Stop trying to 'Save' Africa.

Interesting article in the Washington Post recently by a young African who's kind of tired of well-meaning people trying to 'save' Africa. Says they don't really need it, and that these efforts perpetuate the stereotype of a poor, uncivilized Africa that is unable to do anything for itself, which is simply not true.








The Silence of the Blondes.

The Black Commentator has a nice article by Jamaican guest columnist John Maxwell, called The Silence of the Blonds. He discusses how it is possible for people in the global elite to avoid confronting the horrific realities of their actions; even if they are, like Annan, African, or like Powell and Rice, African-American.


Bascially he's saying they've become the modern equivalent of Hitler's mythical blonde, blue-eyed Aryan, an archetype that just doesn't exist in the real world, and so can pretend to live in a fantasy, ignoring all of the ugly realities around them. A long and interesting article on some of the implications of imperialism, past and present, full of the bitterness appropriate in discussing actions that use violence and lies to enrich a very few at the expense of tens of millions.

Via Avedon Carol's Sideshow.






Brass Crescent Awards.

City of Brass, a Muslim blogging center, has announced the winners of the Brass Crescent Awards, which is for the best blogs in or on the Muslim community. Lots of interesting links there.


Not surprised that Riverbend won the best Iraqi blog for Baghdad Burning. Incredible, heartfelt writing. Wish she could blog more than she does, but I'm amazed that without electricity, phones, water or heat that the Iraqis are able to do it at all. At least she speaks the truth. Here's a quote from some of her posts on Fallujah.


And this is from a woman who just 18 months ago was rather friendly towards the Americans. Things have changed.






An excellent African blog.

If you're interested in following developments in Sudan and the rest of Africa from an African perpspective, Mandisi Majavu's 4th Communique is a good place to start. It's part of the ZNet's family of blogs.






UN troops routinely raping refugees in the Congo.

Those who think that replacing American rapists and thugs in Iraq with UN troops ought to read this article in the Independent that claims that UN troops in the Congo are routinely coercing sex from young girls in the refugee camps there.


They call it "being sexually exploited." I call that rape myself. And it also qualifies as child abuse. It's bad enough for them to have been raped in their own countries. But for it to be done under the aegis of the UN is truly horrendous.

It's not surprising that the UN can't bring those "responsible to justice." The UN is an organization without any democracy, and without any elected representatives responsible accountable to the people who elected them. It has no formal body of law or systems of due process, there is no systematic and effective judicial apparatus (at least not one under the control of democratically elected officials) to rule on its actions, and no police force empowered to enforce the rulings of its judiciary.

The charter under which it operates was established in 1945 by a group of so-called "great powers" whose goal was to maintain their control of the world, and not to establish any form of world "government." On the contrary, their goal was to prevent the emergence of any sort of global government that would restrict their own activities. It is not a "government" in any sense of the word, and under its current stucture it is simply incapable of carrying out the functions of a government, most especially prosecuting wrongdoers acting under its control.






Doctors Without Borders seeking help.

Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) is seeking help for the growing crisis in the Sudan and in Chad, where most of the Sudanese refugees are going. See the article on their website here. I guess they need help in lots of places, but this is the current priority.








Some slaves in Niger finally freed.

BBC News reports that after a great deal of effort, some slaves in Niger have finally been freed. Amazing as it may seem, it was only this year that the practice was banned. But apparently there are still tens of thousands of them, only a few dozen of them being freed yesterday.


I could wonder why the world's news media never reports on this, but I guess we all know. If you want to know more try the Anti-Slavery Organization. Slavery exists all over the world, not just in Africa. The BBC also provides a link to a very interesting page on the history of the British slave trade. See their Africa News page for the latest.

Virtual slavery has also enjoyed a resurgence in the US under the Clinton and Bush administrations, although it's never labeled as that. This is the land of the free, so it couldn't possibly exist, could it? But there is a growing use of prisoners in both public and privately operated prisons as unpaid corporate labor. Both within the prisons themselves, as well as under programs that "rent" them out to private companies. With over 2,000,000 Americans now under lock and key there's no shortage of supply. And that's backed up by growing numbers of illegal immigrants who work under horrendous conditions. They may be paid nominal amounts, but they are often locked up at night and in other ways have their freedom restricted. And that is slavery.






Spain and Morocco plan tunnel under the Mediterranean.

Guardian article. Continuing the spread of tunnels and bridges connecting various parts of the world, Spain and Morocco announced a plan to construct a tunnel under the Mediterranean.


This development hasn't been getting much notice since it's been happening gradually. But slowly the world is being connected together. Tunnels and bridges are also being built between Scandinavia and the European mainland, the Japanese islands and many other places.

The Spanish-Moroccan link is especially important since it would link not just the two countries, but effectively all of Africa and Europe.

The implications for national sovereignty, the environment, travel and the tourist industry, public health and other areas are quite significant. It's likely that by the end of the century, if not by mid-century, people will be able to drive from anywhere in the world to anywhere else.

The people constructing these deserve a lot of respect. It is probably the most difficult and challenging of all engineering tasks. Not to mention extremely dangerous. Much more so than space for instance, which gets a lot more attention.

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