What is the best way to move forward? What is it that we need to do to free ourselves from the shackles of imperialism? How can we move our crippled, paralyzed political and economic systems from the hold of the colonizers? Should we adopt their models of development? Do we have our own models that we can follow? Do we know enough of our history to judge from what our ancestors did before the coming of the invaders? If we know our history, can what they did be applicable in today's world? Can it be modified to fit this lifetime? What can we do to move towards complete independence as an African people?
I take great pride and joy in being African. I am not swayed by petty issues that keep us fumbling in the mud pit rather than finding a way out. We squabble about issues that have nothing to do with our future success but which keep us pre-occupied to notice our overall condition of imprisonment.
We need to move towards unity. We can accomplish all we need to if we were working hand-in-hand as brothers and sisters that we are. Our differences are like those of flowers. If you put them together you make a beautiful bouquet. More beautiful and appeasing. To become a bouquet, we need to realize that our differences are what makes us beautiful and strong. The looks and beliefs of others are not a threat to us, they complement us. We are not competitors, we are collaborators. The master will push onto us the competitors tag in order to keep us pre-occupied with petty issues that further erode our already collapsed sense of unity.
What do we need to do to become one? In an ideal situation I would rather we got rid of divisions inspired by outside forces, such as religious affiliations, political parties, and political borders. I have the strongest misgivings about these three because they have done more to shed African blood than any other differences.
Religion. It's necessary for most of us. I am a spiritual person. I believe in God. I see his miracles in my life all the time. But which God is this that I serve and looks out for me? What does he look like? Did my people not have a God before the invaders arrived? Did this God come with the Arabs or with the Europeans? If these people brought their God, does their God condone the acts they inflicted upon our motherland? Does God really say kill all those that do not believe in him? Why then did he create them? Or did someone else create men? If God kills and his arch foe, Satan, kills what is the difference between them? If God hates those that don't believe in him, why doesn't he stop creating them? Afterall, he knows everything including how those people's future beliefs will be, right? Could there possibly be another idea about a God that we ought to be worshiping? A God that does not seek to conquer with the edge of a sword? Which God did my ancestors worship before the coming of the invaders?
My grandfather was a pastor and a missionary all over the Democratic Republic of Congo. My great-grandfather was one of three Rwandans who helped establish Seventh-day Adventist missions in Rwanda. I was raised in the church and learned to read by reading the Bible. I have strong roots in the God of the Bible. However, the God I read about in the Bible is nothing like the God that I see people talking about today. So, I know these people push the book on us without reading it themselves. In reality, the God of the African, the Jew, the Christian, and the Muslim is one God. It is the God that created us all, the God that is one and undivided. Why, then, do our ideas of who he is divide us and shed our blood? Why can't we just stand up and realize ourselves as his children and throw out those burdens that we need to carry to differentiate ourselves from our siblings? Does it matter if you are wearing a green coat and I'm wearing a brown one? Do we differ on the air that we breathe? Is your brain made from a different substance than mine? How about your bones? Aren't we all humans?
The second issue is that of political powers. I am against political parties because their concept is lost upon us Africans as they are not our invention. We have no respect for the concept and we look to take advantage of them to further divide ourselves. It is no secret that rulers will establish or infiltrate opposition parties to their own ends.
The future of Africa lies in a unified Africa whose rulers are after the good of their people as a whole and not just for a segment of the population. We need to do away with political parties, they are not our concept, they do not work in our communities, they polarize, they divide, they are against our nature.
As for political borders, I have talked against them many times in the past. Not even one African was at the Berlin roundtable. Not one. Why do we all, then, follow those boundaries as if they were God-given? We never needed them in the past, not blindly drawn borders that failed to take into consideration the culture and peoples of the land they divided. We had our own way, a way that can work even today.
We need to stop doing things the invaders' way, we need to do them our way. Only by doing them the way of the African will Africa have thrown of the chains of the oppressor.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Bashir, Tsvangirai, Congo, Rwanda, and the rest of the news this past month
I have wanted to sit down and write something during the past month and I had many things that I wanted to share, but I just felt that the moment was not right to write anything yet. I decided to sit and wait, wait for events to unfold. And unfold they did. Things happened. Al Bashir, president of Sudan, was warned of a heap of evidence against him by the International Criminal Court. After the warning came the actual warrant making him a fugitive. Rwanda and Congo finished out their joint operation against the FDLR rebels operating in Congo, and Rwanda followed on its promise to return its military forces back to Rwanda. Although the FDLR rebels deny this occured and claim that thousands of Rwandan troops are still active in the jungles of Nord Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have also seemingly come close to form a government of unity which holds out hope for improvements in Zimbabwe. Lately, however, Mrs. Tsvangirai was fatally injured in a car accident that left him hospitalized. Some are crying foul, but what does it matter? An innocent life was taken in a terrible accident, or what seemed like an accident. Our prayers go to the Tsvangirai family.
What do all these developments mean for our mother land? Is there a way to arrest Bashir and bring him to justice for the atrocities in Darfur? Did Rwanda pull all of its resources out of Congo and end its profitable proxy occupation of mineral-rich East Congo? Did Mugabe seek to take out Tsvangirai himself in the accident?
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have also seemingly come close to form a government of unity which holds out hope for improvements in Zimbabwe. Lately, however, Mrs. Tsvangirai was fatally injured in a car accident that left him hospitalized. Some are crying foul, but what does it matter? An innocent life was taken in a terrible accident, or what seemed like an accident. Our prayers go to the Tsvangirai family.
What do all these developments mean for our mother land? Is there a way to arrest Bashir and bring him to justice for the atrocities in Darfur? Did Rwanda pull all of its resources out of Congo and end its profitable proxy occupation of mineral-rich East Congo? Did Mugabe seek to take out Tsvangirai himself in the accident?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Charities and African Development
In what light should we regard those charities whose mission is to help people in Africa? Are they an integral part of the future of Africa, or are they a tool of imperialism to keep Africans dependent on the giving of the west? Should we be for them or should we be against them? Or are there in the imaginary gray area between accepting and refusing them?
My take on them is that they are a necessary part that is about to run out. They are not there to empower, they are not there to motivate the people. They are necessary for now because our people need bread and water for strength. We need clothes to help get us out of this winter. When this cold night is over and our hunger and thirst are no more, then the need for these charities will be no more.
What we need are organizations that empower the people to take their fates into their own hands. I don't mean political organizations, I mean private organizations that move away from giving to educating. See, we need motivators, people who are good at persuading, people who know how to teach others to sit by the stream waiting patiently for the fish to bite the bait. We don't need people who already know how to fish and don't know how to teach others how to do it. There is enough fish in the river that we can all get enough to feed ourselves without killing off the fish and ourselves in the process.
We need charities that go there and show people how to stop desertification. We need people to go there and show people how to protect themselves from the devastation of soil erosion. We need people to go there and show our people that all these divisions are given their enormous magnitude by outsiders who know little about us. We need people to go in and show that AIDS is not as invincible as it seems. We need these organizations that go there and help the people cultivate their lands. We need organizations that will show women how to take care of their children. We need organizations that go there and show that African men were always the cornerstone of the traditional African home and that abandoning their families is an unhonorable thing to do.
We need motivators and empowerers. We need people proud to be African. Fearless to be African. We need people not drawn by the pull of selfish gains. People not motivated by exploitation to gain an upper hand on their fellow brothers and sisters. We need people who are dreamers. We need people who are doers. We need people who are both. We need these people in these organizations. We need people who are more concerned with helping people than in raising money. Remember if you read the bible when Jesus says that if people were to stop praising God the stones would sing the praises. If you are worried about raising money to help others, what's gonna happen when you can't raise that money? Are you going to stop helping? What will become of your organization then?
This is why we need organizations that put helping people ahead of raising funds. When you help people, the funds will come in. When you obsess with raising funds, the funds will stop one day and so will your helping people. We, therefore, need organizations that put the needs of people first, because once they do that, everything else will fall in place.
For now, however, we do appreciate what these charities are doing, but, like imperialism, their days are numbered.
My take on them is that they are a necessary part that is about to run out. They are not there to empower, they are not there to motivate the people. They are necessary for now because our people need bread and water for strength. We need clothes to help get us out of this winter. When this cold night is over and our hunger and thirst are no more, then the need for these charities will be no more.
What we need are organizations that empower the people to take their fates into their own hands. I don't mean political organizations, I mean private organizations that move away from giving to educating. See, we need motivators, people who are good at persuading, people who know how to teach others to sit by the stream waiting patiently for the fish to bite the bait. We don't need people who already know how to fish and don't know how to teach others how to do it. There is enough fish in the river that we can all get enough to feed ourselves without killing off the fish and ourselves in the process.
We need charities that go there and show people how to stop desertification. We need people to go there and show people how to protect themselves from the devastation of soil erosion. We need people to go there and show our people that all these divisions are given their enormous magnitude by outsiders who know little about us. We need people to go in and show that AIDS is not as invincible as it seems. We need these organizations that go there and help the people cultivate their lands. We need organizations that will show women how to take care of their children. We need organizations that go there and show that African men were always the cornerstone of the traditional African home and that abandoning their families is an unhonorable thing to do.
We need motivators and empowerers. We need people proud to be African. Fearless to be African. We need people not drawn by the pull of selfish gains. People not motivated by exploitation to gain an upper hand on their fellow brothers and sisters. We need people who are dreamers. We need people who are doers. We need people who are both. We need these people in these organizations. We need people who are more concerned with helping people than in raising money. Remember if you read the bible when Jesus says that if people were to stop praising God the stones would sing the praises. If you are worried about raising money to help others, what's gonna happen when you can't raise that money? Are you going to stop helping? What will become of your organization then?
This is why we need organizations that put helping people ahead of raising funds. When you help people, the funds will come in. When you obsess with raising funds, the funds will stop one day and so will your helping people. We, therefore, need organizations that put the needs of people first, because once they do that, everything else will fall in place.
For now, however, we do appreciate what these charities are doing, but, like imperialism, their days are numbered.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Natural Mystic
It's Monday afternoon and I'm sitting alone at home listening to Bob Marley's Natural Mystic and I can't help wonder if twenty years from now people will be singing the same song wondering if change really can be expected. Forty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equality and lost his life. Marley sang of a brighter day but cancer subdued his body before he realized it. Twenty years ago a Captain by the name of Sankara took over an impoverished country and made the people take their own lives and fates into their own hands. He renamed the country and turned it around. In four short years he accomplished what has eluded many for decades. What became of him? He was awarded a bullet for his actions. There are too many people for me to keep going on and on. There are too many Bikos, Nkrumahs, Lumumbas, and Machels to mention them all at once. There are many who died in oblivion. Many we can only recognize if we slow down to look deeply into the freedom flame that burns within us. We realize them because they are the timbers that keep that flame alive. Their ideas are the food that keeps that cherished beacon guiding us along the path.
And so the song plays over and over "There is a natural mystic, flowing through the air" for over twenty years the song has been around, the mystic has been around longer. For centuries our forefathers experienced it. Fought to keep it alive. They suffered and died so that it would still be there for us to experience, to cherish. See, it let's us know that we weren't always slaves. We weren't always the conquered, the savages that could only attain salvation through the bible and whip. No, far from it, it let's us know that we were once free. We don't need the invaders to show us the way to salvation. Our salvation is not necessarily the salvation of the invader. Our salvation is something more than that. It is not brought about by submission but rather by upliftment. This is what the mystic is telling us "if you listen carefully". We uplift ourselves and we will attain that salvation. How can one see his way if his head is bowed in submission? How else can one see where her future lies if her head is not uplifted and looking at the far horizon?
This is the natural mystic that burns within each and everyone of us. Fortunately, it is not limited to Africans or African-Americans. It is there for all humanity, for all to experience and understand that we are all one despite our many differences.
In no way am I promoting the idea that Africans are better that other people. That would make me no different from other oppressors for that is where the seed of oppression is sown and later reaped. We are all the same, and if anyone tells you I'm against white people or asians then they don't know me. My mother is white, I recognize and understand that side of me the same way I do my father's side. What I am against is someone thinking that they are better than others because of their skin color, region of origin, economic status, etc.
What I am for is the call for the people to listen carefully to what that natural mystic is telling them. To see the smiles on their face as it tells them about their past and future, as it enhances their present. Listen carefully and hear what you've been missing.
And so the song plays over and over "There is a natural mystic, flowing through the air" for over twenty years the song has been around, the mystic has been around longer. For centuries our forefathers experienced it. Fought to keep it alive. They suffered and died so that it would still be there for us to experience, to cherish. See, it let's us know that we weren't always slaves. We weren't always the conquered, the savages that could only attain salvation through the bible and whip. No, far from it, it let's us know that we were once free. We don't need the invaders to show us the way to salvation. Our salvation is not necessarily the salvation of the invader. Our salvation is something more than that. It is not brought about by submission but rather by upliftment. This is what the mystic is telling us "if you listen carefully". We uplift ourselves and we will attain that salvation. How can one see his way if his head is bowed in submission? How else can one see where her future lies if her head is not uplifted and looking at the far horizon?
This is the natural mystic that burns within each and everyone of us. Fortunately, it is not limited to Africans or African-Americans. It is there for all humanity, for all to experience and understand that we are all one despite our many differences.
In no way am I promoting the idea that Africans are better that other people. That would make me no different from other oppressors for that is where the seed of oppression is sown and later reaped. We are all the same, and if anyone tells you I'm against white people or asians then they don't know me. My mother is white, I recognize and understand that side of me the same way I do my father's side. What I am against is someone thinking that they are better than others because of their skin color, region of origin, economic status, etc.
What I am for is the call for the people to listen carefully to what that natural mystic is telling them. To see the smiles on their face as it tells them about their past and future, as it enhances their present. Listen carefully and hear what you've been missing.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Kenya appeals for $406M in urgent food aid: The begging continues
We continue to be beggars hoping for foreigners to throw us a bone so we don't starve. Our leaders drive the latest expensive cars and have enough to eat while the little person starves. Kenya now joins countries like Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and others that have to beg for food. Pathetic. We can solve these problems ourselves by addressing issues such as irrigation, soil erosion, and planting vegetation that fight the spread of the deserts. We can do this.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Should Bashir be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court?
Has he actually done worse crimes against humanity than Bush?
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Manifesto Afrikana
1. First of all, tell yourself that the situation in Africa is reversible, we (Africans) are capable of removing ourselves from the predicament we, and our ancestors, allowed thieving, murdering outsiders to put us in.
2. Secondly, we are all skilled at some profession or the other. We all have talents, let’s put them to use in raising our profiles. Remember, no one culture is above all the rest. We all have something that benefits the continent as a whole, let’s share with the rest. If you can write a play, write it about the good and evils of Africa. Write a novel about a culture you know well. Paint a painting showing life in Africa. Carve or paint traditional art. Embrace performing arts. If you are a doctor, what are you doing to further that profession among your people? If you are in advertising, find an African industry you can lend your expertise to. Find something you can do to better mother Africa. Don’t think the task is meaningless or unattainable. That is a result of years and years of conditioning. A house is built by laying bricks one by one. One by one we can rebuild our house.
3. Respect our women. Women are an integral part of our society. We refer to Africa as mother Africa, not Father Africa. It is in our nature to love our women, to treat them respectfully, and listen to their advice. They are naturally more nurturing and level-minded. We should put this nurturing trait to use while we nurse our mother Africa back to health.
4. Do not be afraid or intimidated. Do not let someone else blow out the candle that is lit within you. Only you can do that, no one else. Be strong. In humans, that candle light can withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. It is the light of your soul. It is your soul. Look in the eyes of some people and you can see it burning brightly. Unfortunately, you can also not see it in the eyes of many people, but these are people that rarely look you in the eye so it’s easy not to notice. Be strong, know that no amount of intimidations, threats, discouragements, or hurts can put out that light that burns within.
5. Today, not tomorrow, is the day to act. Sign up, let us know your story, let us know what you are doing. Wear our flag proudly. Raise it up. It’s red, black, and green with a yellow “A” in the black part. Red is for the blood that has been shed to liberate our motherland. The color that flows within us. Black is for our skin. Though the skin shades differ, we are bound together by this color, we are all black. It’s not a negative color, it’s beautiful. Green is the lush land that is our home. The environment, mother nature herself. The Yellow A is for Africa. Yellow for the richness in our hearts. The richness in our ground. The precious wealth that keeps the world moving, without which it dies. It is out of the black because they go together hand-in-hand. Out of our blackness comes our wealth, the wealth of the world. Only we control this. Wake up.
2. Secondly, we are all skilled at some profession or the other. We all have talents, let’s put them to use in raising our profiles. Remember, no one culture is above all the rest. We all have something that benefits the continent as a whole, let’s share with the rest. If you can write a play, write it about the good and evils of Africa. Write a novel about a culture you know well. Paint a painting showing life in Africa. Carve or paint traditional art. Embrace performing arts. If you are a doctor, what are you doing to further that profession among your people? If you are in advertising, find an African industry you can lend your expertise to. Find something you can do to better mother Africa. Don’t think the task is meaningless or unattainable. That is a result of years and years of conditioning. A house is built by laying bricks one by one. One by one we can rebuild our house.
3. Respect our women. Women are an integral part of our society. We refer to Africa as mother Africa, not Father Africa. It is in our nature to love our women, to treat them respectfully, and listen to their advice. They are naturally more nurturing and level-minded. We should put this nurturing trait to use while we nurse our mother Africa back to health.
4. Do not be afraid or intimidated. Do not let someone else blow out the candle that is lit within you. Only you can do that, no one else. Be strong. In humans, that candle light can withstand hurricanes and earthquakes. It is the light of your soul. It is your soul. Look in the eyes of some people and you can see it burning brightly. Unfortunately, you can also not see it in the eyes of many people, but these are people that rarely look you in the eye so it’s easy not to notice. Be strong, know that no amount of intimidations, threats, discouragements, or hurts can put out that light that burns within.
5. Today, not tomorrow, is the day to act. Sign up, let us know your story, let us know what you are doing. Wear our flag proudly. Raise it up. It’s red, black, and green with a yellow “A” in the black part. Red is for the blood that has been shed to liberate our motherland. The color that flows within us. Black is for our skin. Though the skin shades differ, we are bound together by this color, we are all black. It’s not a negative color, it’s beautiful. Green is the lush land that is our home. The environment, mother nature herself. The Yellow A is for Africa. Yellow for the richness in our hearts. The richness in our ground. The precious wealth that keeps the world moving, without which it dies. It is out of the black because they go together hand-in-hand. Out of our blackness comes our wealth, the wealth of the world. Only we control this. Wake up.
6. Demand that the law is the law. We can not be changing the constitution every time a new dictator takes over. We need a solid foundation. We need laws that outlive our so-called leaders. We have to have laws that are not “eraser laws”, laws that cannot be changed to fit every despot’s wishes. We have to demand this. It is our right, and we have to have it.
7. We have to respect our elders but in today’s age our elders are controlled by forces whose interests are against ours. We need new blood in our leadership. We need people who are not afraid, whose visions are for the advancement of our Africa. We need new Lumumbas, new Sankaras. We need people who are unafraid to die for what they believe. People who know and fully understand what the word sacrifice truly is.
8. Let us sign a petition to the AU demanding the interests of the people be put in front of diplomacy. If a leadership is failing, it’s the job of the rest of the leaders to help them or ask them to step aside. It’s the job of all of us to care for each and every person, we did not establish the borders on our motherland. Why then do we live by them? If the AU is incapable of caring for the people we need another organization for the people, by the people that can put the welfare of the people, and not just that of the leadership, ahead. I will have the petition up soon.
9. We have to acknowledge the existence of classes but not condone the exclusion of any one class from the political process. True change comes from the bottom up, not the top down. The people at the top do not to give up any privileges unless they are assured that their security is guaranteed. There can be no peace when citizens go hungry while others grow obese in their gluttonous indiscipline. Peace is the stillness of mind from worry about the safety of one’s well-being, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. We have to guarantee that this inclusion extends to region, tribe, race, religion, and any other medium through which we measure our diversity.
10. The African is second to no other race or creed. All men are equal in the eyes of existence and all deserve the opportunity to pursue happiness, so long as it does not encroach on another’s quest.
7. We have to respect our elders but in today’s age our elders are controlled by forces whose interests are against ours. We need new blood in our leadership. We need people who are not afraid, whose visions are for the advancement of our Africa. We need new Lumumbas, new Sankaras. We need people who are unafraid to die for what they believe. People who know and fully understand what the word sacrifice truly is.
8. Let us sign a petition to the AU demanding the interests of the people be put in front of diplomacy. If a leadership is failing, it’s the job of the rest of the leaders to help them or ask them to step aside. It’s the job of all of us to care for each and every person, we did not establish the borders on our motherland. Why then do we live by them? If the AU is incapable of caring for the people we need another organization for the people, by the people that can put the welfare of the people, and not just that of the leadership, ahead. I will have the petition up soon.
9. We have to acknowledge the existence of classes but not condone the exclusion of any one class from the political process. True change comes from the bottom up, not the top down. The people at the top do not to give up any privileges unless they are assured that their security is guaranteed. There can be no peace when citizens go hungry while others grow obese in their gluttonous indiscipline. Peace is the stillness of mind from worry about the safety of one’s well-being, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. We have to guarantee that this inclusion extends to region, tribe, race, religion, and any other medium through which we measure our diversity.
10. The African is second to no other race or creed. All men are equal in the eyes of existence and all deserve the opportunity to pursue happiness, so long as it does not encroach on another’s quest.
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