Blogging Africa
Review of African Blogs
Sokari Ekine
2007-02-14, Issue 291
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/39761
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African Architecture suggest that the abandoned oil rigs in the Bright of Benin could be put to use by erecting wind turbines to generate electricity to local delta communities. Not only would this provide electricity and recycle the abandoned rigs but as AA writes:
“Wind energy is the most promising carbon-free, nonnuclear alternative to fossil-fueled grid power. But regions with enough space and breeze for land-based wind farms—mostly in the Midwest—are far from coastal population centers; the cost of running transmission lines between generators and users is a major disincentive. That’s why wind-power entrepreneurs have set their sights on coastal waters. In the Atlantic, off Cape Cod, the 450-megawatt Cape Wind installation has been in the works for five years.”
Black Star Journal has a series of reports and commentary on Guinea starting with the rejection by the unions of Eugene Camara as the country's new prime minister and head of government. The country has been declared “in a state of siege” and the army are patrolling the streets having been given full police powers. In addition the media has been severely restricted and all cyber cafes in Conakry shut down. The Unions are demanding the removal of head of state, Gen. Lansana Conté. Black Star Journal also reports that:
“Mobs there have attacked suspected members of the former Liberian rebel movement ULIMO. Lansana Conté had backed that faction during that country's 1989-97 civil war and some accuse the general of calling in the militiamen to help put down the general strike. Yet members of the Guinean army have sided with the residents, who provided the soldiers with food and drink. Apparently young soldiers at the Alpha Yaya military camp were angry that only a handful of their colleagues were rewarded during the latest round of promotions. Internal divisions inside the Guinean military are one of the reasons many observers fear a messy transition to the post-Conté era.”
Kikuymoja's Realm writes of his time in Kenya where he grew up and has just spent the past four months. Now he has had to return to Germany but finds he is still writing and posting his photos of Kenya. Kikuymoja’s Blog is well known in the Kenyan blogosphere for his wonderful photos of daily life and innovative ways of using recycled goods to photos of things you would never find like:
“...the last two remaining copies of the loooooong time out-of-print “Wilderness Guardian” handbooks, which are selling for Ksh. 1700/=, and which I really recommend to anyone who diggs such manuals. (story goes that in around 1999, I tried to get a copy of it from an online bookshop based in the UK, and after 3 months they informed that this thing wasn’t available anymore.”
Africa’s best music blog by Steve Ntwiga always manages to find rare tunes from way back. Like Kikuymoja’s, no one knows where he finds these gems but thankfully he does and shares them with the world. Here he shares the music of:
“Les Kilimambogo Brothers, Victoria Jazz and some Taarab” ….. If you don’t know whom these people are, that tells you how old I am...if, on the other hand, you are thinking, “wow, I thought XYZ was dead!” then, maybe you might be a little older than I am...And, believe it or not somewhere in there, we get Ladysmith Black Mambazo doing a solo! (hint: go to 2:11)”
Nigerian blogger, Chxta's World comments on Nigeria’s “OBJ” factor. Despite being told that Nigeria’s economy is performing better than ever in the last 10 years, for the ordinary person it has never been worse. If worse is possible it would be Obasanjo retaining his involvement with running the country after the up coming elections. Chxta wonders where exactly the President is heading with statements that he won't hand over to criminals:
“I think that like many other statements that Obasanjo has made over the last few years, this one is way out of line, and extremely undemocratic. What utter nonsense! I am of the strong opinion that Obasanjo has something to hide, and he is of the view that Mr. Yar'Adua would be the best bet to cover his tracks for him. As we all know, Obasanjo and Yar'Adua's late brother were buddy buddies..."
Passion of the Present comments on the continuing civil war taking place in Chad with numerous rebel fractions fighting to remove President Idriss Deby.
“The rebel alliance still under arms includes the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), the Rally of Democratic Forces (RAFD), and the Platform for Change, National Unity and Democracy (SCUD)...Their fighters recently attacked and briefly occupied several eastern towns, piling pressure on Deby's forces after a wave of ethnic violence which killed hundreds and forced the government to declare a state of emergency last month.”
As the fighting intensifies, the civilian population are caught up in the middle and recently it was reported that Janjaweed type militias were attacking refugees from Darfur. Chad accuses Sudan of backing the rebels and Sudan accuses Chad of backing the people of Darfur and so it goes on, more death and misery for civilians.
Nigerian blogger, Ijebuman's Diary publishes what he believes are the “top ten signs that elections will not be fair and free".
Annie writing on Black Looks discusses the basic criteria for identifying the African Diaspora:
“Some scholars have identified four basic criteria: 1. there must be a dispersal to at least two locations. 2.There must be self-awareness as a group. 3. It must be multi-generational. 4. There must be some relationship, real or imagined, with the “homeland.” Now obviously, this last one is what I am most interested in. The relationship with the homeland. I’m interested in first thinking about the relationship of two broad groups, with Africa: African Americans and Africans living abroad. With the former, there have historically been impressive strides made towards imagining a “black” nation, where black at different times has included African people and people of African descent even outside the US.”
She goes on to ask what is “our” – the Diasporan relationship with the homeland especially as the middle classes in the Diaspora have a habit of what she describes as “whitewashing the continent”:
“What is our relationship with the “homeland” now? If we all (and I come full circle to include both groups I mentioned) have found such ingenious ways to slowly but surely sever ourselves from a reality that should be ours...all ours, then that’s one criteria gone. And if I were a scholar, my conclusion would be that the African Diaspora cannot survive.”
* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org and is Online News Editor of Pambazuka News.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
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