Day of Blogging for Justice

Many of my fellow AfroSpear members have blogged on 30th July about the rising numbers of tasings. Like many abuses of the criminal justice system, the victims are disproportionately African Americans.

We don't have tasing in the UK as yet but, in my opinion, it is only a matter of time.

I find it difficult to say how I feel about this. I feel so strongly, it's hard to find the words.

The violence must stop.

On nearly a daily basis, there are reports of tasing 'abuse', that is to say, tasing used in extreme cases such as, for example,

Blind, cancer, diabetic woman tased

http://overanalyzeit.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/blind-cancer-diabetic-sufferer-tasered-by-dayton-police/

But tasing in and of itself has been characterised as torture.

This is part of a much bigger problem. African people have been characterised as violent, brutish and animalistic for hundreds of years - first by the Arabs, then by the Europeans. This was used to justify the enslavement of African people.

In recent years, we have seen many manifestations of this, such as the Rodney King case and others like it. Children as young as five being incarcerated. The disporportionate number of African American people on Death Row. And tasing is a part of this overall pattern.

In the Niger Delta, African lives are worth very little, compared to the value of oil:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/14/10341/

In other parts of Africa, the search for conflict diamonds costs many lives.

I could go on and on and on and on. There is so much more to say. But I try to be solution-focused.

Bottom line, the violence must stop. THE VIOLENCE MUST STOP.

We can find peaceful means to air our grievances. We can find peaceful means to bring about justice. I am working alongside many other people all over the world to bring about peace through Nonviolent Communication (NVC). And miracles are happening.

To read more about NVC, visit: http://tinyurl.com/ywjm33 and

http://www.blacksuccess1.com/improvingcommunication.htm

To read posts by other AfroSpear members, visit:

Partial List of Participants in Day of Blogging for Justice

Sorry I cannot list everybody here. Well done to all the bloggers who have helped to bring this issue to prominence.

Obama in Berlin

Yesterday, 25th July 2008, the streets of Berlin were lined with people wanting to hear Presidential candidate Obama speak.

He spoke of freedom, and of the need for American and German people to unite.

He spoke of duty and of victory over tyranny. He spoke of a common destiny and of our common humanity. He made reference to a new hope, and to the fall of the Berlin wall.

Senator Obama’s central message seemed to be that we need to unite in the fight against terrorism – get behind the armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was saying that wee are all together in this fight. He repeatedly addressed the “People of Berlin, people of the world”. I am sure he is eager to demonstrate his grasp of foreign policy.

However, his statement that the purpose of the NATO mission in Afghanistan was to “help them rebuild their nation” was, at best, disingenuous. It sounded very much like Bush and Blair’s justification for the invasion of Iraq. It made me wonder whether Obama's foreign policy will be "business as usual" if he is elected President.

In Britain, the U.S. is largely characterised as an invading and dominating force. The speech may have been meant to allay that perception, but if so, I am not clear about how far it went in achieving that aim.

I was heartened to hear the Senator speak of the need to tear down walls between Christians, Muslims and Jews.

I was also encouraged by his statement of the need to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce the arsenals, and to bring the Iraqi war to a close. This was a dove message in what was largely a hawkish speech.

Although the candidate made repeated reference to the Berlin airlift, he only mentioned briefly and in passing the two world wars we fought against Germany. Living in London, I see nearly daily reminders of the Second World War and the devastation it caused. Work on construction sites still regularly unearths unexploded Nazi bombs that were rained down on the people of London and other British cities. Senator Obama’s speech contained only the briefest mention of that conflict.

The Senator used many of the right words, but I am not sure he conveyed a good grasp of the international situation. And although his speech was very idealistic, I did not personally find it particularly convincing.

To watch the video, go here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/berlinvideo/

As the author/publisher of Black Success Stories, I am well aware of the importance of positive Black role models. If he is elected President, what impact will this have on your life – your home, your family, your health, your job, your business? Join my Obama phone-in on 19th August. Click here to register Click here for more details. Your opinion matters.

Senator Obama Arrives in Iraq

Senator Barack Obama has stated that he will withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months of being elected President. He has, however, stated that he will consult military advisors before taking this action.

He arrived in Iraq today to discuss troop levels and the U.S.’s strategy on Iraq. He described the discussion with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top U.S. and Iraqi officials as “constructive”.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/20/AR2008072001416.html?hpid=topnews

This is an interesting piece on what Obama needs to do in order to get accurate, up-to-date information from people on the ground in Iraq.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1823684,00.html

I would like to know, out of interest, what the Senator thinks about the fact that we invaded Iraq illegally in the first place. Also, what he thinks about the suffering that was caused by the sanctions we imposed on Iraq before the invasions - lack of clean drinking water for the citizens, children denied access to hospital supplies and drugs, etc.

As the author/publisher of Black Success Stories, I am well aware of the importance of positive Black role models. If Obama is elected President, what impact will this have on your life – your home, your family, your health, your job, your business? Join my Obama phone-in on 19^th August. Click here to register. Click here for more details. Your opinion matters.

Demise of Health First

With a heavy heart, I attended a recent meeting of the African Health Forum. It was the final one as part of Health First.

Health First was a resource funded by the Primary Care Trusts (pcts) of three South London boroughs, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham (LSL). Large numbers of African people live in each of these three boroughs.

Health First provided support and advice to professionals and voluntary and statutory organisations for 15 years, but it has now been decommissioned.

I attended a stakeholders’ meeting several months ago, at which everyone agreed about how valuable Health First had been, and the value of the training provision in particular.

We had opportunities to meet people who played various roles across the three boroughs, whom we might never otherwise have met. This allowed us to share information and skills across a range of organisations and individuals.

In 2007, it was announced that Lewisham had decided to withdraw funding from Health First. Several months later, Lambeth and Southwark also decided to pull out.

This is reminiscent of when the Emergency Clinic at the Maudsley, a local mental hospital, closed a couple of years ago. Again, one borough – Lambeth in this case – withdrew its funding and Southwark, the remaining borough was not able to continue to fund the emergency clinic. This means that in an emergency, mental patients such as myself now have to go to the main hospital, Kings College Hospital, for help and support. We hope there will be a member of staff on hand who can provide specialist care and we have been told that there will always be someone available to do this. But Kings do not provide telephone support, which I have personally found extremely valuable at times when I was in a crisis.

Health First was seen as a flagship resource, and other local health authorities and pcts across the country looked to it as an example of good practice. The African Health Forum was an important part of the work of Health First. We are a group of people working in the voluntary and statutory sectors, specifically around HIV and sexual health issues, including health promotion, education, prevention and advocacy within the three boroughs. We have now widened our brief to include other health issues that affect local African communities.

I have been a member of the African Health Forum for over two years, and I have very much appreciated the opportunity to network and learn from others working in the area of health promotion.

The mood at the African Health Forum meeting was one of mourning. One person said it was like living in a house and someone tearing off the roof.

One thing that was said at the meeting was that there were allegations of mismanagement. This came as a shock to me. I had not heard anything about such allegations prior to that meeting and it seemed to be coming out of the blue. Nobody at that meeting was aware of any issues regarding mismanagement within Health First.

There are still funds committed to continuing the work of the African Health Forum for at least one further year. However, we don’t know what this work will be or what we will be able to achieve. We don’t know if there will be dedicated workers to support our aims. It is possible that we will continue in a different form – only time will tell.

Williams Wimbledon Final

It was obvious that the Williams sisters had answered the same questions over and over again. They knew what to expect.

“Your father’s not here. He said he could not bear to watch.”

“He’s done his job,” Venus repeated patiently.

“How does it feel to be playing against your sister?” “How will your game differ from when you play another opponent?” And variations on the theme.

The girls from Compton had grown into professional tennis champions. Theirs was the only family on earth where winning Wimbledon twice could be seen as a problem. And the only one in which two siblings would face each other at the final.

Like 2003, I felt SO emotional watching them take their places on the court. They both exuded so much confidence and self-assurance. And they played brilliant tennis.

On winning her FIFTH Wimbledon Championship, Venus immediately commended her sister Serena for her excellent game. She also thanked her other sisters for their support.

So what’s next? A Black man in the White House?

As the author of Black Success Stories and Success Strategies for Black People, I am very aware of the power of positive role models, and the psychological effects they can have.

However, at the moment, I am even more interested in the practical effects of a person in a leadership position, such as Senator Barack Obama.

If Obama is elected, what effect will this have on your day-to-day life? I want to hear your views. Join my Obama phone-in on Tuesday 8th July. Click here for details.

See also, Jay-Z's 99 Problems.

Jay-Z's 99 Problems

Wow! This has been an amazing week.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is exhibiting a retrospective on Mary Wilson and the Supremes.

The Wimbledon final was between Venus and Serena Williams. Last time they payed each other in the final, I was SO emotional. They are both champions. Each has won Wimbledon more than once. And we knew that, whoever took home the trophy, it would be a Williams.

And Jay-Z was the headliner at the Glastonbury Festival.

This was very controversial because one of the Gallagher brothers stated publicly that Jay-Z should not be the headliner. Glastonbury is for indies, not for rappers.

I am not a fan of rap. For one thing, I can’t even understand what they are saying most of the time. Must be my age. And nobody forces me to listen to it. Nor am I a fan of indie music, for that matter.

Got home last night and switched on the box. “Glastonbury, the Best Bits” was on. When Jay-Z stepped out on that stage, his band was playing and he was strumming his guitar. Not even singing. But the crowd recognised the chords, and they were singing,

“Today is gonna be the day
That they're gonna throw it back to you”.

The Oasis hit, “Wonderwall”.

Jay-Z can’t sing to save his life, but he went out on that stage and he gave it his best shot. He did it to make a point. And he made it. And it was GOOD.

Then he went into “99 Problems” and the crowd just chanted right along with him. This is as it should be. Music is music. It’s not meant to be cordoned off into ghettos.

But I can’t see the Gallaghers being able to perform one of Jay-Z’s numbers.

Apparently, the crowd were chanting “hoes, hoes, hoes”. I do not approve of women being referred to as “bitches” and “hoes”. It is disrespectful and demeaning. (Mind you, having read the lyrics, he says that that is not what he means.)

Jay-Z, I don’t know if you are irreplaceable. That’s not my call. But when you stepped out on that stage, you were bloody brilliant.

So what’s next? A Black man in the White House? And if Obama is elected, what effect will this have on your day-to-day life? I want to hear your views. Join my Obama phone-in on Tuesday 8^th Click here for details.

Happy 4th of July!

I am surprised at how much this day means to me today. At home, I was never one to celebrate Independence Day. All that flag-waving left me cold.

Wow! In the past six months, I have completed five ebooks! So I have a lot to celebrate.

I made my first potato salad of the year the other day. This ritual connects me with my memories of the past, summers in New York, barbecues with family and friends. And many things I have been happy to leave behind.

But this year, we have an African American Presidential candidate who looks like he may have a chance of winning.

Join me for my Barack Obama phone-in for African American people, Tuesday 8th of July. Let me hear your views. What difference will it make if Obama is elected President? How will it affect your home, family, job, business? Click here to listen and ring in.

Obama - Your Chance to Air Your Views

As the author of Black Success Stories and Success Strategies for Black People, I am well aware of the psychological effects of positive role models. We all need to have achievers to look up to, who demonstrate the fact that we can do it, we can achieve our goals.

Some would say that the Presidency of the United States is the most important, most powerful and most influential position in the world.

My question is, if Senator Obama is elected as President of the United States, what difference will this make to your day-to-day life?

I am looking to hear from people of African heritage, both within and outside the U.S. If Barack Obama is elected, how will this affect your:

• home
• family
• health
• job
• business?

Please phone in my Success Strategies radio show Tuesday 8th July. Click here for details.

The Invisible Black Family

In More Black Success Volume 5, Joan Gosier of HBCU Kidz asks, is the "two-parent happy African American family living a fulfilled life" invisible or nonexistent in mainstream media?

Click here to order your free copy today.

Congratulations

I want to give a shout out to my fellow AfroSpear member Dallas Progress, who recently join Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s Urban Policy Committee.

Part of Senator Obama's plan is to create a “White House Office of Urban Policy to develop a strategy for metropolitan America and to ensure that all Federal dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs. The Director of Urban Policy will report directly to the President and coordinate all
Federal urban programs.”

This is Dallas Progress’s blog: http://dallasprogress.blogspot.com

In addition, nine African American bloggers have been credentialed to join the Democratic National Convention (DNC), including AfroSpear member Adrianne George. I hope to interview Adrianne from the floor of the DNC.

This is her blog: http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://blackwomenineurope.blogspot.com/

And last but not least, AfroSpear member Queen Esther recently won the Jazzmobile 2008 "Best of the Best" Jazz Vocalist Competition. This is her blog: http://kudzumonamour.blogspot.com/

Congratulations, one and all!

Black in Vogue

I got an email from Dr. Lez Henry this morning, saying he had been rung up and asked to buy Vogue as the publishers were saying the current issue would be the worst-selling ever. It features exclusively models of African origin.

Now, this was interesting to me because I received the same phonecall, plus another one later on saying the issue was Italian Vogue.

I don't understand why we are supposed to buy Vogue to "show support" for sistas when the fashion and modelling industries are notorious for excluding Black models and requiring them to look as white as possible - pale skin, European features and fake long, straight hair.

Black models have fought for acceptance for many years and now Vogue, the world's leading fashion magazine, is saying their all-Black issue will not sell. This is a slap in the face - why should we support it? But if Vogue want to give me a free copy, I might read it.

Having said that, I do support the efforts of individual models of African heritage, including Naomi Campbell, who recently pled guilty to abusing police at the airport.

Now, if you have ever been through an airport, you know you might expect to be treated as if you have landed from outer space. I don't know what happened in Naomi's case, but I support her because I know how badly behaved airport security can sometimes be. It was meant to be about lost luggage - who doesn't want to kick off when their luggage goes missing? You don't know if you will ever see your personal and valued items again, or whose hands they have ended up in, or which country they are now residing in. British Airways is reported to have sent planes full of luggage to various destinations in order to unite items with their owners, such is the incompetence of these companies.

Not forgetting the fact that some years ago, Diana Ross accused airport security of touching her inappropriately. We will probably never know what really happened.

See also Black Haircare: From Korea to Your Neighbourhood

More Nooses Found

My fellow AfroSpear member has been writing on the Jena 6 Blog about more nooses that have been found in different parts of the U.S., including in Tennessee.

http://thejena6blog.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-nooses-in-tennessee.html

This raises a question for me: were nooses being used to intimidate African Americans in recent times, before the Jena situation arose? Maybe this has been going on for years but has not hit the headlines. Maybe the noose problem never went away – it has just continued since the bad old days of mass lynchings.

I remember when the author Toni Cade Bambara came to London in the early 1980s. At that time, there had been a well-publicised spate of killings of African American youngsters in Atlanta, GA.

I recall Bambara stating that the killings had not been confined to youngsters or to Atlanta, that they were far more widespread than that. In fact, there was evidence to suggest that some of the violence had been organised and committed by international organisations including some based here in the UK. Part of the reason for her visit to London had been to alert us of these facts.

When stories are covered in the news, as most of us know, there is a whole other story going on which has not made it into the public sphere. In fact, there are usually a whole complex series of stories operating on many levels, and we only get fed the basic minimum information about “who, what, when, where and how”. We usually don’t even get to the “why” of a story before the major news providers move on to the next headline.

We, as African Americans, have a duty to ourselves to be more well-informed than this. We were talking about this last night on my “Success Strategies” radio show. Americans in general tend to be less well-informed that we need to be about world events. Thus the confusion after the 9/11 bombings about “Why do people hate us enough to do this?”.

As African people, we need to be aware that what is going on in Africa affects us. Not just the big stories such as Zimbabwe and Darfur. What has happened in Africa historically relates directly to our experience in the United States and other parts of the Diaspora.

See, for example, my blog about Kenya's Colonia Past.

I am wondering whether there is a lot more information yet to emerge about the recent trend in using nooses to intimidate us.

Obama and Mental Health

I saw this online the other day.

One effect of Senator Obama’s achievement the potential it has to impact positively on our mental health.

Positive role models give us a sense of what we are capable of achieving.

As people of African heritage, we have been force-fed negative images of ourselves for many generations.

We have internalised this negativity and we have passed it down, parent to child, over the course of many generations. This is part of what is known as “Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome”.

We are a very damaged people and we need to do a lot of healing, individually and collectively.

We don’t know if Senator Obama is going to win the Presidential election yet. Even if he does, we don’t know what kind of President he will be.

Sen. Obama’s nomination may well have positive reverberations for African people all over the world – and, in fact, for all people, regardless of racial or cultural background or heritage.

But someone does not have to win the Democratic Presidential nomination in order to be a positive role model.

And anytime a person of African heritage achieves a goal or accomplishes some success, that person becomes a positive role model. This is why I have collected Black Success Stories. This is why I publish More Black Success. And this is why I celebrate Black success on my "Success Strategies" radio show.

Since the dawn of time, human beings have shared stories as a way of communicating important lessons. People have used stories to teach important truths, and to learn those truths.

Stories of African achievement contribute to our sense of wellbeing and positive self-esteem.

We all need to see positive reflections of ourselves. As people of African heritage, still recovering from the effects of enslavement and colonization, we particularly need to be reflected positively. This is a crucial part of our healing process. It is down to each and every one of us to continue to foster, promote and support this healing process, from which we can all benefit.

We live in amazing times. These are times of great potential for transformation. Anything is possible. The sky’s the limit. The time is now.

Finding Solutions - Young People and Violence

Violent crime is on the increase in inner London and other UK urban centres. African Caribbean young people are being overrepresented amongst both the victims and those perpetrating the crimes (so what else is new?).

The government is making the usual noises about increasing the police on the streets, and the police are wanting to use their stop-and-search powers more frequently and more widely (again I ask, what else is new?).

This situation is very frightening and, should we experience a hot summer this year, I expect to see a lot more bloodshed.

I am setting up workshops in the Black community using Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a method which is used in many parts of the world including places of extreme violence such as Israel and Palestine, Rwanda and Burundi, Sierra Leone and, increasingly, inner-city UK.

Parents need support, and there needs to be increased, and better-quality, communication between parents and young people, many of whom now feel the need to carry knives for their own protection. We need positive solutions.

I am looking to hold these workshops in partnership with community organisations and churches, so that we can offer them free of charge or for a low fee.

I will be talking about this on my new radio show Tuesday evening, 3rd June, 8 p.m. GMT (you need to check the time zones if you are outside of the UK). Please join us.

Fore more details, click here.

Black Hair Care - From Korea to Your Neighbourhood

I read an article in this month's Ebony about the use of products sourced from Korea. Although I was aware of this, what I did not realise was that many of the shops that supply Black haircare products in the States are also Korean-owned. These are the little neighbourhood shops selling in Black communities.

The article cited a video about this - I list several YouTube videos below. Most of them were made by Aron Ranen, a white man. I know Spike Lee dealth with this issue of Korean-owned shops in "Do the Right Thing", and also dealt with the self-hatred issue in "School Daze".

In the UK, this was certainly a problem in the past. Many of the shops were owned by Asian business people (from Bangladesh, Pakistan or East Africa). One of the videos, subtitled "Report from London", states that this is still an issue. However, in my experience, many of these shops are African-owned.

Asian grocers still often supply the food products we enjoy, such as sweet potatoes, plaintains, mangoes and other tropical fruits.

I am wondering (just wondering, folks) whether it would be in our best interests to partner with Asian businesses in order to gain the opportunity to supply people in our own communities. This could potentially be a step towards economic self-sufficiency.

The article quoted Ranen as saying that African Americans should go to Korea to source the hair themselves, rather than buying through a third party.

This is a sound business principle - know your suppliers and deal with them directly.

Of course, the article did not address the basic problem of why African and African Diasporic women feel the need to buy hair from Korean people to disguise the natural texture of their hair. And why we are still allowing European sensibilities to define our concepts of beauty.

The way I see it, this is part of the legacy of slavery - what is sometimes called "Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome".

We need to learn to love ourselves, inside and out. We need to love ourselves enough that we are willing to buy from Black businesses - to prosper those who look like us and with whom we share a common cultural identity and heritage. That way, our Black businesses and communities will thrive, for the benefit of everyone.

To read more about Black haircare and the need for self-love, read "What They Don't Want Us to Know". http://www.lulu.com/content/2571278

Aron Ramnn’s Black Haircare Documentary Part One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p96aaTSdrAE
Black Hair Documentary Part Four
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m67P2kT7TzQ&feature=related
Aron Ranen's Black Hair Documentary- Report from London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SICRkQzww5Q&feature=related
"My Nappy ROOTS" Award winning documentary on Black hair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fZaDf15O-8&NR=1

Brothers, Are You Listening?

Time and time again I would hear comments like, “Black people don’t read” or “Black people don’t spend money on personal development programs. How many people are going to purchase a book titled Brothers Are You Listening? Don’t you know that Black men are the last people to purchase these types of books?”

Although I must admit that I was a little surprised by their reactions, I completely disagreed with their conclusions. I knew there was a need for personal development books written by and for African Americans and although most people disagreed with me I decided to pursue my dream any way. As a matter of fact, their rejection inspired me even more. - Michael Taylor

You can read Michael's story in More Black Success Volume 2.

For more MBS excerpts, click here.

Would you like to submit your story? Click here for more details.

Expelled Ghanaian Woman Dies

Ama​ Sum​ani​ needed​ dialysis to prolong her​ life. A Ghanaian woman who​ was​ removed fro​m a Car​dif​f hospital where she​ was​ receiving​ cancer​ treatment​ and​ flown home after her​ visa exp​ire​d has​ die​d.


Ama ​ Sum​ani​, 39,​ passed​ away in Accra,​ Ghana,​ hours after being to​d that friends and​ family​ had​ found doc​tor​s in the​ UK and​ South Africa​ to treat her​.


The​y had​ also raised​ more than £70​,00​0 fro​m donations​ to pay​ for​ drugs which were not​ available​ in her​ home country.


Her​ friend​ Jan​et Simmons said: "She said she​ was​ too​ tired to fig​ht.​

Ms Sum​ani​, a widowed mot​her​-of​-two, die​d at about 160​0 GMT​ on Wednesday​ in Korle-​Bu hospital in Accra, said Mrs​ Simmons.


She ​ had​ bee​n receiving​ kidney​ dialysis and​ treatment there after immigration officials​ removed Ms Sumani from the University Hospital of Wales in January


But the drug she needed to prolong her life - thalidomide - is not available​ in Ghana.​

Mrs ​ Jan​et Simmons, fro​m Cardiff, who​ returned from spending a month in Ghana on Sunday​, said they had just found a doctor in South Africa and another in the UK who would treat terminally-ill Ms Sumani with the drugs​,

"We told her this morning but this afternoon she gave up,​" she said.


A campaign to allow Ms Sumani to return to the UK for treatment and to raise funds to help her had been backed by people across the country.


"The British people kept her alive all this time and we would like to thank the​m for their donations​," said Mrs Simmons.


She added:​ "I last saw her on Saturday morning before​ I left Ghana.​ She was not 100​%. She asked me 'are you taking me with you?' and I had to say no.​

The ​ BBC​s Will Ross in Accra said Ms Sumani's life had been precarious, and that the decision to send her home was controversial.


“Despite facing great challenges in Ghana as her health deteriorated​, she remained cheerful and hoped the British government would reverse its decision”,​ he add​ed.​

Anonymous​ Donor

Ms Sumani had been undergoing dialysis and was receiving other drugs at the University Hospital of Wales after being diagnosed with malignant myeloma which damaged her kidneys.


She came to the UK five years ago to become a student, but began working in contravention of her visa regulations.​

When she returned to Ghana it was feared she would not be able to pay the costs of dialysis,​and an anonymous donor from the UK stepped in to pay for three months of treatment.


Previously, Mrs Simmons had said a family had offered to look after Ms Sum​ani​'s children Mar​y, 16,​ and seven-​year-old Samede​.


The decision to remove Ms Sumani​ was described as "atrocious barbarism​" by leading medical journal The​ Lancet​.


The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams also criticised the way cases like hers were handle
d.

Film: "Uganda Rising"

I saw a film the other week, “Uganda Rising”, at an evening organised by Kalabash Uganda. For more info about this film, visit www.ugandarising.com

The main reason why I wanted to attend the film show was that I know so little about what is happening in Northern Uganda. I was aware that children were being kidnapped from their homes in villages and being forced to fight for a rebel army and commit atrocities against each other. I was also aware that, as a result, many children were walking for miles every night into the cities so that they could sleep in safety.

I was subsequently told that at least one Acholi woman has told people to boycott this film because it is slanted to present President Musaveni in a favourable light. However, I found that the film does criticise Musaveni to some extent.

I have recently met two young Acholi women whom I will soon interview about a Ugandan project they are involved with, which supports women and children.

Most of the information that follows comes from the film, and a bit comes from other sources.

There were negotiations between President Musaveni and various different rebel leaders in the 1980s, but these broke down when Musaveni said he was tired of negotiating. At that time, although Joseph Kony’s forces were wandering around with guns, and with their fingers on the triggers all the time, there was no violence. Everything was peaceful until the negotiations ended.

Kony subsequently formed the Lord’s Resistance Army. Their activities seem confined to terrorising the Acholi people of Northern Uganda. This despite the fact that Kony is himself an Acholi.

Kony attacked people and abducted many children from their homes in villages, forcing them to fight for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Part of their army training involved shooting each other and many of them died in this way. A lot of their activities involve mutilating people. One woman described how LRA people cut off her lips, leaving her permanently disfigured. An ex-LRA member spoke of how he and his comrades were ordered to cut off a woman’s hands and feet before killing her.

The LRA would raid the villages at night, so parents were forced to send their children into the cities at night. The film showed children sleeping in shelters. One UN observer stated that she saw many children walking towards the city at night and, as it got darker, they didn’t walk, they ran.

Museveni’s government moved the majority of the Acholi people into camps supposedly for their protection, but did not provide adequate military personnel to protect them. Most of the people in the camps are women and children. Moving them into the camps just made it easier for LRA members to rape the women and abduct the children. Plus, the camps lacked basic provisions such as food and medicine.

So the children still have to leave the villages and camps every night and head into the cities for their own protection. They sleep in shelters, in churches and on the street. I was told by a young Ugandan woman that, even when she visits her family on holiday, by nighttime they have to be out of the village.

The children stay in the shelters without adult supervision. Some of the older ones are having sex with each other, with the inevitable consequences of pregnancies and STIs. Although Uganda is often portrayed as an African success story in terms of treatment of HIV and AIDS, the rate of infection is higher in this part of the country.

The film also depicted many children in child-headed households. Children have to care for their younger siblings and grandparents, run a household and try to get an education. I have seen pictures like this before, e.g. from South Africa, where there are so many AIDS orphans. These Ugandan children have been orphaned, not by disease but by conflict.

The children are desperate for education. The film showed children in the shelters, studying via the light of flashlights.

The Ugandan government now has a policy of extending amnesty to ex-LRA members, excluding Kony and his senior officials. LRA personnel who come out of the bush and surrender have to confess to their wrongdoings and make restitution to those whom they have harmed, and/or their surviving family members.

I was particularly pleased to see that they also perform a public ritual of cleansing. I am pleased to see them drawing on their ancient traditions, although the ritual involves cutting an animal in half, which is obviously very cruel. I would like to see them substitute a modern equivalent which did not involve the taking of more innocent life.

On the one hand, I am glad many people are leaving the LRA, coming out of the bush, making restitution and being reintegrated into the community.

But the people in the camps are not as fortunate. They are still highly vulnerable. I think of the woman with no lips. She has been offered no compensation or support to get on with her life.

I also think about the children having to travel into the cities night after night, just to be safe. Just to get a good night’s sleep. I wonder what kind of future they are going to have.

I also think of the many children who have been born in the bush, fathered by Kony and other LRA men. What does the future hold for them?

Unlike some other conflicts, we don’t get much information about the situation in Northern Uganda. It is not on the news or portrayed much in the media. This conflict has raged since 1986. A million and a half Acholi people have been displaced.

Kenya's Colonial Past

I recently watched two historical films about Kenya, in a showing by the 100 Black Men of London.

The first one, “A Country for White Men”, depicted what happened from the time the British arrived, in the early 20th century, until they left in the 1960s. Although I knew a lot of what the film depicted already, I didn’t know the details.

The British arrived and started grabbing the best –quality farmland for themselves, as the Europeans did in South Africa, Zimbabwe and presumably many other countries as well.

They massacred hundreds, if not thousands, of people in order to steal their land. At one point, Winston Churchill expressed concern about how many African people were being slaughtered. He also said that, if the House of Commons got wind of what was happening, the British plans for Kenya would have to be scrapped.

Kenyans who were interviewed in the film said that they only had spears against the guns of the British, so although they fought back, they could not win. One man said that if the British had come with swords rather than guns, it would have been a different story.

The attitude of the British was that they were bringing British values into what would become a ‘new country’, and they considered this to be a good thing.

Those Kenyans who were not massacred by the British were made homeless and forced to do menial jobs for the white settlers.

We heard one white person remarking that the Kenyans had never done any work a day in their lives until then. So what were they doing on their farmland for all those generations before the white settlers arrived?

This reminds me so much of what happened in the Americas. The white people arrived, slaughtered the original people and stole our land. My father, who is part Cherokee, told me this story from the time I was a young child. But although I knew it happened in many parts of Africa as well, it was useful to be given specific information about what happened.

Teddy Roosevelt, when he visited Kenya, described it as a ‘playground’ and said that the people who did well there were the same people who had done well in the Old West forty years earlier.

During the First World War, Kenyans were forced into the British Army where they again did menial jobs. Hundreds of them died of starvation and disease. They were told they were fighting the Germans, who were occupying a neighbouring country which bordered with Kenya, and that they were fighting to secure their own country. But after the war, they were still confined to menial jobs and continued to be ruled by the British.
For many years, the Kenyans formed political parties to fight the British, and petitioned the British government, but their needs were ignored by the colonial rulers. At one point, members of one Kenyan political party were slaughtered at an anti-colonial demonstration. The Kenyans’ political parties were outlawed by the colonials.

Eventually, after many years of trying to achieve their aims of independence and self-determination through nonviolent means, the so-called Mau Mau were formed, which used violence.

I have seen another film about the ‘Mau Mau’, in which one man explained that, if a Black man were walking down the street and saw a white man, the Kenyan was supposed to stop and say ‘good morning’ and tip his hat. If the Kenyan failed to do this, the white man would beat him. And if the Kenyan defended himself, he would be arrested.

At last, after more than 60 years of colonisation, the British left Kenya to independent rule.

The next film was called ‘Mau Mau’.

The first thing this film clarified was that ‘Mau Mau’ is a term that means nothing in any Kenyan language. It was a term that was made up by white people. The Kenyans called themselves the Land Freedom Army. Clearly, if that had been widely known outside of Kenya, there might have been a lot more international support for the Kenyans’ aims and criticism, if not condemnation, of the colonial rulers.

After many years of killing people and displacing Kenyan people into what were effectively concentration camps, there was a scandal when some of the people in the camps were taken out into the bush by British Army personnel who tried to force them to work, digging ditches. I had seen a film about this before. The Kenyans refused to do this work – their attitude was, “We are not slaves, why should we work for the British?”.

The soldiers were then ordered to beat the Kenyans with their rifle butts, which they did. Some of the Kenyans died as a result of their injuries, and others were badly injured. The British then put out the story that these Kenyans had died as a result of drinking bad water.

Charities sent helicopters to airlift out these Kenyans who were supposedly ill, and found that they had injuries which were not consistent with having drunk bad water. When what really happened came out, it was the beginning of the end of the British colonial occupation of Kenya.

After the second film showing, a Kenyan man gave some up-to-date information. He explained that the people who run the safaris and make a lot of money from tourism are white people who live in Kenya (as I have been told, these people consider themselves to be Kenyans).

Again, I thought what he was saying was obvious, but it probably is not obvious for some people, so it’s useful to be told this information. We see similar situations in South Africa and many other places that were colonised by European powers.

When we see these stories in the news of the instability and unrest in Kenya and the violence around the recent elections, it is important to have a historical perspective. The instability of the country can be traced back to the fact that it was invaded and occupied by the British for many years, and they took people off their land, which destabilised the local economy, displaced Kenyan people, killed them, forced them to do menial jobs and denied them any kind of political voice.

Harriet: A New Choreopoem

In the latest instalment of my blog tour, I talk about my new choreopoem, Harriet.

“My most significant role model and shero is Harriet Tubman. My mother told me about her when I was a young child, and used to give me Harriet Tubman comic books (it was the Sixties). So Tubman has always been a major influence for me. I think it’s the fact that she was so uncompromising...."

You can read the rest of the inteview here:
http://www.danafredsti.com/blog/?m=200802

To read the other interviews, please visit:

http://myafricandiaspora.com/WordPress/?p=31

http://blackwomenineurope.blogspot.com/2008/01/black-success-stories.html

http://asanetwork.blogspot.com/2008/01/black-success-stories-by-zhana.html

To read about the choreopoem, visit:
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewevent.asp?AuthorID=6641