If the prizeee is right....

Right, Dan Kennedy’s piece here is really deep. Essentially, we are all holding our breath for the days till Obama wins; he contends we shouldn’t. McCain might still win on the basis of the stuff below,
Voter suppression. What do you think the McCain campaign's full-scale war against Acorn is all about? Acorn, a left-leaning activist organisation, has indeed engaged in voter registration fraud - or, rather, has had registration fraud perpetrated upon it by unscrupulous signature gatherers. But these phony voters are not going to be able to cast ballots unless they show up at the polls with some sort of valid identification.

This is election rigging! Winning by Fraud! If the republicans win the presidency on this basis for another four/eight years it will be the strongest declaration yet to the world that the United States is morally bankrupt as a nation, especially when it goes abroad to espouse the rule of law. For the longest time, the mystique of America (nay, the west) has rested on the ‘it couldn’t happen here principle’. Not that that was ever clearly the case, and as Toni Morrison has always argued, the denial of liberty to black peoples has always been the dark canker at the heart of american democracy – we might begin to see it crack, if black americans are so blatantly denied the vote (see the article, and Gary Younge’s superior piece on African Americans and the vote) and a candidate so deserving does not succeed. There are some who would say disparaging thing about what it says about a nation that puts the republicans in the white house again – but I was raised to say nothing when I can’t say something nice. Actually, another thought occured to me - maybe the votes will be disputed by Obama and then McCain will suggest a government of national unity.....

Upside to the Downside!

Richard Dowden’s appraisal of the impact of the financial crisis on Africa is reassuring; the fallout will probably be less severe on African countries because they are so famously marginalised of the global system – (begs the question, is there an upside to being in the margins?) Certainly! As they say - every crisis is an opportunity!

Why?

Why do people in England grimace rather than smile when they encounter each other casually?

(I can uderstand why he has a reason to grimace)

Whether in the office or on the street, the grimace seems to be the default facial expression when words are too much but ignoring each other seems less than possible. I never thought I was one of those people with visceral, pet hates, but increasingly I believe this is one of mine – what is wrong with a smile? It seems as if people think smiling is some sort of transaction, which I suppose it is, implying as it does the underlying thought ‘I think you’re alright, and you think the same of me, I assume’. Rather we grimace – ‘which while not being a f**k, is close to expressing a physical pain at being caught in the same space with another human being.

Anyways! There’s my rant – further posts will be focused on our usual topics, tune in again.

It's people, stupid...

The great man was (or is?) in London to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Things Fall Apart, and I had the honor of seeing him at a reading at Foyles bookstore at charing cross; it was a sedate affair, a reminder that as much as to us ‘literati’ these people are earthshaking – we are always in a minority amongst the hoi polloi. Achebe answered questions on all the above politely, and took questions from the audience, including yours truly: there was a quote by Maya Jaggi (the lady asking questions) that Achebe had made saying the trouble with Nigeria was its leaders. I asked it if were not the case of the people as well being deficient in someway; the father of modern African literature replied, that the people never sought leadership or made any promises, whereas the leaders did. I begged to disagree, but it wasn’t the place. On this occasion I was one of those annoying people who ask two questions in one - I asked what he made of evangelical Christianity’s sweep in Nigeria, and found we both agreed that it was a symptom of the economic and social malaise in the country. So, at least he was right on one thing. I’m not sure who said people get the leaders they deserve – but in the case of Nigeria, perhaps it’s true.

I think underlying Achebe’s reply is/was an expectation of benevolent paternalism from our leaders without the vigilance of the people. In a way, that was the naïve hope of his generation, and maybe mine and the generation that comes after especially those in Nigeria will be/are less blinkered and more active in demanding the kind of government and change they want. Things Fall Apart – it’s still a great book fifty years on.

Achebe – at Foyles’ highlight

Audience member: As a writer of fiction, fifty years on, is there anything you wished you could change about the book, (Things Fall Apart)?

Achebe: No. (to audience laughter)

Achebe: I just feel, if you want to change something, write another book!

Coup by Portfolio

What country does Robert Mugabe think he is living in? The latest twist in this saga of 'my country, my country' is that the old leopard is up to his old tricks, which is to be expected, but what I hope will not happen is that the MDC show the same restraint they have shown in the process so far. Mugabe is probably banking on them hanging on and grudgingly accepting the situation, at which point he and the ZANU-PF machine will swallow them whole. If this happens Mutambara would probably be the one to fold first. On the other hand, if they raise the barn and jump out of the deal - they might have lost what was/is essentially a 'see who blinks first' contest. I personally feel the MDC should just walk out of that agreement, and start talking to the incoming South African president to switch off the electricity in Zimbabwe. Maybe a few days in the dark, will make Mugabe see things clearly; though the old goat has been quite clever, the west is distracted by the credit crunch and South Africa is having Post-Presidential Syndrome - perfect time to launch your own coup by portfolio. Despite it all, I'm reminded of a quote about two old men and a comb...except in this scenario, it's a tired old man fighting a man with an afro, and afrosheen to boot for a comb! Honestly, Mugabe should just do us all a favour and drop dead.

Dreams of my Father

The surprising thing about Barack Obama’s memoir, Dreams of my father, is that it’s such a cracking good read; I don’t know why this surprised me, after all, he is eloquent, a smooth and persuasive speaker with a knack for soundbites that capture the popular mood. Yet, the emotional intelligence that courses through the book, is not one I, and I suspect, most people would expect from a modern day politician; it has the tone of a man suddenly aware of the physical power he wields, both aware of it, terrified by it and determined to wield it for good. On one level, I couldn’t help but think this was a very good myth, a powerful story of the creation of a hero, like the odyssey, a story of a prince learning the limits of himself before he returns to his kingdom to rule; but then I remember that this was written before his momentous, historic campaign for president, before he became the Obama of Yes, we can.

I think it had so much more force for me, because it came before, because it was written at the stage in life, where as he says somewhere in his book (we do the things we tell ourselves we need to do to grow up), and exists now as a record of how a man goes from that to where he is now. I don’t have any illusions of grasping for the same kind of power Barack Obama has reached out for, yet in reading his book, the journey from taking himself – a confused, fucked up, mixed race kid to the security of campaigning as a post-racial candidate, I find a map of sorts. It involves boxing with shadows, and wrestling with demons; if he does nothing more than run for president of the United States, Barack Obama has already achieved a great deal – millions of mothers can point to him, as his own mother did with the role models, of King, Baldwin et al and say yes, you can too.