Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 662

The Libyan Stalemate

Anonymous:

There was not that kind of widespread support for the protests in Benghazi, and even Zintan. If there had been so, we would not be in this kind of military stalemate, where the West is even considering a proposal for some kind of Saif [Gaddafi] type government. That is intolerable. There was not the kind of revolutionary turn in Libya [as opposed what happened in Egypt and Tunisia], and the leadership in Benghazi hastened a script that was written in a different accent. Of course Gaddafi said he would use violence. All States do that. That was to be expected. It is what happened in Yemen yesterday, with snipers killing at least 15 in Sanaa. The question is not what the State promises but who the leadership of a rebellion reads the tea leaves. I'm afraid they read it prematurely, and then in desperation had to call for air strikes–at the same time as their own leadership was usurped by CIA assets and so on. A very sad situation.

Separately also click here, here, here and here for more analyses.

Khayelitsha Blues

South African guitar duo Warongx are two of several artists portrayed in The Creators documentary. Above is an excerpt. By the same makers of the great Invisible Sessions.–Tom Devriendt

'Fambul Tok' in New York City

John Caulker and Libby Hoffman of the organization Fambul Tok International will be making rounds in New York this week along with filmmaker Sara Terry for talks and screenings of their film "Fambul Tok." The tour will culminate in the launch of the book about the project this Thursday April 7, in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

Sierra Leone is a country that still struggles to grasp for positive representations in the international media. Recent headlines have circled around the Special Court of Sierra Leone and the trial of Charles Taylor. The court itself received some critical analysis recently in the form of the documentary "War Don Don." One question that came out of that film is whether the repercussions of the court could be felt on the ground, and in every day life. What I remember most about the court from my 2006 visit to Freetown was that it was the only place in town with constant electricity.

In contrast to the ambivalence that swirls around the Special Court, I was delighted to see the film Fambul Tok and its positive news of a grassroots reconciliation process in the country. This is a must see film for anyone interested in post-conflict healing, truth and reconciliation, or the effects on regular people of the international justice system.

War ethnographer Carolyn Nordstrom in her book A Different Kind of War Story talks about the creativity of war victims in the face of violence to rebuild and create a new future. This film shows that creativity of a community to create peace in action. Victims and perpetrators sometimes from the same family reestablish ties, and work together to restore interrupted traditions and cultural norms. The process is taken up enthusiastically partly because reconciliation is already a part of the culture in Sierra Leone.

In some ways this film is part of Sierra Leone's reconciliation with the world as images and stories of people being violated still seem to dominate global perceptions of the country. For Fambul Tok to document and share this process is almost a message of forgiveness to the world at large for barely paying attention during the war years. The two films "War Don Don" and "Fambul Tok" definitely work in conjunction to provide insightful glimpses into the society's rebuilding process over the last 10 years. The world today could definitely learn some much needed lessons from the people of Sierra Leone.

Preview, order, and donate a book to Sierra Leone on their website, and look out for Fambul Tok screenings and events in Sierra Leone and around the United States this month.

–Boima Tucker.

The White Zulu is a Law Scholar

Johnny Clegg, the Zulu-speaking darling of the South African expatriate set will soon be a scholar of law. The CUNY School of Law will confer the Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree on Clegg today.

Clegg is known among fans as Le Zoulou Blanc. Serious. His song lyrics code-switch between Zulu and English; his own website describes his music as "a vibrant blend of Western pop and African Zulu rhythms" that combines "Western melodies with Zulu musical structures."

We don't know how Clegg came to be a scholar in the law, but the backstory to how Clegg transformed into The White Zulu is legendary. Clegg was born in England in the 1950s to a Rhodesian mother and an English father, but while he was still a child, his mother returned to the homeland, and Clegg grew up in the Southern African triad of Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe, Zambia, and later in South Africa. Because his mother ("a cabaret and jazz singer") and the South African man who became his step-father (a crime reporter) had unusual occupations that took them "into the townships," young Johnny "was exposed to a broader cultural perspective than that available to his peers." Clegg lore dictates that a chance encounter with a Zulu street guitarist, Charlie Mzila, led him towards "Zulu culture" (when he finds out whatever that really consists of, I wish he'd share it with Jacob Zuma and Oprah Winfrey). Clegg became enamoured of the music and the Zuluness of Zulus—so much so that it is said that he was adopted into a family of Zulus, as the son of a Zulu chief. And though Wikipedia claims "Clegg formed the first racially mixed South African band, Juluka, with gardener and Zulu musician Sipho Mchunu," AIAC writers know otherwise. (For one, long before Clegg, Chris McGregor's multiracial Brotherhead of Breath had made world headlines.)

To be fair, honorary degrees are conferred all the time to celebrities and those who accomplish great feats—such degrees garner publicity for universities, and encourages the flows of donor money. (Aside from dubious speaking engagements–see reality "star" Snooki at Rutgers University or any recent commencement address, celebrities also get "honorary" degrees fairly regularly (for some reason only Bill Cosby comes to mind).

Clegg has sold millions of records, and performed in many charity events. Recently, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand (Clegg studied Anthropology there, and has lectured in the subject at Wits) for his contribution to music. He's also officially a French knight (the man is huge in France—in 1991, the French government awarded him the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. But to be conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree, shouldn't one have some sort of dealing with the law (besides breaking the laws of dance)?

There's a buffet luncheon, too, served from 12:00 to 2pm.

–Neelika Jayawardane.

Election Blues

A reader:

‎$1 billion for an election and you'd think ballots would be delivered, on time, and at the right places. Now it's April 9 for parliamentary polls, April 16 for presidential elections and April 26 for governorship and state assembly polls, if [election commissioner] Attahiru Jega is to be believed.

To keep up with the status of the elections and the issues–though it seems the presidential result is preordained; the man above, incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, who always smiles, should be elected easy because of his party's large majority–regularly check in here, here, here, here, and here.

Rebecca Black Incorporated

Seven plus minutes of your life you'll never get back.

Stella Mwangi with "Haba Haba,"Norway's entry in this year's Eurovision Contest coming in May.

Then there's Costa Theodorou aka Stony Boy, "a Swazi hip hop artist who moved to Cyprus where he is signed under Badness records … currently performing underground all over London."

No Comment

There's a labor dispute between the NFL, which runs American football, and players (the fight is really about about greedy owners trying to make lots more money at the players' expense). This means players have time on their hands. Chad Ochochinco (friend of Kaka and Ronaldo) briefly tried his hand at a career in professional soccer; the lesser known Larry Fitzgerald, a receiver with the Arizona Cardinals, tries to outjump a Masai on a trip to Kenya.

Gangster Fashion

Hosni Mubarak, former Life President of Egypt, liked himself so much, his name became the stripes in his pinstripe suit.

Via Doll's Factory

'The Media-Savvy Autocrat'

Adam Hochschild, in the New York Times Book Review, writing about Jason K Stearns' new book, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa:

Stearns is somewhat easier on Rwanda here than he has been elsewhere, for example, in a United Nations report he contributed to. But he does quote the Rwandan strongman and current president Paul Kagame as calling his military intervention "self-sustaining," and cites an estimate that the Rwandan Army and allied businesses reaped some $250 million in Congolese minerals profits at the height of the second war. Such figures are backed up in abundant detail in a series of United Nations reports, and ultimately led Sweden and the Netherlands to suspend aid to Rwanda.

Not so the United States. It has supported Kagame for years, contributing indirectly to Congo's suffering. How this media-savvy autocrat has managed to convince so many American journalists, diplomats and political leaders that he is a great statesman is worth a book in itself.

Is Hochschild calling out Philip Gourevitch?

Source

'Contemporary South African Photography'

A short video profile of the Johannesburg photographer, Sabelo Mlangeni, one of 17 South African photographers in "Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography", showing from 12 April through 17 July this year at the Victoria and Alfred Museum's Porter Gallery in London. It features work by photographers living and working in South Africa now.

The profiles were shot by the Museum. This one is of Cape Town artists and brothers Husain and Hassan Essop:

The show is curated by Tamar Garb, who was born in South Africa.

The V&A's website also includes video profiles of Jodi Bieber (she just won the World Press Photo Award), Roelof van Wyk (who is presenting his 'photographic portraits of a new Afrikaner generation') and former photojournalist Graeme Williams.

The other exhibiting photographers are Sabelo Mlangeni, Zanele Muholi, Mikhael Subotzsky, Nontsikelelo Veleko, (Zimbabwe-born) Kudzanai Chiurai and regulars Berni Searle, Terry Kurgan, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Guy Tillim, Jo Ractliffe, Santu Mofokeng, David Goldblatt and Pieter Hugo.