Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 660

Mural Art in Woodstock

What's happening in (Cape Town's neighborhood) Woodstock that makes local hipsters flood the place? The speed at which parts of this area are gentrifying is dazzling. But hipsters also shoot nice images. Cue: shaky cam and hyper-bright colors. – Tom Devriendt

Democracy in Uganda

In February this year, for the umpteeth time, Life President Yoweri Museveni scored an overwhelming victory in presidential elections in Uganda. Now–with the aid of the country's police–Museveni wants to destroy and himiliate the only candidate that came to close to making a decent showing, Kizza Besigye. Mainly because the former army colonel and ally of Museveni is fast taking on the mantle of "opposition leader." The photograph above, taken at a protest Monday, shows Besigye wearing swim goggles to ward off tear gas. Besigye was arrested by police for "walking to work." At the time Besigye was walking to work with other protesters to protest rising food and fuel prices.)

Source.

Gaddafi and African Diseases

One of Gaddafi's 'voluptuous Ukranian nurses' finally speaks. She has some things to say on his pan-Africanism:

When we drove around poor African countries he would fling money and candy out the widow of his armored limousine to children who ran after our motorcade; he didn't want them close for fear of catching diseases from them.

Newsweek

'In the end, just a guy in a bad Hawaiian shirt without a clue'

Alexis Okeowo on Twitter sums up the end of the four-month stand-off by Cote d'Ivoire's former Life President, Laurent Gbagbo.

The New York Times has the details and the photograph above on the arrest of Gbagbo. He was found "… sweating [and] plaintive … he appeared in a white tank-top undershirt, wiping dry his face and underarms with a towel as men dressed in military camouflage looked on, smiling."

Here's also some video from Ivorian TV.

There's also this disturbing image of Gbagbo's captured wife Simone with some of her captors:

Separately the paper also has the lowdown on the affection Gbagbo enjoyed among some Republican Congressmen, the demagogue Glen Beck and American evangelicals.

To them he is a Christian; not Muslim like Obama. The Times quotes Pat Robertson last week: "…[I]t's one more Muslim nation that's going to be building up that ring of Sharia law around the Middle East."

* BTW, we need to watch Alassane Ouattara closely. His forces have been guilty of all kinds of atrocities against civilians dislodging of Gbagbo's regime.

Stereo Wizards

Electronic rap duo and "stereo wizards" Dirty Paraffin at the Faraday Muthi Market in downtown Johannesburg for the cover shoot of the South African online lookbook/zine Cuss. The video and the shoot were done by photographer Chris Saunders.

You might remember them from their appearance in The Fader's Pitch Perfect series:

Or from their own work, of course:

The Mail & Guardian's on YouTube

The South African newspaper Mail&Guardian has a YouTube channel which makes browsing through their occasional video reports accompanying the on-line and printed news a lot easier. The videos include Q&A's, political news talk, lectures, press conferences, music  and concert reviews (like the one above by guest reporter and AIAC friend Aryan Kaganof).

Here.

Sundowners in Libya

The latest issue of Conde Nast Traveler features a listing of the "15 Best Places To See Right Now." Libya is in the number 10 spot.  '… The 250-word blurb proclaims "a door long shut is open again," and ends with a recommendation to fly Lufthansa from New York's JFK via Frankfurt to Tripoli, which has since been shrouded in a NATO-imposed no-fly zone.'

Of course they'll blame it on the editorial process. Nothing new for them: Conde Nast Traveler also did something similar on Egypt in February and had to explain themselves afterwards.

Source.

Swaziland's Turn

Bill Minter of AfricaFocus Bulletin previews tomorrow's pro-democracy protests in autocratic Swaziland:

Demonstrations planned for Tuesday April 12 in Swaziland are probably the most ambitious effort yet in sub-Saharan Africa to spark a pro-democracy surge comparable to those earlier this year in Tunisia and Egypt. Economic crisis coupled with the conspicuous luxury of an absolute monarchy committed to repression make the parallels obvious. Over 7,000 protesters marched in demonstrations three weeks ago to oppose salary cuts for civil servants. But the regime has banned Tuesday's demonstrations, organized by labor, student, and civic organizations as well as through social media.

Social media will likely make only a marginal contribution to the turnout, as only 7% of the Swazi population is estimated to have Internet access, with only about 16,000 Facebook users 1% of the population … The campaign does benefit from strong support from Swazi labor, student, and civic organizations as well as by a support campaign in South Africa organized by COSATU and other groups.

With public attention from South Africa, the Swazi regime may hesitate in using open force against the demonstrators. But King Mswati III, who has already ruled for 25 years, is the heir of a dynasty that dates back to 1921. His father, King Sobhuza II, suspended the constitution on April 12, 1973, five years after the country's independence. In addition to state repression and popular mobilization, the strength of traditional loyalty to the monarchy is one factor that will weigh heavily on the outcome.

Since we're not expecting major Western media (or even Al Jazeera English) to cover these protests, here's Minter's suggestions about where to follow updates on the protests: the blog Swazi Media Commentary; the Swaziland Democracy Campaign, a coalition of Swazi and South African groups, with supporters in other countries; news website AllAfrica.coms's Swaziland page; a page of articles in English on the website of Danish organization, Afrika Kontact; and recent pieces by (Stephen Faulkner, Bongani Masuku,, Mantoe Phakathi. Finally for some up to economic and social data on Swaziland, see the website of UNDP Swaziland.

Music Break

Nodding my head to this tune by Congolese artist Pathy Patcheko, a former member of Papa Wemba's band Viva la Musica. 'Tchaku' is a first single from his self-titled solo album. — Tom Devriendt

Music Break

I could listen to Tamikrest all day long. This is a new song from the Malian band's album Toumastin. Now, my knowledge of Tamashek is non-existent, but something tells me the song title means "children of Tinariwen". Whether they're referring to the band they were brought up with or the actual deserts, I don't know. Anyone care to translate? – Tom Devriendt