Chippla (http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/04/price-of-disloyalty.html) writes on the ongoing “3rd term” battle between Obasanjo and his supporters and the growing opposition in Nigeria to the idea. In particular he focuses on the disagreement on the issue between the President and Vice President, Atiku Abubakar:

“A few days ago, the Vice President, Mr. Abubakar, attended a meeting in which he publicly accused his boss of trying to manipulate the Nigerian constitution by perpetuating his stay in office.”

The President’s spokesperson then called on Abubakar to resign and so it goes on back and forth between the President’s men and the opposition including pro supporters trying to prevent the VP from entering the Presidential wing of Lagos airport. Chippla concludes:

“A few things become very clear from this incident: in today's Nigeria, demonstrations are allowed PROVIDED they are in support of the president or his ruling party. All other demonstrations are nothing short of treachery. The killing of innocent Nigerians who were demonstrating in the Northern State of Katsina against an amendment to the constitution goes to show that Mr. Obasanjo's government will go to any length to silence opposition.”

Ethiopundit (http://ethiopundit.blogspot.com/2006/04/battle-of-adwa-110th-anniversary...) remembers the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Adwa which was a defining moment in Ethiopia’s struggle against colonialism. He reviews a book “The Battle of Adwa: Reflections on Ethiopia’s Historic Victory Against European Colonialism” and comments:

“Nine scholars analyze the unique Ethiopian victory at Adwa, pondering the factors that brought success, the putative missed opportunities for securing the future integrity of the Ethiopian territory, and the lessons to be learned…”

“The event and its implications have much to say about Ethiopia’s subsequent development, the secession of Eritrea, and relations with external powers. It also reveals much about the machinations of global powers and the dangers they pose to weaker nations, and most specifically international influence in Africa.”

Gukira (http://gukira.blogspot.com/2006/04/where-my-mouth-is.html) responds to an article in the Kenyan newspaper, “The Sunday Nation” which questions whether this is the right time to discuss issues such as sexuality when Kenyans should be focusing on “violent sexual offences”.

Keguro responds that “growing up means having to choose” and in this instance precedence should be given to legislation that will provide recourse to victims of “gender based violence” over the issue of gay rights. If one has too choose, as in this case, I completely agree with Keguro. Once this legislation has been passed then the focus can move on to gay rights, abortion rights and so on.

Diary of a Mad Kenyan Women (http://madkenyanwoman.blogspot.com/2006/04/violent-writing-and-gangsta-w...) writes on the ongoing “Violent writing and Gangsta Writers” in the blogosphere. Whilst supporting freedom of speech she points out that there are ways of saying things and one can express a point of view without being rude and insulting. On those who choose rudeness but hide their identity she writes:

“After all, it is not much more revealing to call oneself, for example, ‘blitzwriter’ than it is to call oneself ‘anonymous.’ Thus, this latter impulse to anonymity suggests to me that the writers are in fact cloaking themselves from themselves no less than from us. They are, consciously or not, divesting their rude anonymous alter egos of the responsibility that being a citizen of the blog world imposes. They are in short, making of themselves a mob - in both gangster and crowd senses. Mobs, in either sense, allow themselves the detestable vices of non-thought, hidden identities, and most of all incomprehensible, unnecessary, unthinkable, and unforgivable violence. Mobs - both the gangster kind and the crowd kind - allow themselves furtive recourse to petty parochialisms, to ugly little hatreds, to bigotry, to witch-hunts, to meaningless contests for a power that only they covet, to brutality, but mostly, to irresponsibility. Then the crowd disperses, the gangsters flee, and they all melt back into the sheltering disguises of normality, reason and identity. Until the next time.”

Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2006/04/last_week_i_was.html) posts an interview with South African lesbian activist, Rose Masuku, who speaks on being a lesbian in South Africa, the culture of “butch lesbians” and lesbians playing soccer as well as her work as a counsellor to lesbians, many of whom are thrown out of school and out of their homes.

The Moor Next Door (http://wahdah.blogspot.com/2006/04/christians-dont-respect-algerian-laws...) asks: “Why is it illegal to convert Muslims from Islam to other religions in Algeria?” He believes this is because evangelists are using Christianity as a “tool to destabilize” Algeria and calls for a review of religious policy in Algeria.

“First of all, if Islam and religion are the causes of so many troubles in Algeria, why not stop the use of religion in politics entirely? We can start by abolishing the state religion, or by making it illegal to call for the use of religion for violent ends (or using anything for that end). The problem cannot be fixed by simply attacking the Christians, you have to attack Islam too. Religion is a problem that must be dealt with totally.”

The Skeptic (http://elijahzarwan.net/blog/?p=86) comments on the lack of reporting in the blogosphere on the killing of 17 Palestinians by the Israeli Defense Forces since last Friday. He contrasts this with the response to an op/ed in the Washington Post on an academic article discussing the Israeli lobby and American foreign policy. Here thousands of words were written on the topic yet nothing on the murder of Palestinians.

“Pardon me if I take a preachy tone for a minute. I understand that civilian casualties in the OPT are nothing new and that in Amrika these deaths more often than not appear on page A-13 as brief items written by AP. Still, if you got exercised about the Walt-Mearsheimer article, ask yourself why you are less exercised about the death of 17 people, including a little girl and a little boy. Which is more important to you: an academic paper or the end of 17 human lives?”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,

* Please send comments to [email protected]