Monday, April 12, 2010

A National Black Theatre Event!!!

"AS PART OF IMMIGRANT HERITAGE WEEK
NBT'S THEATRE ARTS PROGRAM
IS OFFERING 2 FREE SHOWS!!!
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
APRIL 15 & 16, 2010"
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More of Nicholas Kristof's falsehoods about African poverty

“As a matter of fact, even to this very day, it is the continuous exploitative behavior of Europeans and their offshoots in the Americas, by their maintaining the underdevelopment of Africa and other lands, including neo-colonialist South Africa, that lends to the creation of Mugabe and his ilk,..”

Dear friends,

There is a particular writer from the New York Times who is given a great deal of exposure as an “expert” on the plight of non-European peoples around the world. His name is Nicholas Kristof. To be sure, he knows more about us than we know about ourselves. By the way, he is the same person who insisted, after the recent tragedy in Haiti, that the answer to providing economic development to a new Haiti is to open up more sweat shops. Huh? (Apparently, he’s a friend of the Clintons and Bushes. Eh?)

Now Kristof wants the world to know the ease with which one can understand why Africa is “poor”, by explaining to us, “…a visit to Zimbabwe highlights perhaps the main reason: bad governance. The tyrannical, incompetent and corrupt rule of Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has turned one of Africa’s most advanced countries into a shambles. “

Of course, not only does his “analysis” deny the process of exploitation and oppression of African peoples and others worldwide, as well, Kristof makes no mention here of the role of the C.I.A., for example, with its multi-billion dollars budget and absolute free reign without monitoring, that allows that “agency” to constantly work to destabilize governments around the world that don’t bend to the hegemony of both European and North American capitalism (e.g., the C.I.A., along with the soulless Israelis, recently assassinated an Iranian scientist as part of their expression of diplomacy in keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/6868090.html ).
Additionally, what Kristof doesn’t talk about is: soon after independence, petty tribalisms and so forth - like "religious" squabbles, set in, and were, in fact, instigated by agents of the former colonial rulers. Moreover, as the great Walter Rodney taught us in his landmark book called “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” what continues to happen on the Mother continent stems from the aforementioned hegemony. Kristof acts as if non-Africans have no part in the problem. Besides, are the leaders of African nations any more exploitative than those of the US, for instance?

At any rate, unemployment in Africa, which was already rampant under colonialism, became even worse, because the formerly colonized "leaders" had no understanding of running industry. After all, while European rulers and others have and still do take raw materials from the African continent, they send the aforementioned materials overseas to places like Asia and Latin America where they are refined into consumable products. Also, when the colonizers “left”, those vindictive, alien marauders took everything that they "owned" with them (in many cases, they even took the light bulbs from the administrative offices that they had been forced to abandon).

That meant that, for many people, farming on a rather unsophisticated scale and petty merchantry would reign. People do have to eat and sustain themselves, after all. Hence, in that context, when it came/comes to government collection and expenditures, along with other matters, corruption necessarily followed/follows.

As a matter of fact, even to this very day, it is the continuous exploitative behavior of Europeans and their offshoots in the Americas, by their maintaining the underdevelopment of Africa and other lands, including neo-colonialist South Africa, that lends to the creation of Mugabe and his ilk, whether on the Mother continent of Africa or here in the Diaspora - and the rest of the world.

Finally, when is Kristof going to focus on misery, squalor, and ignorance in places like South Boston, Massachusetts, Dublin, Ireland, and a myriad of other places, both here and in Europe, where people who look like him suffer under corrupt politicians, greedy businesspeople, and such?

Nevertheless, below is the link to Kristof’s usual condescending, unconscionably racist venom with which the New York Times so proudly infests the world.

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11kristof.html?hp
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A few photos of how some Africans are faring these days (originally posted 10/16/08)

How about a brief journey through the continent of Africa, with its many cultural experiences?

Dear friends,

While the mainstream media in North America pays little attention to the Mother continent - Africa (outside of her misery), I like to, occasionally, keep viewers of this blog aware of Africa's many looks - and peoples. Please check out the small set of pics below, from BBC.


G. Djata Bumpus
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7664176.stm
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