Fri - December 10, 2004
Moolaade @ Music Box 12/9/2004
SV, JF&KF, and I
caught "Moolaade" at the Music
Box afterwork on Thursday.
While nominally about female circumcision rituals in west africa, it is really a
fairly universal tale about the challenges of transformation and the power
dynamics of sex, religion, tradition and the rest. That the film was able to
convey a sense that the underlying issues really did have a sense of
universality to them is a great compliment to the quality of the filmmaking.
The reviews below do a good job of setting up the
movie.
Reader Review
Ebert Review
I'll add more to this post in the future.
Reader Review
Ebert Review
I'll add more to this post in the future.
Posted at 12:02 AM
Fri - November 26, 2004
AIDS population demographics and democracy
This article begins to explore the ramifactions of AIDS on population
demographics as they relate to democratic institutions (and the stabilty
thereof).
Posted at 12:52 PM
Wed - November 24, 2004
'Don't raise your voice -- improve your argument'
this from the M&G on Tutu's comments on the slow pace of
economic redistribution in SA.
---
23 November 2004 10:55
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu questioned black economic empowerment on Tuesday, saying it seemed to benefit a small "recycled" elite and called for action against poverty.
"It will not do to say people did not complain when whites were enriched. When were the old regime our standards?" asked Tutu in an address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg.
Imploring the audience to remember the struggle values of "the people shall share" and the pledge to evolve a caring, compassionate society, he said too many South Africans were living in "gruelling demeaning, dehumanising poverty".
"We are sitting on a powder keg. We really must work like mad to eradicate poverty," he said.
"We should discuss as a nation whether BIG (the proposed basic income grant) is not really a viable way forward. We should not be browbeaten by pontificating decrees from on high. We cannot glibly on full stomachs speak about handouts to those who often go to bed hungry.
"It is cynical in the extreme to speak about handouts when people can become very rich at the stroke of a pen. If those are not massive handouts, what are?"
He suggested adopting a family with a monthly gift of R100 or R200 or paying the school fees of a poor child.
Tutu called government houses "the next generation of slums", telling the audience that they were known as Unos -- a small Italian car -- and asked why South Africans were not involved with the Habitat for Humanity project, which was building 50 new houses a week.
Tutu touched on the most violent and repressive points of apartheid and compared them with events after 1994.
"We really do have much to celebrate and much for which to be thankful", he said, marvelling at mixed-race couples who would once have been victimised by the police and the way the new society was reflected in the demographics of the school near his home.
He spoke of sporting triumphs and the Nobel peace and literature prizes won by South Africans, and reminded his audience that in spite of South Africa's deeply troubled and divided past, the expected racial bloodshed did not happen.
However, he conceded that the country had problems, the most serious of which was HIV/Aids.
"Over four million of our people are infected. It is estimated that nearly 400 000 people will die this year from Aids. That is shattering news."
He said it was worth celebrating that while it could have been expected that whites would say "good riddance" to the mostly black people with the virus, the most committed workers in the Anti-HIV/Aids campaign were whites.
Tutu also expressed concern about freedom of expression, and said that party lists (which determine who gets into Parliament), made people reluctant to question any policies.
"We should not too quickly want to pull rank and demand an uncritical, sycophantic, obsequious conformity. We need to find ways in which we engage the hoi polloi, the so-called masses, the people, in public discourse through indabas, town hall forums, so that no one feels marginalised and that their point of view matters, it counts.
"We should debate more openly, not using emotive language, issues such as affirmative action, transformation in sport, racism, xenophobia, security, crime, violence against women and children.
"What do we want our government to do in Zimbabwe? Are we satisfied with quiet diplomacy there? Surely human rights violations must be condemned as such whatever the struggle credentials of the perpetrator. It should be possible to talk as adults about these issues without engaging in slanging matches. My father used to say, 'Don't raise your voice; improve your argument'." - Sapa
---
23 November 2004 10:55
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu questioned black economic empowerment on Tuesday, saying it seemed to benefit a small "recycled" elite and called for action against poverty.
"It will not do to say people did not complain when whites were enriched. When were the old regime our standards?" asked Tutu in an address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg.
Imploring the audience to remember the struggle values of "the people shall share" and the pledge to evolve a caring, compassionate society, he said too many South Africans were living in "gruelling demeaning, dehumanising poverty".
"We are sitting on a powder keg. We really must work like mad to eradicate poverty," he said.
"We should discuss as a nation whether BIG (the proposed basic income grant) is not really a viable way forward. We should not be browbeaten by pontificating decrees from on high. We cannot glibly on full stomachs speak about handouts to those who often go to bed hungry.
"It is cynical in the extreme to speak about handouts when people can become very rich at the stroke of a pen. If those are not massive handouts, what are?"
He suggested adopting a family with a monthly gift of R100 or R200 or paying the school fees of a poor child.
Tutu called government houses "the next generation of slums", telling the audience that they were known as Unos -- a small Italian car -- and asked why South Africans were not involved with the Habitat for Humanity project, which was building 50 new houses a week.
Tutu touched on the most violent and repressive points of apartheid and compared them with events after 1994.
"We really do have much to celebrate and much for which to be thankful", he said, marvelling at mixed-race couples who would once have been victimised by the police and the way the new society was reflected in the demographics of the school near his home.
He spoke of sporting triumphs and the Nobel peace and literature prizes won by South Africans, and reminded his audience that in spite of South Africa's deeply troubled and divided past, the expected racial bloodshed did not happen.
However, he conceded that the country had problems, the most serious of which was HIV/Aids.
"Over four million of our people are infected. It is estimated that nearly 400 000 people will die this year from Aids. That is shattering news."
He said it was worth celebrating that while it could have been expected that whites would say "good riddance" to the mostly black people with the virus, the most committed workers in the Anti-HIV/Aids campaign were whites.
Tutu also expressed concern about freedom of expression, and said that party lists (which determine who gets into Parliament), made people reluctant to question any policies.
"We should not too quickly want to pull rank and demand an uncritical, sycophantic, obsequious conformity. We need to find ways in which we engage the hoi polloi, the so-called masses, the people, in public discourse through indabas, town hall forums, so that no one feels marginalised and that their point of view matters, it counts.
"We should debate more openly, not using emotive language, issues such as affirmative action, transformation in sport, racism, xenophobia, security, crime, violence against women and children.
"What do we want our government to do in Zimbabwe? Are we satisfied with quiet diplomacy there? Surely human rights violations must be condemned as such whatever the struggle credentials of the perpetrator. It should be possible to talk as adults about these issues without engaging in slanging matches. My father used to say, 'Don't raise your voice; improve your argument'." - Sapa
Posted at 11:01 PM
Thu - September 30, 2004
Assorted SA News
The
Unions vs. the ANC -- it will be real interesting to see how the
unions and the ANC react to their positions diverting on economic issues.
[Here's a story on the big strike that preceded the
compromise]
Mandela's prison notebooks returned -- It's good the officer didn't try to sell them to a collector.
SABC3's 'Great South Africans' list.
Mbeki intends to follow the constitution -- all of the questioning that he's had to go through on this topic is insulting. If the constitution says 2 terms max, then of course he's not going try for a third term. He's not Mugabe!
Mandela's prison notebooks returned -- It's good the officer didn't try to sell them to a collector.
SABC3's 'Great South Africans' list.
Mbeki intends to follow the constitution -- all of the questioning that he's had to go through on this topic is insulting. If the constitution says 2 terms max, then of course he's not going try for a third term. He's not Mugabe!
Posted at 09:02 AM
Tue - September 28, 2004
Apartheid did Die by John Pilger, 9/23/2004
Immediately between work and the Gift of Gab show, I stopped by
Depaul
for a viewing of "Apartheid did not Die" by the Australian
John Pilger.
The film was being shown as part of
Depaul's center for black diaspora.
First shown in 1998, the film was essentially argues that ANC has sold out to big business and put needed social, economic, and land reforms on the back-burner in order to essentially keep the economic status quo. Pilger argues that this in effect means that the gross wrongs of Apartheid are still going on and the only beneficiaries of "freedom" are those who can now enjoy the benefits of the Apartheid era without guilt. His arguments against the ANC are damning.
It's a short term pessimistic view that never delved into the complicated issues of how land reform (redistribution) would work, how economic redistribution would work (& keep SA in the good graces of the international community), or how the government would go about assessing who materially gained from Apartheid (since the TRC process wasn't enough for Pilger) without taking on a morally bankrupt position on race or an untenable position on economics. There was no appreciation for how far people were able to progress in the first 3 years, nor any appreciation for how unique a situation south africa was in.
I say all this and yet believe it's important to ask questions and to specifically question the motivations of every bureaucracy. The bigger an organization gets, the more probable it is that they will drift from their nominal mission and constituents.
But, Pilger was just over the top. Playing to the fears and as yet unrealized hopes of the people who wanted revolution instead of transition.
I saw the movie with essentially a crowd of college students at depaul who didn't have much sophistication or experience with these kinds of nuanced issues*. There was a lot of, "they should have just gotten rid of all the oppressors and started over" and "they didn't have to make deals with the oppressors" and "the guy in zimbabwe had the right idea, just had corrupt people involved". ARGH! It was frustrating enough to make me feel like I had to speak up, but I don't really think that a voice in the wilderness has more than a peripheral effect in these situations.
--
* there is an indictment of how American discourse tries to reduce every set of arguments into a binary switch lurking here.
First shown in 1998, the film was essentially argues that ANC has sold out to big business and put needed social, economic, and land reforms on the back-burner in order to essentially keep the economic status quo. Pilger argues that this in effect means that the gross wrongs of Apartheid are still going on and the only beneficiaries of "freedom" are those who can now enjoy the benefits of the Apartheid era without guilt. His arguments against the ANC are damning.
It's a short term pessimistic view that never delved into the complicated issues of how land reform (redistribution) would work, how economic redistribution would work (& keep SA in the good graces of the international community), or how the government would go about assessing who materially gained from Apartheid (since the TRC process wasn't enough for Pilger) without taking on a morally bankrupt position on race or an untenable position on economics. There was no appreciation for how far people were able to progress in the first 3 years, nor any appreciation for how unique a situation south africa was in.
I say all this and yet believe it's important to ask questions and to specifically question the motivations of every bureaucracy. The bigger an organization gets, the more probable it is that they will drift from their nominal mission and constituents.
But, Pilger was just over the top. Playing to the fears and as yet unrealized hopes of the people who wanted revolution instead of transition.
I saw the movie with essentially a crowd of college students at depaul who didn't have much sophistication or experience with these kinds of nuanced issues*. There was a lot of, "they should have just gotten rid of all the oppressors and started over" and "they didn't have to make deals with the oppressors" and "the guy in zimbabwe had the right idea, just had corrupt people involved". ARGH! It was frustrating enough to make me feel like I had to speak up, but I don't really think that a voice in the wilderness has more than a peripheral effect in these situations.
--
* there is an indictment of how American discourse tries to reduce every set of arguments into a binary switch lurking here.
Posted at 07:22 AM
Thu - September 9, 2004
Traditional Healers Legitimized in SA
[Story at the AP]
Generally, this is a positive step considering how many people rely on traditional healers and the rest for medical consultation (particularly in the rural areas). By generally, I'd say 3 out 4 times. It's the 1 out of 4 who are legitimate crack-pots that worry me. I would hope that there's some accreditation process in the works. Considering the sangoma that I've met, I can't really imagine how a malpractice claim would unfold.
Generally, this is a positive step considering how many people rely on traditional healers and the rest for medical consultation (particularly in the rural areas). By generally, I'd say 3 out 4 times. It's the 1 out of 4 who are legitimate crack-pots that worry me. I would hope that there's some accreditation process in the works. Considering the sangoma that I've met, I can't really imagine how a malpractice claim would unfold.
Posted at 11:49 PM
Fri - August 27, 2004
Mandela an Audio history
Going through old emails, I don't believe
that I neglected to post
this.
Mandela: an Audio History
Related NPR story.
Mandela: an Audio History
Related NPR story.
Posted at 11:29 AM
Wed - August 25, 2004
Southern African Dispatches by Donald Woods
On the plane back from London I read Donald
Woods' "Southern African Dispatches" (which I had
purchased at a bookshop in Seattle). It's a collection of his newspaper
articles from the late 70s prior to and immediately after the death of Steven
Biko. The collection gives us insight into Woods professional persona and into
the political climate in South Africa during the 1970s. A good quick
read.
--
My Donald Woods "credentials": or lack thereof. I have not yet read "Biko" or read anything by Biko. Nor have I seen "Cry Freedom". At best I have heard the Peter Gabriel song "Biko".
--
My Donald Woods "credentials": or lack thereof. I have not yet read "Biko" or read anything by Biko. Nor have I seen "Cry Freedom". At best I have heard the Peter Gabriel song "Biko".
Posted at 04:34 PM
Quick Links
Present Tense
Reading:
Gob's Grief
by Chris Adrian
Listening to:
"Survival"
by Bob Marley
Last Concert:
DJ Spooky "ReBirth of a Nation"
11/18/2004 @ the MCA Chicago
Last Movie: (seen in a theater)
Moolaade
12/9/2004
New Album I'm looking forward to:
Gob's Grief
by Chris Adrian
Listening to:
"Survival"
by Bob Marley
Last Concert:
DJ Spooky "ReBirth of a Nation"
11/18/2004 @ the MCA Chicago
Last Movie: (seen in a theater)
Moolaade
12/9/2004
New Album I'm looking forward to:
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Published On: Dec 10, 2004 07:27 AM
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Published On: Dec 10, 2004 07:27 AM