Today, during his speech on the budget controversy, President Obama invoked Lincoln to say America is a nation of compromise. Really? Not sure were he got that from but the indigenous people and my African Ancestors tell a very different story.
Obama's revisionism sounds something like this:
Slave master: We are taking you to America and enslaving you.
African: Lets compromise.
Slave master: OK. The reality is that Native Americans and Africans experienced unbending denigration and oppression--both of which they fiercely resisted. This nation was built on principles like Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine. "Compromises" like the Tilden-Hayes Compromise and the 3/5ths Compromise perpetuated white supremacy and black subordination.
Map of Africa indicating Gross Domestic Product per capita (2009?)
Business & Money Economist says Africa is heading towards bright economic future By Julio Godoy Updated Sep 7, 2010 - 10:48:18 AM
PARIS (IPS/GIN) - Africa is heading towards a bright economic future, according to a new book co-authored by the former director of the French state agency for economic cooperation and released recently in Paris.
In the book “Le temps de l'Afrique” (“The African Age”), Jean-Michel Severino, until last April director of the French state agency for economic cooperation, and his co-author Olivier Ray maintain that sub-Saharan Africa has started the new millennium under far better economic and social circumstances than generally assumed.
The book has received mixed reviews with some doubting its optimism.
To support their thesis that “Africa is rushing towards affluence,” as Severino put it in an interview, the authors use the most recent economic and social data, showing rapid economic growth, high investment and sinking poverty.
“The vision that we in Europe have of Africa—of a continent frozen in poverty and disease—is simply wrong,” Severino declared. “On the contrary, today's sub-Saharan Africa is a region of high economic growth, with numerous business opportunities. Sub-Saharan Africa is now a high speed train rushing towards affluence and prosperity.”
Severino recalled that since the beginning of the century, the sub-Saharan African economy “has grown by a yearly average rate of 5.5 percent, against only 1.35 percent in the euro zone.”
Severino quoted a recent study by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which shows that African poverty “is falling rapidly.”
It seems the western media enjoys flogging Robert Mugabe. Incredibly, some critics now compare him to "Hitler." These same critics are deathly silent on the crushing poverty that is still reality for South Africa's black majority. And where is the media anger and indignation directed at white South Africans who still control most of the wealth in South Africa? The pattern seems to be thus: When black people quietly accept the status quo and/or attack each other, the west and their agents are silent and even encouraging. When we attack white supremacy, we are brutes.
Aljazeera (see video below) might have mentioned that there is a fledgling black middle class in South Africa. But even that seemingly positive indicator is tempered by the fact that poor South Africans are actually losing ground whilst white South Africans are getting richer. (If your are viewing from Facebook, click here).
Nigerian, Segun Gele, earns a living as a master headwrapper. Great story.
But I am even more impressed by the fact that brother Segun earns a living whilst hanging out with gorgeous black women all day. Hmmm.
Do your thang, Segun. Do your thang. GI
By Misty Showalter, CNN Houston, Texas (CNN) -- Segun Gele, or to use his full name Hakeem Oluwasegun Olaleye, is a man making a name for himself in a woman's world.
The Houston-based businessman has made an artform out of tying a gele -- the gravity-defying headwraps worn by Nigerian women.
To meet him is to understand how he became a celebrity in a field only a few years in the making. He's not only a vivacious self-promoter; he's also clearly thrilled to find himself making money doing something that comes so naturally to him.
Watching Segun Gele whip the material into graceful folds and arcs in less than five minutes, you know he is the master.
Geles come in different fabrics such as damask, brocade and "aso-oke" (hand-woven fabrics popular for Yoruba special occasions in Nigeria). The most popular fabric among Nigerian women is a metallic fabric made from jacquard.
They have been worn by Nigerian women for generations, but in recent years has become the ultimate fashion accessory for important parties and events in the U.S., something that Segun Gele partially credits himself for.
He says when he moved to Houston, Texas in 2003 from Nigeria, many Nigerian women had stopped wearing their gele because it was just too difficult to tie by themselves. To Segun Gele, this was a great tragedy.
"I mean, you would not find a woman wearing a good headwrap," Segun Gele said. "They would rather wear pantsuits to a Nigerian party. They would rather wear their jeans to a Nigerian party. And when they had the headwrap made, it was just okay."
He first noticed he could turn his skills into a promising business when he offered to tie a woman's head wrap at a friend's wedding.
Within minutes, he had whipped the two-yard fabric into a headturning, vertiginous shape that left other women at the party impressed. Before long a queue had formed and he started charging $7 a piece to tie gele at the wedding, Segun said.
Over time his rates grew to $10, then $15, and now he rarely ties wraps at parties but reserves his services for weddings or other special occasions.
As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. Immortal Technique
Poverty of Philosophy Lyrics
Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale. They don't realize that America can't exist without separating them from their identity, because if we had some sense of who we really are, there's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands. This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed.
Niggas talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely, and I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem. Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents are cowards in the face of economic imperialism. You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources, and many of these countries have the capacity to feed their starving people and the children we always see digging for food in trash on commercials. But plutocracies, in other words a government run by the rich such as this one and traditionally oppressive European states, force the third world into buying overpriced, unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources.
I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude and sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words. My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others.
You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation that was caused by American companies in Latin America. Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet democracies that were funded by the United States; places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Republica Dominicana, and not just Spanish-speaking countries either, but Haiti and Jamaica as well.
As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques.
But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to us is that outside of America there live lesser people. "Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, Fuck you, they are you. No matter how much you want to dye your hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on, you will never be them. They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey. I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately trying to be something I'm really not, just to fit in. And whether we want to accept it or not, that's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us.
I want a better life for my family and for my children, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland. We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and basic standards of living. No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us. My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street; my enemy is the white man I don't see: the people in the white house, the corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians those are my enemies. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives those are the real Mother-Fuckers that I need to bring it to, not the poor, broke country-ass soldier that's too stupid to know shit about the way things are set up.
In fact, I have more in common with most working and middle-class white people than I do with most rich black and Latino people. As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie Mother-Fuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole.
In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation I want to come back, free all my people, hang the Mother-Fucker that kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground. I want to take over the encomienda and give it back to the people who work the land.
You cannot change the past but you can make the future, and anyone who tells you different is a Fucking lethargic devil. I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole. Most of those successful individuals are sell-outs and house Negros.
But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto. Poverty has nothing to do with our people. It's not in our culture to be poor. That's only been the last 500 years of our history; look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what we brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics, agriculture and forms of government. You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one federal government controls the states? The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois LEAGUE. The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition. That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people 'cause he represented the agenda of white Spaniards once he was captured, not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans.
So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just 'cause they black or Latino they have to truly represent the community and represent what's good for all of us proletariat.
Porque sino entonces te mando por el carajo cabron gusano hijo de puta, seramos libre pronto, viva la revolucion, VIVA LA REVOLUCION!
tags: socialism, latin america, immortal technique, hiphop, economics, political economy
Winning the war and losing the postwar negotiations is a distressing trend throughout Africa. GI
***
21 March 1990 marked Namibia’s Independence Day. When celebrating the long awaited moment of our hard won independence twenty years ago, most Namibians shared similar hopes and expectations. Two decades later, while treasuring our achievements, some at the same time look at the limits to liberation in a more somber way. Taking stock of the last twenty years does not, on balance – as painful as it is to say this – give reasons for uncritical enthusiasm.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES
There is no reason to approve of the socio-economic situation and the pertaining class structures. Namibia is still one of the most unequal societies in the world. Poverty has not been reduced considerably. According to economists associated with the Namibia office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), structurally embedded poverty has actually increased. Measured against the annual per capita income, Namibia has remained a lower middle income country. But it continues to have one of the highest discrepancies in the distribution of the economic wealth generated. Put differently, a minority shares the biggest part of the cake, while the majority remains hungry.
Although Namibia recorded positive economic growth rates for most of the years since independence, unemployment in 2010 has been estimated to be over 50 per cent for the first time. According to the annual UNDP human development report, Namibia is among the non-oil-producing countries with the biggest negative difference between its ranking in terms of per capita income and on the human development index. The latter measures, among others things, educational levels, health indicators and access to public goods such as water, electricity and other infrastructure. Due to the devastating effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and one of the highest prevalence rates in the world, the life expectancy of Namibians has dropped considerably since Independence.
Those who expected that independence would increase markedly the living standards of formerly marginalised people were disappointed. That goal is almost as remote as it was twenty years ago. There is little evidence of strong political will to change this as a matter of priority. For those who were privileged under settler colonial minority rule, in contrast, little has changed for the worse with respect to their material situation. Rather, ‘business as usual’ might, in their view, count in favour of the continued social stability.
The negotiated settlement between the liberation movement and the former colonial power as facilitated by external actors ended in a process of controlled change. It resulted in changed control. Decolonisation took the forms of an elite pact. National reconciliation was in the first place a reconciliation of class interests between the former haves and the nouveau riche of the new domestic order. The fat cats as the main beneficiaries of so-called affirmative action and black economic empowerment, were the parasites fed from the access to publicly controlled resources. The embezzlement of state funds for private enrichment schemes through quota allocation and concessions, excessive salaries, other fringe benefits and the awarding of tenders as political rewards has become almost chronic. Financial scandals and the misappropriation of other opportunities (such as stipends for studies) seem to have become the order of the day.
Ghanaian Reggae artist Blakk Rasta. Blakk has a popular song about Obama. Watch here.
GI says: Great project! I am wondering if they will attempt to confirm that applicants are actually Rastafarian?
Black Star Line Credit Union Launched
Wednesday March 03, 2010 By Phyllis Kyei-Baffour and Suzy Ansah
The Black Star line Credit Union launched by the Rastafarian council of Ghana its first anniversary celebration on 10th March.
Speaking at the launch with the theme “Significance of Credit Union with regard to Economic Empowerment of our people,” a member of the Union Mr. John Acheampong enjoined all members of the council to be part of the union.
He said that for one to be a member of the Back Star Line credit union, hear she has to be a Rastafarian.
He assured members of the credit union of the security of their deposits since acquisition of loans and withdrawals be based on the individual contributions of members.
Mr. Acheampong said the criteria for advancing loans to members include the character of the applicant, available collateral and his capacity to pay back.
He stressed that Rastafarians irrespective of their geographical location and age could be members of the Union.
The President of the Council, Mr. Ahuma Bosco Ocansey, said the purpose of the credit union was to facilitate wealth creation among members through the provision of savings and loans services as well as financial advice.
He noted that the establishment of the credit union would be instrumental in getting the body of Rastafari on the March to attaining the resourcefulness, responsibility and respect required of the Rastafari.
Mr. Ocansey said that, currently over 140 members had registered and hoped that during their second anniversary, the membership would have increased.
He stressed that the pooling of financial resources of members would enable them generate wealth to build schools hospitals and other infrastructure to aid in the development of the nation.
This he said would help erase the misconceptions people have about the Rastafari.
He urged all Rastafarians to work together for the attainment of socio-economic emancipation of the Rastafarians in Ghana.
