Shall we kill a mocking bird? We are poorly educated on racism!

Samuel Eto'o celebrates a goal

Football brings whether watched at home on screens or in stadiums brings more than a buzz of life to a city. It charges the atmosphere. Money is earned. In Nairobi pubs are full to beyond capacity. No matter the threats of grenades, people sit and cheer, stand and cheer, shout, bet, rejoice and cry at loss. It is the same everywhere. Maybe football is humanity challenging itself?

Not too long ago, a fan even committed suicide because his team lost. http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/221/champions-league/2009/05/06/1249621/kenyan-fan-commits-suicide-after-arsenals-champions-league-defeat

He knew nothing but love for Arsenal. That was his Juliet. In Kenya, kids know the Man U's and the Chelseas long before they know what is T-shirt. How are we and they suppose to understand that our heroes who score goals for many teams abroad are permanently suffering and bearing the brunt racism on football pitches. Today, Bolatelli says something that should make us all sit up. He says racism is unacceptable for him and that if anyone throws a banana peel at him again...  he will kill that person. About violence let us rue as we hear the man's frustrations. Racism itself is unbearable violence. We do understand his frustration. Leaders in football and in governments must not sit and wait for more violence to happen. They must talk and act now.


Racism is everywhere 

Harper Lee, author. To Kill a Mockingbird

The history of racism in football is a reflection of racism in the world.  It does manifest in fields far from football pitches. And some of them more deadly. What should we do? Guilty, shall we kill a mocking bird?  We have no excuse for being so ignorant. We have none either for not knowing what football racism is. Those heading teams have no reason whatsoever why to brook this kind of denial mentality. This is at a time when we are showing off that we are so connected?A time when we are saying even kids are reading the whole world online? A time when all it takes is to google football racism and see what comes up? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_association_football  

While FIFA says it has zero tolerance for racism, some managers keep saying either it does not exist or what can they do about it anyway, if people are racist. Denial persists at government levels and at football leadership levels even in churches. Shocking indifference. It is time for action now, not just words. Why should anybody suffer because of the color of their skin or because of where they were born? Has the preacher you listen to ever defined racism and fought against it? Isn't there a good portion of it in your holy book? If you want to overcome racism, you must be prepared to be radical even in your way of reading traditions and religions. Radical.

Voices against racism


I am so glad that there are so many people in history and living today who understand racism and are doing something to stem the tide. I am so glad that so many of them are unknown heroes and sheroes who will have nothing to do with racial discrimination because they know it exists and it is unworthy of human beings and so destructive. Equally so that others are icons. Let them speak out more clearly each time! What has been said and written does not seem to be enough. I wish that we could all hear them. I am disturbed that some suppress fellow humans on the basis of race. Some rationalise racism and accept it.  

Chatter

Blatter's chatter was in denial of racism in football. And he in a high position in UEFA. And later, after an apology, he said all you need to do if your are racist is to shake hands. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2062343/Sepp-Blatter-Racism-forgotten-handshake.html Now it seems as if a huge number of people are doing a Blatter. Saying sorry is no enough. We fall short of concrete measures against racism.

Mario Balotelli: Racism is unacceptable! Yes!

Racism in football is a big shame on the world.  Mario Barwuah Balotelli threatens to walk off the pitch if he is taunted again.  The image of a group of European youth shouting Hitler slogans and broadcast on BBC was very ugly. 


"In 2006, British librarians ranked Harper Lee's book To Kill A Mockingbird ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die"






Racism is not a myth or a fabrication, it is an ugly reality

 I am glad that because of Euro 2012  racism is being discussed openly. I was watching TV. Poland and Ukraine were on the spot because British citizens said they would not attend Euro 12 because of racism. It is amazing how cagey the Polish minister for Foreign Affairs and the Culture minister were regarding something we cannot deny. Racism. Racism  is real. Football has only given us a podium. But many continue to be in denial http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=303158 And societies you would dream are liberated of racism have challenges right at their doorsteps. Scandinavia is no haven for minorities. Nobody is setting the pace except perhaps Toronto, Canada, and that only perhaps.

 http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/afp/france-football-manager-blanc-denies-race-quota/438191

Nations boycotted games in South Africa to break apartheid

The Asian man was hit repeatedly. He staggered head bent forward and just when he was about to straighten up some two young white men infront of him kicked him in the belly again. He bled. Before that, they had shouted Hitler slogans and booed Africans calling them monkeys. The TV footage was appalling but it was not all. This is illegal and immoral.


To fight apartheid many nations cut links with South Africa. They would not trade or play with her. It was a powerful message. Today, a country that displays racism should not be acceptable ground for play. The memory of Mahatma Gandhi being thrown off a train for his color in South Africa sprung to mind when an Asian young man was hit repeatedly by different European people for being black.  


When you think of it, this is what it really means to be barbaric! And all of it happening in the so called civilised societies. To beat or kill someone because of his skin color is to be very base. Is it possible that in all our endeavours to educate humanity so many people have missed the point? Balotelli is right. We cannot accept racism. Not in Africa, not in Asia, not anywhere. Not from anyone, even when we do not kill a mocking bird. Europe's moral collapse is tremendous. The Middle East and all the Arab countries are also challenged with accepting the 'other'

Ida B Wells precursor of Rosa Parks

It is ironic that only in 2010 we had a Football World Cup in South Africa where apartheid helped to make the injury of racism an unhealing and deep wound with the hope that this was a declaration that the world can make it out of racism.In Apartheid times, it was legal to discriminate in South Africa. This was a defiance of basic natural rights. Natural law should make us realise that we are no better than anybody else. Maybe I should start with that we all eat and we know where all the food ends up. What we have is a celebration of color in human beings not black and white. We want human dignity in our diversity all over the world. Ida Burnett- Wells the precursor of Rosa Parks, fought racism. The history of the civil rights movement is recent. How has the memory died on us?

Poland, Ukraine and Euro 12, Be afraid!

I know what the Government officials of Poland are talking about... They mean well. The problem is that no one can assert that a whole country is not racist... that is cheap publicity. Racism is rife too in Britain. It is everywhere. We need to be afraid of how corrupted we can be rather than try to say we are the best. We can only be free from fear when we recognize our enemies well and when we are making big efforts to fight racism. I am not against the Polish take. Reality is. I have a polish amethyst ring given to me by a woman in leadership in Poland. She loves all people. I know her well. Let us just call her Danuta for now. She lives in an Afrikan country. Between her and I, we share a solidarity for freedom that few people can have. I know all about Solidarity and the workers at Gdansk. Lech Walesa is my hero. When John Paul II declared "Do not be afraid!", he meant only if we are fighting to overcome evils we should have no fear.  All the beauty of the Polish spirit that I know does not mean that some Polish people cannot be racist. Even when they suffered the holocaust. 

Keep asking and reading about racism for your own good

So what it is racism? I have read some people who have written that if one says a people are racist, one becomes racist themselves... So that when Balotelli says that Italians are racist (of course he does not mean all of them are) he is told to stop being racist himself. So that when Grada Kalomba defines racism and talks about identities some people answer that she is so racist herself.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj3esOI11Pg Some of the comments one reads tell it all. 

 Who is so arrogant? Who is so arrogant as to forget what slavery did to the world, colonialism? Who is so arrogant as not to know that some churches also perpetuated racism? Who is so ignorant as not to know that naturally this stinks? Who is ranting as to keep on turning the pain of racism back to the black people? I looked at these responses to Grada Kalomba and I wondered where these people live? Of course it is true that people of darker complexion whether African, Romany, Indian or American have been at the receiving end of racism.  Between 100 000 to 200 000 Romany were killed during Hitler days. And Hitler was a manifestation of the mentatlity of many during those times. "Long before the Nazis came into power in Germany there existed a strong anti-Semitic tradition in Europe. This was not a specifically German phenomenon. A widespread hatred of the Jews can be found in the writings of Martin Luther and it was an important part of the self-perception of many Christians." 

http://www.holocaust-education.dk/holocaust/hvadhvemhvor.asp

Action

Everyone should do something to stem racism. It behoves those societies that spread it most to do more. It is a moral responsibility too that those who have more capacity invest more in this. Everyone must accept racism exists. There are endless things we can do personally and together in the world if we are really seriously against racism.Others must be done institutionally.  Each country should not just say we have a law but take proactive steps for the world we have must change! You have some answers too. One of them lies in acquiring knowledge. There are books that are a must read. Just recently I read that British librarians declared that Harper Lees 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' must be read even before the Bible is.  

For a Lady or Lord of the dance in Kenya: It is time for change!

Once, he said, the Thembu the Pondo, the Xhosa adnd the Zulu were all children of the same father....the white man shattered the abantu...Long walk to Freedom

In 1969, Norway from where I am writing, discovered oil. Before that, it was among the poorest countries in Europe, second to Ireland. In 1969, I  got an offer to go to a good primary school on account of my mother having been a good student herself and very much by luck, been among some of the early Loreto nuns trained girls in Limuru. Education was the oil of our family.

My parents like many others put in their lives and souls into our learning to read and write. Character was emphasised. I can say today that we are not poor. Today, Kenya is poor, however, even if she does try. Today 2012, Kenya has at last confirmed oil is within her borders. But still the eyes of the hungry child meet mine - http://haririphiloikonyagasheri.blogspot.com/2011/03/eyes-of-hungry-child-is-there-or-isnt.html- They haunt me. They are many eyes. They include those of the youth. What is the meaning of having one or two dialysis machines in Kenyatta National Hospital? Doctors and teachers are frequently on strike in Kenya these todays too.There are many types of famines.

Still the promises of independence in1963: elimnation of poverty, disease and ignorance are relevant. Of course one cannot eliminate all disease and ignorance but much of it yes. Poverty overcome actually means these two other forces really dwindle. Oil. But in countries that find oil in Afrika, often comes a curse. Resources kill Afrika. Aid kills Africa. Aids kills Africa.  We are seeing it in action now in the two Sudans where one cannot but be sorry watching innocent women, children and men lying in hospitals which are not even equipped for daily sicknesses taking in victims of unacknowledged bombings. Who will lead young people in growth in larger principles? Who hold up bigger images of humanity so that they do not support corrupt leaders and instead stand up for justice? It is encouraging to see Lillian Ikal's efforts. And to know, it can be done! She cheers us up!

Lillian Ikal Angelei: Winner of the Goldman  2012 Prize  for  environment

http://siku-moja.blogspot.com/2012/04/kenyan-lilian-ikal-angelei-wins.html

We know that 60% of Kenyas population is young, below 18 years of age. It is very important then that young people know and love democratic principles. It is key that they see this reflected in the lives of their elected representatives. They are ones paying them. In Kenya, Members of Parliament take the second most highest salary in the world. The President earns even more, as do cabinet ministers.

I remember the moment in the film Invictus when Mandela receives his first payslip as president and he is so surprised at the amount! It is too much. He immediately says he will contribute to some projects. His concern to bring races together without leaving out Afrikaaners after apartheid is overriding. He leads. A rugby match becomes vital. Who is watching for what can unite Kenyans across different ethnic groups? Who is telling them that this tribe thing is not us? That it came to us for the purposes of power? That the beast created does not fit into the description of any ethnic group we know? Why do we not like JM Kariuki speak more about the deprivation of resources that hits all people across and divides us into the poor and the rich, the class struggle more than tribalism? Why do we not get lost in issues rather than be cheated that it is our wonderful diversity of culture that is killing our nation? Greed?

In Kenya, breaking the trend of highly salaried politicians has been impossible for Kenyans. Until recently Members could raise their salaries after a simple survey by a judge whose procedures the public were hardly privy to. Today this is still a concern. Read this link for more.

http://blog.marsgroupkenya.org/?p=2914

So that 60% of the youth we are talking about are mainly in the poor bracket as must be true if we say 90% of the population is poor and that Kenya's wealth due corruption patterns is held by 10% of the population. The way of the elected representative is not the way to go! The lack of good distribution of resources is one of the reasons why people will die to see someone who shares a name and a language get to power. And these people do not lead the people not to think that way. They say if their own is in power, then they will eat the national cake together. This is a continent where blood ties are very valued. It is easy to make people corrupt in the practice of nepotism, corruption and the elimination of the other who is seen as an enemy.

Yet those whom we pay to lead the nation do not want to acknowledge their failures in the past and in the present since they seek to continue in office at higher or same levels. The distortion of tribe has occured and what exists in the mind of many is tribalism not differences and similarities of cultures and Ubuntu. This is used in favour of those who seek political power.

I heard that to my surprise the younger people who are even on social media and advanced in use of present day social tools are not less easily vulnerable to negative ethnicity to my surprise. But why should I have been surprised if negative ethnicity is nothing but  a result of dictatorships? Am I expecting power hungry people to want to that democracy that truly believes in the voice of the people?

It has come to this. President Kibaki believes that all these young people and the rest of the nation will only be safe in the hands of a leader from one part of the country. This is obvious to most of us inspite of the fact that Uhuru Kenyaata stands indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. He and William Ruto another politician, Francis Muthaura, then Secretary to the Cabinet and Joshua Sang a radio journalist, hoped that the Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo would not find enough evidence for their trial but he did. The trial must commence soon.

The young people concern me because they more than anyone else should be changing the way they view Kenya if we are to hope for a better country for our children and theirs. There has to be a way out for Kenya. The two Sudans, Somalia and Ethiopia are weak neighbours in terms of understanding of freedom and cohesion as nations.

Reading history and reflection calls us to deep conscientization.  Many politicians were to blame we have seen. But how is it that the good people and the good politicians are not able to turn all of us to greater good and virtue when they so easily turned us to hate? How is it? Is it as they say that it is harder to build than to demolish even in the making of a happy and achieving nation? Why is it that we cannot hear one another, at least some of us and not so few of us, across certain divides? What makes us not realise that in a real sense, there are only two divisions. Those who have, the rich, and those who do not have. For the people who have and are busy with their businesses, even in politics rub shoulders with anybody who helps them reach their goal of achieving more. The people who do not have, do not care who their boss is in terms of ethnic origin as long as at the end of the day they can take bread home to the children they have not choice to do otherwise than bring up amidst all this? So that even based on very  material grounds, it is possible to cross certain divides.

A country does not fall apart because only some people are not playing their role. It must also be true that most of us are not innocent. How is it possible that university faculties have been found to be matriculating students into faculties based on ethinic favour.? How is it that our heroes in athletics could not stand with one voice in 2007 when voices of unity were so needed in a burning country? How is it that many people with clout were silent and those of us willing to speak were not getting media to amplify our voices? How is it that the media was so corrupted as to be taking money from the rich for their voices to dominate those of the humble people who tried to influence the mood of the nation and to find platforms to articulate better policies? How is it that the police was divided on ethnic grounds? An administration policeman testified to me that they looked at their colleagues as tribe for the first time. How is it that the churches including the Catholic leadership was riven by tribal considerations in the body of its bishops? The priests?

The thoughts of division along superficial lines and laziness in speaking unity and achieving together live in us.  The violence continues in tribal hatred and what has come to be Kenya's frequent experiences of grenades thrown in bus stops and preyer meetings, bars and other places -today in a church at 8.50 am- is violence brought about by people who live in our homes, worship in the same places and who are in our midst all the time.

Wisdom escapes us. Those who have media attention because of their positions in society are bereft of healing actions and words. It is tempting to be preachy and to say this and that to so and so in politics and to lose the deep conscientization which wisdom, reading and reflection calls us to. After my experience of violence in 2007 in Kenya, I know now that we must not let a deep sense of collision and lack of irrationality reign. I see my country fragmented and very tribal.

So that the lady or lord of the dance who seeks to lead the people of Kenya as president from the year 2013 must change the usual rhetoric we hear on TV and our radios. People just seeking for power. For me it is time to learn an new song and dance. It is time to find unity by pointing at our various successes.  We have the August 27th constitution. We struggle for it. We have leaders who are heard and who must acknowledge their failures and offer to help lead the youth to better recognition of self as nation.

We have the teachings of Gandhi, Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King. Justice, recognition of failure and reconciliation must come into play. The media must ask for this agenda from those who want to lead Kenya from 2013. The people must undress the presidency of the notion that it is so powerful that the people cannot determine who they are. We need to define ourselves and to tell the youth that we have made a big mistake. That we are willing to undo this mistake without which Kenya cannot go forward. We have the oil, let us uproot corruption. Maybe then, like Norway in less than 50 years, in this age of fast communication it should take us less, Kenya will be riding high. If not, I shudder to think of it, but we are not immune to a Somalia disintegration of a the nation state. We have been warned about that in the past. Hon. Paul Muite pronounced it. These days Kenya is very challenged by violence within and around it. We must find the right step to lead diversity of religion, ethnic background and gender in the right dancing steps. We must find leaders who cultivate other leaders at every level in every area of Kenya with the urgency and sense of duty of a mother who holds a sick and dying child in her hands.  We have no time for people who are paid to be corrupt and sit pretty as the nation dies. Kenya has hope in those who would risk their lives to save to mobilise a community for good. Lillian is setting the pace! We can dispell this gloom!

Freedom From Fear. The world needs Aun San Suu Kyi's win!

I am eagerly waiting to see if the voters in her Kawhmu vote in Aun San Suu Kyi and do the world proud. I cannot sleep. I wan to see the results of her campaign.  Two years ago when she was still under house arrest four of us in Nairobi held vigil for the night of her birthday. We sent our energies to her. http://worldpulse.com/node/10852 Now I believe she is marching to the top. She has only just begun. She has got to help the world focus more sincerely on what democracy really is. We have to unite for good and undo the union with evil that comes from our history.

You might not know this but the British rule took our uncles and grandfathers from Kenya and other African countries to fight in Burma in the Second World War.  Whey should we not unite with her now in the struggle for freedom? That night we as women did our bit to accompany her. We had invited the late Wangari Maathai to the vigil in Nairobi but she was in Australia and busy on a trip, serving the world.  Now Aung San Suu Kyi is free. She is still working hard for democracy. This is a life we can never ignore and in focusing on it, we see so many others. Tonight, she is The Lady with the light.

And her win and the road to democracy for Burma should mean something for Kenya, Mali, Sudan, Somalia, Mauritania, Gabon, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Chad Zimbabwe and all countries on earth that are under oppression. She has much to offer to the world. Aung San Suu Kyi's name should ring in Syria, Palestine, Israel, the USA, South America, Iran and Iraq and in Afghanistan. Her triumph should matter in Tahrir Square, in Tunisia and all lands of the Arab Spring. It has to matter in Germany and elsewhere in Europe where the right wing is setting the pace against a world that believes in people. It needs matter in Scandinavia where even if long strides have been taken, still women need to be heard and felt more, where still the girl faces challenges in a different way.  We should not look at Burma as a remote place where people have not understood for long. It matters to the world that Burma burns in people power tonight through the vote.

In his foreword to her book, Desmond Tutu of South Africa, writing at a time she had been set free did not hesitate to position her as he should have. "Aung San Suu Kyi is free. How wonderful - quite unbelievable. I tis so very like when Nelson Mandela walked out of prion on that February (11*) day of 1990, and strode with so much dignity into freedom. And the world was thrilled at the sight."Mandela was in prison for 27 years and Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years. She is seasoned in deprivation and enriched in what one learns when their only companion is oppression.
 
"Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be silenced because she speaks the truth and because her words reflect basic Burmese and universal concepts!" Vaclav Havel in a foreword to her book, Freedom from Fear.

For most of us, Aung San Suu Kyi is only beginning her march to the presidency and Burma is making history.

I know the political path is tough. I have been there. What is important is to be steadfast in one's beliefs in spite of the difficulties particularly a woman has to endure on this path. I have heard Aung San saying in her campaigns that stones were thrown at her. Thus respond cowards when they see that the spirit of a person is able to burn deep into the peoples' consciousness. I have empathised with her when she said that her campaign venues were not being respected. I remembered a day I arrived at the last campaign venue and found my opponent a very well heeled old man had his vehicles all over the field and I could not hold my last rally in the village where I was born.

So I reflect on something beautiful. That Aung San Suu Skyi has not given up the struggle ever. And this inspite of so many difficulties. She acknowledges the role other people have played their part in the struggle for freedom in Burma. She knows that she is not the only one.

I read her old address in Rangoon in 1988. It is a speech to a  mass rally at the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is moving to see how long she has stayed the course to this day of 31st of March 2012 when she is exhausted in her campaign and aware that manipulation could be used to make her lose. I do not want to think about that.

In that address so long ago, she is explaining that living away from home and being married to a foreigner did not take away her love for her land. ""It is true that I have lived abroad. It is true that I am married to a foreigner. These facts have never interefered and will never interfere with or lessen my love and devotion for my country by any measure or degree."

" Democracy is the only ideology wich is consistent with freedom. It is also an ideology that promotes and strengthens peace. It is therefore the only ideology we should aim for."

Her involvement in the movement for Burma's freedom was very political. But people everrywhere take long to believe in women. There is a proverb in my mother tongue about that and it makes me very impatient.  But Aung San Suu Kyi is very patient.  "Another thing that people are saying is that I know nothing about Burmese politics. The trouble is that I know too much. My family knows best how complicated and tricky Burmese politics can be and how much my father had to suffer on this account."

I am waiting to hear that Aung San Suu Kyi has won. That she is freer again! The faith of Aung San Suu Kyi and her film - The Lady must become more popular than just her person . No matter what, she is a winner! But in this regard, many lands in Afrika and elsewhere must only just begin. To search for democracy and to live it as if it mattered for our next breath because it does, and especially so for the women and youth!

"We must make democracy the popular creed. We must try to build up a free Burma in accordance with such a creed. If we should fail to do this, our people are bound to suffer. If democracy should fail the world cannot sit back and just look on, and therefore Burma would one day, like Japan and Germany, be despised. Democracy is the only ideology wich is consistent with freedom. It is also an ideology that promotes and strengthens peace. It is therefore the only ideology we should aim for."

Rape: Amina of Morocco kills herself? the IMF & Human Rights

Amina Filali, of Morocco, only 16 years old was supposed to be married off to a man who raped her. Instead she chose death in the month in which the women of the world celebrate International Womens' Day. A huge campaign against Morocco's article 475 started. It was alive on the streets and passionate. It was rolling off in tweets, fb and many social fora. But Amina Filali is no more. She committed suicide. Was it Amina Filali who killed herself or the rape supported by the law of Morocco in article 475? I understand her thoughts. The day is cursed and the soil of a land where this is practice. It is debasement of the highest order. Most of us condemn this situation in the strongest words possible, in all languages and including body language. Our memories are stirred deep for rape bestrides a so called progressive world, a global village. We shall not relent. The solutions must be global.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/amina-filali-morocco-rape_n_1345171.html


Rape. It does not matter where it occurs and to who, rape is a hideous crime. It cannot be 'rewarded' in any way and least of all with marriage as is done in some countries. Justice must be done and not delayed. To tolerate rape in families is criminal. To make a woman marry a rapist is to do that. There are many unspoken deeds of incest and rape. Experts say that rape is more commonly commited by those who are close to us and not strangers. No community should allow any custom to cover up rape. The solution to the problem should be close to us, just as the perpetrators are. Within family rape must be shamed and named. No violence is purely domestic. Rating high among abuses of human rights in the world, rape must also feature high on the global agenda in monetary terms. 

I cannot imagine how it is for women who have had to live with someone who violated their being. It is an ubearable thought but a certain reality in the Middle East and other parts of the world.  The strategies to overcome this henious crime should be visible to all  everywhere. The strategies should be perpetually alive and in many ways. They should be abuzz in social media where everyone seems to be after and during working hours, during travel and in dreams.


Silence came too soon after UN soldiers raped women they were supposed to defend in the DRC Congo in the intense rape zone of Kivu. Crimes committed by westners disappear like shooting stars from our media. Not that anyone holds the light in Darfur very persistently. Instead there is consistent scandal. 


In the last few months, anyone who has worked with human rights must have been truly concerned about the devaluation of rape in the world.  No one has forgotten the case of Julius Assagne, the accusations and the trivialisation of rape. For indeed when he was accused of rape in the storm of the Wikileaks things went into a surreal gear. This is not to say if he had been guilty he should not have been accused; but we all remember how everything was muddled up and then, the silent disappearance from the eye of the media and many being left wondering just what was what.


It was a deadly blow to the real survivors of rape to have had a man in the limelight accused of rape in the moment he was  being lionised by many for the Wikileaks. In the end it was more about rape being used and the Swedish law versus the UK law and the US law. This did not leave women and rape in a better standing. We firm unshakeable grounds on rape with balance sheets as real as  money is in the IMF. The West and Europe's leaders stay awake at night when the Euro is sick but not when Amina commits suicide because she like many women cannot live with rampant abuse and be said to be alive. Is there a real conviction for human rights?


Let us prod the recent past a little further. There is Dominique Strauss the boss of the IMF then. His swift arrest from a plane and the accusations caused a stir in the world of those informed. It was with baited breath that many waited. And then the unexpected happened. He walked away free. Many were saying, 'You see, these women are always after rich men and fixing them.'  The woman from the Gambia, his accuser, became a liar who had lived on the same lie of being raped happily, it was reiterated. We were told she enjoyed saying she was raped so that she could get to live in Europe. Many hung their head in shame.  What is missing in this picture?

I said to a friend that am prepared to bet that in the hospitality industry and in high society hotels women are part the service 'given', 'negotiated' or 'organised' for those who would. I hear that the Strauss is being investigated with connection to a prostitute ring connected to hotels.  Of course his wife might be right in saying he is innocent but such words have come from the lips of many wives.

 So nothing appeases the mind that wants to see rape addressed as it should be. If we cannot win on this for women and for a better society then essence is lost. There was a French journalist in the middle of the two events. Her case was against Dominique Strauss too and it was quashed. It is great that Dominique Strauss is no longer the head of the IMF and Christine Lagarde has taken over.


Rape. Norwegian newspapers are still reporting that the year 2011 had the highest number of rapes in a long time. The sad thing is that one does not see a visible anti-rape campaign in Norway. One does see an ocassional poster against spitting with a huge ugly mouth. I have seen some TV debates on the topic but I have not seen as I used to see in Nairobi any sign posted to indicate dangerous grounds for women. Yes, I have heard there are escorts and that girls have been adviced not to drink late and walk through parks. But this reminds me that it is clear that the victim is often seen as the perpetrator. Debunk the myths.


The latest headline I saw in Aftenposten about this topic screamed that only one man had been judged out of 96 cases of rape in courts. Many are incensed by the slow pace in this but they are continue saying it to the media in a country where one has got to wonder about the percentage of the readers of newspapers. There is no activism in the air.


But Amina Filali, and between her and the few mentioned cases there are thousands of women, is dead. At 16 she chose to die. I saw a demonstration in Rabat in the wake of her death. I am not seeing it taking the dimensions of the Arab Spring. Perhaps the revolution in the Arab speaking world does not touch the women?


Amina Filali reminded me of Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia. But I look and see that women are far behind in these days of the Arab Spring. Where is the revolution that will cast out laws like law 475 in Morocco? How can a 16 year old get married to a man who raped her or any man for that matter? Is this tenable in our days? In1946 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was published in Europe. Has it reached the Middle East? Is this Declaration  where our money is?


 I was watching Christine Lagarde on a BBC documentary. No doubt a formidable woman. She said she was no longer French nor for that matter European because the IMF is a global concern. I am glad to note that I can therefore say that Christine Lagarde is Moroccan and also Mexican? Christine Lagarde also stated that she is happy to see women in high positions obviously because she is a woman and secondly because if women are absent we cannot talk of democracy. And true even when one watches global channes such as CNN and BBC one has to wonder where the gender balance is even in interviews. Count the number of women interviewed versus men on any show and publish the statistics.  On one of these channels men sat around the table by themselves discussing leadership! That is just unbelievable.


I go back to Christine Lagarde and the IMF and rape. For I think it is very urgent that we put our money where our mouth is. I am disappointed to find old articles which are reminding the IMF that money must be connected to human rights more seriously. I am sad because it would appear that this has been a concern for many for years. I am not talking about sanctions just now even though that should apply in some instances. I am talking about the Head of the IMF going to Mexico and other countries in search of money because the European economy is shaken. Lagarde in that documentary is asking Mexico for money. Of course IMF may ask for the money where she will.  But I am thoroughly disappointed to see that the journalists interviewing Christine Lagarde do not ask her how the IMF could take money from Mexico and not talk about the rampant abuse of human rights in Mexico. Why? How many journalists die in Mexico for daring to probe rights issues?


It would appear strange to me that the IMF considers sanctions or some form of punishment for the non-compliant but will on the other hand take money where it is to be found and that includes Mexico, without a warning to the giving government regarding  human rights abuses.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/radhika-balakrishnan/making-the-international_b_549976.html

One of the article I read about IMF and human rights quotes 'Development is Freedom'by Armayrta Sen. It states that freedom of expression is a fundamental basic for the fight against poverty. This is a  clear idea which one can easily understand.  http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2001/090401.htm
In my view, we cannot speak to Mexico only about supporting Europe and not insist at the same time that human rights violations to cease. For accountablity for the many writers and journalists who have been killed in Mexico in recent memory is our duty and the West must come out strongly or forget about human rights ever being taken seriously by some governments.


I am convinced that for things to work for women as Christine Lagarde says she would like to see, we must essentially change our ways of working. The Human Rights agenda must not be something we say for the screen. It must be real. We must put good money in for Human Rights. We need to act fast on this for if not, in countries like Morocco, there will be no change at all. Young women will continue to  commit suicide to escape the shackles of outdated laws and Dafur, Kivu and other parts of the world will bleed to death. I would like to see the key turning both ways. I would like to hear the IMF speak clearly and strongly condemning human rights abusers. I would like to hear the IMF speak out against rape and tell member countries that this an urgent matter which should be discussed whenever a chance arises I would like the IMF not to beg money from countries that have it and have made it whilst abusing human rights.  


  We cannot do business with dictators or people who have unjust laws and say we are working for global stability. Commitment must be real and organising has to be many notches higher.

Syria- Rent the sky in every land | World Pulse

Syria- Rent the sky in every land | World Pulse

Syria, Afghanistan and our hope- What can I do?

                       A Syrian Poem by Faraj Bayradkar




 this is my vision

and my exhaustion attests to it.

The river doesn't bend except

for this wager

But I, when a woman falls heavily

at the end of night, I forget my hands

on her voice, and then she departs,

leaving me my chains,

to write something, finally

but I, whenever the late birds struggle

(toward me the horizon shokes)

and an hour's mirage

I gargle it.

Oh, these two...

Give me back a little space

since my cell is a body I claim

and a freedom that claims me...

And give me back a question.

For the answers scattered by the tribes

or that scattered me over them,

no harm in that...

Look: the coming day, overflowing, will gather me

teardrop by teardrop, like an ode in its cradle,

and then illuminate me suddenly,

like a verse at its climax,

and bless me with its antithesis.

Do not dream, demand!

Demand not a dream today but a reality. If someone is looking down on your ability or simply cannot stand you because of your skin, you must demand to be. Tsunamis make many very sad. All human catastrophes of a natural or unnatural causes make many suffer. Many move out of their cocoon and act. I see the world filled  with voices of hope. It reaches out. We help how we can. Memories come rolling in: Haiti, Japan, Italy, Missouri and many other places. Here we can help and have helped.

I move back to the individual on the skin level. I say demand justice. I did not say be violent. Let those who are violent learn not to be. My heart fell last evening when I saw Jessi, that is what I want to call her as I recall Jessi Jackson, on TV last night. Jessi is a woman in Oslo. She says that she dares not step out in the evening since somebody hit her on the basis of having a black skin. Someone struck the castle of her skin. She was in the central part of the city just taking a walk. Her tears were near. She said that she knew that most Norwegians were not like that person who hit her. Police asked people to report these cases. Recently I heard that the problem with racism is that some people who are not hit openly like Jessi do not even know it when it is happening to them. They do not identify it. So they do not report it. Society must wake up. Many in Norway say that racism is subtle. It is not openly seen. I differ. It is visible and identifiable and can be quontifiable and actionable so that the few who want to be retrogressive can learn.

I am refusing to believe that racism will not go away. Someone has even put it in a famous saying, that when it goes, we shall invent something else for the basis of discrimination. I surge with fury. I do not want to dream now. Dr. Martin Luther King has and had a dream, it is time for that dream to be fulfilled. I was sad and glad when I heard Jimmy Carter on Intelligence Sq. BBC talking about racism last year. He said it was unfortunately still so rife. A few days later Obama unveiled the great sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I love the man and his words. We must go beyond his speech and spill into action, for this man had and has a dream which by now should have rocked the world. I know am up against ethnic forces here and there. I know it is possible to get people interested in many other things so that they act on other more powerful levels. I know it is possible to fascinate people with possibilities. I know the media can do much in this. I know writers can. I know it does not work to see very few people of another color on TV screens and only see them when they are in trouble. For Jessi and her types have a profession. Jessi and her type have families. Jessi and her type have many things that the media often forgets.

This is January. On 19th January most media reflected on Dr. King. I did not see anything here on TV. I know I said do not dream. I mean you could have shown something about how to make this dream come true. Besides, I was closely watching what would happen on the 26th of January. It is the day Benjamin Hermansen was killed for being black in 2001 in Norway. At the beginning Norge was shocked. Thousands of people came out in protest. The street action was impressive. It has petered out. Perhaps that is natural. But something else should have grown in its place. As long as the racism issue is left to a few people who speak themselves hoarse and often are from the visible discriminated minority, nothing will happen to change things. I did not see the action that I would expect from Human Rights Watch and other organisations. I did not see Amnesty International lighting up candles here. I would like to see more focus. I would like to see this burden come off the shoulders of individuals and move to institution. Dreams should not be possible in institutions, the individuals in them must make dreams live. Act and demand justice. Never be ashamed to say where we are hurting. This is what weakens human endeavor for change.  It is not possible to only make a little noise and go. The police must follow up their word. Ways of identifying offences must be made known to all and not just to the often discriminated people.

Libraries following the legacy of Deichman are powerful here. So, this week I am reading a little book Rasisme forklart for barn by Walid al - Kubaisi and published by Pantagruel Forlag in 2001. It was soon after Benjamin was killed. The foreward is by his mother. Marit Hermansen. Her pain is tangible and I know it never died. Why has ours died? There is another book on Benjamin Hermansen. A big book and colourful. Both these books should have been on forefront display the whole of the month of January and books and films on Dr. King, Gandhi and others. In the lectures of the week held in differerent libraries, I saw nothing focused on history or race. Instead I stumbled on a book about neggers. On this one I will write another day in subsequent articles.

This is a problem we must address as deeply as we can and we can reach many people. It does not go away by not looking too straight at it. In the big book, young people expressed themselves to a newspaper in words I shall shortly quote when I get it, here below. All this has gone into hiding somehwere. We surely must do better as society which actually functions on the basis of equality.. or likestilling. It is meaningless to have gender equality when not all human beings are not seen to be equal because of their skins. We all have the wounds of old and of late. July 22 2011 is also steeped in unacceptance of the 'other' in many forms.

Dear Mohammed Bouazizi, for a man and his vegetable cart, your anniversary.

Dear Mohammed Bouazizi,


Ever since you struck that match the flame has not died. We saw the flames it has been difficult to rest, Mohammed. Then you were 26 years now you are an ancient giant. You should be as present as yester- history. It is Christmas time and you kept ringing bells in my ears, Mohammed. I weep. I meditate on you, Mohammed, during this Christian festive season. I cannot detach myself and watch history. I am sure we should be lacking in foresight if we thought you only died for Tunisia and for Arabs. In my mind you died for many. Many had died silently before. Maybe others had chosen fire alone too. But your fire was the one chosen to be loaded with meaning, to spark a revolution, an Awakening that the world should not turn away from. An awakening that must turn the world. An Afrikan Awakening too.


See Nigeria. Questions of faith too. Christianity and Islam. Burning the other. You immolated yourself. Is it true that we are so lost in small divisions where the Northerner in any country claims difference with the westner and the southner with the centralist and eastner? Is it true that belief in God must kill us?  Is it true that it is us who speak peace in churches where we do not turn to our neighbour because she is Sudanese and Nubian and not of our Arab ancestry? See India's castes. Division is built on economic trouble, inequality of opportunities. Incapacity to live with differences. Our view of the 'other' is so complex. You taught me that to make room for the other I may need not be present everywhere but tribe in Kenya cheats me the opposite. I take the teaching, I try to leave the cheating.

Is it true that at home tribe marks tribe and in Europe race and tribalism live on? Is it true so many people wanted to change the world when they were teenagers? Is it true that old men and women are meditating? Is it true that we light candles on graveyards and place wreaths of peace?  



I hear the name word Tunisia and my thoughts turn to you. I hear Libya it is the same. I hear of Syria today engaged in such massacres and killings and Assad will not hear and I wonder about why you did not live and others died. What have we done to bring the Awakening that must happen in so many lands. Where are our values as humanity?


In the backdrop of what is happening in Syria, Egypt and many lands we may not find in our media because they seem to fall  of the map of the world's attention, I think of you. It is for the Arab Awakening that you Mohammed Bouazizi struck the match. Your flames are still burning for the world needs them. You doused yourself in petrol and went up in flames. You were saying you had enough of a world full of injustice not just in Tunisia. Mohammed, we are not able to light up our minds. Dictators hold on as so many people die. The world has betrayed Syria. Sakharov, Vaclav Havel and you and many others are disappointed. We buried all of you? Do we not ignite ours then? You challenged us with a match Bouazizi and you left your mother crying, and us. I sometimes so wish that we could see you watching the world. See your spirit. Touch it.

From Al Jazira. Mohammed must live in our minds. I do not want to see this again! 

I do not like it that matyrdom was forced on your psyche. You were seeking to live. I praise you for your courage because sometimes there is no other language possible. You did not take the life of another. I remember your name suddenly hit us as between the 17th of December and the 4th of January, you struggled for your life in hospital all bandaged up. Doctors had done their best. They stood by your bed with nurses. Some important people visited you and took photographs and the whole world was paralysed by this at Christmas. I know now that my Christmas in Norway, in Kenya, in wherever I may be will never be the same again.


I listen to carols at this time and every little boy, every child, every market woman offering bananas lifting them high to a traveller on a bus window reminds me of you. Those men I have seen in Nairobi pulling a cart with their stomach as if they have horsepower remind me of you. My cousin pulls one in a smaller town. I know that life. I  know his children waiting for Christmas. I know his faith and effort.



Someone killed two vendors in Firenze on 15th of December. They said he was right wing and angry. He killed himself too. The news was splashed for a while. It is practically forgotten. Those two vendors from Senegal who were shot dead in Firenze, Florence, the other day remind me of you. Four people were injured. The mothers' of those vendors received corpses at home.I was thinking about this when I read in La Stampa, which does not yet carry posthmous postal stamp that indeed his colleagues said, Someone will have to tell Samb's mother. La pieta comes to mind again and no pity. How long with a mother with broken limbs, dead children in her hands, a mother holding ashes at the Ganges, a mother weeping have to live? This mother lonely and filling the face of the earth. This mother holding out her children to us hungers for justice. We cannot sleep. We must unmask our feasts and ask the world what our children will celebrate tomorrow.

http://www.worldcrunch.com/florence-where-counterfeit-gucci-and-immigrant-dreams-meet-racist-violence/4302



I saw photos of Senegalese men on the street demonstrating. I did not see demonstrations anywhere else in the capitals of Europe. I did not see people come out as human beings: Not race, not religion but people who care about the life of another. This event was very close to the UN International Human Rights Day, 10th December. 


I know that the mayor of Firenze reacted fast and condemned this. I remembered that I was in Firenze on 9th December  2010 at the Nelson Mandela Forum. I remembered young Italian children 14- 18 filled a stadium with love. I remembered how they celebrated Mansur Raji and I. I remembered one boy who just wanted to call my name and when I looked up he smiled and run away. I remembered hope. I felt pain because I know there are many people who would not have this happen but a few who seem to work harder than the rest of us to be heard.


I know a young boy who was killed here on 26th January 2001 in Oslo for being Benjamin Hermansen. In the 2010 demonstration that my friend took me to, there were very few people compared to the beginning. We are weak. There are many things we shall not root out. Our self immolation does not require that we set fire on ourselves. We need to set fire on our thoughts, on our souls and hearts. We need to act. Nothing is over yet, everything remains from slavery to bombings. The world must show us who is leading it today. Where is the bigger voice. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church reflected on Syria on Christmas Day and asked for prayers, but in Northern Nigeria in Jos, someone killed many Christians in a church. Which language shall we speak Mohammed?


If you try to Google shooting of boy.. . without his name, no matter what year you put, your finds will be filled with Anders Breivik and Utøya.  Here, where I live for sometime now, we like to console ourselves. We say that our racism is hidden? Is it? I see it not only on Benjamin but in many places. What is hidden to the world and why? Mohammed, thank you. May we learn to burn bright that which is still hidden in darkness. May we just at least try, to step out for humanity. You inspire me even as I hurt deeply seeing that we do not have enough with the awful natural disasters.. in the Philipinnes, Somalia, U.S.A, Australia and Japan. What are we learning and doing? Why are those against ideals so much more active than those of us who are pro humans? Ask us Mohammed, ask us. We owe you many answers. 
 http://www.sos-rasisme.no/sentralt/71/2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Benjamin_Hermansen.

Hermansen was 15 years old when he was shot just before midnight on 26th January 2001.

Burden of Peace for theree wise women, Nobel Peace Prize 2011

Gentle smiles of enduring peace

Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Patricia Howell from Jamaica in Oslo 8th Dec 2011

Nobel Peace Prize  2011- the feet of them that bring news of peace!

Celebrations now come on! There are some reflections, one can only make with the body! It ached then. It dances now. Three women have journeyed from afar.  See their first steps, barefeet and full of pain. See them dance today.

Celebrations now.. come on!

See me dance for them. See me. I am full of joy. Three wise women. They are in Oslo this historic day, of December 10^th. This is the day when every year some outstanding personalities stand before us and make us one in hope. It is Human Rights Day.

I know there are controversial issues but today let me rejoice in these women. After all, it was in a workshop titled Defending Defenders in Nairobi  where I met one of these women, Leymah Gbowee. It was organized by  Urgent Action Africa then directed by Betty Kaari Murungi. There were women from Africa and Asia.

Many great sisters were there and I know today they are recalling that workshop in many parts of the world with joy because Leymah was there and because women are on the worlds’ podium for honor today.

There is a party going on right here..

The Nobel Peace Prize and its history still retains  great prestige and meaning. It remains a high peak. It is a big responsibility to receive it. I love the fact that this onus is on our wonderful sisters Tawakul, Leymah and Ellen Jonson Sirleaf in 2011.   

To walk in the company of Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Chief Luthuli, Wangari Maathai, Nelson Mandela,  Kofi Annan and so many great people is a great thing!

Should I liken these three sisters to the three kings of yore? No. They are not all from the orient and the one that is may not have the three kings in the hadiths. Is this story part? It is December 10^th 2011. Well, from that story let me steal the lesson that they must remain people who are moving towards others who are seemingly lowly as it was with kings travelling miles on camels to see a little baby in that Christmas story. Leymah Gbowee Prayed the devil back to hell sometime back with a large group of women. You can see the documentary on this today. She led.

Muslim and Christian women came out and challenged Charles Taylor who had taken liberty from Liberia.  They wanted their children back. They wanted to see their boys grow up and their girls and mothers not raped. They like many queens insisted their children had to live. It is about time women showed no fear in uniting even across religious groups. The world is challenged by serious divisions. Will women bring us the frankincense and myrrh we need for our healing?

United across age groups. Ellen Jonson is a torch bearer, Leymah runs strong and Tawakul is the youngest in age and certainly wise... they are all youthful!

 So celebrations..

I could be in my warm winter bed sleeping. It is so early. It is one of the days that my 4am alarm has rang after I have woken up. I thought I switched it off on my mobile phone and then it sweetly rang again after ten minutes. I remembered as I put it off how one feels when sleep embraces the eyes forcing them closed and an alarm rings. That you want that snooze. It is that snooze I cannot afford in life. And, I am in Oslo, how can I not write about this?

Part of Oslo will show great excitement  today. Sadly, some other people got used to it.  I am part of the ones trembling with joy, excited, even as I sit and write and am not invited to the concert which only big people go to. We can’t wait for the public torch parade and for the brief appearance of the Nobel Peace Prize winners at the historic window!  It is the land of equal opportunities! I am honored that  I read a poem in a gathering where one of the Nobel laureates was invited. I am contented that we- a group of African women-  saw one of the Nobel laureates barefoot  . and we joked about the dignity of the Nobel Prize!  Who would not celebrate the feet of women like these? It is not always our turn to mourn.  We loved seeing their families happy. We celebrate!

Tawakul, what is the use of the revolution if we only die and not dance? I hope for you so much. I hope the best. My mother says part of you name means lamp in her language.. Tawa, and so it was to be, and my son says that the other part is ‘cool!’ This is how domestic you have become in my village too.. so... Drive that energy into changing the world! All three of you, the work has only just begun. The world needs real changing, even here on the ground on which you receive the Nobel. Ask us.

Let me not dwell on what others say regarding deserving. This will always come up. It is not new. Give these women a break! Put your fears regarding this or that into something else.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has played a big part in peace building at home regardless of what some say. For me, it is just that. What they must say. Three women will receive the Nobel Prize for Peace. Tawakul is the youngest. She is from Yemen. She moved the revolution forward in the Arab Spring, in her country.

I am reminded of Martin Luther King Jr. I am reminded of non violence. I am reminded of some aspects of his amazing life and his ever living dream.

I am reminded of Martin Luther King Jr’s own acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize on the 10^th of December 1964 where he spoke more about the masses than about himself.

“Everytime I take a flight I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey possible, the known pilots and the unknown ground crew. ..You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth.”

We will always celebrate those who come and return to the people with words of peace regardless of a world that would rather they were not celebrated. Celebrate now!

Afrikan resources stolen just as Dag Hammarskjøld said

It is not surprising that there are many people who would have nothing to do with anyone promising support for democracy in Afrika. Years of betrayal continue. Dag Hammarskjøld, UN Sec General UN in the 60s was clear. He is still relevant. What is happening to tantlum or coltan in DRC is unbelievable. And everything continues as if all were normal. What is normal? That will not be for long. A world revolution born on the back of the Arab Spring must liberate the whole world. The taking of resources from those who cannot defend themselves is stealing. Multinationals have continued this injustice in many forms. There has to be a new way of dealing with resources in the world. Someone has to champion this. Many people. Billions of them. It can be done.
 There are many people in Afrika who are angry enough.  They normally throw out the whole western concept or any deed from the west, sometimes even individuals as evil to be rejected by all means. But we need those people in the world who know and see the origin of some of these problems. And I miss deep souls like Dag's! Shame! Thank you John Jones for keeping the flame alive and sharing with us. Here is your article.

http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/cache/bypass/home/archive/webarticles2011/daghammarskjoldstoodupfortheunondevelopment?ctnscroll_articleContainerList=1_0&ctnlistpagination_articleContainerList=true

Kenya and the ICC

http://haririphiloikonyagasheri.blogspot.com/

Shattered

Kenya shatters herself in Somalia

 By Philo Ikonya

The eardrums of Salagle Town of Lower Juba in Somalia are shattered

Kenya kills her neighbour reducing 20 years of help to death

Abdi Kadir Ali has left for safety. Warplanes are the new sky

Kenya has moved into Somalia. Husbands are missing. Women

have had it with the weapon of rape unfailing in all wars.

Children die alone, weak and helpless, starved:

Africa's flag in the world.

Kismayo island.

Mekatilili wa Menza was imprisoned there as was Harry

Thuku and many others. We owe ourselves a dialogue not shells

and skulls  of children taken from the mouth of drought killing cattle

and women and men and shot through again and again and again for

A crime encrusted in Shabaabs. 

Thirsts break my soul.

When Kimaathi and Mau Mau fought the British and won

They did not go to England to kill. They had no planes

They walked forests that are villages now. They spoke to rivers

mists, sands and soils and heard the secrets of nature.

And beheld mountains and seas – Learn to focus.

The enemy is within your clothes. 

You shoot yourselves.

Kenya: We do not need the death of Somalis to make peace!

About Somalia and Kenya


For circulation and open posting on all media platforms

STATE KENYAN WRITERS AND PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS
We, the undersigned, register, in the strongest terms, our opposition
to Kenya’s military incursion into Somalia.

We note that several months at minimum is required to plan a military
operation that involves crossing borders. Therefore the reasons put
forward by the Kenyan government for this operation are demonstrably
false.

Statements from the French Government (see link below) and Medicins
Sans Frontieres contradict the Kenyan Government’s allegation that Al-
Shabaab is responsible for the kidnapping of Marie Dedieu and two
other foreigners.

We will kill Somalis and call them Al-Shabaab. We will all feel very
Kenyan indeed.

They die, so we can create a national amnesia about 350,000 internally
displaced Kenyans, missing World Bank  monies, missing Education
Ministry funds, the ICC-Kenya trials, 2012 elections, the
implementation of our new constitution.

The army will claim, as invading armies always do, that they have
courageously engaged the enemy, when they have really killed innocent
civilians.

All Kenyans paying already for this bout of blood-thirst. We will go
on paying, for many years to come. We will pay with our taxes, our un-
built schools and hospitals, our unpaid teachers, our still-jobless
youth, our rapidly deteriorating security situation, our shattered
relationship with our neighbours.

We do not require the death of Somalis to know who and where we are.

SIGNED: (in alphabetical order)

Nguru Karugu
Keguro Macharia
Paul Mwangi Maina
Tom Maliti
Dr. Firoze Manji
Abdulrahman Mirimo
Dr. Wambui Mwangi
Kenne Mwikya
Benjamin Wambua Ndolo
Onyango Oloo
Odhiambo Oyoko
Shailja Patel
Philo Ikonya

Envisioning Kenya's governance in the hands of women giants

Generations of Courage: Women lead against ethnicity in Kenya and with brilliance!

 

Shailja Patel voices for women departed. Her poetry is a call for justice and reason  to prevail in Kenya. She and others founded Kenyans for Peace Through Justice at the height of poll violence in 2007

We are bereaved in Kenya. Below are thoughts desired to reflect here before the sad news of the deaths Wambui-Otieno Mbugua and Wangari wa Maathai came in  quick succession. Both these are powerful women.

Their demise must leave us in Kenya more united. We shun those who try to divide women into elitist vs the rural. Women who live in the cities against the ones in the villages. Women scholars versus women who are not learned. Nobody does this to men. It is done to women on purpose.

Some male journalists keep at this. They say that women who speak up are feminists and so? But they proceed to question their moral fibre and say things about them and their families. This is not new. Wambui-Otieno Mbugua and Wangari Maathai would reject this kind of simplification. Only a person who has not tuned their ear to the ground in rural areas does not know that women there also recoil from injustice. Fiercely defending justice, they ask questions. These are the rural women that some journalists in Kenya so love to deride by imagining that they work with other women against their will. No! Have they even read Wangari Maathai's quotes?

It was easy to persecute me without people feeling ashamed. It was easy to vilify me and project me as a woman who was not following the tradition of a 'good African woman' and as a highly educated elitist who was trying to show innocent African women ways of doing things that were not acceptable to African men.
Wangari Maathai
 
We need to rage for these women and others. We cannot let their beautiful 'light go quietly' as Dylan Thomas put it for men in the days when the word men is said to have included women but actually systematically left them out in that verbal silence.  We must keep our focus on our beautiful nation Kenya and the promise of change to do these women proud. We must, like John Donne a metaphysical poet remind: Death be not proud .http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/death-be-not-proud/

 .

 Wambui and Mbugua wed at the AGs chambers in 2003. Their marriage was accepted in the Anglican church (solemnized) early this year too. Wambui was 65 then and Mbugua 25 and this was new to Kenya.

The season has been relentless. In this same period we have lost author and paeditrician Dr. Margaret Ogola and earlier Dekha Ibrahim. We grieve that two of these women, medical doctor M. Ogola and Wangari Maathai (Ph. D) and environmentalist, have died of common cancers. We abhor the rate at which women the whole world must be subjected to diseases sown upon us by those who do not care about polluting us even with medicines. We rage! We remind the Kenyan government that cannot lose people to road accidents in droves and continue as if nothing were happening. Dekha Ibrahim died in a crash. Wambui struggled with a heart condition for years.

It is hard for our reason to find meaning in these deaths. We try to because if not life seems to be a vicious betrayal. We rage again and again for our women. To think of the contradiction that Wambui -Otieno Mbugua was all heart and of course intelligence too. Sh  re-married only a few years back passionately displaying her love without hindrance inspite of great misunderstanding from her society. It is hard to believe that our environmentalist would not be spared of cancer. But I believe these women died of love for our nation and for love's sake we must speak clearly. I have to say that many activists in the world do succumb to cancers. Well, they mean it when they say they are unhappy. They mean it when they say that things are wrong. We are all in this together.

I hope the poem in which Shailja Patel asks the daring question of why all these women have gone so early when Kenya needs them so and why in such quick succession as old men continue to ridicule many  hits us here.  http://www.shailja.com/. The poem is dedicated to Dekha Ibrahim, Wangari Maathai and Wambui-Otieno.  All  of these women and those mentioned above were youthful in a amazing way. The way of service in leadership. We feel that in their departing we have lost a currency we are normally almost bankrupt for: intelligent, resourceful and humble leadership.

So I go back to the thoughts which I kept on wanting to share before the fateful events.

I sometimes ponder about  Kenya and what she would have become if top governance had been in the hands of some of our women. Women who have always stepped out to fight oppression. Let me look at a few of them for the difference they made. Often they shunned tribal divisions. I think of Mumbi Ng'aru the former Mayor of   Thika town and here courageous association with ODM which in her area is seen to be of another ethnic group. She does it gracefully. She fights on the Odingas camp. Many point out that she is in the camp of the enemy, Mumbi continues/d  undeterred.

The thought that Kenya would have been different if her senior politicians had been women or if the women of our times had a better hand in government never leaves my mind. But history shows that for many reasons  they did not make it there. Some will say what is the use of thinking about this since history is already done. In that case I would say there is room for noting that history was not always written correctly in our hearts. Books leave the spirit out of names and dates. Many women are sidelined and that is a fact. The media got used to building or making male leaders. A leader can try to do their best but the media plays a big role in amplifying voices.

Not least of these reasons is that they were often blocked by some men. I know this from my research. This opposition means that they got the wrong results. It took too much money to sue when one had just finished a campaign. Such was the law. In the first place most women hardly had the kind of resources used in politics and in a poor nation such as Kenya they were crippling.  It also means that the persons in power in their areas did not support them. Some Kenyans will say that Wangari Maathai was too busy abroad after she won the Nobel Peace Prize to be elected by the people of Tetu. But I know Kenya. All it would have taken was a favourable word from Kibaki or even his wife. A gesture. Kibaki named her assistant minister for environment for all her experience and knowledge. Wangari served without signing up for the job.

Of course this may not have been democratic but then again it is the people who would have cast the vote. There are many men in government simply because the powerful wanted  it. I know only of one woman whose results came partly because the wife of the president visited one of her last campaigns. Wangari and others had no such chances.  In fact, they tried the opposite which was to put in a good word for people like myself up against millionaires.  Wangari broadcast my name on radio for election in 2002.

For Wangari it  was the opposite. I have to say that it is actually Wambui-Otieno who shared this thought with me. I was concerned that our Nobel laureate would not go back to Parliament in 2007 after her first election in 2002. Wambu-Otieno told me about delegations of old men trooped to State House to defame Wangari, for they knew that she had presidential ambitions in the past. Perhaps that is why she understood Raila Odinga's tribulations so well.

 Looking back at how women worked for institutional change with the coming of the new dispensation in 2010 with a new constitution after years of struggling for their gains in representation at decision-making levels one is appalled to note that women have been the first to suffer the drive to curtail what is safeguarded in the new constitution. True that the change of the law is reasoned for much more and women but an excuse but who about that? It was Atsango Chesoni http://www.aaddkenya.webs.com/who called us to order on the new constitution. Women end up being made to look like they are taking all the space from people with disabilty when it is the opposite.. everyone seems to know what the women need better than they do.. that is a shame. 

Above: Wangari in a meeting in her rural contituency

Jael Mbogo is another pillar of awoman still at work in Kenya. I was thinking about her recently. That was before the sad news of the demise of Wambui-Otieno and following that closely of Wangari Maathai was announced. Jael is a humble giant. She once told me of her story. She vied for a parliamentary seat back in the sixties in Kenya, and against Kibaki who then was not the president then but the MP for Bahati in Nairobi. Jael did a sterling job. I believe she won but was rigged out. In later years, Kibaki would only run in the rural constituency of Othaya. I quote Wikipedia where the first line on the history of Wambui-Otieno is by the grossly mistaken ( I could not access to edit but will try later for her first husband was not buried in 2003 as it says).... but this is correct on Jael Mbogo whom Wikipedia hands should place in her own right..

..."In 1974, Kibaki, facing serious competition for his Doonholm Constituency seat from a Mrs. Jael Mbogo, whom he had only narrowly and controversially beaten for the seat in the 1969 elections,^[8] moved his political base from Nairobi to his rural home, Othaya, where he was subsequently elected as Member of Parliament."
 But when I was listening to Jael Mbogo I could feel her decisive mind.. cutting like a sword. She was telling me never to stop talking and standing for what  I believe.  I could hear her passion in between the words on her tongue. She is so brave she contested elections back in the sixties when she was pregnant. I told her that I thought she in her times could have made a great president. Not just a Member of Parliament. I encouraged her to write a book. She said she would. She is running a project for women. I found it on the internet since am not in Kenya or in touch with her.  Jael studied in Kenya, in the USA and in France as you can see here:http://mamajaelcenter.org/ogombe.html.

A decisive mind and passion are vital for leadership. Kibaki is indicisive still. No passion. Everything I saw lacking in President Kibaki, Jael had enough of and to spare. I am not just interested in saying this because she is a woman. Jael actually never run for the presidency. Instead she lived to work and actually be punished quite harshly by a former woman diplomat who had wanted to be a Member of Parliament herself. It was a pity to see this. See, am not saying that all women are perfect as some people tend to read. There are those who will always be too arrogant and mean. Both men and women.

And that brings me to humility. I have not seen much of that in powerful men that I know quite well in Kenya. I have seen it in many strong women. They had world recognised intelligence and virtue which here means power. And yet they were not elitist. Wangari was not. Wambui-Otieno, two women death has stolen from us were not.

We are grateful that Wangari lived and did so much for us in Kenya as well as for the world. She was refined and down to earth. She saw things with a certain oneness so that being a professor did not prevent her from being a very wonderful activist who achieved a lot. Yet some in Kenya lately and even in her days did deride activism.

Wambui- Otieno married across ethnic groups. Not only that, at the time, between these two groups such action.. and even today was looked down upon. She was brave in many ways. Google her name if you want to know her better. I wanted to reflect on her and Wangari because they have been great women.

In 1999 Kenyan judges courts went morally wrong by denying Wambui-Otieno the right to bury her husband. It was a shock for some of us. All we could do was to weep. Wambui -Otieno Mbugua told me she did not weep. She knew that life is a harder battle than most of us imagine, especially for women. These two women were full of energy for all of us. I cannot think of them silent but they are. On earth they used their lips and actions speak up. They loved their lives and lived to the full. We suffer their loss. But such people do not die? They live in their works and the inspiration they leave with us.

Wangari whose name means of the leopard.. Wa (de, of )  Ngari (leopar)...told me how horrified she was at how men cheated for power. She was horrified and the press reported it when President Kibaki failed to honour the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding that he had signed so that Raila Odinga could support him for the presidency in 2002. She said this in Tetu her home area where most of the people would defend Kibaki blindly because blocks of ethnic groups in Kenya have been reduced to political wagons.. supporting only their men.. their people in a region and showing open hatred for people of different ethnic groups. This regardless of the fact that the vote is secret. This problem is fuelled a lot by male polticians I dare say.

In the MoU, Kibaki had promised to share power with Raila Odinga something he did not even want to do in 2007 when Kenya burned and 1 333 people were killed. Many women were raped. Children died. Even the crops refused to grow. There was a famine that followed. Farmers could not till the land, there were ober 50000 Internally Displaced People almost overnight. All this was in 2007. But in 2003 Kibaki breached the MoU.

I met many people who seemed to rationalise his deed. Some of them are learned. But not Prof Wangari Maathai who because of her ethnic background would be safer backing Kibaki. I know this very personally for I commented on the news item that I had read to Wangari at the Bomas Of Kenya where we had constitutional meetings. I had taken the opportunity to sit next to the great icon dressed in green.She was simple. She simply told me in he mother tongue.. a proverb which means that Raila Odinga was cheated. It states that (even if not literally )upon being called for a ceremony of manhood people turn up but once the the hard part is over they are told that all that had to happen is over and there are no celebrations..
(Thiga ni arua gutiri mararanja!).

Party Leader Dr. Julia Ojiambo has kept up with politics for years

Dr. Julia Ojiambo is another vibrant woman. She has adapted herself to Kenyan politics ceaselessly but politics has not adapted itself to her and other women. It is a hard field where powerful will come to a political party like the one she leads The Labour Party of Kenya and use it and then run over her. I talked about this with her when she teamed up with a faction of ODM. I felt she was reading the situation wrong and much as I had wanted to work with a woman leader like her I could not. Raila Odinga is an astitute an experienced politician and it was clear as daylight that The Kalonzo faction which Dr. Ojiambo worked for could not unseat him. Some people just do not have what it takes to win the peoples' imagination. They try everything, even religion but it fails miserably. Dr. Ojiambo was in the wrong club but at least she showed she could work across ethnic divides. No matter. If she shows political interest, this is one woman who deserves an appointment without further delay. She is smart and learned and giving one example that many people would shun her for. You will hear them tell her she is old. Let her say it for herself. Men have incredible staying power in our politics. She is one of the few who will not give up. We must respect her take. She has been for a while quite active on facebook in 2011. That is remarkable.

Well, these women have done their best. One hopes that their legacy will still mean a better Kenya. I do not mean all powerful women should be in political power. Not at all.

I think of three things. First, it is so vital that we also have alternative voices of power who are not politically aligned. We need them badly and men, when ethncity is so strong a factor in our politics. In learning from the humility of these women, I think it is a high time some well -known people susained their presence, voice and visiblity in society even without political intent.

Ann Njogu focused on higher goals for now  ...

Secondly that women who try and tried in politics are such treasures and should never lose sight of that. Losing an election as many did.. I did, Ann Njogu did, as did Muthoni Kihara recently in Kamkunji by election in Kenya, meant more positive than negative things. For the women, this should not mean that one is silenced.. Ann is a recipient of the Woman of Courage honour  from Hilary Clinton. She never stops. She is writing and talking and working even off the cameras. Recently she has studied her M LLB, and is on the way to greater heights. No to confusing your voice and votes my sister! Muthoni, you know the work you have done  in the City Council in the past.  You know how you tried too to campaign for other women including me when I was in competitive politics.

NO fears! They must speak to all with the same strength, letting them know their excesses and making the check and balance. Being fully well informed of our constitution and laws. It seems strange but the nation is lacking in such people. We felt it very painfully when Kenya was burning in 2007. Since the strong women had taken a political position suddenly the nation was reeling with no local voice to be heard across the divides. It was painful. I learnt then that poets are mightier than politicians. We met and encouraged one another through poetry. Let us all find our positions and together weave Kenya for a brighter future!