http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/The Dread Team is an inspired collective of conscious Afrikans. We bring you critical appraisals and reviews of current affairs in society, politics, cinema, the arts and literature from an Afrocentric perspective. Commentary, debate, poetry, reasoning and iditations--Jah Bless!en-EUhttp://backend.userland.com/rss092http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/3e/3e15fcbfbbe1054aa3de20ddaa9029_160x200.jpg <p>Junkanoo bird eye view</p> <p>Junkanoo in my bones;<br> In my eyes,<br> lone colours<br> pouring slow like molasses<br> from the throat<br> of Bay street<br> and we<br> the masses,<br> we jus’ inhaling<br> this kiss.<br> This spirit.<br> Wailing,<br> we invite<br> the parade<br> like a complicit woman to her womb,<br> consumed<br> in the illicit night shade.<br> Emerging out<br> from Vendue house,<br> from a shadow-<br> from da Congo-<br> A boy beats a goatskin drum<br> Like we still fightin for freedom<br> We are.<br> Moving like mist,<br> The dance past parliament-<br> The black masses darkenin’<br> her pink colonial frills<br> with queen Elizabeth in stone,<br> still holding court-<br> A statue<br> to<br> rule<br> Us.<br> And da crowd sings!<br> ‘Da Saxon!’; ‘Da Valley!’<br> I hear one lady say<br> ‘Rawson carryin<br> on!’<br> Dis beat was sweet.<br> And this one dancer,<br> Boy he was giratin’,<br> Drippin’ rum-flavour sweat<br> into the sea.<br> The crowd was punctuatin<br> His complex footsteps,<br> The parade penetratin-<br> Deep deep<br> Like history,<br> Down the Middle Passage<br> of east Bay Street</p> <p>by Naya Fyah </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2009/04/08/junkanoo-bird-s-eye-view-5912361/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2009/04/08/junkanoo-bird-s-eye-view-5912361/Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:13:41 +0200 <p>Greetings readers</p> <p>The Dread team send out a special thank you to all for your continued readership and invite any input or points of view that you may have to offer. </p> <p>Our present ponderings lead us to analyse the role of Western democracy in Afrikan society and government, especially given the recent interventions by the West in the diplomatic and sovereign affairs of Asian and African nations. The past three decades or so have seen the intensification in of the philosophy that often guides such 'interventions'; plainly put, this philosophy assumes that the West are at a more advanced stage of social (not just infrastructural) development. This assumption enables the war in Iraq to occur by "pre-emptive strike" in blatant disregard for international law, and worse, the economic sanctioning of already struggling states such as Zimbabwe and shockingly, now Kenya as she sizzles in potential strife. </p> <p>In the Western press and analysis by which we are bombarded daily, there is little questioning of the underpinnings of the expansion of western democracy, ie the assumption that the western model is in fact a natural state of human society. Not only that, but also that this state is at a higher level of development than is those of the states that are subjected to interventions, military or economic. </p> <p>So, today we at the Dread headquarters iditate over the presumptions of superiority of western democratic thought versus governments that are formed and informed by indigenous philosophy. These indigenous social philosophies are being thwarted by the oppressive ideals of neo-liberalism that also, to add insult to injury, continue to perpetuate violence and inequality. So we ask the question: is western democracy the only way, or is there some other, as yet unpronounced solution to war and strife in many nations rising now from the drudgery of colonialism?</p> <p>The recent re-affirmation of Western hegemony by the NATO coalition voiced by David Cameron's<br> suggestion that the security and fate of the new world depended on the maintenance and strengthening of "Atlanticism", or of the link enjoyed by member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While it is unsurprising that a UK Conservative Party Leader would espouse such an opinion, it is highly arrogant and politically imprudent to voice in is such a time as when the wars in Irak and Afghanistan bring deadly terror to the native populations of these countries already divided internally.</p> <p>The philosophy that is behind these resurgance of unilateral imperialism puts Africa and Afrikan peoples in a position of having to justify any emergence from their current situation in the current world order. The only way out or up for them is to completely divorce themselves of the oppressive philosophy of Western hegemony and move toward empowerment, both nationally and regionally. The Western way of accumulating wealth has used us as slaves first and now as losers in the socio-political and economic game of national sel-determination.</p> <p>To paraphrase a quote from Dr. John Henrik Clarke, African villages never had prisons because there was no need for them, no sanitorium because no one went insane, and no death penalty. Indeed, perhaps were it not for the precedential 'interventions' by the colonialist powers in Africa with their brands of oppressive governance, the African structure of society may have remained and developed into a beneficial and harmonious arrangement for all. Unfortunately though, there is little distinction between the mold of thought that gave rise to colonialist interventions versus that by the neo-liberals. Whereas before the colonialists had proclaimed the necessity of religious conversion of native, so called primitive populations, the new breed of imperialists now come to convert these resilient natives to liberalisation of trade, privatisation, and democratic elections within the sloppy post-colonial boundaries still staining the geopolitical landscape. Then, and now, the imperialists bear the farcical mask of moralistic insight to again rape and rob societies that, we argue, are better able to administer themselves using naturally placed insight.</p> <p>The first observation that invites scepticism of any western insight into how governments and democracy is that western society is itself so rotten to te core with poverty, corruption, inequality, racism, war, and the list goes on. If this is the end result of their brand of democracy, then surely it must not be in our best interests to continue to take a page from these perpetrators of strife. Many would nevertheless argue perhaps that the west maintains a peaceful environment relative to African nations, so their tactic must be working. </p> <p>But these proponents would be forgetting that Europe and America were, no so long ago, involved also in tribal war; in this case it was called world war II. This war was at least in part fought over the former colonies. European colonial power was and still is unsustainable without the continued usurpment of African/Asian resources; now, in the wake of their acceptance of a post-colonial era, they have now united in their advocacy of numerous policies and politics to maintain their cash cows. Now they are NATO. Now they are Atlanticists. Now they realise that if they can work together instead of fighting against each other, they can even mroe effectively drink their fill from nascent states, and thereby stablise their fragile economies. In light of this history, it is clearly ridiculous to lend any credence to the notion that the new imperialist converters come with any more enlightment or goodwill than their colonial predecessors. </p> <p>Love </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2008/01/20/beware_the_democratic_converters~3603021/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2008/01/20/beware_the_democratic_converters~3603021/Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:38:17 +0100 <p>The violence-ridden Kenyan elections of December 27, 2007 represent a sad moment in the history of this proud nation, who has for some time been a beacon of hope in the quest for African models of democracy. Having largely maintained stability in the post-colonial years following its attainment of independence under the leadership of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya has been a multiparty state since 1997. Although Kenya's postcolonial history has not been without turbulence, an hopeful era began following the peaceful exit of President Daniel arap Moi after his magnanimous defeat at the polls by Mwai Kibaki in 2002. For the last five years, Kibaki's government has maintained peace and relative stability in Kenya despite a continuing trend of class inequality. Nevertheless, as one of the largest African economies, Kenya has been considered to be a model of African governance. </p> <p>Last week, Kenya's electoral process was again put to the test. Sadly, however, this election of 2007 has been stained by claims of election rigging by Kibaki's government. Indeed, EU observers have condemned the election results, adding fuel to the fiery rejection of the election results by supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga. All of this has brought Kenya to the brink of civil war along tribal lines, between the Kikuyu largely represented by President Kibaki, and the Luo represented by Odinga. Scores have already been slain by record violence perpetrated by both opposition supporters and government forces as Africa and the international community at large scramble to avoid looming crisis. </p> <p>Given that Kenya has for so long resisted tribal conflict on any massive scale, and given the forecasts of hope for this fledgling democracy, we at the Dread Team ask the obvious questions: Why Kenya? Why now? </p> <p>The first point that has to be considered is taken from an historical perspective, beginning with the colonial boundaries laid out by Britain in the early to mid nineteenth century. As has infamously been the case in many regions, the summary grouping of disparate tribal entities has had disastrous consequences, in many ways contradicting traditional law and practice. In such contexts of subnational tribalism as is seen in much of Africa, the pluralistic presumptions of Western democratic thought are rendered inapplicable in the reality of non-European situations. The ensuing result of ill-informed, badly drawn colonial boundaries, it seems, is at its worst the eruption of mass brutality between forcibly confronted subnational groups.</p> <p>But Kenya had for so long averted this fate, played out repeatedly elsewhere in world politics in this the dawn of the postcolonial era. So, why now? Indeed, any type of political unrest is often symbolic of a desperate populace, an impoverished populace. Despite Kibaki's progress in the last five years in tackling endemic corruption, increasing economic growth, and improving access to primary education, most Kenyans remain below the poverty line and the disparity between rich and poor continues to grow. Curruption remains endemic and Kenya continues to bargain from a disadvantageous position in world trade matters.</p> <p>Given these facts, the Kenyan people appear to have been reasonably primed for a change and invested their faith in their young and hopeful democracy to effect this change. If Opposition supporters are correct in their assertions of impropriety in these recent elections, then Kibaki has done his country a great disservice for the small and costly reward of continued power. In any event, his actions following the disputed election have churned the widespread suspicions of fraud and so are non-conducive to progressive democracy in Kenya. Notably, it was most imprudent of Kibaki to resume the protocol of signing in minutes after the completion of the vote counting, even as rumours raged of election rigging. </p> <p>Sadly, despite a largely peaceful run-up to election, ethnicity is being exploited in the aftermath of a suspicious election result for egoistic political gain, and the casualties are the Kenyan people. Therefore, while many Western commentators have attributed the recent violence in Kenya to deep tribal rifts, the matter seems to also be a case of a people who are tired of their will being thwarted. They, the aspirational model of the African future of governance, have tasted the sweet fruit of freedom since the defeat of Moi by Kibaki in the 2002 elections, and will accept no less than full accountability from their leaders. When these basic wants of a progressive society are unmet, existing tribal antagonism is ripe for eruption. </p> <p>The best defeat of tribal discontent is in the attainment of prosperity across the board, at the national level. Why Kenya, now? Why this disturbance in the path of this beautiful nations' heralded success? Perhaps this recent chain of events represents the syndromic tribal unrest seen in her neighbours, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia etc and directly attributable to the faulty colonial arangements left in place. Or perheps this is a different flavour, that of a people exhibiting defiant refusal of political opacity following a taste of progress. And the added exploitation of ethnic tension by politicians, itself a consequience of colonial interference. Perhaps this will be but a blip in the forward movement of Kenya's political process. Nevertheless, this represents a significant study in the difficulties still presenting obstacles to African progress: neo-colonialist capitalism that continues to deepen wealth disparity, tribal tension exacerbated by lingering effects of colonialism, corruption, the inappropriate superposition of Western democratic concepts. Let us hope that all contenders in this volatile matter are inclined toward the high road, toward the ultimate dream of Kenyan and African excellence. We at the Dread team express solidarity with our Kenyans brothers and sisters in these trying times.</p> <p>Bless </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2008/01/03/why_kenya~3521218/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2008/01/03/why_kenya~3521218/Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:37:58 +0100 <p>Today, a page turns in history as a new year, 2008, is born, while another, 2007 expires. 2007 has been a year of interesting developments in the Afrikan world, of highs and lows and of trials and triumph. Africa has roared in her defiant refusal to submit to the neocolonial connotations of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) as laid out once again be the hungry European wolves. She has seen unprecendented economic growth rates at roughly 5% per annum. She, more and more, owns her own. There is increasingly reason to be hopeful about a glorious future that is of our making.</p> <p>Despite this, Afrika and her diasporic offspring in the Americas, Europe, CAribbean and elsewhere continue to face enormous challenges that are historic in nature and difficult to crack. In 2007, this was particularly apparent in the violence that consumed electoral processes in several countries, the most recet of which is the violent riots in Kenya this past few days. There are other instances of violence in elections this year: Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Nigeria to name a few. Indeed, regional instability as initiated and sustained by a Western plot to nurture its waning civilisation is a recurring theme in world politics. </p> <p>At the same time, Haiti has sustained peace following a smooth transition to the leadership of President Rene Preval in 2006 and the Bahamas has maintained a largely non-violent democratic process in its elections of summer 2007. Therefore, there is little doubt that although we are still mired in the wicked and one-sided system that has been constructed for the extraction of our God-given claims to justice and equality, we continue to move upward and out of a construct that is nary to our benefit.</p> <p>2007 has also been a year of individual achievement for Afrikans the world over. 2007 saw the glorious rise of many young and dynamic athletic talents as highlighted for example by the IAAF world indoor championships. The show was taken by the Kenyan long-dsitance runners and by the Caribbean sprinters. 2007 is a particularly interesting year for Black individual achievement because of the contention of Barack Obama, an Africn-American, for the Presidency of the USA. That he has done so while still largely maintaining the overall respect of African Americans while remaining a attractive candidate to middle America is even more impressive. </p> <p>We, the Dread Team have witnessed the unedifying spread of many common tropical diseases which have unleashed ill-health and poverty due to catastropchic changes in family relations due to the death of a young able working adult in the family. Of course, we are still in 2007 referring to the devastation of HIV/AIDS for the world, and for the Afrikan world in particular. We have made progress in 2007 but are we winning enough medical research battles to rescue the number of those who now face sure death?</p> <p>Africa alone cannot answer these questions which trouble the minds of presidents and prime ministers, ministers and other elected officials, or at least of those who really have the progress of their countries and of the Black world in general. 2007 was the trumpeting event for the abolition of slavery in the British empire, one where the theme sanctioned by all (media, politicians, civil servants, everyone) in reference to the lesser position of Black in British society is through the prism of slavery and inferiority celebrated for finally disproving what the white masters in Whitehall deamed the natural superiority of the paler races. This 2007 was the year for rememberence of how our masters gave of themselves and of their good hearts to 'liberate' us from a system we could not free ourselves of alone (in their minds). Hence, Wilberforce, Jackson and cie.</p> <p>The manipulation of the media in continuing to represent Africa and the Black world as impoverished jungles of tribal violence continue to hurt the economic prospect of Africa for attracting investments. Perception, still in 2007 was and is everything. </p> <p>Part of that perception has to continue to be the flagrant exhibition of natural pride, despite what the media infiltrators may intend. The African Union has made significant strides in its development, having met for a conference on Science and Technology in January of 2007. Africa is looking to the future, and she is moving in the direction of her vision. These are indeed historic times.</p> <p>Thus, we continue to be face with the dichotomous twins entities of political unrest, inequality, social deprivation and poverty on the one hand, and of the hopeful future as forecast by academics on the other. There is little doubt that we can only continue in the direction of development of our collective ideals only as long as we remain fixed on addressing each of these entities. Because equality is embedded in our natural birthright and thus we at the close of 2007 find ourselves in history in the making, asking the question of ourselves as to how we can avert the oppressive will of Western hegemony while maintaining a peaceful course of self development. A crowning moment in 2007, a Year in Black, has been the African continent's refusal to sign the EPA agreements. This demonstrates the capacity for Africa to demand her own destiny. We at the Dread Team dream of a day when Africa's children can rest again and rise to their rightful place in world order.</p> <p>The future is Black </p> <p>One</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2008/01/01/year_in_black~3513217/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2008/01/01/year_in_black~3513217/Tue, 01 Jan 2008 06:11:53 +0100 <p>On 27th November 2007 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released figures and statistics for the Human Development Index (HDI) as part of the 2007/2008 Human Development Report, which this year also reports on the climate change effects and responsibilities of individual countries. </p> <p>The Dread Team wishes to emphasise that we understand how such statistics must be carefully used and interpreted in order to provide a balanced critical view of the results. Some commentators do suggest that the HDI is an imperfect measure of development for a variety of reasons we do not intend to review here.</p> <p>While the usual quartet of Iceland, Norway (overtaken from position 1 this year), Australia and Canada remained on top, the US at 12 (slipping from 8 last year) and other high ranking industrialised nations show strong performances on real income levels (or GDP per capita), life expectancy, and educational attainment measured by the proportion of the population enrolled in primary secondary and tertiary education. However, the story for Africa has not particularly improved this time round. </p> <p>South Africa remained at 121 this year, and stagnancy characterised the rest of 'sub-Saharan' Africa with all 22 countries in the low human development category. Sierra Leone scored 177, and therefore arrived last in the world race for governments to provide human living conditions conducive to development. For example, the last 12 countries in the list are in Africa. A combination of low income, low life expectancy and the destructive effects of HIV/AIDS on the basic resources and structures of these societies reveal a very worrying picture.</p> <p>The picture is provisionally more cheerful for the Caribbean region, because Barbados scored as the NUMBER ONE developing country in the world with a global ranking of 31! In fact, the Caribbean Community has done relatively well considering the following performances:</p> <p>31 Barbados<br> 49 Bahamas, The<br> 54 St Kitts Nevis<br> 57 Antigua and Barbuda<br> 59 Trinidad and Tobago<br> 71 Dominica<br> 72 St Lucia<br> 80 Belize<br> 82 Grenada<br> 85 Suriname<br> 93 St Vincent and the Grenadines<br> 97 Guyana<br> 101 Jamaica<br> 146 Haiti</p> <p>It has been noted that the strong performance of Caribbean nations places them above global leaders in economic and technological development such as Brazil, India and Nigeria. While it is clear that the size of the populations and political cultures of these countries cannot be compared to the Caribbean, small island countries may appear to be easier to steer on a course of economic and social reforms than other larger land-locked nations, although that might only be a perception rather than reality.</p> <p>Nonetheless, the real progress being made regionally by independent Caribbean nations must remind us to also bring deeper into the fold of CARICOM initiatives, partnerships and agreements those countries in the group that are lagging behind for a variety of reasons, some political, some arising from financial mismanagement and the incredibly high debt servicing schedules of the IMF.</p> <p>The Caribbean Community can also take a deep breath to realise how far it has come thus far in terms of economic and human progress in recent years, and pause to think for a moment how its peoples and governments imagine their lives and opportunities in the Caribbean of the future.</p> <p>Perhaps the rest of the world is only awakening to something vibrant Caribbean nations have gradually been working on and preparing for since the massive independence movements of the 60s and 70s, and the creative nation building and re-construction efforts that ensued and continue up to this day with this release of a positive report on the collective Caribbean experience.</p> <p>To avoid complacency, and perhaps even worse, a reversal of the recent HDI trend for progress, Caribbean nations must not begin to look at each other on the basis of rankings and economic fitness exclusively, but should also appreciate that the political as well as the economic futures of countries in the region are likely to be intricately linked, as increasingly is the regional labour force, internal migration patterns and the exploitation of productive industries.</p> <p>On the basis of such a glowing report card for the Caribbean in the recent Human Development Report, the Dread Team takes the position that Afrikans everywhere must continue to support gaining greater influence in the international sphere, sign treaties and agreements that will contribute to effective governance of resources, and to the creation of rewarding life opportunities for the peoples of the region. The recent expression renewal of of political will and efforts to get Haiti out of the 'failed state' category in international relations--which category also includes the Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia--will have a stabilising effect on the region.</p> <p>Looking at the HDI index might not tell us the full story of what is yet to come for the Caribbean Community of the future. </p> <p>Indeed, perhaps the progressive and liberally-minded nations of the region are already planting the seeds for the next Caribbean Community Renaissance! We hope that you will stay tuned...the story has only just begun. We, at the Dread Team, continue to hope that entire chapters of progress and success are yet to be written... </p> <p>Bless up</p> <p>The Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/12/14/planting_the_seeds_for_the_next_caribbea~3443204/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/12/14/planting_the_seeds_for_the_next_caribbea~3443204/Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:34:06 +0100 <p>In recent days, the European Union and African leaders met in Lisbon, Protugal to discuss a new trade deal and human rights. The theme of the talks were to forge a new partnership on issues including security, development, trade and good governance. This ambitious agenda arose from an imminent deadline set by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2000 asking the trade partners to fix anticompetitive and market distorting arrangements that put the other members of the WTO at a disadvantage.</p> <p>The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiated in the past have also angered developing country partners who felt that the power to decide on trade terms was in the hands of Europe, which still acted in authority based on its past colonial power and influence on Africa and its leaders.</p> <p>This time round some of these leaders, like Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade are not keeping quiet and have expressed the view that the new trade deals--with individual African countries also having the power to sign on their own, which some 13 of the East African block of countries have already done on an interim basis-- will damage their fragile economies.</p> <p>Europe's offer to the group of countries known as African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)nations, consisted mainly of some re-working of the terms of the former Cotonou Agreement, the original EPA granting preferential treatment to developing countries, which regulated trade in various areas of agriculture and manufacturing (particularly textile for example) between the EU and the ACP countries.</p> <p>The recent rows emerged when African leaders realised that the deals proposed by German Chancellor and Chairman of the Summit, Angela Merkel and other leaders at the table in Lisbon, were to replace agreements which gave former European colonies preferential trade terms- to demand that African countries open their markets to European goods in order to keep tariff-free EU access for their own exports. This has a potential to raise tariffs that are now granted on a preferential basis and often not exceeding the average 2-8% duty levels on import goods from African countries into the EU.</p> <p>The preferential system the EU currently has in place with the ACP has been ruled illegal by the WTO, and by 1st january 2008, the partners will have to trade on the basis of a new EPA which will open their markets to European goods gradually. For those who are already thinking like us that a simple solution for these beleaguered African leaders to come out on top as winners is to stay away from signing a new EPA that would effectively tie up their hands behind their backs.</p> <p>The dangers of not signing the agreement, however, is quite serious and would include, for example, that Namibia's beef, grape and fish exports could virtually cease from next year as it loses preferential access to European markets. According to Jurgen Hoffmann, a trade advisor to the Agricultural Forum of Namibia, beef products, in the absence of a deal in place by 1st January 2008, would attract import duties of 63%-120%, as opposed to the average 8% duty paid now. What this means for ordinary Namibians producing or selling these products is that beef prices in Namibia are estimated to fall by 25% next year and by 50% the following year. Hunger, hardship and poverty would undoubltedly follow such events.</p> <p>For a small country depending on its beef industry for national income and foreign currencies, it would also mean that fish, which entered the EU duty-free under Cotonou, will attract duties of up to 20%. The grapes products sector will suffer from raw open competition with the powerful South Africans and the Chileans who are producers on a much larger scale and can therefore flood the markets with their goods at lower prices considering large volumes, therefore undermining another industry for Namibians. But Namibia was still taking the position earlier in the year that it would still not sign the new deal!</p> <p>Despite positive pronouncements from the current EC president Portugals's Prime Minister Jose Socrates that the Summit could be heralded as a 'summit of equals', he also surprisingly stated that he was satisfied in himself that the meeting had taken place at all. Well, the Dread Team believes that if a small developing country like Namibia decides to stay out of a deal that could damage its industries and increase unemployment for its peoples rather than ratifying it shows how much worse the consequences are to sign rather than not signing at all!</p> <p>How, at the end the 7th year of the 21st century, can former European colonies still be able to dictate the terms of trade and tariff duties to sovereign independent nations who shook off the chains of colonial sugjugation and oppression during the feverish independence movement eras of the 1950s and 1960s? </p> <p>For the most part, the position of power taken by the EU countries is an illusion, smoking mirrors because most of the 25 current members have never owned colonies or never had an empire to speak of. For instance the most recent members of the EU who joined on 1st January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania can speak of no colonial past or influence of their own proper yet are able to sit at a table with the other 25 EU countries facing the African leaders (include the true culprits of the Germans, Brits, French, Dutch and Portuguese for instance, to name a few)and determining the terms of trade on the 'principle' or assumption of past colonial influence, which in their mind really means that some form of tight leash should be maintained on these former colonies and ACP countries for a long while to come still.</p> <p>How can this idiotic situation still prevail when African leaders, or no one in the ACP group for that matter, should no longer be told what to do like simple-minded children needing the paternalistic protection and edicts of its powerful masters?</p> <p>Africa and Africans are tired of these summits created to be photo oppos for European leaders who temporarily escape the rigours of domestic political opposition and machinery for a weekend in order to act as great owners and dealers of the world's most precious commodities. Well, they also accuse the African leadres of the same, by the way. It is a chance for them to tell other nations, mainly the African ones such as Zimbabwe and its infamous President Robert Mugabe, how to govern and behave itself in this 'world of equals'.</p> <p>The Dread Team denounces the hypocrisy and mean-spiritedness of these new trade deals which instead of agreement, will generate much more DIsagreement and conflict in future between the EU and Africa. </p> <p>Africa is on its knees and asking for survival, Europe is handing it a very dry old bread which it is trying to persuade Africans tastes like a fresh new loaf.</p> <p>We simply won't have it. The struggle for economic equality and prosperity continues, but can we Africans and ACP country members find a solution for us, by us? Why was the Summit not deemed an EU-African Union (AU) Summit, you will ask? Simply because it is still useful for our former colonial masters to divide us and rule us (and exploit us) in the confusion they create, rather than deal with the strength and eminent economic position of Africa that the AU should continue to grow towards and strive towards single-mindedly. We are our own masters now! </p> <p>There is still time for, no, rather, IT IS time for Africa to rise up, stand up, look at Europe and the rest of the world straight in the eye! We are the masters of our own destinies; let us use that influence to built strong and proud nations that can feed, educate and care for their own while also exporting its useful resources to the rest of the world on an advantageous trading basis. We must exercise our own power and throw our own weight around in this global jungle full of bullies, the biggest of which remains the US, even in unilateral trade terms. Then maybe the rest of the world will notice, and finally start caring about us and the fate of our children, and of our children's children on this planet. </p> <p>Poverty and subjugation to former masters of another era is not the legacy we want to leave them! Equality will never come from the generosity which Europe sees in its own hands to dispense, but rather from AfriKans taking concrete actions to demand, obtain and effect political and economic equality on the world stage. It is due time the rest of the world finally heeds the voice of Africa and its children.</p> <p>Africa Unite</p> <p>The Dread Team</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/12/12/eu_africa_summit_on_trade_seeking_new_te~3432362/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/12/12/eu_africa_summit_on_trade_seeking_new_te~3432362/Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:59:40 +0100 <p>Our modern understanding of African world spirituality needs to be revisited. It is untrue to pretend that we reside in the same mystical space as our ancestors did. They inhabited a place of deep spirituality and of connectedness with the natural and supernatural worlds. Every day's challenges were attributed to the wrath or lack of satisfaction of a god, and appeasement alone was the remedy, often at a high cost of life or liquor. Many Diasporans today find shame in remembering those practices which bear the authenticity seal of our traditions past.</p> <p>The modern agony over the so-called uncivilised and primitive world view that gives rise to obscure and malevolent practices of retribution and vengeance, in truth a truly bloody scene, reveals a psychological disposition to reject self as other and undeserving of respect and regard for its differential attributes and qualities. In fact the Supreme God Olodumare of the Yoruba Pantheon is but one example of a diligent and sensual god who brings misery on his creation purely out of absent-mindedness and negligence, not malevolence per se, unless to conquer a mortal maiden, or at least so goes the oral tradition. And that in itself is the attack made on the authenticity of practices not registered or written anywhere and claimed to be part of folklore. How are countries like South Africa, Namibia, Australia (and the aborigines) determine what authentic religious practices need to be protected or exempted from the fist of the law when they are integral to cultural integrity and sacred practice?</p> <p>The cosmogony of the Akan people of West Africa's Gold Coast, today's Ghana, demonstrates the generosity of a world order where gods and goddesses are genuinely interested in the lives, pains and challenges of humans. They coexist, co-habit and share the same fate as mortals in those stories, becoming vulnerable through love, jealousy, envy and ambition. These are gods made in the measure of humans, they truly are our partners in the destiny of time. Is our modern understanding of god and deity to be informed by the post-colonial emergence of African religiosity in the Black world, both on the continent of Africa and the diaspora?</p> <p>The legacy of slavery has initiated some very novel philosophical insight into human existence. Afrikans, bearing the tremendous burden of systematic oppression, have been privy to certain revelations of spirituality. This has been facilitated by the persistence of an Afrikan cosmogonical insight even as Afrika's unfortunate children crossed the abyss of the Middle Passage. </p> <p>For example, the Haitian Revolution was preluded by a Vodun ceremony (led by Boukman) which aided their handy defeat of the French Empire. This would have been altered form but not distinct from the ancestral African ritualism. Perhaps the most recent significant development in resistance theology in the Black diaspora is that of RAstafari, a world view that celebrates the often unmentioned Ancient Christian traditions in Ethiopia and resists the racist precepts of Eurocentric ideals. From these instances, it is easy to see that the Afrikan's resilience in the face of overwhelming obstacles has been founded on indigenous Afrikan spirituality and philosophy that we thought we had lost. Therefore, since Afrikan religiosity has in many ways enabled our liberation from the chains of oppression, it is clear that we must further understand and appreciate this indelibly etched aspect of our collective psychology.</p> <p>For no people is distinct from its origin.</p> <p>....(to be continued)....</p> <p>One Love</p> <p>Dread Team</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/27/africa_world_spirituality_aamp_religions~3359143/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/27/africa_world_spirituality_aamp_religions~3359143/Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:08:46 +0100 <p>There was a time, not too long ago, when Africa and Africans had great hope for their future. Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah, had become independent by 1957, and it appeared that the bonds of colonialism, brief but tortuous, had at last been broken. The great visionary Nkrumah saw three fundamental tasks to be carried out that would ensure a successful AFrican future: the freedom of all Africa, the unity of all Africa, and the technological advancement of all Africa. Indeed, 50 years later, though we have seen Africa freed from her colonial bonds, and we see the process in place to bring about political and economic unity, Africa still requires the re-development of a culture of science and technology. Anecdotal evidence from around the world and from our illustrious past informs us that an emphasis on innovation is an integral aspect of development and of dignity.</p> <p>Indeed, recognising this, the African Union has recently formed a New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), and a part of this body is the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST), whose mission is to provide a "high-level platform for developing policies and setting priorities on science, technology and innovation for African development. AMCOST provides political and policy leadership for the implementation of Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA)." So it appears that the visions of Nkrumah may just become reality.</p> <p>Perhaps the most important philosophical foundation for use of resources to facilitate African science, even in the face of burgeoning poverty, is that without the power of science we will always be in a position of prostration at the heel of the West. In other words, innovation is a necessary sacrifice and a potentially invaluable resource in an increasingly complex global economy. Moreover, and more to the point, pre-colonial African history indicates a natural cultural inclination towards innovation. The pyramids, mathematics and medicine are just a few examples. Colonialism has stolen our memory of this dignified culture of inquiry, and then sold it back to us as their own! This is why, paradoxically, Afrikans tend to be under-represented in science and technology despite being a great part of its origin. Reclamation and more emphatically improvement of the scientific and innovative tradition is not a choice but an imperative if we are ever to achieve justice.</p> <p>Forward</p> <p>Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/25/science_in_the_african_revolution~3349059/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/25/science_in_the_african_revolution~3349059/Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:42:39 +0100 <p>The Dread Team is delighted to welcome you to the Dread Iditations Blog! As we celebrate our first month of publication online, we would like to have your suggestions on the types of contributions you would like to see on this blog as a regular user. All suggestions are appreciated.</p> <p>The Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/22/dread_iditations_is_one_month_old~3335134/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/22/dread_iditations_is_one_month_old~3335134/Thu, 22 Nov 2007 12:13:11 +0100 <p>Zimbabwe: Putting Zim First - If Not Now, When?<br> by Bishop Trevor Manhanga<br> Published in The Herald (Harare)</p> <p>TWO incidents took place this year, a couple of months and two<br> continents apart, yet interrelated in that they revealed the battle<br> we Africans, and indeed Zimbabweans encounter in the face of the<br> stereotypical, and downright racist attitudes and opinions some in<br> the white west have about us, as we strive for economic empowerment<br> and emancipation.</p> <p>The first incident took place in Dakar Senegal on July 20 2007 and<br> relates to the speech given by the President of France Nicolas<br> Sarkozy at the Cheikh Anta Diop University.</p> <p>In what can only be described as a most unfortunate revelation of the<br> inner feelings of a very high standing public figure, Sarkozy had<br> this to say of Africa and Africans, in part: "The tragedy of Africa<br> is that the African man has never really entered history.</p> <p>"The African peasant who for centuries has lived according to the<br> seasons, whose ideal is to be in harmony with nature, has only known<br> the eternal renewal of time via the endless repetition of the same<br> actions and the same words.</p> <p>"In this mentality, where everything always starts over again, there<br> is no place for human adventure nor for any idea of progress...this<br> man never projects himself into the future, it never occurs to him to<br> break free from the repetition and invent a destiny for himself.</p> <p>"This, if you will allow a friend of Africa to say it, is Africa's<br> problem.</p> <p>"Africa's challenge is to enter history more fully.... Africa's<br> challenge is to stop forever repeating and going over things, and to<br> free itself from the myth of the eternal renewal. It is to realise<br> that the golden age that it always harks back to will never return,<br> for the simple reason that it never existed.... Africa's problem is<br> that its present is permeated with nostalgia for the paradise lost of<br> its childhood.</p> <p>"Africa's problem is that it judges its present according to a wholly<br> imaginary notion of original purity that no one could ever hope to<br> revive.</p> <p>"Africa's challenge should not be to invent a past, however mythical;<br> to make the present more bearable, but to invent a future with the<br> means it has at its disposal.... For Africa has a right to be happy<br> just like all the other continents of the world."</p> <p>The deafening silence from the African continent and its leadership<br> in allowing Sarkozy to make such a derogatory speech not only on<br> African soil, but also at an institution of higher learning, and get<br> away with it has been most disturbing.</p> <p>How can the collective leadership of the African continent, have<br> remained silent in the face of this very provocative and insulting<br> opinion of Africans? Sarkozy's synopsis of Africa and its people is<br> without empirical validation, downright condescendingly racist, and<br> must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.</p> <p>One would have expected at the very least a rebuttal of Sarkozy's<br> racist remarks from none other than the AU, or other regional African<br> bodies such as Sadc or Ecowas. I have been surprised at the lack of a<br> groundswell of rebuke from continental and Diaspora Africans.</p> <p>If there has been a response, then perhaps I have not seen it. Voices<br> of indignation against Sarkozy's racist diatribe have been few and<br> far between, and among the few I have encountered is one in the<br> October issue of New African magazine, where the editor Baffour<br> Ankomah in response to Sarkozy's speech said:</p> <p>"I don't know about you just now, but I am doing my utmost to calm<br> down! For we are dealing here with a confused man with a confused<br> speech. Africa has no glorious past? What were our ancestors doing in<br> Egypt then? And Nubia? And all those glorious empires of yore right<br> across the continent? When our ancestors had built the great pyramids<br> in Egypt and Nubia (today's northern Sudan), Sarkozy's European<br> ancestors were still living in caves. They didn't know what a window<br> was! And he has the temerity to insult us and our ancestors?"</p> <p>There is doubt that Ankomah is livid and rightfully so, because such<br> outright disdain for Africa and its people cannot be left<br> unchallenged.</p> <p>What Sarkozy needs to ask himself is how many of the descendants of<br> these "African peasants who live by the seasons" were part of<br> France's World Cup winning team, when France hosted the soccer<br> showcase? If my memory serves me right, the team looked like a<br> typical African Cup of Nations team, with a couple of Caucasian<br> faces. So much for people who are supposedly locked in a time warp<br> and prisoners to the "seasons" according to the gospel espoused by<br> Sarkozy.</p> <p>The second incident took place in the USA, and relates to an article<br> written by an eminent scholar and Nobel laureate James D. Watson.<br> Watson, who up until his retirement on October 25 2007, was the<br> chancellor of Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory on Long Island New York,<br> USA, resigned after controversy erupted over comments he made<br> suggesting black people are less intelligent than whites.</p> <p>Watson (79) who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for discovering the<br> structure of DNA, joined Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory as director<br> in 1968 and helped build it into one of the world's leading genetics<br> research institutes. His problems, which led to his retirement, arose<br> from comments he was quoted as having said on October 14 in the<br> Sunday Times of London, that he is "inherently gloomy about the<br> prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the<br> fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- where-as all the<br> testing says, not really."</p> <p>To their credit, Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory through their<br> president, said Watson's comments have no connection with research<br> activity at the lab, whose faculty members "vehemently disagree" with<br> Watson's statements.</p> <p>The lab moved swiftly to suspend Watson's administrative<br> responsibilities as chancellor leading to his subsequent resignation.</p> <p>Why do I make reference to these two incidents that have taken place<br> on two continents by two different people, under two different<br> conditions?</p> <p>Reference must be made to them, because they reveal the underlying<br> hostile and racist attitudes we face as Africans in dealing with the<br> global village of the 21st century. Sarkozy and Watson are not<br> ordinary run of the mill, intellectually challenged people. On the<br> contrary, one is the president of a key industrialised Western<br> European nation, the other an eminent Nobel laureate and respected<br> scientist.</p> <p>The question must be asked then, if people of such high standing and<br> respectability in western society have such a deprecating opinion of<br> Africa and Africans, then the problem we face is much greater than we<br> ever imagined.</p> <p>Theses were not off the cuff, slip of the tongue comments. On the<br> contrary, the comments were well thought out and delivered, and even<br> if there is ever an attempt to withdraw them, the intended damage has<br> been done, and cannot be retracted, no matter how vigorous an attempt<br> to do so.</p> <p>I mention these two incidents in relation to Zimbabwe because it is<br> imperative that there is an understanding by all of us, that we<br> should work to prove that the two gentleman, and others who may share<br> their sentiments are wrong. We must not conduct ourselves in a manner<br> that provides them with ammunition, to buttress their racist<br> stereotypical opinions.</p> <p>There are three things I believe we need to do as Zimbabweans that<br> will serve to counter Sarkozy and Watson's bigoted opinions.</p> <p>The first is to ensure that the agricultural season currently upon us<br> yields the fruits we anticipate and desperately need.</p> <p>It is not too late to make the clarion call to all those on<br> agricultural land whether they be beneficiaries of the land reform<br> programme, or have always been on the land, A1 or A2 farmers, to<br> fully use every inch of available arable land, and make this<br> the, "mother of all agricultural seasons." We must prove people<br> wherever they may be, who harbour the same thoughts as Sarkozy and<br> Watson wrong.</p> <p>We must show that we can use the land we have. We can make use of the<br> farming implements that have just been delivered to some of our<br> farmers. We owe it to ourselves and indeed our African compatriots,<br> to show that we are not lesser mortals, that we are industrious,<br> responsible people.</p> <p>We must be constantly aware that there are many more Sarkozy's and<br> Watson's who firmly believe that we are incapable producing the kinds<br> of crops, (both qualitatively and quantitatively), that the white<br> former farmers used to. It is for this reason that we must turn to<br> the rallying cry of the war of liberation, when those who fought for<br> the emancipation of the nation reminded each other in the face of a<br> well armed and intransigent enemy: "Iwe neni tine basa (we are duty-<br> bound)."</p> <p>That is the reality we face today and every one of us must not flinch<br> from the task ahead.</p> <p>The second is to ensure that the up coming national elections are<br> conducted in an atmosphere free of violence, and in an open and<br> transparent manner.</p> <p>Those who cannot bring themselves to face the reality that<br> Zimbabweans can solve their own problems, (and we are well on our way<br> to doing that), will leave no stone unturned to find reasons to try<br> to isolate us.</p> <p>For this reason every political party and candidate that will contest<br> next year's election must realise that the elections are more than<br> just electing a President, a Member of Parliament, a Senator, a<br> Councillor, it is about Zimbabwe.</p> <p>It is about putting Zimbabwe first, and that means ensuring that we<br> conduct the elections in a manner that will unify the nation, give us<br> all the opportunity discover what unites us (and there is much more<br> that unites us than divides us), rather than add fuel to the fires of<br> division.</p> <p>Not only must the elections be conducted in an atmosphere free of<br> violence, but there will also be a great responsibility on the<br> electorate to elect those who unite not those who divide, doers not<br> sitters, people who have a vision for a great and prosperous<br> Zimbabwe, not people who cannot see beyond tomorrow.</p> <p>It is important therefore for all political parties that will present<br> candidates to the electorate, to assist the process by putting<br> forward credible candidates, who will be a credit to both their<br> party, and their nation if elected.</p> <p>Zimbabwe has a plethora of intellectually astute, morally upright<br> people who have a well-documented track record.</p> <p>These are the people who should be put forward before the electorate,<br> and that will give the electorate a group of topnotch candidates from<br> which to choose those who will spearhead the turnaround and take off<br> of our nation.</p> <p>Finally, we need to unite, from all sectors in the nation, in a call<br> for the lifting of sanctions. We need to collectively begin the<br> campaign now for the lifting of sanctions, of whatever form,<br> currently imposed on the nation and some of our leaders.</p> <p>Those who have imposed sanctions of whatever form on us need to be<br> told, we are of one mind on this issue -- they must be lifted.</p> <p>The sanctions are neither smart nor targeted and have run their<br> course. We need not wait for the completion of the electoral process<br> next year, to begin the rebuilding of the nation and its economy, and<br> part of the rebuilding process starts with the lifting of the embargo<br> that has been placed on the nation.</p> <p>Regardless of one's political affiliation, or of ones previous<br> position on the issue of sanctions, we must all agree that sanctions<br> have no use right now, other than to perpetuate the suffering of the<br> people of Zimbabwe.</p> <p>The church community must speak for the lifting of sanctions, the<br> business community must do the same, those in civic society must join<br> the call, and finally the political parties must unite and pass a<br> resolution in both houses of the legislature for the lifting of<br> sanctions, so that the entire world knows that the people of Zimbabwe<br> are speaking with one voice, and that voice declares that sanctions<br> must be lifted.</p> <p>If these three things can be done I have no doubt that we will be<br> well on the way for the take off we so desperately need.</p> <p>The beauty of what needs to be done, is that it is all well within<br> our powers to do so. We can work the land and ensure a bountiful<br> harvest. We can prepare for, and conduct elections in an atmosphere<br> free of violence and intimidation.</p> <p>We can unite as a nation, and present a common front to the world on<br> the issue of the lifting of sanctions. We can do all of these things.</p> <p>The question is, will we rise to the challenge and do them? Only the<br> people of Zimbabwe themselves can answer that question, but I have<br> great faith, that reason will triumph over unreasonableness, hope<br> will triumph over despair and love will triumph over hatred. We can<br> do it, I know we can.</p> <p>lBishop Manhanga is the Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal<br> Assemblies of Zimbabwe and the Chairman of the Heads of Christian<br> Denominations. He writes this article in his personal capacity.<br> ===</p> <p>Brought to you by the Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/22/french_president_sarkozy_makes_racist_sp~3334974/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/22/french_president_sarkozy_makes_racist_sp~3334974/Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:38:40 +0100 <p>Recent World Bank figures indicate that Africa has been sustaining a steady rate of economic growth over the past decade, now on par with global rates. These figures are based on conventional indicators such as access to infrastructure and foreign direct investment. The chief economist for the World Bank, John Page, has attributed this to the fact that "Africa has learnt to trade more efectively with the rest of the world, [and] to rely more on the private sector..." While we are happy if this is indeed the case, the Dread team thought we'd have a closer look at what this recent projection means for Africa and for Africans.</p> <p>While it is clear that the sucess is tempered by some remaining challenges, the Dread team laments that the majority of this growth occurred in developing economies that are rich in oil and natural resources, making them very vulnerable to world market price fluctuations for these commodities. Even in the sector of agriculture where most African countries continue to specialise, and which occupies most of their employed adult populations, there has not been enough stability in world market prices in period covered by the report to allow steady income for poor countries.</p> <p>The behaviour silenced by this World Bank report on Africa is that of the rest of the world that introduces and maintains discriminatory practices for granting huge agricultural subsidies to their domestic farmers to exclude the products of other nations in their markets, making it unprofitable for poorer nations to compete with these heavily subsidised economies. The matter is one of plain injustice and inequity in world trading power. Rather than mask the reality of the hypocritical behaviour of the powers that be at the World Trade Organization, the IMF and the World Bank, we must denounce the agenda of underdevelopment imposed on the rest of the world for the benefit and enrichment of the priviledged few. This report is only trying to say that Africa is ready and open for business, and to the highest bidder! (This view is confirmed by a recent Economist article on banking investment in Africa at <a href="http://economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10146637">http://economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10146637</a> )</p> <p>Indeed, one must view with vigorous scepticism any assertion by the World Bank, which has long been suspected to be little more than a profiteering racket by powerful Western enterprises. The World Bank is characterised by a long track record of disregard for indigenous interest in the context of loans to developing nations. It favours multinational businesses and is almost unabashedly an instrument of their penetration into virgin markets. These multinationals require a trade advantage in developing nations and the World Bank serves to facilitate this. This is why we are particularly suspicious of the indicators being used by the World Bank. As is often the case, a tendency towards privatisation is viewed as a positive indicator, despite the many anecdotes of failed privatisations in both developing and developed contexts. Again, the World Bank has revealed its unsympathetic vision for Africa. It is clear that they are encouraged by Africa opening her shores to the tenacious tentacles of global corporation, but should we be?</p> <p>The alternative vision which we take is that the number one indicator that should matter for Africa and the world is the human development index. In truth, the level of economic performance and stability are primary and important to infer levels of safety of investment for instance, but nonetheless will be reflected in the overall human and social attributes of that nation. Increasing the proportions of children in schools, creating jobs, maintaining quality basic energy and telecommunication infrastructures, improving through local entrepreneurship and innovation; all these advances will be reflected in the overall human development performance index. It is time we abandon a myopic view of the condition of humanity. A holistic and honest approach to where our challenges lie and how to cooperate to overcome them together is a surer way. Until there continues to be European growth, and Asian growth and African growth, we will never dream big enough to reach the potentials of world growth.</p> <p>Bless forward</p> <p>Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/17/the_meaning_of_african_economic_progress~3311792/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/17/the_meaning_of_african_economic_progress~3311792/Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:40:27 +0100 <p>Peace eludes<br> as long as the people cry<br> as long as inequality reigns<br> no dove for this scene<br> no olive leaf</p> <p>The belly full of hunger<br> those who have not<br> chant the praises of those who do<br> sing their hymns, pay their rates and tariffs<br> provide them with easy jobs in the sun<br> freeloading to death in the midst of want<br> until the rest wake up</p> <p>and on this day<br> an ebony wave builds in the heat<br> wiping sweat from steamy brows,<br> The People<br> finally fed up, Arise-<br> hungry for this Beast</p> <p>The sea rises in accord<br> washing up tidings of good days coming<br> of hope and new beginning<br> how will those in need ever afford<br> a greater piece of destiny<br> if we make them pay so dearly</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/11/title~3281865/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/11/title~3281865/Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:07:40 +0100 <p>Greetings Dread people</p> <p>We at the Dread team have just come, refreshed an enlightened, from watching the new documentary, '500 years later'. This film features a plethora of African intellectuals, offering potent and dignified perspectives on the transatlantic slave trade and the subsequent oppression of Afrikan peoples. With great finesse, the film directly addresses the underlying causes of the present state of African nations and peoples: European colonialism. Most importantly, it celebrates the untold civilisations out of Afrika. With stunning wit and logic, "500 years later" chants the call to a constructive Afrocentric approach to our common progress.</p> <p>It is a refreshing change indeed to see our people given a voice through elegant cinematography, a presentation of the beautiful rinbow of the beauty of Afrikan peoples the world over. In addition, this documentary, '500 years later' debunks the major myths and misinformed views on slavery and the cost and implications of our current freedoms. They touch, for instance, on the faulty assumptions Western historians make about the number of Africans who perished in the transatlantic slave trade. Another figure in contention is in the area of the total numbers of Africans who were chained into slavery into the new world--they say 1o million, we say, as the documentary does, that at least that number and more have also perished in the voyage. Who's (was) counting anyway?</p> <p>Perhaps the best feature of this film is its wry turning of the painful history of the African holocaust into fuel for confidence building for our people. Stand-out points included the call to seek spirituality of African origin, such as African Traditonal Religions (ATRs), African Islam or Ethiopian Christianity. With such prolific commentators as Molefi Asante, Maulana Karenga and Frances Cress Walsing, no less than a thorough Afrocentric treatment of the slave trade and of the way forward would be expected. And '500 years later' has delivered. The combination of these forceful African scholars is synthesised into an impeccable argument for the abandonment of destructive Eurocentric ideals (the continued instrument of our oppression) in favour of a contructive and innovative outlook that celebrates African history and accomplishment. </p> <p>A particularly instructive aspect of this work is the deeply psychologically descriptive manner in which the condition of Blackness is described. The concept of racial sense of inferiority forced on Afrikans, the sort of 'extremism' that characterises someone who chooses to forget their own culture to adopt white civilization, and the definition of the notion of beauty are all topics touched on thoroughly even in a short and slickly packaged presentation. The celebration of Afrikan life and culture is a must see, one that reminds us that the struggle is still on!</p> <p>Indeed, the struggle is given new texture and style; the panel of eminent experts all seem to unite on a common way forward, a way that gives hope in the darkness of our current situation. This philosophy, love of the African self, is so revolutionary, so bold and so simple. The negative portrayal of African people for the benefit of the former and still slave masters is clearly enunciated and reduced to emptiness, in a defiant celebration of positive African imagery. The mere fact that self-love can be so inspiring and revolutionary in this system is indicative in itself of the systematic method by which Eurocentric colonialists have sought to oppress our people. A recurring and important theme is the need to use self love to break the persisting bonds of mental slavery. </p> <p>Is our ideal of destiny institutionalised in our Black constitutions? That is a question asked by a community activist in the programme in the light of the visions of James Madisson, Abrahalm Lincoln and others in their constitutions. The parallel made here may not be perfect but it suggests the concern for the future, for a desirable state of being for us and our children, and theirs. Do we as a people still go on living without a cohesive picture of our destinies? Are we still so worried about survival that we cannot look any further into the future? At any point, Star Treck showed us that the role, place and numbers of Blacks in the far-future is not exactly friendly to Black people.</p> <p>All of this highlights a poignant debate that occurs within each of us Black people who have been immersed into the quagmire of Eurocentric society. Integration has overwhelmingly been the approach, with segregation or Black supremacy marking the extreme margins of Black thought. Therefore the debate is between conciliation and reproach. With so many wrongs having been committed against Afrikan people, conciliation is not an option and violent reproach is not healthy. In this light, "500 years later' gives hope for a new option, one that incorporates the affirmation of dignity into the spirit of redemption. This option, the attainment of consciousness, is unassailable by the EUrocentric forces and WILL facilitate our rise into our natural God-given glory.</p> <p>Wisdom and strength for Iver<br> Bless up<br> Dread dem </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/10/title~3277187/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/10/title~3277187/Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:35:52 +0100 <p>We have a situation in the world in which one group of people is continuously and shamelessly condescended upon in the sphere of global politics. We speak of course of the recent events that have crystallised Western othodoxy as blatantly disrespectful to her Southern co-inhabitants of this wonderful Earth. We speak of Sarkozy, a fly by night superhero, a man who has circumvented the judicial requirements of a sovereign nation, Chad, with mere issue of his will. To consider the ludicrosity of this situation, imagine the inverse, the Chadian President running to France to demand that his detained compatriots be allowed to return to CHad, even in the face of charges of capital crimes?!! </p> <p>We speak of the sad disintegration of even the hope that the West, tortured by its self-proclaimed righteousness and morality, will consider the nations of the South as equals. The matter of sovereignty is one that does not deal with arrogance. Using the media to make a point of even helping the Finnish drivers and pilots (in addition to the French caught)to come back home to Europe with him. He once more was the savior of a situation that could have gone badly wrong. But what situation has he changed other than humiliate the Chadian people which unkwowingly have been donating some of their life blood for the greater good of the French Republic; her children? Zoe's Ark has shown the world the hypocrisy of celebrating the abolition of the African slave trade and the irony of stealing children, undocumented and unknown to authorities. They simply have no shame.</p> <p>Were this an isolated instance of the wanton bigotry and bias portrayed by the West towards the rest in the global political arena, it would not be so worrisome. In the Dread utopia, all the world's nations would condemn Sarkozy and arrogant France for the infringement on the right of a nation to carry out its written laws. But thats not the reality we live in today. Sarkozy's own ex-wife audaciously picked up the Bulgarian nurses who had been charged with intentionally infecting Libyan children with HIV. And we have a global climate in which Blair and Bush can follow a philosophy that advocates the natural right of the West to interevene even violently in the affairs of other countries. We have a systematic denial of non-Western social, philosophical and political values. Worse, we have a denigration of the concept of equivalency in humanity.</p> <p>So today it is Afrika's children, tomorrow our professionals and intellectuals. A process of silent blood-letting of the precious few resources of their birth nations, their rightful possession and heritage. The West has always believed in their responsibility for the rest of the world, that is 'the white man's burden'. But now that their irresponsible sense of morality allows their arrogant intransigence to prevail, they have become a burden on the rest of the powerless world. The divisions of the Cold War are no more, but what persists is the imperialist and colonial-loving attitudes of Old Europe. It is true that they help educate Afrikans through higher learning and work opportunities offered in the West, but for whose benefit? Their underdeveloped birth nation or the imperialist world order of their host and benefactors? </p> <p>Indeed, there is little room for altruism in a capitalist system that seeks out the world's best, many of whom are from developing nations, consumes the hopes and dreams of a proud African future. We also view with tremendous scepticism the claims by Zoe's Ark that they acquired the children in Chad in the name of Christian samaritanism. By making his obnoxious journey to Chad to recover these kidnappers, Sarkozy has compounded their overwhelming arrogance. He has validated a most heinous act of criminality. Why? Because 103 African children don't mean as much as one Madeleine McCann. Because, the tendency to condescension towards Black people is thoroughly etched into the Eurocentric mindset. In this perspective, we are to be 'redeemed' on the one hand because of their pity, and not to be trusted on the other hand to carry out orderly and just processes because of their hatred and fear. The time has come to rise with word and sword if necessary, with a defiance that will shock the current world order. </p> <p>Selah</p> <p>Dread team</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/08/super_sarko_flaunts_african_sovereignty~3266949/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/08/super_sarko_flaunts_african_sovereignty~3266949/Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:40:08 +0100 <p>After dying off for over a decade, the argument about the origin of the HIV/AIDS virus that specifically identifies Haiti as an important link in the global pandemic has now been revived, this time by scientists in the US. This has resulted in a revival of the argument that Haitians are responsible for the first US outbreak, and therefore the subsequent explosive spread of the disease worldwide. Not only is the argument and the research supporting it wrong and misguided, it is also important to understand what important and influential interests are behind the continued attention given to this issue. The Haitian link to HIV/AIDS is a distasteful myth now perpetuated by some scientists for the advantages and interests of neo-imperialists.</p> <p>A group of researchers lead by Michael Worobey, an evolutionary scientist from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and including co-authors from Denmark, the UK, The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and one Miami-based medical researcher wrote about the genetic and epidemiological history of the HIV/AIDS variant which dominates today's global outbreak. Haitian workers in Central Africa in the 60s would have brought the virus to the western hemisphere, starting both the Caribbean and US pandemic. They say they hope their research helps in determining and predicting how the virus will continue to change in future to influence research on HIV/AIDS. There are however other more likely explanations for the motivations behind this research.</p> <p>Applying the concepts of gene mutations under selection pressures and epidemiological patterns alone do not have the fool-proof explanatory power that Worobey's team seem to confer to it. Rather, some important elements of the history of the AIDS virus need revisiting and comparing with current scientific knowledge. First, given that the virus emerged from Central Africa in the 1930s, and surfaced in the US in the 70s, any number of factors of mass human contact and migration such as the Second World War, and the intervening years of a military charged and bureacratically secretive Cold War period could explain the various movements of the virus (or earlier variants), even prior to the date Worobey's study begins to look at data from the 60s. Why restrict your lens to looking at data when Haitians began to move to the US; how about Americans moving between all three regions for war, work or pleasure?</p> <p>Cultural history does not only point to possibilities of biological warfare gone wrong between nations waging war in far places like Vietnam and Korea for instance, but also indicates that the 60s were a time of asserting sexual freedoms and liberation in the US. Convenient contraception allowed much that that generation would rather not recall, but it also served as the right social lubricant for the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases. The movement for gay rights and free-spirited gay lifestyle also made a number of until-then sexually repressed gay men feel free in engaging sexually with various partners both at home and abroad. Haiti and the Caribbean were obviously not spared the attention of the sex tourists, who continue today to enrich the epidemiological pool of Thailand, Cambodia and other unfortunate places of convenient leisure (and illegal sexual practices such paedophilia) that also might become targets for evolutionary biology work in future. So will scientists one day also say that Thailand did 'X' to itself and infected the rest of the world with it?</p> <p>When the Belgians reluctantly left a newly independent Congo in June 1960, Africa and Afrikans responded with enthusiasm to support its nation-building project. Patrice Lumumba, the first Congolese Prime Minister and a vibrant Pan-Africanist, was courageous in the face of personal danger and was an inspiration to many. The new Africa could begin its nation-building drive with the hard labour and minds of free Congolese, but also of workers, teachers, professionals and intellectuals coming from the Black World at large, including small numbers from the Caribbean. We are told that Haitians working in the Congo contracted the virus then and there, which began as a simian virus in the Central African jungles (or perhaps from the labs of foreign researchers based there!) which transfected to humans in a new form. In reality, these were the days of Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier in Haiti, and only those with official ambassadorial and regime contacts and influence got to leave the country. They were part of the privileged class or the 'elite'. Their numbers were very small, and are still relatively small to this day. In 1963 Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck was a 8-year old boy when he moved with his agronomist father and mother to Kinshasa (then Leopoldville) for reconstruction work, but they were evacuated almost immediately due to instability and conflict during the first years of independence in the Congo. Peck has recently produced the film "Lumumba" to present the life story of the leader, the man and the ideological struggles of his time.</p> <p>According to the Worobey study, when these privileged Haitians returned home to Haiti from the Congo a few years passed and the virus mutated into the form that would be recognised in the first Haitian immigrants to the US. Haitians are also supposed to have started the heterosexual outbreak of the disease in Trinidad and Tobago at the time as well, but how is this possible when Professor Courtney Bartholomew from the Medical Research Centre in Trinidad states that:</p> <p>"There were no Haitian migrants to Trinidad and Tobago we have no cultural, social or economic ties with Haiti so that is out of the question,</p> <p>Professor Bartholomew adds that their studies of Trinidadian homosexual and bi-sexual show that this group of people were interacting with Americans.</p> <p>Professor Bartholomew said it was possible they had brought HIV back to Trinidad."</p> <p>If the lines between who brought what where can be blurred to the point where the Trinidad and Tobago outbreak was actually interpreted in reverse or simply wrongly, can certainty be attached to the version that finds the virus reaching the US via Haiti and not vice-versa?</p> <p>The political history of the Caribbean region is rife with American imperialism and interventionism even to this day. We must recall that more than 100 years after Napoleon's French army of over 20,000 troops was beaten fair and square by the indigenous army of Haiti--establishing the first independent Black Republic of the world--Haiti was occupied by the US between 1915-1934 to 'stabilise' the country and look after its own interests in the region. That was political calculation and imperialism at its finest. Recent events include the unlawful removal of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 by the American military, and the UN peacekeeping stabilizing mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) that has effectively occupied Haitian soil since then under the pretext of maintaining internal security while raping, oppressing and exploiting the people they are supposed to help. Even UN work is judged by many to be in the interest of American capital and investments, preserving the status quo or preventing a change of regime that would benefit the people, not local business interests. Curiously, in precarious human conditions there is still lots of money to be made in Haiti, and some are getting paid big time while the people suffer.</p> <p>This time through, though, the oppression of scientific bigotry is not only placed on the entire race (Aids from Africa) or even on our abilities as thinking beings (see Watson's completely baseless recent comments on African intelligence), but points the finger more precisely at a Black nation on its knees fighting to get up, stand up, and live up to its founding dream of producing 'Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite' for its people. Haitians have rights too, and it is time we give them their rightful place in the history of humankind: freedom fighters and liberators, enemies of oppression the world over. Not infectious undesirable paupers; that is a sordid myth!</p> <p>A case in point is needed here. Scientists are happy to state that it has been extremely difficult to eradicate the polio virus from India despite the existence for years of a trivalent polio vaccine (not effective in India), repeated aggressive national campaigns, and that is due these scientists say to poverty and inadequate sanitary conditions there. Polio was eradicated everywhere in the world in the 1950s, but India is one of the last places on earth where the disease still exists (the others are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria). No one has dared suggest that Indians are responsible for polio although the year-2000 target for complete eradication of polio in that country was missed. But that is what is being done with Haitians and HIV/AIDS, and strangely based on the curious conjecture of being victims too. Erroneously determining that one single person or nation is responsible for the disease won't cure anyone, let alone everyone. We do not accept that oppressing Haitians will bring freedom and health to the rest of the world; no amount of science can convince freedom-lovers of that. Western prejudice against Africans will continue to grad newspaper headlines with sensationalist claims of racial exceptionalism. We must learn to find our way to truth in this mess.</p> <p>This is what social and political history is about, pointing out the customary habits, personal choices, prejudices and preferences of people, no matter how idiosyncratic and unusual they might seem to our modern sentiments. This in turn must serve to enrich and inform scientific research concerned with evolutionary history, which also is important for the pursuit of truth. In understanding how humans interact with Nature, the facts must be checked with human experience and history. No one is safe in the vacuum of scientific bigotry and half-baked truths. Proportionality would suggest these researchers weigh carefully the implications of their scientific studies asking themselves why they are asking specific types of questions (and why not others, say about a systematic study of at-risk blood samples of the 'flower power' generation and their travel patterns) about certain types of people, and whether that results in more freedom for all. Assembling viruses into large families of variants and following the probability of these changes do not have the sort of explanatory power that would destroy the hopes and efforts of Haitians in their determined march to a brighter more prosperous future. </p> <p>Could contemporary American (and perhaps other global forces such as multinational firms') interests once more pave the way for justifying using Haiti, this time as a laboratory for HIV/AIDS research as was previously done with much injustice and outcry in South Africa's unjust clinical trials a number of years ago? Is big pharma business in search of a new pool of geographically-accessible politically weak subjects, officials susceptible to bribes and corruption, closer to the fattened belly of US interests and capital,and more controllable by it(less controversial) than more politically visible African countries? The infection rate for HIV/AIDS has declined from 6% to 2% in the last decade in Haiti, one of the most populous nations of the Caribbean. This is hard to do in impoverished and politically unstable conditions. The thing that is hard to do is to fight back for social, political and now also 'scientific information' justice in these conditions. Haitians have been at the forefront of this struggle for at least the past 200 years and counting. They will not stop now! The efforts and successes of Haitians in their response to HIV/AIDS so far should be recognised and studied in order to remove this scourge from the face of the earth forever. </p> <p>South Florida Haitians decry HIV report: <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/292874.html">http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/292874.html</a></p> <p>Forward ever</p> <p>The Dread Team</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/06/the_socio_political_myth_of_haitian_hiv_~3255092/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/06/the_socio_political_myth_of_haitian_hiv_~3255092/Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:24:06 +0100 <p>Night of sweet sounds<br> draped with light<br> Carnival fete has come with that<br> Nothing to do with Halloween<br> We beat and dance<br> rising into a trance</p> <p>Colours everywhere,<br> decorating the scenes of<br> Elation, libation<br> celebration and giration<br> and the spirits rise<br> with blood red eyes<br> swimming in the shaking sea</p> <p>Seas full of chant<br> waves of follies of love<br> of new births and giggles<br> A chain of force<br> of spirit of a mystic folk</p> <p>And the drum beat<br> charms the Night,<br> and She gives light with her Moon<br> and writes our song<br> we shine beneath her shawl</p> <p>We come to seek peace<br> and solace at the river<br> of forgetfulness.<br> Bathe in the thorough<br> bossom of mama Africa</p> <p>Here in the rhythm of Her heart<br> we collect souls<br> in the palm of an outstretched hand<br> that hearkens to the distant land<br> from whence we came-<br> we quench empty parts<br> with festivity<br> We convalesce with Carnival.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/carnival~3246250/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/carnival~3246250/Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:52:13 +0100 <p>ars longa vita brevis<br> find knowledge while there is time<br> consciousness is borrowed<br> from Ancient Egyptians<br> but not given credit<br> then we are taught how to reference<br> correctly, appropriate, fair</p> <p>Attribution opens the road<br> to admission, of what was done<br> of what was taken, freely, violently.<br> Names, memories, lineages, gods and godesses<br> all erased, jettissoned like so many<br> in the cold bowels of the ocean</p> <p>Once they formed armies to steal<br> knowledge and civilization<br> from Alexandria,Thebes.<br> Then they captured us<br> and erased name and attribution<br> altogether with an attempt at our dignity.<br> No, they are not confused on what to do<br> steal or erase, it is still a crime;<br> one against humanity and decency<br> what will it be then in future<br> will we pay to have a story of<br> middle passage and African ancestors<br> served on the absolute bedrock of DNA?</p> <p>Name is Name, Origin is Origin<br> stealing, erasing or conniving<br> won't change our minds.<br> We shall still seek whence<br> we come from, for the times are ripe<br> to discover where we ought to be going </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/art_knowledge_is_long_life_brief~3246107/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/art_knowledge_is_long_life_brief~3246107/Sun, 04 Nov 2007 22:14:15 +0100 <p>We greet through this prism<br> Splitting light<br> into hues of wisdom<br> See you through your third eye<br> Mine too<br> Minds fused<br> Burning bright into colleective dreams...<br> We link still<br> in the backdrop of the beats<br> of Ancestral hearts...<br> We compare tribal marks<br> and stinging scars-<br> and we heal in the space<br> between pain<br> and laughter<br> we are the champions of ever after<br> flickering forces<br> building elastic potential<br> in the unknown shadows of Babylon<br> sculpting victory from unlikely dust<br> and light slips in<br> we see each other,<br> another, and another-<br> armies assembled<br> and Consciousness revealed.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/title~3246021/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/title~3246021/Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:55:16 +0100 <p>Today we mourn the unfortunate souls who lost their lives in Nature's course, in the belly of Noel in the tumultuous Caribbean sea. Every year, the Caribbean basin and her eminent inhabitants must cope with the inevitability of hurricanes. This is the lot of Caribbean peoples, and they can only hope to minimise their loss of life in the face of something much more powerful than us all. But Noel, a category 1 storm which might have been considered relatively minor on the scale of possibilities, has devastated the Caribbean with all too much loss of life. It has exposed in its giant upheaval the fact that many Caribbean nations are still ill-prepared for disaster. Indeed, this is a feat that appears from the persisting images of hurricane Katrina to be too difficult even for the magnanimous USA. But in New Orleans, as in the Caribbean, the nagging issue of poverty remains the prominent underlying cause of unnecessary loss of life in the face of uncontrolable natural disaster. How can our people ever develop, faced with the obstacles of Nature and oppressive man-made class system alike? </p> <p>It seems that the scourge of water and wind will never cease to threaten the very lives of those in the winward islands and above. Getting back on our feet every time is like having to give birth every nignt months, non-stop, sometimes of twin or triplet mighty storms. This time through we are told that less than 200 have so far lost their lives to Noel, in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, The Bahamas and Jamaica. The others have been spared this time, but until when? Can we organise our preparedness to Nature's wrath? Are our governments in a position to shelter their citizens from the cold wet breath of Nature? Should it be a free-market in protection measures offered to citizens in one country, meaning that if you are rich, you are more likely to survive than if poor in the same conditions? That, surely would appear seriously unfair!</p> <p>However, this is today's unfortunate sociopolitical reality. Perhaps the boldest demonstration of the wealth disparity in disaster relief is in the recent fires in California. Watch carefully the rapid response time by both state and federal agencies to the hazes in the affluent California hills, and compare that to the slow and entirely inadequate responses to hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. In this light, the recent onslaught of aberrant weather behaviour has arguably had the effect of unsheathing the stark realities of life: that the poor are treated with disregard by the system while the rich oligarchs who feed off of and corrupt the system are given first class service. Capitalism is unique as a philosophy in its cynical propensity to reward cannibalism and amoralism. War and natural disaster have therefore disclosed the badly kept secret that the hypocritical Eurocentric so-called Enlightened ones didn't want us to know: that this system is not designed to serve us in or out of disastrous times. </p> <p>As Afrikans, we have faced the fires of the treachery of men for centuries, we have fallen to the weaponry and tactics of so many repressive armies of oppressors, yet cannot save our own children from the regular purge of the hurricane. Is this beyond our capacity for self-perpetuation to rise against factions and politrics and feed the people, clothe the people, shield the people? Aid will once more pour down on us like a great river of hope; already Canada has offered $500,000 for the immediate damages caused in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. There, in Nova Scotia they are quietly and securely waiting in their cottages the strong winds that will come to them from a spent Noel. Do they care more about our children then we do ourselves? Do they have an interest in seeing us on our knees every time wind come? Be it as it may, liberty is seldom found in the curious and searching eye of the hurricane.</p> <p>The battle goes on</p> <p>The Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/in_the_cold_eye_of_hurricane_noel~3245934/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/11/04/in_the_cold_eye_of_hurricane_noel~3245934/Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:36:41 +0100 <p>World statistics today place independent African and Black states at the bottom of rankings for a great majority of human development indices known to humankind. Year after year, again and again we expect the verdict that states in the developing world (and therefore led by non-white or dark-skinned people) cannot self-govern or even at a minimum take care of their own countryfolk. These leaders are powerless and corrupt, fixated on personal gains and self-gratification. Almost like guests at a massive party thrown on behalf of, and at the expense and credibility of the same people to whom great disservice is rendered. It is a massive orgy or misorganisation and short-lived reactionary policies headed for destruction and unsustainability.</p> <p>Here the Dread Team dares to ask in the face of so much evidence and failed political experiments: if conceivable or achievable, what is the shape of the ideal Black state? </p> <p>Although there are many examples from the previous centuries which lend much credit to the myth that there is no such thing as the ideal Black state, we have a wealth of pre-colonial instances of Black hegemony and statehood. The historical transition from a notion of an empowered Black state vis-a-vis Egypt and Ethiopia to the present condition of the Black state is one of desperation and corruption. We are therefore of the view that a Black state in its ideal format, that is one in which its people are well-fed, well-educated and employed, can never exist or survive within the present colonial framework. </p> <p>The ideal Black nation would be free. This means ideally not only from the shackles of slavery and its legacy, but also from internationally imposed restrictions on trade, aid and the means through which their people can accumulate wealth and prosperity. The stark realities existing in countries where debt payments amount to a significant portion of GDP remind us that we are enriching the few while the many are starving to death. So therefore, in an ideal Black state, people will eat to their heart's content, at least we hope not beyond the point where they become a chronic burden on the nationally-based and run health system of that ideal Black state. There would be basic infrastructures and energy resources would be wisely administered, there would be well-performing school to form the minds of the young for the development of freedom-loving, inquisitive, critical and creative minds. </p> <p>The ideal Black state is created in the image of the natural Black identity and can never be a superimposition of a foreign<br> ideology. This is where our present-day dilemma of Black nations has come from. The pressures of globalisation have forced us into a box that time has told can only be shattered by revolution. However, those who have dared this feat have suffered dire consequences from their former colonial masters. These examples have paved the way for a docile, diminished and diminutive Black state. This of course simply won't do for the generations of Afrikans to come the world over. In the face of a suppressive system and given the retaliatory and reactionary tactics of the global imperialist, it seems that the first step on our journey to realise the ideal Black state which we have just described, is to do what Black people have always done, which is to beat them at their own game. A shining but somewhat still flawed model of this type of tactic is that of communist China. The implication is not to mimic China's tactic per se, but the point is that it shows what is possible for non-Western countries in an increasingly global environment. Black culture and ideology provide the opportunity for a as-yet-unseen perspective on global and economic trade. We have only to articulate this and apply it in the sense that will enable the enrichment of Black states, thereby providing the required capital for us to eventually thrive. </p> <p>Our duty is for one of responsibility TODAY in our nations, each man and woman, every breathing voting citizen to stand up and be counted on the way to building the democratic Black states that will be ground breakers, beacons of light for others to emulate and seek inspiration from. We have the great joy today of a free South Africa for example, but much remains to be done for its people to be really free from inequality and violence. We need more and better South Africas on the way to realising the ideal Black state. We must reacquaint ourselves with the idea of self ownership and be active seekers of our rightful destiny toward the higher and mightier goals of humanity. This earth is also ours and the power of innovation is not new to us.</p> <p>One Love</p> <p>The Dread Team</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/28/the_shape_of_the_ideal_black_state~3210254/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/28/the_shape_of_the_ideal_black_state~3210254/Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:10:51 +0100 <p>This is Black History Month. In these parts it means that the month of October at various Colleges, Universities and City Councils around the UK will have an event, public talk or debate on offer. 2007 has so far been marked by an emphasis put on the Anti-Slavery Act of 1807 to end slavery in the British Empire. For the Dread Team, it is overdue and appropriate that the Western world takes ownership of its oppressive past and realise that the destructive powers of slavery are still with us today. </p> <p>But Black History does not need a constant reminescing of Afrikan bondage, still existing today through racial discrimination and the inequality of economic opportunities for our peoples and nations. As a people, we agree, we need to stay connected to our common narrative of enslavement. However, together we must also rise above our current circumstance through unity and action. We must OWN our God-given right to unquestioned equality. We must positively assert the most beautiful tenets of humanity, because this was the Ancestors' way. We must KNOW our Ancestors, their history and customs, BEFORE they passed through the cold rock of one-way slave forts in Western Africa.</p> <p>Black History month celebrations for some are synonymous with sad stories of persecution, death and dying repeated over and over again, making a few martyrs heros. But Black History month could mean more. Even in conscious places of higher learning like universities, Black students will often avoid participating in events organised whose focus is slavery or some related topic. At some level this position may be myopic, but it is the way some of us have learned to deal with feeling shame of belonging to a defeated, oppressed and impoverished race of man and women. Let us reassure them that while more empowering and forward-looking events and programmes can and will be organised, pride on who we are and in where we come from is the first step. Looking away won't show the full reflection.</p> <p>Black History month is also the celebration, for instance, of unity of purpose and partnership. We often hear of men and women who come together powerfully in peace time or times of crisis to unite under the banner of truth and rights. Afrikans have the iconic figures of Solomon and Makeda (Queen of Sheba), Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King, Nelson and Winnie Mandela and there are many others. Black History month should be given to a celebration of such partnerships that consolidate the foundations of our future prosperity as a race, and also brings great minds together in a unity of purpose. We should not refrain from uncovering such themes of partnerships and accomplishments whatever the field of excellence. </p> <p>Because, we must remember that the patriarchal and misogyistic culture to which we belong is not our original or true culture. Like the symbolic Egyptian Ankh, bearing the symbols of both the male and female to equal the completeness of Life, we cannot be complete until the gasping chasm of male-female disparity is finally sealed. Until the historic scars of slavery, the pressures that emasculated our men and super-sexualised and denigrated our women, are finally acknowledged and resolved. Therefore the theme of gender equality and the restoration of healthy romantic BLack relationships is thoroughly intertwined with our ultimate struggle for liberty.</p> <p>So, we ask you, how should Black History month be celebrated?</p> <p> BLessed love</p> <p>Dread Team</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/23/black_history_month_equality_and_partner~3184635/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/23/black_history_month_equality_and_partner~3184635/Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:51:43 +0200 <p>Watching the news tonight, we note that the president of the Black Police Association has endorsed the expansion of race profiling, the systematic stop and search procedure that haunts young Black brothers daily. It reminds us of what the Nazis used to do to the Jews right before the Holocaust set full steam ahead. Therefore, wonder why a Black British man, an accomplished officer, would advocate that this racist and repressive policy be not simply continued but EXPANDED! Some in our Dread team say this guy must be blind, others are saying that this exemplifies the self hatred that we Black people of accomplishment are encouraged to feel...Is he just then, a victim of an oppressive system?</p> <p>Whatever the case, this brother has done a great disservice to the race at large and I certainly hope he doesn't speak for the entire National Black Police Association(NBPA), which has traditionally fought against race profiling.</p> <p>Keith Jarrett has stated that he didn't care how this whole issue went down with the Black Community although he knows many of them strongly disagree. This statement alone indicates the frame of mind of a man who would prefer to go against his own constituency and makeup to take a position that is not reconciliable with his own freedom and that of his children. As a departing president of the NBPA, Jarrett is indicating a need for attention for his organisation. That was the worst way to do this. He has simply shown his irresponsibility and lack of judgement. May he be remembered forever in the history of Afrikans as a defeatist blunder of a man. Those who sought the opinion of an underexposed unpopular president of the NBPA clearly had other goals. They confirmed it through the mouthpiece of David Blunkett who basically endorses Jarrett's untenable position, by saying that if the Black community is asking for this and want to cooperate than the police should not back off when dealing with Black-on-Black crime. They have found another champion for their racist irresponsible policies that will further reinforce the second class citizen status of Black Africans. It reads like a failed play script: Jarrett: "I want fewer freedoms for me and my people!" Blunkett:"This guy says he talks for the whole Black community; He says they want this, so let them have it!"</p> <p>Yes, in this yet another comedic act of media infiltration by the Neo-Nazi forces upon whose shoulders this system is built, the BBC has caricaturised Jarret by giving great publicity to his views. Surely, if he, one of 'them', agrees that the police need to be stopping 'them', this excuses the entirely racist pretext for the system of race profiling. So much so that the BBC can call good old Home Secretary David Blunkett, who, true to form, then proceeds to open his clumsy grill in support of what amounts to a Neo-NAzi policy. All facilitated and rendered appropriate by Jarrett's statements. Inch by inch, the line that demarcates common humanity is blurred; it is now appropriate, even necessary, to demean this 'troublesome' impoverished Black class that has been created in the wake of failed colonial hegemony. </p> <p>So, now that it took a Black man who is prepared to say what the white man wouldn't say, they feel 'safe' in saying too. We note that it always takes a weak conscience to awaken that of the majority prejudice. Jarrett is only one of a group representative of our collective shame at the very face, appearance, language and fashion of our youth. What would it take to have good old white folks regard us as ok, safe, acceptable? In truth, to those amongst us who would never admit to having such thoughts, ever, would nonetheless never unleash, through the seat of borrowed power, voiced opinions of racial segregation and cleansing. Because, let us make no mistakes, just as Black men are 6 times more likely to be stopped and searched already, the proportion of those who will also die in custody will also increase as much as the policy advocated by Jarrett will deliver sure death for all young black youth, by sight.</p> <p>With new laws in the UK allowing ever-longer holding times in prison without charge for terror suspects, and now Blunkett, a major policy maker's, public endorsement for the systematically racist intimidation of the Black British population (who are paying taxes and contributing to society at large), New Labour is smelling ever-more like Apartheid South Africa. It should serve as no surprise since the same forces are at work in both instances; Britain in many ways both initiated and facilitated the massacre and disenfranchisement of Black South Africans in their own land. Now they seek to do the same in Britain. Nazism was an important and destructive force in 20th century history, and now we fear it is rearing its hideous head, and with a vengeance.</p> <p>We are reminded of the wise words of Brother Bob Marley: "Give them an inch they take a mile..." </p> <p>One in the struggle</p> <p>The Dread Team </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/21/keith_jarrett_i_d_rather_you_stop_and_se~3173706/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/21/keith_jarrett_i_d_rather_you_stop_and_se~3173706/Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:42:45 +0200 <p>Blessed love!</p> <p>Our Dread team greet you from the gut of Babylon, where we agitate daily to give dem belly ache! Our blog is concerned with Truth dissemination in the face of the lies of our oppressors. We have come to expose and defeat the disingenious manipulations of Afrikan consciousness in the world today. Our position is one of resistance to oppression in the various forms visited on Afrikans the world over, and of demanding liberation now! </p> <p>Dread Iditation is a revolutionary state of consciousness to re-instate a place of honour to critical observation, rigour and persuasion to our understanding of the Afrikan experience. It is the basis for concrete action. "Dread" is the state of defiant Dignity, as we reach back into the luminous passages of time to reclaim our lost and glorious History! Iditation is known in English as "meditation". We now replace the "me", which is indicative of the ego, with the "I", which represents the All, the Id. When we are at One in our iditative process we will defeat this system which is designed for our demise.</p> <p>Dread Iditations is a collective statement of resistance and a movement of the people forward! We denounce bigotted ideas of racial and cultural imperialism divorced of their real assumptions and intentions to enslave the minds of Africans. We re-assert our natural rights to freedom and self empowerment which our forefathers and foremothers have handed us down for generations. It is right time to advance the bases of our prosperity in this generation. It is our duty to raise the level of debate as we promote dread iditation as an organ of change.</p> <p>So, this blog will offer well-researched perspectives on the state of the war that began 500 years ago with the advent of the Transatlantic slave trade, and that continues today in the form of worldwide oppression of Afrikan peoples. We will feature regular articles that are geared towards building Solidarity and Enlightenment. Please feel free to contribute as we seek to create an environment of Truth-seeking and are eager to hear your perspectives.</p> <p>In the name of the Ancestors,</p> <p>The Dread Team<br> Inna Babylon</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/21/dread_iditation_what_we_are_about~3170575/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://dread-iditations.blog.co.uk/2007/10/21/dread_iditation_what_we_are_about~3170575/Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:50:52 +0200