African in America - African in America (http://youngandreal.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-take-on-race.html) writes about being made to feel guilty by Africans and African Americans because he “does not hate white people”.

“I mean seriously! I resent being made to feel guilty for embracing those White people that are not in denial, or are trying to get out of their denial. I am tired of having to defend some of my White friends, from a blanket rejection by my family members, and black friends, because of the color of their skin. There are enough bigoted and racist White people, governments, and institutions in this World, for us to oppose, and try to bring down. There are lots of pretty ignorant White people that need educating. There are lots of White people out there that deserve our resentment. But we do not live in a vacuum. We cannot take the attitude that EVERY SINGLE WHITE PERSON is out to get us. Not only is it untrue, but it is very counter-productive. It diverts our efforts and our focus, and simply leaves us weaker in our fight, IMHO.”

I think the word “hate” is the problem. No thinking rational person engages in collective hatred. It is more a question of mistrust based on past experiences that make most Black people wary of whites, particularly white liberals that claim not to be racist.

Cry Beloved Zimbabwe - Cry Beloved Zimbabwe (http://crybelovedzimbabwe.blogspot.com/2006/07/one-in-three-zimbabweans-...) comments on the “infiltration of Zimbabwean society by ZANU-PF secret police (the CIO). He claims that one in three Zimbabweans are actually spies.

“The infiltration has gone unnoticed especially for activists in the diaspora though many were aware that CIO operates here in UK. The attitude has always been that as we have sought refugee in a democratic country where the rule of law is upheld therefore we are immune from physical threat. The title of this article is not a wild guess, just after the March congress of Tsvangirai's MDC (Our MDC), Rev Pius Ncube was asked his opinion on the plans for peaceful demonstrations which the MDC had announced. He gave a chilling warning that the logistics of the demonstrations will be leaked to the CIO therefore pre-emptying the demonstrations…”

Aba Boy - Aba Boy (http://ababoy.blogspot.com/2006/07/remembering-jean-charles-de-menezes.html) remembers Jean Charles de Menezes who was suspected by the British police of being a terrorist in the London bombings of 7/7 2005 and subsequently murdered at Stockwell police station. Aba Boy had met Jean Charles who had fixed an electrical problem in the loft of his house. His wrongful death had a personal meaning to Aba Boy and his wife. Here he writes about how they both felt on hearing that he had been wrongfully shot by the police.

“A day later, when the identity of the suspect became clearer, and when it appeared that the wrong guy had been shot, wifey called from work sobbing. The guy that had been shot was the one that came to have a look at our loft a few months ago. I ran straight to a TV near me to see if she was just jiving. The photo they had in the news bulletins didn’t really look like him. But there was some resemblance. I went back to my desk, not sure whether to share this news with the folks at work. I decided not to. I had stored his number on my phone, and I was tempted to call. As the day passed it was obvious that it was Charles.”

On Monday 17th July, it was decided that no police would be prosecuted over his killing, leaving his family bitter and angry about the death of their son. “Justice will not be served.”

Nigerian Music blog, Soul on Ice - Soul on Ice (http://obifromsouthlondon.blogspot.com/2006/07/nation-of-cynics.html) comments on the on going Israeli attack on Lebanon and the wanton destruction of the country and it’s people. He questions the disproportional response and collective punishment typical of Israel in Palestine but now extended to Lebanon.

“The Israeli government is being extremely cynical. So how does this go? Someone takes two of your people, note keyword ‘take’ not ‘kill’. And what do you do? You blow up their airport, destroy their roads, kill their civilians, blow up their government buildings, destabilize their whole nation and still categorically state you are targeting ‘terrorists’? Hmmm, remind me to detonate a nuclear bomb in your backyard next time we have a fight. Indiscriminate warfare. And at the same moment in time lay the same kind of siege in the Gaza strip area. This is the one reason I can understand the Palestinian suicide bombing. You can show your American-backed might all you want but they will strike back with anything they have even their very lives. There can never be peace in a stolen land.”

Egyptian Chronicles - Egyptian Chronicles (http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2006/07/lebanese-spear-head.html) also comments on the Israel invasion.

“Today it will be the sixth day in the on going open war Israel declared on the Lebanese people and land, already yesterday the death toll in Lebanon reached to over the hundred, the south is completely destroyed as well as the southern suburb in Beirut the capital, the financial loss of Lebanon in those few days reached to 4 billion dollars and the number is escalating. It is the 6th day and Israel seems to have more then teaching HazbAllah a lesson in its agenda, it seems to me that the Hebrew state wants to send Lebanon back to the stone age.”

The question on everyone’s mind is whether there is a wider agenda here and if so what is it? Egyptian Chronicle believes it to be Iran with Syria as a bridge between HazbAllah and Iran. I believe she is probably right in her assessment.

“I believe the Syrian role in this on going war is to be just a bridge between Iran and HazbAllah, already Lebanon is blockaded from the air , the sea and two land borders from the original three land borders, the only remaining way is Syria and regardless of the destruction of the high ways between Damascus and Beirut there are still for sure more hidden places.”

White African - White African (http://whiteafrican.com/?p=263">White African) discusses Africa’s potential “on the web and mobile space”.

“We have all seen how the phone has changed communications in Africa drastically. The Web is set to do the same, especially when married up with the mobile phone. Those who labor now to create products that start winning mindshare on the African continent will reap the rewards in the coming years.”

White African has himself acted as an innovator and catalyst of web development in Africa with the Africa Network project, the African Gadget blog and Zangu Africa’s web.

New Cameroonian blogger - Ekosso.com by Rosemary Ekosso is an excellent addition to the African Women’s blogosphere. In her most recent posts she addresses the issue of over population in Africa. She points out the reality that in fact Africa is not over populated and has an abundance in natural resources so the problem is not over population.

“I refuse to go around feeling guilty about coming from the ‘overpopulated’ developing world. I refuse to believe the guff we are fed to the effect that there are too many of us. Too many for whom? For what?”

The reality is the Western nations consume the majority of the world’s resources and it is this imbalance that needs to be addressed, not the mythical over population of Africa.

Black Looks - Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/07/4_rare_slave_trade_photos_from_1868.ht...) publishes some rare photographs of slaves on a ship captured by the Dutch Navy in 1868 some 100 years after the Transatlantic slave trade officially ended. The photographs are thought to be of Arab slaver traders operating in the Indian Ocean. Neither the original source of the photographs nor the background to the photographs is known.

“These photographs dated 1868 reveals a very little of the terrible suffering caused to millions of people by the slave trade. This group of severely emaciated boys and young men on the lower deck of a Royal Naval ship apparently have been taken from what was a slave vessel trading illegally off the African coast headed to the Americas. The captain of the Royal Naval ship had instructions not to return the rescued slaves to the place on the coast where they had been put on the slave ship (presumably because they were in danger of being recaptured by traders) but it is not clear from the available documentation what happened to them afterwards.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,

* Please send comments to [email protected]