I've been following the tragic tale of the stricken Italian cruise-ship, the Costa Concordia. 11 people perished and a further 21 are still missing, after it ran aground off shallow Mediterranean waters. But what rankles even more is the behaviour of crew-members and the ship's captain itself, Francesco Schettino. Reports say that once disaster hit, crew-members shoved aside old-ladies to get to the life-boats. The captain himself was one of the first to evacuate the ship, and he refused orders from the Italian Coast-Guard to return to his ship. So much for the ideal of captains going down with their ships!
The insane behaviour of the ship-captain captures the Me First Individualism of today's age. Everyone is consumed in his own affairs, in a hamster-like, non-stop hustle for survival. No-one has any time for anyone else. Even amongst my fellow Africans, famed for our communalism, our Ubuntu, the ethos of dog-eat-dog individualism is now deeply entrenched.
The Ndebeles of Zimbabwe say "ndoda zibonele", meaning man will always take care of himself. But in today's age this maxim has now been stretched to its logical conclusion, with each man now, literally, walking over dead bodies to maximise his own utility. I shudder to think where humankind will end up with this insane and unhealthy behaviour.
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Raila Odinga #Fail
I still cannot fathom how the A.U sent Raila Odinga as a mediator to Cote D'Ivoire. First of all: does Mzee Odinga even speak French? Secondly, the man himself (Odinga) is on a weak wicket: He's the junior partner, in a shaky coalition, with a determined tribalist (Mwai Kibaki). This is not the stuff that successful mediators are made off!
They should have sent a political heavyweight from the West African region (maybe Obasanjo) or a "Francophone" President with clout (like Blaise Compaore). Raila Odinga was out of his league here, and Laurent Gbagbo rightfully brushed him off -- like a bothersome fly. Let's see if the A.U can come up with a credible "Plan B".
They should have sent a political heavyweight from the West African region (maybe Obasanjo) or a "Francophone" President with clout (like Blaise Compaore). Raila Odinga was out of his league here, and Laurent Gbagbo rightfully brushed him off -- like a bothersome fly. Let's see if the A.U can come up with a credible "Plan B".
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Dastardly French
According to reports, a Virgin Atlantic flight from Nairobi, Kenya en route to Heathrow, was diverted to Lyon, France and the passengers (who included Prof. Ngugi wa Thiongo'o) were subjected to a very humiliating experience. This happened on the 18th of December, 2010. I've been hopping mad with anger (all daylong) over this callous injustice meted out to my noble African people, and here's what I have to say about this sordid affair.
Without Africa, France is just a middling, European nation of no great significance. We Africans have been gritting our teeth and taking these slights and put-downs for generations. There will come a time when we will walk away from our entanglements with haughty nations like France and seek our salvation within ourselves. The day that happens, France will revert to a being a slightly bigger version of Portugal -- a once-great nation that no longer is worth any mention. Mark my words: that day will come. And WE AFRICANS will have the last laugh!
Without Africa, France is just a middling, European nation of no great significance. We Africans have been gritting our teeth and taking these slights and put-downs for generations. There will come a time when we will walk away from our entanglements with haughty nations like France and seek our salvation within ourselves. The day that happens, France will revert to a being a slightly bigger version of Portugal -- a once-great nation that no longer is worth any mention. Mark my words: that day will come. And WE AFRICANS will have the last laugh!
Monday, October 4, 2010
What If (A BIG IF)
I've always wondered what would happen if Africa managed to develop and become relatively wealthy. What would that mean for the IMF and the World Bank? The legions of NGOs working/vacationing in Africa? And what about the Bonos and Geldof's of this world? Would Sir Bob "Didn't-deserve-the-knighthood" Geldof revive his old group, The Boomtown Rats? Our poverty and hopelessness has opened up legions of opportunities to otherwise unemployable people, who would have struggled to find a job in their home countries.
James Chikonamombe
James Chikonamombe
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tribe, Nation, Ethnicity
English is a living language like all other languages and there are no statutory laws regarding it's usage. Nevertheless, we need to be wary of throwing around loaded words like "tribe". Such usage is a holdover from previous eras when openly racist discourse -- tribe, barbarian, pagan, cannibal, heathen, savage -- was used in justifying the enslavement, colonisation, and oppression of Non-European peoples in Africa, The Americas, and the Pacific islands.
It's much more preferable to use use "nation", or "nationality" when referring to the people (or peoples) who inhabit a specific geographic area, and "ethnicity" when referring to the language/cultural groups who make up that nation. Indeed that is how the indigenous peoples of North America define themselves: a member of the Lakota "tribe" will never besmirch his identity in such a way, but rather will say that he belongs to the Lakota nation. That is how the indigenous peoples of Canada are described: as First Nations.
Just because certain African intellectuals frequently use the term "tribe" does not, in any way, remove its negative connotations. My fellow African intellectuals are often prone to intellectual laziness, and tend to regurgitate whatever rigmarole is spewed out from the West. Furthermore, many of them -- despite claiming to speak for Africa -- are weighed down by acute inferiority complexes. They too need to be 're-educated', so to speak, and to be shown the error in their ways.
It's much more preferable to use use "nation", or "nationality" when referring to the people (or peoples) who inhabit a specific geographic area, and "ethnicity" when referring to the language/cultural groups who make up that nation. Indeed that is how the indigenous peoples of North America define themselves: a member of the Lakota "tribe" will never besmirch his identity in such a way, but rather will say that he belongs to the Lakota nation. That is how the indigenous peoples of Canada are described: as First Nations.
Just because certain African intellectuals frequently use the term "tribe" does not, in any way, remove its negative connotations. My fellow African intellectuals are often prone to intellectual laziness, and tend to regurgitate whatever rigmarole is spewed out from the West. Furthermore, many of them -- despite claiming to speak for Africa -- are weighed down by acute inferiority complexes. They too need to be 're-educated', so to speak, and to be shown the error in their ways.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Let Them Keep Their Loot!...and Leave Us Alone!
Tendai Biti -- "Let's tell them (top Zanu officials) that they can leave and not lose their farms or get arrested".
That was Tendai Biti, The MDC's Secretary-General, and also Zimbabwe's Min of Finance. I've been saying, for God-knows how many years now, that the only way to improve Zimbabwe's political climate, is to allow Zanu's top leadership to retire (quietly) to their farms, and give them blanket immunity from any future prosecution.
Those who claim morals as their guiding principle need to carefully consider what options we Zimbabweans have on the table. With 85% unemployment, a collapsed health-care sector and industry in shambles, we can ill-afford to continue having the present Zanu leadership in place. The Govt of (dis)unity stopped the rot, but it is ill-equipped to move things onto a higher level. Plus we might have elections next year, and the nightmare of another 5 years of an underperformng Govt of Nat Unity looms large.
If the 50 or so top Zanu officials in the security establishment, and in the govt were allowed to go, there would immediately be a better climate for the economy to operate in. Let's cut our losses right now, to give a chance to the millions of Zimbabwean children who go to bed hungry each night, and to the millions of workers unable to find work.
Life, in general, gives you two stark choices: bad or worse. The choice that I've highlighted above would be the least painful for Zimbabwe's masses. It's high time we gave it a try.
James Chikonamombe
That was Tendai Biti, The MDC's Secretary-General, and also Zimbabwe's Min of Finance. I've been saying, for God-knows how many years now, that the only way to improve Zimbabwe's political climate, is to allow Zanu's top leadership to retire (quietly) to their farms, and give them blanket immunity from any future prosecution.
Those who claim morals as their guiding principle need to carefully consider what options we Zimbabweans have on the table. With 85% unemployment, a collapsed health-care sector and industry in shambles, we can ill-afford to continue having the present Zanu leadership in place. The Govt of (dis)unity stopped the rot, but it is ill-equipped to move things onto a higher level. Plus we might have elections next year, and the nightmare of another 5 years of an underperformng Govt of Nat Unity looms large.
If the 50 or so top Zanu officials in the security establishment, and in the govt were allowed to go, there would immediately be a better climate for the economy to operate in. Let's cut our losses right now, to give a chance to the millions of Zimbabwean children who go to bed hungry each night, and to the millions of workers unable to find work.
Life, in general, gives you two stark choices: bad or worse. The choice that I've highlighted above would be the least painful for Zimbabwe's masses. It's high time we gave it a try.
James Chikonamombe
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ghana Must! Go! All the way!
What a cracker of a game today. Assamoah Gyan could have scored three goals, and Andre Ayew could also have netted at least two. Ghana lost, but they were, by far, the better team. Kevin Prince Boateng was outstanding. Sloppy defending at the back allowed the Germans to score the lone goal.
Ghanaian defenders should have charged at Ozil when he took that shot at goal. I aged ten years watching the last five minutes. The mathematical possibilities of who would go ahead in this group (vis-a-vis the other group game) were all too real.
Now for the finals: Sule Muntari must be played from the onset, and Ghana must continue with their attacking football. Maybe they could pair another striker with Assamoah Gyan in the attack. All of Africa will be supporting the Black Stars. We owe it to ourselves to have at least one African team in the Semi-Finals.
Ghanaian defenders should have charged at Ozil when he took that shot at goal. I aged ten years watching the last five minutes. The mathematical possibilities of who would go ahead in this group (vis-a-vis the other group game) were all too real.
Now for the finals: Sule Muntari must be played from the onset, and Ghana must continue with their attacking football. Maybe they could pair another striker with Assamoah Gyan in the attack. All of Africa will be supporting the Black Stars. We owe it to ourselves to have at least one African team in the Semi-Finals.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
African Spelling
Here's a piece I posted on a forum (that I belong to) not too long ago in '06. It's about the African spelling of place-names and the general rendering of spelling using African phonetics, I still believe strongly in what I wrote three years ago. After all, the Japanese do not call their country "Japan", nor do the Germans call their country "Germany".
My point is that, "Germany" and "Japan" are what outsiders render those two countries. The natives of both Germany and Japan(as well as Ireland, Greece, Holland, and a host of other nations) all use their own phonetics and spelling to render their place-names, as well as place-names that fall outside their own language areas. We Africans should do the same.
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I just wanted to put this out in the open. Should we as Africans still insist on European spelling conventions in 2006? (it's now 2009). It's almost 50 years since Ghana achieved independence and yet we Africans still insist on religiously following European spelling conventions when writing. Why is this so? What's wrong with using phonetic African spelling? After all, AREN'T WE AFRICANS?
In my native language, Shona, "London" should be rendered "Randani" and "Britain" should be rendered "Bhiriteni". Shona has no "L" in its alphabet, and a hard "B" is always followed by an "H". The same rule applies for a "V"; a hard "V" is always followed by an "H". Would I be considered an uneducated fool by my African peers if I started writing "Furansi" instead of "France" and "Muputukese" instead of "Portuguese". The thought tickles my mind.
The Europeans themselves ALWAYS insist on following THEIR OWN SPELLING CONVENTIONS as a rule. This they apply to both family names and place names.
The Senegalese family name, "Njie", is spelt "N'diaye" by the French. "Jobe" is rendered "Diop", "Juuf" is rendered as "Diouf", and the place-name Wagadugu is rendered "Ouagadougou". The Portuguese are just as bad! The Shona-speaking province of "Manyika", in Mozambique, is rendered as "Manica" and "Chikwalakwala" is rendered as "Chicuala-cuala". The great Shona empire-builder from the middle ages, "Munhumutapa" is commonly (and wrongly) known as "Monomotapa".
Can't we as Africans just follow our own phonetic conventions when rendering place names and family names? Why do we use "Mozambique" when describing "Msumbuji". And why do we Africans insist on calling the country of "Mzansi" (or Azania) as "South Africa". Let others call that country, "South Africa". As for place names, doesn't "Burkina Faso" sound better than "Upper Volta", and isn't "Zimbabwe" more appropriate than "Southern Rhodesia"? And finally, who came up with the name, Central African Republic? I'll offer a 6-pack of beer to anyone who comes up with a better name for that African country
James(Jemusi)Chikonamombe
My point is that, "Germany" and "Japan" are what outsiders render those two countries. The natives of both Germany and Japan(as well as Ireland, Greece, Holland, and a host of other nations) all use their own phonetics and spelling to render their place-names, as well as place-names that fall outside their own language areas. We Africans should do the same.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just wanted to put this out in the open. Should we as Africans still insist on European spelling conventions in 2006? (it's now 2009). It's almost 50 years since Ghana achieved independence and yet we Africans still insist on religiously following European spelling conventions when writing. Why is this so? What's wrong with using phonetic African spelling? After all, AREN'T WE AFRICANS?
In my native language, Shona, "London" should be rendered "Randani" and "Britain" should be rendered "Bhiriteni". Shona has no "L" in its alphabet, and a hard "B" is always followed by an "H". The same rule applies for a "V"; a hard "V" is always followed by an "H". Would I be considered an uneducated fool by my African peers if I started writing "Furansi" instead of "France" and "Muputukese" instead of "Portuguese". The thought tickles my mind.
The Europeans themselves ALWAYS insist on following THEIR OWN SPELLING CONVENTIONS as a rule. This they apply to both family names and place names.
The Senegalese family name, "Njie", is spelt "N'diaye" by the French. "Jobe" is rendered "Diop", "Juuf" is rendered as "Diouf", and the place-name Wagadugu is rendered "Ouagadougou". The Portuguese are just as bad! The Shona-speaking province of "Manyika", in Mozambique, is rendered as "Manica" and "Chikwalakwala" is rendered as "Chicuala-cuala". The great Shona empire-builder from the middle ages, "Munhumutapa" is commonly (and wrongly) known as "Monomotapa".
Can't we as Africans just follow our own phonetic conventions when rendering place names and family names? Why do we use "Mozambique" when describing "Msumbuji". And why do we Africans insist on calling the country of "Mzansi" (or Azania) as "South Africa". Let others call that country, "South Africa". As for place names, doesn't "Burkina Faso" sound better than "Upper Volta", and isn't "Zimbabwe" more appropriate than "Southern Rhodesia"? And finally, who came up with the name, Central African Republic? I'll offer a 6-pack of beer to anyone who comes up with a better name for that African country
James(Jemusi)Chikonamombe
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