN TO ‘SUPPA DUPPA TUESDAY’

It has been a little while since my last take on this battle and, gosh, what an awful lot happened since! Here’s some of it:

WHEN THE NAME OF THE GAME BECAME BILLARY…

When I started this series at the outset of this primary’s campaign, I was particularly interested in observing how race and gender would play out among the Democrats’ electorate. A number of episodes since have illustrated just how important these two sociological categories are in the wider Democratic campaign against the Republicans, but none has proven my gut instinct so close to reality on the ground as the one when Bill Clinton entered his wife’s campaign playing the ‘race card’ right, left and center, and race politics threatened to ruin everything for everyone.

Apparently, the ‘Billary’ strategy was to play the race card in such a way as to force Obama into a ‘black corner’ thus prompting the white electorate to vote Hillary as a backlash to any Obama wins in black majority states. The Obama camp aptly rose to the challenge (as evidenced by Barack’s victory speech in South Carolina) and much has been made of it all and related events in the conventional media and the blogosphere. There is, however, an angle of the “double bill” made up by the Clinton couple that makes me ask: what on earth was the husband doing trying to overtake the wife’s campaign? Isn’t she supposed to demonstrate that a woman is capable of winning on her own merits? Anyway, apparently they have since tried to mend their ways and cut their losses, because…

ENTER TED KENNEDY…

On the strength of his win in South Carolina, Barack Obama managed to get Senator Ted Kennedy’s endorsement, adding to the ranks of a number of democratic heavyweights who have been declaring their support for him. However, as cheerful as this is for the Obama camp, it raises some concerns about the extent to which Kennedy’s support might actually work against him. And this is because an important mass of Obama’s supporters is composed of people, especially young people, who are genuinely vying for “a change they can believe in” and don’t particularly favour the continued dominance of political dynasties in the White House, directly or indirectly, be they Republican (Bush) or Democrat (Kennedy).
In any event, there are more pressing concerns for the Democrats at the moment.

… AND THE REPUBLICANS

It would be ill-advised for anyone to take anything for granted in this campaign and, obviously, both Hillary and Obama, as front-runners in the Democratic camp, have to measure their strengths against the Republican heavyweights. On that side, John McCain is currently on the lead, having received soon after his (not too comfortable) win in Florida, the important endorsements of Schwarzenegger and Giuliani (just a note on this: as it can be gathered from one of my comments on ‘take 2’ of this series, as many other observers, I had placed more weight on Giuliani’s candidacy then it turned out to show. Nevertheless, my gut feeling is telling me that he might again take the frontline alongside McCain, as the Republican candidate for the Vice-Presidency).

… AND THE ECONOMY!

However, I wouldn’t, at least at this stage, completely rule out Mitt Romney’s chances – after all, McCain himself said that his win in Florida was “nothing to brag about”. And this simply because the economy has come creeping into this campaign like ‘its nobody’s business’ and neither camp can afford to ignore it – fears of a depression, brought about mainly by dodgy deals in the sub-prime mortgage market and a too thinly spread federal budget over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been bringing Keynesian Economics back from the dead, amidst calls by some (apparently including Obama...) for the return of "Reaganomics". This has forced the Bush administration to come up with such drastic measures as ‘stimulus packages’ in the form of tax cuts and transfers and attempts to balance the budget mainly through a clampdown on funding ‘earmarks’, with the FED successively performing the most dramatic cuts in interest rates in more than two decades, while the dollar reaches all time lows against the euro.

In this context, Mitt Romney’s background in economic management may play a role in the outcome of the Republican campaign. After all, he won Michigan – a state which today represents the face of American economic decline – and it could be expected, not just because it's his home state but perhaps also because of it, that ‘if he made it there, he can make it anywhere’, unlike Rudy Giuliani who, through a fatally misguided campaign strategy (by placing all his eggs on the Florida basket), didn’t even manage to give himself the chance to try, let alone make, it at home in New York, or John McCain, whose weight as a war hero rests to be measured against his economic management credentials, which are virtually none.

There is, however, an interesting statement by McCain that seems to say quite a lot about what's to come: "I am not running for the American presidency to be someone but to do something!" Well, surely he is not running to be the "first female president", or the "first black president" of the US of A...

It is against this wider background that the battle Obama vs. Clinton has to be measured up in the most immediate future…

So, let’s wait and see what ‘Suppa Duppa Tuesday’ brings.

[P.S.: YOU CAN READ ABOUT "THE ECONOMICS OF BARACK OBAMA" HERE]

ON THE RUN TO ‘SUPPA DUPPA TUESDAY’

It has been a little while since my last take on this battle and, gosh, what an awful lot happened since! Here’s some of it:

WHEN THE NAME OF THE GAME BECAME BILLARY…

When I started this series at the outset of this primary’s campaign, I was particularly interested in observing how race and gender would play out among the Democrats’ electorate. A number of episodes since have illustrated just how important these two sociological categories are in the wider Democratic campaign against the Republicans, but none has proven my gut instinct so close to reality on the ground as the one when Bill Clinton entered his wife’s campaign playing the ‘race card’ right, left and center, and race politics threatened to ruin everything for everyone.

Apparently, the ‘Billary’ strategy was to play the race card in such a way as to force Obama into a ‘black corner’ thus prompting the white electorate to vote Hillary as a backlash to any Obama wins in black majority states. The Obama camp aptly rose to the challenge (as evidenced by Barack’s victory speech in South Carolina) and much has been made of it all and related events in the conventional media and the blogosphere. There is, however, an angle of the “double bill” made up by the Clinton couple that makes me ask: what on earth was the husband doing trying to overtake the wife’s campaign? Isn’t she supposed to demonstrate that a woman is capable of winning on her own merits? Anyway, apparently they have since tried to mend their ways and cut their losses, because…

ENTER TED KENNEDY…

On the strength of his win in South Carolina, Barack Obama managed to get Senator Ted Kennedy’s endorsement, adding to the ranks of a number of democratic heavyweights who have been declaring their support for him. However, as cheerful as this is for the Obama camp, it raises some concerns about the extent to which Kennedy’s support might actually work against him. And this is because an important mass of Obama’s supporters is composed of people, especially young people, who are genuinely vying for “a change they can believe in” and don’t particularly favour the continued dominance of political dynasties in the White House, directly or indirectly, be they Republican (Bush) or Democrat (Kennedy).
In any event, there are more pressing concerns for the Democrats at the moment.

… AND THE REPUBLICANS

It would be ill-advised for anyone to take anything for granted in this campaign and, obviously, both Hillary and Obama, as front-runners in the Democratic camp, have to measure their strengths against the Republican heavyweights. On that side, John McCain is currently on the lead, having received soon after his (not too comfortable) win in Florida, the important endorsements of Schwarzenegger and Giuliani (just a note on this: as it can be gathered from one of my comments on ‘take 2’ of this series, as many other observers, I had placed more weight on Giuliani’s candidacy then it turned out to show. Nevertheless, my gut feeling is telling me that he might again take the frontline alongside McCain, as the Republican candidate for the Vice-Presidency).

… AND THE ECONOMY!

However, I wouldn’t, at least at this stage, completely rule out Mitt Romney’s chances – after all, McCain himself said that his win in Florida was “nothing to brag about”. And this simply because the economy has come creeping into this campaign like ‘its nobody’s business’ and neither camp can afford to ignore it – fears of a depression, brought about mainly by dodgy deals in the sub-prime mortgage market and a too thinly spread federal budget over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have been bringing Keynesian Economics back from the dead, amidst calls by some (apparently including Obama...) for the return of "Reaganomics". This has forced the Bush administration to come up with such drastic measures as ‘stimulus packages’ in the form of tax cuts and transfers and attempts to balance the budget mainly through a clampdown on funding ‘earmarks’, with the FED successively performing the most dramatic cuts in interest rates in more than two decades, while the dollar reaches all time lows against the euro.

In this context, Mitt Romney’s background in economic management may play a role in the outcome of the Republican campaign. After all, he won Michigan – a state which today represents the face of American economic decline – and it could be expected, not just because it's his home state but perhaps also because of it, that ‘if he made it there, he can make it anywhere’, unlike Rudy Giuliani who, through a fatally misguided campaign strategy (by placing all his eggs on the Florida basket), didn’t even manage to give himself the chance to try, let alone make, it at home in New York, or John McCain, whose weight as a war hero rests to be measured against his economic management credentials, which are virtually none.

There is, however, an interesting statement by McCain that seems to say quite a lot about what's to come: "I am not running for the American presidency to be someone but to do something!" Well, surely he is not running to be the "first female president", or the "first black president" of the US of A...

It is against this wider background that the battle Obama vs. Clinton has to be measured up in the most immediate future…

So, let’s wait and see what ‘Suppa Duppa Tuesday’ brings.

[P.S.: YOU CAN READ ABOUT "THE ECONOMICS OF BARACK OBAMA" HERE]

THIS MONTH LAST YEAR - 1

O mes de Janeiro do ano passado neste blog fica marcado como o mes mais ‘produtivo’ nesta minha ainda curta, mas que parece ja’ tao longa, vida de ‘blogger’: 52 ‘posts’!
Um record que se mantem ate’ hoje (e que, sinceramente, nao pretendo bater…), contrastando completamente com o ‘output’ do mes que hoje termina, com apenas 21 ‘posts’, em parte porque “me permiti” ficar sem ‘postar’ durante uma semana, o que nao me lembro de ter feito antes e que pretendo fazer mais vezes daqui para a frente.

Durante aquele mes, apresentei aqui os mais variados temas, incluindo danca e musica tradicional e urbana angolana; poetas e musicos de outras partes do mundo, com destaque para Adelia Prado e Grover Washington Jr.; a perturbadora politica nazi em relacao a ‘musica negra’; as ‘malambas’ do regresso de ‘diasporenses’ a terra mae; as makas do BB UK; o World Social Forum num Kenya ainda longe do actual descalabro; os passamentos de Mesquitela Lima e de Joseph Ki-Zerbo; textos de Mia Couto; apresentacao de livros, com destaque para “O Livro dos Rios” de Luandino Vieira e “Ignorancia” de Milan Kundera; tributos a ‘mulheres de substancia’ como Nina Simone, Wangari Maathai, Ophra Winfrey e Bessie Head; a critica a “formula Wade de combate a pobreza em Africa”; artigos historicos sobre o massacre da Baixa de Kassange; um ensaio sobre a literatura angolana; a catastrofica epoca chuvosa, por entre expulsoes e demolicoes de habitacoes, em Luanda e a preocupante degradacao do Mussulo; nao esquecendo, obviamente (como o poderia?), as inestimaveis contribuicoes de Jose’ Alcada, meu “correspondente oficial” em Angola (reportando do Lwena, Kwanza Sul e Luanda, com passagens por Hollywood, Paris e uma pitada de noz de Kabinda a mistura) que, infelizmente, teve que se ‘reformar’ destas lides bloguisticas… que saudade!

Enfim, foi um mes “cheio”, a varios titulos. Mas, se me perguntarem qual foi a “highlight” do mes, direi sem hesitacao: o encontro com dois dos melhores amigos deste blog desde entao: Sailor Girl (Atlantico e Luanda Azul) e Denudado (A Materia do Tempo)! Duas pessoas que, para mim, continuam a representar o que de melhor a blogosfera tem para oferecer, se tivermos a sorte de o encontrar: a descoberta da amizade, da solidariedade, da partilha, enfim da humanidade no seu sentido mais nobre, mesmo nos momentos mais dificeis, sobretudo nestes, e apesar das diferencas de opiniao que ocasionalmente nos possam separar.

Esses sao, quanto a mim, os valores essenciais que conferem o necessario grau de competencia comunicativa para a valorizacao de um qualquer conceito de “comunidade lusofona”, ou de qualquer outra comunidade linguistica, num mundo cada vez mais globalizado e competitivo. Porque, ao fim e ao cabo, de que serve uma lingua comum se ela por si so’ nao se demonstra capaz de facilitar a comunicacao efectiva e o respeito mutuo entre os seus utentes?
Para eles aqui fica, mais uma vez, aquele abraco!

O mes de Janeiro do ano passado neste blog fica marcado como o mes mais ‘produtivo’ nesta minha ainda curta, mas que parece ja’ tao longa, vida de ‘blogger’: 52 ‘posts’!
Um record que se mantem ate’ hoje (e que, sinceramente, nao pretendo bater…), contrastando completamente com o ‘output’ do mes que hoje termina, com apenas 21 ‘posts’, em parte porque “me permiti” ficar sem ‘postar’ durante uma semana, o que nao me lembro de ter feito antes e que pretendo fazer mais vezes daqui para a frente.

Durante aquele mes, apresentei aqui os mais variados temas, incluindo danca e musica tradicional e urbana angolana; poetas e musicos de outras partes do mundo, com destaque para Adelia Prado e Grover Washington Jr.; a perturbadora politica nazi em relacao a ‘musica negra’; as ‘malambas’ do regresso de ‘diasporenses’ a terra mae; as makas do BB UK; o World Social Forum num Kenya ainda longe do actual descalabro; os passamentos de Mesquitela Lima e de Joseph Ki-Zerbo; textos de Mia Couto; apresentacao de livros, com destaque para “O Livro dos Rios” de Luandino Vieira e “Ignorancia” de Milan Kundera; tributos a ‘mulheres de substancia’ como Nina Simone, Wangari Maathai, Ophra Winfrey e Bessie Head; a critica a “formula Wade de combate a pobreza em Africa”; artigos historicos sobre o massacre da Baixa de Kassange; um ensaio sobre a literatura angolana; a catastrofica epoca chuvosa, por entre expulsoes e demolicoes de habitacoes, em Luanda e a preocupante degradacao do Mussulo; nao esquecendo, obviamente (como o poderia?), as inestimaveis contribuicoes de Jose’ Alcada, meu “correspondente oficial” em Angola (reportando do Lwena, Kwanza Sul e Luanda, com passagens por Hollywood, Paris e uma pitada de noz de Kabinda a mistura) que, infelizmente, teve que se ‘reformar’ destas lides bloguisticas… que saudade!

Enfim, foi um mes “cheio”, a varios titulos. Mas, se me perguntarem qual foi a “highlight” do mes, direi sem hesitacao: o encontro com dois dos melhores amigos deste blog desde entao: Sailor Girl (Atlantico e Luanda Azul) e Denudado (A Materia do Tempo)! Duas pessoas que, para mim, continuam a representar o que de melhor a blogosfera tem para oferecer, se tivermos a sorte de o encontrar: a descoberta da amizade, da solidariedade, da partilha, enfim da humanidade no seu sentido mais nobre, mesmo nos momentos mais dificeis, sobretudo nestes, e apesar das diferencas de opiniao que ocasionalmente nos possam separar.

Esses sao, quanto a mim, os valores essenciais que conferem o necessario grau de competencia comunicativa para a valorizacao de um qualquer conceito de “comunidade lusofona”, ou de qualquer outra comunidade linguistica, num mundo cada vez mais globalizado e competitivo. Porque, ao fim e ao cabo, de que serve uma lingua comum se ela por si so’ nao se demonstra capaz de facilitar a comunicacao efectiva e o respeito mutuo entre os seus utentes?
Para eles aqui fica, mais uma vez, aquele abraco!

ANGOLA: TEMA PARA DEBATE

Acabo de receber de Luanda, por email, o artigo abaixo e a musica de Dog Murras a que ele se refere. Apesar de assinado por Tchize’ dos Santos, filha do Presidente Eduardo dos Santos, parece nao haver certeza absoluta de que ela tera’ sido efectivamente a sua autora – o que tambem nao me e’ possivel, por agora, confirmar, uma vez que nao ha’ nele qualquer indicacao da sua publicacao em orgaos de comunicacao formais.
De qualquer modo, a abordagem que nele se faz do tema, bem como o conteudo da musica a que se refere, merecem certamente reflexao e… debate!
Vamos a isso?

Angola (Dog Murras)

ARTIGO DE TCHIZÉ DOS SANTOS EM RESPOSTA À´MUSICA DO DOG MURRAS

Ouvi recentemente a polémica música do cantor Dog Murras e como jornalista, não pude ficar indiferente à sua letra.

Creio que o Dog Murras canta algumas verdades, mas como figura de referência que é, não devia fomentar a desunião e a frustração que todo o povo angolano vive, no anseio por uma angola reconstruida e totalmente recuperada da guerra, onde todos os nossos filhos possam ir à escola e onde já não teremos as "diarreias" de que ele fala e que todos nós já tivemos. Mas o próprio Dog Murras há de saber que não se constroi um apaís em 5 anos, nem em 10.

Ninguém gosta de ser relembrado que vive num país com difiuldades, estradas esburacadas, paludismo e outros problemas, aos quais estão expostos TODOS os angolanos, RICOS E POBRES. Todos passamos pelos mesmos buracos e todos sofremos no mesmo trânsito no dia-a-dia, Ricos e Pobres. E todos continuamos a amar a nossa Angola, Ricos e Pobres. Temos é que trabalhar UNIDOS por uma angola melhor e por um futuro melhor para os nossos filhos, ricos ou pobres. E para esquecer as "malambas", então juntamo-nos ao fim-de semana e dançamos os Kuduros do momento que geralmente, esperamos que nos entretenham e nos façam esquecer os problemas, ao invês de nos frustrar ainda mais.

É preciso entender que os obstáculos fazem parte do percurso e que os "engraxadores", "bajuladores", os "Kotas Bosses", e outros delinquentes do colarinho branco, existem em todas as sociedades e passam por cima de outros cidadãos, ricos ou pobres. É o dia-a-dia da batalha pelo ganha pão. A discrepância social infelizmente é um mal global que temos que combater, JUNTOS, e não desunidos e odiando-nos uns aos outros e fomentando o ódio, ou criando bodes espiatórios como os emigrantes estrangeiros ou os ricos, que na sua maioria um dia também foram pobres.

O problema é que infelizmente alguns "pseudo-novos-ricos" angolanos esquecem as suas origens e querem passar por cima do seu vizinho que saiu do mesmo bairro e acham que têm direito a tudo na lei da força. Isto é que tem que acabar, pois o dinheiro e o poder não identificam um ser humano. Os seus valores sim o caracterizam, fazendo dele um bom ou mau angolano.

[Continue a ler aqui]

Dog Murras & Os Ricos

Acabo de receber de Luanda, por email, o artigo abaixo e a musica de Dog Murras a que ele se refere. Apesar de assinado por Tchize’ dos Santos, filha do Presidente Eduardo dos Santos, parece nao haver certeza absoluta de que ela tera’ sido efectivamente a sua autora – o que tambem nao me e’ possivel, por agora, confirmar, uma vez que nao ha’ nele qualquer indicacao da sua publicacao em orgaos de comunicacao formais.
De qualquer modo, a abordagem que nele se faz do tema, bem como o conteudo da musica a que se refere, merecem certamente reflexao e… debate!
Vamos a isso?

Angola (Dog Murras)

ARTIGO DE TCHIZÉ DOS SANTOS EM RESPOSTA À´MUSICA DO DOG MURRAS

Ouvi recentemente a polémica música do cantor Dog Murras e como jornalista, não pude ficar indiferente à sua letra.

Creio que o Dog Murras canta algumas verdades, mas como figura de referência que é, não devia fomentar a desunião e a frustração que todo o povo angolano vive, no anseio por uma angola reconstruida e totalmente recuperada da guerra, onde todos os nossos filhos possam ir à escola e onde já não teremos as "diarreias" de que ele fala e que todos nós já tivemos. Mas o próprio Dog Murras há de saber que não se constroi um apaís em 5 anos, nem em 10.

Ninguém gosta de ser relembrado que vive num país com difiuldades, estradas esburacadas, paludismo e outros problemas, aos quais estão expostos TODOS os angolanos, RICOS E POBRES. Todos passamos pelos mesmos buracos e todos sofremos no mesmo trânsito no dia-a-dia, Ricos e Pobres. E todos continuamos a amar a nossa Angola, Ricos e Pobres. Temos é que trabalhar UNIDOS por uma angola melhor e por um futuro melhor para os nossos filhos, ricos ou pobres. E para esquecer as "malambas", então juntamo-nos ao fim-de semana e dançamos os Kuduros do momento que geralmente, esperamos que nos entretenham e nos façam esquecer os problemas, ao invês de nos frustrar ainda mais.

É preciso entender que os obstáculos fazem parte do percurso e que os "engraxadores", "bajuladores", os "Kotas Bosses", e outros delinquentes do colarinho branco, existem em todas as sociedades e passam por cima de outros cidadãos, ricos ou pobres. É o dia-a-dia da batalha pelo ganha pão. A discrepância social infelizmente é um mal global que temos que combater, JUNTOS, e não desunidos e odiando-nos uns aos outros e fomentando o ódio, ou criando bodes espiatórios como os emigrantes estrangeiros ou os ricos, que na sua maioria um dia também foram pobres.

O problema é que infelizmente alguns "pseudo-novos-ricos" angolanos esquecem as suas origens e querem passar por cima do seu vizinho que saiu do mesmo bairro e acham que têm direito a tudo na lei da força. Isto é que tem que acabar, pois o dinheiro e o poder não identificam um ser humano. Os seus valores sim o caracterizam, fazendo dele um bom ou mau angolano.

[Continue a ler aqui]

Dog Murras & Os Ricos

NEW POLL

After a much needed break, I’m back to this (crazy) blogging business, hoping - I’m always hopeful, you see, even if not always trustful,always hopeful :) - to count on your input to shape things to come on this blog.

So, I set up a multiple-choice poll to that effect.

You can find it at the “polling station” down the ‘side bar’.

If your preferences are other than the options offered, please feel free to use the comments’ space in this post to mention them or to make any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Depois de um bem precisado intervalo, estou de volta a este (louco) negocio do ‘blogging’, esperando – como veem, mesmo se nem sempre confiando, tenho sempre esperanca :) – poder contar com a vossa contribuicao para a tematica deste blog nos proximos tempos.

Para esse efeito, elaborei um questionario de escolha multipla que poderao encontrar na ‘side bar’.

Caso as suas preferencias sejam outras que as opcoes oferecidas, podera’ usar o espaco de comentarios desta postagem para as indicar ou para fazer quaisquer outras sugestoes.

Os meus agradecimentos antecipados pela vossa participacao.

P.S.: As perguntas na ‘pollig station’ estao em Ingles, mas para sua conveniencia aqui fica a sua traducao em Portugues:

CONTEUDO

Que temas mais lhe interessam:

1. Politica
2. Economia
3. Historia
4. Cultura
5. Assuntos Correntes
6. Outros

MUSICA

Qual o seu preferido genero musical:

1. Jazz
2. Musica Africana
3. Musica Classica
4. Outros

AREAS

Sobre que areas geograficas gostaria de ler com mais frequencia:

1. Africa
2. Europa
3. Americas
4. Outras

LINGUA

Em que lingua prefere ler:

1. Portugues
2. Ingles

After a much needed break, I’m back to this (crazy) blogging business, hoping - I’m always hopeful, you see, even if not always trustful,always hopeful :) - to count on your input to shape things to come on this blog.

So, I set up a multiple-choice poll to that effect.

You can find it at the “polling station” down the ‘side bar’.

If your preferences are other than the options offered, please feel free to use the comments’ space in this post to mention them or to make any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Depois de um bem precisado intervalo, estou de volta a este (louco) negocio do ‘blogging’, esperando – como veem, mesmo se nem sempre confiando, tenho sempre esperanca :) – poder contar com a vossa contribuicao para a tematica deste blog nos proximos tempos.

Para esse efeito, elaborei um questionario de escolha multipla que poderao encontrar na ‘side bar’.

Caso as suas preferencias sejam outras que as opcoes oferecidas, podera’ usar o espaco de comentarios desta postagem para as indicar ou para fazer quaisquer outras sugestoes.

Os meus agradecimentos antecipados pela vossa participacao.

P.S.: As perguntas na ‘pollig station’ estao em Ingles, mas para sua conveniencia aqui fica a sua traducao em Portugues:

CONTEUDO

Que temas mais lhe interessam:

1. Politica
2. Economia
3. Historia
4. Cultura
5. Assuntos Correntes
6. Outros

MUSICA

Qual o seu preferido genero musical:

1. Jazz
2. Musica Africana
3. Musica Classica
4. Outros

AREAS

Sobre que areas geograficas gostaria de ler com mais frequencia:

1. Africa
2. Europa
3. Americas
4. Outras

LINGUA

Em que lingua prefere ler:

1. Portugues
2. Ingles

LOCAL VOICES OFFLINE (5)

Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…

In a month when, if alive, that icon of many a feminist across the western world, Simone de Beauvoir, would’ve completed a hundred years of age, it seemed to me particularly interesting to follow this series with parliamentary speeches on gender equality and the rights of women.

The two speeches I’ve selected for today feature Clare Short, former MP and member of the Blair Cabinet – from which she notoriously resigned over her opposition to the war in Iraq. She also made some waves recently when criticising Baroness Amos's indication as the UK representative to the Lisbon EU-Africa Summit , having described her as “a pseudo-minister who was sent to Lisbon because she’s black” (which perhaps feeds into that other debate about “feminism across races”…).

Interestingly enough, Short’s statement was depicted in some sectors of the "lusosphere" as “proof of British racism” (not as “proof of Short’s racism”, if at all…) – a reasoning I’m still struggling to work out, particularly when bearing in mind that it came from citizens of a European country which is far from promoting any meaningful representation of their Black population in any instances of power, let alone having a Black woman, as Amos, in government or as the leader of the House of Lords, or anything equivalent. But that’s beside the point of today’s speeches…

In the first, the issue of equal pay for women is almost overshadowed by something the British Parliament is notorious for, namely sobriety or the lack thereof… In the second, an issue at the heart of the ‘media and social representation of women’ debate, namely the infamous ‘page three girls’, i.e. pictures of semi-naked women on the third page of British tabloids (though arguably more palatable than the naked pictures of women displayed in some ‘respectable’ blogs nowadays…). To be sure, this is an issue far from reuniting women’s consensus – as the open defense of her ‘page three girls’ by current editor of the Sun Newspaper, Rebekah Wade, during a parliamentary hearing earlier this week left patently clear…

Alan Clark and Women



ALAN CLARK’s first speech as a Minister was a disaster. As junior Employment Minister he had to present some rather complicated regulations on equal pay for women; but, as he confesses in his diary, he had been to a wine tasting, where he sampled ’61 Palmer, ’75 Palmer, and ’61 Pichon Longueville. By 9:40 p.m. he was “muzzy”. Rising at 10:30, he implied disdain for the brief he was reading (“as I started, the sheer odiousness of the text sank in”). So he speeded up. MPs challenged him to explain what he meant – and then CLARE SHORT, one of several MPs present, said he was drunk. The Deputy Speaker, ERNEST ARMSTRONG, extricated Mr Clark from his predicament, but the business was nearly lost. (20/7/83)

Page Three Girls



The Labour MP CLARE SHORT ran a campaign to make “Page Three Girls” illegal. Many women wrote to support her. But when she moved her ten-minute rule bill – the Indecent Displays (Newspapers) Bill – her gutsy speech was frequently barracked by mocking Tory MPs. The bill was opposed by Robert Adley (“this bill deserves the booby prize”), received a majority in favour, but went no further. (12/3/86)

Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…

In a month when, if alive, that icon of many a feminist across the western world, Simone de Beauvoir, would’ve completed a hundred years of age, it seemed to me particularly interesting to follow this series with parliamentary speeches on gender equality and the rights of women.

The two speeches I’ve selected for today feature Clare Short, former MP and member of the Blair Cabinet – from which she notoriously resigned over her opposition to the war in Iraq. She also made some waves recently when criticising Baroness Amos's indication as the UK representative to the Lisbon EU-Africa Summit , having described her as “a pseudo-minister who was sent to Lisbon because she’s black” (which perhaps feeds into that other debate about “feminism across races”…).

Interestingly enough, Short’s statement was depicted in some sectors of the "lusosphere" as “proof of British racism” (not as “proof of Short’s racism”, if at all…) – a reasoning I’m still struggling to work out, particularly when bearing in mind that it came from citizens of a European country which is far from promoting any meaningful representation of their Black population in any instances of power, let alone having a Black woman, as Amos, in government or as the leader of the House of Lords, or anything equivalent. But that’s beside the point of today’s speeches…

In the first, the issue of equal pay for women is almost overshadowed by something the British Parliament is notorious for, namely sobriety or the lack thereof… In the second, an issue at the heart of the ‘media and social representation of women’ debate, namely the infamous ‘page three girls’, i.e. pictures of semi-naked women on the third page of British tabloids (though arguably more palatable than the naked pictures of women displayed in some ‘respectable’ blogs nowadays…). To be sure, this is an issue far from reuniting women’s consensus – as the open defense of her ‘page three girls’ by current editor of the Sun Newspaper, Rebekah Wade, during a parliamentary hearing earlier this week left patently clear…

Alan Clark and Women



ALAN CLARK’s first speech as a Minister was a disaster. As junior Employment Minister he had to present some rather complicated regulations on equal pay for women; but, as he confesses in his diary, he had been to a wine tasting, where he sampled ’61 Palmer, ’75 Palmer, and ’61 Pichon Longueville. By 9:40 p.m. he was “muzzy”. Rising at 10:30, he implied disdain for the brief he was reading (“as I started, the sheer odiousness of the text sank in”). So he speeded up. MPs challenged him to explain what he meant – and then CLARE SHORT, one of several MPs present, said he was drunk. The Deputy Speaker, ERNEST ARMSTRONG, extricated Mr Clark from his predicament, but the business was nearly lost. (20/7/83)

Page Three Girls



The Labour MP CLARE SHORT ran a campaign to make “Page Three Girls” illegal. Many women wrote to support her. But when she moved her ten-minute rule bill – the Indecent Displays (Newspapers) Bill – her gutsy speech was frequently barracked by mocking Tory MPs. The bill was opposed by Robert Adley (“this bill deserves the booby prize”), received a majority in favour, but went no further. (12/3/86)

GIL SCOTT HERON ON MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

I received this info. from someone in Stockholm and hope it can be useful to someone in New York. It’s about the ‘daring’ Gil Scott Heron – who I’ve once seen perform at the Jazz Café here in London and have “implicitly mentioned” in this post when talking about “this revolution won’t be televised”. He is going to be the centerpiece at one of the main events of this year’s Martin Luther King Day celebrations to take place tomorrow in the US.

Dare to Think! Dare to Speak! Dare to Sing! Dare to Dream!

Enjoy the Day!

I received this info. from someone in Stockholm and hope it can be useful to someone in New York. It’s about the ‘daring’ Gil Scott Heron – who I’ve once seen perform at the Jazz Café here in London and have “implicitly mentioned” in this post when talking about “this revolution won’t be televised”. He is going to be the centerpiece at one of the main events of this year’s Martin Luther King Day celebrations to take place tomorrow in the US.

Dare to Think! Dare to Speak! Dare to Sing! Dare to Dream!

Enjoy the Day!

"SAO PAULO FASHION WEEK GREAT FOR WHITE GIRLS"

That’s how the blog ‘Gridskipper’ echoes a BBC report on alleged racism at that fashion event in Brazil.

According to the report, Helder Dias, the owner of one agency that promotes the work of black models says slavery may have been abolished long ago in Brazil but the shadow is lengthy. "It is like abolition never existed. It is a facade and the history continues. The black models can't get jobs and have no access, don't have a good distribution of money or earnings and live in a sub-world, because there are no job opportunities," he said.

"I think this reflects Brazil's social exclusion," says Paulo Borges, the man behind Sao Paulo Fashion Week. "I think fashion works with a wide range of profiles and a wide range of aesthetic qualities. There are several black models who do shows, and there aren't more because I believe the history of the black race in Brazil is still about having little access."

The report concludes that "there seems little doubt that the major fashion weeks here have brought some distinctive Brazilian flair and excitement to the industry. But it appears those who want to see the public face of fashion here truly reflect the diversity of this society may have to wait some time."

That’s how the blog ‘Gridskipper’ echoes a BBC report on alleged racism at that fashion event in Brazil.

According to the report, Helder Dias, the owner of one agency that promotes the work of black models says slavery may have been abolished long ago in Brazil but the shadow is lengthy. "It is like abolition never existed. It is a facade and the history continues. The black models can't get jobs and have no access, don't have a good distribution of money or earnings and live in a sub-world, because there are no job opportunities," he said.

"I think this reflects Brazil's social exclusion," says Paulo Borges, the man behind Sao Paulo Fashion Week. "I think fashion works with a wide range of profiles and a wide range of aesthetic qualities. There are several black models who do shows, and there aren't more because I believe the history of the black race in Brazil is still about having little access."

The report concludes that "there seems little doubt that the major fashion weeks here have brought some distinctive Brazilian flair and excitement to the industry. But it appears those who want to see the public face of fashion here truly reflect the diversity of this society may have to wait some time."

REPORTING ON KENYA

If you are a blogger who, like me, has been following the continuing crisis in Kenya through what those closer to the events have been reporting both in conventional media and the blogosphere, or if you’re just a regular reader, it would be a good idea to follow the links BRE put together in this great roundup at Jewels in the Jungle and is keeping updated since the beginning of the month.

If you are a blogger who, like me, has been following the continuing crisis in Kenya through what those closer to the events have been reporting both in conventional media and the blogosphere, or if you’re just a regular reader, it would be a good idea to follow the links BRE put together in this great roundup at Jewels in the Jungle and is keeping updated since the beginning of the month.

AN INTRODUCTION TO CAPOEIRA ANGOLA (III)

HISTORY, CULTURE, POLITICS & THE INTERACTION OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN CAPOEIRA ANGOLA

The call to play capoeira comes from the gunga, the deepest of the berimbaus, in the hands of the teacher or mestre of the roda. The first strokes on the steel cord reverberate clear and certain until the rhythm is set, pulling at the muscles and bones of all who play. Patient, relentless, the rhythm is there below the skin, slightly moving the bodies of those who have dedicated the best part of their lives to the game. No one sways, there is no exuberant dance, just the irresistible rhythm which draws them time after time to the foot of the mestre.
(...)

Finally the tone changes. The mestre of the roda sings the first lines of a familiar song, and the entire roda sings back in response. The corridos, songs for the game, signal that the time has come for the testing – this dangerous play of deception, concealment, calm, and happiness. Driven by the rhythm of the music and the energy of the singing, the players slowly begin to probe each other, learn about the movements and mind of the other. They lean onto their hands and move in the roda, holding their weight on their arms. One pivots around on one foot, his other leg outstretched in a rabo d’arraia – the “stingray’s tail” – walking his hands patiently around and swinging his leg purposefully toward his companion. The other player rolls even closer to the ground, accompanying the direction of the kick, the heel passing close, turning over to free his own leg for a counterattack. They weave around each other patiently on the floor.
(...)

Clip from "Let the circle be unbroken" - 2006 (PT/EN)

Perhaps it is also the last, its rhythm always teaching the student able to hear, always revealing new movements, new possibilities. In the music of Capoeira Angola can be heard not only the traces of the game’s movements – spinning, kicking, retreating, attacking – but also the weight and wisdom of all of these years spent in “idleness,” the traditional name for capoeira. The berimbau is calling to this brutal, beautiful dance, this warrior’s game, this long song of playing – smiling – in the face of a ruthless and unmerciful world.

(...)

{Keep Reading Here}

HISTORY, CULTURE, POLITICS & THE INTERACTION OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN CAPOEIRA ANGOLA

The call to play capoeira comes from the gunga, the deepest of the berimbaus, in the hands of the teacher or mestre of the roda. The first strokes on the steel cord reverberate clear and certain until the rhythm is set, pulling at the muscles and bones of all who play. Patient, relentless, the rhythm is there below the skin, slightly moving the bodies of those who have dedicated the best part of their lives to the game. No one sways, there is no exuberant dance, just the irresistible rhythm which draws them time after time to the foot of the mestre.
(...)

Finally the tone changes. The mestre of the roda sings the first lines of a familiar song, and the entire roda sings back in response. The corridos, songs for the game, signal that the time has come for the testing – this dangerous play of deception, concealment, calm, and happiness. Driven by the rhythm of the music and the energy of the singing, the players slowly begin to probe each other, learn about the movements and mind of the other. They lean onto their hands and move in the roda, holding their weight on their arms. One pivots around on one foot, his other leg outstretched in a rabo d’arraia – the “stingray’s tail” – walking his hands patiently around and swinging his leg purposefully toward his companion. The other player rolls even closer to the ground, accompanying the direction of the kick, the heel passing close, turning over to free his own leg for a counterattack. They weave around each other patiently on the floor.
(...)

Clip from "Let the circle be unbroken" - 2006 (PT/EN)

Perhaps it is also the last, its rhythm always teaching the student able to hear, always revealing new movements, new possibilities. In the music of Capoeira Angola can be heard not only the traces of the game’s movements – spinning, kicking, retreating, attacking – but also the weight and wisdom of all of these years spent in “idleness,” the traditional name for capoeira. The berimbau is calling to this brutal, beautiful dance, this warrior’s game, this long song of playing – smiling – in the face of a ruthless and unmerciful world.

(...)

{Keep Reading Here}

SOBRE 'A SUAVE PATRIA' DE INOCENCIA MATA

CRÍTICAS DE LONGE…

Por Augusto Nascimento

Este livro é uma colectânea de crónicas e artigos de opinião sobre o presente em São Tomé e Príncipe, difundidas pela RDP (Rádio Difusão Portuguesa) África, estação emissora escutada no arquipélago. Alguns dos textos são especialmente sugestivos. Uns abordam temas políticos, outros versam questões culturais, matéria à qual a autora dedica muita atenção. Noutros, ainda, valoriza-se a diáspora.

Dos vários tópicos referentes à política, destaquem-se a cultura e as práticas políticas num país insular com o petróleo no horizonte, o papel das elites e, ainda, a abertura do espaço político à participação cívica das populações. A autora põe em evidência os atropelos do Estado às liberdades dos cidadãos, distinguindo, como outros académicos, multipartidarismo de democracia, a qual requer um exercício pleno de uma "cidadania civil" (p. 28). Inocência Mata atribui esses atropelos à cultura política prevalecente que, insinua, não pode deixar de estar enviesada pelo facto de os protagonistas de hoje serem os mesmos de um passado autoritário recente. Ou a outras circunstâncias, como, por exemplo, a prevalência em S. Tomé e Príncipe da "ditadura da familiocracia" (p. 50). Mais relevante, a autora foca as causas do desânimo dos são-tomenses, a saber, o rumo da democracia (ou do multipartidarismo) e a prevalência da corrupção.

(…)

A cultura--ou os traços culturais--é a alavanca a partir da qual Mata pensa
o curso da política no seu país. Mas não se detém na vertente política.
Aborda também as outras facetas culturais, entre elas, as línguas, algumas
das quais destinadas a perecer. Como sucede frequentemente nos autores
situados nos espaços diaspóricos, a autora tende a transmitir uma visão da
cultura da terra de origem como uma plataforma de remissão e um repositório
de autenticidade necessária para a regeneração das práticas políticas.

Assim, algumas ideias romantizadas alternam com cruas constatações. Outras
ideias correm apressadas, dir-se-ia, atrás do propósito da denúncia, umas
vezes, desassombrada, outras, contida. Dessa motivação terão resultado
algumas imprecisões: por exemplo, não foi só depois da inflexão neo-liberal
que o Estado se demitiu da promoção da educação, da cultura e da língua.
Trata-se de uma constatação alinhavada a partir da observação da degradação
das políticas culturais comummente associada à mudança política de inícios
dos anos 90. Porém, em bom rigor, essa degradação já era visível no regime
monopartidário.

Na verdade, dado o apriorismo de que as receitas neo-liberais são
necessariamente adversas aos africanos--qual extensão da dominação de
outrora!, pensa-se--parece fácil censurar essa demissão do Estado e
imputá-la ao rumo neo-liberal dos anos 90. Talvez também (por motivação
afectiva, alvitrar-se-ia, e) por razões ideológicas, a autora não vislumbra
a instrumentalização, primeiro, e a demissão, depois, do papel do Estado
monopartidário na dinamização cultural. De resto, em S. Tomé e Príncipe,
como em toda a parte, o âmbito e as modalidades de intervenção dos Estados
nesse domínio são sempre muito discutíveis.

(…)

Em suma, este livro tem que ser lido como parte do movimento de recriação
cultural próprio das diásporas, neste caso, com acentuado pendor crítico
dada a recente história do país e a forte politização dos projectos sociais
associados à independência. O livro contém análises lúcidas. Contudo,
também por espelharem estados de alma, os textos mostram cedências.
Alvitram-se possibilidades e vias futuras, que a análise fria e
afectivamente desapegada não autoriza a inferir como prováveis, antes pelo
contrário. Fala-se de participação cívica, de criação de um debate, de pacificação
social e política, de mobilização da diáspora. A ver vamos.

[Texto integral aqui]

Copyright (c) 2007 by H-Net, all rights reserved.

CRÍTICAS DE LONGE…

Por Augusto Nascimento

Este livro é uma colectânea de crónicas e artigos de opinião sobre o presente em São Tomé e Príncipe, difundidas pela RDP (Rádio Difusão Portuguesa) África, estação emissora escutada no arquipélago. Alguns dos textos são especialmente sugestivos. Uns abordam temas políticos, outros versam questões culturais, matéria à qual a autora dedica muita atenção. Noutros, ainda, valoriza-se a diáspora.

Dos vários tópicos referentes à política, destaquem-se a cultura e as práticas políticas num país insular com o petróleo no horizonte, o papel das elites e, ainda, a abertura do espaço político à participação cívica das populações. A autora põe em evidência os atropelos do Estado às liberdades dos cidadãos, distinguindo, como outros académicos, multipartidarismo de democracia, a qual requer um exercício pleno de uma "cidadania civil" (p. 28). Inocência Mata atribui esses atropelos à cultura política prevalecente que, insinua, não pode deixar de estar enviesada pelo facto de os protagonistas de hoje serem os mesmos de um passado autoritário recente. Ou a outras circunstâncias, como, por exemplo, a prevalência em S. Tomé e Príncipe da "ditadura da familiocracia" (p. 50). Mais relevante, a autora foca as causas do desânimo dos são-tomenses, a saber, o rumo da democracia (ou do multipartidarismo) e a prevalência da corrupção.

(…)

A cultura--ou os traços culturais--é a alavanca a partir da qual Mata pensa
o curso da política no seu país. Mas não se detém na vertente política.
Aborda também as outras facetas culturais, entre elas, as línguas, algumas
das quais destinadas a perecer. Como sucede frequentemente nos autores
situados nos espaços diaspóricos, a autora tende a transmitir uma visão da
cultura da terra de origem como uma plataforma de remissão e um repositório
de autenticidade necessária para a regeneração das práticas políticas.

Assim, algumas ideias romantizadas alternam com cruas constatações. Outras
ideias correm apressadas, dir-se-ia, atrás do propósito da denúncia, umas
vezes, desassombrada, outras, contida. Dessa motivação terão resultado
algumas imprecisões: por exemplo, não foi só depois da inflexão neo-liberal
que o Estado se demitiu da promoção da educação, da cultura e da língua.
Trata-se de uma constatação alinhavada a partir da observação da degradação
das políticas culturais comummente associada à mudança política de inícios
dos anos 90. Porém, em bom rigor, essa degradação já era visível no regime
monopartidário.

Na verdade, dado o apriorismo de que as receitas neo-liberais são
necessariamente adversas aos africanos--qual extensão da dominação de
outrora!, pensa-se--parece fácil censurar essa demissão do Estado e
imputá-la ao rumo neo-liberal dos anos 90. Talvez também (por motivação
afectiva, alvitrar-se-ia, e) por razões ideológicas, a autora não vislumbra
a instrumentalização, primeiro, e a demissão, depois, do papel do Estado
monopartidário na dinamização cultural. De resto, em S. Tomé e Príncipe,
como em toda a parte, o âmbito e as modalidades de intervenção dos Estados
nesse domínio são sempre muito discutíveis.

(…)

Em suma, este livro tem que ser lido como parte do movimento de recriação
cultural próprio das diásporas, neste caso, com acentuado pendor crítico
dada a recente história do país e a forte politização dos projectos sociais
associados à independência. O livro contém análises lúcidas. Contudo,
também por espelharem estados de alma, os textos mostram cedências.
Alvitram-se possibilidades e vias futuras, que a análise fria e
afectivamente desapegada não autoriza a inferir como prováveis, antes pelo
contrário. Fala-se de participação cívica, de criação de um debate, de pacificação
social e política, de mobilização da diáspora. A ver vamos.

[Texto integral aqui]

Copyright (c) 2007 by H-Net, all rights reserved.

LOCAL VOICES OFFLINE - 4

Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…

Stolen Car

Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…

Stolen Car