China and Africa

This article was sent to me by my son, Graham, knowing my interest in the role the Chinese have been playing in African economic investment and development for a number of years now. The Economist online magazine runs a monthly debate topic, complete with pro and con sides and a moderator; readers are allowed to weigh in on the debate and vote for the side of their preference. A recent topic was the same as that discussed in the article above: is China good for Africa and why are people making disparaging remarks. I have discussed this in previous posts particularly in light of the fact that Africans from many nations are complaining about the Chinese role in their economies...this is not just jealous/zealous Westerners being concerned.

In need of a good read at a galloping pace? Get this book!

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a great read! A story told in the first person about growing up in the west...it would make Wallace Stegner proud.

View all my reviews >>

Fabulous Finds

Having been out of the internet loop, due to software issues, for almost a week thta has had so much news, has been difficult. First, an article in the NYT on a recent find that very early humans occupied Crete is just amazing. These early ancestors had to travel in a systematised way over water and they created these incredibly beautiful tools: For more information, check out the June issue of HESPERIA.

Next of interest was an article, also in the NYT, on the legacy of apartheid and public transportation and urban planning issues.

And finally, a public radio report on history, history books, and brainwashing featuring South Africa, the former Eastern Europe, and a third country. I heard the promo for it on KUOW, but no amount of searching could get me to the link..let me know if any of you find it!

What a disappointment

Brick Lane: A Novel by Monica Ali


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book had it moments of lovely language and thoughtful insights. But, I could hardly wait to finish it, as it was driving me crazy.

Precious, the Oscars, thoughts

I have not see the film Precious. I have seen trailers, read reviews, listened to people talking about their reactions after seeing the film. The people whose opinions I have received and whose conversations I have been part of have not been unanimous in their responses, they have been black, white Asian. They have all agreed that it was a difficult movie to watch, largely for the child abuse that is a large part of the film. Last Friday, the NYT op-ed page contained a commentary by Ishmael Reed. A similar response was elicited (in the African American male population) after The Color Purple was made into a film. I get what Reed is saying. It is not a question of a right or wrong opinion to have in this regard and certainly, where you stand is where you sit. But how close a reflection of reality is Reed's view of reality?

Race and NASA

Mae Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut, hosted an hour-long program exploring the role NASA played in integrating employment in the south (Florida, Alabama, and Texas), and creating opportunities for blacks in highly specialised fields. NASA was not without it's own issues regarding race and that was discussed in the program as well. But, listening to the now-retired engineers and scientists about how they got involved in NASA, about growing up and being educated in the south, etc was fascinating.

Flowers in the Desert

Just looking at this photograph is enough to send the mind into paroxysms of delight. The botanical gardens of the Huntington Library in Pasadena are very special, especially the cactus groves. Robin Lane Fox explored the gardens recently.

Immigrants & Migrants

A very important op-ed piece appeared in today's NYT. It concerns African immigrant workers in Italy. I have previously posted about the treatment of various minority populations in European countries and the resurgence of nationalism and fear of the "other". This op-ed piece by Roberto Saviano peels back another layer of the problem: the mafia. Saviano points out that native-born Italian workers are too afraid to stand up to the mafia,m who control the economic sectors in which the immigrant/migrant workers were protesting bad working conditions. Just like here in the US where no one wants to do the very hard work done by migrant workers from south of the border, so too in Italy: farm labour, menial labour, construction labour. Yet resentment about the presence of these people festers and all the negative "isms" emerge. Migrant workers face these issues all over the world: China, Middle East. For more information, check out the website of the Migration Policy Institute.

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.....