Thursday, May 31, 2012

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

Samuel Eto'o celebrates a goal
Football 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. It can plant faith in values. 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?
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.  

Mario Balotelli: Racism is unacceptable! Yes!

Blatter chatter harmful

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.


Racism in football is a big shame on the world. Marion Balotelli Barwuah 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.

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 greater 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.  




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Sunday, April 29, 2012

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!



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