Libyan-Americans Join The Struggle in Libya

It is being reported that Libyan-Americans are returing to Libya to join the fight against Gaddafi.

Genevieve Nnaji: Nollywood's Julia Roberts

From CNN - watch.

Buying and Selling Colonialism and Imperialism In Africa

Since the Western bombing of Libya began, some African observers have not failed to see imperialistic machinations in the move. That some young Africans are so engrossed by discourses of imperialism at this point in the history of the continent shows that many of us do not yet understand the nature of international politics. The relations among nations is hardly governed by good will; it is often governed by national interest. Thus, when France, Britain, or the United States intervenes in Africa or anywhere else, it is hardly due to their magnanimity; it is often to promote their national interest. Blaming leaders of particular countries for protecting the national interest of their countries therefore fails to demonstrate an understanding of how international politics works. Countries will always seek to protect their interests! The African travesty is that, since independence, many African leaders have either decided to serve their individual interests or the interests of other countries. This is what a leader like Gaddafi has done: rather than protecting his national interest, he opted to protect the interest of his family and those around him. That is what other African leaders such as Robert Mugabe, Paul Biya, Omar Bongo and now his son, Obiang Nguema, etc. etc., are doing. Having failed to protect the interest of their people, they concoct stories about imperialism and begin selling them to their people each time these people rise up. Rather than seeing their people as smart enough to want better lives, they demonize their people as tools of foreign agents. Some intellectuals buy into these stories and start selling them in turn. And so we lose the ability to hold our leaders accountable because we buy into their baloney that their failure derives from imperialism.

It is worth noting that foreigners keep having an upper hand in Africa because African leaders often fail to maintain reasonable control over things in which many are interested. True, the West is interested in African resources, such as the oil in Libya. But they will not come for it if Gaddafi had protected the interest of his people by giving them the decent life they want. When the revolt started in Libya African leaders could not act because many of them are weak and corrupt like Gaddafi himself. To blame the West for being imperialistic because it intervened in Libya demonstrates a blind loyalty to our own. It is this blind loyalty that is being conjured each time Africans are taught to uncritically buy and sell stories about imperialism.

Developing Regions Are Getting Better - Including Africa

Lower the bar a bit and you will find much improvement in Africa, as this book does.  Look only for the disasters and you will find no improvement in Africa. You can only be an optimist or a pessimist when it comes to Africa; there is hardly any place to stand in-between. It is a strange part of the world, don't you think so?

Kagame Backs UN Action In Libya

While many other African leaders and the African Union have been equivocal about backing the UN action in Libya, Rwanda's Kagame says Rwandans support the move. See why here.

Who Were/Are Gaddafi's Friends?

According to this Foreign Policy report, Gaddafi's friends are mostly African leaders, some in good standing, others not. While this picture seems enticing, it leaves much to be desired. When talking of Gaddafi's friends, the list must include George Bush, who took Gaddafi off the list of rogue leaders, resulting in Gaddafi's memorably long speech at the United Nations in New York (how times change!). It must include Nicholas Sarkozy, who took money from Gaddafi to run his campaign but is now bombing him because things have turned ugly. It must include all those in the US, Europe, and Asia who have benefited from Gaddafi's 40 years of oppressing his people. True, African leaders are in his debt but they are not alone. I thought the time had passed for such a subtle attempt to paint Africa in roguish colors.

Museveni Speaks . . . About Gaddafi!

I like but I don't like Gaddafi. The West should not intervene in African affairs. African culture is . . . . Blah blah blah blah blah blah . . . . I need Western aid. . . . Blah blah blah blah blah blah . . . I am better than Gaddafi; have only been president since 1986; he has been president since 1969. Blah blah blah blah blah blah . . . Foreign Policy.

The Invisible Students: The Pathos of Africa's Higher Education

In a recent ranking of world universities, only two, among the top 200, are from Africa.  See if you can find them here. This, in spite of the fact that the number of students attending university in the continent has markedly increased since independence. In many cases, educational infrastructures have been diminishing even as the demand for education increases. If higher education is key to the future of every people, the situation in Africa is cause for extreme alarm. 

The Struggle For African Liberation: Old Guard Vs. New Guard

There is at least two generations currently engaged in the battle to transform Africa and both think of this transformation in terms of liberation. The major difference between them is that they think about the liberation of Africa in different ways. For the old guard, the reference point for the liberation of Africa is colonialism. For them, Africa's main problem is colonialism or neo-colonialism/imperialism. At least they pretend that that is Africa's main problem. This group includes most of those who are currently very active in the politics of various African countries. However, for the new guard, liberation refers to the liberation of African countries from the misrule of the old guard. They do not see African problems primarily in colonial or neo-colonial terms. For them, Africa is capable of taking its destiny into its own hands and the failure to do so cannot be attributed to colonialism or neo-colonialis; it is rather attributed to the deliberate misrule of the current ruling class. The new guard think that contemporary Africa could measure up to any other region in the world if the appropriate political and economic policies were in place. The new guard is made up largely of those who are not politicians; they are largely activists and entrepreneurs. Their vision, however, cannot be realized under old guard politics. Therein lies the struggle. The two cannot and must not mix because the old guard has developed some bad habits that are difficult to overcome. Their worldview is very antithetical to Africa's flourishing in the contemporary world; they can only be removed. But the new guard does not appear to have the capacity to remove them because the old guard is deeply entrenched in current African milieus. In fact, few of the new guard currently reside in African countries. While some of them are just returning to their home countries after many years working or studying abroad, others still ply their trades abroad even as they establish businesses in Africa. One thing their experience abroad has taught them is that African countries can be and must be much better than they currently are. But they cannot do this only through entrepreneurship or activism. Therein lies another problem.

African Union Rejects No-Fly Zone

African Union representatives have rejected the no-fly zone currently being implemented in Libya. Considering that Gaddafi is a very good friend of most, if not all, African leaders; considering that most African leaders kill their people just like Gaddafi is currently doing, one would not be surprised that the body that represents them would come out against attempts at restraining and even removing the tyrant. Considering that the current chair of the African Union is himself a tyrant, it would have been surprising if they had come out in support of attempts to remove one of their own. Crowded with some of the most notorious despots in the world, it is amazing that the body still thinks it has moral authority on this particular issue.

A List of Africa's Remaining Dictators

See it here. Originally report.ed by Fox News.

"We Want Our Money Back," Gaddafi's Son

Foreign Policy is reporting that Gaddafi paid for Sarkozi's campaign but is now so upset with Sarkozy that he wants the money back. Why this turn around? The reason is that France has come out in front as the first country to recognize the rebels in Libya as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people. This has so upset Gaddafi's son, the heir to the throne in Libya, that not only has he called Sarkozy names, he is now demanding the money back. He now says that the money belongs to the Libyan people and must be returned.

I find it quite interesting that the Libyan people are now being dragged into a transaction that was carried out under cover of night, with the intention of hiding the deal from them. If the money belonged to the Libyan people, why, in the first place, was it given to Sarkozy without the knowledge of the people? Or has Mr. Gaddafi and his son suddenly discovered that the Libyan people have a right to know how the affairs of their country is run? So the Libyan people needed to take up arms before they would be given the privilege of knowing that Libyan money is being used to fund campaigns in Europe. If this whole story is reliable, then I am not sure who to hold responsible for the travesty, Gaddafi or Sarkozy.

"Their Country Don't Care About Them": Video

This grammatically incorrect expression by a Libyan volunteer summarizes the plight of Black Africans stranded at the Libyan airport as war rages in that country. While citizens from wealthier countries such as Britain, the US, and China were ferried out of the country at the very beginning of the uprising, Black African leaders have, in a characteristic manifestation of contempt for their people, abandoned their own to die in the war. See the plight of these people in this video.

Interesting Links

1. The "house-girl" phenomenon in Africa and the issue of women's oppression of women.

2. African leaders who are replaced by their kids or who are grooming their kids to replace them. The author did not mention Paul Biya, who, it is rumored (these truths always come in the form of rumor) is grooming his son, Frank Biya, to replace him.

3. See where dictators keep their money.

How Paul Biya Campaigns For Re-election

If everything goes as Biya plans, there will be a presidential election in October this year. Some candidates have already entered the race and they are going about campaigning in various places in the country. They are organizing meetings in various places, inviting people and telling them what they are about. Anyone familiar with electioneering would think that that is what normally happens in an election - candidates explain themselves to electorate and ask for votes.

However, this is not how Paul Biya does business. He does not visit places in Cameroon. In fact, he hardly visits the provinces of the country. He is known as one of the most reclusive presidents in the world. He does not personally go anywhere for campaign. He already knows that he is going to win the election so there is no need to campaign. He does not need to explain himself to Cameroonians because Cameroonians are beneath him. He knows that when the worse comes to the worse, he can simply steal the election, like he did in 1992 when France helped him to steal the elections. I know that many African presidents look upon their people with contempt but one would be hard pressed to find another leader in Africa who holds his people in more contempt than Biya. This contempt is demonstrated especially during elections. He sits in the presidential palace, which has become his personal property, and sends surrogates to go out and sing his praise. All the ministers, DOs, SDO, mayors, etc. campaign for him because without him they would have no jobs. He is the only one whose job is secure, even though he does not campaign. Political scientists call this way of doing things neo-patrimonialism.

When Biya looks at other countries where people actually campaign during elections, it amazes him. How can someone as high as a president go around campaigning, let alone shaking the hands of worthless people? That is why Paul Biya leaves such menial jobs to his underlings. And so Biya recently sent a minister to tell the people of the minister's region that Biya would not construct a good road for that region until they vote for Biya. That is how Biya campaigns. He has no plan for the country, no vision - nothing. He just holds the people hostage and threatens them. Since Cameroon is now his personal property, he is not answerable to anyone, he is the one who distributes the "national cake," as they called the country when I was growing up. I remember seeing President Barack Obama campaigning to be president of the United States. I also saw David Cameron campaigning to be prime minister of the Unite Kingdom. I smiled and thought that they would simply kill to be in Paul Biya's shoes. 

Children Beg For Peace In Ivory Coast

Taken from here. The Ivorian international soccer star who plays for Chelsea in England, Didier Drogba, joins the children in the call for peace in their country.

How Paul Biya Cons Cameroonians

In Cameroon the term used to describe the activities of a conman is feymanism, a term that describes the activity of some people who pose as legitimate businesspeople, promising their would-be victims that a small or significant investment will bring great wealth - guaranteed and risk-free. A basic premise behind feymanism is that one does not have to do the hard work that it takes to generate much wealth - there is no great risk in investment. It is similar to what Bernard Maddof, who is now sitting in prison in the US, did. However, feymanism works in a different way in African politics. Paul Biya, for example, does not present himself as a businessman; rather, he presents himself as a benefactor, a generous lord who can help Cameroonians reap more without making the hard changes that need to be made in order to bring about a flourishing society. By suppressing the ability of the private sector to flourish, Paul Biya has fooled Cameroonians into believing that they can only benefit from the state. Infrastructures that may help boost private initiatives and independence, such as transportation, good education, improved medical care, etc., are abandoned to rot as the economy is squeezed to rely on the largess of Paul Biya's state.

The recent protests in North Africa, which has been partly encouraged by high unemployment, has frightened Biya so much that he now appears to be concerned about unemployment in Cameroon. Instead of creating an open society that may boost private sector growth, he has decided to grow the government by announcing that 25,000 people will be employed into the civil service. However, economists generally acknowledge that increasing the size of the civil service does not grow an economy in the long run. What Paul Biya wants is simply to increase the number of people who would be depending on his largess for their daily bread. What he is doing is simply increasing the number of bribe-takers who see the state as a farm. The announcement that 25,000 people will be employed in the civil service has set in motion all the mechanisms of bribe-taking as the millions who are looking for a stable job bribe their way into one. After having presided over a worsening unemployment situation for 28 years, Cameroonians are now being fooled into thinking that Paul Biya is concerned about employment and their well-being. The simple fact is that Biya is more concerned about staying in power and continuing to do as much damage to the economy as possible. Cameroonians must tell Biya that they can see into his feymanism. The recent announcement of job openings in the government will end up making things worse for the country because the conditions that make for the sorry state of affairs in the country are still there. What is needed is the building of economic and political infrastructures that spur growth in the private sector. That is what Paul Biya has refused to do. That is why he needs to leave - now. In fact, like Maddof, Paul Biya needs to be sitting in jail for conning Cameroonians and destroying their economy.

Paul Biya Bans Twitter In Cameroon

In order to curb the use of twitter to organize demonstrations in the country, the government of Cameroon has banned twitter services in the country. See more information here and here and here.

"Cameroonians Love Me," Paul Biya Says

Paul Biya and Pope Benedict XVI
Okay, he did not say that; I made the quote up. But you can get the drift. Paul Biya has a longstanding tradition of countering widespread popular disenchantment with his dictatorship by asking leaders of his RDPC/CPDM ruling party to organize marches, chanting how they love him as president. My first experience of this was in the early 1990s, when I was still in high school in Cameroon. It was the time when the popular outcry was about multi-party democracy. At the time, Paul Biya sent some ministers out to organize marches and chant his praise. There is a popular song in Cameroon that begins with the word "dimabola." When I typed this word into the computer the computer presumed to know the right word by suggesting that the correct word may be "diabolism" or "diabolic". But that song, to tell you the truth, does not appear to be about diabolism. In fact, the first time I heard the song it was sung in a church. But as is the case in Cameroon, when a church music is really good, people use it for dancing even in nightclubs. That is how dimabola was lifted from the church onto the politics of Cameroon. I am not sure what the song means but given that it was sung in church, I suppose it is not in praise of Satan or the devil. (This is not to suggest that Paul Biya is the devil or anything of that sort. At the more mundane level, he is a Roman Catholic; at the sublime level, he is God). So, old men and women organized young men and women and off they went onto the the streets of some of Cameroon's towns. They sang and danced dimabola, placing Biya's name in the spot that was previously occupied by divinity. They sang and danced and said that Cameroon was immature for democracy. They sang and danced and said that Cameroon was just fine the way it was.

However, most people disagreed with this faith in Paul Biya. They went onto the streets and demonstrated and this demonstration resulted in the death of some people. In a very short time, Paul Biya said that he was bringing something called "Advanced Democracy" to Cameroon. He said that simple Democracy was not good enough for Cameroon, that Cameroon was so democratically mature that what they needed was Advanced Democracy. To this day, yours truly is still in the dark about what Advanced Democracy means. However, if one can tell what people believe by how they act, it will become clear that Advanced Democracy means buying off opponents with large bribes, jailing people who do not agree with you on trumped up charges, allowing only demonstrations that support you, constantly revising the constitution to suit the whim and caprices of the ruling party and its president, increased poverty for the masses, etc. In fact, Advanced Democracy, as some political scientists have seen, means the criminalization of the state. And, even though many people where killed before Paul Biya could concoct this bizarre phenomenon called Advanced Democracy, he has since praised himself as the one who brought Democracy to the country.

The current marches going on in Cameroon, begging Paul Biya to remain president, are deja vu. The only difference now is that those who were young people then are the old people now. They are grooming other young people into the faith of Paul Biya worship. However, this public demonstration of faith in Paul Biya is not voluntary. In the past months since Tunisia, there have been calls for Paul Biya to step down. That made Biya to go back to his old bag of tricks and pull an old stunt again - gathering people to march, sing and dance for him. In fact, it is the only march that can be allowed now. Police was sent to brutalize just a handful of people who attempted to march for the opposite message. In Paul Biya's Advanced Democracy, everyone should belong to one religion (Paul Biya worship). Opposing voices can only be bribed into compliance or suppressed. When you want to march in support of Paul Biya, you can do so; but when you want to march to call for Paul Biya to step down, you have a problem. In Biya's universe, that is called Advanced Democracy. And Cameroonians are loving it to death!

Cameroonians Are Begging Paul Biya To Continue As President

Some people considered it blasphemous when I pointed out that Paul Biya is Cameroon's God. They would not be so quick to pass judgment if they considered that some Cameroonians are currently begging Paul Biya to continue as president of the country. Paul Biya is now 78 years old and he has been president for about twenty-nine years. During this period he has rigged elections and doctored the constitution to remain in power. Some Cameroonians are now concerned that with the current uprising in North Africa, which have led to the fall of Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, Biya may also be forced to leave power in Cameroon. That would be devastating, given that there is no one else who is good enough to replace him. Considering that Paul Biya is the only person who can be president of Cameroon, some intelligent Cameroonians took to the streets to preempt any call for his ouster. They are begging Biya to continue as president because without him there will be no future for the country. Just see how much economic development has happened in Cameroon since Paul Biya came to power. Unemployment is now at over 40 percent and the life expectancy has fallen. Most Cameroonians are now living their dream lives. Without Paul Biya all of this will go to waste. The only fear now is that he may die one day, if that is at all possible. So these wise Cameroonians want to make sure he stays.

Women Infront

In Ivory Coast, women have taken the lead in calling for Gbagbo to step down. They continue to be killed as the world stays quiet.

Ivory Coast Soldiers Shoot Protesting Women: Videos

See this video and this one.

Now That Gaddafi Falleth . . .

Now that Gaddafi is falling, we are seeing sanctimonious indignation against him from even those who had been doing business with him under cover of night. The recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine paints him as the "Harvard for Tyrants." While the current rage against Gaddafi is justified, it must not be forgotten that he also did a huge service to African liberation struggle. While the West was strongly in support of apartheid in South Africa, for example, Gaddafi was helping train anti-apartheid fighters. When Bill Clinton visited South Africa during the reign of Nelson Mandela, that was one of the points which Mr. Mandela stressed. Clinton had been urging Mandela to cut ties with Gaddafi but Mandela told Clinton in public that he (Mandela) would not cut ties with Gaddafi. He stressed that Gaddafi was a friend during the darkest hours South Africa experienced. In fact, it was the CIA which blew Mandela's cover when he was arrested in the 1960s and jailed for life. This is not to defend Gaddafi; it s merely to point out that the article cited above leaves much. The fact that Gaddafi has to go does not mean that all he did was evil, as the article seems to suggest.

The Cowards Who Pass For Soldiers And Police In Ivory Coast And Cameroon

Yesterday, Ivorian soldiers in Abidjan fired on protesting women, killing many of them, including a woman who was pregnant. This shameful display of cowardice is despicable. It reminded me of Egypt where women and little girls and boys were sitting on tanks as soldiers looked on. What a contrast of honor, courage, and responsibility! The soldiers of Ivory Coast must be ashamed of themselves for defending the interest of a dictator rather than their own women and children.

A similar shameful incident took place in Cameroon just over a week ago when the police turned the water hoses on an unarmed and defenseless woman even as she stood in a posture of surrender. Such thoughtless display of cowardice in the service of dictators should be appalling to all. It should be appalling to the soldiers and police who sell their souls for the defense of rapacity. 

No Condition Is Permanent: The Irony Of The Revolt In Libya

If Gaddafi may be credited with one thing, it will be his foresight. How is this so, you might ask. If we go way back to be beginnings of this revolution in Tunisia, we would see that Gaddafi was one of the first to make a proposal aimed at ending the demonstrations in Tunisia. When the demonstrations began in Tunisia, it was largely about the small matter of unemployment. People had not started calling for the ouster of the corrupt Ben Ali and the world was still largely ignorant of what was going on in that country. During that early period, Gaddafi called for the Libyan border to be opened so that Tunisians may come and work in Libya. Perhaps he did this because he thought that that would be magnanimous of him. But again, if the border had been opened and had many unemployed Tunisians gone to work in Libya, Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak might still have been in power today. Gaddafi would more likely have been experiencing more peace than he currently enjoys, given that he appears to be hold up in Tripoly, the capital of Libya. The irony of it all is that instead of Tunisians coming to work in Libya as Gaddafi had hoped, it is now Libyans who are more likely to cross the border into Tunisia either as refugees or job seekers. There is a saying which I have often heard among Cameroonians and Nigerians which goes: "no condition is permanent." This saying may conjure optimism or pessimism depending on how you interpret it. I wonder what Gaddafi would make of the saying.

Nigeria Goes To Space

Read about how Nigeria's space projects may affect Nigeria and Africa here.

Fela Goes To Lagos

An icon remembered more outside of his country than in it - such is the fate of African heroes as inexplicable interests insist on erasing their names from history. Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Jada Pinket-Smith produced a musical about Fela, the popular Nigerian musician who passed away over a decade ago. The musical was staged on Broadway in NY City and London. It now goes to Lagos.

The Death Of Members of Parliament In Cameroon: A Worrying Trend

It is being reported in Cameroon that since 2007, 9 (nine) members of Cameroon's parliament, which consists of 180 members, have died. The United States Congress has 535 members but I am not sure that that many members of congress have died since 2007. The fact that so many members of parliament in Cameroon have died since 2007 should be a cause for deep concern for all Cameroonians. Such concern may only be averted if it is clear that members of parliament are elected when they are so old that they have less time left to do their work. In this case, the question that needs to be asked is why many people who are that old continue to run for office. This is not to say that older people should not run for office; the question is: "why so many?" If these people are not older people at time of death, the question that has to be asked is: "why do so many parliamentarians in Cameroon die when they are still young?" The point is not to point finger at witchcraft as some Cameroonians would do; it is rather to find out whether these people receive good medical care. If the problem is lack of good medical care, then all Cameroonians should be very worried. They should be very worried because of the simple fact that if parliamentarians, who are among the elite in Cameroon, can die because of lack of adequate medical care, then ordinary people should not expect any better.

As a matter of fact, the death of so many parliamentarians in Cameroon in such a very short time is just a reflection of the rampant death that is sweeping many in Cameroon. Life has become so cruel to so many that lifespans have been cut drastically short. In fact, according to CIA Factbook, in 2010, the average life expectancy for a Cameroon male was 53 years while it was just about 55 years for females. In the last twenty years, the life expectancy in Cameroon has fallen. All of this, under the authoritarian gaze of Paul Biya who is now 78 years old. If Paul Biya can live to be 78 years old, it means that Cameroonians are not doomed to die when they are in their 40s, 50s, or 60s. Where so many people die in such a very short time span, people must question what is going on. And the question should not only be a supernaturalistic one, as often the case. People must also hold the government responsible for dooming them into early death.