AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

(Photo courtesy of Issa Michuzi)
Sometimes last year, a friend of mine asked me a tough and funny question. He asked me, if given a chance to select four people, dead or alive, which I would like to have dinner with, who would they be? The question included additional guidelines that my parents should not be on the list. He probably knew in advance how I feel, just as you may be, about my parents.

Frankly speaking, I had more than four people in my mind, quickly. However, because the given choices allowed only four people I had to come up with four names. My selection included Jesus, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Julius Kambarage Nyerere. Unfortunately, my dear friend did not know who Julius Kambarage Nyerere was. That did not surprise me; he was not popular with western media. In fact, I doubt whether they ever liked him. He was a devoted socialist; he died a socialist believer. On the other hand, may be a modern socialist believer as times changes. I am sure he was rarely mentioned in history classes around here.

From the list of my dinner guests above, you can imagine the kind of conversation that could come on the table. I wish I could tell you my reasons of inviting those people. Allow me to reserve that tête-à-tête for next time.

Today, October 14th, 2006 marks seven years since when Nyerere, famously known as Mwalimu to mean “a teacher” passed away in a London hospital. For the benefit of some of you, like my friend above, who did not know who Mwalimu was, he was one of the greatest African political leaders. He was the first president of Tanzania (then known as Tanganyika before union with Zanzibar). When I came to this world, the world I share with Osama Bin Laden and George Bush, he was my immediate president.

As Tanzanians (including me) commemorate the demise of Nyerere, I have decided to honor him by allowing a dialogue (if possible) to replicate and understand the kind of man he was, what he believed, what he tried to do, where he failed and most important, the kind of a leader he was. One of the famous documents that he died still deeply in love with was The Arusha Declaration (please read it). Has there been a better approach towards true development, in africanism context than what this declaration points out. Is globalization a modernity of the declaration? Do you think there was anything wrong with the declaration? What was wrong?

In terms of leadership, can you compare Mwalimu with any living leader in Africa? What has happened to pure, unconditional love to one’s country? Please share your thoughts. R.I.P Mwalimu.

Today is Friday 13th. Before coming to North America I never knew about the superstitions associated with this date. Now I know, I have never believed in superstitions in my life. Should I start now?

Apart from being a non-believer when it comes to superstitions, there are things that I consider “bad cases” when I see them. I believe that is a power of imagination, you can call it self-inflicted superstition. As an African (not every African will tell you this) coming from a normal African family, I have been taught to never give away my pride. The only exceptions allowed is when I deem extremely necessary to do so.

As far as I believe, pride is not a bad thing. It only hinders unnecessary foreign forces to come in, to conquer, to destroy, and kill your mind and soul. It’s a good self defense and roadmap for knowing yourself, your purpose and light for the future.

Over last week the media gateways were busy carrying out a story about Madonna adapting an African boy from Malawi .Apart from all the criticisms that has aroused following these news, I support what Lady Madonna has done for a young Malawian boy (David) in Malawi. Even if I have my personal reservation on who should adopt any child in the world, I welcome any assistance or support rendered to the poor, the underpriviledged, innocent children wherever in the world. If I was to get into details about my reservation, the cultural heritage and understandind would lead my case.

Nevertheless, I hate the way the boy’s dad (Yohane Banda) has buried his pride of fatherhood/ parenthood. How could he give out his son to a stranger (it doesn’t matter if it’s super star Madonna) while he is still alive, able to work, better his life and support his family including his little boy? What exactly is going on down in Malawi?

We have to remember one important fact, adoption is not like a support which can be cancelled anytime.(unless if the laws in Malawi are different) Legally you are giving away all your rights to someone who agrees to adopt your child. That is what this Malawian father has just done. From his interviews that I have seen, it appears that he was not clearly advised of his rights. He thinks he is overjoyed by the fact that his boy “goes to America” not knowing that his parental contract with his son just ended.

Now where is the pride of being a parent? What happened to the dedicated and unlimited love of a parent? Or did he agree for the terms out of same word LOVE? How many of you are ready to do what this father did (if you are a parent)? Another question that lingers in my mind is that, Is Madonna doing this out of love or seeking fame? Is adopting African children a new “made in Hollywood” fashion or PR strategy? Do africans know about this possibility?

And the last tough question. What if this boy’s mother was alive? Would she have given out her son? Many questions, few answers.

Dear friends,
I hope you are all fine. North America has not changed much and therefore I am in the same situation that I was last time I wrote. Drastically changes are rare nowadays. Sometimes I wonder whether it is because courageous men are all dead or it’s just that we are too busy to even think about changes. However, people claims that things are changing because every dawn there is a new tech tool arrival into the market. I may agree on those changes, but what about social changes?

Politics have remained number one in terms of what excites people out here. Information leakages, coming out of the closet in a forceful pull, war of words are quite the norm. It is hard to imagine North American without rough politics. Well, they call it democracy out here. They spend millions of dollars trying to teach our African leaders same democracy they practice. Don’t you think such money could be used in humanity operations instead?

Well, the news that most of you do not know whether I live in Canada or United States of America came as sad news even though they did not shock me. I have personally been struggling with the same issue all the time I have been here. Sometimes I have asked myself whether I live in the 51st state of USA or 52nd after Israel?

My realization came the first time I tried to visit friends who live in USA cities. The conditions were put to me that I require a visa to visit USA. That came as a shock to me. Funny enough, my friends who decided to dwell in US instead of Canada do not require visa to visit me out here. Why should they require visa to visit one of the their states? Am I wrong to assume so? It’s hard for Canadians to even know about this unfair treatment of its permanent residents like me compared to their American counter-parts. It is never in the agenda when immigration issues are brought unto the table. May be they will be in 2010 when all Canadians will be required to carry their passport and who knows, may be have visas too.

It is very difficult to differentiate between Canada and USA nowadays, at least to foreigners like me. As I am writing this letter, I am looking outside my window, facing the biggest shopping mall in the province of Ontario. Do I see anything Canadian from here? Without being critical, I see none. From the names of stores hanging outside the mall to the corporations surrounding my neighborhood, everything is American.

With full understanding of what the economists calls globalization, I think it is ridiculous to imagine the seemingly biased platform of globalization that Canada and USA practices. My disappointment comes when I imagine, just imagine how many Canadian stores are there in American shopping malls? None?

Yesterday I was watching TV in search of Canadian programs. I am ashamed to tell you that I found none. From movies to just simple talk shows, they are all from America. However, I came across some few programs claiming to be Canadian. These are the likes of Canadian Idol, Canadian Best Top Models; I cannot bring to mind the third one. I am asking myself, aren’t these the same American shows with just a silly twist of the names from USA to Canadian? Can’t Canada come up with television themes/shows that are not copycat from USA? I believe Canadians are not lazy people in terms of thinking and creating hit tv shows, movies, drama, short plays etc. What is wrong then?

Another disappointment comes when I imagine, how many Canadian TV programs, soap operas; talk shows are aired in American stations? What kind of dominance are we witnessing here? Then is it fair to blame our PM for naturally becoming pro-American to the extent of being seen as a just an ambassador of US in Canada?

In Canada you have mostly two choices to make if you want to purchase a car. It’s either American or Japanese. There is nothing like Canadian car! Have you heard of any? Of course there are so many plants in Canada. These are all foreign investments. Is Canada among the G8 countries just by chance?

I love Canada; I love its history, its culture, its people and all that can be called Canadian.

Therefore, friends, I live in Canada and not the USA. I am very sorry about the confusion. As you can see, I have nothing to do with all these. What I have is just wishes, wishes that Canada could stand out on its own. Wishes that Canada could have its own Hollywood. I would love to send you Canadian made movies, everything Canadian, not just a set. I wish to be able to watch Canadian news channels when I am in the US. I wish to see more Americans tuning to Canadian reality shows programs.

I will write again soon. Please support Canadian growth whenever possible.

Jeff

If you ask a question “why is Africa under-developed”? You may hear lots of answers, some of them may even suprise you.It depends on who is asking the question and who is ready to answer. One of the popular answers is that African leaders are corrupt. This may be true, I am not positively sure.

The reason why I am not very sure is that I have always considered the “corruption” as two way traffic highway. One gives, one takes. My view has always been that,just like in adultery cases, you can not blame one side and let another one scot free. Same is the case with “corrupt leaders” of Africa. Who corrupts them? Is it fair to condemn the African leaders corrupt without also hammering their counterparts, individually and the countries they are from?

Luckily, it seems like someone has started to listen. Bribe and corruption are just one word with different letters. Check this article here and ask yourself…who is even more corrupt..Africa or….