I guess it's high time Africans start seriously thinking and discussing about it.
Suggested places to start:
Suggested places to start:
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Thursday, 27 March 2008
COBRANCAS!
{Clique na imagem para a ampliar}Nisto de deitar contas a vida… confesso que as vezes me apetece mandar cartas destas a alguns familiares e amigos… a quem efectivamente ate’ nem devo nada e… bem feitas as contas, muito provavelmente devem-me mais a mim do que eu a eles!
Anyway, tomo esta oportunidade para deixar esta mensagem ‘to whom it may concern’: Aqui.
Anyway, tomo esta oportunidade para deixar esta mensagem ‘to whom it may concern’: Aqui.
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
OUTBLOGGING @ AFRICANPATH (IX)
THE RACE DEBATE IN AMERICA: WHAT LESSONS FOR AFRICA?
The current U.S. Presidential contest was marked, during the first few months, by its African-American protagonist’s repeated (re)assurances to the American electorate that his run was all but about race. And, it has to be recognised, for the most part the said protagonist, Barack Obama, has been hugely successful at it. However, developments in the last few weeks, culminating with his memorable speech “A More Perfect Union”, put the race and identity debate firmly back on the agenda and (re)assured us all, in and outside America, that this presidential campaign is as much about race as it is about gender, or about war and peace, or about economic prosperity or decline. In his own words: “(…) race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. (…) But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.”
The current U.S. Presidential contest was marked, during the first few months, by its African-American protagonist’s repeated (re)assurances to the American electorate that his run was all but about race. And, it has to be recognised, for the most part the said protagonist, Barack Obama, has been hugely successful at it. However, developments in the last few weeks, culminating with his memorable speech “A More Perfect Union”, put the race and identity debate firmly back on the agenda and (re)assured us all, in and outside America, that this presidential campaign is as much about race as it is about gender, or about war and peace, or about economic prosperity or decline. In his own words: “(…) race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. (…) But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.”
A COMMENT WORTH NOTING
Three months after its publication, my article at Atlantic Community, "The EU-Africa Trade Relations and The Future of Africa", finally got its first comment...
Duly noted and may others follow!
Monday, 24 March 2008
THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY
… Over and done with. Watched the movie yesterday on TV, liked it, but it didn’t make me relieve the mystery and excitement of reading the book while living around the places where Mma Ramotswe unveiled the cases that came to her.
Well, Anthony Minghella himself said something to the effect that “a good book always survives its adaptation, however good the latter may be”…
But, by all means, do watch it if it comes your way and make your own judgment. The late film director and the all set of actors surely deserve it.
Well, Anthony Minghella himself said something to the effect that “a good book always survives its adaptation, however good the latter may be”…
But, by all means, do watch it if it comes your way and make your own judgment. The late film director and the all set of actors surely deserve it.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
NAVEGANDO COM OS SABORES...
Neste Domingo de Pascoa, queiram deliciar-se com este diversificado buffet...
Ou, se e' apenas um funge de domingo que vos apetece, queiram servir-se deste prato...
Mas se querem um verdadeiro banquete, entao sigam as receitas de kitutes angolanos apresentadas aqui e agradecam (ou culpem) (a)o Helder de Sousa.
Friday, 21 March 2008
ECOS DA IMPRENSA ANGOLANA (2)
“Pergunto ao vento que passa
notÃcias do meu paÃs
e o vento cala a desgraça
o vento nada me diz.
Mas há sempre uma candeia
dentro da própria desgraça
há sempre alguém que semeia
canções no vento que passa.”
Manuel Alegre
notÃcias do meu paÃs
e o vento cala a desgraça
o vento nada me diz.
Mas há sempre uma candeia
dentro da própria desgraça
há sempre alguém que semeia
canções no vento que passa.”
Manuel Alegre
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in Jornal de Angola, 20/03/08
[Clique na imagem para a ampliar]
OUTRAS REACCOES:
'O Comerciante Desalmado'
Agostinho Neto guiou o seu povo pelo caminho das estrelas. Que outro poeta na História Universal libertou a sua pátria com poemas e fuzis? A grandeza da obra literária de Agostinho Neto foi reconhecida em todo o mundo por académicos, professores, crÃticos literários e confrades.
Artur Queiroz, in Jornal de Angola, 18/03/08 (aqui)
'O Marketing Tem Dessas'
Escrevi e repito, que Agostinho Neto foi um extraordinário Poeta. Volto a dizê-lo. O Poeta da Libertação, o fundador com alguns de nós, da UEA, que dele não diz. Sou portanto, inapelavelmente, um total e irrecuperável ignorante de poesia...
Ndunduma, in Jornal de Angola, 21/03/08 (aqui)
'Em Defesa do José Eduardo Agualusa'
Um tal jornalista de nome Artur Queiroz atacou o Agualusa no Jornal de Angola de uma forma tão grosseira que reduz o que deveria ser um debate serio sobre a nossa herança cultural Angolana á uma briga entre bêbados num botequim. Eu admiro bastante o José Eduardo Agualusa que, sem duvida, deve ser o escritor mais serio da nossa geração; a sua capacidade de trabalho e determinação em sobreviver como escritor é impressionante. Lamento é o facto de ele não ter ido recentemente a nossa cidade natal do Huambo aonde tem havido muitas mudanças.
Sousa Jamba, in Semanario Angolense, 22/03/08 (aqui)
Sousa Jamba, in Semanario Angolense, 22/03/08 (aqui)
'Resposta de Artur Queiroz a Sousa Jamba'
Sousa Jamba quer que eu discuta a herança cultural dos angolanos com quem não tem nada a ver com a cultura ou as culturas de Angola. E Agualusa não tem.
Falta-lhe lastro e memória. Vivência. Estudo. Sentimento. Afinal falta-lhe tudo. É muito grave não é? Os colonialistas usaram sempre a arma da memória para imporem os seus valores e apagarem os nossos. Agualusa aprendeu a lição. Para ele, a Literatura Angolana começou no dia em que foi publicado o seu primeiro livro. Quando muito, o primeiro livro de Sousa Jamba. É uma táctica que os nazis adoptaram e dela abusaram. A Alemanha começou no dia em Hitler subiu ao Poder. O salazarismo fez o mesmo. Angola sem os portugueses nunca existiu.
Falta-lhe lastro e memória. Vivência. Estudo. Sentimento. Afinal falta-lhe tudo. É muito grave não é? Os colonialistas usaram sempre a arma da memória para imporem os seus valores e apagarem os nossos. Agualusa aprendeu a lição. Para ele, a Literatura Angolana começou no dia em que foi publicado o seu primeiro livro. Quando muito, o primeiro livro de Sousa Jamba. É uma táctica que os nazis adoptaram e dela abusaram. A Alemanha começou no dia em Hitler subiu ao Poder. O salazarismo fez o mesmo. Angola sem os portugueses nunca existiu.
Artur Queiroz, ao Semanario Angolense, 22/03/08 (aqui)
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Thursday, 20 March 2008
ON OBAMA'S FAMILY
"So there I was, a couple of weeks back, sitting under a mango tree in western Kenya, when Senator Barack Obama’s half-sister Auma says to me:
'My daughter’s father is British. My mom’s brother is married to a Russian. I have a brother in China engaged to a Chinese woman.'
My understanding is that this half brother living in China is Mark. He’s the son of Obama’s father and an American woman named Ruth, whom Obama Sr. met while at Harvard in the 1960s and brought back to Kenya.
That was after his marriage with Obama’s mother in Hawaii ended. Another son from the union with Ruth, called David, was killed in a motorcycle accident. In all, Obama Sr. fathered eight children by four women.
I’ve been thinking about this because not enough has been written about Obama’s family. As Auma suggested, it’s unusual in the extent of its continent-crossing, religion-melding, color-fusing richness. But the Benetton-ad family is less unusual than it may seem. This is the age of globalized, far-flung families. Remittances make the world go round.
More needs to be written because if Obama gets the Democratic nomination, you know the Republican attack machine, through innuendo and otherwise, will go after his identity, just as it went after Senator John Kerry’s in 2004."
{Keep reading here}
PHILIP JONES GRIFFITHS (R.I.P.)
[Photo of Philip Jones Griffiths by John Giannini]In a week when the world marked the 40th anniversary of the My Lai massacre, the most prominent photojournalist of the Vietnam War, Philip Jones Griffiths, passed away today.
In a statement the current president of Magnum Photos, of which Griffiths was a distinguished member, said: "Philip enriched all our lives with his courage, his empathy, his passion, his wit and his wisdom; and for many he gave to photojournalism its moral soul."
In a statement the current president of Magnum Photos, of which Griffiths was a distinguished member, said: "Philip enriched all our lives with his courage, his empathy, his passion, his wit and his wisdom; and for many he gave to photojournalism its moral soul."
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
THE WAR ON IRAQ 5 YEARS ON
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:13:44 -0400
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Five years later
Dear Ana,
Five years ago today, President George W. Bush launched a war that should never have been authorized based on faulty premises and bad intelligence.
This war has now lasted longer than World War I, World War II, or the Civil War.
Nearly four thousand Americans have given their lives. Thousands more have been wounded. Even under the best-case scenarios, this war will cost American taxpayers well over a trillion dollars.
And where are we for all of this sacrifice?
We are less safe and less able to shape events abroad. We are divided at home, and our alliances around the world have been strained. The threats of a new century have roiled the waters of peace and stability, and yet America remains anchored in Iraq.
I am running for President because it's time to turn the page on a failed ideology and a fundamentally flawed political strategy, so that we can make pragmatic judgments to keep our country safe.
That's what I did when I stood up and opposed this war from the start and said that we needed to finish the fight against al Qaeda. And that's what I'll do as President of the United States.
Please take a few minutes to read my strategy for ending the war in Iraq and making America safer.
Senator Clinton says that she and Senator McCain have passed a "Commander-in-Chief test" -- not because of the judgments they've made, but because of the years they've spent in Washington.
She made a similar argument when she said her vote for war was based on her experience at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
But here is the stark reality: there is a security gap in this country -- a gap between the rhetoric of those who claim to be tough on national security, and the reality of growing insecurity caused by their decisions.
It is time to have a debate with Senator McCain about the future of our national security. And the way to win that debate and keep America safe is to offer a clear contrast -- a clean break from the failed policies and politics of the past.
Nowhere is that break more badly needed than in Iraq.
The judgment that matters most on Iraq -- and on any decision to deploy military force -- is the judgment made first.
If you believe we are fighting the right war, then the problems we face are purely tactical in nature. That is what Senator McCain wants to discuss -- tactics. What he and the Administration have failed to present is an overarching strategy: how the war in Iraq enhances our long-term security, or will in the future.
That's why this Administration cannot answer the simple question posed by Senator John Warner in hearings last year: Are we safer because of this war? And that is why Senator McCain can argue -- as he did last year -- that we couldn't leave Iraq because violence was up, and then argue this year that we can't leave Iraq because violence is down.
When you have no overarching strategy, there is no clear definition of success.
Success comes to be defined as the ability to maintain a flawed policy indefinitely. Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.
When I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal on Day One: I will end this war. Not because politics compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the burden -- as heavy as it is. But because it is the right thing to do for our national security, and it will ultimately make us safer.
Here are the core elements of my strategy to address our critical national security challenges in the 21st century:
• End the war in Iraq, removing our troops at a pace of 1 to 2 combat brigades per month;
• Finally finish the fight against the Taliban, root out al Qaeda and invest in the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, while making aid to the Pakistani government conditional;
• Act aggressively to stop nuclear proliferation and to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world;
• Double our foreign assistance to cut extreme poverty in half;
• Invest in a clean energy future to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil and to lead the world against the threat of global climate change;
• Rebuild our military capability by increasing the number of soldiers, marines, and special forces troops, and insist on adequate training and time off between deployments;
• Renew American diplomacy by talking to our adversaries as well as our friends; increasing the size of the Foreign Service and the Peace Corps; and creating an America's Voice Corps.
Please take a minute to show your support for this plan:
http://my.barackobama.com/fiveyearslater
We are at a defining moment in our history.
This must be the election when America comes together behind a common purpose on behalf of our security and our values.
That is what we do as Americans. It's how we founded a republic based on freedom, and faced down fascism. It's how we defended democracy through a Cold War, and shined a light of hope bright enough to be seen in the darkest corners of the world.
When America leads with principle and pragmatism, hope can triumph over fear. It is time, once again, for America to lead.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
To: "Ana Santana"
From: "Barack Obama"
Subject: Five years later
Dear Ana,
Five years ago today, President George W. Bush launched a war that should never have been authorized based on faulty premises and bad intelligence.
This war has now lasted longer than World War I, World War II, or the Civil War.
Nearly four thousand Americans have given their lives. Thousands more have been wounded. Even under the best-case scenarios, this war will cost American taxpayers well over a trillion dollars.
And where are we for all of this sacrifice?
We are less safe and less able to shape events abroad. We are divided at home, and our alliances around the world have been strained. The threats of a new century have roiled the waters of peace and stability, and yet America remains anchored in Iraq.
I am running for President because it's time to turn the page on a failed ideology and a fundamentally flawed political strategy, so that we can make pragmatic judgments to keep our country safe.
That's what I did when I stood up and opposed this war from the start and said that we needed to finish the fight against al Qaeda. And that's what I'll do as President of the United States.
Please take a few minutes to read my strategy for ending the war in Iraq and making America safer.
Senator Clinton says that she and Senator McCain have passed a "Commander-in-Chief test" -- not because of the judgments they've made, but because of the years they've spent in Washington.
She made a similar argument when she said her vote for war was based on her experience at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
But here is the stark reality: there is a security gap in this country -- a gap between the rhetoric of those who claim to be tough on national security, and the reality of growing insecurity caused by their decisions.
It is time to have a debate with Senator McCain about the future of our national security. And the way to win that debate and keep America safe is to offer a clear contrast -- a clean break from the failed policies and politics of the past.
Nowhere is that break more badly needed than in Iraq.
The judgment that matters most on Iraq -- and on any decision to deploy military force -- is the judgment made first.
If you believe we are fighting the right war, then the problems we face are purely tactical in nature. That is what Senator McCain wants to discuss -- tactics. What he and the Administration have failed to present is an overarching strategy: how the war in Iraq enhances our long-term security, or will in the future.
That's why this Administration cannot answer the simple question posed by Senator John Warner in hearings last year: Are we safer because of this war? And that is why Senator McCain can argue -- as he did last year -- that we couldn't leave Iraq because violence was up, and then argue this year that we can't leave Iraq because violence is down.
When you have no overarching strategy, there is no clear definition of success.
Success comes to be defined as the ability to maintain a flawed policy indefinitely. Here is the truth: fighting a war without end will not force the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. And fighting in a war without end will not make the American people safer.
When I am Commander-in-Chief, I will set a new goal on Day One: I will end this war. Not because politics compels it. Not because our troops cannot bear the burden -- as heavy as it is. But because it is the right thing to do for our national security, and it will ultimately make us safer.
Here are the core elements of my strategy to address our critical national security challenges in the 21st century:
• End the war in Iraq, removing our troops at a pace of 1 to 2 combat brigades per month;
• Finally finish the fight against the Taliban, root out al Qaeda and invest in the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, while making aid to the Pakistani government conditional;
• Act aggressively to stop nuclear proliferation and to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world;
• Double our foreign assistance to cut extreme poverty in half;
• Invest in a clean energy future to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil and to lead the world against the threat of global climate change;
• Rebuild our military capability by increasing the number of soldiers, marines, and special forces troops, and insist on adequate training and time off between deployments;
• Renew American diplomacy by talking to our adversaries as well as our friends; increasing the size of the Foreign Service and the Peace Corps; and creating an America's Voice Corps.
Please take a minute to show your support for this plan:
http://my.barackobama.com/fiveyearslater
We are at a defining moment in our history.
This must be the election when America comes together behind a common purpose on behalf of our security and our values.
That is what we do as Americans. It's how we founded a republic based on freedom, and faced down fascism. It's how we defended democracy through a Cold War, and shined a light of hope bright enough to be seen in the darkest corners of the world.
When America leads with principle and pragmatism, hope can triumph over fear. It is time, once again, for America to lead.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
ANTHONY MINGHELLA (R.I.P.)
A mere couple of days ago, I reported here how I was gobsmacked by finding out all about "The Nr 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency" being put on screen by Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella. That included seeing him that day on TV, in an interview recorded while he was still filming in Botswana, defending his movie and Alexander McCall Smith's book and explaining why in his view it should not be considered "patronising".
Today, the first news I got was that he died, aged only 54, in the aftermath of a surgical procedure he underwent a few days ago.
Just like that.
Now his film about Mma Ramotswe will go down in history as his last oeuvre. And I suspect I will always think of it as spooky.
Monday, 17 March 2008
Sunday, 16 March 2008
LOCAL VOICES OFFLINE (10)
Things someone, somewhere in the world, was talking about but you probably weren’t listening…
Cuba: Celulares
Obs:There were news this week that the sale of a number of electronic devices has finally been officially authorised in Cuba, but I'm not sure if cellphones are included...
MMA RAMOTSWE ON SCREEN!
It came as a shock to get to know about it all at once yesterday: not only that there was the idea for a movie based on The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, but also that the movie is already done, ready and out, and that it is directed by Anthony Minghella, and… that it stars Jill Scott! But there is more: the film is already getting a hard time from critics calling it “patronising”… And all this I got to know only yesterday!
My, where have I been in the last few months? Well, not in Botswana, that’s for sure.
Anyway, of course I can only reserve any personal opinion on the movie for after I’ve seen it (it will be on BBC on March 24). What I cannot avoid to point out now are these two things: this exchange where I expressed my view on the book, and this comment where I mention how much Jill Scott’s “Beautifully Human” and, specially,
“Golden”, marked my wonderings on the roads of Botswana… Now, how did it happen that it's exactly Jill Scott that ends up playing Mma Ramotswe, that beautifully human woman? I’m really gobsmacked!
Ah, before I forget: just found out that Mma Ramotswe also has a blog!
Related Posts:
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Anthony Minghella (R.I.P.)
Saturday, 15 March 2008
TIBET
Two days ago, I stayed up late into the night watching an episode of a new BBC documentary series, “A Year In Tibet” , whose advert, featuring an excerpt from the song “Ordinary People” by John Legend, I had been seeing in the last few days.
According to its producers, “the documentary follows a calendar year inside the secret confines of a Tibetan monastery and charts the lives of those living in Gyanste, the small town which surrounds it and surrounding villages. The series examines the reality of life today for Tibetans living under Chinese rule. The filming crew has gained unparalleled access to one of the most isolated and spiritual parts of the world and their cameras were the first ever allowed to follow members of the community, offering the Western audience a rare insight into their lives, religion, servitude and family.”
Yesterday, as I started following reports of the protests in Lhasa and other locations in Tibet and India, all I could think of was whether the people – the woman and her three husbands who, after being refused a state student loan, partly thanks to the year’s bumper crop of barley still managed to make their son the first person from Gyanste to be sent to a University in “China proper”; the young 11-year old student monk who, during his home holiday, finally learns to drive his father’s tractor, having crashed it on his first go; the mother who could only smile at her daughter’s uncontrollable crying all the way to her new husband parent’s home for a wedding she was not supposed to know anything about beforehand; the monks who had a special day out to indulge in gambling, a little beer and bathing in the river - all those ordinary people, part of whose lives I had followed in the previous day, could have been involved in the protests, or victimised by the brutal repression that ensued.
Is any of them in these pictures?
Could any of them be among the now dead?
Is any of them dreaming about this year’s Olympic Games?
Is any of them praying for next year’s crop?
Yesterday, as I started following reports of the protests in Lhasa and other locations in Tibet and India, all I could think of was whether the people – the woman and her three husbands who, after being refused a state student loan, partly thanks to the year’s bumper crop of barley still managed to make their son the first person from Gyanste to be sent to a University in “China proper”; the young 11-year old student monk who, during his home holiday, finally learns to drive his father’s tractor, having crashed it on his first go; the mother who could only smile at her daughter’s uncontrollable crying all the way to her new husband parent’s home for a wedding she was not supposed to know anything about beforehand; the monks who had a special day out to indulge in gambling, a little beer and bathing in the river - all those ordinary people, part of whose lives I had followed in the previous day, could have been involved in the protests, or victimised by the brutal repression that ensued. 
Is any of them in these pictures?
Could any of them be among the now dead?
Is any of them dreaming about this year’s Olympic Games?
Is any of them praying for next year’s crop?
Is any of them in these pictures? Could any of them be among the now dead? Is any of them dreaming about this year’s Olympic Games? Is any of them praying for next year’s crop?
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