The A marks Loliondo, a Maasai village in northern Tanzania. I have written about the Maasai before, on this blog in The Wheat Field, and in African publications in the 90s. In the fight between pastoralists and farmers, I support the farmers, if only because poor countries need food sources.
Continue readingTag: africa
Boreal Citizen: Women’s rights, religion and the population crisis
World population has increased from under 1-billion in 1800 to over 7-billion today–that’s just over 200 years. So that’s an extraordinary rate of population increase. If we saw that in any other species, we’d say, “Wow, that species is headed for a crash.” We don’t think that way when we
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Doing something about anti-gay lobbying in Africa
If you’ve frequented any LGBT media at all, you’ve heard about Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill (often referred to as the “Kill the Gays Bill”), and possibly other anti-gay legislative bills that have been debated in African nations. Perhaps you’ve signed on to petitions directed to various governments to urge them
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Saturday reading. – Hamida Ghafour writes about the effect of tax avoidance by the world’s wealthy on the lives of the rest of the population – particularly when coupled with austerity pushed based on a lack of revenue: The OECD is a fierce defender of
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Amnesty International: Sudan releases prisoner of conscience
by Amnesty International | Jan 20, 2013: Sudanese teacher and activist Jalila Khamis Koko, who was arrested by the National Security Service in March 2012, was released from detention after a court hearing today. Jalila was acquitted of all charges except those related to “spreading false news”, a vague provision
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada-Benin FIPA: Stephen Harper’s new scramble for Africa’s wealth
“A FIPA is a treaty designed to protect and promote Canadian investment abroad through legally binding provisions,” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper With the new Canada-Benin Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA), Canada’s first FIPA in Sub-Saharan Africa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has strengthened Canada’s foothold on the new scramble for Africa‘s
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: World Forest Area Still on the Decline
World Forest Area Still on the Decline (via sustainablog) By Emily E. Adams Forests provide many important goods, such as timber and paper. They also supply essential services—for example, they filter water, control water runoff, protect soil, regulate climate, cycle and store nutrients, and provide habitat for countless animal species
Continue readingArt Threat: Friday Film Pick: Togetherness Supreme
Barack Obama was still just a U.S. Senator in 2006, but he was already spooling up for his presidential run. Seizing on his rising visibility and popularity, Obama made a mostly-business trip to Africa. The unprecedented buzz surrounding a senatorial trip culminated in his arrival in Kenya, the birthplace of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is China Grooming Africa for Half a Billion Surplus Chinese?
The theory, published in Asia Times, is that Chinese authorities have figured out their homeland can support a population of 700-million, max. With current numbers at 1.2-billion, China has to jettison hundreds of millions of people. “While a cottage industry of “China-in-Africa” experts has emerged over the past five years,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Mining in the NWT: Who Gets What?
In a recent blog post at Northern Public Affairs, Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox looks at the issue of ‘who gets what?’ when a mine is developed in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Here is an excerpt from the post: – The resource extractor: they pay royalties (the NWT has the lowest royalties in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Meilinomics II: Income from Within
The following is another excerpt from Dr. Ryan Meili’s new book, A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy, which fellow blogger Greg Fingas has been discussing. The road to Tevele is red sand and sloppy in the rainy season. The pick- up truck bounces in
Continue readingbastard.logic: Provocation, Appropriation, and That Blackface Clitoridectomy Cake
Here’s an idea for truly provocative art. No more male artists, black or white, speaking for African women. No more ever-more-graphic ever-more-voyeuristic art on the suffering of African women. Stop using the female African body as raw material to be worked – unless you happen to live in one. Then,
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Zimbabwean Senator Suggests “Sex Gadgets” To Curb Homosexuality
A Zimbabwean senator has recommended cutting back on prisoners’ food budget and providing “sex gadgets” instead as a strategy to reduce homosexuality from spreading throughout the country. Speaking before a parliamentary committee this month, Ms. Sithembile Mlotshwa explained her, uh, logic: “Considering that some of the same-sex orientation—homosexuality—come from prisons
Continue readingArt Threat: KONY 2012 and the mischievous media habits of slacktivists
Video still from Kony 2012. I was swamped at work last week, when I took a little Twitter break to see what was going on in the world. My feed was bombarded with what appeared to be a video gone viral, called Kony 2012. Even celebrities like Rihanna, Taylor Swift,
Continue readingArt Threat: Kony 2012: the photographer who shot the hipsters with a proud colonial mindset
Photograph by Glenna Gordon (detail). By now you’ve heard of the Kony 2012 campaign, and I’ve already expended enough energy discussing it on Facebook to bring anything new and arts-related to the table. However, the Washington Post has provided a different angle by interviewing Glenna Gordon, the photographer who shot
Continue readingBlevkog: Kony 2012
From Wikipedia: “Joseph Rao Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda. The LRA say that God has sent spirits to
Continue readingSedative For The Masses
Lately we have been inundated with news reports about billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet opining on inequity and the need for higher taxes on the rich,with the latest such pronouncement coming from the founder of the World Economic forum Klaus Schwab. Sadly too many progressives have fallen for
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Not Out of the Woods
On 21 December 2011, at the opening of the “Dutch Winters” art exhibit at the Rijksmuseum located in Amsterdam’s chic Schiphol Airport, a painting was put on display that, for those following closely the International Criminal Court’s cases against six Kenyans, offered a starling omen. The ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, Luis
Continue readingArt Threat: The Noise of Cairo explores art in revolution
The Noise of Cairo is an upcoming documentary about the Cairo art scene after the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Produced by scenesfrom, this “cinematic kaleidoscope” interviews a dozen artists and explores the role played by creatives during the revolution. Via African Digital Art.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fracking Ohio’s Utica Shale to "Boost Local Economy"? A "Total" Sham
Total Energy Logo.jpg It is a well-known fact that the unconventional gas industry is involved in an inherently toxic business, particularly through hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), which the EPA just confirmed today has contaminated groundwater in Wyoming. The documentary "Gasland," DeSmogBlog's report "Fracking the Future: How Unconventional Gas Threatens our Water, Health,
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