You know, Obama did not get into the White House for nothing. The US blockade of Cuba is one of the most truculent, cruel and ineffective policies of the last 50 years and now Obama is headed toward changing it. The idea that Cuba is poor because of its economic system is undermined [...]
Columbine Killings and hating ‘the system’
Mass murder and the American Dream. It turns out that a lot of what was said in the media about the Columbine shootings was simply wrong according to this story by Andrew Gumble in the Guardian. It turns out that the killers were not resentful nerds out to punish jocks, their aim was [...]
The beginning stages of a new global reserve currency?
One of the key outcomes of the London G20 summit - perhaps even more important than Michelle Obama’s hug for the Queen - was the allowance for the IMF to allocate $250 billion worth of Special Drawing Rights. This could be the basis of a future global reserve currency outside the sovereign control of [...]
The London G20 Protests
I get back into London tomorrow evening and really hope to be on time to witness some of the G20 protests. There is something very ironic about the coverage on the destruction of property by some of the protesters since if there are real destroyers of wealth, they are in the very buildings the crowds [...]
The Dollar to cease being the global reserve currency?
China’s central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, is calling for the creation of an alternate global reserve currency (his speech.) Wish I had the time to write more on this because it is a shot across the bow in a geopolitical rivalry between the US and China that is only going to intensify in the [...]
Fighting for the state while the nation splits apart
(This piece first run in the East African of February 11, 2008)
The ongoing negotiations between Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki’s administration and the Raila Odinga-led Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) should consider as one of their immediate aims a political settlement aimed not at making the militias lose their appetite for destruction but rather at ensuring that [...]
On the War Front
Ah, peace. Who is it good for?
‘”In Afghanistan, Americans have all the wrist watches but Afghans have all the time.” The enemy will attempt to control the clock with the strategic intent of winning by not losing. He will use the clock to wear down American resolve. Management of the clock will allow him [...]
What do George Galloway, Five-Fingered Betty and Erica Jong Have in Common?
George ‘Gorgeous’ Galloway with his overly orange tan, shiny suits, ‘indefatigable’ love of the spotlight and praises for Saddam Hussein is not my usual cup of tea but that man can do an interview. There is little that is better on TV than to watch Galloway tear a hapless interviewer to bits. Watch this [...]
George Bush and Superman: Naked and Powerless?
Powerful people are not powerful: they are fumblers and jivers as we used to call them back in the day. I say this after two events: George Bush’s antics during the G8 and the latest Superman movie.
Consider this slice of the off-the-cuff conversation between Bush and Blair in Russia:
Bush: I think Condi [US Secretary [...]
The Headbutt From Heaven and How Zizou Rocked
It was perfect wasn’t it? The moment that Zinedine headbutted Materazzi the curtain parted and revealed the immigrant’s European journey. I did not have a moment of doubt that Materazzi had made a racist comment: that he had somehow managed to bring up the subject of Zizou’s Algerian origins in a derogatory [...]
Addis Ababa Bombings
If you have ever wanted to know what you think of terrorism, try and be in a city that has just had bombs go off in a public place. This is what happened in Addis Ababa (where I am staying for now) on Friday when at least six explosions went off and killed three [...]
The courtiers who use isms like machetes and will grind you to dust.
The courtiers who use isms like machetes
In every city, every town and hamlet, there is a small core of men and women who are drawn to the business of proselytizing to their fellows on how best to think or act. They have sought to join courts with no regard to whether they are monarchical, fascist, [...]
‘You’re a drink-soaked former Trotskyist popinjay,’ Galloway informed Hitchens
In case you did not know, British MP George Galloway debated Christopher Hitchens on the Iraq War on Wednesday September 14th. Go here and watch or listen to a slug match of quite delicious proportions.
Woe unto you, ye shall hunger
I am in a sad mood today having just had an argument with someone very close to me and so have been seeing ill portents and darkness everywhere I look. And so this little story on Reuters caught my eye and seeing as I was already feeling kind of messed up, reduced me to [...]
The Love Affair Between the Maasai and the English
Colonialists like their savages savage in a romantic mould. There is a streak of masochism in having your material world dismissed by people who have little but vanity and some sick cows. Colonialists want to believe their subjugated people were worth conquering…they are also good for a shag now and then says AA Gill in [...]
A Day in the Life of Idi Amin Dada by Binyavanga Wainaina
Welcome and thanks to Binyavanga Wainaina who knowing my desperate need for some giggles on this blog, as opposed to the recent diet of rants, has contributed a story. Enjoy!
A Day in the Life of Idi Amin Dada
1983. It was that time of the day when the streets of Nakuru seemed to stand still. [...]
The London Visit is at the Heart and Soul of Kenyan Politics
The British government has banned Transport Minister Chris Murungaru from stepping on UK soil. Joining him are a senior security official, a high-ranking civil servant at the AG’s office in a list including up to five ministers whose visas to Britain may also be revoked.
Though much of the coverage of this story has revolved [...]
Yes, it’s True, There are Slaves in Niger…
So here we have it. The latest call for food aid to an African country is by Niger, which coming under the usual media spotlight has been revealed to be a country in which human bondage is alive and well. Anti-Slavery International, a London-based human group, reckons that there are 43,000 slaves in [...]
Are Ordinary People as Stupid as Their Leaders Believe?
Recently, an old friend who lives in New York told me that he wanted to leave because he was convinced that he was in a fascist United States. A participant at a writing seminar handed me an essay to review in which she likened George Bush to Hitler and the people who voted for [...]
The Escalation of the Will: Western Power in an Age of Symbols
Since September 11 2001, the March 2004 Madrid bombings and last week’s attacks in London, the West, led by America, has been in a war of wills. It little understands the nature of this war but has waged it fiercely with unparalleled military and economic might. The opponents, the remnants of al Qaeda [...]
7/7/2005: London’s Terrorist Attacks
The city is at a virtual standstill and is eerily calm in light of the multiple bombings this morning. I was on the way into the city centre by bus when we were ordered to disembark and told that there had been an explosion on a similar double-decker bus and several on the underground.
Sirens [...]
The Pitfalls of National Consciousness
This should be required reading for every single African because it says it all. It was first published in 1959 and is prophetic to say the least. Read on and see the course of your country foretold … Replace bourgeoisie with babi and see how it reads
The Wretched of the Earth
by Frantz Fanon
Chapter [...]
Lucy Kibaki should be thanked …
for stripping away the illusion that is Kenya
Kenya is stripped naked. Actually, scratch that, there is nothing like Kenya in anything but name anymore. The absurdity of it has been on open display since 2002 and stretching back to the 1960s. Landlord-tenant quarrels have now become diplomatic incidents while fights between co-wives – Lucy and [...]
Mass of Appetites: A Nairobi Bar Horror Story
I was wondering what to post and then thought of Buffet Park in Nairobi, which is a collection of bars and nyama choma joints in posh Hurlingham. I spent a number of entertaining evenings there this past December and was struck by a sense of being in a space built to accommodate appetites: intense longings [...]