Nkrumah's, "Challenge of the Congo" an instructive read for the Black Diaspora

"Since CHALLENGE OF THE CONGO was first published in 1967, conflict between progressive and reactionary forces in Africa has sharpened. A point has now been reached where armed struggle is the only way through which African revolutionaries can achieve their objectives. Recent events in Africa have exposed the fallacy of trying to banish imperialism, neocolonialism and settler regimes from our continent by peaceful means. The aggression of the enemies of the African masses continues, and has become more ruthless and insidious. The evidence is all around us."

Kwame Nkrumah -- "Challenge of the Congo" (Conakry, 1 June 1969)

Due in large part to Sis. Affiong's insistence here, I'm finally reading Kwame Nkrumah's, "Challenge of the Congo." It took a little while to locate, but I got it right after I got back from home (which is why I haven't finished that post yet, Amenta!).

But it's a slow read for me because, while the overwhelming depravity and machinations of these self-described, supposedly "civilized" white folk is not surprising, it does tend to conjure up an inordinate amount of anger and yes -- pain, so I have to keep putting it down.  I came across the documentary, "The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba" last night and decided to watch it during one of those reading breaks. Difficult to watch (for a myriad of reasons), but I'm glad I did.  I'm sure it'll help me better focus on what I'm still reading.

Embedding is disabled by request so I can't post it here, but please, if you have 45 minutes, do go to YouTube and watch it. The hubris, barbarity and detachment, with which these murderers discuss Lumumba's death, coupled with their perceived, God-given right to control the world -- is sickening. However, it's also extremely illustrative of the days in which we currently live, where the "usual suspects" are continuing to do what they've always done.

More Nkrumah:

"We must combine strategy and tactics, and establish political and military machinery for the prosecution of the African revolutionary war.  It is only in this way that the aspirations of the African masses can be achieved, and an All-African Union Government be established in a totally free and united Africa."

Family, if we are to culturally survive as a people (some of us are already too far gone), we have GOT to wake the hell up and stop our complicity in this madness and concentrate -- on us! As Nkrumah said, "The evidence is all around us."

Related:
- NEW REVELATIONS POINTS TO THE HAND OF THE bRITS IN THE MURDER OF PATRICE LUMUMBA
- Kimani Gray
- No Country for young, Black men...
- Ramarley Graham
- Sean Bell
- The NYPD Declares Martial Law in Brooklyn

Ruminations -- from the ridiculous to the sublime

First, a bit of the ridiculous (there was plenty more, just not enough space!):

I'd intended to post the entire, C-Span video of Hillary finally testifying on Benghazi (four months after she was supposed to), but after watching it myself, I thought it best to neither inundate, nor insult you with that pack of pat-myself-on-the-back, regime-changing, crocodile tear-filled, imperialist lies.  If you've got a couple hours to waste however, just go to the link.

Her mysteriously unwitnessed, after-the-fact reported, yet timely fainting from dehydration -- right before she was due to testify -- remains suspect in my estimation. Sure, since many of us "old gray mares" ain't what we used to be (present company included!) -- it could have happened.  I simply don't believe it did. Too convenient.

After the Changeling shoved Susan Rice under the bus into the spotlight, with that bullshit, "anti-Muslim video" causing the attack on the consulate in "Benghazi" story (Benghazi in quotes here because there was certainly nothing ambassadorial going on there, particularly since the embassy is in Tripoli), they realized they'd wholly underestimated the nitwit Republicans and had to do an, I'm sure, Bill-Hill-Changeling scramble for a better cover story of this administration's colossal screw-up in which those four people died -- particularly since, On the day of his death, US ambassador to Libya warned that he was in danger:

Hours before US Ambassador Christopher Stevens died in a terrorist attack in Libya, he sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a cable warning that local militias were threatening to take away security officers guarding the US diplomats. (emphasis mine)

You can read the cable, embedded as "the memo," in this piece on the very telling testimony of the "Four Goats Stooges" (three of whom, were put on administrative leave, but are still on the State Dept. payroll and the fourth, basically shifting to another desk):  Benghazi attack testimony claims state department ignored warnings.

This particular exchange just chapped my ass:

With all due respect the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because there was a protest or was it because there were guys who went out for a walk one night who decided they would kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?! (emphasis hers)

With absolutely NO respect intended Hill -- the difference it makes, is that YOU, and pretty much, the rest of the Changeling's administration are bald-faced LIARS in the service of neocolonialism -- and rather callously, inept ones at that!  But we already know, none of you mind having other people's blood on your hands.  Real "Change We Can Believe In." {smdh}

~#~

Gen. Stanley McChrystal: Afghans Are Like Teenagers, We Have 'Emotional Responsibility' to Continue Occupation -- McChrystal: 'I would certainly like to see American businesses in Afghanistan'

"Like a teenager, you really don’t want your parents hanging around you, but ... you like to know if things go bad, they’re going to help," he said.

"We have an emotional responsibility" to leave US occupying forces in Afghanistan, he told AP... As for drones, their real problem, he told Reuters on Monday, is not civilian casualties but one of perceptions.

"What scares me about drone strikes is how they are perceived around the world," he said.

They foster a "perception of American arrogance that says, 'Well we can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.'"

Really??  Can somebody tell him, the Afghan people are neither his, nor America's damned children! They are a people whose history has endured way longer than this nascent, upstart nation has even been in existence! And rather than all the murders visited upon the people by BeelzObama's drone strikes -- all he's concerned about, is how arrogantly America is perceived in the world?  Too late for that Stanley. And this is what he'll be teaching your privileged little darlings at Yale. {smmfh} Again, real "Change We Can Believe In."

This fool, is the poster-child for Rudyard Kipling's, "White Man's Burden" -- a snippet of which, was quoted in the comments section of the McChrystal piece (you can read it in its entirety at the link, because I'm not posting it here.  Hell, we already get more than enough of this foolishness from the living imperialists with whom we have to deal on the regular!).

There were many replies to Kipling's, written White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy from both Black and white folk, but the commenter's snippet sent me looking for Virgin Island-born, Black Nationalist, Hubert Harrison's, phenomenally poetic reply -- and I found it:


THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN (A REPLY TO RUDYARD KIPLING)
Hubert Harrison - from “When Africa Awakes” (New York, 1920)

Take up the Black Man’s burden--

Send forth the worst ye breed,

And bind our sons in shackles

To serve your selfish greed;

To wait in heavy harness

Be-devilled and beguiled

Until the Fates remove you

From a world you have defiled.


Take up the black Man’s burden---

Your lies may still abide

To veil the threat of terror

And check our racial pride;

Your cannon, church and courthouse

May still our sons constrain

To seek the white man’s profit

And work the white man’s gain.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Reach out and hog the earth,

And leave your workers hungry

In the country of their birth;

Then, when your goal is nearest,

The end for which you fought

Watch other’s trained efficiency

Bring all your hope to naught.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Reduce their chiefs and kings

To toil of serf and sweeper

The lot of common things:

Sodden their soil with slaughter,

Ravish their lands with lead;

Go, sign them with your living

And seal them with your dead.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

And reap your old reward;

The curse of those ye cozen,

The hate of those ye barred

From your Canadian cities

And your Australian ports;

And when they ask for meat and drink

Go, girdle them with forts.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Ye cannot stoop to less.

Will not your fraud of "freedom"

Still cloak your greediness?

But, by the gods ye worship,

And by the deeds ye do,

These silent, sullen peoples

Shall weigh your gods and you.


Take up the Black Man’s burden---

Until the tale is told,

Until the balances of hate

Bear down the beam of gold.

And while ye wait remember

The justice, though delayed

Will hold you as her debtor

Till the Black Man’s debt is paid.


Today's Black mis-leadership class, top to bottom, pales in comparison to men like this!

~##~

And now, a little bit of "19 year-old" sublime:



Nineteen years-old -- 19!!  Led by the courage of her convictions, she, unlike most of our old asses, has not swallowed her tongue on this country's warmongering!

~#~

This story from Your Black World, about another 19 year-old with the courage of her convictions makes my heart full:  19-Yr Old American Gives Serena Williams Her First Loss in Months. Now don't get it twisted -- it in no way surprises me. Rather, it's just another example (and more confirmation) of that, which I already know we are capable!

Stephens said that she looked up to Williams and went straight to her phone to check for a text message from her grandmother.

...Stephens said that she had a picture of Williams up on her wall when she was a little girl. She was in tears after her big performance.

“This is so crazy. Oh my goodness,” she said. “I think I’ll put a poster of myself (up) now.”

Williams mentioned that she was having back problems, but didn’t consider that to be her excuse for not winning.

“Everyone at this stage in the locker room has something wrong with them. It’s no excuse,” she said. (emphasis mine)

Two young, extremely talented Black women squared off and, IMHO, they both "won" -- one with a healthy dose of respect and confidence, and the other -- with grace.

Related:
- Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 (Google Books has a great excerpt!)
-US Regime Change: “We initiate Terrorism to create Terrorists to Overthrow Governments”

From Côte d'Ivoire, to Libya, to Mali -- the FUKUS "War on Terror" in Africa, nothing but neocolonialism run amok

As the "usual suspects" (France, the UK and the US) continue their neocolonial incursions into Africa for land, resources and veritable world domination -- the string-pullers prepare for the master distraction of the Puppet-in-Chief's second coronation.

And, as has been the case for his first four years, no "Black Agenda" will be realized anywhere in the world during the next four, if we can't come together and at least --

1. Stop dreamily training our eyes and minds on the Changeling; 
2. Realize our combined "strength-in-numbers" across the diaspora and in Africa;
3. Stop living the definition of insanity (doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results) and, 
4. Begin to understand and recognize the patterns of imperialism which, today, manifest themselves as neocolonialism.

The following video from GlobalResearchTV is a start.  Here in the intro, some of the patterns from the assaults on both, Côte d'Ivoire and Libya are readily apparent:

Henningsen: Mali War Retaliation: World Police Protecting Corporate Interests in Africa

35 foreign hostages held captive at a gas field in Algeria have reportedly been killed in the operation to free them. 15 of the captors are also thought to have died, some people are apparently still being held. The local media suggests Algerian forces attacked a convoy of kidnappers and captives from the air.

Militants first attacked the complex on Wednesday, killing at least two of the staff and seizing dozens. The hostage-takers were demanding an end to the French-led combat action against insurgents in neighboring Mali. And there, the operation has intensified.

French troops are now on the ground in support of a heavy air campaign against Al-Qaeda-linked groups. The army has also received logistical support from its NATO allies, while the EU is preparing to send hundreds of military personnel to train the Malian army. (emphasis mine).

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

from, "Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence"

Delivered April 4 1967

Given what is now transpiring in Algeria and Mali, it's quite obvious that Dr. King, among other true, leaders dedicated to our self-determination, had long ago been prescient about these exact outcomes.  The revolutionary, African leader of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, even more so.

Nkrumah's spirit looms large in the person of Sister Affiong L. Affiong, co-founder of the Pan-African Women's Network Moyo wa Taifa and Executive Director of the Moyo Solidarity Centre based in the UK and Ghana.  I first heard this sister speak on this Sons of Malcolm post.  There, as in the video below, she not only fervently address the patterns of imperialism and neocolonialism, she vociferously calls for the identical solutions to combat them, as articulated by Nkrumah, Lumumba, Malcom and Garvey -- Pan-Africanism.  Do listen carefully, as the sound is not the best:



Dr. John Henrik Clark instructs here that:

"...the Black Race did not come to the United States culturally empty-handed...During the period in West African history -- from the early part of the fourteenth century to the time of the Moorish invasion in 1591, the City of Timbuktu, with the University of Sankore in the Songhay Empire, was the intellectual center of Africa."

The neocolonialist-backed insurgents in Mali have all but erased the great historical ruins of the "The El Dorado of Africa" with the help of imperialism -- I have to wonder if it was by design.

Instead of reading the daily diet of MSM propaganda on Mali, please check out the links below (from bottom-to-top) for a clearer picture of the ongoing recolonization of The Continent.

UPDATE:  Family, this primer (from my favorite source of non-MSM, unbiased information, "The Roving Eye," Pepe Escobar) is instructive of the depths to which FUKUS has gone, and will continue to go, to remain true -- to that aptly coined acronym, in Africa.  A bit long, but well worth the read.

Related:
- Mauritanian Consensus Against French Intervention in Mali
-'THE WAR IS IN MALI, THE TARGET IS ALGERIA' - ABDEL BARI ATWAN
-The Geopolitical Reordering of Africa: US Covert Support to Al Qaeda in Northern Mali, France “Comes to the Rescue”
- Tomgram: Nick Turse, America's Shadow Wars in Africa
- Namibian Government Blames NATO for Mali Unrest
- The Son of Africa claims a continent’s crown jewels

Neo-colonialism still wreaking havoc in Africa -- as the world watches

"It is exceedingly important that we have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been systematically oppressed."

"Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes"
Abraham Lincoln
August 14, 1862

That particular "exceedingly important" goal of white supremacy remains in effect -- all over the world. No matter where one turns, the M.O. is sickeningly apparent, as in the recent Marikana Massacres in South Africa.

**(WARNING - GRAPHIC)**




Were you shocked?  Disgusted?  I hope so.  Indeed, like many of the "Blacks in Blue" here (Danziger Bridge, Sean Bell, these fine specimens in Philly to name but a few), these men have cast their lot with white supremacy, mowing down and beating up folk who look like them, with no apparent conscience, nor morality.  I'm sure they're paid way better than their "systematically oppressed" brothers and sisters; probably have better homes, and even cars; perhaps they even enjoy a few beers with their white counterparts, celebrating that whole, "I'm accepted-but-have-no-real-power," status thing (more on that shortly).

Guess they skipped right over the, "For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present comfort" part, in the beginning of this guilt-tripping sentence in Lincoln's above-referenced address, and headed straight to the, "...for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people" part at the end.

Two articles at Black Agenda Report this week certainly bear that out. The first, "Economic and Social Crisis in Post Apartheid South Africa" by William Bowles, is a must-read that provides an excellent rundown of South Africa's neocolonialism from Mandela to Zuma:

The African National Congress (ANC) won a resounding victory in South Africa's first democratic election in 1994 with a host of promises that it would improve the lives of the Black majority (85% of the population). And whilst there have been gains in some areas, overall, most Black South Africans are materially worse off now than they were under Apartheid.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs have vanished; costs for the basics: electricity, water, food and rents have skyrocketed. Ironically, no longer the pariah of the world, South Africa's white minority is even better off now than it was under Apartheid (remember the 'Rainbow Nation'?). The only Blacks to have gained have been a tiny minority, many from the ranks of the (former) liberation movement and the trade unions as well as the South African Communist Party (SACP).

So what went wrong? Did anything go wrong? Has the ANC and its partners in the Tripartite Alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the SACP betrayed their roots and sold out Black South Africa? Indeed, sold out the rest of Africa?" (emphasis mine)

The second, Mark P. Fancher's passionately succinct, "The People's Rage,"  leaves no doubt about who continues to have, "the real power" in South Africa; not only economically and socially -- but militarily:

The massacre in Marikana, South Africa was not a run-of-the-mill wildcat strike that was met by undisciplined police officers. It was instead an event that left no doubts that while imperialism may be willing to allow Africans to sit in government offices, it will not tolerate any disruption in the flow of profits from the exploitation of highly valuable natural resources. Platinum in particular is indispensable in the manufacture of catalytic converters and other motor vehicle parts, and South Africa has more than 80 percent of the world’s platinum group metal reserves.

Even in 1965, Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana’s first president) understood why South Africa was a focal point of mining activities. He said: “A 1957 U.S. government survey of American overseas investments shows the single most profitable area was in the mining and smelting business of South Africa, whose profits are higher than from any comparable investment in the United States. The high profits can be explained largely by the cheapness of African labor.”

Nkrumah went on to explain that South African mineworkers earned 27 times less than their U.S. counterparts. More than half a century later, South Africa’s miners are still paid extremely low wages for dangerous, difficult work. One worker reported that he receives about $500 a month. (emphasis mine)

Fancher goes on to make this very crucial observation, one that reverberates all across the Continent:

This violent response should not have come as a surprise. An essential element of every neo-colonial state is an armed force with express or implied standing orders to put down rebellions. Often there are armies that play this role. In the case of the Marikana tragedy, those carrying out the massacre may have been branded as “police,” but they functioned as a military unit. They were heavily armed and ready to kill.

It should also come as no surprise that an overlap in South Africa’s police and army missions means that the U.S. military is lurking in the shadows. In an article published by the South African Institute of International Affairs, writer Thomas Wheeler reported: “U.S. defense attaches have on-going interaction with the [South African] military and police to define ways in which the U.S. can assist them.

One concrete example of this “assistance” was last year’s “Exercise Shared Accord.” The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) website explained that this joint exercise between 700 U.S. Marines and about twice that number of soldiers in the South African National Defense Force was an opportunity for the soldiers to, among other things: “…engage in live-fire exercises…”

All of this raises logical questions about who South African forces are training to kill. The answers are found in the historical record. It shows that in general, African soldiers are used in conflicts with other Africans, both in their own countries and elsewhere on the African continent. The tragedy of this was not missed by Nkrumah who suggested: “…the ordinary soldier who is after all only a worker or peasant in uniform, is acting against the interests of his own class. (emphasis mine)

On another, indirectly related post over at AfroSpear, I commented, "I am so disturbed and hurt by the massacre of miners at Marikana in S. Africa! WTH?? Apartheid didn’t go anywhere, it just seemed to have melted into the ANC. {smdh}" To which Bro. Amenta replied, "Deb, when we really see and know who controls ALL of these countries; It will be clear who is the true enemy and who is not. A U.S. company owns the mine. The government agents (policemen) work at the behest of the company. Peace"

His comment, along with the two above pieces, sent me looking for some names, so I went straight to Lonmin's site and clicked on its "Investors" tab where, not surprisingly, I found the "usual suspects."  Turns out the company is owned by the UK, but yes, the U.S. is right there with them, as both "investors" and "advisers."  As for names --  JP Morgan, Bank of New York Mellon and Citigroup Global Markets.  Glance at the "About Us" and "Our Business" tabs while you're there, the information on each is particularly laughable, especially given the video above.

Finally, adding insult to injury, we have this:

On Thursday, 270 miners were charged in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court with the murder of 34 of their comrades, who were shot and killed by police at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in the North West. A further, 78 injured by the same force, have realised a charge of attempted murder for all accused. The legal vehicle used to charge the accused in the Marikana massacre case is called 'common purpose'; it was masterminded by the architects of Apartheid and used during the darkest times to send MK cadres to the gallows. (emphasis Daily Maverick)

This is just imperial madness run amok (and please, don't say, "But they're all Black!"-- it'll tell me you've not really read, nor understood a word I've written).

Briefly, from the Daily Maverick piece:

“The state began to fall back on the common purpose doctrine, which originated in English law and was introduced into South African law via the ominously named ‘Native Territories Penal Code’. At the time the courts interpreted this doctrine to apply to all members of a crowd who had ‘actively associated’ with criminal conduct committed by one member of the crowd – even if those charged were not involved at all in the commissioning of the crime,” writes De Vos. (emphasis mine)

For a concise explanation of the 'common purpose' doctrine, please, do read the first related article below by De Vos, a South African Constitutional Law professor (don't worry, he seems very unlike the one selected president of this country).

On Asabanga's latest post, "270 South African miners charged with murder of their 34 collegues killed by the police, " Bro. Amenta left this comment:

"When I read how the law was from Apartheid era, it actually made me recall how so similar the laws are here!  http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/13704992-418/man-charged-with-murder-after-police-shoot-accomplice.html"

Given the 'common purpose' doctrine originated in the same place as the doctrine of white supremacy brought here by the English, I'm neither surprised by the similarity, nor am I surprised at the inequity with which it is enforced there, or here -- if you're Black.

Remember last year when James Anderson was beaten up by a group of white, Mississippi darlings and then run over by Deryl Dedmond with his pick-up truck?  And it was all caught on a hotel surveillance camera?  There were seven of them.  As of March of this year, three were charged and pled guilty to murder and hate crimes and are serving life sentences; one was charged with simple assault, pled not guilty and is free on a $5,000 bond because he left the scene before Anderson was killed; I could find no criminal charges filed against the other three -- two of whom, were females (James Anderson's family has filed a civil lawsuit against all seven of them).

And the world just keeps on watching...

**UPDATE!!!** 9/2/12 - South African miners to be freed after prosecutors drop murder charges

Related:
- Abuse, Inc: The 'miners made us do it' murder charge
- Marikana Is the Latest Chapter In a Long Saga

- Mnikelo Ndabankulu speaks at Marikana memorial service (video) -- (h/t to Asa @ AfroSpear)
- The murder fields of Marikana. The cold murder fields of Marikana.

♬ The wheels on the white supremacy bus go round and round...all through the world ♬ (Part 2)

(Edited & Updated below)
On his Racism in France post, Asabanga commented, “Black/African people all over the world face a struggle for dignity.”  He's absolutely right and it's no secret, that those who are clearly a part of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (definition at the 4:27 click) play a continuous role in the indignities visited upon us.  It is, after all, right out there for all who truly give a damn to see.

And for nearly a month now, I've been waiting to see just who truly gives a damn about the Black/African people struggling for their dignity in Israel. As it turns out, there aren't many--particularly in the Western mainstream media. This from RT News:



Having watched a glut of coverage about the "People of the Sand" from various places in the Middle East, during various phases of imperialist maneuverings by the "usual suspects" (Syria now being the target du jour), I said to myself:

"Self, now you would think, with all this Hitlerism being perpetrated against Africans in Israel, the Fourth Estate would be doing a better job of covering this!  I mean really now.  They're all, already right there, right?  I mean, far as I can see, there's no shortage of stories being churned out by major "news" outlets about all the carnage the Syrian government's been perpetrating.  Israel's been doing the exact same thing--and crickets?!" (smdh)

I don't know why I even asked myself a question whose answer is so obvious.  Both Israel and the Western, mainstream media are a part of that same white supremacy, neither of whom, see Blacks/Africans--as people.  And with media control here, resting squarely in the lap of American Jews, I suspect most of the country will hear little, if anything about Israel's wanton cruelty.

But, young sister, Yvette Carnell, writing at both KultureKritic and Your Black World, has been loudly and faithfully sounding the alarm about yet another, Black holocaust, this one, perpetrated by the European, "Never Again" survivors of similarly abhorrent treatment by the Nazis.  Here's a small sampling:

5/25 - Israeli Mob Attacks Black Immigrants, Netanyahu Vows to Send Blacks 'Home':  Mobs in Tel-Aviv, Israel have taken to the streets to demand that African immigrants be sent home. More than 1,000 angry Israeli citizens took to the streets of the poor and mostly black neighborhood of Hatikva to demand that the African immigrants be made to leave. White nationalist organizations also reportedly ransacked the neighborhood. The protesters claimed that blacks are responsible for an increase in crime rates. (emphasis mine)

Sound familiar?

5/28 - Israeli Parliament Member Apologizes For Calling African Migrants a "Cancer" to Society:  Regev was accused of inflaming the mob, many of whom went out and attacked African migrants, reportedly pulling them off bicycles and beating them, and pelting them with rocks.

In her apology to Israeli news outlets, Regev apologized to holocaust survivors and cancer patients, but not to the African immigrants she called a cancer.

“When I compared the migrant worker phenomenon to cancer I was referring to the way the phenomenon had spread, and not anything else. If anyone took it otherwise and was consequently offended, I apologize and I surely did not intend to hurt either Holocaust survivors or cancer patients,” she said.

...Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to put a fence around the African migrants and then begin the process of sending them to their home countries. (emphasis mine)

A fence?  Like they're cattle?  I gotta say--no "visions of sugarplums danced in my head" on that one!  Felt more like shades of the renamed,  Kunta Kinte Island in The Gambia (formerly James Island); Japanese internment camps in America; GITMO; Krome Detention Center in Miami--and extraordinary rendition jumping around up there!

(Political cartoon courtesy of leonkuhn.org.uk)

6/04 - Israel to Jail African Migrants for up to three years: Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party...“The infiltrators along with the Palestinians will quickly bring us to the end of the Zionist dream,” Yishai said. “We do not need to import more problems from Africa.

Aryeh Eldad, another conservative leader asked, says that Israeli troops should shoot any Africans who breached its borders. (emphasis mine)

My, My, My!  Leon Kuhn really hit the nail on the head with this cartoon didn't he?  For sure, as long as Zionism keeps hacking away at the olive-branched hand; there will never be peace in the Middle East.

6/10 - Israel Begins Deportation of African Migrant Workers: Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the round-up will continue until Israel is migrant-free. The government has also increased penalties for Israeli business owners who employ illegal immigrants, up from a two year sentence to up to five years in jail. (emphasis mine)

Round-up?  They really think they're cattle, don't they?  ::rolls eyes in disgust::  Would interpreting "migrant-free" as "extermination through expulsion" be a bit much?

~#~

While "giving a damn," is without a doubt, important--equally important, is to critically examine what one sees, hears, and are told to think.  To wit, the Changeling's March 4, 2012, "when the chips are down, I have Israel's back" AIPAC speech.

Kindly bear with me as I try, with the help of Dr. John Henrik Clarke, to address some of the bullshit the Changeling put out there for AIPAC's amusement (and cash of course).

During the speech, Israel's latest, U.S. government shabbos goy said:

Shimon was born a world away from here, in a shtetl in what was then Poland, a few years after the end of the first world war. But his heart was always in Israel, the historic homeland of the Jewish people. And when he was just a boy he made his journey across land and sea - toward home. (emphasis mine)

Now I'm pretty sure Israel's been having the doubly, distinct pleasure, of using the hell out of this guy (What?  Why doubly?  Well, 1:  He is the figurehead of their most generous client-state, and 2:  He's a society-identified Black man, born of an African father.  Given the topic herein, I suspect jerking his chain is quite entertaining for them)  but, when it comes to historical fact--I'd trust the wisdom and research of the late, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, before I'd listen to anything the Changeling had to say (part of that, "critically examine what one sees, hears, and is told to think" thing).

Dr. Clarke's work, with all of its easily documented truths, affords us an opportunity of a lifetime, to learn the truth about our place in this world (the one everybody keeps trying to convince us we never had).  Alongside that, there's the collateral, and wonderfully useful benefit--of being able to set the record straight whenever other people lie.  Regarding the Changeling's "historic homeland" assertion, I think it'd  be best, in this instance, for Dr. Clarke to do just that, in his own words:



Okay, despite the fact that there is historical (not folkloric or mythological) evidence, that the word Jew is a European invention, pasted on a religion that existed wa-a-ay before they came up with the word--means nothing. Now that I think about it though, historical evidence has never meant much when it comes to adherents of white supremacy. They just appropriate, revise, spew; appropriate, revise, spew--until they've taken over the narratives of everyone else's lives, while running from their own.

Moving on...



Please hang in there through the glitches in the video, it's worth it. I guess if you're "white," or acting like you are (see first related article below), it just sticks in your craw--FOREVER--when you know your entrance "into human history" was predicated on the benevolence of Black folk, whom you thought you were better than, but you later found out, were head-and-shoulders above anything you brought to the table and who, because you showed neither respect nor gratitude for either their humanity or generosity, told you to get the hell out of their country.

Dr. Clarke from the 6:57 - 7:34 click: "Sometime ago, someone was arguing about who, is our friend...and I said that, "I would not be surprised, if the day would come, when I would see the Jews and the Arabs in the same political bed against the African people." (emphasis his)

When you think about Libya, you have to admit he was pretty prescient, no?

From the 8:06 - 9:06 click:  "Competent historians, do the same thing, to prove their cases as competent lawyers--they cite a precedent. They point where it has already happened.  There has already been, a relationship between Africans, and Jews, and Arabs--in Spain, for 800 years, when the African was the military arm, that held Spain in the Mediterranean.  And when they lost the power,  the Arabs and the Jews came together, turned on the Africans, and began to enslave them. The Jews went to Holland, and found the Dutch East India and the Dutch West India Company and subsequently, helped to find (sic) South Africa." (emphasis his)

(A brief aside: Dr. Clarke's mention of the East India Company, reminds me of how "media ignoring the truth" is taught here. During my one-year stint in DC at a journalism grad school, our "Ethics" class was divided into groups, with each assigned a philosopher about whom, a presentation was to be made later on in the semester.  The group assigned John Stuart Mill, gave a blatantly disingenuous presentation, dealing mostly with his, "On Liberty"--but they totally left out his more than 30-year career in the slave trade with Britain's, East India Trading Company.  During the Q & A after, I asked them about their omission (which to my mind, negated all the " on liberty" talk). To a person, they all said they knew about it, but thought it best to leave that part out!  I immediately blurted out, "And you find that to be ethical?"  Nothin' but "crickets," even from the teacher.)

Stay with me, he's not done:



Dr. Clarke, from the 2:54 - 3:34 click: "But the European, tries to dominate, everything he is a part of.  And nothing came from the European mind, that did not have, as its intention, the facilitation, of the European domination of the world. This is the essential mission of every European, whether he is a Capitalist, or Communist, or, Christian, or Holy-Roller."(emphasis his)

All we need do, is look around--wherever we are--to see that what he says is so. Europeans, in collusion with those others who are a part of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (based on bell's definition), have been on that "essential mission" since time immemorial.

From the 7:52  - 9:03 click:  "But they drew the idea of a state, from mythology.  Because, they never had a state, that wasn't stolen property.  The "homeland" of the European Jew is Europe! Now they can go back into folklore and mythology, and tell you about a god named, "Yahweh," who told them to get thee to Palestine and get their homeland.  But who told, you, that God was ever in the Real Estate business?  And who told, the God, that Palestine was unoccupied?  Always "occupying" something that's already, occupied, and throwing out, somebody else." (emphasis his)

That last sentence, is the main reason those now, near-defunct, "Occupy" movements didn't sit well with me (too much bad history attached to that word).

Moving on...



Dr. Clarke, from the 00:29 - 1:50 click:  "Look at, Palestine, geographically.  It's a door that swings, three ways:  It's at the back door of Europe, the side door of western Asia, and the front door of Africa.  Strategically, it is well-located.  It never, absolutely never, belonged to any, European people.  And this is another thing that might, shock some of our Moslem friends, in all honesty, in early history, it never, it wasn't (sic) belong to the any Arabs either.  It was an African country.  The Arabs didn't get there in any appreciable number til about 1600 AD.  I'm not saying they shouldn't live there, but as a matter of historical fact, it's not the original home of the Arabs either.  But people don't even ask questions about the Arabs."

From the 6:57 - 7:06 click:  "My main point is that Zionism, and the spread of colonialism, walk side-by-side. (emphasis his)

And anyone with eyes to see, has to know that walk continues to this day--in Israel.

So, believe the Changeling's "historic homeland" foolishness if you need to, or, you can get some of those books Dr. Clarke referenced in the videos and learn about the rich legacy of African people all over the world, and be able to set people who lie--straight; as James Baldwin said, "...know whence you came."

Back to that speech:

In his life, he has fought for Israel’s independence, and he has fought for peace and security...But beyond these extraordinary achievements, he has also been a powerful moral voice that reminds us that right makes might - not the other way around.

Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, “slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity, and freedom.” And he has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings. I am grateful for his life’s work and his moral example.

Say what?!  Is he talking about the same Shimon and Jewish people that this "Report for the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) - submitted January 30, 2012" is talking about??:



I can't begin to express, how painfully enraged I am by all the white supremacist hypocrisy in this video--so much so, that I won't do my usual blow-by-blow this time.  There just isn't enough space.  I know it's a little long, but please do watch the whole thing (even if you have to break it up).  I'm sure after you do, your blow-by-blow list will absolutely rival mine.

But, there is one thing I just have to say.  Given the report date and the period it covered, it's evident that, up to and even during the time that the Changeling stood before AIPAC, jiggin' for Jewish dollars--"Bibi" and his Zionist, colonialists-cum-neocolonialists henchmen, had been acting like run-of-the-mill, neo-Nazis toward Africans, in what they call "their" country.

Pardon me if "moral, Jewish people" seems like an oxymoron, given their behavior toward Africans and Palestinians over all these years.  And the fact, that the Changeling "is grateful" for Shimon's "life's work" and "moral example" speaks volumes--or it should.

He goes on to say:

This isn’t just about numbers on a balance sheet. As a senator, I spoke to Israeli troops on the Lebanese border. I visited with families who’ve known the terror of rocket fire in Sderot. And that’s why, as president, I have provided critical funding to deploy the Iron Dome system that has intercepted rockets that might have hit homes and hospitals and schools in that town and in others. Now our assistance is expanding Israel’s defensive capabilities, so that more Israelis can live free from the fear of rockets and ballistic missiles. Because no family, no citizen, should live in fear. (emphasis mine)

Unless they're African of course.

And just as we’ve been there with our security assistance, we’ve been there through our diplomacy. When the Goldstone report unfairly singled out Israel for criticism, we challenged it. When Israel was isolated in the aftermath of the flotilla incident, we supported them. When the Durban conference was commemorated, we boycotted it, and we will always reject the notion that Zionism is racism. (emphasis mine)

Speak for yourself, Man.  I'll let Dr. Clarke speak for me with the following:

From the 1:05 - 5:38 click/Part 2: "They have never, been our friends when we needed them.  And the concept of a historical alliance, between African people and people called Jews is a lie and a myth, and a misconception.  They overplayed every event in history when they came in contact with us.  Anytime it was to their benefit, they have walked away from us.  We are one, of the most politically naive people in history, we have never made a good alliance with anybody.  Everybody that has come among us, have shown, that they would betray us, anytime it was to their benefit.  There is no exception, right or left.  That's true of every religion, it's true of every politics.  And it's true of every, single, ethnic group.  Now you wanna play a whole lot of, ethnic-partner games; I think you should make alliance with other ethnic groups--but watch the alliance.  You should be partners, but when people break the alliance, you should be in a position to punish them.  And don't depend too much, on the alliance..."I'm tryin' to show you where we related to the humanity of all people, but all people have not related to our humanity." (emphasis his)

Israel's ongoing and unfettered abuse of Africans and Palestinians, along with those three emphasized incidents in that last excerpt from the Changeling's speech above (Goldstone, the attack on the flotilla and Durban)--all keep me singing: ♬ The wheels on the white supremacy bus go round and round...all through the world. ♬

And they will continue, unless and until, we take Dr. Clarke's intellectually astute advice and shed our political naiveté; coalesce with each other worldwide; make only mutually beneficial alliances (reserving the right to punish--in one way, or another--those who break them) and say our own...

(Took this  photo on Juffureh, during my first trip to The Gambia)

...and this time--mean it!

UPDATE:  Russell Simmons calls for truce with ADL's Foxman

I just read this piece on JewishJournal.com and when I was done, Dr. Clarke's, "We have illusions about people" statement at the 6:56 click in Part 2 of his videos immediately came to mind. Russell Simmons has, without a doubt, some serious illusions.

Simmons, a co-founder with Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, said that he was proud to have worked to strengthen the relationship between the African-American and Jewish communities. He said his comments at the conference were undermining the work he has done on behalf of the Jewish community to build synagogues and promote tolerance.

“Rabbi Marc Schneier and I had a remarkable week in Israel where we met and convened with some of the most important religious leaders in the country, including the Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Grand Mufti of the Palestinian people,” Simmons wrote. “We had difficult conversations that have not happened before, and we are determined to break through barriers that have been in existence for decades.”

Now if this isn't an excellent example of some of that political naiveté to which Dr. Clarke referred, I don't know what is.  Not only has he stepped in to "strengthen" this mythological alliance building synagogues with his "dolla', dolla' bills y'all" (they're not crazy, they know just who to target), they've got him apologizing for saying something that was almost true (I say almost, because I don't see any "leaders" in the Black community)!  You're just another shabbos goy, Russell.

And while Simmons boasts about his "remarkable week," meeting and convening with the Chief Rabbi and Grand Mufti--I wonder, did he stop to meet-and-greet any of those Black-like-him Africans being attacked, rounded up like cattle and deported?  Oh, and note to Russell:  Those barriers?  They've existed for way more than decades--use some of that cash you've got to buy a damned clue. (smdh)



Related:
-Israel Interior Minister:  Israel Belongs to the White Man"
-Author rattles Jewish leaders
-Controversial Charles Barron endorsement may be Ed Towns’s revenge
-Author of ‘The Color Purple’ Won’t Authorize Hebrew Version Because Israel is “Guilty of Apartheid”
-Reflections on a Bestial Culture (IV): Ordinary Horrors, Everyday MurdersReflections on a Bestial Culture (IV): Ordinary Horrors, Everyday Murders
-Israel's Shabbos Goy

♬ The wheels on the white supremacy bus go round and round...all through the world ♬ (Part 1)

There's no doubt that white supremacy's roots can be traced back to the old colonialism of European empires--intent on controlling the world.  Spreading like those wandering Jews that will take over your garden if you let them (pun intended), white supremacy morphed into its latest neocolonialist iteration after adding the fruit of the same poisonous tree--the United States.

In exacting detail, Kwame Nkrumah described how the old became "neo" in his 1965 book,  Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism.   In his chapter on The Mechanics of Neo-colonialism, his definition of neocolonialism was as prescient then, as it is truthful now:

Faced with the militant peoples of the ex-colonial territories in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, imperialism simply switches tactics. Without a qualm it dispenses with its flags, and even with certain of its more hated expatriate officials. This means, so it claims, that it is ‘giving’ independence to its former subjects, to be followed by ‘aid’ for their development. Under cover of such phrases, however, it devises innumerable ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. It is this sum total of these modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while at the same time talking about ‘freedom’, which has come to be known as neo-colonialism. (emphasis his)

"Accomplishing objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism" remains white supremacy's obvious MO and there's much in the succinct wisdom of our ancestors that bears that out.  For example:  I'm willing to bet that if you are Black, born and raised here in these alleged United States and are at least 45 years old--you've heard someone in your family say, "Every good-bye ain’t gone, and every shut eye ain’t sleep!”  For me, it was my grandmother and my father's grandmother; then later, my mother and her siblings.

That piece of passed-down, spiritual wisdom meant--at least on the surface--that though someone had died, it didn’t mean they weren't still present, guiding you through life’s ups and downs.  However, just like those old Negro spirituals, pregnant with so many coded meanings for enslaved Africans (particularly in the Deep South)--that's hardly all it means.

In his 1977 essay, "Every good-bye ain’t gone" (scroll to pages 64 - 74 at the link), James Baldwin addresses a couple of its other meanings.  The first, speaks to those  physical and spiritual comings and goings through which new and profound revelations emerge, as in his eloquent and truthful explanations about why he said, "Goodbye" to America for France in the first place--and why he didn't stay "gone."  One of my favorite take-aways:

"I had not conceived then, that I had only to study the hieroglyphic of my circumstances if I wished to decipher my inheritance."

While I watched the video below from Asabanga's, "Racism in France" post, a second, at once sinister and promising meaning, pounded so loudly in my head that I jumped--as if my Gra'mama was standing right behind me, saying over my shoulder, "Hunnah ain' no'??  Evry good-bye ain’ gone, and evry shut eye ain’ sleep!"  And as I sat on the edge of my seat transfixed, it was clear how her nugget of wisdom applied to what I was seeing.

In this case, I saw the first part of the wisdom as sinister, because, as we saw with the riots in England last summer, the French colonialists-cum-neocolonialists in the video, continue to flex their same-shit-different-day, privileged, white supremacy ("Every good-bye ain't gone!").  They just refuse to let go of that whole "Divine Right" thing, no matter where they are (even if it means propping up a face that looks like ours to maintain it!)--and we continue to let them.

But, the second part of the wisdom is so very promising in that, playing out right before my eyes, was an extremely exciting, non-empty-suit-wearin,' no big "Race-Speech"-givin' exception--in the person of one, Ali Soumare′.  This Socialist candidate of West African parents who, unlike the Changeling, is walking his talk for the marginalized--unashamed and, uninhibited by political expediency ("Every shut eye ain't sleep!").

Baldwin gets this other meaning beautifully!  On page 72 of his piece, he described exactly what I was seeing:

I have been in and out of my country, in and out of various cauldrons, for a very long time, long enough to see the doctrine of white supremacy return, like a plague, to the continent which spawned it.  This is not a bitter statement, it comes, to tell the truth, out of love, for I am thinking of the children.  I watch here, for example -- French and Algerian  children trying to become friends with each other, reacting to, but not yet understanding, the terrors of their parents, and very far indeed from having any notion of the terrors of the state.  They have no way of knowing that the state is menaced and shaken to the degree, precisely, that they, themselves, the presumed victims, or at least, the wards of the state, make manifest their identity -- which is not what it might be, either for better or for worse, if they were still in Algeria.  They cannot possibly know that they, ex-slave and ex-master, cannot be used as their fathers were used -- that all identities, in short, are in question, are about to be made new. (emphasis mine)

Keeping Mr. Baldwin's words in mind, please watch the video.  And as you do, 1) compare the experiences of those in the French "suburbs," with those of us "Others" living here in America, and 2) contrast, if you can, the behavior of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (WSCP) here and abroad:



On page 74, Baldwin again, in no uncertain terms, states the "every goodbye ain't gone" meme:

So, I could talk about the European panic, which takes so monotonous a form:  but what is happening in Europe, now, to blacks, and to other unprecedented niggers, has been happening for a very long time.

And 35 years later--it still is.

Somebody please tell me, when are we going to realize that doing the same things only gets us the same results?!  Soumare′ seems to realize it, hopefully he can hold onto it.

~#~

I'd intended to offer my own blow-by-blow observations of the video, but the post would never end!  So I'll just pull out a few gems:

- Mayor of Villiers-le-Bel (1:27click): "It is the second night of violence in Villiers-le-Bel. This violence is unacceptable. The anger can be understood, but what has happened can’t be understood."



Or in this case, a French gendarme or two, running two teenagers over with their vehicle as is expounded upon in the video by lawyer, Houcine Bardi (3:01 - 3:47 click):

“How did the situation develop?  Two young people on a motorcycle, aged 13 and 15, refused to stop when the police asked them to do so. The police gave chase and ran them down.  These two young men were killed. Why?  Because they disobeyed the police signal.  So it was out of spite.” (emphasis mine)

Not only does Monsieur Vaillan not understand the anger, he has no clue why what happened, happened!  Baldwin clears it up on page 68 of the essay though:

The power of the social definition is that it becomes, fatally, one's own...Rage and misery can be a source of comfort, simply because one has lived with misery and rage of so long.  But to accept this rage and misery as a source of comfort is to enter one of the vicious circles of hell.  One does not, after all, forgive the world for this horror, nor can one forgive oneself.  Because one cannot forgive oneself, one can not forgive others, or, even, really, see others--one is always striking out at the wrong person, for only some other, poor, doomed innocent, obviously, is likely to be in striking range.  One's self-esteem begins to shrivel, one's hope for the future begins to crack.  In reacting against what the world calls you, you endlessly validate its judgment.

 As War, India Arie  and the only TV judge I've ever given the time of day, Judge Lynn Toler have all articulated, "The world is a ghetto" (French "suburbs" included), one constructed by the powers-that-be.  Per Toler:  "Black is who you are, what you were and what you have survived.  Ghetto is a state of being, something thrust upon you, something that happens to you."

No shit.

- Thibault Bacca (2:07 - 3:04 click) identifies the main reason the "ghetto world" doesn't stand a damned chance--the Fourth Estate.  Still controlling the global narrative, it defines what is right and what is wrong; what is worthy of coverage and what is not; constantly spinning and manipulating the masses, depending on which way they, the Estate, lean--rather than just giving them the straight out facts and letting them decide for themselves (such is patriarchy).

Soumare′ cosigns Bacca's observation, and, most importantly, he refuses to sugarcoat French society's responsibility for their socio-economic shortcomings (unlike our, "a rising tide lifts all boats," "take off your bedroom shoes and put on your marchin' shoes," first, Black president--who bailed out the damned banks, while Black, wanted-to-be homeowners, suffocated under the weight of the crooked deals struck by those he saved).

-Narrator (4:47 click):  "At the time of the 2007 riots, Ali Soumare′ was asked, by the victims' families, to act as their spokesman.  That experience, led him to start a revolution of his own--to run as a candidate for the Socialist Party in the French regional elections of 2010." (emphasis mine)  Well now!  That's head-and-shoulders above, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," no?

-Dominique Lefbvre, Cergy mayor (5:20 click):  "Ali has fought for socialism for a long time.  He joined the party in 2002 in Val D'oise and has been a part of the team in charge of Villiers-le-Bel since 2005...He knows these suburbs and the poorer areas because he grew up there.  He is the right candidate to establish dialogue and good relations with the people there." (emphasis mine) What a concept, right?!

-Lawyer, Houcine Bardi on ghettos (6:06 - 6:46 click):  "They are a product of history.  The French authorities and the political environment played a large role in establishing them."  Does anybody else besides me hear Judge Toler's words reverberating?

-Ali Soumare′ (7:33 click):  Marginalising these suburbs starts at the early stages of planning and construction...For example, this suburb is very close to Charles de Gaulle airport.  Not more than 8km away.  According to statistics, not more than 15% of the people working in the airport are from our suburb."  Can't the same be said for our airports, and those who live near them?

-Blonde, Miss Ann to Soumare′ (8:28 -  8:39 click):  "Let's make it a campaign of all people from all places and origin.  This is very important.  Jobs for all, France welcomes everyone, doesn't it?"
Soumare′:  "Yes, sure."  (Priceless!)

Just had to set that "delicate, white rose" apart from the rest. But please, do watch his body language throughout this little, quasi-tête-à-tête--wherein she dictates to him, not only what is good for France, but what France IS (as if he doesn't know).  Just more, inherently-fearful-cuz-I-know, same-shit-different-day, privileged, white supremacy bullshit.  Come on now, how many times have you heard that, "for all," and "welcomes everyone" shit when it looks like a Black man/person particularly--if they have the stones--jes' might get into a position to have some real say (read power) over how their beat goes on? I tell you, fear of being replaced by (or of reprisal from?) the "savages" is somethin' else, ain't it?

I know, I know--I said I wasn't gonna do this but, just a couple more, m'kay?

-Lawyer, Houcine Bardi speaking some racial truths that nobody in the WSCP dare own (14:40 - 15:09 click):  "His skin colour had a lot to do with the smear campaigns.  A black person or an Arab, particularly a black, is the 'other'.  He doesn't have the right to be part of such contests and to assume a position he is not allowed to have in the first place.  Meaning his color is his flaw.

-Ali Soumare′ (15:36 click):  "Media coverage was exceptional.  It was a circus.  There were news agencies from all over the world.  Particularly those who never showed up when invited to our cultural events.  But when i comes to this type of rioting, they re always around...News agencies were in a difficult situation and were often unwelcome.  In a crisis you can't welcome a media that stigmatises the suburbs. "  Imagine that!

There's so much more in the video upon which I  could  comment,  but as I said--the post would never end!  But please, don't get it twisted, I'm hardly blind to the alabaster skin of those who politically "support" Soumare′ (Hell, the Cergy mayor who spoke in such flowery terms about him--shares the same name as the UMP spokesman who, for all intents and purposes, called him a damned liar from the 14:08 - 14: 37 click! ).

What is important to me though, is his ability to form mutually beneficial alliances (unlike those we've previously formed, see Part 2 of this post)--from which, those he asked to trust him, can clearly see some demonstrable changes.  Hey!  I don't think that's too much to expect!

I want to end with my old buddy, Jimmy; he's always been a more than comfortable garment into which I could slip whenever I felt like I'm the one who's crazy:

"I suspect, though I certainly cannot prove it, that every life moves full circle--toward revelation:  You begin to see, and even rejoice to see,what you always saw.  You can even tell anguish to sit down, and shut up, you're busy right now--and anguish, as you should certainly know by now, ain't to go nowhere.  It might go around the corner, on a particularly bright day, and there are those days:  but anguish has your number, knows, to paraphrase the song, where you live.  It's a difficult relationship, but mysteriously indispensable. It teaches you. (emphasis mine)

Mr. James Baldwin

Be taught, family...

Ugandan blogger's eloquent response to "Invisible Children Kony 2012"

"When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land.  They said, 'Let us pray.'  We closed our eyes.  When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land."

Jomo Kenyatta

Now I've never been to Uganda, and I won't sit here and tell you that I know any more about it than those Americans who have.  But I have been to Africa - a few times.  And based solely on what little I have learned, the absolute prescience of Jomo Kenyatta's quote (often attributed to Bishop Desmond TuTu), still holds true! - particularly in light of the "Invisible Children Kony 2012" video that has gone viral (I refuse to directly link to it, but you can watch it via the Alternet link in the next paragraph).

Why would I think that?  Because I personally know someone, whose parents sent her to the late, Jerry Falwell's,  Liberty University (home of alleged "Christian" aims) - and Bruce Wilson's, "Invisible Children Kony 2012" Leader Suggests It's About Jesus and Evangelizing" clearly bears the little I do know out.

"Earlier in the discussion, Jason Russell had stated his goal of "ending genocide" and capturing Joseph Kony, but that goal seemed framed within the larger project of evangelizing the nations."

Refreshing though, is Ugandan blogger, Rosebell Kagumire's response to the "Kony 2012" video (to which I will link here).  Please, try to listen with an open, non-missionary-influenced, uncolonized mind (I know it's hard, but I know you can do it!):



This beautiful, young sister knows way more about her country than I do, but more importantly - she also seems to know plenty enough about ours.  As I said in my previous post:  "We've got so much work to do family - in alliance with, or without, any-damned-body else!"



The US power grab in Africa By Pepe Escobar

Interesting update I:  "White House congratulates Kony video makers"

Interesting update IIa: 'Kony 2012' filmmaker detained in San Diego

Interesting update IIb:  Jason Russell THE NAKED MELTDOWN Caught on Tape (I suggest you watch this one on TMZ, cuz the one on Youtube carries a viewer discretion warning - and it should!)

Thoughtful update I:  The White Savior Industrial Complex

Ridiculous update I:  Kony 2012: Part II Released With Much Less Fanfare

This young woman just continues to blow me away!

Abagond's recent post about James W. Loewen inspired my posting this wonderful lecture.  Enjoy, but most of all - listen, carefully:

A "Homegoing" - Part 5a: Neocolonialism and Juffureh

I'd initially included "neo-colonialism" in the title for this piece but, with all the current examples of European and American, wink-and-a-nod R2P policies (encompassing regime change, to include out and out murder - and bragging about it {smdh}); the continued land-grabbing in Africa; and The shadow war in Syria (all which have transpired since Part 4!), I figured belaboring that point would've been moot.

So instead, I thought I'd do a Part 5(a), sharing some more "being there" and then, closing with my trip to Juffureh.  And then - because this post is already wa-a-ay long (Yeah, you might want to read it in shifts or something.  If nothing else, do, at least watch the slide show at the end!), I'll do a retrospective of The Center in Part 5(b).

Again, my apologies for leaving you hanging.  But as I said before, "Life just keeps happening!"

~#~

Leaving the LAICO

I made a beeline to the shower after my day at the rice farm and got ready for dinner.  Since Gerald had called, saying they'd be picking me up at check-out time the next day, I figured I'd pack my stuff, and spend the evening saying my goodbyes to those who'd made my introduction to The Gambia such a meaningful experience during my short stay at the LAICO Atlantic.

Stopping by Ibrahim, the sand-painter's table after eating, I got a huge hug and a promise to make me something "beau-ti-ful" on my next trip.  Laughing, I told him there'd definitely be a "next trip," so I was holding him to that (and expecting a  second-timer's discount!).

Heading toward my room, I saw Bintou ("but everybody calls me Mama") setting up the lobby bar.  I couldn't just say goodbye to this young sister, because for the short time I was there, she was - in so many delightful ways - one of those "archetypal dreams" of that "temple of my familiar."  So instead, I decided to sit and have a drink and talk.

One drink became two, then two became three as we talked and laughed about our families; our birth order (Bintou is the name given the youngest daughter and I'm the youngest daughter too); foods we liked (I already told ya'll, I love me some rice!  But I also like boiled peanuts and sweet potatoes - both of which my Grandmama grew in South Carolina and, are locally grown in The Gambia; what we each wanted to be when we grew up (What? I still have dreams!) and music - the rhythms of which we both agreed came first, then the words.  For all that "distance created, created deliberately" which continues to render our circumstances decidedly different - it was apparent that we were the ones, "more alike than we were unalike."

Then - I heard the music start in the club next to the bar.  Mama and I looked toward the door, then back at each other - and burst out laughing!  Draining my glass, I said,  "Hell, check-out's not 'til noon!  I think a little leg-shakin's in order!  Flashing that beautiful smile, she said, "I'm on til midnight or I'd go wit you!"  We hugged, promised to stay in touch and in I went.

I walked through the doors, surveyed the landscape and immediately spotted Ansumana dancing.  I'd met this young brother working the evening shift the day I arrived.  He'd said then - "Just remember 'handsome' and you'll remember my name!"  Crackin' the hell up, I asked, "Has that line ever worked for you??  Smiling broadly, he just slowly shook his head up and down like my youngest does - when the answer is absolute.  Witnessing the veritable stream of European women offering to buy him drinks and pulling him to the dance floor - I had no reason to doubt him.

He'd been a font of information since I got there, suggesting places in Banjul I should see; telling me how other parts of the country compared to the capital; schooling me about local reactions to, and interactions with, foreigners - especially foreign women (priceless, dead-on info, I promise you!).

I went over and plopped down on a stool at the bar and ordered a Guinness (thought I'd switch from the drinks I'd been having so I could be sure to get my old ass up in the morning - bad idea).  When Ansumana came off the dance floor, he took the stool next to me. I knew he'd worked earlier that day, so I asked why he was still there.  He said whenever he had the breakfast shift the next day, he'd just stay over in Banjul rather than going home to his village.  "Tonight though, my job is lookin' out for you my Sistah, he said laughing.  "Cuz trust - dese guys in here watchin' you!"

To throes of laughter from the bartender, I shot back, "Hell, no need for them to be watchin' me!  I'm old enough to be all their Mamas!  And besides, there's plenty women in here!"  Then Ansumana said, "But Sistah, you different from dem, You Black - and American!"

Asking what that had to do with anything, he said, "First of all, cuz we don't have a lot of Black Americans come here - at least not until the Roots Festival.  And second, you Blacks in America, you know how to fight for your rights - and win!"  I felt an uneasy sense of shame at his first observation, and while deeply humbled by the second, all I could think was, "Yeah, we used to."

I got this email from Mariatou after I'd returned, confirming his first observation:
Hi Deborah how are you doing, greetings from Gerald to you and my family...an how is the weather there? say hi to your husband an your boys for me, i miss you so much...the festival have started since last Sunday and a lot of black Americans are around, Luciano and some musician from Senegal, i wish you are around to witness a real roots festival. i will keep in touch with you thanks a lot bye for now...(She also told me they'd renamed James Island, now calling it, "Kunta Kinteh Island" during the festival)

Ansumana's, "...we don't have a lot of Black Americans come here" hit me somewhere deeply.  Silent for a moment, I mulled over why I'd taken more than 50 years to finally get there. In the spirit of Baldwin's "do your first works over" - I had to own that, growing up, and for a very long time after, I'd not only believed a lot of the stories fed me by my country about this continent, I'd also internalized the negative thoughts and feelings that had come along with them (divide-and-conquer seeds, perfectly sown).

My reverie was interrupted by the sound of bottles hitting the bar in front of me.  The bartender had given us another round and they were waiting on me for a toast.  Clicking our bottles, we toasted my "coming home" - and I have to say, it felt pretty damned good.  The three of us talked and laughed the night away over quite a few more bottles of Guinness.  And as the DJ put on the last song of the night, Ansumana jumped off his stool with a smile and a sweeping, "Madame...?"

A sucker for that "Madame" thing since I first heard it in the Banjul airport, I hopped off my stool and went out on the dance floor to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean.  I remember saying aloud (to no one in  particular), "Yes, a little leg-shakin is always good for the soul - especially to Mike!"  I'm old-er, what can I say?!

When the music stopped and the lights came on, he walked me to the hallway leading to my room, saying to call him once I got to the new hotel - so he could show me the nightlife in Senegambia (which according to him, was way better than Banjul).  I put his number in my phone and promised I would.  Once I started exploring though, I never got a chance to call, nor sample the Senegambia nightlife!

On to Bakau

The three Sidekicks were there on the dot at check-out to pick me up the next day.  I'd totally slept through my 10 a.m. wake-up call (like I said - switching to beer was a bad idea!).  Instead, it was the annoying and incessant ring I'd assigned to Gerald on my cell phone that woke me.  He was saying something about being just around the corner.  Figuring they'd arrive before I could shower and get dressed, I ran into the bathroom, made the sign-of-the-cross, brushed my teeth and threw on a sun-dress.

On the drive from Banjul to Bakau, I kept asking Gerald questions about the hotel.  Finally, he said, "Oh Deborah, don't worry, you will love this hotel!"  And he was right.  From the time we pulled up to the Ocean Bay Hotel Resort (located directly across the street from the U.N. building), to the day that I left - I not only loved this hotel - but I loved the people who worked there as well!

As we piled out of the car, the bellman greeted Gerald as if he were an old friend (which he indeed was, having stayed there for many months on end, for a few years).  Following him in, I noticed an enlarged replica of the photo on the right, prominently displayed on an easel outside the front door.  Curious, I asked what it was and what it meant.

He explained the statue stood on the island of Juffureh (made famous by Alex Haley's 1976 book - "Roots: The saga of an American Family").  The "Never Again!" he said, referred to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its complete meaning - "Never Again in Chains."  I made a mental note to ask Mariatou how soon we could go there.

The lobby was a veritable Babel - abuzz with people from all corners of the world.  Some were checking in, while others - at tables and sofas spread around the lobby - were having drinks and/or food from the lobby bar, or hanging around the flat screen watching "football" (soccer to me).  When we reached the busy front desk, Gerald asked for "The Director" and we were sent down a short hall to his office.

He was a big man in stature - bespectacled, with coal-black skin, a booming voice and a ready smile.  Following the introductions, I asked if they were always so busy. He said, "Yes usually, especially with Christmas approaching."   But the reason they were so busy this time, was because of Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to abdicate the Cote d'Ivoire presidency.  As it turns out, the U.N. had evacuated all of its "essential personnel" from Abidjan - to The Gambia.

Let me interrupt the story and be clear here.  What I knew about Cote d'Ivoire previously, could fit on the flat side of a cocoa bean - literally.  And at first, I had the typical, colonized-mind, knee-jerk, American reaction: "He LOST the election!  What do you mean he REFUSES to step down?!"  But as I continued to follow the brewing conflict on the local and BBC news (most of the TV programming available aside from a couple movie channels), and interacted with some of the U.N.'s "essential personnel" -  my Spidey-senses started tingling.

So, I decided to talk with, and listen to - some damned West Africans (to include calling my Ivorian, Senegalese-twistin' sister-friend back home, leaving a rambling message asking after her family in her village - and peppered with plenty of "What the hells??")!

I was grateful for the opportunity to be there, getting my own bird's eye view of that whole, "two sides to every story, and then the truth" thing vis-à-vis neo-colonialists in modern-day Africa and this UN-monitored, "election."  And after kicking it around in my head for awhile, it began to make a a whole lot more sense to me.  My conclusion by the end of my stay?  There's never a dearth of those like the Changeling, willing to help feed those "I'm king of the world" beasts.

The Sidekicks, going back to the Center, said they'd come back for me the next day.  With a kiss on each cheek, Gerald assured me he was leaving me in good hands - and he was.  As I waited, half-listening as "The Director" handled a billing problem with one of the front-desk staff, I perused the pictures he had on a wall.  I didn't know any of the people with whom he was smiling and shaking hands, but I could tell they were African dignitaries of some sort.

Once he was convinced of the error, he firmly directed its correction and then turned his attention to me asking, "So where are you from?" When I said America, he asked puzzled, "So how do you know Pinedo?!"  I related the whole, met-in-Florida-ten-years-ago-when-I'd-interviewed-him-for-a-piece-in-the-local-newspaper-and-we'd-kept-in-touch-ever-since story. He asked if this was my first time in Africa, and again, I felt that creeping shame, hot on the back of my neck.  I answered, "Yes - but I'm sure it won't be my last."  We also talked  about the crumbs I'd been trying to follow, tracing my Sea-Island family roots back to West Africa.  With a hearty laugh, he said, "If anybody can help you with that - it's Pinedo!"

After signing everything, I got my "hotel passport" and the same bellman I'd met earlier escorted me to my room.  As we walked past the library toward my room, there was an old man on his hands and knees - plugging bald spots on the lawn (Oh I know - we're so evolved now, with our riding lawn mowers and/or gardeners!).  But in a strange and beautifully reaffirming way, it reminded me of how we've always been able to brilliantly do more - with less!  One thing's for sure, it made me appreciate the lushness all around me even more!

Aside from no in-room WiFi, I had no complaints about the LAICO during the few days I spent there.  But I have to say that this hotel, definitely helped ease my transition from those oh, so evolved, Western expectations - to the total reality that is The Gambia.

Once inside, the bellman showed me how to use my key-card to work the lights, explained the mini-bar/fridge thing, showed me how to operate the armoire safe and connect to the WiFi.  He opened the balcony curtains, to reveal a partial view of the pool through a rainbow of bouganvilleas (probably my most favorite flowering plant because they're a deceivingly, sturdy beauty with protective thorns - kind of like me!) - and I was mighty glad I'd trusted Gerald and his "arrangements."

For a damned-near germophobe, the room was perfect!  Deciding to take that shower I'd missed, I checked the grout (some things are harder to unlearn than others!), and then, bolstered by my few days of practice at the LAICO, I jumped into the small shower stall with my Butterfly Flower, a steady stream of  hot water - and found myself,  languishing!

After Skyping the husband to let him know I was safe and sound, I headed to dinner, but first - I stopped at the lobby bar for a Guinness and a chat (best source of information, I found).  The bartender gave me the lay of the land, suggested some dishes I should try and was again, surprised to find out I was from America.

An Australian couple came and sat on the two stools next to me.  We had some interesting conversations about Australia  (about which I know little), America (about which they knew even less)  and I don't know why, but we ended up talking about knowing different languages (well - more like our apparent unwillingness to embrace different languages).

It may have had more to do with me than them, because so far, I'd been pleasantly surprised to find, that even though each tribal group still maintained their own, distinct, cultural traditions and languages - many, if not most, were not only able to communicate with each other in English (the official language of the country) and some French, but in each other's tribal languages as well (unless that's a recent development, it kinda dispels that whole, "we couldn't talk to each other while chained together in the belly of a slave ship" thing - No?).

Having missed breakfast after over-sleeping, my stomach began to complain - loudly.  So, saying goodbye to everybody, I grabbed my unfinished Guinness and headed outside to the dining area around the pool.  After ordering, I just sat there, people-watching.  And aside from all the different accents I could hear, what I noticed most - from folk dressing formally for dinner, to "afternoon tea," to the way some guests treated the wait-staff - was the degree to which Europe's colonial influences were still so deeply embedded in the country. 

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, seeing as they were once a British colony which, geographically, is way closer to them, than they are to us - but I was.  However, when this local, cultural group performed, I was immediately pleased at how the mere sight of the "Hammer pants," coupled with the rhythm of the dance - instantly narrowed that "distance created, created deliberately" about which Baldwin spoke!  I went to bed early - and slept like a log.

The Sidekicks came for me a little after noon the next day.  When I got in the car, Gerald announced enthusiastically, "We're going to the Spanish man's house where I'm staying.  And I'm cooking!"

Juan and Gerald had become friends over time (since his earlier days of visiting The Gambia and staying at Ocean Bay).  So, since Gerald was in-country and Juan was in Spain, he was able to stay at the little house, not far from the hotel.  I'd later learn, there are quite a few Europeans, Lybians, Lebanese, Chinese  - and even a smattering of Americans - who've bought, and/or developed property in the country, renting them fairly inexpensively.

John's wife and daughter, along with her sister and her husband, visiting from Senegal, were waiting for us when we arrived.  Since they all spoke some English - and French - I thought it'd be the perfect time for me to practice a little.  Trust me, a Bachelor's degree in French does not a Francophone make!  My abysmal efforts gave new meaning to the phrase, "use it or lose it."  But they were all, very patient and gracious with my trying.

After the introductions and some small talk, I went outside on the patio for a cigarette.  Mariatou, John and his brother-in-law joined me, while Gerald and the sisters started dinner.  Soon, the delicious aroma of food coming from the kitchen won out and  I went back inside to see what was cooking.

Né and her daughter, Awa (that's her elbow in the photo on the left) were keeping an eye on the Chicken Yassa and potatoes on the small stove, while Gerald seasoned the freshly caught Ladyfish that he'd just cleaned and filleted.  I thought to myself, "Dinner's definitely gonna be lip-smackin'!" - and it was (do note the huge pot of rice sitting in front of Né in the photo on the right - I felt right at home!).  The best part of the day though - even better than the meal - was being, in community, with folk from the community who all looked like me, slowly working on closing that "distance."

Juffureh

Mariatou, and I made the trip from Bakau to Juffureh with Moussa.  He'd worked for Gerald when he started building the Center. Now, he apparently either drove a taxi, or hung out with the guys who do drive taxis.  He'd arranged our 7:30 a.m. taxi ride to the Banjul ferry, then shepherded us through the crowds in the ferry terminal and onboard.  And when we arrived in Barra, he negotiated the taxi fare from there, to Juffureh and back.

   
I tell you, if I'd not seen the levelling work being done on the road leading to the village (coating everything in its path with a thick, red sand that reminded me of "the red clay hills of Georgia"), I'd have said that the small fishing village of Juffureh hadn't changed much since Alex Haley traced his ancestral roots there in the late 1970s.

As a matter of fact, the thatched-roof huts of handmade mud bricks; donkeys, goats, cows and actual "macacas" (nod to stupid) freely roaming the tree-lined roads; the mortar-and-pestle sound of "Woman’s Wuck" (as detailed by Judith Carney in Chapter 4 of her wonderfully written, "Black Rice"); with a slew of little kids running around, laughing and playing barefoot in the dirt - all combined to make me feel I'd been transported to a place of little or no change at all.

We came upon this woman winnowing rice outside her compound. Instantly, I recognized the "basket" bridge between this West African village and my Charleston, SC roots. She spoke no English, but she carried on a lively conversation with Moussa, while Mariatou explained this part of the seed-to-table process to my forgotten self.

If you ever visit the Old Slave Market (we called it "Market," they call it "Mart" - go figure) in downtown Charleston, you can still find Black women making and selling beautifully woven, Sweet Grass baskets like the one she's using in the video.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.  Rather than just telling the story of my visit to Juffureh, I also wanted to share it in these photos.  I suggest watching it in full-screen, not only so you can see the, tiny, little words - but so you can pause it, and read some of the signs and excerpts.

No folks, I saw no slick Westernized malls, skyscrapers or subway trains in The Gambia (but, whether brought by owners, or sold through auctions or dealers - I did see plenty expensive, late-model Western vehicles!).  And for purely selfish, "Back to the Future" reasons,  I liked it like that.  Seems to me, the only harm in having an, "If I knew then, what I know now" do-over - is not learning a damned thing from it.  Me?  I want to learn...

UPDATE:  Ivory Coast elections bolster French recolonization plans

To be continued - A "Homegoing" - Part 5b:  The Center