Regarding the grass is always greener........

There was an op-ed piece in today's NYT on an aspect of people's skin-tone issues: it is called 'colorism'! This is a problem all over the world and nothing new.

The grass is always greener........

An article in the NYT on 15 January got me thinking about how odd/funny us humans can be. The story was in the health section on the use of skin lightening creams by darker skinned people and how many of these creams are prescription strength but often purchased without one. These creams are also sold in many immigrant grocery stores and come from unregulated sources. These creams can cause cancer and have other serious side effects. While many people use these creams topically to lighten age spots or other dark spots, many others use them on large areas of their faces and bodies because they want a lighter skin tone. This got me thinking about the tanning industry. In spite of tanning bed companies saying these things are safe, will not cause cancer, etc there are studies showing otherwise. And people still spend money at tanning salons, roast themselves on beaches and at poolsides, and apply creams to tan themselves chemically. So, on the one hand, we have darker toned folks lightening themselves, and on the other hand, paler folks darkening themselves.......

Rory Stewart

Read this linked piece written by Rory Stewart who is a candidate for the Conservative Party in the Cumbria district. He is an experienced and thoughtful observer of people, politics, and history. He wrote The Places In Between (about walking across Afghanistan in the footsteps of Alexander) and Prince of the Marshes (about Iraq and reconstruction). I find it interesting that he has taken this road in his local politics. It reminds me a bit of Michael Ignatieff whose biography of Isaiah Berlin was outstanding. He also wrote Blood and Belonging, about the new, rising nationalisms around the world: it was excellent and thought-provoking.

Read about Haiti's Slave Uprising

Writer & professor, Madison Smartt Bell, wrote a trilogy about Haiti: All Souls' Rising, Master of the Crossroads, and The Stone That the Builder Refused; as well as Toussaint Louverture, A Biography. Read these to get a sense of the travesty foisted upon these people and the Medea-monster that grew out of infighting amongst the the various French factions, the racial hierarchy that was created, and the how the seeds for Haiti's troubles were sown way back in the 1700's, only to be compounded by US meddling in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Do what you can to help, please

Aaah, so satisfying!

Once I realised that I could order volume three of Stieg Larsson's fabulous series from amazon.uk (the US edition will not be published until May...what were they thinking when they thought they had to "build interest"??), I got my order in ASAP. Read the book in three days. Apparently, there is part of a fourth manuscript left....let's hope Larsson's lifelong companion prevails in the face of his greedy father and brother and is allowed to administer his literary estate. To think that, even in Sweden, a couple not legally married at time of death has the same issues facing us here...

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Summing up

Well, it seems to be the thing to do. I have procrastinated posting recently because the story I wanted to highlight just seemed to be too depressing. There was an article in the New York Times a week ago on violence in Polokwane, South Africans against Zimbabwean and other African refugees. It is depressing to me because it speaks to the inability of the South African government to fully address the needs of its own people. It is depressing because the problem that is Robert Mugabe is still there, making life miserable for the people of Zimbabwe. It is depressing because the "lost generation", primarily men 24-50 whose education was interrupted due to school boycotts beginning in the mid-1970's in protest against the Apartheid regimes 'Bantu Education' policies, will never gain full employment and may only ever settle for under-or-unemployment. And it is depressing because it is a microcosm of all societies where inequity breeds discontent, distrust, and violence.

On a more upbeat note, I saw Invictus last night. Now, I know and can appreciate the complaints by South Africans that no South African actors played the lead roles. But in reality, this was a movie made for a non-South African audience and is another Clint Eastwood exploration of revenge/redemption stories. He usually focuses on the revenge of the underdog and the making of this movie is about the ultimate revenge of Nelson Mandela. I found many parts of the movie very moving for the feelings they invoked about the man Mandela. It reinforced in me the sense that Nelson Mandela is, and will be, regarded as one of the most amazing and important human beings, ever.

Consistent Behaviour.....and all of it negative

The Chinese are nothing if not consistent: their actions in Africa have been mentioned here before. They offer investment in economic development in developing countries: infrastructure development, resource extraction, etc The expectation is that this will lead to much needed employment growth, ancillary business growth,etc. Various African nations which have negotiated such deals with the Chinese have found that it is an all-inclusive package: the Chinese bring with all their own workers, restaurateurs, equipment. And now the Vietnamese are complaining! And the Indians! Check out the NYT article linked here.

And shame on the Cambodians for sending back the 20 Uighers who had fled repression in China and now face certain imprisonment and torture. And how remarkable that this was done one day before the arrival of the Chinese who, the day after their arrival in Phnom Penh announced an economic development package worth $1 billion! Are the Cambodians expecting the Chinese to also employ locals, patronise local restaurants, buy goods form local businesses?.....see above for frustrated expectations elsewhere. And where are all those newly found human rights principles that were rediscovered since the fall of the Khmer Rouge? Shame on them all.

And Give More....

Nicholas Kristof wrote and article in the NYT on 16 December about the school that Valentino Deng and Dave Eggers are building in Southern Sudan, in the town that Deng grew up in before it was burned to the ground and he became on of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Dave Eggers wrote What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, based on conversations he had with Deng and all the proceeds from the book went to starting this school project. Buy the book, read about Deng's Foundation in the links, send money.

This Holiday Season, Give through KIVA

I have found great satisfaction making loans to and sharing the lives of people vetted by KIVA.

Reposting of the chicken/education video

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010487567_chickenvideo12m.html

This is such a delightful story, I reposted it as the first one got jumbled when I rebooted.

Romania's Securitate Legacy

Two references to Romania's past have appeared recently. A BBC report by Oana Lungescu describes files kept on her own family, as well as others, that have become available for perusal. And today, Herta Mueller, a German citizen born & raised in Romania (part of the German minority there), who fled in 1982, was awarded her Noel prize for Literature. The German minority in Romania was also in the news this past week, when the NYT reported on the popular mayor of Sibiu. Such interesting stories.....

The Salt Trade

A story on the BBC about profound, and permanent, changes in the salt trade in Mali, reminded me of other aspects of this story I heard about a number of years ago that have immense implications for all humans in terms of our repository of knowledge accumulated over our species' time on earth. The BBC story reported on how the use of trucks, instead of camels, to haul salt from the mines to market (such as Timbuktu) has impacted the lives of the Tuaregs. A truck journey to-and-from the mines is a week; a camel journey is 45 days. Tuareg customs dictated that when a person had made three round trip journeys by camel to haul salt, he was ready for marriage: the trip by truck does not prove perseverance, responsibility, any accumulation of knowledge. Another story also focused on how climate change has made the journey with camels very difficult because of the lack of water at needed intervals for the camels.



The story I heard about a few years ago, concerned how the fact that the Sahara Desert was traveled by fewer and fewer people working in the salt mines, resulted in the loss of knowledge of how to read the desert. Reading the desert by the Tuaregs or Bedouin is like reading the snow by the Inuit and Eskimos. This knowledge about our environment is dying out...using a GPS device is just not the same. Having the information in text books only is not the same. While no one would wish the traditional life of a salt miner/trader on anyone, it is also a shame that we will eventually lose information on reading/understanding/living in an environment that taxes all of our creativity, acuity, and endurance.

Local Teen Creates Great Video

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010395845_videofinalist01m.html

Stalinism, Russia, & Chechnya

The London Review of Books, 19 Nov 2009 issue, contains an article of interest to those concerned about the psychopath and his master who are ruining lives in Chechnya and a commentary for those interested in the convoluted/tortuous mind-bending to-ing & fro-ing that takes place amongst the politicians and the peoples of the former Communist Eastern block countries.

Jonathan Littell writes about the horrors being committed in Chechnya in his article Chechnya, Year III. What he comes to realise is the the new "normal" resembles the worst of the Stalinist years when people kept their heads down, their noses to the grindstone, saw 'progress' and 'prosperity' around them....as long as they asked no questions.

Slavoj Zizek, in the same issue, leads us down the contorted pathways of post Communist elections. And if you add into that mix the ideas of the expats of these countries, you start getting dizzy.

Anyone interested in the communication/philosophical/mind games issues resulting in the fall of an Eastern Block country should read Caryl Churchill's play Mad Forest: A Play from Romania...she does a great job illuminating the problems.

The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I began this book with a little trepidation as it seemed that the psychological edginess might going where I wasn't sure I wished to go. However, that was not the case and I thoroughly enjoyed finding out how the members of these two families grew and changed during the book's long time-frame. There was a great deal of humour and knowing about British politics and social issues makes the book much richer than if the reader is unfamiliar with same.

Your REI, Eddie Bauer, or North Face will just not make it at the opera.....

Designers transform the puffa
By Alex Gorton in the FT's Weekend edition


Puffa jackets

Autumn/winter puffa jackets by, from left, Giles Deacon, Iceberg, F by Fay and Junya Watanabe

"As winter looms, complete with icy winds and freezing body parts, the question of coats becomes as pressing as what to wear to the office Christmas party. How do you look good while also maintaining your core body temperature? The two requirements do not necessarily go together, sartorially speaking." To read more, click on the story headline above.....

How American Health Care Killed My Father - The Atlantic (September 2009)

How American Health Care Killed My Father - The Atlantic (September 2009)

Racism, Communism, Nationalism

President Obama's visit to China has highlighted, as usual, the many inequities and iniquities of life under the Han. Coverage this week on PRI's The World and the Seattle Times underscore, yet again, the sad state of affairs regarding the views of the Han people towards people of darker skin colour. Various apologists said that the lashing out at the young biracial (black Chinese) woman on the Chinese TV show was just due to ignorance...listen to/read the comments: I think not.

The increasing number of Africans moving to China for economic reasons (the influx of Chinese investments in various countries in Africa) has lead to an increasing number of cases of harassment against these people. During the heyday of Chinese and Soviet jockeying for spheres of influence in the developing world, they encouraged African students to travel to China and the Soviet Union for training. Even then, being black in those parts of the world was not easy. But in the name of comradeship and worker solidarity, overt racist behaviour was suppressed. With the rise of the ultra right nationalists in Russia and China flexing it's geo-political muscle, and with both countries trying to control minority populations within and around their borders, racism is rearing it's ugly head even higher.

The Chinese in Africa, again

The Seattle Times carried an article on China's investments in Africa. I cannot paraphrase...it really must be read to be believed. Just look at who thinks Chinese investments are great: Mugabe, Bashir, and China's lame apology regarding investing in treacherous, repressive regimes...