Raila's biography - part 2

Something I forgot to mention. In my estimation, more than half the footnotes are from newspaper reports.

With all due respect to members of the fourth estate
a) because there's a dearth of investigative journalism in this country and/or
b) due to the kinds of time and resource constraints that go into the production of local dailies and weeklies

I believe that newspaper reports should the starting point to any research rather than the sole oasis.

Raila's biography - part 1

Finally managed to finish the book. A few comments
a) like others on this mailing list, I found the design, binding and editing sub standard
b) it is pretty evident the writer has not been a student of Kenyan politics and has often relied on metanarratives particularly around the political scene pre 1979
c) while the writer is no doubt intelligent, he is not necessarily a gifted storry teller/writer. I stand to be corrected, but believe he wrote somewhere that this was his first biography. It is evident that it is. Some of the problems I had with his writing include
* In most biographies, chapters are supposed to be pieces of a puzzle (not necessarily chronologically, they could be thematic) however his chapters overlap consistently with certain paragraphs being repetitous
* The writer acknowledges most that 10 people that contributed to the work, in my opinion these are the "too many cooks that spoilt the broth"
* On Kenya, there is no doubt that the writer did his research conducting numerous interviews and reading widely. However, I don't think the reading was wide enough. It is not enough to read the usual suspects (Thiongo, Mazrui etc). I believe its important to paint the story of the Kenya against a certain backdrop, otherwise it make Kenya look like a country that was at the time in absolute anarchy.
* On Raila, he quotes people without challenging them. Here's a statement that irked me to high heavens pg 332 quoting Mrs Phoebe Asiyo "...He is the only one in Kenya who is able to go to Nigeria and consult with President Obasanjo; Mandela in South Africa and Ghaddafi
in Libya." I know he is a friend of Obasanjo and of several SA politicians including Ramaphosa and Zuma but Madiba? A bad case of name dropping?

I hope there will be a 2nd edition to the book that will not only correct the grammar, spelling etc but will also provide some balance to a book that avoids (at all costs) being critical.

That said, overall I think the book is essential reading for anyone on Kenya (from a certain perspective) and I believe the man has achieved a lot more than most (if not all) of his peers.

Crime in SA - part 2

There's an old respected intellectual who recently said in spirit apartheid was actually a
perfect plan? Shocking!

About crime, I suspect I will be rehashing arguements I have made before (and therefore sound like a broken record). Like in Kenya, there are those within the law enforcement system that wouldnt want to eliminate crime...otherwise how would they
a) (if they are clean) justify the huge budgets for purchasing ammunition, fuel and staff members
b) (if they are not so clean) create wealth through short circuiting the policing system.

Approached from another angle, the rise of the wealthy class of blacks in the 30-50s and beyond had, to a limited extent, to do (at best) with very dubious activities. That many of the liberation
movement stalwarts had a finger in some of these activities is a well known fact. Townships like Alexander and Sophiatown thrived on a little artistic and alot of criminal activities. Of course that part of history is continously being sanitized because some things dont easily fall within a black-white categorization. Here is an example, in the early 60s most of the top brass in the ANC either owned a gun or could easily access one. Infact, as we speak, there's an effort to excavate several farms in Lilliesleaf farm in Rivonia to see if they can find Madiba's see
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20060622024443511C176333 or http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5106302.stm

Some say a lot of the money that went into fighting apartheid may have been generated via dubious means. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/4085683.stm or
http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?area=mg_flat&articleid=152876

Simply, with crime many seem to feel there's no end in sight.

Crime in SA - part 1

Pre 94? I doubt any one source could provide reliable information to categorically state there was more violence then than after. This country was several countries in one with the State as well as several Bantustans running their own police, armed forces and civil service. (Incidentally one of them, Republic of Bophuthatswana, once invaded Botswana just to show they were more powerful than their neighbour)

A good source I found is http://www.iss.co.za/CJM/stats0904/index.htm
Many commenting from outside this country may not always understanding realities of the apartheid era. Considering that white areas within the state were super-sanitised crime, the kind you hear (drive by shooting, carjacking) about today, was unheard of there. What they had instead were "insurgents" (ala Iraq) with bombings etc. There was definately alot of crime in Bantustans but hardly in "sanitised white areas".

Put simply, with segregation, crime stats were different for the different race groups and the fact that SA is a different country right now means that there are no barriers to osmotic movement of criminals. For whites to "perceive" themselves as being under siege is understandable.

The best online resource I know of that captures these differences is http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/ Of course visiting the museum in person greatly enhances the experience.

Crime is a problem, has always been and at the rate at which things are going, will be for a long time to come. And as I explained, past and current social realisties are very different and in my opinion is all about perception.

Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula a few days ago got very agitated in Parliament and told off those who complained about crime stating they were unpatriotic moaners. "They can continue to whinge until they're blue in the face, be as negative as they want to, or
they can simply leave this country so that all of the peace-loving South Africans, good South African people who want to make this a successful country, can continue with their work."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,,1802180,00.html

PS My old cheap car was broken into 3 times (twice at 3am in the morning) over the course of the last 2 yrs. Eventually it was stolen in broad daylight outside my boss' house (which is in a previously "white area") and even though it had a tracking device which was activated within 20 min of the theft, it was never recovered.

King Leopold’s Ghost

Yesterday I finally managed to get hold of a book by Adam Hochschild titled "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa" ISBN: 0618001905 and must say that it, in my opinion, comes a close second to one other book* in terms of understanding the
continent's precolonial past.

There are stories about the famous Afro American historian George Washington Williams, the Anglo Polish Joseph Conrad (of the Heart of Darkness fame), David Livingstone, and of course the "sometimes Anglo sometimes American" Henry Morton Stanely ["who would break into a
Welsh accent when talking excitedly"]

Supported by research findings of people like Jan Vansina (the Belgian anthropologist), am amazed first by the things I found out in the book and secondly by their implications. Now I understand
a) why Antwerp in particular and Belgium in general hold such power in the diamond industry,
b) much better the tensions between French and Flemish speaking Belgians
c) why DRC musicians feel a sense of entitlement when dealing with Belgium etc

* The other book is "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" (Paperback) by Walter Rodney ISBN 0882580965

Voicemail & ding dong - wacky dip

Shaggy - Church heathen